Annie |
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Wed. July 20.2005 12:00 AM EDT |
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Annie: Bubblicious Beats From NorwayDance-pop newcomer let's us know what she loves, from the New Kids to Peaches. by C. Bottomley |
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(Big Beat) |
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Annie's new single "Chewing Gum" sounds like an I Love the 80s episode waiting to happen. While Human League synthesizers perk up a melody that kids could skip rope to, the blonde Norwegian bombshell explains how she scrapes guys off her shoes
A DJ who loves the concrete funk of E.S.G. as much as she digs her fellow countrymen a-ha, Annie sings with a raised eyebrow -- a little irony regarding disco beats is always allowed. But her album Anniemal is packed with some of the most enticing pop flavor we've heard since OutKast's "Hey Ya." She took us through her personal music history, from her childhood fascinations with New Kids on the Block to her record box to explain why Joey McIntyre is as cool as Joey Ramone. a-ha I was a big, big fan of a-ha, especially when I was little. They meant a lot to me. I wanted to see them live so much, but my mother said [they played] too late at night. I went to my room and really, really cried. I finally got to see them play when I was older, and it was good. All the girls were in love with Morten Harket, the singer, but I was in love with Pal, the guy who made all the music. New Kids on the Block When I was young I loved New Kids on the Block! But I also loved the Ramones and the Clash. I had a really big range. I liked [Swedish "Final Countdown" metal boys] Europe, too. My favorite New Kid was Joe McIntyre. I thought he was so beautiful. I probably believed that he made some of the music, even if he didn't. I actually named my cat after Joey -- for both Joey McIntyre and Joey Ramone. Elastica My first band was called Suitcase. We were big fans of indie pop and Elastica. I was writing all the lyrics and melodies and doing all the vocals, but it wasn't very good. We only had one gig. It was a contest thing, but we never made it to the finals. It was a horrible gig and after that we split up. Tom Tom Club I started to go to clubs and rave parties. I also started to DJ too, so I got interested in dance music. For a couple of years I was listening to a lot of Tom Tom Club and Dee-Lite and Larry Levan and all those kind of old, dark, weird, disco stuff. Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love" was a big inspiration. Peaches I ran a club night called "Pop Till You Drop." We played stuff like Chicks On Speed and Peaches. When you're DJ-ing you learn a lot about sound and production, so that inspired my own music in many ways. I remember a couple having sex while I was DJ-ing. We didn't try to break it up. I thought it was great that my DJ-ing was making people have sex on the floor. Nothing is better. Mu My collection contains hundreds of records that people never particularly want to hear, and this is one of them. When I put it on, they say, "take it off!" Mu is a crazy Japanese girl - she's totally mad. She just sings: there's no rhythm and the lyrics don't make sense at all, but it's so, so good. I like that kind of thing. It's something new. It's very hard to find something new these days. Mayhem I don't really listen to Norwegian Black Metal. It's funny because it used to be very underground so everybody thought it was scary. Then suddenly some of these people traveled to Germany and Sweden and it's become big. In Norway you have this band called Dimmu Borgir and they have been No. 1 on the album charts and they're playing big festivals. It's getting kind of commercial, but kind of like Marilyn Manson - nothing scarier than that. |
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