Too painful to look at the camera

Synths and glam may have been part of my diet as an 80s child but I never totally fell in love with 80s music. It’s only now – and after the main revival of 80s chic has passed that am I coming to appreciate what the decade of decadence produced.

Recently I went to Lovebox in London’s Victoria Park and went bananas over the bananas Grace Jones. It turns out another 80s superpower won my heart more – Tears for Fears. Well not quite, a few acts before Grace came BBC Sound of 2010 nominees – Hurts. Tears for Fears can only dream of being able to produce their kind of music – with all the technological advancement in the last 30 years that Hurts have to play with.

The northerners’ powerful, catchy and epic pop surprised most of the crowd – especially when they started singing along to songs they’d never previously heard. Although they didn’t win the Sound of 2010 – I expect Hurts to be the most successful from the shortlist. Ellie Goulding? Yeah – no one cares.

Here is a live version of my favourite song at the moment Better Than Love:

You can also watch the music video for Better Than Love on youtube. Or you can watch the brand new music video for Wonderful Life which they are re-releasing as their next single.

Peter Bjorn and John is made up of 3 Swedes called, Peter, Bjorn and er, John. I bought their previous album, Writer’s Block (iTunes) after stumbling on the track featured in this post. It’s a lot more lo-fi than their new work. I’m sure you’ve heard the excellent single Young Folks from the album.

Now they’ve got over writer’s block, I’m hoping their new album, Living Thing is going to be a musical War and Peace. There’s a tracklisting at Off the Radar. Now listen to the fat beat and super pop chorus constantly like I have and see why i’m excited:

Peter Bjorn and John – Nothing To Worry About (mp3)

Living Thing is released on 31 March and can be pre-ordered from Amazon.