Soccx is a musical pop group that is becoming more and more popular in Germany. What makes this group interesting is that their songs are all in English, and the members of the group are American women, primarily from the California area. This type of thing apparently happens a lot, but I still find it pretty cool that an American group could be virtually unknown in the United States and yet be having big concerts in Germany. They even released a pretty serious music video. And although it was hard to get much info from their website since it is in German, it looks like their next stop is going to be France.

Soccx has some pretty good songs, assuming you are a fan of upbeat pop. Most of their songs tend to be about partying and having a good time. I particularly liked The Battle and Scream Out Loud.

It’s clear that a lot of effort went into creating the group’s overall image. I’m not sure of the group’s popularity in Germany, but from simply looking at their website and the published material and pictures of Soccx, it would appear as if the members of Soccx are pop superstars, whether or not they actually are yet. So whoever was in charge of designing the group’s image did a pretty good job.

The producers must have also put a lot of effort into finding the right girls to be members of Soccx. From the few videos I was able to see, it looks like the members of Soccx don’t just sing well, they also have some pretty cool dance-moves involving flips and all kinds of crazy things. It’s nice to see a group that doesn’t leave all the hard dancing to the backup dancers.

If you want to check out more about Soccx, you can go to their Myspace page or their official site. Although both websites are in German, you can get an idea of their music and see their music video. I’m not sure how to buy their MP3s, but once I find out I’ll post it here.

Edit(12-9-07): You can preview the songs in their album “Hold On” by going to http://www.amazon.fr/Hold-Soccx/dp/B000XMZKEG/. Thanks to Noreen from Soccx for this info.

By the way, sorry for not posting any new reviews in such a long time, but law school exams are coming up and things have been pretty crazy. Once this semester is over I’ll definitely start posting again.

While listening to Michael Nappi’s songs I almost forgot that I was listening to someone who isn’t currently being played all over the radio. His songs sound so good that you would just assume that he must be a well-known singer. Michael has a pop/rock style that is in itself unique, but at the same time doesn’t stray too far from the norms, allowing for a large mainstream acceptance. His debut album Here We Go Again was just released at the end of October, and from the songs I’ve heard on his Myspace profile, I have a feeling it will do quite well.

Michael Nappi’s songs on his album tend to deal with specific events in his life, but they are written in a way that allow for a broader meaning. My favorite song of Michael’s is 7:26. Although it starts out talking about a specific time that he was on the radio, it goes on to say how you should always make the most of things, because you never know when your time will be up. In case you couldn’t tell from my previous postings, I’m pretty big on songs having catchy choruses, and Michael Nappi doesn’t disappoint. I think the chorus in 7:26 is pretty awesome. In fact, all of his songs have pretty awesome choruses.

I think that Save the Night in a Bottle is one of Michael’s more unique songs, and is definitely worth checking out. I really like the song Here We Go Again. The melody just sounds really good. It sounds like something that could be used as a theme song for a television show (I mean that in a good way). Like one of those shows about a family where the kids are always getting into trouble. I could see the song Gone most easily being played on the radio. It’s about a guy breaking up with his girlfriend who claims that he won’t care when she’s gone, when in reality he will. Apparently Mix 98.5 in Boston agrees with me about the radio quality of Gone, because they’re going to be playing it on the air tomorrow night.

I would encourage you to check out Michael Nappi’s songs. You can hear five of them on his Myspace page, and if you like them you can click here to buy his MP3s.

Mikal Blue is the hit producer who helped launch such musical talent as Colbie Caillat and One Republic. You might be wondering why I’m writing about someone who produced some of the most popular artists in the country on a music blog designed to talk about relatively unknown artists. Well, what you may not realize is that Mikal Blue actually has some pretty amazing songs of his own that have gone mostly unnoticed.

As would be expected from a top music producer/engineer, everything about Mikal Blue’s songs is extremely polished. Even the one-word titles to many of his songs help to further their polished nature, with titles such as Gold, Heaven, Pepper, and Magazine. Mikal’s songs tend to have a slow rock/pop style, and I could easily foresee any of them being played on a top 40 radio station. All of his songs are pretty catchy, but I think that his latest song, Magazine, has an especially catchy chorus. I also love the melody in Pepper.

Not only do all of his songs sound phenomenal, but Mikal Blue’s lyrics also have deep meaning. They tend to be about aspects of life that anyone could easily relate to. For instance, as quoted from his Myspace profile, his song Gold “is about the realization that even though your life may not be everything you had planned, you should never give up fighting for your dreams.” Gold was actually featured on the season finale of ABC’s hit new show October Road, but I bet most of you who saw the episode didn’t realize that the song was written and performed by Mikal. Yet another example of how Mikal Blue is not as well known as he should be.

I can only assume that the reason Mikal Blue is not yet nationally known is because he is currently too busy dealing with the hit artists that he recently produced. I’m sure that it will only be a matter of time before you can hear one of Mikal’s songs on the radio, but why wait. You can listen to four of Mikal Blue’s songs on his music Myspace profile. On his profile you can also download a free MP3 of his song Heaven, which shows that even really good songs can be free. On Mikal’s profile you can find a link to purchase several of his songs, and you can click here to buy the MP3 of his single, Gold.