Elsewhere, Kylie has been short listed for Festival At Large 2010. She is shortlisted for one of the roles for a Female Lead and is up against Duffy, Christina Aguilera, Pat Benatar and Hilary Duff.

We all know Kylie can re-invent herself every new decade, and successfully. Check out the new Kylie video for some Mash-Up inspiration for your own action thriller sequence with Kylie as a main performer!

Jay is an expressive and, at times, thrilling vocalist, combining theatrical movements and soaring vocals in many of the band’s songs. She stands out as a creative and passionate front-woman and it’s no surprise the band have been a success at Metal Ladies Fest and H’elles On Stage (for example).

Jay’s operatic style is emphasised during the frequent duets with five-string-bass player Djang, his deep vocals and growls providing contrast and depth. The music is further lifted by one of the most energetic drummers, Niko, and his solid combination of rock and metal styles.

As you can see and hear from their posts on YouTube, Benighted Soul drive forward with plenty of nods to progressive rock – is Jay the new Peter Gabriel and guitarist Jeyms the new Townsend?

Symphonic Metal, Gothic Metal, Female-Fronted Metal – all are perfect descriptions for this band and I hope they gain a huge following with their new album. This is powerful, intelligent and thrilling music, appealing to heart, mind and feet!

YouTube track Ticking Time Bomb is a perfect example of their style

MySpace http://www.myspace.com/benightedsoul

Other good news was Katy’s album One Of The Boys went platinum. So the Brit Award was icing on the cake for a very successful 2008 for Katy. Other highlights include Best New Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards, Favorite Pop Song at the People’s Choice Awards for I Kissed a Girl and International Album of the Year at the NRJ Music Awards.

Some other awards nominations show the impact of Katy’s clever and quirky style, including Most Addictive Track and a long list of Video categories: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Female Video and Best New Artist.

But at the end of 2010 we ask, what about the music? Yes Katy has been very high profile with cleavage and various dress-to-shock “style statements”. And her relationship with Russell Brand can be summed up with his comment in September 2009 at the MTV Video Music Awards: “Katy Perry didn’t win an award and she’s staying at the same hotel as me, so she’s gonna need a shoulder to cry on. So in a way, I’m the real winner tonight.”

Celeb Life 1. Ongoing Music Career 0.

Hot on the heels of Taylor Momsen is, perhaps in some ways a surprise, Blake Lively. Appearances at awards shows, fashion catwalks and just walking down the street have been newsworthy and, to many fans, most welcome.

However, as with many tv and movie stars, it can sometimes take a great magazine and great photographer to raise the standard and really please and surprise us.

The photoshoot of Blake Lively for the September issue of Interview magazine is a stunning example. Craig McDean held the cameras as the popular young star “performed” to the styling requests of Karl Templer.

As you can see from just the few examples of the cover feature for the magazine, the character she plays is in trouble with the law. Fortunately all is well as Blake covers all the angles in a terrific selection of ensembles from star names like Balenciaga, Fendi and Burberry.

Great job Blake, and Interview.

If this all works we should be able to update blogs and Twitter and all sorts – easily – and, we hope, more regularly.

Taylor Momsen started acting alongside Jim Carrey in The Grinch (as baby-faced Cindy-Lou Who). At 14 she joined the modelling agency that represents Kate Moss and Gisele Bundchen.

Now, in addition to starring in Gossip Girl, Taylor also fronts a rock band, The Pretty Reckless.

Now all we need to do is work out how to post a pic too.

UPDATE: We needed to go back to WordPress to add the pic and the Tags and the Categories. Guess Ping is not quite there yet.

Kristen Randall (photo left) had been in the band two years and a constant feature in just about every metal magazine that boasted a calendar. Kristen is also well-known in tattoo magazines and is soon to be seen on LA Ink with Kat von D.

But after a big “thank you” to the Winds, Kristen is off to pursue her own musical direction, plus exposure of and in websites and magazines concerning ink. The LA Ink episode is scheduled for next month (February).

In a press release Kristen said: “The experiences we shared have been such a huge part of my life the past couple years and I will cherish that forever. As for myself, music is my deepest passion.”

The next new keyboard player for the Winds was Lisa Marx (photo right), also a model at times like Kristen. Lisa had previousy played with Kittie and Day of Contempt and was invited to join Winds on the California Love tour which also included Stick To Your Guns, Sleeping Giant, Oceano and Circle of Contempt .

Latest news is that former The Breathing Process keyboardist Alana Potocnik (photo left) has replaced Lisa on a fulltime basis.

And, you guessed it, Alana has also had a ModelMayhem profile. Guess the guys in Winds have great talent at using Google to find their new band members – lol.

Web 2.0 allows us to bookmark, collate and re-process information in a wonderful variety of ways. We use Last.FM extensively, not least because we live most of the year outside the US of A (see footnote regarding Pandora). The list below has been gathered from “loved” tracks in people’s playlists.

Rather than say there is one winner or a ranking based on votes for a particular song, we’ve awarded Gold medals to 17 bands/projects. We’ve taken the view that, like the Olympics, it can be difficult to precisely judge styles of music. Is a gold in a marathon of more “value” than the long jump?

The 54 tracks below are the best we’ve heard and noted over the past few years, representing many albums and changes in line-ups of the various groups of musicians over the past 10 years. They are, we say, among the Best of the Decade for:

• Femme metal
• Gothic Metal
• Symphonic Metal

or whatever other descriptive term you’d like to use. And yes, you’re very welcome to tell us how right or wrong we are!

After Forever – Energise Me
After Forever – Face Your Demons
After Forever – Imperfect Tenses
After Forever – Life’s Vortex
After Forever – My Choice
After Forever – The Evil That Men Do

Darkwell – Nothingness
Darkwell – The Machine

Delain – The Gathering
Delain – Stay Forever

Draconian – Bloodflower
Draconian – Serenade of Sorrow
Draconian – Silent Winter
Draconian – The Gothic Embrace

Elis – Der letzte Tag
Elis – Devil Inside You
Elis – Heart in Chains

Epica – Mother of Light (A New Age Dawns, Part 2)
Epica – Never Enough
Epica – Quietus
Epica – Solitary Ground
Epica – Unleashed

Evanescence – Lose Control
Evanescence – Tourniquet

Lacuna Coil – Heaven’s a Lie
Lacuna Coil – Honeymoon Suite
Lacuna Coil – Senzafine
Lacuna Coil – Spellbound

Leaves’ Eyes – For Amelie
Leaves’ Eyes – Njord

Lunatica – Emocean
Lunatica – Hymn

Nightwish – Feel For You
Nightwish – Planet Hell
Nightwish – Sleeping Sun
Nightwish – Swanheart

Sirenia – Lithium and a Lover
Sirenia – The Other Side

The Gathering – In Motion
The Gathering – Nighttime Birds
The Gathering – Rollercoaster

Trail of Tears – Empty Room
Trail of Tears – Poisonous Tongues

Visions of Atlantis – At the Back of Beyond
Visions of Atlantis – Pharaoh’s Repentance

Within Temptation – Angels
Within Temptation – Ice Queen
Within Temptation – Memories
Within Temptation And The Metropole Orchestra – Jillian (I’d Give My Heart)
Within Temptation And The Metropole Orchestra – Stand My Ground
Within Temptation And The Metropole Orchestra – The Promise
Within Temptation And The Metropole Orchestra – What Have You Done (Featuring Keith Caputo)

Xandria – Calyx Virago
Xandria – Ginger

You can also send tweets to http://Twitter.com/NuGoth

Footnote: We also love Pandora but it cannot be used globally due to the archaic licensing cartels that still control so much of music.

The 30 tracks below grabbed our ears more than once but, for some reason, other songs by the artists failed to impress as much. For example, other Tristania tracks didn’t get added to many lists, while Elis (on our Gold list) received numerous mentions for their 3 tracks.

We reckon a Silver medal is still fantastic when weighted against the tens of thousands of other tracks out there. Listen and enjoy.

Aesma Daeva – Disdain
Amberian Dawn – Sunrise
Arch Enemy – Saints and Sinners
Astarte – Deviate
Ayria – Pink Dress
Aythis – Aythis
Beseech – Everytime I Die
Bloodflowerz – Season of Love
Crucified Barbara – Feels Like Death
Delight – In Too Deep
Doro – Unholy Love
Exilia – Destroy My Eyes
Flowing Tears – Undying
Holy Moses – End of Time
Kittie – Into the Darkness
L’Âme Immortelle – Fallen Angel
Lumsk – Fagran fljotan folen
Luna Obscura – Dance of Forsaken Souls
Lycia – Silver Sliver
Midnattsol – Enlightenment
My Dying Bride – She Is the Dark
Otep – The Lord Is My Weapon
Paramore – Decode
Penumbra – A Torrent of Fears
Season’s End – Innocence
Stream of Passion – Deceiver
The Agonist – Rise and Fall
The Project Hate MCMXCIX – Loveless, Godless, Flawless
Tristania – Midwintertears
Where Angels Fall – Path of Sorrow

You can also send tweets to http://Twitter.com/NuGoth

In releasing a sample Floor explains: “We know you have waiting with great patience for some music! Hereby a short part of our song Head Up High!!! Do realize this is pre-production material, you hear a drum computer and home recorded bass, guitar, keyboards and vocals. We did mix it so it sounds OK enough, but it’s not the quality the album will have!”

ReVamp Head Up High