Ride A White Poll

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

January's Top 40 Singles poll saw apparently everyone's favourite indie-pop stalwarts Belle & Sebastian clinch the top spot with 17 ticks and 54.8% of the vote, with Jose Gonzales, Mylo ft. Freeform Five and Will Young all languishing in joint second place with 13 ticks each. A traditionally weak month there, but things are starting to hot up a little in February, maybe?


[Poll #730533]

Comments

Re: I have now befriended everyone who ticked Ashlee

[koganbot]

Oh, I knew that about editing my ticks, was just using a rhetorical device to get attention. (You realize this is all about selling my book, right?) I've only heard the hits-package Hilary so can't advise you there. By the way, if you can't download, how can I send anything your way? As for UK release schedules, I can't wouldn't know - I mean, "Beautiful Soul" was released back in the Bronze Age in North America - but if the Veronicas' "4ever" hasn't yet gotten a UK release, it is worth fabulous attention and is my song of the year so far. It's Max and Dr. Luke. So's Ashley Parker Angel's "Let U Go," though I'm not as crazy for it as some other people are. However, Aly & AJ's "Rush" has been ruling Radio Disney nonstop since late last year; hasn't broken big in pop but is wonderful and deserves to so keep your eye for a UK release; same with Lillix's "Sweet Temptation," just out in U.S., Killer's producer going for a Martin-Rami sound; also keep looking to see if Marion Raven finally gets any UK releases (half of alb produced by Martin & Rami); and also there's to be a Platinum Weird album sometime (thought it was to be this spring, but apparently not) - it'll probably be touted as a Dave Stewart project but the crucial thing for me is that Kara DioGuardi is co-songwriter and the lead singer (!) and John Shanks is the producer. Shanks & DioGuardi are more responsible even than Martin-Gottwald-Rami and Linda Perry and Clif Magness and the Matrix and Butch Walker for the greatness of current American teenpop: Kara's on most and John's on all of Ashlee, John and Kara did the best tracks on the first Lohan and Kara did most of the second Lohan; they did the two transcendent Hilary singles ("Fly" and "Come Clean"); they had a hand in the Kelly Clarkson album (though not the best stuff). However, they get way more boring when working with artists over 25 (have you been going wild over any recent Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Alanis Morissette? me neither), and since Kara and Dave are both over 25, they could plod along. "Avalanche" is the one Platinum Weird song I've heard: it reminds me a lot of "Nobody 'Til You," one of my favorite two Lohans, and is powerful in both playing and singing, but strong-voiced Kara can't quite give the personality to the song that thin-voiced Lindsay would have, or that's my feeling so far, anyway.

As for albs, both Ashlee albums keep the quality up ten songs deep, though don't think you'll be getting sun and fun, since that's not really her vision. Emotional young woman, sense of humor but takes herself very seriously.

Re: I have now befriended everyone who ticked Ashlee

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I imagine the Ashlee albums as very much in the vein of Avril ones, not that I own those either: for some reason, while I generally make an effort to hear teenpop albums in the electro/r&b vein (Britney, Xtina et al), guitar-based teenpop I prefer to consume via the singles which filter through (which I generally end up loving as wholly as the others) (I ended up with the Lohan album quite randomly). I didn't realise that Max and Rami still had their fingers in so many pies! It'll be interesting to hear how their signature sound has progressed, whether it sounds dated in a post-Neptunes era, and so on.

'Come Clean' is totally amazing, isn't it?

I've heard of Marion Raven, but never heard her: for a while Ed O had a userpic which scared me a bit, and it turned out it was her.

If you send mp3s to lexusjeep at gmail dot com they will sit happily in my inbox until such time as I find myself on a computer and able to download (every month or so I go round to friends' houses to use Old Mama Internet for the purposes she was designed for, viz. stealing music).