A Year In Pop: 6

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

In the new ever-changing world of the charts, a new entry at #2 is apparently quite exciting, even (or especially?) if it's perennial pop controversialists the Kaiser Chiefs.

[Poll #926992]

Comments

[koganbot]

Kaiser Chiefs - I'm direct opposite of awesomewells: the catchy gangshout chorus overcomes the dull rhythm and the overall sexlessness.

Jessica Simpson - What Tom and Lex said. Wonderful. (Turns out that the album is not as bad as I'd originally thought when I'd abandoned ship on it last summer two-thirds of the way through. Problem was that it had emerged a week after Paris's unexpected greatness. Jessica's flaws are a tendency towards (1) well-sung MOR blah ballads; (2) sudden bursts of grotesque, ridiculous, "fun" "sexiness" which aren't remotely as sexy as she is when she's not trying so hard. But the "fun" "sexiness" is often cover for a really good experimentalism. And when she latches onto a good tune on a good dance track she's quite appealing. Haven't heard any other alb of hers in full; suspect that they'd all get mixed reviews from me. I love the Dukes Of Hazzard soundtrack, which is mostly a bunch of old oddball southern and fake southern rock tracks by the likes of Molly Hatchett and Allman Brothers and Ram Jam and has her "fun" "sexy" but actually quite awesome crypto-Caribbean mixed-and-matched loony version of "These Boots Are Made For Walking.")

2Pac f. Ashanti & T.I. - The best of my nonticks, actually. Don't mind the relative dearth of 2Pacness on this, on which T.I. is more playful and at ease than usual and (Whatever Became Of) Ashanti riding the breeze and sunshine. But the mix of playfulness and clunkiness in the sound undoes it for me. (Yes, it's any good at all, but so is almost everything.)

Ericke - Nice timbre to his wacking-against-half-hollow-plywood beats. Ugly beats can be good beats; but I get tired of these before the song ends.

Justin Timberlake - Beautiful. Something indefinable seems to be missing, though, but it was an easy tick.

FHM High Street Honeys - Dark and murky Divinyls cover. Hi-NRG techno'd-up bosh covers of pop-rock hits can be wonderful things, but the guitars here are terrible, provide a wall of sludge, and the "techno" timbres just add to the dreariness. (Excuse me while I let loose with an ignorant, provocative statement, but Brit-techno is crypto rock anyway, despite its dance origins and dance venue. [Rock once had a dance venue.] Which doesn't mean it's all bad, of course.) Anyway, not devoid of value, given that I like the song and dancing to it. But not a tick.

Long Blondes - This time out they're not just long but Blondie. I was expecting something more tuneful and less dinky. Boring. I recall hearing some Long Blondes stuff I like more, but have a feeling that they and Pipettes are beneficiaries of wishful thinking on the part of critics and tickers. (Only heard three or so Pipettes tracks, however; but [snore].)

[koganbot]

(wacking = whacking. Sorry.)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Haha your criticisms of the Simpson Sr album are exactly mine! But her trying-too-hard conceals anything good in it, including the reggaeton x country experimentalism, for me. And 'Fired Up', the best non-title track, is a poor man's 'Turn It Up'.