Pop Premiership Week 4 RESULTS

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Before we get into hauntedballroom's results, a quick mention that the response for week 5 so far has been VERY LOW! (by the first four weeks' standards) - I won't list all the names but I'll try and send reminders out tomorrow.

Revelations for this and the Chart Championship at about 2.

"Thank you for all the tracks; I like how incoherent it sounded overall. I didn't recognise any of the songs except that one was a cover of 'Love is the Drug'. I found it easy to decide which songs I loved and hated but there were a few that I was ambivalent about. The placings between seven and ten were especially hard.

01. Polysics - "Married To A Frenchman": I liked the robot noises and crackles and pops a lot on this but felt that it was a little bit self-consciously busy. I wasn't too keen on the guitar either. I used to really like Bis which this sounds a lot like but isn't I don't think, and I would have enjoyed this track a lot more when I did. 8th Place - LOSE - katstevens done too much fanny dangle.

02. Built Like Alaska - "Mistake #2". I don't know how this relates to any of the stuff that I said I liked at all! It really isn't to my taste. It seems to attempt plaintive and mournful and ends up being dreary and whiny. Sorry I really think it deserves 11th place - LOSE - tactical disaster for bengraham.

03. Appleton - "Blow My Mind". I really liked this after a second listen. It's slick and shiny with a really good pop chorus and fun lyrics. I like that I couldn't decide whether I loved it or hated it at first. 5th Place - WIN - game of two halves sees dubdobdee sneak a win.

04. Asian Dub Foundation ft Sinead O Connor - "1000 Mirrors". I really liked the music but not the vocals, if this track was an instrumental I would have liked it a lot more. 10th Place - LOSE - red card for striker leaves braisedbywolves high and dry.

05. Bill Orcutt - "Yes Blues". This is something that I would definitely listen to normally, a really good choice. The sparseness and the intersection of the voice and instruments reminded me of Throbbing Gristle or someone like that. Easily a winner. 2nd Place - WIN - Direct tactics pay off for xyzzzz_

06. Six Finger Satellite - "Paralysed By Normal Life". Another really good track. I enjoyed it all especially the cheesy keyboard. A good-fun-to-dance-to song a bit like the Fall. 4th Place - WIN - Carefree play makes it all look so easy for jel_bugle.

07. Georgy Ligeti - "Lux Aeterna". My favourite track. It's really strange but I thought about requesting interesting choral music in my introduction but thought it didn't seem pop enough. I love the sinister wash of sound, how unsettling it is, like an underwater cathedral. I am really, really pleased with this track. Thanks! 1st Place - WIN - unconventional tactics create dominant win for inhibitorylinks.

08. Tori Amos - "Datura". Angsty overblown vocals over the top of some muttering and music that sounds a bit like a corporate video. Then it stops and then another four minutes that sound a bit like a different song. It reminded me of a soundtrack to a mini soap opera or something with mood changes. I thought about it a lot and can't place it higher because I don't really like it, but in terms of interesting to think about it comes high. 9th Place - LOSE - inconsistency costs alexmacpherson dear.

09. Nobukazi Takemura - "Croon". Pretty and pleasant enough but kind of bland. Liked the vocals and the xylophone but somehow it added up to less than the sum of its parts. I liked it enough to draw. 6th Place - DRAW - not one for the neutral as draw specialist strange_powers nets another point.

10. Millionaire - "Wake Up The Children". I like things like this if they are a bit sparser. It's kind of cheesy because of the melody. Emptier I would have liked it a lot. 7th Place - LOSE - fugitivemotel in first defeat of the season.

11. Kate Wax - "Catch The Buzz". A cover of 'Love is the Drug' by Roxy Music. The only thing I recognised but I didn't know who it was by. An interesting reworking I think – the throwaway, emotionless vocalisation provides an interesting counterpoint to the lyrics and sense of the original. 3rd Place - WIN - zenith's experienced back line delivers the goods.

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

My reactions:

- Didn't know any of them.
- Think the first and last places are fair results really - I also liked the Takemura and the Kate Wax track was submitted very near the deadline knuckle so I didn't even check to see if it worked and haven't heard it yet! Electroclash Roxy? Sounds OK.
- I also liked the Appleton and thought it was a good, funny choice from Mark S - glad to see it getting rewarded.
- The Bill Orcutt track was a little too much for me - been quite a while since I listened to noise (we used to play it in the comic shop when we had pricing to do and didn't want too many customers). I'm really intrigued by the description of its "sparseness" though!

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

The Orcutt is very stop-start, so I think what hballroom might be referring to are the guitar-only sections where the vocalist isn't screaming that stretches the whole thing, increasing its impact. Maybe that's where the sparseness comes from.

Overall, its great example of how the ppl involved really are into each other's moves, a great game between Bill and the vocalist (the drummer is a bit left out tho') (they are both from no wavers Harry Pussy), how BOTH free improvisation and noise work together.

Bill really ws one of the great guitar players - they all disappear after a while :-(

[hauntedballroom.livejournal.com]

- in terms of the bill orcutt i guess i meant sparse in terms of lack of layers and melody even though it was in some ways a dense sound. i see it as sort of monochrome if that makes sense.
- i guessed it was all saints initially the appleton one, it was just so them but kind of glossier and less cargo pants-y. it makes a lot of sense now that i know that!

useful tip (if true)

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

all my teams are picked in reference to their cargo pants index

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised no-one seems to have recognised the Ligeti one - it's featured quite prominently in the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is where I know (and love it) from. If you like that, then the whole soundtrack album is worth a purchase, as there are other great Ligeti tracks on there too.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

didn't hear till it was named but would have guessed it blind, i hope -- ligeti didn't like the use it was put to in 2001, i seem to recall