A kung fu fighter in a disco

That is what it's called on the BBC1 site. No typo!

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carsmilesteve.livejournal.com

i haf heard it, it is EVEN MORE herky-jerky than the first alBUM stuff...

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katstevens.livejournal.com

I quite like this one! Mainly because in the video there are Proper Dancers doing a Dance Routine. Ergo you can definitely dance to it, because someone has. If only all indie bands made music you can actually dance to!

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Yes, good song and good video. I really should just give in and buy some Arctics records. Top pop band.

From:

katstevens.livejournal.com

TICKY:

Mika - not as good as the first one but still quite good
Natasha - BABIES, hooray! 2nd best single of the year so far after Avril
Tim & Nelly - alright, not horrendous, borderline tick

NO TICKY:

Beyonce/Shakira - starts off ok but drags on, boring
Dan Le Sac - intriguing on first listen, cringeworthy thereafter
Mark Ronson - WEAK BEATS NOES

Haven't heard the rest.

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I have so far only ticked 2 of the tracks - Timbonell and Beykira - and neither of them exactly stun me but both are solid 6/10s and quite tickable.

Mark Ronson is a missed opportunity I reckons though it might grow on me.

Natasha Bedingfield is the catchiest thing I've heard here, easily but it really annoys me for a reason I may try and pin down if pushed. So no tick.

Will YouTube the rest over a lunchtime sandwich and tick or not accordingly.

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I felt that i couldn't tick NB on some sort of principle...and Mika is just TOO annoying/makes Jake Shears far less punchable...and the Ronson isn't grabbing me so no ticks at all from me this week boo

From:

jel-bugle.livejournal.com

I was totally disappointed by Beyonce/Shakira. Even the video is rubbish!!

I only ticked MCR and Arctic Monkeys.

Natasha has inherited the Bedingfield annoying gene after all :(

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Gosh there are a lot.

Mark Ronson - I haven't heard the original and I can still sense the over-reverence towards it, and it's reverence pretending to be radical, and do not drag the Supremes into this mess of a record!!!!!! Mark Ronson = Jools Holland of funk/soul/whatever this is meant to be, anyway.

Timba/Justin/Nelly - all three are increasingly smackable, I think...Nelly, only because of the weird pout she makes on red carpets, but Justin seems very in love with himself and his status as Very Important Popstar. The Timba album is pretty bad, apart from a couple of tracks, incidentally. This is boring, I like the idea of the disses but: a) Timba, you have been no better than Storch lately b) Nelly, Fergie is like you but a bit more inventive c) Justin shut up.

Beyonce and Shakira - love it, it's 'Hips Don't Lie' crossed with 'Baby Boy', it's both of them going..."hey, world? Excited that your two biggest female popstars are getting together for a genre-busting monster of a hit? ...nah, we'll do a generic club banger/brand exercise innit, and we won't pretend it's anything more than that unlike Timbaland". Beyonce! Beyonce! Shakira! Shakira! You can't tell them apart in the video, it's pretty freaky.

Arctic Monkeys - I have still not heard a note by this band :) Worst thing here by miles.

My Comical Romance - shutupgoaway&c&c

Erasure - as queasy and wrong as ever I see

Natasha B - BABIES BABIES BABIES BABIES :D

Little Man Tate - didn't bother with this either, I doubt it'll be an improvement on their last

Dan Le Sac - oh god this is AWFUL AWFUL X A BILLION - had to review this in new Plan B singles column and aaargh it's like being cornered by a pub bore for hours on end. This year's 'Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen', reams of crap advice and dull platitudes and lazy puns all passing themselves off as wisdom.

Ne*Yo - this is excellent, smooth but bouncy, like Omarion's 'Entourage' - think this will grow on me even more. All the people on the rolling r&b thread love Ne*Yo - I must remember to check out his albums. I think this is the first song I hadn't heard before it entered the top 40, which I was then moved to download.

Mika and Linkin Park oh I cannot be bothered any more. Hang on Linkin Park still release singles? Well well.

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Why is that all in italics? Aaargh html.

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The Mark Ronson one really reminds me of Playgroup - similarly laborious (though I liked Playgroup for a bit when it came out).

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I've never heard Playgroup! Oddly I didn't mind Mark Ronson's first album, though admittedly that was not minding it on the understanding that I'd never have to hear it again.

He produced the Amy Winehouse album which is why this is getting attention I'd guess, though the production is basically the worst thing about that album.

From:

awesomewells.livejournal.com

Lex you HAVE heard the Arctic Monkeys. I sent you a copy of Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor under the guise of Back In Black by the A-Team featuring Grace Jones.

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Haha I remember that! I forgot to listen to it which is a BLESSED RELIEF now. It still resides on Gareth's computer and has not sullied my ears. I can't believe you would have TRICKED ME like that!

Hang on did Grace Jones do a track with the A Team then?

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she was married to Mr T for a while.

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I don't know who that is...

From:

koganbot

Foo!

(Er, you have to know who Mr. T is for that comment to make sense.)

From:

dubdobdee.livejournal.com

yes! they called themselves BAD COMPANY and the track was called "shooting star"

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I thought Matt wasn't lying completely! Is this song good?

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awesomewells.livejournal.com

It is like the Sugarhill Gang with added diva vocals over the top. It's astonishingly good, I can't believe you haven't heard it!

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Well THAT is because SOMEONE lied and sent the wrong song deliberately!

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katstevens.livejournal.com

> reams of crap advice and dull platitudes and lazy puns all passing
> themselves off as wisdom.

YES. I just can't bear this form of smugness - people thinking they are the first ones to ever think 'hey, following the crowd isn't cool, man' and ACTIVELY SNEER at those who do, assuming people only like the Arctic Monkeys or whoever because they are mindless hype-devourers (as opposed to merely lacking in musical adventurousness).

From:

Ben Le Elton ft Get A Scroobius Grip more like.

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This wasn't as bad a track as these comments had led me to fear ~~but then I quite like the Sunscreen song as well~~.

A borderline tick then, but I've decided I shall "follow the crowd" and not do so. The clincher: the "thou shalt not make repetitive music" (repeated several times) line. Get new jokes please.

From:

fathands.livejournal.com

I find the Mika one so incredibly annoying that I leave the room when it comes on the radio. Same goes for Mark Ronson.

From:

jel-bugle.livejournal.com

Mika reminds me of Kamal outta Big Brother from a few years ago.

From:

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

haha omg sooo true!!

From:

awesomewells.livejournal.com

I don't think I've heard any of them except for ...Babies and I share Tom's annoyance at them. Natasha Bedingfield is just a bad popstar I think.

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I ticked Tash. I can understand why ppl get annoyed by "Babies", but for me it is, even after numerous plays, so WTF that it transcends awfulness. (Does that make sense?)

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It's like 'Hollaback Girl', I can totally understand why it would annoy people but they are to be pitied, really.

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I think she's a good pop star! The fact that she's doing this kind of thing at all...but I don't like her pop much/it just bain't for me.

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I didn't even know Shakira and Bouncy had done a song together. Looking forward to hearing this.

Meanwhile, interesting to note that "Chelsea" by Stefy is again not troubling the Top 75 on its umpteenth re-release. This time despite Radio 2 caning it these past few weeks.

From:

koganbot

Xhuxk and

skyecaptain have been at least somewhat enthusiastic for "Chelsea," but so far the song seems like potentially catchy synthpop with too clunky a rock beat and an overmannered girl singer who wishes she were the Pussycat Doll(s) - though I'd probably tick it if it ever made this poll, since she doesn't totally ruin the catchiness.

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shame, i would def. tick 'Chelsea' tho it's average at best.

From:

koganbot

The Linkin Park track is vastly vastly vastly vastly superior to the My Chemical Romance. Vastly. Actually haunting in its fake-goth-eeriness-stuffed-into-a-bag-of-emo way. Lots and lots of tunefulness. Not that I don't have serious issues with the coagulated whine of the singing, and if it ruins the song for you, I understand.

What was supposed to be so great about My Chemical Romance? (Their last single was a lot better, mind you, and would have been ticked. This one I've already deleted from my computer.)

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I agree it's better than the MCR track but it's a lot worse than the Linkin Park stuff I really like - "Numb" and especially "Faint", with its terrific "Toxic"-style string sample.

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As for MCR, the reason I liked "Black Parade" was its Queen-i-ness (a gothy update of Queen, not a homage a la Mika). Not heard that quality in the other stuff from them sadly.

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the MCR must be bad then because this is the worst Linkin Park single yet! none of the impact of even 'Somewhere I Belong'. at least it's not so whiney tho.

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I could only take 60 seconds of this MCR song. They should release "Teenagers" as a single, I love that.

No ticky for Linkin Park either.

From:

piratemoggy.livejournal.com

MCR were AMAZING until I realised it was not all mad pantomime rock music and that they really meant it, which suddenly stopped it meaning anything to me. Which is a shame because I caned their first two albums for about eighteen months pre-university.

I ticked the Linkin Park but that may have been in relief that it wasn't the absolute rubbish of 'Qwerty' more than anything else, since technically can't remember how it goes. They get points for being Linkin Park and therefore allowed to sound like ridiculous idiots, anyway.

From:

Only one extra tick (Ne-Yo), owing to my bar of "not ticking Natasha" setting things fairly high.

Arctic Monkeys - same as ever. Little Man Tate - Arctic Monkeys with lyrics apparently written by an "Instant Jarvis Cocker" program.

Mika and Dan Le Sac - immediate turn off as soon as the voices come in. Speaking of ruined voices, Andy Bell :(

I wd buy a Linkin Park greatest hits album cheap, but I wd skip this track on it.

While leaves Ne-Yo - it feels like it needs to take off and go somewhere, but it never really does: what we have is a very pleasant bit of Lighthouse Family sensitive soul. Unenthused tick.

From:

koganbot

"Give It To Me." I find the Nelly F. part totally aching and fetching and wonderful. Timbo needs to tape his mouth closed (especially given that his 2006 wasn't nearly as good as Storch's). Timberlake is just a pretty boy taking up space on this one. I'm very conflicted (like, does this make my top ten of the year or does it fall below the top 100?), but they do let the Nelly melody carry the song, so it's an emphatic tick.

"Babies." This is being orgasmed over on the teenpop thread, though I don't share the infatuation. Even going bonkers she's still a well-mannnered debutante. She's not an ungracious one, however. I mean, I'm not insulted that she wants to have my baby. And there is life in her etchings, under the mannerisms. I way prefer "Unwritten," but this gets a luna-tick.

"What I've Done." Tick.

"Thou Shalt Always Kill." Funny pissed-off wankers who think their received ideas are provocative, and this misguided conviction actually carries the song. Only Brits pull this off, in my experience. Solid tick.

"Love Today." This is the glam equivalent of a garage rock - Mika tries to come on stylish but is really just a guy posing with a mic in his rec room. Hated the last one, this one I like, maybe even a lot. Good Tick.

"Stop Me." Catchy, not amazing. Tick.

"Liar." Shakira's got this haunted Asian agony mysteriously in the background at the start; disappointing afterwards, but a tick.

"I Could Fall In Love With You." Good tune; don't know why it didn't grab me. Only heard once so my opinion could improve if I hear it again. Near miss.

"Brianstorm." Don't know what went wrong. I quite liked "Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor" and several others, but this time Turner is lost in a thicket of guitars and beats. A botch not a tick.

"Because Of You." In one ear and out the other. Maybe it'd stick on the 50th play, but I'll do my best not to find out. A nap not a tick.

"This Must Be Love." Rueful alienated vocals could be good yoked to some other melody, but they undo the lilt of this one.

From:

I haven't listened to 'Shock Value' properly yet but i was instantly grabbed by 'Way I Are' and would enjoy that as a single - tho the woman on it does sound v J Lo. Tim is probably still the worst thing on it but not actually that bad having said that. don't care for 'Give It To Me' much at all tho.

From:

koganbot

The woman is Keri Hilson (about whom I otherwise know nothing).

The Timbaland album is being streamed at the AOL Listening Party this week. (However, I don't know whether or not the site is accessible from Britain.)

From:

justfanoe.livejournal.com

Timbo: Boring, OK hook. Good singing by Nelly F and Justin. Marginal tick.

Beyonce/Shakira: Very disappointing. Nothing in the song hooks me at all. Boring. No tick.

MCR: Way worse than the last single. Marginal tick. Will listen to it again tonight and may untick.

Natasha Bedingfield: Easy tick. Still my favorite single of the year so far.

Ne-Yo: Smooth R&B. Very catchy and nice. His best single. Easy tick.

Mika: Still annoying. No tick.

Haven't heard the rest. Will try to rectify tonight.

From:

umlauts.livejournal.com

This reminds me but the very last post I wrote on my dead and almost certainly never coming back blog was a review of the Mika album. It was actually more evil, hateful and critical than anything I've read anywhere else. I'm kind of glad it's not readable now. I meant to show it to people (I said "Grace Kelly" was the "most narratively and intellectually vacant piece of pestilential junk to ever go Top Ten". And it is.). But "Love Today" is certainly the least punchable song on it apart from "Relax". Still rub though. I like "Stop Me" and Tashbed quite a bit. If it were 1987 more people would have ticked Erasure, and rightly so.

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