poptimists | League Of Pop Week 9 NOMINATIONS (Reply)

I got the zip files for Week 8 off in the wee hours of this morning - will post them separately a bit later. Full house again, except for

epicharmus who has the excuse of furthering the cause of pop at the EMP. I picked a track that he put on a CD-R for me once: it doesn't remotely fit

skillextric's criteria but I'll be interested to see how it does anyway.

Meanwhile, Week 9!

strange_powers is still in a strong position in the Pop Premiership, while

byebyepride is in a relegation battle in the Chart Championship. Neither of which has anything to do with their intros, which you can read under the cuts:

strange_powers says: "Hi, I'm strange_powers. Aged 31. A man. Read lots, film buff, play games, watch tv. I'm sure you get the picture. And I love the pop - but what kinds of pop I WILL TELL YOU NOW.

1) Laser guided pop - made by geniuses doing mad experiments whilst trying to discover the heart of pop music: The Magnetic Fields, Beach Boys, Dr Dre, Bob Dylan
2) Guitar pop/rock - melodic, either clever/clever, clever/stupid or stupid/stupid: The Shins, New Pornographers, Rocket From the Crypt, The Ramones, The Go-Betweens
3) The big song - Power! Scope! Drama!: Scott Walker, Neil Diamond, Neil Hannon, Sinatra, the work of Jimmy Webb
4) Yacht Rock - the smooth sounds of the good life, hiding an evil edge: Steely Dan, Hall and Oates, 10cc.
5) Disco - will it make me dance? Giorgio Moroder and everything after: Madonna, PSB, Timbaland, Missy, LCD Soundsystem

I love Godspeed and Mogwai and Slint and Sun Ra yet I maintain that there is no place for them here. I embrace past and future with equal passion. I have a pretty big record collection, but a ear that never forgets and a really long and very, very big memory."

byebyepride says: "Hello. My name is Alex. I am old enough that I no longer dream about sex, I only dream about dreaming about sex. Sometimes I think that I think too much and dance too little, and then I realise that if thinking is the problem then I'm not going to be able to think the problem away. Then I tell myself that dancing is really thinking, if only we could get rid of that pesky mind/body problem. Sometimes I say fuck it and dance in my study anyway. I have perverse and unaccountable tastes which change on a daily basis, much to the irritation of my long-suffering beloved. Don't be misled by the fact that I am named after a Go-Betweens song -- I meant the sentiments literally when I signed up. I have recently been diagnosed as suffering from indie guilt, and am waiting for the medication to take effect. Sometimes I think I might be one of those terrible poptimists they are saying such bad things about. Then I met you lot and realised that I probably wasn't. I have nearly induced a breakdown in the HMV at Oxford Circus by trying to take seriously the idea that all the music in the store must be good.

Five things I like:

1) WOMEN. I used to have this trouble with girls that if I fancied you, I would like you, and if I liked you, I would fancy you: I still have it, but it's restricted to women in music, pretty much: certainly, if you're on stage I definitely want to sleep with you. So singers that make me fall in love with them.

2) GLACIAL. things that go click bleep whirr and then click some more. I have every mille plateaux 'Clicks and Cuts' compilation CD, but can't tell any of the tracks apart.

3) KERRANG. pop-metal and metallic pop. When I was at boarding school I wrote two letters home. The first to ask her to send me my favourite stuffed animal, since I was lonely at night. The second to ask her to send me the money for a limited edition Dog's D'amour 10". I used to sip cans of coke imagining I was Axl Rose, and lie in bed listening to LA Guns or Circus of Power on my walkman wondering when my life would begin. Then I got into indie and learnt to repress my feelings. Years later, I escaped from the cult. We put on a club night a few weeks back but ended up just playing 'More than a Feeling' over and over and over.;

4) BOOM BOOM BOOM. in the words of the great

dubdobdee, 'I am a ho for bosh'.

5) OLD SCHOOL: anything that reminds me of the sounds of the 80s, especially lo-fi rent-a-synth mumblings, hi-gloss pop tack, electro beats and party rap."

[Poll #971631]