I'm not sure I really know what you mean by poppist!! The Stefani album and the Robyn album were made to be chart-toppers, in specific territories, and successfully. (Robyn went straight to no. 1 in Sweden I think). Fannypack surely don't think they will be a big-seller? Stefani was a big major label investment (and a risk, given slightly chancey track record of No Doubt in the random radio hit / movie spin-off world, and Gwen's guest appearance cred only) so I feel tries to cover all bases. It's an odd combination of pulling out all the stops but also taking some kind of chance, since I can't think of an immediately comparable album although there may be analogies for particular tracks. Robyn (if I'm reading it right) is a singer-breaks-free album, with trusted production team, so the risks are on her money, not a big record company's. I like the idea (i.e. my fantasy) that this stuff is not the exception but the norm in Sweden, though, so this particular combination seems a bit less haphazard and more chart-tastic (in a way it couldn't be here, I think -- something would jar with the rest of the radio 1 playlist wouldn't it, some Scando-pop sensibility that doesn't match the English pop palate?). And I think of Fannypack as boho swengali pop, one eye on the hipsters they slag off, the other on their record collections.
So I guess I think of the Fannypack feel as closer to pop-ist in the FT sense; i.e. emerging from a hipster-type ghetto as pop advocacy; Robyn as an attempt at a mature artist album in a more (euro-)pop-ist context; Gwen S. as the real oddity, but I suppose really just a calculated gamble (hence spread of styles) on what might sound right in 2005 -- and backed with massive marketing too hedge bet.
So pop-ism in the eye of the beholder / ear of the listener; i.e. we reconfigure them to hear the junction points. But my guess would be that the rationales behind the pop-sound of each record is totally distinct, so a curious contingency, no phenomenon.
*Maybe* there's something in the 'authenticity' all played out (but only in the mainstream, clearly alive and kicking in ALL the big scenes / genres (rock, hip-hop), but maybe that's because it's what they thrive on.) Actually trance -- i.e. my happy hardcore theory -- may be the only British genre that treads the kitsch line so closely.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Dissenting voice.
Date: 2005-07-19 11:08 am (UTC)So I guess I think of the Fannypack feel as closer to pop-ist in the FT sense; i.e. emerging from a hipster-type ghetto as pop advocacy; Robyn as an attempt at a mature artist album in a more (euro-)pop-ist context; Gwen S. as the real oddity, but I suppose really just a calculated gamble (hence spread of styles) on what might sound right in 2005 -- and backed with massive marketing too hedge bet.
So pop-ism in the eye of the beholder / ear of the listener; i.e. we reconfigure them to hear the junction points. But my guess would be that the rationales behind the pop-sound of each record is totally distinct, so a curious contingency, no phenomenon.
*Maybe* there's something in the 'authenticity' all played out (but only in the mainstream, clearly alive and kicking in ALL the big scenes / genres (rock, hip-hop), but maybe that's because it's what they thrive on.) Actually trance -- i.e. my happy hardcore theory -- may be the only British genre that treads the kitsch line so closely.