Pop Premiership Week 9 RESULTS (now with reveal)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

strange_powers pronounces.

"Thanks to everyone in the league for sending in these songs, it's made for a few days of truly entertaining listening. Ultimately, decisions were a lot easier than I thought they would be, despite at least two people submitting things that I specifically asked you all not to, and me having to reward them with wins. I knew none of the songs, though I've a fair idea of quite a few of the artists, so it was a cd well worth burning.


01. Atomik Harmonik - "Kdo Trka" Whilst I've got to admire the bonkersness and poppiness of this, I can't claim to enjoy it at all. The first note I wrote upon hearing it reads, "sounds like a Eurovision accident, and not the good kind". It's actually frightening on the third or fourth listen. Brrr. 10th place - LOSE. - European imports flop to leave katstevens in relegation trouble.

02. Toru Takemitsu - "Summer Soldiers": Starts with a weird bing-bong, almost turns into Minnie Ripperton's Loving You before going all mellow jazz. Sounds like Jim O'Rourke or Vincent Gallo or Plush - exactly NOT what I asked for, but it shows how much I know because it's a wonderful alternate universe hit. 3rd place - WIN. - xyzzz_ pulls off an unlikely win.

03. Touriste - "Your Move": Oh no. The opening seconds are okay, but it quickly turns into the sub-Coldplay stuff of my nightmares. No idea who the band is, but I don't mind because it's exactly the type of thing I studiously avoid. I guess that means I ought to find out who's responsible, you can't avoid someone if you don't know who they are, however studiously you attempt it. 11th place - LOSE. - fugitivemotel's 6th straight defeat drags him into relegation fight.

04. Black Devil Disco Club – “Disco N The Devil In Us”: Now here we are - some crazy electronic music. I love the "ya! Hee-e-ow-yee-e-ow-ya!" chorus and the general Kraftwerk bassline route. I'm very keen to know who this is and hear more – great choice. 2nd place - WIN - confident win for alexmacpherson has fans dreaming of play-offs.

05. Sun Ra - "UFO": Now someone's got the big balls, haven't they? I tell you that I don't want Sun Ra, but I'm certain this is Sun Ra, even though I've never heard it before. I was worried when I extracted the files that I'd got a track eight and a half minutes long, but it works beautifully. More like straight pop-funk than anything else I've heard by him, even more than Nuclear War, this is a wonderful winner! Goddamn you, you (u-u-UFO) cocky bastard. 1st place - WIN. - vital win for hauntedballroom to drag her off bottom.

06. Nous Non Plus - "Fille Atomique": Glam stomp intro, ace. The yelps en francaise, ace. The Telstar middle-eight, ace. It stuck in my head quicker than anything apart from number 5… but it leaves me with an uneasy feeling. And the originators of that uneasy feeling are the ghosts of Britpop's Sleeper. It's the queasy definition of a 6th place - DRAW. - inhibitorylinks drops crucial points as lead narrows.

07. AC/DC - "Can't Stand Still": The guitar sound on this is really stark and hypnotic, I'd really love to have a Guitar Hero go at it. When the singer comes in it's clear that this is AC/DC, or a very good imitator - but where does it go? Everything that works for the first thirty seconds replicates and settles down into dull rock boogie. A big disappointment. 8th place - LOSE - dour performance from braisedbywolves side puts them back in relegation dogfight.

08. Alice Cooper - "Teenage Lament 74": I know where this is coming from, but it just doesn't click with me. Nice backing vocals that kind of go all over the place, nice lyrics, and as a Go-Betweens fan this is so close to the things I love… On the Radio 2 scale it's a bit too Bob Harris, not Mark Radcliffe enough for me. 9th place - LOSE. - jel_bugle's best is not enough in disappointing win.

09. Of Montreal – “The Party’s Crashing Us (I Am The World Trade Center Remix)”: I thought it was a Freezepop song for the first few seconds, but it's clearly not when the vocals start. A bit bedroom, but that's a minor criticism when the overall effect is as fun. "The party's crashing us noooow!" Electro studes for the win! 4th place - WIN. - zenith keeps the pressure on league leaders after entertaining win.

10. We Are Scientists - "Lousy Reputation": I quite like this, just not enough. Is it We Are Scientists? It sounds like a single of theirs… It's a great length but and there's excellent frustration in this guys voice, but just a bit pedestrian for my tastes. Stays with you, I admit. 7th place - LOSE. - heartbreak for bengraham after narrow defeat.

11. Tyrannosaurus Rex - "The Sea Beasts": If this isn't T-Rex, it's the best Bolan impersonator I've ever heard doing a T-Rex song I've never heard. It feels like this is somehow a cheap shot, they're an incredibly famous act after all. But then again I submitted Patti Smith first week, so how can I judge? Other than judging this a sneak win, of course. 5th place - WIN - dubdobdee does just enough for the win that keeps him in play-off spot.

Reveal in a couple hours, and just time for a plea for SONGS for this week! I think it's the lowest turnout we've had by this time in the week.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Alice Cooper is not an AC/DC imitator. Unless I was track 11.

I should not send songs I really love :(

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Ah, I knew you probably wouldn't like mine but I thought it was so awesome I'd submit it anyway (my title dreams are over innit).

When the track names are revealed I'll post a link to the video and you will all be amazed.

[zenith.livejournal.com]

PHEW.

[zenith.livejournal.com]

Although I've just realised that this means that this week is (probably) ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL in terms of whether I have a hope of finishing in a top slot. Pressure!

If it had been me...

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Only listened the once so far, but my winners would probably have been the more unusual-sounding tracks:
#1
#2
#5
#11 (I'm guessing this is dubdobdee plugging Unicorn)

with either the one with the French female vocals or the 70s-sounding one - er, was that #8? "Bob Harris" is a bit harsh if so - nabbing the last winner's spot.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Och, so close, but it looks like bengraham's relegation dogfight will go down to the wire.

"7th Place (Track 10), but I felt the lads deserved better - we battled hard and were unlucky to concede so late in the game" said Graham.

You got the artist spot on - it wasn't a single though, so it was one of those where you'd either recognise the artist immediately (in which case you'd have a decent chance of knowing the song too, and I'd end up with a draw), or you wouldn't know artist or song and I felt there was a fair chance you'd like it. Ballacks.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Were you Track 1 then?

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty certain the AC/DC imitator was AC/DC.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Yep! Polka-bosh!

Re: If it had been me...

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I apologise for the poor bitrate quality of #1, I had to rip it off the video on their website. But it was so amazing that I HAD to submit it not because I was stuck for something else at all...

Look like a rooster that was drowned and raised again (and had its head bit off)

[koganbot]

I already know Track Eight, which is not by an AC/DC imitator and is actually one of my least favorites on said non-AC/DC imitator's Greatest Hits (they'd done adolescent pathos much better on their first big hit single), but does have a nice bit where the singer derides his own trousers. Might have gotten my "draw" spot anyway, but I'm going to pretend it's a loss so that I can honor the track that someone upthread confused it with.

Loving nothing this time, though enjoying a whole lot. My 2nd, 3rd, and 4th spots are probably a dead heat.

Winners:
--TRACK TEN: Swishy, sensitive singer w/ aggressive synths and a real-life drummer (I think). Swisher isn't as flamboyant and swishy as his Latino equivalents, except I don't think there are Latino equivalents, so I'll take what I can get.
--TRACK TWO: Wish this guy had set his keyboard timbre on "piano" rather than "vibratory vibes," which make this too precious by half, but I like the basic plinkles and the way they don't quite coalesce into melody. (Might have liked 'em more if they had coalesced into melody, mind you.)
--TRACK FOUR: A great bit of outer space synth-tunery, reminding me of Space's "Magic Fly" (or was that Magic Fly's "Space"?). The singing tends to muddy this up, a kind of vague Africanism - or something - that's, er, too vague, like this sentence.
--TRACK ELEVEN: Sounds like Tyrannosaurus Rex before the name was shortened. Dinosaur gambols gently in the fields.
--TRACK NINE: British haircut pop, can't tell if it's vintage or neo; that I'm uncertain it's the latter speaks in its favor; that I'm uncertain it's the former speaks against it.

[koganbot]

Draw:

TRACK SEVEN: Glammetal screecher on top, crypto disco beat underneath, which was kinda the Young bros. formula, though this beat is blatantly disco rather than cryptically disco. Embarrassed that I can't say for sure who this is, though speculation upthread seems correct.

Re: Look like a rooster that was drowned and raised again (and had its head bit off)

[(Anonymous)]

Man, it's one of my all time favourite Alice Cooper songs! And I have about 12 AC albums!

jel

Re: Look like a rooster that was drowned and raised again (and had its head bit off)

[zenith.livejournal.com]

Track 9 is not British!

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Nope, I'm sure that was not AC/DC -- Alice Cooper sounds more believable, plus I assume 'anonymous' was the one who sent the track, not just a random commentator!

Re: Look like a rooster that was drowned and raised again (and had its head bit off)

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

I'd swear Track 9 is Of Montreal, based on the voice, but I haven't heard much of their stuff before the last album.

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Mixed bunch: some definite likes -- track 4; track 5; track 6 (my winner I think, joyful French disco-pop); track 7; track 9; track 11.

[koganbot]

Losses:

--TRACK SIX: A fuzzy stomp w/ a kooky French woman singing merrily atop it.
--TRACK FIVE: A strangely confused funk, like Earth Wind & Fire deliberately messing-up. Messy funk isn't bad in principle, but no one on this is taking it across emotionally.
--TRACK ONE: I feel like umlauts discursing on Eurovision: "since a lot of the most fun entries which are also great pop songs also tend to have an aspect of the ridiculous to them, a lot of bad entries ham up and play up the silliness which means that you notice that rather than anything else." Not so bad a track, but zero emotion. (I'm not good at recognizing Eastern European languages, but is this the Polish thing that katstevens was all excited about?)
--TRACK THREE: Basic stomp with emo-type vocals. Some bands (FOB, Thursday), or songs, anyway, are getting me to like such vocals, but not this one. I like the song's flamboyant intentions, just not its sound.

Re: Look like a rooster that was drowned and raised again (and had its head bit off)

[koganbot]

It doesn't have to be British to be British haircut pop. Information Society were British haircut pop, and they were from Minneapolis.

Re: Look like a rooster that was drowned and raised again (and had its head bit off)

[zenith.livejournal.com]

You're not wrong - although it's a remix.

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

It sounds so much like AC/DC! If it's not I'll be very surprised. But it's looking like it's not.

Ah, what do I know?

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

I understand, it's a pretty solid response to the Morning Musume track I submitted for you... I just couldn't get with it.

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

I kind of lost concentration in the middle of the Sun Ra (if that's what it was), but I have to admit, up to that point I liked the hated track 3 best of all, although it was clearly a guilty pleasure (and not perfect in its genre).

Track 9 I knew (second submission by this artist) from Fluxblog - great song, though.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I was kind of a guilty fan of Track 3 too.

Work is overwhelming me a bit so reveals may be delayed - sorry.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

FWIW the singer sounded like Bon Scott to me too, although Axl was my very first thought. He didn't sound anything like any Alice Cooper I've ever heard. Not that I've heard much.