The League Of Pop: THE FINAL

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Another experimental format, but of course. Check back every half hour as I count up to the WINNAH. 19 voters in total - about as much as for the Pop World Cup later rounds. I am hoping for higher totals in the Pop Open! But my workload caught up with my marketing (and reviewing!) skills so this was more of an epilogue than a climax to the League.

In fourth place...: TRACK 4: M2M - "Our Song", chosen by koganbot: 2 1st place votes, 4 2nd place votes. In his email when he submitted the song Frank mentioned that he'd sent it to a lot of people before, and indeed this was the only one I even theoretically knew.

In third place...: Track 1: DESTRA - "Independent Ladies", chosen by alexmacpherson: 4 1st place votes, 5 2nd place votes. A bold choice from the Lex, I thought, though this isn't as frenetic as most Soca. I was pleased to see it do well - led the field when I counted the first ten voters.

In second place...: Track 3: COOKIE CREW - "Born This Way", chosen by jeff_worrell: 6 1st place votes, 3 2nd place votes. My personal favourite of the four, keeps its infectious momentum going to the end.

In first place...: Track 2: HERBERT - "Moving Like A Train", chosen by inhibitorylinks: 6 1st place votes, 5 2nd place votes. The best individual performer in the League of Pop and so a worthy winner here, this was the most interesting and more-ish of the tracks for me, but ran out of steam (boom boom) towards the fifth minute. Even so would have got a 2nd place from me.

Well done Scott and thanks to the other three finalists.

Tomorrow you'll get five sexxxxxy traxx (ahem), anonymised and ready to vote on. If I can sort out some streaming media nonsense I will but I'll put them up as a zip too. GIRD YR LOINS.

Comments

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

what is the song that "inspired" this one, the chorus is hella familiar but i couldn't quite place it...

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

BeeGees innit.

This was also the only one I knew (apart from mine).

[koganbot]

The Bee Gees' "Too Much Heaven." Reached number three in Britain, number one in the U.S. and Canada (late '78, early '79). "It had originally been intended for use in the John Travolta movie Moment By Moment, but was pulled before the film's release reportedly because Barry Gibb thought the movie was awful when he was shown a rough cut" (Wikipedia).

Own goal?

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Will my own vote cost me dear?

Re: Own goal?

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

I would have voted for your track instead of Herbert which would have levelled the scores. But I already knew it. Brilliant choice by the way.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

BAH - I'd actually thought of 'Independent Ladies' as my SAFEST bet! It has such a summery, glorious pop tune.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

And 3rd place out of 4 = not doing well :(

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

It was brilliant! Gutted to see this came third - it is so summery and uplifting and confident, I warmed to it as soon as I heard it and loved it more on every listen. Track Three (the only one I knew) was the only one that rivalled this for me. I found M2M a bit wet really, to be honest, and Track Two just seemed a bit too clever by half, whereas Destra was just out there to enjoy herself and it showed.

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

So far it's in accord with my own voting - the M2M track was way too syrupy for me and I just couldn't get away from the Bee Gees version in my head, and Destra was a bit, well, nothing. Not bad but it hardly stuck in my mind... Again, I just kept thinking about Destiny's Child's much more fun Independent Women. It's like calling your song (I Can't Get No) Interaction and expecting you not to think of the Stones.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

One of things I loved about Independent Ladies was it sounds so much FUN compared to Independent Women. Feminism as uplifting and non-threatening to men vs Feminism as sung by scary Fembots. (I do like the DC one by the way though)

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

And hooray, so it finished in line with my votes too! I guessed it was Cookie Crew, and I always liked them a lot, but the Herbert track was something else - like a great lost Moloko record. Wonderful stuff.

[koganbot]

Well, turned out not to need my vote (I'm assuming 2nd place votes only counted for 1) but glad to contribute to Herbert's victory.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yes, I toyed with more abstruse weighting systems but 2 pts for 1st, 1 for 2nd seemed the most sensible in the end.

Moving Like A Train!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I've never heard the original (was saving all of these until after the result) but the Smith'n'Hack rmx is OMG INCREDIBLE.

[koganbot]

Also, did anyone else have the trouble I had playing the Herbert track (would crash my mp3 player about half the times I tried it - like just now - and the player claimed the file was corrupted)? Anyway, really like the chicken scratching guitar and the soul soundtrack interpolations.

Strangely, was the Cookie Crew who didn't really reach me. Maybe this is 'cause I've heard so many amazing rappers from that era - Sharrock, Shanté, Lady B - so my reaction was, "This is nice, but..."

[koganbot]

Also, real disappointed that dickmalone and pot80 weren't taking part, as I was curious as to whether they'd know the M2M, and if not, whether early Marit would surprise the hell out of them. (Marit's the second singer: "My friends say I'm too good, too good for you.")

[koganbot]

Btw, I'd had a great Jamaican early DJ track in mind if I was playing to win. Had picked it for the semifinal battle versus Lex, actually, but then the semis were canceled. Kind of glad I didn't use it, since it'd have made the finals sound even more same-y.

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

i was looking for a cookie crew pic the other day, to make a rubbish LOL80s "i saved you a cookie crew, but i eated it" pic

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

could we think about streaming the tracks for the pop open via FT? might be worth a go, see what the bandwidth usage is like...

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Couldn't place Herbert even though I knew I'd heard it before, so it was good for a first place tick. When I saw who it was I realized it was on a mincetapes mix by Ross, but it still counted toward "can't identify it." Fwiw, every song was great.

Have had multiple convos about "Our Song," in fact it was the subject of Frank's first comment on my blog, IIRC. (He called it greatest teenpop song of all time, at the time I woulda said "Hypocrite" but now I'm questioning that somewhat...don't know what I'd pick now.)

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

(Oh Six! sirens etc. mix here (http://mincetapes.blogspot.com/2006/12/my-style-is-meti-ti-ti-culous-culous.html).)

I didn't vote / I need context

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

The honest truth is that I was pretty nonplussed by everything - with the exception of (what turned out to be) M2M, everything sounded kind of samey (?) to me. (I know that sounds strange, maybe everything was glazed over by indifference.) Even after several listens nothing was really working for me. M2M was okay, but the BeeGees quote just seemed really cheap to me.

I won't say I love the Herbert now - it's still lacks punch - but I feel like I "understand" it much better now. I hate that feeling, though - when knowing who the artist is changes how you feel about the track.

Re: I didn't vote / I need context

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

In the Pop Open we're going to reveal the tracks (though not who submitted them) before voting closes. It'll be interesting to see who votes before the reveals and who after.

My favorite League of Lex/Jeff/Scott songs

[koganbot]

My favorite League Of Pop songs submitted by Lex, Jeff, and Scott that I hadn't previously heard were:

Lex: Tori Amos "Datura"
Jeff: Beenie Man "The Thing"
Scott: Edo Maajka "Prziii"

Koganbot counterrankings are loping along at their own pace.

(Totally unrelated thoughts - or maybe they aren't - but I may end up deciding that Natasha's "Hey Hey Hey" is better than "Umbrella." And I'm preparing to gush over Unklejam tomorrow.)

My favorite League of Pop tracks

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I have just compiled my fourth(!) and final 80 minute "best of" CD-R.

...and this excludes
(a) things I already owned or plan to buy;
(b) the 11 tracks where I was the home player, which got their own dedicated CD; and
(c) a few other tracks that have been set aside for genre-specific mix CDs.

Basically, what I'm saying here is good work everyone! :) Keep up the standard in the Pop Open.

'Curse of Moggy' reports unconfirmed

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I notice that the two I voted first and second are fourth and third. I lose the League even by proxy! Lolz.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Have now heard the tracks! Thoughts, in order:

Cookie Crew: haha all I've been listening to for the past half week is old skool hip-hop b/c of my friend Anna-Marie's 80s block party themed bday party. When I DJed I hadn't heard this song. If I had I may well have played it. It's FUCKING AWESOME.

M2M: I really like this - it's so plush, and nearly beautiful. Would make a great Xmas ballad. I don't love it though: I think I'd prefer it with a different voice. She seems a bit too knowing, or not as invested in the song's sadness/blankness. I imagine her singing it on TV with a smile on her face, winking at the audience.

Herbert: I was expecting to love this - as I said the Smith'n'Hack remix is fantastic - I didn't realise it had, like, vocals. Is that Roisin Murphy? It sounds a bit like her. Loads of good ideas in it and maybe I'm not in the mood right now but I'm finding it very annoying - it doesn't settle, I keep thinking "ffs stay STILL".

Also, I STILL LIKE MINE THE BEST SO NER.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

So if I'd done like Frank, I presume Jeff would have won outright? I must say he is taking this with v good grace, if it had been me I would be stamping my foot and shouting "NOT FAIR", as per my What Would Paris Do? rule.

[inhibitorylinks.livejournal.com]

What a way to start my working day! Thanks all.

I admit I was worried when I heard the calibre of the other tracks, but crazy Herbert prevailed. Lex, the singer on this is Dani Siciliano, who has released two solo albums of her own. She DOES have more than a touch of Roisin about her, doesn't she...

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I have both her solo albums! She's Matthew Herbert's wife.