The Pop Open Group G - INJUSTICE

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

This week's group is the fiendish INJUSTICE - well done to all participants for finding their tracks. As before, you can download the tracks from sendspace - http://www.sendspace.com/file/o2sn93 (it's a 38Mb file) - or stream them at Freaky Trigger: http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2007/06/pop-open-week-3/ (make sure you play each track individually so you know which they are!)

Pick your favourite two and vote for them below - BUT! you can't vote for any you already know. Closing date for votes is next Monday - 12 noon GMT.

[Poll #1010274]

I'll reveal what the tracks are on Thursday. This week's players are alexmacpherson, celentari, hauntedballroom, lockedintheatti, and ruudboy. (Also - can piratemoggy choose her group for next round? Thanks!)

Also - what would YOU have submitted?

Comments

[inhibitorylinks.livejournal.com]

All of these were pretty good actually, though my two winners came out pretty easily. It's a shame about the track I already knew, as I definitely would have given it my vote.

Is it here that we can talk about what we might have submitted were we to play in this round?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yes! I forget that EVERY WEEK :(

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

This looked like the hardest group but I'm not sure it really was - lots of songs by people who feel hurt, wronged etc.

I think I might have submitted "Shack Up" by Banbarra - it's about a (perceived) injustice and also it's unjust that everyone knows the much worse A Certain Ratio version. Along similar lines, the Valentine Brothers' "Money's Too Tight To Mention". But both of those are still QUITE well known.

[inhibitorylinks.livejournal.com]

The song that instantly came to my mind was "Not Fair" by Kate Havnevik, which shows no hesitation in chucking small string ensembles all over the place. This = a good thing.

While I think it's terribly gorgeous, it took me more than a few listens to get into it, so I don't know if it would have been suitable for something like the Pop Open. I don't know how well-known she is, either.

(I still think Injustice was easier than Religion...time will tell, I guess)

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

I would have killed to be in Injustice. (Though not anyone in Poptimists.)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Religion strikes me as being v easy but then maybe I've listened to a disproportionate amount of pop stars with Catholic guilt. Injustice never struck me as that hard either though!

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

I found it hard! in fact, I'm changing my song to something that I think some peopel will know but not THAT many and I think lots of people will LOVE IT.

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

I found it hard, too, but I probably wasn't as broad-minded as I could've been (actually I think my track could have gone into any group).

Last night I ran across something I thought would've been perfect for Injustice, although it escapes me at the moment. There's always Metallica's "And (In)justice for All," though... :)

[mcatzilut.livejournal.com]

That's definitely been a concern for me... I'm pretty sure my track could've been in Love or Sex. It just happens to be in Passion.

[koganbot]

I'd have picked the "MTA" by the Kingston Trio in the hope that not too many of you would have known it. Charlie brings a dime to the train but you pay when you get off and they'd just raised the fair to fifteen cents, so he couldn't get off the train. So he rides forever, like the Flying Dutchman or something. (Wouldn't have won the round, but would have amused people.)

[koganbot]

Liking this round most by far; the injustice here is that I can't vote for all five. Several sound like one genre while having a touch of another. E.g., first track is straight-up funk but feels African, somehow, something loping in its motion. Second is powerful Dance-Oriented-Rock but with tinkle melody stuff in the background that reminds me of Crime Mob (a scrappy crunk group, not art school like these people). Third track starts like debutante country but gets boshier and boshier as it continues and things go worse for the heroine. Reminds me of that Stones song ("Flight 505"), where Mick is feeling restless so he books a flight to anywhere and ends up in the middle of the sea. Track Four is a good little lounge bossa nova, track five is powerful and grimey and I'm with it.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Ha! Funny you should say African, for the first.

Lucky I'm not voting in this b/c I'd have no idea how to interpret knowing/not knowing some of these.

- One of them is by someone I seem to be alone in being sceptical about, and which I only recognised b/c someone quoted a lyric of it to me yesterday. I had never heard it though and would not have recognised the singer.

- One of them I know b/c I was sent a beardo disco album the other week with a cover/re-edit of it on it, inc credits of the original. This may not even be the original actually, it may be another cover/remix of it! But I know the song.

- One of them is by a singer I recognised instantly, but a song I don't know.

- One of them has a very uh idiosyncratic title, and a recognisable singer - I was intending to track it down when it was released but never got round to it. I can work it out but had never heard it before.

- And the other one is mine, and I prefer it to all the others :)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Obviously those aren't in order!

OR ARE THEY!

(They're not.)

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Don't know any of these, but can identify the track 4 artist. That track is also the only one so far to really grab me. But tbh I don't know what I'll vote for yet.

Is it me or do the Pop Open tracks have a different feel to the LoP submissions (by and large)? Perhaps it's something to do with the weather.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Didn't keep up with LoP like I shoulda, but what was interesting about it was how people catered to what (they perceived to be) an individual's taste, where there's a huge consensus factor here (1) limiting well-known tracks that many people might know (even if you know a specific Poptimist who probably won't know it, making it a good LoP play, e.g. "Teenagers") and (2) trying to feel out the crowd.

Interesting turning point in this was the LoP final, where koganbot played what would have been a great individual track but wasn't a consensus pick, whereas the other tracks were more like a bridge to the Pop Open, very feelgood but none that could really win me over like a surprise in LoP (from the scattered tracks I heard of it). One interesting criterion to emphasize in the PO future might be which track is the closest to a given category, which only factored into my decision making this time around. Not sure what that would do to the competition.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The way it's set up (3 qualify from 5) ought to mean that a great non-consensus track can get through on the enthusiasm of the kind of people who will rate it. This will be a bit less true of rounds 2 and 3 (where it's 2 from 4) tho.

One interesting thing about the Pop Open vs League Of Pop, speaking with my insider knowledge, is that I've known a LOT more tracks, proportionally, from the Pop Open. This is probably because as the community founder my tastes align with the community's more than most individual members' tastes do.

The proportion of great-tracks-must-keep is about the same too. Annoyingly, most of the great-tracks-must-keep seem to be in my own group.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Didn't know any of these but feel like I might recognize the singers behind Track 3 and Track 4 after I see the reveal. Liked the Afropop-ish Track 1 best, also signified INJUSTICE most directly to me (first time theme has actually been an issue in this series!), except maybe for Track 5 which was my borderline #2 (went for Track 3 instead). Track 2 and 4 were also nice but tied for third (or something). My fave round so far, but the Stush track is my #1 keeper from the Open so far.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Can I have the noughties, please? I have to choose for byebyepride, too, don't I? In which case he can have the eighties.

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

My two clear favourites were sadly ones I knew. The other three I quite liked but none of them really grabbed me, but I felt the two I picked were strong enough that I'd quite like to listen to them again even after a few listens.

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

I would have picked "Indians" by Anthrax.

[celentari.livejournal.com]

I cannot tell, based on people's descriptions, which one is even my track. Oh dear.

Am I allowed to vote? Is it bad form to vote for your own track?

[celentari.livejournal.com]

Wait, of course I can't vote for my own track, due to, unsurprisingly, knowing it already. Hear that oozing sound? That's my brain dribbling slowly out of my ears, that is.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

I wans't sure I whether I was allowed to vote or not, but I did anyway because I liked one of the others so much. I'll now be very annoyed with myself for being so stupid if my vote for someone else pushes me into the bottom two.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Players in a group are allowed to vote but (as celentari deduces!) not for their own track. Whether it's WISE to vote is another matter entirely.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

I've just come back from glastonbury, so I wasn't thinking straight. Can I retract my vote?!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Sure - just re-fill in the poll and leave the boxes blank, I'll forget otherwise.

[koganbot]

I was really torn as to what to vote for; all came through with grooves and tunes, so it came down to the vocals, with 1 ending up too diffuse, and 2 (which has a really good melody) sounding disconcertingly pale. (Are these people Swedish?) The number 5 woman grabbed me right away, was my number one. Which left the battle for second between 3 and 4; both great stories of injustice, the number 4 woman in good voice and having a good beat, number 3 not quite as strong but pleasingly plaintive, and she eventually got my vote 'cause number 4 went on too long and the stylization lost its impact.

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

I knew two songs Tracks Two and Four, one of which would definitely have been my top pick. Otherwise, I'm convinced I know who track four is by but I've never heard the song. If it is who I think it is, and it's from this person's new album, then I'm sold. Track One is a great stomping blinder, too. Track Five is bloody awful.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I'd be more than a little surprised if track four is from a new album!! I think you mean three :)

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

Sh1t, typo. You're correct! I don't know track three, I do know four.

Violins, violins, is the only thing that will make you see sense

[koganbot]

Track 5 also gets my vote for its excellent violins-as-violence move.

Re: Violins, violins, is the only thing that will make you see sense

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Yes, that was the one that jumped out at me, too. Saving my voting until the last moment, b/c I was listening money tracks just today and realized that I actually quite liked one of the songs but it only really grabbed me when I heard it totally randomly and out of "which of these five songs do I like best" context.

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

The only ones I like here are the ones I already knew. In fact I haven't liked many of the Pop Open songs so far, Piratemoggy's from last week being a great exception. My tastes seem to be very different to a lot of people playing this game, even though I couldn't really be more pop-oriented. It doesn't give me much hope for my chances in Death week, even though my song is brilliant.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I've liked LOADS more of the Pop Open tracks than the League of Pop ones so far!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I've liked about the same.

Jessica you will like my track in your group. You will also know it :(

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

I can guess what it is already but better not say! And if it is what I think, I considered it, and will be very annoyed if you beat me. I will let you know...

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

I kind of feel like Jessica - I think my "narrow" pop tastes are reasonable close to hers - although I actually find that my opinion on a lot of stuff really only matures after I've had time to live with the music more.

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

Well, that probably makes sense cos I've found there's too much rap/reggae/stuff for me. There have been one or two of those types I've liked but I'd like to hear more of other types of pop music.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The Money group was very reggae-weighted. There are definitely groups Lex will like less, put it that way.