A Year In Pop: 27

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

A slightly belated run-down of this week's new entries, polled more out of duty than excitement this week I have to admit (tho I haven't heard most of these). Shower them with your ticks (or just tick one of the last two boxen and be done with it).

[Poll #1019347]

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I was wondering when this would be! Unusually I seem to have ticked MOST of them.

Puff and Faith is classic enough that not even Dianadeath can sully it. Never understood why it was hated so; it's all about Faith's delivery, innit.

Natasha Bedingfield - I love the way she plays with "clichés of modern womanhood" b/c there is so much hot air and bullshit around whether women do feel or should feel or conform to so many things (broodiness, incurable romanticism &c &c) and it's such a minefield and so hard to deal with elegantly; so what Natasha does is cut through it all, forget about elegance, and pretty much put it all out there. It'd be easy to dismiss her as jumping into the Bridget Jones box but she's greater than that

Bobby Valentino - I have been conflicted about this, but the conflict is whether I LOVE it or merely like it. It sounds pretty-pretty-pretty, all that twinkling high-end and twitchy beats; Timba's cameo is for once actually beneficial to the song ("is your name Mary Ann? Or Kathy Lee?"). But it doesn't grab me in the way that eg Lloyd's boy-r&b does, or indeed Bobby V's own gorgeous 'Slow Down' from the other year. Maybe the hook is a teensy bit lacking in oomph

Interpol - same as ever I see! I would like to hear their new album, to see if I love it like I loved their first, or get bored with it, as per their second. It's a template I have a lot of time for though - not the boring people they're copying but the way in which they do it, ie completely stylised and soulless

NYPC - this actually sounds really crap when listened to sober and in your bedroom, but I have danced to it enough in clubs that I really should tick it

The other two - No. Go away

Doves don't wear shoes

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

On listening thru via YouTube Timbaland and Bobby is the only one getting an extra tick (Puffy got one anyway) - it always threatens to turn into something amazing but doesn't really do it. Still good tho.

The others - in order of closeness to tickage.

New Young Pony Club - I quite fancy the keyboard player on the video BUT this is just a bit too blank and cynical to get a tick despite its discoishness. Enjoy yrselves more!!

Interpol - I don't actually HATE them but I can't imagine what anyone gets out of them. "Soulless and stylised" sounds like a put-on, Lex, sorry. As usual they run out of song well before they run out of time.

Tashbed - Really not getting the love for this - she's a rotten singer and this is a dreary whinge.

Alibi vs Rockefeller - even I'm not going to hand a tick to this tripe.

Mesh 29 - the only clip I can find is an awful open air live performance which seems to be attended by nobody. Very poor indeed, I assume there's a local fanbase been mobilised somewhere, or it's Prince Harry's indie side project or something.

Re: Doves don't wear shoes

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Natasha B sings as though she's only just got back from a good bracing run - her breathlessness really grates by the end of the album but on a song-by-song basis tends to emphasise her words-just-spilling-out-of-my-mouth quality

Re: Doves don't wear shoes

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Interesting take on NYPC - I like them precisely because, unlike all the other 'sexy' synth acts who come across as impossibly detached, NYPC seem to actually be having fun.