the most important pop things this week

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

OK all I can see on my last.fm friends page is Radiohead Radiohead Radiofvckingboringhead and I want y'all to STOP IT NOW it is hurting me in my heart! Here is a list of BETTER THINGS.

1. New Sugababes album released on the same day. I haven't heard it yet and would like to hear more about it, but I grow more in love with the single daily and frankly it should have far outstripped R****head as a topic of poptimist discussion. SHAME!

2. 'Bean Pop' by KP is an addictive bouncing southern hip-hop thing. The dancing in the video is brilliant; I like the girl whose top says GO AWAY, and the dance move where they mime popping a pill.

3. I have been waiting for a proper video to emerge for Cassie's 'Is It You?' but have resigned myself to this never happening - nevertheless the song is one of the most fantastic bubblegum things of the year. If you liked Cassie's album you will like this.

3. New Alicia Keys single! I think Alicia has one of the greatest voices around - her albums are both a bit samey but she has a really magnificent string of singles going. 'No One' is no disappointment - she's added a bit of a Mary J rasp to her voice which works very well, the bridge is amazing and the oh-oh-oh-oh-ohs of the outro are finally what make me fall hard for this. Google alicia keys no one site:zshare.net and you'll find it, here's the video.

4. I first heard Durrty Goodz's Axiom EP mixtape last week and it has totally blown me away - nine tight, focused grime bombs, not a wasted moment on the whole thing. This is the only song on youtube, 'Keep Up', and it's terrific - that sing-song flow! That incredible beat! - but there's even better on the album eg 'The Youngers' on which Goodz creates a schoolkid persona and feeds his voice through a machine for it accordingly, 'Give Me The Music' which is this glorious closing track featuring Ny, 'The Weather Man' which is a true banger...

5. Chamillionaire's new video is a MUST-SEE - a nine-minute concept video combining his new single 'Hip Hop Police' (straight-up irresistible hip-hop banger) and 'The Evening News' which is all CURRENT AFFAIRS and POLITICAL - and which works! We get commentary on racism, the Don Imus "nappy-headed hos" incident, Dubya and climate change, and it ends by calling for the APOCALYPSE. It is mad and brilliant.

6. And lastly, Miss Ashley Tisdale is what Aly & AJ would be if they REALLY wanted to take us back to the golden age of Britney copyists - not in sound per se but in aesthetic. 'He Said She Said' features an intro cribbed off Bach, a bubblegum rap chorus and a totally catchy melody. Five years ago this would have been a shoe-in for the top 10, now it appears we have to murder Jo Whiley for this to happen. I'm up for that!

There! No excuses now.

Comments

[koganbot]

So, incredibly, "Potential Breakup Song" is only my third-favorite single by a Disney artist this year, after "Not Like That" and Miley Cyrus's "See You Again."

(But Disney is dulling music out in a lot of other ways, unfortunately.)

Somewhat off-topic, but if you're interested here's an Ken Tucker radio review of Insomniatic. Has some crap about Aly & A.J. not being puppets because they write their own material, and the early Michael Jackson 1980s being an "innocent" time (as I said over on rolling teenpop, sometimes you wonder how it is that culture critics managed to graduate from nursery school), but also some good analysis of the lyrics and music.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if "Bullseye" (http://youtube.com/watch?v=vEtgDE09UA4) was ever actually released as a single, but if so it would probably get my vote before "Potential Break-up."

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

the HUH is deeply weird and I'm really not sure why it's there! but year the rest of the song is terrific and immediately after the HUH they launch into some quite spectacular wall-of-sound production so it's all good.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

There's a review in the Guardian today which gives it 4 stars, particularly praises the lyrics, then gives all the credit to "Their songwriting/production team" - so that would be....Aly and AJ, then?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Haha yeah I saw that too - though to be fair I often get promos with no credits and have to hazard a guess at stuff like that, but yeah it's ironic given how auteurish and serious Aly & AJ are about songwriting.

Was also pleased that Róisín Murphy's album got a good review - had pitched for that myself. It's really, really incredibly good.

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

To be fair, half the songs are co-written by and the album is entirely produced by Antonina Armato/Tim James, who are currently probably my favorite songwriting/production team working in pop music right now. I suspect they probably have as much to do with the quality of the album as do A&A (though A&A have a lot to do with it too).