GUMPH

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Do you want to see the NME's top 50 tracks of 2007? Do you? Do you? You DON'T?? Then don't click below the cut eh?

50 Biffy Clyro - Living Is A problem Because Everything Dies
49 Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!
48 QOTSA - Sick, Sick, Sick
47 Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position
46 Richard Hawley - Tonight The Streets Are Ours
45 Black Lips - Bad Kids
44 CSS - Off The Hook
43 Kate Nash - Foundations
42 The Enemy - It's Not OK
41 MIA - Boyz
40 The Horrors - She Is The New Thing
39 Late of The Pier - Bathroom Gurgle
38 Lightspeed Champion - Galaxy Of The Lost
37 The White Stripes - Icky Thump
36 The Hives - Tick Tick Boom
35 Bloc Party - The Prayer
34 XX Teens - Darlin'
33 Cold War Kids - Hang Me Out To Dry
32 Those Dancing Days - Those Dancing Days
31 Gallows - Abandon Ship
30 Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Let's Make Out
29 Jarvis - Don't Let Him Waste Your Time
28 Björk Earth Intruders
27 Howling Bells - Low Happening
26 Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running
25 Kings of Leon - Charmer
24 The Gossip - Standing In The Way of Control
23 Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
22 Klaxons - It's Not Over Yet
21 SFA - Run Away
20 Dizzee Rascal - Sirens
19 Santogold - LES Artistes
18 Hadouken! - That Boy That Girl
17 MIA - Jimmy
16 Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent
15 Battles - Atlas
14 Black Lips - O Katrina!
13 Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
12 Foals - Hummer
11 Grinderman - No Pussy Blues
10 LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum
9 Arcade Fire - Intervention
8 Foals - Mathletics
7 Arctic Monkeys - Brianstorm
6 The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
5 Rihanna - Umbrella
4 The Teenagers - Homecoming
3 The Cribs's - Men's Needs
2 Glasvegas - Daddy's Gone
1 Klaxons - Golden Skans

Do you think you can do better? Then vote in the Poptimists end of year nominations poll - I will start doing thee actual polls tomorrow so get yr suggestion in NOW: http://community.livejournal.com/poptimists/489167.html

Comments

Explain Me These, O The Kids

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Here are the ones where I've not even heard of the band - what sort of thing do they do? ("Go and look on Youtube grandad")

The Ting Tings
Foals
Santogold
Howling Bells
Those Dancing Days
XX Teens (one X away from ungoogleability, phew)
Lightspeed Champion (this is a wikipedia band meme thing isnt it)
Late Of The Pier

Re: Explain Me These, O The Kids

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

You're not missing anything.

At least they had the decency to put Los Campesinos! in the top 50. Wrong song though.

Re: Explain Me These, O The Kids

[celentari.livejournal.com]

Foals are bleepy and guitars and ting and once got a glass in the face onstage from a mate who used to go out with one of them.

Re: Explain Me These, O The Kids

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Santogold sounds interesting - Bjork recommended her in that Observer thing.

The list is terrible obv. I hope T2's success is going to usher in a NEW ERA which will purge our lives of this shit, hopefully w/ the aid of knives.

Good songs there: 'Umbrella', 'Back To Black, 'Jimmy', 'Earth Intruders'. How anyone can think 'Sirens' is better than 'Pussyole' is beyond me.

Re: Explain Me These, O The Kids

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Might be the video? The actual song grew on me a lot but video aside it's nowhere near Pussy'ole. (Or "Flex")

I feel a bit sorry for Lethal Bizzle as his brazen selling out seems to have had zero traction!

Re: Explain Me These, O The Kids

[martinv.livejournal.com]

Howling Bells - kind of droney but tuneful guitar rock, Low Happenign is a good tune (released in 2006), boring live.

Lightspeed Champion. Dev from pseudo trendy no-marks Test Icicles (ugh) going solo and acoustic and all serious like. Quite bad.

Late of the Pier. From somewhere in the midlands. Guitars with some bleeps/beats thrown on top. Pretty weak.

Re: Explain Me These, O The Kids

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

dere god, I'd forgotten the Ice Testicles.

Re: Explain Me These, O The Kids

[miss-newham.livejournal.com]

My friend who loves Kristin Hersh and Kate Bush rates Howling Bells, so I think they are that sort of thing.

At least 'Umberella' is in the top five. The kids are not lost!

Re: Explain Me These, O The Kids

[martinv.livejournal.com]

I didn't think I knew the Tings Tings but 'That's Not My Name' is actually a quite catchy slab of novelty indie with a 'My Sharona' beat behind it. Not entirely unpleasant, if a bit irritating.

Re: Explain Me These, O The Kids

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

XX Teens came up at work once. The rest haven't, so I can only assume they weren't played on the radio at all, or have very good publishing deals.

Re: Explain Me These, O The Kids

[martinv.livejournal.com]

At least 4 of them have received heavy rotation on 6music/ evening Radio 1/2.

Not that I think that means they're actually any good, obv, in case you thought that was my point...

Re: Explain Me These, O The Kids

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

ting tings: that "that's not my name" single is STUPIDLY catchy, i seem to recall singing it for most of glastonbury. will have to find it for future poptimism i reckons.

foals: gtry indie noncesense

santogold, howling bells, those dancing days: NO idea

XX teens: previously xerox teens, nu rave shoreditch electro stuff

lightspeed champ: heard OF but no idea rly

late of the pier: ???

Re: Explain Me These, O The Kids

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

Those Dancing Days are very very highly recommended from me. In fact I posted about them on ITG before they'd even released anything. Also the Howling Bells song is really good, but I don't like their others much. The singer of The Ting Tings used to be in a very good band called Dear Eskimo, but her new group is just OK in my opinion - still it's good to see her doing well.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Other thoughts:

- The NME's remit continues to be depressingly tight.
- On the other hand they're doing a good job in getting in ahead of the next stage in the diffusion curve: someone like me SHOULDN'T have heard of most of the stuff theyre covering and it's only the Pitchfork gig that means I have paid enough attention to know of any of these.
- Dunno if it's that song, but the Teenagers made the only record to actually offend me this year so props to them I guess.
- On the other hand if the Cribs' mildly hooky Strokes rip is the THIRD BEST TRACK OF THE YEAR then we're all doomed (and I quite LIKE it)
- I still have not heard Grinderman on principle.

[martinv.livejournal.com]

I like about 17 of those tracks, have heard 30ish.

8 are in my provisional top 50 and 2 more might be now I've been reminded of them.

Gossip and Howling Bells are 2006 singles in my book.

In general: meh.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

like
46 Richard Hawley - Tonight The Streets Are Ours
44 CSS - Off The Hook
35 Bloc Party - The Prayer
28 Björk Earth Intruders
26 Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running
23 Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
20 Dizzee Rascal - Sirens
16 Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent
15 Battles - Atlas
13 Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
9 Arcade Fire - Intervention

unsure
47 Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position
43 Kate Nash - Foundations (INSTRUMENTAL)
41 MIA - Boyz
37 The White Stripes - Icky Thump
29 Jarvis - Don't Let Him Waste Your Time
27 Howling Bells - Low Happening
24 The Gossip - Standing In The Way of Control (booored now)
17 MIA - Jimmy (it irks me a bit that people seem to prefer this to her other stuff)
11 Grinderman - No Pussy Blues
10 LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum
7 Arctic Monkeys - Brianstorm
5 Rihanna - Umbrella
1 Klaxons - Golden Skans

dislike
25 Kings of Leon - Charmer
22 Klaxons - It's Not Over Yet
3 The Cribs's - Men's Needs

haven't heard!
50 Biffy Clyro - Living Is A problem Because Everything Dies
49 Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!
48 QOTSA - Sick, Sick, Sick
45 Black Lips - Bad Kids
42 The Enemy - It's Not OK
40 The Horrors - She Is The New Thing
39 Late of The Pier - Bathroom Gurgle
38 Lightspeed Champion - Galaxy Of The Lost
36 The Hives - Tick Tick Boom
34 XX Teens - Darlin'
33 Cold War Kids - Hang Me Out To Dry
32 Those Dancing Days - Those Dancing Days
31 Gallows - Abandon Ship
30 Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Let's Make Out
21 SFA - Run Away
19 Santogold - LES Artistes
18 Hadouken! - That Boy That Girl
14 Black Lips - O Katrina!
12 Foals - Hummer
8 Foals - Mathletics
6 The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
4 The Teenagers - Homecoming
2 Glasvegas - Daddy's Gone

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Off The Hook is awesome but I didn't even realise it had been released as a single! Out of the 'indie' stuff then I quite like Golden Skanks, Flourescent Adolescent and Icky Thump, and have barely heard the rest. MIA/Winehouse/Rihanna etc don't really count :)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

golden skanks sounds like an amazing ho-rap collective!

[koganbot]

On the Rolling Teenpop! thread we were shocked to learn that some of us had never heard Los Campesinos! Apparently Los Campesinos! (!) are better than some other bands on this list, though only some of us could vouch for this, as some of us have no idea who Los Campesinos! (!!) are, or what they sound like!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

They're perky Glaswegian indiepop - a little too perky for my own liking.

(Actually they may not be from Glasgow, I just assume they are cos they're Scottish indiepoppers)

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

= glasgw

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Hahaha oops. Shows how much attention I pay.

But they are perky!!

[cis.livejournal.com]

they're perky and they love their indie! i heard some interview with someone out of the campesinos that made me love him dearly for how happily he blethered on about loving, like, kenickie and huggy bear and heavenly and the teen-c revolution, but sadly it didn't magically make me like their music like i'd hoped it would.

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

Rolling Teenpop thread is secretly now Rolling Year End 2007 Prediction Poll thread, for some reason. I'm not complaining.

[lastclearchance.livejournal.com]

"You! Me! Dancing!" (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nj6SO_yKMe8) is super-perky indeed; it's also 6:15 long, although the first 1:15 is a crescendo of guitars, violin, and cymbals, and then the bass drum kicks in, and then everything else cuts out, and then the guitar plays the hook. There's a prominent glockenspiel; I think all seven sing the chorus; the male vocalist talks over the song near the end. It's just a glut of indie-pop signifiers I guess. I'm kind of a sucker for it, to be honest, but I played it out when I first heard it in January and haven't really thought about it since.

It's funny that they have this epic of an indie-pop song when the other tracks on the EP average at under two minutes.

Not sure why sw00ds was lauding "Death to Los Campesinos!" on rolling teenpop; I haven't really seen or heard many people talking about it, and it's a non-single, and it's not that great really either.

The other Los Campesinos! song that people were talking about is their single "The International Tweexcore Underground," (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG72H5PcGg0) which features the lyric "I never cared about Henry Rollins/ Amelia Fletcher never meant anything to me" (naturally, they then cover Black Flag and Heavenly for the single's b-sides). But even then people were talking about the lyrics more than the song (although this one was the only song of theirs that charted).

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

I'm always puzzled that they seem to like Kate Nash. I'm sure they shouldn't - she always seems to me like someone they ought to dislike on principle. What's the world coming to when you can't trust the NME anymore, eh? Eh!?

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

NB This is not my opinion on Kate Nash, just my horribly prejudiced 30-summat view of the NME.

AAAAARGH!

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I know this may be the least of the above's crimes but how could anyone even LIKE that Kings of Leon song, let alone put it at #25 of all songs this year!?