Another Year In Pop: 2

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Now Leon is gone, and Basshunter rules the roost. But what else is going on in our beloved charts this week?

[Poll #1121009]

Comments

Chicago Day on the British charts

[koganbot]

Lupe Fiasco f. Matthew Santos "Superstar" - Less Santos would be better (voice kinda dumb and emotive like Patrick Stump's, gets me tired of that melody, but the melody is pretty good); I like Lupe's rapping on this: the idea is a cliché (star system is soulless, watch out!) but he's choosing words that are vivid. Has strong details (see Lex's writeup) even if he doesn't know what to do with the details. I like the rhythm of his voice, hitting the backbeat every time around but also getting to the next beat fast enough so that he's not hammering the backbeat to death. I could get tired of this, but not yet. Tick.

Kanye West "Homecoming." I always like his voice, but he's not finding the words to give me much sense of this siren Wendy. But as Lex says, this does give a feeling of wrongs needing to be righted, kids back home wanting to rap to stardom without knowing what to rap about, while Kanye's international success creates a gap between whatever'd grounded him when he was back home with Wendy. A kinda obvious sentiment, though. Chris lowkeying in his background singing, not bad but... lowkey. I'm not getting the overwhelming sense of loss and redemption from the Lake Michigan line that Lex does. I knew someone and we were sitting in the park along Lake Michigan right at the point where it curves east, and I haven't seen her for 32 years and I owe her apologies, so maybe the line will hit me if I'm flying into Chicago someday. Tick, mainly for trying to be about something and for Kanye's voice as it tries to tell a story. I'm giving him and Lupe an A for effort.

Robyn "Be Mine!" - A for everything.

Oystar "I Fought The Lloyds" - Positive message, but this is so wimpy and I guess it's supposed to be funny but there is not one moment of wit, no playfulness in the words, no joy in sounds. Who's buying this? (If you want to hear social satire connected to actual wit and joyous music, here is a truncated version of the Kingston Trio's "MTA," which I adored when I was nine.) Lowest nontick.

British Sea Power "Waving Flags" - Quavering flags. Large but hazy mass of voices, then, the haze muted, a deliberately blank lead vocal floats on the atmosphere. I wouldn't say this epitomizes everything I hate about indie, since there are many more things I also hate that are not present in this song (enforced ruefulness, for one), and at least there's some beauty that this song is burying, but this is so self-defeating, effacement pretending to be a virtue. Its defects are like Panda Bear's but even more defective. Gives a bad name to art.

The Wombats "Moving To New York" - Chords full of dissonances, the whining pleading voice, but at least delivered with some verve. "I'm moving to New York 'cause I got problems with my sleep"??? Sounds all right in comparison to British Sea Power, but I'm not humming the tune. So, not a tick.

Re: Chicago Day on the British charts

[koganbot]

while Kanye's international success creates a gap between whatever'd grounded him when he was back home with Wendy

That is, his international success creates a gap between HIM and whatever'd grounded him when he was back home with Wendy.

Re: Chicago Day on the British charts

[weasel-seeker.livejournal.com]

Frank, I was just quickly scanning back through the AYIPs that I missed and ticking them off when I saw this. FYI, Wendy = Chicago personified (Windy) for the purposes of the song. HER is Chicago in the same way HER is hip-hop for Common's song 'I Used to Love H.E.R.' Not sure how that would impact your reading of the song.