January R.I.P.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Well, that was January and here's what we jawed about (double size "also includes December" edition):

Pop and Sex - is modern pop a bit too saucy?
Records we aren't sure about
At long last it's the MANICS CANON
The compleat guide to mid-00s indie two-hit wonders aka
The ultimate Xmas artist?
Poptasticuk predicts the 08 hype
What makes a good pop star?
The things kids say! aka BBC Sound of 08 horror poll
A brief history of the recessive vocal
What we dug in 2007
Is Hannah Montana a bad thing?
Who are Scouting For Girls and can we eat them?
Nursery rhyme canon: the blackbirds died the weasel died
What is the secret of MUSIC X (featuring graphs)
Capital Creep and its discontents
Do try and keep up!

Let us now look to the future specifically TOMORROW NIGHT when it is POPTIMISM at the Cross Kings in Kings Cross. It will be very good.

Ordinarily at this point I would do a poll saying - what's the best thing you've heard all month? But this time I thought I'd ask you to tell me that in the comments. So, yeah, what's the best thing you've heard this month?

Comments

[sbp.livejournal.com]

The best thing to happen this month was me getting a replacement mp3 player and thus listening to stuff on the way to work again. My new favourite on there is "Exile on Coldharbour Lane" by Alabama 3, cos I've never really heard it properly before, and it's good.

New pop stuffs I have been exposed to recently include Tilly And The Wall which appear to be an indie group from Omaha, Nebraska. Oh and did you know that an outfit called The School of Language have songs called Rockist part 1 (through part 4)?

[whalefish.livejournal.com]

Aww, I had that Alabama 3 album! I keep on being reminded of it because there's a Coldharbour Lane in Hayes, where I am being made to work. It's nicer than the Brixton one, but not by much.

best tracks I heard in jan

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Estelle ft. Kanye West - American Boy
Mary J Blige - Roses
Flo Rida ft. T-Pain - Low
TS7 - Hazy
Trina ft. Killer Mike - Look Back At Me
Miley Cyrus - See You Again
Kasia - Over You (Dexplicit Remix)
Lil' Mama ft. Chris Brown & T-Pain - Shawty Get Loose
Jenifa Mayanja - Sunset
Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor
Danity Kane - Damaged
Miss Kittin - Solidasarockstar

I can't remember whether I first heard T2's 'Gonna Be Mine' in Jan or not! But that would be the best if so.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Best new new thing I've heard is, somewhat to my surprise, "Hold It Don't Drop It" by Jennifer Lopez - her best single since "Jenny From The Block" I think (although the last one wasn't bad either).

I posted a list of other good singles in comments on koganbot's LJ a week or so back.

Best new old thing was a radio broadcast of extracts from a library record by The Stellar Workshop (http://soundzof.blogspot.com/2007/06/stellar-workshop-connection-dwslp-3358.html) - lovely analogue synth stuff.

Also, I'm very excited by the forthcoming Monade LP (Laetitia from Stereolab's side project). The tracks that have been made available so far are all excellent, a real advance on her earlier solo stuff.

Awesome 08 so far

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

The Feeling - Thought It Was Over But It's Not
Janet Jackson - Feedback

Re: Awesome 08 so far

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The Feeling song sounded pretty grebt on the link you posted but then an amateurish load of tat in the more demanding environs of Coulsdon Costcutters. :(

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

it's still the vampire weekend alBUM although i haven't rly heard much else newnew this month.

new to me, although 34 years old, is Bridget St John's third dandelion album Thank You For... (http://www.cherryred.co.uk/cherryred/artists/bridgetstjohn.php) which is just breathtaking, especially the live stuff.

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

Magnetic Fields - Old Fools and Courtesans
GLaDOS - Still Alive from the Portal game
Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor

top 5

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Kelly Rowland - Work (Freemasons Mix)
T2 - Gonna Be Mine
Alan Braxe vs Soulja Boy - Crank Addict (I HEARD IT IN MY HEAD, it will be realised this weekend)
Janet Jackson - Feedback
Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor

Re: top 5

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

oh also Late Of The Pier's 'The Bears Are Coming'

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

Hot Chip - Ready for the Floor

Goldfrapp - A&E (and the other two tracks I've heard from the new album, which I am now getting very excited about)

Miranda Lambert - Famous in a small town (part of my 2007 catch-up process after reading all the polls)

Robyn - Be Mine (Wasted Youth Mix) - has made me fall back in love with rthe song again, 3 years after i first played it to death

Estelle ft Kanye West - American Boy

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Was "Clowns" one of the other Goldfrapp tracks you heard? That is pretty amazing yes. Not sure about "A&E" though.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

No, have heard 'Caravan Girl' and 'Cologne Cerrone Houdini'

I thought A&E was REALLY disappointing on first listen, it's just gradually crept up on me after hearing it on the radio a few times (which is the main reason i still love listening to the radio - somehow some songs sound different in a radio context) and now I adore it.

[koganbot]

Have you heard the Miranda Lambert album? It's very good. I'd rank "Famous" as only the 7th-best track on it. (And my all-time favorite of hers is "Kerosene," title track on her previous album.)

[whalefish.livejournal.com]

I am liking Fascination by Alphabeat a lot at the moment. Apparently it's been around for ages, but I'm slow.

Also Feminina by Joyce, a lovely album which is 27 years old but sounds like it could have been made yesterday.

Nothing 2008-ish has really grabbed me yet, but then there's loads that I haven't heard. I need to devote some quality time to The Hits on telly, preferably with a curry and enough fizzy drink to keep me going through the ad breaks.

[koganbot]

None of these except maybe the Lil Mama are new this month (or even last month), but they're all new discoveries (well, new for Columbus; the natives knew about these all along).

--Taylor Swift "Lose Yourself" (live) (blue dress version and violet dress version, and yes, it's that "Lose Yourself")
--Girls Aloud "Theme To St. Trinians"
--Solomun & Stimming "Feuervogel"
--The Naked Brothers Band "Could It Be"
--Tori Amos "Smokey Joe"
--Thomas Wittenbecher "Schultze Ballade" (from Schultze Gets The Blues soundtrack)
--Lil Mama f. T-Pain "Shawty Get Loose"
--Black Angel "I'll Never Get Over You" (the version on O' Santa Barbara, not the older one that's up on their MySpace)
--Rihanna "Lemme Get That"
--Switches "Drama Queen" (my token indie song for 2007)
--The Hood Internet "Freaky Chameleon (The Pack vs. Glass Candy)"
--Sarah Buxton "Stupid Boy"
--Keith Urban "Faster Car"
--Cassie "In Love With U"
--LeAnn Rimes "Family"
--LeAnn Rimes "Upper Hand"
--Paula Cole "Comin' Down"
--Estroe "Driven"

If I had to pick only one, it would be "Lose Yourself"

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I've got you into mnml! Hurrah for Solomun & Stimming and Estroe. And 'Smokey Joe', too.

Is 'In Love With U' different to 'In Love With The DJ'? I must hear it...

[koganbot]

"In Love With U" apparently an outtake from her first album.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

It's great! Like, her dark minimal club persona singing a song meant for her cute bubblegum teenpop persona.