Another Year In Pop: 6

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

It's nu-mumpop vs old-mumpop! And some other stuff in the busiest week so far this year!

[Poll #1136678]

There is another BIG POLL to come on Poptimists today - DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL especially if you like BORING OLD ROCK MUSIC (erm). EDIT: BIG POLL delayed until tomorrow, sorry dudes.

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

GOOD:

Timbaland - hey this is much better than I remember it being, in fact I think it's not just "any good at all", it is unreservedly GREAT. Intriguing opening line - what, pray, are so special about Venetian skies? Like...Venetian blinds, but not? Er. Unless Timba's mispronouncing "Venusian skies" in which case, awesomely inappropriate imagery. The whole song has this kind of dreamy all-encompassing untethered blissful feel to it, it seems like it'd be perfect for a roadtrip across America or something. Video is less good: Tim needs to wear a shirt, Nicole needs to not wear a balaclava.

Goldfrapp - I thought Will's write-up of this was brilliant last week, I agree with it. I'm impressed that they went back to this sort of pastoral sound - going glam on Supernature may have been commercially successful but it sounded so rote and dull in comparison to their other stuff. I love the yawning, cavernous moment midway through which sounds like it's going to swallow you whole before the song comes back, bigger and more forceful than before. Really great lyrics too, and the way you only half-hear them (because she doesn't enunciate) is very effective, you feel as if the song is coming at you through a haze.

BAD:

Michael Jackson and will.i.am - when I heard will.i.am's album one of the oddest things about it was how little personality there was to it - I hadn't expected that from someone who'd been increasingly obnoxious and out-there with his productions. Of all the things will.i.am could be I didn't think he'd be boring! Here he does the same thing to an MJ song which wasn't exactly exciting in the first place. WVS.

The Feeling - a half-decent tune struggling to bust free of the band's inherent wimpiness. His voice is so ineffectual.

WWW - I didn't realise they still had a career and am somewhat dispirited to discover that they do.

30 Seconds To Mars - I think Jared Leto is gross, personally. For all the vidfeo spectacle and bluster there really isn't much song here, is there?

Adele - as I said last week, wtf is she playing at here? Patriotic but stupid seven-year-old responds to 7 July for homework assignment. Embarrassing.

Morrissey - I got so annoyed when watching this last night, seeing this racist fat fucking CLOWN strut around on stage, smugly rewarding the faithful with his pearls of wisdom as if these banal lyrics meant anything or offered any insight at all. It's so pompous and self-congratulatory. I hate him so much.

Biffy Clyro - had lost will to live by this point let alone actively subject myself to a Biffy Clyro track :(

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Somehow, despite Timba making such a big deal out of his presence on 'The Way I Are' and 'Scream', both songs seem...oddly anonymous? Like, so generic that they sound less like "Timbaland, Most Important Producer In The World" and more like some dude ripping Timba off? They both play by the rules to the letter, and end up somewhere quite amazing and pure, because it's the gorgeousness of the sounds and melodies somehow divorced from Timba being annoying. It could be anyone, so it's...universal and all-encompassing.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I've still listened to that album a grand total of 0.8 times, and something pretty spectacular would have to happen to get me to listen to it now. Timbaland is background telly music, not music I make an effort to listen to.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

It's still a bad album! 'The Way I Are' and 'Scream' both benefit from being taken out of its context.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

as would 'Bounce' and 'Miscommunication' - making Shock Value almost a half-good album.