Another Year In Pop: 26

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

We're halfway through the year, and Ne-Yo and Jordin/Chris have Coldplay trapped at no.2 in a cunning pincer movement! Elsewhere Mariah finally hauls her dead grandmothers into the top 40, and enough people downloaded '99 Problems' in 2 hours to get it to number 95...

[Poll #1213640]

(apologies for the deleted entry - forgot to put the last two options in!)

Comments

this morning I am grumpy

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

When are they going to release some actually good music?

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

i think i don't like MGMT, but it's pretty hummable. i think i might like the black kids although they were SHOCKING live on the telly and everything Jess said about them made perfect sense...

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Mimi - THIS IS FOR MY PEOPLES WHO LOST THEY GRANDMOTHERS. Yes for that line alone but it's a lovely song, if a wrong choice of single.

Ironik - when I first heard this I googled the pitch-shifted chorus lyrics because the melody was so familiar, only to find...it's a Westlife track I've never knowingly heard?? Sampled on a grime track?? Points for the wtf-ness of chipmunking up Rozalla AND Westlife, the narrative is rather sweet too.

Freemasons - Belting house diva is promising for the first 30 secs but it goes nowhere/does nothing but clump around boringly. Choreography in video is shit.

The rest - boring indie crap.

Re: this morning I am grumpy

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

It's a bit of a wasteland right now really, but Ne-Yo going to No 1 and Jordin & Chris gatecrashing the top 3 (surely 'No Air' will be No 1 soon?) makes me feel a touch more positively about this week's chart.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Also wtf to the shitty track with Linkin Park being the Jay-Z single which benefited most from Glastonbury? '99 Problems' I can understand even though it's not my favourite by a long way but surely 'Can I Get A...' or 'Big Pimpin' or 'Girls Girls Girls' or 'Izzo (HOVA)' would get a boost above 'Numb'?

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

he is doing a gig with them shortly so maybe it's been getting lots of plays on kerrang or similar leading to downloads leading to chart. i think we'll get a better picture next week when i predict a rash of Jay-Z across the chart :)

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Ironik - chipmunk Rozalla segues into piss-weak Enya rap. Whoever said this was bit 'Viva Forever' was nearly OTM but VF craps on this from an grebt heigh.

Glasvegas - Doves meets the Killers with lame vocals. Yuck.

Mariah - I can't say this has stuck with me since the initial WTF first hearing, but it's still a good effort from Mariah and the music is pleasant. Borderline tick.

MGMT - The video has a small dog in it. Are these lot anything to do with the Mighty Boosh? Same haircut and 'look we're in a jungle lets sing a surreal 80s funk pastiche song about marmosets' vibe. I like the 6/8 repeat thing but it doesn't really go anywhere does it? Still, I think I might tick it as I want to listen to it again. Maybe.

Freemasons - uninspiring when I listened to it the other week, can't be faffed with it today.

Courteneers - the title alone is annoying me. Skip.

Black Kids - the verse sounds like Level 42 or something! Or Was Not Was. Chorus is exactly the same as the last single (ie annoying). No tick.

[koganbot]

I've been dismissing from my mind the chorus of "it's a bad year on the British charts" with the thought "Oh, it's just a patch of a few bad weeks." But the patch seems to be growing and growing, and the problem isn't so much the usual run of bad indie bands and half-assed dance remakes, which are always with us, but that, e.g., someone like Mariah will go with one of her album's weaker tracks. And a paucity of new great tracks from (for me) nowhere; haven't gotten any of those since "Cry For You" and "L.E.S. Artistes."

I don't think this bad patch is indicative of anything about current music or current tastes. Just random variation.

(Also, it seems to me there's been a lot less participation in poptimists this year.)

[koganbot]

Ironik "Stay With Me": Pretty song vocodered and chipmunked while a dull guy talks in front. I've nothing against chipmunking in principle; it works best when there's something fundamentally delirious about the material. Whereas, the melody here would be "pleasing." If this is a cover I might like the original. NONTICK.

Glasvegas "Geraldine": Pretty riffing w/ big drums and sub-Bono balladeer singing half-extravagantly in front. The prettiness isn't all that pretty, the passion is not credible, the accompaniment is just padding. Rote. NONTICK.

Mariah Carey "Bye Bye": As Mariah tracks go, this is easy, a summer mist, occupying a range between sentiment and bubbly. Most interesting feature is that her passionate payoff near the end is mixed way back so as not to disrupt the mist. A definite TICK, but I miss the Mariah of intensity and irresponsibility, the madwoman of the melismas.

MGMT "Electric Feel": A dance song that deliberately doesn't want to get its feet untangled. I like the bass part - it's a stub, you can build moods and beats around it, a late-night swaying motion. And the unemphatic singing could augment the mood, letting the feelings penetrate without their being pushed. But in this instance being unemphatic doesn't prevent the vocals from unmusically amateurish, the basic indie wet blanket. Compositionally interesting, but the singing makes it a drag. Really, I don't see what these people gain by failing to hire some dime-a-dozen, competent session singers. NO TICK.

Freemasons f. Katherine Ellis "When You Touch Me": Competent belt-it-out soul singing that in this instance doesn't deliver, since this doesn't just need competence, but a song. There is a song here, but it's given to 'Rama-Girlsaloud unison backup singing, and the blazing belter gets in the way. Freemasons triumphed last two times up, this is a disappointment. BORDERLINE NONTICK.

Courteeners "No You Didn't, No You Don't": The rhythms slide around each other interestingly, a shambling facade masking actual force - which doesn't make me like the rhythm, however, as it is too fast and pushy for dancing, an unintentional antigroove. Singer has a casual way of not-quite emoting, mere restraint pretending that it's nuance. NO TICK.

Black Kids "Hurricane Jane": Puzzles me. As with the MGMT, this has a gaggle of not-quite-together, not-quite-musical voices. Not the accidental antigroove of the Courteeners, but dance music that emphatically doesn't want to kick. Why? BEMUSED NONTICK.

Proofreading

[koganbot]

being unemphatic doesn't prevent the vocals from BEING unmusically amateurish

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

woah i came v close to ticking Courteeners (too generic), Black Kids (nice female backing, bloke lets it down somewhat) AND Mariah (foot started tapping without my authorisation) there...

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

A couple of months ago the charts seemed really great. It's not even that particularly shit stuff has replaced it but it's all a bit stagnant and blah.

The last few things I tried to talk about on poptimists got, like, 3 replies each or something. I don't know where people have gone!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I admit I've been contributing less than usual. Combination of werk + feeling unenthusiastic in general.

[koganbot]

The thing is, it's a really interesting time for music. Of course, any time is a really interesting time for music, but also, what's interesting is also accessible, so it's not just left-field minimal weirdo hyphy stuff like Keak Da Sneak's "That Go" (I voted for it last year but it's just been released as a remix so will be elegible this year, too), but the fact that Vanessa Hudgens, of all people, releases a viable album drenched in beautiful blobs of harmony and showbiz blues-shtick complexities.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I must remember to download that...her UK PRs have said nothing to me, and they're one of the most hassly PR houses, so I assume there are no plans to release it here yet.

Yeah as ever I am deluged in great music, but when it gets met with silence there's less impetus to put effort into posting about it.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

For some reason I've found it hard to get up much enthusiasm to talk about current music. I don't know if this is linked to other things (comics, market research, etc.) eating up the part of my brain devoted to "thinking interesting things", or a side-effect of an increased strike-rate on Popular stopping me feeling fully in sync with now, or what.

I feel like I'm lacking any big battles or causes to get behind. Not that a big battle or cause would necessarily do me any good.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Halfway through the year, though, so an ideal time for a big rallying cry type post tomorrow!

[koganbot]

Well, I've had trouble finding time to even lurk on Popular, though it's an interesting time for the posters there. In some ways, Freaky Trigger and spinoff projects are a victim of their own success, in that there are now so many different places to go. Even a spate of good threads on I Love Music would likely go unnoticed by me, or if noticed, unparticipated in.

[andthatisthat.livejournal.com]

Oh bvgger, I ticked "not heard any" then realised I have heard Ironik and quite like it. Ooops.

Hurrah for Jordin and Chris at No.3, though!

[koganbot]

You're allowed to revote. Click on "Poll #1213640" near the top of this thread, then click on "Fill Out Poll" at the very top.

[andthatisthat.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I did not know that. Thanks!

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

LiveJournal suddenly got blocked on my werk PC about 10 days ago. This may be a blessing in disguise (I've been quite busy of late), but it means my appearances on poptimists will be more restricted from now on.

In any case there's nothing in this poll that's terribly inspiring, altho' I will check out the Ironik track when I find the time. For now though, that's two (potential) DLAs in a row. :(

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

Why has no-one commented on Stay With Me being a Westlife cover? I really need to get up to date on my LJ reading so I can mention these things...