Another Year In Pop: 30

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

4 weeks at the top for Dizzee & Calvin! Crikey. Lower down the charts, DJ Q and MC Bonez have jumped up 53 places and are surely bracing themselves for the top 40 very soon, and Bob Sinclair has totally redeemed his existence with this! Summer anthems ahoy!

[Poll #1231501]

(Apologies for the lateness of this week's poll!)

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

my Ida Maria tick is rather reluctant, I had to review her album and I really don't like it at all - her mannerisms are horribly grating. This song just about works but my tick is certainly no endorsement of her.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I've only heard her doing a couple of live radio sessions, but she seemed to be a rub singer. As you say, the mannerisms tend to overwhelm the melodies. No tick.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Yep - she gets on my nerves.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Yeah it's only good in the context of the album - doubt I'd be ticking it if I'd only heard it - but I should really stick by what I've said in print, le sigh.

[koganbot]

You have my permission to rescind your tick, if you'd like.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Ida Maria - hahahaha I've just realised that this is the Bellatrix revival isn't it? OK I like it better now, tick. Actually the chorus is sh1te on a stick. Perhaps I'll hold off on that tick for the moment.

Script - this is the chap who was clinging on to wire fences extolling the woez of the world isn't it? Nice voice but song is SO DULL I fancy garotting myself with a wire fence. Next!

Ultrabeat & Dazza - schaffle-bosh with (dare I say it?) subtle (!)autotune vocals from our Darren. The backing is yer bog-standard nu-Scooter jumpstyle, but definitely worth an encouraging tick.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Seriously though, I love that Bob Sinclair track. I'm on my fifth repeat listen now. Video is kinda NSFW though (about Benassi level?).

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Apparently the DJ Q & MC Bonez was released three weeks ago and looked like flopping, but for whatever reason the Now compilers saw fit to include it on the new album and...this has propelled it up the chart? Had been planning a video post on that and Tinchy Stryder's 'Stryderman', which is lurking at No 84 and will hopefully go much higher...

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

I don't think it'll go any higher though, it got the Now boost last week but it's already had a physical release so can't see why it'll grow any more sadly :(

[koganbot]

Ida Maria "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked": Gak! Another one of them! Another female voice that's quirky, somewhat tousled, and slightly torn! This is the fast-energy new wavey version (rather than the retrosoul or neolounge or freakfolk or cabaret or twee pop versions), but really it's still part of the singer-songwriter "This is what it's like to be a wry young woman" thing. None of the women are terrible, and ah! the delicious torments of the young people and their personal interactions! The problem isn't the style, so much (Marit Larsen is GREAT in this territory, and sometimes Lily is too). And though her raggedness is too much of a crutch, I like the little twist of desperation Ida throws in at the end of lines. And if she wouldn't sound so fucking coy, her way of being somewhat tousled and torn could be attractive. The lyrics are far too expository and intricate for the small point they're making (that she's actually feeling more than she's pretending to, so her cynicism is trying not to be cynicism). But these are not the BIG problems. The big problems are (1) she's got no good melodies and (2) the whole sound of the band and her singing adds up to this spazzy speed thing that completely, utterly fails at the basic voluptuousness of music, the basic MUSIC of music. NO TICK

The Script "The Man Who Can't Be Moved": Modest emotionalism, very square, with the modesty predominating, because he doesn't have the voice to make the emotions sing. THE MAN WHO WON'T TICK.

Ultrabeat vs. Darren Styles "Discolights": The beats are corny, even funny, but for dance music, this is awfully unsensuous. We have to wait two minutes for it to start boshin', and a few seconds later it reintegrates the melody into the bosh, at the expense of the bosh. A fundamentally weak song takes on bosh and defeats it. This has its moments, but NO TICK.

[koganbot]

A little disappointed by the Bob Sinclair vid, in that at the beginning I thought it was going to be "the relatives come for a visit," and that they'd all pile into the trailer and would be like the stateroom scene in Night At The Opera.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I decided that watching all of the video probably wasn't suitable for my office even if it is half empty, but the bits I saw were pretty awful. LUCKILY the song is great!

[rubberheadz-inc.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard of any of these songs.

[martinv.livejournal.com]

Really dislike all three of these, despite sort-of liking the previous 2 Ida Maria singles.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think the Darren Styles one has got the shaft here a bit :(

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

It's a grower as well - saw this on the Clubland TV channel over wobs and it's still good.