Matters arising

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

1. Womanizer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGpZinB6odk
2. "The Promise" has a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSMosULG5GI
3. Best video of the year*: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTDXdqsZGjI

*I didn't say which year.

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Viewers of no.3 may be pleased to know I've done all that washing up now.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

1. I still haven't been moved to download 'Womanizer' or hear it more than once.
2. 'The Promise' is still definitely bad.

The Ciara leaks are coming thick and fast now though and with the exception of the single are all OMGWOW.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Got to agree... very disappointed by both 'Womanizer' and 'The Promise', although the latter does have a rather excellent video.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

My initial impression of Womanizer was that it was a bit cheapo but it's actually grown on me a lot, in that it's always the first thing on my "current tracks" playlist I click on and I'm never quite sure why but I always enjoy it. I like it a lot more than I liked "Gimme More" before Blackout dropped, though I don't think it's as good (if that makes sense...)

Hadn't actually heard The Promise until this weekend - on the one hand, good for Xenomania trying something different, on the other hand, it's only different in terms of the rut they'd got stuck into, and Ronson-lite really doesn't suit them.

re Ciara - "High Price" was a shrinker for me, sorry - I will hear this stuff at some point. I want your assorted Cassie leaks tho!

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

Please post some of the Ciara leaks, I want to hear them, High Price was amazing and can't wait to hear more.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

It might be quicker if you just google ciara echo site:zshare.net and ciara work site:zshare.net! That is how I get hold of most leaks.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'Womanizer' is a bit rubbish, really hate the 'you-you-yooou are' bit esp. - it all feels like bashing a square peg into a 2004 cyber-schaffel round hole. it might grow on me enough to become tolerated tho.

I quite like 'The Promise' - it doesn't start very well but the "chorus" is nice. They haven't really done anything like this yet have they? People will still moan about it being formulaic tho (and then listen to the formulaic stuff they like). It's not very exciting tho granted.

Kat's Ratpack video makes me want to make/see more videos in the style of old cheap rave vids with black and white sequences, rave footage, people dancing on the street as a double decker drifts past etc.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I listened to nearly 2 hrs of Mac 'n Grimmy last night just so's I could hear "Womanizer". When it was finally announced I was all excited then two minutes later I suddenly realised "oh it's been on for 2 minutes" and it hadn't even registered.

I really enjoyed the new* Miley Cyrus single, however.

"The Promise" is fab, h8rs be h8ing etc etc.

(*"7 Things" i.e. not so new if y're Kbot, skyecap obv)

[koganbot]

Was disappointed by "7 Things." The real winner on the album is the ebulliently taunting "Fly On The Wall."

[koganbot]

"Womanizer" will take a while to sink in. I like her sticking to her dance guns but wonder if brightening up the toss-it-off dance feel of something like "Ooh Ooh Baby" actually undercuts the mood of hedonistic-crud that felt so powerful on Blackout.

Also, what's schaffel (that is, in comparison to everything else that builds its beats around triplets, which is a good hunk of American popular music of the last 100 years)?

(Kudos to Kat.)

Michael Mayer explains schaffel:

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Schaffel is still four to the floor," explains Mayer. "Formally, it’s not a waltz, a tango, or drum & bass — it’s still techno that you can play within a minimal set. But the accent on the beats is totally different, which makes you dance in a different way than you do with [traditional] techno." (http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/multiarticlesub.aspx?csid1=57&csid2=779&fid1=1829)

I can't find the link where he explains how to do the dance :(

Re: Michael Mayer explains schaffel:

[koganbot]

Well, the difference in the beats seems to be that they're playing the basic SWING rhythm of a lot of blues, jazz, western swing, boogie woogie, early rock 'n' roll, etc. (e.g., this) but with a heavy hand, so it's like a techno equivalent of the heavy metal or glitter bands of the early '70s when they went into boogie mode (e.g., this). And what the swing rhythm does is it uses the 4/4 beat but subdivides each of those beats into triplets, so if you subdivide further you get twelve of those subbeats to a measure rather than eighth notes or sixteenth notes.

Re: Michael Mayer explains schaffel:

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

This is all very technical! I think many poptimists would merely define it as music that involves bending your knees and flapping your arms about, a bit like what the badgers are doing here (http://www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/) (albeit not to schaffel music). Something like Superpitcher's Irre (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBnJogeix4M), perhaps?

Re: Michael Mayer explains schaffel:

[koganbot]

Yeah, it's this beat but played by different gizmos.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

FWIW, to my ears the Schaffel tracks that have appeared on Kompakt delay the third beat veeeeery slightly, to get a slightly more lopsided rhythm than yr average "dum-de dum-de dum-de dum-de" triplet or 6/8 rhythm.