POLL 08: Most Interesting Pop Thing

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The poll for most interesting Pop Thing - as with the other polls we're doing this CANON STYLE i.e. you pick your three most interesting pop things from this list of all* the stuff that was nominated.

[Poll #1314032]

*except I removed noms which were about Poptimists itself, mostly to get it down to 15.

Comments

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised there's no "Lil' Wayne appearing on 50% of all hip hop tracks recorded this year", but then did I nominate something? No.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Bassline's emergence was more in 2007 - its retreat back underground in 08 isn't all that interesting. All the bassline boosters should find time to come to Night Slugs (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=48445116803) next Thu by the way...

No 1 is UK funky house - I find the twists and turns of UK garage endlessly fascinating (and an endless source of great music), and this is an especially pleasing one, what with the soulful vocals and soca influence and deep grooves and pop choruses. Plus, it's still impossible to predict where the scene will end up - it feels like the future is emerging all around you.

No 2 is the Cassie non-album (which I am currently writing an overdue piece on EEK) - both for what it says about the industry and for her own aesthetic being endlessly unpackable.

No 3 is Katy Perry - like all right-thinking people I dislike her intensely, and I don't really find HER very interesting, but her success and the discourse which has sprung up around her is. Remember when we were all bemoaning the lack of a zeitgeisty 'Umbrella'-esque monster pop dominator? Well...we actually had one! But I can't remember the zeigeisty song of the summer ever being hated as much as 'I Kissed A Girl' was...

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I nominated (and obv ticked) Kanye because of his omnipresence this year: American Boy, 808s, Flashing Lights and of course his BLOG which is just mental.

Bassline tick vg, something so awesome charting then VANISHING entirely.

Beyonce/Sasha - probably the single artist I have posted on poptimists about most this year!

[martinv.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I could only manage 2 and they aren't especially "interesting". Hmm.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I stuck on harmonies, which feels like a koganbot nom, because I thought about them this year in a more conscious way than I usually do -- and I think that the pretty much across-the-board vocal manipulation that's probably peaked in the Autotune nomination is partly responsible. But even outside of obvious production tricks, I think that, e.g., Fleet Foxes mostly get by on harmonies (or at least harmony-laden prettiness) in the same way that Danity Kane does. And the neo-soul fallout, which is WAY more consistently good than most of the Winehouse previous wave, does neat stuff with harmony. The Pipettes could only imagine.

(Anyway, most interesting thing isn't the same as most original, is it? Because even though some of these were more ubiquitous last year or in previous years, they might be more interesting this year. Like hoarpop's decreasing ability to shock despite or because of its desperate lengths to do so, maybe?)

[poptasticuk.livejournal.com]

I didn't find any of those things interesting except Same Difference. Sigh... I do fear Poptimists and I may be growing apart.