Poptimists Tracks Of 2008 PART FOUR

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The hairy cornflake returns with Nos. 20-11 of your favourite tracks of the year.

20. GIRLS ALOUD - "The Promise"

Perhaps a lower-than-expected showing for perennial Poptimist darlings GA - their retro-themed video is not embeddable.

17=. MARIA DANIELA Y SU SONIDO LASSER - "Duri Duri"

This year the chart's been particularly good for niche enthusiasms getting a welcome shot of publicity. Here's sometime Podcast Panellists MDYSSL with some very bouncy pop.

17=. LILY ALLEN - "The Fear"

It's not even out yet! Though, unlike Cassie, it will be.

17=. KLEERUP ft MARIT BERGMAN - "3AM"

It's not just Robyn who gets to voice moody Kleerup tracks you know.

16. BEYONCE - "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"

If you liked it then you should have embedded it.

15. ALPHABEAT - "Fascination"

Sign of the music biz times (if true): Alphabeat have apparently been dropped by their UK label because their FIFTH single off their album flopped. Remember them this way! (NB the Bimbo Jones remix picked up a fraction of the points here).

14. RIHANNA - "Disturbia"

Last year's runaway winner makes a decent showing again.

13. HOT CHIP - "Ready For The Floor"

They really are trying to look like Buggles in this video, aren't they?

12. SOLANGE - "Sandcastle Disco"

Solange Knowles outpolls her sister, even if she hasn't outsold her.

11. KANYE WEST - "Love Lockdown"

Non-embeddable warriors! Kanye might feel hard done by here to be honest since SEVEN different people voted for this. If we were doing it solely on mentions he'd be at #5.

What powerhouse kept him out of the Top 10? Check back tomorrow when ALL will be REVEALED (and then at the weekend for the monster list of everything).

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I'm very surprised at some of these! I thought GA, Kanye and Hot Chip would place higher.

[hoshuteki.livejournal.com]

Oh, I would have voted highly for the Lily Allen track if I'd known it was 'eligible' as it were...

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Me too! I just made a mental note: "that's a 2009 track, vote for next year". Same goes for all of her great MySpace demos.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I used to think like this until the Cassie fiasco. Now I vote while I can, before the artist's entire career gets lost behind the sofa.

[hoshuteki.livejournal.com]

Well I'm still going to vote for it next year, even if the votes don't count (I know the system has been explained, but I didn't pay sufficient attention at the time). Unless, of course, there are 10 better tracks released, which I obviously can't yet completely rule out.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

It's a definite contender for an 09 vote from me too, it really is surprisingly ace

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Wasn't even aware of that Kleerup track. Is this what poptimists pay attention to instead of hip-hop? It's not very good, a dull song made more dull by the Casio preset production and her incredibly lifeless performance. She seems more interested in the idea of melancholy than actually, you know, singing as though she feels it.

This is the first time I've heard Maria Daniela &c too - this is not what I was expecting! It sounds like it's about to go into maiahiiii maiahaaa at any point (a bad thing). Lest anyone think I'm a total grump, I have discovered one amazing song in this rundown - the Veronicas! '4eva' passed me by when everyone raved about it so I never bothered with this, but 'Untouched' is rather special.

I like 'Ready For The Floor' OK but am pleased it's not higher. Can't think how this would end up as an elite song, it's not that it's bad but it's just...not as good as so many others.

Am guessing Solange suffered from vote-splitting? 'Sandcastle Disco' is better than 'I Decided' (and the bloody Freemasons mix had better not have got any love), though as I didn't vote for either I can't complain.

The news of Alphabeat getting dropped may have made my day :D

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

(Speaking of hip-hop: ONE hip-hop track so far (Lil' Mama)? ONE? Despite this being a stellar year, singles and albums wise? Oh, poptimists.) ("It's not big in the UK" doesn't wash as an excuse given half of these!)

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

(what's kanye then?)

(ok, so this album might be emoelectro, but he's still hip hop, right?)

Results 1 - 10 of about 9,770,000 for kanye hip hop.

Results 1 - 10 of about 6,100,000 for kanye not hip hop.

looks conclusive to me...

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

GENERAL POPTIMIST WARNING: Stay WELL AWAY from the Freemasons' remix of "Sandcastle Disco": it's poor even by their recent, radically lowered, standards.

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Presumably she benefited from non-splitting, unless you think that she's got another song in the top ten?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

"Ready For The Floor" I in the end didn't vote for (I thought it wouldn't need my support) but it's my favourite indie song of the year, by which I mean it's the song this year which does 'awkward vulnerability' best. I assume others got off on that too.

Glad you like the Veronicas!

Solange didn't suffer MUCH from vote-splitting. Again, I didn't vote for her, but I was pleased to see this one do well: it got some buzz over the year but not as much as it deserved.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Am guessing Solange suffered from vote-splitting?

My favourite Solange tracks are all non-singles, and with one exception I decided not to bother voting for things that weren't singles.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

The Kleerup song would have been even higher if I'd remembered to vote for it. I actually love her voice, it's not exactly technically brilliant (just like Cassie) but I think she brings across fragility and vulenrability very well. And I guess I'm just a sucker for the retro 80s casio production.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

This is the first stretch in which I like all 10 of the songs, even if I don't like all of them that much.

Girls Aloud sounded better when it became a big hit and you heard it in supermarkets. Maria Daniela I think escapes the Numa Numa trap through sheer weird enthusiasm. Lily Allen I enjoy when it's on and then when I try to remember it I always get something else. Kleerup is solid but I'm with Lex - why this? Bouncy is growing on me. Alphabeat bludgeoned me into reluctant submission. Rihanna sounds to me like the bonus track it essentially is, but it's OK. Hot Chip are quality twee. Solange and Kanye I wuv.

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

ditto (ish). lukewarm on most of these. low end: still find alphabeat a bit rub. top end: i've been spotifying (?) that solange track some.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

the Kleerup track was actually posted by someone on poptimists (this is the only reason i've heard it) - clearly giving it a massive boost (enough to make the list).

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Of these, I only voted for GA. I think that means more of my Top 10 won't make it than I anticipated.

[ijgrieve.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for 'Fascination'! Making up for the realisation that my #1 has almost certainly had its chips*.

* Song may be food related.

i'm a cool low jane with a skip on my feet

[gingermint.livejournal.com]

Hooray for Solange! If I had managed to get my votes in in time it would have fared better, for it is my far-and-away #1 for the year. (Cassie's "Is It You?" would have been a close contender but I decided to de-eligify it as I heard and listed it in '07.) My top ten then, anyway:

"Sandcastle Disco" - Solange Knowles
"Entropy Reigns in the Celestial City" - Kelley Polar
"Broken Heart Tango" - Cloetta Paris
"You Belong With Me" - Taylor Swift
"Fantastic 6" (Radioclit remix) - Alphabeat
"Fun and Interesting" - The Chap
"Shake it To the Ground" - Blaqstarr ft. Rye Rye
"Fatalist Palmistry" - Why?
"Sexual Eruption [remix]" - Snoop Dogg ft. Robyn
"Oh My God!" - Ida Maria

my list would possibly not have made much difference on showings otherwise, as I mostly voted for small personal faves rather than big obvious pop hits (I did like some of those this year, but none of them quite enough) - unless Snoop makes the top 10 (seems unlikely...too long ago), or Ida Maria (possible; her inferior 2nd single did place a ways down.) other long-shots for the poptimists top 10 from among my 11-20: Hercules and Love Affair's "Blind," Usher ft. Jeezy's "In This Club," Cassie's "Official Girl." And Cut Copy? (vote-splitting issues if they even had a chance.) Did "No Air" show yet? That's up there for me.

All this talk about Alphabeat remixes and you guys have missed by far the best the best the best one... Radioclit's mix of "Fantastic 6" - granted it's not standard Poptimist territory, and it removes most of the original song except for a horn background and wordless vocal line (and woo-hoo!s) so it's hardly a pop song anymore (though a gather that's a plus for some of y'all.) But but but it's like the most happy-making thing I've heard all year. check it out!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geYLDVPqGzE)

Marit Bergman is far from my favorite Marit (even if she did once give me a t-shirt as a dance contest prize), and that track is far from my favorite on the semi-good Kleerup album (kinda like the Neneh Cherry one.) Marit Larsen's "If A Song Could Get Me You," howevs, nearly made my top 10.

"Single Ladies" is pretty good but "Radio" is way better.

"Ready For The Floor" is great but "Wrestlers" is even greater.

"Mrs. Officer" is the first Lil Wayne single that I've liked as a song.

Re: i'm a cool low jane with a skip on my feet

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Ooh, 'Blind' and 'Official Girl': my own top 10 assumptions have been thrown askew slightly (for the better), I'd forgotten them. Cassie suffered from vote-splitting but if 'Thirsty' placed, surely her actual official single would have done well too...

A lot of people love that Kelley Polar track (inc me) but I think it's one of those which ends up being everyone's 15th favourite.

The Robyn/Snoop Dogg remix is really great.

[nunya-b.livejournal.com]

i adore that kleerup track and am sad that the album / single got such short shrift. in terms of scandinavian electronica producers he was miles ahead of lindstrøm this year and yet the three-track valium gets all the attention. typical.

perhaps i am overly fond of the three synths + sad girl formula.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

you can never have too much three synths + sad girl

(although i love lindstrom too)

[koganbot]

It is what Godard said about the movies: all you need to make a movie are three synths, a sad girl, and a gun.