Yet Another Year In Pop: 3
Jan. 19th, 2009 12:48 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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poptimistsLady Gaga isn't content enough to hold on to the number 1 spot, she has to have another new entry as well! Some people would be grateful, I don't know... *mutter mutter*...
[Poll #1333756]
[Poll #1333756]
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Date: 2009-01-19 01:40 pm (UTC)LADY GAGA - she made the UK tabloids literally every day last week for wandering around outside in her underwear. It's really fucking cold here, btw. She tries way too hard. The song is a pale, desperate attempt to hitch a ride on 'Don't Stop The Music' and 'Disturbia', performed by someone with negative personality in her voice. "PUH-PUH-PUH-PUH-PUHKER FACE" is a terrible pop moment. When is she going to fuck off?
WHITE LIES - MGMT redux zzzz.
JORDIN SPARKS - nice! I like the "da-da-da" bits, as if she's singing to herself, I like the casual strut.
TINCHY STRYDER - huh, am conflicted over this. I want to rep for Tinch but the best I can say about this shameless piece of Autotunewagoning is that it's...not wholly bad, I suppose? Tinch isn't bad but he doesn't have one of those voices (like Dizzee) which sound pleasurable in themselves, and he sits kinda uncomfortably here - it's just far far too cheesy. Anyway, a tick to rep, but I'm mostly disappointed - Tinch's Star In The Hood album struck such a perfect pop-grime balance, but this tilts far too much towards the wrong-headed attempts to be commercial which have beset grime for the past five years.
Some better Tinchy moments!
'Dance 4 Now' - banging 4x4 bassline stormer - this should have been a single
'Princes' - his brilliant guest spot on the Gang Gang Dance album
'Hands Of Time' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLLtNFDXveM) (wonderful, reflective reggae lope which features the Lady Ny)
'Stereotype' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loeryJS08U4) (a much better way to pander to Shoreditch hipsters - terrific grumbling production from Goldielocks, terrific grumbling verses from both of them - "Now I'm a bit electro and he's more grime, so I bet you think that I love fashion and he commits crime," "Did I forget to mention that I make beats too? Does that not fit with what you think a girl should do?")
'Perfect Timing' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAuS4EXsNeI) (see THIS is how you do cheesy pop-grime! get Davinche to sing 'Could It Be Magic?' behind you!)
those 3, and 'Dance 4 Now', are off Star In The Hood, which is just a terrific album from start to finish.
'Sick Ina Head' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp37678jk4I) - this is off the also-great Cloud 9 EP mixtape from last year
'Underground' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN_KvpzN5I8) - huge grime anthem from, like, 2005? I think this was probably the first sign that Tinchy could be something special rather than just Ruff Sqwad's barking 14-yr-old gimmick
^^listen to those instead of 'Take Me Back' y'all
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Date: 2009-01-19 01:48 pm (UTC)Oh, I'll tell you a song I love, that DJ NG one you put in that funky pack. I'm going to put it on my tumblr in the next cpl days, try and write about it then.
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Date: 2009-01-19 02:08 pm (UTC)Also re: 'Take Me Back', it's such a bizarre attempt to simultaneously jump on two US hip-hop trends (both of which are getting old) - Autotune voice and Europop beats - one of which was jacked from a European tradition anyway. It just sounds like so much has gone into replicating those trends that it doesn't leave much room for Tinch to shine or play to his strengths (which can include cheesy pop, as 'Perfect Timing' illustrates!).
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Date: 2009-01-20 01:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-19 01:44 pm (UTC)Tinchy ft Taio: This is a lovely surprise! Could teach Dizzee'n'Calvin valuable lessons about how pop-electro-rap crossovers should work. Hugely endearing bounce to this.
Kid Cudi: This kind of electro-cut-up stuff might get pretty boring but I like it a lot on this: Cudi himself is compelling and likeable.
Jordin Sparks: Excellent once it gets going.
White Lies: Completely absurd but I like his booming voice. A tick from the same part of me that sometimes ticks Killers records.
Lady Gaga: I think having a much weaker tune actually helps her not be annoying. Forgettable but quite enjoyable, a very marginal tick.
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Date: 2009-01-19 02:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-19 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-19 02:24 pm (UTC)Tinchy - hmmm. It's not dreadful but not particularly inspiring either.
Cudi & Crookers - I like the bassline synths on this but the vocal is pretty poor. However I am inclined to give this a marginal tick because a dance track has managed to get to number 2! On second thoughts maybe not.
Gaga - her vocal on the second half of the verse is actually pretty good (the "russian roulette..." bit) but the chorus and the backing is rubbish. I'm not sure if this counts as 'any good at all'.
White Lies - arf watch out Echo & The Bunnymen. I'd half forgotten that people are still making this sort of indie music that doesn't quite fall into Joy Division territory and isn't busker-indie either and isn't stupid enough to be the Killers. No tick.
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Date: 2009-01-19 02:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-19 02:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-20 04:18 pm (UTC)