A kung fu fighter in a disco

Here's the Shystie track btw:

From:

koganbot

This is powerful. Does it have a genre name? Hi-NRG Bassline?

From:

I think it's more towards the ghettotech/fidget house end of things, with a UK garage twist...can definitely hear it being dropped into a Switch & Sinden set, say. I really like it!

From:

koganbot

So, another track for my singles list. Shystie streams some interesting stuff on her MySpace.

From:

Shystie's great, and I' v happy that she's making a comeback - she was meant to be the "female Dizzee" back in 04, when grime first broke (and failed to break). I still like her album from then, Diamond In The Dirt, but am pretty much alone in this. Key old tracks: 'Step Bac' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnbb_av62TU), her debut official single, and the quite incredible 'Murderation' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-wVrSqejAs), a truly horrible diss of Lady Fury which just tears her up from the inside out. It's some of the most pure NASTINESS I've ever heard committed to record.

(Lady Fury was also great back in the day! Can't find any of her stuff on the internet but her best tracks were 'Gash' ("I don't give head but/I give headbutts/A punch in the gut for calling me a slut") and the vampiric 'Merk Dem' ("Don't think you're way too ruff/I'll snatch your heart and drink your blood"). Yeah, kinda easy to see why that one never crossed over.)

(PS - the 'Sing For Me' on Shystie's myspazz is a response to Ghetto's 'Sing For Me', another song I keep meaning to post here - one of the best grime beats of late, and an A+ video:

From:

koganbot

Amazing. Her mouthing his words - not just singing FOR him but singing him, period, or his voice creating hers - and the metaphors doubling over and arguing with each either: "even though she don't wanna be in the industry," like, which industry? (Also, w/ her mouthing the words, she can handle three girls alone, implying that she don't necessarily need a man.)

From:

koganbot

I remember Shystie back on Run The Road getting decisively overshadowed by No Lay and Lady Sovereign, maybe 'cause her style was lighter, but also 'cause the song chosen was a remix that put most of the spotlight on the guy rapper. So starting today she's fundamentally new to me.

From:

theastronomymod.livejournal.com

JAYSUS!!!

The bass on this. I like, I like.

I can no longer keep up with genre names any more, I swear to god, The Lex makes them all up.

From:

koganbot

Here's the Jenna track, btw, misattributed to Cassie, for whom Jenna supposedly wrote it; unless it's not Jenna but instead is Aubrey O'Day formerly of Danity Kane, as some people claim (though this doesn't seem to be Aubrey's voice)

From:

i rate this song 'fairly bloody amazing.' it reminds me of something from the late 90s but i'm not entirely sure what.

From:

amnesia is, as i have said elsewhere, the best song on 'circus' by roughly four million miles. it sounds like 'hey mickey' remixed by tv on the radio with perky snow-synths and awesome literal-interpretation of a stuttering reference, which is always good.

and yes, i did only hear in january because i am the slowest person ever.

From:

koganbot

Well, the melody/chord pattern is classic doo-wop (e.g., Dion "Runaround Sue").

From:

i wondered what that style was called. i was thinking more beach boys-esque but they sort of aped doo-wop if i remember rightly?

From:

koganbot

Well, they're not throwing any counter-melodies and "bomp-d'bomb-d'bomps" into "Amnesia," so in that sense she's not diving headfirst into doo-wop (though the "you-oo-oo" and the "me-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee" are in the spirit), but she does use a chord pattern (I-vi-IV-V) that was used by something like two-thirds of the doo-wop songs. Not to say that it wasn't used on non-doo-wop songs. It was already the chord pattern of "Blue Moon," which had been recorded by a shitload of pop singers before the Marcels came along and turned it into doo-wop.

From:

catsgomiaow - they played a track off the Booka Shade album in last night's CSI:Original! It was a pleasant surprise :)

From:

koganbot

Relatively new to the world as well as to me (released or leaked within the last six months or so):
Jenna "Soldier 4 Your Love"
Cassie "Summer Charm"
Rich Boy "Drop"
Federation & TNT (Timberlee) "Heels"
Nicki Minaj "Beam Me Up Scotty"
Pink "Could've Had Everything"
Federation & TNT (Timberlee & Tifa) "Kuff"

New to me (older stuff):
CSS "Fuckoff Is Not The Only Thing You Have To Show"
David Guetta f. Cozi "Baby When The Light"
Raf "Self Control"

Inspirational verse from Nicki Minaj:
"I just found out that I was doper than Amy
Winehouse, maybe"

From:

koganbot

"Drop" is an actual single, too, so I guess so far it's my single of the year. Me: "New Rich Boy single, 'Drop,' just dropped: is quite good, that slow Alabama voice of his against a sample that's as tight and twisted as the sample on 'Get To Poppin.'" Lex: "Oh yes this is great! The sample is WHOA, 'Get To Poppin' meets 'A Milli' meets a car alarm. Makes sense that it's by Polow."

The song is the first up on Rich Boy's MySpace.

(For comparison: Rich Boy f. Pitbull "Get To Poppin (Remix)" (2005))

From:

I think maybe the 5th time I listened to that Minaj line, I noticed that it was accompanied by a distinct SNORT in the background, and laughed out loud for about half an hour. I knew you'd like her! Female rappers who slip into patois (like Foxy Brown!) will always be good.

From:

koganbot

Ah, "Drop" just got its official release a couple of days ago but there's already a remix that's been kicking around:

Rich Boy f. Kardinal Offishall "Drop (Remix)"

From:

I posted (http://community.livejournal.com/poptimists/664672.html) the Nicki Minaj and Crazy Cousinz tracks which are leading my singles of the year. Re: long players - Fever Ray, the Timberlee/Tifa/Natalie Storm mixtape, Anthony Hamilton and Scarface held over from Dec. Other notables:

Jim Jones ft. Ryan Leslie - Precious [that bluesy guitar line running through it is so addictive]

Electrik Red - We Fuck You [attn whorepop fans! This is The-Dream's new R&B girl group; 'Drink In My Cup' and 'Freaky Freaky' are great too]

Busta Rhymes ft. Young Jeezy & Jadakiss - Conglomerate

Jay Rock ft. Lil' Wayne - All My Life [good-times hip-hop which I mentally file alongside Estelle's '1980']

Ciara - Rattla ["I know you ride the beat when you recline that seat..."]

From:

koganbot

Is "Beam Me Up Scotty" an official single? (I realize that that's making less and less of a difference, but I still ponder these things for my P&J lists; I suppose it's also questionable now as to whether I'm still an official music critic.)

From:

I guess! I think w/artists of Minaj's status, songs emerging on to the internet probably are deliberately leaked to build buzz, rather than the Ciara/Cassie situation of tracks unofficially leaking...a quick google seems to indicate that it first emerged in Nov 08 though.

From:

koganbot

Nov '08 on a leak is close enough to '09 for me.

From:

skyecaptain.livejournal.com

I'll go to bat for pretty much the whole Ryan Leslie album, which is like the first half of the Cassie album half defrosted, replaced with a standard pre-Ne-Yo Gentleman wooing in the traditional manner. Flies low and steady, might sorta betray Ryan as a huge dork, which isn't so much endearing as a non-issue. He's kinda boring anyway.

From:

skyecaptain.livejournal.com

But he's as obsessive in layering his own voice in interesting ways as Danity Kane, and his songs are really economical and spare, full impact from very few ingredients. And his Autotune experiment isn't a total bomb.

From:

koganbot

I've only heard the first half, but so far it's hit or miss for me. Guest girl Cassie helps "Addiction" get over, and "Just Right" and "How It Was Supposed To Be" are effectively spare, but "Diamond Girl" and a lot of the rest are tedious, neither fish nor fowl, below-average vocals against average r&b tracks (that possibly would be better than average if Cassie were singing, but it seems to me that she does better without Ryan than Ryan does without her, which I wouldn't necessarily have expected)(these opinions are after one listen to half the album, mind you, so provisional, of course).

From:

koganbot

OK, I'm listening back to "Quicksand" and can hear how a singer with any charisma could deliver it - if that singer could put a glide into the vocals and get Ryan to slow it down. So, wrong speed, wrong singer, but viable tune and arrangement. Maybe its virtues will grow on me.

From:

Yeah I have this, only listened to once, not convinced by R-Les as a viable solo performer yet but this is v provisional. His guest spot and production on 'Precious' grabs me a lot more.

From:

koganbot

Guitar line functions a lot like the guitar in "Satisfaction." But for the first half of "Precious" the good stuff is when Jones is talking and you just want Leslie to shut up; finally towards the end he melds the parts well.

From:

The guitar reminded me a bit of The LOX's 'Ryde Or Die Bitch'.

From:

carsmilesteve.livejournal.com

being Esau Mwamwaya (http://www.myspace.com/theverybestmyspace), and apparently it came out in october, but still i only heard it a few weeks ago. Sorry Esau.

Sesau.

From:

koganbot

Since we haven't done this for a while, here's my list for the last couple of months of '08:

Britney Spears "Kill The Lights"
Britney Spears "Unusual You"
Taylor Swift "You're Not Sorry"
Buraka Som Sistema f. Deize Tigrona "Aqui Para Voces"
Paris Hilton "My BFF"
Nappy Roots "Intro"
Jessica Mauboy f. Flo Rida "Running Back"
James McMurtry "Bayou Tortous"
Demi Lovato "The Middle"
Cassie "Activate"
Will Young "Grace"
Randy Houser "Something Real"

From:

jeff-worrell.livejournal.com

off-topic but since you mention Taylor in the above post I thought you'd want to know that BBC Radio 2 have just playlisted "Love Story" this week. Haven't heard it on Terry Wogan yet though

I'm hoping this means Fearless will get a proper release on CD here soon.

(by "proper" I mean at a reasonable price, rather than the ridiculous import prices it's been on offer for so far... when a UK shop stocks it at all, that is)

From:

koganbot

Perhaps she and her label are thinking of a "grand opening" in Britain so they can push the album and her all at once. (Not that I have any information that this is what they'll do. It would make sense if they seriously wanted to do well in Britain, but I don't know if they think the effort is worth it, or would pay off.)

From:

koganbot

I was relatively disappointed by Fearless, but "You're Not Sorry" is heart-palpitatingly touching.

From:

The video's had high rotation on 4Music as well. I saw it the other day and didn't recognise her (sorry Frank) but I did think 'ooo that's a nice dress she's wearing' and then went AAAAAAAAAAAAAA when her name came up...

From:

Also I know no-one else likes Dutch fart'n'bass with extra schaffel but this is pretty good: Noisia - Machine Gun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejOm1V0Qpvk) (alas not a Portishead cover).

From:

i like that! noisia are great.

From:

OK right, try this: Seven ft Tamar Davis - Brother & Sister (http://www.imeem.com/jinsuk/music/F5gy8zpf/seven_brother_sister_feat_tamar_davis/) - creepy 1nc35t nu-Korean-soul! If anyone can listen to the end of this without going 'eeeeiyhharggh' then they have my undying respect.

From:

oh what, what. that is srsly weird. and quite wrong.

i made it to the end unscathed but then i do read a lot of fanfiction.

From:

jel-bugle.livejournal.com

Enslaved - The Watcher - I love this song because it's brutal but with a sheen of gentleness...kinda like watching a rough sea from a warm window.

From:

jel-bugle.livejournal.com

Oh, and the quiet bit at 2:53, is way better than anything indie wimps could ever come up with, 'tis beautiful.

From:

koganbot

Kat, you might want to also tag this "round-up," since that's what most similar threads get tagged, though a few others get tagged "month in pop," and for all I know there's yet a third designation.

From: