Yet Another Year In Pop: 25

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

We have a new number one - David Guetta and Kelly Rowland bump up from 7th to take the top spot.

[Poll #1419386]

Lower reaches watch: OMG ELEVEN there's a new Blazin Squad single at #51!

Poll reminder: You've got until tomorrow lunchtime to vote in Heat #5 of 2000. Will DMX or Madge make it through? Only YOU can decide their fate!

Comments

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Heavy Cross is grebt; I don't like The Gossip but have had to admit that that is quite a tune. Can't remember how it goes right now but seem to remember it being a bit like how I wanted 'Zero' to go, instead of a rvddy awful racket such as 'Zero' actually was.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

The Take That song is actually piss poor, isn't it? I am their demographic and I know what I'm talking about.

Freemasons - it's jolly enough but I can't quite bring myself to tick it. I approve of SE-B but only when she is singing more interesting songs than this. I might dig out her album this afternoon.

Gossip - I can forgive pretty much anything that has the proper Gang Of Four post-punk guitar noise on it (cf The Rapture, Radio 4). Phew, don't have to tick 'Don't Like Any'...

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Listening to it (Heavy Cross) now some bits of the guitar sound like 'Eye Of The Tiger,' too. Awesome, obviously.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Now that I've decided I'm no longer going to call myself a fan of pop, it's sort of liberating not to care how shit the charts are.

Paloma Faith - oh great, someone to combine stage school Duffy faux soul mannerisms with stage school Bat For Lashes faux witchy mannerisms. I like that piano riff but really, why does this even exist.

Freemasons - lazy hack work which seems to rely on archness for emotion - FAIL.

Yeah You's? As in...The Yeah You Is? Vile twee indie pop. Just die.

This week's saviour: The Gossip - retreads their one groove but it's a good groove. 6/10 at best. WELL DONE, POP. I'm so glad I hate you now.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Paloma Faith is ARGH awful. These wimmins are becoming the new landfill indie; if I was able to do reviews at the minute I'd have to make myself a Crappy White Faux-soul Idiots review generator; "[NAME] is a young woman claiming to revolutionise pop by not being like any of the other women in pop, before proclaiming her love for previous women in pop and her desire to emulate their style for some cheap pseudo-cred. Here is another tired and increasingly cheaply produced motown retread to soundtrack our boring lives every time we step in a shop or turn on a radio until we all admit Schopenhauer saw sense and KILL OURSELVES."

Or something. Seriously tho they are ALL RUBBISH ALL THE TIME ARGH. It almost makes Lady Gaga look alright simply for being obnoxious in a slightly different way at least.

[koganbot]

Lots of tries, few cigars.

Take That "Said It All": "You're staring into space at every inch of silence." Verses are work to get through, and standard soaring chorus is not enough of a reward. BORDERLINE NONTICK.

Freemasons f. Sophie Ellis-Bextor "Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer)": Her proper, detached enunciation is funny* but distracts from a good nervous dance beat. Eventually, though, the track overwhelms the affectation. BORDERLINE TICK.

*Maybe those of you with more experience than I in paying attention to Ellis-Bextor can tell me whether the funniness is intentional.

Paloma Faith "Stone Cold Sober": A sharp-tongued empty-headed singer songwriter dons neo-soul mannerisms and wends her way through an upbeat dance while still allowing herself bouts of moodiness. Has potential, or chops, anyway, but the melody is short of catchiness, and the ambition doesn't transcend the bullshit. BORDERLINE NONTICK.

Jack Penate "Be The One": Disconcertingly, Penate once again commits himself to pop that his voice can't handle. Could be a grower, if the backup singers ultimately triumph over the foreground. BORDERLINE NONTICK.

The Yeah You's "15 Minutes": OK tunes can't break through the clatter. NO TICK.

The Gossip "Heavy Cross": Although this track isn't the shaking behemoth it should be, it shakes all right. I've never seen the Gossip live. Suspect that that's where they unleash their pell mell energy. TICK.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Ellis-Bextor always sounds like that; she's very, very posh.

[koganbot]

Yes, but is this intended to be funny, or is that accidental? (Also, one can be posh without being detached. Or can one?)

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I'm never sure how self-conscious it is; it certainly adds a certain air to her music but I think she's fairly serious or at least can't help it. She's a fairly good natured sort of popstar but even so, I don't think it's meant to be funny.

I think 'posh' as opposed to 'upper class' or whatever suggests a certain detachment. Then again so does the concept of 'popstar.'

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Damn, remember when there were TOO MANY GOOD SINGLES in a year for some of the very best of them to make it through to the second round of polling? Poor DMX. But I'll root for the Alizee underdog victory.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

(Granted, there are plenty of good singles this year, too, they're just not on the charts.)