Best Song of 2000: Heat #6

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Britney, Sugababes, Daft Punk and Daphne & Celeste are all safely through, with DMX just scraping in to join them at the last minute.

You know the drill by now - you have until Friday to vote on this lovely lot...

• You get a maximum of TEN TICKS over the three bits of the poll. The top five will go through to the next stage.



• If you want to change your vote (or tick too many by mistake), you can edit your votes by clicking on 'Poll #12345' then 'Fill Out Poll'.



• UK chart placings given in brackets.



• Rep for your favourites in the comments!

[Poll #1419918]

Comments

[koganbot]

I've still got one vote left.

Kicking myself for forgetting to nominate Mystikal's "Jump," but "Shake Ya Ass" doesn't hold up for me at the moment, sounds like James Brown reduced to a cartoon. (Maybe I've got a mental block against Mystikal, which'd explain why I forgot "Jump." Wiki: "On January 16, 2004, Mystikal was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to forcing his hairstylist to perform sex acts. He also admitted to extortion. The rapper and two bodyguards forced the woman to perform oral sex, have sex with them, and accused her of stealing $80,000 in checks. Mystikal initially denied the assault, but confessed after a videotape of the crime was found at his home.")

I'm not sure how or even whether I'll use my final vote. I was vaguely contemplating voting for some of the following (as being any good at all):

Rage Against The Machine "Sleep Now In The Future"
Pharoahe Monch "Simon Says"
Mystikal "Shake Ya Ass" (see above)
Daphne & Celeste "School's Out" (is fun 'n' all, but the original crushes it completely)
S Club 7 "Reach"
Three 6 Mafia "Sippin' On Some Syrup" (maybe I've simply heard it too much, but on this go 'round it seems pale)
N'n'g "Right Before My Eyes"
Common "Sixth Sense" (he flows OK over beats that'd trip up many people, but the delivery is pedantic and the words platitudes)
Mary Mary "Shackles" (sorry, don't see what the big deal is here; a likable but second-level TLC or Destiny's Child track with some gospel shouts thrown in)
Monster Magnet "Silver Future"
Sasha & Emerson "Scorchio"
Red Snapper "Some Kind Of Kink"

I may relisten to a few of these, but I'll have to convince myself I like something more than the RATM to vote for it. (I'll vote for the RATM if I convince myself I like it more than the RATM.)

Couldn't find Losoul, only found a 30-second clip of the Sonic Youth (which sounded disparate in a noncompelling way), could only find live versions with shitty sound of the Pantera. Only found live versions of the Eleni Mandell, as well, but to my surprise was totally taken by it, since from the little I'd heard of her I'd dismissed her as a ho-hum subdeb with a good voice. On this one she moos and lacerates like Polly Jean.

[lisa-go-blind.livejournal.com]

While 2000 was around the height of my love for Sonic Youth, it was also the height of their tuneless noodling. Even I opted to spin EVOL a few extra times rather than pick up NYC Ghosts & Flowers or any of the SYR stuff.

Eleni Mandell has been on nearly every relevant radio show/podcast I listen to over the past year (Sound Opinions, The Sound of Young America, multiple times on NPR) to the point where I got irritated with having to hear her mediocre poetry and dull melodies. "Pauline" isn't half bad though. It's not quite tickworthy for me yet, but that may change by Friday.

[koganbot]

All right, let's re-evaluate. As I said, these are pretty good but... RATM's got a strong guitar riff grindin' away, but Zack's eruptions get ever more tedious. The S Club 7 doesn't sound forced, just insubstantial. N'n'g is half rescued by the silly-putty beats in the remix, but the dancehall toasting just gets in the way. Sasha and Emerson: "Come in," said Tom, entranced. (Joke from 9th grade.) This goes long without getting in, or out, or anywhere. Monster Magnet gives us good little dark circles from the bass, then turns into a standard plodder. Daphne & Celeste aren't even rapping particularly well on "School's Out," and the rock makes me think of how Coop and crew rocked it harder. Red Snapper's excellent chopping-block funk tries to galvanize a surface that's too disparate and tired.

Which leaves Pharoahe, Three 6 Mafia, Mary Mary, and Mystikal, all worthy, I've decided. I'll end up ticking whichever needs the vote most. The structure of "Shake Ya Ass" is brilliant in exactly the way that Lex described, fast man caught in slow loop; the fast man's creativity goes flat from time to time, however. On this playthrough "Shackles" sounds shimmeringly pretty and unshackled, even if I wish it had a little more force. Three 6 Mafia f. Project Pat are suspended in air and twisting around, quite appropriate, though the syrup tends to run dry over the length of the track. Pharoahe, comically ominous, big and edgy, plot has a few breakdowns.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

This is funny, because I assume what you've already heard of Mandell is the studio version of 'Pauline', which I submitted to one of the various orgafun tournaments here back in the day! It is very good though, as is its parent album Thrill; also enjoying about half of her new one Artificial Fire, though it certainly doesn't rock as much as this.

[koganbot]

I totally forgot. If I don't have to search too hard I'll go back and see what if anything I said about it. Have heard some other Eleni; and last night I listened to what was sitting glumly on her website.

[koganbot]

Found it! I slotted it into fifth (though would have pushed it to sixth if I hadn't already heard "Let The Music Play") and this is what I said:

A Polly or Shirley type tries Nancy Sinatra. Or something. Obvious passion, but stylizations get in the way.

Don't mind the stylizations as much now, I guess. Ben, being the jury, said this (giving you second place and a solid WIN):

I like this instantly. I'm immediately picturing this soundtracking a Tarantino film. Probably a gangster preparing himself for the epic shootout at the end of the film... the tension definitely seems to build up as the song goes on. I really love this vocal... she's got this sexy, mysterious country'n'western twang to her voice. I'm not really up on my country singers so I couldn't even make a guess at who this might be. 2nd Place.

[Also see that someone from first-place winner Goose googled in two months later to give us their Website: http://www.goosebumpz.com.]

[koganbot]

Also, I can't remember whom I meant by "Shirley." Probably someone totally obvious. I must be having a senior moment.

[koganbot]

Oh, must be Shirley Manson.

[koganbot]

This heat's my most rock: Shellac, Eleni, Primal Scream, and - if you want to count "Rock Superstar" as rock - Cypress Hill.