POPTIMISTS TRACKS OF 2009: Nos 50-44

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Hip-hop heavy stretch of the tracks poll - check back later this afternoon for 43-37.

50. DJ QUIK & KURUPT - "9x Outta 10"

Singles Jukebox influence here I suspect! Hip-hop veterans make uncompromising yet catchy banger.

49. CASCADA - "Evacuate The Dancefloor"

Borrows all its ideas from Blackout/Circus era Britney, gets just reward. The lowest placed song which got 4 separate votes!

48. LADY GAGA ft COLBY O'DONNIS - "Just Dance"

First Gaga sighting! Does it sound better now we all like her? (Or worse to the people who already did?)

47. GIRLS ALOUD - "Untouchable"

Beautiful robots dancing alone.

46. NEKO CASE - "This Tornado Loves You"

Fan video alert! This song is about a tornado loving somebody.

45. NICKI MINAJ - "Beam Me Up Scotty"

You'll need to turn the volume up on this stills vid - all the copies of this on YT are superquiet. The chorus hook on this is straight outta rave 92 I'd say!

44. RAEKWON et al. - "House Of Flying Daggers"

House of embedding disabled moar like so click through for the completely absurd cartoon video.

Comments

[mcarratala.livejournal.com]

Now, don't go assuming that we ALL love Lady Gaga just because a whole bunch of former sceptics have warmed to her. I still reckon she's an unpleasant thing on the whole, and can't bear Bad Romance.

Voted for three songs in this short stretch, plus numbers 51 & 52…

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I voted for Neko and I think that was all. I like the Raekwon a lot but I overplayed it a bit. The GA and Quik/Kurupt both sound better now than they did on release - back then I preferred other stuff on Blaqckout to "9x", now I'm not so sure. Cascada is fun, Lady G is funn-er than I gave it credit for, Nicki Minaj is VERY fun but I want to hear a higher quality copy.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I still think 'Just Dance' has an uber-weak chorus but it has grown on me over the year ie I realised I was singing along to it while waiting at the bus stop by Goodge St where it was pumping out of the handbag/pashmina stall radio speakers.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

The wussiness of the chorus is what makes it work, by revealing it as comfort pop.

/Board of Warm Mush

That WOW! Factor

[koganbot]

I've always thought that "Just Dance" was a terrific song with too heavy an arrangement and too rough a vocal, but good nonetheless; however, I was already prejudiced in its favor because the first time I heard it was when Jimmy Draper directed me to Miss Norway's inept dancing at 1:13 here, which I found utterly charming:



Also, Miss Venezuela, first up on the runway, went on to win.

(I do consider this song 2008, when it made my top 100 but not my poptimists ballot.)

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Crap, I completely forgot to send my ballot. Several of these feel like 2008, though.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Crap, I completely forgot to send my ballot
D'oh! Stop countdown now and start poll over.

I thought this was all a bit Kasabian-lite. ;)

Didn't vote for any of these, but happy to see most of them nonetheless. This is definitely Lady G's weakest single. We didn't change; she just got better is all.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Love Game is weaker surely

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

No way. It is the wellspring of The Fame and its Monster.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

"Just Dance" still sounds basically unremarkable, "Love Game" is still actively awful - Jeff is right, she got better (though I was wrong about "Poker Face" at the time).

[credoimprobus]

Just Dance sounded way more awesome loud on the radio over factory noise, though!* It always needed to be the proper banger it was in my head at first, rather than being saddled with the rather tepid production it actually has.

*) this is true of MANY POP HITS, as a matter of fact

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

Dammit, my two favourite hip hop singles of the year are in that bunch. Maybe some of my R&B faves will do better.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

At least they're there! But it's a bit like the Festive Fifty I guess - one hip-hop banger at #50, cue rueful comments from John Peel.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I should have put a bit more thought into my placement -- after 10 I just kind of stuck the rest of my tracks on there. (Forgot Gaga's "Paparazzi" but it's close to 20-ish anyway so no big loss.)

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Thrilled to see Neko C place, I thought I might be the only sucker who fell for this. Rest of the record leaves me cold though. Am yet to really feel the Quik and Kurrupt (I know, heresy) and although I tried with the Raekwon etc., I never saw the basis of all the plaudits.

[koganbot]

I do find the Raekwon track interestingly claustrophobic, but you have to wait four-fifths of its length before Method Man transcends the claustrophobia. As you'll see in a recently posted Jukebox, I did my best to knock it out of the competition, but it managed to squeak by Robyn n' her robot, owing in part to Tom's annoyance with the robot's whiny missus. The Q & K touches my obsessive-compulsive side. (Didn't vote it in this poll, however. You'll have to wait to see how I treated it on the Jukebox.)

[koganbot]

Pleasantly surprised that mine wasn't the only vote for "Untouchable," which seemed to be getting nothing but mehs here. Whereas I feel a beautiful whomp of sadness as the song drifts down.

"Beam Me Up Scotty" was my other choice here; I had no idea how it would do, since I didn't think Lex was going to participate and didn't know if Xhuxk would either (still don't know if they did, or if either of them voted Nicki). The track's great for sounding otherworldly and bratty at the same time.

[martinv.livejournal.com]

I voted for Untouchable - I think it'd have been higher on my list if it wasn't such a tail end of '08 track. It's far from middling IMO, and easily the best thing on the last GA album.