A New Decade In Pop: Week 16

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Right, I think I've actually finished having a fight with LJ update thing. That'll learn me for trying to do things whilst talking to students.

The first time I made this poll, I took it from the upper echelons down; this time in reverse. It looks pretty gloomy this way but the other way was looking fairly ace. Snowpa Troll & Martha get let in since it's been a few years since that's last been in the charts I think.

[Poll #1552957]

ps: Kat is not ded, she is in France along with half the rest of the internet. Yr normal, competent poll-posting will recommence next week.

Comments

IMPORTANT QUESTION

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Could Paul Weller get any more self-parodical? I actually did a laff when I saw his entry.

Weller Weller Weller/Tell me more, tell me more

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

B-b-b-but he is elder statesman of britpop, a living, (just barely) walking legend, etc contd p94.

Srsly, is this alBUM that the broadsheets have been wetting themselves over really a left field masterpiece? Or by "experimental" do they mean it's Dad Rock with a few wrong notes and funny noises thrown in? Wvrs, I've given "No Tears To Cry" a tick as I genuinely thought it was a cover of some 60s thing but apparently not. So props for fooling me there.

[rechabite.livejournal.com]

Actually it's the former.

I liked all of these. Also, I like everything in the top ten except Scouting For Girls. So things are improving. Much like the weather.

[koganbot]

Ticked 'em all except Eliza, though only Swizz and Selena made me ecstatic. Maybe they should work together.

Professor Green ft. Ed Drewett "I Need You Tonight": The INXS riff, truncated funk on the border between disco and rock, hasn't lost any of its force, though Green and friend get in its way, trying to stretch out when they should have hunkered down and let the riff dictate. BORDERLINE TICK.

Kelis "Acapella": Pillboxes trying to sound like oil drums, while Kelis walks dreamily through a five-note scale, as if she's in a misty old village that has no truck with this new-fangled do-re-mi thing. This is more interesting than moving, but that brings it to my borderline. BORDERLINE TICK.

Selena Gomez & The Scene "Naturally": Nature here is thunder and fire. Wasn't expecting such richness and heat from such a cute face, but this is great. LIGHTNING TICK.

Kate Nash "Do Wah Doo": Kate's all elbows and spazzes as she and the instruments all try to jump out of their skins. BORDERLINE TICK.

Eliza Doolittle "Skinny Genes": While Lily Allen and Kate Nash dance lightly but with the knowledge all the time that crevasses and chasms are opening beneath their feet, Eliza just sounds indifferent. The melody is slight but not awful. BORDERLINE NONTICK.

The Futureheads "Heartbeat Song": Sounds like 1978 new wave incorporating '60s pop, yet the tune and edginess carry across pretty well, and cutes are avoided, though just barely. BORDERLINE TICK.

Paul Weller "No Tears To Cry"/"Wake Up The Nation": Not much voice left to sing with, but as Jeff says, "No Tears To Cry" feels like a lost classic, 1964 aching through the cracks. On "Wake Up The Nation" Weller just sounds tired, though the arrangement has a little shoving around in it. TICK for "No Tears."

Snow Patrol/Martha Wainwright "Set The Fire To The Third Bar": Slow start, plenty of anticipation. The change when it comes doesn't produce the necessary release, but doesn't wreck the mood either. The singing is soporific and ridiculous in its portentousness, but eventually I manage to ignore that and just like the sound. BORDERLINE TICK.

Jay-Z ft. Swizz Beatz "On To The Next One": I'm baffled that Jay-Z allows himself to sound so utterly spent, but Swizz locates the compulsiveness in the exhaustion. TICK.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Not sure I agree about "indifferent" re Eliza D (aagh terrible name btw) (terrible song title as well). She's underplaying the lyric, yes, but I took it as more a deadpan approach, gently mocking, the way smart-alec teenagers speak these days. I much prefer this to Gnash's more overtly sarcastic/hectoring style. In case you hadn't guessed, I like this song a lot.

Selena hasn't really sealed the deal with me yet. I sampled her album in HMV last night (also the Weller, which does indeed sound interesting). The opening track ("Kiss & Tell") got me very excited but after that it all got a bit depressing, in a "do we really need to go back to the early 00s?" way. This single is at least a bit different, but not very memorable, only a borderline tick.

[koganbot]

"Kiss & Tell" revives the early '80s (or anyway seems very Go-Gos, may also be my favorite track on the album, though I'm still hanging with "Naturally"). Overall, despite its two best tracks coming early, the Gomez album gets better as it goes on - real strong on the last six. I don't necessarily get a sense of Selena's personality from her music, and have never seen her act (whereas her ex-bff Demi Lovato comes across musically in full-scale vulnerability and passion and power, and I've never seen her act either).

Early '00s were all hip-hop and country for me, so I don't mind its poppiness being revived, which I didn't focus on at the time.

Would be happy to be all wrong about Eliza, about whom I know almost nothing. "Indifferent" may just mean I didn't find her all that distinct. Nash can be irritating and obvious for sure; that's just not always a flaw in a singer.

[rechabite.livejournal.com]

Not surprising since Gina Schock, ex of the Go-Gos, is writing and producing for Selena.

[koganbot]

Dave told me this, and Chuck might have too, but I'd completely forgotten until you just reminded me. Schock's one of the co-writers on "Kiss & Tell," though my other two favorites on the album are the ones with Antonina Armato in the credits ("Naturally" and "Tell Me Something I Don't Know"). Armato and Tim James, usually working together, are the best songwriters/producers to work consistently with Disney acts (e.g., Miley Cyrus's "See You Again" and "East Northumberland High," Aly & AJ's "Potential Breakup Song" and "Not This Year," Hoku's "How Do I Feel (The Burrito Song)," Zac Efron "Bet On It," and Demi Lovato "Our Time Is Here," just to name a few).

[meserach.livejournal.com]

I'm on a kick of rather enjoying "Skinny Genes" at the moment. Close attention to the lyrics helped; it turns out this is a song about being in a rubbish relationship but sticking around because the angry make-up sex is so good. This combined with the uptempo cheery presentation is a rather fun mix. Plus, whistling used as a euphemism for sex is rather amusing. 7/10, I think.