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.

[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.