The Pop World Cup: GROUP A

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Death metal! Bare breasts! Robot disguises! Germans! It can only be THE POP WORLD CUP, getting underway at last with the group A clash between Costa Rica, Ecuador, Germany and Poland. The top two go through to the next round - as for the others it's an early bath.

You can find all PWC entries here. If you can't download or are having trouble let me know either in the comments box or at freakytrigger@gmail.com.

So here are the four Group A contenders, with exclusive team talks from their respected managers.


Costa Rica

Pseudostratified Epithelium - "The Pupil": Manager marnameow told us - "We all love music that can transcend language boundaries, and Costa Rica's Pseudostratiffied Epithelium certainly achieve this with their stunning and catchy The Pupil. The lyrics may be English (we're not certain), but the dulcet growls pervading this finest of death metal tracks means that they're equally unintelligible to native speakers of every language."

Ecuador

Can Can - "China Come": Their manager, skillextric, had this to say - "Hi there! We're Ecuador. Yes, as in the Sash! record. That won't be turning up here, mind, unless the German selection committee has a sudden fit of irony or something. No, for our opening salvo in the PWC we're sending out electro trio Can Can, about whom we don't know a huge bunch, except that they like to disguise themselves as robots, a bit. 'China Come' is gonna take you by surprise – it's the sound of danger lurking round every corner, guitars buzzing discordantly, and this weird, vapour-like synth noise hanging in the air, like something slowly falling to pieces. It'll take a few goes to really appreciate this one – hopefully we'll be through to round two by that time, though…"

Germany

Wir Sind Helden - "Von Hier An Blind": Loquacious gaffer sbp shared his thoughts with us - "I was thinking of submitting Boney M's "Rasputin" until the Graundiad G2 did a feature on them. So I had to do some actual research. 5 minutes typing "good german pop" into Google and I came up trumps with Wir Sind Helden.

These people are a poppy German band who don't try to sing in English (unless it's a B-side or video or something, in which case it's equally likely to be in Japanese or French). They have a female guitarist/singer with a good distinctive voice. The lyrics are apparently witty and full of wordplay. If you understand German, that is. Even if you don't, it's still good hooky guitar/synth pop.

This track is the title track from their second album "Von hier an blind". It sounds a tiny bit like the Cardigans.

"I can't go further... out of my mind""

(for more WSH information check the comments box)

Poland

Ewa Sonnet - "C'Est La Vie": Fresh-faced boss steviespitfire waxed lyrical to us about his latest find - "Discovered at the last second, this is a surprisingly lovely piece of Polish pop from last year. Dear Ewa is a topless model*; her song is a pop monster, lovingly crafted from pure silver and choked with bitter tears, possibly. In Poland, 'C'est la vie' is a term—appropriated from French—meaning, 'That's life'"


So how will matches be decided? HERE'S HOW.


You have 20 points to divide between the four teams, based on how much you enjoyed their tracks and on any other criteria you like.

No team can be given less than 1 point, no team can be given more than 10. If you fail to mark a team they will automatically get 5 points.

If that leaves a points total other than 20, or if you simply can't add up to 20, then the FIPA authorities will add or deduct points according to a highly complex system which can be explained in the pub by request.

Your votes should be in the following format:

"Costa Rica - 5. Ecuador - 5. Germany - 5. Poland - 5."

With the "5"s replaced by the points you allot to each team.

You can submit votes in one of two ways. In the poll below, or by email to freakytrigger@gmail.com if you can't vote in LJ polls. Any votes in the comments box will be disqualified. Voting closes at midnight GMT on Monday

The top two tracks, decided on total points, will go through to the next round. In the event of a tie the votes from the first 10 ballots received will be used to determine positions.

[Poll #654761]


Some indication of how the group stage is going will be posted tomorrow.

Commentary, "mind games", etc. in the comments box - GO!

*this fact is TRUE, do not attempt to check it at WORK.

Comments

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

ah marvellous. fine effort WBS.