A New Decade In Pop: Week #37

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

A-Burke at number one! That's four new #1s in as many weeks. What is this, 2001? Also plenty of stuff from TV talent shows in today's poll:

[Poll #1618230]

Thanks everyone who came to The Last Ever Poptimism on Friday (and thanks to anyone who attended over the last five-and-a-bit years)! A club is only as good as it's crowd, and you were very very awesome.

Comments

[koganbot]

Alexandra Burke ft. Laza Morgan "Start Without You": The year isn't getting any less weird. I've been referring to the "current r&b-dance-pop amalgam," but this track is barely amalgamated, just a coalition of elements thrown together by RedOne, none of which take over or get any more interesting when they collide (as opposed to the even more bizarre Loick Essien thing that I just reviewed favorably for the Singles Jukebox). NO TICK.

Script "For The First Time": Staid reediness and financial angst. NO TICK.

McFly "Party Girl": Good tune, overwhelmed by guitar rush and hot dance beats that are too relentless for the vocals to hold onto, but this is still a TICK.

Emma's Imagination "This Day": With potential for a flighty fey poetry-girl take on country, this merely arrives at precious singer-songwriter pseudo-significance, though light enough not to sink utterly. NO TICK.

Alesha Dixon "Drummer Boy": Drummer boy equals pummeled song. NO TICK.

Greg Street "Turn My Swag On": Don't even know what version they're buying, and if he's mashed the Soulja and Keri "Swags" I haven't been able to find it streamed, though I've found him doing a Soulja-Keri mash that combines "Swag" and "Turnin' Me On." As I said upthread, I don't think the "Swag"-"Turnin'" mashup works. But I like the Keri "Swag" enough (which gets rare uneasiness and pressure out Keri's usually slick voice, and is the version that inspired X-Factor Cher hence the sales) that I might like the Greg Street "Swag"-"Swag" mashup, if it exists. NO TICK (provisionally).

Pictures "Tears": Weak (at least on the live clip), falling way short of the song's potential drama. NO TICK.

The xx "Islands": I share Xhuxk's impatience with the not-thereness of the singing, and the extraordinary two-line setting created by guitar and bass don't make the not-thereness right. But the setting and the tension are extraordinary. TICK.

Linkin Park "Catalyst": Classic Linkin Park drama and tunefulness and ridiculous overbearingness funneled into cheap beats 'n' synths in a way that's quite fun, even if it does go on too long. TICK.

Typos

[koganbot]

pressure out OF Keri's usually slick voice

THE Catalyst