2011 In Pop: MARCH

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Adele's been on top for most of March, with a brief break last week to allow the Lead Pussycat to have a go being #1. Otherwise it's been pretty quiet compared to February!

[Poll #1723702]

* ????

Lower reaches watch: 'Regulate' got to #45 (RIP Nate), 'The Chain' popped in briefly at #81 for the new Formula 1 season, The Strokes' new single missed out on the top 40 and this week Miss 'R!B!' Rebecca Black makes it to #61!

February's poll saw Rihanna's sordid filth get a large proportion of the vote while The Vaccines did not get much love at all. Also two people ticked Noah and The Whale, which means that song is now in my head AGAIN. CHEERS GUYS.

Comments

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

oh the best thing I heard was the bad lipreader version of Rebecca Black.



I do like a pleasant Nazi

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

That was supposed to embed. It didn't. You can find it on youtube tho

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

It's embedded here ok! But if Youtubes don't show up for you in LJ comments, make sure you get the embed code that has the word 'object' in it (old version) rather than the one that has 'iframe' in it (new version which is meant to work better on iPads/iPhone).

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

Thank you! This is useful and good info!

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

What's the difference between the Hype Squad Black and Yellow and Wiz Khalifa's? I really like WK's- is t'other one essentially the same song? NB: I can't listen to YouTube at work so textual descriptions appreciated.

Oh dear the McFly

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Thats The Truth is the only Mackfli single not to have gone Top 20 because (spectacularly):
Week 1: the record company decide to only release it as a physical single (??????)
Week 2: airplay ceases because it is #36, however it manages to get on to iTunes finally
Week 3: it emerges that they couldn't do much promo because Dougie from the McFly is in rehab ftb sensitive emo soul
Week 4: tour = automatic profit so who cares etc.

Teenage Dirtbag hurrah!

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

have foo fighters ever been even slightly good?

Re: Teenage Dirtbag hurrah!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I quite like this one! It goes Crunch.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I should write a defence of the BEPs. They are actually avatars now, not people.

[koganbot]

I have not heard any new pop music for a month, so I am not ticking things here, though when I resume the Tick life I will tick "Down On Me," which is the most vastly haunting and gorgeous booty song I have ever heard; I do experience emotional dissonance regarding the fact that it is a vastly haunting and gorgeous booty song.

[fireholly.livejournal.com]

All my whining about March wouldn't fit in the boxes, so here we go, ANNOYING OPINIONS, in poll order:

I absolutely love Fighting Fire. It's so brilliantly minimalist and I love the mix of that grotty, claustrophobic backing and the cold, airy vocal. I love how the percussion sounds like it's come out of a freeware drum VST made by a student in the dark. I love the weird unbalanced chorus which doesn't sound like a chorus and which doesn't do the 'whoo huge amounts of top end have gatecrashed this track to tell you to get down' cliché. It really stands out as one of the best pop tracks this month, IMO, because it takes the formula and does it so damn weirdly.

Who You Are really annoys me, because there is a really, really good song in there and it's just not able to come out and I can't express exactly what's wrong but I can hear it and it's so frustrating. I have to admit I disliked Jessie J's other stuff too, but I do admire her genre range - that she was able to do a Rihanna-like, follow it up with a bubbly pop song and then with a ballad - and I am desperately trying to let her convince me to like her, but it just isn't happening yet. (The Illuminati conspiracy theory nearly convinced me, though. Nearly. (http://vigilantcitizen.com/musicbusiness/jessie-js-price-tag-its-not-about-money-its-about-mind-control/)) I do think the message of Who You Are is heartfelt and genuine, though - the words make it clear she knows what she's talking about when she describes depression.

I like Heart On My Sleeve and I think it's great by X-Factor Winner Ballad standards - it's gorgeously composed and Olly Murs's voice is genuinely fantastic - but I kind of wish I didn't because it makes me feel like a bad pop snob.

Till The World Ends is an awesome song by any standards, but I can't believe they picked that for the second single on Femme Fatale. I'll admit I was blown away when I first heard it, but in context with the rest of the album, it's not a song, it's an overture - it's so huge and floaty and open and Britney basically states the manifesto of the album in it, and we don't even hear the chorus until about the two and a half minute mark, just before the breakdown/buildup. There were so many much more single-able tracks on the album (SEAL IT WITH A KISS. I WANNA GO. CRIMINAL. COME ONNNNN GUYS), so I'm just kind of weirded out that they went with Till The World Ends.

I think it's a natural law now that everything the Black Eyed Peas do is awesome.

now to Don't Hold Your Breath which emphatically does NOT GET MY TICK because it is MY LEAST FAVOURITE POP SONG THIS MONTH (particularly annoying because I actually like Nicole Scherzinger herself). It sounds rote. Trite. Dated. Phoned in. I know Born This Way sounded like it was from 1998 but that doesn't mean anyone else should do it. Even the lyrics are so desperate to get the catchphrase in (http://www.scribd.com/doc/266102/KLFThe-Timelords-How-To-Have-A-Number-One-The-Easy-Way) (go to page 34) that they sound childish and limply passive-aggressive - 'if you think I'm coming back, don't hold your breath'. There are literally two things I like about this song out of EVERYTHING - one, the break where it's just percussive breath noise, and two, the fact that at least one godawful phoned-in pop dance music cliché wasn't fallen into and so her voice isn't robo-Tuned to uninspired hell.

Okay, sorry. Just needed to get that off my chest.

The most surprising thing about the Peter Kay/Susan Boyle duet is just how well Peter Kay's voice stands up, even when compared with hers which is obviously astonishing. It's also nice to see Geraldine again!

I'm actually kind of disappointed by the Katy Perry/Kanye duet, even though I like it. I think I like Kanye best when he's Auto-Tuned and Katy's hogging it here. It's got an honestly great chorus though, and I'm positive it's going to be the background of every TV trailer ever from here on until 2012. And 'Tell me what's next/ Alien sex?' is definitely the best lyric of March 2011.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Hello there fireholly! I quite like N-Scherz's out-of-breathness but I can see how it could be annoying.

I just listened to the Black Eyed Peas track for the first time and HURRAH they have let Fergie actually SING on it for once. F everyone's I (if you are wary of BEP output) it is more in the 'Meet Me Halfway' vein than a 'Dirty Bit' vein, and features zero Depeche Mode samples. I love Fergie's gentle high notes! The end bit where it goes all schaffle can bugger off though. As can Apl and Taboo. Basically my requirement for another Fergie solo album has not diminished ONE BIT:

Obligatory month-end embed pile

[credoimprobus]

In which it's very obvious that I spent March making up for the previous two-and-change months of music laziness, heh.

Best newish stuff:



(That bridge section from 2:15 to abt 2:55 = EARLY POP MOMENT OF THE YEAR omg.)






Not as new:







(Aka the thing that extremely belatedly up and made September an overnight sensation in her home country late last year. ENTIRELY UNDERSTANDABLY, I would say.)

Re: Obligatory month-end embed pile

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Ooh, the Tiesto/Tegan/Sara song is lovely, thanks!

Re: Obligatory month-end embed pile

[credoimprobus]

I love it kind of ridiculously myself! It's a pity I didn't hear it when it was current, is all I can say.

Re: Obligatory month-end embed pile

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

It is excellent! Good old Tiesto. Love the video too - T&S continue to be STRIKING.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

This 4 ticks for "Till the World Ends" is SHOCK I SAY SHOCKING. Britney album overall is meh, but a few songs are incredible, most of all that one!!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Dude it's not *that* good.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

piratemoggy is CORRECT when she says 'Black and Yellow' is immense, and I am a fool for not ticking it earlier:

Best "new" thing I heard in March

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Fantastique’s “Mama Told Me”: Abba-esque early 80s bub­blegum disco from Holland. There's a 12" mix on the new 'Disco Discharge: Crusing the Beats' comp. Plenty of versions on YouTube as well by the looks.

(Yikes!)

Re: Best "new" thing I heard in March

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

um, on second thoughts, not ABBAesque more Bucks Fizz meets Lipps Inc

[nuhiutah.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this post. You write about this topic very well. There are many cherished moments in life, why not wear a beautiful dress! When looking back on special memories of your child wearing a gorgeous dress, it will make a fond memory.

[nuhiutah.livejournal.com]

pimples are really annoying, you can kill them using benzoyl peroxide but it will also make your skin red.