Expand/Hide (Part 1)
Britt Nicole - "When She Cries" (2007): Another Xtian popper with a Kelly C. chorus, a coupla strings in the background. Theory: almost every Kelly C.-inspired Christian artist carries on the Breakaway (more specifically "Since U Been Gone") tradition better than Kelly herself. Pass.
The Pretenders - "Tradition of Love" (1986): Wow, I know next to nothing about the Pretenders. Steady midtempo rock chug, Chrissy Hynde particularly tremolo on this one, not much to write the home about, except that I think she's doing an interesting melody line in the verses. Play, but borderline thumbs down.
Jesse McCartney - "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" (2004): Sounds exactly what you think it sounds like. Skip.
Sara Bereilles - "Love Song" (2008): You've already heard this one. Better convo than I'm willing to have now here. Thumbs up.
Smashing Pumpkins - "1979" (1995): Already thumbs-upped, but let us not forget that the sound of teenpop grl-rock verses from approx. 2004-2007 was almost exclusively shaped by this song.
Selena Gomez - "Cruella De Vil" (2008): Not bad, though not as good as Skye's (or Lalaine's) version of the same song -- makes the mistake of changing the melody on a sort of made-up pop chorus, which makes the song a lot more generic. Also annoying, she pronounces it "Cruella DEE Vil." I haven't heard much Selena Gomez (she of Disney and Demi Lovato BFF fame) but I did like "Bang a Drum" from the Another Cinderella Story OST. Borderline thumbs up.
Clique Girlz - "Then I Woke Up" (2008): Never actually heard the reformed and ramped-up Clique (now Clique Girlz -- follow the continuing saga). Mediocre early Duff-rock with really nothing singing (even for Duff-rock!). Docked points: electrobeat on verses sounds like it's coming straight from the keyboard, sez "Dr. Phil won't you please help me," chorus tells us that she's a "hip-hop queen...I'm so bling bling." You are so not. Thumbs down.
Jesse McCartney - "How Do You Sleep" (2008): This one's really grown on me, ingratiating plink-hook + sweep synth and basic handclap beat, Jesse somehow maturing from teen-doing-preteen to twentysomething-doing-teen. Maybe he'll make it to early Timberlake by the time he reaches 40? Thumbs up.
Usher - "Nice and Slow" (1997): Don't know any early Usher. Pre-nastee R. Kelly moves, but a bit more babyfaced. Oh wait, this chorus sounds familiar. Have I heard it, or just a million songs that sound exactly like it that I also can't remember? Thumbs down.
The Sounds - "24 Hours" (2006): Tegan and Sara with a bit more electro underneath? Hm, I seem to remember other stuff by them on this station that I liked, so I'll let it pass. Pass.
Vicky Breecher - "Yesterday, Today, and Forever" (2006): Another Christian girl-rocker, except this time there's WAAAAAY too much Jesus. Didactic and gross. Thumbs down.
Lady Sovereign - "Love Me or Hate Me" (2006): Reminds me how good her little low-tech earworms sound with some real production muscle behind them -- it's the one thing that's missing from "I Got You Dancing," and a few others on the album ("Pennies" especially), which could stand to sound as oddly massive as this one, I think. Thumbs up.
Lady GaGa - "I Like It Rough" (2008): Totally passable electropop -- reminds me that on the whole her album is enjoyable if you just kind of tune her image out. And as I said in today's Singles Jukebox, that's actually quite easy. Likeable, and as usual I really like the synths, but still just a pass.
Jem - "Save Me" (2004): I've been casually avoiding hearing Jem because I don't want to keep getting her confused with the cartoon of the same name (her of the Holograms). Actually I've been casually avoiding it for the same reason I casually avoid everything else: I have better things to do at any given second in my life. Anyway, it's Tashbed 7.0. Ah, that wasn't so hard. Pass.
Paula Abdul - "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" (2008): Holy shit, did Paula Abdul just dish out some beyond-decent '08 via '80s hazy Autotune bliss?? Yes. Yes she did. (What on earth did Randy Jackson do on this song? As far as I can tell there's not any bass.) Thumbs up.
Daechelle - "Fearless" (2007): OMG, the "Fearless" meme refuses to go away. That's awesome, because I plan to use it well into 2010. I'm...y'know, unafraid. Bold. Brave. Free of misgivings. A decent sub-Jojo verse gives way to less-decent aspirational soarin' chorus. The track is from the solid Bratz Movie OST, launching pad of sorts for Prima J and Clique Girlz. Pass.
Billie - "Because We Want To" (1999): Starts off promisingly with brat-rap call and response, then devolves into some middling American Idol auditioning w/ pseudo-soul Xtina growling, though interestingly it seems to slightly pre-date Xtina herself. Disappointing, but a pass.
Colbie Callait - "Feelings Show" (2007): Dear Pandora: Stop trying to make me listen to Colbie Callait. I ALREADY SAID NO. Thumbs down.
Sigh, that's enough for now -- more later perhaps.
...OK, here we go again...
Expand/Hide (Part 2)
Xscape - "Who Can I Run To" (1995): 90s R&B...that...um...hey, the song has been over for one minute and I can't remember a note of it. It was OK though! Pass.
Erykah Badu - "Next Lifetime (Live)" (1997): Interesting to compare this to her latest live album, which is excellent -- this one jams out further and...er, jammier than the new one, yet the new one feels much more intimate than this, weirder, a bit more special. Erykah's voice has weathered nicely in the interim, a more cracked, throatier delivery. This one is a bit too smoove by comparison and doesn't have any of the grit of the newer performances, from the standard syncopated bass and twinkling clav to the special (multiple) breakdowns for back-up singers...rolling plains to the new album's craggy moonscapes. Pass.
John Legend - "Green Light" (2008): Wow, they managed to pick the one John Legend song I actually like and/or remember. Like Lauryn Hill's "Lose Myself," the backing bounce provides a perpendicular complement to John Legend's silky croon. Like slathering butter all over "Hey Ya." Andre 3K, who makes a nice appearance here, isn't credited on Pandora but really helps take the track over the top. Big thumbs up (wow this should have been somewhere on my singles list last year).
Ne-Yo - "Mad" (2008): Daaaaaamn, Pandora's on a ROLL. Fave song from Year of the Gentleman except maybe the dishes one, which I like conceptually more than actually. Sigh, I do that a lot, don't I? But hey, I can admit when the tune just destroys, as it does here. His fractured harmonies come in so masterfully it's like an auto kaleidoscope effect was applied. Would that this really existed (I actually have heard this effect before, in a demo of an ungodly expensive keyboard at some kinda industrial piano/keyboard fair), and became the new Autotune craze. Thumbs up.
Keri Hilson - "Get Your Money Up" (2009): Once again picks one of my favorite songs from an album I'm still lukewarm on. Keri spits and swaggers to the digi version of the "Turnin' Me On" tubas (which is to say...uh, y'know, a low synth). In fact, this basically is the lower-rent "Turnin' Me On," but it's an efficient little below-the-radar flier, which is what I wanted more of on the album (Keri herself being a somewhat below-the-radar sneak-attack personality in the minidiva tradition). Thumbs up.
Chris Brown - "You" (2007): Amazingly, Pandora has managed to update my tastes almost exactly the amount of time I haven't been paying attention to it. "You" is pretty much the dividing line (the moment in 2007 or so when Chris Brown unquestionably became THEE uber-hip pre-teen music referent for...y'know not-white-upper-middle-class girls, as evidenced in OFFICIAL RSRCH I has done). Is neither better nor worse than any other (good) Chris Brown track. The world will miss him, that talented little piece of shit. So, uh, is country music basically like the Cayman Islands of identity reformation? Miley, Hootie, Chris Brown...
Cascada - "Truly, Madly, Deeply" (2006): AUUUUUUUUUUGGGHGHHGHGHGHGHH!!! OOM-CH-OOM-CH-OOM-CH-oom/ch/oom/ch/oom/ch/oom/ch SCOOTER.....er, CASSSSSCAAAADAAAAAAHHHHHHH! YES YES YES EYS YES YESYESYSETYESYESESTYESYESSSSSSSSSSTHUMBS UP! (Read this excellent piratemoggy post for reference.)
Basshunter - "Professional Party People" (2008): Haha when they tried to play stuff that DID NOT BOSH for three tracks, my vetoes were so swift & painful that they played this to appease me. And it worked! PS bonus points, this album is called LOL d[-_-]b. Thumbs UP UP UP.
OK, they've killed the bosh with yet another dose of Smashing Pumpkins "1979." Love this song but I'm glad that they've built in a SNOOZE button (go one month without playing it -- Pandora does get stuck in repetitive ruts pretty frequently still).
A few of these songs that I've long since thumbs-upped (esp. Mandy Moore's "Candy") reminds me that Poptimists is beginning a year-by-year BEST OF THE 00's poll pandemonium, ending (obvs.) with 2009 closer to the end of the year. 2000 Singles nominations thread here, follow along via this tag.
For my part, aside from participating I'm going to do another attempt at Year of Jop-style personal discussion to break down the decade, which was definitely the most formative of my music experiences, intellectual approach to music criticism, etc. etc. etc. So yes, IT WILL BE ABOUT TEH ME. I'll keep it under the "History of Jop" tag so'se you can get my whole makeshift musical autobiography by clicking the tag. 'Course this whole site is my music autobiography, I guess, but that stuff actually has capital-A autobiography material in it.
No comments:
Post a Comment