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Pop Corner

 
  

Page: 12(3)4

 
 
Jackie Susann
23:00 / 24.02.06
Maybe he likes it because it's about the year he was born? (If I'm adding up right.)

Meanwhile, re: Nasty Girl, how good is it to have Biggie back on the radio? Plus, Puffy's ghostwriter should get a bonus just for the line, 'mad women wanting to bone Sean Coombs'. That is genius.
 
 
Cherielabombe
18:51 / 07.03.06
I could listen to Kanye's "Touch the Sky" again and again all day long! And in fact, I have.

Love the video, too.
 
 
matthew.
20:50 / 07.03.06
I'm seconding Nasty Girls. That's a great, fun song that doesn't spend all its time mourning Biggie like every other song post-Biggie's death.
 
 
Jackie Susann
01:44 / 03.06.06
New Christina Aguilera song, Aint no other man, here. It's a Primo beat, sounding a fair bit like Rich Harrison, closest comparison in Xtina's ouevre is probably the Nelly collabo, i.e., this fucking rules! 'You got style, you a bad ass', horn blasts, killer breakdown, the album is going to be amazing.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
01:02 / 04.06.06
Control Myself - LL Cool J feat. J.Lo does the odd thing: at first listen I completely forgave J.Lo for every bland thing she's done. Since I don't really follow what happens musically, I don't know if it's new, a hit or proper r'n'b but it gets me jiggy and that's what matters.

Zezezeze.
 
 
SteppersFan
11:46 / 04.06.06
The Feeling. Glorious summer time multi-part harmony pure pop magic. I have to sing along every time it comes on the radio.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
23:58 / 04.06.06
Is this the place to talk about the Reinvention of Nelly Furtado, or do we need a whole separate thread for that, pop kids?
 
 
Jackie Susann
00:26 / 05.06.06
New thread!
 
 
Jackie Susann
06:49 / 06.06.06
Hey Spunkmac, I don't know if I am just stating the obvious (no wait, I am), but if you like that you should check out Missy's Lose Control (Control Myself = a pastiche, and I don't mean that in any bad way), both the original and the sublime Jacques LuCont remix version.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
15:06 / 06.06.06
I quite like Missy and listened to her cookbook a lot last year, tho not yet heard the remix but dear me I'll track it down. I concur that Control Myself's got nothing on better artists' better tunes - the rap's uninspired, the beats sound like something else I heard a year ago ánd LL might not be as credible as, say, Missy - but the hooky chorus is so damn fucking good and unrelenting that I bounce off walls on repeated listens.
 
 
Jackie Susann
22:18 / 06.06.06
I dunno who you're concurring with, I love that song - partly because of its self-conscious relation to the Missy track. And I think LL's Back to Cali-ish flow (I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that JD specifically told him to bring back that style for this track) works brilliantly with the beat, like the string of extra short, simple rhymes that starts with 'she licked/off/her lip/gloss', and of course the 'zhuh zhuh zhuh' bit.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
11:14 / 07.06.06
Thought it was a slight put down the 'pastiche' bit. Read my post out from that. In LL's flow, it doesn't sound right to me when he utters "She said her name Shaida," as a continuation of the last line. But that's not even an annoyance, it just doesn't flow right...
 
 
Jackie Susann
22:22 / 07.06.06
B-b-but... that's what LL does so well, simple rhymes put together economically. Plus that verse has, to me, a pretty interesting rhyme structure (I don't know how you're really supposed to write these things out, but I guess something like A/A/bb/A/C/C/dd/C etc.) (And, not sure if this is what you mean, but the 'Shaida' line opens the second rhyme set (its the first 'C' in my little chart), so its not strictly a continuation of the previous line.) Anyway I am pointlessly arguing about a matter of taste now (on the other hand, this is the Pop Corner...)

But yeah, 'pastiche' wasn't meant as a diss, maybe I should have said 'homage' but that seems a little, uh, pretentious. I think the relation between the songs is pretty clear (I mean, that there is a relation, not nec. what that relation is - imitation, parody, Oedipal rivalry? I mean JD is always bitter that he doesn't get critical love as a producer) Esp. given the use of 'Control' in the latter track's title - its an obvious signpost, yeah? I think part of the pleasure (you're supposed to take) in the track is that frisson of pop-eats-itself recognition, like the kind of cycle that gets you Rihanna riffing on Soft Cell 20 years later sped up to near-breaking-point.

In some ways its a dancehall-ish move, now that I think about it - like when Elephant Man, in particular, uses a retro-pop melody over a contempo riddim (Willie Bounce, say, where he goes nuts around the chorus from 'I Will Survive' for a mad kopa burn out; it's my favourite dancehall track of last year, but he does this kind of thing all the time). Here you got LL doing 'Cali' and J-Lo's faux-reggaeton vamp over what's basically JD's version of the Lose Control riddim - okay maybe I am taking this too far now and I basically can't believe I thought/wrote that much about this song.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
23:09 / 07.06.06
But the Music forum thrives on this kind of thing and it should be done often, and by someone who knows how. Because I sure really don't know what I mean when I write flow, or maybe it's not in the same sense that you can effortlessly break down. What gets to me is that, and this is my main point, considering how tightly structured the chorus is, the shifts during the rap seem kind of careless, accidental even. To my ears it doesn't flow flawlessly. Compare to Beyonce's Check On It that is just one long, long plateued flow, that chorus-wise seems of the same kind as Control Myself. Erm. I think.
 
 
Jackie Susann
23:49 / 07.06.06
I guess the thing is that the songs use very different kinds of flows, or maybe that the kinds of pleasure to be had in each is different - although you're right that, by any possible technical standard, the Check On It rap is miles ahead of LL's. But the Check on It verse is by Bun B (cf. the Southern Rap thread) who is, undoubtedly, one of the most technically gifted MCs active today. Bun always busts these amazing polysyllabic internal rhymes, and, basically, nobody can touch him for verbal pyrotechnics.

But I think it's at least arguable that no one has ever touched LL for delivering simple rhymes well; plus, he has charisma (like, the way he uses a breathy intonation to punctuate the second syllables in Shaida, feed her, and nice to meet ya; or the way his emphases slowly rise as the verse goes on), little ways to personalise, for want of better word, what could other ways be pretty flat rhymes - LL = presence = I'm interested enough to at least pay attention, which puts him ahead of half the rappers I hear. This is why everyone thinks he slaughtered Canibus in their beef, even though, when you really listen, everyone concedes that Canibus' song is "better".

So basically I am agreeing, but one thing that makes Bun's flow so exciting is its difference from something like LL's - and I think that relation goes both ways (i.e., I appreciate LL all the more for having someone like Bun B to compare him to).
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
00:24 / 08.06.06
Agreed then. If LL needs someone to charm I'll volunteer anytime. My objections to parts of the song can't even be characterized as strong or pervasive, because, as you know, I really like it.

And could you please tell, should you have purchased the album that spawned the single, how the rest of it is? I burned my fingers pretty bad with Phenomenon which only had the titular track.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
15:09 / 09.07.06
I don't know about anyone else, but My Hips Do Not Lie.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
19:46 / 10.07.06
Mine do. While I smile.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
08:48 / 12.07.06
Lily Allen wouldn't thank you for including her on this thread, I'm afraid:

"To me Kylie playing Glastonbury would be the ultimate insult to it. It should be about new, interesting music, not mainstream pop."

I've been on the fence about this young lady. I know pop stars, even ones I like, say dumb stuff all the time, but nevertheless this statement is wrong in so many ways that I think I am not on the fence any more.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
07:38 / 14.07.06
Explain it to me please.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
07:47 / 14.07.06
Um, okay:

1) Lily Allen is mainstream pop!

2) Mainstream pop acts play Glastonbury all the time!

3) Acts that don't constitute "new, interesting music" play Glastonbury even more frequently!

4) Setting up a dichotomy between "new, interesting music" and "mainstream pop" is tired, reactionary bullshit.
 
 
Char Aina
08:55 / 14.07.06
she's the anti-pop popstar.
i have a friend who hates the pop who loves the lily.

i think she sells big on the not-selling-honest-guvnor dollar.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
09:03 / 14.07.06
*HEADDESK TRIUMPHANT*
 
 
Char Aina
09:23 / 14.07.06
man, you're gonna need a new desk soon.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
09:30 / 16.07.06
Sorry, I should have been more clear as what I also meant was, why were you on the fence? You like, somewhat, her song/s but can't quite bring yourself to fully enjoy them?

I think Shakira is a much more problematic pop singer, but I'll eventually get to that point later.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
21:51 / 20.07.06
Yeah, um, I just can't get excited about Lily Allen. If that wiggles yr noodle though, that's cool.

I prefer...

Bass.
(Uh.)
Hi-hat.
(Uh.)
808.
(UH.)
Jay.
(Uh-huh. You ready?)
Let's go get 'em!
 
 
Jackie Susann
00:34 / 21.07.06
I like Smile but I haven't heard any of her other stuff. My favourite recent pop ting is probably that incredibly beautiful Cassie single, Me & U. I'm also pretty nuts for the Timbo-produced Kerry Lynn/Snoop track, Happy Juice, with this repetitive, wonky, droning hook that really kinda sounds like being wobbly drunk.
 
 
Jackie Susann
08:21 / 22.08.06
I am bumping this to stop myself rotting the Girls Aloud thread by talking more about the Sugababes cover of I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor. Among the many, many brilliant things about this track, perhaps the most brilliant is that, on the line, 'dance like a robot from 1984', they vocoderise the vocals.

I would like the Arctic Monkeys approximately one thousand times more if they had thought to do that.
 
 
Jack Fear
11:37 / 22.08.06
Mm. Lovin' the Sugababes track also. Overall, though, I have mixed feelings about that ubiquitous auto-pitch-correction effect. I find it kinda depressing overall; I was listening to a song called "Strange and Bautiful" by Aqualung 'tother day, a gloomy little piano ballad, rather simple and quite nice—but the ill-disguised vocal tweaks pulled me right out of the song. On something like that I'd rather hear the guy sing in his own voice, even if it means hitting a few clams.

But since Cher went overboard with the pitch-fiddling on "Believe," it's become kind of a disco signifier, and yeah, I think it's clever and cool on the Sugababes thing. They Might Be Giants use it to similar effect on a disco pisstake called "Man, It's So Loud In Here" (love that title), and it works beautifully. (The song also functions as a high-energy dance song itself, which only makes the joke better.)

They
revamped the airport
Now it looks just like a nightclub
Everybody's happy
and confused...
 
 
Jack Fear
12:21 / 22.08.06
A couple of questions:

I'm digging the new Razorlight, although I'm getting distinct vibes from the blogosphere that it is Not Okay to do so. Why is this?

(Actually, I may already know the answer to this: When I was blasting "In The Morning" the other day, my wife looked at me oddly and said, "That sounds like Big Country." But see, to me, that's a selling point...)


Also: Somebody tell me of this Lindstrom and/or Prins Thomas. I keep seeing the names on the mp3blogs, sometimes separately, sometimes together, sometimes as a headliner, someimes remixing somebody else. I've heard a bunch of random songs with those names attached, and I like them all—cool, tuneful, atmospheric Euro-dance-type stuff. Where are they from? What's their deal? What should I be listenbing for? What common threads unite their work? Who else is working in a similar vein?
 
 
All Acting Regiment
13:27 / 22.08.06
Well, Razorlight are generally supposed (if you buy their schtick) to be "real", you know, all that shit. Lots of assumptions in promotional material and fanbase about their music's objective superioirity to, say, Kelis or, ahaha, "manufactured pop", as typical with most indie bands...which is a bit of a joke seeing how they, like Bloc Party Arctic Monkeys blah blah, employ just as many stylists and fashion buyers as your average r 'n' b artist.

None of which affects what happens between the speakers and your ears, of course. For my money they make a fairly unnoffensive sub-Stooges thing, which is however locked out of the Halls of Ace by the singer's incredibly irritating voice and refusal to sound like they're actually having fun.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
21:34 / 22.08.06
Also still loving the Justin "It's just Justin" Timberlake single. How good is that bit at the end, after the guys from Clipse have finished, where he goes "Drums" and it just changes into a completely different tune? Ah, haterz don't know what they missin' when they be dissin'.

Oh I am so late asking this, but I've got this Justin Timberlake/Ladytron mash-up (of "Seventeen", called "felix da housecat, justin's 17 showerscene") with precisely that "Drums" bit in it ~ it reminds me in a great way of the Drummer character in Planetary comic ~ and I have wanted to hear the original JT version for some time, but not known what to look for.

It actually sounds like a mash-up of "Seventeen" with the horn section of "Ghostbusters" to be honest. "DAAH-dah! da-da, DAAAH-dah!"
 
 
miss wonderstarr
21:37 / 22.08.06
Really enjoying that Jay-Z/Beyonce "Deja Vu" bass, hi-hat, 808 sequence now. It reminds me of the intro to that Neneh Cherry "Buffalo Stance":

"Ladies and gentlemen... I'd like to introduce the hi hat.

Go on, that's good, now tamboriiine,"
 
 
miss wonderstarr
21:53 / 22.08.06
My last comment for now except to thank everyone for recommending these tracks I've just got hold of is that those short lines and their delivery on "Control Myself" remind me a great deal of "White Lines" (Grandmaster Flash). I don't know from "Cali" so I am happy to have that style explained.
 
 
Jackie Susann
23:59 / 22.08.06
The JT original is Like I Love You, from Justified. The other day I was watching a dvd of him debuting the song, at the MTV Music Awards a couple of years ago, and I was really surprised that the 'drums' bit gets no applause, even though the audience just gave a big round to the breakdown before it.
 
  

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