Sugababes - "Push The Button"Another in a long line of A-rate Sugababes leadoff singles and Reason #482 why British pop groups are better than American ones right now. If you're going to go the raunchy route, at least bring a modicum of tact. ("My sexy ass has got him in the new dimension. / I'm ready to do something to relieve this mission." = GOOD vs. "My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump / My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump." = THE WORST EVER) There's so much to love about this song ("Push The Button" not "My Humps"): the no nonsense straight to business intro; that deliberate pulsating beat, very much like well, pushing the button over and over again; single line "He came on through and
aksed me if I wanted to get with him", which frankly, with apologies to mature
artist Keisha, is adorable; synth squiggles in the chorus; and of course the gauntlet throw-down spoken word bit that's undoubtedly the best you'll find this year aside from "Swinging London Town". So wonderful it makes me woozy.
I'm probably not going to get through all of these, but finals are over now, so I may as well give it a shot...
Junior Senior - "Take My Time"also
Junior Senior - "Itch U Can't Skratch", which is I still love.
Sometimes when I try to envision myself making the slow, unpleasant crawl towards adulthood (adolescence doesn't end until you're 30 now didn't ya know) I get the sense that everything isn't quite adding up right. I'm a 26-year-old grown man - lord is it ever painful to write that - who's working toward a careerist type occupation, one that most see as running hand-in-hand with, I don't know, simply being a grown-up, yet here I am getting my kicks from songs that sound as if they were written for children. I mean, if I happened to see one of my old grey haired professors or some stereotypic businessman driving down the road blaring Junior Senior, it would certainly seem a bit out of place. I guess what I haven't quite worked out yet is whether the peculiarity of it all stems strictly from age, or if it's more the clash between unbridled joy/fun and the kind of professional stoicism that you normally expect (sometimes wrongly) out of people of that sort. Not that it's THAT big of a deal...I've made a whole life out of not giving a crap about stuff like this, but it certainly does make you wonder. Am I in the right place, like maturity wise? Do people who stop next to me at red lights think I'm an idiot when my windows are rolled down? And most importantly, am I going to have to listen to really boring music when I'm 50?
Hell, let's make it three posts in a row.
Merry Christmas! aka album of the year supplement. The non-covers are good!
Kidz Bop - "Float On"This wasn't exactly a single, but er, it sort of was, so forgive me if you take exception. For those that don't know, Kidz Bop is this strange hit repackaging outfit that releases contemporary chart and rock covers sung by children. Usually the results are just harmless fun, inferior versions of songs that are redeemed through cuteness alone. This time however, the new version just unequivocally blows the original out of the water. I don't know what it is exactly. I think the effect is similar to what Bill Callahan's child recruitment does for Smog songs, extracting a bit of fun from something that would otherwise be wallowing in sobriety. Even the Isaac Brock soundalike brings a little something to the table. His singing style borders on parodic, but what really matters is that he sounds like a giant talking forest animal. Good fun. I thank the blogs for this one.
Kelly Clarkson - "Since U Been Gone"Pop, real pop, is practically dead in this country. Artists have to be sneaky and dress it up in a rock or hip-hop or R&B costume to get anywhere near radio these days. Ok, it is possible to ride the path trailblazed by Britney and find success as a Disney teen queen, though nowadays that entails feuding over Aaron Carter, releasing crap songs written by b-rate producers, and accepting that the music will have essentially zero cultural impact, serving solely as a means to promote multimedia celebrity status, so this doesn't really count. Or you can be Gwen Stefani, but again, she is very much an exception and certainly not the rule. Now surely this whole mess isn't the end of the world, but you know, variety=good, right?
As pop enthusiasts well know, "Since U Been Gone" marks the welcome return of one man hit factory Max Martin, who had seemingly been in deep hibernation for the past three years. The return though, wasn't quite THE RETURN, because times are different now and the likes of "Oops!...I Did It Again" and "Shape Of My Heart" no longer do it for people. In their stead, we have every-girl Kelly Clarkson flinging bitter reproaches at exes with angry session guitars in tow. Quite the sad trend now, enlisting guitars because people somehow see them as more "real", but, as explained above, that's what it takes these days. The story goes that Kelly was actually the one to suggest the change, not quite feeling the standard Swedish pop instrument workup. As much as I yearn for the glory days, it's easy to see that this was pretty savvy on her part. Few instruments can hurl the abuse like the good old guitar and that's exactly what's needed here to set the scene for some hardcore adolescent emotional fronting. The plan works, due mainly to Kelly's voice, which is well suited to express the controlled, targeted rage that the song demands. I find it hard to believe that any other contemporary singer could pull this off believably; most others that spring to mind either seem too sweet or have too weak of a voice. On to the song itself, it's vintage Martin: build and build, get to the chorus, reach the loftiest of heights, bust it up, repeat and enjoy the ride. This is of course what every songwriter tries to do, but as we know, nobody does it as well as those dirty Scandinavians. So at the end of the day, what we have here is the perfect combination of voice, style, and writing. Wool successfully pulled over the haters' eyes. Pop is back in America, people are lapping it up, and everything is again right with the world. (Choose to believe this reality as you may.)
Saint Etienne - "Side Streets"I don't know if I've ever expressed as much before, but I kind of like this band. Saint Etienne singles are always class and this one is their best since 2000's "How We Used To Live". There was a period when they struggled with these stripped down throwback pop shorts. However, this record says less about the band's musical progression and more about why Sarah Cracknell is such an effective (and affective) singer. If there's one thing that nobody ever talks about, it's pronunciation, and here, her's is absolutely immaculate. I think I could listen to an entire album of Sarah articulating nothing but s's and t's and be completely thrilled with it. It's also fair to say that as long as she stays within her vocal range, nobody emotes as effortlessly as her, as every smile, every wink, every sideward glance shines through with her voice. I really cannot believe how much I underrated this one.
