Hi there! You're probably here from Carver Catalyst. To read the rest of the newspaper article, keep scrollin', it's right below, along with a high-quality copy of my art for the article.
If you're interested in my full Oscar predictions, along with my justifications for each award, click this link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yIX-AGnTS_fM4wP3RIuN6Sl1Uh8Q1CA258vP0B23obY
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Tuesday, December 31, 2013
The Oscars Are Coming! Supplement.
Hello! If you're reading this, you're most likely coming from my article in the January edition of Carver Catalyst. Due to the size of my article, I wasn't able to include it in full. Here is the rest; followed by a more in-depth explanation of ALL my Oscar picks in ALL categories. I'll be updating this website with more awards writing in the months to come, so if you're interested, check by!
There’s more to a great film than just the classic triptych of acting, directing, and writing. Visuals, including a movie’s design and production, have almost as big an effect on its reception.
Gravity is one of the most visually groundbreaking films in recent memory, and will surely do well here on Oscar night, especially in the categories of cinematography and editing. Gravity’s cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, has five Oscar nominations without a win. That losing streak could be broken this year.
But the Cinematography prize could go to a host of other deserving films: 12 Years a Slave, Captain Phillips, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Nebraska are all in the running.
Prisoners is one of the most intriguing nomination possibilities: Winner of third prize at TIFF, Prisoners’ cinematography was praised as one of its best aspects. Its cinematographer, Roger Deakins, has one of the most infamous records at the Oscars: He’s been nominated ten times without a win. Giving him another fruitless nomination here might seem needlessly cruel in such a competitive category; but perhaps Oscar voters will feel sentimental and prove that eleventh time is the charm.
Rush is another film with a good chance here. Directed by Ron Howard, Rush is a sports movie about racing with enough heart and critical acclaim to have a chance at the Oscars. Right now, the film hasn’t gotten enough buzz to be on the radar for big prizes, but if it’s a hit, it could very well get nominated. For now, it looks likely to pick up a few noms in technical categories and not too much else.
Editing is another category Gravity has a near lock on. Its director Alfonso Cuaron’s prior film to Gravity was the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful Children of Men, which was nominated for Oscars for its cinematography, editing, and writing. It lost all three, but Gravity was the smash hit Children wasn’t, and more, meaning it’s more likely to win its bids.
Other editing nominee possibilities include Captain Phillips, 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Rush.
One of the most interesting Oscar categories to watch is Production Design, formerly known as Art Direction, which covers the sets, decoration, and graphic design of a film. This is because the award is often an even split between lavish, but not always critically acclaimed, period films; and the dramas that are nominated in many other categories.
This year, the latter category will most likely be occupied by 12 Years a Slave, Gravity, and/or American Hustle. But the former has plenty of contenders, too. One of the most prominent is Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. The movie received a mixed-to-negative critical reaction, but most agreed that its visual style was superb. One student says, “It was beautiful.”
Another fan-favorite film with a shot at a nom is The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The film’s not out yet, but the first Hobbit film was nominated here, and it’s a good bet this one will be too.
Oz the Great and Powerful is another big-budget film with great looks, even if it’s lacking in other areas. Its production designer, Robert Stromberg, has won two Oscars recently, for Avatar and Alice in Wonderland. While the digitally-generated sets he specializes in have generated controversy from those that don’t see them as true set design, the Oscars haven’t had a problem with rewarding it. Oz could also do well in Costume Design, as could The Great Gatsby and The Hobbit.
Period films like 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle will also do well here, and if the former wins, it’ll break a five-film losing streak for its designer, Patricia Norris.
Another period drama that could receive attention here is The Invisible Woman, a biopic of Charles Dickens and his secret lover. Its designer, Michael O’Connor, has won once before, for period drama The Duchess, winning despite its lack of critical acclaim. He could certainly snag a nomination here.
Those hoping for a Hobbit win should pay attention to the Makeup and Hair category, expanding from just Makeup for the first time this year. LOTR-based films have been nominated in this category every time they’ve been released, and that’s a trend that’s likely to continue.
Any movie where the characters are based on real people does well here, since their makeup is easily judgeable: Do those actors look like the real people they are supposed to look like? This means 12 Years a Slave, The Butler, Rush, Dallas Buyers Club, and American Hustle are all in the running.
Sound Editing and Sound Mixing are frequently confused with one another, and inevitably a hacky comedian, awards writer, or even the awards presenter at the ceremony cracks a joke about how nobody can tell the difference. Ignorance is never funny, so before I cover those awards, I’ll clarify just what they mean.
Essentially, there are three elements to a movie’s sound: The talking, the score, and everything else. Sound editing is the everything else. Footsteps, explosions, gunshots, car vrooms, all of these are a sound editor’s job. Maybe the most important part of that job is Foley, or the sound effects that are created in a studio instead of on set. If you’ve ever seen a video of someone hitting a head of celery with a baseball bat in time to punches being thrown in a movie, that’s a Foley artist. It’s not synonymous with sound editing, but it’s a big aspect of it. Sound mixing, on the other hand, involves taking the talking, score, and sound effects, and “mixing” them with one another to find the balance between all three.
Without them, score would drown out talking, sound effects would be too loud or too quiet, and the movie would end up sounding like it was shot in a basement. It’s not a showy job, but it’s a hugely important one.
In terms of the Oscars, though, there’s a clear frontrunner for both awards. Gravity is a groundbreaking film visually, but its sound has also received acclaim, and it’s exactly the type of combination action/prestige movie that often gets rewarded here.
But it’s not without competition, mainly because action/prestige is something this year in movies has done unexpectedly well.
Captain Phillips and All is Lost both involve sea voyages gone wrong, and both have a good chance in these categories. Rush and 12 Years a Slave both have a fair shot here as well. Often a summer blockbuster sneaks into one or both of these categories, but given the weak year for blockbusters and the strong year for films that combine explosions and critical acclaim, that might not happen this time. If an action film does get through, it could be Pacific Rim, Iron Man 3, or Elysium.
Those also happen to be three films with excellent chances at getting a Visual Effects nomination! I say “nomination” because this is maybe the least competitive race at this year’s Oscars. Barring a scandal in which it’s revealed that all the effects are just copy-pasted from Armageddon, Gravity has this award one hundred percent in the bag.
Clearly, there were a lot of good movies released this year. Wading through them and picking out the gems can sometimes seem fruitless, but such are the tribulations of predicting awards. To find out more about awards prognostication, look at the website goldderby.com
There’s more to a great film than just the classic triptych of acting, directing, and writing. Visuals, including a movie’s design and production, have almost as big an effect on its reception.
Gravity is one of the most visually groundbreaking films in recent memory, and will surely do well here on Oscar night, especially in the categories of cinematography and editing. Gravity’s cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, has five Oscar nominations without a win. That losing streak could be broken this year.
But the Cinematography prize could go to a host of other deserving films: 12 Years a Slave, Captain Phillips, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Nebraska are all in the running.
Prisoners is one of the most intriguing nomination possibilities: Winner of third prize at TIFF, Prisoners’ cinematography was praised as one of its best aspects. Its cinematographer, Roger Deakins, has one of the most infamous records at the Oscars: He’s been nominated ten times without a win. Giving him another fruitless nomination here might seem needlessly cruel in such a competitive category; but perhaps Oscar voters will feel sentimental and prove that eleventh time is the charm.
Rush is another film with a good chance here. Directed by Ron Howard, Rush is a sports movie about racing with enough heart and critical acclaim to have a chance at the Oscars. Right now, the film hasn’t gotten enough buzz to be on the radar for big prizes, but if it’s a hit, it could very well get nominated. For now, it looks likely to pick up a few noms in technical categories and not too much else.
Editing is another category Gravity has a near lock on. Its director Alfonso Cuaron’s prior film to Gravity was the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful Children of Men, which was nominated for Oscars for its cinematography, editing, and writing. It lost all three, but Gravity was the smash hit Children wasn’t, and more, meaning it’s more likely to win its bids.
Other editing nominee possibilities include Captain Phillips, 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Rush.
One of the most interesting Oscar categories to watch is Production Design, formerly known as Art Direction, which covers the sets, decoration, and graphic design of a film. This is because the award is often an even split between lavish, but not always critically acclaimed, period films; and the dramas that are nominated in many other categories.
This year, the latter category will most likely be occupied by 12 Years a Slave, Gravity, and/or American Hustle. But the former has plenty of contenders, too. One of the most prominent is Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. The movie received a mixed-to-negative critical reaction, but most agreed that its visual style was superb. One student says, “It was beautiful.”
Another fan-favorite film with a shot at a nom is The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The film’s not out yet, but the first Hobbit film was nominated here, and it’s a good bet this one will be too.
Oz the Great and Powerful is another big-budget film with great looks, even if it’s lacking in other areas. Its production designer, Robert Stromberg, has won two Oscars recently, for Avatar and Alice in Wonderland. While the digitally-generated sets he specializes in have generated controversy from those that don’t see them as true set design, the Oscars haven’t had a problem with rewarding it. Oz could also do well in Costume Design, as could The Great Gatsby and The Hobbit.
Period films like 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle will also do well here, and if the former wins, it’ll break a five-film losing streak for its designer, Patricia Norris.
Another period drama that could receive attention here is The Invisible Woman, a biopic of Charles Dickens and his secret lover. Its designer, Michael O’Connor, has won once before, for period drama The Duchess, winning despite its lack of critical acclaim. He could certainly snag a nomination here.
Those hoping for a Hobbit win should pay attention to the Makeup and Hair category, expanding from just Makeup for the first time this year. LOTR-based films have been nominated in this category every time they’ve been released, and that’s a trend that’s likely to continue.
Any movie where the characters are based on real people does well here, since their makeup is easily judgeable: Do those actors look like the real people they are supposed to look like? This means 12 Years a Slave, The Butler, Rush, Dallas Buyers Club, and American Hustle are all in the running.
Sound Editing and Sound Mixing are frequently confused with one another, and inevitably a hacky comedian, awards writer, or even the awards presenter at the ceremony cracks a joke about how nobody can tell the difference. Ignorance is never funny, so before I cover those awards, I’ll clarify just what they mean.
Essentially, there are three elements to a movie’s sound: The talking, the score, and everything else. Sound editing is the everything else. Footsteps, explosions, gunshots, car vrooms, all of these are a sound editor’s job. Maybe the most important part of that job is Foley, or the sound effects that are created in a studio instead of on set. If you’ve ever seen a video of someone hitting a head of celery with a baseball bat in time to punches being thrown in a movie, that’s a Foley artist. It’s not synonymous with sound editing, but it’s a big aspect of it. Sound mixing, on the other hand, involves taking the talking, score, and sound effects, and “mixing” them with one another to find the balance between all three.
Without them, score would drown out talking, sound effects would be too loud or too quiet, and the movie would end up sounding like it was shot in a basement. It’s not a showy job, but it’s a hugely important one.
In terms of the Oscars, though, there’s a clear frontrunner for both awards. Gravity is a groundbreaking film visually, but its sound has also received acclaim, and it’s exactly the type of combination action/prestige movie that often gets rewarded here.
But it’s not without competition, mainly because action/prestige is something this year in movies has done unexpectedly well.
Captain Phillips and All is Lost both involve sea voyages gone wrong, and both have a good chance in these categories. Rush and 12 Years a Slave both have a fair shot here as well. Often a summer blockbuster sneaks into one or both of these categories, but given the weak year for blockbusters and the strong year for films that combine explosions and critical acclaim, that might not happen this time. If an action film does get through, it could be Pacific Rim, Iron Man 3, or Elysium.
Those also happen to be three films with excellent chances at getting a Visual Effects nomination! I say “nomination” because this is maybe the least competitive race at this year’s Oscars. Barring a scandal in which it’s revealed that all the effects are just copy-pasted from Armageddon, Gravity has this award one hundred percent in the bag.
Clearly, there were a lot of good movies released this year. Wading through them and picking out the gems can sometimes seem fruitless, but such are the tribulations of predicting awards. To find out more about awards prognostication, look at the website goldderby.com
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Pop Cultured, Week Of August 3
8. Holy Grail: The question of "fame" in popular music; and the idea of what it is to be a pop star, is constantly shifting. Especially in modern times, when music is more segmented and individualized than ever, the idea of a single artist who "everyone" knows is nearly gone; and while there have always been contrarians who claim they've never heard of any of the current popular music; it's easier for that to be the truth than ever before. So, what does it take to be famous in 2013? Well, judging by "The 20/20 Experience" and "Magna Carta Holy Grail," the massively popular new albums from Justin Timberlake and JayZ, what it takes to be famous in 2013 is to have been famous in 2003. Both albums try to send the message that Timberlake and JayZ are the kings of their respective genres; but both inadvertently end up sending the message that, well, pop music has only gotten less relevant in the past ten years. While that's not necessarily true; the massive success of the two albums is vaguely disheartening; like when Manchester United wins a soccer game or Adam Sandler wins the box office. It doesn't help that both Magna Carta and 20/20 are middling albums, lightweight and fluffy, with no moments of disaster but no moments of brilliance either. Holy Grail, which is a duet between Timberlake and JayZ, personifies this bland competency; it's a song that has its best moments when it's being stupid, and its worst when it tries to be smart; as in some college-dorm-room-level reappropriation of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." If Magna Carta and 20/20 were bad sometimes, if they risked anything; they might be great. Instead, they're just blandly good the whole time; which makes them boring and dull. (8/20), other Jay-Z songs in the top 100: 60. Tom Ford: (2/20), 73. f*ckwithmeyouknowigotit: (2/20)
11. Same Love: Here's a question: What's the last time there was an overtly political song about a single issue in the top 40? I'm not just talking about a generic anti-government rant like "American Idiot," or a pro-activism anthem with a few specific political references like "Waiting on the World to Change." I'm talking about a song in which every lyric references a hyper-specific political opinion. The "Yes We Can Obama Song" by will.i.am fits most of the criteria, but wasn't released for the radio and thus never reached the Billboard charts. Not Ready To Make Nice was inspired by a specific political event, but doesn't reference it specifically; and if you aren't aware of the event, it's just another country song. Maybe I'm forgetting something, but the most recent song of this type that I can think of is "Sun City," an excellent anti-appartheid protest song from 1985, in the vein of We Are The World but more politically direct than that song, and much better musically as well. That song only reached number 38 on the charts, and is 28 years old. All this is to say that Same Love by Macklemore reaching number 11 on the charts is virtually unprecedented, and, depending on how you look at it, indicative of at least one of the following things: That gay marriage is rapidly becoming mainstream and accepted; that Macklemore is successful enough to make anything a hit (and maybe that, therefore, we should be dismayed that this song hasn't hit number one like his first two singles, instead of excited that it's on the charts at all), or just that the threshold to becoming a pop song is low enough that even a seemingly nichey, overtly political hit can get popular. I'll leave it up to you to decide which you believe. Either way, Same Love is a great song. 20/20
35. Don't Drop That Thun Thun: I like to think I'm at least somewhat tuned in to pop music; to what's popular and what's going to be popular next. And then I see something like this, which is number 35 on the charts right now, by a band I've never heard of with no web presence and no other songs, and all I can find to explain its placement are a few similarly confused blog entries written about its inclusion on the charts. Did I miss something? This is a novelty rap song with no particular merit, performed in the usual pirated-copy-of-FL-Studio style. I remain perplexed. Why is this in the top 40? Any ideas, guys? (This Makes Me Feel Old/20)
62. Wop: Wait, another one? Another silly, gimmicky rap song by an unknown in the top 40? This can't just be coincidence. What's going on? Well, as I eventually figured out, twerking is going on.
Twerking? Really, America? We couldn't have just stuck with Gangnam Style and the Harlem Shake? But no, "twerking" is apparently a full-on trend now, which means we need some canonical "twerking" songs. And it seems like the consensus picks are "Don't Drop That Thun Thun," which is ridiculously amateurish but at least slightly charming in its haphazard way, "Wop," which is actually quite listenable, and which I also love because the song got to the top 40 BEFORE anyone knew its artist's birth name; and "Red Nose," which is just a dull slice of reheated-soggy-pizza rap. Wop: (14/20) Don't Drop That Thun Thun: (6/20) Red Nose: (2/20)
68. Miss Jackson: Panic! At The Disco is covering Outkast? That's... a strange choice. But no, this isn't "Ms. Jackson," the incredible 1999 hit from Everyone's Favorite Rap Duo, this is an entirely different song from Everyone's Fourth-To-Sixth Favorite Emo Band. But the Outkast song is way better (Did I really need to mark that for spoilers?), so I'm going to hyperlink it everywhere. Basically, Ms, sorry, Miss Jackson is Panic!'s answer to Fall Out Boy's surprisingly successful single "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark." And, as usually happens when you blatantly rip a song off, your song ends up sounding a lot like that song. If I had to pick these songs out of a lineup, I'd have a hard time of it, because they're so incredibly similar in their blandness. Now, excuse me while I listen to the better song with the nearly identical title forever. Forever ever? Forever ever? (20/20, OOPS, sorry, that's for the other song. 3/20 for this piece of junk)
11. Same Love: Here's a question: What's the last time there was an overtly political song about a single issue in the top 40? I'm not just talking about a generic anti-government rant like "American Idiot," or a pro-activism anthem with a few specific political references like "Waiting on the World to Change." I'm talking about a song in which every lyric references a hyper-specific political opinion. The "Yes We Can Obama Song" by will.i.am fits most of the criteria, but wasn't released for the radio and thus never reached the Billboard charts. Not Ready To Make Nice was inspired by a specific political event, but doesn't reference it specifically; and if you aren't aware of the event, it's just another country song. Maybe I'm forgetting something, but the most recent song of this type that I can think of is "Sun City," an excellent anti-appartheid protest song from 1985, in the vein of We Are The World but more politically direct than that song, and much better musically as well. That song only reached number 38 on the charts, and is 28 years old. All this is to say that Same Love by Macklemore reaching number 11 on the charts is virtually unprecedented, and, depending on how you look at it, indicative of at least one of the following things: That gay marriage is rapidly becoming mainstream and accepted; that Macklemore is successful enough to make anything a hit (and maybe that, therefore, we should be dismayed that this song hasn't hit number one like his first two singles, instead of excited that it's on the charts at all), or just that the threshold to becoming a pop song is low enough that even a seemingly nichey, overtly political hit can get popular. I'll leave it up to you to decide which you believe. Either way, Same Love is a great song. 20/20
35. Don't Drop That Thun Thun: I like to think I'm at least somewhat tuned in to pop music; to what's popular and what's going to be popular next. And then I see something like this, which is number 35 on the charts right now, by a band I've never heard of with no web presence and no other songs, and all I can find to explain its placement are a few similarly confused blog entries written about its inclusion on the charts. Did I miss something? This is a novelty rap song with no particular merit, performed in the usual pirated-copy-of-FL-Studio style. I remain perplexed. Why is this in the top 40? Any ideas, guys? (This Makes Me Feel Old/20)
62. Wop: Wait, another one? Another silly, gimmicky rap song by an unknown in the top 40? This can't just be coincidence. What's going on? Well, as I eventually figured out, twerking is going on.
Twerking? Really, America? We couldn't have just stuck with Gangnam Style and the Harlem Shake? But no, "twerking" is apparently a full-on trend now, which means we need some canonical "twerking" songs. And it seems like the consensus picks are "Don't Drop That Thun Thun," which is ridiculously amateurish but at least slightly charming in its haphazard way, "Wop," which is actually quite listenable, and which I also love because the song got to the top 40 BEFORE anyone knew its artist's birth name; and "Red Nose," which is just a dull slice of reheated-soggy-pizza rap. Wop: (14/20) Don't Drop That Thun Thun: (6/20) Red Nose: (2/20)
68. Miss Jackson: Panic! At The Disco is covering Outkast? That's... a strange choice. But no, this isn't "Ms. Jackson," the incredible 1999 hit from Everyone's Favorite Rap Duo, this is an entirely different song from Everyone's Fourth-To-Sixth Favorite Emo Band. But the Outkast song is way better (Did I really need to mark that for spoilers?), so I'm going to hyperlink it everywhere. Basically, Ms, sorry, Miss Jackson is Panic!'s answer to Fall Out Boy's surprisingly successful single "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark." And, as usually happens when you blatantly rip a song off, your song ends up sounding a lot like that song. If I had to pick these songs out of a lineup, I'd have a hard time of it, because they're so incredibly similar in their blandness. Now, excuse me while I listen to the better song with the nearly identical title forever. Forever ever? Forever ever? (20/20, OOPS, sorry, that's for the other song. 3/20 for this piece of junk)
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
FMera Vintage: Sept. 3, 1966
Welcome to my new column, FMera Vintage. This column will review the top 10 songs from a randomly selected Billboard chart week. I've estimated that there have been 2800 billboard Top 100 charts in Billboard's history, so I'll be using a random number generator to pick weeks. The first number chosen is 422, so the first week selected will be September 3, 1966. The "Sixties," by which I mean the cliché of the sixties in music, an era of folk and classic rock, didn't really begin until 1965, and at this point they would be kicking into high gear, no pun intended. There's also a lot of soul music on these charts, which was one of the most popular genres in this era. The mid-to-late sixties are usually thought of as a very good time for music, but will that be reflected on the maybe-behind-the-times pop chart? Let's find out.
10. Summertime: This is a unique cover of the classic George Gershwin song from the musical Porgy and Bess. Singer Billy Stewart spices things up with his take on the scat-singing tradition. Usually, scat singing involves singing nonsense words to the beat, Stewart adds strange vocal trills and stuttering to the mix. In theory, the technique would spice up the song similarly to how something like The Marcels' take on Blue Moon takes a song that can be gloomy and makes it peppy. Unfortunately, and maybe it's just my modern musical sensibilities, I find myself laughing at Stewart's singing style more than grooving with it. When Stewart sticks to the original song, it's a good, if fairly traditional, soul cover; but when he makes clicking noises along with it, I'm taken out of the song. The other big shortcoming of the song is its horrible stereo mixing. Circa 1966, stereo recording was rapidly overtaking mono recording (The former has two sources of sound, similar to headphones, while the latter has only one, similar to a gramophone.) But the new technology wasn't always used well, and this take on Summertime has some awful stereo mixing, which makes listening to it through headphones uncomfortable and unenjoyable. (3/20)
9. Blowin' In The Wind: This is a neat one: A very young Stevie Wonder covers the classic Bob Dylan song. Wonder would have been only 16 when this song was released, and probably nowhere near the household name he is now; this was one of his earliest radio hits. One thing that's interesting to note is that both the songs so far are cover songs, which we rarely see on the charts anymore; this is a huge and rarely noted change in the pop landscape since that time. There are a lot of complaints nowadays that all pop hits sound the same; that they're all recycled; so there's a hint of irony in the fact that in the years often cited as a golden age of music; there was a lot more repetition and similarity than there is today. This song is a great soul number; while it's not unique in any particular way beyond the notability of an early Wonder hit; it's very well-performed, especially for a 16-year-old. It's not hard to see why Wonder became such a huge presence later on. (14/20)
8. Working In The Coal Mine: This groovy soul song is better remembered today for its Devo cover, but it's a great song of its own right, and very, very catchy to boot. While singer Lee Dorsey didn't have any other major hits, he continued making soul music for another decade after its release. (14/20)
7. Land Of 1000 Dances: Na, na na na na, na na na na, na na na, na na na, na na na na! This is one of those songs that's so catchy, it'll pop into your head months after you've first listened to it. While the version that charted here, by Wilson Pickett, remains the most popular, the song's continued ubiquity can probably be credited to the fact that, yup, this is yet another cover. The song was originally written by Chris Kenner, and the über-catchy chorus is attributed to the Cannibal & The Headhunters cover. And since then, it's been covered by many other bands. But none of the covers have matched Pickett's original in quality or ubiquity. Na na na na! Hey! (19/20)
6. Sunny: This is an original song, although that's somewhat surprising because it was covered so frequently after its release that it seems more like a folk song. It's written somewhat like a folk song too, exactly the kind of vague but well-written song that can be done in just about any style or genre. The original is a traditional folk song, very similar to the others on the list. While it's a solid hit, its vagueness keeps it from being really memorable. (11/20)
5. Yellow Submarine: This is one of the Beatles' most controversial songs, ironically because of its lack of controversial material. Near the height of the Beatles' politicization, they released this, a novelty song for children. It's often a consensus near-bottom choice in rankings of Beatles songs, simply because it's so much more lightweight than their other music. And while all that is true, Submarine still holds up excellently as a fun, peppy pop hit. (17/20)
4. You Can't Hurry Love: Heck yeah, The Supremes! One of the biggest and best pop acts of the mid-to-late '60s, the trio cranked out poppy R&B classics at an incredible rate. Their importance and talent is almost impossible to overstate; and they're one of the greatest pop acts of all time. You Can't Hurry Love is one of their best hits, an endlessly catchy and fun song, sung and produced brilliantly. History hasn't been entirely kind to the Supremes' legacy, but make no mistake: They are easily just as talented and important as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, or any other '60s act you can name. (20/20)
3. See You In September: Yet another cover, this song was originally performed by The Tempos. Their version wasn't initially as popular, but a decade later it was included in the soundtrack to American Grafitti and is now just as well known as this version, by The Happenings. After the soul-filled charts up to this point, September sounds decidedly old-fashioned. They're the kind of act that had almost entirely ceased to exist by 1966; an easy-listening falsetto boy band in the vein of The Four Seasons. Unfortunately, this song feels like an awkward last gasp from these types of bands; instead of a capstone. (5/20)
2. Summer In The City: The Lovin' Spoonful were one of the many American bands to form in the wake of the British Invasion, and they're unique mostly in that they have a more folky, bluesy tone than most of those bands. But there's very little of that tone on this, their most popular single. "City" is a pulsing, uneasy, rocking tune, and while it's not representative of the Spoonful's catalog, it's a very strong song in its own right. The song is propulsive, and it has a strong sense of energy; while it's fairly similar to other rock songs of the era in most respects; it's maybe a bit more heavy. While the Spoonful aren't the best '60's era rock band, this song remains very strong. (17/20)
1. Sunshine Superman: Donovan is one of the first psychedelic rock acts to become super-popular, and for that he deserves a lot of respect as a precursor to later acts. But while Sunshine Superman was initially Donovan's biggest hit, it hasn't aged particularly well; as an early psychedelia song it benefited from the novelty of its new sound, but compared to late-era Beatles or Beach Boys, it doesn't hold up. The verses are annoying and repetitive, repeating the same screechy guitar part over and over again. And "Superman" has mostly faded into obscurity with age, now not even ranking in Donovan's five most popular songs on Spotify. The song was too of-its-era to have any real modern appeal. (6/20)
In general, there's a pretty stark divide here between a whole lot of mostly good soul and R&B music, one very dated 50's-esque hit, and two hippie-sounding rock tunes. That's reflective of the changing sounds popular during this era.
NEXT TIME: Random number: 1193. That means the next week I'll be covering is...
June 13, 1981
10. Summertime: This is a unique cover of the classic George Gershwin song from the musical Porgy and Bess. Singer Billy Stewart spices things up with his take on the scat-singing tradition. Usually, scat singing involves singing nonsense words to the beat, Stewart adds strange vocal trills and stuttering to the mix. In theory, the technique would spice up the song similarly to how something like The Marcels' take on Blue Moon takes a song that can be gloomy and makes it peppy. Unfortunately, and maybe it's just my modern musical sensibilities, I find myself laughing at Stewart's singing style more than grooving with it. When Stewart sticks to the original song, it's a good, if fairly traditional, soul cover; but when he makes clicking noises along with it, I'm taken out of the song. The other big shortcoming of the song is its horrible stereo mixing. Circa 1966, stereo recording was rapidly overtaking mono recording (The former has two sources of sound, similar to headphones, while the latter has only one, similar to a gramophone.) But the new technology wasn't always used well, and this take on Summertime has some awful stereo mixing, which makes listening to it through headphones uncomfortable and unenjoyable. (3/20)
9. Blowin' In The Wind: This is a neat one: A very young Stevie Wonder covers the classic Bob Dylan song. Wonder would have been only 16 when this song was released, and probably nowhere near the household name he is now; this was one of his earliest radio hits. One thing that's interesting to note is that both the songs so far are cover songs, which we rarely see on the charts anymore; this is a huge and rarely noted change in the pop landscape since that time. There are a lot of complaints nowadays that all pop hits sound the same; that they're all recycled; so there's a hint of irony in the fact that in the years often cited as a golden age of music; there was a lot more repetition and similarity than there is today. This song is a great soul number; while it's not unique in any particular way beyond the notability of an early Wonder hit; it's very well-performed, especially for a 16-year-old. It's not hard to see why Wonder became such a huge presence later on. (14/20)
8. Working In The Coal Mine: This groovy soul song is better remembered today for its Devo cover, but it's a great song of its own right, and very, very catchy to boot. While singer Lee Dorsey didn't have any other major hits, he continued making soul music for another decade after its release. (14/20)
7. Land Of 1000 Dances: Na, na na na na, na na na na, na na na, na na na, na na na na! This is one of those songs that's so catchy, it'll pop into your head months after you've first listened to it. While the version that charted here, by Wilson Pickett, remains the most popular, the song's continued ubiquity can probably be credited to the fact that, yup, this is yet another cover. The song was originally written by Chris Kenner, and the über-catchy chorus is attributed to the Cannibal & The Headhunters cover. And since then, it's been covered by many other bands. But none of the covers have matched Pickett's original in quality or ubiquity. Na na na na! Hey! (19/20)
6. Sunny: This is an original song, although that's somewhat surprising because it was covered so frequently after its release that it seems more like a folk song. It's written somewhat like a folk song too, exactly the kind of vague but well-written song that can be done in just about any style or genre. The original is a traditional folk song, very similar to the others on the list. While it's a solid hit, its vagueness keeps it from being really memorable. (11/20)
5. Yellow Submarine: This is one of the Beatles' most controversial songs, ironically because of its lack of controversial material. Near the height of the Beatles' politicization, they released this, a novelty song for children. It's often a consensus near-bottom choice in rankings of Beatles songs, simply because it's so much more lightweight than their other music. And while all that is true, Submarine still holds up excellently as a fun, peppy pop hit. (17/20)
4. You Can't Hurry Love: Heck yeah, The Supremes! One of the biggest and best pop acts of the mid-to-late '60s, the trio cranked out poppy R&B classics at an incredible rate. Their importance and talent is almost impossible to overstate; and they're one of the greatest pop acts of all time. You Can't Hurry Love is one of their best hits, an endlessly catchy and fun song, sung and produced brilliantly. History hasn't been entirely kind to the Supremes' legacy, but make no mistake: They are easily just as talented and important as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, or any other '60s act you can name. (20/20)
3. See You In September: Yet another cover, this song was originally performed by The Tempos. Their version wasn't initially as popular, but a decade later it was included in the soundtrack to American Grafitti and is now just as well known as this version, by The Happenings. After the soul-filled charts up to this point, September sounds decidedly old-fashioned. They're the kind of act that had almost entirely ceased to exist by 1966; an easy-listening falsetto boy band in the vein of The Four Seasons. Unfortunately, this song feels like an awkward last gasp from these types of bands; instead of a capstone. (5/20)
2. Summer In The City: The Lovin' Spoonful were one of the many American bands to form in the wake of the British Invasion, and they're unique mostly in that they have a more folky, bluesy tone than most of those bands. But there's very little of that tone on this, their most popular single. "City" is a pulsing, uneasy, rocking tune, and while it's not representative of the Spoonful's catalog, it's a very strong song in its own right. The song is propulsive, and it has a strong sense of energy; while it's fairly similar to other rock songs of the era in most respects; it's maybe a bit more heavy. While the Spoonful aren't the best '60's era rock band, this song remains very strong. (17/20)
1. Sunshine Superman: Donovan is one of the first psychedelic rock acts to become super-popular, and for that he deserves a lot of respect as a precursor to later acts. But while Sunshine Superman was initially Donovan's biggest hit, it hasn't aged particularly well; as an early psychedelia song it benefited from the novelty of its new sound, but compared to late-era Beatles or Beach Boys, it doesn't hold up. The verses are annoying and repetitive, repeating the same screechy guitar part over and over again. And "Superman" has mostly faded into obscurity with age, now not even ranking in Donovan's five most popular songs on Spotify. The song was too of-its-era to have any real modern appeal. (6/20)
In general, there's a pretty stark divide here between a whole lot of mostly good soul and R&B music, one very dated 50's-esque hit, and two hippie-sounding rock tunes. That's reflective of the changing sounds popular during this era.
NEXT TIME: Random number: 1193. That means the next week I'll be covering is...
June 13, 1981
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Pop Cultured, Week of June 27
Here's my weekly review of a few songs from the Billboard Top 100 Singles, plus one from the "Heatseekers" section this week due to lack of material. Hope you enjoy!
32. Counting Stars: It looks like the recent trend of folksy, stripped-down pop music; from bands like Mumford And Sons and The Lumineers; is starting to be mimicked not just by small bands hoping to hop on to a new trend (and like with any trend, you're gonna get some hop-ons,) but by large, previously established bands; hoping to score a few cheap hits off the trend. Leading the trend-hopping giants isOne Direction One Republic, who've scored a top-40 hit with this generic Mumford-lite ditty. Along with the far-better Goo Goo Dolls, One Republic led the so-called "alternative pop" movement at the last gasp of traditional pop mega-success, around 2004. The Goo Goo Dolls' smash hit Iris has been determined by some metrics to be the song with the most radio plays of all time, which speaks to how disappointing it must have been when these bands realized that they reached their initial successes around the same time pop music peaked. After every peak comes a fall, of course, and as pop grows increasingly less prevalent, alternative pop languishes in the lower reaches of the charts, with only the stray thirty-five-year-old dad for company. So both bands decided with their newest albums to pander to the newer pop audience. One Republic's single has been slightly more successful so far, though I'm not quite sure why; the two bands' lead singles are nearly identical in terms of approach. Either way, this is one trend I like less every time I hear it; as much as I love folk music, this revitalization tends to overproduce it and strip it of all meaning, much like Nouveaux-Country-Pop does to country. I'd hate for folk music to go down that path, and it's for that reason I'm hoping One Republic and the Goo Goo Dolls go back to their dad-rock dungeons. Although Iris is a pretty great song, you must admit. (5/20)
56. New Slaves: I've covered West's new album with in some depth in a previous article, but I think it's interesting that New Slaves seems to be the song that's getting the most radio play. West decided not to release an official single, meaning it was up to radio programmers to select one. This song is maybe the most overtly political on the album; and while the entire album seems designed to spark controversy, this song in particular seems controversial. If I were choosing a single, I'd go with the romantic "Bound 2," which is also one of the more radio-listenable tracks. Instead, we have this at number 56, Black Skinhead at 69, and Blood On The Leaves at 91. Those are maybe the three most provocative tracks on the album, so it's interesting they're the ones getting radio play. (New Slaves: 19/20, Black Skinhead: 17/20, Blood On The Leaves: 16/20)
15 on the Heatseekers chart. Watching Movies: Kanye West wasn't the only big rap-album release this week. We also have Watching Movies With The Sound Off from white college-kid rapperMacklemore Mac Miller. His new album is, to me, mostly notable for being maybe the first with an officially sanctioned Pink Floyd-esque video synch-up, to a documentary about sea turtles, of all things. Mac Miller apparently was listening to his album while watching the movie with the sound off (name drop) and decided they fit well together. Miller's in full-on self-proof mode on this album: After his last album, Blue Slide Park, was panned for being too pop-leaning, he's making some very hard, edgy hip-hop here. He's not a master of the form by any means, but he certainly holds his own here, and it's pretty unexpected that there's more pure hip-hop in the single from Mac Miller than there is in the Kanye West single. (13/20)
74. Crooked Smile: This song is from the third big hip-hop release this week, Born Sinner by J. Cole. Cole burst onto the scene with "Cole World," a big grammy-nominated surprise success. Cole makes raps that are thoughtful and sensitive but unchallenging. Crooked Smile sticks to that theme, mirroring Cole's choice not to get surgery to fix his literal crooked teeth with how women should value their inner beauty over their outer looks. It's not exactly a challenging message, but the song's well-produced and delivered. But more importantly, in a week when Cole was a very, very close second to Kanye West on the albums charts, it serves as a subtle mirroring of West's rise. First of all, the song uses a sped-up R&B sample, a style West perfected. But the song's subject is also very similar to that of West's first single, Through The Wire, in which West famously rapped through the facial apparatus he had to wear after getting involved in a life-threatening car crash and needing reconstructive surgery. Maybe it's a coincidence that J. Cole chose a song about teeth issues as the lead single to the album he released the same week as the new West album, but it could also be a subtle claim to West's place in the totem pole. (15/20)
18 on the Heatseekers chart. Royals: Lana Del Rey is one of the strangest success stories of the pop landscape: Her initial single Video Games was beloved by the Pitchfork-"hipster" crowd, but after a disastrous performance on Saturday Night Live and a severely underwhelming first album, she fell from grace amongst the critical crowd. Since then, though, she's been discovered by the all-consuming demographic that is Teenage Girls, and has found renewed popularity, including her first hit on the charts. It's really too bad, then, that despite her interesting story, Lana Del Rey makes horrible music. Her style is dreary, and her messages are surface-level tales of glitz, glamour, wild parties, and true love. In some ways, Lourde sounds like Lana Del Rey. Her production is more stripped-down and thus more successful, but quite similar; and the indie-female-aesthetica is essentially the same. So for the first thirty seconds of her upcoming hit Royals, I was dreading the first of surely many Del Rey ripoffs. Then I started listening to the lyrics, and was delighted to find that Royals is essentially mocking the Del Rey messages; showing the meaninglessness of the material things Del Rey luxuriates in, but in a much more biting, subtly sardonic way than a mere parody. And maybe the best part of Lorde is that unlike Del Rey and Video Games, the other songs on her EP are just as good as, and sometimes even better than, her initial single. Lorde is absolutely one to watch, and for once I won't be rolling my eyes every time a Teenage Girl mentions her name. (18/20)
Quick Takes:
There aren't very many new songs this week, so instead, let's go through the top 5. I'll try to come up with something new to say about each one.
1. Blurred Lines: Hey, did you know this song's racy, controversial music video was directed by the same person that directed Miley Cyrus' racy, controversial music video for We Can't Stop?
2. Get Lucky: If you like this song, you'll also like the new eleven-minute remix! It's basically more of the same, but it's official and very well done. Also, this.
3. Radioactive: Ha ha, I guess this song is certainly active on the radio, considering how much it's getting played!
But seriously, this is a horrible song.
4. Cruise: Is it just me, or does the line "she's popping right out of the south georgia water" make it sound like they're talking about baking cupcakes? "Popping?" Really?
5. We Can't Stop: Uh... Hey, did you know this song's racy, controversial music video was directed by the same person that directed Robin Thicke's racy, controversial music video for Blurred Lines?
Did you enjoy this post? I read and respond to all comments! I am also available at my email address, SamECircleProductions@gmail.com -- If you like what you see, shoot me a note!
32. Counting Stars: It looks like the recent trend of folksy, stripped-down pop music; from bands like Mumford And Sons and The Lumineers; is starting to be mimicked not just by small bands hoping to hop on to a new trend (and like with any trend, you're gonna get some hop-ons,) but by large, previously established bands; hoping to score a few cheap hits off the trend. Leading the trend-hopping giants is
56. New Slaves: I've covered West's new album with in some depth in a previous article, but I think it's interesting that New Slaves seems to be the song that's getting the most radio play. West decided not to release an official single, meaning it was up to radio programmers to select one. This song is maybe the most overtly political on the album; and while the entire album seems designed to spark controversy, this song in particular seems controversial. If I were choosing a single, I'd go with the romantic "Bound 2," which is also one of the more radio-listenable tracks. Instead, we have this at number 56, Black Skinhead at 69, and Blood On The Leaves at 91. Those are maybe the three most provocative tracks on the album, so it's interesting they're the ones getting radio play. (New Slaves: 19/20, Black Skinhead: 17/20, Blood On The Leaves: 16/20)
15 on the Heatseekers chart. Watching Movies: Kanye West wasn't the only big rap-album release this week. We also have Watching Movies With The Sound Off from white college-kid rapper
74. Crooked Smile: This song is from the third big hip-hop release this week, Born Sinner by J. Cole. Cole burst onto the scene with "Cole World," a big grammy-nominated surprise success. Cole makes raps that are thoughtful and sensitive but unchallenging. Crooked Smile sticks to that theme, mirroring Cole's choice not to get surgery to fix his literal crooked teeth with how women should value their inner beauty over their outer looks. It's not exactly a challenging message, but the song's well-produced and delivered. But more importantly, in a week when Cole was a very, very close second to Kanye West on the albums charts, it serves as a subtle mirroring of West's rise. First of all, the song uses a sped-up R&B sample, a style West perfected. But the song's subject is also very similar to that of West's first single, Through The Wire, in which West famously rapped through the facial apparatus he had to wear after getting involved in a life-threatening car crash and needing reconstructive surgery. Maybe it's a coincidence that J. Cole chose a song about teeth issues as the lead single to the album he released the same week as the new West album, but it could also be a subtle claim to West's place in the totem pole. (15/20)
18 on the Heatseekers chart. Royals: Lana Del Rey is one of the strangest success stories of the pop landscape: Her initial single Video Games was beloved by the Pitchfork-"hipster" crowd, but after a disastrous performance on Saturday Night Live and a severely underwhelming first album, she fell from grace amongst the critical crowd. Since then, though, she's been discovered by the all-consuming demographic that is Teenage Girls, and has found renewed popularity, including her first hit on the charts. It's really too bad, then, that despite her interesting story, Lana Del Rey makes horrible music. Her style is dreary, and her messages are surface-level tales of glitz, glamour, wild parties, and true love. In some ways, Lourde sounds like Lana Del Rey. Her production is more stripped-down and thus more successful, but quite similar; and the indie-female-aesthetica is essentially the same. So for the first thirty seconds of her upcoming hit Royals, I was dreading the first of surely many Del Rey ripoffs. Then I started listening to the lyrics, and was delighted to find that Royals is essentially mocking the Del Rey messages; showing the meaninglessness of the material things Del Rey luxuriates in, but in a much more biting, subtly sardonic way than a mere parody. And maybe the best part of Lorde is that unlike Del Rey and Video Games, the other songs on her EP are just as good as, and sometimes even better than, her initial single. Lorde is absolutely one to watch, and for once I won't be rolling my eyes every time a Teenage Girl mentions her name. (18/20)
Quick Takes:
There aren't very many new songs this week, so instead, let's go through the top 5. I'll try to come up with something new to say about each one.
1. Blurred Lines: Hey, did you know this song's racy, controversial music video was directed by the same person that directed Miley Cyrus' racy, controversial music video for We Can't Stop?
2. Get Lucky: If you like this song, you'll also like the new eleven-minute remix! It's basically more of the same, but it's official and very well done. Also, this.
3. Radioactive: Ha ha, I guess this song is certainly active on the radio, considering how much it's getting played!
But seriously, this is a horrible song.
4. Cruise: Is it just me, or does the line "she's popping right out of the south georgia water" make it sound like they're talking about baking cupcakes? "Popping?" Really?
5. We Can't Stop: Uh... Hey, did you know this song's racy, controversial music video was directed by the same person that directed Robin Thicke's racy, controversial music video for Blurred Lines?
Did you enjoy this post? I read and respond to all comments! I am also available at my email address, SamECircleProductions@gmail.com -- If you like what you see, shoot me a note!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
FMera, Week of June 20
Here's my weekly review of a few songs from the Billboard Top 100 Singles, plus a few from the "Heatseekers" section. Hope you enjoy! Click on the song titles to open them in Spotify.
56. Safe And Sound: For quite a while now, there's been a fairly massive discrepancy on the Billboard charts. Looking at all the songs in the lower reaches of the charts, they seem to be the same generic electropop they have been for about a decade. But up higher, we have all sorts of stranger; more out-of-left-field hits: We Are Young, Somebody That I Used To Know, Thrift Shop and Can't Hold Us, Harlem Shake, Blurred Lines... and, I predict, Get Lucky; and probably Safe and Sound, too. It may seem crazy to predict that a random song in slot 56 will top the Billboard charts; after all, there are 55 other songs that statistically have a better chance. But here's why I think Safe and Sound is going to do it: Because it sounds different. For a very, very long time now, pop music has sounded one certain, very specific way. It's clear that the pop music audience is ready for change. Maybe it's not an organized protest, but there's a certain kind of protest going on among pop music listeners: A rejection of nearly all traditional electropop, and an embracing of everything that's not that, that they hear on pop radio. How else do you explain the fact that, when you get rid of all the country, rap, (the two most successful niche genres in terms of getting radio play), traditional electro-pop, and songs by pop radio artists that have been around for five or more years with a high level of success; you are left with Blurred Lines at number one; Get Lucky at number two; Can't Hold Us at number three; Radioactive at number four... the inexplicable semi-success of Cups, The Song From "Pitch Perfect" With All The Cups, at number 18... and nothing else in the whole top 40. In fact, the next song that applies is this song, Safe And Sound. So that's why Safe And Sound is going to be popular! Well, that, and the fact that it's a really good song. 19/20
74. What About Love: There is nothing fundamentally wrong with Justin Bieber. Bieber, who emerged in 2009 after being discovered from his YouTube singing videos, started off as saccharine teenybopper bait, but eventually turned into a major-league pop star. And look, I'm not saying the same thing couldn't happen to Austin Mahone. Mahone has a very Bieber 2.0-esque arc: Discovered on YouTube, mentored by a famous producer, and now making some of the most popular songs-- Sorry, some of the 70th-most-popular songs around. And, of course, the music is horrible. Imagine Justin Bieber's producers discovering dubstep before he had the talent to use it correctly. You'd end up with something very similar to the nearly unlistenable What About Love. And look, maybe this Mahone kid will mature into a fully-fledged pop star who can score actual hits and make listenable music. Unfortunately, "Justin Bieber" the phenomenon happened under very specific circumstances, at a very specific point in time. I'm betting Mahone stalls at the teenybopper stage. 2/20
24 on the Heatseekers chart, which is basically the chart for songs that are rapidly gaining in popularity without cutting into the high reaches of the Billboard charts. Breezeblocks: Alt-J, or ∆, has been touted by some as the next Hot Chip, by others as the next Arcade Fire or James Blake or Jack White or Alabama Shakes or even LCD Soundsystem (although really, what hip band hasn't been called the next LCD Soundsystem?) But that could easily be a list of "Pitchfork's Favorite Bands," who are ∆ really? Well, it's a tricky question, because, see, what they are is an amalgam of all the formerly listed bands. As much as ∆ sounds like everything Pitchfork likes, Pitchfork actually hated their album. That's because it doesn't have any of the deep meaning or resonance of the bands I've listed above. Here's the thing that Pitchfork and some other reviewers missed, though: That doesn't make their music bad. And ∆ makes really, really good-sounding music. Breezeblocks is a catchy, addictive bit of pop meaninglessness, and I'd love it if generic pop music sounded like this instead of whatever it decides it sounds like next. 19/20
Quick Takes:
25. The Other Side: Jason Derulo, sorry, JAY-SENNN DUH-ROO-LOW, is back with another generic piece of pop electronica. This guy's fanbase consists of the following: 50 percent like him ironically because he sings his own name at the beginning of all his songs, and 50 percent like him because he's a Chris Brown they can listen to without getting creeped out.
70. Jump Right In: I may be harsh to country music sometimes, but there is absolutely good country music out there; and furthermore, not all good country music has to subvert expectations. Zac Brown Band continues to be an excellent straight-country band that cranks out fun, listenable music on the regular.
81. High School: Nicki Minaj spends the first minute proving she's still really good at rapping, then spends one minute singing and one minute letting Lil Wayne whine incomprehensibly. My god, Nicki Minaj, are you using our frustration at your wasted talent as an alternative energy source or something? It's really the only explanation for this.
Did you enjoy this post? I read and respond to all comments! I am also available at my email address, SamECircleProductions@gmail.com -- If you like what you see, shoot me a note!
56. Safe And Sound: For quite a while now, there's been a fairly massive discrepancy on the Billboard charts. Looking at all the songs in the lower reaches of the charts, they seem to be the same generic electropop they have been for about a decade. But up higher, we have all sorts of stranger; more out-of-left-field hits: We Are Young, Somebody That I Used To Know, Thrift Shop and Can't Hold Us, Harlem Shake, Blurred Lines... and, I predict, Get Lucky; and probably Safe and Sound, too. It may seem crazy to predict that a random song in slot 56 will top the Billboard charts; after all, there are 55 other songs that statistically have a better chance. But here's why I think Safe and Sound is going to do it: Because it sounds different. For a very, very long time now, pop music has sounded one certain, very specific way. It's clear that the pop music audience is ready for change. Maybe it's not an organized protest, but there's a certain kind of protest going on among pop music listeners: A rejection of nearly all traditional electropop, and an embracing of everything that's not that, that they hear on pop radio. How else do you explain the fact that, when you get rid of all the country, rap, (the two most successful niche genres in terms of getting radio play), traditional electro-pop, and songs by pop radio artists that have been around for five or more years with a high level of success; you are left with Blurred Lines at number one; Get Lucky at number two; Can't Hold Us at number three; Radioactive at number four... the inexplicable semi-success of Cups, The Song From "Pitch Perfect" With All The Cups, at number 18... and nothing else in the whole top 40. In fact, the next song that applies is this song, Safe And Sound. So that's why Safe And Sound is going to be popular! Well, that, and the fact that it's a really good song. 19/20
74. What About Love: There is nothing fundamentally wrong with Justin Bieber. Bieber, who emerged in 2009 after being discovered from his YouTube singing videos, started off as saccharine teenybopper bait, but eventually turned into a major-league pop star. And look, I'm not saying the same thing couldn't happen to Austin Mahone. Mahone has a very Bieber 2.0-esque arc: Discovered on YouTube, mentored by a famous producer, and now making some of the most popular songs-- Sorry, some of the 70th-most-popular songs around. And, of course, the music is horrible. Imagine Justin Bieber's producers discovering dubstep before he had the talent to use it correctly. You'd end up with something very similar to the nearly unlistenable What About Love. And look, maybe this Mahone kid will mature into a fully-fledged pop star who can score actual hits and make listenable music. Unfortunately, "Justin Bieber" the phenomenon happened under very specific circumstances, at a very specific point in time. I'm betting Mahone stalls at the teenybopper stage. 2/20
24 on the Heatseekers chart, which is basically the chart for songs that are rapidly gaining in popularity without cutting into the high reaches of the Billboard charts. Breezeblocks: Alt-J, or ∆, has been touted by some as the next Hot Chip, by others as the next Arcade Fire or James Blake or Jack White or Alabama Shakes or even LCD Soundsystem (although really, what hip band hasn't been called the next LCD Soundsystem?) But that could easily be a list of "Pitchfork's Favorite Bands," who are ∆ really? Well, it's a tricky question, because, see, what they are is an amalgam of all the formerly listed bands. As much as ∆ sounds like everything Pitchfork likes, Pitchfork actually hated their album. That's because it doesn't have any of the deep meaning or resonance of the bands I've listed above. Here's the thing that Pitchfork and some other reviewers missed, though: That doesn't make their music bad. And ∆ makes really, really good-sounding music. Breezeblocks is a catchy, addictive bit of pop meaninglessness, and I'd love it if generic pop music sounded like this instead of whatever it decides it sounds like next. 19/20
Quick Takes:
25. The Other Side: Jason Derulo, sorry, JAY-SENNN DUH-ROO-LOW, is back with another generic piece of pop electronica. This guy's fanbase consists of the following: 50 percent like him ironically because he sings his own name at the beginning of all his songs, and 50 percent like him because he's a Chris Brown they can listen to without getting creeped out.
70. Jump Right In: I may be harsh to country music sometimes, but there is absolutely good country music out there; and furthermore, not all good country music has to subvert expectations. Zac Brown Band continues to be an excellent straight-country band that cranks out fun, listenable music on the regular.
81. High School: Nicki Minaj spends the first minute proving she's still really good at rapping, then spends one minute singing and one minute letting Lil Wayne whine incomprehensibly. My god, Nicki Minaj, are you using our frustration at your wasted talent as an alternative energy source or something? It's really the only explanation for this.
Did you enjoy this post? I read and respond to all comments! I am also available at my email address, SamECircleProductions@gmail.com -- If you like what you see, shoot me a note!
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Yeesh! How Kanye West's "Yeezus" Proves That Less Is M̶o̶r̶e̶ L̶e̶s̶s̶ ...Something Else.
Kanye West does not make short albums.
His first, The College Dropout, is an insane 76 minutes long; and while it could prove tiring, it's instead exhilaratingly ambitious, an album-as-manifesto that stretches boundaries more than it stretches patience, the kind where the album-closing twelve-minute part-spoken-word track could feel unnecessary but instead feels absolutely mandatory. "Graduation,"an album West created to be more listenable and less complex than his previous works, still clocks in at a lengthy 52 minutes; where most albums max out around 45.
That's why the thing that surprised me most about West's new album Yeezus had nothing to do with its style, content, or method of distribution; what surprised me was that the album was only 40 minutes long. And indeed, that 40-minute running time epitomizes the album perfectly.
Calling Yeezus minimalist is somewhat misleading; this is not a quiet album, and certainly not an album with few things going on. More accurate is that this is an album of contrasts: One second, there will be thousands of overlapping synths and buzzes; the next, absolute silence. It's a distinctly impulsive album; you genuinely never know what's coming next. It's a jarring style; but it succeeds in what it's trying to do: Namely, keep you on the edge of your seat, and keep you listening. Where West's other albums have been romances and coming-of-age stories, Yeezus is pure horror movie; to the point where one song, "I Am A God," ends with the sound of a man panting and screaming. And the album is constantly pointing out that West has a triptych of roles: The man screaming, the monster chasing him, and the filmmaker choreographing the whole thing. And the album's repeated biblical and religious motifs tie into those roles too: The triptych of Jesus, God, and Hooey Ghost mirrors the other one perfectly. But where in West's first four albums he inhabited the role of the man being chased, and in Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy he inhabited the role of monster, here he is in full-on filmmaker mode.
Yeezus was made in an incredibly short period of time; a popular anecdote going around is that Rick Rubin went to the studio three weeks before the album was to come out and discovered three or four completed songs and a lot of scraps. And you can absolutely see evidence of that in the finished album; which has many seeming imperfections; sixteenth-beat stutters and feedback echoes. But the surface flaws add to the auterist meaning; in a similar way to the French New Wave practice of visible cameras and boom mikes, or the way Wallace And Grommet filmmaker Nick Park has intentionally visible fingerprints on his films' plasticize puppets, Yeezus contains fingerprints of its artists' presence with every blip and bloop.
Yeezus' sparseness can sometimes make it feel like it's not enough of an album; there is far less pure rapping here than nearly any big rap album of the past few years. And its dashed-offness can sometimes feel more careless than intentional; your milage will certainly vary as to whether you see it as genius or sloppy. When a rapper like Drake spends two years perfecting a masterpiece like Take Care; it can feel cocksure to dash your album off in a couple weeks. But when you're a god like Kanye claims he is, who cares if you take seven years or seven days?
Did you enjoy this post? I read and respond to all comments! I am also available at my email address, SamECircleProductions@gmail.com -- If you like what you see, shoot me a note!
His first, The College Dropout, is an insane 76 minutes long; and while it could prove tiring, it's instead exhilaratingly ambitious, an album-as-manifesto that stretches boundaries more than it stretches patience, the kind where the album-closing twelve-minute part-spoken-word track could feel unnecessary but instead feels absolutely mandatory. "Graduation,"an album West created to be more listenable and less complex than his previous works, still clocks in at a lengthy 52 minutes; where most albums max out around 45.
That's why the thing that surprised me most about West's new album Yeezus had nothing to do with its style, content, or method of distribution; what surprised me was that the album was only 40 minutes long. And indeed, that 40-minute running time epitomizes the album perfectly.
Calling Yeezus minimalist is somewhat misleading; this is not a quiet album, and certainly not an album with few things going on. More accurate is that this is an album of contrasts: One second, there will be thousands of overlapping synths and buzzes; the next, absolute silence. It's a distinctly impulsive album; you genuinely never know what's coming next. It's a jarring style; but it succeeds in what it's trying to do: Namely, keep you on the edge of your seat, and keep you listening. Where West's other albums have been romances and coming-of-age stories, Yeezus is pure horror movie; to the point where one song, "I Am A God," ends with the sound of a man panting and screaming. And the album is constantly pointing out that West has a triptych of roles: The man screaming, the monster chasing him, and the filmmaker choreographing the whole thing. And the album's repeated biblical and religious motifs tie into those roles too: The triptych of Jesus, God, and Hooey Ghost mirrors the other one perfectly. But where in West's first four albums he inhabited the role of the man being chased, and in Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy he inhabited the role of monster, here he is in full-on filmmaker mode.
Yeezus was made in an incredibly short period of time; a popular anecdote going around is that Rick Rubin went to the studio three weeks before the album was to come out and discovered three or four completed songs and a lot of scraps. And you can absolutely see evidence of that in the finished album; which has many seeming imperfections; sixteenth-beat stutters and feedback echoes. But the surface flaws add to the auterist meaning; in a similar way to the French New Wave practice of visible cameras and boom mikes, or the way Wallace And Grommet filmmaker Nick Park has intentionally visible fingerprints on his films' plasticize puppets, Yeezus contains fingerprints of its artists' presence with every blip and bloop.
Yeezus' sparseness can sometimes make it feel like it's not enough of an album; there is far less pure rapping here than nearly any big rap album of the past few years. And its dashed-offness can sometimes feel more careless than intentional; your milage will certainly vary as to whether you see it as genius or sloppy. When a rapper like Drake spends two years perfecting a masterpiece like Take Care; it can feel cocksure to dash your album off in a couple weeks. But when you're a god like Kanye claims he is, who cares if you take seven years or seven days?
Did you enjoy this post? I read and respond to all comments! I am also available at my email address, SamECircleProductions@gmail.com -- If you like what you see, shoot me a note!
Friday, June 14, 2013
>2Chainz: NCP & Post-NCP
>2Chainz [Greater Than Two Chainz]: A look at marginalized, negated, or otherwise unloved genres and types of music.
TODAY'S GENRE: Nouveaux-Country-Pop and Post-Nouveaux-Country-Pop
If you're a frequent Pop Cultured reader, you've probably seen me throw around the term "Nouveaux-Country-Pop," or NCP. This is my way of describing country music that's not REALLY country music; stuff like Blake Shelton or Lady Antebellum. There's a massive difference between that stuff and, say, Willie Nelson. And while there's certainly some good NCP out there; most of it is pretty crappy. It's basically the modern equivalent of what Yacht Rock was in the '70s: Obviously, some people liked REO Speedwagon, but they were decidedly uncool. And that's how most NCP has been regarded: A necessary musical evil; something to be avoided when at all possible. But that's beginning to change.
The main problem with NCP is its repetitive sameness. Almost all the songs sound identical; and their messages rarely differ from a few cliches: Small-town country life is great; America is great; Trucks, beer, jesus, country girls, getting married and having kids, all are great in the eyes of NCP. It's not just a matter of geographical or political disconnect; or the almost propagandizing feeling much of the music gives off. There's also a sense of uninclusiveness; much NCP can feel like an inside joke you're not in on.
But recently there's been a wave of NCP and NCP-esque music (that's Nouveaux-Country-Pop-Esque, for those playing along at home) that shows the darker side of the cliches espoused in NCP while retaining the uncynical warmness that attracts many country listeners in the first place. It's a kind of Post-NCP.
The best of these Post-Nouveaux-Country-Pop albums is Kacey Musgrave's "Same Trailer Different Park." Musgraves emerged last year with the single "Merry Go Round," a melancholy and droll look at the traditional NCP cliches: "If you ain't got two kids by 21, you're probably gonna die alone, at least that's what tradition told you. And it don't matter if you don't believe, come Sunday morning, you best be there in the front row like you're supposed to." That's pretty biting for a song released by mainstream country label Mercury Records; this is outsider art from an inside source. "Same Trailer" got glowing reviews upon its release; reaching an incredibly high "89/100" score on Metacritic. It's a definite success; and hopefully it will lead to a more substantial change to the NCP mainstream.
Same Trailer isn't the only Post-NCP album to get mainstream praise. Pistol Annies stick fairly close to the traditional NCP mainstream, but they morph it subtly with tales of female badassery combined with a better produced, more stripped-down sound than most NCP. And the Annies as individuals have released lots of great country music too; especially Ashley Monroe's teriffic Like A Rose (which was released the same week as Same Trailer, and also got an 89 on Metacritic.)
The future of country music is looking bright for the first time in decades, and it's all due to incredible talents like Musgraves and Monroe. And for those that still doubt the cultural relevance of NCP or Post-NCP, this is just the beginning. Country music has a ways to go yet; but this is the time to jump on the bandwagon.
NEXT WEEK: Modern rap music
TODAY'S GENRE: Nouveaux-Country-Pop and Post-Nouveaux-Country-Pop
If you're a frequent Pop Cultured reader, you've probably seen me throw around the term "Nouveaux-Country-Pop," or NCP. This is my way of describing country music that's not REALLY country music; stuff like Blake Shelton or Lady Antebellum. There's a massive difference between that stuff and, say, Willie Nelson. And while there's certainly some good NCP out there; most of it is pretty crappy. It's basically the modern equivalent of what Yacht Rock was in the '70s: Obviously, some people liked REO Speedwagon, but they were decidedly uncool. And that's how most NCP has been regarded: A necessary musical evil; something to be avoided when at all possible. But that's beginning to change.
The main problem with NCP is its repetitive sameness. Almost all the songs sound identical; and their messages rarely differ from a few cliches: Small-town country life is great; America is great; Trucks, beer, jesus, country girls, getting married and having kids, all are great in the eyes of NCP. It's not just a matter of geographical or political disconnect; or the almost propagandizing feeling much of the music gives off. There's also a sense of uninclusiveness; much NCP can feel like an inside joke you're not in on.
But recently there's been a wave of NCP and NCP-esque music (that's Nouveaux-Country-Pop-Esque, for those playing along at home) that shows the darker side of the cliches espoused in NCP while retaining the uncynical warmness that attracts many country listeners in the first place. It's a kind of Post-NCP.
The best of these Post-Nouveaux-Country-Pop albums is Kacey Musgrave's "Same Trailer Different Park." Musgraves emerged last year with the single "Merry Go Round," a melancholy and droll look at the traditional NCP cliches: "If you ain't got two kids by 21, you're probably gonna die alone, at least that's what tradition told you. And it don't matter if you don't believe, come Sunday morning, you best be there in the front row like you're supposed to." That's pretty biting for a song released by mainstream country label Mercury Records; this is outsider art from an inside source. "Same Trailer" got glowing reviews upon its release; reaching an incredibly high "89/100" score on Metacritic. It's a definite success; and hopefully it will lead to a more substantial change to the NCP mainstream.
Same Trailer isn't the only Post-NCP album to get mainstream praise. Pistol Annies stick fairly close to the traditional NCP mainstream, but they morph it subtly with tales of female badassery combined with a better produced, more stripped-down sound than most NCP. And the Annies as individuals have released lots of great country music too; especially Ashley Monroe's teriffic Like A Rose (which was released the same week as Same Trailer, and also got an 89 on Metacritic.)
The future of country music is looking bright for the first time in decades, and it's all due to incredible talents like Musgraves and Monroe. And for those that still doubt the cultural relevance of NCP or Post-NCP, this is just the beginning. Country music has a ways to go yet; but this is the time to jump on the bandwagon.
NEXT WEEK: Modern rap music
Did you enjoy this post? I read and respond to all comments! I am also available at my email address, SamECircleProductions@gmail.com -- If you like what you see, shoot me a note!
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