Another Year In America April 16, 2009

[koganbot]

The excellently strange and riveting "Boom Boom Pow" holds on at number one, while some minor movement in the 30s barely ruffles the otherwise smooth surface of the top 40. Two of the newbies are from Hannah Montana: The Movie.

Miley Cyrus "Hoedown Throwdown": Good snappy clappy rhythm, simple but not too simple, with a hint of a Latin shuffle to it, fun to play with. If only there were something engaging about the tune. BORDERLINE TICK.

Plain White T's "1,2,3,4": The theme is Valentines and hearts. Performance aims for gentle evanescence but ends up negligible. Sudden harmonies from way back in doo-wop almost make this distinctive, suggest a better track than this turned into. NO TICK.

Soulja Boy Tell 'Em "Turn My Swag On": Great cloud of coagulated sound, Soulja Boy just kinda rollin' with it. This needs way more from him than it's getting, but the big cloud of sound is impressive. Kudos to the previously unknown-to-me Natural Disaster, who produced it. BORDERLINE NONTICK.

Taylor Swift "Crazier": "You lift my feet off the ground/Spin me around." Taylor, you can write way better than that! And with its lethargic beat this track hardly twirls, much less goes crazy. But the beat is appropriate to the song's actual open-faced sweetness. And Taylor puts all her hope and longing into the words "crazier, crazier, crazier," as if to make those syllables something to nest in. TICK.

Comments

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

That Soulja Boy tune is bizarre. When I first heard it on the album, I was impressed by the sorta wall of sound approach, but then the vocals come in and I'm convinced it's either a joke or a demo in the Joe Meek humming along to "Telstar" mode. I've heard a few remixes that highlight the production and minimize Soulja Boy a bit...esp. the one from "The Peace Treaty" mixtape:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaFa0sYjId8

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Frank, I have a question for you! What are your top five Stooges tracks? I've been listening to Raw Power all afternoon (for the first time in about five years) and 'Penetration' is still the best track on there by miles. I don't really know their other albums but I know you do! Are there any other tracks like 'Penetration' on the other albums?

[koganbot]

The sound on Raw Power is unlike anything on their earlier albums (guitarist/co-songwriter James Williamson not on the first two LPs). Nothing else has the combination of murk and obsessiveness of "Penetration."

Anyway, here are my top five Stooges tracks, except I've given you eight to include five that are not on Raw Power: except I could easily add another six or so that I like as much as these.

1. Search And Destroy
2. I Wanna Be Your Dog
3. Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell (orig. titled "Hard To Beat")
4. Out On The Street
5. Loose
6. TV Eye
7. Death Trip
8. Not Right