Catching up on my letter writing

[koganbot]

Dear male dudes in the Black Eyed Peas,

There is only one person in your group who can sing, and you are not she.

Sincerely,

A Fan


Dear male singer dude in the xx,

There may not be anyone in your group who can sing, but if there were, it would most assuredly never be you.

Sincerely,

Frank

Comments

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

I of course value stillness, minimalism, and mood now and then ("stylization" i have no idea -- maybe somebody should explain that concept to me sometime), though perhaps less than some folks, and either way, I can't for the life of me hear how the xx do them well. (As a matter of fact, if I have time, and if I can uh think of any, maybe I'll make a list of records from this year that I thought did them better.)

First I've heard of Dr. Dunks too; will try to check that out. And neither Paisley's not Flyleaf's Xtianity has ever actively bugged me -- in Brad's case, it's mostly always just seem like filler-bustering (one Xtn song per album that it's not hard to ignore -- less blatant this time out than on most of his other recent albums.) In Flyleaf's case, I actually got the idea their Christianity might be interesting, but I've never attended to enough to make absolutely sure.

Anyway, I'm ahead of y'all; already filed my P&J ballot. Here's what I voted for. (Guess I'll have to save my 30 points for the homemade early Bob Seger CD-R comp that ILMer Myonga Von Bontee put together for next year's poll; in fact, I've already started a movement so I'm not the only one.)

Pazz & Jop Ballot, Chuck, 2009:

Benny – Amigo Charly Brown: Die Hits Von Gestern Und Auch Heut (Akasa) 17
Scooter – Under The Radar Over The Top – The Dark Side Edition (Napith) 14
Collin Raye – Never Going Back (Time Life) 12
Uz Jsme Doma – Cod-Liver Oil (Skoda) 10
Jono El Grande – Neo Dada (Rune Grammofon) 10
Lady GaGa – The Fame Monster (Deluxe Edition) (Streamline/Konlive/Cherrytree/Interscope) 9
K’Naan – Troubador (A&M/Octone) 9
Death – …For The Whole World To See (Drag City) 8
Kid Sister – Ultraviolet (Universal Republic) 6
Brad Paisley – American Saturday Night (Arista Nashville) 5

Singles
Jamey Johnson – “High Cost Of Living” (Mercury)
Love and Theft – “Runaway” (Lyric Street)
Das Racist – “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Wallpaper Remix)” (no label)
Larry Shannon Hargrove – “I Need A Bailout” (CD Baby)
Nicki Minaj – “Beam Me Up Scotty” (no label)
White Wizzard – “High Speed GTO” (Earache)
John Rich – “Shuttin’ Detroit Down” (Warner Bros.)
Sarah Buxton – “Space” (Lyric Street)
Busy Signal – “Da Style Deh” (Greensleeves)
Charlie Wilson – “There Goes My Baby” (Jive)

[koganbot]

I had no idea there was a Scooter album! (Runs to Internet.) I need to give the K'Naan another listen. Haven't heard the Death or the Kid Sister or the Benny albums; haven't heard the Charlie Wilson single, either (doesn't seem to be getting streamed anywhere). I'm going to end up doing with Taylor what you did with GaGa. Our lists will definitely have two singles in common ("Pizza" and "Runaway") with two more an outside shot ("Scotty" and "High Cost"). The only album we have in common so far is the Paisley, and I'm trying to find better albums to knock it off (perhaps from higher on your list?).

[chuckeddy.livejournal.com]

Though conversely, I get the idea that I'm more bugged than Frank by Paisley's alleged "pro-immigration" title track (which lists all sorts of immigrated stuff -- French kisses, woo hoo! -- and almost no actual immigrated people except, like, his great great grandfather as I recall.) (Still a pretty fun song, though -- and obviously much more fun than any of his Christian ones I've heard.)

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Flyleaf's Christianity is definitely interesting -- they take what can come across as pious mush and turn it into legitimate angst, not taking for granted the dependency and fear in a lot of their songs: "Perfect in weakness / I'm only perfect in just your strength alone" looks on paper to be humble, but on record she's snarling it like it kills her inside -- "I am nothing without you," operative word being NOTHING, not "You."