My Pazz & Jop Ballot, 2009

[koganbot]

Here's my Pazz & Jop ballot. My opinion is that the year doesn't actually end until December 31st, so that's when I'll start posting expanded lists, possibly with the order changed at the top. The two near misses on my albums list, by the way, were Demi Lovato and Keri Hilson; having four ace songs and lots of personality wasn't quite enough to get Demi in, and having eight ace songs and no personality wasn't enough to get Keri in (though if I'd decided to count "I Like" as part of the album - Wiki claims that it's getting added to In A Perfect World... - that might have pushed it over).

Unless Demi Lovato undergoes an artistic collapse she's going to end up mattering to me far more than Brad Paisley and Martina McBride put together. What got Brad in just ahead of her this year was that he's got a better band. Demi's rock is louder than Brad's and signifies "rock" more, but her rhythm section bashes the beats while Brad's actually rocks 'em, with more of a roll, more bounce, more dance.

Singles 2009

1. Shystie ft. DJ Deekline "New Style" (Rat)
2. The Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow" (Interscope)
3. Love And Theft "Runaway" (Lyric Street)
4. MC Lars ft. Brett Anderson & Gabe Saporta "Hey There Ophelia" (Horris Records/Oglio)
5. Timberlee ft. Tosh "Heels"
6. The Lonely Island "I'm On A Boat" (Republic/Universal)
7. Das Racist "Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell (Wallpaper Remix)" (no label)
8. Rich Boy "Drop" (Interscope)
9. Girls Aloud "Untouchable" (Fascination)
10. Röyksopp ft. Robyn "The Girl And The Robot" (Wall Of Sound)

Albums 2009

1. Taylor Swift Fearless (Platinum Edition) (Big Machine) 18 points
2. The-Dream Love Vs. Money (Radio Killa/Def Jam) 17 points
3. Ashley Monroe Satisfied (Columbia Nashville) 15 points
4. Rihanna Rated R (Def Jam) 10 points
5. Scooter Under the Radar Over the Top (The Dark Side Edition) (Sheffield Tunes) - 10 points
6. Lily Allen It's Not Me, It's You (Capitol) 7 points
7. Martina McBride Shine (RCA) 6 points
8. Electrik Red How To Be A Lady: Volume 1 (Radio Killa/Def Jam) 6 points
9. K'naan Troubadour (A&M/Octone) 6 points
10. Brad Paisley American Saturday Night (Arista Nashville) 5 points

Rob - Seven of my top ten singles and twenty of my top forty are hip-hop or dancehall or offshoots like grime and whatever you call Das Racist (everything including late for dinner). The thing is, if you asked me at any time this year, including now, "What's happening in hip-hop?" or "What's happening in dancehall?" I'd shrug and say, "I don't know. I kinda lost touch." Hip-hop isn't dominating the Billboard singles chart the way various dance-r&b amalgams are, and I didn't know it was so strong on my list until this week. Probably a lot of fans of hip-hop would be dismayed by my top choices. (The Lonely Island? Those comedians?) But looking further down you get Jim Jones, Nicki Minaj, Busy Signal, Bounty Killer, The Bangz, Eve, Tempa T, K'naan, and so on. And this is without me even looking for the stuff.

I've got no real insight on this except if you want to start a new dance or play with new sounds or reconfigure old ones, getting someone to rap and rhyme will likely make you more creative.

My singles:

1. Shystie ft. DJ Deekline "New Style": Shystie is clawing at the walls, sand and stucco coming off in her hand, and the whole world of music is rushing in, plains, fields, hard rocks, everything.

2. The Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow": Music is a loud crowded party, but whenever Fergie speaks, all the people twist their heads to listen and to wonder. "I'm so three thousand and eight, you so two thousand and late." Huh? What?

3. Love And Theft "Runaway": A nice roll down the not-quite-happy road.

4. MC Lars ft. Brett Anderson & Gabe Saporta "Hey There Ophelia": OK, this isn't on here for the rap but for the full angry rocking lost passion that Brett Anderson (she of the Donnas) brings to the "Screamager" chorus.

5. Timberlee ft. Tosh "Heels": So, when Jamaican sex-bombs start speaking in tongues, they sound like the San Fernando Valley.

6. The Lonely Island "I'm On A Boat": I'M ON A BOAT, MOTHERFUCKER, LOOK AT ME!

7. Das Racist "Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell (Wallpaper Remix)": Right, I'm at the Pizza Hut. That is, I'm at the Taco Bell. I'll work this out, just give me time. I'm at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Hah. You understand, I'm at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. I got a lot of smells, I rolled a lot of l's. I rode a lot of Els. I rode the L and then I rode the El. To the Pizza Hut. The Taco Bell. The combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. On Jamaica Avenue.

8. Rich Boy "Drop": Voices like shifting sands.

9. Girls Aloud "Untouchable": OK, comparing someone to a "robot" to indicate disconnection and estrangement is such a, like, 1950s cliché. But it's only one song in my top ten, so give me a break.

10. Röyksopp "The Girl And The Robot" ft. Robyn as the girl: Housewife, feeling disconnected and estranged from hard-working hubby, reaches for a metaphor.

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Does whoever organises the P&J ballot hate Britain, or something? I didn't get a ballot again.

mine

[anthonyeaston.livejournal.com]

Fucking hell, this DAs Racist bullshit is going to end up on the list isn't it...le sigh.

here is mine:

Singles:

Beyonce/Gaga Video Phone:
I am spending the year at an evangelical anglican residence. I am flipping through channels, with some people in the common room. Video Phone comes on, and people walk into the room. At the beginning, it is me and this dude named Dave, at the end of 4 minutes there are 20 people. . I remain unconvinced of Gaga's genius, but anything that introduces the other while getting Sony to pay for it must mean something.

YYY Heads Will Roll
The ambition is part of the charm, and how it works as video, as spectacle, as costume, how the gothic (think Siouxise Sioux but also think Melmoth the Wanderer) is lightened with camp horror. The sophistication of the work as a pop object is made problematic by the extraordinary sophistication of it as a song--as a musical object.

Rhianna, etc Run This Town
Rhianna's vocals are more interesting here then they are in the entire album she released this year. Her ego, unabated and unattached, overwhelms both Jay-Z and Kayne, which allows for her own voice, which is one of the goals of feminism, and one of the goals of pop. She achieved that goal best thisyear.

3Oh!3 StarStrukk
Sex is complicated, and straight boys have never quite figured out how to fuck for liberation. Let's give 'em a hand for trying. Plus, it has the best chorus to dance to in half a decade.

Ray Fever--When I Grow Up
Atmospheric, moody, slightly annoying in that Bjork way, a major earworm that prevented me from dismissing it.

John Mayer--Who Says.
The tabloid personae enjambs with some amount of emotional rawness, and although the whole fame weakens me with ennui is such a cliche, the Laurel Canyon vibe of this makes it better then the sum of its parts. This was the single that convinced me there was something there beyond whiny.

An Horse Camp Out
While we wait for Courtney Love to get her shit together, and produce something as brilliant as Mono, this Aussie dyke will tell us what we are missing. Optimistic song about crumbling, inspirational song about falling, with guitars that surge with the grace that happens in the dark with strange bodies--earnest without being obnoxious.

Britney Spears If You Seek Amy
The single entendre has a long history as blues argot, which may place Brit-Brit as more historically minded then we give her credit for. That said, what is interesting here is not the lyrics, or picking apart the meta (yes, it is about Paris Hilton; yes, the line "does she take a piece of lime for the drink I'm buying is more effective of a diss then registers on paper). What is interesting is how unhinged it is, over stuffed with robots, with vocal effects, with snycopated rhythms, with chesire cat laughing--the mania of the song (maybe literal mania) abstracts beyond any use function. If Blackout was baroque, this is Rococo.

Losin' Lately Gambler-- Corb Lund: Corb continues to add to the narratives of classic country--as the last album worked through new soilder songs and new horse songs, this one has farm songs and card songs. This is the card song, and it is about betting on home and therefore need to bet from going away. Aside from the world weariness, the sadness of the vocals, the perfect guitar work, there is a processing of the domestic and local over the international. He lives in Alberta, which is losing money and people, and where the money is disappearing, and where the recession is hard. Best song about the disaster of imminent poverty.

Surf Solar- Fuck Buttons
Noise. Dance. Attack. Noise. Dance. Attack.

[anthonyeaston.livejournal.com]

Go find the Corb Lund single, i could send it to you, it's fucking brill.

It must be the same Phil Kline.

http://www.lefthip.com/albums/1273 here is my review of the mckay

Affinity of 3

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Frank! We have an affinity of three--"I'm on a Boat," K'Naan, and Paisley. Curiously enough, I think that's the same affinity I have with Xhuxk's list, though there may be another single we both like, I forget. I'll go try to draw some specious conclusions about nice-guy rap and country fans also digging novelty singles.

(I should really listen to some of your other albums. Do you stream most of what you hear?)

[(Anonymous)]

frank,

just met my new class of intro to philosophy students for the first day, and as always threw in my favorite-records survey.

results: 4 / 25 listed taylor swift, 'fearless', when asked to list '3 favorite records'.

seems to be the newest and one of the most consistent results i've gotten (in other years, sometimes the winner was a nirvana record, weezer record, maybe the beatles).

two or three mentions this semester: lil wayne.