Ke$ha Day 2
Mar. 4th, 2010 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
koganbotI was with friends at Tokyo Joe's this evening, a quasi fast-food Japanese joint, and music was piped-in, adding noise to a place already full of crowd noise. Not sure what the purpose of the music is, since it's not loud enough to help create the ambience. Perhaps by adding more noise to the noise it provides cover for people who don't want the customers at adjacent tables to overhear them. In any event, within this overall noise is music that I don't attend to and that is not really discernible - except suddenly I hear a sound of hard compacted beauty emanating from the uproar, pulsing balls of beauty. I'm thinking "This is incredible!" and then realize it's "Blah Blah Blah." Throbbing prettiness within Ke$ha's aggressive clatter, emerging from above and joining Tokyo Joe's dinner clatter.
File photo of Tokyo Joe's, without crowds or clatter or Ke$ha. 1360 Grant Street, Denver:
"Blah Blah Blah" has the boshingest beat ever to hit in North America, even more bosh than Cascada. "Bosh" is a![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
poptimists word that's not easily definable but evokes the most twistingly propulsive and opportunistically ear-attacking squelchy techno or acid house beats (or other genre names the Brits would know better than I) revving up from underneath some Polish (or somewhere) post-Italodisco hot tuneful Europop ditties, or disco-speed covers of "You Give Love A Bad Name" sung by fashion models or sisters-in-law turned "diva." But "Blah Blah Blah" being in white Anglo-America where fun is never part of the natural order but rather is as competitive as everything else, it intensifies the fierceness and the crassness. I used "Mony Mony" as my touchstone yesterday, for having a strong center and a messy party surrounding it; I also think of the Troggs' "Wild Thing" and the 7-inch version of Flipper's "Sex Bomb" (walking sludge that lifts itself up until it's thundering across the landscape) married to the dance-insistence of "Into The Groove." Modern touchstones might be Lindsay Lohan's "First" for its fundamental message of NOTICE ME NOTICE ME NOTICE ME!, and Britney Spears' Blackout for all its wormy little beats and riffs and background voices, a world of crawling creatures, Britney's own self-absorbed voice crawling and scratching and finding its way to a self-centered center. What I said yesterday about "Blah Blah Blah" making other music seem pale and bare in comparison: Britney's Blackout has that effect too, foliage with insects and annelids going about their own business, a minor cacophony on the margins.
But my needing all these comparisons to describe "Blah Blah Blah" just emphasizes its uniqueness. Nothing else on the album comes close to its bosh or bounce. A lot of yesterday's convo revolved around what Ke$ha might be doing, and while she gives the track aggression and meanness as the official party-girl master of ceremonies, this isn't about partying or the concept of the party any more than beer is about partying. Rather, it's the noise maker you use to create a party. "Blah Blah Blah" is pretty much its message, syllables, yammer yammer yammer (cf. woolly bully, a-hip a-hop, womp bomp a loo bomp, dang digga dang d-dang d-dang diggy diggy), that and the boshbeat and the insane prettiness.
The album is something of a surprise, now that I've heard it. It's pretty, too; in fact, I was expecting more aggression and less tunefulness (not that the two need be incompatible). In "Blah Blah Blah" prettiness is merely part of the overall assault, albeit a central part. On other tracks prettiness is almost the point. Dave is right that Luke has gotten himself under control on this album, maybe 'cause he's not on the most Lukish track, which is by people who aren't going for the supervolume that Luke would ruin his own tunes with. Dave's and my complaint when we mention Luke (producer-songwriter Lukasz Gottwald, and when we say "Luke" we sometimes mean frequent colleague Max Martin) is his tendency starting 2005-2006 to create a pulverizing landslide of overloud beauty in his choruses. (Megan McCauley's "Tap That," though an excellent song, and somewhat proto-"TiK ToK" in its Salt-N-Pepa stylings, was a harbinger of future Max 'n' Luke overkill.) Maybe what Luke is now doing right is that he's attaching the beauty to rhythm rather than slathering it all over everything. At least that's what he does on "TiK ToK." The most Lukish track is "Party At A Rich Dude's House" (that and "Backstabber" are my two favorites after "Blah Blah Blah"; neither Luke nor Max is on those three, though I do like some of theirs too), which has a balance that Luke never achieved; basically, what it's got over third-album Avril, which it resembles, is that - maybe inspired by Ke$ha's supposed party vibe - it moves faster, so it doesn't throw so much weight on the chorus.
To be continued. Haven't said much about Ke$ha's lyrics, 'cause I haven't attended to them yet, or her image, whatever it is. Her voice isn't much, which is surprisingly not a problem on a lot of these. Maybe she sometimes knows what she's doing when it comes to sound. The pretty, uncharacteristically spacey title song works best when Ke$ha lets it drift into the distance like Feist or Enya, but the track doesn't have the courage of its wimpy convictions, and Luke revs it up too much.
File photo of Tokyo Joe's, without crowds or clatter or Ke$ha. 1360 Grant Street, Denver:
"Blah Blah Blah" has the boshingest beat ever to hit in North America, even more bosh than Cascada. "Bosh" is a
poptimists word that's not easily definable but evokes the most twistingly propulsive and opportunistically ear-attacking squelchy techno or acid house beats (or other genre names the Brits would know better than I) revving up from underneath some Polish (or somewhere) post-Italodisco hot tuneful Europop ditties, or disco-speed covers of "You Give Love A Bad Name" sung by fashion models or sisters-in-law turned "diva." But "Blah Blah Blah" being in white Anglo-America where fun is never part of the natural order but rather is as competitive as everything else, it intensifies the fierceness and the crassness. I used "Mony Mony" as my touchstone yesterday, for having a strong center and a messy party surrounding it; I also think of the Troggs' "Wild Thing" and the 7-inch version of Flipper's "Sex Bomb" (walking sludge that lifts itself up until it's thundering across the landscape) married to the dance-insistence of "Into The Groove." Modern touchstones might be Lindsay Lohan's "First" for its fundamental message of NOTICE ME NOTICE ME NOTICE ME!, and Britney Spears' Blackout for all its wormy little beats and riffs and background voices, a world of crawling creatures, Britney's own self-absorbed voice crawling and scratching and finding its way to a self-centered center. What I said yesterday about "Blah Blah Blah" making other music seem pale and bare in comparison: Britney's Blackout has that effect too, foliage with insects and annelids going about their own business, a minor cacophony on the margins.But my needing all these comparisons to describe "Blah Blah Blah" just emphasizes its uniqueness. Nothing else on the album comes close to its bosh or bounce. A lot of yesterday's convo revolved around what Ke$ha might be doing, and while she gives the track aggression and meanness as the official party-girl master of ceremonies, this isn't about partying or the concept of the party any more than beer is about partying. Rather, it's the noise maker you use to create a party. "Blah Blah Blah" is pretty much its message, syllables, yammer yammer yammer (cf. woolly bully, a-hip a-hop, womp bomp a loo bomp, dang digga dang d-dang d-dang diggy diggy), that and the boshbeat and the insane prettiness.
The album is something of a surprise, now that I've heard it. It's pretty, too; in fact, I was expecting more aggression and less tunefulness (not that the two need be incompatible). In "Blah Blah Blah" prettiness is merely part of the overall assault, albeit a central part. On other tracks prettiness is almost the point. Dave is right that Luke has gotten himself under control on this album, maybe 'cause he's not on the most Lukish track, which is by people who aren't going for the supervolume that Luke would ruin his own tunes with. Dave's and my complaint when we mention Luke (producer-songwriter Lukasz Gottwald, and when we say "Luke" we sometimes mean frequent colleague Max Martin) is his tendency starting 2005-2006 to create a pulverizing landslide of overloud beauty in his choruses. (Megan McCauley's "Tap That," though an excellent song, and somewhat proto-"TiK ToK" in its Salt-N-Pepa stylings, was a harbinger of future Max 'n' Luke overkill.) Maybe what Luke is now doing right is that he's attaching the beauty to rhythm rather than slathering it all over everything. At least that's what he does on "TiK ToK." The most Lukish track is "Party At A Rich Dude's House" (that and "Backstabber" are my two favorites after "Blah Blah Blah"; neither Luke nor Max is on those three, though I do like some of theirs too), which has a balance that Luke never achieved; basically, what it's got over third-album Avril, which it resembles, is that - maybe inspired by Ke$ha's supposed party vibe - it moves faster, so it doesn't throw so much weight on the chorus.
To be continued. Haven't said much about Ke$ha's lyrics, 'cause I haven't attended to them yet, or her image, whatever it is. Her voice isn't much, which is surprisingly not a problem on a lot of these. Maybe she sometimes knows what she's doing when it comes to sound. The pretty, uncharacteristically spacey title song works best when Ke$ha lets it drift into the distance like Feist or Enya, but the track doesn't have the courage of its wimpy convictions, and Luke revs it up too much.
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Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional
Date: 2010-03-07 03:13 am (UTC)Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional
Date: 2010-03-07 03:58 am (UTC)What I'm trying to get at here, though, isn't so much how you and I perceive Ke$ha (or the discrepancy between her presentation and how we perceive her), but what her party is straight-up signifying about itself. My saying "EXTREME" might or might not be steering us wrong. The party in "Party At A Rich Dude's House" is OPPORTUNISTIC: you can trash his living room and throw up in his closet, since he can always replace his wardrobe and buy a new living room. So the party is like a tide that simply looks for where it can settle in, finding this place or that place to unfurl. (Think I'm mixing my metaphors there.) The fact that "vomit" can be a positive signifier and not as beat or rock or punk flaunting of self-destruction but as a form of vibrant life (or something?) is what I'm trying to make something of, so "pathology" isn't the right word either. "Mess" might be what I'm looking for. Ke$ha the messa.
Think of how hangovers are portrayed in popular culture: the treatment tends to be half-comic and half congratulatory (unless it's a serious TV problem movie about alcoholism or addiction). Whereas irl a hangover might be a sign of fucking up and that the person is in trouble and the body is breaking down. Ke$ha's "Hungover," uncharacteristically, goes for the irl version, and doesn't seem to fit with the album (and is the third-least-good song on there), though I suppose it makes perfect sense as a cheesy bit of abyss-staring rounding out an album full of blatant partying.
Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional
Date: 2010-03-07 06:05 pm (UTC)Teenage had a race for the night time
Spent my cash on every high I could find
Wasted time in every school in L.A.
Getting loose, I didn't care what the kids say
We're white punks on dope
Mom & Dad moved to Hollywood
Hang myself when I get enough rope
Can't clean up, though I know I should
Other dudes are living in the ghetto
But born in Pacific Heights don't seem much betto
I go crazy 'cause my folks are so fucking rich
Have to score when I get that rich white punk itch
Sounds real classy, living in a chateau
So lonely, all the other kids will never know
Maybe other Tubes songs too; gotta give that more thought.
Also thinking that "Hungover," as hangdog as it kinda sounds, is probably my favorite of Ke$ha's (what are, three or four? maybe even five? I keep losing count) not-so-great ballads, which are probably in general, where she's at her most Katy Perry-like (though "Animal" sounds like she's maybe trying to do a Kate Bush thing instead I guess. And "Stephen," which is only an almost ballad, reminds me of Katy, too. So, still having trouble hearing Ke$ha as that big a leap from other suburban girl burlesques from the past couple years -- only song that really reminds of Daphne and Celeste or L'Trimm tbh is the also hilarious "D.I.N.O.$.A.U.R.," though my wife actually mentioned Northern State. Though there are moments in some songs, like e.g. that great part about a minute into "Rich Dude's House" where her voice gets all gravely and she imitates the synth hook, kinda playing drunken air guitar with her mouth. I could imagine Daphne & Celeste doing that, for sure.)
Songs I still really don't care about one way or the other: "Your Love Is My Drug," "Blind," "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes," "Animal." On the cusp of caring, maybe; we'll see: "Stephen," "Hungover," "Boots & Boys."
Btw, has anybody talked about / tried to figure out / explained / voiced any opinion whatsoever about the 3Oh!3 dude's cameo part in "Blah Blah Blah"? Maybe I should go back and re-read the Jukebox reviews. (Maybe I should meet them in the back with a jack by the Jukebox.) I can't figure out if it actually adds something or not.
Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional
Date: 2010-03-07 06:20 pm (UTC)Inner CD sleeve picture with the Tyrannosaurus and manatees and cheetahs and space penguins surrounding her looks really awesome, btw. Also didn't notice until I finally opened the booklet yesterday that part of the album -- "D.I.N.O." and partly "Hungover" at least -- was recorded with Max Martin in Stockholm rather than just Luke (and others) in L.A. Haven't studied the credits in detail yet, though. (Not sure I will).
And oh yeah, my wife (who didn't like the album much at all when we were playing it in the car yesterday) also pointed out that "Back$tabber" stands out by being in a minor key.
Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional
Date: 2010-03-07 06:28 pm (UTC)Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional
Date: 2010-03-08 04:55 pm (UTC)Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional
Date: 2010-03-08 06:02 pm (UTC)Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional
Date: 2010-03-07 07:06 pm (UTC)The Dictators, 1975:
My favorite part of growing up
Is when I'm sick and throwing up
It's the dues you've got to pay
For eating burgers every day ("Master Race Rock")
Soon he threw up in the store
But if he does it anymore
I'll make him eat it off the floor ("Weekend")
Bruce Springsteen, same year, interestingly enough:
I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing,
I hid in the clouded warmth of the crowd but when they said "Come down" I threw up
Ooh-ooh growin' up
(Actually, looking over all those Dictators Go Girl Crazy lyrics again, maybe they had more Ke$ha in them than the Tubes after all.)
Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional
Date: 2010-03-07 07:14 pm (UTC)