Turmoil In Crazyland

[koganbot]

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Turmoil here in Crazyland as it turns out that Princesa's "Más Fuego," number three on my singles list, is definitively mid (like spring) 2009; and she was talking up the album back in 2009 too, it seems, though I suppose I could justify voting for it on the grounds of its being self-released down by the banks of the Rio De La Plata, normal release dates being fairly irrelevant when there's no advertising budget and the recording emanates from distant shores. But I'd still want it to be a couple of months later, I guess.

So my tenth spot, which had been occupied solidly by After School's "Bang!" until that was bumped up to nine, is a dogfight between the Dizzee/Florence live "You Got The Dirtee Love," I Blåme Coco's "Caesar," and Didi Benami's AI performance of "Play With Fire." Where I am with those three is that "Dirtee Love" has the most electrifying moments, stuff like the flurry of words from Dizzee right at the start, the bass and drums adding drama when they enter along with Dizzee's re-entrance, and the transitions back and forth between Dizzee and Flo, she propelling herself off of his speed, he lifting off from her volume. "Play With Fire" is by far the most original achievement, Didi not compromising her delicate delivery but nonetheless delivering the threat of the song. A flighty whispy surface with steel inside. Whereas "Caesar" simply has warmth that rolls powerfully through it from start to finish. Maybe I shouldn't just say "simply," since of the three this is the one that leaves me fundamentally inarticulate about my reasons for liking it.

With albums meanwhile I'm all of a sudden having to debate whether I know the Daddy Yankee well enough to vote for it (I finally nodded off last night about three-quarters of the way through, am giving it a couple more spins right now). I do have Cannibal waiting in the wings, if necessary, but its strong first half gives way in the second to stuff that makes me go, "not bad, I guess, and the rambunctiosnous is starting to feel snippy."

EDIT: Ha! Turns out that when Princesa posted up on Facebook a free download link for her album, the link said "Princesa-Mas Fuego-2010.rar," so I'm calling that her "International Release" and counting the album for sure as 2010. But the video for "Más Fuego" was unequivocably up on YouTube in early June 2009. Think I could, e.g, justify voting "TiK ToK" if I wanted to, despite its August 2009 release, given how the song's impact was even stronger this year than last, but I can't make the argument for "Más Fuego," even if it had a momentary splash this year on Freaky Trigger. So album eligible, single not. Trouble is, of course, the Daddy Yankee album may well be better anyway, may even deserve higher than ten. Man steps blithely into Autotune without losing a step. Pretty impressive. Got an hour to figure this all out.

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

My last minute album chaos is down to:

R Kelly - heard once but know I will continue to like, well enough for a place (so that one not very chaotic)

Diddy Dirty Money - heard once, really enjoy despite a saggy middle, not sure whether it'll grow or shrink.

Ciara - not heard but what I HAVE heard I'm pretty sure I'd like a lot. My day I had set aside this week to hear stuff vanished cos I had to look after the kids instead. (I could have combined the two but felt it would be even MORE unfair to the records) (And possibly the kids)

[koganbot]

Oh, I was on the Diddy/Dirty Tuesday evening (though actually I spent a good deal of yesterday trying to decide whether or not it was better than Cannibal; won't tell you my answer, since I want to keep at least a few things in suspense, and anyway I may change my mind).

In regard to your glutcore post, did you get a chance to look at the ILM thread on "XHUXK'S TOP 100+ ALBUMS OF 2010!"? --which features well over 100, actually, and those are just the ones Chuck thinks are good! But a lot of them are reissues, and I never think of Chuck as caught in any manner of "sausage grind of critical listening." I doubt that he gives a fuck about leaks or (now that he's not an editor) about keeping current with what everyone else is up on. He's just endlessly curious, and happy to go where no one else is going and to have opinions where no one else is even bothering to have an opinion. (Which isn't to say he's uninterested in other people's opinions, or what they're listening to.)

Interestingly, I decided I didn't have time to listen to the Kanye or the Nicki prior to P&J. Not that I didn't have time to listen to the albums, but I didn't have time to think about all the ideas people have been having about those records, which I'd inevitably do if I listened to the music, some of the opinions already having set up shop in my brain.