Tonight The Ballot Let Me Down
Feb. 11th, 2012 10:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
koganbotCleaning out the garage.
Top Nonsingles, 2011:
1. DJ Bedbugs "Young Money Cash Minogue"
2. Chucha Santamaria Y Usted "Miami Lakes"
3. LeAnn Rimes "The Bottle Let Me Down"
4. HyunA ft. Zico "Just Follow" (live on Music Bank) [webrip]
5. Dev "Take Her From You"
6. Mr. Collipark ft. Ying Yang Twins & DJ Kool "Let The Beat Hit"
7. SOOLj ft. Tarae of Smash Bounce "앞 뒤 생각하지 말고"
8. Miranda Lambert "Fastest Girl In Town"
9. Miranda Lambert "Fine Tune"
10. Block B "Halo"
11. LPG "찔레꽃"*
12. Teddybears "Cisum Slived"
13. Kelly Clarkson "Einstein"
14. Clinah "So What If (똑같으면 뭐 어때)"
15. Kelly Clarkson "Honestly"
16. LPG "내 눈에 안경"
17. Dev "Kiss My Lips"
18. Wonder Girls "Stop!"
19. SNSD "I'm In Love With The Hero"
20. Dev "In My Trunk"
21. SOOLj with DJ Tiz "Because I Am A Man (Inst.)"
22. Dev "Lightspeed"
23. CB1 ft. B-Free "We Roll"
24. Teddybears "Glow In The Dark"
25. Crucial Star "잘 찾아봐"
*Was on 2009's Lucky Girl and 2011's The Special, which was neither a hits collection nor a retrospective, just an album that partially cannibalized a previous album. Since The Special was acting as a contemporary 2011 release, I decided all its tracks were eligible. If "찔레꽃" had been a bonus track on a Walmart edition or some such, I might have decided otherwise.
Freaky Trigger/Poptimists Songs Of 2011 ballot (I treated this as a songs rather than a singles list, so I included nonsingles, which I've put in bold [see downthread for my rationalizing why the "Heartless" webrip counts as a single and the "Just Follow" webrip doesn't]):
1. Britney Spears "Hold It Against Me"
2. 2NE1 "I Am The Best"
3. Fat Cat "My Love Bad Boy"
4. GD&TOP "High High"
5. Jeremih "Down On Me"
6. IU "The Story Only I Didn't Know"
7. Bobby Brackins ft. Dev "A1"
8. Galaxy Dream ft. Turbotronic "Ready 4 Romance"
9. Big Bang "Tonight"
10. Dia Frampton "Heartless" (live on The Voice) [webrip]
11. DJ Bedbugs "Young Money Cash Minogue"
12. SNSD "Bad Girl"
13. Britney Spears "Criminal"
14. Rihanna "S&M"
15. 4minute "Mirror Mirror"
16. Far East Movement ft. Lil Jon & Colette Carr "Go Ape"
17. Nine Muses "Figaro"
18. LeAnn Rimes "The Bottle Let Me Down"
19. HyunA ft. Zico "Just Follow" (live on Music Bank) [webrip]
20. Mr. Collipark ft. Ying Yang Twins & DJ Kool "Let The Beat Hit"
Nine Muses "Figaro"
FAQ:
"So, why does your webrip of a live Dia Frampton performance get classified as a single, but your webrip of a live HyunA performance get classified as a nonsingle?" 'Cause Dia Frampton's "Heartless" was on The Voice, which is an American Idol–type talent show, and for those shows the live performances are what everyone cares about. The popular ones tend to have a singles-like impact. Whereas the HyunA performance was just a live TV clip designed to promote her and her album. If that clip had gotten massive YouTube views I'd probably have counted it as a single. (I chose that performance rather than the album version, 'cause (obviously) I think it's better; also, it was significantly different, having Zico rather than DOK2 in the "featuring" spot.) The real question might be why didn't I discount the live "Heartless" in favor of the quickie studio version that was available for download and actually charted in the Hot 100 and made it to something like 27 on iTunes (Wikip and Google aren't giving me a consistent number for the latter)? The answer here again is that it's the live version that everyone cares about, and the live version is significantly better. Over the years I've put six talent-show clips on my singles list, the other five being Jordin Sparks' "I Who Have Nothing,"* Brooke White's "Love Is A Battlefield,"* Adam Lambert's "Mad World," Didi Benami's "Rhiannon," and Didi Benami's "Play With Fire," all from American Idol. I chose the live version for four of those five, "Mad World" being the only exception. I don't draw any conclusion from that about live talent show performances being generally better than the corresponding studio quickies, since I don't even bother with the studio version unless the live version is extraordinary. So if a live version is extraordinary I'll listen to the studio version, but if the studio version is extraordinary I won't even hear it unless the live version is extraordinary too.
*Hmmm. Apparently I didn't list "I Who Have Nothing" at all in 2007, and, though in 2008 I did list "Love Is A Battlefield," I put it on my songs list but not on my singles list, deciding I suppose that it was not a single.
"So, you vote for your friends at number 1 and people who cite you as an influence at number 2, huh?" What was the question?
"Wait, if 'Miami Lakes' is number 2 on your nonsingles list, ahead of 'The Bottle Let Me Down,' how come it isn't even on your Freaky Trigger ballot? Were you too chicken to put it there?" Actually, I hadn't yet heard it when I submitted my Freaky Trigger ballot.
"Oh, so the ballot let you down. I get it. And that also explains your otherwise inexplicable omission of Dev's 'Take Her From You.'" No it doesn't. In fact, I'd heard and enjoyed "Take Her From You" for months, just underrated it slightly come ballot time.
"Reviewing Kara on the Jukebox, you said, 'The Korean r&b-pop-dance amalgam sounds a lot like actual disco and like big chunks of the way the '80s turned disco into bouncy dance-funk and freestyle, not as throwbacks but as mundane living parts of the musical language.' You've talked of K-pop's connection to freestyle a number of times, but not so much the connection to disco." It's a wonderful coincidence that you brought this up, given that several tracks on these lists are exactly what I had in mind. "Miami Lakes" and "Cisum Slived," for instance, are brilliant formalist evocations of Moroder-Summer interstellar mystery, "Miami Lakes" giving us gorgeous alien landscapes across which exotic animals communicate with one another by vocoder, and "Cisum Slived," less pictorial, run us through the rocket whoosh of a chilly Summer. "Magic Fly" lives. [Note from the editor: Yes, but you haven't actually responded to the comment, given that NEITHER CHUCHA SANTAMARIA Y USTED NOR TEDDYBEARS ARE KOREAN.] Meanwhile, "Figaro" throws at us the stomp and strobe and glitter of nighttime on our own planet, with sweet and smooth unison singing both surrounding flashbulbs and wafting its way to the dark backroom booths.
"Two passages from Wikip: 'Teuroteu (or somewhat derisively ppongjjak) is the oldest form of Korean pop, having developed in the years during the early 20th century, is a ballroom dance which influenced the characteristic simple beat of the genre.' 'Scooter's trademark sound features fast tempos and happy melodies.'" Hmmm.
Top Nonsingles, 2011:
1. DJ Bedbugs "Young Money Cash Minogue"
2. Chucha Santamaria Y Usted "Miami Lakes"
3. LeAnn Rimes "The Bottle Let Me Down"
4. HyunA ft. Zico "Just Follow" (live on Music Bank) [webrip]
5. Dev "Take Her From You"
6. Mr. Collipark ft. Ying Yang Twins & DJ Kool "Let The Beat Hit"
7. SOOLj ft. Tarae of Smash Bounce "앞 뒤 생각하지 말고"
8. Miranda Lambert "Fastest Girl In Town"
9. Miranda Lambert "Fine Tune"
10. Block B "Halo"
11. LPG "찔레꽃"*
12. Teddybears "Cisum Slived"
13. Kelly Clarkson "Einstein"
14. Clinah "So What If (똑같으면 뭐 어때)"
15. Kelly Clarkson "Honestly"
16. LPG "내 눈에 안경"
17. Dev "Kiss My Lips"
18. Wonder Girls "Stop!"
19. SNSD "I'm In Love With The Hero"
20. Dev "In My Trunk"
21. SOOLj with DJ Tiz "Because I Am A Man (Inst.)"
22. Dev "Lightspeed"
23. CB1 ft. B-Free "We Roll"
24. Teddybears "Glow In The Dark"
25. Crucial Star "잘 찾아봐"
*Was on 2009's Lucky Girl and 2011's The Special, which was neither a hits collection nor a retrospective, just an album that partially cannibalized a previous album. Since The Special was acting as a contemporary 2011 release, I decided all its tracks were eligible. If "찔레꽃" had been a bonus track on a Walmart edition or some such, I might have decided otherwise.
Freaky Trigger/Poptimists Songs Of 2011 ballot (I treated this as a songs rather than a singles list, so I included nonsingles, which I've put in bold [see downthread for my rationalizing why the "Heartless" webrip counts as a single and the "Just Follow" webrip doesn't]):
1. Britney Spears "Hold It Against Me"
2. 2NE1 "I Am The Best"
3. Fat Cat "My Love Bad Boy"
4. GD&TOP "High High"
5. Jeremih "Down On Me"
6. IU "The Story Only I Didn't Know"
7. Bobby Brackins ft. Dev "A1"
8. Galaxy Dream ft. Turbotronic "Ready 4 Romance"
9. Big Bang "Tonight"
10. Dia Frampton "Heartless" (live on The Voice) [webrip]
11. DJ Bedbugs "Young Money Cash Minogue"
12. SNSD "Bad Girl"
13. Britney Spears "Criminal"
14. Rihanna "S&M"
15. 4minute "Mirror Mirror"
16. Far East Movement ft. Lil Jon & Colette Carr "Go Ape"
17. Nine Muses "Figaro"
18. LeAnn Rimes "The Bottle Let Me Down"
19. HyunA ft. Zico "Just Follow" (live on Music Bank) [webrip]
20. Mr. Collipark ft. Ying Yang Twins & DJ Kool "Let The Beat Hit"
Nine Muses "Figaro"
FAQ:
"So, why does your webrip of a live Dia Frampton performance get classified as a single, but your webrip of a live HyunA performance get classified as a nonsingle?" 'Cause Dia Frampton's "Heartless" was on The Voice, which is an American Idol–type talent show, and for those shows the live performances are what everyone cares about. The popular ones tend to have a singles-like impact. Whereas the HyunA performance was just a live TV clip designed to promote her and her album. If that clip had gotten massive YouTube views I'd probably have counted it as a single. (I chose that performance rather than the album version, 'cause (obviously) I think it's better; also, it was significantly different, having Zico rather than DOK2 in the "featuring" spot.) The real question might be why didn't I discount the live "Heartless" in favor of the quickie studio version that was available for download and actually charted in the Hot 100 and made it to something like 27 on iTunes (Wikip and Google aren't giving me a consistent number for the latter)? The answer here again is that it's the live version that everyone cares about, and the live version is significantly better. Over the years I've put six talent-show clips on my singles list, the other five being Jordin Sparks' "I Who Have Nothing,"* Brooke White's "Love Is A Battlefield,"* Adam Lambert's "Mad World," Didi Benami's "Rhiannon," and Didi Benami's "Play With Fire," all from American Idol. I chose the live version for four of those five, "Mad World" being the only exception. I don't draw any conclusion from that about live talent show performances being generally better than the corresponding studio quickies, since I don't even bother with the studio version unless the live version is extraordinary. So if a live version is extraordinary I'll listen to the studio version, but if the studio version is extraordinary I won't even hear it unless the live version is extraordinary too.
*Hmmm. Apparently I didn't list "I Who Have Nothing" at all in 2007, and, though in 2008 I did list "Love Is A Battlefield," I put it on my songs list but not on my singles list, deciding I suppose that it was not a single.
"So, you vote for your friends at number 1 and people who cite you as an influence at number 2, huh?" What was the question?
"Wait, if 'Miami Lakes' is number 2 on your nonsingles list, ahead of 'The Bottle Let Me Down,' how come it isn't even on your Freaky Trigger ballot? Were you too chicken to put it there?" Actually, I hadn't yet heard it when I submitted my Freaky Trigger ballot.
"Oh, so the ballot let you down. I get it. And that also explains your otherwise inexplicable omission of Dev's 'Take Her From You.'" No it doesn't. In fact, I'd heard and enjoyed "Take Her From You" for months, just underrated it slightly come ballot time.
"Reviewing Kara on the Jukebox, you said, 'The Korean r&b-pop-dance amalgam sounds a lot like actual disco and like big chunks of the way the '80s turned disco into bouncy dance-funk and freestyle, not as throwbacks but as mundane living parts of the musical language.' You've talked of K-pop's connection to freestyle a number of times, but not so much the connection to disco." It's a wonderful coincidence that you brought this up, given that several tracks on these lists are exactly what I had in mind. "Miami Lakes" and "Cisum Slived," for instance, are brilliant formalist evocations of Moroder-Summer interstellar mystery, "Miami Lakes" giving us gorgeous alien landscapes across which exotic animals communicate with one another by vocoder, and "Cisum Slived," less pictorial, run us through the rocket whoosh of a chilly Summer. "Magic Fly" lives. [Note from the editor: Yes, but you haven't actually responded to the comment, given that NEITHER CHUCHA SANTAMARIA Y USTED NOR TEDDYBEARS ARE KOREAN.] Meanwhile, "Figaro" throws at us the stomp and strobe and glitter of nighttime on our own planet, with sweet and smooth unison singing both surrounding flashbulbs and wafting its way to the dark backroom booths.
"Two passages from Wikip: 'Teuroteu (or somewhat derisively ppongjjak) is the oldest form of Korean pop, having developed in the years during the early 20th century, is a ballroom dance which influenced the characteristic simple beat of the genre.' 'Scooter's trademark sound features fast tempos and happy melodies.'" Hmmm.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
!
Date: 2012-02-12 03:09 pm (UTC)Re: !
Date: 2012-02-12 09:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-23 08:29 pm (UTC)As for newer music, I can't stop listening to Miryo's "MIRYO aka JOHONEY". Any thoughts on it?
no subject
Date: 2012-02-23 09:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-23 11:42 pm (UTC)Part of what I like about MIRYO aka JOHONEY is that it's a bit tougher and angrier than other k-pop I've heard. It's also a little sloppier in the production, with lots of rough edges in the music and vocals. "Revenger" represents this side best.
I love the rapping in "Dirty" as well as the main guitar and the weird vocal transition from the first verse to chorus. The chorus is just ok.
The other thing I like about the e.p. is the absence of ballads. I don't have to skip or delete any songs. Track 3 (I don't have that title in English) I guess serves as the slower song but I have much more patience for slower rap songs than singing ballads. The other two tracks kind of depend on your tolerance for Black Eyed Peas style songs, which I often like. These are pretty good.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-26 05:43 am (UTC)But where I'd start is "Abracadabra," which I gather changed the game for them in a lot of ways (sex content in video, hard electro-dance sound). It's one of those videos you have to watch three or four times and then read the YouTube discussion thread to come out with an idea of what the plot might be. (Video maker studied at NYU and is a big Scorsese fan.) I tried to start a discussion of it here on koganbot, to little avail.
Then go to Ga-In's "Irreversible," which so far is the best Korean story video I've seen. Once again I tried and failed to start a discussion. Another one where you have to watch and re-watch and re-think. Terrific accordion, too; seems French.
"Abracadabra" is on Sound G, which isn't bad. Other tracks I like from Sound G: "Candy Man," "Moody Night," "이상한 일," "못 가," though the last couple are mature ballads.
"Cleansing Cream," a non-LP single from late last year, is appropriately creamy, made my singles long list.