As Such? (Top Singles, First Quarter 2013 [and a few albs])

[koganbot]

Not sure if any themes are developing in this year's list. I've got some Korean hip-hop "as such" at 1 and 13 ("as such" as opposed to K-pop that employs hip-hop, though the latter is usually way better and is also on my list, D-Unit's "Stay Alive" being especially rappy). In general, "real" Korean hip-hop is either too dogged and serious or too jokey. (Is it not peculiar that if I were to describe a human being (e.g., myself) as dogged and serious it would be a compliment, and "tells jokes" would often be a positive attribute as well; but sounding dogged and serious in song is generally negative, as is coming off as a joke act?) I've been listening to the back catalog of Gaeko's group Dynamic Duo, who are inventive and all that but, you know, dogged and serious. Unfortunately, at the moment my analytic and adjectival wellsprings are producing nothing to help describe any of this. I'm not saying I dislike Dynamic Duo; last year's 6th Digilog 2/2 gets a definite head nod from me. But nothing on it immediately arrests my attention like the first five seconds of "난리good!!!" with its combination of severity and flamboyance. Wise of Gaeko to grab onto the electronic dance. Of course, hip-hop's often willing to grab.

1. Gaeko & Choiza & Simon D & Primary "난리good!!! (AIR)"
2. GLAM "I Like That"
3. Baauer "Harlem Shake"
4. Margaret Berger "I Feed You My Love"
5. will.i.am ft. Britney Spears "Scream & Shout"
6. G-Dragon ft. Jenova "Crayon (Lam Suet Remix)"
7. Sistar19 "Gone Not Around Any Longer"
8. Kate Nash "Death Proof (CSS Remix)"
9. 2YOON "24/7"
10. Tiny-G "Minimanimo"
11. D-Unit ft. Vasco "Stay Alive"
12. Yelle "L'Amour Parfait"
13. Gaeko "Rhythm Is Life"
14. Baek Ji Young "I Hate It"
15. D-Unit ft. Zico "Talk To My Face"
16. GLAM "In Front Of The Mirror"
17. SHINee "Dream Girl"
18. A$AP Rocky ft. 2 Chainz, Drake, Kendrick Lamar "Fuckin' Problems"
19. MYNAME "Just That Little Thing"
20. Miranda Lambert "Mama's Broken Heart"
21. Baek Ji Young "Acacia"

The following albums are fairly listenable:

1. D-Unit Affirmative Chapter.1 (D-Business Entertainment/Windmill Media)
2. The Cataracs Loud Xmas EP (Universal Republic)
3. Ashley Monroe Like A Rose (Warner Brothers Nashville)

"Sistar19 - Gone Not Around Any Longer [Audio]" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

I've bookmarked yr list

[joshlanghoff.livejournal.com]

Here's 20 singles (Little Mix is coming up on TSJ this week, hurry hurry!) (also, you might like the Intocable one that was up last week, "Te Amo (Para Siempre)" -- we rated it pretty high, but there were only six people doing the rating):

“22” - Taylor Swift
“Only God Could Love You More” - Jerrod Niemann
“R.I.P.” - Young Jeezy ft. 2 Chainz
“Same God” - Tye Tribbett
“It’s Not Over” - Chaka Khan ft. Lecrae
“The People’s Champ” - R.A. The Rugged Man
“Upstarts” - Johnny Marr
“How Ya Doin’?” - Little Mix ft. Missy Elliott
“You Are My Destiny” - The Juan Maclean
“La Estructura” - Noel Torres
“¿Por Qué Les Mientes?” - Tito El Bambino ft. Marc Anthony
“Cheap Beer” - FIDLAR
“Fuckin’ Problems” - ASAP Rocky ft. Drake, 2 Chainz, & Kendrick Lamar
“Teenage” - Veronica Falls
“Like Jesus Does” - Eric Church
“Just Give Me a Reason” - P!nk ft. Nate Ruess
“Tadow” - N.O.R.E. ft. French Montana, Pusha T & 2 Chainz
“Harlem” - New Politics
“Another February” - Local H
“Full of Fire” - the Knife

And I was the one who recommended Dave check out Noel Torres! [Rips off mask, cackles.] Torres alternates corridos with romantic banda ballads; the bandas are so-so, but the corridos are something else. Here's 20 albums, some of which I've only heard once so they may fall in my estimation, but usually those are the albums I discovered through Chuck -- which is to say, they have a valuable cosign.

Noel Torres - La Estructura (Sony Latin) (major, Latin)
The boy tries to look so hard, but I’m guessing he also combs his hair in his rearview mirror; you never see him wearing a hat. This hatlessness may or may not be significant. Torres associates with El Movimiento Alterado, a group of Sinaloan corrido bands collected and named by twin brother label honchos. The Movimiento likens itself to a cartel for the same reason rappers call themselves “gangster” and “Gotti” and “Three Six Mafia,” though they differ in spirit from Big & Rich’s MuzikMafia in that they are not typically goofy. Torres is perhaps the least goofy of all -- no grito shouts, lots of unsmiling publicity poses with impressive-looking guns, and his corridos shun the airy bounce you find in much of Sinaloa’s loping mountain polkas. His band falls all over one another in a perfectly controlled way, everyone filling the gaps left by the other instruments and converging for utterly brutal rhythmic passages before launching back into their oompahs. He leavens the corridos with some well-placed bandas románticas, which he executes in the unsmiling manner of a dude who can press a button and make a bed slide out of his wall.

Various Artists - Change the Beat: The Celluloid Records Story 1980-1987 (Strut compilation) (indie, dance, rap)
Various Artists - Las Bandas Románticas de América 2013 (Disa compilation) (major, Latin)
José Feliciano - My Love for México (Siente/Universal) (major, Latin)
Dropkick Murphys - Signed and Sealed in Blood (Born and Bred) (indie)
Corsair - Corsair (Shadow Kingdom) (indie, metal)
Voivod - Target Earth (Century) (indie, metal)
William Murphy - God Chaser (Verity) (major, CCM)
Purling Hiss - Water on Mars (Drag City) (indie)
Banda Carnaval - Las Vueltas de la Vida (Disa) (major, Latin)
Ashley Monroe - Like a Rose (Warner Bros.) (major, country)
Steven Curtis Chapman - #1’s Volume 2 (Sparrow compilation) (major, CCM)
Los Player’s de Tuzantla - Un Cachito de Cielo (Musart/Balboa) (indie, Latin)
Bomba Estéreo - Elegancia Tropical (Soundway ‘12) (indie, dance, Latin)
Los Caporales de Chihuahua - Y De Nuevo Bailando Con... (Goma) (indie, Latin)
Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob (Vapor/Warner Bros.) (major)
Veronica Falls - Waiting for Something to Happen (indie)
Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park (Mercury Nashville) (major, country)
Blue Sky Riders - Finally Home (3 Dream) (indie, country)
David Bowie - The Next Day (Columbia) (major)

Re: I've bookmarked yr list

[koganbot]

Many thanks for this. Several upcoming Jukebox tracks I recommend are Deerhunter's "Monomania," Bomba Estéreo's "Caribbean Power," and When Saints Go Machine's "Love And Respect." Not that I'm likely to have time to say why. Will also probably miss the opportunity to call the new Pistol Annies track a bore, as the deadline approaches.

Re: I've bookmarked yr list

[koganbot]

Ah, I see you're already onto Bomba Estéreo.

Re: I've bookmarked yr list

[joshlanghoff.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I signed up for the selection committee this year (it's like camp!) so that was one of my picks, as was When Saints Go Machine, though I should be careful not to overstate the extent of my contributions since other people do a lot more work. The job's kept me on top of singles more than in previous years.

Re: I've bookmarked yr list

[koganbot]

Taxonomic question: Why do you list William Murphy as "CCM" rather than "gospel"? From the sound of God Chaser I'd say he's taken in some pieces of modern r&b, but still, the style seems heavily call-and-response in the old churchy tradition. But I'm not up on what's being called gospel and what CCM these days, so you surely would have a better ear for this.

Re: I've bookmarked yr list

[joshlanghoff.livejournal.com]

That's more just my own private taxonomy -- viewing gospel, like Christian R&B or metal or whatever, as a subsection of CCM. I started assigning these labels a couple years ago with the hope of statistically analyzing my listening patterns and the batting averages of the different genres, and I never hear enough gospel for it to justify its own category, so it gets thrown in with CCM. Which is sort of unfortunate, given CCM's connotations of whiteness, but on the other hand gospel is contemporary, Christian, and music, so it fits. The Book of Mormon soundtrack got the same designation. (I definitely don't listen to enough showtunes for them to get their own tag.)

I dunno if I've ever mentioned this to you, but Mark Allan Powell, the theologian who wrote The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, which contains entries not just for gospel singers but also for Dylan, Clapton, Alice Cooper, and other outliers, defines CCM this way:

"Contemporary Christian music is music that appeals to self-identified fans of contemporary Christian music on account of a perceived connection to what they regard as Christianity." (He goes on to say he errs on the side of inclusion, in the tradition of the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia.)

This definition has struck me as useful for other genres, if pretty close to tautological. At least, it's how I defended calling Taylor Swift "country" last year. On the other hand, it also seems to be the direction Billboard went with their blanded-out genre charts -- like, does Macklemore appeal to self-identified rap fans on account of his perceived connection to what they regard as hip-hop? I'm sure he does, just not to ALL rap fans. But of course, genre encyclopedias and Billboard charts have different uses. If I were reading a rap encyclopedia, I'd wanna see an entry on Macklemore. On the rap charts, I wanna know what's getting played on rap radio (or its non-Luddite equivalents), where I have yet to hear Macklemore.

In closing, I'd just like to register my confusion at hearing the Mumfords and the Lumineers in regular rotation on commercial country radio.

Re: I've bookmarked yr list

[joshlanghoff.livejournal.com]

(Well, nobody appeals to ALL rap fans. But I get the sense that Macklemore doesn't even appeal to most. But I'm gonna stop talking about Macklemore now because I've only heard one song and haven't immersed myself in the internet's great body of Macklemore literature.)

Re: I've bookmarked yr list

[koganbot]

And there's Chuck's definition of heavy metal for Stairway To Hell which was "all extant wax that would've been considered at any time in HM's elongated life span, whether said wax was considered metal at the time of release or not" — plus anything else he wanted to rationalize into the genre. But then he wasn't worrying about competing categories. Just as I'm not when I'm filling out the Nashville Scene poll.

Re: I've bookmarked yr list

[koganbot]

Okay, I'm listening again, and it's not strict call-and-response, there's more unison singing, but it's definitely got that feeling.