Frank Kogan

So the year ended with a big whiff.

( The Lonely Island )

( Keri Hilson )

( Far East Movement )

Still not much shaking up the charts, but at least we score a hat trick this week, three songs coincidentally of a piece, and three reviews to match.

( T.I. )

( Diddy - Dirty Money )

( Jason Aldean )

The retail season continues uneventful as far as the singles chart is concerned, with only two new non–Glee-ers .

( Enrique Iglesias )

( Glee Cast )

( Dr. Dre )

( Glee Cast )

"Like A G6" back at #1, "Only Girl (In The World)" nipping at its heels, while the Glee Cast dreams of being teen, and, from the Dept. Of Better Late Than Never, Edward Maya's "Stereo Love" reaches the U.S. Top 40 thirteen months after its European release and seven months after it entered the U.S. dance chart.

( Glee Cast )

( The Black Eyed Peas )

( Glee Cast )

( Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina )

( Glee Cast )

The retail season is vroomin' up the hillside. Four women, a couple of guys, a new girl and the panorama wide open.

( Ke$ha )

( Willow )

( Taylor Swift )

( Kanye West )

( Taylor Swift )

( Katy Perry )

( Chris Brown )

Far East Movement's "Like A G6" is number one on the Hot 100. Beyond the song being good music, I hope its success helps the chartability of club music qua club music. Also, maybe this'll open a few musical doors in the U.S. for Asians and Asian Americans. (Bruno Mars, whom the Far East Movement displaced at the top, is of part Puerto Rican and part Filipino heritage, but my guess is that to most Americans he'll be seen as Latin American rather than Asian, just as Tiger Woods is generally seen as black, despite having more Asian than African ancestry.)

( Taylor Swift )

( Pink )

( Glee Cast )

( Mike Posner )

( Yolanda Be Cool & DCup )

( Darius Rucker )

Special "Glee Against The Music" edition of Yet Another Year In America, though in good and unrelated news, Far East Movement's "Like A G6" rises to number 2.

( Glee Cast )

( Lil Wayne )

( Glee Cast )

( The Ready Set )

Far East Movement's "Like A G6" featuring The Cataracs and Dev is now in the top ten, the rigor of its electro being such a contrast to the dancepop mulch of its fellow winners that Dev's cheap bitchy vocals almost seem like wisdom. So, can last year's queen of brains Rihanna build on this bright news? Check under the cut.

( Rihanna )

( Florence + The Machine )

( Kings Of Leon )

As predicted, Far East Movement leap into the Top 40, only the third Korean Americans ever to do so, as far as I know (Joe Hahn of Linkin Park and Amerie are the other two), and the first from Korea Town; don't know if or how that contributes to their sound, though maybe someone on my flist will have an idea. It's the two Asian guys in Linkin Park who are responsible for Linkin Park's DJ and hip-hop element, if that's significant. Far East Movement also come from the DJ-producer end of things. On the basis of a half hour's searching on Google etc. I'm surmising Far East Movement belong to some L.A. electroclub scene, though who knows, they may just be following their own style. The Cataracs, who apparently wrote and produced the track, are from Berkeley and have a tangential relationship to hyphy but they seem much more "club." Actually, the Cataracs are willing to list themselves as "indie pop" (among other things) on their MySpace, though I'm damned if I know why. Maybe they're indie pop in the same way that 3OH!3 are, which isn't very indie. I'd have fun saying that this sort of stuff splits the difference between Ke$ha and jerk, but that's probably not right. Is probably less teenage than jerk is (Far East Movement have been an act for seven years), and probably from an older electrobrat tradition than Ke$ha's. Colette Carr's effectively insinuating "Back It Up" may be relevant here; also "Booty Bounce" by Dev, which "Like A G6" builds around three lines from, though "Like A G6" is far better.

(Also, interesting stuff happening in K-pop, as 2NE1 release three videos in one day. I may post on that later today, on lj or over on the ilX K-pop thread.)

In other chart news, Katy displaces Eminem on top, which must mean that it's her tying him to the bed.

( Far East Movement )

( Cee-Lo )

( Sean Kingston )

I suppose that Drake is now helping to sell Wayne rather than vice versa.

( Lil Wayne )

( Nelly )

( Adam Lambert )