the charts are stagnating again.

kate nash looks kind of girlish.

she is a girl

lex, this song has extremely noticeable distortion guitar. how has it passed the censor's scissors?

actually, it's a lot better than quite a lot of the chart singles i've heard recently. nice keyboard work, decent tune, the occasionally interesting vocal sample, and the aforementioned guitar. not bad!

actually, i was complemented by a man from the distributing company for my Rapture review. i have to say, the song was a heck of a lot better than I expected, and my review reflected my enthusiasm.

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/the-rapture/pieces-of-the-people-we-love.htm

maybe R Kelly and Usher can be #1 - it's probably not out until 2009 but the video is quite funny. song is quite bad tho, makes you wish they were just having an actual argument, swearing etc.

meanwhile i'll never understand how the same people who would take me to task for not having heard obscure old music, will proudly boast not only that they haven't heard the biggest current radio hit around, but that they're not interested because modern pop music simply isn't good enough for them any more

i mean, it's not as if i listen to radio ever, but do you not have the slightest curiosity about what the new single from a woman with a proven track record of great singles sounds like?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Mark WILD" <m✧✧✧@wild✧✧✧.c✧✧>
To: "'A.J. Mill'" <sa✧✧✧.m✧✧✧@cur1✧✧✧.c✧.u✧>
Subject: FW: check this out
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:38:45 -0000

We liked this reaction to The Rapture. Kudos to whoever wrote it!

_____

From: Kr1st3r Gr33r [mailto:kris✧✧✧@wild✧✧✧.c✧✧]
Sent: 14 March 2007 15:45
To: D4v1d B4rcl4y; M4rk W0rk W41nwr1ght; D4v3 R0b3rts
Subject: check this out

Look at this reaction from one of the student radio stations to the new
Rapture single:

The digitised, skeletal percussion that opens 'People Of The Pieces They
Love' provides the framework for a magnificently minimal four minutes' worth
of electronic pop. With vocals that don't ostentatiously slather themselves
all over the song, the synth textures are allowed to dominate, and this is
where it becomes apparent that unlike most charting disco-pop bands. The
Rapture actually put some sort of an effort in creating a subliminally
enjoyable experience, a subtle and nuanced creation that relies as much on
the modulation of tone as the sexuality of its lead singer. Not to say that
the song doesn't have any immediacy to it; far from intellectualising the
whole process into soulless beat-making the Rapture start POTPWL with the
simplest of three-note baselines, gradually adding short, unobtrusive guitar
samples, backing vocal chants and wobbling synth lines until the vibrating
tension reaches an apex and the live drums can kick in, again without
massive fanfare but pungently enough to raise the track another level. The
bassline throws a couple of curveballs, the synths fragment into a brief
outro, and the song ends without fuss. The Rapture, on the strength of this
song, aren't here to sloganeer or jump on any passing fad, they're here to
give us music that we'll enjoy, music that bears repeating, and above all
music that does all the right things. 5 out of 5. CUR, CAMBRIDGE

*bask*

Not really, Alex, because my tastes at the moment are diverged massively from chart pop / r'n'b, and with no direct interface with chart pop I've no motivation to keep up for the sake of keeping up. I've abandoned the semi-journalistic impulse to know EVERYTHING that's going on, and instead I'm just investigating deeper the kinds of things I'm already interested in.

Also Louis totally beware of PR people 'praising' you. Just, y'know. Watch out.

Also Louis if you like that you'll LOVE the !!! album.=, which is like The Rapture's last album stretched out on psychedelics.

thanks for the tip...but what are these dangers you speak of?

is the danger that thoughtless praise will be received well but an intelligent criticism will be rejected by PR companies?

You are joking, I hope.

Well, there is that, but I was thinking more that they'd start hawking all types of untold shit at you in the hope that it's up your street, like 13 Senses' PR woman keeps pestering me just because they supported Embrace once.

?

just seeking a bit of clarification, that's all. apologies if i don't quite live up to your vast cranial intensity.

xpost to he of little patience

I've abandoned the semi-journalistic impulse to know EVERYTHING that's going on, and instead I'm just investigating deeper the kinds of things I'm already interested in

i can kind of understand this, because i pass over a mass of stuff without listening too, but i would be a bit afraid of my tastes settling into a rut then.

never ever give your phone number to PRs if you can help it.

but i would be a bit afraid of my tastes settling into a rut then

But Lex, don't you have a fairly well-established set of sonic preferences? (I'm not saying this is bad, I have mine after all.)

Ahem.

everybody has them

Hurrah for us.

even i've heard 'umbrella'.

Yeah but I live in the sticks, innit.

me too holmes

Not THAT far out, though?

naw. but you are probably closer to barbados than i am.

And New York.

quitney's home and uni locations are the exact reverse of mine AFAIK

it's complicated.

if you're undecided about killing yourself, the comments box here should help you:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/07/why_i_still_love_rihannas_umbr.html

Though the one YouTube link at the end there to "We Need a Resolution" was highly welcome.

Dorian looks very different to how i imagined - younger and snazzier

who could be embarrassed by 'umbrella'? "this country".

i'm glad 'they' failed to get Oasis 'Roll With It' to #1. people are now trying it with the Spice Girls 'Stop' so i heard the other week.

it's nearly 20 years since 'Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance)' was #1 - maybe we can all download that back to the top spot

Hahaha. Nice.

the top ten of ten years ago vs this week's:

1. Puff Daddy And Faith Evans - I'll Be Missing You
- never liked it for reasons that should be obvious (to all but the lex maybe) - certainly not as good as 'Umbrella'

2. Oasis - D'You Know What I Mean?
thing is i often do quite like big stupid epic rocky crap - this is mid-table in Oasis song league - NWA/Amen Brother drum sample = can't really hear it so whatever but it's more about the psychey guitars at the end - but probably not as good as 'Big Girls Don't Cry'

3. Gala - Freed From Desire
great tune, especially the definitive remix version by Mr Jack (who became Junior Jack according to discogs!) which is the epitomy of 1997 house music made in America (or so it sounds) for Ibiza. much much better than 'Foundations'

4. Coolio Featuring 40 Thevz - C U When U Get There
kinda cute and fun enough but what was the point of '40 Thevz'? OK but not as good as 'The Way I Are' is it

5. Ultra Nate - Free
if there was a more ambient mix where the guitar licks and strings just carried on for ages without the beat or vocals i'd like that. perhaps controversially i prefer the Arctic Monkeys single tho it's v close call.

6. Sash! Featuring Rodriguez - Ecuador
nothing to his debut single but still better than an Avril ballad, just

7. The Seahorses - Blinded By The Sun
HATE TEHM DESTROOOY (i heard 'Love Is The Law' for the first time this decade the other week), landslide win for NRQ and his ping pongs

8. Robbie Williams - Lazy Days
one of his best singles, better than 'Worried About Ray' if only because that song features the term 'tippy-toes'

9. Michael Jackson - History/Ghosts
not all that bad - comes down to whether you find Jacko scarier than the 'Teenagers' MCR whine about. MJ wins on penalties.

10. Changing Faces - G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T.
best title ever - very R Kels, the template hasn't really moved on in ten years or maybe this was just a little ahead of its time. just as sullen as emo Nats but slinkier and poutier ftw.

1997: 5 (snatching a draw from the jaws of defeat)
2007: 5 (a better top 5 than 97's but let down by the rest)

can we talk about "beautiful girls," the one with that 'SUICIDAL, SUICIDAL' chorus? it is on the radio a million fucking times a day, and it is SO DISGUSTING. i mean, i'm in a bus with my campers (yes, i'm a camp counselor LOL) and these 8 year olds know all the words to this song, going, 'suicidal, suicidal' and i just have no fucking idea how to tell them that it isn't really...well, suicide shouldn't be catchy? why do i object to it so much, other than its crassness?

it is well-produced, and has some nice weirdo doo-wop infuences that are sort of sweet. but...

You'd have loved when "Theme from MASH" was number one, then.

was gonna say. i think i remember asking someone (my mum maybe) what suicide meant.

I still expect Mr Lynskey to look like this; http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/celebrities/images/ljoseph.jpg

It seems downloading has caused the charts to go slower. For some reason, people seem to wait longer before they download a song than before they buy the single.

Of course, the unnaturally fast UK charts of a few years ago were a result of this stupid policy to let singles cost less in their first week than in the rest of its life, meaning a single's highest chart position would usually be an indication of how well people liked the previous hit from the same act.

Yes, but that was to make the record 'ship' faster.

If all the sales happen in one week, the distribution of the single would happen once only.

Now, it's back to how stuff'd move around the chart, like the sixties, almost!

I think it's a good thing. The fast turnover of the late 90s was pointless, and gave very little space for the better songs, which would usually develop over time rather than race into the charts in their first week.

It seems downloading has caused the charts to go slower. For some reason, people seem to wait longer before they download a song than before they buy the single.

--

that can't be right can it? i'm prepared to believe it but it can't be 'right' right?

i think southall and matt dc are kind of right. umbrella is a good song, very good but it doesn't seem like a 9 week smash. it doesn't seem to have the all ages appeal of the likes of "crazy" or "i don't feel like dancing", the stuff that straddles radios 1 and 2. it's definitely in the blockbuster bracket of "sexyback" and "maneater" but neither of them spent so long at number one. i guess you'd have to see the sales figures but it's hard to know if it's the song itself or just paucity of competition that's giving it such a long run. if it's the song itself i guess that the big selling point is that it sort of combines the attributes of a "banger" and a "ballad" but by that reasoning “my love” would have been number one for nine weeks. possibly.

How am I right?! My entire contribution is along the lines of "not heard it, more into postrock than chartpop"?!

you are right in that it's very easy not to be aware of its existence.

Aha.

well it would be be if you preferred postrock to chartpop but otherwise waht

but by that reasoning “my love” would have been number one for nine weeks. possibly.

second single off released album, not released in Summer iirc, nowhere near as 'epic' sounding as 'Umbrella'.

it just doesn't seem very pervasive, admittedly when i come to think of it i have heard it in shops and a couple of tv idents. this measure the success of a song by how many times i hear it in a week idea may not be very useful tbh thou. also rihanna doesn't seem to be in the press that much. not being british puts her at one remove and she has yet to be a beyonce style megastar. possibly kind of hard to write broadsheet articles on. she was at live earth wasn't she?