Little Boots - "Stuck on Repeat"

it's always troubled me that her website title text isn't "Little Boots" but "Buy new album Hands & gig tickets at the official Little Boots UK website" and that i get 2 emails a week saying pretty much the same thing (along with some actual content, usually lower down)

interesting that despite a hugely aggressive PR push [inc tawdry articles on the sun's website calling her boot-iful and that toe-curling bbc breakfast clip] the single didn't even make the top 10

and yeah the relentless marketing spiel that comes from the boots camp is really offputting. on her recent live gigs she was waffling on about getting radio a-list, plus twittering ppl to buy her single on itunes to put it in the top 10. like who cares? more interested in her songs than that level of apprentice-lite crap

don't think GA haven't really done an electropoppish number this slow tho rockford

NI yeah #13 seems low in the end - 50/50 on whether it will climb like In For The Kill did. but surely most artists use twitter to say 'please buy my single'.

> that toe-curling bbc breakfast clip

that's the kind of thing (along with solo on jools holland and blogging her trip to the stylophone factory) that endears me to her. but then i'm not really her (or probably anyone's) target market.

favourite track on the album - the hidden one (actually the title track) at the end.

> endears me to her

er, her to me.

New In Town is better than any GA single for a good four years, strangely I'm not optimistic about the album.

every pop star on twitter asks people to buy their singles to get into the top 10

said elsewhere that LB has the keri hilson problem, in that 'new in town' sounds like a demo that a talented songwriter would hawk around for other artists to sing. other artists who could make me give a shit about its strong lyrics and hook. as it is i'm just looking at the LB album in itunes and deflating at the idea of listening to it.

Still want to hear the cover band Lidl Boots...

haven't seen many artist-ran twitters that are as chart/sales-obsessed as bootsy. either way it's just one element that makes me feel like i'm being SOLD at constantly. doesn't usually bother me, but there's something so unashamed and rapey about the way boots does it while also trying to seem vaguely alt/independent

i'll take your bet blueski, i'll be stunned if 'new in town' rises in the charts - it has nothing about it at all. there's no genuine 'from the ground-up' buzz about it anywhere, unlike 'in for the kill'

"New in Town" is the worst of her singles so far, and even one of the worst songs on the record. I'm not suprised it's disappointing in the charts.

why? because the charts are full of quality music?

NI i'm not sure what you mean - other than i guess that buzz about LB generally has not transferred to the single itself (i'd be puzzled if it wasn't getting as much if not more R1 support than La Roux's previous and new singles...assuming R1 are loving it all). but most new entries in the charts DO climb right?

From the popjustice interview, its clear that she's absorbed marketing strategy advice, and then instead of filing it away for private thought, she's just blithely added it to the public persona/presentation. I'm reminded of the last US president who would tell general audiences that he'd acquired "political capital, and now he's going to spend it." Usually our public figures have more discretion.

she's demystifying the promotion process maaaan

laying bare the device and shit

^^ wide open for punnage

Popjustice invested pretty heavily in LB so an interview would me far more candid than other places. I doubt a habit will be made of it.

id lay bare... ah you know

The album is good I think, but I see where Stevie is coming from on the dead hand of Greg Kurstin. He's not a very good or interesting producer really. I wish the Petridis review had been correct in it being a cosmic disco influenced album with dubsteppy basslines but it really isn't.

I think she certainly has the tunes to overcome my reservations, but the more generic bits are kind of frustrating - I'm sure she can be more interesting than the watery electropop of things like Mathematics, and her voice is stronger than the diffident sub-Sarah Cracknell coo she defaults to on too many occasions.

pop stars interested in marketing and getting into the charts shock!

kurstin's great and so is this album. lighten up hippies.

Love Kills is tremendous - I don't get why that didn't make the album proper. I also really like the Kate Bush one in the middle whose name escapes me, and the duet with Phil Oakley. She should record her next one with the Juan Maclean or something.

I also really like the Kate Bush one in the middle whose name escapes me

Ghosts, that's it.

She should record her next one with the Juan Maclean or something.

Awesome as this idea is, she could just do it in Joe Hot Chip's flat, Stuck On Repeat is so much better than the other singles (album not out here).

(most (all?) of the album is listenable via myspace as of this week)

album version of this kinda sux in comparison

i like 'click' and another one or two but the album is pretty weak, some real corny toe-curling bits on there

also with the single dropping to #15 this week, interesting that the sun has kept this non-story on their front page for a few days (some lols in the comments)

The album version of Stuck on Repeat sounds better than the original IMO, I think it's the bigger production plus big rumbling noise at the beginning.

I'm a complete convert to this after a few more plays by the way. She really knows her way around a chorus.

if this album was a computer game i'd give it 66%

Can't believe that the Tenori costs £700. I thought it was like a cheap kiddie toy.

Also, all computer games should be scored 7/10. Thought everybody knew that.

tenori-on(s) are closer to £900 these days according to the yamaha website, they blame the exchange rate.

http://tenori-on.yamaha-europe.com/uk/shop/ (£919)

talk about style over substance

album went from #5 to #40 in the charts in the space of one week - seems like a crazy drop, but is this normal in the charts these days?

No. 679 seem such a fuck up of a label.

Amongst its many charms, "Remedy" is turning out to be an industrial-strength earworm. Of the three remixes that I've heard, the astute re-jig by Buffetlibre vs Sidechains is my clear winner.

I have been pleasantly surprised to have had this banging about in my head the past couple of days, too. I'd initially thought it could have benefited from being given to a Bengtzing-esque hoofer, but with time it's really grown on me.

Buffetlibre vs Sidechains remix of "Remedy" + the new Friendly Fires single = the return of BIG DRUMS, hurrah!

'Love Kills' = Moroder/Freddie Mercury cover, no?

The very same. And there's a Buffetlibre/Sidechains remix of that one as well: http://www.buffetlibredjs.net/remixesbl.html

er, just ditto re that remedy remix. love it, love the original. if it gets within sniffing distance of #1 i will expire in a heap

well it went in at #33 and seeing as 'New In Town' didn't climb i doubt this one will (despite performances on breakfast sodding TV)

it's not actually released yet tho!?

Post Field Day, I've decided I have defected to the "YAY!" side over the Little Boots issue.

i didn't notice it charted at the weekend. woah kids, yr so modern with your downloads and that. release dates pffft

it's not actually released yet tho!?

New In Town didn't enter pre-release tho so why would the follow up (not sure if it's had more plugging - maybe) xp

nice video just for ref

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McdqerXrwXE

Post Field Day, I've decided I have defected to the "YAY!" side over the Little Boots issue.

― seni seviyorum / senden nefret ediyorum (Masonic Boom), Wednesday, 5 August 2009 17:10

i don't know what to make of this.

oh wait. she's a girl. i get it now.

WTF are you trying to say, Chuck?

Think the marketing campaign blew it a bit with Little Boots by selling her as Glamorous New Pop Star when they might have had more luck selling her as what she is - geeky, techy, mates-with-Hot-Chip, slightly awkward indie/rave girl gone pop.

A few years ago that would have been commercial suicide but now I'm not so sure. Like VV Brown it's never really felt like there was enough ground-up enthusiasm for her - the marketing success of La Roux lay in leading people to believe they'd discovered them for themselves, even though there was a massive promotional budget. Little Boots was trailered as This Year's Big Thing from the start and the public didn't quite buy it.

FWIW I'm still playing this album and its by miles my favourite of the 2009 All Female Hype Crew.

Think the marketing campaign blew it a bit with Little Boots by selling her as Glamorous New Pop Star when they might have had more luck selling her as what she is - geeky, techy, mates-with-Hot-Chip, slightly awkward indie/rave girl gone pop.

Exactly.

I did't "get" her when people were trying to compare her to Kylie or whatever - I have NEVER seen Kylie play a theremin onstage. I was converted. Wanted more of the geekgurl, TBH.

Will probably get this album now.

Oh wait. I like her. She's doomed. :-(

I totally missed this new EP but it is characteristically brilliant. I think about her and Charli XCX in similar terms - why are people so suspicious of artists who openly admit they want to make great pop music?

in her case probably because her first go-round wasn't great (I still like "Remedy" though) and lost among La Roux/v1 Lady Gaga/etc; also it doesn't help that there's really no solid place in the music press right now for this kind of thing except, like, Popjustice

("well why didn't you pitch it" because I totally missed it)

I enjoyed the first album a lot at the time and was completely underwhelmed by the follow-up. Played the debut a month ago and it was sounding like it came from a completely different pop universe to now, like the idea that anyone would try and pitch those songs as mainstream concern seems totally alien in a world of straight-down-the-line maximalist Zara Larsson bangers.

the follow-up was uneven but the first four tracks are completely unfuckwithable (really, it should have been an EP)

yeah "Motorway" is probably the greatest thing she's ever done give or take "Stuck On Repeat"

I love this video for Eros though, it's such a simple concept but it looks incredible

The second album is my favourite. Still love “Every Night I Say a Prayer@.

Yeah, I love that second album. One of my favourite albums of the decade. Working Girl was crazy underrated too. Both much stronger and more consistent than Hands.