Making a list and checking it twice: Tim's 2011 Pop Revue

echoing the love

Also this:

The only real problem with "Snooze 4 Love" is that it reminds me of my latent desire for oxycontin, which re-emerges any time I lie on my bed, dead tired, and listen to tunes like this. Luckily then this is filled with moments - like when a resonant horn line is dispelled like mist by the reemergence of the throbbing bassline - that provide their own sense of chemical immersion.

I haven't wanted any oxycontin since I threw away the last of my post-surgery ones two years ago, but this almost makes them tempting again.

48. Nadia Oh - Taking Over The Dancefloor (Kate Middleton)

Probably my most hated act of the 00s was Vandalism, a local post-electro-house duo who took the affected disaffection of Who Said Funk's already-dispiriting "Shiny Disco Balls" to a grim and gruesome nadir with the bored, nasal recitations of their irritating debut "I Might Like You Better (If We Slept Together)", the painful intensification of the blueprint on follow-up "Smash Disco" and the apocalyptically awful zenith of "Creeps (Get On The Dancefloor)", the capacity of which to harangue the listener while still sounding utterly disinterested in itself making it a deserving nominee for the decade's worst tune, worse still because, by mutilating the barely-dead corpse of Steve Bug's remix of Freaks' "The Creeps", Vandalism managed to compress an entire depressing three-book tale of electro-house's decline and fall into four grisly minutes. Here we must distinguish between affected disaffection - the limited creative potential of which the past decade has thoroughly depleted - and the disaffection of the singer who doesn't realise they're meant to sound like they care. This too must be distinguished from the further avenue of affectlessness - the sheer absence of emotion one hears in some (though only some) post-autotune pop, which can seem to move beyond questions of caring or a lack thereof - leaving us with a surprisingly thin strip of pop where the singer actually sounds like they'd rather be sleeping off their comedown (even Paris Hilton mined this territory only occasionally). What makes Nadia Oh appealing to me is how effectively her nonchalance walks the tightrope between disaffection and affectlessness, her robo-frankenstein's bride chants of "we gon' take your money", "throw your wallets in the sky" and "SWAG!" suggesting she's "just like that", the kind of person who says everything in a voice implying sarcastic deadpan even when she's being totally sincere. In fact Nadia still might not be that appealing except that her persona offers the perfect foil for the euro-moombahton backing track, its efficient compression-packed travel bag of whistles and sirens and handclaps and rave synths and most of all its monolithic yet slothful beat suggesting a dance that goes through the motions in a manner that ought not be satisfying but absolutely is. And even leaving aside all of the above, "Taking Over The Dancefloor" would deserve this position due to the marvelous yet too-brief new keyboard melody that lays siege to the outro.

47. Vybz Kartel - Coloring Book

For the most part I was left a bit cold by Vybz's swing circa Pon Di Gaza towards downbeat but sweet autotuned balladry, not so much in and for itself but because over multiple tracks (and especially in the context of an entire album) I find the cumulative effect kind of oppressive (and certainly depressive), the moistly thick plod-throb of the riddims and Vybz's dreary half-sung melodies always putting me in mind of that suffocating, disoriented feeling I get after falling asleep in the afternoon. "Coloring Book" is in this vein yet not, its stuttering piano groove and eerie violin sweeps thoroughly lachrymose and yet utterly sharp and crystalline, the sadness now piercing and even chilling. It's matched well to Vybz's ambivalent ode to his tattoo obsession, which peddles a sad tale of addiction even as it implores listeners to get their own inks. "When the tattoo needle start fi bun / Mi kill off the pain with Street Vybz rum" he quasi-boasts in deadened fashion, but he also seems to need the pain: "Stylist push the needle through the epidermis / hotter than a macka hype bun you like a furnace / pretty when it finish but it hot when it a service / you only hear the needle go so "eeennn" and get nervous / from me start me cant stop, everyday me say dis a last two..." As much as anything, "Coloring Book" derives its power from Vybz's vocal range, veering from deep baritone to adenoidal tenor and back again as if to observe his fixation from every possible angle, from pride to anxiety to hardened bossman indifference. And if he wasn't truly scared of himself, why did he choose to tell this story over such a consummately melancholy riddim? Whatever his motivations, "Coloring Book" is one of very few tunes of last year that can leave me feeling sad some time after it finishes.

46. Groove Theory - Tell Me (George Fitzgerald Remix)

I always adored the louche grace of the original "Tell Me", which never fails to bring to mind Amel Larrieux in the video clip, bobbing her head and swinging her hands back and forth in almost absent-minded time with the beat. Aside from the fact that it's a great song, "Tell Me" doesn't necessary seem like the perfect fit for a post-dubstep syncopated house reworking (if you'd pitched it to me I would have been slightly scared), but from its first seconds - the insistent kicks, the gorgeously throbbing synth-chords, Amel's slightly pitched up vocal now signifiying impatient need as much as boundless generosity - Fitzgerald's effort is so thoroughly right-seeming that even the memory of doubts is banished alongside the doubts themselves: this was always meant to be, and always meant to be perfect. Much like the 2012 work of Disclosure, Fitzgerald's bubbly, hesitant remix offers yet another reimagination of the meaning of "garage", its trebly delicacy and pillowy atmospherics and sensuous, meticulously timed percussion (the hi-hats alone are unbelievably beautiful) simultaneously recalling Deep Dish's remix of De'Lacy's "Hideaway" and Dreem Teem's remix of Amira's "My Desire" in its evocation of an intoxicating vulnerability, a desire constantly falling forward yet deeper into itself, Amel's sighs laying her bare before you while the music promises understanding and empathy without limitation. There's nothing street about it: just desire as champagne bloodrush, ecstatic and overwhelmed and utterly impossible.

SWAG!

only 45 left to go!

http://i.imgur.com/yyFZo.jpg

the worst thing is that it's always tim's MOST FAVOURITE tracks that get shafted

heh i'm sure tim's wouldnt have been boring but generally this dreary awards season would most likely be much improved if everyone were forced to only discuss their top 20-50

probably true of every year really

Let's get 2011 out of the way. This is just what the balance of my 2011 list has been since the beginning of the year, haven't really thought about its currency now but it looks pretty sympathetic to Nov 2012 me:

1. Diddy-Dirty Money - Sade / No Ordinary Love
2. Beyonce - Schoolin Life / Countdown
3. Fuzzy Logick ft. Myshy - Playground
4. Toddla T - Take It Back (Dillon Francis Remix) / CSS - Hits Me Like A Rock (Dillon Francis Remix)
5. Nicki Minaj ft. Esther Dean - Super Bass
6. Gucci Mane - Brrr! (Supa Cold)
7. Funkystepz - Warrior + various remixes eulogising
8. Konshens - Nuh Pull It Up
9. Ill Blu - Monsta
10. Laza Morgan ft. Mavado - One By One
11. Royal-T - Cool Down
12. Desloc Piccalo ft. Adiah - Drums
13. Artful - Could Just Be The Bassline (ArtOfficial Club Mix)
14. Schoolboy Q ft. Jhene Aiko - Fantasy
15. Britney Spears ft. Nicki Minaj & Ke$ha - Till The World Ends (Remix)
16. Purpl Pop - The Way (The Living Graham Bond Dub)
17. S.E.C.T. ft. Ben Westbeech - In The Park
18. Kelly Rowland ft. Lil' Wayne - Motivation
19. Terror Danjah ft. Ruby Lee Ryder - Full Attention
20. Dead Rose Music Company - Never Gonna Stop
21. Don P The Panhandle King - Gone Do
22. Dawn Richard - Broken Record
23. Busy Signal - Pon Dem
24. Meek Mill ft. Rick Ross - Ima Boss
25. Invisible Conga People - In A Hole
26. Cherine Anderson - Make Up Sex
27. Champion ft. Ruby Lee Ryder - Sensitivity
28. Toi - You'll Be Mine
29. Alexis Jordan - Good Girl
30. Matthew Kyle - Off My Mind
31. DJ Q ft. Louise Williams - Over Me
32. Jordanne Patrice - Ready When Yuh Ready
33. Benoit & Sergio - Everybody
34. Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo, Nayer & Afrojack - Give Me Everything
35. Natalie May - Clothes Off
36. Tanya Stephens - Shame On You
37. Selena Gomez & The Scene - Love You Like A Love Song
38. Jesse Boykins III - I Can't Stay
39. Lloyd ft. Awesome Jones - Cupid
40. S-X - Wooo! Riddim (DJ Q Refix)
41. Aisha Davis - My Loving
42. JoJo - Marvin's Room (Can't Do Better)
43. Scottie B ft. Jae Elle - Feel Nice, Feel Right
44. The Wideboys - Shopaholic (Future Garage Remix)
45. Popcaan - Raving

I post this despite thinking that lists by themselves are kinda boring, so if anyone actually wants a spiel for any of these in particular let me know.

Nick Hannam & Tom Garenett ft Tom Zanetti - You Want Me
Terri Walker - He Loves Me (Artful Mix)
Pyper ft Kt Forrester - Dagger To The Heart
Vybz Kartel - Lip Gloss
Tanya Stephens - Take Good Care Of My Man

yeah can you do these please :]

Haha, there's a reason I'm getting 2011 out of the way.

lol knew you'd bottle it

http://videogum.com/img/thumbnails/photos/gossip_girl_3_5/dan.gif

that finneyana reign just wont let up

Ha. Selfishly wouldn't mind a gloss on the Dillon Francis, as I didn't see many others write about moombahton (didn't catch on around here, and I think uh trap has colonised any potentially sympathetic spaces). & "One By One" for general life-affirmation.

lol xp

Don P The Panhandle King - Gone Do

Wish I could find an MP3 of this. Great track.

shoutout to brainwasher for that 1

Yeah Deej hipped me to that, it was the last thing I heard to make my list I think.

So, 2012...

Coming.

looking forward to it!

you should try to get a publication to pick up on it tim - 1) it's good enough (obviously) 2) it feels weird and wrong expecting someone to be doing something this detailed unpaid 3) it would make you finish it

kickstarter

― frogbs in the trap (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, May 1, 2012 5:00 PM (7 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

print & bind them & ship them by march 2013 along w/ an accompanying youtube playlist or w/e and i'm in for... $20? $30?

― frogbs in the trap (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, May 1, 2012 5:01 PM (7 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^ cosign.

Yeah, feels weird sort of harassing you for it, but it's clearly a highlight of the EOY... I would pay for the zine version.

I would pay $s for just an emailed version (with e.g. youtube links for listening). But yes, obviously this is a bit weird, apologies etc.

Basically my aversion to that kind of thing is the need to organise myself. The level of organisation required at work is already almost more than I can handle.

However I have been thinking of some sort of zine idea for a while, not for this EOY but for something next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8VXQKFQQkE

man richelle are still something else... you hear album upon album less transportive than these here 5 minutes

Tim do you like 'Drink and Rave'?

Nice writeup of reggae crooner Tarrus Riley