Rolling Teenpop 2006 Thread

"So, in the random 5-CD changer this morning..., Whenever I thought I was hearing a Reckless Kelly track really jump out at me, turned out it was by Switchfoot, who are not remotely country, as far as I can tell, but somehow *feel* country to me; I could actually imagine hearing them on CMT, though really their album is either the best Nickelback album ever or the best U2 album I've heard since *Under a Blood Red Sky.* Probably the latter. So I dunno where the country *feel* of it is coming from - some distant root in Irish folk melodies via U2 maybe? I dunno.."

Upthread (circa March 27) I talked about Kaci Brown, who wanted to be a country singer but was signed by Interscope who wouldn't let her be one and put her on the road with the Backstreet Boys instead. Anyway, I wound up liking her 2005 *Instigator* album way more than I expected to. It's post-Destiny's/Britney/etc teenpop r&b with lots of non-word syl;ables from Kaci's mouth and an extraordinary amount of dub space in David Sonenberg and William Derella's production; Best track is probably "Body Language," which does the middle-eastern/bhangra thing and adds rock guitar and where Kaci lists all the languages she doesn't speak. Then probably "Instigator" (where she'll steal your boyfiend and the waiter too), "Cadillac Hotel" (Nelly Furtado-style reggae that somehow reminds me of the Tamlins' version of "Baltimore" by Randy Newman, maybe because it mentions seagulls), and "My Baby" (Teddy's-jam new jack swinging elecrofunk rhythm workout). Third tier I guess "The Waltz" (which I may well be underrating - slow simmer seduction brought to a boil, and literally turning into classical waltz music at the end), "SOS" (pretty dub pop for being stranded on the desert island in the lyrics), "Like Em Like That" (la la la la la la la). Worth seeking out - -when I bought my $2 copy in Princeton, it was one of a few there.

Also great on that '76 Slick LP (now playing in the background): "Dancerama," funked-up pop disco segueing out of "Bom Bom"'s great post-Santana proto-worldbeat disco metal.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/staceyevans

stacey evans, *a slender thread*, cdbaby californina pop-metal singer-songwriter rock; i definitely like some of it (especially "rollercoaster", absolute glam-metal roxette with a chorus about how a guy's moving too fast for her), and i kind of like the guitar sound (chunky and even sometimes boogiefied -- "a slender thread", which has a cabaret croon melody possibly ripped from "creep" by radiohead, ends with a pretty nifty guitar solo -- but often bordering on early psychedelic pop-rock, like i dunno, the beatles maybe?), and i like the europop undercurrent (e.g. vixen via abba in "letting them keep you") that courses through a lot of this. but soemething about the whole thing still screams "sincere and confessional folkie", which makes me wary. her voice is fine, i guess -- not as sandpaper as alanis or melissa etheridge, tougher than sheryl crow i guess but *probably* with less personality than at least two of those three, i'm not sure yet; maybe the personality will kick in later. plus the songs tend to get lost a lot, at least on first listen (maybe they'll kick in later too), and outwear their welcomes: best song is the shortest, and at 3:50 it's not that short. "machine" seems to want to sound like a machine, keeps going into these electro-rock parts and a robotic riff that reminds me of sly fox's "let's go all the way" of all things, but its melody is like "i am woman" crossed with benatar's "invincible" (maybe just because she keeps saying "invincible"?) crossed with some (i think) '80s new wave classic i can't put my finger on. last couple tracks seem to probably be the trippiest, but the trippiness is always balanced with commercial pop, which is a good thing. named as influences on her cdbaby page: bee gees, abba, fleetwood mac, eagles, def leppard, journey, electric light orchestra, olivia newton-john, ann wilson, karen carpenter. so, i dunno. i get the idea there might be interesting stuff going on here, but i need more time with it.

(she apparently has plenty of super-pro sidemen in her band - guys who work with elton john, rod stewart, and ray manzarek, for instance)
-- xhuxk (xedd...), February 24th, 2006.

..i must've punched up /sampled the Bratzs lp tracks back at a job where the music player functions were working (on the work PC). they were in a style that's instant "tune-out" for me...low-quotient on hooks, fake rock guitars...feh.

the GREAT "club mix" with thumping drum machine and honking-euroKeyboards of "who let the dogs out" is on several different CD-singles (of that, and the next single's tune Cd-maxi also)...the club mix stands the test of time. the "album mix" that was on the top 40 radio (and Disney, who dropped the club mix plays within 6 months) was always useless...and later, seriously annoying.

ahh...way back when, i checked out (the entire songs) the whole Huckapoo repertoire (maybe 12 whole tunes) that was on their original www.com setup. didn't rate a single tune outside of the great one (from the scrapped major label pop-Nashville project, as i sleuthed in the review) that was on Pixel Perfect. but...this sounds like a different assortment (with some different tunes included)...hell yeah, i'll swap or pay a solid $2.79 plus post for any kind of CD-R thrown into a 6x9 envelope in any kind of crap small case...i always have tonnage of clean cute brand new cases, cd-single and fullsize album size both. though the Huckapoo track record was a miserable 1 for Everything back when. VERY curious to know who the leader singer on (the Pixel Perfect track was), and if they have any lead vocals on the CD-R's tunes.

< (dave) "...kind of like...stalking a 17 year old..." >

well, it's real different if you're a muso (recorded bandleader/writer) like me. me throwing picture-comments at say, Skye's page (back in its first six months, jeez, 2004?), is like Howlin' Wolf giving white teen bluesboys unsolicited advice back in 1967. (when i was a 15 year old with a newly acquired cheap used 1955 Gibson pre-PAF Les Paul, and a stack of likewise newly acquired 50's used city blues 45s and lps). yeah, punk-band musos me and Clay (Clorox Girls) and Johnny (who has some problems, like being an unrepentant Avril fan, but still a Syke mega-fan) left some pretty funny shit (comments) into her early photo page. like the pic w/guitar (probably long gone) or her highschool ID card (ditto). as an early networker viz/her page, i have been off/on/off/on on birthday/Xmas contributions to the Bolton PO Box (maybe 1/2 or 1/3rd i suppose)...but would you believe that during her recent long down time (early 2006), our prodigy apparently backtracked all the way to her 2004 Christmas fan-booty and 2005 Birthday fan-booty (she posted pictures of the crazy stuff the Japanese fans sent me), and sent hand-made THANK YOUs out to...the Top 10 coolest donor package sender i guess?...that grade (mine anyway, received February) as one of the coolest handmade mini-PR/thankyou (combined) kits you ever saw, handwritten Sharpie comments on various things. it must be fun being non-stop uber-creative i tell ya. eventually i'll make a couple 8x11 scans at work to document (for others in the Skye loop) just what a facile little charmer this brat can be when she is in "nice" mode. (local guy Mike Dirnt of green day has a may birthday day around Skye's, and he is well known as one of the nicest guys who ever lived, a total sweetheart (girls term since it's the most apt)...people that month are "ruled by Venus" or something.

( 2006 skye pizza box details) --

so i just finished (and mailing out, 3.999 lbs surface mail) duct taping two small/med size pizza boxes together with this year's set of cheap donation-box Skye stuff...addressed to skye , c/o bubblebrainy, LLC, PO Box etc. no item > $1.79 cost, total maybe just < $10 , between merch table girls tops (thrift store...hello kitty, a retarded hockey shirt, an old 1999 hit me baby one more time pink Britney shirt), a 69 cent Buddy Holly 80's double album cassette, both old BARBIE cds from the 90's ie The Look and Think Pink cause i doubt Mattel didn't "hook her up," and most importantly 6 full hrs / 3 VHS tapes of 60's/70's handmade comps i'd put together in a big trade last spring. hmm...track list for them easily attached i believe.

with decent "notes" attached of course...

she might be ahead me (or the curve) if it's popped up already, but if i ever had to deal (as a muso or songwriter, or just fellow music student) with the uber-brat face to face, i'd definitely have a new nickname in the verbal supersoaker repertoire so's to hold my own -- "bubblebrain" twisted into = "brainybrat."

take "bubblegum brainiac"
and flip the components around with

bubblebrain

brainybrat

bubblegum braniac

ha, well...be careful what you ask for when you're writing a good lyric. (see my PC-printer's address label that just went out, its four lines about 6" x 9" across the bottom half of a pizza box -- "c/o bubblebrainy, LLC"

funnily, the generic "acts like" prototype for some of the personality would be --
80's MTV Martha Quinn...a taurus with other stuff in GEMINI (venus and mercury, the expressive and communication planets respectively) -- matching Skye.
the wild creative streak of our b.1989 kidgirl comes from entire different components (as you noticed blatantly in the SWAPPED show...great footage).

anyway, cf the six solid hours of reference rock-video/TV VHS material -- i pointed out the easily most important thing --

Skye has the young Bob Seger's hair to a T (cf early 1969 tv clip for "ramblin' gamblin' man")...and bob is born within 24 hours of skye's time/day on the clock. ha!

just cause it's easy to copy/cut, here's the VHS tapes (i had many many dubs orignially, now just about all gone), and "notes" for the two pizza boxes mailing-taped together. (cf now the well known story of how skye summer-camp crashed the music business, and how about the same time i wrote 3,000 words in VV on the same britney era) -- with a 1999 Britney postcard taped down on the top of the second pizza box's top (hidden beneath the top box until dismantled/separated), word balloon sharpied... "boo y'all!"

===================

(1)

ANIMALS Shout (live TV)
BONZO DOG BAND Canyons Of Your Mind
KINKS (Beat Room live TV)
PRETTY THINGS Midnight To Six Man
========================
**SMALL FACES** video/TV
Misc from cheesy BIG HITS retail comp including
All Or Nothing (promo)
Itchycoo Park (promo)
Lazy Sunday (Beat Club)
========================
KINKS / SHINDIG comp
(see track listing on sleeve)
=====================
SMALL FACES / Color Me Pop TV 1968
Happiness Stan / Rollin' Over / The Fly /
The Journey / Mad John / Happydaystoytown
=====================
SCANDAL Goodbye To You
GENERATION X Wild Youth (live TV)
DR PEPPER hair metal band
MTV TOP 100 POP SONGS
Britney #25 / Backstreet #10
ALL TIME HAIR METAL BAND #6
the mighty Warrant

(2)

**ROLLING STONES 1964 - 1965**
==============
TAMI SHOW 1964
Around And Around / Off The Hook
It's All Over Now / I'm Alright
==============
Kellogg's Rice Krispies ad (UK)
Pathe Newsreel / Around And Around
READY STEADY GO
We've Got A Good Thing Goin'
That's How Strong My Love Is
Paint It Black
CHARLIE IS MY DARLING / Ireland 1965
( short version - 20 min)
==============
THE WHO
Anyway Anyhow Anywhere (RSG)
My Generation (Swedish TV)
A Quick One While He's Away
Anyway Anyhow Anywhere (Richmond
Jazz Festival)
I Can't Explain
Interview (A Whole Scene Going/UK)
==============
PRETTY THINGS Midnight To Six Man
Rosalyn (Gemany live)
L.S.D. / Come See Me
THE WHO Pictures of Lily (studio foortage)
BOB SEGER SYSTEM Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
**ANIMALS**
Baby Let Me Take You Home
I'm Crying (Ed Sullivan)
Club A-Go-Go (Hullabaloo)
We Gotta Get Out Of This Place (Ed Sullivan)
Inside Looking Out (Ed Sullivan)
SEX PISTOLZ (aka the real thing, 1982 john cougar)
Bloomington Not London (SNL)
Limeys Have Bad Skin Man (SCTV)
YARDBIRDS Shapes Of Things
Happenings Ten Years Time Ago
(Beat Beat Beat german TV / Page lineup)
MC5 Kick Out The Jams (Beat Club)


(3)

MODERNETTES Barbra
STIV BATORS It's Cold Outside
Not That Way Anymore
REZILLLOS Flying Saucer Attack
POINTED STICKS Lies
RASPBERRIES I Wanna Be With You
(live TV / Flipside)
THE BEAT Rock & Roll Girl
PLIMSOULS Zero Hour
RASPBERRIES Play On (DKRC 1974)
RASPBERRIES Tonight (DKRC 1973)
BLONDIE X Offender (CBGB's live)
DAMNED Love Song
GENERATION X Your Generation (live)
DICKIES Paranoid
YOUNG CANADIANS Hawaii (live TV)
Where Are You (live TV)
MODERNETTES 509 (live TV)

(2nd hour)
NEW YORK DOLLS Looking For A Kiss
AC/DC Touch Too Much
MC5 Kick Out The Jams (live German Beat Club)
THE WHO (1967 TV news / Peoria, IL)
ALICE COOPER I'm Eighteen (Beat Club)
RUNAWAYS School Days (OGWT)
ALICE COOPER Under My Wheels (Beat Club)
JIMI HENDRIX Hey Joe (live promo)
DEEP PURPLE Highway Star (Beat Club)
THE MOVE Wild Tiger Woman
FANNY Blind Alley
AC/DC High Voltage
DEEP PURPLE Never Before
AC/DC It's A Long Way To The Top
DEEP PURPLE Black Night (TOTP)
AC/DC Can I Get Next To You Girl
( with orig lead singer)

==========
(and requisite attached wordpad-printed notes) --

odds and ends birthday-month donation-bin box, year 2006:

(1) random girls shirts from merch table inventory. Canadian-borns'
requirement to own ONE "dumb hockey shirt" = now filled.

(2) one piece of american-written grad school literature (29 cents,
thrift store). (ed. note -- funny kids 8x11 softback The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! by A. Wolf) ("i was framed").

(3) oh yeah -- the BARBIE "90's cd collection" if Mattel forgot to
"hook you up" -- an old cutout CD/box and a dollar bin CD --
THE LOOK / 1990 -- lead vocals were done by highly-regarded
late 70's/early 80's New Wave singer Rachel Sweet and are SUPER
good
BEYOND PINK / 1998 -- dunno who sang on that one, the info never
leaked out. a handful of really good originals show writing credits
by Ellen Shipley (a late 70's/early 80's rock singer, whose albums
never sold and was not a good singer).
===============
(4) copies of VHS tapes (three) --

a very involved trade in early 2005 required me to make
song-by-song hand-dubbed "comps" of some specific bands / genres
out of the fairly chaotic and somewhat sprawling VHS (music) racks
here at the home base.

3 or 4 of the finished comp tapes came out SO good that many copies were
dubbed -- from each original "trade" copy, before they mailed out to
Orlando, Florida -- we're talking maybe FORTY copies total dubbed (of
those 3 or 4...maybe 10 copies of each ). the giant pile of which
is almost gone (given away) now, but copies still remain(ed) of 3 diff
and here is 1 of each for the canadian music-reference-library.
video quality -- a whole 2nd step down from the original source tapes
( = copy of a copy dubbed from a home-collection clip, many of which
were on "trade copy" or "dealer copy" comps in the first place)...so
not that hot in places.

but good reference material = is what blank $1 VHS tapes are for.

to wit, example = the young Bob Seger = a MAY 6TH baby, ha
and captured (lipsync'ing) on TV to his only national
Bob Seger System hit...
at age 23, 1969. (shortly before 24th birthday 5/6/69).
random musical theory = the young Bob could be Skye S's MUSICAL
May grandfather! ( = similar hair and birthday).

worth noting = the rolling stones were actually cool during
1964 and 1965.

Steve Marriot (small faces)
Eric Burdon (animals), and (no live clips exist of)
Van Morrison (Them)
are generally regarded as the three best
English hard rock singers of the 60's.

(metal mike's favorite 60's beat groups --
BEATLES / KINKS / BEACH BOYS / SMALL FACES)

the other end of the trade had beatles/beach boys, but
needed "every single thing" i had on the Small Faces
(and certain Kinks things they needed)

"blue (box) tape" = first 1/2 was just back/forth
between 70's New Wave and Punk clips that the trade had requested.
the second 1/2 was my idea of what they should hear (most of it) as
an education in " 70's hard rock" (esp. live TV performance clips from
european UK TV show Beat Club). (Deep Purple, Alice Cooper).
==============================================

(5) 69 cents of analog Buddy Holly tunes = the first good Beatles
biog ever written, THE BEATLES / Bob Spitz (racked last November),
made it totally clear that the big impetus for Paul McCartney to
egg John Lennon into "writing original songs" with him
(ie, by telling older bully boy John, "i've written a few
originals") was discovering that the writing credits on their
favorite Buddy Holly originals said (or included) -- BUDDY
HOLLY himself. this went down/happened in early 1958,
and L/M had "20 or more" songs completed, crudely
transcribed for words/chords, by summer 1958. (McCartney
was age 15, Lennon 17, turning 16 and 18 by that October...
McCartney had joined Lennon's ramshackle skiffle/rock band
in July 1957 a year prior).

hella yeah he was a good writer. (all on guitar, no sissy
piano chords). Buddy Holly that is. melody lines and
lyrics so seamless as to almost be conversational.
"Boys Will Be Boys" was the song Radio Disney still had on
their playlist when i first started tuning in, in early year 2000.

THE SWITCH -- Most notable for having a guitarist named Joe Pepitone, locals the Switch supply inobtrusive electronic Euroschlock whoosh beneath Kai Altair's blonde-eyed-soul warbling in a post-Yazoo Alf Moyet mode.

SANAWON -- Sanawon equals girlish but non-wallflowerish Cranberries-style warbling over a tasteful duo blur from Chicago, the city where indie never died.

THING-ONE -- Chilled-by-principle, stiff-despite-itself pale-faced Jersey live-instrument undie-rap unit, bragging 'bout how none of their cuts are catchy enough for radio, and they're right. Add hippie bullshit to rival a jam clan, and there ya go.

RAHIM -- Long Islanders formerly known as Radio Raheem (see also: Spike Lee) dish out funk-indebted-yet-straightlegged bass jitters and itchy guitars under early Robert Smith-style nasals, making sure to leave some open spaces in their sound.

RAISING THE FAWN -- Aimlessly drifting slow quiet Toronto dreamers, with one Broken Social Scene guy and drums trudging forward.

THE REAL TUESDAY WELD --Whispery, super-detached, and in love with exotic European '60s film kitsch, the Londoner also named Stephen Coates may have a pinch of Jazz Butcher or Scritti Politti in him somewhere, but that doesn't mean he's half as clever as he thinks. DJs like Coldcut and Fat Boy Slim are said not to mind, though.

CLIENT -- Usually pointlessly detached, sometimes vaguely sad Brit-girl accents ("Northern," sez here) in a electroclash-cliche style owing Grace Jones and Black Box Recorder, with immoble if occasionally melodic synths beneath. They've spun (primarily German) DJ dates this summer with Ladytron and Sneaker Pimps; consider those reference points, too.

STATISTICS -- In which Denvey Dalley of side-project-happy Omaha -- one of the guys who's in protest-emo band Desaparecidos but not also in Bright Eyes -- doodles synths and tries to sing. He's more intriguing doing the former.

HI.

my name is brie.

I like to grope men, paint pictures of baby deer, and do windtunnel pictures.

(This w/ photo of her making funny distorto face at camera. Plenty of other photos too. She just returned from doing promo in NYC for the forthcoming movie Hoot; my guess from the promo squibs is that the film won't be one hundredth as interesting as her Myspace page; unless she wrote the script herself. But I doubt that she did. She's just an actress in it, far as I can tell.)

The Katy Rose verse is spoken, has yearning girlhood lyrics but is spoken with an affectlessness that reminds me of Kim Gordon or that guy in the Nails, Marc Campbell, who did "88 Lines About 44 Women" - an apparent affectlessness that actually contains attitude and emotion. W/ Kim the attitude felt subversive and potentially contemptuous, yet I also heard pain in it; with the Nails guy it was a snideness that got under the skin. Katy is neither snide nor contemptuous; her own thoughts are what she's grappling with, girl loneliness. But there's the same tenseness under the supposed affectlessness. And so her mannered poetry words don't feel mannered, they feel tough and smart, they feel like speech, even when the metaphors are strange and girly airy-fairy poetry: "I wish I could steal the moon/And kiss it with my feet." "I wish the raindrops on the glass would let me join their dance/I'd spin and twirl and laugh with them and drown my thoughts perchance." And then the chorus is Aly & A.J.-style harmony, but not liberatingly joyous in the "Rush" way, just intensified beauty, with an ominous guitar all through the song (this came out a year and a half before "Rush," however). Interesting track, seems to be a trap set doing the kick drum and snare, but with electro beats skittering around them. (I could be all wrong about the drums, however.) The other album-track clips on Allmusic tend to sound more whiny and bratty than this one, and not as intense (but pleasingly, tunefully whiny and bratty). One song has the lyric "Sittin' in Jayne Mansfield's car." I hope there's more to come from Katy.

That Northern accent belongs to Sarah Blackwood, late of Dubstar, whose first album (Disgraceful) is very much required listening (if we could but YSI once more, then I'd be putting 'Anywhere' up because it is awesome). The other one in Client is possibly the wife of someone famous, possibly Alan McGee, but I can't really remember. Assuming you've heard their lone UK hit, 'Pornography' - the male voice on that is Carl Barat, ex-Libertines and current Dirty Pretty Things.

I bought the Katy Rose album, don't remember being much impressed with anything save for 'Overdrive' (the song with the Jayne Mansfield line).

I also want to heartily recommend the Stacey Evans cdbaby album I linked to above (especially "Roller Coaster," "Machine," and "The Last Beat," then I guess the hair-metal throwback ""Letting Them Keep You" and the Princely pop-psyched "Outshine the Sun") to all fans for Amy Grant's *Heart in Motion* and the first Roxette LP, among other things.

And my favorite non-single cuts on the Akon album turned out to be "Journey" and "Show Out." The latter's title reminds me of Mel & Kim, plus its lyrics quote "The Message."

finally, more Metal Mike, over the transom, not sure if sense can be made of this or not:

>does ANYONE have the japanese (only) Triple Image single (CD)? (long after the first album, ie post-album tune/single). never pulled the trigger to get the import...stuff one guy sent me years ago, it wasn't in the store so he blew (including it) off. i had the tune on my VV top 10 singles that year. what was it called? "Do It Now",some 3-word title.

ha ha hahahahaha, Michelle Branch. from fall 2002, i still have a half-page color (music magazine) ad taped to the side of my bathroom mirror, the ad reading sideway left to right from bottom to top -- MICHELLE BRANCH the platimum album THE SPIRIT ROOM. and i have a black sharpie circle/slash across her face exactly, and a caps (black sharpie) PLEASE on her right forearm, KILL ME on the small side-abdomen flesh showing above her big belt. yep, i wasn't gonig for that "confessional" shit. (there's a couple songs i like on the second album , i admit). nooo way. oh yeah plus she later talked musical snob-trash about Hilary...go die idiot wannabe-bitch...or is that wannabitch. she's so lame.
=========================

Toy-Box Fantastic / how about good old CD to analog cassette tape on an average/mediocre tape deck. DDA ha ha. 69 cent new cassette, cost only. the only extra ($3 bin) copy i ever had of TBFantastic, must have wound up with the year 2001 local GF's (b.1975) 1st grader (female) (b.1995) who had a whole 50-ct bin full of CD-singles and even half of it CD-albums (from the cheap used bins local) by the time the 1 year association was done. ha -- i have old promo record-label free copies of the 2 (great) Toy Box videos (Tarzan & Jane and Best Friend). power po plarry kinda likes the lesser, euro-only 2nd album, but i'm skeptical (having heard a bunch of 30- second samples on the internet at the time...the material/hooks was/were obviously only average).

or straight trade for the Huckapoo dub. (i have don't a CD burner, never will...fuck digital technology man).

has anyone ever tried to hook up (musically) the nearby Alexandra Slate (Toronto) with Skye? re Slate's unreleased 2003 album canned by, ha, HOLLYWOOD recs when the single didn't do anything -- there were "advance copies" wth color front cover pic/track list floating around everywhere). great rock voice and good pop-rock voice, like skye's but thicker and a little huskier. dunno how good a guitarist she was. (she's probably a little older than skye). i'm lazy and never got around to it...in case Skye someday wanted a GIRL in the band (for vocal harmonies especially)...ahhhh, i have one or two extra copies of the CD too! i should pull one aside and make it a 6x9 envelope "do list" thing. Slate's no doubt back at her local JC slogging towards a degree wondering what the hell went wrong...probably doesn't even have a "myspace"
the album was produced by Rob Cavallo, mostly average "confessonal" lilith-girl crap. but tracks #7 and #10 are rock/rock-pop loud guitar that just blow the walls off. like loud good Green Day songs! (that Cavallo has produced, ie Dookie and less so American Idiot). it was even impossible to find much internet info on Slate/the album at the time! whoooa i put the cd on . Track #7 "Can't Hold The World" is AMAZING. fucking great song, recording, and production. very strong rock voice, like a squashed down/EQ of Kelly Clarkson, much more dead-on w/no high/low range in the melody lines. huh.

nooo dude, i'm no asskisser. skye's year 2006 box was postal dropped monday (24th) and will arrive well after the birthday day (via surface mail..2 to 3 weeks, usually 20+ calendar days). hey you know what? when i saved the "wordpad notes" i think the old notes were also saved...which would be either birthday 2005 or Xmas 2004...
i believe we got on each other's good side when i put, at the very bottom of whatever the notes run down (in the full size pizza box as mailer) (this year it took two smaller, med size pizza boxes, duct taped together), a nice xerox of all the pages (off the VV internet format) of..ha, the spring 2000 Britney OOPS maxi-essay. you notice her revised "music" (favorites) list on the myspace home now props Max for "Baby One More Time"? cool. there was only donation-box that year, whether Xmas or B-day. now i'm curious to pull/attach the notes.. (or cut/paste) I guess. no idea what the hell was in there except several goofy girls tops...oh wait! Xmas. cause a little later, birthday, she got a couple very trippy (merch inventory, the thrift store stuff) girl clothing pieces! (our ave merch cost always around $2/ea after screenprinting). yeah i'm sure one of them was a good HELLO KITTY (if not that one of her other favorite characters, all 3 things were right off her favorites list) mixed-fabric dress ha ha, and whatever else. good god i think the original Xmas box had unwanted Sailor Moon tops (one or two) that we could never unload out of the girls merch... hmmm. now i wonder. let's pull that old wordpad file.
====================
aw man, hilarious -- i sent her the CD-single of Top Of The Pops (the Smithereens) that i'd flaked and never got to the Hilary Duff camp in late 2003 (via her label PR head, my contact who worked directly with the duffs...including sending mom duff's thank you box of cookies/card out to my home address after the spring 2003 VV essay/revew/career overview when the LIZZIE movie sdtk was racked). great forgotten live stage guitar-rock pop song ("top of the pops") that did NOTHING on radio (top 60 i think) when the smithereens' time was over and done.

==========
long forgotten box #1 notes that were sent to bolton w/holiday package -- xmas 2004 for sure
===========

(1) a great great live/radio tune** that not only did NOT get Top 40 airplay,
but only got middling MTV time. the band's hit run had run out a year
or two prior.... // ergo an awesome LIVE STAGE song or better (opening
encores or set opener). a year ago i was gonna route it to hilary duff's
people via the PR head they (momma D) work directly with at the label...
but i got lazy. and she's doing ok without it, or even without a single.
great tune on october 2004's album No. 2 (s/t). // ie** ("TOP OF THE POPS")

(2) the world's coolest way to access "Heart Of Glass" into a CD player.
duh, the junk bin POGO BOY soundtrack! ha ha ha ha pogo stick, all you punk rockers! disco down to the pogo boy!

(3) things that are "britney." including any of my Xmas cards of the last 15 years possessing reference points. ( = the backpack in front of big Berlin club is a modified "X-Tina" bpack...customized w/KISS and AC/DC patches that is).

(4) ok you now offically own one (1) 43 song comp (75 minutes) of kill your dad shoot the dog and your teachers too "LA punk rock 1977-82." that said,

My Old Man's A Fatso
Lights Out and
Gas Chamber and a couple others
are great guitar-rock songs. recorded in
toilets masquerading as studios, as per the super-low-budget punk rock
code of music.

Daphne and Celeste opine: "the angry samoans are ok if you hate
your parents and like, have some mental problems."
celeste: "Daphne, 'Lights Out' is a proto-rap song! Recognize!"
daphne: "yes sista, and yelled/rapped onstage in fall 1979 indeed
at that! recognize and salute the 70's proto-rapping!"
celeste: "to white rappers everywhere with whiny voices!"
daphne: "um...all of them, d'you think?"
celeste: "don't talk shit about M or i'll throw you in the slam pit!"
daphne "yes, word up to your future husband Eminem."
celeste: "word up! up the word! and now let us go entertain the
masses."
daphne: "yes a star's life is a cruel, solitary one!"
celeste/daphne: "hahahahahahaha ha ha ha!! we HATE whiny pop
stars!" "yes take that Mariah!" "lord girl, she's 5 foot 10 tall."
daphne: "a giant blubbering baby huey!"
celeste: "awwwww, and the movie was so great!"
daphne: "so cruel."
celeste: "the world that we pop stars must share with mere
mortals."
daphne: "yes, word to the cruelty of it all!"

(4) my GF's 4 year old daughter has her own NOISE FROM THE BASEMENT
that she plays almost daily. with her help we determined that the "Hypocrite"
lyric's breakdown code was: anything not "ironic" was something the
singer liked (now or in earlier years).

(5) we had a couple "sailor moon" t's hanging around in the merch pile for many
gigs, unwanted and unsold. your problem now! look on the bright side:
at least the band didn't autograph them. ( "$5 merch shirts/tops" cost our
operation only $2.25/ea = $1.25 screen + $1 thrift store shirt/top) ( = a value
of $4.49 = yours for free. cause no one wanted them in california. so sad!
Hello dipshit Kitty tops sell IMMEDIATELY like five seconds after they're thrown
on the shirt table).
that is all.
now go write some songs, young lady. and do your homework.
thee cussing punk rocking Angry Samoans

This just arrived via email, too:

>TEEN POP SINGER & ROLE MODEL
OFFERS TIPS FOR ONLINE SAFETY
* * *
Whitney Wolanin Has Witnessed "Cyber-Stalking"
& "Cyber-Bullying" First Hand
* * *
Whitney's Single "It Takes Two" Charts At #9
On FMQB AC TOP 40 Radio Chart

Role model and rising pop star Whitney Wolanin (pronounced WO-Lan-in) enjoys spending time on the internet just as much as any other teen, despite her busy schedule of academics and her recent success on the radio charts. The recent media coverage on MySpace and the need to set guidelines for teens and users of online communities has prompted the 15-year-old rising pop star to offer tips on the safe use of these popular websites and protecting the family computer.

Whitney has witnessed "cyber-bullying" and "cyber-stalking" first hand and has created a simple list of tips for teens to remain safe and to protect their personal identity. The blonde haired, green eyed high school sophomore first offered her tips to her fans, friends and relatives after her own family and classmates were effected by users who abuse online communities such as MySpace.

Here are Whitney's tips for online safety in her own words:

Whitney's Way to Online Safety

1. Stranger Danger – Don't talk to strangers or add them to your friends list.

2. Who’s Who? – People may not be who they say they are, so don’t assume they look or act as they do online.

3. Speak Out – If someone seems to be dangerous in any way, tell an adult or authority figure.

4. Homeland Security – Don’t download anything that could possibly harm your computer or invade your privacy.

5. Never – meet someone in person you “met” online; it’s extremely dangerous.

6. Keep It 2 Yourself – Don’t ever tell anyone you don’t know your address, phone number, school, or any personal information.

7. Self-Conscience – If something seems wrong to you, it probably is. Follow your instincts.

8. Chats – Don’t chat with people you don’t know as it could lead you into risky situations.

9. R-E-S-P-E-C-T – Respect yourself and others. Don’t say or do things online that you wouldn’t say in person, especially things that could embarrass you, your friends, or your family.

10. Enjoy – Most importantly, have fun and stay safe by chatting with people you know and avoiding bad situations. People can be much crueler online because they don’t have to say things to you face to face-avoid people who bring you down, especially online, and remember: you’re better than them.

While spending most of the day chasing academic perfection in school, Whitney’s new single, “It Takes Two” with famed Survivor lead singer Jimi Jamison, is quickly climbing the charts reaching the #9 spot on the FMQB AC TOP 40 Radio Chart (April 19th). Whitney is now back in the studio preparing arrangements for a top secret Christmas release that is expected to be "choc" full of Holiday musical treats.

GROUP SOUNDS -- "The only unsigned band to appear on the Fuse Network's Daily Download" toes the same dance-oriented '80s haircut-pop line as the Killers, Bravery, Hot Hot Heat, etc., and is hence as necessary as a hole in your head.

KITTY KAT DIRT NAP -- Handclappy indie fivesome from Philly, with a powerpop-to-Cars-to-Pixies bounce, a Dead Milkmen-nasal emo boy dueting with a squeaky girly, and silly song titles that mention Van Halen, Phil Collins, Tony Danza, Sparklemotion, Java Scripts, and breath mints. Every one of the nine titles on their amusingly robot-veteranarian-artworked CD has a parentheses in its title.

TAPPING THE VEIN -- A missing link between the already forgotten Drain S.T.H. and Evanescence who've yet to hit even as big as the former, these Philadelphians have never quite been beautiful, danceable, goofy, or German enough to pull off their black-clad Siouxsie-lookalike-led post-industrial power-ballad goth-shlock, though their 2002 album *The Damage* does at least start to soar at points. Tonight they headline an "electro-rock festival."

E.g. those London FAPs, and Ally's wedding.

Record of the Day - 19 April 2006
"LDN" by Lily Allen
Regal, Contact: Katherine Parrott, EMI - +44 (0)20 7605 5377
Release: 24 April (7
When a thread about Lily Allen was started on our messageboard, it provoked reaction and discussion, which good music always does. LDN is a fantastic summer record, packed with humour and that infectious ska-pop tune. This is gaining momentum in all the right places with Radio 1 support from Jo Whiley, a 6Music single of the week spot, and number 1 on Music Week's playlist. Signed by Jamie Nelson to Regal, this is feelgood music par excellence. Tipped by 'the_don'. JF London Gig: 4 May at Notting Hill Arts Club

and oh yeah (i keep remembering more reasons not to like it!), i like the IDEA of having conversations with one's 13-year-old self (though I've literally blocked most of my own age 13 from my memory), but the way Pink does it just hits me as really heavy-handed and clunky, for some reason. I mean, we don't even find out what her 13-year-old self's favorite foods or TV shows were, for Christ's sake! And I know, like Frank says, specifics like that are not a requirment in music, and only country and hip-hop tend to come up with them anyway, but here they would really really help us *care* about 13-year-old Pink. I dunno...maybe I need to go back to the two songs Frank recommended in his post up above, before I blow up.

From the blurb:
Recorded by producer Jeff Saltzman (The Killers) and James Michael (Alanis Morrissette, Motley Crue), the band wanted to evolve their sound and get back in touch with their rock 'n' roll roots. Completely enamored by '80s music and classic rock, Lillix were crossing their fingers and toes that the producer of the Killers' multi-platinum smash Hot Fuss would take a chance on them. "We sort of thought [Saltzman] would brush us off as not being 'hip' enough, but he really liked what he heard and said yes to the gig," says Burns. As for the girls hand with this, in addition to writing the material on the record, they are also credited for their production services.

To me, it's not doing much. The chorus doesn't soar the way I need from this kind of song - the yelled lines keep the range lower, it doesn't ever take flight, you know?

Putting aside the words to "Stupid Girls," which I've already talked about too much, the song is a medium-good r&b track.

In the verses of "Long Way to Happy" she plays deft handball with passing techno spazz-sounds, and the chorus is a good approximation of Bon Jovi in his Max Martin mode. (Interestingly enough, this isn't one of the Martin-Gottwald tracks.) Gets kinda boring in the break, though.

"I'm Not Dead" is another imitation Shanks or Martin style (again, no Martin on it), and lifts to a good Shanks & DioGuardi–style wailing finale (which, honestly - and I mean this every time I say it - would be better with Lindsay Lohan singing it, would have more pang and more juice [more pang and Tang?]). Also, the musical-comedy over-expressiveness when she goes to the "I'm not dead" part is actually funny.

"'Cuz I Can" is very good, my second favorite on the album, a stomp and a hoedown on the verse which leads to a really tuneful John and Kara–type thing that this time is Martin & Gottwald. Also there's a part of it where she seems to be chanting either "Ice cream ice cream we all want ice cream" or "high school high school want high school," though I don't think it's either. (The lyrics do a double attitude towards a parody fantasy of bling-style showoff that she wants/doesn't want, though she doesn't pull off her mixed attitude nearly as well here as on "I Got Money Now." In fact, she's downright confusing.)

"U + Ur Hand" calls to mind the Veronicas at their very best, given that it's a blatant copy of the Veronicas at their very best. It's not nearly as good as the Veronicas at their very best, but it sure calls them to mind. And on its own merits it's reasonably enjoyable, even if - as David Moore (no relation) points out - it ends up as something of a mess.

And "I Got Money Now" is a great song, the one where she doesn't sound as if she's thrashing around in search of a style, the one where the r&b and the emotionality never seem forced, where the contradictions don't seem like obvious irony but really do point to mixed feelings: she's worked so hard not to need people, and now she doesn't need them, but she does... well, I'm making it sound stupid, but it's not; there's both a triumph and a loneliness in not having to care what other people think of you.

(Also, you can think of "I Got Money Now" as a rebellion against the shorty-can-pay-her-own-rent platitudes of 1999's "Most Girls," which she didn't write and which could well be the sort of song she aimed her 2001 rebellion against.)

And "Runaway" is OK, and the duet with dad is touching and it's a pretty good song as well.

I feel absolutely no guilt about despising "Dear Mr. President." Calling the guy out on the results of his policies is one thing, inventing attitudes for him that he doesn't hold is another, and it doesn't help that the melody is a drag.

Each member of Girl Authority also has her own distinctive personality and sings a solo track in her unique style. Country Girl loves country music; Party Girl is always up for a good time; Rock-n-Roll Girl has a fun-loving wild side; Urban Girl adores city life; Preppy Girl is a cute schoolgirl; Boho Girl has all-natural flair; Glamour Girl is a young sophisticate; Fashion Girl is crazy for clothes; and All-Star Girl loves sports. From soul to country, r&b to rock 'n' roll, classic favorites to pop hits of today. Girl Authority has a song - and a girl - for everyone!

These are not my definitive comments on "Let U Go" either. Or maybe they are.

Also, I really see a difference within the 'sound' to do with the genre pitch and influences, so I'm looking for development within those threads rather than lump them all in together (which is tempting, I know); 'Behind these hazel eyes' was their goth-lite nod, and didn't do it for me the way 'End of Me' by Marion Raven does now, because Marion's bridge and the cellos are just amazing; the darkness BTHE way pitching for but somehow more visceral (although Kelly's vocal of course is great). Similarly, '4eva' was the Donnas nod, and I see it in a different strand to 'Let U Go' which in my head is the direct descendent of 'Just Want U To Know' - only of course, now shinier and newer and they've got the riff thrum influences of say, the Fall Out Boy material thrown in and acting more as the dominant force than the typical Backstreet Boy harmony style, which bodes well for that 'spin-off' direction.

So the way I see it, is that from 'Since U Been Gone' we're getting distinct derivatives, so that for each new 'generation' of the songs, they're honing the particulars that bit more.

http://cureforbedbugs.blogspot.com/

"Dave," (Dave Moore?) you have to be on this thread, right? Because here is the middle of your "recent music" list:

Marit Larsen - Under the Surface
Miranda! - Sin Restricciones
Hope Partlow - Who We Are
Marion Raven - Who I Am

ah...and jojo is and/or was not a grown up, i guess. but still. (alicia keys is not old, either, but she makes old people music anyway, and i have yet to hear a song by her i liked.)

also, um, they do not do a queen song! i meant "dancing queen" BY abba. (though on the subject of queen, my daughter says that a country girl on *american idol* did a great version of "bohemian rhapsody" during an all-queen tribute episode a couple weeks ago. i would love to see that; sounds wacky. does anybody know if she did the entire song??)

"Leave (Get Out)" is a good song - a great song, actually - and I think JoJo was age-eligible for Girl Authority when she recorded it. I agree that it's indistinguishible from "adult" r&b, but I'll also point out that some 13-year-olds do fuck around and then get pissed when you leave "her number on my phone" etc.

I've only played the first Girl Authority track and it's not pointless in that you have a bunch of different girls spelling out banana one after the other, which you don't get in the Gwen Stefani version.

But someone should do a girl group that's a cross between Girl Authority and Weird Al Yankovic.

xpost

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0247,saunders,39983,22.html

By the way, has anyone here heard the first Destiny's Child CD, which they released when Beyoncé was 16? Sheffield once told me that he loved it.

OK, I just listened to the Girl Authority version of "Leave," and the thing is that, except for the girl who does the "oh-ohs" at the end, they might as well be reading the lyrics off a teleprompter for all the meaning and conviction they give the song. So it's just a weak performance, a bunch of kids singing a pop hit. Whereas Jo-Jo nails the song. Anyway, xhuxk, it might not be that the song feels disturbingly grown-up but that the kids sound disturbingly not-grown-up when they sing the "grown-up" lyrics. Whereas Jo-Jo may sound young but she doesn't sound like a kid, so I don't feel the cognitive dissonance in the sound. (Though for me, the Girl Authority version isn't disturbing, just thin.)

I'm still kicking myself for leaving "Leave" off my 2004 Pazz 'n' Jop ballot.

(But the Girl Authority "Hollaback Girl" really works, may be more bananas than the Gwen version, and less mannered in its bananasicity.)

Xpost I'm sure nameom has read everything Metal Mike's written for the Voice.