Kate Bush – “Cloudbusting”

“but just saying it could even make it happen”

because we were talking about it at work and it is one of the best songs.

So actually I think I will do an end of year post. 15 songs. One per artist. Youtube links for sampling. Uh…

1. Big Boi – For Your Sorrows (Feat. George Clinton & Too $hort)
Yes. Exactly. This is the music I would like to spend my time listening to in the coming decade. More please. After “Synthesizer” and this I think it’s also fair to say that a Big Boi and George Clinton full-length would be wholly agreeable.

2. The Rangers – Tag Em In (Feat. Myles “Big Deal” Brown)
This is an invitation, across the nation, a chance for the folks to meet. There’ll be laughin’ and singin’ and music swingin’, and dancin’ in the streets.

3. G-Side – So Wonderful (Feat. Chrystal Carr, G-Mane & SupaKing)
It’s kind of a piece with the preceding track “Rising Sun” and it’s definitely guilty of feeling like a Rap equivalent of some Euphoric House or a 90s U2 track but uh… G-Side probably made my album of the year two years in a row. I don’t think that ever happened before. Not that albums mean anything any more anyway. This song does though.

4. Florence and The Machine – Howl
Taking your production cues from “Hounds Of Love” is most creditable. The world is a better place when the Pop records you have to hear whilst out shopping happen to be good records. Ta. Ten points for the ending too.

5. Tha Dogg Pound – They Don’t Want It
Just two dudes rapping over beats. Daz is pretty formidable on this.

6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Skeletons
It’s like “Maps” but with interesting music and more Scot-ish. Guitars are for old men anyway.

7. MJG – Dope Track
“You a baseball, man, I’m a baseball bat”.

8. Jay-Z – Empire State of Mind (Feat. Alicia Keys)
Yeah! Woo! Put your diamonds up!
The version on the Alicia Keys album is a little too cloying. Even for me. Hovi doesn’t really say anything on this but I see it more as an “Izzo” than “some thought provoking shit”. Chee-Z, am I rite?

9. Fabolous – Everything, Everyday, Everywhere (Feat. Keri Hilson)
I kind of played this to death and I’m not sure if I like it any more. I played it most of the year though. I think if Fabo wasn’t so vacuous it would be higher up. Ryan Leslie’s personality is way too Self-Help-Guru for me but he makes some slaps. Like this one. I like Keri too, deal with it.

10. Gucci Mane – Wasted (Feat. Plies)
I have nothing to say about this song other than that it is one of my favourite songs of the year. Oh actually, the synth on the chorus sounds a bit like a 16-bit console trying to approximate steel pan drums. The video/clean version is stripped of almost all the words. Lolz.

11. R. Kelly – Echo
Kellz + Yodelling = Oh, off course, why didn’t I think of that!

12. Clipse – Popular Demand (Popeyes) (Feat. Cam’ron)
Heartbreakingly disappointing album. I guess calling for them to give up on having a hit record is as pointless as asking for a Malice solo LP, right? Just write rhymes all day (if you can find the time between cooking and bagging) and then get some minimalist beats from someone and don’t bother with choruses. If you really have an independent income then what do you need one rap dollar for?

13. Royce da 5′9″ – Shake This
The only Trad-Rap tune I actually listened to this year. Produced by DJ Premier no less. Quaint.

14. Willie Isz – Loner
I have a feeling that this Goodie Mob Rapper+Hipster Producer album didn’t get quite the attention that Gnarls Barkley got. Funny that. It is far better.

15. The Streets – Blinded By The Lights (Nero Remix)
Just an excuse to reprise that synth line. Appreciated. Now with less Mike Skinner. If only Dubstep producers came up with catchy rave tunes like this themselves…

I have nothing significant to say about the year in general. Next.

Sad.

Danja is pretty much my favourite producer at the moment. His trademark sound may only be a hair’s-breadth away from his mentor Timbaland’s but he seems to by going about making music with more joy and flair than the big mumbler has recently. After co-producing half the hit records of 2006 he broke out and did the Britney album without Timbaland and seems to be cranking out big drums and synths quite happily on his own now.

The Clutch are Georgia based songwriters Balewa Muhammad, Ezekiel Lewis, Patrick “J. Que” Smith, Candice Nelson and Keri Hilson. Hilson has been about-to-be-massive for guite a few years now, but perhaps too busy writing hits for other people to do her own album.

The Clutch work with a lot of different producers but it’s when Danja is on the beats that they really work. They are a perfect Black Pop production team, rhythm and harmony and energy. Music for teenagers, like it should be.

I shall include some of their produce, in the teenage medium of Youtube videos:

Nikki Flores – Beautiful Boy

Yes, make 60s throwback music but acknowledge that fact that we’ve gone forward. Mix it up. The internet is out, it’s all non-linear now anyway. If I want to listen to Martha Reeves I’ll pull out a Martha Reeves record. I like this song so much it’s not funny. Sherbetty.

Danity Kane – Pretty Boy

One of my songs of the year and unrepentantly Pop. Thanks to AtotheL for hipping me.

Fantasia – Bore Me (Yawn)

More futuristic throwback music from the American Idol winner.

Katharine McPhee – Open Toes

DRUMS from an American Idol loser. If you rock this in a playlist with “Umbrella” and “Lipgloss” you almost have a whole outfit. You could throw on a “Raspberry Beret” but it wouldn’t blend. These are almost R. Kelly level lyrics!

Ciara – Echo

This song is jawsome but not out until December or something so we have to make do with this “For clearance use only, only, only” version. The Clutch wrote Ciara’s hit “Like A Boy” too you know?

Half these tracks are unavailable in the UK so we’re kind of deprived but then the kids get their music from Youtube, right, so the music should be getting into the right hands. Ears.

Do a party.

Bonus beats: Cassie can’t sing for toffee but she has other charms and this video has Lil’ Dwayne in it looking a right old state. All the above are young women but don’t think Danja and The Clutch won’t work with boys, check the boy band Menudo! Actually maybe they should stick with the girls.

Tomorrow is the final of the BBC’s The One and Only. It’s Pop Idol for tribute acts. A really long episode of Stars In Their Eyes.

It’s pretty lame as you’d imagine but for one thing… They have a ginger white dude blacked-up as Lionel Richie (!!!) and he’s great.

Watch this dude talking, normally, as him, and then watch him singing as Lionel.

OMG!?!
I think I like him better than Lionel. If he performed original songs (still with the prosthetic nose of course) I think he could be the biggest star in the world or something. He’d be like a reverse Michael Jackson but a little bit Al Jolson.

Anyways if you don’t want to watch the show ever (fair enough) you can find all Moni Tivony’s (what a name!) performances on the BBC youtube channel.

Kind of breathtaking right?

The Young Men – Get The Message

What can one write about The Young Men that hasn’t already been written?

According to Google, absolutely anything.

Unfortunately I know nothing more about The Young Men than can be gleaned from the above-pictured Promo.

“Get The Message” has a nice Psych/Pop sound and some excellent drumming underneath it but it clearly wasn’t a major success. I can find only one reference to it anywhere on the whole universalsuperinterweb.

This is a shame as it’s a great little tune. Sounds like The Happenings or countless Garage bands.

I can’t find much on Viva Records. Looks like a surfy/garagey 60s label. Nice enough. Great logo but it looks like it ought to be on Goblin soundtracks or something. The only bell that rings is Snuff Garrett, the producer of Brill Building pop and “I Got You Babe”.

S’good though right?

So most people who listen to a few musics listen to the well-known sixties scouse boyband The Beatles. Children also listen to the Beatles. I’m all for people listening to the Beatles. People who like a lot of musics and don’t like the Beatles are being contrary or lying. IN ALL CASES!!!!

Anyways… I imagine most people don’t listen to whole Beatles albums most of the time. They listen to the songs they like best. I was just thinking about the Beatles songs that I actually listen to regularly and wondering what everyone else plays…

I listen to a bunch that just fit in with the other late 60s Rock I play. Psychier or heavier:

Glass Onion
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Strawberry Fields
Tomorrow Never Knows
Long, Long, Long
Magical Mystery Tour
Flying
A Day In The Life
Blue Jay Way

These tracks can slip in amongst the breakrock and hard-hippie silliness. It’s pretty easy to get away with listening to these songs.

I also listen to a handful of pure pop tracks of theirs. Mostly ones I liked as a kid (I was nuts for the early albums) but minus the ones I can’t stomach as an adult having been robbed of my childhood optimism (think “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, no, really you want to fuck):

I Feel Fine
Twist And Shout (It’s not as good as Ron, Kelly and Rudy though)
This Boy
Do You Want To Know A Secret (Poison Clan’s “Jeri Curl” = the best Beatles sample ever)
I Should Have Known Better

This stuff almost fits in with Rock N Roll/Rythm & Blues stuff and even poppy 60s Soul, except for the voices which sound real weird when mixed with the American stuff they’re emulating. Mixing them makes the Beatles sound like Pop Idol contestants. Still, I like it.

Then there’s a group of songs which I don’t seem to listen to as much as I think I do. I think if I was more of an Indie or 70s Rock fan I’d listen to these more, but I do like them:

Here Comes The Sun
Don’t Let Me Down
Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!
Here, There and Everywhere
Across the Universe
She’s Leaving Home
The Fool On The Hill
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

I guess those are the ones people agree on the most.

I also listen to “Come Together” quite a lot but I think I kind of hate it at the same time. I think the singing is probably horrible and the music is great but sometimes I can’t tell…
Oh and I never listen to the HELP LP cos it’s pure rubbish. If I’d bought it at the time I’d have taken it back and swapped it for a Mrs. Mills party record or some MFP knockoff version of The Sound Of Music. Let It Be is pretty shit an’all.

Which Beatles tracks do you play and whats the logic? How do they fit into your listening habits?

Just because I was really happysurprised to find it on Youtube, here is the music video to begin all music videos, Strawberry Fields…

Being that I was born in 1981 I didn’t get to see any of the great soul shows of the 80s. I will never see the SOS Band fill a stadium. I will never see Michael Jackson leaping onto a speaker stack or crying on stage (well I might see him cry on stage, but not for the right reasons). I can go and see the Zapp band play to 60 people in a tiny venue but I really want to see them in the Oakland Coliseum with a crowd of housewives and teenagers.

Seeing Justin Timberlake live, all minstrelsy issues aside, is the closest thing to the Bad World Tour available today. Not that Justin has the voice or the songs that Michael had. He doesn’t.
He has though got a very likeable stage manner, making the 20,000 capacity O2 Arena shrink and expand when he steps on and off the stage. With the lights up the new (first actual) use for London’s Millenium Dome looks huge. An American, basketball style arena with nosebleed deck and plenty of executive boxing, a solo artist in the round ought to be lost. An ant with a spotlight. Your Timberlake, alternating between sitting at the piano and excercising his particular brand of choreography is a big target on stage. Helped by an excellent set, his face blown up onto giant retracting curved screens, and fluid interaction with his troup of dancers, his performance manages to feel personal and relaxed whilst obviously being the product of boy-band trained discipline, perfectionism and a large budget.

The live band he has are excellent. An all black team, mostly of a certain age. Old enough to be able to play like 1983 but young enough to not balk at translating Timbaland’s computer music to their instruments. One drummer on the constant beat, the other indulging in a wall of percussion options or doubling up for the BIG beats. The backing singers were a definite crowd favourite. I’ve noticed a trend of them starting to dance again. I see this as heralding a new, moreglorious era of live music.

On record the best thing about Timberlake is Timbaland. A man who has put his relentless creativity into some very dead ends before (Ginuwine, Magoo), his presence on this tour speaks volumes for the fruitfulness of his work with Justin. He should have been this big with Aaliyah, and given an extra year possibly would have been. He made sure to remember her in his hype-man session during Justin’s interval. Put your “A”s up. It was nice to see Tim drumming out beats on stage, contrived as it was with most of the music coming from his DJ, Freestyle. Tim did an impressive job of keeping the crowd up while Justin powdered his nose or whatever and contributed big smiles, a bit of Hiphop and a fur coat to their two biggest numbers “Cry Me A River” and “Sexyback”. We thought Nelly Furtado might pop up for a couple of songs as she was in town this week, but it wasn’t to be.

Justin’s slow jams, which I usually skip, sounded pure 80s when played live. “Until The End Of Time” especially made me check the record again when I got home. It’s the type of great, simple ballad Timbaland has been coaxing from RnB artists for the last 15 years. On stage it sounded like R. Kelly backed by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the band all suited up, the drummer hitting the chimes. A fine cheese.

The highlights of his last album, the production genius of “My Love” and the outros of “What Goes Around” and “Lovestoned” rained down on those of us standing in the round, like synthy hail. They could have packed a few more people into the standing area to beef up the atmosphere but then my trips to the bar and the toilet wouldn’t have been so shockingly quick. The unoccupied bar staff were craning over the bar to get a glimpse of the stage or an echo of their favourite song. If you go and see 80s soul acts now, you’ll see them in a small venue, with a distinct vibe of “no one cares” and an audience of music types. The great thing about seing Justin Timberlake doing his take on 80s soul with Timbaland’s take on Jetsons Hiphop, is that everyone is so fucking pleased to be there, and the music is good.

Complaints? Don’t have any. As much as I’m inclined towards being sour about dudes that sing, dance and get all the girls, he really is very good at this pop star shit.

Saw Girls Aloud at Wembley Arena last weekend.
Rather than review the show I’ll review the individual performers.

From left to right, using official titles where appropriate.

Cheryl Cole
Looks nice (bit unwashed) in photos. IRL looks like a chicken wing that you got to the barbecue too late to enjoy. Gnawed. Good geordie accent when she spoke to the crowd. Musically flat and nothing to shake, she has all the enthusiasm of a reluctant whore in a brothel that bought her from her family at age 8, for seven sheckles. Might perhaps want to pursue a different career.

The scouse-looking one
Really impressed. Had no regard for her beforehand but she was both the most genuine and down to earth woman on stage and also the most accomplished performer. Benefits immeasurably from having a womanly enough figure to be visible dancing in front of nine thousand people. She’s a good dancer too and even smiles on stage !!!1!!

The blokey one
Top marks for being up for it and seeming to have noticed the nine thousand adoring fans. Not sure of her musical contributions but her shouting and mexican wave marshaling were endearing.

The not so attractive one
Superfluous throughout, she didn’t make any impression singing, dancing or pouting and she looked bored. Bored I tell you. May have to change her name to “the one that ought to retire”. Maybe she’s dynamite in the studio…

The singer
Sings all the bits that don’t sound like karaoke. Seemed awfully self important. REALLY couldn’t dance, which is bad when you’re surrounded by large gay pro dancers stealing the limelight. Her lack of charisma came across as genuine contempt for the crowd, except perhaps when she spoke in her excellent Irish accent which made her sound all nice and cuddly, something she is patently not.

The stage show included a gang of costume changes, two very 80s towers for buff dudes to dance on, a section where the girls all sat in a giant swing while singing a ballad and a finale that started with them in beds. Seeing the five girls in beds in a row felt more anorexia-rehab-dorm than sexy boudoir but I appreciated the effort. Extravagant stages are the best thing about pop shows. Other people’s photos.

We arrived so fashionably we not only missed the (undoubtedly appalling) support, we actually missed the first six songs of Girls Aloud’s set. Happily they did “The Show” as an encore, a tune so good I might actually listen to it at home, if I had it, which I don’t.

In return for attending this concert I think I now have someone to see Om with in July. Next up is Clipse in the Bush on the 21st.
Increase the peace.