What I've been listening to

God, what a shitty year it's been for pop music so far! Even stuff that's caught my attention long enough to make my brain move has felt underwhelming -- divorced from the context of their superstar singers, I doubt "Hold It Against Me" or even "Born This Way" would have inspired me to write about them. The only pop album I've reviewed all year has been Adele's 21, which: BORING. Nice, pleasant, mom-pandering, sung exquisitely, very promising -- all yeses. It itself? Mild enough to lull me into a coma. (I, however, challenge 2011 to deliver me a more satisfyingly miserable dose of pop wallowing than "Someone Like You." The BBC's Ian Wade calls it a "future standard," which sounds about right. I also challenge Adele to deliver a live performance as moving as the album version -- the chafed strain on her voice in the chorus is what that song is all about. I understand going there live is risky, but the payoff would be immense.)

But things are looking up. Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. just leaked, for one thing (haha, just kidding - the only thing worse than Chris Brown the person is Chris Brown the "artist"). Updated: Come to think of it, it's a draw as to whether I hate his music or his persona more. I'll give him that he's consistent, though.). Sky Ferreira's As If EP does a lot to justify the heretofore puzzling hype surrounding this girl (my tweets about "99 Tears" don't even do my obsession justice). On the dancier side of things, the just-leaked Holy Ghost and Wolfram albums have me hooked in a way that nothing has so far: I actually look forward to listening to them repeatedly. That's pathetic, but at least I have love in my life again.

There have been a few bright spots in the form of individual tracks. Some stuff that didn't make me question my life path is embedded below...

Beatconductor - "Only a Thrill"

I don't care what anyone says about re-edits being passe -- as long as they are teasing out previously unearthed elements of their source material, they are the epitome of pragmatic music criticism. Such is the case for Beatconductor's almost 10-minute take on Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It?" He adds a sleazy 4/4 pump to complement Tina's whore heels. Giving this thing more of a low end confronts you with the truth of "What's Love Got To Do With It" -- it's a song about loveless sex that sounds ultimately sexless (save Tina's smoldering vocal -- but the performance is de rigueur for her, anyway). Beatconductor fixes that and the song's better for it. I'd rather listen to this than the original.

Chaim - "Love Rehab"

One 2011 album that has made a lasting impact (i.e. I still listen to it) is Chaim's Alive, which draws a very clear line from today's minimal house to early Chicago stuff (the original minimal). Anyone who can make an album that's dark as fuck while featuring a song ("Everything") based around a sample from First Choice's "Let No Man Put Asunder" is OK by me! As far as "Love Rehab" goes, the echo effect on the first bit of singing in this song is transcendental, but that's not even my favorite of its tricks: after pounding and simmering and furrowing its bass line at you for three minutes, an actual hook comes in to shock you ("I ain't gonna miss you no more!"). It's not unlike the way Frankie Knuckles goes on gorgeously forever in "Your Love" only to have Jamie Principle come in to up the ante, or the way the vocal doesn't come in till way late on the edit of Eurofunk's "Manshortage" on Unclassics. Some vocals are better late than incessant. Such a great, simple trick.

Mr. Fingers - "Can You Feel It (John Daly re-edit)"

Speaking of Chicago, look: I love "Can You Feel It" so much, it's on the short list of songs I want played at my funeral (maybe I should just make a play list that they can put on shuffle?). Tampering with it in any way that doesn't stop with throwing some passionate (if not hysterical) preaching on top should feel like sacrilege...and yet, this doesn't. Nor does most of the compilation it comes from, TRAX Re-Edited. Re-edits, are in fact, the perfect way of dealing with the first wave of unsurpassed house classics -- they alter the originals just slightly to breathe a little new life into them, but not enough to tarnish their memory or come off disrespectful. I see the entire compilation as similar to the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake -- in the most clearly stated, unpretentious way possible it's reproducing something people have been trying to replicate the essence of for years.

Mobroder - "Rush (Hardy Boyz Remix)"

With the warehouse enormity of this + its doofy rap and the fact that Haddaway (yup) makes a much blogged-about appearance on the aforementioned Wolfram album, is there any doubt that there is a Euro revival afoot? Bring it on, I say! Make me hate it all over again!

Shadow Dancer - "Parallax"

 

Speaking of, I think this counts as minimal Euro? I don't even know, but it's fucking nasty.

Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - "The Love I Lost (Dimitri from Paris Super Disco Blend)"

This isn't new at all and yet I'm still listening to it as if it were. It's off last year's Get Down With The Philly Sound compilation, selected and mixed in part by Dimitri from Paris. His name may inspire groans to those who haven't been following him and can only think back to his French/lounge fetishism of yesteryear, but Dimitri's a stellar disco curator. His re-edits are art, especially those for which he had access to the original multi-track masters, allowing him to expand the sound in a more organic way that doesn't just involve creative looping. He did it memorably for a few tracks on the Chic box set and he does it above on my favorite Philly track of all time (and arguably the first proper disco track ever), fashioning an epic that conveys the weight of Teddy Pendergrass' loss. A neo masterpiece.

Ginuwine "Body"

 

This seriously could be any R&B slow jam. I just happened to be listening to Ginuwine's predictably mediocre new album, Elgin, and this one just happened to grab me. Perhaps it is fate. It feels really real.

Comments

[-vv-]

Mr. Fingers is all over my body.
Time to dig out Another Side by Fingers Inc.

[Danny]

Adele sang "Someone Like You" (as well as "Chasing Pavements" and "Rolling In The Deep") acoustic and live when she visited NPR for their Tiny Desk series. Your call whether or not she lives up to the album versions, but I found her pretty flawless:

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/25/133687905/adele-tiny-desk-concert

[Shanasolarte.wordpress.com]

I think Adele's performance at the Brit Awards was solid - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZtUjFJvYkA

[jen]

What about Robyn? She has released a ton of new stuff this past year. I can't stop playing Dancing With Myself

[jen]

Oops, I meant Dancing On My Own.

[Joe.Moon]

I'm so happy I speak spanish and stumbled into Javiera Mena's MENA. Awesome pop album. It could be a refreshing departure from your pop misery.

[Kyle]

Have you heard Lykke Li? Her new stuff is fantastic...a little more alternative, but gives some pop music "artists" a run for their money.

[Michael]

Jen, I don't think Rich is a fan of Robyn, at least from some of the comments here and there anyway. I'm a HUGE fan, and I never thought she'd top her last album, but Body Talk in all it's installments has done that for me as a fan. It's also allowed her to tour the US, and I think she's an artist ANYONE could go see. She's so impressive live, so much energy. I have a friend who liked With Every Heartbeat and came along in 07 when I saw her at the Wiltern in LA, and since then, everytime I go to a Robyn show, she's coming a long. And the fact that she's doing it all herself with her own label.. love her!

[Chantal Goya]

@Joe Moon

JAVIERA MENA IS THE SHIT!!! How awesome is "Sufrir"? I would love to hear that at a club and totally lose myself in that song.

[jared]

Finally, someone who agrees with me about the Adele CD. What a snoozer. It's the perfect CD to fall asleep to.

[JH]

I had the exact opposite reaction to Sky Fereirra's 'As If' EP, but I might be biased by the knowledge that this is her third or fourth behind-the-scenes retooling. The fact that she sounds like an even cheaper Ke$ha now also bewilders. '99 Tears' didn't make an impression, so I'll have to go back and listen again...

[Golden J]

Rich: SHARE! I cannot find a full length of 99 Tears anywhere - free or pay or whatever. Where did you find the full version of it?

[gdxfb]

Mocha & Milk is a perfect matc h like black & white people

--------B lac k Wh it e Fl i rts* C0m ---------The most s uccessful interra cial da t ing c lub. If you are still waiting for your sweet milk or mocha, dont hesitate to check it !! Dont let your babie s wait too lon g for you !!

[SSS]

Rich, if you haven't already check for Dim's "Don't Leave Me This Way", and Beatconductor's Lionel Richie edit and his "Sumthin' Betta", one of my favourite tracks of all time of any kind!

[DR]

@ Kyle

Lykke Li's album is great. Haven't stopped listening to it since I got it. Honestly, it's the kind of direction Adele should have went in: aching and pained, yet bristling with an "I'll kick your ass" feeling. 21 was just too "meh" for me, although she sounds undeniably exquisite throughout.

[Boris]

Not the newest, but I love the weird, outer space genius that is Janelle Monae. The ArchAndroid requires a little patience, but it's worth it.

[FL]

Britney's album leaked so if that isn't getting your booty dancing from the very beginning to end then I don't know what other miracle you're waiting for. "Femme Fatale" is the best pop album is years. Pure dance bliss.

[Artemio]

Brit's sexed-up, lobotomized chipmunk act is the definition of tired; stop, girl!

[Iclavdivs]

I felt like 21 was good but very boring (and really adult contemporary), but had a hard time explaining that to people. I'd recommend it to friends, but only because Adele is a great singer and "Rolling in the Deep" is a great single.

Nothing I've heard that Sky Ferreira has done is as good as "One".

Rich, have you heard Anna Calvi? Her new album has me entranced.

[jer]

Couldn't agree more about the Adele album and "Someone Like You" (and here's an 800-or-so word version of that statement).

Popwise, this year has rarely been exciting, but hasn't always been worthless. The Joy Formidable's "Austere" (while on the extreme rockier end of "pop) is currently Adele's only Song Of The Year challenger for me, but Gold Panda's "Marriage" and Lil Wayne's "6 Foot 7 Foot" are also fantastic. I also quite like Yasmin's "On My Own" and Clare Maguire's "The Last Dance", two singles I could see appealing to your particular pop tastes.

(My apologies if you've covered any of the above already, btw. I'm new here.)

Godawful year for albums so far, though. Not a one I could see as a year-end candidate at this point.

[Pretreatment]

huany yan yan ke ke ba

[vibram five fingers]

I can't stop playing Dancing With Myself

[kate welsh]

I surely dislike this one. Arrrghhh.

[best stretch mark cream]

I got a new song.. Hey Na Na by Katie Herzig