The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been filling up their pop quota quite a bit lately, which is great because if there's two things I love in the world, they would certainly be pop music and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. For some fans of Karen O. & Co., the prominent use of synthesizer in the trio's batch of new songs from the upcoming album, It's Blitz, is some what blasphemous, much like attending a Britney Spears concert on Easter Sunday (which I totally will be doing). But honestly, there's no other way we'd rather celebrate.
Lead single "Zero" was a little underwhelming, since it sounds a bit like an out-of-place YouTube mash-up (and any Goldfrapp comparisons are just people being lazy -- there are other electro-rock dance bands out there, FYI) and takes a bit too long to get the party started (dance music requires party-starting capabilities). But the next leaked track, "Heads Will Roll" is a significant improvement. While "Zero" had weird stuttering feedback-y synthesizers, the instruments on "Heads Will Roll" comfortably exist between a Killers remix album and a Halloween garage rave. Too bad Halloween seems as far away as the YYY album release date (April 14th).
Karen O. also made an appearance on the new N.A.S.A. album, which doesn't surprise me one bit considering Squeak E. Clean, one half of N.A.S.A. and sibling of director Spike Jonez (who directed YYY's "Y Control" video) also produced the band's 2006 disc, Show Your Bones.
I'm not quite sure why N.A.S.A. hasn't been sued yet by the real National Aeronautics and Space Administration yet, but in the meantime, the new N.A.S.A. (North America South America) has just dropped, without much warning or little publicity, their debut release, the Spirit of Apollo.
The album sounds a bit like the noise made when my head explodes, because when you put CSS's Lovefoxx and bad-ass MC Amanda Blank one track, that's usually what happens. Although you can barely hear Lovefoxxx on that song, "A Volta," there are plenty of other name-dropping collaborations (Tom Waits, the Cool Kids, E-40, Method Man, and John Frusciante of Red Hot Chili Pepper fame, just to name a few) to let your jaw hit the floor.
"Wachadoin?" managed to cram the ever-nasty Spank Rock, new mom M.I.A., YYY guitarist Nick Zinner, and the recently legal-troubled Santigold onto one track. Before you run to the comment box to correct me on my spelling, you should know that the legal musical entity Santogold is no longer in existence, and if you need any proof, just park yourself over at her old MySpace. Somebody on Stereogum, which kept me up-to-date on the all the legal junk, said it best when he or she described the incident as "bad news for audio scrobblers." Something tells me that's the least of Ms. Santi's worries right now, though.
Anyway, the-artist-formerly-known-as-Santogold also shows up with Kanye West and Lykki Li on "Gifted," which is another boss cut of epic startstruck proportions. I'm telling you, the N.A.S.A. collective is going to infiltrate pop music. M.I.A.'s rhymes in "Paper Planes" were already sampled ad nauseum in the Kanye/Jay-Z/T.I./Lil Wayne jam "Swagga Like Us," and Santi's line from "Shove It" gets a lot of air time in Jay-Z's contribution to the Notorious Soundtrack, "Brooklyn We Go Hard." I guess it's not that special when you notice that Kanye produced both tracks, but this type of thing gets me excited. Now all we need are the Amanda Blank and Kid Sister albums to drop and we'll be good to go.
February 22, 2009
February 13, 2009
Reasons Why I Love the New Gaga Video...
Today was a glorious day because Lady Gaga decided to grace us with her audiovisual presence once again. To celebrate the release of the "Lovegame" video, I decided to come with a little list as to why this borderline-pornographic video is so awesome.
10. Her back-up dancers look like the village people.
9. Her hair isn't fake this time.
8. She actually brings out her magic wand, the Disco Stick, which makes the line, "I want to take a ride on your disco stick" slightly less dirty.
7. She basically is naked for half the video, which takes back what I just said about anything being slightly less dirty.
6. While hanging from the ceiling of a subway car, her white leather catsuit magically turns into a black leather jacket, fishnet stockings, and chain-mail panties.
5. There are dance routines on stairs and on top of cars. That's a recipe for success if I ever saw one.
4. After basically getting arrested, she decides to screw the cop instead. While other video pop stars would then proceed to kick said cop's ass a la "Womanizer," Gaga just does it for kicks. Skanky, skanky, kicks.
3. Said cop eventually turns into a woman. You might miss it the first time, but it happens.
2. The awkward crotch-grabbing dance in the last five seconds of the video.
1. She has glasses made out of a chain-link fence. Pointless, but you never would have thought of that.
Doesn't that list of things sound enticing? Check out the video if you didn't the first time.
10. Her back-up dancers look like the village people.
9. Her hair isn't fake this time.
8. She actually brings out her magic wand, the Disco Stick, which makes the line, "I want to take a ride on your disco stick" slightly less dirty.
7. She basically is naked for half the video, which takes back what I just said about anything being slightly less dirty.
6. While hanging from the ceiling of a subway car, her white leather catsuit magically turns into a black leather jacket, fishnet stockings, and chain-mail panties.
5. There are dance routines on stairs and on top of cars. That's a recipe for success if I ever saw one.
4. After basically getting arrested, she decides to screw the cop instead. While other video pop stars would then proceed to kick said cop's ass a la "Womanizer," Gaga just does it for kicks. Skanky, skanky, kicks.
3. Said cop eventually turns into a woman. You might miss it the first time, but it happens.
2. The awkward crotch-grabbing dance in the last five seconds of the video.
1. She has glasses made out of a chain-link fence. Pointless, but you never would have thought of that.
Doesn't that list of things sound enticing? Check out the video if you didn't the first time.
February 9, 2009
Once you pop...the fun stops.
Pussycat Dolls decided that now would be a good time to drop their new music video for "Bottle Pop." It's quite the let down, since the shots of the girls drinking soda are neither sexy nor are they getting paid for product placement. Soda cans are also not bottles -- I'm surprised they even got that far. And don't even get me started on their make-up. They look like Mike Tyson. Beautiful.
Also, the trailer clip for this video had shots of the girls climbing all up and down the balconies of the empty theatre this video takes place in. Where are those shots? I don't want to see PCD stand around gyrate. I want to see them trespass, damnit!
In terms of the song itself, it's not bad, at least relative to half the shit that's on flop-of-the-year Doll Domination. It's produced by Fernando Garibay, who did Britney Spears' two Circus bonus tracks, "Amnesia" and the Lady-Gaga-penned "Quicksand," both of which are some of the best pop songs of 2008. So "Bottle Pop" has some promise. Sadly, "Bottle Pop" is about as lifeless as inflatable Pussycat Doll (that's not entirely true, it's a good song to the gym too -- but only then!). The album version has Snoop Dogg on it, which is a little weird, since corporate labels usually like to have the rapper be on the single version in hopes of extorting money out of obsessive iTunes collectors who must have everything. Who is running Universal these days?
I still think the girls or whoever is managing / destroying their careers should release "Elevator" as a single. Unlike the other singles from Doll Domination, it has interesting production, commendable song-writing, and is much catchier than "Watcha Think About That" (Missy Elliott saves that song from certain death -- she makes a Katy Perry reference!).
But it probably won't be a single because one of the other Dolls sings vocals on it. OMG. What, do they think we're going to be confused? It's not like we didn't notice Melody, Kim, Jessica, and Ashley awkwardly dancing there. Either that, or Nicole Scherzinger is screwing their manager. Work that casting couch, girlfriend! Put those girls in their place.
On the bright side, when they tour with Britney Spears this year, everyone will like them again because Britney has the midas touch in pop music. If "Bottle Pop" was actually "Bottle Pop (featuring Britney Spears)" it would go to number one world-wide faster than you can avert your daughter's eyes from all the skankiness!
February 8, 2009
Grammy Wrap-Up 2009
RECORD OF THE YEAR:
Record of the year is an "award to the artist and to the producer(s), recording engineer(s) and/or mixer(s), if other than the artist," in case you're wondering. I was tempted to put my favor in support of "Paper Planes," since nobody made cash registers sound as cool as Diplo and Switch did, but on the other hand, I also see Record of the Year as sort of a consolation prize for artists who never had a chance at song of the year, like Leona Lewis. This boggles my mind, as my radio was held hostage by "Bleeding Love" several times in the past twelve months. Alison Krauss and Robert Plant managed to take this won home.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
Considering Coldplay's Viva La Vida is the only album from this category that I own, I cannot help but express my disappointment that it did not win.
SONG OF THE YEAR:
I think Coldplay rightly deserved this one for "Viva La Vida." That song is pretty epic, with all those drums and strings and talks of ruling the world. Fun fact: there's a breakfast place in Evanston, Illinois called Clarke's that serves Viva La Blueberry pancakes. They are quite delicious.
BEST NEW ARTIST:
Lady Gaga...not. I don't know how she managed to not get nominated, considering the Jonas Brothers have released three albums already (Grammy Awards have a long history of doing this...remember when they nominated Imogen Heap a couple years ago, even though she released her first album in the late 1990s?).
I really wanted Jazmine Sullivan to win, but I realized that Adele is pretty awesome, too. I would have been happy with either.
BEST POP COLLABORATION WITH VOCALS:
I never actually listened to the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss record, nor do I plan on it, but seriously, I want to give it to Alicia Keys on this one since she was totally snubbed from the Grammies this year. Usually she basically dominates the Grammies -- and with a song like "No One," she totally should have, even though the song nominated in this category was "Lesson Learned" with John Mayer (major tool).
BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM:
Duffy won, which, although not what I wanted, is totally okay. I think we should give her something. I mean, her voice is kinda nasally, and I actually think Adele has a more pleasant voice, but then I remembered I only have one Adele song on iTunes that was a free download, compared to the $2.97 I spent on various Duffy songs.
BEST DANCE RECORDING:
"Harder Better Faster Stronger" won. No, not Kanye West's "Stronger," this is the actually Daft Punk song. Can I just have a little WTF moment here? That song came out like eight years ago. This was just the live version winning a Grammy....why didn't they give this song the Grammy when it first came out instead of passing over people Lady Gaga or Sam Sparrow ("Black and Gold" is the shit, ya'll). These Grammy people need to be smacked in the face with a Disco stick.
BEST ELECTRONIC/DANCE ALBUM:
Daft Punk wins again for the album, "Alive 2007." It came out towards the end of '07, so it didn't qualify for last year's Grammies, but that doesn't change the fact that
Robyn did not take this one home.
BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE BY DUO OR GROUP:
Kings of Leon's "Sex on Fire" wins. Finally, things are going my way again. Is there a Grammy Award for Coolest Song Title of the Bunch, too?
BEST ROCK SONG:
This one went to "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" by Bruce Springsteen. I basically own every song in this category except the one that won, but you must always, always concede victory to the Boss. 'Tis the law.
BEST ROCK ALBUM:
I didn't get to vote on the Grammies this year because I don't get paid to kiss Chris Martin's ass for a living, but I believe Coldplay deserves this one.
BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUM:
Radiohead wins, but honestly, I am getting really sick of them (their concert merchandise, on the other hand, is worth every penny). The only thing alternative about this album was how you could pay whatever you wanted for it. Beck, Death Cab, or Gnarls Barkley could have been better.
BEST FEMALE R&B VOCAL PERFORMANCE:
Alicia Keys won for "Superwoman," which would have been fine were superwoman not such a sucky song (does nobody remember "No One?"). My pick was Jazmine Sullivan, as "Need U Bad" is a little bit great.
BEST URBAN/ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE
This is such a random category. Anyway, Chrisette Michele (featuring the ubiquitous will.i.am) won for "Be Okay." I don't mind Christette Michele. Can't say a bad thing about her. But I was hoping deep down inside that Janelle Monae might snag a grammy. The crazy ones never win, though, do they.
BEST R&B ALBUM:
J-Hud is pretty awesome. I don't really have anything to say about this other than "Yaaaaaaay J-Hud." But I felt the need to include it in my coverage. Did you know that she's engaged to Punkie from I Love New York 2?
BEST RAP SOLO PERFORMANCE:
Lil Wayne wins for A Milli. I guess I take it back -- the crazy ones do win occasionally. But Lil Wayne is bad crazy, at least on this record (and on his new disaster, "Prom Queen"), as he sounded quite lucid during his Katie Couric interview the other day.
BEST RAP PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR A GROUP:
Too bad M.I.A. didn't give birth on stage ("Swagga Like Us," by Jay-Z, T.I. Kanye, and Lil Wayne, which won this category, sampled one her rhymes from "Paper Planes"). That would have been amazing.
BEST RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION:
My thoughts on Estelle winning? I was going to go for "Low," since that chorus is on my mind all the time. Then I realized that you can't really call anything T-Pain does "singing."
BEST RAP ALBUM:
Obviously it was gonna go to Lil Wayne, since he is the only rap album nominated for Album of the Year. But I thought T.I.'s Paper Trail put up a good fight.
Record of the year is an "award to the artist and to the producer(s), recording engineer(s) and/or mixer(s), if other than the artist," in case you're wondering. I was tempted to put my favor in support of "Paper Planes," since nobody made cash registers sound as cool as Diplo and Switch did, but on the other hand, I also see Record of the Year as sort of a consolation prize for artists who never had a chance at song of the year, like Leona Lewis. This boggles my mind, as my radio was held hostage by "Bleeding Love" several times in the past twelve months. Alison Krauss and Robert Plant managed to take this won home.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
Considering Coldplay's Viva La Vida is the only album from this category that I own, I cannot help but express my disappointment that it did not win.
SONG OF THE YEAR:
I think Coldplay rightly deserved this one for "Viva La Vida." That song is pretty epic, with all those drums and strings and talks of ruling the world. Fun fact: there's a breakfast place in Evanston, Illinois called Clarke's that serves Viva La Blueberry pancakes. They are quite delicious.
BEST NEW ARTIST:
Lady Gaga...not. I don't know how she managed to not get nominated, considering the Jonas Brothers have released three albums already (Grammy Awards have a long history of doing this...remember when they nominated Imogen Heap a couple years ago, even though she released her first album in the late 1990s?).
I really wanted Jazmine Sullivan to win, but I realized that Adele is pretty awesome, too. I would have been happy with either.
BEST POP COLLABORATION WITH VOCALS:
I never actually listened to the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss record, nor do I plan on it, but seriously, I want to give it to Alicia Keys on this one since she was totally snubbed from the Grammies this year. Usually she basically dominates the Grammies -- and with a song like "No One," she totally should have, even though the song nominated in this category was "Lesson Learned" with John Mayer (major tool).
BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM:
Duffy won, which, although not what I wanted, is totally okay. I think we should give her something. I mean, her voice is kinda nasally, and I actually think Adele has a more pleasant voice, but then I remembered I only have one Adele song on iTunes that was a free download, compared to the $2.97 I spent on various Duffy songs.
BEST DANCE RECORDING:
"Harder Better Faster Stronger" won. No, not Kanye West's "Stronger," this is the actually Daft Punk song. Can I just have a little WTF moment here? That song came out like eight years ago. This was just the live version winning a Grammy....why didn't they give this song the Grammy when it first came out instead of passing over people Lady Gaga or Sam Sparrow ("Black and Gold" is the shit, ya'll). These Grammy people need to be smacked in the face with a Disco stick.
BEST ELECTRONIC/DANCE ALBUM:
Daft Punk wins again for the album, "Alive 2007." It came out towards the end of '07, so it didn't qualify for last year's Grammies, but that doesn't change the fact that
Robyn did not take this one home.
BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE BY DUO OR GROUP:
Kings of Leon's "Sex on Fire" wins. Finally, things are going my way again. Is there a Grammy Award for Coolest Song Title of the Bunch, too?
BEST ROCK SONG:
This one went to "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" by Bruce Springsteen. I basically own every song in this category except the one that won, but you must always, always concede victory to the Boss. 'Tis the law.
BEST ROCK ALBUM:
I didn't get to vote on the Grammies this year because I don't get paid to kiss Chris Martin's ass for a living, but I believe Coldplay deserves this one.
BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUM:
Radiohead wins, but honestly, I am getting really sick of them (their concert merchandise, on the other hand, is worth every penny). The only thing alternative about this album was how you could pay whatever you wanted for it. Beck, Death Cab, or Gnarls Barkley could have been better.
BEST FEMALE R&B VOCAL PERFORMANCE:
Alicia Keys won for "Superwoman," which would have been fine were superwoman not such a sucky song (does nobody remember "No One?"). My pick was Jazmine Sullivan, as "Need U Bad" is a little bit great.
BEST URBAN/ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE
This is such a random category. Anyway, Chrisette Michele (featuring the ubiquitous will.i.am) won for "Be Okay." I don't mind Christette Michele. Can't say a bad thing about her. But I was hoping deep down inside that Janelle Monae might snag a grammy. The crazy ones never win, though, do they.
BEST R&B ALBUM:
J-Hud is pretty awesome. I don't really have anything to say about this other than "Yaaaaaaay J-Hud." But I felt the need to include it in my coverage. Did you know that she's engaged to Punkie from I Love New York 2?
BEST RAP SOLO PERFORMANCE:
Lil Wayne wins for A Milli. I guess I take it back -- the crazy ones do win occasionally. But Lil Wayne is bad crazy, at least on this record (and on his new disaster, "Prom Queen"), as he sounded quite lucid during his Katie Couric interview the other day.
BEST RAP PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR A GROUP:
Too bad M.I.A. didn't give birth on stage ("Swagga Like Us," by Jay-Z, T.I. Kanye, and Lil Wayne, which won this category, sampled one her rhymes from "Paper Planes"). That would have been amazing.
BEST RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION:
My thoughts on Estelle winning? I was going to go for "Low," since that chorus is on my mind all the time. Then I realized that you can't really call anything T-Pain does "singing."
BEST RAP ALBUM:
Obviously it was gonna go to Lil Wayne, since he is the only rap album nominated for Album of the Year. But I thought T.I.'s Paper Trail put up a good fight.
February 2, 2009
My New Favorite Holiday
Today is a glorious day. While Punxsutawney Phil noticed his shadow today, putting us all in store for another six weeks of winter, Lady Gaga also decided to treat us with a new music video. "Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)" is the third Australian single after "Just Dance" and "Poker Face," but it is technically video #4 for our little video vixen (you can't forget about "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich!").
Despite what our little groundhog friend has to say about things, "Eh, Eh" is quite a summery song. One might even call it a "jam." Actually, now that I think about, Australia has summer during our winter, so scratch all of what I just said. Fool! How could I forget that Lady Gaga is an all-knowing genius?
Anyway, there's no hand-clapping, foot-pounding, cat-suit-wearing, binge-drinking, clubbing, or any variation or combination of the above in this video, which makes it a little bit different from her past two singles. She also has a new hair-style (WOAH). Normally, these could be good things, but my overall appreciation for this video is diminished by the fact that she breaks out her best "Rock of Love" contestant stripper dance right around the half-way mark.
This video isn't going to do anything for those X-tina comparisons either, after all, "Can't Hold Us Down" also featured pop star posses patrolling the streets of New York in skimpy summer outfits, and did I mention the trashy stripper dance already? (Can I also just add that I absolutely love Lil' Kim's part in the "Can't Hold Us Down" a video? I bet she walks around wearing things like that in real life. Just like Gaga).
On the other hand, X-tina doesn't sleep in hot pink stiletto heels. I don't think Gaga does either, but at least she has the guts to pretend. X-tina would also never try something as clever as including a cameo of the same ginormous guard dogs Gaga used in the "Poker Face" video. You see, ladies and gentlemen, Lady Gaga is all about subtleties. Hah. Not. She is the most over-the-top, un-subtle person I know. But that's why we love her. I'm sure deep down inside, there is a bit of Gaga in all of us.
Gaga also shot a video for "LoveGame," the next U.S. single, around the same time. Last time we checked, she was wearing fishnet tights, a leather jacket, and chain-mail panties. I expect great things.
Despite what our little groundhog friend has to say about things, "Eh, Eh" is quite a summery song. One might even call it a "jam." Actually, now that I think about, Australia has summer during our winter, so scratch all of what I just said. Fool! How could I forget that Lady Gaga is an all-knowing genius?
Anyway, there's no hand-clapping, foot-pounding, cat-suit-wearing, binge-drinking, clubbing, or any variation or combination of the above in this video, which makes it a little bit different from her past two singles. She also has a new hair-style (WOAH). Normally, these could be good things, but my overall appreciation for this video is diminished by the fact that she breaks out her best "Rock of Love" contestant stripper dance right around the half-way mark.
This video isn't going to do anything for those X-tina comparisons either, after all, "Can't Hold Us Down" also featured pop star posses patrolling the streets of New York in skimpy summer outfits, and did I mention the trashy stripper dance already? (Can I also just add that I absolutely love Lil' Kim's part in the "Can't Hold Us Down" a video? I bet she walks around wearing things like that in real life. Just like Gaga).
On the other hand, X-tina doesn't sleep in hot pink stiletto heels. I don't think Gaga does either, but at least she has the guts to pretend. X-tina would also never try something as clever as including a cameo of the same ginormous guard dogs Gaga used in the "Poker Face" video. You see, ladies and gentlemen, Lady Gaga is all about subtleties. Hah. Not. She is the most over-the-top, un-subtle person I know. But that's why we love her. I'm sure deep down inside, there is a bit of Gaga in all of us.
Gaga also shot a video for "LoveGame," the next U.S. single, around the same time. Last time we checked, she was wearing fishnet tights, a leather jacket, and chain-mail panties. I expect great things.
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