Over the last couple of weeks I've been scanning the economics blogs, reading debates about stocks and stimulus and credit swaps and unemployment and whether or not the current recession (or potential depression, depending on who you're reading) has bottomed out. Here, in the rather less significant world of pop music (a world that seems to get less significant by the moment, though it's spawning its own massive unemployment numbers), it's fair to say the bottom has been reached. I know, just a couple of months ago I was saying that the bottom had fallen out, and that may still be true, but it may also be true that we've reached a new bottom, and things will begin to level out from here on in. I say that not because I'm an optimist, but because I can't see things getting any worse. The first three months of any year are slow for pop music, but this year has been something more than slow. Three months in and, with the arrival of Carrie Underwood this week, only eleven new songs have appeared on the top ten, the slowest pace since 2005. This year feels slower, though, because in 2005 the records were better. So far only Kelly Clarkson has managed to rise above mediocrity, and there are already three contenders for the worst of the top ten list ("Poker Face" being the current number one seed). It can't get any worse, can it? Wait, what? Green Day wrote a rock opera? Shit.

Nothing new on the chart this week, though Kelly Clarkson does move up a few notches on the back of her new album. Unfortunately, the same effect doesn't apply to The Dream, whose album debuted at number two. The two singles he's released so far, including a lovely duet with Mariah Carey, "My Love", barely moved at all.

Not much of interest in this week's debuts, either. Carrie Underwood covers Motley Crue; Plies confirms his thugness by declaring, at the end of a lust duet with Ashanti, that she's "my property, I'm her owner"; Ciara, with help from Justin Timberlake, finally puts together a track that sounds like it could be a hit after over three years in the wilderness; Musiq Soulchild emotes and melismalizes over a track for four and half minutes without actually finding a song; and Montgomery Gentry brags some more about being white trash.

Finally, a brief word about "Hoedown Throwdown", the new Miley Cyrus track from the upcoming Hannah Montana movie. It's said that when Elvis was recording the soundtracks for his movies he would sometimes be so upset with the material he was given to sing that he became physically ill. Right now, Elvis is looking down on Miley Cyrus from rock and roll heaven and sympathetically throwing up.

According to Billboard, NBC is planning on putting yet another singing contest on TV, only this time, everybody has to sing a cappella.

"This is a fantastic feel-good series that viewers of all ages can enjoy," said Paul Telegdy, executive vp alternative at NBC and Universal Media Studios. "To hear these singing groups re-create a popular song with only the sounds of their voices is truly amazing."

Is it now? Even more than American Idol or Nashville Star I can't begin to describe how dismal a prospect this seems to me. NBC execs, who cite Justin Timberlake as an inspiration, seem to be imagining a parade of wholesome boy bands filling their studios, making music fit for angels. What I see is an endless parade of bad human beatboxers, with bad rappers and hip-hop crooners standing up front. Maybe NBC isn't aware of how technically accomplished you need to be to pull off a decent a cappella performance. 99% of the contestants on American Idol couldn't do it, and that includes most of the winners. Besides, even the greatest a cappella music, including doo wop and gospel, gets boring after awhile. Unless a group is the modern equivalent of the Comedian Harmonists, the lack of instrumentation and the relative redundancy of the arrangements can wear thin fast. As for solo singers, even the greatest I would only want to take in small doses.

I'll be surprised If they even finish their proposed eight week run.

From the New York Times's SXSW Twitter feed: "At NPR's party, the audience is miked. Now everyone can say they're on NPR."

If I were still in my twenties, and it were still the 1980s, I'd be incredibly excited about the reuniting of The New York Dolls with Todd Rundgren--if only because Johnny Thunders and Killer Kane and Jerry Nolan would still be alive. Now it seems a bit like desperation, especially since the album includes a rerecording of the unimprovable "Trash". I don't think the desperation is on The Doll's part, though. Their last album was great, and David Johansen is as unflappable as they come. Todd, however, hasn't been involved in a high profile project for god knows how long (XTC's Skylarking is the last one I can think of) and was pleading poverty--from his estate in Hawaii--in a recent issue of Mojo. Personally, I think if he needs money that much he should start writing pop songs for Disney stars--he'd be a natural.

Ever wonder what happened to William "The Refrigerator" Perry? Now you know.

According to a poll commissioned for Canadian Music Week, 45% of Canadians think people who download music and movies on P2P services are "doing what people should be able to do on the Internet", and only 3% believe there should be criminal penalties for doing so. What's more, over 70% think P2P services should remain free (as opposed, I guess, to making a deal with the labels and charging a nominal fee for their service), and twice as many respondents download illegally as use iTunes. And here I thought they were all so law abiding up there.

C'mon guys, tell us what you really think of country radio.

From AP: "Akon says he'd work with Chris Brown"