Posts Tagged ‘Rascal Flatts’

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Selling Music the Old-Fashioned Way?

Wednesday, October 31st, 2012

That Taylor Swift’s Red had the biggest first week sales since 2002 isn’t much of a surprise. Swift has done everything she needed to do and then some to hold onto her fan base for the last two years, and the fact that the album announcement itself was something of a surprise automatically piqued interest. I think the brag about doing this the “old-fashioned” way (that is, not making the album available on streaming services or online stores known for heavy discounting like Amazon or Google Play) is nonsense, though. Are limited edition deluxe versions available through a single retailer old-fashioned? Is selling CDs at a discount with a pizza order old-fashioned? Most important: is iTunes old-fashioned?

That last is the essential question, not just because iTunes was the only online retailer allowed to sell the album the first week of release, but because of the way iTunes sells big albums like this. Just as they did with Speak Now, Big Machine issued a single a week exclusively on iTunes in the lead up to the album. All but one of those singles, the last one, “State of Grace”, made top ten. Which means a lot of people, including me, used the “complete your album” feature to buy the full album when it was released. I can’t help but wonder how those are counted. I don’t suppose it makes a difference to the chart if the singles are counted as individual sales and then the album separately, but what about those people who pre-ordered the album before the singles started coming out? Did they automatically receive those singles as they were released? Do those count as sales (which would have inflated their chart listing)? None of this affects the actual album sales, but it would be nice to know. Somehow I have a feeling those are questions that iTunes doesn’t want to answer, and that Big Machine may not want them to answer.

And there’s still the question of illegal downloading. In the end, keeping Red off of Spotify and Rhapsody and other streaming services may make sense, but it also opens the door for the pirates. As of now, there are 30 different torrents for Red on The Pirate Bay with well over 6,000 seeds. That adds up to a hell of a lot of downloads, and that’s just one site. Does the trade-off between revenue lost at streaming sites, and revenue lost to pirates, balance out? Is there actually more of an advantage to staying off streaming services as opposed to making the records available and diminishing somewhat the monetary drain of the pirates? Some studies have shown the opposite, but maybe Big Machine knows better (they did the same thing with the last Rascal Flatts album, though I don’t imagine Rascal Flatts is a big draw on torrent sites—as of now there are only two torrents on Pirate Bay).

I have no answers, only questions. But the idea that Red sold over a million copies the “old-fashioned” way, and that this somehow means a return to the good-old days, strikes me as ridiculous. This is no different than the idea of Radiohead creating a new paradigm with In Rainbows. It worked for them, because they’re huge. Big Machine’s strategy for Red works because Taylor Swift is huge. It doesn’t mean anybody else would do as well (I’d like to see someone try this with a Flo Rida album), or that Swift would have done worse by deploying another strategy. After all, Speak Now sold over a million its first week at a time when the record market was worse than it is now. The only real lesson to be learned from Red is that massive popularity pays; if you’ve got that, you can do just about anything and cash in.

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Half ‘n’ Half
Hot 100 Roundup—8/11/12

Friday, August 10th, 2012

Pusha T & Kanye West—“New God Flow”
#89
West, like he always does, runs away with this record at the end, when his chant promoting G.O.O.D. Music takes over (doing a call and response with himself is not only funny but powerful in a way I can’t quite explain). But Pusha T comes close to being his equal, and gets off a great opening line: “I believe there’s a God above me, I’m just the god of everything else”. He also sums up their pairing better than I ever could: “A hot temper matched with a cold killer”. Near perfect, and my favorite G.O.O.D. single so far.

2 Chainz featuring Kanye West—“Birthday Song”
#91
Those who argue that West is lowering himself by appearing on this record ignore his desire to prove himself the master of every kind of music, including slow grind car bangers. They also ignore the fact that his presence forces 2 Chainz to up his game. 2 Chainz isn’t a genius, but he does better here than he usually does, and if I were the sort of person who spent their time driving slow through the hood I’d be playing this a lot.

Nicki Minaj—“Pound The Alarm”
#92
A sound-alike follow-up to “Starships”—same production team, same basic structure and formula—less daring, but more enjoyable. Of course, that might just be my ears adjusting to the style, if it can be called that. Still hard to tell whether there’s any real point to this sort of hodgepodge other than making hit records. Minaj is too smart (I think) and too sly not to have something up her sleeve, but other than cutting sampling artists like Girl Talk off at the pass (or making their job easier), I can’t quite hear what it is. Unless the cut and paste is the point, in which case we’ve heard it before.

Miranda Lambert—“Fastest Girl In Town”
#93
Back in the days of “Kerosene” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”, songs like this seemed fresh and daring, but now they’re as expected (and not just from Lambert) as patriotic songs are from Toby Keith or truck songs are from everybody. It’s not bad, and almost anything from Lambert is better than 95% of the rest of the country chart, but this is the sort of record she could make in her sleep, and there are moments where it sounds as if she did just that.

Rascal Flatts—“Come Wake Me Up”
#98
I still swear that Rascal Flatts have gotten better since their old label closed up and they moved to Big Machine, but that belief is founded on “Changed”, which is easily the best record they’ve ever made, and not on this, which is more of the same old oversized power-balladry. There are a couple of smaller-scale moments where they sound almost human, but the chorus, and the orchestra that accompanies it, are designed to knock you over with the intensity of the singer’s pain, and unless he’s accidentally cut his hand off or got his penis caught in his fly it just isn’t worth all that noise.

Chris Young—“Neon”
#100
A wasted opportunity. The change-up in the first verse from celebrating the beautiful colors of the flyover states to celebrating the glow of beer signs is a great idea, but Young is too timid and tasteful a singer to capitalize on it. Once he gets that gentle, swelling groove going he doesn’t want to lose it, so even when he sings about getting a buzz on he sounds like he’s drinking ice tea at a church picnic. Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, hell, even Scotty McCreery would know what to do with an idea like this, but Young is too busy being smooth and elegant and emphasizing his craggy lower vocal range to get the point.

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I don’t make lists. I’ve made a list.

Friday, April 6th, 2012

Even before they became the bane of the internet, I was never big on lists. Sometimes I enjoy them, and if they’re well done they can serve as a spark to thinking about things in a different way, but too often, instead of contextualizing or re-contextualizing, they de-contextualize , hiding the essence of a piece of art by pasting it over with shallow similarities or comparisons to others. This is especially true of “best of” lists, whether they focus on a particular period of time, a particular genre, or at their worst, specific stylistic flourishes or the use of instruments (“best guitar riff played on a Telecaster run through a fuzz box and a digital delay system without the use of a wah-wah pedal”, etc.). Though I’m well aware that some performers and songs and bodies of work are better than others, I don’t like ranking them against each other—I’m far more interested in what a performer achieves or doesn’t achieve within the context of the record itself and the overall environment in which it was created. Often that means comparing one piece with another, but it doesn’t mean ranking them against each other as if their place on a list conveyed something meaningful. It doesn’t. It may be a convenient shorthand, but I would rather see it as a guide to listening (or viewing or reading) than as a judgment of relative value. I always remember what Pauline Kael said in the early 60s, in reference to Jean Renoir being listed as the world’s greatest living movie director: that being ranked on a numbered list, no matter how high, was an insult to a true artist. Art isn’t a competition, folks, it really isn’t.

All of which verbiage is only to explain why I’ve never done much with lists on this site, even though I work off of one. I excuse this by saying that a weekly ranking of sales and popularity, though it may ultimately affect the amount of money an artist makes and their influence, if any, on others and the culture at large, doesn’t actually reflect on the artistic value of their music. In any case, though I’ve put a few lists together in the past, sometimes out of a sense of duty, sometimes as a result of a reader’s request, even when I’ve been tempted to make one I’ve usually managed to argue my way out of it. My favorite was one I made a few years ago, before I started reviewing the entire Hot 100, of songs that made the main chart but never worked their way into the top ten. That seemed like a worthwhile service because a lot of those songs, especially the ones that only managed a week or two on the charts, may not have been heard by a lot of people. I would probably still do it if I hadn’t started reviewing the entire chart; but as long as I am a list like that seems a redundant exercise.

What I loved most about that list, though, was listening to the mix I made of the songs, which I re-programmed and fiddled with for a couple of weeks until I had something that I could listen to over and over again without ever getting bored. This not only contextualized the songs, but provided a more viable and meaningful way of comparing them and, yes, even ranking them. This is what most critics do, I’m sure, when they make their own lists, and is merely a compressed version of the way long-term critical judgments (i.e., “the canon”), are ultimately made. But the lists themselves, unless they’re heavily annotated, rarely convey that.

Which is the long way of leading up to the fact that now, even with my dislike of lists in general, Spotify changes everything. Now lists, even the most arbitrary, are available for listening without you having to spend large amounts of money, scramble around on the net or in record stores, hassle your friends, or depend on serendipitous crate-digging. Even if the list itself is a de-contextualizing disaster, the ability to listen to the selections, immediately, gives it at least some value. If you feel like listening to the Hot 100 in its entirety, for instance, Billboard has conveniently created a playlist that allows you to do just that (at least, that is, those songs that are available on Spotify, which will get you 90% of the chart most weeks—which is more than enough, believe me; you don’t really want to hear all of it). Many critics, as well, are creating rolling best-of playlists throughout the year. The possibilities are endless. I await the übernerd who puts up a playlist of every Pazz and Jop Poll, or every album reviewed in Christgau’s Consumer Guide—it’s only a matter of time.

In this spirit, I have created a rolling playlist of my own: The Best of the Hot 100, 2012. For the moment, I’m only including songs that made the chart through March, but in another week or two I’ll start adding songs as they come out and include a link on the sidebar. This is not a ranked list; I’m doing my best to make this a real mix, with some sort of flow that I hope puts these songs into their proper context, or highlights exactly what I think makes them so enjoyable. I want the list to be entertaining as well as informative. It’s also, of course, highly personal—I’m indulging more of the fan side of my brain than the critical side (no, I don’t think “Sorry For Party Rocking” is a work of genius, but damn I love that sound). I have a feeling I’ll get closer to explaining the ultimate value of these records in that manner, anyway—this is pop we’re talking about, after all. I’m not even going to list the songs here; just give it a listen and see what you think.

A few programming notes:

The only criteria for inclusion is that the record has to have debuted on the Hot 100 this year. So songs that were actually released in 2011 (or older) can make the list, while songs that broke into the big time this year but had already appeared on the chart won’t. Totally arbitrary, but there have to be rules.

There is one song missing. Rascal Flatts “Changed” isn’t available on Spotify yet. I assume it will be, since the first single from the album is, but they’re most likely holding off in order to increase actual sales. In the meantime you can find it on YouTube. Just imagine it coming between “Call Me Maybe” and “Springsteen”. I’ll add it as soon as I can. I know you can’t wait for that one.

I am aware of the absence of rap. There’s a lot of great stuff out there this year, but very little of it gets onto the Hot 100. The best candidates—”Stupid Hoe”, “I Do”, “No Church In the Wild” (relatively old, but it hit the chart in February), “Muthafucka Up”, and V.I.C.’s “Wobble”—were hard to fit into the mix and are all flawed in some essential way (at least to my ears). I may make a separate rap mix, or I may find a way to work them in later.

I will most likely freeze the list for a couple of weeks at the end of each quarter, and possibly write up a brief summary. Otherwise, it will be under constant change: songs added, songs dropped, programming shifting around. Stay tuned.

Update: I knew the nerds were out there, but damn, here you go. Every record available on Spotify that has hit the Billboard chart from 1946 through 2011. 5370 songs. A lot missing from the early years, of course, but this should fill up your weekend.

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Small Miracles
Hot 100 Roundup—3/31/12

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012

Rascal Flatts—“Changed”
#73
What’s happened to these guys? Can a change in label—from the Disney-owned and now defunct Lyric Street to the Nashville giant of independents, Big Machine—make that much difference? Or is it that anyone, no matter what their history, can make good music once in a while? Odds are it’s the second, even if I’d like to think it’s the first, but whatever the case, I have to say it straight out: this is a great record. It’s as if Rascal Flatts had suddenly learned that all those country-pop clichés they’ve been trading in can be used to create truthful, emotional music if you twist them the right way, illuminate them from the inside, and are careful not to overplay your hand. This gets big, like all their records, and the middle eight is a disappointment—just when you hope they’ll dig a little deeper they come out with facile banalities—but overall this is as fine a piece of country gospel as you’ll ever hear. It will be interesting to see what they come up with next.

Neon Trees—“Everybody Talks”
#74
Starting off with a rip of “At the Hop”, the most mechanical of the great early rock records, this proceeds to become at least as mechanical, and even more of a pastiche. When Bruno Mars trades in fifties styles he does so because he lives and breathes them—it may not be original, but it’s organic. These guys, on the other hand, are dabblers playing at cut and paste. But just like “At the Hop”, sometimes being mechanical works; this moves fast and hard, and never lets up. It’s as shallow as they come, but it’s also exciting. Wonder if we’ll hear from them again?

One Direction—“One Thing”
#90
One Direction want to have it both ways: they want their pop to be simple enough to appeal to young girls, but they also want it to be hard and modern enough to appeal to girls who are a few years older. The instrumentation here sounds like it comes off a modern dance floor, but the song also uses pop tricks that are so old they probably seem fresh to anyone under the age of twenty (I haven’t heard the stutter beat they use in the chorus for over a decade, at least). The problem is the modern part of is so heavy-handed and leaden that it kills the older, poppier bits. If they want to last more than six months they (or their handlers) need to come up with better stuff than this.

Eli Young Band—“Even If It Breaks Your Heart”
#91
In the main, the shift in influence in country rock from The Eagles to Tom Petty is an improvement: the songs are faster, the grooves stronger, and the sense of self-satisfaction is more manageable. But even at his best Petty had his own pretensions, to say the least, and most of the bands that are influenced by him tend to lean on his trademark hits rather than his better, more eccentric numbers. They all want to be “The Hardest Part” instead of “American Girl”. Eli Young is no exception, and sings about his early days learning his rock and roll over a backing band that may as well be The Heartbreakers jamming the usual changes. It isn’t terrible, but streaming your personal perspective through clichés doesn’t break the clichés, it reinforces them. Which, come to think of it, is almost exactly what Petty did most of the time.

Young Jeezy featuring Ne-Yo—“Leave You Alone”
#95
Ne-Yo didn’t just write a hook for Jeezy— it sounds like he gave him a whole goddamned song, one that he had a chorus and a bridge for but no verses. This shouldn’t be a surprise; lyrics have always been Ne-Yo’s weakness; he’s melodically gifted, but he has a hard time making words both flow and mean something. What he should do, instead of handing songs to rappers like Jeezy, is find himself a decent lyricist and finish the songs himself. Easier said than done, I know, but this is just sad.

Bella Thorne—“TTYLXOX”
#98
The lyrics would sound dated even if this song had come out two years ago, and the music it draws on is even older, but that could be said of just about every piece of Disney pop, and nothing could stop this from being a joy from start to finish. If that sounds corny, so be it. Real joy is always in short supply on the pop charts, viewed either as manipulative or childish. The only place you normally find it is in music made for tweens and pre-teens, where too often it sounds simplistic or condescending. This is neither. It will never make radio aside from the Disney Channel, and most likely will never hit any real dance floor, which is a greater loss than most people would think. Imagine an ecstasy that isn’t based on sex or chemicals. If you can’t I suppose you should move on to something else, but it’s your loss.

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Everybody Dance Now
Hot 100 Roundup—3/3/12

Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

Katy Perry—“Part Of Me”
#1
Straightforward dance music like this does Perry a favor. The more she strays from groove and traditional structure the more irritating she becomes (it does something weird to her voice, for one thing). She also tends to be at her best when she’s telling her man off. She likes fireworks metaphors too much, and this is more an example of craft than inspiration, but it’s still her best single since “Teenage Dream”.

Nicki Minaj—“Starships”
#9
Minaj’s chameleon voice is one of her greatest strengths; she can shift effortlessly from tough hood rat to ethereal angel and a range of roles in between. In some cases, like this record, that versatility is the only thing holding her music together, or that keeps it from falling into cliché. But it also emphasizes her greatest weakness: the lack of connecting tissue between her many ideas. I couldn’t begin to suggest why she starts singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, or why parts of this sound like a Rihanna impersonation, except as a distraction from the cliché lyrics and overworked strobe-light synth bursts. I like the line about not paying the rent, but that’s the only sign of personality on the record.

Chris Brown—“Turn Up the Music”
#10
Unless you’re disturbed by the very idea of Brown’s continued career, there’s nothing offensive about this record. Though I have my doubts about the way the music industry, not to mention Rihanna, have reacted to events, it would be foolish to deny that this is decent, journeyman work, uninspired as it may be. I don’t love it, and I don’t hate it; it’s just there. I just wish I could be sure he’ll simply fade away into the mediocre career he deserves.

One Direction—“What Makes You Beautiful”
#28
A boy band almost literally put together on TV (all the members had tried out and failed as solo singers for X Factor, when the producers suggested they work together), One Direction are, in sound and history, essentially the British version of Disney pop. As such I welcome them gladly to our shores. Let’s face it, Disney pop (aside from Miley Cyrus, whose breakthrough was the exception) should have been all over American radio between 2005 and 2010, and if it hadn’t been for radio programmers’ odd belief that the music wasn’t “mature” enough for top forty, it would have been. But immature Brit-kids are different from immature Americans: they have novelty value, and accents. That the music is the same catchy guitar pop that Disney put out only makes the landing of these clean-cut invaders easier. The pump has been primed, so to speak. It’s the same old story, the British selling our own ideas back to us after we’ve failed to appreciate them ourselves. Oh, and the record? Pretty good.

Bruno Mars—“Runaway Baby”
#50
Mars is always best on uptempo material—his excessive energy level makes his ballads overwrought, but it’s perfect for material like this throwaway, which made the chart only because he performed it on the Grammies. All the same, it’s more charming, and more fun, than his last few singles. Also, though this doesn’t seem to rate mention by anyone else, he’s an excellent lyricist: the second verse is hilarious.

Rascal Flatts—“Banjo”
#63
Not terrible, which is a surprise. Maybe even not bad, which could be a sign of upheaval in the natural order. One question, though: if they love banjo so much, why do they drown it out with electric guitars at the end of the song?

Glee Cast
“I Will Always Love You”, #87
“Stereo Hearts”, #92

David Guetta featuring Chris Brown & Lil Wayne—“I Can Only Imagine”
#90
Maybe I’m just feeling forgiving this week, but despite the presence of Chris Brown I think this may be the best thing Guetta’s done. It helps that there’s some variation in the sound—even some surprises—and that there’s a decent structure to the song rather than the usual flailing around. Repeating Lil Wayne’s verse at the end is a mistake, though; Wayne’s phrasing is so distinctive that it’s easy to tell that Guetta ran the same track with only a slightly different background. On a chorus that’s excusable, but on a verse it’s weird and unsettling. It sounds like cheating.

Skrillex featuring Sirah—“Bangarang”
#95
Autotune, pitch-shifting, skittering digital snares, massive explosions of distorted bass, these are all ideas that have come and gone and come again over the last few years, all having their moment in the sun, all eventually derided as overworked and clichéd (and they were). Not to mention dubstep. Skrillex uses them all, and then some, mixes them together, and doesn’t give a shit what you think about it. He’s having fun, and learning a craft, and making art all at the same time. Every single has more packed into it, is more strongly structured and thought out, and is better than the one before. He’s taken a bunch of stuff that the cognoscenti had discarded as played-out and breathed new life into it. Isn’t that the way art is supposed to work? We’re stepping into what promises to be one of the most inventive eras in the history of pop music, and right now, Skrillex is out front.

deadmau5 featuring Greta Svabo Bech—“Raise Your Weapon”
#100
While Skrillex is an artist with a capital F (as in Fun and Fuck you), deadmau5 would like to be known as an artist with a capital A. You can hear his desire to be taken seriously through all eight minutes of this record. It’s an interesting attitude for a guy who performs wearing a giant glowing mouse head. This isn’t a bad record, but its seriousness weighs it down, and the lyrics are more confusing than anything else. It’s pretentious, is what it is. No wonder Dave Grohl likes him.

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Hot 100 Roundup—12/24/11

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

Glee Cast
“We Are Young”, #12
“Survivor/I Will Survive”, #51
“Man In the Mirror”, #76
“ABC”, #88
“Red Solo Cup”, #92

T-Pain featuring Lil Wayne—”Bang Bang Pow Pow”
#48
After the failure of two strong singles a year or so ago, it appears T-Pain has decided to go the more obvious route to revive his career: bigtime guests, obvious samples and/or beats, an avoidance of any subtlety or musical games. So we get straightforward gangsta-party music, with lots of sex, lame raps, gunshots, the works (including Lil Wayne, whose rap I can’t recall at the moment). Because it’s T-Pain, he doesn’t sink a low as others might, but it seems damn low for him. I wonder what happened to the album those earlier singles were from. There’s no sign of them on Revolver, not even the deluxe version.

fun. featuring Janelle Monae—”We Are Young”
#53
A problematic generational anthem. The message goes something like this: “The parties over. Sorry I hurt you. I’ll help you home and we’ll get some sleep and tomorrow we’ll change the world.” Fair enough, but I worry whether the scar he gave his ex is metaphorical or actual. Janelle Monae’s presence is negligible, which is just as well in this case. The melody has a certain lift, but the arrangement is too sparse and the overall effect is hollow. I’ll blame that on the band, not on their generation.

Jake Owen—”Alone With You”
#90
I like the feel of this, and Owen sings it well, but it doesn’t get anywhere near as down in the dumps as it should, and Owen doesn’t seem to be putting up much of a fight against this particular femme fatale. She’s got him whipped, and he sounds too weak to even think about resisting. At the same time, he doesn’t sound like he’s all that turned on by her, either, and if she can’t manage that, what possible power could she have over him? Little details like that are what makes songs come alive, and this doesn’t have them.

Keith Urban—”You Gonna Fly”
#91
I’m beginning to think the only difference between Urban and Rascal Flatts is that there’s only one of him. His sound is a little rougher, to be sure, a little more rock and roll, but that’s like saying that shag is a little rougher than fleece. It’s still designed to be warm and cozy and nothing else.

Kelly Clarkson—”I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
#93
It’s been almost a decade since Clarkson won the first season of American Idol, and you would think she’d have shaken the dust off her heels by now, but every once in a while she still sounds like she’s a contestant. This is overdramatized, oversung, and like too many American Idol competitors, Clarkson seems to have no idea what the song is about. She also throws in a change in the lyric, intentional or not I don’t know, that strips away any sense the song might still have made, even with her singing it. Don’t even get me started on the trumpet solo. A mistake in just about every way.

Waka Flocka Flame featuring Drake—”Round of Applause”
#97
This opens with a loud belch. I find it impossible to listen afterwards. Even among rappers (or rap yellers, in this case) there should be such a thing as dignity. Maybe more so.

Edens Edge—”Amen”
#99
Despite the name of the group and the title of the song, this is not Contemporary Christian Country, or Christian anything aside from the way it uses common pentacostal phrases as a lame joke in the chorus. In the who’ll-be-the-next-Lady-Antebellum sweepstakes (formerly the who’ll-be-the-next-Sugarland sweepstakes), these folks are dead last, with a sound designed to be so soft and sweet and nonthreatening it barely exists. Somehow that makes their use of religious terms even more offensive.

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Hot 100 Roundup—11/12/11

Friday, November 18th, 2011

Coldplay featuring Rihanna—”Princess of China”
#20
The grander the statement, the vaguer and more ordinary the music becomes. Rihanna adds nothing, because there’s nothing to be added to. In the context of the album the lyrics might make sense—though I wouldn’t count on that—but on their own they skirt the ridiculous. The hooks and the overall grandeur of the sound just make things worse; it’s all show, no content.

Toby Keith—”Red Solo Cup”
#37
A funny record that both celebrates redneck drinking and skewers it at the same time. It comes dangerously close to a throwaway comedy sketch, but Keith makes sure it’s a real song, and his delivery, both comically and musically, is flawless. Which only increases my sense of frustration. To follow up a record as blinkered and patronizing as “Made In America” with one as friendly yet satiric as this? How many Toby Keiths are their anyway? And couldn’t the good one hang around a little longer?

Bow Wow featuring Lil Wayne—”Sweat”
#48
I like the music, but the raps, especially Bow Wow’s, are pure cliche. As is Wayne’s, except it’s a cliche built on the kind of raps he was doing six or seven years ago. It’s all Wayne, but it’s not a new Wayne. Eventually, the cliches wear out the welcome of the music, and you’re left with nothing.

Justin Bieber featuring Usher—”Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)”
#58
Not terrible, but Bieber, for all his new found “maturity”, over-vocalizes in a juvenile manner, while Usher leans too heavily on the show-biz warmth he’s a master of. I’ll stick with Nat “King” Cole, thank you very much.

Kelly Clarkson—”What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)”
#64
I wish I liked this more, but for all of Clarkson’s strengths as a vocalist there isn’t much she can make of this song, which is essentially a gussied up version of “Since You Been Gone”. It doesn’t flow dynamically or build like “Gone” though; it settles in at a certain volume level and stays there, leaving Clarkson with nothing to bounce her vocals off of. Unfortunately, this is the kind of stuff Clarkson seems to like. When she has material that allows her to vary her voice and take advantage of both her timbre and her emotional and vocal range she’s one of the best pop singers around; when she doesn’t she’s just another shouter

Florence + The Machine—”Shake It Out”
#86
I’m impressed by the production, which starts with a big sound that gets even bigger as it goes along, and there’s a kernel of real emotion and a good hook somewhere under all the drums and blare and Florence’s multi-tracked vocals. A lot of people bring up Annie Lennox as a comparison, but this is more like Bonnie Tyler, or what Kate Bush might sound like if she were produced by Jim Steinman. Those aren’t necessarily bad things, but it is a bit of a mess.

Wale featuring Miguel—Lotus Flower Bomb”
#87
Wale can be clever, such as the moment near the end where he sings the vowels (“Ahhh, A, E, I-O-Ooooh”), but too much of this is ordinary, and Miguel adds nothing, including a hook.

The Black Keys—”Lonely Boy”
#91
I can understand the appeal of these guys: they provide straightforward funk ‘n’ roll without all the masculine preening and posturing, and Dangermouse’s production adds enough of a modern touch to keep them from turning into an indie Sha Na Na. But this is still nothing more than basic, well-produced blues-based boogie. And on the intro, which sounds like the soundtrack to Coney Island Hipster Beach Party, they are the indie Sha Na Na.

Kaskade featuring Neon Trees—”Lessons In Love”
#94
Not to be confused with Cascada, of course, or any other dance pop band featuring loud, fuzzy synths and slow climbs up a chromatic scale passed off as solos. I do like the unpolished sound of the vocals, though; they actually keep me listening.

Hunter Hayes—”Storm Warning”
#98
Twenty years old, a former child-actor and already a full-time country hack, you can hear Hayes trying hard to sound like his heroes, who in this case appear to be Rascal Flatts. His phrasing makes him sound like he’s sixteen, though, with a lot to learn in the vocal department. Not to mention the originality department, though I doubt if he’s much interested in that one.

Justin Moore—”Bait A Hook”
#100
Sometimes I have a hard time telling all the Justins and Jasons and Jerrods apart, and this song is one reason why. There’s not a hint of originality or personality in the music, the lyrics (the third country hit in the last three months to emphasize fishing), or the vocals. The occasional hints of sexual jealousy are interesting, but the country chauvinism is strictly by the book and the stereotyping of city boys plain stupid. As anonymous as they come.

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Hot 100 Roundup—8/13/11

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

Kreayshawn—”Gucci Gucci”
#82
Normally I would applaud a catchy record that satirizes status seeking, and especially hip-hop’s fascination with high-fashion brands. The problem is that Kreayshawn’s targets aren’t rich rappers, they’re the poor who are taken in and taken advantage of by the rap world’s tireless product placement. In other words, she’s a snob whose putdown of “basic bitches” is as heartless as the comments on the poor you hear at Tea Party rallies. Maybe she should get a gig on Fox News.

Rascal Flatts featuring Natasha Bedingfield—”Easy”
#87
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 7/30/11

Rihanna—”Cheers (Drink To That)”
#91
It’s unfair to make career judgments about an artist based on the sixth single off an album that’s been out for nearly a year, but it’s hard not to wonder what’s going on. This isn’t Rihanna’s worst single; that would be her previous record, “Man Down”. It may even be better than the record before that, “California King Bed”. But it still makes three stinkers in a row. I’m glad she’s getting a break after an intense two years, but pumping out one sub-par record after another isn’t buying time, it’s killing her career. Better to disappear for a year and come back refreshed. Records like this just make things worse.

The Black Eyed Peas—”Don’t Stop the Party”
#93
Shifting into cruise control is one way to keep the party going, I suppose, but this is the sound of a band that’s learned all the tricks and can apply them in their sleep. It’s not terrible, though; it isn’t even embarrassing. Which is another way of saying it doesn’t show much energy or inspiration. And without energy and inspiration these guys barely exist. No wonder they’re going on hiatus.

Adele—”Rumour Has It”
#96
This is the first Adele record I’ve heard that comes close to justifying the praise she’s been receiving, but all it says to me is that she can be good, not that she’s the savior of “authentic” pop music. It helps that this is pure girl-group, and that she’s more interested in delivering a sonic wallop than in baring her soul. In fact, the soul-baring bit in the middle eight is the worst part of the song. Like most people, she’s better at putting on an act than being “authentic”. As she gets older maybe she’ll own up to it.

Craig Campbell—”Fish”
#97
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 7/30/11

Matt Nathanson—”Faster”
#99
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 7/9/11

Jerrod Nieman—”One More Drinkin’ Song”
#100
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 7/23/11

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Bubbling Under—7/30/11

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

DJ Drama featuring Fabolous, Roscoe Dash & Wiz Khalifa—”Oh My”
#101
In which three guys who have never had anything to say say it together over a track that has nothing to say, either. At least DJ Khaled’s tracks are full of racial pride; this is just full of it.

Big Sean featuring Kanye West & Roscoe Dash—”Marvin & Chardonnay”
#102
Big Sean is Big Sean, Roscoe Dash is, I guess, Roscoe Dash—to tell the truth I didn’t even realize he was on here until I read the credits—and Kanye West is a strange and shriveled parody of himself. First time I heard this I thought West was Big Sean doing a Weezy imitation; even when I realized it was West himself I could barely believe it. It’s not just that his verse is bad—West has been bad plenty of times before—it’s that it isn’t even an interesting or offensive form of bad, it’s sub-par in every possible way. Now I’m beginning to wonder if it isn’t West making fun of Big Sean instead of the other way around.

Pia Toscano—”This Time”
#105
Apparently Jimmy Iovine thinks Toscano can be a star despite her early booting off of American Idol. To prove it, he gets Ester Dean to write up a pale imitation of a Ryan Tedder track and tells Toscano to sing as loudly as she can. At least that’s how I imagine it went. I figured I’d give Toscano a break and not blame her the first time out. Next time, though…

Craig Campbell—”Fish”
#109
This is as dirty as country can get and still be played on the radio, though I suspect the only program it would really fit on is the old Dr. Demento show. The main joke you see, is rhyming “fish” with “truck” and “luck”, an idea that puts it right up there with “Shaving Cream” in the intellectual humor department. There are also some double entendres involving fishing rods and little pink bobbers. Which doesn’t mean it isn’t enjoyable in a leering, adolescent sort of way.

Rascal Flatts featuring Natasha Bedingfield—”Easy”
#121
What exactly is Natasha Bedingfield, or her management, or her record company, thinking? A few years ago she was pioneering a form of white-girl hip-hop which, if slick as hell, at least carried some meaning; now she’s lending her voice to one of the worst bands in the world on a “country” power-ballad that makes Lady Antebellum look like masters of emotional restraint. Unless she’s planning to go “country” herself how does this possibly further her career other than keeping her name in the charts? Yeah, her last album tanked, but that’s because she had lost track of where her true strengths lie. Now she’s even further off course.

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Bubbling Under—3/19/11

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Keith Urban—”Without You”
#107
It’s gotta be his looks, right? That and the oh so sincere little cracks in his voice. Granted, his songs and arrangements aren’t as tastelessly bombastic as say, Rascal Flatts, but his music is just as empty.

Marsha Ambrosius—”Far Away”
#112
Everybody was getting tired of the old Alicia Keys, so here’s a new one. Remember, Keys’ first album wasn’t that bad, either.

Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland—”Gone”
#113
I don’t think much of “Just a Dream”, but at least it feels like something new. This is just a mediocre love duet.

Waka Flocka Flame featuring Kebo Gotti—”Grove St. Party”
#114
I’m so tired of hearing people yelling “Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaah!” in the background of rap records that I’m probably harder on this than it deserves. Waka Flocka Flame isn’t a terrible rapper—his voice has an amazing tone, remiscent of Young Jeezy only not as rough, and his sense of flow keeps his stuff rhythmically interesting even when he doesn’t have much to say. Gotti, however, sounds like every third rapper you’ve ever heard, and he rhymes “motherfucker” with “motherfucker”—not just once, but over and over again. Talk about not having anything to say.

Miranda Cosgrove—”Dancing Crazy”
#118
This is where Nickelodeon seizes the tween pop kingdom that Disney, at least for the moment, seems to have given up. There’s nothing daring or particularly striking about this record, but it’s perfectly put together and immensely entertaining. The second half of the chorus, where Cosgrove sarcastically jokes about being heard over the music, is brilliant. The only real flaw is Cosgrove’s voice, especially on the first verse. Surprisingly enough, she sounds too young for the material. Tweens like their heroes and heroines slightly older than they are; it gives them something to aim for. Maybe Ke$ha should take a crack at it.

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