Posts Tagged ‘Sugarland’

New this week—8/8/10

Saturday, August 7th, 2010

Sugarland—”Stuck Like Glue”
#20
When I heard that Sugarland was claiming steampunk influences on their new album, I expected the worst: something both cutesy and overwrought, pretentious and bland. Instead, we get a charming, though not brilliant, love song, driven by a human beatbox who sounds something like a small industrial sewing machine and a bass line that drives like a piston. It sounds like no country record you’ve ever heard, and yet it’s still recognizably country, a neat balance of the modern (postmodern?), and the traditional. In other words, they seem to have gotten the idea of steampunk just right. If it were a bit shorter (when you depend this much on catchiness you need to be careful not to overstay your welcome), and if Jennifer Nettles didn’t feel the need to do a Christina Aguilera impersonation in the middle, it would be almost perfect.

Asher Roth—”G.R.I.N.D.”
#79
I could do without the preachy spoken bit at the end, and Roth’s feigned off-handedness bugs the hell out of me, but this is surprisingly mature and tougher than I would have expected. “The American Dream is a pyramid scheme” is not the sort of comment you anticipate coming from a guy who has been as lucky in his career as Roth (it doesn’t quite fit with the optimism of the rest of the record, either). He may be smarter than I thought—which doesn’t mean he’s as smart as he thinks he is.

Kenny Chesney—”The Boys of Fall”
#96
Surprisingly elegiac for a song about a game as violent and chaotic as football, but then Chesney isn’t Hank Williams, Jr. It’s so perfectly crafted that he almost gets away with it, and this is pleasant and easy to listen to. But the match of subject matter and approach still jars, and all the craft in the world wouldn’t justify its six and half minute running time. Chesney isn’t Brad Paisley, either.

Shinedown—”The Crow and the Butterfly”
#97
They get the emotional tone of this heavy metal weepy just right, but they do it by the book, so the tone doesn’t carry much emotional weight, and like too many metal bands they think they’re creating meaningful ambiguity by leaving important information out of the lyric. If you’re going to hook a song around the idea of being “a little too late”, you need to let people in on what you’re too late for. I also have my doubts about whether crows actually chase butterflies.

Rihanna featuring Slash—”Rockstar 101″
#99
I like the fact that Slash’s guitar is used for atmosphere rather than flash, and the ominous tone is impressive. But there are better ways for Rihanna to show how tough she is, and the middle eight is all wrong; I’m not sure what type of song it might fit in, but it isn’t this one.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Hot 100, new this week, singles | No Comments »

The year so far, ctd.

Monday, July 26th, 2010

When I was doing my half-year summation last week, an idea struck me that I didn’t have time to include. As I said there, the apparent greatness of the year overall hasn’t made much of an impression on the pop charts, at least not in terms of individual records. As the old saying goes, though, a rising tide lifts all boats, and though I think it’s fair to say that there have been few great records on the Hot 100 this year, the quality, overall, has risen.

Quality, however, may not be the right word; freshness may be closer to the truth. Since the crash and burn of the summer of 2008, there has been a slow but steady revitalization. Pop music sounds different than it did three years ago. On the top forty charts, the touchstones are obvious. With Lady GaGa and the revamped Blacked Eyed Peas leading the way, followed by 3Oh!3, Ke$ha, and quickly adapting older artists like Rihanna and Jay-Z, electronica in one form or another has become a staple on the pop charts, to the point where even Disney stars like Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez are jumping on the bandwagon (to be fair to Disney, Aly & AJ were actually ahead of the curve on this). At the same time, the pop embrace of electronica has forced those in the electronic music scene itself to up their game and look for new ideas to separate them from the mainstream (a process aided by the cross-pollination provided by DJ podcasts like those found at Resident Advisor, XLR8R, and Fact Magazine—check out Michaelangelo’s piece in the Guardian for an overview). At the same time, thanks to its exposure on the charts, electronica is garnering an ever-expanding fan base of more adventurous pop listeners.

Hip-hop and rap have also been reflecting the inspiration provided by electronic music. Unlike pop, however, the major changes are coming from smaller scenes outside the mainstream. While stars like T.I. and DJ Khaled fill their records with ever more baroque permutations of fuzzy synths, the whole of hip-hop is being remade from underneath by teenagers with lap tops. From Soulja Boy Tell’em in Mississippi to the jerkin’ movement in LA to Cali Swag District’s “Teach Me How To Dougie”, which puts an LA spin on a dance movement originating in Dallas, the movement in one form or another has gone nationwide. All that laptop rap needs now is an independently-minded genius to blow it wide open (Soulja Boy and New Boyz, unfortunately, have already been absorbed by the old guard).

Beyond the influence of electronica (and yes, I know that phrase is out of date, but find me another that covers the whole spectrum), other genres are being revamped as well, especially country. Up until a couple of years ago, country was ruled by good ol’ boys like Toby Keith and Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney, who sang, for the most part, about only one thing: how good it is to be a good ol’ boy. In the last two years, though, women have come back strong: Gretchen Wilson started the ball rolling, with Miranda Lambert following closely behind, then Carrie Underwood (whose “Before He Cheats” provided the ultimate kiss off to the good ol’ boy genre), with Kellie Pickler, Sugarland, Lady Antebellum, Rory and Joey, and a host of others quickly occupying the landscape. In a category all their own are Taylor Swift and Brad Paisley, who have brought an intelligent, charming, good-humored sensibility back to country that it’s been missing for over a decade. The good ol’ boys are still around, but their voices are muted. Many of them are trying to meet the women half way, and the result has been a batch of pleasant, if not always brilliant records that feel far more down to earth and human.

Interesting changes have taken place on the indie and alternative scenes as well, but for the moment none of those have been turning up in the pop charts. Not that that isn’t a possibility. As far as I can tell, the only major difference in sound between Ke$ha and Sleigh Bells is the mix: Ke$ha mixes her distorted electronic explosions down and her voice up; Sleigh Bells does the opposite. They may be on different paths, but they’re heading in the same direction. Everybody is. And somewhere down the road is a convergence point that’s going to blow everybody away.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Hot 100, pop culture, singles | No Comments »

New this week—6/13/10

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Drake featuring Lil Wayne—”Miss Me”
#15
It’s hard to determine whether Drake is the real thing or not—or anything at all, for that matter. His inability to shake his influences and come forth as himself is a major problem—first time I listened to this I thought his rap was Wayne’s. His self-consciousness has it’s charms (though not when it’s converted into beats), but it could quickly turn into a detriment if he isn’t careful. Sounding unsure of what you’re getting yourself into isn’t exactly the best concept to build a career around. Neither is the pronouncement that “life isn’t a rehearsal” when you sound like you’re still doing warm-ups.

Taio Cruz
“Dynamite”, #26
“Dirty Picture” (featuring Ke$ha), #96
Just to ask the obvious question, shouldn’t a song called “Dynamite” sound explosive? This sure doesn’t. On the other hand, “Dirty Picture” does sound dirty. It also sounds unclean, though that may just be a matter of personal taste.

T.I.
“Got Your Back” (featuring Keri Hilson), #38
“Yeah Ya Know (Takers)”, #44
“Got Your Back” is surprisingly warm and affectionate, suggesting real love, something that T.I. has never managed, or for that matter ever really tried, before. He also seems to be breaking out of his tendency to overpack his arrangements (if there’s such a thing as baroque rap, T.I. makes it)—compared to his last few singles shows admirable restraint, it’s few lose threads tied up quite nicely by Keri Hilson. I just wish someone could have done the same for “Yah Ya Know”.

Nicki Minaj—”Your Love”
#51
With her day-glo wigs and cosplay fashion style, it’s no surprise that Minaj’s idea of romanticism comes out sounding like Sailor Moon in the hood. It’s an interesting idea, but it doesn’t quite gel, and it gets confusing. One minute she’s talking about the guy’s stacks and the next she’s dreaming about samurai and geishas who speak Thai somewhere up in the sky, and then she tops it all by turning into Supergirl. She may be on to something, but this is both too obvious and too obscure to get over.

Glee Cast
“Good Vibrations”, #69
“Another One Bites the Dust”, #79
“Tell Me Something Good”, #87
“Loser”, #93
“It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”, #95
Two more white rap songs from the crew (three if you count “Loser”), and the joke, which worked on “Ice Ice Baby”, has paled considerably. The less said about “Tell Me Something Good” and “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” the better.

3Oh!3—”Deja Vu”
#75
This makes two songs from these guys I actually kind of like, but whether that means they’ve improved or my tastes have collapsed under the constant barrage of electro synths I can’t say. It’s worth noting, though, that this is the first of their songs to suggest that the party party world they inhabit is starting to bore them a little. Is that maturity or exhaustion? Who knows?

Billy Currington—”Pretty Good At Drinking Beer”
#83
Currington’s last single was an overwrought string of country cliches. This is cliche bound as well, but it’s also clever, and not overwrought at all. As an argument for being a lard-ass, it’s even charming.

Little Big Town—”Little White Church”
#94
They’ve learned enough from Miranda Lambert to be tough and honest, and enough from Sugarland to be cheerful and spunky even while laying down the law. Too bad they haven’t learned enough from either to write more than a passable lyric, though putting “not gonna have your baby” in the list of things she won’t do until he marries her is still a jolt.

VV Brown—”Shark In the Water”
#97
I’ve already expressed my admiration for Brown, who appeals to me not only for her upbeat sound but for the range of her musical references and influences. Here she steals from both Paul McCartney and Lou Reed, while making explicit the thread of near hysterical paranoia that runs through many of her songs. It’s also nice to see that, unlike most of her UK peers, she’s managed her US chart debut without depending on an American rapper to give her a commercial leg up. Here’s hoping she gets the attention she deserves.

Neon Trees—”Animal”
#100
What decade is this again?

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Hot 100, new this week, singles | No Comments »

The end of country as we know it

Monday, April 5th, 2010

Sugarland says their next album will be influenced by steampunk:

Nettles says that “The Incredible Machine”—both the album and their forthcoming tour—take inspiration from the “steampunk movement”, a branch of science fiction that imagines a world where humans evolved intellectually, but technology remained set in Victorian times. “I describe it emotionally as bungee jumping and eating chocolate cake,” she says. “It’s terrifying and gratifying, all at the same time.”

I’m not sure that’s an entirely accurate definition of steampunk, but if you reverse it, where the technology evolves, but the intellect remains in a previous era, you do have a pretty good description of modern country. Turning that on it’s head could be very interesting. Though I’m not sure I’d pick Sugarland as the band to do it.

Tags: ,
Posted in country, pop culture | No Comments »

New this week—3/14/10

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Justin Bieber—”Never Let You Go”
#21
The most irritating thing about Justin Bieber may be something over which he has no real control: all his records sound the same. He may have talent, but he either possesses such a narrow emotional range that his handlers don’t dare let him express himself, or they have such a narrow idea of what a pop record should be that they can’t take advantage of whatever talent Bieber does possess. The first is a possibility, but I lean toward the second explanation: this is such an obvious retread of Chris Brown’s “Forever” that you wonder if anyone in Bieber’s camp has a single original idea.

Jason DeRulo—”Ridin’ Solo”
#33
Did anybody involved in this record notice how irritating DeRulo’s voice is on the chorus? Did they think it would serve as a kind of hook? Or make up for the fact that nothing else about this record is even vaguely interesting? If so, they were wrong.

Usher featuring Nicki Minaj—”Lil Freak”
#43
Somehow I don’t think Stevie Wonder ever imagined anyone using part of “Livin’ for the City” as background music for an orgy, but I guess we should give Usher a break—he’s got to get over the grief of his divorce somehow.

Avril Lavigne—”Alice”
#71
I long ago resigned myself to the use of Alice in Wonderland as a Rorschach blot for anyone low on ideas who needs a little creative boost, but that only excuses Tim Burton. This is straight cash-in and a terrible record by any standard. The only notable thing about it is that it definitively marks the moment when Lavigne gave up on doing anything new and decided to copy those who have followed in her wake—in this case, Paramore. Even another soppy ballad would be better than this.

Kenny Chesney—”Ain’t Back Yet”
#73
If you define country as music based on the nostalgia of people in their thirties to mid-forties for the pop music of their early teen years, then this is a country record. But even by those standards it isn’t a good country record, just a loud one (with horns, to boot). Gossip hounds, however, will eat up the apparent reference to Renee Zellweger in the last verse.

Godsmack—”Cryin’ Like A Bitch!!”
#74
The exclamation points in the title tell you everything you need to know about this record. Think of them as sudden bursts of guitar and you can pretend you’ve already heard the song without the painful experience of actually listening to it.

Three 6 Mafia Vs Tiesto with Sean Kingston and Flo Rida—”Feel It”
#78
If the artist lineup didn’t tip you off to how desperate these guys are for another hit, the music sure would. Most egregious moment: when Flo Rida comes on, the beat switches to an approximation of “Low”. Even worse, that’s the only part of the record that makes any sense. The rest is a confused mess.

Danny Gokey—”My Best Days Are Ahead of Me”
#78
I never saw Gokey on American Idol, but it’s easy to understand why he was voted off—the only thing thinner than his voice is his material.

La Roux—”Bulletproof”
#92
With all the Eurodisco influence on the charts it’s nice to see the real thing making some headway. Already a number one in the UK, though I doubt it will make it as far here—it’s not brash and straightforward enough for American tastes. I find it a trifle thin and stiff myself, but it’s still better than about 85% of anything else on the charts.

Chris Young—”The Man I Want to Be”
#98
As shameless as self-pitying country gets, this is essentially the male version of Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel”, only worse, because you can’t help suspecting that all Young really wants is his woman back. What he should really be praying for is better material.

Steel Magnolia—”Keep On Lovin’ You”
#99
Because Lady Antebellum just isn’t enough Sugarland for the country/pop market.

Eric Church—”Hell On the Heart”
#100
Church is the kind of guy who believes old-fashioned things like simple, catchy melodies, short songs (this one clocks in at 2:45, shorter than both his previous singles, only one of which is over three minutes), and strict stereo separation. He also gets better with each record. But he isn’t that good yet. Cliches keep popping up in his lyrics, and thematically there’s nothing that separates him from a few thousand other good ol’ boys. He also has a tendency to sprinkle his interviews with references to how much better he is than everybody else. I like this record, and I hope he gets better, but I’m not holding my breath.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Hot 100, new this week, singles | No Comments »

New this week

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

Kenny Chesney with Dave Matthews—”I’m Alive”
#92
It’s anyone’s guess as to who came up with the Beatlesish feel of this record—it sounds like a mash-up of “Dear Prudence” and “Mother Nature’s Son”—but whether it was Chesney or Matthews, it’s the only thing that’s interesting about it. Since it’s technically Chesney’s record, though, he gets to stick Matthews with the biggest cliche: “Today is the first day of the rest of my life”. Not that the song isn’t one long cliche already.

3OH!3—”Starstrukk”
#95
There’s a hint—just a hint mind you—that this is intended as satire, that these guys aren’t really the sexist assholes they present themselves as, but are actually making fun of such people. They’re often described as a comedy act, after all. But like Lady GaGa’s The Fame, it’s hard to make a distinction between the act and the actor, and even if you could it wouldn’t make the music, which in its blaring boorishness is even more insulting than the lyrics, any better. Whether this is a sign of something new or the final gasp of the old is hard to say. To me, though, it sounds like an exhausted culture slapping itself to stay awake.

Iyaz—”Replay”
#96
This isn’t bad, but from the emphasis on the singer’s Jamaican accent to the hints of romantic naivete in the lyrics it’s so obviously producer J.R. Rotem’s attempt to create another Sean Kingston that the whole record starts to sound forced. Not as forced as Kingston’s own attempts to keep his career alive, but close.

Owl City—”Fireflies”
#97
With it’s affected simplicity and dreamy lyric that buzzes in endless circles around itself and goes nowhere, this is like a musical version of a children’s book intended to lull the little tykes to sleep. Except it appears to be a love song, since there’s more than one person in the bed. Do bands that send confusing mixed signals like this think they’re being profound somehow? Or are they just too lazy, or too dumb, or too full of themselves, to make sense? I suspect it’s all of the above.

Sugarland—”Joey”
#98
I generally like Sugarland’s lower-key sound—they don’t blast you the way so many country bands do, even on their uptempo songs—but this is bland and lifeless. So much so that it’s impossible to figure out exactly what’s going on. Is Joey dead? Dying? Late back from a trip to the grocery store? The lyrics don’t fill in the details, and the music doesn’t provide a clue. The inspiration seems to have stopped after providing the missing Joey a not very musical name. Is this about a real person? That would make the blandness even less explicable. Am I overthinking this song? Probably. But that’s better than barely thinking about it at all but releasing it anyway, which seems to be what Sugarland has done.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Hot 100, new this week, singles | No Comments »