Friday, January 1, 2010

Chillin'

Time for a Celebration

Happy New Year to all! On this day of celebration of an arbitrary day to signify the latest complete orbit our planet has managed around the Sun, it seems apropos to provide you with a song to fit the mood in ways both aural and titular. Woohoo!



"Celebration"
Madonna
Celebration
Warner Bros, 2009


Celebration (Single)Trivia: "Celebration" was co-written and co-produced by famed DJ Paul Oakenfold, who opened for Madonna (I use the term loosely, since his set tended to finish about an hour past the ticketed start time, and Madonna typically didn't make her entrance until at least an hour later) during the North American leg of her recent Sticky and Sweet Tour. The tour was littered with famous cameos here and there, including Pharrell Williams (her collaborator on "Give It 2 Me") in New York and Miami, Britney Spears (just weeks before "Womanizer" dropped) and Justin Timberlake (her duet partner on "4 Minutes") in Los Angeles (the night I happened to attend), Timbaland (also featured in "4 Minutes") in Miami, Robyn (opening act for parts of the European leg), and DJ Benny Benassi (Rome).


Get Madonna's third greatest hits compilation album Celebration, the final album released through her contract with Warner Bros.

In His Kleins


Thursday, December 31, 2009

You Wanna Rumble In My Jungle?

Back in 1997 I was totally smitten with what to me at the time was a faceless Swede behind my favorite song, "Do You Know (What It Takes)." It helped that she shared a name (and, more importantly, a spelling of said name) with my godsister and close friend Robyn, and perhaps that was the reason that despite never hearing anything from the artist again over the next twelve years, I still felt a fondness for her. Thankfully, a friend of mine with her Europop radar much stronger than my own, introduced me earlier this year to the bonafide masterpiece of a self-titled pop album Robyn put out in 2005 (in Sweden), 2007 (Europe and Australia), and 2008 (US, kind of). Robyn is an embarassment of pop riches, but for the final day of 2009 I think I want most to be rocking to this sweetly foul-mouthed joy.



"Konichiwa Bitches"
Robyn
Robyn
Konichiwa Records, 2007


Konichiwa Bitches/CobrastyleTrivia: The reason I hadn't heard anything from this fantastic artist for so long was that poor Robyn has gone through the messiest of quagmires with her former labels, before finally getting fed up, buying herself out of her contract, starting her own label, and sending Robyn out into the world in bits and pieces however she can. Multiple tracks from the album appear on Pitchfork's notoriously indie rock-centric Top Singles lists, including their Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s megalist, and Robyn receives almost unanimous praise from any US critic who manages to come across her recent work. But even if all that weren't true, I'd still adore this woman for the brilliant video that accompanies this surprisingly raunchy track...but it gets better. Once after one of my repeated viewings I felt inclined to express my approval via Twitter, jokingly asking where I might get a similar killer bee outfit. I almost died when I received a reply from Robyn herself: "it´s in my attic babes locked up saving it for a rainy day."




DEFINITELY get the fantastic self-titled pop opus by Robyn.

New Year's Eve Favorites (Part 2)


New Year's Eve Favorites (Part 1)



Well, the final day of 2009 is upon us! That leaves me with under 24 hours to figure out what I want to be doing at midnight! ACK!

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Dirty Hands I Demand

Everyone knows (or should know) the Australian pop diva Kylie Minogue, but at least stateside there is far less awareness about the other Minogue in the dance-pop biz with an even stranger first name. Dannii Minogue has enjoyed considerable success in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, but so far only one track from Kylie's little sis has made any headway into the US, and even then its play was limited mainly to the dance club circuit. This was fortunately happening just around the time I was an 18 year old freshly out gay boy in L.A. getting my elementary homo education via the 18+ dance club Tigerheat, and now I pass it on to you.




"Put the Needle On It"
Dannii Minogue
London Records, Warner Music UK, Ultra Records, 2002

Put the Needle on It 2Trivia: Minogue currently serves as a judge on The X Factor, the British reality singing competition show created by Simon Cowell, best known on this end of the Atlantic as the crotchety hardass judge on American Idol, on which The X Factor is based and which is itself based on another British reality singing competition show called Pop Idol, which ran for two seasons before giving way to its American cousin and later to the new British incarnation that brought us Leona Lewis. In her Assassin comedy tour and its live DVD recording, Margaret Cho lets off a zinger about how then-president George W. Bush "sent Jeb Bush to aid the [Hurricane] Katrina victims...which is like sending Dannii Minogue."

Hoodie and Pecs


Chain Chain Chaaaaain


Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Rhythm. You Have It Or You Don't? That's a Fallacy

I don't pretend to fully understand the concept of the Gorillaz. I know that it (they?) is (are?) a fictional, or as some call it, "virtual" band of animated musicians, and that at least three notable singles from said creation have made decent dents in the American pop music consciousness over the last decade. But beyond that it's a bit metaphysical for me. So much so that until very recently I was unaware that these digital dynamos were behind a 2001 song that creeped the snot out of me.



"Clint Eastwood"
Gorillaz
Parlophone, 2001


Clint EastwoodTrivia: Gorillaz are the creation of musician Damon Albarn (of the band Blur) and Jamie Hewlett, the co-creator of the Tank Girl comic book (which was also developed into a movie whose trailer creeped the snot out of me). The "band members" are named 2D (vocals and keyboard), Noodle (lead guitar), Murdoc (bass guitar), and Russel (drums). And before you write them off as imaginary, don't forget that these virtual creatures have won more Grammy awards than you have (2006 Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Feel Good Inc.," which was also nominated for Record of the Year). Take that as you will.


Get Gorillaz' 2005 sophomore album Demon Days, which features "Feel Good Inc." and "DARE."

Another Window in Black and White



Whoa, once again I swear I didn't plan that...

By the Window


Monday, December 28, 2009

Now I'm Wishing That I Didn't Wear These Shoes

You may have seen the Black Eyed Peas around somewhere over the past year, I imagine...at least if you weren't comatose or hiding out with bin Laden in his apparently un-findable cave, seeing as they were EVERY. WHERE. But hopefully no one is too burnt out with the edgy rap-pop group to reminisce about the summer a few years back when the fabulous female and lead singer Pea, Fergie, stomped onto the charts with her solo debut, starting with this classic bit of lyrical genius. OH SHIT!



"London Bridge"
Fergie
A&M Records, 2006


London BridgeTrivia: Although The Dutchess is generally considered to have been only a moderate success at best, three of its singles hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, including "London Bridge." Though I personally hold Fergie in rather high esteem, I can't help but be amused at some of the more egregious goofs contained in this album and its offspring. To begin with, the album title is misspelled and no reasonable evidence it was intentional; indeed, on the track "Fergalicious," guest backup singer and fellow Pea Will.I.Am spells out how delicious and tasty Fergie is, except that he misspells the latter T-A-S-T-E-Y. The chorus to "Big Girls Don't Cry" has a grammatical error so glaring that I subconsciously correct it any time I sing along; and then there's the fantastic fact that the supposedly titular bridge that appears throughout the video for "London Bridge" is in fact the Tower Bridge, a common mistake among those who've never been to London, which Fergie clearly had. But what can you do?

Since you've likely memorized The Dutchess by now, why not check out that album the Black Eyed Peas have been hawking all year that you haven't bothered to listen to because you're so sick of "I Gotta Feeling?" (Trust me, I know how you feel.) Because surprise surprise, it's really good.

Don't Bother With the Shirt


Another Blonde...With a Tattoo


Sunday, December 27, 2009

Plastic Cups for Rum and Punch

Before the Grammy Awards were drooling with typical Brit fetishism over Amy Winehouse and Adele, the charming singer/songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae found herself in the running for top prizes two years in a row for tracks from her self-titled debut album. "Put Your Records On" and "Like a Star," the two tracks that brought Rae her Grammy noms (but sadly no wins) in 2007 and 2008, respectively, are certainly lovely, but it's this track she contributed to the soundtrack of He's Just Not That Into You that I find I enjoy the most.



"I'd Like To"
Corinne Bailey Rae
Corinne Bailey Rae
EMI Records, 2007


I'd Like To, Pt. 2Trivia: Although she garnered a sizeable fan base after the success of her debut album, Rae went on a nearly two-year hiatus from performing or recording in 2008 after her husband, musician Jason Rae, was found dead from a drug overdose. After some uncertainty as to whether she would return to music at all, Rae's sophomore album, The Sea, is set to be released in February 2010.




Get Corinne Bailey Rae's smooth, groovy and competent debut album.

Snowmobile Chic


I Heart Blondes