07:55 PM

On second thought, this big thing won't be ready today, so some songs for fun:

Jimmy Soul - "If You Wanna Be Happy". I'm a great fan of this 1963 classic: it's slim, carefree, and the greatest celebration of ugly women that I've ever heard. I dance to it, I sing along, and I enjoy very much when the falsetto kid comes in at the end, like a googly-eyed squid in a Little Mermaid musical number. (q: Is the conversation that starts "I saw your wife the other day" the '63 equivalent of The Streets' "are you paranoid? / yes I'm paranoooid"?)

Four Tet - "She Moves She". My favourite single of 2003 that didn't make Pazz & Jop's top 100. (In fact, only one voting critic - dear, sweet, mysterious Stacy Osbaum - picked it.) I said in my Fave Songs piece:

The gilded tickle of a mandolin, the ringing of bells, a drumbeat for slow-motion dancing. There's a pop melody there, too: the crunch of electric guitar, the frustrated alt.rock noise. And yet that pop song has been cut apart, split up, strung out across beautiful organic sounds, like lanterns on Four Tet's silver clothesline.

What I say now? This song is like a really good kiss, like a broken jukebox kiss, like a kiss that sends you hurtling back past all the bittersweet moments of life, past frozenmemory snapshots of your life, each of them sparking into dust.

other points:
Just spotted Keith's fine mp3 blog, Teaching the Indie Kids to Dance Again, where I heard TV on the Radio for the first time, and verily, I was much intrigued.

Janet Jackson's not-quite-released "Love Me For A Little While" is fabulous. Sort of "Hey Ya!" but without the indie irony (or the all-out epic dance-party genius). I found it on a blog-that-wishes-to-not-be-named (since all of his February bandwidth was swallowed by Ms Jackson alone), and will not be putting it online for similar reasons, but you should all seek it out on P2P tout suite. I like it when Janet says "you-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo," and you probably will too, even if Andrea doesn't.

Oh yes - like matthew at fluxblog says, clapclap's post on a "Pop" dichotomy is terrific analysis, and I think it will even prove useful. kudos.

talk to you later!

06:20 PM

So yes - the results for Pazz and Jop 2003 are in. Critics have responded in droves and democratically declared the best of the year to be...

ALBUMS
1 OutKast Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (Arista)

This is cool if only because it's, uh, not by white rockers. (This is relevant only because most critics I've met do happen to be white rockers. And, tokenism or not, this result suggests OutKast=Wilco (2002's #1 album), in the eyes of the critical commons. That is, prog hip-hop is as well-received as prog country-pop. And that's interesting.) It's also cool because I think it's a very, very good (double-)album. (Andrew will not be pleased.)

2 The White Stripes Elephant (V2)
3 Fountains of Wayne Welcome Interstate Managers (S-Curve)
4 Radiohead Hail to the Thief (Capitol)

Three okay albums that just make the list feel depressing. I guess it's how lots of other people felt about Wilco's win last year - these are picks without energy, vim, sparkle. Yes, the White Stripes do the white stripes thing well: but can you still get excited about Elephant? Yes, the Fountains of Wayne are catchy (I do like "Stacy's Mom"), but aren't they also really plain? Yes, Radiohead did record some fine songs. But songs; an ILMer put it best: what would Radiohead have to do to not crack the P&J Top Ten? Should these albums really consist of #2, #3, and #4?

5 Yeah Yeah Yeahs Fever to Tell (Interscope)
6 The Shins Chutes Too Narrow (Sub Pop)

Argh. The Shins!? What a boring, dumb-witted, donut-hole of a record. And it didn't even have "New Slang" to redeem it!

7 New Pornographers Electric Version (Matador)
8 Basement Jaxx Kish Kash (Astralwerks)

I'm surprised (why did so many indie kids - YYY, FoW, Shins, New Pornos - rank so high?), but I can live with these...

9 Drive-By Truckers Decoration Day (New West)

Who?

10 Dizzee Rascal Boy in Da Corner (XL import)

! Wow Dizzee! I don't think this album had even been released in the States in 2003...

SINGLES
1 OutKast "Hey Ya!" (Arista)
2 Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z "Crazy in Love" (Columbia)
3 The White Stripes "Seven Nation Army" (Third Man/V2)
4 Kelis "Milkshake" (Star Trak/Arista)
5 50 Cent "In Da Club" (G-Unit/Shady/Aftermath/Interscope)
6 Johnny Cash "Hurt" (Universal)
7 Fountains of Wayne "Stacy's Mom" (S-Curve/Virgin)
8 R. Kelly "Ignition-Remix" (Jive)
9 Junior Senior "Move Your Feet" (Atlantic)
10 Panjabi MC featuring Jay-Z "Beware of the Boys (Mundian To Bach Ke)"
(Sequence)

But this list I like very much. The only one that wasn't among my favourite songs of 2003 was the Kelis track. I seem to be the only human being in the planet who isn't thrilled-to-pieces with "Milkshake" (well, apart from those cymbal things in the chorus).

Sorry for the lack of updates - I had a friend in from out-of-town, and I'm working on a v. large post about my pop and hip-hop trajectory. (MP3s will accompany it.)