High Kill Heels (singles & albums first third 2011, plus leftover lists from 2010)
Click to viewGalaxy Dream ft. Turbotronic, "Ready 4 Romance"
Pretty much missed three out of the four months, but was still able to get a solid 20, thanks to ringers from late last year, Korean b-sides, Korean instrumentals, a Far East Movement bonus track that's currently number 5 on the Gaon Overseas Chart, and a joke that my mom (b. 1923) says is far older than she is, much less the Bellamy Brothers. So predates World War I, at least. Might even predate the French And Indian War.
In regards to said joke, while even my Britney-loving friends consider "Hold It Against Me" the bottom poop of Britney's year, I'm completely taken by it, as it rumbles and rocks, glides and pummels, soars and attacks; maybe it's a bit too comfortable in its trashiness, compared to the unsettlingly squirmy trashiness of Blackout, but basically I think this and "3" are genius and if only she 'n' Max 'n' crew had put together an album's worth of such gorgeous sexslime, Femme Fatale'd be in my decade's top ten for sure. Will likely make my year's ten, anyway, though as you'll see below, not a lot of albums have been knocking the door of the koganbot pleasure center.
SINGLES:
1. Britney Spears "Hold It Against Me"
2. Jeremih "Down On Me"
3. GD&TOP "High High"
4. Galaxy Dream ft. Turbotronic "Ready 4 Romance"
5. IU "The Story Only I Didn't Know"
6. GD&TOP "Knock Out"
7. Far East Movement ft. Lil Jon & Colette Carr "Go Ape"
8. Big Bang "Tonight"
9. Rihanna "S&M"
10. Reba McEntire "If I Were A Boy"
11. Secret "No. 1 (Inst.)"
12. Camo & Krooked "Nothing Is Older Than Yesterday"
13. Girl2School "Let's Play Dance"
14. Kara "Jumping"
15. Rainbow "To Me"
16. Crookers ft. Róisín Murphy "Royal T."
17. Xoxo "Mocha Java"
18. Avril Lavigne "What The Hell"
19. Jamey Johnson "Heartache"
20. T-ara "Why Are You Being Like This?"
ALBUMS:
Britney Spears Femme Fatale
SOOLj Electro SOOLj EP
T-ara Temptastic EP
LPG Special
Wild rose
LPG are listed as "trot," which is a Korean descendant of foxtrot, so I expect it's what everybody danced to prior to the young people's wave of hip-hop and r&b; in feel it makes me think of Italodisco, actually. LPG seem to be young people themselves, their name originally standing for "Long Pretty Girls" owing to the singers all winning beauty contests. Possibly an unpromising premise for a girl group, but art can come from anywhere, even the heights. Now, foreshortened by a few defections and replacements, LPG are merely "Lovely Pretty Girls" and perhaps need a successful album so as not to end up lonely pretty girls. They did a recent terribly blah cover of "We No Speak Americano," their voices being the total wrong style for a poke-you-in-the-ribs novelty. There's something clear and matter of fact about their singing, reminding me of Boney M.*
I wrote about the Britters here and here, about the Jeremih here and here, about "High High" here, there, and everywhere, "Ready 4 Romance" and "No. 1 (inst.)" and "Knockout" and "Mocha Java" here, Rihanna here, Reba being a boy here, Avril here, and T-ara here. So what's that leave?
Right, I've been talking about IU all over the planet including here, but, though we did the new mental illness vid, we never really got to the song. "Legitimate" ballad doesn't quite capture it, and though "art" ballad might be closer, that doesn't feel right either; but anyway, not the everyday pang-n-mush-ballad sandwich that's the staple of Asian pop, and not just the deep-passion ballad or the show-off Mariah extravaganza, or the classy controlled jazz stylings of the Good Singer, but something grave, and daunting, and ambitious. Yet she's got a small and sketchy voice, lacking the pyrotechnics to go the Mariah route even if she wanted to, or the steady command to match her hero Corinne Bailey Rae, though she's tried. And her mushburger ballads are almost as boring as everyone else's, so far. Nonetheless, she's creating a body of stunning performances, from live knockoffs of other people's pop hits to difficult showpieces, and not by taking the Taylor Swift route of expressive wavers and quavers, but by throwing herself directly at the difficulty. I don't get it, actually, but for me "The Story Only I Didn't Know" has the emotional wallop of a massively wailing old Shangri-Las' track, despite IU's not wailing.**
Far East Movement ft. "Go Ape": Sorta what you'd expect from a ghetto-electro banger featuring a classic crunk bawler and a cut-rate Ke$ha all imitating Gwen Stefani and going apeshit.
Big Bang "Tonight": Take G-Dragon & T.O.P., glisten 'em all up, and embed them in harmonic delirium courtesy of their band o' boys. High flying.
Camo & Krooked "Nothing Is Older Than Yesterday": Where "Ready 4 Romance" proves that techno is really disco, this proves it was really rock all along.
Girl2School "Let's Play Dance": Not sure what the difference is between playing dance and actually dancing, though in the video the girls - a not necessarily talented crew - mostly eschew steps and choreography, and as they say, you can do it, baby.
Kara "Jumping": Reaching for the swirl and passion of Exposé and the Cover Girls; don't really achieve the ache and pang, but they give it excitement, a fast, bright shine.
Rainbow "To Me": More of Korea on the Latin tip, unexpectedly rolling into a beautiful Judy Torres wail at the end, despite the Rainbowite's not being much of a wailer. Eng subs on the vid are along the lines of I need you, you need me too, I'm what you want, no one ever loved you more, call me, I won't wait by the phone, high kill heels (!), I'm not the usual type, thank you very much but I can pay for my own car, give everything to me, you'll fall at the speed of mach, I need you, you need me, that's right boy, come to me. So pleader, stalker, and tease, all at once.
Crookers ft. Róisín Murphy "Royal T": The track gets off on its boinks and buzzes, while Róisín digs sharp elbows into the groove.
Jamey Johnson "Heartache": Jamey once again impersonates a nonperson (see "The Guitar Song"); this time he's pain on the prowl.
T-ara "Why Are You Being Like This?": While lyric translations assert that the boy is feeling a Wonderland of fluttering love while acting indifferent, the sound says the T-aras are flicking around, self-contained in their own happy dance. He can join in only if he can catch up.
Actually, since I never bothered posting my P&J ballot or my 2010 albums, mainly 'cause I still haven't come up with what I want to say about E.via in the category Greatest Artist Of 2010 Even Though She's Really Only Got Three Significant Songs To Speak Of, I might as well post my Albums Longlist For 2010 - though I myself am dubious about anything ranked lower than 12 ('cept I probably should've upgraded the T-ara, which as a December release is getting consideration for this year too):
1. Ke$ha Animal (RCA)
2. E.via Must Have EP (Dline Art Media)
3. The-Dream Love King (Radio Killa/Def Jam)
4. Various Artists Ayobaness! (The Sound Of South African House) (Out Here)
5. Marina And The Diamonds The Family Jewels (Atlantic)
6. E.via Via Polar EP (Dline Art Media)
7. Taylor Swift Speak Now (Big Machine)
8. Rihanna Loud (Def Jam)
9. Diddy - Dirty Money Last Train To Paris (Bad Boy)
10. Daddy Yankee Daddy Yankee Mundial (El Cartel/Sony)
11. Jamey Johnson The Guitar Song (Mercury Nashville)
12. Princesa Más Fuego (no label)
13. Ke$ha Cannibal EP (RCA)
14. Jenni Vartiainen Seili (Warner Music Finland)
15. T-ara Temptastic EP (Core Contents Media/Mnet Media)
16. Roach Gigz Roachy Balboa (Goomba)
17. Far East Movement Free Wired (Cherrytree)
18. DJ DOC Elegance
19. 2NE1 To Anyone (YG Entertainment)
20. Wiley Best Of Wiley Zip Files (Davey Boy Smith version) (no label)
And my Country Singles Longlist For 2010, which I intended to relisten to so as to ascertain whether I did right by the year's latecomers, but I never got to it:
1. Little Big Town "Little White Church"
2. Sunny Sweeney "From A Table Away"
3. Taylor Swift "Mean"
4. Martina McBride "Wrong Baby Wrong Baby Wrong"
5. Laura Bell Bundy "Giddy On Up"
6. Kenny Chesney "Somewhere With You"
7. Trace Adkins "Ala-Freakin-Bama"
8. Sarah Darling "Whenever It Rains"
9. Stealing Angels "He Better Be Dead"
10. Sarah Darling "With Or Without You"
11. Brad Paisley "Water"
12. Kenny Chesney "Ain't Back Yet"
13. Miranda Lambert "The House That Built Me"
14. Miranda Lambert "Only Prettier"
15. Jerrod Niemann "Lover, Lover"
16. Martin Ramey "Twisted"
17. Jake Owen "Tell Me"
18. Jaron And The Long Road To Love "Pray For You"
19. Randy Montana "Ain't Much Left Of Lovin' You"
20. The Band Perry "If I Die Young"
21. Eric Church "Smoke A Little Smoke"
22. Gretchen Wilson "I Got Your Country Right Here"
23. Los Lobos "Burn It Down"
24. Luke Bryan "Someone Else Calling You Baby"
25. Toby Keith "Bullets In The Gun"
26. Blaine Larsen "Leavin'"
27. Dierks Bentley "Draw Me A Map"
28. Tim McGraw "Felt Good On My Lips"
29. Blake Wise "I've Got This Feeling"
30. Chuck Wicks "Old School"
*Of course, Boney M would probably have done a terrific version of "We No Speak Americano," evening out the song's "humor," but they'd probably do a terrific version of anything.
**But come to think of it, the Shangri-Las song this most reminds me of is "Past Present And Future," which forgoes the wails.