The Week's Billboard Hot 100 #1

Does she only have one album currently? I've been meaning to check her out for a while. I figure I gave Gotye a chance (and I recommend him, certainly), might as well check out his featured artist

By the way, here's one of the songs she released in preparations for the album. The chorus is quite the jam:

And since we're on a new page, let me post the full album stream again.

Really, it a shame that she and her label have no interest in taking her music mainstream, but she's nevertheless a talented artist.

edited 11th Aug '14 7:59:11 PM by chihuahua0

Some first listen notes off Kimbra's Golden Echo:

• "Teen Heat" has heavy '90's Boy Band' vibe on the vocal melody of the chorus. The gong is nice touch. The whole chorus is just so huge. And Kimbra is amazing harmonizing with herself, just as on the last album.
• I can't lie, I hated "90's Music" the first time I heard it, but after repeated listens it has really grown on me. Both the verse beat and vocal melodies just needed getting used to. Loving the chorus, especially the percussion.
• "Carolina" has amazing intro; Beach Boy-ish melodies with interesting, ethereal keyboard melodies. The percussion of the chorus is a nice nod towards the last album's soul sound, especially "Cameo Lover".
• Out of all the songs "Goldmine" is probably closest to the last album, though it's distinguishable by the drum machine and the 8-bit bleep keyboards.
• "Miracle" is a great retro disco track, and if the world was a just place, it would be part of the retro-disco single boom following the likes of 'Get Lucky' and 'Treasure'. The percussion reminds me of "Funky Town". Also, DAT (Synth)BASS
• "Rescue Him" is a bit more low-key track, though it builds towards the dramatic ending layer by layer. Still, probably the weakest track of the album, but that's due to the album's strength rather than the weakness of the song.
• Something about the instrumentation and production of "Madhouse" gives me heavy St. Vincent -vibes. Partially the synth sound, but also something about how the melodies are constructed in the song.
• Another low-key track, "As You Are" is mainly carried by a simple piano chord progression, which some interesting orchestral stings (no, I did not misspell "strings") here and there.
• On "Love in High Places" Kimbra sounds curiously like Lykke Li. Interesting synth part after the first chorus. And a cool bass-solo during the C-part.
• "Nobody But You" is a bit more straightforward song, similar to her older material. Again, some decent bass during the chorus. The C-part throws in some weird distortion.
• "Waltz Me To Grave" is one of the slower ones, but it is well-crafted enough to justify its place as a Big Album Finisher father than 'the bland, long one we put as a filler at the end of the album because nobody listens albums through anymore' A strong finisher, even though the synth static of the last few minutes lasted maybe a bit too long.

Clearly the more electronic-oriented single "Warrior", added on the US release of Echoes, was a sign of things to come, as this album is a lot more electronic and synth-heavy than the last, which leaned towards jazz and soul. Also a lot more adventurous and experimental than the last. But even after the first listen I can presume that I will like this album more than the first, which I already adored. Unless, of course, this instantly wears out its welcome on multiple listens, but due to all the nuances and layers in sound I highly doubt that.

A strong Album of the Year contender, if that can be deemed after the first listen.

The music video for Ariana Grande's "Break Free" was released a couple hours ago. It's sci-fi and campy. How campy? Missile bra campy.

I bet you peeked at that spoiler.

"Two steps ahead of modern day sexiness." I'd like to discredit that statement as stupid bragging, but goddammit, it's Ariana Grande. Two steps might be an understatement here.

And yeah, the video is so campy that even if it's clearly trying to invoke Star Trek imagery it comes off as Galaxy Quest.

"Rude" is #1 for a fifth week

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6214513/hot-100-magic-charli-xcx-meghan-trainor

"Boom Clap" by Charli XCX jumps to #10, making it her third Top 10 overall, but her first as a lead artist. It has radio to thank here.

In the Top 20, "Bailando" by Enrique Iglesias feat. Descemer Bueno & Gente de Zona is at #12. It started as a Spanish song whose English release is bringing it up to greatest hit as of late. "Rather Be" is at #13. "Break Free" stays at #18, but will become a Top 10 contender due to its music video. ("Bailando" and "Rather Be" also have Top 10 potential, but competition will be tight up there.)

"Black Widow" by Iggy Azalea feat. Rita Ora had a music video release yesterday. It is #15, but is most likely to enter the Top soon.

Oh, and "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj is the hot shot debut at #19. It has officially charted higher than "Pills N Potions" (formally #24), which is a nice song, but "Anaconda" has a spunk that overrides how grating it can be. A music video is forthcoming. It'll definitely suffer a second-week drop, but who knows if it'll stay around.

In album news, the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack with the Awesome Mix: No. 1 (ie, the 60s and 70s pop music), went #1. It was pretty much the only mainstream release that week besides the "Now That's What I Call Music!" release. It's possible that it'll be #1 next week.

edited 14th Aug '14 4:52:49 AM by chihuahua0

It's interesting, if not exactly surprising, how the single and album charts are usually dominated by completely different artists.

I'm sorry but "Boom Clap" irritates me so much. My 16-year-old sister loves it but Charli XCX's voice just bothers me.

Eh, it's still better than "All About That Bass".

Fie on thee.

For some reason, I feel like the chorus of "All About That Bass" should be sung by a basso profundo or something.

Here's an interesting piece on the Song of the Summer.

That just sadly reaffirms all the negative stereotypes I have towards the general top 40 pop music listener.

Hmm. It seems like the common traits of songs of the summer are the same traits of most other pop songs.

[[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140611160252/videogames-fanon/images/6/6f/You_don't_say%3F.jpg]]

I mean, yeah. But what's the point of making a list if it's just gonna be "Traits of most pop songs"?

And here people wonder why I say modern music these days is too repetitive, formulaic and "manufactured". There's not much if any real uniqueness anymore.

When you can analyze and break it down into exact statistics like that...

You can do the same thing about literally any era of pop music, going as far back as music's been a cultural force.

Same for most genres and subgenres.

edited 16th Aug '14 9:11:03 AM by Odd1

You know, I forgot to say this earlier, but "Rude" is a pretty dull song. Setting aside the weirdly misconstrued lyrical conceit, it's just sort of plodding most of the time, and the energetic sections aren't particularly catchy.

As for the "summer pop song formula," there are ways to write a song with those qualities and non-qualities that is really enjoyable and even reasonably original, but over the last two years... I dunno. "Get Lucky" was great, and there were other highlights, but nothing's made me go out of my way to look into what's on the charts or listen to pop radio.

How far did "Digital Witness" chart, by the way?

From what I've seen, not at all. Maybe it charted on Alternative Radio, but from what I seen, it didn't enter the Hot 100 at any time. St. Vincent's Billboard page shows no charting information (although they should've gotten at least on the Billboard 200), and the song doesn't have a Wikipedia page.

I think it's too hard to listen to for Top 40 radio to consider it. The lead singer's verse delivery isn't that pleasant.

I've never even heard of the song (though I've heard of the band a bunch in the past).

If "Birth in Reverse" can get picked up for a Verizon commercial—a much harsher song, both sonically and lyrically—then I'm a little stunned that "Digital Witness" hasn't caught on.

Unpleasant? Really now? Has slight vocal distortion and laid-back delivery suddenly become anathema to our delicate modern sensibilities? I mean, "Bang a Gong" was a hit back in the day, was it not? (And really, with "Fancy" at the top of the charts, with all the aural pain that entails...)

Technically one lady. She's a personal favourite of mine. Check her out.

edited 17th Aug '14 12:41:06 PM by JHM

Honestly, if Lil Jon isn't too much for people to handle, I don't think that kind of music would be too hard to handle either.

Any albums by St Vincent you recommend as a starting point?

Actually, looking it up, the LP peaked at #12 on Billboard and landed at #21 in the UK, but the singles have received more critical praise and late-night live exposure than radio play.

I am not surprised. Again, the Top 40 has been really... you can fill in your own negative adjectives. I hate being this down on the pop charts, and I'm not usually all sour grapes about artists I like not getting exposure outside of the usual niche, but I really loathe most of what I've been hearing lately and it's tiring to have so little in the pop sphere to look forward to.

Actor is a personal favourite and a very good starting point, but all of them are great.

edited 17th Aug '14 12:49:46 PM by JHM