Random Music Thoughts

[pvdk]

So Wynter Gordon kinda disappeared.

[misplaced validity]

Friday is going to be the new normal in terms of release day for music:
http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news...sic__8203/

[misplaced validity]

So Kelly Clarkson's new album is another disappointment. It's like she keeps making the same album. I don't get it. I do love "Take You High," though.

[Veronica Mars]

I think it's slightly better than her previous two non-holiday, non-compilation albums overall, but All I Ever Wanted and Stronger had some good single choices at least. I'm having a hard time picking out good future singles for this one, especially since it's largely dominated by ballads and midtempos up front.

[misplaced validity]

(02-28-2015 03:37 AM)Veronica Mars Wrote:  I think it's slightly better than her previous two non-holiday, non-compilation albums overall, but All I Ever Wanted and Stronger had some good single choices at least. I'm having a hard time picking out good future singles for this one, especially since it's largely dominated by ballads and midtempos up front.

Kelly and P!nk are so similar to me in that they debuted with a label-influenced album that probably wasn't what they wanted overall, followed it up with an album that broke new artistic ground for them and took them to another level commercially, released third albums that were risky but ultimately under-performed commercially, returned with a fourth album that returned to the sound that brought them the most success and re-established them, and then have been coasting on that sound since in terms of their albums.

[mahogany soul]

(02-28-2015 05:26 AM)misplaced validity Wrote:  and then have been coasting on that sound since in terms of their albums.

Basically. It's gotten to the point where with P!nk I refuse to listen to her on the radio anymore. Especially since it's all her post-Missundaztood music and it's basically the same song.

Slant has a wonderful review of Clarkson's new album where they say she should be operating on the level of Taylor Swift and Adele right now in terms of critical and commercial success. I agree.

[misplaced validity]

The latest EW includes a Chart Flashback to the top 10 this week in 1995, and it's stellar. Here is the top 10 with EW grades:

1. "Take A Bow" (Madonna) - A-
2. "Creep" (TLC) - A
3. "Candy Rain" (Soul for Real) - B+
4. "Baby" (Brandy) - B
5. "You Gotta Me" (Des'ree) A-
6. "Another Night" (Real McCoy) - B
7. "On Bended Knee" (Boyz II Men) - B+
8. "If You Love Me" (Brownstone) - B
9. "Strong Enough" (Sheryl Crow) - A
10. "Hold My Hand" (Hootie & The Blowfish) - A-

I can at least tolerate all 10 of those songs, and I have 8 of them on my iPod.

[misplaced validity]

Kanye West bugs me a lot as a personality, but man if he isn't one of my favorite artists of all-time. I've liked every one of his albums, and I'd rank a couple of them among my all-time favorites. I'd probably rank his albums this way:
1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2. Late Registration
3. Yeezus
4. The College Dropout
5. Yeezus
6. 808s & Heartbreak (this has ended up being perhaps his most influential)
7. Graduation
8. Watch the Throne

[misplaced validity]

I love what County Universe has to say about Carrie Underwood in the review of her new single:

Quote:With her latest single, Carrie Underwood once again reaffirms that she is among the best and most compelling artists of modern country music.

A depiction of verbal and emotional abuse on an epic scale, “Little Toy Guns” captures a truth not often talked about: that domestic violence can wound and scar without ever once raising a hand or breaking the skin, and can cause lasting collateral damage beyond even its intended target.

That makes it sound like a heavy-handed message song. It’s anything but, thanks to a fiery vocal from Underwood that throbs with both righteous anger and aching empathy, and a fresh, pop-flavored production that has the percussion elements reinforcing the lyrical imagery without getting in the way of the storyteller.

Here’s the thing about Carrie Underwood. She’s got the best pipes in the business. She could belt out pretty love songs and call it a day. But she continuously and consistently pushes herself as a vocalist and as a songwriter, choosing to tell stories about those who usually don’t have a voice.

Underwood doesn’t fit neatly into any of the neat, acceptable categories that are usually required for a woman to have “artistic credibility.” She’s not an outlaw, she’s not a confessional coffee-house songwriter, and she’s not a twangy traditionalist. She can easily slip in and out of any or all of those roles with ease, but she isn’t defined by – or limited by – any of them.

But she’s not an easily dismissible pop diva or country radio act, either. I don’t know that there’s ever been a woman quite like Carrie Underwood in country music. She’s a superstar with crossover appeal who doesn’t have any interest in leaving country music, but she takes the best elements of pop music to make her country music more compelling. She can command top-drawer material from A-list songwriters, but has insisted on honing her own craft, with her writer’s voice growing in clarity and strength with each new project she releases. She’s a television talent show alumni who can get most of America to tune into a live Broadway musical, but she keeps singing and writing about people and situations that no television show, reality or otherwise, will even acknowledge the existence of. She’s a successful Christian woman whose own singing and writing about her faith couldn’t be any further away from the gospel of success.

“Little Toy Guns” is further proof of how she keeps getting better with time.She is, again, one of the best and most compelling artists of modern country music. Now that she’s co-writing with Brandy Clark, maybe that won’t seem as bold a position to take when her next album comes around.

Grade: A

I'm really excited to read she's been writing with Brandy Clark.

[Culturegeek]

(03-01-2015 12:16 PM)misplaced validity Wrote:  Kanye West bugs me a lot as a personality, but man if he isn't one of my favorite artists of all-time. I've liked every one of his albums, and I'd rank a couple of them among my all-time favorites. I'd probably rank his albums this way:
1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2. Late Registration
3. Yeezus
4. The College Dropout
5. Yeezus
6. 808s & Heartbreak (this has ended up being perhaps his most influential)
7. Graduation
8. Watch the Throne

I haven't listened to all his albums closely enough to do a ranking, but My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is definitely my favourite.