Aguilera

[syntheticgerbil]

I'm not a Ladytron fan, but apparently they are writing songs for Christina Aguilera's new album.

There's something very wrong with this to me, but I feel like if I start getting on my soapbox about music politics it will cause a huge argument, maybe not with you guys, but maybe forum guests and google serachers.

Any Ladytron fans upset? Anyone glad?

[Wrestlevania]

Ladytron consistently turn out some of the best vocal Progressive tracks around at the moment, and I absolutely love them. But I don't care if they're writing P(o)op music as well.

In a somewhat archaic way, it's like getting upset that your favourite painter might have taken a commission to do a sculpture or two as well, during their career. Doesn't make sense to be outraged by it IMO--and if it improves the shit smeared across commercial radio stations, so much the better.

[SignorSuperdouche]

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with pop music. Not everything has to be art, sometimes it's ok just to enjoy a catchy tune for what it is. It's no worse than watching some dumb action movie like Die Hard.

[brkl]

It bothers me that this is now what the term progressive in music refers to.

[Wrestlevania]

It's merely the name of a sub-genre and refers to the layering and build-up of the music. It's not any sort of pretentious artistic mandate.

Anyway...

[miffy495]

I was introduced to Ladytron by my girlfriend last year. Saw them perform at a local bar early in the fall as well. I really dig their stuff. I don't have a problem with their writing for Aguilera, but I'm still not going to be listening to her new album.

[Nachimir]

This surprised me at first, but not on reflection.

is very poppy compared to earlier stuff that reminded me of, say, Add N To X. (Fact: I once put this on and just a few bars in Yufster said "What the fuck is this?" and changed it).

I'm not entirely hostile to pop music as I once was, but prefer remixes to plain chart versions. Kid 606 did an excellent remix of "Can't get you out of my head" by Kylie, called "Smack My Glitch Up". Alas, not online in full anywhere as far as I can tell.

Pop has generally been getting quite strange in the face of declining CD sales, which I think is a good thing. It's not that anything around now is particularly artistic or credible compared to more specific genre work, but it seems better now than the absolute shit I remember from the 80's and 90's.

[Wrestlevania]

Pop has generally been getting quite strange in the face of declining CD sales, which I think is a good thing. It's not that anything around now is particularly artistic or credible compared to more specific genre work, but it seems better now than the absolute shit I remember from the 80's and 90's.

As tempting as it is to bleat "HERESY!" at this, you're right; even though it was the hey-day of Pop, there was an awful lot of shit during the 80s.

It's still my favourite decade, musically, but you do have to dig for the gems. But the same goes for any decade's music, so it's a moot point.

[Nachimir]

Yeah, I just have a personal dislike of the 80s for some reason. FWIW, the 90's were far worse.

Edit: Actually, I remember being in Tunisia when they played that really loud over and over again on one section of the beach, and that was 1989 ¬¬

It was a portent of things to come though, I remember a lot of 90's pop being that annoying.

[Wrestlevania]

FWIW, the 90's were far worse.

"RIDE ON TIME! -IDE! -IDE! -IDE ON TIME!"

Yeah, no shit.

[James]

Kid 606

Tangent: seeing him supporting Mogwai in the Royal Albert Hall. I since got an album of his and wasn't completely into it, but the juxtaposition between the music and the venue made a lot of sense (as did Mogwai's music). I should see more stuff there.

[syntheticgerbil]

Many years ago in high school I really got into Kid 606's old friend Cex, who at the time made similar music but has since gone down a very path with nearly constant genre changes.

Although the last two years it just seems like Cex has only been interested in making obnoxious dub/remix crap on cassette tape to purposefully piss off and alienate all of his remaining fans. Not to say that some of that stuff wasn't intensely listenable and hypnotic.

His new stuff seems to be a very advanced return to form (and Muxtape) to the old instrumental stuff he used to put out when he was big on the Tiger Beat 6 label. Although I hope his vocals return again one day.

http://cexman.muxtape.com/

[Nachimir]

Most of Kid 606 made me go "Ouch my fucking ears" but there's some really good stuff in there I think. Never got much into Cex, but I did really like this one.

(edit)

While we're on pop, I've tried very, very hard to hate

by Alphabeat, and I can't. It's just too infectiously happy. Likewise for Hey Ya, when I worked in a club we all tried to hate it and caved after a month or so.

Here's that Kid606 remix of Kylie. Maybe I prefer remixes of pop mainly because they let me listen to something with an obvious hook while keeping an air of music snobbery and moody bleeping ¬¬

Edited February 16, 2009 by Nachimir

[n0wak]

While we're on pop, I've tried very, very hard to hate

by Alphabeat, and I can't. It's just too infectiously happy.

I prefer the Human League "Fascination" but their best was

. Ahh, 80s. I dunno. There are several streams of pop there and I do like the kind of new wavey, early electronic type of pop that was popular then. In some ways I've grown to like that stuff as an antidote to the over-produced crap of the 90s, when I really grew up, and it's weird to see a sort of revival of 80s pop. It's rather trendy and hipster, but I do really dig the likes of Cut Copy and Ladyhawke. If anything, they're a good counter to the more esoteric things in my playlist.

I remember reading, or hearing, a while ago a post on Blondie's influence on pop music. It pointed out that they were basically an aberration in North America, but highly influential in Europe. While Europe was more keen on the female led, rock-styled pop of Blondie, North America generally stayed more close with the funk/hip-hop styled line of pop. Which seems about right to me. The mainstream pop from outside of Europe seems, on the whole, more diverse than the stuff coming from North America. I imagine that there are a lot of factors to this and that's worth a book's worth of analysis, but I thought it was kinda interesting. And unfortunate. If more pop was like classic Blondie, I probably wouldn't hate it so much.