Member Since: 1/20/2009
Posts: 17,143
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► ◄  | TOP 5 FAVORITE SONGS (2009):
5) Hot Mess
4) Good Girls Go Bad
3) Living In The Sky With Diamonds
2) Pete Wentz Is The Only Reason We are Famous
1) You're Not In On The Joke
MONSTER COUNTDOWN TOP 100 SINGLES:
1) Good Girls Go Bad - # 19
2) Hot Mess - #74
Having given up on emo for synth-charged snark a
few years back, Gabe Saporta continues to live his
Eighties-pop dreams with Cobra Starship's third album.
Hot Mess is packed with electro-sleaze tunes that go
over the top in both their bright sound — sassy hook-singing
girls are prevalent — and wink-wink mien.
Sometimes the former Midtownsinger's snark falls flat,
as with the title "Pete Wentz Is the Only Reason We're Famous"
or the part where the singer brags about his ass.
But Saporta does have some pop gifts, apparent on the disco
"Living in the Sky With Diamonds," where he delivers
a sculpted, earnest-sounding chorus about a high-living
lady — and also quotes Hall and Oates' "Maneater."
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  | TOP 5 FAVORITE SONGS (2009):
5) Time For Miracles
4) Whataya Want From Me
3) For Your Entretainment
2) Fever
1) Soaked
MONSTER COUNTDOWN TOP 100 SINGLES:
1) Time For Miracles - # 64
2) For Your Entretainment - # 23
"I was born with glitter on my face/My baby clothes
made of leather and lace," crows Adam Lambert.
The American Idol runner-up is on a mission to revive
the camp theatricality of glam, one lip-liner stroke and
upper-register operatic shriek at a time.
His debut corrals A-list pop songwriters and producers
to supply power-chord pomp ("Music Again," written by
fellow Queen worshipper Justin Hawkins of the Darkness),
wind-swept Orientalist arias ("Soaked") and other
showcases for Lambert's amazing vocal instrument.
The songs sound great but feel strangely
stuffy — Entertainment seems like a disc that was overthought.
Next time, the hugely talented Lambert should
make sure he's going straight for the gut.
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  | TOP 5 FAVORITE SONGS (2009):
5) Tik Tok / Blind
4) Hungover
3) Kiss And Tell
2) Take It Off
1) Dancing With Tears In My Eyes
MONSTER COUNTDOWN TOP 100 SINGLES:
1) Tik Tok - #22
Not long ago, frat-boy antics were for, well, boys.
But 22-year-old Ke$ha, the electro-upstart behind the hit
"TiK ToK," is here to let the world know that loutish
drunkenness and sexual harassment aren't just
for fellas anymore. On her debut, she calls herself
a pimp, brags about a "Party at a Rich Dude's House"
and tells one hapless love toy, "Don't be a little bitch with
your chit-chat/Just show me where your dick's at."
It's repulsive, obnoxious and ridiculously catchy — thanks
to songwriter-producers Dr. Luke and Max Martin,
who envelop Ke$ha's bratty raps in percolating beats
and buzzing bass lines.
Fear for the future of civilization, and dance.
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  | TOP 5 FAVORITE SONGS (2009):
5) You've Got the Love
4) Hurriacane Drunk
3) Kiss With A Fist
2) Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)
1) Drumming Song
MONSTER COUNTDOWN TOP 100 SINGLES:
1) Drumming Song - #32
An intense young woman who read a lot of
Edgar Allan Poe as a child, Florence specialises in dark,
gothic imagery - werewolves, wedding dresses,
bleeding hearts and coffins - and quirky tunes that start
quietly and build into big, soaring climaxes. The songs are
generally angry, with an undercurrent of violence and/or animal
passion, and a nagging hook to keep you there. When this girl
falls in love, you gather, she really falls. When it's over, the only
recourse is pain, rage and vast quantities of alcohol.
The single Rabbit Heart was written after her label asked her
for something more upbeat, but ended up with a typically
jaunty chorus about sacrifice: "This is the gift/ It comes with a
price/ Who is the lamb/And who is the knife?".
Sometimes the rough edges have been over-smoothed:
there are all kinds of strange, cheap synthesised noises
buried under the layers of polish that I'd like to hear more clearly.
But this is a minor gripe, for despite its dark heart, there's a real
joy about this debut. It's the sound of someone who has found
their voice and is keen to use it - as loudly and freely as possible.
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TOP 5 FAVORITE SONGS (2009):
5) Ignorance
4) Decode
3) Brick By Boring Brick
2) Careful
1) All I Wanted
MONSTER COUNTDOWN TOP 100 SINGLES:
1) Ignorance - #57
2) Brick By Boring Brick - #30
You can see it in the pointed use of lower case
lettering in the album title on the artwork, in the
cruelly dismembered and mounted butterfly on
the cover and in the tormented song titles – ‘Turn It Off’,
‘Ignorance’, ‘Playing God’. Paramore have not only
grown up, but grown into a cynical bunch.
Despite being largely invisible to the ‘serious’
music fan in your life, Paramore are,
pre-teen by pre-teen, taking over the world.
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but the rest are awesome
