Radio Rant: P!nk – Raise Your Glass

Posted on November 22, 2010 by bgibs122

Hey howdy hey, welcome to Radio Rants! Let’s crack open the Hot 100 and get a look at your top 10.…well, shit. I’ve already done six of these songs. Rihanna went last week, so I’m not dealing with her again this soon, so she’s off the list. I swore I wouldn’t review Firework until it got into the Top 5 (so probably next week). And Glee doesn’t count as real music. P!nk it is!

Let’s go over P!nk’s career to date. Her first major appearance was on Grammy winning collaborative remake of “Lady Marmalade” with Lil Kim, Mya, and Christina Aguilera (or as I refer to it, “How to make a supergroup without star power”). Then her M!ssundaztood album came out to critical and commercial acclaim, not to mention the hit single “Get This Party Started”. Since then, she’s followed a surprisingly stable trend of releasing an album, having a giant single or two, and then completely disappearing (see: “Stupid Girl”, “So What”). And now she’s coming out with a greatest hits collection, and like any self-respecting greatest hits comp, there’s one or two new tracks to rope the diehards into paying $15 for what they already own.

That song is “Raise Your Glass”. After opening with a not-quite guitar progression, Pink begins by…by…oh no, is she doing the Ke$ha sing talking thing? This is…I am not enjoying this. The beat is weak, the sing-talking…I was never a Pink fan, but this? Well, let’s take a look at the lyrics. “Right, right, turn off the lights/We gonna lose our minds tonight/What’s the dealio?” “Don’t be fancy/Just get dancey”? P!nk, if you date go Ke$ha on us, God help me, I will–

Hey, chorus. “So raise your glass if you are wrong/In all the right ways/All my underdogs,/we will never never be!/Anything but loud/And nitty gritty/Dirty little freaks!” Alright, I can live with this. It’s still the “be yourself” message we keep hearing, but energy of the chorus is refreshing. The beat also picked up considerably; there’s a pop-rock vibe to the wall of synths in the background (this would make for an interesting live track). And it’s kinda danceable.

The second verse throws in some ad-libs (personal favorite: “It’s so fucking on right now”), and shows Pink having more fun with the still horrible lyrics. It’s bearable, but just so. Then there’s another copy/paste chorus, and we get to the bridge, but not before an “Oh shit, my glass is empty…that sucks“. Aka: the point of the song where I actually chuckled.

This bridge is really where the song really shines: Pink can actually sing, and while the lyrics might be cliche, they work really well. The line “If you’re too school for cool” didn’t leave a good first impression with me, but after a few listens, I thought it worked really well for giving P!nk a target demographic that’d actually get something out of the song. And as we get to the last verse, the little “SORAISE YO–ah, fuck–SO RAISE YOUR GLASS” might be the funniest moment in Top 40 pop this year to boot. One final rinse of chorus with the prerequisite (but still tasteful) vocal riffing on the top, and we’re done.

“Raise Your Glass” is thematically on-par with “We R Who We R”, but destroys that song for a few reasons. First off, none of the latter’s annoying qualities are present. But more importantly, P!nk’s being honest with us here. If you look at her past hits, the lyrical content has always been that of a ballad or “I’M P!NK, MOTHERFUCKER.” For evidence, I merely submit the bridge.

I’ll be honest, though, I didn’t really feel this song at first. It was kind of catchy and predictably Pink, but never swayed me either way. As far as Top 40 goes, it’s definitely a grower, but a rewarding one. And hey, Pink is having fun, and a party with Pink is a party I’d love to be at.

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Album Review: Best Coast – Crazy For You

Posted on November 21, 2010 by bgibs122

One of the overriding themes of the past, say, decade or so of pop music has been a certain “retroism”; taking sounds from the ’60s-’80s and repackaging them as new. One of the odd things is how ubiquitous this idea’s been across the spectrum; everyone from no-name underground bands to pop megastars (sup, Gaga?) have embraced the trend. It’s led to some bad throwback songs, but some that have an oddly timeless feel to them.

Indie trio Best Coast’s album Crazy For You falls mostly into the latter. For all of the subgenre geeks out there, it’s indie pop meets surf rock meets girl groups meets shoegaze; basic but ambient guitar lines with catchy, childlike melodies and bouncy drum work all drenched in reverb. Short version: Imagine if My Bloody Valentine and the Beach Boys did a collaboration for Sarah Records (and give yourself five indie points if this paragraph made any sense at all). Crazy For You is hard to pin to any time because there’s subtle influences from all over.

Underneath that wave of description, Crazy For You is charmingly simple. Musically, it’s a guitar/drums/little bass mix that your buddy’s garage band could play with Bethany Cosentino’s sticky-sweet vocals on top. This is a very vocal album; aside from occasional intros or scattered guitar melodies, Cosentino’s voice is always at the forefront. And frankly, that’s not really a bad thing since she gives these songs personality. “Our Deal” croons with gentle desperation while “Happy” bounces along (although the lyrics reveal darker undertones).

Crazy For You screams Summer Album. Between the cover art (yep), the surf rock influence, and song titles like “Summer Mood”, this record begs to be listened to on beaches or in your boyfriend or girlfriend’s car with the windows down. Katy Perry might have pushed Teenage Dream as the official 2010 Ode to Summer, but Costenino and co. claimed the crown just days after the titular “Teenage Dream” single was released. Perry went from the grandiose summations of adolescence on that song, but simple ditties like “Boyfriend” and “Goodbye” say much more with much less. The fact that they’re also catchier is an added perk.

All that said, I only have one complaint with Crazy For You: It all sounds the same. The album’s only a little over half an hour long, which coupled with the sameiness can lead to a “What? It’s over?” reaction as “When I’m With You” ends. This sameness also applies to the lyrics: the topics are relationships, weed, and Consentino’s cat. That’s it. Count how many times she rhymes “crazy” and “lazy”, anything with “friend”, and how many lines get repeated. It’s not a true dealbreaker, but the repetition does get uncomfortable once you notice it.

All in all, Crazy For You is a tough one to rate when you get to the bottom of it. The music is gorgeous but tastefully basic, the production values are stellar, and the melodies are wonderful. But the repetition, brevity, and weak lyrics of the album are sizable detractors. Still though, four stars.

tl;dr: Crazy For You could soundtrack any indie “girl likes boy” movie. Four stars.

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Radio Rant: Rihanna – Only Girl (In the World)

Posted on November 17, 2010 by bgibs122

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem. This Top 10 is boring. I realize that part of this is the math behind the Radio Rants to Top 10 schematic (reviewing one song a week against a new list every week, factoring in that each song will have more than one week on the charts, etc), but come on. Sure, I could review “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love”, but despite months of airplay, I can only remember one line from it, and most of that line is in the freakin’ title. Or, there’s Pink’s latest song, “Raise Your Glass”, but it’s another “Screw you, I’m Pink!” song. So by process of elimination…

Let’s talk Rihanna. Since “SOS” back in 2006, I don’t think she’s spent more than six months without some sort of chart presence. That actually kind of makes sense in that Rihanna’s always been something of a non-entity as an artist. She always has some hit out there, but no one knows about her as a person (although the whole Chris Brown thing changed that). Anyway, “Only Girl (In the World)” is the lead single off of her new album Loud, which is out just a year after previous effort Rated R.

The song starts with a pretty groovy 80’s style synth and some “notice me” lyrics. Rihanna’s always been able to actually sing, which, when put up against some of the other songs I’ve dealt with recently, is a welcome addition. The synth on the track is pretty sweet, too, it’s not crazy catchy, but definitely gets you moving. “Only Girl” is more club pop than most of Rihanna’s older work, and it really works.

But the chorus is the main selling point for this song. And, to its credit, this is a massive chorus. The music more or less stops while Rihanna proudly proclaims, “Want you to make me feel/like I’m the only girl in the world/like I’m the only one that you’ll ever love/like I’m the only one who knows your heart/Only girl in the world”. And even though the synth blasts under her sound like they’re from 2008 when everyone was trying to copy Timbaland, it’s a good chorus. Rihanna’s confidence and strong delivery are what really sells it; she’s having fun.

Then that momentum stops dead as we go to the second verse, which is more of the same bouncy club beat with lyrics I don’t even care to mention. I think this is why I never liked Rihanna that much as an artist; she’s just too blank, too dull. She’s a pop artist off her admittedly talented voice and some decent producers, but her hits never really stand out. But songs like “Only Girl (In the World)” are good enough to at least last awhile.

Oops, bored’d myself off-track, but we didn’t really miss much. The second verse/chorus are essentially a copy of the first. The bridge’s music actually builds pretty nicely, even with some garbage lyrics on top of it (“Take me for a ride, ride”). A few extra bleeps find their way into the last chorus because it’s the last chorus, and Rihanna holds a few notes for the same reason. It works.

Which is really what I can say about the song in general. The production’s pretty good but not stellar, the song is lyrically passable by virtue of not sucking, and Rihanna’s voice and presence give the song that great chorus that’s the only memorable aspect. If this song/video comes on, I leave it be. Do I like it? Sure. I mean, if you don’t like it, you don’t, but I find it good at best and bland at worst. Works for me.

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Album Review: Amanda Palmer – Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele

Posted on November 13, 2010 by bgibs122

Back in the summer, Amanda Palmer (member of the Dresden Dolls, solo artist, and sure-why-not collaborator) cut an EP of 6 Radiohead covers because…well, probably because she got bored. I don’t know, I don’t ask these questions. It makes sense, though, since everyone covers Radiohead at some point (the list includes Gnarles Barkley, John Mayer, 15,247 teens in their bedrooms, and–I’m not making this up–Hanson).

As the cover art and the $.84 suggested price online for the record suggest, Palmer undertook this endeavor mostly for fun. And it’s a fun listen. But in the hands of a lesser artist, this would have been less substantial  than it is with Palmer, whose personable alto and clever arrangements make this project work. She’s quiet and somber on “Fake Plastic Trees”, or pleading on the chorus of “High and Dry”. She turns “No Surprises” into more of a lullaby than the original.

But the two best covers are truly original. “Creep” manages to be so musically upbeat while vocally, Amanda puts in an almost-tearjerker performance (check the bridge, especially). “Idioteque” is impressive firstly for being a piano, ukulele, and percussion cover of an all electronic song and secondly for upping the paranoia and mind-fuckery of a Radiohead song that prides itself on those qualities. Lastly, “Exit Music (For a Film)” starts with whispered vocals and piano and builds into the most dramatic moment here with strings and Palmer’s belting. Plenty impressive, but not as memorable as what comes before it.

Amanda Palmer Performs… is a fun little collection. Palmer puts her own bend on these classics while still paying respect to the source material. Who said the pros can’t have fun either?

Get it for the price of a candy bar here.

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