1. Common, “I Want You.” This track has the best mellow hip-hop groove of 2007 this side of Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights,” but on “Finding Forever,” Common has the nasty habit of letting his A-list hobnobbery influence his rhymes — how is the breakup of Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn relevant to anybody? This happens a few times on “Forever,” and the effect is a little like setting InTouch magazine to a breakbeat. The disc is otherwise strong, but it’s sprinkled with random seconds of “Bleccch.”
2. The Dears, “Hate Then Love.”
3. The Shins, “Fighting in a Sack.”
4. Kate Earl, “Anything.”
5. Fujiya & Miyagi, “Reeboks in Heaven.”
6. Lily Allen, “Smile (Mark Ronson remix).” Nice Motown-spiced remix of Allen’s shoulda-been-huge-on-these-shores single. Right about now, we need some new Lily — her stateside label was being restructured when “Alright, Still” came out here, and we can only hope that Staticblog’s favorite will get the promotion she deserves on the next one. However, she is biding her time on delivery despite official pressure from her U.K. label to deliver a pronto follow-up.
7. Curtis Mayfield, “Militant March.”
8. Silversun Pickups, “Well Thought Out Twinkles.”
9. The Starlight Mints, “Eyes of the Night.”
10. Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, “Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?” This is the song that Camera Obscura “answered” with “Lloyd, I Am Ready to Be Heartbroken,” only about 22 years after the release of Cole’s “Rattlesnakes.” Cole wrote some of the coolest meditative pop of the late-’80s and early ’90s, including his spellbinding but criminally overlooked 1991 CD, “Don’t Get Weird On Me, Babe,” an album that pre-saged today’s current wave of orchestral pop by 15 years. He released a new CD last year, “Anti-Depressant,” and it’s proof that after some frustrating fallow periods, Cole is on his game again.
November 29th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Lily has such a hard time over here because she’s a real girl, through and through. She’s natural both physically and personally and doesn’t sacrifice herself for industry bucks. That’s why we love her. And her music is dang catchy, too.