dsmith2904
ONE love, blood, life
A Triumph for Singles, Hip-Hop Pop
BY DAN DELUCA
Philadelphia Inquirer
I have no idea if Gretchen Wilson voted for George W. Bush or John Kerry, and you won't find her three million-selling debut album on the Top Ten list that follows. She's a near-miss, behind Loretta Lynn and Drive-By Truckers in the Hard Livin' Southerners category.
But Here for the Party and "Redneck Woman," Wilson's break-out single, told the Red State side of pop music this year better than any other 3 minutes and 16 seconds on the radio. Wilson laid on the white-trash shtick while delivering a message that resonated with all kinds of people who (to paraphrase Merle Haggard) take a lot of pride in who they are.
"Redneck Woman" wasn't overtly political, and "here for the party" referred to being an "eight-ball-shooting, double-fisted-drinking son of a gun," not allegiance to Democrats or Republicans.
But Wilson's success was all about identity politics in a red-white-and-blue election year that saw country music sales up 11.2 percent (slightly more than music overall) in the first six months, compared with that period last year.
On the Blue State side, there was more overt politicking than at any time since the Vietnam War. Mainstream acts such as Green Day and the Beastie Boys - responsible for two of the year's best singles in, respectively, "American Idiot" and "Ch-Check It Out" - were among those dissing President Bush. And acts such as Morrissey, Black Eyed Peas, Bright Eyes, and Bruce Springsteen took pains to show their displeasure with the administration.
So can we not even hear ear-to-ear, let alone see eye-to-eye? The closest thing to a unifying figure this year was Usher, a Red Stater whose odd resemblance to Kermit the Frog didn't stop him from moving seven million units of Confessions. He showed an expertise for marketing two commodities that Desperate Housewives-loving, Janet Jackson-obsessing Americans can't get enough of: sex and scandal. Usher's salacious monster hit "Yeah!" and the three chart-toppers that followed - the first time any artist had four top hits in a calendar year since the Jackson 5 in 1970 - was the biggest manifestation of two inexorable trends.
The triumph of the individual song over the album - heard on the radio, downloaded over the Internet, burned onto a mix CD or an iPod playlist - continued apace. And so did the hip-hopification of pop music.
Evidence of the latter can be found in Kanye West's 10 Grammy nominations and the impressive sales of Eminem's Encore (an artistic disappointment, it still moved more than 700,000 copies its first weekend). And it's also on Here for the Party, where Wilson spits rhymes on "Chariot."
This summer, when I saw art-rock band TV on the Radio play in Philadelphia, singer Tunde Adebimpe talked about hearing country act Big & Rich rapping on "Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy." Adebimpe interpreted hillbilly hip-hop as a sign of impending apocalypse. I'll take a rosier view, and say it's a sign that maybe we're not so divided after all.
And now, a look at the Top Ten CDs:
Drive-By Truckers: The Dirty South (New West). In time, the Drive-By Truckers will gain wide recognition as the great American Southern Rock band that they are. For now, though, the scruffy Alabamans' fervent cult have the band to themselves. The Dirty South - the title is a play on the name below-the-Mason-Dixon-line hip-hoppers have for their region - chronicles the doings of characters on society's fringes with empathy and a literary appreciation for Southern mythmakers from Flannery O'Connor to Lynyrd Skynyrd. It doesn't hurt, either, that the twangy quintet boasts not just a fearsome guitar attack but also three formidable songwriters. Recommended download: "Carl Perkins' Cadillac."
Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand (Domino). As might be expected from four young Scotsmen who take their name from the Austro-Hungarian archduke whose assassination set off World War I, Franz Ferdinand know a thing or two about history. The oh-so-British stylish fops pull from U.K. forebears such as David Bowie and punk-era influences Joy Division and Gang of Four, and they've attained modest stardom on these shores because tightly constructed tunes such as "Take Me Out" and "Darts of Pleasure" sound great on the radio. And they skillfully revive a lost art: making rock music you can dance to. Download: "Michael."
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists: Shake the Sheets (Lookout). There isn't one song on Shake the Sheets that's as compelling as "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?", the impassioned call to arms that led last year's Hearts of Oak. But Shake the Sheets is even stronger than its predecessor, showcasing the sinewy sound of North Jersey's finest, with his unique blend of punk-rock ardor and realpolitik maturity. "There's no end to work, there's no end to the murk," he sings on the title cut, with the wisdom of one who knows that changing the world will be no easy task. Download: "The Angels' Share."
The Libertines:The Libertines (Rough Trade). The Libertines' second album makes the sound of a talented Brit-rock band almost, but not quite, falling apart. Echoing the Kinks and the Smiths, The Libertines was recorded amid co-front man Pete Doherty's drug troubles - before he was arrested, but after he fled rehab in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand. Back story aside, the album crackles with offhand lyricism and propulsive punch, though Doherty and guitarist Carl Barat sound thoroughly dissatisfied with each other - and themselves. Download: "Can't Stand Me Now."
Loretta Lynn: Van Lear Rose (Interscope). The 69-year-old coal miner's daughter gets spurred on by a pasty-faced garage rocker, and writes her best new songs in years. This comeback-of-the-year pairs Lynn with producer Jack White of the White Stripes and finds the author of "Fist City" to be as tough-talking as ever, her voice steely enough to fight back when the guitars get cranked up. Download: "Family Tree."
Nellie McKay: Get Away from Me (Columbia). A double-CD debut from a wisenheimer piano player applying to be the Randy Newman of her generation. She's an audacious cabaret singer who looks like Doris Day and isn't afraid to bust a rhyme like Eminem. And like Bob Dylan and the White Stripes, she lied about her past to make a better impression - she's 22, though she had told the press she was 19. A snarky lyricist who references Fritz Lang, her sarcasm should serve her well as she matures. Download: "I Wanna Get Married."
MF Doom: MM.. Food (Rhymesayers). The Atlanta rhymer born Daniel Dumile also goes by the noms de rap Zev Love X and Victor Vaughn and always wears an iron mask in public. He's the foremost eccentric visionary of 2004. That's readily apparent on both this culinary-themed disc and Madvillainy, the equally experimental alt-hip-hop collaboration with DJ Madlib that Doom dropped earlier this year (under the name Madvillain). Imagine a rapper channeling the sensibility of the Cartoon Network's trippy Adult Swim show Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and you get the idea. Or not. Download: "Beef Rapp."
Rilo Kiley: More Adventurous (Brute / Beaute). Like Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) and Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Rilo Kiley's lead singer Jenny Lewis is the toast of hyper-articulate adolescent indie-rockers. Lewis is a marvelous singer who specializes in structurally ingenious songs that deal with grown-up emotional issues, while being catchy as all get-out. Destined for the big time. Download: "Portions for Foxes."
U2: How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (Interscope). The grandiose guys in U2 ignore that stuff about the obsolescence of the album and the age of irony. And though Bono has spent most of his adult life as a ponderous bore, this time the aging lads from Dublin deliver soaring sincerity on songs so good they overcome their pomposity. (And yeah, I'm sick of the iPod ad, too.) Download: "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own."
Kanye West: The College Dropout (Roc-A-Fella). Producer to the stars demands the spotlight and turns out to have saved his snazziest songs for himself. The 28-year-old West is the commercially successful trickster of the year, rapping on his breakthrough hit, "Through the Wire," while his jaw was still wired shut from a near-fatal car accident, and praising the Lord to his heart's content on the gospel-rap "Jesus Walks." Deserves everything Grammy gives him. Download: "We Don't Care."
Honorable Mention: A.M. Sixty, Big As the Sky; Air, Talkie Walkie; Green Day, American Idiot; Casual Dots, Casual Dots; Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama, There Will Be a Light; Jolie Holland, Escondida; Jon Langford, All the Fame of Lofty Deeds; Old 97s, Drag It Up; The Roots, The Tipping Point; Gretchen Wilson, Here for the Party.
BY DAN DELUCA
Philadelphia Inquirer
I have no idea if Gretchen Wilson voted for George W. Bush or John Kerry, and you won't find her three million-selling debut album on the Top Ten list that follows. She's a near-miss, behind Loretta Lynn and Drive-By Truckers in the Hard Livin' Southerners category.
But Here for the Party and "Redneck Woman," Wilson's break-out single, told the Red State side of pop music this year better than any other 3 minutes and 16 seconds on the radio. Wilson laid on the white-trash shtick while delivering a message that resonated with all kinds of people who (to paraphrase Merle Haggard) take a lot of pride in who they are.
"Redneck Woman" wasn't overtly political, and "here for the party" referred to being an "eight-ball-shooting, double-fisted-drinking son of a gun," not allegiance to Democrats or Republicans.
But Wilson's success was all about identity politics in a red-white-and-blue election year that saw country music sales up 11.2 percent (slightly more than music overall) in the first six months, compared with that period last year.
On the Blue State side, there was more overt politicking than at any time since the Vietnam War. Mainstream acts such as Green Day and the Beastie Boys - responsible for two of the year's best singles in, respectively, "American Idiot" and "Ch-Check It Out" - were among those dissing President Bush. And acts such as Morrissey, Black Eyed Peas, Bright Eyes, and Bruce Springsteen took pains to show their displeasure with the administration.
So can we not even hear ear-to-ear, let alone see eye-to-eye? The closest thing to a unifying figure this year was Usher, a Red Stater whose odd resemblance to Kermit the Frog didn't stop him from moving seven million units of Confessions. He showed an expertise for marketing two commodities that Desperate Housewives-loving, Janet Jackson-obsessing Americans can't get enough of: sex and scandal. Usher's salacious monster hit "Yeah!" and the three chart-toppers that followed - the first time any artist had four top hits in a calendar year since the Jackson 5 in 1970 - was the biggest manifestation of two inexorable trends.
The triumph of the individual song over the album - heard on the radio, downloaded over the Internet, burned onto a mix CD or an iPod playlist - continued apace. And so did the hip-hopification of pop music.
Evidence of the latter can be found in Kanye West's 10 Grammy nominations and the impressive sales of Eminem's Encore (an artistic disappointment, it still moved more than 700,000 copies its first weekend). And it's also on Here for the Party, where Wilson spits rhymes on "Chariot."
This summer, when I saw art-rock band TV on the Radio play in Philadelphia, singer Tunde Adebimpe talked about hearing country act Big & Rich rapping on "Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy." Adebimpe interpreted hillbilly hip-hop as a sign of impending apocalypse. I'll take a rosier view, and say it's a sign that maybe we're not so divided after all.
And now, a look at the Top Ten CDs:
Drive-By Truckers: The Dirty South (New West). In time, the Drive-By Truckers will gain wide recognition as the great American Southern Rock band that they are. For now, though, the scruffy Alabamans' fervent cult have the band to themselves. The Dirty South - the title is a play on the name below-the-Mason-Dixon-line hip-hoppers have for their region - chronicles the doings of characters on society's fringes with empathy and a literary appreciation for Southern mythmakers from Flannery O'Connor to Lynyrd Skynyrd. It doesn't hurt, either, that the twangy quintet boasts not just a fearsome guitar attack but also three formidable songwriters. Recommended download: "Carl Perkins' Cadillac."
Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand (Domino). As might be expected from four young Scotsmen who take their name from the Austro-Hungarian archduke whose assassination set off World War I, Franz Ferdinand know a thing or two about history. The oh-so-British stylish fops pull from U.K. forebears such as David Bowie and punk-era influences Joy Division and Gang of Four, and they've attained modest stardom on these shores because tightly constructed tunes such as "Take Me Out" and "Darts of Pleasure" sound great on the radio. And they skillfully revive a lost art: making rock music you can dance to. Download: "Michael."
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists: Shake the Sheets (Lookout). There isn't one song on Shake the Sheets that's as compelling as "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?", the impassioned call to arms that led last year's Hearts of Oak. But Shake the Sheets is even stronger than its predecessor, showcasing the sinewy sound of North Jersey's finest, with his unique blend of punk-rock ardor and realpolitik maturity. "There's no end to work, there's no end to the murk," he sings on the title cut, with the wisdom of one who knows that changing the world will be no easy task. Download: "The Angels' Share."
The Libertines:The Libertines (Rough Trade). The Libertines' second album makes the sound of a talented Brit-rock band almost, but not quite, falling apart. Echoing the Kinks and the Smiths, The Libertines was recorded amid co-front man Pete Doherty's drug troubles - before he was arrested, but after he fled rehab in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand. Back story aside, the album crackles with offhand lyricism and propulsive punch, though Doherty and guitarist Carl Barat sound thoroughly dissatisfied with each other - and themselves. Download: "Can't Stand Me Now."
Loretta Lynn: Van Lear Rose (Interscope). The 69-year-old coal miner's daughter gets spurred on by a pasty-faced garage rocker, and writes her best new songs in years. This comeback-of-the-year pairs Lynn with producer Jack White of the White Stripes and finds the author of "Fist City" to be as tough-talking as ever, her voice steely enough to fight back when the guitars get cranked up. Download: "Family Tree."
Nellie McKay: Get Away from Me (Columbia). A double-CD debut from a wisenheimer piano player applying to be the Randy Newman of her generation. She's an audacious cabaret singer who looks like Doris Day and isn't afraid to bust a rhyme like Eminem. And like Bob Dylan and the White Stripes, she lied about her past to make a better impression - she's 22, though she had told the press she was 19. A snarky lyricist who references Fritz Lang, her sarcasm should serve her well as she matures. Download: "I Wanna Get Married."
MF Doom: MM.. Food (Rhymesayers). The Atlanta rhymer born Daniel Dumile also goes by the noms de rap Zev Love X and Victor Vaughn and always wears an iron mask in public. He's the foremost eccentric visionary of 2004. That's readily apparent on both this culinary-themed disc and Madvillainy, the equally experimental alt-hip-hop collaboration with DJ Madlib that Doom dropped earlier this year (under the name Madvillain). Imagine a rapper channeling the sensibility of the Cartoon Network's trippy Adult Swim show Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and you get the idea. Or not. Download: "Beef Rapp."
Rilo Kiley: More Adventurous (Brute / Beaute). Like Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) and Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Rilo Kiley's lead singer Jenny Lewis is the toast of hyper-articulate adolescent indie-rockers. Lewis is a marvelous singer who specializes in structurally ingenious songs that deal with grown-up emotional issues, while being catchy as all get-out. Destined for the big time. Download: "Portions for Foxes."
U2: How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (Interscope). The grandiose guys in U2 ignore that stuff about the obsolescence of the album and the age of irony. And though Bono has spent most of his adult life as a ponderous bore, this time the aging lads from Dublin deliver soaring sincerity on songs so good they overcome their pomposity. (And yeah, I'm sick of the iPod ad, too.) Download: "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own."
Kanye West: The College Dropout (Roc-A-Fella). Producer to the stars demands the spotlight and turns out to have saved his snazziest songs for himself. The 28-year-old West is the commercially successful trickster of the year, rapping on his breakthrough hit, "Through the Wire," while his jaw was still wired shut from a near-fatal car accident, and praising the Lord to his heart's content on the gospel-rap "Jesus Walks." Deserves everything Grammy gives him. Download: "We Don't Care."
Honorable Mention: A.M. Sixty, Big As the Sky; Air, Talkie Walkie; Green Day, American Idiot; Casual Dots, Casual Dots; Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama, There Will Be a Light; Jolie Holland, Escondida; Jon Langford, All the Fame of Lofty Deeds; Old 97s, Drag It Up; The Roots, The Tipping Point; Gretchen Wilson, Here for the Party.
