As part of Idolator’s continuing effort to geekily analyze every music chart known to man, we present a new edition of Project X, in which Idolator Critics’ Poll editor Michaelangelo Matos breaks down rankings from every genre imaginable. After the click-through, he looks at the Britain’s ever-shifting definition of “indie,” with a BBC chart that includes everything from soul to Radiohead effluvia to synth-pop that first hit three decades ago to, yes, even some indie rock:
Am I turning into an anglophile? Apparently so, because this is the third column in a row that concentrates on an English Top 10. You can blame this on any number of factors: the dullness of the American charts, an attraction to novelty not entirely unlike that of the U.K. charts. But I’ll blame it on Andy Kellman. Kellman, an All Music Guide editor and one of the overseers of AMG’s recently instituted blog, began keeping track of the new R&B singles as they appear weekly on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Top 100. Since I write regularly about singles elsewhere, not to mention keeping an eye on Top 10s here, I’ve begun keeping track of new additions to several U.S. and U.K. charts as well. And if the American Top 10 is stagnation incarnate, the British charts are ever changing, especially the indie charts, which turn over like nobody’s business. Here’s the BBC Radio 1 Top 10 Independent Label Singles of March 2, 2008.
1. BWO, “Sunshine in the Rain” (Shell)
2. Adele, “Chasing Pavements” (XL)
3. Gary Numan/Tubeway Army, “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?”/”Down in the Park” (Beggars Banquet)
4. Benga & Coki, “Night” (Tempa)
5. Katie Melua, “If the Lights Go Out” (Dramatico)
6. Stone Gods, “Burn the Witch” (Stone Gods)
7. Thom Yorke, The Eraser Remixes (XL)
8. Band of Horses, “No One’s Going to Love You” (Sub Pop)
9. Radiohead, “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” (XL)
10. Lines, “Domino Effect” (Weekender)
You’ll notice the three positions in boldface. Those are the songs that were on the list the previous week. Not in the Top 10–in the Top 30. The entire rest of the Top 10–seven records–debuted on March 2, in those positions. (Six of the Top 10 for March 9, the list released on Monday, are also debuts.) Yet most of you have probably noticed that No. 3 is a reissue of a two-sided hit from 29 years back and No. 7 conglomerates remixes from a year-and-a-half-old album buy a guy with other priorities now, such as one of the week’s hangers-on, at No. 9. Also, you’ll probably notice that this list is about as “indie” in the collegiate-guitar-rock sense as the current Billboard Top 10: everything from sap to noise makes it onto this list. You could call it the straighter version of the national Top 10 if it weren’t for the fact that it’s just as batshit as the main list.
Typically when I cover a Top 10 here I don’t bother beyond the A-side unless it’s noted on the list itself. But beyond Numan and Yorke, it seemed only fair to do that with this one, because B-sides are sometimes part of what drives a sale. I’m glad, too: the Lines B-side, “Tie Me Up in Knots,” beats the A; it’s U2-style grand-sweep that sounds to me done the right way, getting over its own lyrical gaucheness with a good riff (and good guitarist) and palpable conviction. (The actual “hit,” “Domino Effect,” is more mid-tempo and blandly anthemic, though it gains some momentum toward the end.) For another, the Stone Gods’ song heralds a four-track EP, my favorite song being the riff-simple “You Brought a Knife to a Gunfight.” No wonder: days after noting them as “a metal band, in the ’70s sense–brawny riffs, masculine rhythms, leather-and-studs attitude, barking voice–I finally had the bright idea of looking them up. Duh, the best description possible, “the Darkness with a different singer,” turned out to be the correct one. What else should I have figured when “Heartburn” sounds basically like Foreigner? My thinking during all this: “Chuck Eddy would like these guys.”
Brits, some of them, really go for Americana, don’t they? Maybe Nick Hornby bought 50 copies of Band of Horses’ “No One’s Gonna Love You” for his friends and single-handedly drove it to No. 8. And maybe not. Either way, the single is sweet, and tedious, like a Mother’s Day card that goes on and on. Still, not unpleasant, which is gratifying given how irritated I became with repeated exposure to Band of Horses’ 2006 semi-hit, “The Funeral.” For annoyance, both Adele (who was also on the BBC Radio 1 Top 10 that I wrote about a couple columns back) and BWO (smooth, Euro, bombastic) come a lot closer than “No One’s Gonna Love You.”
I’ll go out on a limb and guess that the Thom Yorke remixes occupying the No. 7 position combines the sales totals for each of the three 12-inch remix EPs The Eraser has belatedly spun off in the retail realm. (The tracks were initially digital-only.) That makes nine remixes total, plus one Radiohead song, giving Yorke ten items in the Top 10. Nice. The actual music is, as you’d guess, a mixed bag. The two Christian Vogel remixes of “Black Swan” do their work cleanly and well, if not brilliantly; Surgeon’s “The Clock” and Modeselektor’s “Skip Divided” achieve nada. Each EP has one very appealing track: Four Tet’s remix of “Atoms for Peace,” which combines the best elements of Four Tet’s own work (cannily reprogrammed live playing) with the album’s loveliest vocal; the Bug’s** craggy reworking of “Harrowdown Hill”; and Various Productions’ laptop-skank version of “Analyse.”
I’m also partial to the Field’s*** eight-minute treatment of “Cymbal Rush” and, lesserly, Burial’s remix of “And It Rained All Night.” I definitely prefer Yorke’s singing to whoever did the honors on Burial’s own “Archangel.” Still, if you want something even better, go to the chart’s No. 4, a late-’07 club hit whose hoot-owl synth line is the most deliciously menacing sound effect I’ve encountered on any record in a while. That’s what we’re supposed to like about dubstep, right?
*Other Indie Top 30 debuts from March 2, in order: Raveonettes, “You Want the Candy” (Fierce Panda), No. 15; Capone, “Going In”/”Your Mind” (Test), No. 19; Blackout, “It’s High Tide Baby” (Fierce Panda), No. 21; Arno Cost & Arnold Doray, “Apocalypse” (CR2), No. 28; and Mighty Dub Katz, “Just Another Groove” (Southern Fried), a reissue of a decade-old dance track by Norman Cook, a.k.a. Fatboy Slim, No. 29.
**The Bug, Kevin Martin’s dub alias, has been on a tear recently: see also the “Skeng” 12-inch and the recent Poison Dart EP.
***This is possibly the only place I can put this, especially since it concerns a debate I’m not all that ready to join. Two of my favorite writers, Philip Sherburne and Andy Kellman, have expressed real, well-put reservations about the Field (though I’ll note that Kellman is the one who turned me onto his first single three years ago), as have others; often, the complaints center on Axel Willner’s production techniques, which in techno is all. I read these arguments and they make sense in my mind’s ear, but when I turn to the Field’s records themselves, I never hear the seams others complain about. I’m guessing Sherburne and Kellman have better stereo equipment than I do–it wouldn’t take much–and I’m not sure I could argue for the music’s merits better than my peers argue against it. But I wanted to mention it somewhere.
This is the first time I’ve come across this feature on the site.
Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed when I realized it wasn’t about Project X.
Nice analysis, Matos. (And thanks for the shoutout; I’m going to have to come up with some sort of response re: the difference in opinion over the Field, because you just made me realize that what I criticize in him is exactly what I like about Villalobos’ “Enfants,” and I need to figure out that contradiction.)
Out of curiosity, how does this chart stipulate “indie” — eg, in terms of non-participation from the majors, or from a subjective and stylistic standpoint? (As in the case of “alternative” charts.) And is the chart based on sales, airplay, or a combination? I’m kind of shocked to see “Night” on there; I wouldn’t think dubstep singles were actually selling terribly much. Brilliant tune, in any case.
@philip sherburne: from Wikipedia:
By 1978, labels like Cherry Red, Rough Trade, and Mute had started up, and a support structure soon followed, including independent pressing, distribution and promotion. These labels got bigger and bigger, and by 1980 were having top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart. Chart success was limited, however, since the official top 40 was based on sales at large chains and ignored significant sales at the scores of independent record shops that existed. Iain McNay of Cherry Red suggested to the weekly trade paper Record Business the idea of an independent record chart to address the problem, and the first independent chart appeared in 1980, published in Record Week, and later licenced to Sounds. In 1981, compilation of the chart switched to research company MRIB. The chart served to give exposure to the independent labels and the artists on those labels. In 1985, Music Week started compiling its own indie chart, but failed to meet the authority of the original chart. Other weekly music papers also published their own charts, often compiled from single record shops. By 1990, the significance of the chart had been diluted by major record companies forming their own “indie” labels, with independent distribution, in order to break new acts via exposure from the indie chart.
“And if the American Top 10 is stagnation incarnate, the British charts are ever changing, especially the indie charts, which turn over like nobody’s business.”
Since I am the ass that always veers off topic into karaoke, particularly my karaoke, I feel I can actually contribute to this discussion, on-topic, relevant, but wholly uninteresting.
Many people always ask me why I don’t have song X or song Y, Most of the time, I haven’t purchased said track (at about $4 per song, you can imagine my wallet crying a bit), or they just don’t make that song for karaoke. Karaoke really is a singles driven market, because that song that everyone hears on the (radio?, MTV? Where do they hear them?) is the song everyone will sing, and sing along to. No use making the complete works of Rush if no one is clamoring for them (sadly. Karaoke Rush is awesome.)
However, due to above mentioned stagnation in the American singles market, American Karaoke companies are putting out dreck for pop and rock. One company, Panorama, used to have a monthly “Rock” CD that they would put out, but died because no actual “rock” music was regularly on the charts anymore. They phased this out with “rock” music now appearing on the “Pop” CD. Country is still going strong, however. The last Panorama rock CD was from October 2006, and looked like this:
Heroes - Shinedown
Invincible - Crossfade
King Of All Excuses - Staind
Land Of Confusion - Disturbed
Victim - Eighteen Visions
Knights Of Cydonia - Muse
Tell Me Baby - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Why Cry - The Panic Channel
Paralyzed - Rock Kills Kid
Now look at the Pop CD for April 2008*:
Better - Tom Baxter
Conquest - The White Stripes
Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne Feat. Lil’ Mama
Hypnotized - Plies Feat. Akon
Lost Highway - Bon Jovi
Love Like This - Natasha Bedingfield & Sean Kingston
Say It Again - Natasha Bedingfield
Shadow Of The Day - Linkin Park
Sweetest Girl - Wyclef Jean Feat. Akon, Lil Wayne & Nia
The only rock on that list is Linkin Park and The White Stripes. This is indicitive of most American karaoke companies, which is why so many of them are starting “Oldies/Classics” series, and liscencing mildly obscure (i.e. non hit singles) karaoke songs. Another Pop series is from “Pop Hits Monthly”:
No Air - Jordin Sparks / Chris Brown
What Hurts The Most - Cascada
Feedback - Janet Jackson
Our Time Now - Plain White T’s
Crushcrushcrush - Paramore
Do It Well - Jennifer Lopez
All Around Me - Flyleaf
Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
Fire And Rain - Babyface
As said before, the Urban and Country CDGs are being produced at a very regular rate, but in my neck of the woods (San Francisco) very very few people are signing up for “Sexy Can I” by Ray J/Yung Berg, nor are they jonesing for Jordin Sparks. (This does not apply for female R&B a la Alicia Keys and Amy Winehouse)
So where to go for more interesting tunes? The UK, of course. Because of the the constant flipping of the charts, more and more songs are put out on a regular basis that reflects actual movement in sound and styles, and has some stuff you could call “indie karaoke”. The recent release from UK karaoke company Sunfly looks like this:
Now You’re Gone - Basshunter
Chasing Pavements - Adele
Crank That - Soulja Boy Tell Em
Ride It - Jay Sean
I Thought It Was Over - The Feeling
Work (Freemasons Mix) - Kelly Rowland (as mentioned in an earlier Idolator article)
Homecoming - Kanye West
Wow - Kylie Minogue
Ready The Floor - Hot Chip
Toothpaste Kisses - The Maccabees
Don’t Stop The Music - Rihanna
Hold It Don’t Drop It - Jennifer Lopez
Superstar - Lupe Fiasco Feat
A&E - Goldfrapp
If I Had Eyes - Jack Johnson
Most of these songs are obviously swaying towards the UK market, but are gold for Anglo-phile karaoke hounds like me, and for those looking for something a little more… well “niche”, I suppose, also with the recent Sunfly “Most Wanted” (requested songs) series being this:
Princes Of The Universe - Queen (yes!)
Heart Shaped Box - Nirvana
The Seeker - The Who
Get Up Offa That Thing - James Brown
Loco - Fun Lovin’ Criminals
Tug Of War - Paul McCartney
Rosalie - Thin Lizzy
Chequered Love - Kim Wilde
It’s Alright, Baby’s Coming Back - Eurythmics
And Your Bird Can Sing - The Beatles
The Sensual World - Kate Bush
Hero Takes A Fall - The Bangles
No One - Alicia Keys
Animal - Def Leppard
Ma Ma Ma Belle - Electric Light Orchestra
Much wider selection, with old and new tunes appearing on the list. Here is another one from Mr. Entertainer:
Amy MacDonald - This Is The Life
Amy MacDonald - Mr Rock & Roll
Basshunter - Now You’re Gone
David Jordan - Sun Goes Down
Kelly Rowland - Work
Wet Wet Wet - Weightless
Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor
Mark Brown feat. Sarah Cracknell - The Journey Continues
The Feeling - I Thought It Was Over
Mark Ronson feat. Phantom Planet - Just
Leona Lewis - Better In Time
KT Tunstall - If Only
Sugababes - Denial
Biffy Clyro - Who’s Got A Match
Duffy - Mercy
High School Musical 2 - Fabulous
Alicia Keys - Like You’ll Never See Me Again
H Two O feat. Platnum - What’s It Gonna Be
Girls Aloud - Can’t Speak French
I admit I don’t even know what half of these songs are, but if I can get one person excited about singing Suababes, I’ll buy this over a CDG with Paramore and Flyleaf any day.
Another company, SBI, goes out of there way to produce a hodge-podge of current UK/US singles, as well as a ton of “obscure” karaoke tracks. They have produced, from the UK indie chart above:
Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Adele - Chasing Pavements
Gary Numan - Are ‘friends’ Electric?
Katie Melua - If The Lights Go Out
Single friendly tracks, yes, but for you who are thinking there is no way they would make Band Of Horses karaoke, keep in mind that thay have three Arcade Fire songs available, The Futureheads, Maximo Park, The Go! Team, Simian, and Justice, all of which I would have never thought to have seen as karaoke songs. (Be forwarned, Matos. “The Funeral” could very well be the next song you hear sung poorly from a person that is not the lead singer of Band Of Horses)
These don’t distract from the usual “Black List” of karaoke songs. Everyone and their mother has had to suffer through the Woo! girl rendition of “Don’t Stop Believing” and 5 drunken frat boys doing their own freestyle rap over “Baby Got Back”, songs which you can buy in bulk, but thanks to UK charts, I can refine the list to keep things from going stale.
*The Panorama series actually sways a little towards the UK side of things, with tracks by Lily Allen and Goldfrapp. But they stay very American singles based most of the time)
Ha, nice mention of Hornby. He’d probably issue a weekly novel outlining his own current Top 10 favorite singles, if the publishing process worked fast enough. Or rather, Top 5 . . .
I definitely prefer Yorke’s singing to whoever did the honors on Burial’s own “Archangel.”
The vocal bits from Archangel come from the following SUPER CHEESY Ray J song:
PS: While I agree that the Four Test remix is a highlight, and can acknowledge that the Surgeon one might no tbe to everyone’s taste, I strongly disagree with regards to the MDSLKTR remix of Skip Divided.
“sigh” Looks like I killed another thread. I’ll stay in my corner now, I promise.