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Welcome to the inaugural version of The Idolator Dozen, our new weekly countdown of notable-slash-positive happenings in the music world as decided by me. To answer your questions: “Why?”; “Ranking things is fun, duh.” “Why 12?”; “Because I like the number, and always have.” “What’s on the list?”; “Whatever I say, plus maybe a few things that I neglected to get to during the week.” “Why now?”; “Why not now?” “When will then be now?”; “Soon.” The top 12 after the jump!
1. Ida Maria at the Mercury Lounge, NYC. Like this wasn’t going to top my week. The Norwegian singer’s East Coast debut could definitely be described as “chaotic,” but her dedicating it to the plane that landed in the Hudson River yesterday should have served as a portent. Nevertheless, she’s a star, someone who can be utterly fascinating while merely being engrossed by the way her beaded dress glimmers in the spotlight when she moves.
2. The end of not everything, but a lot of things. Virgin Megastore, Circuit City, Indie 103.1, Dodgeball, other stuff that I probably missed: On the one hand, the closure of all those record stores will probably result in prices going down for a split second; on the other, who has money to buy $18.99 records at 20% off these days, anyway?
3. R & B Kings 2009. Would’ve been 2009’s real album of the year so far were it not for the presence of 50 Cent.
4. The Songsmith remix of “Wonderwall.” Gallaghers gone happy hardcore?
The slowdown before the verses start again = best.
5. Bret Michaels incessantly wearing his own band’s shirts on Rock Of Love Bus: Somehow Not Sponsored By Lysol. Incredibly, I do not mean Poison here. I guess he maybe thinks he’ll get away with it because most people won’t figure out what “BMB” means?
6. Being reminded of how Charles Schulz used to sneak a little bit of music pedagogy into his comic strips. Would an editor let him get away with that today? Doubtful.
7. Modest Mouse, “Float On.” Hands up if you had this and/or “I Have Been Floated” during that whole awkward Hudson River plane incident yesterday.
8. The Joy Formidable. Sugar-rush guitar-pop from Wales. Have I mentioned that between this band, Ida Maria, the new Franz Ferdinand album, and the aforementioned R & B mixtape, I’m more excited about music than I have been in maybe months?
9. Janeane Garofalo on 24 being the catalyst for my first serious ’90s-nostalgia trip of 2009. I spent a sizeable chunk of Monday night hunting down Suede videos and wondering to anyone who would listen if they were one of the top 20 bands of the past 20 years. Everyone said “no,” but I’m still debating.
10. Jade’s “Don’t Walk Away.” Was reminded of this song’s utter jam status when researching the SWV/Survivor post earlier this week.
11. This pun. It really did have the right stuff.
12. The knowledge that next week’s episodes of American Idol will only be an hour long each. We all need something to look forward to in these dark times, you know?
I think there’s *just* enough distance for Suede to resurface somehow as a beacon, but Pulp will probably have the longer term impact still. (And I say this as a Suede fan who still has everything and ran a mailing list and actually saw one of the first solo Brett shows in the UK and all.)
I mean, I dunno if I’d say Suede’s in the top 20, but definitely in the top 30.
I don’t know if you saw it, but last week’s Entertainment Weekly’s “Must List” featured the “…Naked,” video and I thought of you- someone else in the US is aware that Ida Maria exists! (and is awesome)
God, do I have to say it? OK, fine…
1-12. Ida Maria
(Honorable mention at 13: having a pic of Ida and me as my new FB profile picture, the first one I’ve had that actually shows me in months.)
There, it’s done.
I’d somehow missed the Joy Formidable post from a week ago. Pretty good, pretty good.
I’m all about #6, having found this genius bit of Shroeder wisdom online today:
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Er, I meant “Schroeder.” This morning’s hangover has morphed into this afternoon’s uselessness…
For someone whose voice sounded a bit tour-weary last night, I was still really impressed with her as a vocalist. Especially on the ballad. She’s crackerjack.
suede was the best band of the 90s
and morrissey best solo artist
#11 was probably my favorite. And I like Suede, but I mainly think of them as “That band that sang the song I want played at my funeral*, and also the one that Justine Frischmann was in for a minute before she moved on to the best band ever.”
[*Trash.]