Music: Beyonce, Cassius and Madonna's sampling minions

The music market is great right now. Musical variety is here, the big names in L.A. are all releasing records this fall, and the club scene is finally warming up. (Ironically enough, as the actual clubs start losing their drunken patronage.) Beyonce's "If I Were A Boy" is decent enough emopop, but I doubt the release will be followed with serious airplay. It's too similar to what Rihanna has done with "Take A Bow," which was in turn a total ripoff of B's own "Irreplaceable." Then again, maybe the departure from traditional Beyonce R&B/Pop--you know, spasmic, over-the-top faux-female empowerment anthems with blaring horns and whistles--is just what she needs. Another problem going for her is a lack of media exposure; it's not that the paparazzi doesn't want her picture (she's looking great in a bikini again), it's that she and Jay-Z avoid them like the plague. Good for their sanity, but not for B's career. There's a price to pay for no longer being a prominent figure in pop culture. Britney Spears just demonstrated how buzz can lead to success with the so-so "Womanizer" which currently sits at the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100. The only way B can come back in full force is with another "Crazy In Love," not likely considering her first two singles.

In other music news, when I started creating my pre-Madonna "Sticky and Sweet Tour" playlist this morning I was led on an iTunes jungle discovery bonanza, where one song led to another and another and another. "Toop Toop" by Cassius is a fun, grungy electronic track similar in spirit to Kylie Minogue's "2 Hearts" (the best track off last years' X), with pegged-on, blippy effects that feel slapped together. The track has a garageband feel to it, which is simply a statement of opinion--not neccesarily good or bad.

I was also turned on to Fedde Le Grand, an electronic artist who apparently missed his bubble of opportunity a long time ago. I only say this because his latest single was in September of 2007, and in DJ circles you have to come hard and fast to maintain the momentum of one good single. (Justice and Simian Mobile Disco are exceptions to this rule, as their talent far surpasses anything put out by your night-to-night DJs.) Regardless, Le Grand did have two good singles, but his only lasting relevance is Madonna's current tour, where she actually covers his breakout track, "Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit." The song is a blast, with unpredictable synths and Moby-esque vocal samples. The electronic elements are handled in a innovative way that hints at the curiosity of the DJ, with ups and downs and a fun little series of saxophone samples that are instantly recognizable (despite my never hearing them before). Le Grand copies his own brilliance--take that last word with a whole spoonfull of salt--in his follow-up, "Let Me Think About It." Once again channeling Moby, Le Grand tries his hand at funk-electro, to mixed results. Imagine the seuxality of SMD's "Hustler" mixed in with "Put Your Hands Up." It's great for the two minutes it plays, but beyond that I'll stick with the electronica champs, thank you.

Mad Style: Old Music rocks, TIME Magazine editors think they know music

Old music has come back from the past to gang bang my iPod. "Old" meaning songs and artists who rose to fame before my musical maturation--my musical puberty, if you will. Naturally, Madonna is one of these artists, and that is not to say she isn't relevant today, something that is most certainly debatable, but her catalogue of hit songs goes back almost three decades. That's a lot to dig through.

I'm always writing about Moby and his ability to sense trends before they hit the airwaves, but no one read the musical forecast like Madonna in her prime. Madonna's "Vogue" is a track so future-conscious it's hard to believe it was written and produced before I was even one year old. As a writer, Madonna isn't given enough credit, but with the exception of "She's Not Me," Hard Candy doesn't really warrant any kind of writing praise. But her "old" stuff? It's brilliant. The most amazing thing about "Vogue" isn't the production, which arguably paved the way for hundreds of piano-driven dance tracks (ex. Moby's "Disco Lies"), but the cultural influence and style set forth by Madonna in the late eighties, with "Vogue" the primary vehicle of that influence. The track's echoed vocals and bridge--where Madonna famously name drops like, I don't know, every important actor and actress of the pre-Beatles era--could be the soundtrack to any Gap or American Apparel ad, or even remixed and rerecorded by Rihanna to top the charts. And I'm not suggesting this as some distant New York Times writer whose job requires them to make empty predictions--I'm dead serious, as both a fan of Rihanna and an active observer of pop radio. By observer, however, I mean that literally: if a doctor doesn't have to test every prescription drug he hands out, surely a music blogger doesn't have to listen to Kiss FM to understand what the pop audience craves.

And speaking of distant music writers, TIME magazine wrote an article in this week's issue about the "songs of the summer." "Disturbia" is number two on their list. Let us recap: Rihanna released "Disturbia" little over a month ago, where it received a moderate amount of buzz but never charted well because of "Take A Bow" essentially raping the charts multiple times (it hit No. 1 on Billboard twice, before Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl") Just last week "Disturbia" hit number one, which is surprising to me considering how aurally annoying the song really is. The point here being, how can TIME crown Rihanna's "Disturbia" the song of the summer when the track just hit radio three weeks ago? The answer is, they can't. Of course, the actual "queen" of the summer, if we're going to use that term, goes to Perry and "I Kissed A Girl." (Considering how many times I've written "Grill" in place of "Girl," I should just rewrite the song for her.) But of course the politically correct (LOLZ) TIME denounces "Kissed" because it offends both gays and straights, and "no one really listens to it." And that's why it was number one for almost two months. Thanks TIME, for another well-written article by your musical monkey men with their inability to admit how much they listen to "I Kissed A Girl" in their cage at the zoo.

I'm pretty sure I just wore myself out. Janet Jackson, Salt-N-Pepa ("Push It" may be the sexiest song ever produced), old Kylie Minogue, Boston, and even Smashmouth are beginning to tighten to gap in the race for my taste. Sadly, though, I still choose The New over The Good more often than not, simply because I'm addicted to the former--yes, I really am that shallow. But for now I'll enjoy "Vogue" and "La Isla Bonita" and "Smokin'" and the rest of my pre-pubic tracks while radio continues to devolve into a static blob of Timbaland beats and Akon hooks.

Music: David Archuleta should have won

So David Archuleta's first non-American Idol single was released last week, and it's a perfectly engineered piece of pop for a radio audience that all too often embraces music that "fits" instead of music that's simply "good"; a fault, certainly, but I'm not giving Archuleta enough credit. "Crush" is young and flouncy without the froth--Archuleta keeps his lyrics mature and his voice at a low pitch, which serves to separate him from the Chris Browns and Jonas Brothers of the pop stream. The title of the track is misleading; I can relate to the material on an individual level, and I'm no fifteen-year-old. David asks, "Am I crazy/or falling in love/could this be real?" What's best about the track is how unpredictable it is. I mean, everyone knew the AI producers would stick Archuleta with a Jordan Sparks/Miley Cyrus vibe to hit the preteen market, but I don't think anyone knew it would be this good. I highly recommend "Crush," even if its relevance is shorter-lived than Sparks'.

Demi Lovato released a single this Tuesday, which was kind of surprising considering her name first appeared in the pop lexicon a week ago. "Get Back" is another solid preteen pop track; therefore, it is shocking by default. She's got a fantastic voice, in the vein of a young Christina Aguilera, but the instrumentals are faceless and predictable. This is pop, though: It's not as if Fiona Apple ever hit radio because her pianist was famous among the coffeehouse elite of Seattle...

One wonders, though, if Cyrus hadn't made fun of Lovato and her even less important counterpart Selena Gonzalez (or Gomez, or something) in that YouTube video a few weeks back, would I have even given this track a look?

A few cool club tracks have come to my attention the past few weeks as well. "I am the Light" by Yuma and Jeni Fujita is a pulsing retro tune with a sound like Seamus Haji's remix of Moby's "I Love To Move In Here." The track outlives its welcome--I'm so not down with songs that last longer than five minutes--but before it gets corny ("I am aligned with the creative power of the universe!/I am peace, love!") it's a nice break from the crap storm iTunes has been raining on me lately with Mariah Carey remixes and seven versions of Goldfrapp's "A&E."

The Ian Carey Project published (Ian Carey didn't produce the track) a song on a club compilation called "Get Shaky," and it once again reinforces my worship of Moby and his ability to forge trends in the dance genre. (The fact that he's in his mid-thirties, a vegan Christian activist, a close friend of the Dalai Lama and still relevant has rendered him cutting-edge in his own right) The vocalist on "Shaky" is a nice fit for the mid-nineties inspired melodies, beat claps and all. The track is a great example of editing--if only more producers would hold the reigns on thumping beats and synths we'd have, well, a lot more Mobys.

I'm also feeling P!nk's "So What" (thanks to a friends' blog) and Uh Huh Her's "Not a Love Song," but that's for another time.

Moby IS Cutting Edge

Moby's new album, Last Night, has completely crept up on me. It is fantastic. If there is one way to describe the new direction Moby has taken, it has to be cutting-edge. Each cut is simultaneously nostalgic and futuristic, implying this musical trend (early nineties club pop and rap) may catch on universally, despite Moby being universally ignored for his resurfacing this short-lived era of music. The best tracks are "Disco Lies" and "I Love To Move In Here," both drastically different in tone but similar in the euphoric high they create. "Disco Lies," a thumping, persistent club track with a brilliantly original hook (and just the right amount of corny humor) shines because, despite the subtleties--which could well turn off casual listeners--if it plays in a Parisian discoteque no one will bat an eye.

"I Love To Move In Here" is brilliantly composed. Small blips, an almost-incomprehensible vocal track, and the muted bass line leaves this cut both a lounge and club track. One could just as easily eat sushi or take the dance floor to "Move." This is also the more commercial of the two tracks I've mentioned.

Anyways, check out Moby's latest. It is a strong metropolitan soundtrack, easily worth a purchase (or at least a few tracks on iTunes). In any case, it's much better than Hotel, which is messy and unfocused in comparison.