Athlete
Although many critics bashed Athlete this year, including Pitchfork, who gave a horrendous rating of 2.8, I happened to like the album quite a bit. With the addition of another guitarist and some new etchings in the background of their original sound brought forth in Vehicles & Animals back in 2004, Athlete's sound has been well-developed. So much, that it may have been hard for their performances to keep up with all of the messing around they did with Reason in their own recording studio. Take a look...
Keane
Keane has been a favorite of mine for some time. I was excited when I heard they would write a song for the War Child Charity album this year, featuring one of my favorite Keane songs "The Night Sky". But 
nothing has turned me away from going to a show than seeing all of their performances on YouTube. I just don't see the crowd getting into any of their keyboard solos or emotional songs. A big dissapointment on this was Keane's cover of "Under Pressure".
I can say, their songs are attractive and have their place, but it's as if too much hype is put into wooing the fans, and they took one of their normal, subtle songs into something unecessarily over-the-top. If it's a show I'm going to see, I want something where I can feel the music, get into it and end up buying their DVD for no apparent reason after the show. If anything, their performance from Live 8 two years back is a prime example of this. Keane is one of those bands that you would go to the concert just to sing along with because you love their music so much, but you can do that in your car. I'll just continue to buy their CDs...
As for pop music the UK announced their worst pop acts: Lisa Scott-Lee, Ms Dynamite and Westlife. And just when you thought being 35 and singing Backstreet Boys' style songs in front of an airplane was bad enough, here's a small glimpse of what you haven't been missing.
But who really bombed this year as far as overall song quality, personal quality and fan dissapointment? You could have guessed this one... Britney Spears of course. I really couldn't dig up any indie band, rock band or alternative group who turned up as sour and washed up as her. It's really a shame artists such as this are even allowed to perform. Dress her up in lingerie, surround her with stripers and there's your sub par performance. That's MTV for you. Speaking of the worst this year, MTV's best of 2007 is a complete joke (again). Who would put Britney Spears as their #1? Name something more attrocious than "Gimme More" that deserves more forced marketing than "Soulja Boy", which also managed to disrrupt the music scene this year. "Soulja Boy" is one of many songs currently being added to List of songs in English labeled the worst ever on wikipedia.
0 Comments:
