The Singles Guy 09.28.09: Down With The Sickness

Posted by Jacob Crogie on 09.28.2009

This week we get the latest from Kid Cudi and the lead single off of the New Moon soundtrack! What more do you people want?

I have nothing to put here except to mention that I would have posted a review of Drake's latest smash collaboration entitled "Forever", except it contained a rapper who is currently blacklisted by yours truly. You know who you are...douchebag.


Hot 100


Kid Cudi ft. MGMT & Ratatat- "Pursuit of Happiness"

I'm sure that I wasn't the only one who liked the remix of "Day & Night" better than the original track? That's my main thing with Kid Cudi, he seems to stick to the slower and relatively low energy spectrum. His rhymes are phenomenal though and he is clearly talented to put together a track like this one. MGMT's influence on this track is easily discerned throughout whether its in the trippy synth or the hook itself. All in all, this is a very well written and produced track that really doesn't do anything for me. I find it lacks energy, and I know that everyone will jump up and say that I don't get it. That's fine, I will just wait for the Crooker's Remix of this song and everything will be alright again.

The Arbitrary Rating of Goodness: 3/5

Like It? Listen To This: "Day & Night"- Kid Cudi




Rock


Death Cab For Cutie- "Meet Me On The Equinox"

This brings us to a track fresh off the "New Moon" OST, which means regardless of whether this song is good or not it will be a huge hit. Although, I'd rather music like this be mass distributed than the latest Jonas Brothers shit. The Twilight soundtrack contained some impressive artists, as will the New Moon OST. This song in itself is very well done, and sounds like it could be an extension on "I Will Posess Your Heart". It plays off of the themes in Twilight but is still well enough written that it could have been a standalone single from a future album. The melody itself dwells in the underbelly, conveying a sense of doom and gloom. It seems to capture the whole ominous feeling that only a Vampire love story can convey while issuing a caveat that "everything ends".

The Arbitrary Rating of Goodness: 4/5

Like It? Listen To This: "I Will Posess Your Heart"- Death Cab For Cutie




Dance


Altar ft. Jeanie Tracy- "Turn It Out (Altar Anthem Mix)"

I must confess that I find my fascination with techno to be a kind of guilty pleasure. I know for a fact that this song is brutal, yet I can't stop listening to it! There is something truly instinctual about dance music, it caters to our base instinct to dance like fools. This track has a very tribal beat accentuated by a repetitive yet entertaining synth progress. When the vocals are there, they are more to accent the music then the stereotypical reverse. Make sure that you get the Altar Anthem mix, the other mix lacks power and excitement. This track makes me want to find the nearest rave and dance like an idiot all night long. I guess that means it has done its job?

The Arbitrary Rating of Goodness: 3.5/5

Like It? Listen To This: "Hot Summer Night (Oh La La La)"- David Tavare

This is the original...and only a sample at that, but you get the idea.





Country


Billy Currington- "That's How Country Boys Roll"

I've grown to be quite the fan of Billy Currington through such songs as "Don't" and "People Are Crazy". However, I will be the first to admit that this is a huge step in the wrong direction for an artist who conveyed such potential to me. If "People Are Crazy" was pleasantly cliched, this song takes cliche to a whole new low. The song is basically a love song written about how awesome country boys are, and I would have to agree that we are pretty awesome. However, the entire track spews cliches over a generic chord progression and bland instrumentation. This song fails on so many different levels that I find myself just disgusted by its existence. Furthermore, most of the cliches are terrible stereotypes about country life. All in all, this is exactly what makes people hate country music, and for this track at least, I can't blame them.

Like It? Listen To This: "Country Boy"- Alan Jackson

So...this is all I can find...fucking line dancing ftl.




Canadian Content

Stereos- "Throw Ya Hands Up"

And now on to the best band to ever come out of a MuchMusic reality show, Stereos, fan favorite off of DisBand. Personally, I have never watched the show, so I can't really comment too much. Although, their track "Summer Girl" was quite possibly my guiltiest pleasure of the summer. That brings us to their terrible follow up, well, its not as if the song is terrible, as a matter of fact it is pretty catchy. The problem I have with it, is that it sounds almost exactly the same as "Summer Girl", apparently these guys only know four chords. Also, the lyrics are borderline retarded, although they really never were viewed as lyrical geniuses, "Doo-wah, doo-wah, let's make it happen shorty"...its not quite Dylan is it? Really tired of the autotune as well, oh well...this track will also be a guilty pleasure, but not as good as "Summer Girl". Furthermore...the original version of this track is better.

The Arbitrary Rating of Goodness: 2.5/5

Like It? Listen To This: "Summer Girl"- Stereos




The Jacob Crogie Seal of Awesomeness


Greg Laswell- "Your Ghost"

I got this track emailed to me along with another pile of unsolicited tracks from lesser-known artists. This is a cover of Kristen Hersh's smash which featured Michael Stipe of REM. First just let me state that the original, although good lacks the flow and melody of Laswell's version. To me, this one is more powerful and haunting, it just seems to flow better and contain more raw emotion. Laswell's voice is phenomenal and carries this track over a simple haunting guitar riff. Truly worth a listen and in my opinion far outshines the original.




So that's it for another week, be sure to tune in same time next week when we get all the latest and the greatest plus all the crap that everyone else likes...


Until next week, keep your pimphand strong and your rawkfist in the air!