[whiteperil] Sean: Got the sound of you ringin' in my ears

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Posted by Sean:
Got the sound of you ringin' in my ears
http://whiteperil.com/posts/1196397744.shtml


   Been busy of late. Lots of news, though. The best is that Virginia
   Postrel < a
   href="http://www.dynamist.com/weblog/archives/002651.html">seems to be
   doing well with her cancer treatment and is posting again. Best wishes
   to her.
   Speaking of recovered cancer patientsâ¦[1]KYLIE! Of course. Some
   people seem to be bewildered that her new album doesn't address all
   the profound, life-changing experiences she's had in the last few
   years, which only makes you wonder whether they've ever heard her
   music before. Kylie is not Madonna, who apparently regards every
   thought that floats through her head and everything that happens to
   her as deeply meaningful and worthy of picking over in song. Kylie is
   an entertainer, and (bless her heart) seems to feel no need to sing
   about elements of her personal life if she can't do so in a way that
   pleases her fans.
   The [2]new album is good, of course. With the glut of super-skilled
   writer/producers for hire and all the technology at their disposal, no
   dance diva with a recording budget will ever make a truly bad album
   again, I suspect. "The One" is a terrific-sounding rip-off of
   [3]Madonna's terrific-sounding rip-off of [4]Kylie's previous
   terrific-sounding rip-off of [5]Madonna's previous terrific-sounding
   rip-off of "[6]I Feel Love." And so on.
   The thing is, about half the songs on X would, frankly, have better
   served the strengths of her sister. Dannii Minogue has a deadpan,
   husky voice that's emotionally blank but stays immediately
   recognizable even when processed to death--perfect for imprinting a
   brand on club songs on which the beat is the point. She goes with the
   mechanical flowâ¦kind of like an antipodean Britney without the skank
   factor.
   But Kylie's gift is for humanizing dance-pop. Fans want to hear her
   coo, sigh, burble, pout, and wail, and there's little room for that in
   the kinds of brittle, boxed-in tracks everyone's making these days.
   Stuck, like Madonna's "Jump," two thirds of the way through is the
   most affecting song on the album: "No More Rain." Looking forward to
   the remixes, especially if someone actually comes up with a bassline
   that hasn't been done to death.
   And please, can we consign "Nu-di-ty" to outer darkness while there's
   still time? No Kylie album is complete without one track that totally
   sucks, but really! These things do have their limits.

References

   1. http://www.sundayherald.com/arts/arts/display.var.1841321.0.0.php
   2. http://www.amazon.com/X-Kylie-Minogue/dp/B000VZE168/ref=pd_bbs_sr_7?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1196396058&sr=8-7
   3. http://www.ongen.net/search_detail_track/track_id/tr0000136812/
   4. http://www.amazon.com/Believe-You-Enhanced-Kylie-Minogue/dp/B0006SGTWY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1196396632&sr=8-1
   5. http://www.amazon.com/Ray-Light-CD-Single-Madonna/dp/B000007OJ1/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1196396718&sr=1-11
   6. http://www.amazon.com/I-Remember-Yesterday-Donna-Summer/dp/B000001FEC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1196396897&sr=1-1