1. Waka Flocka Flame f/ Kebo Gotti - "Grove St. Party"
It speaks to how enduring and almost cultlike the appeal of Flockaveli is that the album is spinning off its 4th hit single a good 6 months after the release date, which is rare enough for platinum rap albums these days and downright unheard of for one that isn't even halfway to going gold. And since I loved the album in spite of being kind of bored by its hits, this is the first single from the record I really like, and it's exciting to finally hear a slightly different, less monolithic kind of Lex Luger beat on the radio.

2. Rebecca Black - "Friday"
I wouldn't say I enjoy Waka Flocka Flame in an ironic so-bad-it's-good way like Rebecca Black's hugely popular internet meme, but I have to admit it made a certain kind of sense to put "Friday" next to "Grove St. Party": both feature vague, repetitive lyrics about partying that bore their way into your brain in spite or perhaps because of the vocalist's strangely charismatic lack of overt talent. I don't generally like putting funny web novelties in this singles column, but I did so last year with Insane Clown Posse's "MIracles" for the same reason: once you've watched it a few times and laughed your ass off, you get the song stuck in your head and end up kind of enjoying it on the same level as a lot of other kind of stupid (if much more competent) pop songs.

3. Miguel - "Sure Thing"
A lot of people really liked Miguel's first hit "All I Want Is You," but it felt kind of flat and unengaging to me. And this song also has a kind of flatness to it, but somehow sounds a lot more appealing to me; in a weird way it almost feels kind of thin and lo-fi, more like something I'd hear on an unsigned singer's MySpace page than on the radio, but it works for the song, and stands out more in the context of radio playlists.

4. Three Days Grace - "Lost In You"
Three Days Grace are probably the most ubiquitous band on mainstream rock radio that isn't really famous at all to anybody who doesn't listen to those stations, and pretty much every one of the band's 9 huge radio hits (which all charted in the top 5 of the Mainstream Rock chart) has been a shrill annoying screamfest. Now they've finally released a kind of mellower track that I actually really like, particularly the opening riff, and it's by far their least successful single to date. Figures.

5. Muse - "Undisclosed Desires"
It kind of amazes me sometimes how hard Muse rocked on earlier singles like "Hysteria" and "Knights of Cydonia," especially given how drab and monochromatic recent ones like "Uprising" and "Resistance" have been. The left turn into straight up synth pop on this song seems like my favorite direction for them to go in at this point, though, I love how shameless they are with the slap bass.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 04, 2011 at 7:50 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.