Best. Number 26. MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS - “I AM NOT A ROBOT”
I know, I know, I have already put a track of Marina’s in these mini-reviews before, but the charts often offer such slim pickings, and this track is jolly good. Unlike her first charting track “Hollywood”, “I am not a Robot” really gives Marina’s voice room to flourish, as she experiments more with higher pitches and the grain of her voice. This track again has an ironic-moralistic ethos behind it; an incredibly refreshing thing in the world of glib innuendo and childish romanticism (aka Pop), but doesn’t stray into being preachy. The video too, directed by the photography god that is Rankin, is rather captivating, and shows off Marina’s natural beauty in a way that makes the rest of us femmes feel incredibly inadequate. The video and track have been around for a while, in fact “I am not a Robot” is actually a re-release from June last year, which goes to show how long it takes to work the charts sometimes. If you’re not familiar with her album, The Family Jewels, you should check out “Obsessions” and “Mowgli’s Road”, Marina’s other past single releases, which are also excellent.
Worst. Number 36. TRAIN – “HEY, SOUL SISTER”
Uh, seriously what an awfully soul-less this track is. Recorded by an incredibly dull American group for incredibly dull American people, Train is made up of aging rockers in their late thirties, who like many of their age have developed an unsavorily smug attitude towards life that is projected into their beyond MOTR style of crap. People in their thirties, it is often rumored, tend to mellow out a bit as they settle down into life, where both relationships and career are typically much more secure and steady than life is in your twenties. Unfortunately, being so bloody satisfied doesn’t really make good music. Some of the best music (written by young and old) is traumatised, angst ridden, passionate, volatile. Being American middle class thirty year olds is so decidedly sorted, so decidedly ok, that the music these types make is usually nothing but bland sonic experiences for bland boring people. And that’s what this track is; tame, sensible, sentimental, faux-soul by likewise people. I can’t get on board with something that is sonically and ideologically so opaque to real reality, so plain, so only OK.
