Anti-Hit List offers alternative rock / underground music podcasts

The Anti-Hit List for October 8

By John Sakamoto of the Toronto Star


Anti-Hit List from John Sakamoto – 08oct05

10. THE HIDDEN CAMERAS, "LOLLIPOP"

Written for the unreleased film The Lollipop Gang by cinematic/musical transgressor G.B. Jones, this Joel Gibb song creates its own narrative around a gang that treats the lollipop as a narcotic (since, as Gibb explained in an email, "sugar really is the first gateway drug"). Appropriately, then, the tempo mimics a sugar rush, picking up speed till it barrels into a brick-wall ending. And, like the other tracks on this double vinyl EP, this is just the demo. (From Learning the Lie, http://www.musicismyboyfriend.com)

9. THE DARKNESS, "ONE WAY TICKET"

From the ludicrous intro (faux chanting monks over a faux Kung Fu flute) to the blatant AC/DC guitar rip-off to the mock-operatic Queenly backing vocals — no surprise, since Roy Thomas Baker produced both the source material and the homage to it — this second-album teaser sounds like the first album — but with even more laughs (From One Way Ticket to Hell ... and Back, http://www.myspace.com/thedarkness)

8. BLOC PARTY VS. PUSSYCAT DOLLS, "DON'T CHA BANQUET"

While the logic behind pairing these diametrically opposed artists may seem elusive, the former's "Banquet" and the latter's "Don't Cha" turn out to share sufficient musical compatibility to have inspired two concurrent mash-ups, by the practitioners known as Dunproofin' and Aggro 1. Each takes a markedly different path to get where it's going, but both are well worth following, especially if you loathe the Pussycat Dolls track — or just wish you did. (http://www.gybo-v3.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=9240)

7. LADY SOVEREIGN, "HOODIE"

In the four months since she first appeared on the List, this pint-sized, teenage, white British rapper has become the poster girl for the U.K. grime movement that brought us Dizzee Rascal, the Run the Road compilations, and not much more. Now that she's working with the likes of Jay-Z, that could all change, especially with jittery, hook-filled singles like this one. (From Public Warning, http://www.savethehoodie.co.uk/frameset.php)


Read more and listen to the podcast at Anti-Hit List from John Sakamoto – 08oct05


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