I should stop bitching about the quality of pop music, because it makes me look like a contrary, alternative, elitist, indie music asshole, but...well, here it is anyway.

Uffie = Ke$ha

Take a listen, but try not to let this get to you like it did me.

Tonight Tonight

19 songs represented here, at least 1/4 of them are from 2009.

 
This is everything I hate about American Pop, but I'm not quite sure why. I guess I can't believe that the English-speaking world values the immediate future as much as these songs seem to imply. It seems too easy to dismiss the similarity in these songs as simple plagiarism or laziness (although Ke$ha's performance in "Tik Tok" is already biting off of Uffie's in "Get This Party Started," so I can't give her writer much credit, either).

Now if we as a culture do fetishize the endless possibility of "the night ahead," then perhaps these songs are a perfect and beautiful reflection of the era that birthed them, in which case I'll have to come to terms with that. Is there really something about that beat, those chords, those instruments that make a composer think of all the times he's pined for a perfect end to a shitty day? Maybe it's the American belief that anything is possible, or a lifestyle of wasting away in tedious jobs, or some deep-seated tendency in our cultural genetics to place all of one's hope and expectation into a single moment, even at the risk of total devestation in the wake of its (usually inevitable) lack of realization. Maybe we listen to this music to get us back to that place that music often takes us, between heartache and joy, nostalgia and possibility. Like a drug or a meditation, depending on how you take it, this music can feed into whatever it is we get from feeling strongly, even at the expense of taste and good judgement (you know there's a club somewhere where people are all chanting the call and response from The Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feelin'", including the Hebrew).

Maybe I'm just judgmental, cynical, or soullessly pragmatic, because these songs are popular as shit. And don't take offense if you're totally into Daughtry or Train, because Jimmy Eat World has three entries in this compilation, and they're one of my favorite bands. Still, shoot me if I ever write a song obsessing about "tonight." I think I'll stick with obsessing about the past. That sounds healthy.

If you're so inclined, get an iTunes account and rate this iMix and this iMix. Help Vandella get some iTunes publicity! This shit's goin' viral!

Did some show promotion this weekend with Vandella, on the street and on the radio - super fun!

Also got some videos from the December show:

Went to an auto show with a friend yesterday, which was kind of strange, since I just learned how to change a spare tire and used to think V8 was only a tomatoey soup-beverage. The incidence of booth babes was almost zero, which I guess was due to the fact that most of the cars there weren't souped-up hot rods, but mild and sensible sedans and vans represented by mild and sensible women in pantsuits.

This car had a spare car on top:

This is a game I made; still missing music, better art, leaderboards, and more levels and bosses, but you can play it here. It's kind of like Galaga. It's a lot like Galaga.

UPDATE: You can play it right here.