Modern Qualifier 5: SHOES GOTH SUN HIPPIE

The breakout single by Liverpool’s Johnny Boy is from 2004 – a Top 50 smash! It’s nominated by Graham M.
“Adult Goth” is from the Manhattan band’s first 4AD album, 2011’s Eye Contact. Nominated by stabilimentum.
The DFA Records stalwart’s 2014 LP, In A Dream, is where you can find this slow-burning banger. Nominated by idca.
A 2011 single, Cornershop’s foray into kids’ music came with a picture book. It was plucked from my own hippie bag to serve as a Bracket Balancer.

MODERN Poll Day 1

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actualee simpson

10 May 2023 14:11

Never really shared the enthusiasm for Johnny Boy but enough time has passed that it encapsulates a specific time and place vibe better than other songs I like more.

Tom

10 May 2023 16:31

The Cornershop track is that rare thing, an indie band making a properly good record for children, so much so that I didn’t realise for years it WAS originally meant as a record for children (apparently Tjinder Singh wrote it for a proposed animated series which never came off). IDK if the vaguely befuddled counter-cultural educator stereotype he’s working off is still a “thing”, it definitely was when I was young (and he’s only a little older) so this has a very recognisable vibe. And the final coda is a really good way of putting a valuable life lesson.

HOWEVER you still should consider voting for one of the others cos it’s a Bracket Balancer. This Juan Maclean record is a great slow burner and new to me. Gang Gang Dance is groovy enough that I assumed it WAS the JM and I’d got the tracks in the wrong order. “Generation” – my actual vote – deserves its own reply.

j_e_l

10 May 2023 22:21

Reply to Tom

Yeah, the Cornershop song reminded me off Nick Pope’s Popcast – a hated show in my house

actualee simpson

10 May 2023 17:41

Reply to Tom

Had this exact experience with GGD and JM. (Voted GGD because I wanted to vote for JM.)

Edward Still

10 May 2023 18:38

Going for the JM but another really strong group to end a really strong day. If this quality keeps up throughout we are in for one of the best polls to date..

Last edited 1 year ago by Edward Still

stabilimentum

10 May 2023 19:48

In a world where the dembow is ingrained in most urban music (as a bit of a stock beat), Gang Gang Dance prove they can use the rhythm in beautiful, hypnotic and twisted ways.
Vote Adult Goth. Embrace the entrancing.

ismathers

10 May 2023 20:05

Would vote for Johnny Boy twice if I could. To paraphrase Tom Breihan’s Number Ones column: its frequency’s my universe, and it’s a 10.

j_e_l

10 May 2023 22:09

You can’t diss Jesus & Mary Chain for their Phil Spector-isms and like Johnny Boy, it’s kind of a pastiche of indie pop, when indie pop is often purely pastiche anyway. It was quite good though. Gang Gang Dance, just felt that Simon LeBon should be the singer. The Juan Maclean, I felt it was pretty like a Sunday supplement thing about interiors, fleetingly able to hold my attention. But maybe that is their style? Like a fading patch of sunshine. Keep hearing that squeaky keyboard squiggle from the Cornershop song today, not especially my cup of tea.

Tom

11 May 2023 11:41

1 day in and this is a 3-way tie for 2nd behind the Be My Baby fuelled might of Johnny Boy.

RobertK

11 May 2023 14:30

I voted for Juan Maclean because I listened to that album a lot when it came out but I have to admit, both it and Gang Gang Dance sounded incredibly dated to me. I forget now where I first heard the theory that no music sounds more dated than that which came out 10-15 years ago and it feels true here and with this poll in general.

Tom

11 May 2023 14:42

Reply to RobertK

That’s a hopeful sign in that it suggests music is actually moving and changing at least. I was similarly startled by the extreme tens-ness of the Charli/Tove/etc group today.

Dan Bright-Amaya

11 May 2023 15:56

Another great group, another 10 minute banger.

Tom

12 May 2023 10:20

The extreme closeness of the 2nd places here reminds me I should put up a note on an admin post about the special rules for tie resolution rules this poll…!

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Modern Qualifier 5: SHOES GOTH SUN HIPPIE

MODERN Poll Day 1

Modern Qualifier 4: AWAY CYCLIC SWEATY ROBOT

The Discourse