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Peoples Pop 2024: THE FINAL GROUP
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— 23 January 2025 Tom

The results are in! We have a final group of 40 songs to vote on in the WORLD CUP OF 2024, and a handy GOOGLE FORM where you can do just that. The form has details on the scoring system, and it’s open until midnight on Sunday 26th January. So on this post I’ll just put up the playlists and results.

Here’s the Spotify one:

And the YouTube one:

And the results by group (the top 4 qualified automatically)

ARTPOP: 1. DOECHII – “Denial Is A River”. 2. CHARLI XCX & LORDE – “Girl, So Confusing (Remix)”. 3. MAGDALENA BAY – “Death And Romance”. 4. NILUFER YANYA – “Like I Say (I Runaway)”. Also Qualified: JOSHUA IDEHEN – “Mum Does The Washing”, BABYMINT – “Booooooring”

B-SIDES: 1. ARXX – “Crying In The Carwash”. 2. JANE PAKNIA & HAGOP TCHAPARIAN – “Alice In Orchidverse”. 3. ANA PALINDROME – “Sorry A Million”. 4. MABE FRATTI – “Enfrente”

DANCE/ELECTRONICA/MISC.: 1. KABIN CREW ft LISDOONVARNA CREW – “The Spark”. 2. KELLY LEE OWENS – “Dreamstate”. 3. 4AM KRU ft PAPA LEVI – “Ribena”. 4. POPPY – “They’re All Around Us”. Also Qualified: ILLIT – “Magnetic”

GLOBAL: 1. AROOJ AFTAB – “Raat Ki Rani”. 2. SAHRA HALGAN – “Sharaf”. 3. NOA – “Any Angle”. 4. ATMOS BLAQ – “Mfana Wase Dobsi”. Also Qualified: KALI UCHIS – “Como Asi?”

HIP-HOP/R&B/JAZZ: 1. KENDRICK LAMAR – “Not Like That”. 2. DOECHII – “Nissan Altima”. 3. LITTLE SIMZ – “Mood Swings”. 4. TINASHE – “Nasty”

INDIE: 1. THE CURE – “Alone”. 2. KIM GORDON – “Bye Bye”. 3. FONTAINES DC – “Starburster”. 4. VAMPIRE WEEKEND – “Capricorn”. Also Qualified: BOB VYLAN – “Hunger Games”. KIM DEAL – “Crystal Breath”

POP: 1. CHAPELL ROAN – “Good Luck, Babe!”. 2. CHARLI XCX – “Von Dutch”. 3. SABRINA CARPENTER – “Espresso”. 4. JADE – “Angel Of My Dreams”. Also Qualified: ROSE & BRUNO MARS – “Apt.”, THE LAST DINNER PARTY – “The Feminine Urge”

SONGWRITERS: 1. WAXAHATCHEE ft MJ LENDERMAN – “Right Back To It”. 2. KACEY MUSGRAVES – “Cardinal”. 3. BETH GIBBONS – “Floating On A Moment”. 4. ROSIE TUCKER – “All My Exes Live In Vortexes”

Latest comments (of 2)

Andrew F   3 months ago

Thank you for this though - I will vote once I listen to all of them (and recover from Guess not making it through)

Andrew F   3 months ago

Oh I missed all of this (I think I thought there'd be posts for each group?) - are there more detailed results anywhere? I couldn't see any on the threads (PS you've got the Youtube playlist twice […]

THE WORLD CUP OF 2024
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— 13 January 2025 Tom

In case you weren’t aware, the Pop Polls are back back BACK on Bluesky, and we’ve started off with the annual year-end poll, The World Cup Of 2024 (hashtag: #peoplespop24 if you want to play along there)

Bluesky doesn’t have polls, so I’m running the whole thing via Google Forms, and this post is where I’m posting the 8 separate Round 1 groups for you to vote on. Voting is open on all these until midnight, January 22nd (UK time) and you can edit your votes until then on any poll.

In each group you get to pick four songs you want to advance, and also allocate a bonus vote, which can be to one of the four or to a fifth deserving track. The top tracks in each group (exact proportions to be determined by a secret formula) will go through to a Final Group of 40 songs, voted on starting on Thursday 23rd.

GROUP 1: ART POP

VOTE – Listen on Spotify – see on YouTube – Bluesky Thread

GROUP 2: B-SIDES (The tracks with the least streams and shazams)

VOTE – Listen on Spotify – see on YouTube – Bluesky Thread

GROUP 3: INDIE

VOTE – Listen on Spotify – see on YouTube – Bluesky Thread

GROUP 4: GLOBAL

VOTE – Listen on Spotify – see on YouTube – Bluesky Thread

GROUP 5: POP

VOTE – Listen on Spotify – see on YouTube – Bluesky Thread

GROUP 6: HIP-HOP/R&B/JAZZ

VOTE – Listen on Spotify – see on YouTube – Bluesky Thread

GROUP 7: DANCE/ELECTRONIC/Misc.

VOTE – Listen on Spotify – see on YouTube – Bluesky Thread

GROUP 8: SONGWRITERS

VOTE – Listen on Spotify – see on YouTube – Bluesky Thread

And if you want all the nominations at once, here they are:

The League Of Extraordinary Tracks II: 4. ALL CHANGE! – Playlists
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— 26 November 2023 Tom

Welcome back to the LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY TRACKS, our weekly (in theory) music discovery game. Eleven players submit tracks each round on a theme – the idea is to find stuff we the voters haven’t heard yet. This is the playlist post – once you’ve heard the songs, go and vote in the poll post.

This week’s theme is – well, it’s complicated. Originally the submitted idea was “Introducing…” – debuts by musicians on songs by others, like guest verses or debuts of later jazz bandleaders. A cool theme, but very tricky to research (since, by the nature of things, debuts of famous people tend to be well known in their own right). I asked to expand it to include more broad shifts like band line up changes, collaborations, aliases and side projects. And in the end line up changes and side projects were what almost all the players went for. So I renamed the week to “ALL CHANGE!”

The Spotify playlist is missing a final track – the Orb and Alan Parker collaboration – it’s the final song on the YouTube list:

I’ll leave it to the players to explain how each track qualifies. For now, just enjoy the sounds they’ve selected. Thanks to them for wrestling with a tricky brief!

Ringing The Changes:

  1. HERBIE HANCOCK – “Wiggle Waggle”: From 1969’s Fat Albert Rotunda
  2. BY STORM – “Double Trio”: From 2023’s Double Trio EP.
  3. V/Z – “Habadash”: From 2023’s Sueno Assente
  4. PROPAGANDA – “La Carne, La Morte e Il Diavolo”: From 1990’s 1234.
  5. EKKAH – “Last Chance To Dance”: From 2014’s Last Chance To Dance EP.
  6. THE OTHER TWO – “Selfish”: From 1993’s The Other Two And You
  7. MAM – “Ongelofelijk”: A 1989 single!
  8. LEAVES’ EYES – “Across The Sea”: From 2018’s Sign Of The Dragonhead
  9. TSOL – “Flowers By The Door”: From 1984’s Change Today?
  10. NANCY VANDAL – “Egg Sandwich”: From 1996’s The Interrogation Room
  11. THE ORB ft ALAN PARKER – “Grey Clouds”: From the 2007 compilation Annie Nightingale Presents Y4K

Special note: One contestant was unable to submit this week, so I found a track instead. But I’m not going to tell you which it is!

Latest comments (of 3)

healingandy   17 months ago

So, Propaganda then... The year is 1990, and as befits a cash-strapped teenager I'm a frequent scanner of the bargain bin at the record shop. Two successive Propaganda singles land in there, and I […]

vinnycrackers   17 months ago

My nomination is By Storm. It's a return of one of my most loved Golden Beats, Injury Reserve, who were nominated by our @exileinmudville for the 2021 poll. I'm going to link to the full story, but […]

mondosalvo   17 months ago

I’ll leave it to the players to explain how each track qualifies. In the salad days of mp3 blog era, I came across Zongamin and tucked him away in some dusty corner of my brain for years and years. […]

The League Of Extraordinary Tracks II: 2. RELIGION – Polls
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— 30 October 2023 Tom

This week’s League Of Tracks is the first theme to go beyond pre-existing pop polls – we are tacking RELIGION with a selection of devotional, heretical, or otherwise spiritual tunes from across the history of pop.

As usual the rules are simple.

  1. Go listen to the songs on the PLAYLIST POST
  2. Vote for up to 4 of them in the poll – but!
  3. You mustn’t vote for anything you already knew. New discoveries only!

Into the multi-denominational faith room of pop we go…

[ays_poll id=108]

Latest comments (of 20)

Leo Breebaart   17 months ago

Oh, you might be surprised. Care for a game of Diamondback?

Kit   17 months ago

If it helps, they didn't seek permission or offer payment...

vinnycrackers   17 months ago

I think I'm trying to find the sweet spot between NEVER WINNING and NEVER LOSING and that's my life metaphor!

Steffen Rayburn-Maarup ?   17 months ago

Oh, a rare fellow Cerebus reader! Not many of those around. […]

The League Of Extraordinary Tracks II: 2. RELIGION – Playlists
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— 30 October 2023 Tom

For the second theme of the new season Dave chose RELIGION – go as broad as you like, he advised. Let’s see what you unholy lot came up with.

As ever, listen to the playlist and then vote in the POLL POST.

This time all but one of the tracks are on Spotify:

The final track, “All Things Bright And Beautiful” by The Goodies, is at the end of the YouTube playlist.

ORDER OF SERVICE

  1. MARY LOU WILLIAMS – “Amina Christi”: From 1964’s Mary Lou Williams
  2. FREDDIE AND THE HITCHHIKERS – “Sinners”: From a 1961 single.
  3. SISTER WYNONA CARR – “The Ball Game”: From a 1953 single.
  4. SIERRA FERRELL – “Bells Of Every Chapel”: From 2021’s Long Time Coming
  5. AMMA – “Sri Krishna Sharanam Mama”: From 2014’s Amritapuri Bhajans Vol.15
  6. YELLOWMAN – “Natty Sat Upon The Rock”: From 1982’s Mister Yellowman.
  7. ALY & AJ – “Church”: From 2019’s Sanctuary EP.
  8. BEASTIE BOYS – “Something’s Got To Give”. From 1992’s Check Your Head
  9. SPERMBIRDS – “My God Rides A Skateboard”: From 1986’s Something To Prove.
  10. GREGORIO ALLEGRI (composer) – “Miserere Mei, Deus”: From Choir Of Kings’ College’s Allegri Miserere (1984)
  11. THE GOODIES – “All Things Bright And Beautiful”: From 1973’s …Sing Songs From The Goodies

Latest comments (of 3)

koganbot   18 months ago

Great choice of theme. Damn!* Dave, you win everything. If I were playing I'd have gone into agonies over whether to choose the Staple Singers' "This Could Be The Last Time" (I had put it in the […]

vinnycrackers   18 months ago

WILD!

actualee simpson   18 months ago

Wow…the impetus for choosing “Religious Songs” was that I was listening to Mary Lou Williams’ “St. Martin De Porres” from this album and thinking about how I’d love an opportunity to nominate it for […]

The League Of Extraordinary Tracks II: 1. NOT IN ENGLISH – Polls
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— 18 October 2023 Tom

This is where you VOTE in the League Of Tracks Season 2 Week 1. You’ll need a registered account on the site to vote, so we can keep it to one person one vote (or to log in via Twitter/X – we are working on other login options!)

Please vote for up to FOUR tracks from the ones you don’t already know. You can hear them all in the playlist post!

[ays_poll id=107]

Latest comments (of 24)

Son of Mecha Mummy   18 months ago

"Oh, right, I listened to the playlist for this a week ago and forgot to vote, I wonder if the poll is still open so I can give the whole thing another listen before picking my favorites!" And then […]

koganbot   18 months ago

The Lemons – Smooth. It flows nicely, and builds up. (Can you flow upwards?) The treated guitars scratch their way uphill at the end. MC Yallah & Debmaster – This is all about its bumpiness, […]

koganbot   18 months ago

Corry Brokken – Felt I was hearing a kind of "pop" (as in "not rock 'n' roll") that you only get in title songs to late-'50s, early-'60s movies, like the faux-western stylings of "The Man Who Shot […]

koganbot   18 months ago

Familjen – Crude electro-clank, like looking back at the days of exploiting electronics for their goofiness, and unkempt vocals. Good chucklesome video, pretending the vocalist is a mad scientist […]

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