Your Verdict - Week Eight!

[The Curmudgeon]

So with my perfect run of hits spoiled by, of all people, Matt Berry, I figured the hell with playing it safe. No guitars this week. We're now firmly into pop territory.

Sadly, with the dismal state of the charts and the terrible dross that passes for popular music, the tag "pop music" has no end of negative connotations. True, there is a lot of horrible pop music out there. But there's also a lot of great pop music out there. Like this song from Chloe Howl.



Bit of a bittersweet story this one; Chloe was signed at the age of just 16 to Columbia records, and she was shortlisted for a critics choice award and a BBC Sound of 2014 award. She released just a few great singles that sadly did..nothing. She was then dropped by her label and didn't even get to release the album she had spent three fucking YEARS writing. And that's the end of the story. Meanwhile, Justin Bieber is the biggest star in the world. Again. Justice.

She's still young, obviously talented and no doubt smaller independent labels can snap her up and maybe then we'll see an album. Until then, here's "Paper Heart", which I couldn't even find on Youtube. Le sigh.

vimeo.com/79280603

[trashcanman]

I LOVE that video. So nerdy and energetic and raw. Great song too. Why was she dropped? Did her singles just not sell at all? I'd certainly give her album a listen at worst. Don't bother trying t pander to my eccentric tastes. They change by the day. Just post what you want to post. You're already outted as a Spears/Cyrus fan so I've already seen you at your worst.

[The Curmudgeon]

Nah, no pandering here. No fun in that. And for the record, Mr Trash, Miley Cyrus has been off my radar for some years now. Not to sound like one of THOSE music fans but I only liked her early stuff, man. She was drop dead gorgeous a few years ago, it was when she started trying to look and sound "edgy" that she became an absolute boner-killer with terrible fucking songs. I'm Britney 4 Life, though.

Why was Chloe Howl dropped? Yeah, poor sales I guess, which wouldn't make much difference to a smaller indie label, but when you're signed to Sony I imagine they're looking for bigger returns. A shame.