Singling Out 2008: The Raveonettes, Lykke Li, Busta Rhymes, Jessica Simpson, more

More 2008 singles that other people of wealth and taste think are great, and maybe I'll agree or maybe or I won't  (see also these two previous posts). This time, from the running best-of-the-year list on New Yorker critic Sasha Frere-Jones' blog. Here goes:

Lykke Li, "Little Bit"
Tentative start, jangly jingling sounds -- kinda cute until the icy and introverted little bit of a girly voice comes in, a little bit in la-la-la-la love with us. Swedish indie-pop chantoozie; pledges to keep her legs apart at one point. Melody is definitely a melody. But I keep wanting the thing to kick in, and it never does. All tension, no release. And yeah, just plain very little, period -- which is always what I hated about indie-pop.

Busta Rhymes, "Don't Touch Me (Throw Da Water on 'Em)"
It's sacrilege to say, but I've never quite gotten the appeal of Busta. He's always just seemed like a novelty act or something to me, and a considerably less musical one than, say, Weird Al. He's obviously a party dude (entertainingly portrays James Brown and King Kong and old-school rappers in this song's video), but do people actually listen to his music for pleasure? Well, they probably do, but I never really have. Anyway. This has a supremely funky drumbeat, and a fairly awesome yell-and-response chorus, and there's a funny part toward the end where he stops to catch his breath. And the verses are ... wordy. They don't exactly keep the momentum going, though I don't doubt there's some clever lines in there.

The Raveonettes, "Aly, Walk With Me"
Danish post-Jesus and Mary Chain Prozac-pop (same thing this pair have been doing all along, right?), foreboding nighttime twang, strong and steady pulse to walk along to. I wish the vocals got half as loud as the guitar does. Though the guitar fulminates long enough to make the rest seem less average, somehow.

Jessica Simpson, "Remember That"
Catchy-enough fake Faith Hill -- maybe, like, Faith doing "Luka"? Oh wait, that was about child abuse; this is about domestic abuse instead. So, more like "Goodbye Earl" or "Independence Day" or "Rosie Strike Back." Except Jessica doesn't recommend striking back; she just suggests that, if he begs you to take him back in the middle of the night, don't do it. Still excellent advice. And the hooks do cook. Not as good as a couple of singles that Jessica's younger sister put out this year. And not as good as Jessica's "A Public Affair" from a couple years ago. But maybe as good as her "I Think I'm I Love With You" from 2000. And that one sampled "Jack and Diane," so there!

Ryan Leslie, "Diamond Girl"
The singing doesn't sound as much like classic soul music as I bet he thinks, but it's better than the rapping. The gurgle underneath is kind of neat. The rest is pleasant, unthreatening, forgettable. Apparently "diamond" means she wears one that he gave to her. Remixes with Kanye and Craig David may or may not be worse.

Zomby, "Spliff Dub (Rustie Remix)"
Very spliffy. And dubby. A cartoon kid's voice keeps babbling the same thing over and over, and I have no idea what it is. Then another repeated line becomes, for all purposes, the hook. What else is there to say? Probably the definitive example of some cutting-edge British electronic subgenre I never heard of.