What's new in pop music this week?

My tracking of pop hits always includes MTV's TRL, which has a top ten countdown as well as a couple of "featured" tunes that I suspect the big music labels pay heavily to air on the program. This past Thursday's TRL seemed more like a clearance sale--the top ten was announced in the first two minutes and the rest of the program was devoted to the unranked feature videos. What I'm saying is that my list is longer than usual and I'm blaming MTV for that.

• Chasing Pavements by Adele leads off from the UK. This is a rather good illustration of the Brits' love for old-school R&B and soul. She sings the verses in a butter-soft delivery (what, like every other singer-songwriter these days?) and the chorus in a brassier tone that may remind you of Amy Winehouse.
• Rise Against brings you The Good Left Undone, a brawny example of a punk band that's more interested in politics than I really care for. They follow a traditional strain of punk, of course, where the melodies are flat and tuneless and the main emphasis is pummeling riffs to go with the lyrical pummeling. The goofy thing is, a lot of the best punk bands were tuneful--Rise Against are not the best punk band.
  
• Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast from Airbourne is a remarkable distillation of the lessons you can learn by listening to AC/DC all day long. I'll stick with the originals, thank you very much, although this isn't bad.
• Cobra Starship, best known for the title track from Snakes On A Plane, comes back with The City Is At War. It's a big danceable groove with bits of organ and synthetic drums that just sounds like commercial product rather than art.
• Shiny Toy Guns' epic Rainy Monday arrives with lots and lots of acoustic guitars for an expansive sound to go with sweeping, arching melodies.
• Fat Joe, whom a writer in the New York Times once called the most-respected, least-loved rapper around, is coming around with I Won't Tell. He's always been a reliable performer and this is another solid tune, although the backing is a bit sugary compared to his past hits.
• Radiohead hasn't seen a big hit in a long while, despite being a big commercial success with their albums, but the critical darlings have a video to go with Jigsaw Falling Into Place. They're still pretty good after all these years and Thom Yorke's singing is improving. Check it out.
• Robyn's been a bubblegum popstar with dance tracks for some time now and she's back with Be Mine. She still does the teen-pop thing pretty well, best in small doses.
• Simple Plan's sounding less punk and more power-pop these days with When I'm Gone. This isn't bad, if a bit anonymous.
• Janet Jackson alert! She got featured on TRL with Feedback this week. She's always been a limited singer who's relied on big-time producers (like Britney Spears, but with slightly better media coverage) and this is a remarkable sleek, synthetic production. Not brilliant, but not bad.
• Matt White's Best Days is out of the same vein as James Blunt or Daniel Powter. You won't hate it, but perhaps it's not as strong as Blunt's best.
• Kid Rock's Amen got a nice spot on TRL, perhaps a bit more sincere than we're used to seeing from him. He's true to his country-rock style here, with considerably less rock. The arrangement is pretty spare. I think you'll like it.
• Blake Lewis is here with Break Anotha! The American Idol finalist sounds like a hyped-up version of Maroon 5 or perhaps Jamiroquai, with a bright-toned voice and a tightly-sprung groove. This is one of those songs that makes me think he has some talent, but I'll bet you he doesn't have many more songs to prove it...
• And please welcome The D.E.Y. with Give You The World. Golly I really don't like tunes like this. It's just a re-tread of Earth Wind and Fire's chestnut, Fantasy, but without the good stuff. Apparently, they got to make this junker before the Black Eyed Peas...
• I should have known that Omarion and Bow Wow had a new single in the wings when they had a brief cameo on Ugly Betty. That single is Hey Baby (Jump Off) and both stars show a lot of charm. The song itself is slim on substance, but I think we'll enjoy this for a while.
• The Wombats are back, although Moving To New York isn't as good as their last single, Let's Dance To Joy Division. It's a synthetic dance beat at high tempo and a melody that gets lost in the production. Maybe next time, guys.
• The Benefits' single, Physical, is actually not very new, but it didn't take off much beyond a feature on Fuse's Oven Fresh. I had trouble tracking it down until now and it was worth the trouble. I think you can say this song comes from the same bucket as acts like Devotchka or Gogol Bordello; think East European accents. How often do you get to hear tubas in the top hits?
• Ashlee Simpson is coming at you with Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya). She keeps her rock sound, this time with a retro 80s beat and a delivery that seems to borrow from Lydia Lunch or The Motel's Martha Davis. I like it less than some of her other performances.
• John Mayer has a feature from the soundtrack for The Bucket List. It's called Say and it's hardly up to his usual standard.

CDs listened to today:

• Louis Armstrong: Volume VII: You're Driving Me Crazy
• Matias Aguayo: Are You Really Lost
• Luciano Berio: Differences
• The Cure: Disintegration
• William Schuman: Symphony No. 9
• Bill Watrous: The Tiger Of San Pedro
• Frederic Chopin: Etudes
• Alfred Schnittke: Symphony No. 8
• Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band: Swingin' For The Fences
• Bill Frisell Quartet: (eponymous)