New songs in the pop spotlight to talk about!

I've been constructing my personal top hits playlist using Fuse TV's "Oven Fresh" program's playlist as well as MTV's "TRL". Sadly, "Oven Fresh" has been canceled and "TRL" airs daily, but like most of MTV, they can go weeks without airing a top 10 list. I continue to use the Billboard top 20 from the Pop 100 and Hot 100 singles charts, plus the top 10 from their Modern Rock and Adult charts, but these charts tend to be a little dull and lack the freshest acts. I've partly solved that with the MTV and Fuse TV charts, because they push the newest, coolest stuff before they arrive on the Billboard data. As a fun addition, I've been using the BBC top 20 singles--which definitely gets me some songs long before they break in the USA (I was fed up with Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" long before it broke in the States). But the really good college charts in Billboard and the bible of college/indie music, CMJ, are premium content. You gotta know I wouldn't pay for that!

So, how to solve? Outside of firing MTV and Fuse TV, I've added Billboard's "Bubbling Under" chart's top 10. This seems to be a list of early adopters' hottest tracks, so we'll see how that goes. I'm also not sure I want to keep the Hot 100 and the Pop 100--there's frequently no substantial difference between the two. I'm intrigued by the Pop 100 Airplay and may replace the Pop 100 chart with it, hoping that I'll get some fast-moving songs earlier! I've been trying to consider using the BBC Indie Singles Top 10, too, but so many songs on that are not released in the US and are just so hard to find, that I don't think that's going to work (I dearly wish it would, it would get me cool songs that we never hear in the States).

This means there's an unusual number of new songs to talk about this week.

• Rihanna has another big single debut this week, "Take A Bow". It's an easy tempo and a plaintive melody that doesn't suit her unexceptional singing. I really prefer her more up-tempo numbers where the singing is less important.
• The new-to-me Bubbling Under chart at Billboard is topped by Marvin Sapp's "Never Would Have Made It". A live single recorded with a full gospel choir, the performance is a bit florid for my tastes. Mr. Sapp is a minister, so this is a for-real gospel single, so at least it makes for a nice variation from the usual pop.
• Lyfe Jennings' debut, "Never Never Land", is another one of those smarmy boudoir jams that I rarely enjoy. It's not in the same league as J Holiday or r kelly's work, which isn't saying much.
• Meanwhile, Keyshia Cole joins The Game for "Game's Pain". It's kinda cute, the way he quotes a bunch of ancient hip-hop titles in his rhymes, but this isn't exactly a major achievement.
• Another set of guest appearances bolster the latest from Ne-Yo, "The Finer Things". He's joined by Jermaine Dupri, Fabolous, and even Kanye West. None of this makes the recording an outstanding item, although the rhythm track from DJ Felli Fel is notably subtle and sophisticated.
• Not all of the news from this week's big hits is bad. French DJ David Guetta borrows a few tricks from Daft Punk's bag to bring us "Love Is Gone". He brings a stomping dance beat and a huge synthetic bass leading tone that are hard to resist. The song itself is a classically urgent club melody from a brawny tenor, although the groove is the real find.
• I'm surprised to hear a new single hit the charts from The Offspring. The Bay Area band hasn't changed much in the last decade-and-a-half and "Hammerhead" is good, but not up to their best work. I like the energetic tempo, but The Offspring's songs seem to have a stale sameness to them after a while.
• OK, I don't listen to much country music, so I'm not familiar with Josh Turner until now. Wow, that is one huge bass voice with incredible range. The tune itself is a standard, regretful Nashville weeper. Since country music plays by such different rules, it seems unfair to complain about how slick this stuff can get.
• And this week's shout-along hip-hop party track belongs to... Three 6 Mafia! Even if you just say the title rhythmically, "Lolli Lolli (Pop That Body)", you can hear it. I was chanting along by the end of the first listen. It's charming, but I'll bet you won't remember it in a year.
• I think I'm on record as not being a fan of Simple Plan and their new track, "Your Love Is A Lie", doesn't give me a chance to reconsider. This is the worst kind of emo music: a whiny, self-pitying lyric and a cheesy melody with a big anthemic chorus. The best emo bands have much better lyrics...

This is only half of this week's debuts, so I'll follow up with a few more comments in a day or two.

CDs listened to today:

• Test Icicles: For Screening Purposes Only
• Emma Lou Diemer: Concerto In One Movement For Piano
• John Antill: Corroboree
• Big Pig: Bonk
• Cuong Vu: Vu-Tet
• Metric: Live It Out
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonatas for Piano, disk 9
  
• Steven Winteregg: Visions And Revelations
• Dressy Bessy: (eponymous)