Non-Vampire-Romance-Related Pop Culture

I'll admit that over the course of the past couple months, I've become a big fan of HBO's True Blood. It's pulpy, sexy and a whole lot of fun. I also thought very highly of the Swedish horror pic Let the Right One In. It's unbelievably fucked up, yet seeped in genuinely cute puppy love. And anyone that knows me knows of my affinity for Buffy. But really now, can we give the bloodsucking romances a short time-out? This Twilight shit has clearly gone too far, and god knows what kind of copycats Hollywood is about to follow up with. So with that in mind, here's a pop culture (and thus, pop music)-oriented post that has nothing to do with vampires. You're welcome.

So despite the steady stream of leaks that have been pouring forth from Kanye's 808's & Heartbreak, I've refused to feature any on the site thus far, mainly because everyone else was doing it, and partially because I wasn't quite sure what to make of it all yet. Well I've been forced to change my tune today, because 'ye just dropped "Welcome to Heartbreak", the best track from the album yet, so good that it seems to validate his whole crazy experiment thus far. "Hearbreak" is easily the bleakest song Kanye has ever done, so much so that it risks veering into melodrama, but the detached nature of the already-infamous Autotune makes it all work. It's a tiny masterpiece of a song, and something that further signals Kanye's progression from a superior pop artist to icon-in-the-making. The polished version of 808's & Heartbreak finally comes out Nov. 25, though you can basically find all of the songs floating around the net right now, thanks to Kanye's own leaks.


---------------------Song of the Week----------------------------
Kanye West - "Welcome to Heartbreak"



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Another pop figure who's made a surprising transformation (albeit a slightly more mainstream one) in 2008 would be the one & only Akon, who began the year by producing stellar indie-pop (if such a thing exists) for Lady Gaga, before transitioning to work on his newest LP, Freedom, all somehow while curbing his old impulses to over-expose himself. During the course of all this, he's gained a little bit more of my admiration. For some reason, while I should despise the man on paper, I can't deny that he can write some pretty solid pop songs. And if the tracks that have leaked from Freedom are any indication, he's actually improving. Thus, despite the presence of a man who seems to have taken over Akon's old job of guesting on fucking EVERYTHING, I present a song which is genuinely awesome, even if you'll be sick of it a year from now:


Akon feat Lil Wayne - "I'm So Paid"

I don't know what's in the Australian waters these days, but I for one am glad to see an emergence of music other than dancey-dance-rave stuff (not that there's anything wrong with Cut Copy, The Presets or Panther DLX, it's just that it's all getting a bit stale). Leading the new pack of mainstream-ready rock acts are The Panics, a not-quite-Coldplay act that feature a lot of horns, which if you didn't know, can make me instantly like any band. "Don't Fight It" has begun to catch on in the US, over a year since the band's first LP, Cruel Guards was released. With luck, the rest of the album may finally find an audience as well.


The Panics - "Don't Fight It"

And finally, I've got an awesome, 80s-tinged remix from The Teenagers (a band I saw a while back at Part-Time Punks that's really a lot of fun live), of Vampire Weekend's awes.......................Waaaaaaaaaaiiiiiitt! Well look at that. Guess I just plum failed you all. Oh well. Who could have possibly seen this post ending like this? Well, sorry guys. I guess the bloodsuckers won after all! (Cue Looney Toons-style shrinking fade-out, with whacky send-off music to match).

Vampire Weekend - "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" (The Teenagers' remix)