12 minutes, 18 seconds

Dubstar
Elevator Song

I've been a little cranky over the past few posts. But in my defense, the CDs that have come up first over the past week or so...well, let's just say they don't represent the best work of those artists. They had it coming. But I'm pleased to switch gears here and heap praise on a band I really love, even though in light of my general listening preferences, I'd have to categorize them as a bit of a guilty pleasure.

Dubstar.

It's not so much the dance-pop music crafted by Steve Hillier as it is Sarah Blackwood's northern accented vocals and kitchen-table lyrics. It's been called runny-Mascara music, which is to say it's all about failed relationships from the woman's point of view. Which is a fair appreciation. But there's so much wit and, for want of a better word, Britishness to the lyrics and vocal delivery that it's like listening to a strange and refracted world that sounds familiar yet is completely foreign, at least to an American ear. It might be a touch of the same phenomenon that attracts American (and other) fans to Morrissey--if Morrissey or Blackwood were American, would we care as much? Could an American even write those kinds of lyrics? Would they ring true?

And like Morrissey (and the Smiths, for that matter), a good deal of Dubstar's best songs are not on any of their albums. They're hidden as B-sides on singles. Think of Morrissey's "Nobody Loves Us" (the second song on the Dagenham Dave single) or "Girl Least Likely To" (third song on the November Spawned a Monster single). Accordingly, for Dubstar I'd choose "Unchained Monologue" (second song on the No More Talk single) and "This Is My Home" (third song on the Cathedral Park single). Lush, another great Britpop band, is the same way--lots of singles, lots of hidden gems. How about "Carmen" (one of the B-sides from the Ladykillers singles)?

In any case, as the list of CDs dwindles down, it's all about the singles. Short and sweet.

Make that bittersweet, since it means this project is coming to an end. Today, in fact. There will be a final post tomorrow--a conclusion, of sorts--but no CDs listed. Weird! It's been ten months of consistent posting. What will I do with myself if I can't obsessively document what I listen to each day? I'll actually have to, like, get a life or something.

Also today:

12:18 Morrissey, I Have Forgiven Jesus
12:17 In Strict Confidence, Holy: Alpha Omega
12:05 Allerseelen, Pedra
12:04 Morrissey, Dagenham Dave
11:53 Morrissey, Suedehead
11:50 Cocteau Twins, Dials
11:50 Morrissey, Our Frank
11:49 Maja Elliott, 1000 Water Craters on the Sea
11:32 Omne Datum Optimum, Nostre Dame du Grand Oeuvre
11:31 Cranes, Shining Road (CD 2 of 2)
10:53 Love Is Colder Than Death, Spellbound
10:52 Morrissey, Ouija Board, Ouija Board
10:38 Lisa Gerrard & Pieter Bourke, Duality (CD 2 of 2)
10:32 The Sundays, Summertime
10:31 The Smiths, Sweet and Tender Hooligan
10:15 Cranes, Forever (CD 2 of 2)
10:04 Fin de Siècle, Repli
9:46 Morrissey, Certain People I Know
9:46 Morrissey, Sunny
9:37 Dubstar, I (Friday Night)
9:27 Morrissey, Boxers
9:19 Morrissey, Picadilly Palare
9:17 Current 93, The Nodding Folk
9:13 Morrissey, Tomorrow
9:07 Autopsia, Radical Machine
8:17 Current 93, The Courtyard & Jerusalem