The Singles Jukebox

Tuesdays, Wednesdays – not generally good days for your editor, hence the timing…

[Video][Myspace]
[6.00]

John Seroff: What rough beast is this now, squelching sloppy, juicy and persuasive on the dancefloor? I fully expect a few among us not to see the towering maypole in the midst of the forest of effects but holy wow if this isn’t near the same class as the minimal heights of Busy Signal.
[9]

Michaelangelo Matos: Almost as soon as “Death of Auto-tune” came out, I started hearing a lot (not nearly all, but a notable amount) of songs that basically made me start liking the device, if not loving it. This track is a good example of that tendency: he basically mutters through Auto-tune over a track that fizzes and simmers in much the same way as the vocal, and they mesh really nicely. It doesn’t jump out, just settles in. Based on the couple other Jamaican songs that use Auto-tune in this manner, I’m guessing it’s a pretty common tactic there, one I should investigate more; suggestions, particularly 2010 ones, are welcome in the comments.
[7]

Rodney J. Greene: The barebone bashment riddim delights, and Gappy’s stentarian voicing, sometimes swathed in effects, is mesmerizing. Too much so, in fact — there are no peaks or valleys here, just linearity.
[6]

Jonathan Bogart: You might want to diversify that portfolio.
[5]

Martin Skidmore: For once, the exceptionally heavy use of autotune leaves the impression that there wasn’t so much emotion in the voice in the first place.
[4]

Pete Baran: Gappy, the Jimmy Tarbuck of ragga, slowly uses his vocal to increase the urgency of the track, which is necessary as the backing doesn’t change. But in the end the lack of variety sabotages what showed a lot of potential in the first minute.
[5]

Ian Mathers: There’s a lot to like here: the monomaniacal repetition in both vocal and foursquare beat (everyday he’s hustlin’, you know), the actually compelling use of vocal processing (wherein Ranks is accompanied by a crowd of gremlins), and especially the implied cavernous space of the production. It’s not flashy or immediately impressive, but “Stinkin’ Rich” is subtly addictive.
[7]

Chuck Eddy: Have yet to decipher his patois enough to figure out whether he hates the stinkin’ rich or or he’s bragging that he’s one himself. But I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that it’s the former.
[6]

Kat Stevens: Mash-up of this and the Only Fools And Horses theme tune is required IMMEDIATELY.
[5]