Top of the Charts - Music in Greece - Rolling in the Deep by Adele

Though I wouldn't have recognized it by name, this is a song I've heard on U.S. radio stations, unlike Barbra Streisand by Duck Sauce. I already enjoy it, so I guess I'll go into a bit more technical detail about it. The vocal element is really strong, accompanied by strong, but simple percussion and a simple 5 note instrumental pattern during the versus. The instrumentation kicks up a bit during the chorus, but the chorus seems a bit shorter than "usual." The background singer-like accompaniment during the chorus and final verse gives it an interesting feel, taking it from very modern to feeling a bit like something out of the 60s (as far as stuff that was popular in the U.S.).

I watched the music video and.......I'm not sure I get all the symbolism. The general theme seems to be destruction; dishes being thrown at a wall creating a huge pile of broken pieces, a paper city burned down by the end of the video, some pyrotechnics, and the lyrics speak of a love gone sour. But then there's a dancer robed in black dancing in a room with black walls with a floor covered in powder, a floor full of partially filled glasses, Adele sitting in a room with most of the walls and the (sparce) furniture covered in plastic just singing to no one. I'll have to chalk it up to pure visual fluff.

As I said, I already enjoy the song, and I think it stands up to repeat listens. The music video however, might only be worth watching once.

Top of the Charts - Music in Switzerland - Barbra Streisand by Duck Sauce

For this feature I take a look at the things that are charting for the week, from movies, to music, to products on Amazon, to celebrities on some arbitrary lists, to the old stand-by; video games.


Category: Music
Country: Switzerland
Song: Barbra Streisand
Artist: Duck Sauce
Rank as of January 19, 2011: Number 1

For a song called Barbra Streisand, I didn't expect to hear what I did. Pretty dance-able and likely a bit humorous on purpose.  It seems the track samples another song called Gotta Go Home by Boney M, which was already based upon a track entitled Hallo Bimmelbhan by Nighttrain, a German band. The video for the song is mildly amusing, and has several appearances by artists like Questlove of The Roots and Kanye West, though they don't seem to be involved in any way with the creation of the track. You can hit up YouTube for the track, which will pring up two main versions; the one that accompanies the video (and accompanying video) and one that I assume is the full track, or album version when it actually is part of an album.

Overall, it's interesting the first time, but not really something I would seek out to listen to again and again in the future. I say: Worth watching the music video once.