I Can't Come Down

The brainchild of this site has incredible music taste. I've known him for almost a decade and when I first saw his music list on myspace, I didn't know whether to be optimistic for the next generation or intensely concerned for one individual. After all, a 19-year-old who proudly lists Cowboy Junkies, Morphine and Catherine Wheel in their 'favorites' is either going to grow up to be extremely cool or more than a tad on the depressive side.

That said, both of us have horrible track records when it comes to introducing one another to different music. As much as I try, I can't for the life of me get into The Beautiful Mistake or Funeral For a Friend. And I know Scott will listen politely to Animal Collective, but I'm pretty sure my IM link will be forgotten after a listen.

Still, there are victories. Both of us agree Moby's last album was a strong effort. Scott has got me into the Doves. And I'm happy to have played some role in getting him into The National.

I got into The National after hearing great word-of-mouth about Boxer. The album was morose, brooding and instantly listenable. If there was a complaint against Boxer it would be the album was too nuanced and calculated. Nothing felt out of place. That can't be said for Alligator.

When I first heard the lacerating single "Abel," I found it difficult to believe it was The National. It borderlined on heavy metal. Matt Berninger's sneer "My mind's not right" felt downright cathartic given the tight unification that was Boxer. When Berninger sings "I can't come down," it's far from a gleeful declaration. It's downright unsettling.

Abel - The National

Today's song is "Starbucks" bought to you by the letter, A.

In 1995, A was formed in Leeds, England. A might just be a letter to you, but A is also one of the most underrated indie bands that ever existed. A is a perfect blend of pop and punk and is a five member band; three brothers and two friends. And no, the three brothers do not look like girls or sing about mmm bopping. Whatever that means. Instead they will sing about a wide rang of topics; like wishing they caught the train that was involved in the tragic accident or where Sonny Bono died or how the old folks are losers; they can't work computers. Or sometimes race issues.

Today's pick is "Starbucks." Perhaps, when looking at the lyrics to this song, there is no real meaning behind the song other than not wanting a job at a Starbucks coffee house as the lyrics suggest with, "Don't want your job at Starbucks."

So remember, tip your favorite barista. 

Something For the Weekend

Chuck Klosterman hilariously pointed out in one of his books that if a teenager listened to Iron Maiden religiously, it virtually guaranteed him he was not going to get laid in high school. The same could be said for Primus. Not that girls don't like Primus. In fact, if your significant other is a. a female and b. likes Primus, she's almost certainly a keeper.

Primus is an acquired taste to say the least. To be honest, I've never been a huge fan. But coming of age in the '90s, I had tremendous respect for them. After enduring years of being on the "fringe" of music, I saw bands I love break it big in the top ten. Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, even Mazzy Star. It was a tad disheartening to have one month where you are with your geeky friends, brooding to Pearl Jam's "Release" and then a few months later, seeing a cheerleader who a few months ago was listening to Vanilla Ice in her jock boyfriend's convertible now raving about how Eddie Vedder moved her with "Black."

Primus could always weed out the tourists. If you wanted to clear the room from any frat boys who misunderstood Nirvana's lyrics, putting on Sailing The Seas of Cheese. If you doubt me, all you have to do is watch the video below and imagine the reaction of anyone who has never been called a nerd: "What the hell is this?"

Your History Is Mine.

It's very rare that you get to grow with a band. What I mean is, it is not very often that a listener's maturity is in tune with a band's maturation. Take the Welch post-hardcore band called Funeral A Friend's discography. Starting off with their 2003 debut album Seven Ways To Scream Your Name and all the rage, angst, and emotions of a teenager tossed in with probably some of the post lyrics to ever hit a Hot Topic's playlist in songs such as "This Year's Most Open Heartbreak" with "Same old songs on a brand new stereo," to their mellow album of Memory and Humanity in 2008, this band has grown a lot.

Their second album, Hours, ins 2005 was the crossing point for the band. Perhaps, their coming of age. Still with the mixed emotions of a troubled teenager, this album is actually the most notable album the band produced; it showcases the more melodic side of the band and had less screaming than the previous Seven Ways To Scream Your Name album. The one song that sticks out of the whole is "History."

Perhaps the song is about fighting alcoholism; perhaps not. Vocalist Mathew Evans did have some problems in the past.  "But I don't care for your sweet scent or the way you want me more than I want you" would be the case in point.

The song itself starts off with a reference from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet."

Dear friends of this academy

Oh Romeo is bleeding to death

To see a friend bleed to death

What for, some kind of metaphor that I can't see?

But then, the song also makes references to English bowmen that fought the French at the Battle of Agnincourt. The longbows used by the English massacred the French; who were given the orders to remove the middle fingers of any English that they could find because they were aware of how deadly the longbows were. The middle fingers were used by the archers to guide the arrow. The English flaunted their middle fingers at the French as a form of a salute to taunt them and also shouted phrases such as "Pluck yew!" or "Give them the salute!" or "Give them the bird!" before launching their volley of arrows at their targets. 

Archers in your arches

Raise your fingers for one last salute

And bleed this skyline dry

Your history is mine

With several references worked into this song, the lyrical value of it is alone why it gets stuck in my head. 

Now combine the music video in for a special effect, this song is really well worked out. It references the Welch miner strikes in a very artistic way.

This song is very motivational, catchy, and impressive. I think this is the band's masterpiece of maturity. It showed the creative, intelligent, and emotional side of a screamo band without any rage. The next two albums continue this theme. Their 'Best Of' album, Your History Is Mine: 2002-2009, is even titled to reflect the importance of this one song. 

Today's Lesson: Smug Literary Allusions

If there's an overarching bias in music, it has to at least partly involve tone. Simply take a lyric like "baby I feel so bad." If it's sung by Taylor Swift or Britney Spears, it sounds trite. If it's sung by the likes of Aimee Mann or PJ Harvey, it's lauded for its simplicity. If Bob Dylan sings a stream of conscious rant, it may be perceived as another great literary achievement in songwriting, but if those words were lifted and put on a Collective Soul album, critics could easily bash the band for trying too hard to be profound.

I'm as guilty as anyone regarding this show of discrimination. My basic defense usually falls back on the fact that an artist has paid their dues and repeatedly impressed. I also take into account the context of the lyric.

Case in point for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and the song "We Call Upon the Author." It's from his excellent CD Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

Cave has been known to be quite the intense fellow, so his latest album with the Bad Seeds came as a surprise because of its liberal use of humor. I usually like to line up Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! alongside another band who is big into literary composition: The Dirty Projectors. In the liner notes of that band's last album, Bitte Orca, there is a photo of the band's cagey frontman Dave Longstreth staring into the eyes of Nietzsche. The photo was ridiculous, ripe for parody. The same can be said for the album, an example of Brooklyn hipsterdom run a mock.

As much as Bitte Orca grates me, I can't help admit that I gave Nick Cave a pass for pulling a similar trick throughout Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! That album is rich with literary references that if done by any upstart indie band, I would most likely dismiss as woefully pretentious. But it fits Cave perfectly. Why? Most likely because Cave has the luxury of amassing years of credibility. But even if Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! was his debut album, I could still give his literary references a pass because they're so damn funny. A band like Dirty Projectors may sing about reading Bukowski on a rooftop. Cave just shouts the bastard down.

Bukowski was a jerk, Berryman was the best

He wrote like wet paper maché but he went the Hemingway

Could an artist other than Nick Cave get away with writing a lyric like that without sounding pretentious? Probably. Could any other artist do it with such a shit-eating grin? Likely not.

We Call Upon The Author - Nick...

"Clampdown" by The Clash

Whether you support the current changes with the government's decisions on passing the health care reform bills or not, you have to admit that the news over this weekend was riddled with various political propaganda. When I hear politics, I only hear The Clash in the back of my mind. But then again, The Clash will always be a favorite band to me

Now, with the left telling you that these new health care policies are going to be the best for mankind while the right is telling you that this changes are going to take away your rights, I really ended up hearing "Clampdown" by The Clash in the back of mind.

The song starts off with an eerie monologue that is virtually inaudible;

1-2-3

The kingdom is ransacked, the jewels all taken back

And the chopper descends

They're hidden in the back, with a message on a half-baked tape

With the spool going round, saying I'm back here in this place

And I could cry

And there's smoke you could click on

What are we going to do now?

A catchy drum beat is maintained throughout the song. The lyrics themselves touch on the topic of the Nazi regime.

Taking off his turban, they said, is this man a Jew?

Cause they're working for the clampdown

They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!

When we're working for the clampdown

We will teach our twisted speech

To the young believers

We will train our blue-eyed men

To be young believers

And also check out:

The men in the factory are old and cunning

You don't owe nothing, so boy get running!

It's the best years of your life they want to steal!

You grow up and you calm down and you're working for the clampdown.

You start wearing the blue and brown and you're working for the clampdown.

So you got someone to boss around. It makes you feel big now...

Hitler's Aryan race had blue eyes and were young men who followed his propaganda. His private armies; the SA and SS had blue and brown uniforms. Now, the most interesting part of this song is the fact that these references are more metamorphic than Joe Strummer intended. In an article here on page 4,  Strummer actually talks about the song in great detail. To quote:

"Yeah" Strummer begins, "this song and our overall message was to wake-up, pay attention to what really is going on around you, politically, socially all of it...before you know it you have become what you despise."

It's also a great song to listen to while at work and feeling disgruntle.

Big Star - Thirteen

Runnin' 'round the house, Mickey Mouse and the Tarot cards.
Falling asleep with a flop pop video on.
If he was from Venus, would he meet us on the moon?
If he died in Memphis, then that'd be cool, babe.

- "Alex Chilton" - The Replacements

These cryptic words in a gleefully upbeat song sadly proved prophetic as Alex Chilton died in Memphis last week. I'm not going to pretend that I browbeated people into listening to Big Star. I've had #1 Record/Radio City in my collection for well over a decade, but I'm positive I have listened to the entire album less than five times. It just seemed like an album that every music lover should have in their collection.

It's not that the album and songs didn't grab me. Far from it. I just kept putting the album off as more albums came up. It used to be claiming to love The Replacements and the Pixies was part of some unspoken "indie cred," but that love always had a second layer - and that layer was Big Star. People have lamented how few albums The Replacements sold during their span. But Big Star sold even fewer.

That will no doubt change, sadly as people are starting to take notice after scores of tributes that pored on via Twitter, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and even South by Southwest. Better late than never, but it's a cautionary tale that I would be a hypocrite to say that I didn't fall into it more often than not. Don't take your heroes for granted. And don't wait until they pass on to appreciate them.

For those unfamiliar with Big Star, there's probably no better spot to start than "Thirteen."

Thirteen - Big Star

"Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga

I never expected to admit it but here it goes. The over theatrical pop-starlet known as Lady Gaga has invaded my ear drums. Her synthetic instrumental with a catchy beat worms into the back of your mind and cannot get out. It's like getting water in your ears. No matter how hard you shake, you cannot help but feel like you still have water in your head.

We are the crowd

We're c-coming out

Got my flash on, it's true

Need that picture of you

It's so magical

We'd be so fantastico

Leather and jeans

Garage glamorous

Not sure what it means

But this photo of us

It don't have a price

Ready for those flashing lights

Because you know that baby, I . . .

I'm your biggest fan

I'll follow you until you love me

Papa, paparazzi

Baby there's no other superstar

You know that I'll be

Your papa, paparazzi

Promise I'll be kind

But I won't stop until that boy is mine

Baby you'll be famous

Chase you down until you love me

Papa, paparazzi

I'll be your girl

Backstage at your show

Velvet ropes and guitars

Yeah, because you're my rock star

In between the sets

Eyeliner and cigarettes

Shadow is burnt yellow

Dance and we turn

My lashes are dry

Purple teardrops I cry

It don't have a price

Loving you is cherry pie

Because you know that baby, I . . .

Real good, we dance in the studio

Snap, snap to that shit on the radio

Don't stop for anyone

We're plastic but we still have fun!

Now there is something almost creepily cute about these lyrics. It's about stalking and following someone you really are interested in. Lady Gaga's harmonic voice when she sings the chorus is perhaps the most dangerously addictive part of this song. I almost think her stalking is cute when she sings "I'm your biggest fan I'll follow you until you love me." You almost want to hug her when she sings that line in a very sweet and innocent voice; despite the fact that she might go Total Recall on you.

Maybe some Mighty, Mighty Bosstones can flush out the Gaga in my head. 

-Scott

"Little Lion Man" by Mumford & Sons

WARNING: Today's song includes vulgarity. Listen to at your own discretion. 

Today's hit is going to be the amazing song from the English indie folk band known as Mumford & Sons.; which debuted in February of this year on their debut album Sigh No More. It's a great track to listen to with their stringed instruments and foot drums. Very catchy instrumentals met with simple yet hard hitting lyrics that are filled with raw emotions.  

Weep for yourself, my man, 

You'll never be what is in your heart

Weep little lion man, 

You're not as brave as you were at the start

Rate yourself and rake yourself, 

Take all the courage you have left

Wasted on fixing all the problems that you made in your own head

But it was not your fault but mine

And it was your heart on the line

I really f-ed it up this time

Didn't I, my dear?

Tremble for yourself, my man, 

 

You know that you have seen this all before

Tremble little lion man, 

You'll never settle any of your score

Your grace is wasted in your face, 

Your boldness stands alone among the wreck

Learn from your mother or else spend your days biting your own neck

But it was not your fault but mine

And it was your heart on the line

I really f-ed it up this time

Didn't I, my dear?

"Rate yourself and rake yourself; and take all the courage you have left, wasted on fixing all the problems that you made in your own head." and"...it was not your fault but mine and it was your heart on the line..." are both the greatest line in "Little Lion Man." With these lyrics, I can't help but imagine that the vocalist is referring to a period where he made some major mistake(s). Seeing the vocalist's response on TripleJ, I can only further believe that.

Now, not only is this song audibly pleasing; it's visually pleasing. Honestly, when I hear this song, I am thinking that I am in an old country Irish pub and they are the live act with a very great aggressive yet soothing song. Now, if that's not easy to visualize; watch the melancholy video that they used for their wonderful debut song here. That old music hall with those strings of light bulbs is a great touch to that empty room with them on stage. 

Saturday's song will be posted earlier on the day due to a conflict in scheduling! 

"Hands Open" by Snow Patrol

This first entry is going to be Snow Patrol's "Hands Open" because it's what is stuck in my mind. Snow Patrol has always been a favorite listen for me but "Hand's Open" has very great lyrics, instrumentals, and allusions. The allusion is to indie folk singer Sufjan Stevens - which I'm sure Sean can explain better than I can. Especially since Sean is the reason why I get the mention of Sufjan Stevens while most people I know probably will watch that reference escape. So, with Sean's knowledge of music, he clearly is the best person to team up with for this project. And hence why I am dedicating the first post to him. 

"It's hard to argue when 

you won't stop making sense

But my tongue still misbehaves and it 

keeps digging my own grave with my

Hands open, and my eyes open

I just keep hoping

That your heart opens

Why would I sabotage

the best thing that I have

Well, it makes it easier to know

exactly what I want with my...

Hands open and my eyes open

I just keep hoping

that your heart opens

It's not as easy as willing it all to be right

Gotta be more than hoping it's right

I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it

Collapse into me, tired with joy

[x2]

Put Sufjan Stevens on

and we'll play your favorite song

"Chicago" bursts to life and your

sweet smile remembers you, my

Hands open, and my eyes open

I just keep hoping

That your heart opens

It's not as easy as willing it all to be right

Gotta be more than hoping it's right

I wanna hear you laugh like you really mean it

Collapse into me, tired with joy

[x3]"

The lyrics are perfectly catchy and don't bother to mask the meaning of the song at all. It's about a relationship that looks more to be one-sided where the vocalist (narrator) is hoping that that her heart opens and allows him into it. He clearly knows his love's interest by knowing her favorite song is "Chicago" by Sufjan Stevens; and that it makes her smile. It's also clear that she has some level of baggage that is not allowing her heart to open. Now, couple these great lyrics with the emotional vocals, it's definitely one great track to listen to. But combine in their instrumentals and this song is probably Snow Patrol's best song. The instrumentals are composed to perfectly keep in time with lyrics. And also the repeating theme really helps make this song viral to my ears.