I'm getting ready to head to New York City again. And beings that I'm from a very non-New York City, I'm excited to get back to what I consider to be one of the top 5 greatest cities in the world.
New York City of course has an enormous selection of songs that define the city. You think Sinatra. The younger kids may think LCD Soundsystem or Jay-Z. For me, it's Luna's "Freakin' and Peakin'" - it's a song off of their album Penthouse, an album that had I known about it when it was released, chances are likely that I'd name it "Album of the Year."
The album starts with Dean Wareham's dreamy, sleepy delivery, combined with Sean Eden's unmistakable guitar and Stanley Demeski's drumming. I would love to give a sample, but there are absolutely zero samples out there on YouTube and thanks to the folks at Apple, I no longer have LaLa to embed the song.
The song perfectly encapsulates the sounds of the city at 3:30 in the morning. Maybe it's Eden's guitarwork, but it sets an urban mood. Wareham's warbly voice describes "the streets, the shivering streets" and a couple "thinking to talk without speakin'".
The album goes into an extended solo. I would say it was noodling, but far from it. Every note seems necessary. And for those who consider Luna to be too downtempo, I challenge anyone to air drum Demeski's part toward the end as his drumming builds up to a car crash-like crescendo before falling back into the landscape like disappearing taillights.
So, we all have those moments when we find someone who isn't worth our time. Gravity Kills does. And to make it better their someone doesn't see the reality around them. Their attention vampire just wants to be the center of the attention; even if they don't understand it. Lyrics like "Kneel down and tell me about your world, tell me something that I don't know. You know nothing about the world around you..." and "I'm watching you, distorted view, so beautiful in the white light. It's make believe all that you see." suggest that this person is so wrapped up in themselves that fail to escape their dream world.
Sometimes it is so worth it when you finally escape that person. Oh it really is. But I really dig Gravity Kills and their other songs. They are like an industrial darker Depeche Mode.
Don't believe me?
And chances are you already know or have heard Gravity Kills. That is if you watched the bad 90's Mortal Kombat movie:
I may be cheating a bit on this one. I already posted a review for this song on Popmatters.
Soundgarden may have released another album with Down on the Upside, but sentimental-wise, I always "Like Suicide" as the band's swan song.
If I could compare the song to anything, it would be a volcano: slowly building and bubbling before absolutely exploding and leveling anything in its path.
When Chris Cornell wails "I feel for you," you don't know whether that's comforting.
Roddy Woomble. It's a fun name to say. Say it with me three times. Roddy Woomble. Roddy Woomble. Chumbaw-- I mean, Roddy Woomble. Roddy Woomble's the vocalist to the Scottish indie band Idlewild, which NME described so poetically flattering as "the sound of a flight of stairs falling down a flight of stairs." Of course, though, at that point, Idlewild was more edgy than the music of its time. With lyrics that are just as grammatically complete as an e e cummings' poem, you won't find a real love song with this band. However you'll find energy in the instruments and the broken phrases and thoughts that Woomble sings.
"The words have meanings
Readers have writers
They try without trying
And they lie without lying
And they always lie."
Hopefully that is enough to kickstart your Monday with some great rock.
Ever been in a store where they play what they consider to be good music but all it is is just some trendy music? And did you ever get that song stuck in your head just like getting food stuck between your teeth? No matter how much gum you chewed or how many times you tried to floss it out, it's entrenched and you just keep trying to deal with it.
Well, that's the theme for this blog; those songs we cannot rid ourselves of. And the hooks that Kelly Clarkson used are no better than the celery between your teeth. I really don't care for the lyrics that she used; they are basically the typical U2 love song. (Sorry Bono fans but David Gahan and Robert Smith have the best love songs.)
So it's not the lyrics by themselves that make this song the SoL of the day. And it's not even the whole instrumentals. It's the catchy hook. I really would love to find a karaoke version of this song to work with because it's got to be better than with the vocals. The hook really is that good that it drowns out the vocals.
Time for some Gravity Kills to flush out Kelly's hook.
I truly believe if junior high sucked for you, you will likely have some negative bias against that decade. I believe that is the reason why I loathe any '80s night gathering. Sure, if you're younger and didn't grow up in that decade, I can understand it, but as for me, I couldn't wait for the '90s to begin.
The Cold War was over. Popular music was slowly starting to shun hair metal and boy bands and embrace such oddities as Public Enemy, Faith No More and Sinead O' Connor. And after a decade of excess, there was a general sense of "Ok, we've partied enough, I suppose I should get serious on a few things."
If there was one moment that captured this feeling, it was the Exxon Valdez oil spill. It kicked off an environmental movement that did not resurface when Al Gore released An Inconvenient Truth and even during the recent oil disaster in the Gulf. And even though the album was finished way before captain Joseph Hazelwood decided to have a few too many and let the Valdez strike a reef, Midnight Oil's Blue Sky Mining managed to capture what millions were feeling even though only a few hundred thousand picked up the album.
Environmental-wise, Midnight Oil was beyond reproach. The band has long involved themselves in environmental causes. And Blue Sky Mining has plenty to say about the environment, not to mention the world in general.
As an idealistic 16-year-old, I seethed when I continued to see videos of the Valdez disaster. Combine that with living through a year of high school where a series of suicides claimed at least two students, there was plenty of angst to tap into. For a good three months, my walkman had either Blue Sky Mining or Soundgarden's Louder Than Love playing.
While Louder Than Love supplied the straight up anger, Blue Sky Mining had a more mature outlook on the world. It seemed to sum up the utter confusion I was feeling about my internal world as well as the what was going on around me. And for every song of anger, there was a solution, mainly in the song "Shakers and Movers."
It is one of the first songs that I believe Peter Garrett actually SANG. The song opens up with a soulful introduction, then drummer Rob Hirst propels it to the chorus. "I can shake / I can move / But I can't live without your love / I can break over you / But I can't live without your love." It sounds like a moody love song addressed to a lover, but it's really about man's relationship to the environment.
As the song progresses, it reaches its beautiful climax "And the storm is breaking now / Yeah the storm is breaking now / Yeah the storm is crashing down." For an album that sounded like a menacing storm, that line sounded like the first few breaks of sunlight through the clouds. Yes, change is going to come, yes, that change will hurt, but doing nothing will hurt even worse...
While Sean is taking you back to the 90's lighter side with Saved By The Bell, I'm going for the dark and grunge side of that decade.
One of those days of driving without the mp3 player powered on and WRAT Radio kicks back something from the 90's that I never fully appreciated; Bush's Glycerine. With various 90's childhood memories mixed with the eerie almost-shoegaze sound of the instrumentals and Gavin's vocals, the song began to become a parasite to my ears. Now the lyrics and their meaning finally kicked in.
Nitroglycerine is a chemical used in explosives. It's a vicious, colorless, and odorless liquid. Something you normally don't want to be around I would have to say. Gavin is comparing love to a very delicate yet explosive chemical. That's the song title's base and the refrain.
Now for the rest of the song, it's really about losing someone who obviously meant a lot; but to make it worse, one minute she is there and the next she is not. While a troublesome relationship, the vocalist doesn't seem to mind because when she is there, it's basically good enough for him.
Also, Nitroglycerine is one of those chemicals that it is more dangerous as it gets shaken and is referenced with "If I treated you bad, you bruise my face" and "Could have been easier on you. I couldn't change though I wanted to." The other part is that glycerine is used in Nitroglycerine to stabilize the nitro side. By itself, Glycerine is just a sweet chemical used in perfumes, medicines, and food preservation. But the way it's referenced in this song is like love is a bomb.
Now, not touching the chemical side of Glycerine anymore, the rest of the song is about an unrequited affection where the vocalist is clearly more into her. "It must be your skin that I'm sinking in." and "When we rise, it's like strawberry fields." describe the positive side while "I couldn't love you more." and "I needed you more as you wanted us. I could not kiss, just regress." portray the heartache.
I listened to this song on loop for quite sometime to take it in; each time the strings pulling a different nerve inside me. I felt a lot of empathy overcome me as I listened to Gavin's pain in his relationship since admittedly, we all have been there; some of us are there presently and that just might be why we finally understand this song. And for those of you reading, listen to this song and try to find the drums. You won't. This song does not use any percussion but a mix of electric and classic strings.
My nephew hates the Rolling Stones. I can't say I blame him. I used to as well. After all, the only thing he knows of the band is probably that they're old and shamelessly charge a huge amount of cash to see them. And my nephew has to hear adults berate his bands and constantly hear the eye-rolling line "None of the bands out there today could even touch the Stones."
But hopefully, he'll get into a garage-like band. And that band will gush about listening to Let it Bleed. And hopefully, that'll be enough to make my nephew pick up the album. I could try to nudge him closer to the Stones, but discovering something on your own is far more rewarding.
That's how I discovered The Beach Boys. Like my nephew, all I knew of the Beach Boys was that they were on TV thanks to Sunkist. And, in the age of Axl Rose and Motley Crue, the Beach Boys were squeaky clean. They were safe. It was the type of music a youth church group would play in a skit that involved the teenagers of today. It was the stuff that had all the danger of a "Saved by the Bell" episode.
... then college hit.
As I learned more about rock (and by taking "The History of Rock"), the more I learned how little the Beach Boys embodied that squeaky clean image. Brian Wilson was a drug-addled genius with severe bouts of depression. I also learned that "Good Vibrations" actually SOUNDED like a symphony. Like a symphony, there was a structure to it that routinely looped back onto itself. This three-minute ditty that sounds effortless took five months of recording time, 90 hours of tape and about $300,000 in today's dollars. Or $100,000 a minute. And worth every dime.
Perhaps not the greatest song by this not the greatest band in history, but an entertaining song with simple instrumentals and simple lyrics... None the less I present to you The Four Postmen and their song, "Rabbit Valley."
Not much can really be said about a song about about rabbits in a valley who attack humans other than saying it's humorous and entertaining. Possibly worth putting into your iPod in the future as one of those gag songs for those long car rides.
Scott and I will probably never see eye to eye on The New Pornographers. Looking at Scott's music tastes on MySpace, I'm reminded of a House episode where a doctor said a person's protein (or something) levels were only off by two percent. House's response "If your DNA was only off by two percent, you'd be a dolphin."
My love for The New Pornographers (aside from Neko Case's voice) is the thing that always sucker punches me: the soaring chorus. I believe the power of an awesome chorus is the reason I have almost every genre of music in my collection. And "Sweet Talk Sweet Talk" has a doozy of one. It starts off like a verse fit for a "Glee" episode. And like a Nirvana song, the volume gets way amped by the chorus. It's a familiar formula, but done right, it lifts you to the stratosphere every time. Ladies and gentlemen, the single to beat in 2010.
Energy, face paint, and a ton of hair products is this best description for the band from Chicago known as Kill Hannah who took the world by storm when they wanted to be a Kennedy in 2003-2004. The band has always had a way of using great catchy hooks and dream beats to make their music worth listening and so has the lyrics.
So with Sean's Morphine listening going on, it only makes me "...want a girl with lips like morphine; knock me out everytime they touch me." It's a great love song without being one. Sorry Aerosmith, but Kill Hannah has managed to put you down a notch with their electro-rocking glam rock.
Now, I'm off to Hot Topic to go buy some trendy tight ripped pants and some shirts and get my hair styled up. Maybe after that I'll go meet a girl who can "blow a kiss that leaves me gasping. I want to feel that lighting strike me and burn me down."
Oh Gillian Anderson, where are your morphine lips?
As I'm typing this, it's about 95 degrees outside, heat index of 110 and a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms later. In short, it's unbearable. Typical summer in Nebraska.
There are a ton of songs that remind me of summer. Recent tunes include Animal Collective's "Summertime Clothes" and The Flaming Lips' "It's Summertime". But the song and group that best conjures up memories of summer is Morphine.
For most people, summer music is supposed to be carefree, party-oriented and light whereas winter music is supposed to be dark, intense and more than a tad isolationist. But obviously a person's mood isn't fully dependent on the weather. Enter Morphine.
The band's minimalist lineup (two-string bass guitar, baritone sax, and drums) resulted in one of the most distinct sounds in rock in the '90s. Sandman's two-string bass and Dana Colley's baritone sax created plenty of spaces where drummer Billy Conway expertly filled in when needed and like all great artists, let the silences occupy as much space as the music.
The best introduction I can think of for a Morphine initiate is "All Your Way." The bass riff perfectly eases into Colley's sax. If you could somehow translate into music the feeling of riding in your car with all windows down on a warm summer night, "All Your Way" would fit the bill perfectly. It also comes from an album with one of the strongest 'Side A's in rock.
One of my favorite finds for the year 2009 is the band 65daysofstatic - an experimental UK band.
While their songs lack lyrics, they do carry a story, especially if you are prone to daydreaming. This track is off their new album and it keeps the consistency of their older albums. Not much can be said; but the instrumentals of this song are echoing in the back of my mind. A catchy drumbeat and and some piano beats that really key.
It's as prevalent as the rush of air conditioning, the smell of the produce and bakery as well as the florescent lighting. The soundtrack you hear when you enter a supermarket has a similar numbing effect the lighting. It's inoffensive (at least it's meant to be), the audio quality is horrible, and for the most part, it's associated with uncoolness.
But if you're a music geek, you know supermarket music can throw you some severe curveballs. I remember going through the aisles of our local Bag and Save and hearing a deep track from Tori Amos' Boys For Pele. Sadly, the only time I tend to hear any Cowboy Junkies music other than The Trinity Session on the radio is at the supermarket. So, in that realm, I tip my Red Sox cap to supermarket music.
But generally, its main purpose is to lull you into complacency. It can't be too overpowering, because you may zone off on the music rather than keep you buying as much as you can. And the best example of supermarket music I can think of is Jewel's "Standing Still."
I didn't know who sang the song. I didn't know the song title. All I know is that I hear it when I go into almost every supermarket. The only thing I knew from the song is that the chorus sounded something like "or am I standing still." Thank Google for filling in the gaps.
In terms of the song, it's nothing. I respect Jewel - and am amazed about her upbringing (no indoor plumbing) and despite all of her riches, I still won't forget she lived in a van while trying to make it. But the chorus, like much of her music, is absolutely draining. It's catchy enough to remember, but its droney style is sleep-inducing. It's hypnotic for all the wrong reasons. It casts a spell, putting a glaze over your eyes. And at that time, all you know is that even though you came to buy that one thing at the supermarket, you probably need some detergent, and some butter and maybe a pint of Ben and Jerry's.
To quote a line from The Replacements: I'll buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy
Our post for today is two songs that are strikingly close; at least to me when I listen to them. Lyrically and instrumentally, these two songs are like long lost twins who somehow ended up on the same iTunes shuffle list back to back.
Now, Our Lady Peace's song came out a year prior to Thousand Foot Krutch's song. The funny thing is is that I've always felt "This Is A Call" was so close to "Innocent" but perhaps, it's the cancer reference? No, it's the whole song!
"She fooled all of her friends into thinking she's so strong,
but she still sleeps with her light on,
and she acts like
It's all right on, as she smiles again her mother lies there sick with cancer,
and her friends don't understand her,
she's a question without answers,
who feels like falling apart."
VERSUS
"While she wishes she
Was a dancer
And that she'd never
Heard of cancer
She wishes God would give her
Some answers
And make her feel beautiful"
Yes, I do believe Thousand Foot Krutch's song is pretty great BUT it screams of Our Lady Peace's "Innocent."
So whatever happened to Our Lady Peace anyway? Apparently after some changes and a hiatus, they have a new album in the works; Burn Burn due out later in 2010 or 2011.
