10 Songs I Really Like
Not too long ago during a conversation about music I got asked whether I could actually come up with a list of favorite songs/a single favorite song. In short, no, not one song, and no, not an ordered list but here are some songs that I really dig. I don’t feel an ordered list really works as it varies so much on mood so it would change every few hours.
I tend to listen to my music by artist or a few at a time, on shuffle (once I’ve gotten through an album for the first 10-20 times) and these are the sort of songs that I’ll put on and as a result listen to an artist for an hour or so.
I’ll now waffle about these songs and probably a few others that didn’t make the list!
Blood of a Young Wolf – Buck 65
From his “Secret House Against the World” Album (which I love, though this isn’t universally so amongst his fan base, I’ve this dismissed as “the europop album” and “his beat poet spazz out”) this probably is my favorite song. Laid back, with a ticking rhythm through out, layered with guitar, strings and scratches the production really fits the vocals. The rhyming in this song is brilliant, I love the lyrics, “it’s an egg and spoon race, slow and steady, desert highway, a bientot
still i’m stuck, i cant afford it, picture postcard, small momento” may be my favorite couplet ever. Dealing with loneliness, within the music industry and life, for being an individual as well as open critique “i don’t like this modern world, anti-intellect and marketing, pretty, pretty, who needs talent, crying eyes, we’re so outnumbered, fight for the right to remain silent, what do i know, who am i, my two left feet my big dumb face, i’d do the same if i had the chance, cheat the system, rig the race“. Melancholy but beautiful.
Conveinience Stores – Buddy Wakefield
This song/poem from the album “Run on Anything” is perhaps the most powerfully emotional thing that I’ve ever listened to. It tells the story of the narrator, Wakefield, visiting a convenience store and his fleeting interaction with the tragic figure of the female store worker. It’s heavy stuff, hitting on issues of discrimination “I feel she was raised to say a lot of stupid things about a color and I feel like, if, I identified myself as gay, this conversation would stop“, the search for love, “I feel like she’s been waiting here a long time for the one who’ll come 2-steppin’ through that door on 18 wheels without makin’er feel like it’s her job to sweep up the nutshells alone when she’s done been cracked again. A man who won’t tempt her to suck the wedding ring off his dick, but will show her – simply – Love.” There are some wonderful images at work, and the piano backing works so brilliantly with the vocals, the subtleties and variations in volume as well as the changes in voice (the barking delivery of “love” in the above line) make the performance so powerful, the best description I can think of to sum this up is “heatbreakingly-uplifting”, the end line being
“And I’m gonna roll outta here one day.
I just might not get to drive.”
conjuring up death as a final way out of a less than perfect existence.
The Cure – Non Prophets
Following the trumpet intro, Sage Francis delivers some of his best lyrics on the finale to the Non Prophets LP “Hope”. Containing two of his most referenced lines, “When a boy writes off the world, it’s done with sloppy misspelled words, when a girl writes off the world, it’s done in cursive” and “Life is just a lie if an f in it, and death is definite”, the inspiration for an art exhibtion and countless tatoos respectively I’m not the only one touched by this song. Simply put it’s haunting and poetic, and shows what heights hip-hop lyricism can reach, and the production is sport on. It’s a shame that Sage and Joe Beats will not be working together again because this album is an absolute gem.
The Boys of Summer – The Ataris
A cover of a classic song by a punk-pop group. It’s catchier than the original version and I prefer it.
Jude Law and a Semester Abroad – Brand New
Probably a bit of a nostalgic choice, more punk-pop, I remember how much this blew me away watching p-rock tv back in the day. Scarily catchy and bouncy musically but with some cutting/agressive lyrics it’s simpler than their later work perhaps but sometimes it’s not complexity you want. The same can be said for much of “Your Favorite Weapon” really, it’s not as good as “Deja…” or as progressive as “The Devil…” but it’s still a league ahead of most emo/pop-punk.
Down, Down, Down to Mephisto’s Cafe – Streetlight Manifesto
Though I listen to it less these days I’m still a Ska fan and this the best Ska song I’ve heard in a while. From the slow sung intro, followed by the best horn section in the business, then Kalonky’s trademark rapid fire delivery with great gang vocals and a rising chorus full of harmonies it’s fantastic. All the little musical subtleties from additional layers of instruments to the harmonies and the constant changes of pace with some brilliant break downs are what seperate Streetlight from the much of the rest of the third wave scene. The lyrics are typically complex and interesting, while the song as a whole is catchy as hell, which is funny because it’s pretty much about going to hell… (Narrowly beats out the nostalgic choice of “Mr Moran” by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones for my favorite Ska song, that got me into Ska in a big way for the first time.)
Always Coming Back Home to You – Atmosphere
Slug delivers some of his best story telling and is at his most poetic on this epic ode to his hometown. The naration over the looping guitar and the snare heavy beat moves into a hooky closing part which can be taken as moving away from the subject of place and onto a person (performed live one line is changed to “as sure as the life in the stomach that she grew, I’m always coming back home to you“). It manages to be an extremely touching song, and is one of the highlights of the band’s impressive back catalogue.
Warbrain – Alkaline Trio
I’m surprised that I’ve picked this Trio song as a favorite, mainly because I normally prefer Dan’s songwriting to Matt’s, but this an exeption. It’s also funny that it’s not even an album track (appearing first on Rock Against Bush before appearing on Remains). Short, agressive punk rock, thumping drums, a simple guitar riff through out it’s nothing ground breaking but it does it extremely well. I love this band, and I could easily write many other songs here, “Radio”, “I Lied My Face Off”, “This is Getting Over You”, “She Took Him to The Lake”, “This Could Be Love” “Maybe I’ll Catch Fire” and on and on until I’ve listed most of their songs. Oh and to clarify “Maybe I’ll Catch Fire” is better than “Goddamnit” and if you don’t agree you are wrong.
Bleed American (Salt, Sweat, Sugar) – Jimmy Eat World
The song that introduced me to this amazing band. It’s not typical, it’s a lot heavier than most of their songs since Clarity. Power chords and pounding drums, vocals reaching screaming point and catchy hooks, it has everything. Like Alkaline Trio as a band they have so many great songs, and over the course of their career they have changed sound with every album giving so many different styles to enjoy. The rawness and emotion win out for me and it’s a choice partly brought on by this being on one of the first few albums I owned. And it’s still one of the best I’ve heard/owned 7 years later, I remember my mum telling me when I told her what a classic record this was that I wouldn’t look back on this in the same way and it would just be a “fun times” album. I said she was wrong at the time, she was. This will always be a classic album for me.
Redemption Song – Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros
Another cover that betters the original, and when it’s a Bob Marley cover that says something. Just a brilliant whoever sings it, be it Marley, Strummer or Cash (there’s a duet by that latter two which is amazing).
Watch the incredibly moving tribute video to Joe:
RIP Bob Marley, Joe Strummer and Johnny Cash.
Favorite Albums of the Year 2007 cont.
So as to not leave things unfinished here are some remaining albums that I thought were worth mentioning, but these will be more concise than the last few, I still haven’t been finding time to update this often…
Aesop Rock – None Shall Pass
At the start of the year I’d not heard of Aesop Rock, after getting into El-P’s I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead and hearing some buzz on the SFR forum for this release I decided to check it out. The title track got me hooked when Def Jux put it up for free dowload, a catchy hook to the beat and an introduction to Aesop’s cryptic lyrics and the album was on my to buy list. The album is made up of fairly plain and simple beats with Aesop delivering complex lyrics with a hypnotic flow. It’s very easy to get lost within the songs, the rapping comes the fore and it’s easy to get lost in the enjoyment of analysing and trying to understand what the meaning behind them is. Fumes is probably my favorite song, it does the tragic love story better than El-P’s sci-fi tinged offering Habeas Corpses and is probably the most straightforward song to understand on the album. I was surprised when this CD came out of nowhere (for me) and became my favorite of the year, definitely one to give a try.
Sage Francis – Human The Death Dance
Taking it’s title from a poem by Buddy Wakefield and featuring a collaboration with him this was the album I was most looking forward to last year. Sadly, while this is a good album it was ultimately disappointing. Firstly I didn’t really like the way that the Buddy Wakefield contributions were handled, the extracts from the poem were too short for me, the sudden cuts in the middle seemed like an odd choice. That is only a small complaint, overall the album has a lot of very different tracks in terms of both musical and lyrical style. As a result it’s likely that not all of it will go down as well with different people, there aren’t any bad tracks and most seem to pop up on someone’s favorite track list, but as an album it’s not quite up there with with Hope, Personal Journals or the Epitaph debut A Healthy Distrust. That said some of my favorite songs of the year and some of Sage’s best come on this effort, including the two orchestrally backed tracks (Waterline, Good Fashion) which come from working with Hollywood’s Mark Isham, the reflective Hell of Year, the moody and atmospheric Black Out on White Night, and the sublime, epic ending Going Back To Rehab. This final song is my favorite track of the year and is close to Sage’s best. Some of the other songs weren’t as to my taste, and so this album didn’t quite reach the heights of some of the songs to my mind, but it’s definitely worthy of attention from underground rap fans.
Bayside – The Walking Wounded
Catchy emo rock, following on nicely from their self titled release.
Brother Ali – The Undisputed Truth
More laid back and less aggressive than his brilliant debut, a good album that is starting to propel him to the big time, get Shadows On The Sun first though.
Jimmy Eat World – Chase This Light
A catchy and poppy album that I’ve really enjoyed, it’s not quite as good as the self titled album but it’s a match for Futures and Clarity. A great band who consistently put out albums that are refreshingly different from the last while not disappointing.
There we go, until next time….
Favorite Albums of the Year 2007
It’s nearing the end of the year and there’s been a lot of music that I’ve really loved, so here’s a list of some of it and why I think you should agree with me about it’s awesomeness…
I’m not going to manage much of an order, or to be particularly deep in my analysis, but maybe someone will read this and discover something new.
Streetlight Manifesto – Somewhere in the Between
It’s been quite a while since Streetlight blew away the few remaining Ska fans with Everything Goes Numb, about 4 years for those keeping count, and now they’re finally back with another cracker of an album. Mixing some ferocious guitar, some precise drumming and perhaps some of the best horns ever put together on a Ska record mixed with the deep lyric reciting, raspy rapid fire vocals of Tomas Kalnoky this is a brilliant Ska punk record easily on a par with their debut if slightly different. There’s much less of the brilliant breakdowns and changes of pace seen on Everything Went Numb, this album is more of a straight blitz through 45minutes. That said the previously mentioned brass/sax is amazing here, they bounce and soar over various tracks, mixing in some different influences from world music, dueling in places and not getting stuck repeating vocal melodies as is often the case in Ska punk, but being free to unleash their brilliance for their allocated time.
Though the horns are the stand outs, Kalnoky serves up some gems lyrically though he is never at his most jaw droppingly rapid delivery speed compared to Keaseby Nights or Everything Goes Numb. Thematically this is a dark album, as noted in the lyrics booklet by the man himself, but there’s uplifting messages to be found within, “So you were born, and that was a good day- Someday you’ll die, and that is a shame – But somewhere in the between was a life of which we all dream – And nothing and no one will ever take that away – You had a love and that love had you – And nothing mattered and you were fine – And some will complain, they’re just bitter, what a shame – They know that loving and losing is better than nothing at all.” – from the title track. It’s tempting to quote lyrics all day, or to point out every brilliant musical moment, but that would take a very long time, so I’ll resist and end by saying this album is a must for anyone who has or has had even a passing interest in Ska, punk or who appreciates brass instruments in general, and even if you don’t check this out anyway, this is as good an introduction as you’re likely to get, and finish with one more quote: “One to one, two to dance, we all get our sweet romance – Though sour grapes will turn to wine its all just vinegar with time.”
El-P – I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead
On this album El-P delivers something of a warning of the future, the overall feel of the album is post apocalyptic from the lyrics (”full alarm system it’s on where you live”) to the heavy beats but with all the many references to present events listening to this album feels like the worst is still to come and it’s just around the corner. The not intended to be a particularly political record (according to El-P) this general feeling throughout gives it a political edge, almost a change now or else. The tragic love story of Habeas Corpses for example, set in a Guantanamo bay like prison ship while a story of an individuals morality in it’s own right is, by nature of the bleak picture it paints and the obvious parallels to reality still provides a political comment. Likewise the perfect world poetics of Dear Sirs is a straight message of what is wrong with our world, and ending on “me fighting in your war is still/by a large margin/the least likely thing that will ever fucking happen ever” this point is driven home, and lyrics like this with references to the war on terror and 9/11 (with the last verse in Run The Numbers virtually consisting of conspiracy theory amongst it’s message of questioning what you’re told) I have to disagree with El-P about his own record, even if not intended this album is definitely political. Amongst this there are more personal moments, El-P is refreshingly frank about his flaws, “I know I’m no perfect draw” “I’m not an angel” etc, the negative drug references, the end of the album with the dedication to friends who stopped a decent into addiction and the promise of “I’ll never get that way again” gives a message of change for the better. A good hip-hop album, but not my favorite of the year, that comes next.
I’ll keep adding albums to this list as I get time.
Of Beginnings and Endings
“Welcome to the World of Tomorrow!”
or more accurately another drain on the bandwidth of the internet and a waste of server space.
This my first blog and despite deciding to start writing a blog I do this with no overriding subject or purpose in mind other than for my own amusement.
But I feel that I can’t really leave the default first post, have a blank front page or create a post to only say that this is my first post.
Edit: Removed some crap I waffled about a while ago that I decided I no longer care about enough to have on the internet under my name.
