Sunday, September 14

We Won't Be Undersold

Working Full-Time - Constantines
From Tournament of Hearts (2005)

Sometimes it takes just one little musical element to push a song over the dividing line between really good and truly great. In this song, it comes at 1:50.

These guys are seriously underrated, and put on a hell of a live show.

Shot Down - The Sonics
From Boom (1966)

If you don't know the Sonics, they're one of those bands who vie in the hearts of critics for that ever esteemed and pointless title of First Punk Band (along with the MC5, the Who, the Stooges, et al.). To my ears, they pretty much sound like the Who if the Who 1. were from Seattle, 2. were slightly worse musicians, and 3. only wrote songs like The Ox. This still adds up to pretty god damn ruthless. There's no question in my mind that in 1965, this band was the hardest rocking group in America.

This song has some serious heft, and it throws itself around liberally. The machine-gun-fire drum fill in this song is so, so satisfying.

Thursday, September 11

Rawk

L'auberge du Sanglier/A Hunting We Shall Go/Pengola/Backwards - Caravan
From For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night (1973)

Not much to say about this one - just that I love prog rock, especially that of the epic and melodic variety. The violin kills on here, and that orchestral section, combined with those synths . . . mmm. Delicious.

One day I might do a good post on the Canterbury Scene - I listened to a bunch of it this summer. All those bands seem unjustly neglected, in my opinion.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, "L'auberge du Sanglier" means "Wild Boar Inn," as best as I can tell. As for "Pengola," I have no idea.

Monday, September 1

Secretly Wishing For Rain

September – David Sylvian
From Secrets of the Beehive (1987)

This song is appropriate for obvious reasons, but it’s also a very personal favorite. For me, this is the ultimate in “atmosphere over melody.” I mean, there’s really no tune to speak of in this song, just clever vocal twists and turns. Normally, mood alone isn’t enough for me to really sink my teeth into.

But what a mood! Everything is so perfectly placed – Sylvian’s voice, crooning and mysterious and playful and uneasy; lyrics that feel like a haiku; the piano, like brown leaves gently falling from the trees; those strings creeping in, so wonderfully inobtrusive, like a memory slowly remembered. My favorite bit – those last piano notes. They’re a musical semicolon, like pressing pause on the vcr, turning that movie into a photograph for just a little while. This is all in 78 seconds!

Note: This has to be the most pretentious thing I’ve ever written. I’ll try harder, I promise.