bill's song-a-day

#346: Astrosmash: "Ssssnakes (demo)"

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:15:35 GMT

Comp: pax 24
Genre: video game remix

If you're anything like me (and really, who is?) you had an Intellivision video game system when you were growing up, and played SNAFU on it a lot. This was a game where you had two different gameplay modes - in one, your snake left a solid trail behind it, if you hit anyone's trail you'd die. You wanted to be the last snake snaking. In the other you wriggled around, trying to bite the other guys' tails. Again, last snake snaking. It was awesome. And it had some of the most catchy, awesome music in it. This band, Astrosmash, decided to take a bunch of the old Intellivision game songs and make new music and remixes with them. Check it out, it was a little hard to find this track, but it's on Soundclick! In the track you hear the snake sound effects from first type then the second, and the excellent music from the original. The drums and suchlike were added by Astrosmash (that, by the way, was another great Intellivision game). Ooh, this one takes me back. I should try to get an Intellivision, my parents have mine :)
I wonder if you can actually buy these CDs anywhere...
-bill

#345: Franka Potente & Thomas D - "Wish (Komm Zu Mir)"

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:06:53 GMT

Comp: origami 1
Genre: electronic rock

Have you seen the movie Lola Rennt AKA Run Lola Run? It's an excellent German movie, with an interesting parallel-universe slant; I won't say too much more than that to avoid giving something away. In the movie Lola does a lot of running (surprise!) and this driving techno-ish soundtrack is a great accompaniment for that. The soundtrack has a bunch of motifs that recur throughout, including remixes of some songs and re-used sounds, that I think makes the whole thing fit together well. This song can be heard (partly) in the Tube video here. It's only 2:30 of a 4:09 song, but you can get the idea. This guy made some sort of video montage, but I'm not sure that the clips he used have much to do with the song. Anyway, I love the opening to this, always gets me going. The female vocals are done by Franka Potente, who is the actress that plays Lola, very cool. The male vocals are mostly in German; unfortunately my German is very rusty so I can't make sense of most of it (tho "Komm zu mir" itself means "come to me"). But this is an excellent fast song, good for exercising and driving. I dig the repeated Franka parts:

"I wish I was a hunter in search of different food
I wish I was the animal which fits into that mood
I wish I was a person with unlimited breath
I wish I was a heartbeat that never comes to rest
I wish I was a forest of trees that would hide
I wish I was a clearing of secrets left inside
I wish I was a stranger who understands the sky
I wish I was a starship in silence flying by"

There's this slightly clanky hit sound that's in a few of the songs from the soundtrack. I love that sound, and especially its placement in relation to the rest of the sounds and the rhythm. Awesome.
-bill

#344: They Might Be Giants: "Birdhouse in Your Soul"

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:04:09 GMT

Comp: origami 67
Genre: quirky pop

They Might Be Giants AKA TMBG are one of the stranger yet more accessible bands out there. Their songs are strange but singable. They feature lyrics like these:

"There's a picture opposite me
Of my primitive ancestry
Which stood on rocky shores and kept the beaches shipwreck free
Though I respect that a lot
I'd be fired if that were my job After killing Jason off and countless screaming Argonauts"

Now, I didn't really have much of an idea about this one, but I've just determined that, most likely, the song is sung from the point of view of a nightlight (shaped, evidently, like a blue canary). How cool is that? I like that style of lyric-writing; pick a random object and talk about life from its point of view. Here's some more:

"Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch
Who watches over you
Make a little birdhouse in your soul
Not to put too fine a point on it
Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet
Make a little birdhouse in your soul"

This was evidently their biggest hit. I didn't realize this; I would have thought it was "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" - another excellent song - but this one is quite deserving also. The video is fun - lots of lights in it, supporting that lyrical hypothesis. This band is very geeky, so uncool that they are actually very cool. Perhaps taking over from Talking Heads in the quirky and geeky, but less edgy... I discovered them in college, amongst my other geeky friends (although I had heard them at least once before, probably high school, on a Weird Al show, I don't really count that). Excellent good! Love the instrumentation here also, organ stuff is always a winner.
-bill

#343: Adrian Belew: "Oh Daddy"

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:28:39 GMT

Comp: origami ?
Genre: pop

You might remember a mention of Adrian Belew from #156 (and I feel like there was another, but I don't see it right now in my search). He is the singer and plays guitar for King Crimson, but he became famous in Frank Zappa's band. He's also played as a guest on many a recording, in fact, probably a few that you already know (but I'm not going to list them all right now, go look at the wiki or something). He's also had a great solo career. This song is one that he did back in 1989 with the help of his daughter, Audie. He's always been sort of a 'niche' artist, so this song is a lot of fun. Audie is singing, asking her dad when he's going to be famous:

"Oh daddy, when you gonna write that big hit?
Oh daddy, when you gonna hit it real big, real big?"

Adrian replies:

"Well, now that's a tall request
for such a small little girl
but I'll try, try till I get it just right
'cause I'm gonna make it, maybe even twice, yeah!"

The back-and-forth conversation between the two is very cute. Check out this video, featuring somebody in the MTV introduction that you may have forgotten about (I had!).

This song and video are so cute (so's Audie). Here's one of my favorite bits:

"Oh daddy, what are ya gonna buy your little girl?"
"I'm gonna getcha Disney World!"

This one's way poppier than a lot of his stuff. Maybe next time I'll do something more out-there :)
-bill

#342: Crash Test Dummies: "Swimming In Your Ocean"

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 05:09:48 GMT

Comp: origami 64
Genre: pop

Yes, you probably know this band, but maybe not this song. This is the band with the singer with the ridiculously low-pitched voice, who became famous with "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm", weird and quirky. This song is from the same album. Turns out it was actually a single, although it didn't chart; there is a video. Here it is. I'd never seen it before, it's amusing. I like the female backup singer's expression in this especially. Awesome. One thing I love about this is the guitar sound; it's just fantastic. Poppy and interesting. And the lyrics are very cool:

"When I'm sampling from your bosom
Sometimes I suffer from distractions like
Why does God cause things like tornadoes and train wrecks?"

And this one:

"When I kneel before your bounty
Sometimes I wonder if there could be really
UFO's that come from other planets"

"And when you let me taste your fingers
I take them like fruit and as I linger I
Wonder if my seed will find purchase in your soil"

That was the kind of things that CTD would do, just a little off and strange but also poppy and singable and fun. I also love this little sound that comes at the end of a line sometimes, that sounds kind of metallic, that just adds a lot of character to the song. I love little touches like that. Man, I love that guitar sound. Back in college we went to see this band live and it was a lot of fun, that show. The bouncers at the club made us stop dancing in the aisle. Oh well...
-bill

#341: Tom Petty: "Don't Come Around Here No More"

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:53:51 GMT

Comp: origami ?
Genre: 80's

So we watched the Superbowl yesterday, and my wife's extended family likes the Giants so we were cheering for them (also I'm heartily sick of hearing how the Patriots are supposedly the second coming, so it was good to see them get their comeuppance). Success! The halftime show was performed by Tom Petty, thus the post today. I thought the music was kind of bland, by-the-numbers, but by far the worst part was Tom's hair-moustache-beard combo, which looked bizarre and... bad. Who thought that was a good idea? Anyway, I still like the music of Tom Petty on occasion, and this is my favorite song of his. Not really the right kind of lyrical material for a Superbowl halftime show, so I wasn't expecting to hear it yesterday!

I remember the video for this one. It had an Alice in Wonderland theme and some cool optical illusion effects... let's see if I can find it. Yeah, looks like an official video available on the tube. Great! Good to see some artists/record companies embracing the internet to some extent. Anyway, there's a sitar in the video, but not sure if it's a real sitar in the song. I love the echoed drums that start it. Sets a great mood. In the video Tom Petty as The Mad Hatter is cool. I love the backing vocals. The odd feel of this song is really sets a mood, off the edge, maybe. Definitely fits the words:

"Stop walking down my street
Who do you expect to meet?
And whatever you're looking for
Don't come around here no more"

The faster section that comes in for the solo adds some nice urgency to the whole thing, a nice changeup from the rest of the song. The end of the video is pretty freaky, though, heh.
-bill

#340: Kinky: "The Headphonist"

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:48:27 GMT

Comp: origami 49
Genre: quirky electronic rock

It was a rare evening when I was driving home, I think after volleyball, and I had the actual radio on. You know, radio waves and somebody else picking the music rather than my own CD. I think the station was the one from Towson University, perhaps. You can often depend on college radio to show you new and cool things, like this one. This song was on and I liked it so much that I memorized some of the lyrics and used the google to look it up when I got home. Kinky is a Mexican band, with an interesting meld of styles. This particular song isn't in Spanish; it's actually got a guest vocalist (being John McCrea of the band Cake, who is also cool). Mostly it's in spoken word, with some sung parts. Here's some of the lyrics:

"I'm walking alone again, with my headphones on again
I don't want this anymore,
To hit the streets without a cord
Now this city is my song where I submerge myself
Taking a long walk around the block
Every little step, every single step becomes a note
That I draw on the staff lines of the sidewalk
I'm walking alone again, with my headphones on again
And I really really wanna run
But at this moment, I'm listening to a very very quiet song"

I love those last two lines.

Hey, you can hear the song on the tube here.

You can hear some of the cultural influence on this song, especially in the rhythm track. I also love the organ here (I love organs in general, actually). I really dig rock-electronic hybrids, and this song fits right in there. Just a bit jammy too, with an excellent instrumental break in the middle. "I'm walking alone again I'm walking I'm walking alone"
-bill

#339: Raised by Wolves: "Unless I Change My Mind"

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 04:50:17 GMT

Comp: origami 57
Genre: synth-pop

Over at Songfight, the first fight that I really listened to in earnest was this one called "Unless I Change My Mind". I didn't enter that fight, since it was the current voting fight when I joined the message board (I did enter three fights later for the mega-fight "What We Need More of Is Science"), but I did vote and, if I remember correctly, review four or so songs.

This song was one of the ones that grabbed my attention right away. You can hear it on the fight page. It's got a great moody synth-pop sound, with some great vocoded vocals, lovely piano, and a couple of good sections - after the initial quiet section there's a cool upbeat instrumental section then with some uneffected vocals before it goes back to the slower part. However one of the things that sticks with me most is the lyrics of this song. They are a bit mysterious, and definitely poetic. Here, I will transcribe them for you:

"We dress like other people
Walking around
Keeping our head down
Close to the ground
Singing our song
Where do we belong
Where do we belong
And I was looking for the moon
I was looking for the moon

They follow us everywhere
?? the ground
Up in the air
They cornered us this time
And unless I change my mind
It's time for us to go
But I wanted you to know
That I was looking for the moon
I was just looking for the moon

We've been here
For such a long time
Long before your ancestors
Traveled to this land
And we watched you grow
Into something we don't know
Trying to explain that
Which you don't understand
And I was looking for the moon
I was looking for the moon

Can you hear me
I've a message to give to you about the future
The future
The future
The future
The future
The future

One day when we're gone
You'll wonder what went wrong
Why the sun won't shine
Why your children are sick of the time
Why your water turned to black
Why your saviors don't come back
And as you stumble around in the dark
And as you stumble around in the dark
You'll be looking for the moon
You'll be looking for the moon"

I love how the story here isn't cut and dried, it's open a bit to fantasy and interpretation. Very cool.
-bill

#338: Frankie Big Face: "Locked Box"

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 05:54:34 GMT

Comp: origami 67
Genre: rock

So I've been away from this for a while again, but that's because I was doing a live show of my own in Brooklyn. That's over now, and so I am back to the song posts, hopefully. Ok, so I have done three Songfight gigs. One in PA, one in GA, and the most recent one in NY. Nobody else was there for all three, but until last weekend this guy, Frankie Big Face, was at all the others. He has a great sound, especially when he goes for the full-band thing. This song, I think, was probably played at both others (oh, it wasn't evidently played in PA, but it was in GA). It's not technically a Songfight song, but it appears on this CD set called AlbumFight. Three acts: Frankie, Add, and JBB. Each of them did an entire album using the same song titles, 12 songs in all. And the results are quite good. Go here to read the details and hear all three versions of "Locked Box". The CD set is well worth buying especially if it is only $6!

Frankie has an excellent sense of pop and interestingness. Sometimes he is compared to the Beatles that way. I love these lines that open the song:

"she wakes up every morning in an empty bed
her paperback open to the last page she read
she curls her hair and collects her thoughts
but she lives in a locked box"

Frankie does a lovely job at the falsetto every-other-line that starts the chorus:

"i'm happy i'll make it i'm on my own
that's what she tells herself
it's okay to be alone
she wakes up cold and wet
a ball of nerves and sweat
and starts another day"

Frankie also donated this song to a CD collection of pop hits that was sold for charity to help a couple of kids who were injured in a freak accident. It's called "Notes of Hope" and it's the place I got this song from. Awesome and cool. And a lot of great songs. Another featured SF'er, Glenn Case, put it together, but his link to the project on his homepage is 404 (hint, hint, Glenn, I know you read these).
-bill

#337: Dr. Didg: "Devon"

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:31:37 GMT

Comp: origami ?
Genre: didgeridoo jam

Well, happy new year! I have been terribly lax in making posts. There is almost a month between Ladytron and this one. Well, I've been busy with the GOM and this live concert coming up and taking trips and whatnot. But I have not given up on writing about songs yet. Here's the first song of the New Year, chosen for no particular reason...

Okay, so I had this idea that I would write a bunch of stuff about Dr. Didg and suchlike but I remembered that I already did that over here. If you missed it the first time go ahead and check that one out first. This one, Devon, I think should have been the "single" (a funny idea for albums that don't really get record company advertising, anyway), as it's really pretty catchy. I don't see a means of hearing the song as-is, but you can hear a jam that they based on this song's groove here. Check out "Devon Jam Live". The 2000 one doesn't sound as much like the original. In here you can hear the didg groove in the lower registers, the upbeat synth hook line in the upper ones, some great drums and guitar. I saw one of these shows live and it was a lot of fun. Very danceable. If you have the chance to check out the original studio version, I totally recommend it. Everything is clearer than in the live version I linked to. Mmmmmm.... catchy! Bouncy!
-bill

PS as I mentioned last time, you can also check out versions of "Devon" from archive.org's live music archive!

#336: Ladytron: "Another Breakfast With You"

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:41:08 GMT

Comp: origami 66
Genre: electropop

This Ladytron is an electronic pop group with female vocals. Catchy and fun stuff with great synths. Evidently they use analogue synths exclusively. This song has a small little sound, higher pitched, that always makes me think of Thomas Dolby - I think there must be a similar sound in one of his songs, but I haven't come up with that yet. I have not seen a video or otherwise with this song as soundtrack, but on the official site you can hear a sample (it's near the bottom of the page, on the album 604). You can hear that sound I'm talking about in the sample.
Anyway, I love the combination of organ, drums, synths, and voice in the sound of this song. The lyrics are a bit abstract, and brief:

"I don't want to fight
just want a piece of your life
oh, if you come out to play
I don't want you to say...anything
I didn't feel a thing when you told me that
you didn't feel a thing when I told you that
I didn't feel a thing, another breakfast with you"

That's almost all of it, although they repeat it for good measure. I see that this was the band's first album and that they have newer ones out. I will have to check those out!
-bill

#335: Spy: "Won't You Come Down"

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 06:58:22 GMT

Comp: origami ?
Genre:

A few years ago I saw a Volkswagen commercial and the music in it was pretty great - they always have had very interesting music. In researching this song I discovered that it was created by this guy named J.Ralph. At the time it appeared that the song from the ad wasn't available, but that he had another album that he recorded under the name Spy. I bought that one, and oddly enough it turned out that the music on it was not much like the ad music. It's am odd mix of rock and pop and synths and downtempo and a bit of avant-garde. Very eclectic. Since I enjoy an eclectic mix myself, I was not too bummed by this and have enjoyed the album a lot. More recently I found that he released an album of orchestral music that has the ad song in it, so I'm pleased; now I have it. Anyway, this is one of the pop songs on the Spy album and the first one that really grabbed me. You can hear the song, along with the rest of the album, on his official site - hit "Music" and then "Music to Mauzner By". The song starts off with a laid-back groove, good vocals, and then goes into a catchy chorus. Actually, the mix here reminds me of Brad Sucks, if you know his music. I love the main guitar line and the organ solo is great. Actually, I had forgotten, but this song also appears on the soundtrack to Mystery Men, a fun film with a very nice soundtrack. Check it out! Superheroes!
-bill

#334: John Lee Hooker: "Boogie Chillun"

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 05:23:29 GMT

Comp: origami 48
Genre: blues

Hey! I previously talked about a song of Hooker's in #79. Here he is again! This, I think, is one of his more famous tracks. Yeah, the wiki agrees and further says it's from 1948 originally. The song is about (presumably) himself in his teen years and wanting to go out dancing. His parents have a discussion about whether he should be allowed:

"I heard papa tell mama, let that boy boogie-woogie,
it's in him, and it got to come out"

Hey! Here's a video on the tube for this song. It's the studio version, same as the one on my comp. I've always been a little disappointed that the song fades out. I feel like there is more song at the end but then it is gone. So sad! Anyway. I love the repeated guitar riff. Fun! Hey!
-bill

#333: Sumosonic: "Cat's Life"

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 04:30:13 GMT

Comp: origami ?
Genre: electronic pop

I previously covered Sumosonic in post #109. If you have been following my tastes, you would know that this is quite possibly my favorite album ever. It's definitely a "desert island disc". And, sadly, it is known by almost nobody. I love its combination of pop, quirk, electronics, and smooth. This song might have been the first one to grab my attention on the album, I'm not quite sure. It's the first one to appear on an origami, so I think that's quite possible.

Anyway. Pat Fish, the Jazz Butcher and probably the main impetus behind Sumosonic, is well-known to have an affinity for animals and especially cats. I remember somebody from the old jbc list posting a list of songs he's written about animals. And it was a lot. This one compares people living in pleasant isolation to domestic cats (domestic animals!):

"The world don't get any smaller than a world of your own.
The world don't get any smaller - we just stay closer to home.
There are ten million people the other side of that door,
and every one wants something from a world that's shrunk to nothing."

As with the other track, there is a demo version of this song available at the official Sumosonic site. This one is pretty faithful to the version on the album. I love the bubbly synths, and Pat's vocal is fantastic. I also love the use of backing vocals on this album. This was a lot of talent compressed into a CD. Mmm, the guitars layering with the other sounds, very harmonious.

"So what did you expect but a cat's life?
What do you have left but a cat's life?
Are you living at all? Are you living with me?
Are you never appalled at the things that you see?
Are you hiding away? Do you know what I mean
When I say are you scared, are you hurt, are you burned or are you living a cat's life?"

Yes, the demo version is very close to the album cut. Check it out!
-bill

#332: Värttinä - "Tuulilta tuleva"

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:12:30 GMT

Comp: origami 8
Genre: world

Värttinä is a Finnish band. Best of all, they sing songs in their own language rather than English. Oddly enough, the language that is most related to Finnish is Hungarian, not what you would expect. It's sort of a mystery to linguists and historians how that could happen. But anyway, there it is, and Finnish is kind of a cool language. I have just learned something. This band actually sings in Karelian, which is sort of a dialect of Finnish and not the language itself.

Värttinä does a combination of traditional and modern songs. This one, I think, is not a traditional song. From the official site, here is the chorus:

"Niin miun lempeni lentäköön
missä mun kultani kulkee
laulan tyrskyt tyyntymään
vaahot meren vaipumaan

Näiltä tuulilta tulevan
nähtävän näiltä ilmoin
missä mun kultani kulkee
mailla millä marjani"

And the English translation:

"For where'er he is, this friend of mine,
Wherever he is roaming,
The waves will grow calm at my command,
The spray sink into silence.

These are the winds that will bear him to me,
These skies will be watching o'er him.
Wherever he is roaming,
Wherever my treasure lies hidden."

The song is great pop. It's kind of strange to American ears, since it's in a very different language, with different sensibilities, but I find this band's stuff to be very compelling. This album, Kokko, is poppy but also interesting. I think they have a great gift for combining the progressive and the traditional and making something completely listenable. The combination of multiple singers is a great asset.

I have not found a whole-song copy of this song to hear, but you can hear a sample at the official site here. It's very catchy!
-bill

#331: The Church: "Bastard Universe Stage 1"

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 05:06:28 GMT

Comp: pax ?
Genre: ambient-ish rock instrumental improv

Do you know The Church? They are an Australian pop band, most well-known for their sole US hit, "Under the Milky Way", from 1988. You might have heard it on the radio. It's on an origami, but today I am going to talk about something else from them that was very unexpected. When they released their album "Hologram of Baal" in 1998, a limited-edition version had a second disk entitled "Bastard Universe" that is basically a long 80-minute jam of improvisational ambient/rock music, completely different from anything else they've released on CD. I really enjoy it; it's got great flow between sections and a nicely varied sound. This section is the beginning and is 15:53. The two guitars do take the spotlight. The rhythmic interplay is very nice. This song makes great use of the crescendo scheme of long instrumentals. I just listened to the whole track, what a journey.
-bill

PS I have just learned from the wiki that The Church have released another album of jams of this sort, called "Jammed". Awesome! I will have to check this out. Evidently I'm not the only one that liked this direction for the band, since they released more in this style after they got requests from fans!

330: Vonda Shepard: "Tell Him"

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 05:35:13 GMT

Comp: origami 2
Genre: pop

I used to watch the show Ally McBeal. The romance or lawyerly aspects weren't my favorite parts, but I really liked the little animated bits, the ensemble cast, and the fact that everybody on the show was completely nuts. Also, the music. They had a woman named Vonda Shepard to sing songs in every episode, and the music was generally very important, like the time Barry White was on. Vonda would sing songs, some originals, some covers. This is easier for a show since for covers you only need to pay a mechanical royalty and don't need to get permission to use the songs (I think). This song was a cover; the original song was done by some band called The Exciters, way back in 1962.

Don't know if you ever saw the show, but in this part Ally was in love with this guy Billy (who she works with) and he was married to somebody else, kind of, and Ally's psychiatrist (Tracey Ullman) tells her that she needs a "theme song" so she picks this one. It's actually very good for that sort of thing, I think, although her infatuation with Billy is not so healthy. Check out these lyrics, though:

"I know something about love
You've gotta want it bad
If that guy's got into your blood
Go out and get him
If you want him to be
The very part of you
That makes you want to breathe
here's the thing to do...

Tell him that you're never gonna leave him
Tell him that you're always gonna love him
Tell him, tell him, tell him, tell him right now"

Very self-actuating! Confident! Take-charge! I like this sort of attitude, given my history... :) The music is excellent, too, I love the sound of this. Very catchy, especially the very beginning. I found tube video that has this song as the soundtrack, but it's not loading anymore. Not sure why not. It's got some anime visuals. If that one doesn't work, try House. Too bad I couldn't find any with Ally in them. That would have been nice and nostalgic, but I suspect they were removed by overzealous copyright lawyers.
-bill

PS Happy Thanksgiving!

#329: Glorious Mono: "Fire Bomb"

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 05:30:09 GMT

Comp: origami 50
Genre: pop-punk

Figured today would be a good day to test out the new "songfight" tag and see if it shows up on the SF blog aggregator. I don't remember if I voted for this track in the "Fire Bomb" fight or not, but it's the entry that's stuck with me the best since then. Who is Glorious Mono? I don't actually know. He or they have not entered a fight since "Less Of You" in 2004 (I wrote lyrics for one of the other songs in that fight, actually). Perhaps one of our loyal readers can supply a little information? Anyway, my wife also likes this song. It's got plenty of good wordplay, good performance, and a catchy sound and words. Sometimes it's hard to believe that songs were recorded in a week. I can link you to the song on this page. Lots of people (13) did vote for this song; it came in third! Anyway, the guy's friend married a girl who's not the favorite of the narrator:

"My best friend, he's such a sucker
He got married to a girl so he could tuck her in at night
He likes the stuck-up ones
With the makeup on too thick and all their pants too tight

But he was blinded by her assets
Now she's hanging on his arm
Her attitude is caustic and without an ounce of charm
His friends have now abandoned him
Too bad he bet the farm and lost!

She's a little fire bomb
And everyone I know just tries to keep their distance
When she freaks I try to keep my calm
It's best to take the path of least resistance"

Okay, I'm not going to transcribe all the lyrics here, but this is a good line too:

"Yeah, she's a witch with a capital 'B'"

Heh, awesome. This song is so catchy.
-bill

#328: Pink Floyd: "Us and Them"

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 05:15:52 GMT

Comp: origami 7
Genre: progressive rock

So #328 is a special number for me. Just ask my wife, whenever I see 328 somewhere, like on a clock or something, I say "it's my birthday!" and she rolls her eyes. That's spousal love! Awesome. So anyway I wanted to make post #328 something specially to have to do with my birthday, and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon does. If you recall from my previous post #308, I said these words: "Fun fact (for me anyway): this album became #1 in the US on the day I was born." Yah, so there's the connection.

Okay, there's my justification. Now to say something about this song. The song is a discussion of the separation of people into distinct groups such as in war etc. And not even just those that are fighting with each other, but also the generals vs. the grunts. And that sort of thing. Heavy stuff. One of the things I like a lot about this particular track is the changes in dynamics from part to part. The beginning is quieter, with a nice sax solo, then some verse, then the chorus comes in with lots of backing and it's very moving, then back down for the verse, etc. We have several of these sections and it really makes the song breathe organically. Oh, I found a video on the tube that uses the whole 7:50 length of the song and marries it to some clips from 2001, an excellent movie (if a bit baffling by the end). ("Open the pod bay doors, Hal." "My mind is going. I can feel it.") Okay, not those parts. These are some of the more ambient parts of the movie, with some of the "flying over or through whatever that is" sections of the film during the choruses. Actually the visuals are matched well to the audio.

Anyway, love the swells and sounds of this song. The vocals are as strong as they ever were, and the instrumentation is fantastic. Viva Pink Floyd!
-bill

#327: Brian Eno: "Backwater"

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 05:12:37 GMT

Comp: origami 20
Genre: progressive rock/pop

Wow, it's been since post #21 that I did a Brian Eno song (although I have talked about a couple of songs that he produced since then). Wow! Hey, this song came out in 1977, in the middle of Eno's "weird pop" phase. I love the upbeat feel of the song, carried by what sounds like a piano, but my top favorite thing about this song is the lyrics, and the way the syllables and rhymes work together. Lines like this!

"But if you study the logistics
And heuristics of the mystics
You will find that their minds rarely move in a line"

See, geeky and catchy and fun. That's Eno. I could claim that this line was the source of picking "Heuristics Inc." as my bandname, but that would be false... I'm not sure if I heard this album when I picked it, and it actually came from opening a Computer Science Artificial Intelligence textbook to a random word then appending an "Inc." onto it for fun. It was originally the name of a mixtape for a friend ("Jesus" Rick) but I liked it so much I kept it. Anyway.

The album this is from is called "Before and After Science" which is a great title. Later on he adds some great synth strings, and... handclaps! I can't find a video or whatnot for this, sadly. I think the lyrics are great enough that it is worth reprinting them all here:

"Backwater!
We're sailing at the edges of time
Backwater!
We're drifting at the water line
Oh, we're floating in the coastal waters
You and me and the porter's daughters
Ooh, what to do? Not a sausage to do
And the shorter of the porter's daughters
Dips her hand in the deadly waters
Ooh, what to do in a tiny canoe?

Black water!
There were six of us but now we are five
We're all talking
To keep the conversation alive
There was a senator from Ecuador
Who talked about a meteor
That crashed on a hill in the south of Peru
And was found by a conquistador
Who took it to the Emperor
And he passed it on to a Turkish Guru...

His daughter
Was slated for becoming divine
He taught her,
He taught her how to split and define
But if you study the logistics
And heuristics of the mystics
You will find that their minds rarely move in a line
So it's much more realistic
To abandon such ballistics
And resign to be trapped on a leaf in the vine

Backwater!
We're sailing at the edges of time
Backwater!
We're drifting at the water line
Oh, we're floating in the coastal waters
You and me and the porter's daughters
Ooh, what to do? Not a sausage to do
And the shorter of the porter's daughters
Dips her hand in the deadly waters
Ooh, what to do in a tiny canoe?"

Pure gold! Oh, another awesome thing about this song - it's got no chorus but it's still catchy as anything! I suppose one could argue that the verse at the beginning and the end could be considered a chorus, but I wouldn't.
-bill

#326: The Beatles: "I Am the Walrus"

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 05:21:39 GMT

Comp: origami 58
Genre: oldies?

Hey, I've been away from song posts for a while. Last week I was taking a class and had to get up early, and since I usually do my posts late at night I was too tired. So I took a break. And now I'm back, with yet another Beatles song (this is my third). I really like the sound of this album, Magical Mystery Tour. It's got a different sort of feel all its own. Hard to describe. I have found a video - here. One thing about doing these posts is that I can often see a video or suchlike that I have never seen before. Here's one, complete with masks and odd outfits. This is a fun song. It's got some pretty nonsensical-seeming lyrics. Heh, I have just checked the wikipedia site and I'll quote it here:

"Lennon composed the song by combining three separate songs he had been working on. Additionally, when he learned that a teacher at his old primary school was having his students analyse Beatles' lyrics, he added a verse of specifically nonsensical words designed to confuse listeners."

Heh, yeah. Actually a lot of it is nonsense.

"Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye
Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess
Boy, you been a naughty girl, you let your knickers down
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus
goo goo g'joob"

I love the orchestration of the later Beatles stuff, and the use of odd sounds in the songs, basically moving them toward experimental sounds. Cool. The end of this song devolves into a weird melange.

"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together"
-bill

#325: Jean Michel Jarre: "Ethnicolor"

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 04:12:26 GMT

Comp: pax ?
Genre: prog rock

I mentioned this song briefly on song post #60. Today I came across a tube video that is a live version of this song, so here it is: Ethnicolor on the tube. Plus, you get to see Jarre playing a keytar! And who doesn't love keytars! In this song you can hear even more the fact that the various sampled voices are speaking words; according to the wiki the album samples 30 different world languages, as implied by the name. I love the different sections to this song, a la a classical piece, with slower and faster bits and different moods. It's a bit more weighty than the previously posted song. And wouldn't you love to be the guy whose only job seems to be to hit a couple of things with sticks every so often... I guess a lot of this live was sequenced, no idea how you would do that much voice manipulation live. But it's still pretty impressive. Kinda cool that the live brass section is there. This section at 6:00 totally reminds me of the scene with the stuffed animals in Akira. This live version sounds mostly like the studio one, but not the same, especially at the end. To give credit where it is due, this song was introduced to me by my good friend Lauralee, in college, who had heard it in one of her classes, I think. Thanks Llee!
-bill

#324: Bauhaus: "King Volcano"

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 04:01:11 GMT

Comp: origami 2
Genre: pre-goth

For some reason, when I bought an acoustic guitar in grad school, this was one of the first songs I decided to learn how to play. It's got a great signature acoustic riff, and it's got only a few repeated sections, so it's not that hard to learn. Just for reference, here's a tab for it. I just picked up my guitar just now and couldn't remember how to play this song, so I looked it up to remind myself, so I figured this would be a good one to post today. Hmm, this one seems to be too obscure for the tube. Oh well. In addition to the guitar, some of the cool things here are the shakers, perfectly timed, and the later-on chorus of voices, singing some interesting lyrics:

"Overshadowed by her sister
Pretty girl would scream

King volcano gave me numbers
King volcano is clean
King volcano gave me numbers
King volcano is clean

Lonely people burn like candles
Only we are clean
Lonely people burn like candles
Only we are clean"

The end result is very hypnotic, and oddly powerful.
-bill

PS See #83 for my previous post about Bauhaus.

#323: Godflesh: "Baby Blue Eyes"

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 04:03:00 GMT

Comp: origami 64
Genre: industrial metal

So today for some reason I feel like I should pick a song that Niveous might like. Does Niveous like Godflesh? Not sure, but it's got the heavy guitar thing going on. Based on my previous choices I'm not sure the casual observer would expect me to like this sort of thing, but it's very good for certain moods. Do have to be in the right mood for it though. They have this sort of trademark guitar sound. Not sure how they make it, but pitchshifting down might be a part of it. One of the things I like about this song is that it incorporates some more overtly industrial synthish elements than some of theirs. Also, the staccato vocals in the verses is contrasted with the sung "baby blue eyes" with delay and such in the chorus. The drums come from machines, and they are appropriately insistent. The guitars are definitely the focus, though. This album also has an awesome cover.

Oh, also, Happy Halloween. This is scary music.
-bill

#322: Malka Spigel: "It's Odd"

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:26:23 GMT

Comp: origami 27
Genre: weird rock

This isn't my very favorite song by Malka Spigel, but I heard it today and I had some sort of revelation about it, so I thought I'd post it. She is from Israel, and was in some bands there, notably one called Minimal Compact (that I have not heard), but she is also the wife of Colin Newman, one of the members of excellent punk/post-punk band Wire. The two of them have done a bunch of stuff together, including, I think, this song. Her earlier material from the album Rosh Ballata featured singing in Hebrew, and that's very cool. Also softer than this stuff. This song is sung in English and is pretty edgy. The thing I thought of today is that this is something like what Love and Rockets would have sounded like if they had a female singer. I didn't find a video or suchlike online, but you can hear a sample of it from Wire's posteverything website. What do I love about this track? The repeated guitar phrase is compelling, and the staccato vocal delivery is fun. The drums come in at a great place, and that lyric, "and don't you think it's odd?" is a good hook despite it being a repeated-line chorus. In fact, this song is a good example of the power of repetition. The second verse changes the basic sound in a good way to provide a counterpoint. Also a good bridge section with echoed vocals so you're not sure what exactly is being said. Very cool use of delay.
-bill