Now listening:

I've been on a music binge lately. Actually, I think that every day should be filled with a background of music... So maybe, rather than call it bingeing, I've been returning to a more natural state of order.

Surround sound. What a great combination of words. I bought a nice little system for my laptop. Now the loungeroom of my brightly coloured little living space is now truly a home. 4:15am and I'm already out here grooving! Take that, motherfuckers!

So here's some of the top choices for the moment:



Foster the People - Call it What You Want. A classic pump-me-up song. There's a particular stretch of road I drive before work that I now associate with this song because I've played it so many times as an energy kick to get the day rolling.



The Black Keys - Little Black Submarines. This is from the latest album, with the hit Lonely Boy on it. In fact, the entire album is an absolute pearler. I'll be driving down a haul road, filthy and fucked off after a day in the pit, and bashing the hell out of the steering wheel to that fantastic rum beat in the last section.

Listening List

Music makes me happy.

Now Playing:

The brilliant Aussie hip hop outfit, the Hilltop Hoods are back with a new album State of the Art. While I’m not usually a fan of this genre at all, these guys win me over with brilliant construction. Their backing is varied and very closely linked to jazz and funk. The vocal timbre for their rapping is more light and bouncy, more rhythmic and humorous than the forward-pushing angry vocals typical to the genre.

Here’s some standouts:

Track 1 - The Return
This album builds from the opening notes. The introductory track commences with a suspense-laden motif that changes context immediately as a funky main guitar riff enters, becoming a fill support for the overall groove. At times the entire backing will drop out unexpectedly, and then return full swing in order to emphasise certain lyrics. Nicely mixed, there’s a little jazzy keys improvisation at times to fill out the complexity in the backing.

Typically Australian in lyrical content, we have humour mixed with politics - The System is broken/the cistern is broken/the shit is just floating. As I mentioned before the vocal style is rhythmic and bouncy, fitting with the funky backing.

Track 3 - Chase That Feeling
How can I resist a track that includes a syncopated violin ostinato? From the outset, a piano (ahem, keyboard) riff sets the scene for this to be a far more serious song than the others. There’s a sung chorus, incredibly well built up with orchestral backing which is inspiring to say the least. And I will take that feeling/Take that pain and replace that feeling comes out under the chorus, emphasising the point of the song.

Of all the tracks, this is worth the most attention. If you’re Australian and own a television, you might have already heard it, since it’s already been [abused] appropriated by Channel Ten for station advertising.

I find it hard to listen repetitively to this album. The vocals in hiphop always tend to get to me after a while. But for a once off listen every now and then this album is brilliantly thought out, funky and definitely worth playing at high volume.

Converse

"The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen."
- Duke Ellington

Think about that one. The context that I came across this quote in was a section of a book regarding jamming - getting together as a group to create music, to just play. To function individually toward a common, often undetermined goal.

For me, it echoes out into life. I think whether you know how to listen is the most important thing in any person.

Take my experience recently of hitting it off with a complete stranger while we sat and shared a section of gutter. We started off discussing a local point of interest and ended up talking about various places we'd lived, and a hell of a lot in between. This conversation wouldn't have been possible if we didn't have the skills to listen and respond accordingly. That tiny amount of time spent has become to me one of the best things that I have encountered lately - to engage in a fascinating conversation with a complete stranger.

It's one of the things I miss about customer service. There was more opportunity to meet strangers and hear their stories. A lot only had interest in telling, rather than responding. They didn't know how to listen, and I did. Cool, because I was being paid to do it, but it lessens the interaction. The few that you meet that converse, actually listen and respond in a cyclic fashion... They're worth their weight in gold.

Blast from the past

Time is never time at all
You can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth
- Tonight, Tonight The Smashing Pumpkins

I've been brushing the accumulated dust off a few of the old albums I've accumulated. In listening to them, I think that I've also been brushing the dust off a few old memories, too.

One of the albums I've brushed down and breathed back into life is The Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, which is a two-disc odyssey mainly composed of polar opposites: fuzzed out anger, and sweet lilting love tunes. There's an overall attempt at hopelessness, but honestly it doesn't stick. What I find amazing is that even though I haven't bothered to keep the dust from gathering in layers on the surface of this album, all it takes is one listen to have it all come flooding back. You know what's coming in every song, you anticipate the opening to the next track, all those words are still tucked away in your mind ready to sing along. All without being aware that the knowledge still exists somewhere in there, dormant, but ready to rise given the need.

I think the lyric above - you can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth - can be interpreted in a positive way. Yes, you leave a piece of youth with these things that gather dust in dormancy. But blow the dust off and it's still there waiting to be experienced again. In those moments, time is never time at all.

You're Welcome.

Album Review: James Morisson's Songs For You, Truths For Me

James Morrison - Songs for You, Truths for Me
Lately I have been picking up anything I can and giving it a listen. This is an exercise to sharpen my ears, broaden my musical experience and hone my ability to communicate about what I hear. Not all the music I listen to I am going to enjoy or respect.

When I looked this guy up on Wikipedia, I got a few choices to pick from. Interestingly, James Morrison the trumpet player from Australia was labelled as musician whereas the James Morrison responsible for this album was labelled as singer. I love the implication there.

The overall impression is that this guy should give up and let somebody else do it. I actually heard him on the radio a few weeks ago, and not knowing who I was listening to I thought Holy Shit is Simply Red still kicking along?. James Morrison appears to be Simply Red attempting to be Joe Cocker at times. His vocal huskiness he attributes to a bout of whooping cough when he was a baby. It would have impressed me far more to conjure up a tale of drinking addiction recovery, or stick a cigar in the guy's teeth for every photo shoot to explain it. I can see this album appealing to the cliched mid-fourties housewife who needs something to listen to while doing their digital scrapbooking - escaping from the teenage nightmares they have spawned and wish to have no more responsibility for.

Tracks of note on this album:
Track 1 - The Only Night
Firstly, the piano is far too defined in the mix. We have Late Show sound from bar one. The track tries to smack you in the face with full on brass/rhythm entry first off and almost succeeds. Funnily the vocal ad-libbing reminds me of a cross between Hanson and Joss Stone.
The chorus here is a disappointment after a nice brassy prechorus section. It builds through the prechorus section then all drops out to what seems like a completely different style - very straight in the rhythm with heavy and predictable vocal harmony. A fitting opening track for the album, showing potential laced with cliche and ultimately disappointment.

Track 6 - Nothing Ever Hurt Like you
The accompaniment has the potential here to be a nice down and dirty groove in the style of The Letter and some of the Tom Jones covers. It builds nicely but then leads straight to disappointment with an immediate lowering of volume in the bass as soon as the vocals enter. What does that do? It makes it feel like the balls have dropped out of the track.
The chorus features more driving rhythm in the drums - snare hits on every beat pushing it along, a direct juxtaposition to the laid back feel of the verse. Vocally, there is some backup harmonising happening. It's at a tasteful level, but still the choice of harmony is not fitting to this style at all.
Overall this track would fantastic live, with pumping bass, a kick-arse session band... and with Joe Cocker performing it instead.

Track 9 - If You Don't Wanna Love Me
Vocally, this is a pretty solid track. The melody is still pretty damn predictable. It's the rest that is letting it down.
The track starts out as a duet between electric guitar vocals - the guitar with a slightly dirty tone, heavy on the mids. Oh, potential! But there's not much imagination in the accompaniment. It's more powerful in the first chorus than the verse to match the step-up in the vocals, however there could be a lot more use of space overall to highlight the occasional fill.
Second verse - drums enter after a brief and extremely pitiful taste of strings (a warning of things to come...). The drums seem to be mixed too clean - they stand out as seperate from the rest of the band enough to bring on the impression of being a midi track.
Then some truly trite and unimaginative string arrangement for the second chorus onwards and it's game over. Forever relegate this track to ballroom dance shows trying keep up with the times by playing the music of somebody who isn't dead yet.

Track 10 - Fix the World Up For You
Ahhh, MERIT!!! Everything seems to fit well in this track. The instruments are well mixed, the vocal harmonies suit the style of the song. There's some wavering in the brass entries during the introduction, however rather than showing up as unprofessional it gives a human quality to the performance.
It's a classic pop soul piece, and well done for what it is.

Track 12 - Love is Hard
This track is one that would be far better live and acoustic. It has fallen victim a little to the temptation of multilayering in the studio. Just because you can have a shitload of layers doesn't mean that you should. A friend once said to me that if you can play a song with just acoustic and vocals, and still have it hold it's own, then it is truly a good song. This track can quite easily do that.
It starts off with a simple high-pitched guitar accompaniment that allows James' rough vocal quality to shine through. He has room to let loose in the chorus a little without his vocals being muddied by anything else that is going on.
It's sad that this track is relegated to last position on the album. It's of quality that I would like to see more of from this singer. Acoustic and vocal is much more suited to this man than a bad arrangement with a few brass instruments thrown in.

File Songs For You, Truths For Me to the left of Michael Buble and Harry Connick Jnr, and to the right of your Michael Bolton and Simply Red. Play when your mother comes to visit, and accompany with a mug of budget-label tea with too much milk in order to match the lack of complexity and predictability of this album.

Album Review: Snow Patrol's A Hundred Million Suns

Snow Patrol don't seem to do space. Silence. It's always a wall of some sort of sound. Though I guess this structural complexity is their signature, sometimes your ears would be glad for a break, just some sort of break. It would be a far more effective method of creating contrast to introduce some gaps, some of moments of far less clutter.

In listening to their latest album A Hundred Million Suns, I have mixed feelings. Initially I diagnosed it a s same old, same old. There was nothing that stood out as immediately brilliant to me. But then, I think about my exposure to the last album, Eyes Open. There were only two songs on that one that stood out to me, however I ended up loving the entire thing through constantly exposing myself to it. The hook seems to be in the poetry of the lyrics more than the song construction. Once you're familiar with the words, the other nuances seem to come out, too.

Track 3 - Take Back the City
Ah, the single. The guitar introduction to this is quite nice and spacey, which I complained about a lack of overall. The vocals, especially within the verses, are less whiney than normal. This, I think, is because singer Gary Lightbody ventures into the lower range a little more often. This is something I would like to hear more often throughout. Swapping the registers also gives more contrast to the verse.
Both verses and chorus have a relentless quaver strumming in the guitar part, bordering upon the boring, but relieved extremely well by the use of a completely different rhythm for a prechorus. The prechorus is long enough to serve as a break from the relentless strumming -rive of the verse and chorus.

Track 5 - The Golden Floor
How blatantly annoying. This song starts off with a nice little fingerpicked chordal motif on an steel-string guitar. We hear it once, for four bars, before it is overlayed with a percussion motif that would be more appropriate to some pop trash that Shakira would pump out. It stays there, unchanged, throughout choruses and verses until the final eight bars of sound, where we are once again teased with the gorgeous guitar part that could have been.

Track 7 - Set Down Your Glass
A nice, slow, potentially beautiful song. This is where I am having difficulty with the constant background sound that this band insists on. I wonder does the keyboardist, Tom Simpson, feel he needs to justify his presence within the band by providing some sort of humming wash in the background of absolutely everything? This gorgeous song would have been much better presented as purely vocals and steel-string guitar.
I think this is something that bands have to learn from orchestral composers - especially this run of emo/indie bands that proliferate at the moment. Just because you have a wide breadth of musical sounds and effects at your fingertips it does not mean you have to use them all at once. A sensitivity and interplay between instruments - a conversation/contrast approach - is far more effective that having all voices speak over each other at once.

Track 11 - The Lightning Strike: (i)What If This Storm Ends? / (ii) The Sunlight Through The Flags / (iii) Daybreak
What an epic! I love the emphasis on the piano within this piece as a whole.
In the first section (i) What If This Storm Ends, the building of rhythms over the initial piano part is brilliant. Vocally, the same melodic idea is used throughout to great effect. It's a captivating melodic motif, mesmerising just like the intent of the lyrics. There's some great lines here. In particular - Be the lightning in me/That strikes relentless
On to the next section: (ii) The Sunlight Through The Flags
The introduction to this reminds me of the piano pieces of composer John Adams, and also the compositions of Steve Reich. It's layered, cross-rhythmic, mesmerising stuff. More and more gets added to it , changing the rhythmic direction and emphasis. When it comes to the chorus, the introduction of a straight rhythm on distorted electric guitar is frankly disappointing. It detracts from the complexity of the rest of this section of the piece.
Finally, for the third section: (iii) Daylight
This a disappointing conclusion to an otherwise brilliant piece. The verses are boring slow and uninspired, but redemption comes from the chorus with a lot more movement and far less bleeding heart sappiness. Overall it's okay, but would be better as a standalone song rather than being bundled in with it's outstanding predecessors.

On the whole it's quite a complex album. There's some brilliant moments, offset with some downright emo whinginess. Best listened to on a cold cloudy day with at least two glasses of red wine in hand.

Now Playing:

I've finally got the shits with mainstream radio. It serves it's function at work - something that most people will put up with listening to, and a bonding factor because eventually all the people will know all the songs and sing along.

But why we know all the songs to sing along to them is the problem. We hear the same four new songs all day interspersed with pub rock classics. Even after a day of listening to this you've got a fair chance of knowing the choruses to anything they play.

I've swapped back to my old favourite station, where they play non-mainstream pieces and with a heavy emphasis on the Australian local content. The announcers tend to get into the backgrounds of the songs and bands, so there's more talk but it's informative rather than advertising bullshit.

So why am I talking about this? Swapping stations has brought me back into the mood for appreciation of new music. I've got hold of a bunch of albums that are out now and I've been systematically listening to them. What a breath of fresh air! It doesn't matter if I don't like them or not - doesn't matter much at all really. The fact that I am listening critically to what is going on in them has given my ears and my brain a new lease on life.

Now playing on the familiarisation list:

Sara Barielles - Little Voice
To me this is pop-oriented jazz. Joss Stone without so much in the ballsy voice department. However I love it. There's a big emphasis on piano in most of the songs, mainly as chordal rhythmic accompaniment. I like this style of piano accompaniment - punchy, heavy in the bass. I'm not much of a fan of flowing, arpeggiated piano accompaniments - and anyway that would not be fitting for this style.

The hit list for me on this album:
Track 1. Vegas
Despite there being too much emphasis on the single chord hits on the piano within the first verse (this could have been mixed with more importance given to the vocal lines) this song is a winner. The chorus and bridge more than make up for it. At times Sara Barielles lets loose, whereas for most of the songs on this album you can tell she's holding back, reigning it in. It's nice to hear the chains being let go on occasion.

Track 9. Many the Miles
Oh so soul. Vocal harmonies in the chorus, slow groove, a capella section. It's all there. In a way the song is commercial, but it's easy to identify with and I'm loving it. The last line should be an echo for my life at the moment:
There's too many things I haven't done yet/There's too may sunsets I haven't seen. This is the kind of song I would listen to twice in a row because it doesn't seem to last long enough for how much I like it.

Coming soon in the album review list:
Pink - Funhouse. - From first listening it will probably be a quite scathing review.
The Screaming Jets - Do Ya. - Classic Aussie rock returns. Similar enough to their old albums from way back when to still be The Screaming Jets, but different enough not to be accused of releasing the same old songs with different titles.
The Presets - Apocalypso. - I'm undecided on this ablum. Very mood-oriented, there's elements that impress... but are they aiming too low?
The Living End - White Noise. - The Aussie boys are back with a mixed-feelings album that has some absolutely brilliant moments.

All this keeps bringing to mind a line from a song by Aussie intelligent pisstake electronica group TISM (standing for This Is Serious Mum). The name of the song is Lose Your Delusion II. The song itself is taking a dig at switching away from the ideals of non-mainstream and returning to mainstream bum-fodder "like some inner technical hitch".

Don't change your life - Change your channel

So true, whichever way you go.

Yep. Another music meme

I found this meme at Views From the Back Row, home of Osbasso, the godfather of Half-Nekkid Thursday. I was sold as soon as I read the first question with the groove reference. No need to tag anybody - I know that Dive will do it as will anybody else whose fancy is taken by it.

What music are you currently grooving to?
Groove is the word. Currently I'm giving a lot of time to some of the funkier Medeski, Martin and wood pieces. My head seems to not require actual lyrics at this point in mental evolution, just good melodies and a groove.

What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favorite album?
Damn. What a question. It depends entirely what mood I am in. I think listening to music is similar to eating. It's an essential part of me and I tend to feel undernourished if I don't ingest enough. But it's a matter of what you feel like, and that depends on a lot of factors. For example, I love a good ceasar salad, but it isn't the top of my list on a cold wintery day. Probably my favourite album would be Pearl Jam's Ten. I don't listen to it often at all, but I have it when I feel like it, and it's extremely satisfying.

What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?
Oh tragedy. From these, the only way is up. They were both bought in my local shopping centre, on the weekly Saturday morning shopping expeditions.

My first cassette: Jason Donovan - Ten Good Reasons

My first CD: Roxette - Joyride

Which musician have you ever wanted to be?
Myself, first and foremost - however I'd love to be a session muso. I'm far too eclectic (diverse, if I'm being nice to myself or unfocused if I'm being a realist) to specialise in one particular genre.

What do you sing in the shower?
My own melodies, generally based over some internal groove that I have at the time.

What is your favorite Saturday night record?
Jamiroquai, followed closely by anything funky of a similar groove. I use this music to pump up, get happy, to get in a positive mood.

And your Sunday morning record?
Now that the warmer weather is about, I'm enjoying The Cat Empire's new alnum So Many Nights. It's bright, brassy and latin influenced, and perfect to lay about in the sun to.

Confession

It happens every time. I see all the hype, the advertising bullshit and controversial lead-up to Australian Idol and I think... What a crock. Not watching it this year. It's commercialised crap.

Take the judges. Not that I expect they perform a real function - they are just figureheads to buff out the program content. To make it appear legitimate, which underneath it all I don't think it is.

Who do we have on the panel? Let's see...

Judge #1 - Mark Holden, who apparently "enjoyed massive popularity with monster hits I Wanna Make You My Lady, Last Romance and Never Gonna Fall In Love Again", but appears to enjoy more notoriety as the man who declares a "TOUCHDOWN!" performance. It even has an action associated with it.
Hasbeen.
Judge #2 - Marcia Hines. The nurturer. This woman actually gives advice that is worthwhile - on occasion. But in the same show, any respect she gains from exhibiting this side is negated by the use of "You go, girlfriend" and the usual feigned indignance at the comments from the other judges.
Judge #3 - Kyle Sandilands has been described as a poor man's Howard Stern. He's a radio shock jock who has been cast as the asshole judge. The man who tears everyone down and leers at the women. I have to hand it to him - he plays the role of asshole well. I find myself feeling intense dislike toward him without a hint of respect.
Judge #4 - Ian 'Dicko' Dickson. This is an interesting one. This man played the asshole judge before, left the series for another network entirely and appears to have fallen flat on his arse at that. So now he's back.

Also, any show that has a voting poll via SMS just gives me the shits. Who does most of the voting? Kids who don't know any better. And what does that mean? Musically they don't really know any better either. It's all dreamy cute guys and whoever sang the song that is currently popular.

Really, I should be boycotting the show entirely - except I have two weaknesses:
Weakness #1 - The cover version with a difference. Occasionally - rarely, though - a really inventive version of a popular song will crop up. I am a sucker to hear a clever version of anything.
Weakness #2 - The loungeroom judging panel. Don't we all just turn into experts in our own loungeroom? From the safety of being on the recieving end of a one-way transmission we can tear those average performers apart. Suddenly we become experts on movement, intonation, song choice and costume. And I love it.

Some tunes for a Sunday

I could write about Grandma Nobby's Excess Baggage Theory or finally choose a date for the Pigs on the Wing: A Week of Pink Floyd project. But I have a hangover, and a beanbag, and the sun. Like a cat I am curled up in a patch of sunlight and I'm periodically moving to follow it across the loungeroom floor. With my computer in my lap I'm listening to tunes and playing guitar. Here is a random sampling, with reasons just because I can.

1. Corner of the Earth - Jamiroquai
Such a dramatic intro for such a loungey tune. I love it. The song is like me in many ways.

[SKIP] Touch and Go - The Cars
[SKIP] Numb - U2

2. Don't Walk Away - Toni Childs
It's sad, I know. But this is one of those songs that brings out the Groover in me. The happy Vic that just can't help but move even if it's just the top half of me from a beanbag on the loungeroom floor.

[SKIP] Hate this Place - Goo Goo Dolls (hit the high notes, dammit)
[SKIP] Hard to Concentrate - Red Hot Chili Peppers (cool bass riff until the vocals doubled it)

3. Slow Cheetah - Red Hot Chili Peppers
I especially like the outro to this song - and extended fadeout. Basically I haven't listened to the words much but I like the guitar. I get caught up in that and forget to listen for meaning.

[SKIP] Diamond Dogs - Beck from the Moulin Rouge Soundtrack (I love the music in this one and absolutely detest the vocals. So it gets a listen until I hear the voice, and then it gets the arse. NEXT!)

4. Dilate - Ani Difranco
How low can you tune your guitar? It doesn't matter to me that there is that kind of out of tune thing going on. It's raw. This is a singer I do listen to the words of. I care less and less what people think... What a great line. I'm not a fan of the soprano sax outro for this one, though.

5. Touch the Fire - Icehouse
Oh the young days. I almost skipped this one. Now I'm in the chorus, a dumb grin on my face, air drumming, and I'm so glad I didn't hit the next button. Even through the gratuitous crappy saxophone solo.

[SKIP] Rain on the Scarecrow - John Cougar Mellencamp (too boring for today, sorry. NEXT!)

6. I Don't Live Today - Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band
Ahh, gotta love it. A guitarist similar to Stevie Ray Vaughan covering a Hendrix tune. It's such a shame to... spend your time away like this... existing... Fantastic psychedelic stuff going on here.

[SKIP] Time After Time - (covered by) Rob Thomas (I love different versions of songs, but this one is terrible)
[SKIP] I am the Walrus - The Beatles (Just not today, okay? I mean, "Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the band to come" is a little too much psychedelia for my hung over head)
[SKIP] Don't Speak - No Doubt (even though I can't get enough of the cheesey classical guitar solo)

7. Paradise City - (covered by) Richard Cheese
This guy is gold. He does lounge covers of basically anything. He takes requests on his website. I truly am a covers nut, and this is a really thoughtful and comic arrangement.

[SKIP] Wedding Cake Island - Midnight Oil (Definately not in a tacky surf guitar mood here)
[SKIP] Young Modern Station - Silverchair (too heavy for a day in the sun)

8. At the End of the Day - from Les Miserables
What a great musical. It's one of my all-time favourites. This piece in particular covers so many emotional aspects with a few melodic sections. Fantastic.

9. Pink Panther - (version by) The Skatalites
Another great version, along with all the punk covers that were floating around a few years back.

[SKIP] Staying Alive - The Bee Gees (I've played this too many time to count in covers bands and I spend the entire second half of the song waiting for it to end. NEXT!)
[SKIP] Nobody's Perfect - Madonna (Whoever invented that vocal effect processor thing should be shot.)

10. Pineapple Head - Crowded House
What a fantastic melodic bass line and catchy guitar riff. This is one of those songs that leaves me feeling uplifted. Even though I have no idea of what the words are supposed to mean.

Some days iTunes is my friend and spits out exactly what I didn't know I needed to hear. Not today. But the sun is nice.

Monday Melee: Say It With Lyrics

Today is Monday Melee: Say It With Lyrics day - my own variation on the fracas Monday Melee.


1. The Misanthropic: Name something (about humanity) you absolutely hate.

All you fear, is fear itself
Check our your own back yard before you check out someone else

- Hercules, Aaron Neville. My Greatest Gift

2. The Meretricious: Expose something or someone that’s phony, fraudulent or bogus.

Well I'm here to tell you babe
The game you're in is just a game
So damn pretentious

- So Beautiful, Pete Murray, Feeler

3. The Malcontent: Name something you’re unhappy with.

Is she your new best friend?
One day it will end, you know it will

- Sarah, Eskimo Joe. Black Fingernails, Red Wine

4. The Meritorious: Give someone credit for something and name it if you can.

Just a kiss on the lips
And I was on my knees
I'm waiting give me

- Cold Hard Bitch, Jet. Get Born

5. The Mirror: See something good about yourself and name it.

I don’t think that kindness is a weakness,
I don’t have a problem with compassion

- Consideration, Reef. Glow

6. The Make-Believe: Name something you wish for.

When we seek and hide
When my hands are tied
69 positions and
whip cream all over my skin
lick you from bottom to root
love to get down with you
I am a sex-o-matic venus freak when I'm with you
And I will stop it only when you tell me to
I am the automatic easy freak all over you
And I will stop it only when you tell me to.

- Sex-O-Matic Venus Freak, Macy Gray, How Life Is

Song of the moment

Now playing: Pink - Fingers
Listen to it. It's gold. Better than porn.

I'm alone now
Staring at the ceiling
I'm kinda bored now
I can't sleep
And you and me can't make my life complete
When you cum***** you slip into a dream

When it's late at night
And you're fast asleep
I let my fingers do the walking
I press record
I become a fiend
And no one else is watching
I let my fingers do the walking

I'm starving
For some attention
I'm begging, pleading, bleeding
For a suggestion
I bite my tongue because I wanna scream
I'm almost there and you turn and look at me

When it's late at night
And you're fast asleep
I let my fingers do the walking
I press record
I become a fiend
And no one else is watching
I let my fingers do the walking

Rewind and you will see
Why in the morning
I'm happy
Right there on the tv screen
Me vengo, me vengo

I'm restless
You need some caffeine
But I'm wasted
If you could only see
Cause I need more than you are gonna give

When it's late at night
And you're fast asleep
I let my fingers do the walking
I press record
I become a fiend
And no one else is watching

When it's late at night
And you're fast asleep
I let my fingers do the walking
I press record
I become a fiend
And no one else is watching

From the listening lab

This week I've been exposing myself to Dave Matthews Band - Everyday. I had a partner that was right into Dave Matthews Band and of the albums she listened to I liked a few, but not many. But it's been a while since she's been around and since I've listened to any. So I thought I'd try out an album I'd never heard.

Mostly I like this CD. The highlights for me (in order, of course) are:

Track #5 - So Right
This is just funky. I'm not such a fan of the chorus, or the synth part in the second half of the verse... but the introduction and the rhythms in the verses just wipe all that away. And who can go past a bari sax?

Track #4 - Dreams of Our Fathers
Again I am in love with the rhythm in the verses of this track, specifically the guitar rhythm. It's funny in a way, but the last aspect of a song that I really pay attention to is the actual content of the lyrics. With this one I've tried to listen to the words, but I catch myself grooving along to the guitar line before I know it.

Track #2 - When the World Ends
After saying the lyrics are usually the last thing I listen to, here's a rare one. I guess it's because there's far less going on in the verse. Great first line:When the world ends/collect your things, you're coming with me

Typically I haven't spent as much time with the tail end of the album. I tend to put new music on so that I can listen from the start - get through the first couple of songs while I'm working on something and then get distracted and walk away to do some housework or something like that. I leave it going, but the I'm not as focused. I guess a way to fix this would be to start the album from the middle and listen to the end first. But... I've got these three favourites and weakly I just keep going back to them now.

Some serious guitar bashing.

Here's Tommy Emmanuel playing Mombasa (with an extended percussion section).

And then there's what I think is the definitive delay piece - Initiation. This one has an intro that lasts until two thirds (at least) through. Live, the sound just pumps through you.

It's all about the music.

There is a niche for everything. It's all too appropriate to stumble across this concept when I've been talking/writing a lot about music and have been completely lacking in the love department. What is it? Madame xPod appears to be where women love their music. I gotta get me one of those.

Lyrically Speaking

So the assignment is "List five lyrics and their significance to you"...

This is a difficult one. A lot of lyrics I more enjoy the way they are sung, rather than the actual words. But here goes, in no particular order.

1. Dam at Otter Creek - Live from Throwing Copper

when all that's left to do is
reflect on what's been done
this is where sadness breathes
the sadness of everyone

just like when the guys
built the dam at otter creek
and all the water backed up
deep enough to dive...

So this one is from teenagerdom. The song at the beginning of Throwing Copper that most people skip. But I think it says a lot about being on the edge of things.


2.Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall from Eye to the Telescope

...She fills up every corner like she's born in black and white
Makes you feel warmer when you're trying to remember
What you heard
She likes to leave you hanging on her word

Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see)
This is what I wanna be...

The recent car favourite - top of my lungs. Played with vigour after giving notice at the Wholesalers job in favour of teaching and being 100% musician.


3. Slide - Ani Difranco from Evolve

...after that she just followed her nose
and fate is not just whose cooking smells good
but which way the wind blows

she laid down in her party dress and never got up
needless to say she missed the party
she just got sad
then she got stuck

.....

cuz when i look at you i squint
you are that beautiful
and my pussy is a tractor
and this is a tractor pull
i'm haunted by my illicit, explicit dreams
and i can't really wake up
so i just drift in between
thinking the glass is half empty
and thinking it's not quite full...

I almost included the entire song.


4. Pigs on the Wing (Part One) - Pink Floyd from Animals

If you didn't care what happened to me,
And I didn't care for you,
We would zig zag our way through the boredom and pain
Occasionally glancing up through the rain.
Wondering which of the buggars to blame
And watching for pigs on the wing.

This is the entire song (well, part one any way).


5. Philosophy - Ben Folds Five from Whatever & Ever Amen

...Wont you look at me
Im crazy
But I get the job done
Yeah Im crazy
But I get the job done

Go ahead you can
Laugh all you want
I got my philosophy
Keeps my feet on the ground...

Also a hit from the years of teenagerdom. But it's one I revisit regularly, and it's a bit of a personal reminder just to be me.


Which brings me to....

This was such a difficult post to write. There's so many songs that when I listen to them, I think I love that line. But stuffed if I know what they are when I'm not hearing them. And there's lyrics that aren't particularly brilliant, but I love to just belt out at the top of my lungs. And there's the looking back over the post and thinking that maybe I should have included something else in favour of some of those choices. And it really depends upon the mood. And there's a teeny voice in my mind that says I'm going to judged as a tragic pop lush, but stuff it. I'm the person in the pub with the pool cue in hand, singing along to the jukebox.

From the listening lab...

Medeski, Scofield, Martin and Wood - Out Louder

In particular I'm enjoying Tequila and Chocolate for the fantastic free bass intro that leads into the groove. It's got this great latin feel. I'm a sucker for a good groove. That's why I love playing bass.

And I can't go past a title like Tootie Mama Is A Big Fine Thing, even though as a piece it's a little happy clappy, it gets me doing a goon dance every time I hear it. Complete with raised eyebrows for the responses in the call and response with the melody. This is typical of what I think of as Summer Music. I'm far more likely to listen to it in the summer with sun shining, when I'm warm and happy.

I believe that the music you listen to is often reflective of mood and optimism, which in turn are affected by the seasons. Of course there's a bucketload of other factors, but I'm not going there. Just look at the songs that are almost excessively major in their chord structure, and they're more likely to be popular in summer. Also songs that have a lot of space in them, i.e. not too many layers and actually valuing the use of silence, I see as Summer Music.

This isn't to say that I will only listen to certain types of music depending upon the season. I've got fairly eclectic taste for one thing, and there's also so many other factors. But I'm sticking to the Summer Music theory. Think about it. I think also that the music crave in the winter months is like the food I crave at that time of year - a little more stodgey. Heavier in texture, usually a bit more complex.

That's my story, anyway.

One of those iTunes random things

Lame, I know. But I just wanted to see what would come out.
The first ten songs that play when I put iTunes on random just now...

1. Please Forgive Me - David Gray from White Ladder
Definately not skippable. I like the little guitar riff that comes in, except that it's just a little too repetetive. And what a brilliant line - "I got half a mind to scream out loud". When I first heard this song I was disappointed because the drum beat is so... dance music? Like the producers tried to make it club friendly. But it's grown on me now.

2. I Wanna Ride You - Medeski, Martin and Wood from Uninvisible
Oh yes, funky. A really nice bluesey intro, and then into a great organ riff interlocking with some really cool bass. I first realised I liked these guys when they did an album with John Scofield called A Go Go.

3.Company I. = 96 - Kronos Quartet
Okay, lulling. It doesn't fit into my listening repertoire very often. Not now. Skip.

4. Hard to Handle - The Black Crowes
A cover, which my band does a cover of. It's funny that you can go through years of playing these songs, but still enjoy hearing them. I feel like I know the song more intimately.

5. How You Remind Me (acoustic) - Nickelback
Now here's an example of an acoustic version that doesn't work very well. Skip.

6. Dirty Cash (Money Talks) (Dirty South Remix) - Mind Electric from Ministry of Sound 2007 Annual
This also doesn't fit into my listening repertoire very often. Mostly I like the Ministry of Sound annuals for cleaning to, or pumping up for going out. I'm a fan of the chillout albums a lot more than this style.

7. Four Seasons In One Day - Crowded House from Recurring Dream
It's hard to go wrong with a Crowded House tune. This one fascinates me since it has a canonic solo section. It's just cool that they thought to do it.

8. Mary Jane - Alanis Morissette from Jagged Little Pill Acoustic
I think Jagged Little Pill has been played so much that I know every song backwards, so now it's really nice to hear this album played differently. I could have a rant about riding on the one succesful album she had, but it doesn't beat the fact that I enjoy both versions.

9.This Love - The Magic Numbers
I have a bizarre liking for this band. They're just different to most of the stuff you here. My sister introduced me to them after she heard them support U2. It's pretty, but slow, this one, and I don't know it as well the last song. Skip.

10. Night Time is the Right Time - John Scofield plays Ray Charles from That's What I Say
Just some really effortless playing, not my most favourite from this album, but I still love his playing. My favourite from this album would have to be Unchain My Heart (Part 1) because the way he plays the vocal line is brilliant, falling off the notes, just holding back a bit. Mmm. And the bass line is just funky cruisey stuff.


And now I'm satisfied that I've done it.