Saturday, January 31, 2009

"I'm empty and aching and I don't know why"

This weeks top five music could seem a little bit maudlin on (with one notable exception!) but I like to think of it as introspective...(see the blog post below).*

1. Freedom - by Nizlopi. Another firm favourite of mine that is never far away from me listening to it. These guys are just lovely and ooze integrity. Yeah, they are all nice and middle class, but what they hey! This is a classic cool love song, and talks about the hope that a relationship can bring...and the adventure and the love...yeah, I am an old romantic. But then who isn't who loves music. It WAS my first love after all...but it's songs like these that remind you that music isn't ALL there is. The line "It's some song that's full of lies/Coming round to you late at night". Oh and I love the video for this on YouTube (follow the link above) where the girl comes up to him out of the audience and gives the singer a hug. If you think that all these guys are is the JCB Song - you are missing out on a great, great album - and the title of it is right. "Half these songs ARE about you".

2. America - Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. This is a song I keep coming back to. Like an old friend that you can call up after weeks - months even - of no contact and then talk and talk and talk and talk...like you've never been apart. I love the production of it. The tightness, the perfection; the fact that there is nothing in there that doesn't...and the Spektor-esque fat-backed drum and the way it builds to be a wall of harmonies and waves and whirls. I love the gentleness of the guitar and the timpani of the cymbals.

But most...I love the lyrics. I first came across this song in the dying throws of my marriage, where they lyric "Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping/"I'm empty and aching and I don't know why"seemed to be a metaphor for the marriage itself...I was lost and alone - and I shouldn't have been...

3. Kids - MGMT. I got this album early on it's release last year. Listened to it and did the "yeah, it's ok", and then filed it away. And then my nephew got me and my son complimentary tickets to the Leeds Festival. And I read the billing and saw that MGMT were on. So I dug the album out again and listened and thought again "yeah, it IS ok", but not much more to be honest...and then they cam on stage...They were fantastic...and this song was their final encore. It was so bloody loud, and everyone was bouncing up and down and it was, for me, the defining moment of the whole weekend. Just bloody brill! And I got it onto my girlfriends iPod and stuck it into the SoundDock and turned it WAY up loud...and bounced around the kitchen doing the wiping up. And I was back there - in that tent with my son...and about 20,000 other people. The lyrics are bizarre but who cares...it's the whole package.

4. Pretend to be Stronger - Shoa. I found this band completely by accident off of Twitter! The lead singer started to follow me, and I followed her, and had a look at the myspace site and listened to a couple of their songs...and loved them. They are like a Damien Rice and Aimee Man's bastard lovechild. And it is LOVELY. I can listen to this over and over...with the vocals sweeping in and out. They are a local band to me (Birmingham based - indeed I even recognised one of the cafes they are sitting outside of in their publicity shots!) and I can't wait to hear them live very soon. Although, just to add a bit of confusion they have changed their name to Portland now...

5. Telegraph Road - Dire Straits. Why do I still listen to this? I started when I was about - oh god - 12 or so, a young but incredibly shy romantic, locked in his bedroom to afraid to actually go out and talk to anyone. I was schooled about 15 miles away from where I used to live (Catholic Eduction where I mostly learnt I was guilty - not quite sure of what, but guilty nonetheless) and consequently had few friends in my town. Hence I made friends with music. And it was the perfect friend. And we fell in love and I still love it. John Miles was right - Music WAS my first love, and it will be my last. I have other loves in my life now, but music...it's hard do describe and its a different kinds of love. And this song 14-odd minutes of it - it a symptom of it. Maybe I AM getting old, but with stuff like this out there -who the hell cares. It's going to be around for me, just as I am round for it.



*Hey I am going through LIFE CHANGING times here...I am allowed to be a bit introspective aren't I?

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home