Sunday, July 20

If can find where to get a copy of the Pixies' Surfer Rosa, will love you long time.
EDIT: Will love you longer time if can also find a copy of Husker Du's Zen Arcade or The Arcade Fire's Funeral.

adam

Saturday, July 19

I'm in a bit of a rut. It's like the last thought I have the minute before I book in is saved and replayed every time I book out. So all my processes proceed at 2/7ths the normal speed. I feel retarded.

adam

Friday, July 11

Shou Hao let me listen to the Arcade Fire in bunk a couple of days back. I am definitely impressed. When the band switches key on 'Rebellion' suddenly every alt-rock band in history who has ever played Bb-Gb-Db is totally vindicated, as if they managed to single handedly redeem the premise, the ideal of alternative rock. It's that good.

adam

Sunday, July 6

DO NOT IGNORE THE PREVIOUS POST. Just because I wrote this one so quickly.

bands with very strange names

Stone Temple Pilots
Frou Frou
Butthole Surfers

bands with Rather Cool names

The Pixies
Queen
Weather Report
The Beatles
Manic Street Preachers
Sonic Youth
Sly and the Family Stone

bands with names that probably sounded like a good idea at the time

The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Franz Ferdinand
Guns N Roses
Jamiroquai
Slayer
Radiohead
U2
Velvet Revolver
Yes

Saturday, July 5

Bored and short on originality, I ripped off Rayner's latest blog post :

My 15 Favourite Songs (in no particular order)

15. Cherokee
This one's a jazz standard - I quite like Clifford Brown's interpretation on 'Study in Brown' - super fast. A simple, poignant melody rendered with a kind of bittersweet energy when traditionally interpreted in double-time.

14. Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits
I told myself I HAD to include some dire straits and it took a bit of thinking before I chose this over 'Portobello Belle'. I love this song for the empathy for the sordid state of humanity that's evident in Mark Knopfler's songwriting. And also the killer guitar solo.

13. Teen Town by Weather Report
Not much to say. It's brilliant.

12. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend by The Ramones
Nothing quite encapsulates the early Ramones aesthetic than this song. The blockish simplicity is completely purposeful - 'Hey little girl, I wanna be your boyfriend. Sweet little girl, I wanna be your boyfriend. Do you love me babe? What do you say?' No mucking about with abstracts here, and that is the middle class pathos that the Ramones captured so well.

11. Sir Psycho Sexy by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
I said before that Anthony Kiedis' songwriting took a downhill turn when he stopped writting about sex. This comes from way before that. His lyrics are unbelievably dirty but shakespearean in their wordplay. 'There's a devil in my dick, there's some demons in my semen'

10. Flamenco Sketches and Sanctuary by Miles Davis
Double entry because I'm afraid of running out of space. Miles plays the same way on both tracks but sounds completely different. His gift for arrangement is unparalleled. Flamenco sketches sounds almost primitive in its simple melody and ghostly harmonies, almost primevial - on the other hand, Sanctuary is urban, dense and complex, but possessed of the same wonder.

9. Sliver by Nirvana
Horrific, shocking angst and anger. When Cobain starts screaming 'Grandma take me home' the whole of my childhood comes falling down on my head like so many cinder blocks made out of teenage angst. He achieves this without singing about blood or darkness or night or cutting himself, for many bonus points.

8. Gigantic by The Pixies
Of course it's about sex - but like all good lyrics it references much more profound ideas - 'Gigantic / A big big love'. I love the simple chords and the sincere delivery.

7. Best of Both Worlds by Van Halen
Such a happy song, and such a guitar solo. I can't think of a reason to put this up here other than the happy feelings it fills me with. Props to the bassist I guess, for playing only one note throughout the whole song?

6. Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles
Mysterious, quiet and brilliantly arranged. A melody worthy of McCartney's extraordinary ability.

5. Crossroads and Walkin' Blues by Eric Clapton
Clapton is a master of the blues. When he plays, you feel it in your stomach. Unbelievable.

4. New York, New York by Frank Sinatra
This one's about the American Dream, and when he sings it, you believe it. 'These little town blues/are melting away/I'll make a brand new start of it, in old New York'

3. Son of Mr. Green Genes by Frank Zappa
I'm not very familiar with Zappa's oeuvre, but this one caught my attention from what I have.

2. Impressions by John Coltrane
More of the live version with Eric Dolphy than the album version, but hey. They're both great. Coltrane's intensity shows here, as well is his impeccable logic and his prismatic phrases. Dolphy burns with a more abrasive, atonal sort of intensity.

1. Slither by Velvet Revolver
Sure, disgusting corporate rock which probably doesn't mean anything but damn if it isn't catchy.



Hmm. I've left out a lot. Can't be helped I guess, but a few honorable mentions:

Raining Blood by Slayer
Could You Be the One by Husker Du
Opus Pocus by Jaco Pastorius
Love Foolosophy by Jamiroquai
Honeysuckle Rose by Jane Monheit
Take the 'A' Train by Duke Ellington
All Along the Watch Tower and Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix
Billie Jean by Michael Jackson
Una Muy Bonita by Ornette Coleman
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi by Radiohead
Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap

Ahh fuck it. It's impossible.

adam

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