Nearly Lost You, Screaming Trees

I'd be lying if I didn't say that all I've been listening to for the past week has been The Replacements and Pearl Jam. Which led me to the best movie soundtrack ever in Singles, an early 90's film which was directed by former music critic Cameron Crowe, set in Seattle. Naturally, it's simply a grunge mixtape, minus Nirvana, because Cobain didn't like the film (I thought it was quite a charming, rather adult adult rom-com which managed to ring very true, but there we go). All this misses the point, which is, that my favourite song from the Singles soundtrack, and probably my favourite song from the Grunge movement is this 4 minute, pop-rock gem. From the band who are always looked over in favour of the 'big four' Grunge bands: Screaming Trees.

Mark Lanegan is my favourite vocalist. Period. Male, female, dead, alive, jazz, rock, soul. He is my favourite. His grungey, crackly voice, is always really stirring, and he just always sings with so much soul and passion, whilst never sounding too earnest. I don't really know why I love this song so much, it's hard to put a finger on its transcendental quality. Its lyrics aren't anything out of the ordinary, and not one instrument is particularly outstanding. But it's just so spirited, and really gels together so perfectly. I know most people love it too when I introduce them to it, so I hope you do too. If so, then their album Sweet Oblivion is more of the same.

Backlit, Isis

An absolute beauty. From the opening which is sublime, anthemic, somehow deeply moving all at once. It goes to show the deep power of rock music. I will print the lyrics here, though this is one of the clearer sung Isis songs.

Always object
Never subject

Can you see us? Are we there?
Are we there.
Can you see me? We are watching
We are watching.
You are fading.
In the daylight. Fading.

Always upon you, light never ceases
Lost from yourself, light never ceases
Thousands of eyes, gaze never ceases
Light is upon you, life in you ceases


Taken from the album Panopticon, it has so many meanings, and a universal resonance. The song is engaging with ideas of actual Panopticon prisons, a Big Brother state, the existence of God, maybe a personal loss. It's pure poetry, set to some of the most beautiful music ever. The guitars sweep over you like waves, the drums ebb and flow at irregular intervals, the transitions, and different movements evolve so naturally. One of my favourite songs, taken from one of my favourite albums of all time.

Rolling in the Deep, Adele

Adele troubles me. Her popularity is almost certainly due to her voice which isn't exactly up my street - it hints at the soulful, but lacks a certain power, sometimes she overdoes it and belts it out X Factor style, and at other times it's just a little grating. But after so much hype, I decided to give her 21 material a quick listen today, and this is definitely the standout track. It's like an old disco track, incorporating elements of 60's soul (that piano, the gospel choir, the handclaps), accompanying heartbreak with an incongruent upbeat melody, suggesting there's always better things to come. It's quietly catchy, somewhat powerful and it's extremely refreshing to see a popstar writing their own songs.

The problem is though, I think that's the core issue with this song and the album. Throughout the album, and this song, it kind of deals with teenage issues, the end of relationships, heartbreak yadda yadda yadda. I know I didn't complain when Marling covered the same material on Alas I Cannot Swim, but truth be told, she was only 18 then, and added a lyrical grace to the material. Adele's album is named 21 though, surely she has moved on from this and has something slightly more interesting to say. But sadly, lyrically, her songs are a tad 1-dimensional, relying on her voice to power through the song's weaknesses. The arrangement in this is lovely though, and it seems there's plenty of power in her material to keep everyone listening to for now.

Mr. November, The National

This is one of The National's most urgent songs, and one of many reasons that their Alligator album is aces. Enjoy.

Black, Pearl Jam

It's amazing that a song about a guy losing love can avoid too much cliche, sound fresh, and remain uniquely moving. This is what Pearl Jam have done with Black. It's certainly not the most catchy song from Ten, but it's one of the most powerful, one of my favourite slower Pearl Jam songs. The ending is so raw and passionate, as Vedder's vocals become absolutely heartbreaking as he sings 'I know someday you'll have a beautiful life/I know you'll be a sun, in somebody else's sky.' The motif of blackened photographs, the way all his memories of this girl will be tinged with the death of their relationship is specifically haunting. Vedder has one of the best rock voices around, and it's songs like this where he can just let go where it's most impressive.

Chemical World, Blur

The title of this album sums this song up, really, Modern Life is Rubbish. The lyrics are series of lines about how, this new chemical world is, frankly, shite. But some of the lines are just so spot-on, so witty. Albarn sings contemptuously: These townies, they never speak to you, but then quickly looks at it from the other perspective Just stick together, so they never get lonely. His understanding of why things happen which he hates sums up the song. It's all that post-Thatcher stuff which obviously left a big impression on Britain, but it still has modern resonances. My favourite line from the song goes 'eating chocolate to induce sleep/and in a chemical world it's very very very cheap' - more the rhythm of it than anything else.

And this playful attitude is contained wholly in the melody, so light that it's almost macabre. I love the guitar riff which just floats over it all wonderfully, Coxon at his best. The song kind of feels like a more mature Parklife. I love it!

Swingin Party, The Replacements

The best songs from The Replacements can be divided into two different streams: the slow confessional sort (Unsatisfied, Answering Machine, Here Comes a Regular) or the relentlessly enjoyable rock'n'roll tunes (Favourite Thing, Kiss Me On the Bus, I Will Dare). The preoccupations of both kinds of songs are interlinked, the upbeat tunes focus upon their party lifestyle, where they abandon all logic and reason, living in the present, whereas the slower songs focus upon the consequences of this lifestyle which creates in their work a certain dichotomy, a tension between wanting to live for the present and for the future, surely a concern for all young twenty-somethings.

Swingin' Party is a shining example of the former category, which uses Westerberg's deeply moving, grungey voice to create a really emotive song. I feel it's kind of about how he realizes he's addicted to the rock'n'roll party lifestyle:

Bring your own lampshade, somewhere there's a party
Here it's never endin', can't remember when it started
Pass around the lampshade, there'll be plenty enough room in jail

On top of this, it puts you into a position of being at a party, he seems attracted to a girl but can't do anythng because he's too 'afraid,' reflecting at how he's also afraid that this lifestyle will catch up to him. A 'swingin party' should never be met with such melancholy, except for when you've had enough. At the end of the song, there's a sharp lighting and inhale and I don't know why but it's one of my favourite little parts of any song. A highlight for me from their album Tim.

Rub 'til It Bleeds, PJ Harvey

So, you've probably realized by now how much i love PJ. Each album she shifts into entirely different territory. Rid of Me is her most ferocious album, all the instruments explode so boldly, it's heavy and subversive, the productions so raw and plays with dynamics so successfully, and it's accompanied by some really angry (and quite scary) post-feminist lyrics.

Listening to the opening of this song is absolutely beautiful: soft and quiet as the listener just waits for the song to explode. She coughs, she's sick... I'd say fucking mad. As when the song takes off, it's just chilling. The drums are turned up to the max, as is her vocal to create this really aggressive attitude as she calls the man weak. "And I'll make it better/I'll rub it 'til it bleeds..." Make of it what you will, for me it's like something off the most exploitative horror film, something I couldn't sit through on the internet. An absolutely gruesome image of Polly giving a ferocious handjob, until she makes the man bleed - subverting all the gender roles out there. Which is reflected in the heaviness of this song - for people who never listen to female singers because they're too gentle, this is for you. I'd love to go more into the sexual undertones of the song, but won't for fear of sounding like a dick... Anyway, I hope I've introduced more people to the many sides of PJ Harvey throughout my blog so far, I think there's something for everyone in her discography.

Ice Cream, Battles

New laptop means I can't start this blog up again. And what better day than when I heard a new Battles song. I love this one, extremely different to their Mirrored stuff, which I loved when it came out, but an album I just haven't often returned to. This is just as fresh as the material on Mirrored, and will hopefully hold the impact it's had on the first few listens. It's incredibly fun and zany, it sounds like a cross between Animal Collective and Vampire Weekend to my ears, and feels just as summery as those bands, so it's perfect for today which is a sunny one! I love the bass at the end lots. Anyway, check it out, and keep checking out this blog, I should be doing it daily again now!

The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret, Queens of the Stone Age

Sorry posting's been really low on the ground... I still have no laptop which makes it difficult, I will post on Facebook when I'm back, until then, I'll be posting intermittently. Hopefully this will suffice...

Trembling Hands, Explosions in the Sky

I spent ten hours in the library today. Listening to the latest Explosions song, holding my expensive 28 pages of printed paper, whilst waiting for the bus is making it all seem better.

We Want War, These New Puritans

Wonderful, great vid too.

Cedar Room, Doves

Still no laptop and I have loads of work... but as I was doing it I was listening to this...

Lately, Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan

Will be without laptop for a couple of weeks, but will try to keep on top of this...

Used To Be, Beach House

My laptop's currently dead, and I have shit loads of work... so if I manage to post over the next few days they'll be quickies! Like this one....

Brick by Brick, Arctic Monkeys & Albatross, Wild Beasts

Today I've heard two new songs from two of the best British bands around. One song is completely disappointing, the other is amazing. I'll start with the former:

So the Arctic Monkeys have apparently changed direction, but have gone the way you wouldn't expect... Producing a song which is just very, very bland. The sound's alright, it's definitely nicely produced, and after being in a band for 5-10 years you're bound to gel as musicians. It starts with some pretty average rock music: guitar, bass, drums, all doing their thing in a catchy manner. And then you get to 1.50 in, and they kind of revert back to the style of Humbug, and it just doesn't work, there seems to be this tension as to whether they want to continue sounding like Josh Homme or stick to their lad-rock origins, and it creates a jarring experience for the listener. On top of this are the dreadful lyrics which are just so very cringe... I hope this is a b-side to their next album, and they produce a more coherent sound for their album, as they're definitely capable of producing better than this.

The next song sounds the complete opposite. It's from a band who have continued to refine their sound, moving in a definite direction, building upon ideas from previous albums and perfecting it. Albatross wouldn't be out of place on the masterful Two Dancers. Musically it's very impressive, it's very sparse: the piano haunting, the percussion absolutely necessary. But what I love about Wild Beasts is the dynamic between the vocalists and the guitars - there's just so much space - they create this sound to just get lost in. I know a lot of people are put off by the vocals, and I can totally understand why, but if you like them there's no chance you'll hate the band.

Heaven's On Fire, The Radio Dept.

On a sunny day like today, there's nothing that matches the mood better than Heaven's On Fire. It's my favourite Radio Dept. song, though it's hard to pin down why. It's simply playful, sexy, cheeky and fun. A pure joy to listen to.

People Aint No Good, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

When you're feeling a bit existential and angsty, there's no better album to listen to than The Boatman's Call. It's Nick Cave at his most dreary and depressing. It's amazing.

You can probably guess from the title the tone of the song, but it's amazing that this kind of self-indulgent depression can feel so universal at times. It's so poetic, Cave uses the metaphor of blossoms: how they bloom and then fall to express his lost love (possibly his relationship with PJ Harvey). I love it when he addresses his love in a series of lines, my favourite of which reads 'To our love, a valentine of blood.' It shows the inevitable breakdown of relationships, how it's always passionate but destined to end with a burst of really violent emotion.

The end of this relationship has left Cave bitter. I love the macabre opening as he sings the title in his deeply soulful baritone in such a frank manner. But it kind of shows the kind of destroyed soul as you realise you're alone with nothing, and no one to help you. Nature is even depressing and embodies how he feels about fleeting relationships and the anger it leaves him with:

Seasons came, seasons went
The winter stripped the blossoms bare
A different tree now lines the streets
Shaking its fists in the air


It's just beautiful, with some wonderful music to match. The glassy percussion allowing Cave to just vent over it, and the strings performed by Ellis is such a perfect melancholy match for the song. It's not all negative, he reflects how people try and comfort you, and even bury you when you die, but ultimately he's alone forever.

She Sells Sanctuary, The Cult

Love this tune! It's so anthemic, and the guitars are just lovely.