Monthly Archives: August 2013

My iPod #112: Violent Femmes – Blister in the Sun

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Violent Femmes are a band from Wisconsin that formed back in 1980. They’ve split up twice but have got back together this year.

I’m not a fan of them; this is the only song by the band that I have. Not because I’ve listened to their songs and thought that they were crap, but because I haven’t listened to anything else they’ve put out. Well, apart from “Gone Daddy Gone” (not a Gnarls Barkley song), and “Add It Up” (which I can barely remember). But even those are on the same album as “Blister”.

“Blister in the Sun” came on when I was on the LAUNCHcast internet radio in the mid-noughties. It immediately caught my attention when the catchy riff started, and it’s hard to forget it seeing as the riff melody is the same as the lead vocal too. The song was first released on the band’s debut album in 1983, but sounds like it could have been released in the sixties. I don’t know what it is, when I think of the eighties I think of long hair, Footloose, keyboards and drum machines. “Blister in the Sun” sounds like the complete opposite with it’s minimal instrumentation. It makes for good listening when you’re walking in a park, on a nice summer’s day.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #111: Muse – Bliss

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I think this is the first Muse song to come up in this whole iPod thing I’m doing. That’s good. At least I can interest you with a story of how I came to like the band, and why so many of their songs have their spot on my Apple product.

The year was 2003. Muse were about to release their third album “Absolution”, and there was this new song of theirs…. something about running out of time. Of course I know it’s “Time Is Running Out”. I remember my sister liked the song a bit. I think they played the song on Top of the Pops and CD:UK and all those music shows. I remember seeing a glimpse of the video for “Sing for Absolution” on CD:UK, but I didn’t think it was that good. Not as good as “Time Is Running Out” anyway.

Fast forward three years later, and everyone was getting hyped for “Black Holes and Revelations”. “Supermassive Black Hole” was the hot shit, and it was on MTV2 that there were countless repeats of older Muse videos. Now that I was eleven, I could actually absorb what I was listening to. I was much more interested in music, and mostly spent my time watching MTV2. I realised that Muse weren’t too bad. They were pretty awesome. They make good songs. This is where Bliss comes in.

The “Bliss” video features the lead singer Matt Bellamy falling through the earth, whilst Dom and Chris look on, until he eventually falls out the other side into space and then disintegrates into the unknown. I thought the video was cool, the rapid camera changes and the focus on Matt’s flailing T-shirt really captures the urgency of the song. It’s got a belter of a chorus, and is driven along nicely by Christopher Wolstenholme’s bass – much like various other songs on “Origin of Symmetry”, the album on which the song was on when it was released as the band’s second album in 2001.

Yep. Apart from Arctic Monkeys, Muse was the band that got people talking in 2006. It was a good time to be alive.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #110: Kanye West ft. John Legend – Blame Game

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Built upon a well-chosen sample of a track by Aphex Twin is “Blame Game”, the eleventh track from Kanye West’s fifth album from 2010.

If you wanted a song that depicted Kanye at his most vulnerable- if you can ever describe him as that – it’s probably this one. For the background, he had split up with his girlfriend – who then went out with Wiz Khalifa – and was feeling all these emotions that he could only put into song.

Firstly, he raps about ‘gripping’ the girl in question up, ‘fucking’ and ‘choking’ her and then the next minute he’s broken down singing ‘I can’t love you this much’. I put that in a rather simple way but I can’t go through it all with you. That would take too much time. You’ve got rapgenius for that.

The song also features a skit about five minutes into the song, spoken by the one and only Chris Rock. The things he says are very funny, but in context with the song it’s quite tragic.

Surely you can spend seven and a half minutes of your time for this? Surely?

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #109: The Beatles – Blackbird

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When I look at my iPod and see that I have to write a post about a song by The Beatles, a feeling of ambivalence arises. I like doing the blog, I wouldn’t have started it if I thought it was a silly idea. However, in regards to songs by The Beatles… I can’t really tell you anything new about them. Probably everything that can be said about them has been written by people, who know much more about music than me, on other sites. Wikipedia’s full of information too. I can only repeat what I already know and what I think of it. That is what I shall do.

“Blackbird” is a pretty song. It’s one of the few where it’s just Paul playing by himself. It’s him, his guitar, his foot tapping on the floor and a short break with a bird singing.

The music makes it seem very light, but McCartney was inspired to write it after racial tensions in the USA in 1968. For you Americans out there, the word ‘bird’ in the UK is slang for ‘lady’ and so the song is about a black girl, which makes lyrics such as ‘waiting for this moment to arise’ and ‘waiting for this moment to be free’ very thought-provoking. Once you find that the song isn’t actually about a bird, it changes everything.

I enjoy it. I hope you do too.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #108: Dananananaykroyd – Black Wax

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Hey everyone!

That was the name of Dananananaykroyd’s first album , released on April 6 2009. One day after I turned fourteen. I had not heard the song at the time. I do remember hearing the band’s name one time on MTV or something and working out how to pronounce it. That was about it really.

It was months later when I had started Year 10 in autumn 2009. A video for one of their other songs played on MTV2, I liked that. So I went on YouTube to see the video and listen to that song again. It was then that I found the video for this song.

Looking at the video then I think that I may have seen “Black Wax” on TV, but I changed the channel for some odd reason. Bad mistake. It’s a good thing I came back to the song. It’s one of the most joyful ones I have on my iPod collection. According to Wikipedia, “The song’s lyrics, written by vocalists John Baillie Jnr and Calum Gunn are about a dream John had about the thrill of having sex on a bus made of drums (with another musician, but he won’t say who) in an underground world in Paris, and trying to conserve the feeling by sealing it in a wax lined tin.” Now I know that Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, but that actually seems legit. I don’t know what the lyrics are about, but the music is upbeat and feel good as anything. Especially the last part when guitars roar in with a triumphant shout of ‘here we are’ by the two vocalists before fading out with the guitar. It’s beautiful stuff.

The song was then chosen by EA Sports to be included in FIFA 10. Whether or not that did anything to the band’s popularity is beyond me.

Dananananaykroyd were one of the happiest bands I’d ever witnessed. Instead of a ‘wall of death, they embraced the concept of a ‘wall of hugs’ at their shows. They always looked like they had a good time in their music videos, as well as their home videos they uploaded on their YouTube channel. Look at their cover of “Whip It” by Devo. You can’t help but smile to it. They split up though. That’s a shame.

I may never see you Dananananaykroyd, but thank you for the music anyway.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.