Monthly Archives: April 2014

My iPod #276: They Might Be Giants – Dinner Bell

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If it wasn’t for this track…. I would not be listening to They Might Be Giants today. “Dinner Bell” was the first song of theirs I heard, and I was instantly hooked. Maybe that’s why I hold such a fondness for “Apollo 18”. The thought that without hearing “Dinner Bell” I probably wouldn’t have bothered to find more TMBG songs is quite mind-blowing, and I am very grateful that I did play when I was listening to Internet radio.

Written and sung mostly by John Linnell, with John Flansburgh providing the unusual backward vocal of the bridge, “Dinner Bell” ‘indirectly refers to Pavlov‘s famous experiment involving a dog’s reaction to the ringing of a bell after associating the sound with food.’ Thank you TMBW. But I had no idea that it was about that when it came on about ten years ago. I just thought it was someone waiting for dinner. Anyway, the topic of the song wasn’t what attracted me. It was the likable melody which changes against the major and minor key changes during the verses. The multi-tracked vocals panning from one ear to the other, one syllable falls right into the next becoming something of a tongue-twister. Its 2/4 signature, which keeps the track on a steady pace with every chord change occurring at the beat. And obviously the lyrics that seem to mean nothing at all, but sound right because they fit in with the song’s music so well.

This welcomed me to the world of They, and I embraced it with open arms.

My iPod #275: Wolfmother – Dimension

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Yeah. This was the Wolfmother I liked. The one that showed up on ‘New Music’ for about thirty seconds in 2006. That seemed to be the year of the Australian bands; The Vines released a new album, Jet did a few months later. But it was Wolfmother that got us all excited. They were bringing back the rock of the 70s… and “Dimension” was our first glimpse of this new band. (Well, it was mine – Australia had known about them since late 2005, and they’d released two other songs there too).

“Dimension” opens with a scream (which may make a few laugh just because it doesn’t sound like a lot of effort is put into it) before launching into a groovy riff that plays throughout the song. If the guitar isn’t playing it, then the bass is whilst lead singer Andrew Stockdale (who was somewhat of a cross-up of Marc Bolan and Robert Plant) sings about getting lost in a desert and then ending up in another dimension. How he ends up there, we don’t know. But he makes a reference to ‘purple haze’ and ‘all these things we must try’…. so I may have to assume that it’s about drugs.

But the song really impressed me when it showed up on MTV2. The three members had a good chemistry, even though it’s not really a live performance it looked like the group were on time with one another – like they never missed a beat. They followed it up with some other top bangers too, that I ended getting a physical copy of their debut for my birthday/Christmas. I don’t get physical CDs so much nowadays (scratch that…. I don’t get physical CDs at all) so that’s saying something.

Too bad the drummer and bassist left. Then Wolfmother changed, and released the new album….. “Cosmic Egg“. Nooooooo. The first album will do, thanks.

My iPod #274: Daft Punk – Digital Love

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“Digital Love” was a single from Daft Punk’s second album “Discovery” which came out in 2001.

I’m very sure that the video (the one you see above) aired on Cartoon Network once. Just one time. That was the first time I saw it too, but I always have doubts about whether it is because I was so young. I do remember a seeing a spaceship crashing into a forest, and a blue person coming out of it. That does happen in the video, right? Even if I did see it then, I must have heard the opening introduction in a lot of adverts or promotions for sitcoms or something.

Enough about me. You wanna know more about the track and what is in it. Well…..

1) The main chord progression that repeats throughout the whole song is actually a four second sample of an older track.
2) It’s about being so far away from someone that the only way that physical contact is possible is in one’s dreams…. which is sad. But that’s okay because…
3) It’s really funky. Got a proper four-on-the-floor disco beat.
4) Contains a shredding solo which starts near the end, lasts for about 40-50 seconds (off the top of my head) before fading out to a close.

The track is goooood. My favourite single from the album. Not song…. but single.

My iPod #273: They Might Be Giants – Dig My Grave

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This video is weird (bear in mind it isn’t the official one), but it’s the music we’re here for.

Opening They Might Be Giants’ fourth album “Apollo 18” is “Dig My Grave”, another typical rocker by John Flansburgh that lasts only for a minute and few seconds. Only They will know why it took four albums for Flansburgh to get an opening track, the first two were penned by Linnell and the previous one didn’t feature the Johns at all. This was Flansburgh’s time to shine. That time was used well. Even if it was very quick.

There is not a lot to say just because it is so short. Not even its page on the band’s dedicated fan Wikipedia site states a vast amount of information. Nevertheless, it is the perfect way to get things started. It’s a track that one doesn’t have to think about. The lyrics are from the perspective of a person who wants their grave to be dug when they see someone and when that same someone calls the person’s name. Whether it’s because the person hates that someone so much that they would rather die than be in contact with them or they’re simply too shy is the real question I have about ‘the meaning of the lyrics’. But I’m not so deep about that stuff.

I just like the song’s simplicity. The four chords accompanied with Flansburgh’s double tracked vocals and shrieks of the song title, the messed up ‘guitar solo’ which consists of the high guitar strings being plucked at a fast rate way up the fretboard and especially the last few seconds when the song speeds up and the cello and violin rise in volume before the song comes to a stop. Just a short and sweet way to start it all off.

I hold “Apollo 18” with very high regards; I feel as if it is a TMBG album that doesn’t get much love as it should do….. I love you “Apollo 18”. I think you’re better than “Flood”. I am not ashamed.

My iPod #272: The Beatles – Dig a Pony

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Time for a post methinks. I arrived back home for the Easter holidays, but as soon as I did I was out again to meet up with friends at Stratford. It was getting to eleven at night when eventually set foot in my house, and therefore there was no song to talk about yesterday.

Here is one now. It’s “Dig a Pony” by The Beatles, on their last album “Let It Be“, a weird love song written and sung by John Lennon.

The “Let It Be” film is a miserable one. That was the first one I watched when I began to avidly research The Beatles and listen to their songs, which is weird because it’s the last one they did. It used to be available in parts on YouTube, but apparently isn’t anymore. The majority of it focuses on the four guys improvising some tracks in studios at a time when relations between all of them weren’t so friendly anymore. This was a real day in the life of The Beatles – not the one that was dramatised and played up for “A Hard Day’s Night“. It is a much harder watch in comparison.

That is until the band go up onto the rooftop for a spur-of-the-moment performance, the one which would turn out to be their last live one as a group. They deliver the songs to almost perfection, one after the other with great enthusiasm and finish with a witty remark by Lennon, providing a heartwarming close to the film. One of the songs they did on the roof was “Dig a Pony”, and that live performance is the same thing you hear on the album itself.

I dug “Dig a Pony” (hehehe) as soon as I heard the chorus for the first time. I thought it was the best song in that film. The leaping guitar work of the riff is one that is hard to forget, and the licks that George Harrison throws in at various points are wonderful too. But that moment when Lennon belts out the poignant lyric “All I want is you” with all his might – you can see just how much power he gets into the phrase. And with the wind blowing in his hair….. Man…. what a guy.

Here it is if you wanna see it.