Monthly Archives: March 2015

My iPod #454: Fall Out Boy – Golden

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“Golden” is the sixth track from Fall Out Boy’s 2007 album Infinity on High. The awkward de-tuning guitars during the fade out of “Hum Hallelujah” seem into the piano which plays the role as lead instrument in this track.

At two minutes and thirty-two seconds it is the shortest song on the album, though it is one of the more emotional ones on there being about the difficulties of living the glamorous lifestyle, being rich, having the fame, but still feeling worthless on the inside due to the inability to have a normal life outside of it all. It’s very sad. And Patrick Stump puts his heart and soul into his performance, aided by some soaring vocal harmonies during the last chorus.

The song songs very abruptly and unexpectedly giving way to a metronome that steadily ticks and ticks until it suddenly increases in pace. Then “Thnks fr th Mmrs” starts. That’s for another day.

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That’s me caught up then. Daily work will resume as of tomorrow.

My iPod #453: Pavement – Gold Soundz

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“Gold Soundz” may just be Pavement’s poppiest moment ever to be recorded and released. Found in the middle of the great Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, it is positioned after the wild rocking of “Unfair” and precedes the jazzy and experimental “5-4=Unity” but finds the perfect middle ground to provide one of the band’s most lighter, softer and easy listening tracks in their wide catalogue of astounding music. I am a Pavement fan, so I might have a bit of a bias opinion on this stuff.

In terms of the mix, the track is very treble heavy. The bass guitar and drum pedal are present are audible but are pushed back putting the focus on the guitars and various cymbals with Stephen Malkmus’ voice right in the middle of it all. Malkmus sings continuously, his lyrics roll right off the tongue from the first verse and straight into the chorus without any sign of effort, though they may not mean anything in particular they still manage to make a lot of sense in a way coming off quite confusing but beautiful in the process.

Took me a while to get into “Gold Soundz” though. Not really sure why. But I can’t help but feel happy when I hear it from time to time.

My iPod #452: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Gold Lion

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I also remember the first time I heard “Gold Lion”, and the second time, the third, the fourth and so on….. The music video for it was repeated upon every hour one day in 2006, because Yeah Yeah Yeahs were back and it was the group’s brand new single from the forthcoming album Show Your Bones. At the time, the band hadn’t released an album since their cool 2003 debut Fever to Tell. Of course I didn’t know that. As a result, “Gold Lion” is the track that properly introduced me to Yeah Yeah Yeahs. (Though I have a feeling I might have heard “Maps” somewhere before.)

And so “Gold Lion” starts the album off with a lone “We Will Rock You” drum pattern that lasts for seconds before Karen O’s vocals and acoustic guitar of Nick Zinner enter the mix. The song carries on and builds as electric guitars and keyboards are introduced, the drums become more free-flowing with busier execution leading into the track’s wordless refrain and the following instrumental breaks. All in all, it sets the tone for the rest of the album and was a good way to mark a return of a killer group.

The track’s okay. Never thought about its meaning. But I like it. Reminds me of being in Year 6 again.

My iPod #451: Kanye West ft. Jamie Foxx – Gold Digger

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With “All Day” circulating the Internet in its official form and the forthcoming album So Help Me God over the horizon, it seems like 2015 is gonna be another busy year for Kanye West. “All Day” is hot fire. Gets me pumped hearing it. Looking forward to the album too. But today’s song comes the rapper’s second studio album Late Registration, released ten years ago this coming August. What the hell.

I remember hearing “Gold Digger” for the very first time. And this isn’t me just saying it, this is something I can vividly recall. Coming back from London Heathrow after the holiday to Belgium, the ‘premiere of Kanye West’s brand new song’ was the main subject on Radio 1. It played. I didn’t think much of it. I was ten, I wasn’t really focusing on it that much I just wanted to get home. My sister, on the other hand, loved it. She was ecstatic. What excited her more was when the music video (as can be seen above) was eventually played on MTV Base weeks later. Those were good times. She then went to Woolworths to buy Late Registration due to boredom when a power cut occurred in our local area. Life went on from there.

“Gold Digger” is one of Kanye’s most popular songs, though you won’t see him performing it anytime soon. He’s very serious about work at the moment. More so than usual. If you haven’t heard the track I dunno where you’ve been in this life. Unless you were born five years ago or something.

Memorable lines are spat, Jamie Foxx imitates Ray Charles, the song is filled with the humourous wit he displayed in his first two albums. Overall, it’s just catchy and funky as anything. Honestly, I don’t know what else to say.

Well, it may have lost its touch due to being replayed immensely over the years. But you still can’t deny its greatness.

My iPod #450: The Jam – Going Underground

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*Phew*. Had to take a bit of a break over these past few days. University work suddenly caught up with me, had to get it all done over this weekend. Now that’s all finished, let’s continue. How many have I got to do….. Four?! Okay. Well, here’s the first.

“Going Underground” was a standalone single released by punk rock/mod band The Jam in 1980. Funnily enough it was actually meant to be the B-Side to another song by the band named “Dreams of Children“, but a labelling error led to a reversal of roles and “Going Underground” ended up getting more airplay. The track went straight to number one in the UK upon its release and spent three weeks there.

The track written by Paul Weller expresses concern with our society in which we all seem to get what we are asked for but ultimately none of it does the world any good in the long run. We vote for place our trust in war-happy leaders who will and carry on with our lives as if everything’s okay. Weller’s is not about that life, and decides that the only way to escape it all is by going underground while life goes on above.

It is a classic, yes. Goes without saying. Delivered with a sharp vocal take, a busy bassline and biting guitars, “Going Underground”is a quintessential British punk song with sarcasm and cynicism being the main ways in which its serious subject matter is put across.