Monthly Archives: September 2020

#770: The Wombats – Lost in the Post

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I may not have listened to a Wombats song since about 2011 but I still enjoy a lot of songs from their first album quite a bit. ‘Lost in the Post’ is one of them. There’s nothing too deep about it. The lyrics concern the end of a relationship where the two involved just aren’t very compatible, and the narrator admits that it’s his own doing that has probably closed the affair a lot sooner. Once it’s over the lady seemingly vanishes into thin air, disappears, and is compared to those Christmas letters that children write for Santa which get sent to some unknown area.

It’s a great sing-along, I can’t really say much more. I don’t know who writes the melodies as all of their songs are credited to all three bandmembers, but lead vocalist and guitarist Matthew Murphy sings them well. There’s a weariness in the vocal delivery, I think, that appropriately matches the lyrical subject matter. And the rhythm section of Tord Øverland Knudsen (bass) and Dan Haggis (drums) support Murphy up with the ‘ooh-ooh’ backing vocals that are a constant throughout the whole album. Possibly the only thing about the track that I’ve fallen out of favour with is the ‘Go to Santa’ bridge which seems to last forever. It’s a bit repetitive. Has some great interplaying backing vocals during that section too though, which perks things up quite a bit.

The band made an actual video for this track though it doesn’t feature the song as it appears on the album. It seems to be a much older version recorded way before the group were signed to a label. The recording sounds a bit rougher; Murphy sounds considerably younger. It’s the same song, but I much prefer the final version.

#769: Danny Brown – Lost

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‘Lost’ by Danny Brown has a bit of an unfair position in the tracklist of Atrocity Exhibition, sandwiched between ‘Really Doe’ – the posse cut featuring Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, and Earl Sweatshirt – and ‘Ain’t It Funny’ which is one of the most insane hip-hop tracks put to tape. Because of this, ‘Lost’ can seem almost like an interlude; it’s just short of two and a half minutes in length and there aren’t so many production tricks that will wow you immediately on first listen. But it’s those extra listens that reveal how substantial the track is.

What grabbed my attention the first few times was the instrumental loop that keeps the track flowing. Taking a few seconds from Lena Lim’s ‘Flame of Love (戀之火)’, producer Playa Haze creates a strange, skipping backdrop of a stuttering vocal and a wandering horn melody that adds to the spooky vibe. Reminds me of RZA’s production on 36 Chambers which isn’t a bad thing. Danny Brown comes in with no restraint, comparing himself to Stanley Kubrick and a pimp within the first few opening lines of his first verse.

This track, keeping in the same tone with every other song on the album, details Danny’s descent into his downward spiral, but also looks at things in a more confident and optimistic manner(?). Before Brown was a rapper he made and sold cocaine to get his racks up, and now that he is famous he has all the money he needs to buy a whole lot of it. Despite the rampant drug use, he still never managed to get too far gone and kept his head in the game to get success. I think that’s a lesson that’s worth learning. I guess Brown was fond of the track, and so made a music video for it as you can see above. It’s more disturbing than what I envision when listening to the song. Make of it what you will.

#768: Supergrass – Lose It

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Wondering where to start with this one. I was given Supergrass’ debut album I Should Coco as a gift for, I think, my fourteenth birthday and I remember taking to it immediately on the first listen. ‘Lose It’ has always been a high point from the album for me even if it may be a song of Supergrass’ that a lot of people might not know so much about.

I think what made me appreciate it at first was how mean it sounded compared to the track that comes before it on the album. It was like ‘Alright’ was just a brief moment where everything’s fun and sunny before things get heavy again. Like a lot of other songs on Coco, ‘Lose It’ possesses very high energy and a bit of claustrophobic atmosphere that makes it feel like the band are just thrashing this performance in a tight room somewhere. It’s a bit intense. There aren’t many lyrics in this track either. If it wasn’t for the short “I don’t want anybody…” verse/(bridge?) – the song would just consist of its chorus. The repetitive nature just makes it all the more memorable.

The song was released as a very limited single in ’95, packaged only in the United States in the form of 2,500 copies of vinyl. Still managed to chart in the UK somehow.

#767: Malibu Stacy – Los AnGeles

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Malibu Stacy are a band from Belgium. Their song ‘Los AnGeles’ – the capitalised ‘G’ isn’t a typo – was part of the soundtrack to FIFA 07, that’s how I came to know it. FIFA was a yearly grab for me; I’d been playing it since 2002 when the 2003 edition came out and the soundtracks on there never disappointed. It was normally the songs that weren’t from the UK that were the best or, at least to me, the most memorable. Here’s the soundtrack for that particular game. Highlights I would recommend are ‘TMCr Grand Finale’ by The Pinker Tones, ‘Was in der Zeitung Steht’ by d.o.c.h.!, and ‘Understand’ by The Sheer. That song will get its own post one day. It’s worth listening to all the songs on that list.

Anyway, ‘Los AnGeles’ played whenever you were on the menus or sorting out transfers. Generally, navigating your way through the game when you weren’t playing matches. The singer isn’t the greatest in the world, but his tone just really matches the instrumental backing. When I was eleven and hearing this song, I was singing along but I had no idea what the guy was saying. Through the years since then, I’ve seen what are considered to be the official lyrics to this song and I’m still not sure he’s even singing those. It’s all about the feeling, though. You can tell they care about what the lyricism is about. Once you’ve got that main keyboard riff in your head, it will pretty much stick there for a while. I’ve also always enjoyed that small part in the instrumental bridge where the track goes into a swinging tempo for a few measures.

I’ve never thought to go into the band’s back catalogue and dig deep into their material. I think this track’s association with FIFA will be as far as it goes for me. The singing probably sounded better to me back in 2006 than it does now but musically, it still packs a punch.

#766: Guttermouth – Looking Good Is All That Matters

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After ‘I’m Destroying the World’ by Guttermouth became a song that I was always looking forward to hearing while playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 back in the day, the band’s album Covered with Ants was a constant request for birthdays and Christmases. I never did get the CD. It took until 2012 when Spotify had just properly got going, that I was able to listen to the album in full. And it wasn’t bad. Not the greatest album of all time, but if you’re into skate punk and like some sarcasm in your music then it’s worth a shot.

‘Looking Good Is All That Matters’ is the fifth track on Covered with Ants, and is a basic criticism of those who have no self-respect for themselves and only motivated by physical appearances. The first verse sets the scene, with the description of a date where the man clearly can’t stand the person he’s with but she looks good so he may as well stay. The second describes a girl who throws up to maintain her slim figure. The whole message is summed up in the sarcastic chorus: “Looking good is all that matters/God bless our society.”

This track got my immediate attention when listening through the album the first time. I always enjoy a bit of humour in the music I listen to, and ‘Looking Good’ runs on that. Nothing like jokingly pointing out people’s insecurities to fast-paced punk chords.