Monthly Archives: January 2022

#902: Nine Black Alps – Never Coming Down

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Nine Black Alps released their debut album Everything Is back in 2005. As you fellow music listeners know, singles have to be released from albums to create a buzz and get people interested. In the band’s case, they had a few to pick from. When they released ‘Just Friends’ as one of those singles, ‘Never Coming Down’ was one of its B-sides – found on seven inch vinyl copies. Once they got all the singles out of their system, the band released something of a post-album release, the Glitter Gulch EP in 2006, which included a small number of B-sides plus a live number recorded for a French radio station. ‘Never Coming Down’ is on there too and was now available to a wider audience because back in the 2000s it’s fair to say that vinyl was not on people’s minds.

The track differs from the majority of those that made it onto Everything Is in that it’s a slow burner mainly led by acoustic guitars. It begins with a drum pattern that remains the same throughout the four minutes the song lasts for. A melodic bassline joins in before those acoustic guitars come in together to fill out the soundscape. The use of the acoustics provide a warm feeling to the ears. They certainly have a relaxing element to them. I particularly like it when that bass slide occurs during the choruses alongside those “ooh” backing vocals. It’s some sweet stuff. The music’s mellow overall, but it’s paired with lyrics about feeling empty, lonely and needing someone to talk to. It’s a conflicting dynamic that’s been done many a time before, but I’m definitely not complaining ‘cos it’s done so well here. You think it’s a comfortable listen, but then you hear Sam Forrest singing about the dread people can feel when they’ve let a friend down. Then it turns into a sad listen. One that makes you ponder. Then the song fades out with the bassline and drums from the start into silence, leaving nothing behind. It’s actually quite a heavy track thinking about it now.

The band had all of their B-sides available to play on their official website about a decade ago. Even the very rare ones that were only available on vinyl. That’s where I heard this track for the first time. I downloaded them from there using a program called Freecorder, which required listening to all of the tracks from front to back while the application simultaneously recorded and saved them onto my computer. It worked, I still have the programme today. Was well worth the time spent. Good thing I did because those songs aren’t up there anymore. You can find ’em on YouTube though.

#901: Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)

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With all that I said a couple days ago about ‘Neighborhood #2’, ‘Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)’ is a complete banger, for lack of a better word. Was the first Arcade Fire song I ever heard. Though it was with some hesitance. There was some time in 2005 when its video was playing almost every day on MTV2, and me being nine/ten at the time would usually change the channel whenever that first shot of the video came on the screen and the music started playing. I’d usually try and find other videos to watch instead. But a day came when I decided to see what ‘Power Out’ was all about and why it was taking so much airtime. I pretty much understood after that.

The animated music video shows a bunch of hooded youths cutting the power lines in a city, who are then chased by a group of smartly dressed men. One by one, the men are taken out by the youths culminating in the final man who dies quite brutally by electrocution. The movement of the characters and shot changes match the rhythm of the track, which made the experience of both watching and listening all the more thrilling. But overall, the music just sounded so dramatic and forceful. It begins with all the momentum of a freight train on the tracks and doesn’t really let up until its final chord. Win Butler’s vocals are off the wall. I’ve always liked his delivery in this one. I had no idea what he looked like because the band don’t appear in the video, but it sounded like someone who knew how to put their all into a vocal performance. Funeral had been out for months by that point, so I’m sure a lot of people figured out how good the band were already. But as the introduction to the band that it was for me, it did more than enough to show that the music required attention.

The track’s lyrics were inspired by an actual ice storm in Montreal that left the city out of power for weeks, and the verses depict these of people worrying, celebrating or not caring so much while in this situation. But it brings it down to this real human, emotional level with the “something wrong in the heart of man” sections. I couldn’t tell you what those sections are referring to, but they always make me feel a bit sad inside. Like a lot of songs that I was introduced to around that age, I’ve never gone out of the way to look too deep into the meaning of it. It’s been one of those songs that’s just always been there and existing. I’m very sure though that the core meaning of this track comes in those sections, where it’s all meant to come together. It’s beautiful stuff.

#900: Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)

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As a casual Arcade Fire fan and something of a follower of reception to indie albums, I think I’ve picked up the general feelings about the four “Neighborhood” songs that are on the group’s Funeral album. A record that I think I read changed the shape of indie upon its arrival in 2004. ‘#4 (7 Kettles)‘ is the one no one talks about that much. Many people may like it, but it’s not seen as the best. ‘#1 (Tunnels)‘ and ‘#3 (Power Out)‘ are the classics, with the former generally regarded as the better of the two. So that leaves ‘#2 (Laïka)’ as something of the middle child. The dark horse. It’s appreciated, but probably doesn’t get the attention it deserves. In my case, it’s my personal favourite out of all four.

The track tells a story of Alexander, the oldest brother in a family who leaves home, goes out into the world and purposefully erases his memories of his loved ones who still wish him the best out of that unconditional love that comes with being a family. From the perspective of the younger sibling who acts as the narrative voice compares their brother’s disappearance to that of Laika, the dog that was sent into space by the Russians and died while own its own great adventure. It carries on the themes of family and the idea of ‘the neighborhood’ introduced in ‘Tunnels’, but takes a darker turn from that by touching upon abandonment too.

There are just a lot of musical moments that happen here that draw me to it more compared to the other three ‘Neighborhoods’. Coming straight after ‘Tunnels’ which ends on a beautiful, somewhat strident note, ‘Laïka’ sets the tone with an omninous tom-tom driven drum pattern that’s then joined by jangly guitars, I want to say a xylophone (it’s one of those percussive instruments), and that short melody on the accordion that’s pretty much the anchor of the whole song. A double-tracked Win Butler sounds like he’s singing through a megaphone, like he’s some big announcer telling this story to us. The violins in the choruses add this tense urgency and add to the chaos when the vocals become more intense in the “Older brother, bit by a vampire” verse and culminate in a yelling delivery from Régine Chassagne. Overall, it’s one of those tracks where you can pick out new things each time you listen to it. Like those whistles during the ‘police disco lights’ section. What are those all about? Didn’t need to be there, yet I can’t imagine the song without ’em. A non-‘Neighborhood’ track follows this one on the album, and probably for good reason. Those first two really take it out of you.

#899: Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Necessary Evil

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Some time ago I gave some thoughts on another Unknown Mortal Orchestra song. That posts gives the lowdown on how I even came to listen to the group. I’ve assumed that you clicked on that link and gained some context, which means that I don’t have to repeat myself for the sake of filling up the page. But to be short, I heard ‘Necessary Evil’ when listening through Multi-Love for that first time in 2017. I don’t think I was jumping out of my seat in amazement when it first came on, but appreciated it for its groove, its chillness, and those subtle melodies that come through, like that keyboard line before each verse and those horns in the choruses.

The track comes from the perspective of someone who seems to be in a relationship, but not for the greatest intentions. The two involved seemingly bond through recreational drug use, but it’s also through that that they bring out the worst in each other. This leaves the narrator wondering how they’re even able to function as two people in love. So it’s a bit of a sad song thinking about it. I’ve always thought there something melancholic in its mood. But again, the sort of funkiness and head-bopping groove can sometimes put a damper on any negative feelings that the track is supposed to convey. It’s all so smooth. Sounds like something that a band would play in some smoky nightclub that were into psychedelic rock bands. And that’s no downside. Sometimes sad music and sad lyrics can make things a bit too melodramatic. Gotta spice things up, make things different. I get it.

So, I hope you enjoy it too if you’ve never heard it before. It has an official music video, but it cuts out about two minutes of the rest of the song, thus the album version with the static album cover is the main one you saw when you started reading. Watching the video wouldn’t do you no harm. A nice art style and animation going on there. Reminds me of Adventure Time.

#898: Billy Talent – The Navy Song

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Recalling exactly how I was introduced to this song is a bit of a pointless task. I could only give vague and hazy mental images. I want to say that leading up to the release of Billy Talent’s second album, they uploaded 30 second samples of their new song onto their website which gave everyone a taste of what was to come. But I have the feeling that’s me wanting to remember something that didn’t happen at all. It doesn’t really matter. The point is, I got that album for Christmas 2006 and it’s been a mainstay on every mp3 player I’ve owned, the family computer, my laptop… I gave away a lot of my old CDs recently, but I couldn’t find it within me to give away my copies of the band’s first two albums. They’re just too good.

So, I would have been 11 years old when I first heard ‘The Navy Song’. Couldn’t tell you how 11-year-old me felt upon that first listen. But from my 26-year-old point of view, I remember that I was a huge fan of Ian D’Sa’s guitar playing. How he could make one guitar sound like two separate guitars playing at the same time. And that aspect of his style is on show here. Just that introduction alone draws me in every time, with that sort of skipping momentum while it plays the melody of the chorus that shows up later in the song. He never plays just one chord for four bars, or a standard 4 chord progression that runs throughout a track. He has guitar lines and progressions that can rise and fall while incorporating a lot of melody. His playing is something that always gets me bugging out when listening to Billy Talent songs. No exception here. Plus, the track is carried by this great swinging 12/8 rhythm, which I’ve always thought was meant to mirror the swaying of the ship on the waves of the sea. Not sure if that was the purpose, but for that I always thought the music matched the lyric matter perfectly.

And what the track is about is kinda sad. The track’s narrator’s gone to war, presumably for the navy, and is remembering their loved ones back home, while fully aware that they may never return. It’s pretty much confirmed in the bridge(?) that they do in fact die, and ‘wait in heaven’ until they meet again with their partner. Pretty brutal. But in a wider degree, I think it’s a song dedicated to those real navy soldiers who are putting their lives on the line and are very much in the same situation as the narrative voice in this track. It’s a heavy reminder that people die out there, and it’s not something to take lightly. It does make for some good listening though, I gotta say. Sometimes you think of some of the music you were into when you were 11 and think, “What was that all about?” And then there are those gems that stick with you for 15 years and counting. Funny thing, music is.