Author Archives: The Music in My Ears (by Jamie Kyei)

Unknown's avatar

About The Music in My Ears (by Jamie Kyei)

Just one man who's making his way through life one day at a time writing about the songs he has on his phone. And other things at some points.

#832: Alkaline Trio – Mercy Me

Leave a reply

This’ll be the one and only Alkaline Trio track you’ll find on this whole thing. I’ve got no problem with them; I’ve never taken the time to listen to more of the band’s music. Maybe there’ll be another song on here one day. For now though, this is it. I can kinda remember seeing the video for ‘Time to Waste‘ back in 2005. Actually, it was played quite a bit on MTV2. And I thought that was a cool song. Then the video for ‘Mercy Me’ started showing some time later, and I thought it was much better.

Taking it in as the ten-year-old I was at the time, I liked that the track was less heavy and had what I thought was more of an accessible melody to the voice. There’s a nursery rhyme, child-song like quality to it that makes it very easy to remember. I think the lyrics concern being bored with life and loneliness, which makes it one of those downer songs with an upbeat rhythm and tempo. Those types of songs always get to me, especially when they’re done well. This one is no exception. It may also be about life on the road. I don’t really know, I’m just guessing here.

The bass player takes the lead vocal for part of the chorus, and I think I remember reading that this was something of a big deal around the time. Maybe it was the first one he had done apart from doing backing vocals. He does have a good voice for the music, I have to say. I also think that my mum liked this one too just for a while, but that’s neither here nor there. Just because I’ve linked to all the singles so far from Crimson, I’ll throw in a shout-out to ‘Burn’ which was the album’s last single. Didn’t get into that as much. But someone out there will feel different.

#831: The Dismemberment Plan – Memory Machine

Leave a reply

A common theme that I realised runs through The Dismemberment Plan’s 1999 album Emergency and I is that in every song, the verses never sound quite right. Upon first listen, there’s always an odd not being played or the rhythm’s always changing and coming down on the offbeat. They’re never played very normally. Then the choruses come in and your floored by how melodic and memorable they are. The hooks on this album are really unbelievably good, especially those in the more rocking, frantic numbers. ‘Memory Machine’ is one of my favourites on there.

I remember listening to the track for the first time hearing how the bass stops and starts with the erratic drum pattern in the back, and trying to make out what was happening. Travis Morrison mumbling these words underneath this rhythm section, then it’s suddenly a few seconds of just noise before he actually gets into the first verse. There’s a lot of anxious energy built up in those opening moments. But when that first chorus hit, all the lights seemed to switch on. From then on, it was somewhat easy listening. ‘A Life of Possibilities’ had left me intrigued, but it was ‘Machine’ that properly made me excited for how the rest of the album would turn out.

The song’s about wishing to be immortal while having all of our bad memories removed from our systems so we won’t be overwhelmed by them. Basically about being turned into robots, because if we’re our lives are being made easier by the innovations in technology, then why can’t we be machines ourselves? Travis Morrison brings up some good points in this song. But I also think he depicts the horror it would be if we were all turned into robots, the way he’s screaming the very first part of the song to the listener at the end. It’s a track that’ll make you think, but also leave you feeling very pumped up when it’s over.

#830: Deltron 3030 – Memory Loss

Leave a reply

Maybe I should properly dive into Del the Funky Homosapien’s discography. Every time I hear his voice on a beat somewhere, I’ve always ended up enjoying the song. Gorillaz’s ‘Clint Eastwood’ came around in 2001, at that time I didn’t know it was him, but his rap speaks for itself on that one. Those are two classic verses on there. Then Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 came out. Del was on the soundtrack with ‘If You Must’. But I didn’t put 2 and 2 together to figure out it was the same guy. Obviously I did later on. And fast forwarding much later to about 2013, I found that it was widely agreed that the first Deltron 3030 was the best album he had been featured on. So, I listened to it. And though I can’t really say if I agree with that statement because I don’t have anything to compare it to, it’s a solid record to say the least. It’s a sci-fi rap opera about the state of the world in the year 3030, that’s quite radical.

‘Memory Loss’ is the last proper song on there. It’s followed by the closing interlude which funnily enough features Damon Albarn as the narrator. This album came before the Gorillaz debut, just remember that. Even before Del starts rapping, I was taken by those horns and that boom-bap beat that immediately begins it all. But then he begins with the phrase “You try to get over, you’re gonna go under”. And when you’re thinking about what he’s just said, he even says himself “What’d that fool say?” before repeating it with a strong conviction. He knows what he’s talking about. Then he proceeds to rap about people forgetting where they came from and the general state of the world in his eyes. After the rest of the album, it’s a great closer to sum up everything that’s occurred over the past hour or however long it lasts for.

Got a good descending bassline that I don’t think changes throughout. And I never realised that the guitar/string hook that plays during the verses is a sample. Gotta thank Genius for that telling me that. Sean Lennon also comes in with a short verse too. I’ve ran out of things to say, so I’ll leave this how it is. Hope you enjoy the song, it is up there, but search for the 3030 album too. It’s a trip. I’ve got some solo Del to listen to, myself.

#829: Deerhunter – Memory Boy

Leave a reply

My first Deerhunter song on here too. Two first timers in two consecutive posts. It gets crazy around here. Deerhunter was another band I discovered when I was in my first year of uni and trying to find new music to listen to. Particularly through Pitchfork. I also think I was just downloading any good album I could find so I could plays songs from there on the radio show I used to host on the uni’s radio station. But anyway, Deerhunter are cool. I think I enjoy a lot of the individual songs than their full albums… but 2010’s Halcyon Digest is the one of theirs that I can play through from front to back with no problem at all.

Today’s song, ‘Memory Boy’, is taken from that record. It’s a cheery tune about parental abandonment that lasts for just over two minutes. The song’s narrator remembers being a young boy and seeing his father leave with the television. The dad comes back to see him every day in October and play carrying the smell of weed on him. The the narrative flips around to the father’s perspective as he’s unable to recognise his son the more he gets older. A sad situation, right? But with that cheery guitar melody on the right and that blaring major-chord harmonica in the middle, it’s hard to tell.

Now, I know I said this was the first Deerhunter song that here. You’d think that would imply that there would be more to come. In the process of writing this, I’ve realised it could be the last one too. At least for a while, anything could change. All of the songs I really enjoy by them are before the letter ‘M’. But I’ll state them here just because they deserve a shout out. ‘Don’t Cry’, ‘Basement Scene’, ‘Coronado’ – all from Halcyon Digest, all great in my eyes. You should probably listen to that album all the way through though. ‘Agoraphobia’ is a wonderful song. I’d also recommend ‘Back to the Middle’ and ‘Backspace Century’. Some good ones to get accustomed to. Thank you for your time.

#828: Talking Heads – Memories Can’t Wait

1 Reply

This is the first Talking Heads song I’ve written about on here. Now, that just seems strange to me. I thought I would have covered at least one. But nope. So here it is. I had my Talking Heads phase in about 2016 or so. By then I’d had Remain in Light and 77 in my library, and I knew songs like ‘Burning Down the House’ and ‘Road to Nowhere’ because of videos and all that. But it was in 2016 that I properly listened to their discography from front to back. It quickly became clear that Fear of Music would probably be my favourite of the band’s. And it is.

To me that album has David Byrne at his most paranoid, neurotic and vocally expressive. It’s a great record. Each track is about a fear of the thing each song is named after; it doesn’t work as well for this. ‘Fear of Memories Can’t Wait’? Nah. But the song is definitely about a fear of something. In fact, it’s one of the most frightening tracks on the album. David Byrne sings/yelps/wails about being unable to leave a party whilst seeing other leave and having their freedom, while also having all of these rushing thoughts bouncing off the walls in his head. It’s a bit of an ‘I have no mouth and I must scream’ sort of situation. But thinking about it, the lyrics kind of sound like the perspective of a person who’s possibly on ecstasy. Just maybe? It’s an idea.

The tracks carried by all these warped atmospheric synthesizers, no doubt brought into place by Brian Eno who was now producing his second album with the band. Tina Weymouth does her thing on the bass, I really like those notes that play after each line in the ‘Party in my mind’ sections. Generally, I just like how the song’s always sort of moving forward, the chord progressions… it just keeps you on the edge of your seat, you know? And the ending, my goodness. With about a minute to go the song suddenly segues into this other movement where by the end of it Byrne and guitarist Jerry Harrison are bellowing the song’s title at the top of their lungs. It’s great, man. Honestly one of my favourite endings to a piece of music. The whole 3 and a half minutes is good though. Very worth your time.