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

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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.

My iPod #414: Nine Black Alps – Get Your Guns

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I know mostly all of the lyrics…. I could hum every tune, note and screech the guitar feedback if you indeed wanted me to recite all of “Everything Is” to you. “Everything Is” being the first album by Nine Black Alps, which was released in 2005. I know that album like the back of my hand. IT’S TOO GOOD. Even today, I still feel the same excitement and thrill as I did when I opened that case, inserted the disc and heard that crunching guitar introduction for the very first time.

“Get Your Guns” is the track of which that introduction belongs to, and it is after a commanding cymbal count-in that the song erupts like a dog at the races with a bellowing atmosphere of bending guitar strings and a powerful rhythm section. From then on, the album never lets up. It is track after track of aggressive rock music. No momentum is lost. That is until you get to the first acoustic based track six songs in.

A song to punch a wall, scream in someone’s face, and generally get pumped to, “Get Your Guns” does the perfect job of establishing the tone which the rest of the album follows which any worthy album opener should do. Just because I like the song that much I’ve never pondered in depth about what it’s meaning is; if it’s good, I don’t see a reason too. Though there was a point that I did think “Everything Is” was a concept album about a war and various relationships between people while this war is happening. It probably isn’t. Though actually witnessing the lyrics might make you see why I got that idea.

So, yeah. Have a listen to it. Has a line from a Radiohead song in there too. That’s besides the point. If this doesn’t float your boat… you have no soul. But that’s just my opinion.

My iPod #413: The Rutles – Get Up and Go

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For those of you who see this and think this sounds a bit like the song I posted a few days ago….. you would be correct to do so. But it is intentional. The Rutles aren’t some band who appeared to replicate everything the Beatles did, like their Rooftop concert or whatever. It’s just a parody that was created by the minds of Neil Innes and Eric Idle of Monty Python. But it was the former who wrote all of the music.

So if you didn’t guess, “Get Up and Go” is a parody of “Get Back”. But unlike the all of the other tracks on The Rutles album which incorporate little riffs, chord progressions and instruments similar to Beatles tracks but created to make them sound unique in their own way, “Get Up and Go” is basically “Get Back”. Very similar. From the melodies to the drumbeat. John Lennon himself told Neil Innes this, even though he did love The Rutles. As a result, “Get Up and Go” was not released on the original soundtrack for “All You Need Is Lunch” in 1978. It was released on the 1990 CD re-release, so it turned out alright in the end.

If “Get Back” didn’t do it for you, then the likelihood of enjoying this track will be low. Though I think it’s juuusssst fiiiiine.

My iPod #412: OK Go – Get Over It

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“Get Over It” was the first single OK Go released as a band in 2002. And what a way to introduce yourselves. The track is fun as hell and catchy as anything, and gives a lesson concerning ‘getting over’ the silly little things in life that shouldn’t really matter. It’s one of the most poppy tracks the band have ever done before changing to a more indie-rock style for “Oh No”.

It wasn’t until 2006 that I began listening to OK Go, so when I decided to look them up on the web and saw that they “Get Over It” had actually done quite well in the UK (it got to #16, which ain’t too shabby) I thought why not see what the song and video’s like. Maybe I had seen it before, and just forgotten about the track as time went on. It turned out that I had in fact not heard the song before.

The video is just as fun too. This is before the band went out to try out spectacular record-breaking stuff in their music videos, and instead just focuses on them playing the track as the camera zooms in to random objects that are mentioned in the lyrics. And ping-pong occurs for about 3 seconds. Damian Kulash, Jr. also looks very, very young in it, even though he was about 26/27.

My iPod #411: Nine Black Alps – Get Even

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“Get Even” is a B-Side that can only be found on the vinyl single of Nine Black Alps’ song “Not Everyone”, released in 2005. Due to the track only being released on the vinyl format, it is very very hard to find this track anywhere. It’s not on iTunes, not Spotify…. nothing. Well, unless you go to the band’s official website. It can be found there on their music player on the homepage.

Its format of release also causes the track to have somewhat of a mono-aural mix where everything you hear is in the centre channel rather than the regular ‘stereo’ mix. Dunno why that really matters, I just thought I should tell you.

The track does sound like it could fit right in to “Everything Is“, obviously being recorded around the time the album was being worked on it would do. Though I think it’s a good song, the only thing problem I have with it is that it isn’t as thrilling or powerful as the twelve tracks on that album. Maybe it’s the mono mix that takes its edge off a bit, I don’t know. But even if it was in stereo, I don’t think it could have matched up to the songs on the final tracklist. The band probably knew this too.

Still, it is one to hear if you’re into Nine Black Alps. It is a hard song to find.

My iPod #410: Fall Out Boy – Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

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Honestly, I liked this track much more in the past than I do now. If I had the same attitude towards it like I did then, I would have provided the song’s full title, but that is just too much. I’m tired and burned out. Not to say that this track is bad, ‘cos I’m gonna write about it anyway. It has lost its effect on me, that’s all.

“Get Busy” is a very bitchy track. It appears to be from the perspective of a guy used for sex, and eventually dumped by a girl who he really had feelings for. The guy’s understandably pissed, but feels that justice is served when the girl’s ‘secret’ (what it is, we don’t know) comes out and rubs it in by telling her that the secret was shit anyway. He’s over her. She don’t matter no more.

I have always liked the music on this track. The palm-muted guitars add a very sinister tone to the song’s atmosphere, and the track also showcases Patrick Stump’s vocal talents. He doesn’t just sing on here, but he also (kind of) screams along with Pete during the bridge, adding a real harshness on his voice. It did take me a while that it actually was him who was doing that and not just a guest vocalist from another band they knew.

Pete Wentz also reads out a poem as the final chord is struck and fades out. To this day I don’t know what it’s about, but as he continues reading it his delivery rises in intensity as the guitar fades in again until coming to a sudden stop. That ending’s always made me feel a bit uneasy. But it’s a good lead in to “XO”. Very similar to what they did with “20 Dollar Nose Bleed” and “West Coast Smoker” on Folie á Deux.

A shame I don’t feel as excited by the song as I used to. But those were some good few years I had when I was.