Category Archives: Music

My iPod #109: The Beatles – Blackbird

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When I look at my iPod and see that I have to write a post about a song by The Beatles, a feeling of ambivalence arises. I like doing the blog, I wouldn’t have started it if I thought it was a silly idea. However, in regards to songs by The Beatles… I can’t really tell you anything new about them. Probably everything that can be said about them has been written by people, who know much more about music than me, on other sites. Wikipedia’s full of information too. I can only repeat what I already know and what I think of it. That is what I shall do.

“Blackbird” is a pretty song. It’s one of the few where it’s just Paul playing by himself. It’s him, his guitar, his foot tapping on the floor and a short break with a bird singing.

The music makes it seem very light, but McCartney was inspired to write it after racial tensions in the USA in 1968. For you Americans out there, the word ‘bird’ in the UK is slang for ‘lady’ and so the song is about a black girl, which makes lyrics such as ‘waiting for this moment to arise’ and ‘waiting for this moment to be free’ very thought-provoking. Once you find that the song isn’t actually about a bird, it changes everything.

I enjoy it. I hope you do too.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #108: Dananananaykroyd – Black Wax

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Hey everyone!

That was the name of Dananananaykroyd’s first album , released on April 6 2009. One day after I turned fourteen. I had not heard the song at the time. I do remember hearing the band’s name one time on MTV or something and working out how to pronounce it. That was about it really.

It was months later when I had started Year 10 in autumn 2009. A video for one of their other songs played on MTV2, I liked that. So I went on YouTube to see the video and listen to that song again. It was then that I found the video for this song.

Looking at the video then I think that I may have seen “Black Wax” on TV, but I changed the channel for some odd reason. Bad mistake. It’s a good thing I came back to the song. It’s one of the most joyful ones I have on my iPod collection. According to Wikipedia, “The song’s lyrics, written by vocalists John Baillie Jnr and Calum Gunn are about a dream John had about the thrill of having sex on a bus made of drums (with another musician, but he won’t say who) in an underground world in Paris, and trying to conserve the feeling by sealing it in a wax lined tin.” Now I know that Wikipedia can be edited by anyone, but that actually seems legit. I don’t know what the lyrics are about, but the music is upbeat and feel good as anything. Especially the last part when guitars roar in with a triumphant shout of ‘here we are’ by the two vocalists before fading out with the guitar. It’s beautiful stuff.

The song was then chosen by EA Sports to be included in FIFA 10. Whether or not that did anything to the band’s popularity is beyond me.

Dananananaykroyd were one of the happiest bands I’d ever witnessed. Instead of a ‘wall of death, they embraced the concept of a ‘wall of hugs’ at their shows. They always looked like they had a good time in their music videos, as well as their home videos they uploaded on their YouTube channel. Look at their cover of “Whip It” by Devo. You can’t help but smile to it. They split up though. That’s a shame.

I may never see you Dananananaykroyd, but thank you for the music anyway.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #107: Arcade Fire – Black Wave/Bad Vibrations

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Evening everybody.

Feeling good? Yeah, me too. Results day for my exams is in nine days. It’s pretty scary. I’m trying not to think about time though. Next Thursday determines the rest of my life. Or at least the year that’s to come. Let’s hope that I get good ones.

Today is the fifth song on Arcade Fire’s second album “Neon Bible”, released in 2007. To summarise – for those of you who don’t know who Arcade Fire are – they are a Canadian band which practically every critic came to love after they released their fist album “Funeral” in 2004. They rose in popularity, gained a lot of fans and have currently finished their fourth album which is due to be released in Autumn.

Neon Bible’s release was probably as hyped as “Favourite Worst Nightmare”, so everyone was waiting to see what the band would do next. My sister bought it when it came out. We listened to it on Windows Media, that’s when I first heard this song.

I say that today’s post is one song, but it’s actually two sections just merged together to make a full product. I will guide you through them as best as I can.

First section: Black Wave
Régine Chassagne, occassional lead vocalist, sings the first part. The whole song is quite chilling and very haunting. This first part has a lighter mood than “Bad Vibrations” though. It tells the story of a couple, supposedly on the run from the law, and set sail on the ocean to lead a new life. She also sings in French for some lines too, that’s cool. And mysterious.

Then everything comes to an abrupt end, and with a few strikes on a xylophone the second part then starts with a boom.

Second section: Bad Vibrations
Impending doom. That’s really all I can think of when I listen to “Bad Vibrations”. Weirdly, the phrase “Black Wave” is used in this and not in the first. The “bad vibrations” are only alluded to in the final lines, “The sound is not asleep/It’s moving under my feet”, but are also emphasised by the dark tone, Win Butler’s perishing vocals and the various “oohs and aahs” in the background. It’s pretty scary. The song slowly comes to a halt, and segues into the next song.

So there you have it. Another post is done.

Hope you like the song as much as I do. Listen to it. Comment if you want.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #106: Kanye West – Black Skinhead

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“I just talked to Jesus, he said “What up, Yeezus?”
I said, “Shit, I’m chillin’, tryin’ to stack these millions.”
I know He the most high, but I am a close eye
Mi casa es su casa, that’s our Cosa Nostra HUH?!
I am a god.”

That’s probably one of the funniest verses I’ve heard in a long time. Kanye West, at the moment, feels like he cannot be touched. He’s got a hot wife, he’s a father. Things are looking up for him.

What better way to show his good life off to everyone then, by writing about that (amongst other topics that interest him) in his new album, “Yeezus“?

I like Kanye West’s music. Seems like forever ago when he first came out with “Through the Wire” and seemed like a modest man who, after surviving a life threatening car crash, wanted to show the world that he wasn’t just a great producer but could handle his own material. With an album title such as “Yeezus”, we now see how far this ‘modest man’ has come.

“Yeezus” came as a real surprise to me. Let me tell you why. I knew it was his next album title, and then found reports about his new song “New Slaves” being shown on the sides of buildings around the world. That was around Springtime/early Summer. So I thought, “Well, it must be next year that the album will come.” That was until my friend told me that it would be released in only a few days time. Oh…. SHHHIIIIIII-

No way! The new Kanye album’s coming! Ah man. I couldn’t wait. That was until the album leaked, and the same friend sent me the link through Facebook. I was all over that shit. I couldn’t handle it!

That’s where “Black Skinhead” comes in. After being impressed by “On Sight”, “Black Skinhead came in with those thumping tom-toms and I knew that some hard stuff was about to go down. One thing that struck me about the album was how loud it was, but it came to good effect on this song. This song has to be played loud. It’s Kanye’s theme song.

After listening to it multiple times now, it doesn’t feel the same as it did on that first listen. It’s definitely a highlight though.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #105: The Darkness – Black Shuck

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Now, it takes time for a person to find that certain artist that will determine their musical taste for the rest of their life. Some people may listen to The Beatles, Michael Jackson… I don’t know. Those recognisable artists that change people’s lives.

I was eight years old in 2003, and I didn’t really listen to a specific genre. Mostly, it was music that was in the charts. At the time, music in the charts was bearable stuff. I wonder if people my age in 2003 hated chart music as much. Hmm. I wonder.

So in 2003, I was young and foolish. I had no idea what music was out there, where was the song that would actually make me want to get that artist’s album. That, my friends, is where The Darkness came in.

I have to say, if it wasn’t for this band, I probably wouldn’t be watching MTV2. I would probably still be listening to chart music thinking it was good. Even if I was in Year 4, I thought “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” was the best song ever. And that was when I thought “Crashed the Wedding” by Busted had that title. My friend also listened to Busted and The Darkness too, and we thought they were the best bands ever. But The Darkness were so much cooler. Busted eventually split later on too. So The Darkness was the better band.

Then they released more songs – which I’ll talk in months to come – and I made up my mind that I had to get the album. My first album ever with a “Parental Advisory” sticker on the cover. I never knew about the word ‘cunt’ until I saw the lyrics for “Get Your Hands off My Woman” in the liner notes. “Permission to Land” was the first rock album I got. For what occasion, I don’t know. I think it was from my cousin though.

The Darkness got a lot of flack. I think a lot of people saw them as some ‘wannabe/joke’ band that were living in another decade. Their music videos didn’t help them so much either. That’s not cool. People are so close-minded. “Black Shuck” starts things off on the album with a thrilling riff, and what I guess is some polyrhythm before launching into actual 4/4 and rocking about some pimp-ass beast dog (Black Shuck) that is said ‘to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia’. Wikipedia does not lie.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.