Category Archives: Music

My iPod #49: The Futureheads – Area

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Hello everybody.
Today I went to Derby for an open day at its university. Derby is a nice place, it’s far away from my family and the actual place was cool too. I may just consider going there.
So, I’m nearing the end of the ‘A’ series of ‘My iPod’. Only nine more songs to go until all the songs beginning with that letter are covered. It has been a good run. It’s given me something to do whilst revising. Exams are slightly beyond the horizon, so ‘B’ won’t be up on here anytime soon.
Thanks to anyone who has viewed the blog, it’s quite hard to know if anything on here is interesting if people don’t comment. But I’ve got more than 1,000 views on here and I’m very grateful for your appreciation.
Today’s song is another by The Futureheads, who were the band I covered in my first entry of the ‘A’ series. The video for this was linked in that post too, and now here it is.
‘Area’ was a non-album release in 2005. It was neither something recorded during their first album, nor was it something recorded during ‘News and Tributes’. It was more of a single to show their progression in sound.
It was actually a favourite song of mine. I first saw it on the music channel, ‘Q’, which showed decent music from time to time. The ‘derder-derderder-derderder’ hook was instantly embedded into my head, and I would change from channel to channel hoping that the music video would be showing.
Before YouTube, artists would actually put their music videos on their official website, so you were able to download and watch it on Windows Media or RealPlayer. Yeah, I did that with ‘Area’. I would have it on repeat. But you know when you play a song on repeat and it gradually gets quite annoying? That’s what happened to me. I had listened to enough times. So I restrained myself.
That was in 2005, so finding a really good song at ten years old was a really big deal.
I think it’s on the US version of ‘News and Tributes’, but I’m not sure.
Watch the video and see if you like the song.
Until next time.
Jamie.

My iPod #48: Maxïmo Park – Apply Some Pressure

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 Version 1
Version 2

In my opinion, Version 1 is the better video. The whole circus concept didn’t really work for me.

Hi everyone.

Apparently I got 158 views on the blog today which is great! I think it’s a bug though, so I won’t get too emotional about it.

I’m quite late too, so I do apologise.

Today’s song comes from Newcastle’s finest, Maxïmo Park. The song’s name? Well, you can see it in the title of the blog.

Maxïmo Park rose in popularity during the mid-noughties when the surge in post-punk revival and indie acts occurred. Bands such as Bloc Party, Editors, The Kooks, Arctic Monkeys, you name it, most of them released their debuts during that golden era of 2004-2006.

Maxïmo released their debut, ‘A Certain Trigger’, in 2005. This song was released once as its second single, and then re-released in 2006, hence the two different music videos.

‘Apply Some Pressure’ is one of the band’s most popular songs. You could probably say it’s their signature song. It appeared on the soundtrack of Burnout Revenge, and possibly on another EA game that I haven’t played. Burnout Revenge was the shit though. If you want a Burnout game, just get Revenge for PS2. Or Legends for PSP.

Personally, ‘Apply Some Pressure’ isn’t my favourite Maxïmo song. That goes to another song that I will post in due time. Don’t get me wrong, the song’s fantastic. I think it’s that when I’m listening to it, I don’t feel anything as much as I do when I’m watching the music video for it. The band are known for their energy, especially from lead singer Paul Smith and keyboard player Lukas Wooller.

Those music videos are almost ten years old. They’re very rarely played on MTV ‘Rocks’. Particularly the first version.

Still, it’s a brilliant song from a brilliant album, and it deserves its place on my iPod.

Until next time.

Jamie.

My iPod #47: Big Boi – Apple of My Eye

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Yeeeah. Antwan André Patton (The Only One) aka Daddy Fat Sax aka Sir Lucious Left Foot aka Big Boi in the hizz-ouse.

I’m only joking.

You all know him as one half of the influential hip-hop group, OutKast, along with André 3000.

OutKast released their most recent album, ‘Idlewild’, in 2006 which received positive reviews. The film it was released alongside, however, did not fare so well. After enjoyable single releases such as ‘Morris Brown‘ and ‘Idlewild Blue (Don’tchu Worry ‘Bout Me)‘, OutKast faded away but it was okay, because they only faded away to record their next album, right?

WRONG. Since 2006, no new material has been released under the OutKast name. André has featured on various songs here and there but hasn’t released any solo albums. We still love him though. He’s so classy. Have you seen that Gillette advert? Mmm-mmm-mmm.

Big Boi stepped up to the plate and unveiled his debut ‘Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty‘ to the world in 2010, which got everybody worried because they were still waiting for the new OutKast album, but was eventually recognised to be one of the best hip hop albums of that year. Then My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy came out, and everyone was less hyped about Lucious.

I downloaded ‘Left Foot‘ in summer last year, and I found it rather enjoyable. The beats were huge, Big Boi’s lyrics and flow were on par, full to the brim with hubris. Big Boi was at the top of his game, and if he wasn’t getting enough respect already I would assume that he only received more after such a confident debut.

The album became one of my favourites, hip-hop wise, and it got me wondering when he would release his sophomore. As I said, I listened to the full album two years after it was released so something would have been coming soon.

It came as a surprise to me. In December 2012, I go onto Spotify to listen to an album and there under ‘WHAT’S NEW’, I see it:

BIG BOI – VICIOUS LIES AND DANGEROUS RUMORS

I am British, so ‘rumours’ without the ‘u’ looks quite weird but it’s fine.

“Ooh! Let’s listen.”

So I did. Annnnnd it was good. ‘Apple of My Eye’ was the song that really caught my attention. Booming bass, the lyrical delivery, the chorus is an ear worm if there ever was one. I know he released ‘Mama Told Me‘ as the first official single, maybe just because of Kelly Rowland’s appearance and because it is probably the song most suited for radio play from the album. Despite this, ‘Apple of My Eye’ could have been that first single. It’s got everything you want, a great song with only Big Boi at the reins and the soulful chorus. I would have chosen it as my first single, I’m just saying.

Overall, ‘Vicious Lies‘ wasn’t as positively greeted as ‘Left Foot‘ was upon its release. I feel the same way too. I don’t know what it is. It’s hard to explain. Maybe you can have a listen to both albums, and comment on how you feel about them.

Until next time.

Jamie.

My iPod #46: Dananananaykroyd – Apostrophe

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I have nothing much to say about this song, I didn’t come with anything prepared.

Most of what I said about the album this song is on, can be found if you click here.

So…. it’s a shame about Margaret Thatcher, eh?

I can’t really say anything about her, I wasn’t born when she was Prime Minister. From what I witness, a lot of people liked her and a lot of people hated her. She’s Marmite.

Whatever though, she’s still dead. She will always go down as being Britain’s first female Prime Minister, and that’s something. I think it would be a long time before another female was elected to be PM. You’ve got to respect the dead… surely…. right?

OK. This is boring.

‘Apostrophe’ is the eighth track on Danananananaykroyd’s second album. It’s actually one of the more slower songs at 140bpm. That sounds fast doesn’t it? Not for Danana…. it isn’t.

It’s a pretty standard song for the band, it follows the verse-chorus-verse-bridge stuff that you would get in regular pop songs today, and for me it’s one of the most radio-friendly songs that the band have ever done.

The duo lead vocals work off together perfectly yet again and it’s hard not to sing along to the melodies. They are Scottish mind you, so it may be hard to understand what they are saying at first. It’s all good though, you can figure it out.

The key changes during the instrumental break, adding a bit of change to the track. It makes you wonder where the song will end up next. Then the last section starts, the lyrics are belted out at the top of the two pairs of lungs, the overall tracks just picks up. It’s one of those things where a crowd could just been seen shouting everything right back at them at a festival. Then the song finishes in a fade out of feedback, except for one guitar that just goes on and on, and leads into the next track ‘Seven Days Late’. That song is crazy. I’ll tell you about it soon.

Until next time.

Jamie.

My iPod #45: George Harrison – Any Road

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Another George Harrison song.

‘Any Road’ was released on George Harrison’s posthumous album ‘Brainwashed’ almost a year after his death from cancer.

It was written during the making of the video for his song ‘This Is Love‘ from ‘Cloud Nine’ in 1988, and continued to work on songs over the next decade.

On 30 December 1999, Harrison and his wife were attacked in their home. Harrison had to be hospitalized after being stabbed multiple times, and underwent treatment for his first bout of cancer in 2001. It was rough times for him. The cancer in his liver then spread to his brain, and after learning that it would be fatal he dedicated more time towards completing the album with his son Dhani and Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra.

He passed away whilst the album was still being made, but had left enough information for Jeff and Dhani to finish the job.

However bleak the history behind the album may seem, ‘Any Road’ provides a shining light in the tunnel. After a three second introduction by George, (Give me, uh, plenty of that guitar), the song bursts into life with a joyful ukelele and slide guitar licks that pop up here and there after the chorus.

The song is basically Harrison telling us his life story, the things he’s witnessed before him, places he’s been to and how he got there, and of course having such a life to the full like Harrison did you would have no idea whether you were coming or going. It has an ‘Amazing Grace’ type of message, I once was lost but now am found kind of thing, but it’s no preachy thing. In fact, you can tell that Harrison wanted to make this a fun song whilst maintaining a serious and reflective message. Listen to those ‘Arribas’ during the last minute or so, it’s quite heartwarming once you listen to it all.

Rest in peace George Harrison, you were a cool guy.

Until next time.

Jamie.