Category Archives: Music

#1207: The Sea and Cake – Showboat Angel

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Let’s all go back to the year 2017. If only, eh? Was an all right time for me. Specifically for today’s post’s context, I had finished my last uni exam but was still living in the accommodation. A lot of free time was on my hands, a lot of fun time was had. In that period, I remembered that ‘Jacking the Ball’ by The Sea and Cake existed after initially a year or two prior through Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist. It became my favourite song for a moment there. After playing it a multitude of times, it got me wondering whether the rest of the album the track was on sounded much like it. The album being the band’s ’94 debut. In a roundabout way it did. You can tell all of the tracks on there probably originated from jamming sessions between the members with the lyrics probably coming as an afterthought. But then there also weren’t a lot of songs on the LP that were as immediate in the ‘poppy’ kind of way like ‘Jacking the Ball’ was.

The big exception though was, the album’s eighth song, ‘Showboat Angel’. For a lack of a better word, the whole track is certainly a vibe. Images that come to my head when listening to it usually centre around a cozy barbecue in the backyard with friends on a sunny afternoon, with this song playing on a stereo in the background. It’s a very specific thing when it comes to me. But I hear those guitars and that light keyboard on the left, and that situation is all I can think of. Thos guitars come in, singer Sam Prekop vocally riffs over the top for a moment which falls into the “Ooh, yeah, aw” chorus which, simple as it may be, hits a very sweet spot. There are times throughout where it sounds like Prekop isn’t even singing proper words, but in the parts where he is it seems to me that this ‘showboat angel’ character is most likely a girlfriend or something who generally makes the narrator’s life better amidst the unhappiness that lingers on both the east side and the west side. A good-time song for good-time moments.

I was intrigued enough by the album that when I was going through a phase of listening to full discographies by various people, The Sea and Cake were a band that I thought would be an interesting one to go through. I can’t remember which one I made it to. But I’m quite sure that I didn’t fall quite heavily for the albums that followed compared to the first one. I seem to remember the tracks on the other albums being less riff/jam driven, putting more focus on the vocal melodies that Prekop was delivering. And I don’t know, I just didn’t fall for them as much. But then again, that was quite a few years back. Maybe if I were to listen with these older, kind of wiser ears, things could be likely to change. Though that’s something for me to figure out. Anyone reading who hasn’t heard of the band, I’d say give them a go. They’ve got quite a few albums to their name, it could just be worth the time.

#1206: Big Thief – Shoulders

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The story of how ‘Shoulders’ came to be on Big Thief’s Two Hands album – which has now been out and round for five years, it’s crazy stuff – is very, very similar to how fellow track ‘Not’ ended up on there too. ‘Shoulders’ had been performed live by the band before the LP was released. It goes further back than even I thought it did, as judging by this live take from 2015, the band were already in the process of working on it during their Masterpiece days. Probably even before then. They played it in various places between 2017 and 2019. And it got to the point where the fans wanted to know when the studio version would be available. U.F.O.F. arrived. It wasn’t there. But to everyone’s surprise, Two Hands was announced a few months later, and there was ‘Shoulders’ in the tracklist.

A lot of comments on Big Thief videos made note about ‘Shoulders’. There was a lot of excitement for it, from what I can recall. Even in the videos where the song wasn’t played. So maybe subconsciously, I don’t know, I avoided the song altogether and didn’t hear it until it was officially a part of the Big Thief oeuvre and situated in an album of some kind. Fancy word there, “oeuvre”. I heard it, and I was quite pleased. It was indeed a good song, the people of YouTube weren’t lying. I think it was more or less stated in an interview around the time that the album was to have a rawer, one-take feel to it, in contrast to the more produced and constructed style of U.F.O.F. And ‘Shoulders’ is just another that exemplifies the aesthetic. If you’ve seen the band live, it’s very easy to pick out who’s playing what here. You get some good speakers, play it loud, and it’s like the band are in your room. Gotta appreciate inviting stuff like that.

Now here’s where I usually lay out my interpretation of a song. Sometimes I feel certain, other times not so much. When it comes to ‘Shoulders’, I must admit I’ve dug the music and sung along through the years I haven’t come to make the time for any thinking behind it all. Those descending guitar chords by Buck Meek (on the right) during the choruses scratch an itch. And Adrianne Lenker never disappoints on the vocal front. Always just that bit breathtaking when she increases the intensity on the “kiss the bad ways I have been” line. But having a look through the lyrics and knowing the themes Lenker tends to touch upon in them, I’ll make a strong suggestion and say it’s a song about her mum. I’ll leave you with that to think upon.

#1205: Nine Black Alps – Shot Down

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2005’s the year I came to know Nine Black Alps. It’s a story I’ve told before, last time in the post for ‘Not Everyone’. But the summary is, couple videos appeared on MTV2, I wasn’t into them. ‘Not Everyone’ appeared on the radar. I really got into that. And then at Christmas, I got FIFA 06 and Burnout Revenge as presents. The band were on the soundtracks for both games. ‘Cosmopolitan’ on the former and today’s song, ‘Shot Down’, on the latter. Someone at EA Sports must have been a fan. And because of countless hours of playing both games on my part, singing along to either tune in the process, I eventually became one too. Still got my physical copy of Everything Is sitting on a shelf. One of my favourite albums, and I don’t think anyone knows about it.

To a ten-year-old, there’s not much more fun you can think of than crashing cars without having to consider the consequences. And that was essentially what Burnout Revenge was all about. The soundtrack was killer. You had the ‘Red Flag’ demo by Billy Talent which was always better than the final version. OK Go’s ‘Do What You Want’. ‘Helicopter’ by Bloc Party, which funnily enough was in FIFA 06 as well. I could go on. It was stacked. So many great hits. And it always felt so cathartic when you crashed into a car on a specific downbeat or emphatic moment in a tune. Oh, what a thrill. Those were the days, man. Getting choked up just thinking about it now. If ‘Shot Down’ appeared during a race or whatever, it never got a skip. It was another track that added to the pent-up energy the game already provided. I came to later find out that the song as it was in the soundtrack was censored by EA, with the mention of guns and killing sons being slightly altered. It’s funny to hear the EA version now. My mind was made up. I had to get the Nine Black Alps album that all these songs were on. And I did, wanna say a few months later.

‘Shot Down’ is the eighth track on Everything Is. The record up to that point is a whole heavy but melodic affair, bar for the one serene acoustic moment, and ‘Shot Down’ carries on the same feel. Some people listening to the track for the first time may get a sense of rhythmic displacement. Feeling like singer Sam Forrest begins singing too early or something. Explanation is, during the intro, the guitars are struck on the upbeat rather than the down. Knowing this, I can still lose the timing sometimes. Usual guitarist David Jones and then bassist Martin Cohen switched roles on this tune for whatever reason, but the results are still A1. References in the song regarding laying low, saving oneself, hiding guns and killing sons (like I said earlier) reinforce a feeling I’ve always had that the LP had a concept about living during wartime. There’s lots of other references of the like scattered in other songs on there too. So I’ve always thought ‘Shot Down’ is more or less part of that story. What that story is, I’m not sure. I could maybe tweet Sam Forrest about it one day. But I feel there’s a thread there. The music video for it, above, was also the first one the band ever made. So that’s a nice note.

#1204: Daft Punk – Short Circuit

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Last time I wrote about Daft Punk was for ‘One More Time’. Over two years ago now. Strange ’cause I thought I wrote about a tune by them much more recently. But that’s just how time goes, I guess. And just as I thought I’d be writing more about them in times to come, it also turns out that this will be the final Daft Punk post on here. I’ve covered a grand total of six whole songs by the duo. All of which come from Discovery. Could have been seven if I liked ‘Doin’ It Right’ back then as much as I do now. But then again, I haven’t listened to ‘Harder, Better…’ in a while. There are bigger fans of the duo than me, it goes without saying. But I appreciate them, for sure. And I was bummed out just like anyone else was when they announced they were breaking up back in 2021. I maybe didn’t take it to heart as much. But I felt that sense of loss all the same.

Discovery is my favourite Daft Punk album. Not like I’m trying to say anything special with that statement. It’s a lot of people’s favourite Daft Punk record. But to me, it’s one jam after another, back to back hits. I got into the LP back in 2010 after a spontaneous recital of ‘One More Time’ by one of my schoolmate reminded me of that song’s existence. But it’s all a bit hazy as to whether I watched the Interstella 5555 visual before listening to the whole album, or vice versa. Either way, the album was heard and, at some point, today’s track was featured along the way. ‘Short Circuit’ is the 12th song on Discovery, the final instrumental on there before being followed by ‘Face to Face’ and ‘Too Long’. It arrives at a pivotal moment in Interstella, one that I can’t say because I don’t remember it all that clearly, but also because it would be a spoiler to divulge such information.

‘Short Circuit’ is a tune essentially made of two halves. The first being the put-your-hands-in-the-air party instrumental to bop your head to, with the second being the sobering come down that unexpectedly makes its way in and becomes more and more distorted as the track goes on to fool you into thinking your speakers are dying. I don’t have much else to say about this one. Looking on Spotify, it’s the least played song on the album. But it’s been one of my go-to’s probably since the first time I heard it. I really bust out the air-keyboard during the first half. I find it hard not to move to the erraticness of it all. The track was actually around during the duo’s Homework days, and there are “videos” you can find online of them performing it live when they were touring for that album. Much different than how it eventually ended up, obviously. But I like that they worked on it for inclusion on Discovery. As the last instrumental on there, it’s like they’re saying goodbye to that proper French house era of their sound. Though maybe I’m looking too much into it.

#1203: The Stone Roses – Shoot You Down

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Hey, it’s a tune by the Stone Roses. It’s the first ever one I’ve covered in this whole series too, what do you know. Me and the Roses go way back. I was a small one when ‘Fools Gold’ appeared in the soundtrack of FIFA 2004. It was an oldie to appear in the game, alongside The Jam’s ‘Town Called Malice’, and I became a fan of both in the process. Years followed, and throughout them I’d usually see the Roses on various music channels. MTV2, VH2, Q, all those nice places. Though a lot of the times, it was either ‘Fools Gold’ or ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ that got a lot of the attention on them.

I got to listening to the band’s great, great self-titled debut album in full around 2013 or so. Then revisited it in about 2015. ‘Bye Bye Badman’ became a favourite of mine in that instance. Bit of a deeper cut, but it stood out to me nonetheless. Then maybe in about 2018/19, ‘Shoot You Down’ appeared on the Spotify Discover Weekly playlist. Hearing it on there, separate from the context within the album, I gained a newfound appreciation for it. And that brings me to where I am today. The track’s the ninth one on the LP, sandwiched between two popular ones in ‘Made of Stone’ and ‘This Is the One’, so it’s got a bit of a raw deal in terms of recognition. But I recognise it, so this is my post of appreciation.

This song’s another on the album where Ian Brown displays contempt for what/whoever he’s singing about. For a long time, I figured it was maybe about a girl or something. Now I think he may be singing about the crowds/fans that the bands were attracting. You know, it’s like they’re showing their love for the band, but Brown wants to disappoint them for the hell of it. I think it’s the latter more than anything now, but generally it could all be open-ended. I feel like the song may have begun out of some sort of jam initiated between drummer Reni and bassist Mani, because the music relies on the groove established by the two, while guitarist John Squire lays some sweet licks over the top. All very easy-going stuff, which makes the subtle change in intensity at 1:36 when the vocal harmonies all the more sweeter before settling down for the remainder of the track. A side note, but if anyone remembers The Twang and their song ‘Wide Awake’, I’m sure the Roses are due some credits on that one. The rhythm section is strikingly similar.