Tag Archives: it

#768: Supergrass – Lose It

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Wondering where to start with this one. I was given Supergrass’ debut album I Should Coco as a gift for, I think, my fourteenth birthday and I remember taking to it immediately on the first listen. ‘Lose It’ has always been a high point from the album for me even if it may be a song of Supergrass’ that a lot of people might not know so much about.

I think what made me appreciate it at first was how mean it sounded compared to the track that comes before it on the album. It was like ‘Alright’ was just a brief moment where everything’s fun and sunny before things get heavy again. Like a lot of other songs on Coco, ‘Lose It’ possesses very high energy and a bit of claustrophobic atmosphere that makes it feel like the band are just thrashing this performance in a tight room somewhere. It’s a bit intense. There aren’t many lyrics in this track either. If it wasn’t for the short “I don’t want anybody…” verse/(bridge?) – the song would just consist of its chorus. The repetitive nature just makes it all the more memorable.

The song was released as a very limited single in ’95, packaged only in the United States in the form of 2,500 copies of vinyl. Still managed to chart in the UK somehow.

#655: R.E.M. – It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

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If I were to take a guess, I think I sing this song the same way that the majority of people who know it do. The first three lines are easy as pie, then every verse that follows is just a lot of words smushed up together into a one note melody which is then followed by the very memorable chorus.

‘It’s the End of the World’ is one of R.E.M.’s most well known tracks, one of their most played too – to the point that it may be overplayed for some people. But I only started properly listening to R.E.M. last year. I had heard the song maybe two… three times before? I’ll say five at most. And that was when its video was shown on TV. And in Chicken Little. Actually listening to it with headphones was a very different experience.

‘End of the World’ is the sixth track on R.E.M.’s fifth album, Document, released in 1987. It is not my favourite album of the group’s but this song right here is one of its highlights. The uploaded video above takes all the weight out of the audio quality though which is a shame. When those thunderous drum rolls come in at the beginning, the energy never dips from there. It’s four minutes of relentless, driving momentum. And though I never succeed in enunciating every syllable in the quickfire verses, it’s always fun to try. As said earlier, it doesn’t really matter because it has a hell of a chorus that’s not related to what goes on in those verses in any way.

Going through R.E.M.’s discography (which I had to when I found out they were actually very good) there were a few things I picked up on, especially in their earlier albums. They had a knack for great melodies. And the triple vocal harmonies of Michael Stipe, Mike Mills and Bill Berry added a layer that made the band’s songs even better when they were utilised. Melodies and harmonies are present on this track… a few countermelodies too. There’s always something new to pick up on in this track every time I hear it. It’s such a thrill. It’s quite disappointing when it starts to fade out at the end, wish it could go on for ages.

#650: …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – It Was There That I Saw You

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‘It Was There That I Saw You’, the (almost) opener of Trail of Dead’s 2002 album Source Tags & Codes still gets me pumped today. I listened to the full album for the first time about five years ago and ended up pleasantly surprised by the entire thing. There’s this grand mystical vibe that the music and lyrics give out throughout which some may find pretentious but I found bearable at least.

But ‘I Was There’ starts it all off with this calming introduction that suddenly explodes into a ball of energy with crashing drums and exhilarating guitar work. It is during this moment that singer Conrad Keely comes into frame singing about the time he became enamoured by someone (I’ll assume a lady) and had some great times with her before eventually losing touch. He is left wondering what he has been up to in the time that have been apart.

It’s endearing stuff. But then the fast music suddenly stops and transitions into this slow breakdown – with a melody taken from the preceding track ‘Invocation’ – that builds and builds in intensity, repeating that melody endlessly before transitioning back into the fast music you were hearing almost two minutes ago. Ahhh… it feels so good when that happens. You can experience it too!

It’s a dynamic track that pulls and pushes and takes a few turns here and there. It’s an exciting listen. It’s a great album, I say.

#649: The Flaming Lips – It Overtakes Me

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At War with the Mystics is the first Flaming Lips album I was properly alive and kicking for around the time of its release. I was eleven watching MTV2 almost every morning and the video for ‘The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song’ was showing very frequently. The song is all right. A bland opinion that I hold to this day. ‘The WAND’ followed some time after. While that one has a great groove to it, I hold that in the same regard as I do the ‘YYY Song’. Neither of them are bad though, and I can still dig them even 13 years on.

However, the track that really grabbed me from the album was ‘It Overtakes Me’. Not that I went out and actually bought the album. Actually I was either in bed or the living room and this advert for Becks beer came on. It was this weird stop-motion animation where these models were dancing to a thick bassline and an almighty groove. I later found out that it was the song that you see in the title. I’ll put that advert below just so you can all witness my impressive descriptive skills.

So ‘It Overtakes Me’ is the seventh track on At War with the Mystics. On the album itself, it’s merged with an almost-four minute instrumental entitled ‘The Stars Are So Big… I Am So Small… Do I Stand a Chance?’. I’m not too big a fan of that, but luckily the main song was edited to remove that section on its own EP and is the version you can listen to above. I might just link the instrumental at the bottom too.

As I said earlier, ‘It Overtakes Me’ is dominated by this thick and heavy bassline that’s at the forefront of the mix and is pretty much the melodic centre of the whole composition. While that bass is going on, Wayne Coyne sings about how insignificant and small he seems to be in this big wide world (a theme he tends to explore in the group’s music) and how the fact that we’re all on this sphere floating in space overwhelms him. It’s not all emotional though. There are some twinkling keyboard melodies, dramatic backing vocals, loose moments when a bandmember will yell out ‘Yeah’ in the midst of everything….. There’s a point where a vocal slowly transforms from a chipmunk-like pitch to a giant-like bellow too. It’s a very fun listen for something that can cause an existential crisis for some people.

#648: Tame Impala – It Is Not Meant to Be

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‘It Is Not Meant to Be’ is the first track on Tame Impala’s debut album Innerspeaker, released almost ten years ago…. If I remember right, that particular was the second of the “group”‘s that I listened to following Lonerism when I was in my last year of sixth form. Compared to that album, it was apparent that there was a lot more focus on the guitars and some good riffs. A lot less synthesizer work. But it was all still some great music for this guy in 2012/13.

Probably down as one of the best introductions to an album in my music library, ‘It Is Not Meant to Be’ grabbed me right away with its thick bassline and phasing guitars that repeat on and on for a minute and 20 seconds before the vocals eventually come in. If that section were its own track I wouldn’t be too upset. It’s very hypnotizing. But then Kevin Parker arrives and tells the listener about a girl he’s had his eye on and who is way out of his league, much to his reluctant acknowledgment. And that’s something a lot of guys have been through, right? I know I have.

But it’s not just because of its relatability that I dig this track. It just sounds so good. When I listen to it, I see…. trees of green, the sun. I sense a summery feeling but its surrounded by a mystic haze. Like I’m lying in a field. And then when the chorus hits I’m lifted to a whole other level. It’s a warm, comfortable listen that carries a heavy weight but won’t do you any harm in the long run. It’s definitely a smooth way to start off a discography.