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My iPod #373: Queens of the Stone Age – First It Giveth

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“No One Knows” and “Go with the Flow” all got their relatively big-budget videos, so I was a bit disappointed when seeing the one for “First It Giveth” for the first time. It’s one of those ‘band-on-tour’ montage things. But it does include some hilarious clips of Josh Homme jumping into a drum kit, wiggling his butt in front of a sleeping Mark Lanegan and Nick Oliveri swinging his bass around whilst naked on stage. Funny as those are, a cooler video would have been fun too.

“First It Giveth” is third in what are some killer opening tracks to Queens of the Stone Age’s third album “Songs for the Deaf”. After the shrieks and velocity provided in “Millionaire” and signature song “No One Knows” you wouldn’t think that the sheer level of consistency could be maintained. But when the faux-Spanish radio interlude that follows “No One Knows” ends, “First It Giveth”‘s drums enter immediately and you realise just what you’re in for.

Couldn’t tell you what the track’s about. It’s just very good. And dark. All the guitars play the same phrases and lines in unison throughout the track which is awesome. There is no time allowed for you to catch your breath except for one part that comes before the second verse, and even then that is interrupted as the track continues its momentum. By the end, even Homme gives a wayward sigh when he finishes singing.

Not a bad track at all.

My iPod #217: Guttermouth – Cram It Up Your Ass

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Um…. Okay, I know this looks bad…. let me explain.

“Cram It Up Your Ass……. really? What the fuck.” That may be one of the thoughts that may have come to mind when you first saw the title. If you have come to this from my Twitter page, you may be even more confused and surprised. I couldn’t put a song title like that on my feed; people wouldn’t even want to click on the link otherwise.

Enough about that. “Cram It Up Your Ass” is the closer to Guttermouth’s first major release “Covered with Ants” and is one of the funniest songs I have ever listened to. And one of the creepiest.

The only reason I know of this song is because all I wanted to do, when I was ten and playing Tony Hawk on the PS2, was find and listen to “I’m Destroying the World” on the computer for minutes on end. However I could never do that; I always had to listen to thirty second samples instead on random music sites. Whenever it said ‘download’, the link would take me to a place where I had to pay… I’m not about that life.

“Cram It Up Your Ass” is on the same album as “Destroying the World”, and the title looked interesting so I decided to hear it’s sample. Nothing much happened, as you can tell. Just the lead singer singing the title over a bass that was playing the vocal melody. No big deal.

That was until, years later, I found out that it turns into a proper headbanger where all the guitars play the vocal melody in unison with frenetic drums rolling around all over the place. The dynamics are a very key part of this song. The last lines “Do you still like me?” are sung when the instruments come to a sudden stop, leaving the singer all alone. That part freaks me out a bit.

It doesn’t end there. After a few seconds of silence, a bloody grand piano comes in and plays the vocal melody over and over again for five minutes or so! I don’t know. I cut that bit out though, that part is unnecessary.

How could I even write so much about this track.

My iPod #181: Tokyo Police Club – Cheer It On

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When watching MTV2 in 2007, the video for “Cheer It On” played in a program showing all the brand new music that was coming out at the time. I heard it that one time and liked it a lot, but the video was barely played on the channel again. I saw the last few seconds of it by chance when I switched the TV using the remote, but then never saw it the channel again.

Thank goodness for YouTube, which at this point did exist, as I could watch it over and over again without having to wait for another music video to finish. The song is only two minutes long, is performed at a rapid rate and the video has no fancy concept so the track never got tiresome.

Essentially the tune is the band’s theme song – being released on their first EP as the first track.

I was hoping the band would become one of my new favourites but it was not meant to be. I was very excited when “Your English Is Good” came out, that is a fine piece, but… I don’t know. Maybe I should listen to “Elephant Shell” again. It is not too late.

My iPod #174: Beastie Boys – Ch-Check It Out

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“To the 5 Boroughs” was the Beastie Boys’ long awaited release after a six year wait from 1998’s “Hello Nasty”. “Ch-Check It Out” was the first single to be released from it, and is probably the song that introduced me to the group.

There is nothing better than three old guys who could rap very well and act silly in their video when you are nine years old, and I watched it over and over again on the Windows Media Player. After a few more listens, and a look at its lyrics I was able to memorise the whole song. Something I can, just about, still do to this very day.

Very sad that we may never hear new material by the group due to the passing of “MCA” Adam Yauch, and if there unexpectedly is it definitely wouldn’t be the same.

My iPod #156: The Strokes – Call It Fate, Call It Karma

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It’s quite late, but what the hell.

“Comedown Machine” was The Strokes ‘comeback’ album released earlier this year in March. “One Way Trigger” was the first song to be released to the world to be given the reception of “Why the fuck is Julian singing so high?” and “Am I listening to “Take on Me” by A-ha, what’s going on?” Then most people were very excited when “All the Time” was revealed as the first official single. A lot of talk on how the band had ‘returned to form’ erupted; a lot of people dismissed it as boring.

Then the album was actually released and received very mixed reviews. Though it was unfairly judged in comparison to “Is This It” and on how the band just didn’t sound the same anymore. In an earlier post I merely dismissed it as an “Angles Part II”, but I haven’t even listened to that album in full anyway, so I didn’t know what I was talking about.

That was when I had just heard the album when it was available on Pitchfork. After multiple listens I finally came to the conclusion that it is not as bad/disappointing as reviews made it out to be. Sure it’s different, this song clearly shows one of the reasons why, but I see that it is wrong to assume that a band’s sound will always stay the same. You’ve got to change things up a bit. Look at Arctic Monkeys. Look at Alex Turner! That’s just the way it is; things will never be the same.

“Call It Fate…” is the last song on the album and is one that I did not like for quite some time. It’s like the soundtrack to a silent 50s film. It did take a while for me to understand whether Julian was singing, or what instruments were being played. The falsetto was a bit too much too.

It’s one of my favourites from it though. It’s so mellow and quiet. Close your eyes as you sail away on a tropical breeze during the chorus and then be scared as your boat drifts the wrong way and you end up surrounded by a menacing jungle when the coda begins and Julian starts wailing “I neeeeeded someoonnnnnnne….” It’s very creepy, and unnerving. It ends the album on quite a menacing note.

Jamie.