Tag Archives: my ipod

My iPod #530: Pavement – Hit the Plane Down

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“Hit the Plane Down” is the track that doesn’t get much attention from a lot of listeners. The penultimate offering on Pavement’s second album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain does suffer from being the odd one out amongst the other eleven that accompany it. Being the only one on there written by the band’s second guitarist Scott Kannberg AKA Spiral Stairs, it doesn’t have the same quality in terms of lyrics and musicality compared to the songs of Stephen Malkmus. However, its stomping drum pattern and messy guitars make it the heaviest-sounding song on the album, and makes for a good change from the slacker melodies that come before it.

Starting off with an emphatic drum roll from Steve West, the song proceeds to be led by a dissonant bassline made up of two notes while guitars blare out distorted chords and notes to create a disorderly mesh of noise. Kannberg sings through a filter to make him sound like his microphone isn’t working properly, and the track overall switches between the few verses and choruses it has before abruptly switching to a low quality recording of the band working on the track to bring it all to a close.

It is a mess. It doesn’t really go anywhere. But it is strangely entrancing to listen to.

My iPod #529: The Offspring – Hit That

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“Hit That” was the first single from The Offspring’s album Splinter, released in 2003. Some consider the album to be the beginning of the band’s downfall, others see it as their last great album before things went pear-shaped. I did want the album went it was first out because, at the age of eight, I thought “Hit That” was the best song around. And because I hardly ever saw its video on TV, I used to go to the band’s website and watch it endlessly.

To be honest the song hasn’t aged that well. It sounds like it was made for 2003, and that year only…. Maybe 2004 too. The keyboard line doesn’t have the same effect it did all those years ago. But nostalgia’s sake makes me listen to it. It does still get me singing along too.

Sleeping around with many people and not thinking about the consequences is the main subject of the track, and it differs from many other tracks on Splinter in that it is carried by slick bass groove rather than punk guitar chords. I’s not their best song, but don’t let that stop you from hearing it out.

My iPod #528: Jakobínarína – His Lyrics Are Disastrous

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Jakobínarína were an Icelandic indie-punk band that pretty much existed for a split second before disappearing and never being heard from again. After three singles came the album The First Crusade in the autumn of 2007. Unfortunately, that would be the only crusade they would embark on as the six members decided to part ways a few months later. What could have accomplished had they continued? Like Test Icicles and Larrikin Love – to name two good bands who never made it out of the 00s – we’ll never know. But we have the music, man. And that’s all that matters, surely?

“His Lyrics Are Disastrous” is the second song on The First Crusade, and is about a person who wishes to rob a bank with someone, leave the country and never return. That is pretty much it. The lyrics don’t expand much upon that situation. The title phrase doesn’t appear within the song itself; I think I remember reading somewhere that it was said by a critic/listener who was at one of their shows. The lyrics on show could appear as their own choruses in two different songs, so the title chosen is rather apt however jokingly self-deprecating it is.

Overall, it is a short and snappy to just get loose to. Nothing philosophical to dwell upon. Those types of songs can sometimes be the best ones.

My iPod #527: AC/DC – Highway to Hell

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However tired out they were by life on the road over the years, guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young along with lead singer Bon Scott were inspired enough to write a song about the bane of endless touring that would become one of their most popular for years to come. “Highway to Hell” was the result, and was placed as the opener to the album of the same name in 1979.

Admittedly I’m not the greatest AC/DC fan; I think the first time I ever heard the song was when it was used on the credits of a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode years ago. But listening to it over the years has made me appreciate it more immensely. The riff, the chugging rhythm, the rousing chorus…. just musically the thing is fantastic. What I enjoy the most about it is Bon Scott’s vocal performance. I can’t help but try and match his raspy voice and ad-libbed yelps and screams when singing along and I can end up going over the top a bit while doing so. It is the great karaoke song if ever there was one.

Sadly the album would be the band’s last to feature Scott before he died a few months later in 1980, but his charismatic presence and voice are still emulated by many to this day.

My iPod #526: Freddie Gibbs & Madlib ft. Danny Brown – High

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Piñata, the collaborative album by rapper Freddie Gibbs and music producer Madlib, was released in March last year. All you want from a hip hop album are clever, detailed and meaningful lyrics delivered via a charasmatic voice and beats, good sounds and clear production to give those lyrics a rhythm to flow with. Piñata did not fail in providing those. It was one of my favourite hip hop albums of 2014. Gibbs’ lyricism essentially about his and the gangsta life matched with Madlibs’ soulful samples make up an hour’s worth of captivating music. Very good, check it out.

“High” is the fifth track on there and, if you didn’t assume already, is about getting high off cannabis. Gibbs tells us that the activity is one of his favourites; while his brother and sister were finishing college, he would be smoking the stuff in his house and now that he’s famous everyone wants to smoke with him when they didn’t give a damn about him before. Sex with groupies at shows can’t even be done without a bit of it either. Whatever the occasion, Gibbs gets high. Gibbs had featured on Danny Brown’s album Old released a few months earlier and here Brown returns the favour, though you can tell that he was in a completely different studio while recording his verse.

The instrumental bangs too. Madlib did well.