Tag Archives: my ipod

My iPod #441: Louis XIV – God Killed the Queen

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“God Killed the Queen” is a song by the band Louis XIV on the album The Best Little Secrets Are Kept from 2005. A lot of people know the track due to its inclusion on the soundtrack for the sports game “SSX on Tour”; I saw it because, from what I remember, the new video for  the track was constantly being advertised on a music channel (which I think was Kerrang!). But it was only played at night, which was the one and only time I saw the full thing.

For its sub-two minute duration it is a very busy track to listen to. Based around 4 chords more or less, the track contains vocals and guitars which pan from one channel to the other within split seconds. Some vocal sections are buried underneath the mix, some of them fade into it a few measures late, and some overlap each other completely. Whoever mixed the song did a very weird job of it. Though I don’t mind it even if it may be a bit perplexing for some. And at least the steady rhythm section and various hand-claps and additional percussion provide a firm backbone for all of the production meddling to work around. It is a very catchy song to listen to. I’m still into it though all these years later.

Not much of a Louis XIV person; I only like this song. It’s about a one night stand by the way, in spite of the ‘shocking’ title.

My iPod #440: John Lennon – God

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I could have written about every other song on John Lennon’s first post-Beatles album, but it was this one that came first. What can I say about it? Probably nothing that hasn’t been said before. But I will try my best to give you my opinion on why this phenomenal track is worth four minutes of your time.

“God” is the penultimate track on John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, John Lennon’s studio debut released in the winter of 1970. The album is one of the most introspective and personal works of its time if not to this day; if you hear it and think that he let go of his personal issues by the time you get to “God”, then it is in that where he hadn’t lays everything on the table by bluntly stating what he does and doesn’t believe in. After telling the listener his opinion on the God for the first minute or so, he provides a list of subjects that he doesn’t believe for the next minute in a half, ranging from “Yoga” to “Elvis Presley” before emphatically ending on “The Beatles”, before he simply stating that he believes in himself and Yoko Ono.

“God” was the definitive statement to end ‘the dream’ that Lennon’s former band had seemed to build up in the preceding decade. No one wanted to believe it. But it was when Lennon uttered the poignant ending line, that reality had to kick in. It was time for a new chapter.

It’s actually quite heartbreaking to listen to.

My iPod #439: Queens of the Stone Age – Go with the Flow

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“Go with the Flow” is a song by Queens of the Stone Age that has grown to be one of the band’s most known and beloved songs. Reasons? It’s placed on what is arguably the band’s best album of Songs for the Deaf, it has a brilliant and iconic Shynola-directed music video used to promote its single release, and and because everything about it is just too badass to comprehend.

Though personally it’s not my favourite Queens track, I admire it for its sheer velocity, execution, and quality. The song doesn’t even allow you to settle into the groove. It just explodes into its rhythm and from then on it’s full throttle energy exuded all round by each member. Honestly…. never thought about its meaning that much because to me the music has a lot more impact. But Josh Homme still works it on the vocal area as only he does best, and backs it up with powerful guitar playing alongside Nick Oliveri on the bass and Gene Trautmann (and not Dave Grohl as some may think) on the drums.

If you haven’t heard it before, where have you been? Listen to it now, man.

My iPod #438: Radiohead – Go to Sleep. (Little Man being Erased.)

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“Go to Sleep.” was the second single to be released from the album Hail to the Thief, Radiohead’s sixth album released in 2003. The record marked a return to the guitar oriented music the band were known for, after taking a few years down the electronic/experimental route with “Kid A” and “Amnesiac“. Though it gets a bit of flack for not being as cohesive as other Radiohead albums, and because its almost-hour-length is a bit too much for some to handle. Thom Yorke had the same feeling; he posted an alternate tracklist showing what the album may have been had the band taken more time on it. Good to see that today’s track made it on there.

The song has many twists and turns to it. It starts off with an acoustic guitar driven riff playing at a 10/4 time signature that after being accompanied by Thom Yorke’s wailing vocals for a while is joined by Phil Selway’s drums and delicate electric guitar touches via Jonny Greenwood. The track then takes another turn when tom-tom drums dominate the mix as Yorke starts singing about the possibilities of the loonies and the monster taking over and Greenwood’s guitar becomes more distorted and frantic, eventually producing random noises and glitched out sounds as the song fades out.

It’s one of the songs from the album that I’ve known for the longest; I watched the video on the television way before I ever bought the album. It will always be a favourite track of mine from it.

My iPod #437: Mac DeMarco – Go Easy

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Salad Days, the second album by Canadian goofball musician man Mac DeMarco, was easily one of my favourite albums of last year. I wrote a separate post dedicated to how much I was enjoying it at the time. If you’re in a hurry and can’t read it, I basically said the melodies were great, every song is memorable, the sound he gets on his guitar is a thing of gleaming beauty, and the album’s overall chill and casual vibe makes for some very easy listening. I certainly became a DeMarco fan thanks to it and I hope to see him, God willing, in Manchester in the summer when he plays at the Parklife Festival.

“Go Easy” is the last ‘song’ on the album, in that it is the last one in which Mac actually sings in before the album’s closing instrumental track “Jonny’s Odyssey”. It carries on the trend established by the nine tracks before it of consisting of a steady beat bathed with DeMarco’s shiny guitar licks and fills. The track also concerns DeMarco’s feelings on the pressures of his girlfriend moving to a new place, a subject which is also referred to in other songs on the album. And again, like almost all of the other tracks, it follows the simple structure of a verse, a chorus, a verse and a few reiterations of the chorus before it comes to a close. May not sound very interesting, but you have to hear it order to believe for yourself. Salad Days is too good to miss out on.

Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day.