Tag Archives: my ipod

My iPod #306: Dananananaykroyd – E Numbers

Leave a reply

Well, well, well. It’s been a long time coming. But it’s here again! It’s the series that seems to just keep on going. It’s My iPod time. And now we’ve reached the fifth letter of the alphabet…. ‘E’. And we start off with a fire cracker of a track.

“E Numbers” was actually the first track to be revealed from Dananananaykroyd’s second (and sadly, final) album “There Is a Way” in 2011. The track was uploaded on the band’s SoundCloud account and onto YouTube in April of that year, two months before the album was physically released.

I did not know this. I was too busy revising for GCSEs, you see. But it was in the last week of exams, maybe even the last day, when “Muscle Memory” appeared on my television screen. That was the first I had heard from the ‘Kroyd’ in ages, but of course all fans knew that something was coming for about two months. Listened to “There Is a Way” when I got back home, and ended up as a very happy listener by the end of it.

But yeah, the song. “E Numbers” is the third track on “There Is a Way”, coming after the ‘Hey, we’re back’ track of “Reboot” and the “You better fuckin’ buckle your seatbelts” track of “All Us Authors”. There isn’t much of an intro to get you settled into the track; it kind of just launches into this blaring loud drone of guitars and what sounds like really bad horn playing in the background before co-vocalists Calum Gunn and John Bailie Jnr start singing.

I won’t try and be pretentious by coming up with theories about what the song is about. ‘Cos I have no idea. That may annoy a few, but I just really like it. It contains lyrics about seeing things through prisms which is reflected in the album’s cover art, and some about feeding kids with e numbers and wondering on where our tantrums go….. so I’m guessing it’s a song about growing up? Maybe? Still not sure.

Whatever. It’s a real fast song on an album that never lets up on energy. You get one track that’s powerful and punchy and the band just keep feeding you and feeding you and feeding you. Listen to “There Is a Way”; I advise you.

I miss them. Rest in peace.

My iPod #305: Blink-182 – Dumpweed

5 Replies

Well, no one answered my question that I raised in yesterday’s post. Eh, who needs ya anyway? I’ve just taken it upon myself to not do that post, which means that today is the last track from the ‘D’ section. It’s Blink-182 with the song “Dumpweed”, the opening track from their popular album “Enema of the State”.

“Enema of the State” is a good album. Quite a short one too, but filled with fast pop-punk songs about relationships, adolescence and aliens at one point. “Dumpweed” kicks the album off with tremendous pace and urgency. It’s one about a relationship too. The track has Tom detailing the problems of being with a girl who is unpredictable. Cute one time, and crazy the next. He wishes to have a girl ‘that he can train’ which I’m sure has gotten him into problems with some people. But it isn’t meant to be taken seriously, guys. Look at the album title.

The track also marked the introduction of a certain Travis Barker, then the new drummer for the band, who keeps the track’s energy alive with his versatility and rapid drum fills. Certainly a change for the better, I think every Blink-182 fan will agree on that.

So yeah, those are the “D” songs – bar one that I have on my iPod. I normally take a break after covering a letter of the alphabet. When the next one is coming…. I don’t know. But you can take the time to read the rest of the tracks I have on here.

Bye bye.

My iPod #304: Alexisonfire – Drunks, Lovers, Sinners and Saints

Leave a reply

Alexisonfire were alright, man. The contrast between George Pettit’s psycho screamo vocals and Dallas Greens nicer-to-the-ear singing was a dynamic that I’d never witnessed from a band before. And I liked it. I got into Alexisonfire for a bit; and that initial liking toward the group started just as they were about to release their third album “Crisis” which came out in 2006.

“Drunks, Lovers, Sinners and Saints” is the first track on that album, and what a way to start it. There’s no proper introduction, just a yell of “ALRIGHT” and then it charges on from there. I heard it fully on YouTube when someone matched the track along to some fitting scenes from the anime “Afro Samurai”. The video is still on there if anyone wants to see it; it is very well put together.

The track is about the love of sharing their music to anyone – the suits AND the squares – and they’ll carry on doing their thing because they never get bored of it. That was then obviously. Sure, there are some insecure thoughts the band question us on: do we as an audience really appreciate what we’re doing? Are we even listening? Yes, we are Alexisonfire. We continue to even in your absence.

After an onslaught of screams, angelic singing, something sort of in the middle provided by guitarist Wade MacNeil, and an onslaught of continuous guitars the track comes to a noisy ending as the fading notes roll around in feedback, as drums fade in from the distance. Those segue into the next track, but that’s for another day.

As I said, Alexisonfire were alllllright. This track is slick stuff. A brilliant opener to set the tone for the rest of the album.

SIDE NOTE

The next song is a Lostprophets one.

Now, I’ve been thinking on whether to write posts of the songs that I have on my iPod by the band since… well you know. I like those songs, but I won’t do them if people don’t want me to. I probably should have asked this yesterday so more people could answer.

If you still want to see Lostprophets posts, then comment or something. These are the songs that won’t have them if it comes to it: “Dstryr/Dstryr”, “The Fake Sound of Progress”, It’s Not the End of the World But I Can See It from Here”, “Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja” and all the other tracks on “Start Something” that aren’t “Burn Burn” or “Sway….”

So yeah, keep following. Leave a like or something. Tell all your friends.

My iPod #303: The Who – Drowned

Leave a reply

For me, “Quadrophenia” was very difficult to absorb initially. At an hour and twenty minutes fit to burst with long instrumental passages on some songs and the whole concept made the listening process very complicated. Or maybe it was me thinking about it too much. Upon further listens I realised that everything you hear is essential to the story throughout the album. You are taken on a journey with the tragic lead character of Jimmy. In “Drowned”, we find him in a desperate state as he contemplates…. drowning himself in the sea. Although, out of the album’s context it is a tribute to Meher Baba who Townshend admired for his spiritual teachings.

“Drowned” is a great track. A roaring vocal take by Daltrey, that rolling piano phrase throughout, that slick musical reference to 5:15 in the middle…… the final jam at the end which seems to carry on forever before fading into a clip of Townshend singing “Sea and Sand” on the beach…. Those are just the little things I can pick out from memory at the moment. But they are the little things that add to the album’s cohesion. I’m blabbering on a bit; I will leave it there.

All in all, another wall of melodious noise and relentless rhythm provided by The Who.

My iPod #302: They Might Be Giants – Drinkin’

Leave a reply

This may be the first instrumental out of all the songs I’ve talked about so far. Huh. This is “Drinkin'”, a short track that introduces They Might Be Giants’ album “Long Tall Weekend“, the album that was released only for the Internet back in 1999. You can listen to 14 of its 15 tracks right here.

As it is only a minute and a half long, I can’t really go into depth about it. I listened to the album in 2011 when I really started to get into They Might Be Giants’ albums. “Drinkin'” has a pretty decent guitar phrase that leaps from one note to another and stuff. That got stuck in my head after listening to it, after a few days of listening to it I was able to hum the whole thing. Still can’t quite get the hang of it on the guitar, but I think a lot of people would be able to get it straight away.

It changes to 3/4 time in the middle with brief silences, switches back to regular time and the guitar and saxophone play the opening melody in unison until coming to a stop.

It’s an enjoyable little ditty to start off the album. That’s really all there is to it.

Here’s a link to a performance of it 6 years prior to official release. Apparently written just a week before that performance too.