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My iPod #81: They Might Be Giants – Bee of the Bird of the Moth

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Oh, hello again! Nice to see you.

“Bee of the Bird of the Moth” is a track from They Might Be Giants’ twelfth album “The Else” released in 2007. I didn’t listen to it until very recently, only because I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to listen to the album or not. It was released during the period when the band had developed their children’s music albums, with “Here Come the ABCs” preceding it, and the two other “Here Comes…” coming afterward, so I had my doubts on whether the sound of the ‘adult’ album would appeal to me.

I was wrong to doubt. “This Might Be a Wiki”, the information centre dedicated to the band allows its members to rate their songs out of 10, and out of 84 ratings it has an average of 8.83/10 which isn’t band considering it’s above songs like “You Probably Get That a Lot” and “Weep Day” which are just examples of two other songs that I like. I’m thinking that that’s the actual reason why I listened to the song in the first place. It has a high rating in the TMBW song list. That sounds quite bad 😦

I don’t regret it though. If I hadn’t done that, then there’s the possibility that I may not have given “The Else” a chance. “The Else” is a great album. I’m biased though ’cause They Might Be Giants are one of my favourite artists, but it’s proudly in my iTunes library where I can listen to the songs everyday.

In John Linnell’s words: “This is a song about a hummingbird moth, which imitates another creature, which imitates yet another creature. It’s completely fucked up and can only be explained in song!”

What more can you say?

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #79: Late of the Pier – The Bears Are Coming

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“The Bears Are Coming” is a song by the band Late of the Pier, a dance-punky quartet who have only released one album to this day called “Fantasy Black Channel”. They haven’t been around for quite some time, and in this duration their fans have yearned and pined for new material.

I don’t know if I would call myself a fan of the band. If I am, it would be embarrassing to compare myself to others who actually keep up with whatever the members of the band do, whether it is “Late of the Pier” or side projects and stuff. But I like the album. It never has the same sound throughout each song. It’s diverse, it’s eclectic, it’s whatever synonym there is that means “wide range in differences”.

I remember talking to two of my friends about the music they listened to when I was in Year 8 or something. I had only vaguely heard something about the band, I think my sister liked them. Ben (one of them) talked about “Late of the Pier” and how he thought the name “Does It Offend You, Yeah?” was a cool name for a band. He also started singing “Space and the Woods” which was quite funny. Normally he just reads books all the time, and I never knew then that he listened to music very much.

“The Bears Are Coming” played for about ten seconds on a Virgin Media Music Videos preview on my TV. Virgin Media allows you to watch a large number of music videos for free as part of their “On Demand” option. The first line and part of the second were the only parts of the video that played, and I thought it sounded good.

I didn’t watch the video though. It sounds odd that I didn’t. It’s pretty weird that I didn’t if it was available for free. I don’t think I actually listened to the full song until late last year.

It’s a good song. It was released as a single too. Late of the Pier’s singles are very good. If you haven’t listened to it yet, watch the video above.

You might be confused by it. It’s much less confusing than the video for “Focker” though. That video is something else.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #70: Fall Out Boy – Bang the Doldrums

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Hi everybody.

Went and got my hair cut today. Looking fresh and clean. Ready for prom tomorrow. Can’t find my bow tie, but it’s okay. I’ll get through.

Today’s song is by Fall Out Boy. They recently released their new album entitled “Save Rock and Roll”, their first after a hiatus which started in 2009. I haven’t listened, but “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light ’em Up)” is a good one. Listen if you want.

“Infinity on High” is the album where “Bang the Doldrums”. That’s the first album of theirs that I bought too. Another one from Woolworths in 2008. “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” was the first single released from it, and my sister went crazy about it when she saw that its music video was an exclusive on MTV2. She must have heard the song or something before the video was out, because I had no idea that Fall Out Boy were even about to release a new album, let alone a new song.

The band released three more songs from the album as singles, and I liked those sooooo much that I bought the album. I’m not being sarcastic, the songs are good.

I can’t tell you much about “Bang the Doldrums”. I have songs on my iPod where the melody and the beat is good, therefore making the song memorable and worthy for a listen when I’m not doing anything important. However, I will have no idea what the song is about because I haven’t learnt the lyrics but still able to join in with the chorus. “Doldrums” fits into that category.

From looking it up on the Internet though, the song is made up of phrases that were used in an old blog Pete Wentz wrote years ago, and quotes by a guy called Wesley Eisold.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #66: Arctic Monkeys – The Bad Thing

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I have a feeling that I won’t have a lot to write about today. There’s not much to say about this particular song. The band don’t like it very much either, and tend to not to play it live.

Arctic Monkeys have changed…. I know this change has been occurring since they released in “Humbug”, but this is ridiculous. Have you heard their new single? It’s quite good you know. But you listen to that, and then listen to “The Bad Thing” for a comparison. You would think it was a totally different band.

After “Whatever People Say I Am…” became the fastest selling debut album in the UK in 2006 and spouted two number one singles in the process, Arctic Monkeys became one of the biggest bands in the country.

“Favourite Worst Nightmare” was one of the most awaited albums in 2007. I bought it from Woolworths after a day of school and listened to it at home.

“The Bad Thing” is considered to be one of the more forgettable songs from the album. I’ve got to admit that I can remember listening to “If You Were There, Beware” and “D Is for Dangerous” more than this one, maybe it’s because it’s near the end of the album – I don’t know, but in recent years I have come to appreciate it a lot more.

This song uses the theme of relationships that is common throughout their debut album. This time, it is sung from the point of view from a guy who is hit on by women in relationships, and although he doesn’t want to be tempted he can’t help himself. Because he’s a guy. And that’s normal.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #64: The Wombats – Backfire at the Disco

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Evening again.

“Backfire at the Disco” was released as a single from The Wombats’ first album “A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation” in 2007. It reached #67 in the charts.

At that time no one really knew who the band were, and so they re-released it in 2008. It reached #40 in the charts.

The band was another that played on MTV2 when they first came about on the scene, and so there wasn’t a day when this song wasn’t playing on the channel.

I didn’t really like the song back then. The song that really got me into them was “Kill the Director”, which will be coming up later many years from now.

The song includes a trademark vocal that the band used throughout their first album and then abandoned in their second. You know how on “Employment” by Kaiser Chiefs, almost every song (or single, I haven’t listened to all of that album) included a part where a build up in tension was signified by an “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh *breath* oooooohhhhhhhhh woooooooahhhh ooooooooooooooh”?

Well, on “A Guide to Love” almost every song (I can say that this time as I own the album, and have listened to it) includes a “woo” or an “ooh” section, either as back up vocals or as a break between a verse and a chorus or something.

Both bands are similar in that when they both abandoned those vocals, their second albums didn’t do as well. I haven’t listened to “This Modern Glitch”, and probably won’t. I would stick to their first if I was you.

The song is about a person who goes out on a date, and it almost goes well until they go to the disco and everything goes wrong. I’m sure many people have been through this before. I guess.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.