Tag Archives: thoughts

#936: Cloud Nothings – No Thoughts

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All I can remember about ‘No Thoughts’ is that it was the last track from Cloud Nothings’ Here and Nowhere Else album that I added to my phone library. Now there were 5/8’s of the record instead of just half. I heard Here and Nowhere Else within the first week of its release in April 2014. There were tracks that immediately became favourites, two of which I’ve covered in this series. There were those I weren’t so keen on. ‘No Thoughts’ fell under a bit of a sleeper category. I’m sure I liked it, but clearly not enough. May have been a year or two until I really got it. And when it hit, it was instant.

Like the other tracks on ‘Nowhere Else’, ‘No Thoughts’ is propelled onward by harsh, overdriven guitar and a pummelling rhythm section, most notably driven by the crushing rush of Jayson Gerycz drums. Despite the wild nature of the band performance, the song is also carried by a great melody within the lyrics which helps bring some stability. One thing you have to admit about this track is… well, it’s a bit repetitive. But not in the way that repetition can irk some people. The second verse is the same as the first, but with a few subtle changes of words here and there. The chorus though, and the bridge, are made up of just one phrase or two. Just want to clarify I’m not complaining here. There’s something about the lyrical simplicity matched with the intensity of the music that all in all results in a fantastic combination.

That’s all I gotta say, I think. Just a great three-minute rush of noise rock on show here. A good time’s always had when hearing it, even if it does almost as quickly as it starts.

#755: Bloc Party – Little Thoughts

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‘Little Thoughts’ by Bloc Party was released as a split single with fellow track ‘Tulips’ in July 2004, about half a year before debut album Silent Alarm. The song is very similar in style to the songs that eventually made it onto that album – characterised by a fast tempo, interesting guitar lines by both Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack, and the frantic drumming by former member Matt Tong – but it didn’t make the cut on initial releases of the album, though did appear on re-releases and editions released in the United States.

I didn’t know about this song’s existence until way after Silent Alarm‘s release. ‘Helicopter’ was the first song of theirs that I’d heard/saw and, for a young black nine year old as I was at that time, it was cool seeing a fellow black person being the frontman of an indie band. It was very rare at that time. I wasn’t seeking out albums to listen to at that age and everything I did hear was mainly through the television; whenever a Bloc Party video showed, the music within was usually great and that was more or less how I felt seeing the video for ‘Little Thoughts’. It’s a simple band performance in front of a green screen, but sometimes those are the best kinds of visuals.

Again, like many other songs I discovered at that age, I don’t know much about its subject matter. In the time of writing this, I’ve found one interpretation that the narrator is in love with someone who is of a younger age and wishes that they could go back in time so there would be less of a gap. That sounds fair. Whatever it’s about, it sounds good. And a bit sad, simultaneously.