Hit 40 UK

If you like pop music, my opinions on music, Simon Cowell, British radio, Top 40 music, countdown lists, Christmas, reality tv shows, or merely have ten minutes to spare, do head on over to this post on my other blog.

If not, you're at the wrong blog, fella...

Deck The Balls With Halls of Folly

Who's up for some modern-day renditions of a few carols?

Relient K is a pretty good gospel rock band. A little too 'American teen', if you get what I mean. But they play their instruments well, their faith is strong, and they have a sense of humour:

What's a partridge? And what's a pear tree?

Well, I don't know, so please don't ask me

But I can bet those are terrible gifts to give!

I'm only posting a few Christmas-y songs here, but they have more secular stuff as well, if you're interested.

Relient K - Angels We Have Heard On High

Relient K - Deck The Halls

Relient K - Twelve Days of Christmas

Relient K - We Wish You A Merry Christmas

If you're only taking one, take the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Folk Music Lives!

There's a lot of nice music floating around the UK Top 40 radio airwaves this time of year. Leona Lewis, Alicia Keys, Timbaland Presents One Republic, and the group that sang 'Uninvited'-- good stuff, all. Worth downloading.

But this is talent!

Amy Macdonald -- Mr Rock and Roll

Talk about a lovely folk/pop song. Very Gordon Lightfoot indeed. Amy Macdonald is only twenty years old. Scottish. Influenced by Travis and The Libertines, apparently. (I have to stop researching posts on Wikipedia! Although I did remember she was Scottish. Virgin Radio made a point of it.)

I suppose as you get older you more and more frequently find that you're older than the best new talent out there, in whichever field. It's still disconcerting, though, having the fact that you're a nobody drilled into you.

Tried to upload some photos but Blogger is being temperamental. Look her up on Google's image search.

Marillion

How can anyone resist a band with such a beautiful name?

I came across Marillion a few years ago, while watching a Dream Theater DVD that had a clip of DT playing at some lucky-ass jazz club in the States with various guest artistes, two of whom were Marillion band members. Easter is a beautiful and underrated song.

Marillion then popped up again after an opportune trip to the UK resulted in my picking up a crateload of excellent prog music cds (prog-- progressive rock / metal) that I would've found impossible to get in India. The bass player, Pete Trewavas, was a member of the prog rock supergroup Transatlantic, which had the sensational lineup of:

Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) - drums
Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings) - guitar
Pete Trewavas (Marillion) - bass
Neal Morse (Spock's Beard) - vocals/keyboards

Dream Theater and Spock's Beard are US bands, Marillion is a UK band, and The Flower Kings are Swedish, so Transatlantic was an apt choice of name. Most of these bands have gone on to become some of my favourite groups.

Marillion's music doesn't really feature the instrumental virtuosity that draws me to Dream Theater, nor the soft keyboard-heavy genius of Spock's Beard or Transatlantic. Their music is far more radio-friendly (not that that's a bad thing), and in fact the Wikipedia page informs me that Marillion have had a string of UK chart hits spanning their career. I like this description, which I have flicked from the said Wikipedia page:

Many current fans would endorse the description of 'complex, melodic rock with a spiritual and sometimes melancholic edge.'

It's strange to see spirituality cropping up here, for Transatlantic (the supergroup) came a cropper when Neal Morse quit both Spock's Beard and Transatlantic to pursue his Christianity. Hmm.

So, to the music.

I really like this video. Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci look so young! And Steve Hogarth has the cutest pointy ears. Do watch it through to the end, where Hogarth does some interesting vocal hopping.

Marillion -- Easter (live with Dream Theater)




The next video is a montage of album art and band pictures. An interesting fascination with jesters seems to emerge. It's a nice song too, and I suspect many of you will enjoy this music more than 'Easter'. I love the line, "For she's got to carry on with her life/ And you've got to carry on with yours!"


Marillion -- Childhood's End





Edit: Sorry Yohan, I know you're not a fan of embedded videos. But one of them is a concert clip, and the other one shows the wonder that is album art!

Psychedelic Electro Freak Folk!

The title of this post is misleading. I don't know how to categorize the music I'm about the write about. It's excellent stuff, though. High quality.

I like neat little symmetries. For example:

1. In the 60's and 70's American bands rawked (MC5, Jimi Hendrix), and the Brits made textured, sophisticated pieces (Pink Floyd and all the other proggie bands).
2. In the 00's, British bands rawk (Arctic Monkeys, The Libertines, Futureheads) and the (North) Americans make textured, sophisticated pieces (Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, and the bands I'm about to name.)

This symmetry and reversal would have been cool if it were true. But it isn't. Not a bit. The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin rawked, and Crosby Stills and Nash were sophisticated.

In this decade however, it may prove to be true that Canadian and American indie acts are doing more in the realm of the vague, the mystic, the psychedelic.

Whatever. I have no idea. There are 2 bands I'd like to blog about. I discovered them through Paul Lester's very useful Band of the Day feature in The Guardian. They're both brilliant, as my last.fm page will attest!










First up is MGMT. Their wiki page isn't very informative. They are dreamy, trippy and quirky, yet they have a nice crisp sense of rhythm. I do believe they sing like the best 1970s soft rock bands too! Seek out their album Oracular Spectacular.

MGMT - Time to Pretend
MGMT - Kids










Next up is Yeasayer. They deserve a prize for coolest bandname not involved the word "the" or two incongruous words juxtaposed against each other. Their music is even better. It's "YES" music; true to its name. Psychedelia is in there somewhere, and gospel, and British prog even. They're from Brooklyn, which might be the coolest place to reside in America, if you're in a band. (Montreal, however, may be the coolest place on the continent for a band.) The album is called All Hour Cymbals. Get it.

Yeasayer - Wait for Summer
Yeasayer - Red Cave










Brooklyn, New York is also home to Animal Collective. I first encountered the interesting (and somewhat misleading) terms "freak-folk" and "anti-folk" in connection with their work. I haven't paid close attention to their albums, but their singles are fantastic. Here are two. The new one, "Peacebone", is thoroughly weird and exciting.
Animal Collective - Grass
Animal Collective - Peacebone

New Music is good, people. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.

Music My Parents Might Like

I've been meaning to do this for a while. I've made a little compilation (or "mixtape" if you're a hipster) for my dad and mum.

My parents had a profound impact on my musical preferences. It took me a while to start listening to music that didn't conform to their taste. In college I rapidly expanded my aural horizons, and during the holidays I occasionally attempted to get them to listen to what I had picked up. At some point I gave up, despite my success in getting them to appreciate The Grateful Dead's American Beauty, and Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. I recall playing OK Computer in the car once. My mother found it soporific and sad. Which it is. But she didn't like it.

Here's my playlist. Some of these songs are obviously chosen to suit the children of the sixties, but some transcend their era. Or at least I'd like to think so.

1. Findlay Brown - Don't You Know I Love You
2. The Shins - New Slang
3. Elbow - Leaders of the Free World
4. Dido - Mary's in India
5. David Gray - The One I Love
6. Elvis Perkins - While You Were Sleeping
7. Travis - Why Does It Always Rain On Me?
8. Amy Winehouse - You Know I'm No Good
9. Neutral Milk Hotel - King of Carrot Flowers - Part One
10. Interpol - NYC
11. The White Stripes - You've Got Her In Your Pocket
12. Youth Group - Under the Underpass
13. Regina Spektor - Field Below
14. Coldplay - The Scientist
15. Oasis - Who Feels Love
16. The Killers - Read My Mind
17. Wolf Parade - This Heart's On Fire
18. The Decemberists - Sons and Daughters

You can dowload the whole album here.

If music were food

Let's delve right into this subjectivity thing.

If bands were food, what kind of food would they be?

We'll include drinks. Some things are too bitter to chew, but they can be swigged with a minimum wincing. Like tequila. No that you can chew tequila. Er.



So anyway. Off the top of my head:

The early Beatles (pre-Rubber Soul) - Biscuits. Cookies. Simple, sweet, and perfect.

The psychedelic Beatles - Increasingly elaborate confectionery. Fringe gourmet. Like chocolate covered chillies.

The Rolling Stones - Hooch. Moonshine. Country Liquor. Toddy.

Pink Floyd - Scotch. (I'm thinking The Dark Side of the Moon.)

Oasis - BEER!!

Nirvana - Blood. Salty and delicious.

Simon & Garfunkel - Fragrant herbal tea.

ABBA - American chocolate.

Radiohead - Tasty bile? Hee hee. I have no clue.

Led Zeppelin - Steak. Fortified wine. Or maybe "Lembas" bread from The Lord of the Rings. And then, as the seventies wore on... fruit. Often stale fruit.

Cake - cake.

The White Stripes - Red and white candy (obviously). With a hint of cinnamon.

The Grateful Dead - Apple pie. Spiked with magic mushrooms.





We can do this for genres too.

Heavy metal in general - heavy metals.

Disco - Sticky sweet cocktails. Some are good; most are awful.



I could go on forever. But I won't.

People, contribute in the commentspace! Feel free to disagree with me, of course. One man's halal is another man's kosher, after all.

Pete Doherty had a cheap Indian guitar!

Could it have been a Givson? Hee hee.

Check out Pete Doherty interviewing Paul McCartney in OMM. A genuinely charming interview.

In Rainbows

This could be a swan song. This could be a grand finale.

It's Radiohead, so who knows?

Listen to it.

So Here We Are

For me, listening to music and travelling go hand in hand. No matter the type of transportation (boats/ships aside) or the distance to destination, I must absolutely listen to music. This has been the case ever since I was little; more specifically, when my parents got their first car after coming Stateside. It all started with listening to cassette tapes of Chinese (and the occasional Western) artists my parents love/d, some of which I came to love myself. That eventually progressed into listening to my walkman, then CD player, and then the ol' ipod.

While driving or being a passenger in a car, particularly, there's just something about watching the landscape pass me by, especially if it's accompanied by the perfect song. It may be the music, the lyrics, or both that make every turn, every place more...alive? So unmitigatedly indescribable. Regardless, there is nothing else like it.

Here are a few travelling favorites:

Nick Drake - Pink Moon
I actually discovered the music of Nick Drake from this commercial (my favorite), which pretty much sums up the point I made. I love listening to this, especially at sunset/night.

Iron and Wine - Naked As We Came
Mellow song that's perfect for travelling past less populated areas/farm areas or for a smooth drive.

Cat Power - The Greatest
For a cloudy or dreary day or when particularly thoughtful.

The Postal Service - Clark Gable
The beat of this song gives turns more of a whimsical feel and almost seems to push you forward. But I really added this because I love this song and especially this one lyric: "And I want life in every word to the extent that it's aburd."

Bloc Party - So Here We Are
Perfect for listening at night in a city or some place with a lot of lights in the distance.

To Boldly Go

I am constantly in need of new music. And by this I mean music that is new to me, whether it's from the noughties, the eighties, or the eighteenth century.

The first phase of my musical life has been written about elsewhere. Here I want to talk about the current phase -- the Age of Discovery.

By the time I got to IIT I was tired of Classic Rock fundamentalism. I started discovering more and more new bands that kick serious ass. it's just that that since hip-hop dominates, these bands consider selling half a million copies a reasonable success. Far from the days of Dark Side of the Moon's 14 years on the US album chart. Oh well. Rock excess gave us hair metal.

In IIT I got into early UK Punk Rock. The Sex Pistols are spectacular. Menacing, crazy, funny, and they made some righteous noise. Not for everyone though. To my great irritation, someone once asked me if I had "graduated" to the Clash. Philistines! Of course, the Clash are awesome. I'm surprised that their album London Calling wasn't a college favourite - it has bits of reggae and ska, and plenty of good guitar. In any case, my tastes sort of became a bit more edgy and less laid back - not at all heavy metal, but up-tempo jangly guitars. Maybe pent-up IIT-related restlessness found its outlet that way.

Punk and New Wave set me up very well for the 21st Century's "New New Wave" or the "New Garage Revolution" or whatever you want to call it. Franz Ferdinand was the first of these bands that I heard. I first saw then on TV in 2004 -- on MTV India no less. The Libertines I discovered on the LAN in IIT. They really hit the spot. Much of the UK's rock scene can trace its origins to the Libertines thrilling, shambolic exuberance. The Strokes were the next band I picked up. I can't express the particular way their jaded rock reaches in and grabs me.

I don't recall how, but I started finding a fair number of bands that suited my taste from mp3 blogs. The mp3s they talk about are collected on sites like The Hype Machine and Elbows. The Hype Machine has a pretty awesome little flash player to sample mp3s. I also follow NME, a venerable old UK rock magazine, which, back in 1994, was the first to champion a new band from Manchester called Oasis. I like their taste normally. They're unapologetic about being smug trend-spotters. Another good website is The Guardian's music section. So I hear about a new band, then listen to them on their MySpace page, or on HypeM. And if I'm sufficiently curious, I download the album. I probably download an album once a week on average. If I like an album, I check out the band's wiki page. And If I really like an album, I go to Metacritic and All Music Guide. I love reading reviews of things I already like. It supplements my musical vocabulary. That's how I picked up the word "shambolic". Occasionally the reviewers talk about the band's influences, and then I do some musical archaeology/anthropology.

In the US you can find some pretty diverse musical tastes (every possible niche market has been explored-- I attribute it to Late Period Capitalism and its associated saturations.) In my department I found several people with strongly overlapping tastes. (My department is full of brilliant musicians -- I feel like the odd one out.) We go for concerts together, and I get recommendations from them. Some good, some weird, some awful. So it goes.

~

The mp3 I'm going to post now was not discovered by any of these methods. I saw it on TV. It's a My Chemical Romance song. Pop punk went and got all prog. In their new album they shamelessly lift musical ideas from Pink Floyd and Queen, and their clothes hark back to Sgt. Pepper, albeit in and emo avatar. I admire their ambition. However, the song I am going to post now is not prog. It's a regular rocking stomper, and I can't get enough of it. (Salil! Can you detect the T. Rex?)

My Chemical Romance -- Teenagers

~

September '07

When I got my very own laptop, nigh on 15 months ago now, I was overjoyed. Here at last was a computer I could organise the way I wanted to. No more folders scattered all over various hard drive partitions, no more desktops filled almost completely with icons and shortcuts (YUCK!), and no unwanted programs whatsoever.

(You should see our desktop at home. Sheesh. I guess it can't be helped, when more than one person uses a computer regularly, without making use of different Windows logins.)

Then the question arose -- how to organise my music? Some people, especially those with many gigs of mp3s, have a different folder for each artiste, and subfolders within those for each album. It's a reasonable system if your music consists mostly of entire albums, or if you're the type who knows exactly what he wants to listen to at any given time.

But it made far more sense to me to organise my music by genre, and only broadly. And it also made sense to use Windows' pre-set folders such as My Music, My Documents, My Pictures, and My Videos. Why go to the trouble of having another folder somewhere else entitled 'Music'? That just leads to complications when ripping, downloading, and so on.

And my 'system' works well for me. This is what my My Documents folder looks like:

I've tried often to remove Azureus Downloads, My eBooks, and My Sharing Folders, but they keep coming back. And this is My Music:

Tee hee. You may notice I had to look up how to take screenshots. And to think I used to want PrintScreen (SysRq), Scroll Lock, and Pause (Break) to be removed from standard keyboards.

Anyhow, so my Rock, Pop, & Hip-Hop folder is by far the biggest. Duh. It has three genres in it. Starting from January of this year, however, (i.e. when I got internet access in Delhi-- prior to that this laptop had never been connected to the 'net), I began to keep my new music in separate bunches for easy access, rather than have it lost within Rock, Pop, & Hip-Hop, where apart from a few folders all the songs are merely listed alphabetically:



For example, January had a lot of Keane downloading (I love them!), and this is reflected in its icon.

Finally arriving at the point of this post (!), here are some recommendations from my September 07 folder:


(1) Don Henly - Boys of Summer

This Eagle apparently had quite a successful solo recording career when his band split up prior to Hell Freezes Over, and if all his songs are like this one, I don't doubt that. After timestamp 2:30 it sounds like something off Pulse, only slightly faster than Floyd's usual stuff.


(2) The Eagles - One Day at a Time

Alright, I confess, I got both of these songs after happening to catch an Eagles concert on Zee Cafe's Sunday evening show, 'The Gig.' (Ten out of ten for imagination.) I like Boys of Summer better, but this is pretty good too, IMHO. Oo-la-lala! :)

By the by, I didn't know that so many of the Eagles sung. It was a different lead singer on almost every song I saw.


(3) Hard-Fi - Suburban Knights

If you don't already have this song, you must get it. The chorus is rather eighties English adult poppy, and, like Rihanna's Umbrella, the song was born to be played on the radio. Eminently listenable-to.


(4) Newton Faulkner - Dream Catch Me

Could be criticised as being a bit monotonous, especially the rythm section, but I like it. I'm trying to think whom his voice reminds me of: a younger hybrid of Gordon Lightfoot, Rod Stewart, and John Mayer?!

NB Please do comment if you listen to Gordon Lightfoot. I've never met anyone else who does, although I'm sure many people do. It's a parent thing, if you know what I mean. Only those whose folks listened to him are likely to have even heard of him.

(5) The Go-Go's - Head Over Heels

This one is pure eighties, and is in fact flicked from the soundtrack of a movie set partly in the eighties. (13 Going on 30, with Jennifer Garner. Forgive me.)


(6) P Diddy feat. Keyshia Cole - Last Night

I never thought I'd ever download a Puff Daddy song (apart from that cover of Every Breath You Take that he arranged.) I lost what little respect I had for the man who called himself Sean "Puffy" Combs when he changed his name to P Diddy after he split up with Jennifer Lopez. I mean, dude, she's blazing hot, but duuuuuuuudeee.. you can't change your NAME every time you lose a girlfriend! And from Puff Daddy to P Diddy!!! Did he? Didn't he? Diddy?!!?
Jeez.

But you know what... he does make some pretty darn good hip-hop songs. I stumbled across this while downloading the other one - Come to Me, featuring Nicole "PCD" Scherzingerburger. While Come to Me has been ingrained in my head as a "club" song (bound to come up while on the dance floor), Last Night isn't that common yet (in my circles, anyway), and I like, I like.


EDIT: Sorry, the screenshots came out far smaller than I expected. Bad Blogger!

Blonde Redhead

I forget which blog or site I was reading a few days ago but I stumbled upon this new band. Well, not exactly new because they've been around since the '90s but new to me. Anyway, they're called Blonde Redhead and they were discovered by Sonic Youth, who produced their first album. The album I just discovered is their latest effort, titled 23, which was released this past April. They're categorized as indie/alternative rock and the band is comprised of a female Japanese frontwoman and two Italian brothers (who I think are identical twins), one of whom happens to be the singer's husband.

Logistics aside, I really like the album. It has a dark/gothic/eerie feel, which is highlighted by the singer's high, ethereal voice against the background instrumentals and riffs. 23 was produced by Alan Moulder, who also produced Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness for The Smashing Pumpkins; a few of Moby's albums; and the two The Killers albums, if that is any indication of their sound.

(Yeah, the album cover is kinda creepy...)

Here are my two favorite songs from 23:

Blonde Redhead - 23

Blonde Redhead - Silently

(Btw, it's just a coincidence that all the bands I have posted about thus far have female singers. Honest.)

Don't Speak

The other day, I was in the car with my mom and I was listening to this modern rock/alternative rock station on the radio when No Doubt's "Don't Speak" comes on. I was amused and quite surprised that my mom knew all the words. Turns out they play it all the time on this soft rock station she listens to fairly often. Interesting...

Anyway, I was reminded of this incident when I recently read that No Doubt is back in the studio recording their next album and Gwen Stefani said that they might go back to their ska roots. Seeing as Tragic Kingdom is, in my opinion, their best album to date, I'm excited. (It was also the first and only official album on cassette tape I have ever purchased. Pretty late, I know, but before this album, I had never been enamored enough to buy actual tapes and just stuck to making a crapload of mixtapes off the radio.) And the farther No Doubt's sound is from Gwen's solo efforts is fine by me. Don't even get me started about those Harajuku girls.

So because I've been listening to a lot of this album lately, here are some old favorites:

No Doubt - Don't Speak

I don't know how she stayed in the same band with the bf of 7 years she just broke up with and wrote the song about and sang it all the time with him right there but this is a damn good song and I love to sing along to it. And apparently, so does my mom.

No Doubt - Spiderwebs

Fairly simple lyrics but this single pretty much revived the ska genre in 1996.

No Doubt - Happy Now?

Angst-ridden ska. Enough said.

Autumnsong

I remember when we first got an internet connection at home. I was in 10th grade, I think, so that must have been almost 8 years ago now. The computer (we had only one) was at that time on the 1st floor landing, near the stairs. My dad sat down one morning to connect and we all stopped in our various stages of tooth-brushing and shoes-polishing to watch. Lo and behold, the line was busy.

The line remained busy, in both a literal and a figurative sense, for the next few years. All through school, we had dial-up internet. For some reason, there were only a limited number of telephone lines connecting the college campus (where we live) and the hospital campus (where the internet servers are), and this meant getting on the net was quite a job. It could easily take an hour or so, with the modem on auto-redial.

Now, even with superfast always-on broadband, where a song downloads in no more than 2 minutes (at home, not in Delhi), it's not easy to forget how much the internet has changed since it first began.

I was reminded of this while downloading the Manic Street Preachers' latest hit, Autumnsong. (Talk about a beautiful name.) Because the Manics (as Wikipedia tells me they're called - wouldn't the Preachers be a better moniker?) also created the first song I ever downloaded off the old Triple W - 1998's You Stole The Sun From My Heart. There was no Limewire then (although I did use WinMX for naughty chat sessions and the occasional song download), and I don't recall where I got that song from. Perhaps mp3.com, before they became commercial sell-outs. Anyway, it took me the better part of the day to download it. Hurrah for 28k modems!

At the time, I knew nothing about the band. I just thought it was a decent song. I still know nothing about the band, but the Preachers (screw you, Wik) moved back into my field of radar recently when I heard their song If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next** -- which, oddly, was the number 1 hit from the same album as You Stole the Sun. (1998's This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours.)

Your Love Alone Is Not Enough caught my attention on internet radio, but I could barely believe the RJ when he said the track was by the Manic Street Preachers (feat. Nina Persson in a Cardigan).

And Autumnsong (from 2007's Send Away The Tigers, along with Your Love Alone) has a great riff and a simple but effective chord sequence. It sounds like the sort of song that'll get old rather quickly, but right now it's pushing my buttons rather well.

So, in chronological order:

Manic Street Preachers - You Stole The Sun From My Heart

Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next

Manic Street Preachers - Your Love Alone Is Not Enough

Manic Street Preachers - Autumnsong

If, like me, you never download all the listed songs, take If You Tolerate This and Autumnsong.

------------

** A great song. It's in the Guinness book for the number one single with the longest name without brackets. It's also the only MSP track to ever be released as a single in the United States. Go Wiki.

Give A Little Bit

Since around 2005 I've been a major advocate of new music. My hard disk has vast quantities of music from post 2001. But deep down, I'm a fan of classic rock and pop. Music from the 50's, 60's and 70's was my staple until very recently. That, and the quality pop from the 80's and 90's.

Recently I've been returning to my musical roots. Interestingly, much of this old music was discovered recently. But somehow these songs get filed away as classics, and acquire much of the warmth of the songs I heard before I could even speak. Here are a few songs that have been on rotation lately:

Supertramp - Give A Little Bit
A pretty little love song that just about avoids being too twee. I do love a good voice. And delicate, crisp guitars.

Cliff Richard - Bachelor Boy
This ancient hit is by our very own Cliff (who is an Anglo-Indian!). He ruled British pop until the advent of the Beatles. This is the kind of song we were taught at school, and everyone in the family probably knows it. It's from the film Summer Holiday, which is an intensely pleasant musical. Sort of like a Hindi movie done well.

The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
Those sunny Californians proved they could experiment a bit. They really did create some good vibes here. "I don't know where but she sends me there."

The Who - My Generation
Say what you want about Tommy. As far as I'm concerned, the Who where at their smouldering best here, at the place where British R&B became the roots of Punk. Gotta love that stuttering.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon Rising
I guess this qualifies as dadrock -- I associate this band with my dad and one of his college mates. Great upbeat song about paranoia!

Janis Joplin - Piece of My Heart
Good grief she was passionate. Alanis Morissette's spiritual great-grandmother.

In a manner of speaking

Nouvelle Vague. French for New Wave. Also the name of a French band whose two albums are consisted solely of covers of post-punk/new wave songs from the '80s and retooled with a bossa nova (Portuguese for "new wave") sound. The play on words is amazing, oui? Oui. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) What's even more interesting is that there are various singers in the band and each one covers specific songs.

Their first album, self titled Nouvelle Vague, covers artists such as Joy Division, Depeche Mode, and Modern English. What is really special about this album is that the female singers only performed songs they had never heard before.

Nouvelle Vague - I Melt With You (Modern English cover)
Nouvelle Vague - Making Plans for Nigel (XTC cover)
Nouvelle Vague - Teenage Kicks (The Undertones cover)

Their second album, Bande à Part, covers a different slew of new wave artists such as New Order, Billy Idol, and Blondie.

Nouvelle Vague - The Killing Moon (Echo & The Bunnymen cover)
Nouvelle Vague - Heart of Glass (Blondie cover)

And here's an additional song that cannot be found on either album.
Nouvelle Vague - Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover, live)

Nouvelle Vague. How fitting for my first post.

So many songs we forgot to play

This is going to be an odds-and-ends kind of post.

I've been listening to Youth Group. It's a band from Australia. One of the members was the bassist for The Vines. Youth Group doesn't sound anything like The Vines. They're inspirational, wistful, and intensely melodic. There's a sort of fuzz. As of waves crashing of a shore, perhaps. As of civilizations ending - but gently. I don't know how else to describe it. Cathartic works too. I first heard them doing a cover of Alphaville's "Forever Young"...on the O.C. [Yes, I admit it, I used to watch the O.C. Mostly because of Mischa Barton.]

Anyway, the name Youth Group, and the O.C. connection set the listener up nicely. You expect crappy teen angst. Perhaps there is a little (angst, not crap). But somehow, it works. And the lead singer has a great voice. Emotive and dreamlike. In order to show that they do more than just covers, I'm posting two of their own songs.

I just heard their album "Casino Twilight Dogs" twice in a row. Good stuff. Not amazing, or brilliantly creative. Just good. And I really like it. I heard it on my friends fancy headphones, which make use of his fancy soundcard. Technology works.

Youth Group - Dead Zoo
Youth Group - Under the Underpass
Youth Group - Forever Young (Alphaville cover)

~

I love to look at people's assorted folders. They tell you so much about a person's tastes, in this age of complete discographies. Here are some favourites - oddities, guilty pleasures, and so on and so forth.

1990s - not just an embarassingly unhip decade, it's also the name of a band. And the lead singer has wonderfully British bad teeth.

1990s - You're Supposed To Be My Friend

The song "Boston" by Augustana gets a lot of airplay here. It's one of those songs you might dismiss as typical American blah, but give it a second listen, and it turns out to be a pretty little song. The lyrics are sweet, and the rising chorus is sung only once, so you feel like hitting repeat.

Augustana - Boston

Mika has been getting some press, both favourable and unfavourable. He's what you might call "infectiously catchy". There's a clear Freddie Mercury influence, but that's not too bad. Before The Darkness showed up, Queen's influence seemed non-existent. Anyway, "Grace Kelly" is a song whose exuberance is hard to deny.

Mika - Grace Kelly

Next up, some intense electronic music from the French DJ SebastiAn. Hyper.

SebastiAn - Ross Ross Ross

Here's something really wack. Hard 'n' Phirm's Rodeohead. That's right. Rodeohead. It's a medley of Radiohead covers - done in the style of bluegrass. Sheer genius.

Hard 'n' Phirm - Rodeohead

Lastly, I want to recommend Beirut. I guess one could put them in the general category of Neutral Milk Hotel, if one were the categorizing type. I like a few of their songs.

Beirut - Postcards from Italy
Beirut - Scenic World

In other news, the sixth White Stripes album is out. Listen to it.

[I've done a little maintenance, as far as the blog's template is concerned. Now it should be easier to look at, and comment on, posts by each member of the team, assuming that this blog will now get multiple posts per week, now that everyone seems to be actively contributing. Feel free to apply other labels to your posts, like "pop", "metal", "funky" or whatever.]

Fairies, Claymores and Bagpipes

First post after being a member for...I don't even remember. It was going to be on Japanese pop/rock, but Yohan's post on The Arctic Monkey's and my recent hike around Scotland and RockNess 2007 made me change my mind.

I haven't been able to find copies of all these songs because many of them I just heard live or in pubs and buses across Scotland, but you can find most of them on www.radioblogclub.com, a rather remarkable site.

Unlike their Irish neighbours, Scottish musicians have never really made a big impact in the rock and roll world. Perhaps the best known names would be Franz Ferdinand and now, KT Tunstall (who actually went to college with Snow Patrol and our good friend, Duncan)... and if you really push it, the Young brothers from AC/DC who were half Scottish. It so turns out that the tiny nation of Scotland has churned out some pretty popular music, many of which sounds too American or British to make us think that they'd be of Scottish pedigree. After all, what would we expect Scottish music to sound like? Screaming cats and bagpipes? Well, here's a small sampling, make up your own mind...

First we have Snow Patrol, a band formed in University of Dundee where Duncan went to college. These guys are pretty much like any other american alternative band, but it's worth a listen to some of their stuff; "Run", "Chasing Cars", "Signal Fire", "You're All I Have" and "Spitting Games". You might have heard the first three songs in the disastrous Spiderman 3 movie.

Paolo Nutini is another up and coming musician with some smooth beats, semi-gruff voice, and catchy lyrics. Here are a few recommendations: "New Shoes", "Jenny Don't Be Hasty", and "Last Request".

I don't know if you remember an old jeans ad with the song "pressure, pressure, pressure", but that was The Zutons. They've done some great work with "Pressure Point", "Valerie", and "Oh Stacey". Although they supposedly formed in Liverpool, Duncan claims that they were initially led by 2 Glaswegians and a prat from Edinburgh.

Before our trip to Scotland, Pragyan and I were discussing what heavy rock bagpipes would sound like and the answer to our queries were the Peatbog Faeries - another group from Skye. I don't have any particular song to recommend but you can try, "Welcome to Dun Vegas", "Wacko King Hako", and "Scots on the Rocks".

If you want to know about the McGreggor massacre or some good old Scottish folk music, The Corries would be an appropriate choice. They do a lot of great traditional songs seeped in history and lore like "Portkey Kid", "Bonnie Prince Charlie" and other patriotic songs like "Flower of Scotland".

Another band with dubious origins, Alabama 3 was formed in Brixton, England, but again Duncan claims they're actually Scots, but as long as they make good music, it doesn't matter right? They're perhaps most famous for "Woke Up This Morning" which was used for the opening sequence for "The Sopranos". I'd also recommend, "Hello... I'm Johnny Cash", and "Peace in the Valley".

Box o' Bananas performed live at the King Haakon Pub in Kyle, Isle of Skye in Northern Scotland while we were there... it's hard to imagine this tiny island in the middle of nowhere have produced some of the biggest names in Scottish modern music and also hosts the annual Skye Music Festival. Coming back to the band, BoB combines a lot of traditional Scottish instruments [read: pipes] with high amp guitars and keyboards. They're great to listen to live, not to mention bloody funny. I couldn't find anything on www.radioblogclub.com, so good luck...

The first Aberfeldy song I heard was "Vegetarian Restaurant". To be honest I really haven't heard much from these guys, but I'm looking around for some more. Radioblogclub has a limited collection for these guys. Try "Tom Weir" and "Summer's Gone".

The Proclaimers are the quitessential Scottish band. The identical twins were voted "the most Scottish band" and are perhaps best known for their song "I'm Gonna Be [500 miles]"... you know, the one that goes, "and I will walk 500 miles, and I will walk 500 more..." These guys are from the little town of Fief just north of Edinburgh and people are suprised they haven't become British sellouts! You've probably already heard "Letter From America", "Sunshine on Leith" and "King of the Road".

Another Dundee Band, The View, has also produced some decent... although certain people seem to hate them. Also accused of being American sellouts, people have called them a cross between The Arctic Monkey's and The Proclaimers, and the worst new band! Make up your mind: "Wasted Little DJs", "Same Jeans", and "Face for the Radio".

Lastly I leave you with a surprise Isle of Skye master DJ: Mylo who along with KT Tunstall was probably the biggest hit of RockNess 2007. I'm sure there are many more great bands and musicians I've missed out, but these are all the guys I know about. Enjoy! Sorry I couldn't provide the songs, but they're all there on www.radioblogclub.com

Cradle of Filth

Oh no, don't go! The name might put you off, but the music is worth a listen.

At least, this song is:



To be perfectly honest, that's not a song, it's an image of an album cover: CoF's 2004 album Nymphetamine, on Roadrunner Records (which, incidentally, is Dream Theater's new home).

Wikipedia informs me that the word 'Nymphetamine' is a portmanteau of 'nymphomaniac' and 'methamphetamine' - a woman with sex on the brain and a 'hard' chemical drug. As Dumbledore would say, peering into his pensieve, "A connection I could have made without assistance" -- and I did. I'm crediting Wikipedia because I didn't know that there was a word to describe words made from running other words together!

Wikipedia also lists the genre of music encompassing Cradle of Filth as 'debated.' Ha! Music genres, apart from the very broad ones, are highly subjective. I don't have much use for them. Music is music. Having said that, I would describe CoF as 'Gothic Metal' -- because it's definitely heavy metal music, and there's more than a dash of gothic influence in their dress and makeup.

Another example of what I would call gothic metal is the band Nightwish. Nightwish and Cradle of Filth are similar in that they exhibit the classic gothic metal feature of having a growling male voice juxtaposed with an operatic soprano female one. This is what really attracts me to this sort of music. I also listen to bands that feature only growling male voices, but the combination of heaviness and sweet melody pushes all the right buttons in my brain!

Those of you unaccustomed to listening to this sort of music might have a mental block against any music with growling vocals. I urge you to open your minds! Listen past the growls... listen to the background guitar chord sequence, in conjuction with the backbeat of the drums. Listen to the catchy main riff. And when the drums degenerate into straight double bass, try closing your eyes and focusing on the overall rythm. The guitar changes chords every bar or so, and the double bass forms a continous beat against that background.

Overall, I find the package very attractive! For this sort of music, growls fit much better than normal singing.

It's not as if this song has tremendously unintelligible growling anyway.

But oh - please don't try and focus on the lyrics (Bob Dylan fans, hark!). That's not the point of metal.

For the same reason, it really helps if you listen to this on speakers with depth - anything other than laptop speakers! If you have no other speakers, try earphones.

Cradle of Filth - Nymphetamine (Youtube) (fullscreen recommended)

It's gonna be a glorious day

Today, June 16th, is the 10th anniversary of the release of Radiohead's OK Computer.


OK Computer was a late '90s masterpiece - a fitting requiem for the century that rocked and rolled. Lyrically and musically, OK Computer sank into the dark automated heart of life in the late 20th Century. There were premonitions of what was to come in Radiohead's previous offering, 1995's riff-tastic The Bends. On "My Iron Lung", Thom Yorke wails about how "We scratch out eternal itch / A Twentieth Century Bitch / We are grateful for / Our iron lung."

OK Computer is not a concept album per se. What unifies it is a sonic fuzz -- and sense of melancholy mixed with wistful optimism. We see paranoia, depression, revulsion - in a sense this is like Pink Floyd's The Wall, but it is somehow more personal, more visceral. And unlike on The Wall, there seems to be a sliver of hope. On this album the band rarely "rocks out" as it did on The Bends, except on parts of "Paranoid Android" and on "Electioneering". The distorted guitars provide texture - shades of grey and blue.

I first heard OK Computer in 2003, in my third year at College. It was this album, along with The White Stripes' Elephant that showed me that rock was still progressing, and that I could venture out of the '60s and '70s. I had, however, seen the wonderfully morbid video for "Karma Police" around the time it was released. At the time the video really captivated me, but I don't think I was mature enough to appreciate the mood or the words.

I couldn't really make out much of what Thom Yorke was saying, back then. I printed out the lyrics, once I started to enjoy the sound. And I was pretty much blown away. I'm not going to try and describe the songs. They have that elusive quality that makes them subject to personal interpretation. I shall quote some of my favourite lines from each song. I'll include mp3s from some of the songs that don't get talked about that much.

1. Airbag [mp3]

"In a fast German car, I'm amazed that I survived
An airbag saved my life."

2. Paranoid Android

"When I am king, you will be first against the wall
with your opinion which is of no consequence at all"

"Ambition makes you look pretty ugly"

" Come on rain down on me
From a great height"

"God loves his children, God loves his children, yeah."

3. Subterranean Homesick Alien

"I love in a town where you can't smell a thing"

"[..] all these weird creatures
Who lock up their spirits
Drill holes in themselves
And live for their secrets "

"I'd show them the stars, and the meaning of life.
They'd shut me away, but I'd be alright."

4. Exit Music (For a Film)

"You can laugh
A spineless laugh
We hope that your rules and wisdom choke you
Now we are one
In everlasting peace

We hope that you choke.. that you choke"

5. Let Down [mp3]

"Don't get sentimental,
it always ends up drivel.
One day, I am gonna grow wings,
a chemical reaction,
hysterical and useless"

6. Karma Police

"For a minute there, I lost myself"

7. Fitter Happier

"like a cat
tied to a stick,
that's driven into
frozen winter shit
(the ability to laugh at weakness)"

8. Electioneering

"Riot shields, voodoo economics,
it's just business, cattle prods and the I.M.F.
I trust I can rely on your vote."

9. Climbing Up the Walls

"And either way you turn
Ill be there
Open up your skull
Ill be there
Climbing up the walls"

10. No Surprises

"You look so tired - unhappy,
Bring down the government,
They don't, they don't speak for her
Ill take the quiet life
A handshake of carbon monoxide"

11. Lucky [mp3]

"It's gonna be a glorious day!
I feel my luck could change."

12. The Tourist

"Hey man, slow down, slow down,
idiot, slow down, slow down. "

It was 40 years ago, today...

Forty years ago, On June 1st 1967, the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is generally considered the greatest album ever recorded. I agree. It's hallowed place in the history of popular music is assured.

I agree with the critics. But not because of the critics. I heard Sgt. Pepper's as a little kid. As a tiny tiny. It was presented to me as the epitome of experiment; of musical exploration itself. I rediscovered it in 11th Standard, when my musical odyssey really began.

Happy Birthday Sgt. Pepper! Here is my circus interpretation of the album!

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band: Sgt. Pepper's Band play the music at a psychedelic circus. Their curtain raiser hints at the possibilities, while assuring the customers of their money's worth. Crunchy guitars.

2. With A Little Help From My Friends: Ringo's version is the real deal. Joe Cocker can wave his paraplegic arms all he wants. The humour resides here. The melody springs from Lennon-McCartney. The ringmaster wins the hearts of the public - with a little help from his friends.

3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds: The quintessential psychedelic adventure, in gaudy technicolor, with "newspaper taxis" and of course, "the girl with kaleidoscope eyes". A childlike wonder creeps through the crowd, as the tent becomes a portal..

4. Getting Better: I resonate with this song. It is the song of the optimist: "Man I was mean but I'm changing my scene, and I'm doing the best that I can." What more can any one do? Life is good!

5. Fixing a Hole: Daydreaming about house maintenance as only Paul McCartney can. The hole lets the rain in, and it "stops my mind from wandering, where it will go...oh!" The janitor's dream perhaps?

6. She's Leaving Home: Ethereal, sad, eternal. The ancestor of Radiohead's "Exit Music (For a Film)" perhaps? Maybe she runs away to the circus? "Fun is the one thing that money can't buy."

7. Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite: We are reminded that we are still under the Big Top, and a circus is underway! The flipping curly delirium of the trapeze is brought into frabjous fruition, thanks to an antique poster and some Lennon whimsy! "Messrs K and H assure the public their production will be second to none!" There's a merry-go-round in there. Somewhere.

8. Within You Without You: First song on Side B. In a side tent at the circus, an eastern guru of some sort expounds the secrets of life itself, which goes on "within you, and without you."

9. When I'm Sixty-Four: A young man promises eternal love behind one of the tents. He could "be handy, mending the fuse, when the lights have gone."

10. Lovely Rita: She checks the parking meters, but she's hot in that uniform, in a groovy Sixties kind of way.

11.Good Morning Good Morning: A man loses it, wandering into the city to submit to temptation, and hear barnyard noises.

12. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Herat's Club Band (Reprise): The circus announces is last act, and the crowds are drawn back under the big top.

13. A Day in the Life: the audience is submitted to a celebration of the mundane; a cacophonic crescendo leads to the upper floor, where a cigarette is lit. Oh boy...

Bad Craziness

I am off to Bangalore. The highway beckons.

So be it.

Here is some Tamil music. Like in that bloody Idea ad. Ha.

I am coming, Mr.Raoul Duke. Have your attorney ready with some advice.

Friendship yen peda RAC, love CONFIRMED panna ne o si.

Boys - Dating [mp3]

Boys - Boom Boom [mp3]

Kaakha Kaakha - Uyirin Uyire [mp3]

PS: I know you think this is outrageous, but you really should listen to some of this stuff.

Arctic F*cking Monkeys

I went for the Arctic Monkeys concert.

Oh hell yeah.

What a fanstastic, fantastic band they are. The guitars crack and fizzle. The drums ratt-a-tatt like machine guns. And the vocals ooze fire and cynicism.

Matt Helders went to the gym to improve his drumming, in preparation for the smouldering 2nd album.



Alex Turner tells is like it is.

I like how when the flash is turned off you get ... art.


The next day I saw this poster. And I thought. I was there. Fist pumping the air. Singing along. Yelling along with the crowd.

Arctic Monkeys are a great rock n roll band, and with their second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, they've shown that they're not just going to give us more of the same. The album is like a post-punk experiment. All daggers and sneers. Thumping, funky, and difficult. This band is no flash-in-the-pan. They are the real deal, even if they don't sell ten million records. If they keep this up, they will become a band worth following.

Here are a couple of tracks from the new album. Not as easily acccessible as the stuff from their already-classic debut, but definitely real stompers with the trademark Turner turn-of-phrase.

Teddy Picker
D is for Dangerous

Here's the title track from the EP they released after the first album. It shows the direction they were heading in.

Who the Fuck are Arctic Monkeys?

And to end with, I'll use the song they closed the show with, as well as their first album.

A Certain Romance

Wrote a letter and then I threw it away

This is Wolfmother. They are great. Wrote some long eloquent prose about them, but the bloody blogger apparently doesn't know how to save a post as a draft and its all gone.

Let the music speak, for the minds that are deaf.

Wolfmother - Dimension [mp3]

Wolfmother - Tales from the forest of gnomes [mp3]

Wolfmother - Witchcraft [mp3]

Oratorical Cats, Delphioracle Cats, Allegorical Cats, Metaphorical Cats

Are you blind when you're born? Can you see in the dark?
Can you look at a king? Would you sit on his throne?
Can you say of your bite that it's worse than your bark?
Are you cock of the walk when you're walking alone?

Because Jellicles are and Jellicles do
Jellicles do and Jellicles would
Jellicles would and Jellicles can
Jellicles can and Jellicles do

When you fall on your head, do you land on your feet?
Are you tense when you sense there's a storm in the air?
Can you find your way blind when you're lost in the street?
Do you know how to go to the Heaviside Layer?

Can you ride on a broomstick to places far distant?
Familiar with candle, with book and with bell?
Were you Whittington's friend? The Pied Piper's assistant?
Have you been an alumnus of heaven or hell?

Jellicle songs for Jellicle cats!

We can dive through the air like a flying trapeze
We can turn double somersaults, bounce on a tyre
We can run up the wall, we can swing through the trees
We can balance on bars, we can walk on a wire

Can you sing at the same time in more than one key?
Duets by Rossini and waltzes by Strauss
And can you (as cats do) begin with a C
That always triumphantly brings down the house


Jellicle cats are queen of the nights
Singing at astronomical heights
Handling pieces from the Messiah
Hallelujah, angelical choir


The mystical divinity of unashamed felinity
Round the cathedral rang "Vivat!"
Life to the everlasting cat!

Feline, fearless, faithful and true
To others who do what -

Jellicles do and Jellicles can
Jellicles can and Jellicles do
Jellicle cats sing Jellicle chants
Jellicles old and Jellicles new
Jellicle song and Jellicle dance


Practical cats, dramatical cats
Pragmatical cats, fanatical cats
Oratorical cats, delphioracle cats
Skeptical cats, dispeptical cats
Romantical cats, pedantical cats
Critical cats, parasitical cats
Allegorical cats, metaphorical cats
Statistical cats and mystical cats
Political cats, hypocritical cats
Clerical cats, hysterical cats
Cynical cats, rabbinical cats


There's a man over there with a look of surprise,
As much as to say, "Well now how about that!"
Do I actually see with my own very eyes
A man who's not heard of a Jellicle cat?
What's a Jellicle cat? What's a Jellicle cat?

"Cats" tells the story, in catchy songs and exhilarating dance, of the annual gathering of Jellicle cats, at which time one special cat is selected to ascend to the Heaviside layer.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is a real genius. T S Eliot too, of course.

Cats - Prologue / Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats

Miaow!

The Good Old Days...Again!

I know I've posted about The Libertines before, but a couple of days ago a little bit of rock history was made. It has already been described as the reunion of the decade: Pete Doherty and Carl Barat performing together again!! Considering the acrimonious nature of their split, this is all the more welcome news.

For those who don't know, The Libertines were the most influential band of the decade (so far) in Britain, and a major catalyst for the current explosion of rock 'n' roll there (along with American band and Johnjohn favourite The Strokes). They broke up in 2004, with their eponymous second and final album featuring songs that chronicled their rise and fall. Here are a some of my favourite Libertines songs.

The Libertines - Don't Look Back into the Sun
The Libertines - What Became of the Likely Lads?
The Libertines - Can't Stand Me Now

The Libertines, like all great bands, combined the talents of its two singer-songwriters in a way that was greater than the sum of its parts. Pete's band Babyshambles indulges all his junkie-rock tendencies, but lacks the lively up-beat qualities the Carl brings to the table. Carl's band Dirty Pretty Things rocks and rolls and swings, but lacks Pete's poetic flourishes and whimsy.

It's sad the Pete Doherty is known more for being Kate Moss's druggie boyfriend (and fiancee, now) than a modern rock genius. But that's how it goes I guess. I really hope they get together and make a new album.

Try this:

This thingie is extremely easy to use, and allows us to avoid ugly youtube embedding. This is all because Perakath has a tiny...hard disk. Ahem.

Suddenly She Sees

Such a cute little song! Cheery, and I love the melody just before it goes in to the chorus.

K T Tunstall - Suddenly I See

The T-shirt and Ties Combination (?!)

There's a button that says "recover post", but nothing that says recover blog. We have been infiltrated by the long-haired shredders! No offense to Perakath of course, I like having variety and debate.

But the time has come for some good music.

Last night I went for a concert. It was quite possibly the antithesis to the Maiden concert in Bangalore. It was in a seedy little bar, and there were like 20 people there. The band that we went to see, Scissors for Lefty, was pretty damn good though. They're getting a bit of buzz, and have signed to Rough Trade Records in the UK, which is the illustrious label of The Strokes, The Arcade Fire, and the band that launched a thousand bands, the late, great Libertines. They're from San Francisco, but have a healthy dose of anglophile dance-punk or neo-new-wave or whatever - the antithesis to the mope-rock one sees on the charts (on the rare occasions when rock music is actually on the charts). On top of tight solid playing and vocals that have been described as "flirty" they have real charisma - especially the front man. In an inebriated state, I declared my approval to him after their all-too-short set. I wouldn't say they're stupendous, but they're fun, and they're great live. Lot of potential.

Scissors for Lefty - Ghetto Ways
Scissors for Lefty - Next to Argyle

[Ghetto Ways Video]

Arctic Monkeys have charisma of a different kind. A Molotov cocktail of shyness, anger, sarcasm and sheer wit. Their latest single is a blistering and furious drum-and-guitar assault, with Alex Turner's street poetry guiding the way. He seems to mention Avril Lavigne. Or at least, he says "we can't take our eyes off the t-shirt and ties combination." Which is sort of the same thing. (Avril, meanwhile, has chucked her "punk" look in order to steal some poor girl's boyfriend. I guess, Like Nelly Furtado, she'll soon join The Pussycat Dolls, Fergie and Christina Aguilera in the wild world of skank-pop. Women's Lib is alive and well.)
I'd be interested to hear Perakath's comments about the drumming on 'Brianstorm'. Quite extraordinary for indie music. One techno-loving friend thought it was a drum machine.

Arctic Monkeys - Brianstorm
(Yes that's right, Brian, not Brain.)
[Watch the Video]


Here's Avril from the Age of Ties:


And here's a pic of Avril now. Hmmm. Maybe all is not lost. Wow.




Where was I?

Ah yes.


Elvis Perkins is a complete change of pace. He is the son of Anthony "Psycho" Perkins, who died of AIDS when Elvis was a kid. His mother died on one of the hijacked planes on September 11th 2001.

So he's a somber guy, okay?

This song just grabbed me with its sweet simple sorrow. But it's not about his own losses. It's poetic and strange. And he has a voice.

Elvis Perkins - While You Were Sleeping

Will anybody watch the Sabbath video??

I bet noone will! :P

Okay here goes -

1. Black Sabbath - "Headless Cross"

This one is from a 1989 lineup of Sabbath, featuring Tony Martin on vocals. I think his vocals are simply stunning! I also like the bass on this song.

As many know, Black Sabbath are generally considered one of the founding fathers of Heavy Metal - the other being Led Zep. They're still together (after lineup changes that surpass even Jethro Tull), and a spinoff called Heaven and Hell with Ronnie James Dio on vocals is rumoured to come to India sometime this year!

Here's a paragraph from the Wikipedia article:

"However, some degree of band stability finally came back to Black Sabbath by 1988 with the retention of Tony Martin and Geoff Nicholls and the addition of loyal drummer Cozy Powell, who replaced Terry Chimes. Powell, a legendary drummer, had had success with his own band, as well as with Rainbow, Whitesnake, Emerson, Lake & Powell and many others. With bassist Laurence Cottle replacing Jo Burt, Sabbath released the critically acclaimed Headless Cross album in 1989, their most Satanic and occult-based album so far. An MTV video for the title track received considerable airplay, and was released to mostly positive reviews. After the Headless Cross sessions, Laurence Cottle was replaced by veteran bassist Neil Murray (a former bandmate of Cozy Powell's in Whitesnake). Sabbath released what many fans maintain is their finest album of the Martin era, Tyr in 1990. The group toured extensively throughout 1990 and 1991 to support the Tyr album."





2. Mew - "The Zookeeper's Boy"

I saw this song on VH1 last year and promptly downloaded it - it became a Song of The Month! (On my playlist, that is.) Doesn't sound too good on Yourboob, but still. Nice and quirky.





3. Eric Johnson - "Cliffs of Dover (Live)"

This instrumental piece was voted #17 on a list of "100 Greatest Guitar Solos" that Guitar World magazine brought out a while ago, which is when it caught my attention. The list is composed of mainstream rock songs only, which of course led to a barrage of criticism. However it was a reader-polled list, which goes to show Guitar World's demographic appeal. (It's a great magazine though!)

Here's a blog post about the list (can't find the list itself online) on, oddly enough, an "indie music blog"...

#4 - Comfortably Numb, #3 - Freebird, #2 - Eruption (by Van Halen), and #1 - Stairway to Heaven - can't say I disagree with that order! :D

Anyway, this is the best video of the song I could find. It's terribly long and boring, but not if you follow my timestamp suggestion: watch from 05:00 minutes left to 02:33 minutes left. That pretty much corresponds to the studio version I have.

PS - Eric Johnson has also been a guest of Vai and Satriani on G3 tours. Always worth mentioning, I say!