083010

What's It Called?

Paul Hartnoll - For Silence

What's The Story?

Paul Hartnoll was one of a brother-formed duo called Orbital. For Silence is an ambient symphonic electro track that is best known for its appearance in the Xbox 360 downloadable game Chime.

Who's To Blame?

Captain N's closest competition.

Why ♥ It?

This track has a number of different feels to it.

It begins by sounding like a tribal beat with bells. Quickly, upon entrance of vocals (which sound remarkably like you'd hear in a Cranberries track), the feel of the song starts moving from tribal and more towards that of a classic songstress.

The part at 2:15 is something that Clint Mansell would respect for its use of strings to create intensity.

Upon reaching 3:00, it doesn't feel like the song has evolved, but a fun exercise is to rewind the track to 1:00 or 1:20 and see how much the soundscape has erupted. It's surprising. The build is subtle but constant, turning an ambient tribal groove into a requiem.

For the best experience, I'd recommend tracking down the aforementioned Xbox 360 download. Being able to throw various notes over the versatile skeleton of For Silence gives it an even greater lustre than the track has as a standalone. It's only $5, and some of that gets donated to charity. So it isn't a waste per se.

Do it! Seriously, don't tell me you're out reading music blogs on the internet, but also thinking that you couldn't give an electro track a compelling voice using a simple game interface. That's just silly!

082910

What's It Called?

Lostprophets - The Fake Sound of Progress

What's The Story?

Yes, they're those Lostprophets; the emo band behind Last Train Home & Rooftops. This is the title track from their first album, released in 2001.

Who's To Blame?

A heavy metal rig pig.

Why ♥ It?

Get used to hearing that chorus that they open with; it's ever-present in this song. That's not a bad thing, though. Since they have the luxury of 4½ minutes (outro excluded) in this tune, it bears repeating.

The verses could pass for an electronic track, with vocals, simple drum & bass, effect-laden guitar sounds played at random, and turntables played on a similar interval. The tune carries well through these parts. The pre-chorus, with instruments coming together for some form of regularity, picks up intensity, and the chorus feels more like a punk or screamo song. This verse-bridge-chorus flow is great for while it lasts.

What comes from 3:22 on is a breakdown and intro where Lostprophets use the repetition they've built up with the chorus to give it an angry, lasting effect with an added vocal level of scream. And I positively love the da-da-da-da-da-da-da that kicks in at 3:32, harkening back to some of the things that older punk rock did very right.

I hate to be that guy with a music blog who says the popular band's older stuff is better, but... well, so it goes. Gotta give the stereotypes SOME basis, right?

082810

What's It Called?

Foals - Cassius

What's The Story?

Foals are a five-piece dance punk band from England. Cassius is the second track from their first album, Antidotes. They cite their main musical influences as Arthur Russell, Harmonia, Talking Heads and marijuana.

Hey, at least they're honest.

Who's To Blame?

A folk-playing big rig driver.

Why ♥ It?

This track has legitimate potential to move feet, despite its mishmash of contributors.

The high pitched guitar sounds throughout definitely show the marijuana influence, as taken on their own, they'd be a distant & hazy track, but along with the energetic drumming and moving bass, they sound less like Kyuss and more like the Arctic Monkeys' first two albums.

The drums, as mentioned, are always happening. Everything is quick and simple, and that allows the song to flow at the pace that it does.

The horns are a great addition too, much like a ska act, Foals throws them in sparingly in the perfect places to enhance their overall structure. Constant sustained notes are perfect to add a calm layer over the frenetic rock band.

These parts illustrate a gestalt; stoner rock guitar meets punk drumming and ska horns to make for an ungenred rock sound that, regardless of taxonomy, is worth moving to.

082710

What's It Called?

Neil Young - Alabama

What's The Story?

Odds are pretty good you've heard this one; from 1972's rock landmark Harvest, this track appeared alongside such timeless gems as Old Man, Heart of Gold and The Needle & The Damage Done.

Who's To Blame?

An always-laughing nautical engineer whose positive vibes are unmatched.

Why ♥ It?

The song opens sounding like a guitar riff from a rough cut jam session, but there's a realization that it's actually quite intentional once the clean, bright piano plays. I love the rough, uncut sound of the guitar that's persistent throughout.

The real draw of this tune for me is the chorus. The lyrics could be a metaphor for anything, and the whine of Neil's voice and fiery wail of the guitar sounds make it feel heavy and serious. A quick Wikipedia visit (or general knowledge of Neil Young; for me it was the former) reveals that the song is actually a stark condemnation of racism that pissed Lynyrd Skynyrd off enough to write Sweet Home Alabama. The idea of an anti-racist country tune is still something that doesn't come up all that often.

More on the chorus; the song is laid out in a way that's not entirely by the book. There's a chorus after the first verse, and then nothing until post-solo, when the track goes chorus-verse-chorus. It's a great way to convey a message and stick that part in your head. Rather than a chorus creating anticipation for a solo, the solo creates anticipation for another chorus. It's not unheard of, but it's not an everyday occurrence, and both the intrigue and the message of the song are enhanced by that.

This one's worth a reconsideration if you've never noticed any of the above before.

082610

What's It Called?

Fujiya & Miyagi - Knickerbocker

What's The Story?

Fujiya & Miyagi are an English group that started as a duo, but are now a quartet. They play minimalist, catchy pop rock. The track is from their largest commercial success, Lightbulbs.

Who's To Blame?

Two sweet friends whose names are neither Fujiya nor Miyagi.

Why ♥ It?

Vanilla, strawberry, knickerbocker glory.

Part of me would like to leave the post at that to do justice to the awesome minimalist style of the tune, but I like to talk (type?) so nevermind that. The song kicks in with a voice intro repeating the above for a few seconds, and then kicks into the main track: a constant, single bass note & about the simplest drum beat possible. They play with this format, adding bits of guitar & keys as the song progresses, but the spine of the track is one note, one beat and a stream of consciousness lyrical style that's more thought out than it first appears.

The lyrics themselves aren't minimalist at all, North American swine such as myself will find themselves Googling to figure out who in the hell Lena Zavaroni is, and what she has to do with anything.

Plain and simple, everything about this song is mindvirus, and I'm down with that.

082510

What's It Called?

Soilwork - As We Speak

What's The Story?

Soilwork are a heavy metal band from Sweden. As We Speak is a song that many of their fans affectionately refer to as "their pussy metal song". From 2002, it's on Natural Born Chaos, which was produced by Devin Townsend.

Who's To Blame?

A real life guitar hero with a Hetfield beard.

Why ♥ It?

The guitar in this song is so so heavy. The fact that the lyrics and synthesizers go for emotionally heavy only to help make the dirty, low guitar more effective. From the beginning and throughout the song, the post-processing process and guitar tech work in synchrony to make for a diabolical riff headlining the track throughout.

The scream of Speed Strid keeps up with the fast-paced verses, with the vocals in the chorus having a distinctively Devin Townsend creepiness in the their choral style.

The pre-solo bridge has a built intensity that the song plays with for 30 seconds or so. The palm muted guitar notes feel like a low, and the chords he plays feel like a high. With their powers combined the short riff constructs and destructs a great anticipation for what every metalhead is truly waiting for during a bridge: guitar solo!

The synth really reminds me of something, but I can't say what. Maybe someone could tell me? (Or maybe it just has one of those sounds that sounds like something previously heard anyways.)

Regardless, while death metal fans will spit on me for it, this is probably Soilwork's most attractive and accessible track, and anyone with any dabbling in metal should give it a listen.

082410

What's It Called?

Shawn Colvin - Crazy

What's The Story?

Shawn Colvin had a huge critically acclaimed album in the mid-90's, going as far as to win a Grammy for song of the year. Then, her, Christina Applegate, Fiona Apple and Alicia Silverstone all boarded a bus and were never heard from again.

...Until 2007, when she released a folk cover of the smash Gnarls Barkley hit, Crazy.

Who's To Blame?

A website where people trade obscenely overvalued inky pieces of cardboard.

Why ♥ It?

Shawn Colvin delivers this song in a manner that's not unprecedented, but shines regardless. This came out around the time when acoustic guitar Youtube covers of popular songs (see: Umbrella, Hey Ya, etc.) were all the rage and approaching a critical mass of overdoneness.

However, one thing that separates Shawn Colvin from the rest is that she's not a twenty-something who did it to get a laugh out of her friends; her mainstream success didn't come until she was nearing 40 and divorced. So, one thing about her folk style is that it's hardened in the way that many heroic folk/country artists are. She's been everywhere, man. When you listen to this novel pop hit delivered by a fifty year old siren, it has an entirely new context that robs the tune of its camp novelty and morphs the lyrics into a life lesson.

Oh, and the guitar work does bright justice to the original, too.

But mostly the other stuff.