Thinking about Music
Lately a few songs have been swimming through my head. I guess you would call them current favorites. Albums I've focused on more than others... So, for lack of nothing better to do, I'll go over a few of them. I mean, my analysis of each song may be completely wrong, and I may not make any sense. But it sounds right in my head. Which is what's important...I guess.
The Swans- The Great Annihilator: A later Swans album. My favorite of theirs. I love the Swans because they're very abusive, terrifying, and almost painful to listen to, and Michael Gira doesn't even have to scream the lyrics. His voice just oozes with misery and hate. Aside from being the perfect drinking album, (assuming you're drinking because you hate everything about life.) there's a couple of songs on Great Annihilator that put me in a sort of meditative state when I hear them. Leaving me feeling saddened and content at the same time.
She lives- It's the song that really got me into the Swans. It's almost hypnotic. And it proves that you don't need to tune your electric guitar down to A to play something really deadly and heavy. It's just acoustic guitar and chamber-like pounding drums ... atmospheric. Kind of scary. And really very heavy. And the changeover to the seperate progression towards the end of the song gives it even more weight and kind of helps you move on to the next part of the album. The vocals are somber and deeply penetrating. He really sounds like a drunk... to me anyways. But I just love that song. He's happy you're insane. Encouraging you to burn. I don't really think too hard about the deeper meaning behind it. I just get into it.
Killing for Company- Daniel embedded this one into me before I heard the whole album though. It's like his signature track or something. Once again. Acoustic guitars, chamberly drumming. It's so solid in it's simplicity. And it's very haunting. This time the vocals are almost longing. Whistful. But once again- kind of scary. I like this song because the overtones to me are rather sexual and almost loving, while at the same time, threatening and unsympathetic. He takes the horrific thing that's being done, and goes over his love of it like an afterthought. I may be wrong on my interpretation, but that's the feeling I get. Jarboe's backup "lalalas" moves in towards the end bringing it to an ethereal level while Michael just moans and sighs over and over. It's enchanting really. And slightly disturbing.
Depeche Mode- Songs of Faith and Devotion: Depeche Mode will always be awesome. Sure, Martin Gore has sang some slightly corny lines in his career and Exciter wasn't exactly exciting to me. But they were revolutionary, poppy and always catchy, and this particular album is marvelous. I listen to it... well, often. As Martin put it: it pegs the question, Faith for who? Devotion to what? It can mean many things, and the music itself is well written, and the production- excellent. There was great work done with the arranging.
I Feel You- David came from America all doped up and rock starred...and I believe this is around when they decided to become more rock-oriented, and they manage to do it, and still have the flair of Depeche Mode. They can write a song. This one is the ultimate Depeche sex anthem. They have that chick from Dracula: Dead and Loving It for the video. And David, though dancing rather hilariously, is the perfect iconic front-man who dominates the attention of the video. The song is very catchy and not only sexual, but meaningful. It's more than just lust. It's a strong emotional connection and that only heightens the attraction.
In Your Room- Captivating. I can't decide between the album and single version. Both are just really passionate and moving. It's an interesting take on obsession and ownership. David Gahan gives a great performance. You believe every line of affection and you can also feel the desire to escape the entrapment of his (Gore's) fancy. It's very epic in its tone and it progresses a great deal with a dramatic climax.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Murder Ballads: Okay so all of the songs are about murder. Except for the last one. It's a Bob Dylan cover. That sounds more like a a suicide anthem when sung by Nick and his crew. The album features duets with Kylie Minogue and PJ Harvey both very sultry and tear jerking if you're in the right mood. Nick Cave is an excellent song writer and he seems to just belch them out with little to no effort. I mean I'm sure it isn't easy, but he has the talent that makes it seem that way. It's a creepy record and the Southern American influence resounds throughout making you think of old Westerns and gunslinger flicks. And of course, his voice is deep, meaningful, and sometimes just a little jesting.
Song of Joy- I think that this first track is the most menacing. One thing I love about Nick Cave is that often times you have to sit and listen to the whole song, not just for the benefit of good music, but because he has a story to tell. This is a prime example- "I will tell you a story of a man and his family". It's in the first person, a man comes to a stranger's doorstep and tells of how year ago, his wife and children were taken from him when a late night prowler broke in to his house while he was away and stabbed them all to death. It's done in a way that really draws you into the character's past and he sings it as if it were an acting gig. And I also believe it's rather heavily implied that now the character drifts around killing others in search for the one who took his family. It also features one of the best lyrics ever. "Hail, horrors, hail!". Such an eventful line showing you pretty much what his life is taken up by now. The music itself is very dramatic and melancholy with his typical assortment of terrible atmospheric noises. It's a very good and moody track.
The Curse of Millhaven- I have to include this one because it's the first Murder Ballads song I ever heard. Don heard me comment earlier on how much I like the name Lottie after watching Being John Malkovich and so said, "well have I the song for you!" Sadly at that particular time, my blood sugar was so low, I didn't care what was on the stereo, I just wanted some damn food and it wasn't for many months until I heard it again and actually listened. It's an almost joyful fast paced tune with the same progression as "Henry lee" an earlier track on the album. Lottie is a young girl who takes delight in "cursing" her small town by killing it's denizens and pretty much claiming insanity. It's interesting because Nick most often sings in the first person, but rarely does her take the form of a small girl in one of his narratives. And as the song progresses, you believe that he's "closing on [his] fifteenth year". If you look past the fact that the song is a right bloodbath, it has a sort of frivolous and carefree quality to it. It's hard not to want to do a jig to this southern style wicked tale.
Echo and the Bunnymen- Ocean Rain: This is an album I can't get enough of. After hearing Songs to Learn and Sing several times, I decided I wanted an actual album, and this is what I got. Every single song is excellent, and it has numerous moving tracks. I love the use of strings with this band and they are used to great effect with Ocean Rain. It also really makes me think of the Doors. Ian McCulloch rather reminds me of Jim Morrison as I think he has much of the same vocal quality. He seems to really like consonant sounds and will repeat the first noise of his words often to emphasize them. Or maybe he just thinks it makes his songs interesting... either way, it has a meaningful effect for me, and I always have this CD near me when making the trek to work. There are two songs of all the ones I love on here that I think should be brought up. The title track, and that single everyone knows from Donnie Darko...
The Killing Moon- Don once made a CD of songs he wanted to one day cover, and this was on it. And right before it was "People are Strange" by the Doors. So then I thought of that Echo cover. I had always already associated them with the Doors because of that. (That is until I found Doc Hammer's Myspace and he had this song on there. Now I just think of hair that strippers can't pull off that looks good on him when I hear it.) This song, I think is climactic of the album. It's quality is slightly different from the other songs. I suppose it's probably a tune about losing the girl you love to some other man, but every time I hear it, I get something different than that out of it. I think it's about death. Or rather, the personification of Fate and how it always leads up to her man, Death. "So soon you'll take me, up in your arms too late to beg you...Killing time, unwillingly mine" gives me that feeling that when it's upon you, that's it. It's happening and it's all yours. Whether you want it or not. "Fate up against your will". I could be absolutely wrong, but that's the impression I get.
Ocean Rain- The first time I listened to this CD the whole way through was on my way to work. I heard this song rather distractedly and went on to say "Oh, a slow sad song, okay." A few nights later I was driving home and there was much less traffic for me to deal with and I got to actually take in the music. When this track came on, and I finally heard it the way I was meant to, I was close to tears. It's a beautiful song. The one verse and chorus repeats itself over and over, but I think that's what it may be about. Repetition of a hurtful habit. Though I will admit that Ian's lyrics often allude me when trying to think of some greater meaning, so again I could be wrong. But I think here he's reminiscing on how he can't help but "sail" out again, even though each time he does, his own rain drowns him and leaves him... I suppose, depressed. Like I said, some people are better analysts than I, but that's my general take. Although when I listen to it, I don't try to hard too figure out it's meaning. The tone takes you to somewhere tired and full of memories. And it's up to you the listener what those memories are. It's overall music is almost hopeful, but it seems weary of hopefulness. This is a song you can drink to.
Nine Inch Nails- The Downward Spiral: You knew it was coming! What can I say? I'll always be a fan. This album plays with sounds and rhythmic noise in manner that leaves you wondering what the HELL is going through Trent's mind. But he knows better than we do because those sounds seem to capture perfectly what the brain feels when it's reaching the outer limits of inconsolable despair. When I listen to TDS, I imagine a man huddled in his dark room tormented by his own mind. Each song takes you further down the rails of insanity. But in the end, the insanity drives the listener to the final truth and everything is peeled off the surface. So there is nothing left to deal with but the bare reality. And that reality is: shit sucks. Of course there's more to it than that, but an entire analysis of the album isn't what I'm about to do at the moment. Just a couple of songs that have left an impression. I would go with three, but I've done two with everything else. I think the main single, and my personal favorite track would suffice.
Closer- Everyone knows this song. Everyone knows that it sings "I want to fuck you like an animal". In fact, that's what most people think the title of the song is. And that that's what the song is about. Lust. But it's more than that I think. Aside from being a righteously catchy tune with a memorable sampled beat, it's a song about self-loathing. The narrator feels lower than dirt. Nearly less than human. He's shunned away all religion, and pretty much all human contact. Except for this girl of his (or maybe it's a whore, I'm not sure which at this point in the story). The only thing that makes him feel like anything more than an unholy worm is that fact that this girl lets him fuck her. It's a dirty, filthy lust that bears no purpose other than to let him stay inside this person that he feels is better than him on some level. Aside from the deeper meaning, (We all want to be deep) I love the layers of this song. It just progresses and builds up on top of itself until the very end when it all shuts down and you're left with an almost apologetic melody shuddering on the surface and when it's done, it wastes no time in moving away from the muddy spot and into the next track. It's very well put together.
Eraser- Of the three times I have seen Nine Inch Nails live, I believe they've only played this one once for me. And I took in every nuance that came with it. It starts with some noise. Sounds like a machine of some sort, then a distorted vocal whining is introduced and it moves on from there into the guitar melody. The song is timid and hissing at first. Then by the climax of it at the end, it's overpowering and demands you notice. It's like rage boiling, building up until there's nothing left to do but pretty much say what needs to be said. And at that point, you're so worked up by the anger you're feeling, you're practically raving like a lunatic. But it doesn't matter because as long as you let everything out, you don't have a chance of spilling over. That's the best way I can describe the song. The pounding rhythm is so hypnotic and powerful that I can't imagine anything but anger. I love it because it eventually takes on a great epic dominance and it's best heard loud. It really introduces a tortured and and wretchedly mad feeling and anyone having a bad day on some level can relate to it.
So if you've read this far, I thank you for having the interest or boredom to look over the songs that have been sitting with me lately. I don't know why an urge to write about them overcame me, but here it is. Like I said, I don't have any expertise in analyzing songs. This is just how I take them. . .
The Swans- The Great Annihilator: A later Swans album. My favorite of theirs. I love the Swans because they're very abusive, terrifying, and almost painful to listen to, and Michael Gira doesn't even have to scream the lyrics. His voice just oozes with misery and hate. Aside from being the perfect drinking album, (assuming you're drinking because you hate everything about life.) there's a couple of songs on Great Annihilator that put me in a sort of meditative state when I hear them. Leaving me feeling saddened and content at the same time.
She lives- It's the song that really got me into the Swans. It's almost hypnotic. And it proves that you don't need to tune your electric guitar down to A to play something really deadly and heavy. It's just acoustic guitar and chamber-like pounding drums ... atmospheric. Kind of scary. And really very heavy. And the changeover to the seperate progression towards the end of the song gives it even more weight and kind of helps you move on to the next part of the album. The vocals are somber and deeply penetrating. He really sounds like a drunk... to me anyways. But I just love that song. He's happy you're insane. Encouraging you to burn. I don't really think too hard about the deeper meaning behind it. I just get into it.
Killing for Company- Daniel embedded this one into me before I heard the whole album though. It's like his signature track or something. Once again. Acoustic guitars, chamberly drumming. It's so solid in it's simplicity. And it's very haunting. This time the vocals are almost longing. Whistful. But once again- kind of scary. I like this song because the overtones to me are rather sexual and almost loving, while at the same time, threatening and unsympathetic. He takes the horrific thing that's being done, and goes over his love of it like an afterthought. I may be wrong on my interpretation, but that's the feeling I get. Jarboe's backup "lalalas" moves in towards the end bringing it to an ethereal level while Michael just moans and sighs over and over. It's enchanting really. And slightly disturbing.
Depeche Mode- Songs of Faith and Devotion: Depeche Mode will always be awesome. Sure, Martin Gore has sang some slightly corny lines in his career and Exciter wasn't exactly exciting to me. But they were revolutionary, poppy and always catchy, and this particular album is marvelous. I listen to it... well, often. As Martin put it: it pegs the question, Faith for who? Devotion to what? It can mean many things, and the music itself is well written, and the production- excellent. There was great work done with the arranging.
I Feel You- David came from America all doped up and rock starred...and I believe this is around when they decided to become more rock-oriented, and they manage to do it, and still have the flair of Depeche Mode. They can write a song. This one is the ultimate Depeche sex anthem. They have that chick from Dracula: Dead and Loving It for the video. And David, though dancing rather hilariously, is the perfect iconic front-man who dominates the attention of the video. The song is very catchy and not only sexual, but meaningful. It's more than just lust. It's a strong emotional connection and that only heightens the attraction.
In Your Room- Captivating. I can't decide between the album and single version. Both are just really passionate and moving. It's an interesting take on obsession and ownership. David Gahan gives a great performance. You believe every line of affection and you can also feel the desire to escape the entrapment of his (Gore's) fancy. It's very epic in its tone and it progresses a great deal with a dramatic climax.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Murder Ballads: Okay so all of the songs are about murder. Except for the last one. It's a Bob Dylan cover. That sounds more like a a suicide anthem when sung by Nick and his crew. The album features duets with Kylie Minogue and PJ Harvey both very sultry and tear jerking if you're in the right mood. Nick Cave is an excellent song writer and he seems to just belch them out with little to no effort. I mean I'm sure it isn't easy, but he has the talent that makes it seem that way. It's a creepy record and the Southern American influence resounds throughout making you think of old Westerns and gunslinger flicks. And of course, his voice is deep, meaningful, and sometimes just a little jesting.
Song of Joy- I think that this first track is the most menacing. One thing I love about Nick Cave is that often times you have to sit and listen to the whole song, not just for the benefit of good music, but because he has a story to tell. This is a prime example- "I will tell you a story of a man and his family". It's in the first person, a man comes to a stranger's doorstep and tells of how year ago, his wife and children were taken from him when a late night prowler broke in to his house while he was away and stabbed them all to death. It's done in a way that really draws you into the character's past and he sings it as if it were an acting gig. And I also believe it's rather heavily implied that now the character drifts around killing others in search for the one who took his family. It also features one of the best lyrics ever. "Hail, horrors, hail!". Such an eventful line showing you pretty much what his life is taken up by now. The music itself is very dramatic and melancholy with his typical assortment of terrible atmospheric noises. It's a very good and moody track.
The Curse of Millhaven- I have to include this one because it's the first Murder Ballads song I ever heard. Don heard me comment earlier on how much I like the name Lottie after watching Being John Malkovich and so said, "well have I the song for you!" Sadly at that particular time, my blood sugar was so low, I didn't care what was on the stereo, I just wanted some damn food and it wasn't for many months until I heard it again and actually listened. It's an almost joyful fast paced tune with the same progression as "Henry lee" an earlier track on the album. Lottie is a young girl who takes delight in "cursing" her small town by killing it's denizens and pretty much claiming insanity. It's interesting because Nick most often sings in the first person, but rarely does her take the form of a small girl in one of his narratives. And as the song progresses, you believe that he's "closing on [his] fifteenth year". If you look past the fact that the song is a right bloodbath, it has a sort of frivolous and carefree quality to it. It's hard not to want to do a jig to this southern style wicked tale.
Echo and the Bunnymen- Ocean Rain: This is an album I can't get enough of. After hearing Songs to Learn and Sing several times, I decided I wanted an actual album, and this is what I got. Every single song is excellent, and it has numerous moving tracks. I love the use of strings with this band and they are used to great effect with Ocean Rain. It also really makes me think of the Doors. Ian McCulloch rather reminds me of Jim Morrison as I think he has much of the same vocal quality. He seems to really like consonant sounds and will repeat the first noise of his words often to emphasize them. Or maybe he just thinks it makes his songs interesting... either way, it has a meaningful effect for me, and I always have this CD near me when making the trek to work. There are two songs of all the ones I love on here that I think should be brought up. The title track, and that single everyone knows from Donnie Darko...
The Killing Moon- Don once made a CD of songs he wanted to one day cover, and this was on it. And right before it was "People are Strange" by the Doors. So then I thought of that Echo cover. I had always already associated them with the Doors because of that. (That is until I found Doc Hammer's Myspace and he had this song on there. Now I just think of hair that strippers can't pull off that looks good on him when I hear it.) This song, I think is climactic of the album. It's quality is slightly different from the other songs. I suppose it's probably a tune about losing the girl you love to some other man, but every time I hear it, I get something different than that out of it. I think it's about death. Or rather, the personification of Fate and how it always leads up to her man, Death. "So soon you'll take me, up in your arms too late to beg you...Killing time, unwillingly mine" gives me that feeling that when it's upon you, that's it. It's happening and it's all yours. Whether you want it or not. "Fate up against your will". I could be absolutely wrong, but that's the impression I get.
Ocean Rain- The first time I listened to this CD the whole way through was on my way to work. I heard this song rather distractedly and went on to say "Oh, a slow sad song, okay." A few nights later I was driving home and there was much less traffic for me to deal with and I got to actually take in the music. When this track came on, and I finally heard it the way I was meant to, I was close to tears. It's a beautiful song. The one verse and chorus repeats itself over and over, but I think that's what it may be about. Repetition of a hurtful habit. Though I will admit that Ian's lyrics often allude me when trying to think of some greater meaning, so again I could be wrong. But I think here he's reminiscing on how he can't help but "sail" out again, even though each time he does, his own rain drowns him and leaves him... I suppose, depressed. Like I said, some people are better analysts than I, but that's my general take. Although when I listen to it, I don't try to hard too figure out it's meaning. The tone takes you to somewhere tired and full of memories. And it's up to you the listener what those memories are. It's overall music is almost hopeful, but it seems weary of hopefulness. This is a song you can drink to.
Nine Inch Nails- The Downward Spiral: You knew it was coming! What can I say? I'll always be a fan. This album plays with sounds and rhythmic noise in manner that leaves you wondering what the HELL is going through Trent's mind. But he knows better than we do because those sounds seem to capture perfectly what the brain feels when it's reaching the outer limits of inconsolable despair. When I listen to TDS, I imagine a man huddled in his dark room tormented by his own mind. Each song takes you further down the rails of insanity. But in the end, the insanity drives the listener to the final truth and everything is peeled off the surface. So there is nothing left to deal with but the bare reality. And that reality is: shit sucks. Of course there's more to it than that, but an entire analysis of the album isn't what I'm about to do at the moment. Just a couple of songs that have left an impression. I would go with three, but I've done two with everything else. I think the main single, and my personal favorite track would suffice.
Closer- Everyone knows this song. Everyone knows that it sings "I want to fuck you like an animal". In fact, that's what most people think the title of the song is. And that that's what the song is about. Lust. But it's more than that I think. Aside from being a righteously catchy tune with a memorable sampled beat, it's a song about self-loathing. The narrator feels lower than dirt. Nearly less than human. He's shunned away all religion, and pretty much all human contact. Except for this girl of his (or maybe it's a whore, I'm not sure which at this point in the story). The only thing that makes him feel like anything more than an unholy worm is that fact that this girl lets him fuck her. It's a dirty, filthy lust that bears no purpose other than to let him stay inside this person that he feels is better than him on some level. Aside from the deeper meaning, (We all want to be deep) I love the layers of this song. It just progresses and builds up on top of itself until the very end when it all shuts down and you're left with an almost apologetic melody shuddering on the surface and when it's done, it wastes no time in moving away from the muddy spot and into the next track. It's very well put together.
Eraser- Of the three times I have seen Nine Inch Nails live, I believe they've only played this one once for me. And I took in every nuance that came with it. It starts with some noise. Sounds like a machine of some sort, then a distorted vocal whining is introduced and it moves on from there into the guitar melody. The song is timid and hissing at first. Then by the climax of it at the end, it's overpowering and demands you notice. It's like rage boiling, building up until there's nothing left to do but pretty much say what needs to be said. And at that point, you're so worked up by the anger you're feeling, you're practically raving like a lunatic. But it doesn't matter because as long as you let everything out, you don't have a chance of spilling over. That's the best way I can describe the song. The pounding rhythm is so hypnotic and powerful that I can't imagine anything but anger. I love it because it eventually takes on a great epic dominance and it's best heard loud. It really introduces a tortured and and wretchedly mad feeling and anyone having a bad day on some level can relate to it.
So if you've read this far, I thank you for having the interest or boredom to look over the songs that have been sitting with me lately. I don't know why an urge to write about them overcame me, but here it is. Like I said, I don't have any expertise in analyzing songs. This is just how I take them. . .