music is the victim...
i'm procrastinating and hiding in books while seemingly everyone i know takes a turn at going to pieces. what is UP with this season?
this is a slightly different distraction.
so, i know i did that music meme six months ago. it's music, though, and making the rounds again. this time, pixie_riot threw me a bone-y M as my task under familiar instructions:
1. Reply to this post and I'll assign you a letter.
2. List (and upload) 5 songs you love that begin with that letter.
3. Post them to your journal with these instructions.
narowing it down is always the trick. love takes time to really root itself properly. there's nothing immediately new and shiny here, so i'll offer up some nostalgia:
Santogold - My Superman
i know she ripped the entire structure from siouxsie's 'Red Light' and could have done a direct cover if she'd wanted to. i don't mind, with a voice like this i think she's the only one who could properly cover a Banshees' tune. also, the summer this album was released was an amazing one. lots of good memories associated here.
David Bowie - Modern Love
while i grew up with 'Let's Dance' as a household staple, that golden first track was probably one of the first i got in trouble for singing at school. elton motello's (NSFW) jet boy, jet girl was another, but that's a bigger story. this is brilliant pop from a bygone era and there has never been a time when i have not loved this man's voice.
The Pixies - Monkey Gone to Heaven
away from my parents' good taste of the decade, i found these guys on my own. a little later than the cool kids but no less a convert for't. there's a break from the established pattern at the two-minute-mark, i get the sense it wasn't just recording-booth histrionics. that bowie would go on to cover his 'cactus tree' song only cemented my love for both.
Tegan and Sara - My Number
so i spend too much time sulking in headphones. it fits the melodrama of the unlikely crush and the prerequisite of a percussive line so solid you could trip over it. i'm good at that. they remind me of another sister pair, anne and nancy wilson of heart -- voices so similar, yet different. i've been found guilty of singing this one in the shower.
PJ Harvey - Meet Ze Monsta
speaking of heavy percussion, this one's not afraid of being overpowered by anything. i found her by accident, in an all-night cafe after missing the last bus home. she howled louder and longer than any female vocalist i'd ever heard, and she didn't bother to try and make it pretty either. instant.respect. who wouldn't want to get caught up in that storm?
honorable mentions:
Gary Jules' cover of - Mad World
sadder, slower, more beautiful than the original. a delicate dirge.
The Cure - Mint Car
full of vanilla smiles and a gorgeous strawberry kiss, a rare moment when mr. bob is happy and almost sincere in his mania. the flipside of tegan and sara's track, sometimes having is better than wanting. by far.
Tori Amos - Mother
she had me with "circus girl without a safety net," at a time when changing my name was a thought equally as awful as turning into my own mother.
Tom Waits - Mr. Siegal
the plinkety old piano with waits' whiskey-sodden rasp makes me want to raise a glass and join him. how do angels get to sleep when the devil leaves the porchlight on?
Primitive Radio Gods - Motherf**ker
mostly a one-hit wonder for standing outside a broken phonebooth..., this gem lies under an album of meh. angry guitar and terse vocals burst into melodic fury, riveting my fourteen-year-old self. now he seems a little self-righteous but i love it anyway.
and the books? just finished Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, a good long while after a good many people suggested it. best book on religion i may have ever read, and it's an eloquently biting, wickedly funny satire. i'm having trouble looking at my little golden-painted ho-tai statue in quite the same way, charmer that he is. ♥ ♥ ♥
this is a slightly different distraction.
so, i know i did that music meme six months ago. it's music, though, and making the rounds again. this time, pixie_riot threw me a bone-y M as my task under familiar instructions:
1. Reply to this post and I'll assign you a letter.
2. List (and upload) 5 songs you love that begin with that letter.
3. Post them to your journal with these instructions.
narowing it down is always the trick. love takes time to really root itself properly. there's nothing immediately new and shiny here, so i'll offer up some nostalgia:
Santogold - My Superman
i know she ripped the entire structure from siouxsie's 'Red Light' and could have done a direct cover if she'd wanted to. i don't mind, with a voice like this i think she's the only one who could properly cover a Banshees' tune. also, the summer this album was released was an amazing one. lots of good memories associated here.
David Bowie - Modern Love
while i grew up with 'Let's Dance' as a household staple, that golden first track was probably one of the first i got in trouble for singing at school. elton motello's (NSFW) jet boy, jet girl was another, but that's a bigger story. this is brilliant pop from a bygone era and there has never been a time when i have not loved this man's voice.
The Pixies - Monkey Gone to Heaven
away from my parents' good taste of the decade, i found these guys on my own. a little later than the cool kids but no less a convert for't. there's a break from the established pattern at the two-minute-mark, i get the sense it wasn't just recording-booth histrionics. that bowie would go on to cover his 'cactus tree' song only cemented my love for both.
Tegan and Sara - My Number
so i spend too much time sulking in headphones. it fits the melodrama of the unlikely crush and the prerequisite of a percussive line so solid you could trip over it. i'm good at that. they remind me of another sister pair, anne and nancy wilson of heart -- voices so similar, yet different. i've been found guilty of singing this one in the shower.
PJ Harvey - Meet Ze Monsta
speaking of heavy percussion, this one's not afraid of being overpowered by anything. i found her by accident, in an all-night cafe after missing the last bus home. she howled louder and longer than any female vocalist i'd ever heard, and she didn't bother to try and make it pretty either. instant.respect. who wouldn't want to get caught up in that storm?
honorable mentions:
Gary Jules' cover of - Mad World
sadder, slower, more beautiful than the original. a delicate dirge.
The Cure - Mint Car
full of vanilla smiles and a gorgeous strawberry kiss, a rare moment when mr. bob is happy and almost sincere in his mania. the flipside of tegan and sara's track, sometimes having is better than wanting. by far.
Tori Amos - Mother
she had me with "circus girl without a safety net," at a time when changing my name was a thought equally as awful as turning into my own mother.
Tom Waits - Mr. Siegal
the plinkety old piano with waits' whiskey-sodden rasp makes me want to raise a glass and join him. how do angels get to sleep when the devil leaves the porchlight on?
Primitive Radio Gods - Motherf**ker
mostly a one-hit wonder for standing outside a broken phonebooth..., this gem lies under an album of meh. angry guitar and terse vocals burst into melodic fury, riveting my fourteen-year-old self. now he seems a little self-righteous but i love it anyway.
and the books? just finished Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, a good long while after a good many people suggested it. best book on religion i may have ever read, and it's an eloquently biting, wickedly funny satire. i'm having trouble looking at my little golden-painted ho-tai statue in quite the same way, charmer that he is. ♥ ♥ ♥