The Weeknd as the most exciting thing to have happened to music this year, easily. You can keep your mundane and generic sounds. The Weeknd took R&B to a level it should’ve been at years ago. I still stand by that the genre lost all meaning when Aaliyah died. The production and sounds on her second album, One In A Million was so advanced and took you to a different world. That’s exactly what The Weeknd has done; especially with yesterday’s release Echoes Of Silence.
You know an artist is utterly incredible when their site crashes due to an insane amount of downloads. He has, no doubt, made R&B an exciting genre again. What I love about him, is that his music takes you mind to a different place- just like Burial does. There is something so stunning about The Weeknd’s music that just sets your soul on fire. You have to just put your headphones in, shut off the world, turn the lights off and go some place else. Just let yourself freely drift there. The journey to that place is so euphoric, the comedown isn’t something you should dwell on- just keep playing his music.
Echoes Of Silence is avaliable on his site for free download- as are his previous two mixtapes that you need in your life. If the current state of music leaves you crying into your hands most days- then let The Weeknd ease the pain and reinforce your faith in music again.
It’s been just over a year since one of my musical heroes died. Don Van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart was one of the few artists that from first listen, just captured me entirely. His lyrics don’t “describe my life.” His music just sends you off into a wonderful and lucid world. A perfect sense of escaping and finding something better. He merged so many genres of music together, and just made his own. His voice will always be one of the most distinctive voices in music. There will never be anyone quite as magnetising and inspiring as Don- it just wouldn’t seem right if anyone tried to even attempt to be like him. If you don’t have any of his records in your collection, you are depriving yourself of some of the most pure, brutual and honest masterpieces you will ever hear. Safe As Milk is my favourite record by Captain Beefheart, I also regard it as one of the greatest albums and debut albums of all time. You just knew that, if he could make something like this as his first record, then you knew he would be regarded as one of the greats.
I cannot remember the first time I heard Don’s music, but I do know I was listening to a John Peel show- when I probably should’ve been asleep so I could be functioning for school the following morning. Thing is, John Peel taught me more than any teacher ever could. I have no doubt in my mind that John Peel and Don are hanging out in that place we go to when our hearts stop beating. I have no idea where that place is; or what that place is- but it has to exist.
So this week, this mixtape is a tribute to Captain Beefheart. A selection of my favourite tracks by one of my absolute heroes and inspiration.
Finding bands by accident makes me happy. To me, it’s on a par on finding £1 in my pocket. As someone who is constantly poor (even though I have a job) finding that in my pocket does bring joy. What also makes me happy are duos in music. I’ve found a new favourite duo. Masquer.
I know nothing about them. All I know is that they make incredible music that makes you feel so bloody glad to be breathing. I think they’re from Sweden. This again proves my point that duos and musicians from Sweden are pretty damn good. Anyway, you don’t need me to ramble on like a child that has drank too much Cherryade. Have some songs:
It is obvious that Phil Spector is THE greatest record producer of all time. Wall Of Sound has influenced, and still does influenced so many. The way the drums are produced to echo so loudly and so grand is just beautiful. He has produced some of the best records of all time. Anyone who can start a movement in music like that is a genius. Aside from Punk, girl groups from the 1960s well and truly own my heart. I love the production in everything. How the vocals sound so perfect and clear.
I know that Mr.Spector isn’t exactly the posterchild for clean living- but his personal life has nothing to do with you or I. He has produced so many records from the likes of The Ronnettes to the Ramones. His songs are still being covered to this very day. What he created also influenced one of the greatest records of all time; Back To Black by Amy Winehouse. I don’t go out of my way to purposely find new muisc. A lot of the time, I listen to stuff that was made decades before I was born. It’s frustrating because nothing will ever be as amazing as that again. Music now will never have that power. It’s a shame, and it always makes me believe I was born in the wrong era. Imagine hearing songs by The Crystals or The Girlfriends for the very first time- as it was happening.
So, this week’s mix is going to be my favourite tracks that Phil Spector produced. Songs that still cover me in goose bumps when I listen them now. Songs that I will search for eternity to find on vinyl because I know they will sound so much better; and will have that vulnerable feel to it that sounds so much more intense and painful accompanied with the crackling background noise.
These are the songs that define Phil Spector’s career and the era of the Wall Of Sound. Enjoy :
Basically, this is better than Video Games. Video Games is just a distant memory now. Born To Die is far better. I do like Video Games. I just prefer her other songs such as Yayo, Diet Mtn Dew and Blue Jeans. Then you have Born To Die; which is on a totally different level to anything she has done (whether as Lana or Lizzy Grant.) It’s just mind-blowingly (that’s now a word) GOOD.Good isn’t even the word I should use, but when something is so beautiful- you sometimes struggle to find words to use that do it justice.
What I love about Lana is that she has this ability to get to the very root of your soul with her songs. It doesn’t have to be the whole song that does this to you. It can be this one line of her songs that just send you into some kind of trance or whatever- causing every muscle to spasm. You freeze and cannot focus because she has, somehow, said EVERYTHING you’ve had on the tip of your tongue. Like most musicians, she says it better than you could ever imagine. The way you planned it in your head seems so irrelevant and not enough. Then you hear one of her songs, and all you feel becomes so clear.
So to Hell with if she is a gimmick or not. I’m sure a gimmick doesn’t have this much talent. She is so pure with her music and everso vulnerable with her words. She sums up that side of love you think you will never feel. You think you will never feel it- but then you listen to Born To Die, and somehow, you feel it deeper than anything else you’ve felt in a long time.
It takes a LOT for me to like a cover. It takes even more for me to even listen to someone cover The Smiths or Morrissey. Dum Dum Girls are the only ones to have covered a song by The Smiths that I love as much as the original. I try to not listen to covers of songs I love, that I have such an emotional connection with because I really don’t want the song that means the world to me, to be royally fucked up and enitirely ruined.
Did I think that The Chapman Family would ruin a Morrissey song? No. Far from it. I knew that they would make it their own. However, I didn’t expect it to make me instantly cry because for some reason or another, I felt it more than I did compared to when hearing Moz sing it. Maybe it’s because Kingsley’s voice is so haunting on this cover. He sounds just as perfect as Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen. He’s made the song less witty- and more frustrated, and dark.
You see, Morrissey makes you listen to the song and take it in a comical manner. You sort of ignore how frustrated he seems. The way in which Kingsley sings it, my god, it just breaks your heart. Today, during my lunch break I walked on the beach. The cold wind challenged my ability to walk without the odd wobble. The grey sea had seagulls bobbing along, probably freezing to death. Everyday Is Like Sunday never seemed so fitting. I always associate this song with the Isle of Man (please someone take me away from here.) and after hearing Morrissey sing it here this year, it just meant even more.
For some reason, The Chapman Family’s version of this song touches my heart in a different and maybe deeper way. If I could put it into words that could make sense- I would. However, I don’t think I can. Easily one of my favourite covers I’ve ever heard. A truly underrated band, no doubt.
I have unconditional love for Creep and Holly Miranda. This collaboration made me excited like a child on Christmas Day. I care more for this song than I do for Christmas. It’s just perfect. Holly Miranda and Creep are both so underrated- it’s wrong. This needs sorting out, urgently!
I cannot stand songs that go on and on about being in love or how wonderful the world seems. I can’t relate to it, so I don’t really care for it. I love songs and artists that drag out the ugly, and dark feelings we are conditioned to ignore. The feelings we are told to never speak of. I love it when an artist has the guts to sing the songs that reach for your soul and just crush you. It crushes you in a way that leaves you crippled with so many painful feelings; you just don’t know what to do with them. I don’t mean songs about having your heart broken by someone. That isn’t the only bad feeling in the world. There is more to life than being in love and losing love. However, again; we are conditioned to seek love from another so we can justify our existence. Personally, it’s utter bollocks. You validate your existence in your own way. It doesn’t have to mean you have to be in love to do so.
Although I love songs that rake out the harsh and brutal feelings we are meant to push aside, this doesn’t mean I walk around hating life and everyone. I’m an average human being; nothing special. I hate no one, I hate nothing. I don’t have it in me to have that feeling at all. There’s good and bad in everything, and in everyone. I’m not someone who is against being in love; I’m sure it’s a delightful thing when it goes right. I just find the darker side, the things we are told to not go near much more interesting.
There is something romantic and comforting about hearing a song that just oozes pain and despair. Heroin by Velvet Underground is one of the most gut-wrenching and heart breaking songs ever written. It isn’t about a lover. It is fairly obvious what it is about. Every single time I listen to it, it just delves into a part of me; I cannot imagine a cheery song doing this to me. Don’t get me wrong, I do listen to a lot of music that someone could pass as “happy.” However, bands such as Velvet Underground make me happy because of what they mean to me. It doesn’t matter what song I play by them, it just goes to a part of me that, although the lyrics can be quite sad- it still makes me happy. It makes me happy that I have a band like that in my life, that mean so much to me. The same can be applied to The Jesus And Mary Chain, Spiritualized and Townes Van Zandt.
One of the first songs I remember hearing by Spiritualized was Broken Heart. If anyone was to ever list the songs that could break a person in so many ways- this should be at the top. Jason Pierce has this way of projecting such frailness and vulnerability into his lyrics that make you connect so deeply with what he is saying. He takes you right down to rock bottom with him. Thing is, you don’t want to get back up from it. He was one of the first artists I really remember feeling this way about. Just instantly connecting with every word. Clinging onto it with all I had. Much like The Cure and of course, The Smiths. A band can really make you feel less alone when you think you’ve hit the lowest point. I guess sometimes, you can always go lower. If you’re scared of hitting it- you’ll probably get there quicker than you planned to. If you’re not scared, it’s up to you how you deal with it. Some things you can fight off and avoid. Some things just happened. You cannot plan a thing.
Townes Van Zandt (aside from Morrissey) is my favourite male solo artist of all time. What I loved (and still do) about his music was the honesty and how you could easily feel every single word he sung. You knew he meant every single word when he mentioned feeling so low. Songs such as Waiting Around To Die, Cocaine Blues just really made you feel for him. I will always stand by Waiting Around To Die as being one of my favourite songs of all time. I could listen to it over and over, and not get bored of hearing his breaking, powerful, trembling voice. He was well and truly the most underrated singer/song-writers of all time. If you want pain and aching lyrics- Townes Van Zandt is the one.
All these reasons I’ve mentioned (and more) are probably why I love The Drums so much. I love how they have such sadness surrounding their songs but it is disguised through the electrifying guitars and upbeat drums. Songs such as Book Of Stories, Best Friend, What You Were, I Felt Stupid are so heartbreaking- but so utterly perfect. You know, I don’t think I could look at someone who didn’t enjoy at least one song by The Drums. I remember first hearing them in early 2009 and, I felt how someone must have felt when they first heard The Beach Boys, The Ronnettes, The Smiths- it was so exciting, and so needed at the time. I do believe that if they ever called it quits- I would cry. Just like I did when The Long Blondes split up. When you feel such a strong connection to a band, they become your life. They say everything you cannot say. I love Marina And The Diamonds because she can write songs that make you feel less alone about having bad days and disliking yourself. She makes you feel okay about not being as strong as you think you should be. I love Florence + The Machine because Florence can express such dark feelings in a way that just blows me away and can make you feel less troubled about carrying around certain feelings that probably bug you a Hell of a lot.
You see dear reader, it is quite easy to tell a person something so positive and charming. Yet when you have to attempt to say something quite dark and hurtful about what is whirling on in your head- it can be quite daunting. There’s a song for every occasion. There’s a lyric to describe everything you feel- whether it is joyful or horrendous- someone has already said it for you. Someone has already felt that way and made it more eloquent than you could even try to do. This isn’t a bad thing. It’s bad enough feeling like shit, so when someone else can sum it up in a song for you- it takes the added pressure of expressing yourself off.
Just remember- it is okay to feel like shit. It is okay to be happy. Never feel bad for how you feel, whether it is good or bad. You cannot switch yourself off, but you can always, always-restart.
I’m not going to dwell on the fact that Ali Koehler is no longer in Best Coast. I don’t want to think about it. I loved her in Vivian Girls, I loved her in Best Coast- she better stick to her word about not leaving music behind. She’s been in two bands that I love so very much. At least Best Coast haven’t split up though.
Anyway, as I said- I don’t want to focus on Ali no longer being in Best Coast. Instead, I’m going to enjoy her solo work which can be found at : http://alikoehler.bandcamp.com/
Maybe she should just takeover the world on her own. She’s talented enough.
Have you ever felt, although you are surrounded by people you know- and these people may or may not care about you, that you just do not belong? Do you have a place you feel happy and secure with calling “home”? Do you ever look at Society and just think you were born in the wrong era? That your emotional attachment to it all is slowly fading. If so, I understand fully how you feel.
I’ve wandered through life not feeling part of anything. I’ve never made it my goal to make a difference in a person’s life- mainly because I know I never have, and I probably never will. I don’t mean it in a self-hating kind of way- far from it. You can feel you don’t belong but still maintain an ounce of self-worth. I feel like that most days. Anyway, I don’t need to go in depth with all of this. These are the songs that have stopped me from feeling like I have to be part of something, that I have to belong. We don’t have to. Create your own world.
Beat In My Bones. 