The Jesus And Mary Chain- Psychocandy.

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I change my mind about a lot of things constantly. I find it impossible to stick with certain things. However, I think I am pretty much certain with this.

A year before I was born, one of, if not THE greatest debut album was released. Psychocandy by The Jesus And Mary Chain started this sound that is just beyond words. The dark and intense feeling you get from the Reid brothers is astounding. You can listen to as much deep, dark songs as much as you want but none will capture that atmosphere as well as The Jesus And Mary Chain did. Personally, choosing to revist this album at 2am when I can’t sleep is not a waste of time. It totally justifies me having a beyond awful sleep pattern. The main issue being I don’t have a sleep pattern.

Just listening to songs such as The Living End and Taste The Floor just makes you wish new bands had something to offer like this now. But alas, they don’t. Obviously there are artists that do create such an intense powerfuk sound (personal favourites are The Horrors and Zola Jesus.) The production on Psychocandy will always amaze me. Everything just sounds like it is played and created out of frustration and despair- two things which create the best music.  Extracating such feelings and producing a masterpiece, a work of art. Well, I’m not entirely sure if it has been done this well ever since.

I don’t hold any personal feelings or thoughts with the album(yet) which is quite rare. I just listen to the songs. Take in every single word in. Embrace every single dirty, grimey guitar sound and just feel utterly lost in it all. You can easily lose youself in Psychocandy, but at the end- you are found. I just love that every single song just sets fire to your soul and this wave of feeling alive takes over. Seriously, the most cold and dead inside person could listen to this album and be utterly moved. If they aren’t, well I guess they’ve missed the point really.

The subject matters in most of the songs aren’t always the most cheerful but to be honest most of the greatest songs ever written aren’t exactly about sunsgine, rainbows and kittens are they? The album is raw, real and unmerciful. It’s just a sheer explosion of excellence. I paved the way for how a debut album should sound. It captures you straight away wanting more and more, I suppose that’s how some view romance.

If I was musically inclined, I’d want to create an album that was on the same level as this. It’s just a whole different world. There is something so beautifully eerie about this album. It is creepy, it is terrifying- it is the best thing your ears will ever be exposed to. It changed my life the first time I ever heard it…lord knows when it first was, but it just blew my mind. Since then I only vowed to listen to music that made me feel like this. I’ve stuck to my word. It’s just quite simply the best debut album ever and one of the greatest albums ever created.

The Importance Of Patti Smith.

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Writing about Patti Smith is quite pointless of me really. Why? Well, no words are going to be good enough to describe how vital she is to music. No words are going to do her justice at all. She is just the ideal performer to look up to. Her words have taken over hearts and found lost souls. Her music means the world to so many of us.

There are no words that could possibly express all of this. However, I’m going to give it a go.

The amount of nights I have fallen asleep listening to her music or just gone for walks listening to her music. There is something so deeply empowering about Patti Smith. Her lyrics feel like a protest within you and you just have to get all of these feelings out, somehow. Someway. She starts this fire within you, and I’m pretty sure if you are one of the lucky ones to have been around when she first came out- you’ve still got that fire burning inside of you. I know if it was me, I would. But sadly, I was born in 1986.

She is not just a singer or a poet or whatever you want to call her. She’s everything, she’s an artist. A true artist. She is the Godmother of Punk- the most vital music genre of all time. The most powerful and rawest kinds of music ever created. The sheer angst and honesty in this genre mixed with love, passion and daily frustrations is something that anyone can relate to. Now, whether or not they allow themselves to be exposed to this is a different matter.

Patti is someone I personally I regard as the most important female in music. You see, a person’s gender is not important but sexism has and always will be around in music- and daily life sadly. However, Patti is this strong figure that I feel more and more females should look up to and admire. She never had to expose herself to be heard. She never had to sleep with the CEO of a record label to make it. All she did was do something she loved with no compromises. All she did was work hard and never gave up. She never took the easy way out. She stuck at it and in the process become so important to so many. This something that should be praised not ignored.

When I think of Patti I think of someone I hope I can sort of be like. I don’t mean being the founder of a music genre or famous- but strong. I’m fully aware that this contradicts my article on looking up to famous people but let me explain.

Patti is a figure that I feel anyone can relate to- so to see someone like her still going after all these years- that is something to be admired. Her strength, her words, her art- it’s a lifeline for most. Myself included.

Her music is a crutch. Her music opens you up into a world that you could possibly be forbidden to visit. The world she has created with her art is something many have tried to do, but not quite got there.

You sit back and listen to her music and you just go some place. It’s astounding.

I remember watching Dream Of Life and just being in awe of her. Her presence affects others in this angelic way. It is almost as if she is super-human. Maybe she is. She has influenced so many from Shirley Manson to Morrissey to Michael Stipe- all three remarkable musicians who are equally as important to the music industry as Patti is.

There will always be another *insert generic pop singer’s name* but there will never ever be another Patti Smith. Who else could possibly do what she has done again? Nobody. See, she’s that special and that well respected that folks know it just cannot be done. It’d be rude to even attempt to do so.

One aspect of Patti that I adore the most is her poetry. For my dissertation at University (2009) I wrote and article on Punk and Poetry. A lot of Patti was mentioned; a lot of Arthur Rimbaud was mentioned. The way she writes is so eloquent, so pure, and so true.  I adore her book, Auguries Of Innocence. The words she uses and how she uses them is utterly enthralling. You feel as if you are in a different era when reading her work in the book. It is just glorious.

Her poetry should be studied in schools, colleges, universities. Her words are like a spiritual guidance at times- not only with her poetry, but her songs.

The songs she has covered from Gloria to W hen Doves Cry, the way she sings them- she makes them her own. That is what makes a cover acceptable and genuine. That is what makes a cover work. Her cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit, for me- is out of this world. I was never a fan of Nirvana, but her cover is so passionate. Kurt sang it with frustration, Patti sings it with passion. You believe in all the words that fall so freely and gracefully out of her mouth because of all the heart and soul within them.

So many musicians have over and over again proven to be hypocrites who do not believe in the words they give us.

This isn’t the case with Patti. If religion is something that you believe in to have your soul saved- then Punk did that for me. There’s no doubt about it. It is the only genre that has truly grabbed my heart and kept it. I couldn’t imagine feeling this way about another genre. Yes I adore all kinds of music and singers- but Punk is the one that just makes my heart skip a beat, like a lover is supposed to.

Fall in love or lose myself in Punk? Give me the latter.

Thank you Patti for being an inspiration. Thank you Patti for Punk and poetry. Thank you Patti for your words and music.

Seapony.

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Some may call it “dream-pop” or “surfer-pop.” Such silly lables really aren’t they. Personally, I’d just call it MUSIC. We don’t need to sub-catergorise music to justify it. It is what it is. So, how would one go about describing Seapony? Well, listen to the following and you can make your own mind up 🙂

Listening to their music just makes you feel like you are floating away from eveyrthing and into the unkown but it is entirely relaxing and comforting. They are the perfect band to carry with you all throughout the summer. Even if you are currently being exposed to torrential downpour. Oh England, how you let me down every summer!

If you enjoy the music of Best Coast, The Drums, Dum Dum Girls, Beach House etc then you’ll love Seapony (or at least you should!)

Cults.

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Again, I am giving you more proof as to why bands with only two members are fascinating.

Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin aka Cults have put out a brilliant debut album this year. There’s hardly any information about them, but really that’s not needed. All you need is their amazing music. Enjoy! :

I love the 60s girl group feel to this.

Just a tip….be careful when you type the band’s name into Google or wherever! 😉

The Importance Of Velvet Underground.

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Understatement of the year, but there is so much music out there. You cannot subject yourself to one genre. I will always say Punk Rock owns my heart. It always has, and always will. The angst, the passion, the drive, and the lust- everything about it appeals to me. Patti, Ramones. New York Dolls, Television, Richard Hell, Iggy etc.

One band in particular has everything I love about music in one. Everything I want in a band is in this band. The lyrics, the way the vocals are delivered, the honesty, the brutality, the tragedy, the agony, the joy, blood, sweat and tears.

This band has created music that just evokes so much imagery and feeling. So much darkness, so much passion. This band makes me want to travel back in time and live in New York City.

This band of course is Velvet Underground.

The smoky bluesy guitar, Lou and Nico’s overwhelmingly powerful and enchanting voices make you feel like you are lost in a dream. Lost with no desire to ever be found because what you have found in Velvet Underground you will never find in any band or person again. What you have found is this spiritual connection. What you have found is hope and a dream. Sometimes these two factors do not work, but they do here.

Regardless of what you may think of Andy Warhol, it was he who suggested that the band used Nico on their debut album- which I (and many many others) regard this to quite possibly be the greatest debut album of all time. Their debut album offers the listener so much, and after listening- no matter when your first time was, you find it hard to believe music can actually get better than this. It’s an album you can use to escape from the world or just sit and read to. It’s unbelievable perfect from start to finish. Also, Andy Warhol allowed the band to have the freedom to do what they wanted with this album- what would it have sounded like if he was to have taken control? Would it have been so effortlessly raw? Would the production have been text book perfect? Who knows. All that matters is that their first album is quite simply one of the greatest albums ever and THE greatest debut album ever.

White Light/White Heat is a phenomenal second album, the band proved with this album that the “dreaded second album blues” was not for them. It is still on a par with their first album- a difficult thing to do, but it can still be done. Sadly, it was the last album John Cale appeared on and there was no Nico. I must add here that, Nico’s voice is constantly missed. There has never been and never will be a voice quite like her. So husky, so defiant- just beautiful.

However, I personally feel their third album is THE ONE. This could be due to my overriding obsession with Pale Blue Eyes and That’s The Story Of My Life. Or, the fact that it is actually a mind-blowing album. Velvet Underground is a band that you just cannot find any fault in at all. The consistency of Lou’s lyrics and his vocals are so perfect. So perfect. You cannot help but think he is not from this planet. He’s a machine or something.

Reason why Loaded is perfect? I Found A Reason. If I ever found some poor girl willing to spend her life with me- that song would be the song I’d play at the wedding. Followed by Cat Power’s version of it. It is a truly gorgeous song. Its how a love song should be.

The sound that Velvet Underground created became instantly timeless. A sound that so many came to adore, and from it- started their own band. One band in particular that gives me the same feelings, ideas and images that VU are The Kills. Their bluesy escapism is quite frankly the most glorious thing I have heard from a band that only has two members. Their covers of VU songs are equally as perfect as the originals. Especially their cover of Pale Blue Eyes. Alison’s voice on this cover is so haunting yet angelic at the same time- pain mixed with innocence. I’m Set Free and Venus In Furs are wonderfully covered too.

VU are a band that I wouldn’t approve of anyone covering. Just no. yet when The Kills do it, you get exactly the same feeling Lou Reed and John Cale give you- that is when a cover is well done. If a cover can make you feel the same way the original does- then it’s a bloody good version.

I love The Kills as much as I love VU, so I suppose them covering VU isn’t going to offend me at all. If only Lou Reed would cover Rodeo Town or Wait! Even better, they do a record together. Either or I’d be happy with.

Are any bands that are around now going to have the same effect on bands like VU have? Will any band ever again create a sound like they have?

Everyone’s answer is different. Mine is no. Some would say yes. Personally, I prefer listening to old bands. Bands that started before I was born. For some odd reason I feel more connection to them. Thing is, nothing is new anymore. It has all been done and there comes a time where you just have to go back to the old stuff because everything was entirely different.

Bands that were classed as Punk may have all fell into the same genre- however they didn’t sound the same. You could tell each artist apart from each other.  Whereas now, if artists all fall into the same genre- you cannot possibly tell who is different.I know living in the past does nobody any favours ever, but sometimes it is more than acceptable to go back there in a musical sense.

There will never be another Velvet Underground, New York Dolls, MC5, Ramones etc but there will always be another…well, you don’t need me to name names. It’s fairly obvious isn’t it.

The Importance Of Garbage.

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I have probably wrote this article before on my blog, but I just feel the need the show my love and admiration for Shirley Manson again. To be honest, I doubt I will ever stop. Shirley Manson is someone I regard as highly as Patti Smith. Her words, her voice, her beauty- they mean so much. She’s my female Morrissey. Her words have been comfort in my darkest hour. Her words got me through teenage angst onto the frustrations of adulthood. Aged 24, fast approaching 25, her words are still having the same effect on me as they did the first time I heard them.

I remember seeing the video to Only Happy When It Rains on MTV in 1995/1996 and I just sat staring. Legs crossed on the floor and staring at what was in front of me, I was in awe. I was in some kind of trance. I felt hypnotised, and I didn’t want to snap out of it. Since the start, Garbage has been a band I have adored. They were more than likely the first band I felt this connection to. My connection to Morrissey came a few years later.

What is it that I adore about Shirley Manson? More than anything, her strength and honesty. I don’t need to divulge into all she has been through, she’s been open about her past and struggles. Some I can relate to more than I wish to- which is why her lyrics are engraved upon my heart. I have cried my eyes out to The Trick Is To Keep Breathing, I have felt less alone whilst listening to Medication, I have felt hope whilst listening to Run Baby Run and Right Between The Eyes. Every single Garbage album I can associate with a certain time in my life, there’s not many artists I feel this for. Yes, the odd song here and there- but with Garbage, it’s something deeper than that.

The songs about despair, doubt, self loathing, love, pain, hate, hurt- every single feeling that is humanly possible to feel, one feels from listening to Garbage.

Of course I sound like a lunatic- but I can assure you, I am a friendly and loving one. I, along with many others, probably feel the band isn’t given the credit and respect that they well and truly deserve. Duke, Steve and Butch are fantastic musicians. Utterly fantastic. Shirley, in my eyes, is one of the best front-women ever. She’s on a par with Debbie Harry, Patti Smith- all the greats, she is up there.

Just after Bleed Like Me was released they announced a tour. My mum got me tickets as a birthday present to see them in Edinburgh. I knew it would be the concert that would change my life. I’d cry at every song. I’d sing every single line back at them as if my life depended on it.

The tour was cancelled. My heart broke and I wept. I had been waiting since 1995 for this moment. It never happened. I still cling on with dear life that a new album and tour will happen. I have that much faith. It has to happen.

I remember the day Bleed Like Me was released. I was in college and I skipped my afternoon lessons that Monday so I could go buy the album. I went to HMV and on the bus journey home I flicked through the booklet and studied it intensely. I got off the bus the stop before my house so I could go buy a can of pop at the shop. As I got off the bus, who did I see? MY MUM GETTING ON THE BUS. She grilled me in loving way, “Why aren’t you at college Olivia?” My reply was, so casually, “It’s Key Skills…I don’t need that for uni besides- Garbage album is out.” She shook her head, smiled and kissed my forehead and got on the bus. My mum knows what music is to me. She knows what Garbage are to me. I suppose anyone else’s mum would drag them back to college and take the CD off them- even worse, make them take it back to the shop. Not my mum, not at all. She just understood.

So I walked home and gave Bleed Like Me all my attention. I played it on my CD player and just lay on my bed playing it over and over. Every single song just took over my soul. I think I had a break down listening to Metal Heart, It’s All Over But The Crying and Happy Home. Happy Home is one of the most euphoric songs by Garbage. The intensely dark build up just blows my mind and takes over me. That’s how I feel whenever I listen to Garbage that something takes over. like I am being told, “It’s going to be alright.” Their music just gives me this blanket of comfort I’ve never found in a human being- much like Morrissey’s music.

Maybe I’m a loser for never finding this in a person. Or maybe I’m just sick of the hurt I see people cause each other that I choose to lose but find myself in music. I like to think it’s the latter.

I don’t wish to sound like Garbage are a band I only associate negative parts of my life to. Far from it. So far from it. If anything they made everything alright and brought me back from the brink when I couldn’t take anymore. I still use The Trick Is To Keep Breathing and Run Baby Run to make myself feel alright when everything goes to shit, and yes- it happens more times than I like it to. But, I am human and I have feelings just like anyone else does. Maybe I have too many, but I wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for them. I also wouldn’t be the person I am if I didn’t look up to strong women such as Shirley Manson and my mum.

There will never ever come a time where Garbage aren’t relevant to my life. There will never ever come a time where their music doesn’t influence me or make me feel something I didn’t know I could feel. Beautifulgarbage tugged at my heartstrings and felt like a massive trip into the unknown (I don’t mean in a drug sense, I’ve never done drugs so I wouldn’t know.) Version 2.0 and Garbage were my emotional crutch for so long and still probably are. Bleed Like Me taught me to be okay with the bad parts of me because I’m only human.

I just don’t know where I’d be without them. Everyone has one or two bands that saved their soul and gave them courage. For me, it’s Morrissey and Garbage.