Songs for the Dumped

The updates have been coming in a little slow. We've all been busy with the holidays and other fun stuff. I'm currently chewing over what I look for in music and how I'll apply it when rating an album. It is a tough article to write, but expect to see it soon. Anyways, I've been going through a break up with a long term girlfriend, which has also interfered with my writing. But it has kept me listening to a lot music. Here's a little play list I've devised as the soundtrack to all my pity parties.

Ween- Help Me Scrape the Mucus Off My Brain
A can't help but commiserate with the hapless narrator of this little ditty. The situation he he describes is so hopeless and desperate, I can't help but feel for him. As a listener you can just tell that he will split up with his lady friend shortly. However, it is comforting to know that the dog will always love you.

Leo Brouwer- Un Dia de Noviembre
This the only instrumental track that's been seeing heavy rotation on my iPod. Leo Brouwer, a performer and composer for the classical guitar, nails the somber and desolate feel of late fall and early winter with this piece. The piece lends itself to introspection and nostalgia.

Queen- Don't Stop Me Now
I'm sure you are all wondering what the fuck I'm thinking with this choice. This song celebrates excessive fun, partying, and sex. I can see why a song with the opening lyric of "Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time. I feel alive." might seem a little out of place on this list. But it has always struck me as being very sad song. The opening line seems like the singer is trying to convince himself that he is enjoying his lifestyle. To me all the imagery of being "on a collision course", "out of control", and about to "explode" of the second verse betrays his true feelings. Also, the line "I'm having such a good time. I'm having a ball." comes across as one of the most sarcastic in all of music.

Cracker- Take Me Down to the Infirmary
This is one of three country flavored songs to find it's way onto my list. It covers a lot of how I'm feeling right now. There is nothing that really sums up the human condition better than knowing that what you are doing is no good for you and isn't helping your situation but doing it anyway.

Stars- Fairtytale of New York
I chose this version over the Pogues because of the voice of Amy Millan. This song boasts one of the most depressing opening lines in all of music. The idea of knowing that you will never see another Christmas is deeply moving to me. This song has served as nice respite from the rest of the saccharine holiday songs. It is a much closer match to my mood.

REM- Try Not to Breathe
I'm not even sure why this really reaches out to me. Though I envy the narrator's control over the situation. If I'm interpreting the song incorrectly feel free to call me out.

Patsy Cline- Crazy
Well, this one was mandatory. Nothing says "broken heart" better than this song.

Jeff Buckley- Hallelujah
Buckley's vocal performance is stunning as usual. Cohen's lyrics do a great job of setting love up as being a deeply spiritual thing that is neither positive or negative. It does more to display the true complexity of love than any other song on this list.

Elliott Smith- Everything Reminds Me of Her
Elliott Smith is the laureate of the broken hearted, depressed, and generally fucked up. This song highlights the inevitability of separating from somebody that you've spent any prolonged time with. As soon as you think that you'll be fine something pops up to remind you of your past together. There is nothing you can do about it when you have so many shared memories with another person.

Elliot Smith- Everything Means Nothing to Me
It is normally a major faux pas to include to songs by the same artist on the same mix, especially back to back. But these two songs are sister songs in my mind and shouldn't be separated. One shows how everything can take on some sort of significance to a broken heart. The other demonstrates that everything can become insignificant in comparison to what you are going through. There nothing is important to you anymore.

Joni Mitchell- A Case of You
Love makes you do stupid things at times. We are willing to put up with so much pain to be with who we want. It is really quite sad.

The Beatles- In My Life
To me this is the greatest love song ever written. It sums up exactly how love feels. I have to end my listening on a happy note. I look forward to a time when I can have this again.

I know this post has been filled with some of the lamest bellyaching to ever grace the Internet. But I like my little play list and hope you enjoy it too. Hopefully this will keep the site going while we work on some other updates. Keep your eyes open for a review of my album of the year (I'll give you a hint: she plays the harp)and the article that I mentioned above. Have a great New Year's Eve and hope 2007 treats everybody well. Drink safely!

Hip To Be Square: Remembering the 80's

After Spending countless nights watching Much More Retro (Canadian version of VH1 Classic) I've come to realize that the music that dominated the 80's was much more than just bad hair and over the top makeup. Granted, I've always appreciated New Wave but it wasn't until recently that I saw just how strong some of the songwriting was back then and how it deserves much more respect than what it is given.

Of course, my view of the music of that specific decade could be askew since essentially all I'm really seeing/hearing from those days is most likely the cream of the crop and I don't doubt that there was a fair share of garbage on the radio and MTV as there is today.

But there is just something to those ridiculously infectious hooks that I can honestly say are amongst the finest batch of pop songs of the past 25 years.

A-Ha's "Take On Me" might be a song that you laugh at when someone plays it in the car (behind tightly rolled windows), but if you listen to it closely, and just let that gorgeous melody sink in you may find yourself concluding that the track has got to be one of the best radio singles in recent memory and much more than just a dated staple that we are led to believe.

If you can look past the ghastly production techniques that dominated the times (Someone PLEASE do something about the reverb on those drums!) you will see that the 1980's brought forth a golden era of pop music. I don't want to make another music post that whines about the music of today not being up to speed with the music of the past in regards to the quality of what we find on the radio, but at the same time, it's hard not to see the top 30 Billboard singles of today and compare them to the top 20 of this week in 1986 and not feel a little discouraged in some aspects.

I mean who can forget Madonna? One of the 10 most influential pop icons in music history (along with another 80's staple in the once brilliant Michael Jackson) and when skimming through her several tremendous singles she put out (as well as often times wrote herself) during the 80's we can see how well sex appeal with great songwriting to match gives us a true definition of a pop star as oppose to scantily clad girls in their late teens who often have a shelf life of 5 years or take a hit once they take more than a year off to recoup.



Yes, I could do without some of the songs by Air Supply, Whitney Houson, and *cringes*....Michael Bolton, but the emphasis placed on the art of the great pop hook seems to have been lost in the muddle somewhere between "The Macarena" and "London Bridge"

I was never able to appreciate the hair metal that ran rampant throughout the decade and there was definitely some bad music being made in those times (as with any time music was being recorded) but something really needs to be said for just how great the songs of Tears for Fears, Duran Duran, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, and Depeche Mode really were.

The music videos we see today on the retro channels may illicit a snarky laugh and have us wondering how people were able to get away with what they could judging by the awful outfits and questionable personas, but if we look underneath the surface, we'll find plenty of songs that are simply timeless and transcend the lack of seriousness people give to one hell of a fine era in music.


Here are some key songs I'd recommend some of you revisit and really pay attention to how well they were constructed....


New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
Duran Duran - New Moon on Monday
Depeche Mode - Everything Counts
Thompson Twins - Doctor Doctor
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
A-Ha - Take On Me
Human League - Don't' You Want Me Baby
Madonna - Lucky Star
The Cure - Just Like Heaven
The Smiths - This Charming Man
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Joe Jackson - Steppin Out
Talking Heads - Burning Down the House
Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time
The Clash - Rock the Casbah
Men Without Hats - We Can Dance
Madness - Our House
Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
Hall and Oats - Private Eyes
Nena - 99 Red Balloons
The Go Go's - Our Lips Are Sealed


....Now of course, there are many many songs that were omitted, as well as the biggest hits of some of the above mentioned artists, and I failed to touch upon some of the other big hitters such as U2 and the Police, but I wanted to focus more on the mainstream groups that people don't take quite as seriously as well as some of the songs I really enjoy for the most part.

Wincing the Night Away

The video for "Phantom Limb", the new single by the Shins, has been uploaded to Youtube by Subpop Records. It is directed by Patrick Daughters who also directed the videos for Yeah Yeah Yeahs'- "Gold Lion" and Feist's- "Mushaboom", as well as others. The video centers around the most morbid elementary school play of all time. It can be seen here.

The song is pretty standard Shins fare. But I'm excited for the release nonetheless. The new album, Wincing the Night Away, is set to be released on January 23rd.

The Test Begins...Now

I'm going to grab my shoehorn and break this baby in. From what I understand about music blogs, you're supposed to express some sort of opinion, generally about music. I'm not feeling inspired enough to write about something recent, so I'm just going to write a brief essay about The Cure's "Just Like Heaven."

Everyone knows it's a great song. That's a given. It'd be pointless to point that out, as I am currently doing. But what makes it great is that it perfectly captures the feeling of being in love. And if you think I'm being sappy, then fuck you. You can probably enjoy the song anyway, Scrooge.

The beginning of the song has a slow build--starting with drums, then a bass line, and gradually adding instruments every few bars, it's constantly moving. The bass line is repetitive through the song, but it might be one of the best parts of the song. It offers the backbone to the synthesizers, the great lead guitars, the piano, and most of all, Robert Smith's fantastic vocals.

It's an atypical song for such a great pop song. There's barely a chorus, and when there is a repeating vocal part--the "you-hoo"--there's still variation. And yet, the song never drags. Every lyric is evocative of another image that represents what love is all about. It's passionate, but it's not purely lustful passion. Smith is the perfect vocalist for this song; he's got that melodramatic delivery that ranges from soft whispers to almost whiny peaks.

Then, after verse upon verse of perfect imagery, the song ends somewhat abruptly. But the point is made with the final line, that the way you make me feel is just like heaven. It's like a good version of that Belinda Carlisle song.

There's only one song I could think of that may portray being in love as accurately, and that song is "Wouldn't It Be Nice," which I'd call the best pop song ever recorded. "Just Like Heaven" is the "Wouldn't It Be Nice" of the 1980s.

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And since this is my first on this blog, I'm just going to set a boring precedent and do a "now playing" thing for my posts.

Now playing: The Beatles - "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"
Now reading: Malcolm Gladwell - Blink