A lot of September has had me reflecting on music I used to listen to a loooooong time ago, when I first started to get out of only listening music recommended by elders or pop charts,(not that there isn't a few great gems in there, but it does feel good to get to that age and start to finally develop your own taste). Say what you want about the internet but it's a great way to discover new music. The album that sticks out most for me would definitely have to be Dusk by The The. I remember reading Johnny Marr's autobiography to find out about this one. I think it was sometime soon after leaving / breaking up The Smiths, he found comfort in his friend Matt Johnson, who was creating all of his music by himself I believe. Marr adds so much character to this record and its actually quite refreshing to see him used as almost a session musician, I don't know what it is about him after leaving The Smiths but his work is extremely hit and miss, and let's not even talk about his solo career.... (Sorry Johnny), especially on songs like Slow Emotion Replay, his guitar work is so funky. Anyway, here's one of my favourite tracks from the album but I would definitely recommend listening to the whole thing back to front, gives a great insight into Johnson and the death of his brother, with Marr's harmonica (which he played while crying his eyes out) on this track, it's just full of emotion! Just a solid album with great songwriting and at some points is quite theatrical, check it out!
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
What I've Been Listening To - 26/09/2023
Another BLAST from the past for me is a band that honestly does not get nearly the respect they deserve. Yes they're corny and yes they have Phil Collins in the band but Genesis are just one of those bands that you can't really fault. As far as I can remember, this was the first album I had ever bought with my own money, I had had a few passed down from my dad and my grandad but they were never really my choice, because I used to love the song Misunderstanding, from the album Duke. I remember seeing it in a car boot sale for probably about two quid and knew I wanted to buy it. I didn't even have a record player but even just having it for the artwork on the front really felt like it was worth it enough, even if I never really listened to the album. There was something about it that was very cool. Misunderstanding is still one of my favourites from the album, but after listening to it all the way through for the first time I absolutely adored Duchess, a six minute epic track that just blew my mind so it has to go as my second pick.
This next band is one that I just have wanted to talk about for so long. They fit so well into this new wave of post punk bands, being funky, weird and experimental, but also they're quite pop rock-y, a perfect blend between the two! I saw this band within the first few weeks that I moved to university, after buying their record a few months prior and just fell in love with them. Pom Poko are seriously underrated and if you haven't heard their latest album Cheater, you are seriously missing out. It's bouncy, it's fun, it's energetic, the singing is super high pitched and weird and the guitars sound insaaaaaaane. Their live sound translates perfectly to the album and is just so much fun, I'd highly highly recommend checking out the entire album, but the tracks I've chosen are the title track Cheater and Danger Baby. DB seemingly doesn't have as much energy as the rest of the album, but once it gets into the groove it's just so fun and the guitar sounds almost silly, but still is such a beautiful song. Cheater is just such a perfect album opener, with stops and starts and crazy sounding guitars and towards the end it just crescendos into another really cool riff. Really cannot recommend this band enough.
Moving away from the nostalgia driven songs I've been biasedly picking so far, I'll move into a different genre entirely. This album is obviously a pretty standard album in terms of classic jazz records and I wouldn't be surprised if lots of people knew this, but it is so popular for a reason. It's genre-bending, and I would assume at the time this blew a lot of people's minds in terms of the contemporary jazz music at the time. I am of course talking about Head Hunters by Herbie Hancock. The song that I have chosen, Sly, is one that takes you on such a journey throughout the 10 minute runtime and will leave your head spinning. This type of jazz music, the crazy and the chaotic, for me is really the only way to go in terms of the genre, and this track is the best of its kind.
It's difficult, at the moment, for me to talk about any other kind of music or bands without mentioning black midi. For me this month, and the past few have been all about this band; nothing even comes close for me. They have so much unreleased music, which are some of my favourite songs of there's, that is not on a studio album it just leaves me wanting the fourth album more and more. It's hard to say anything about black midi that hasn't already been said, but they are crazy, but also hypnotic and I have not heard a more interesting band than them in a very long time. I'm choosing a live version of one of their unreleased tracks, Magician, as it quickly becomes my favourite of theirs, with Greep deciding to take a more serious approach to his lyrics and songwriting, as builds and builds with beautiful chords and incredible drumming, and a studio track of theirs, Speedway, which, despite its more restrained nature compared to the other tracks on Schlagenheim, is infectous. I would recommend listening to these guys' live shows as they offer such a different style compared to their studio recordings.
My last pick is a song that has been popular for quite a while now, but doesn't get old at all for me, every time I listen to this song I just can't stop and have to put it on repeat. Kali Uchis is such an incredible singer and the bassline of this song is just such an incredible basis for all of the elements of the song to encase around. The chorus with the drum breaks and xylophone playing are just unmatched, if you haven't already heard this one, which I would assume is impossible, you need to appreciate it.
To finish this off I will link my September playlist so you can see all the rest of the tracks I've been listening to recently, and also link a playlist that I made with songs that I loved growing up or songs that make me feel like that.
:P
A few mentions of other highlights for this post:
Big Business / I Zimbra (Live) - Talking Heads
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