Rockettothesky – Grizzly Man

i never really cared about „genres“ in music. except when reviewers are saying that an artist wouldn't fit in any. then i immediately know i won't like the music. oh, how often it just means one song sounds like the artist is trying one kind of music and with the next song another. yes, the artist doesn't fit in ONE genre. he just tries several, mostly without success.
Jenny Hval doesn't fit into any genre. there is just no genre that describes her music. just when you think you can pin something on it, the music breaks out of the narrowed down pool of comparisons, escapes and takes a different direction. and this without changing significantly or hard breaks. a steady flowing current ever diverting its course.
carried by old fashioned strings and minimal electronics her filligree, almost fragile voice rockets up to celestial heights and paints old irish ornamentations in the clear blue sky. so the least common denominator would be something like „folk“. and one can just hope to not get lost in the bermuda triangle of the terms „neofolk“, „freak folk“ and „irish folk“. which is hard since most people's idea of irish folk is defined by Enya, The Pogues and „Auld Lang Syne“.
well, „Grizzly Man“ is the song that everyone can agree upon being much more appropriate for the „Lord Of The Rings“ soundtrack. just as the very same "everyones" would have been heavily disappointed when Jenny Hval really had wasted her music for the evil that blockbuster movies are.
since there are still some JRR. Tolkien books left to become endless cinematic tortures let's keep our fingers crossed to not get bereft of the chance to diss Enya and know better.




Rockettothesky Myspace

The Rifles – The Great Escape

planning a „music that makes me happy“ tape is completely depending on the weather. and with a weather like now it becomes quite difficult. there are a million „the sun is shining and i feel great“ songs. and there's „singing in the rain“. but for foggy, drizzling grey all day?
i am thinking of the scene in the movie „billy elliot“ when young billy starts dancing in the streets of his hometown to THE JAM playing „A Town Called Malice“. THE RIFLES' „The Great Escape“ puts that picture in my head and makes me want to do the same. (ha! I bet you wouldn't have expected that for a comparison of THE RIFLES with THE JAM, would you.) lucky me i'm not that passionate about dancing. since i'm thrice as old i would look pretty silly.
the song is is definitely a tune to whistle along and cheer you up. but english enough to make you feel cold and sodden. and it turns whatever your place called home is in a coastal town that they forgot to close down. seriously, i couldn't be further away from any sea but i can taste the salt in the air and smell the... you know what sea smells like today. I guess adump just smells the same everywhere.
unfortunately the album got postponed. so i have to wait some more days to getter a better idea whether or not the second album is as good as the first one. but since basicly all sophomore albums of last years debuting bands were rubbish, releasing it next year isn't that much a bad idea. maybe that's why they decide to postpone the record.
let's face it. the PIGEON DETECTIVES“ „Emergency“ was disappointing and for „Couples“ by THE LONG BLONDES i only need four letters to give you a full review. B-O-R-E. so i hope „The Great Album“ coming out early next year now will break that spell. that and the weather to still be shitty then.




The Rifles Myspace

The Animal Five - Spare Parts

it's radio time. everytime i'm in my car i use the time to listen to the radio. since it's an older version of a car radio it doesn't tell me the band and the name of the track like the internet version would do. the dj seems to expect everyone to listen to internet radio since he hasn't announced any track for the last 30 minutes. the song sounds familiar but i can't put a finger on it. for some reason GANG OF FOUR flashes in my mind. i rule that out since the sound is way different. maybe the GANG OF FOUR flash is because the last time i had this feeling of somehow knowing the song but not knowing what it is it was because of a GANG OF FOUR song. back at home i put GANG OF FOUR's „entertainment!“ on. i remember when i listened to this album for the first time i didn't like it at all. i was just about to sell it. right before i put it in my bag to bring it to someone who said he wants it i decided to give it one last try. then i kept it. now i even own two copies of the record.

so, of course just like i expected, the song is not on it. but i listened to „entertainment!“ again. not the worst turnout. nevertheless i still don't know what song the radio was playing.

remembering that it was the exact same radio station where i heard the song before some months ago. and that i also haven't been told who the band was. but also then i was curious to know. all that doesn't encourage me.

i try google. just when i typed in „spare pa“ it dawned to me that this approach would be fruitless. sure the first 200 hits for „spare parts“ won't have anything to do with music at all. „spare parts song“ was equally disappointing. but it gave me a better idea. i search youtube instead. and finally the secret got disclosed.

listening to THE ANIMAL FIVE's „spare parts“ right after GANG OF FOUR's „damaged goods“ makes me insecure if i should feel bad about comparing those bands to each other. „spare parts“ is way more catchy and easier listening than the catchiest GANG OF FOUR song. but well, well, well after all it can be considered as freaky post-punk with dance influence, can't it?

interestingly the band seems to not have any physical releases. just itunes downloads. and those in swedish and german only. whatever that means. i will keep on searching for vinyl copies of their recordings or wait for a label to release a full album. but whoever is not as dependend as me should check their myspace or homepage for the download option. the other songs are equally catchy and worth listening to.

The Animal Five Myspace

Loquat - Harder Hit

i never understood the concept of compilations. and as much as possible i avoided buying them. i do have a few. but they are either very good or very genre-focused. or disguised as "original motion picture soundtracks". and even in the latter two cases they have to be very good. but besides those, why would i want to buy a dozen or now with CDs as the main medium two dozens songs by as many different bands of slightly less genres i don't know and are likely to range somewhere between "if i would be into that kinda music i'd hate this song" and "i like what they're trying to do". OK, label compilations are a different story. they are promotional items based on "if you like x you also might like y". but as i said, it's a promotional thing. and hopefully a free giveaway. but then it's just the "take" part of modern tapetrading. you get a some new music someone else likes and maybe you find something you like, too. the "tape" i got had some 100+ songs. and one stuck. well, there've been some songs that wouldn't i have already known them... but more than 100 songs is not a merry little rivulet of music. it is a wild stream. and to be the one song that sticks out is an achievement.
Loquat's "harder hit" is a rather simple song. not to say predictable. before the first chorus sets in you are able to hum along and even forecast the next line. the chorus itself is even simpler. then the next verse and chorus again. the simple formula.
unfortunately what appears to be a gift in the first song turns out to be a curse with the rest of them. all songs on their "secrets of the sea" album are build in the same simple pattern. and after a while, listening to the album becomes more and more boring. a little diversity and variety would have been marvelous. more than marvelous: convincing! i always have a hard time with albums like those. everytime i listen to one song, any song, i like it. but if i listen to a second or third i tend to skip to another record. i guess a good album is a compilation of a dozen different songs by just one band.

Loquat Myspace

Land Of Talk - Speak To Me Bones

Spending the beforenoon towed to a small pier on the Nile I make myself comfortable in the shadow, opposite to ancient tombs and old fashioned sailing boats. Palms and desert as background and cause for an "out-of-place" and "time-stands-still" mood.
Hope Sandoval's voice tires to fade into me and Jeanette Winterson tells a story about a couple lost at sea. The sun burns there and here but as they are dying from thirst I'm sipping iced tea.
I put Mazzy Star on full volume but still they stand no chance against the memory of another song stuck in my head. The intense pleading of Land Of Talk's opening track to their "Applause Cheer Boo Hiss" EP. Even though I can't remember the words it's its intensity and desperation, as opposed to and unlike the vocals on the other tracks, that makes the vocal lines so memorable. Building up its vigor the song feeds you with words here and there outside a greater context and finally errupts into the ultimate question "what about now?" which will follow you for the rest of the day demanding an answer whenever inappropriate.
Seeing them live just recently taught me they're Canadian which actually surprised me. Compared to its enormous size the musical or artistic output in general is rather small and most often watered-down versions of the art and music of their south-of-the-border neighbours. But once in a while something canadian comes up that is so not american or british or swedish that compensates for all the waiting.

Land Of Talk Myspace

Ra Ra Riot - Ghost Under Rocks

half asleep i hum a songline. desperately trying to finish the verse to reach the chorus. when i remember the chorus i will remember what song the line is from. after the third try i wake up. nope, no chorus reached. just a puzzled feeling. another song stuck in my head and i cannot remember what song it is.
a few hours later i will run into the song again. the real song. "GHOST UNDER ROCKS". the opener of the RA RA RIOT album. and it has everything an earworm needs to survive. catchyness and simplicity. and lucky me, the sillyness is missing.
an easy to remember bass-line meets and easy to repeat vocal-line. some recurring words for an easy sing-a-long. the perfect framework for a perfect pop song. perfection brought by subtle strings and background vocals. that's what we're talking when talking about earworms: perfect pop songs. nothing to be ashamed of. nothing i'd be ashamed of.
usually i need more than just one song to buy an album. and honestly, the rest of the RA RA RIOT album is good. but not great. not as great as "GHOST UNDER ROCKS". but still i bought it. just because of this one song. to listen to it over and over again. and when my thumb gets sore from pushing the repeat button i have a good album to follow. and while the last song runs i think about the next earworm to be treatened with the song itself on repeat. or maybe i just listen to this album again.

myspace

to get started

Earworm, a calque of the German Ohrwurm, is a term for a portion of a song or other musical material that becomes "stuck" in a person's "head" or repeats against one's will within one's mind.

so says wiki. and much more.