#brain radio

Roxette: It Must Have Been Love

Leading the pack with a solid nine days on the brain radio playlist, this song is one of those tricky ones that holds out longer because the verses are almost totally different than the chorus, sonically, so you get one part (say, the downbeat, minor-ish, almost spooky-sounding verse) in there for a while, and you think what song is that from? like some poor innocent rube; you discover its provenance, you say no way, it can’t be from that song, and then, led down the garden path by the fae called Roxette, you press play one time and that’s it, you’re trapped. Fortunately it’s a good song!

Phil Collins: Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)

This guy. This fuckin’ guy. I can’t figure out what sort of emotional narrative the song’s lyrics are conveying, but who cares? Phil’s conveying it. He’s conveying it with his heart, his soul, his drum kit (when the percussion becomes a character halfway through because nobody can figure out how to get the words to make sense? fuuuuuuu-) and when that’s not enough, he starts in with the ol’ PC cheese-grater scrowl (scream-growl) that is both musically precise and also like someone let a hurt hungry dog in here and oh man I just love Phil Collins’s solo work, I guess? I don’t even like this particular song that much.

Mike & the Mechanics: The Living Years

It makes me want to fling my arms wide while standing on a mountaintop at both sunrise and sunset, but not like the guy from Creed. Like me and my dad finally worked it out, or like I finally stopped caring about me and my dad ever working it out.

Bonus! Reijo Taipale: Satumaa

This one isn’t necessarily stuck in my head; I consciously choose to listen to it. A lot. Because it seemed like it would be a goof, Finnish tango, when I somehow landed on the Wikipedia page. But it is so good. The swagger radiating from Reijo Taipale.

maybe sometime I’ll do tunes for riding the bus (hope you like club music!)(here’s my current On Repeat; why not)

The Blessed Madonna: Serotonin Moonbeams