#songdump

Well, by the time I got round to writing this, it was actually closer to 8am, but such details are trifling when there's the chance to use a song title for a blog post that nobody will read... Anyway, time for another songdump, I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZBkO1LAlhI

Low - Especially Me

Ye gods, this is beautiful, in a really haunting way. Brooding, lamenting, 6/8 time (I think), so utterly spellbinding that I can't really form coherent sentences about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MctDqQmr0v8

Mazzy Star - Fade Into You

Another slow, brooding song for dim-lit rooms in the middle of the night. It's Mazzy Star's biggest hit (well, I couldn't name another), and rightly so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QY3bxWX5Ik

Diagrams - Tall Buildings

Really, 'Black Light' is the song I'm obsessed with at the moment, but I already posted that, so here's another of my favourites from the album. It skips along, all angular and breathy vocals and handclaps. 'Tall Buildings' is a good name for it- the music puts me in mind of effortless hopping over rooftops, not that I've ever done that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTt79FZYwsI

Nine Inch Nails - Sunspots

I'm not a goth anymore, but have never got over my love for Trent Reznor. Though I find most of his lyrics faintly embarrassing, he has a knack for building incredible soundscapes. This, however, is just a catchy electronic/rock/I don't even know song, and one that seems to be rather overlooked on 2004's With Teeth (or was it 2005? I don't know, it was back in the days when I used to read Kerrang). I think I only really like this for that chorus. And the "Nothing can stop me now" - the album has so many references to The Downward Spiral. Although I've always liked Pretty Hate Machine the best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU-nKvs-i_Q

Dark Dark Dark - Wild Goose Chase

I really, really like Dark Dark Dark. I think I like this song even more than The Hand, which I posted the other day. And I think this was used in the new episode of Skins? Which, by the way, I thought was rather a mediocre series opener, but I'm going to keep watching Skins til it finishes, because it is soundtracked better than ANY other TV show in recent years. The perfect mix of obscure, upcoming, and famous bands, each song handpicked to fit the personality of the character focused on in each episode. More than being cool, it...well, it shows the love that goes into the production of the show, and I think it's just wonderful that people care about what they're creating that much. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgiD6DLsmIY

Dennis Wilson - Dreamer

That bass, those horns, this is dark and sexy and funky and not much like the Beach Boys. There's a review of Pacific Ocean Blue, the album this is from, in this week's TCS, so I thought I'd give it a listen. I'll say one more time, THOSE HORNS. This is sex.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=583_nEvuRvw

Belle & Sebastian - Seeing Other People

If You're Feeling Sinister overtook The Boy With The Arab Strap as my favourite B&S album quite suddenly, some months ago. I'm just far more likely to listen to it all the way through without skipping any tracks, which I don't do with many records. Me & the Major is in my top 5 B&S songs ever (along with, and this isn't necessarily the definitive list, White Collar Boy, The Boy With the Arab Strap, Dress Up In You, aaaand Step Into My Office Baby, although the last one is mainly for the video). Anyway, the piano from this one has been going around my head for weeks now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCjpbjCH5L0

Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945

Frankly, if you aren't in love with In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, I don't think we can be friends. Fourteen years on, and barely anything can top it. I'm pretty sad that I can't afford to go to All Tomorrow's Parties, curated by Jeff Mangum. JEFF MANGUM, THE MAGNETIC FIELDS, JOANNA NEWSOM, THE FALL, A HAWK AND A HACKSAW AND ABOUT A MILLION OTHER BRILLIANT BANDS AND OH GOD IT'S AT BUTLINS. But I haven't got £170 to spare  :/

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLsvAxrdQeQ

Nick Drake - Pink Moon

The bizarre pronunciation of the first sentence of this song always made me sit up, because I thought he was saying my name. I love this album. I listened to it early one summer's morning, lying on the floor in his old college at Cambridge, alone while my friends went to, er, graduate, and I was pretty damn contented.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBJkQ55EQMo

Beth Jeans Houghton - Dodecahedron

So I hear she's going out with that crap guy from that crap overrated band. Who gives a fuck when she has a voice this lovely and such interesting songs? I'm going to sound like such a wanker when I say I've liked her since her 2009 Hot Toast EP, which I stumbled across quite by accident (it's not often I'm cool enough to like someone before they were famous/started fucking old rockers).