Hannah Reid has the most dreamy, powerful voice - it's like Florence + the Machine but with a darker tone. It's less bright and grainy and rather floats over the backing than hitting it head on. The guitars are very xx and the whole minimalistic feel is ethereal.
But that's not it! There's more!
Sam Berridge does a spectacular, raw cover of this song.
It's stripped down, emotional, and just reaches into your heart and latches onto the most solid, metallic, steel-like thing there and tugs, leaving nothing but spongy hammy bits listlessly bouncing around inside you. Something like that.
I'm pretty bad with expressing poignant emotion.
IT'S BEAUTIFUL I KNOW.
It also helps that his face is a rather fortunate one - it's always good to have something nice to look at when you listen to nice things.
So that's this week's Song of the Week. And now don't bully me about it being the wrong song - same song, different people!
Oh dear I've gone insane haven't I, old sport?
Yeah baby.
I'm really pumped for this 70s haul because I kinda wish I lived in the 70s or 80s. I guess that makes me a dweeb. #thedweeblyfchoseme
There was a point where I loved the 20s because I was going through this jazz phase and I adored flappers. But then society was mainly white and then the Great Depression was the decade after so I lost the idea.
It's just that in Sydney there's quite a few buildings with the period architecture and I love it - like the Niterider place in Homebush which you can read about here on one of my favourite blogs.
And then of course you have Newtown and the terraces scattered in Kirribilli and all around the city and whatnot. Obviously it's not all from the 20s - Enmore Theatre was built in 1908 - but the overall vibe and deco and atmosphere evoke lovely Gatsby-esque mirages. Also, the book is fabulous. I haven't watched the movie but all my friends are polarized on it. hm.
I did also want to live in the 1950s after reading The Help and fantasizing about wearing wonderful A-line dresses everywhere and I know that women were oppressed or whatever but come on, people. They got to stay at home and cook and muck around the house and play tennis and gossip with friends. Obviously they had no rights and it called for reform but I do not see what the issue with being a housewife is, if it floats your boat. But I backed out of my 50s girl idea soon enough.
The 60s was filled with heaps of social unrest and although there were fabulous ideas erupting out of the public I don't think I would like to be caught in the political and social crossfire. So the 70s and 80s are probably my favourite decades. Unless I can go back to Victorian England. Better yet, the Middle Ages. (I simply adore the Middle Ages, although given my flammable demeanour they would burn me at the stake.)
Moving on. I listen to radio which is pretty much all 70s and 80s music - this really suits me because I have all this great modern music from my friends and Youtube and the Internet and then I have these lovely old tunes to slide into the mix. My parents are huge 70s fans too so it suits us pretty well.
I've spent the last, what, 6 paragraphs, babbling on.
But don't go yet! I won't let you.
These Supernatural gifs keep getting better and better.
1970s
The disco era, the glam rock era, pretty much everything that we hate nowadays is from the 70s. Glitter, seedy disco, bell bottomed pants - just stop.
Here are my favourite songs from the 70's.
Outdated song number one: The Bee Gees - Night Fever
The Bee Gees are probably one of the most cringe-worthy bands out there -
MY EYES - but I really quite like their songs. Their melodies are so spot on and they just waft around. I grew up listening to these guys (remember, I'm a dweeb) but the songs are so catchy with the melodies and harmonies and amazing chord changes and AH.
These boys really were musical geniuses and even though they weren't even born in Australia I find it hilarious how we try to claim them as Aussies. Dem Queenslanders.
But The Bee Gees are a hugely famous band - they've sold some 220 millions albums or whatever. They're so iconic, and for good reason too.
Their music is everywhere - TV shows (The Goodies, which I watched when I was tiny) and heaps of movies. It's also played at bingo clubs around the world, catering to the (extremely) lonely old ladies.
Here's one of their really upbeat songs, Night Fever (it was in that movie Saturday Night Fever):
and of course that bunch of morons over on Glee had to cover it. There was a time past where I actually watched that pathetic excuse of a show but then I got a life. sort of. not really. but I like to think I did.
Outdated song number two: David Bowie - Life on Mars?
So I love David Bowie and this is probably one of his most genius songs. It appears on the album Hunky Dory which was released in 1971 (the other well known song from the album is Changes, which is his most well known song and was actually featured in The Breakfast Club in 1985).
Life on Mars has a brilliant composition and fantastically shows off the piano as well as Bowie's amazing, familiar voice.
Some of you might be initially creeped out by David's Ziggy Stardust persona but come on. It's awesome.
Oh and don't be freaked out when the camera zooms in onto David's eyes - he had an incident in his adolescence which made his pupil permanently dilated.
And for a very different rendition, here is Fall Out Boy's version of this classic. It gets of to a very banal start but when Patrick pushes those strong higher notes you can see the beauty of the song and it's amazing. Hi vibrato is more of a vocal convulsion but when he just slips down the notes in the chorus it works.
Outdated song number three: Carly Simon - You're So Vain
This was the most brilliant song when I first heard it - the lyrics were snarky and clever and full of seething anger. My siblings for some reason adore the lyrics 'clouds in my coffee'. Strange, I know.
Carly has a really low register so it is a bit hard to sing along but the slow, lilting feel of the song just help the lyrics pack a punch. It's really catchy.
Outdated song number four: Carole King - It's Too Late
Carole King is Nat King Cole's daughter and it's interesting to see how both father and daughter are brilliant vocalists. This is a heartfelt song that just wonderfully showcases Carole's spectacular singing. I hear this song on the radio quite a lot and it's just quite fun to listen to.
And Carole has such cool hair. And that cat.
Outdated song number five: The Knack - My Sharona
Now this song probably sounds like a whole lot of waffle on the first listen - ddhdvpooefnfvijoioarjiofnj MAHHHHH SHARONAHHHHHHH ffsnoavnfshf ddsfhu pos[30 v4\ c
But that's better than the real meaning. It's about raping a younger girl.
So this song is about violating a young girl. Lovely. But never fear! It's so simply constructed that it sticks in your ear for ages and ages.
It's not a good song per se, but I guess it's catchiness and the basicness of it all sticks. Like Ke$ha.
It was actually a massive hit although it is extremely creepy.
Outdated song number six: Boney M - Daddy Cool
I remember first watching this video as a wee bubby when the world still used the original Xbox and Pumpkin Patch was the coolest clothing brand there was.
The video really freaked me out when the man tore off his shirt and started dancing - his really low voice kinda just topped off the whole WHAT AM I WATCHING MUM.
But then I was really sad the other day when I found out that the man had died. He had grown on me through the years, like a wart.
I quite liked the ladies, because even though they were weird I was happy to settle with the lesser of two evils and women are pretty cool anyway.
Outdated song number seven: Elton John - Crockodile Rock
I'm having a bit of a spasm with the spelling of 'crockodile' but given that a man who wears a red suit, plays the guitar and wears oversized John Lennon glasses wrote the song, I don't see what you expect. It's catchy, corny and a plain lot of fun.
Elton John has become so iconic to the 70s for his amazing music that it is difficult to imagine the 70s and 80s without him. His career is so legendary. He has written the most fabulous (hehe, fabulous) songs and is so quirky and fun and I love him.
I always found his smile a bit creepy and all - he remnds me a little of a teddy bear, actually.
He wrote the spectacular music for the Lion King (which is the movie of my childhood) and my siblings were obsessed with that movie Gnomeo and Juliet which pretty much took every Elton song and just threw in some gnome terms and what not.
I don't think this is one of his best tunes - I really like Daniel and I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues - but I wasn't really bothered to hunt down other songs from the 70s by him :) I'm pathetic I know.
It is with great excitement that I tell you all that TOMODELL'SHIGHLYANTICIPATEDNEWALBUMISOUTAHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Tom Odell's new album is out. celebrate.
Oh my goodness dat blink :)
AHH BOWIE AND ODELL MY LIFE IS COMPLETE.
I'll hold you anytime, Mr Odell. Any time.
LOOK HOW HE WALKS IT'S AMAZING asdfhq09374r1c2r!fhiehgi#iudhof@ejfioevnqrupo
I have a slight obsession with him. HE'S SO DREAMY. I do not care that he's probably dating Miss Swift - laugh out loud jokes I'm completely ballistic. I can only imagine the carnage if they broke up - both of them have conjured careers out of painful, destroyed relationships. Tom's songs will be better than Taylor's by far.
Long Way Down is Tom's debut album after the public snapped up his Songs From Another Love EP. Another Love is his most well known song, although I love Can't Pretend more than anything else. Hold Me was an iTunes Single of the Week and Tom won a Brit Award for being so amazingly brilliant and awesome and for being spectacular.
Tom's style is bringing back raw ballads - think Elton John piano with really raw, Jeff Buckley-esque vocals and wrap it up with the most beautiful blonde hair. Tom plays piano. I play piano. We were meant to be.
I don't know how I am going to be able to marry Tom and Jake Bugg and Asa Butterfield, but then again I'm not known for being completely legal or sane.
So the album has the big songs (Hold Me, Another Love) which become so familiar so quickly. The opening track, Grow Old With Me, is so heartfelt and delicate, which really sets the mood of the album - having gone through heartbreak (or maybe having gone without food for an hour - that's heartbreaking), Tom wistfully reminisces on his failed romances.
Now this sounds lovely and all but for goodness' sakes - he's twenty something and can already write a whole album on failed loves? Actually I can imagine he's had heaps and heaps of girlfriends with that fortunate face of his. Sigh.
This album is amazing - there's exciting, rousing pop and there's softer, crumbling songs on troubled love. Basically the album is brilliant.
Here's a bit from the album - it's Another Love, which happens to be 'explicit' on iTunes although he only swears once? It's pathetic, seeing as Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons swears in the chorus which pops up every freaking thirty seconds and isn't labelled with a big ugly red E. Do not be put off parents (and prospective parents. Teens these days.)
So there we have Tom Odell's 'Long Way Down'. It is most definitely winding up on my best albums of 2013.
So evidently I have heaps of music and I know a few songs here and there. But some of you might be interested in where I find my music. If you're not, then keep scrolling.
When a mummy song and a daddy song love each other very much, they...
Ok got a bit carried away there. But Kaya thinks it's funny!
But NICHOLAS HOULTTTTTTTTTTTTT.
Back to business. Ahem.
So I get my music from heaps and heaps of different places - I get them from my friends (yes they exist) and because they all have varying tastes I kinda get a bit from everybody.
Bands I got from friends:
The Paper Kites, Of Monsters and Men, Mumm-Ra, Pegasus Bridge, et cetera et cetera - pretty much every band I found in 2011 is from a friend or radio.
Which brings me to radio. I really like to hop between all these different radio stations - I used to listen to Top 40 but it's so trashy and boring. I don't actually listen to triple j that much - it's pretty much Sir Richard Kingsmill Overlord of Triple J or Tom and Alex. I always seem to miss the Like A Versions which are the only good things about triple j, really. Some of the acts are okay but others are simply despicable. I really like the oldies music station :) it's the only station that plays David Bowie and Queen and Heart and Blondie. I do listen to this really lame daggy station for relaxing pop music which sounds like it sucks when it plays Carpenters (who are really slow and boring) but they play lots of 70s and 60s songs like The Monkees and The Turtles and The Beach Boys. I also like the Christian music station with some of the really great rock songs - some are really exciting and they're all parent friendly, unlike the metal station. Hunt the Haunted is not a good idea with parents. Ever. Please do not try. Unless your parents are metal musicians. In which case, go ahead.
I also get Youtube recommendations and weekly emails which are really helpful. I also love my Insound newsletter which has such epic New Wave tunes. Some of the Youtube comments are great - they're hell as annoying when they sell themselves on other people's pages but some of these musicians are really great.
I love to hear covers of some great songs and also hearing the support acts at music concerts. I do love Soundcloud with its free downloads sometimes and Fingertips music which features free music. But really most of my music is found on Youtube or friend recommendations - Youtube does songs and friends do artists. I do get music from good soundtracks (Suicide Room had a good soundtrack) but yeah. Friends and Youtube.
I manage to hoard music from pretty much everywhere - Shazam helps me a lot in cars, taxis and shopping centres but I also like to just memorise short snippets from lyrics then type them into Google :)
I find new songs all the time but I just can't remember them right now because my sewing machine is broken and my laptop is running out of battery. So there.
It's the holidays now and thank goodness for that - Sydney is so ridiculously cold I cannot believe that we're supposed to be some land of deserts and sunshine. Oh, and drop bears.
I'm really looking forward to some pretty good days - I spent the whole of today just sewing and reading 1984 (Orwell is brilliant). I also won a Goodreads First Read (!!) and I think I'm just going to spend the rest of the week chilling. Although I'm a bit saddened by the fact that I'll spend the next three weeks reminded of how I have no friends.
Oh by the way my sewing machine has just had a bit of a tantrum and it's not working every time I press the foot down it makes this angry noise if any of you can help I will send you a cookie.
This week's song is 'The Rifle's Spiral' by The Shins.
First of all, the lyrics are so subtly crafted. Let's set this straight. It's such a melodic, cleverly arranged song with heaps of lovely layers and bursts of colour, yet it's about suicide bombers (it becomes startlingly lucid with the lyrics "you sublimate yourself").
This song sounds amazing blasted so loudly you can hear the bass and the throbbing that keeps it level while James Mercer so elegantly warbles on top. ah.
At the beginning and sporadically through the song there are a few rogue beeps and boops and blerps but who cares. It really adds to the otherworldy feel. Plus the album Port of Morrow is noted for its more electronic inclinations than the previous albums.
The music video for this song is really interesting as well - it's 3D animation.
Actually it's not that big of an event I'm just looking for an excuse to use gifs. I read that you should actually have 50 posts in your first month so readers think you actually update your blog.
LOOK IT'S JAKE BUGG
Nah you guys probably don't care and are just waiting for the music.
THIS IS YOU GUYS WAITING FOR ME TO SHUT UP
Back to business.
So given that it's the 50th post (I'm not going to shut up about it so just ignore me) I wanted to feature my favourite songs from the 60s.
Here goes.
Oh and these are not in any particular order so do not be alarmed when your favourite song is at the end of the list.
1960's.
So the 60s are supposed to be this massive period of social reform, shifting paradigms and epic love explosions. Which was exactly what happened.
There is some really great music from back then but I like to consider them seminal inspirations to some of the really great songs of today which I will admit I prefer to some oldies. I know some music nowadays sucks but some indie is just so fresh and awesome. Anyway, I didn't like their haircuts back then.
Outdated song number one: The Monkees - Daydream Believer
The Monkees were a pretty good bubblegum pop band and I do quite like their stuff. Although I always get their band name mixed up with others' (seriously, all the bands in the 60s started with 'the'. Gosh.) Daydream Believer has those really nasally, bright tones (bit like an oboe) and it's such a cheery song you either feel really happy listening to it or suspect some kind of Truman Show/Pleasantville setup. In fact, when the lyrics 'homecoming queen' pop up in the chorus I'm reminded of The Most Popular Girls In School. oh dear me.
they swear a lot. just a heads up.
But it's a great tune to bop to or just listen to. Davy Jones (no, not the zoidberg thing) was probably the most famous member but they all made amazing music - they wrote the song 'I'm A Believer' (from Shrek.)
Outdated song number two: The Doors - Light My Fire
So Jim Morrison takes a whole heap of shirtless pics and points at people. It doesn't matter because Light My Fire is a pretty good song.
Recently one of the Doors died (Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist) and we slipped into a bit of a Doors-themed nostalgia.
This is a really great song and if anyone ever plays it to me I will happily light their fire. I'm a bit of a pyromaniac.
Outdated song number three: The Beach Boys - I Get Around
I remember the first time I heard this song I was playing some fashion designer game on my Nintendo DS (I haven't seen a kid play with one of those for ages.) It was alongside quite a few old songs actually and all I could think about was how epic this track was. The Beach Boys are like a laidback barber shop choir who decided to move to Hawaii and record their tracks while sipping from coconuts.
It's a very fun song to sing and the verses are pretty cool. I can imagine throwing a 60s themed party and everyone joining in to the classically lo-fi, beachy tunes of The Beach Boys.
Outdated song number four: Animals - The House Of The Rising Sun
This is such a classic song with the most spectacular melody. You have probably heard it a billion times in your lifetime but it is honestly such a wonderful tune. I think every Gen X can play it or sing it somehow - it's become so iconic to the era like Twiggy. Gosh do I love Twiggy.
Even my dad can play this on the guitar.
Outdated song number five: The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby
What would the 60s be without these four lovely boys (and Stuart Sutcliffe)? The most iconic band ever, The Beatles are such brilliant songwriters and musicians and let's be honest they're probably some of the best secular musicians the world has known. I'm probably a Paul or Ringo girl but they're all really great.
This song is so cleverly crafted in that like many songs today it has quite a cheery feel to it with the lilting ahhhhhs and violins, but the lyrics are very different. The video creeps me out every time.
Probably one of my favourite song lyrics are in this song - 'wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door - who is it for?' and 'writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear'.
Actually when I first heard this song it was at night and I listened to it multiple times each Friday night at school and it's so haunting. Whenever I listen to songs I often picture the place I first heard it or where I listened to it the most. That place usually sort of reflects the song and I guess the utter desperation of being stuck in a school late at night somehow stuck with this haunting song.
I'M A LONELY PERSON AND I don't think you want to know where I came from, if you know what I mean.
Outdated song number six: Otis Redding - Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay
This song makes me quite sad every time I hear it, actually, because I cannot whistle. It's a catchy song and I find it oddly hilarious but I cannot whistle and therefore I am sad. It's a song you would listen to walking along a path or jetty by yourself while whistling and I'm sorry but I can't function.
Outdated song number seven: The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black
Now that we're nearing the end of the list I'm getting a little restless and not really bothered to write full descriptions for these songs but The Rolling Stones cannot simply be skipped. Pamikid Mcbugwigger forever. (Paul McCartney + Jake Bugg + David Bowie + Mick Jagger).
If you didn't know.
But Paint It Black is just such a great song with a sense of urgency and drive and then he sees the girls walk by in their summer clothes and HOW OUT OF PLACE IS THAT LET'S PAINT IT BLACK and this song could probably carry a lot of racist loaded statements but you gotta be a Rolling Stone about it and what drug are you on Naomie and I'm going to be quiet now.
Well I have some work that I have been hellbent on avoiding so see you later kids. Stay in school.
