Alexander HineSong Reviews, 2nd Edition
Well, it’s been longer than a week…but before you criticise me, recall that I really don’t care what you have to say. Well, a busy boy I’ve been – what with trying to find gainful employment, struggling to keep my sanity as the government rolls out one stupid paternalistic, mummying, shitkicking law after another and staring at visions of clouds tremulous perched on the horizon of the world. Despite these and other setbacks I have assembled another collection of songs, both esoteric and mainstream, over which to drool for your amusement and gratification. Bing.
1. Bombs Over Baghdad, Outkast, from Stankonia
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. This song changed all my thinking on rap, before hearing this epic hip-hop expedition I thought all rap was stilted, boring, misogynistic, soulless, dirgelike crap. But this is a masterpiece of joy and energy despite it’s serious themes - everything is perfect, from the echoing bass drum to the funk guitar to the gospel choir to the wickedfast synth riffs and the distorted keyboards. The track has a deceptive opening, with little bells preparing you for a lullaby, but this illusion shatters very quickly under a verbal assault from Andre 3000. The chorus is catchy and backed up by funk, scratched, wah wah guitar. Big Boi’s rap has a different feel to 3000’s, it starts sparse and slowly builds, with a devilishly quick staccato synth line and the re-introduction of the distorted keys from the first verse. The lyrics are fantastic: a diversity of subject matter and rhythmic word play. After the second chorus we are even treated to an extended guitar solo, gospel singing and then a dirty rock/rap interlude before the whole thing turns into a jam on “Ha-ho music electric revival” and funks and crunks into the sunset.
Get hold of a car (by ANY means necessary) take it to the highway, hit 120 and turn this up very, very loud.
2. Speigel Im Spiegel, Arvo Part, from Alina
If there were a music of the spheres, if there was some song that the dying heard to draw them into heaven, or a lullaby sung by angels to newborns, this would be it. I really can’t describe the feeling of light, sad perfection that listening to this song creates throughout the entire body. It is only a piano and a cello, the melody is simple, as is the accompaniment and yet, somehow, Arvo Part creates a whole world with this piece. Listen to it on good headphones anywhere, anytime – you will see the world transfigured.
I am an atheist most of the time but, while I’m listening to this piece, there is a God.
3. My Detractors, The Black Swans of Trespass, from Duttigalla Exile
The Black Swans of Trespass are a blend of bluegrass, funk and reggae, with vocals similar to Tom Waits. Led by the very tall CC Thornley, they are a very unique band making their gritty way around the Melbourne music scene. In My Detractors, Thornley revels in the promised pleasure that his own failures will bring to his enemies. The song is very danceable with jazzy drums, bluegrass banjo and stabbing guitar. Thornley’s vocals are at their Armstrong/Waits/Throatgrowl best and the lyrics are bitter and funny, my favourite line being “Oh my vultures, oh my vultures, won’t you pick up your knife and fork and carve yourself a portion while we’re sippin’ our wine and we’re talking.” The song also features a tasty double bass solo, melodically plucked – despite a few minor dud notes. The banjo and guitar trade some nice melodic solos too. This is a good song to chuck on after one too many wines with the windows open and your dancing shoes on.
4. Sun Is Shining, Bob Marley and the Wailers, from One Love: The Very Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers
I have never been hugely into reggae. Too much homophobia, religious fanaticism and overly positive songs for me. This made me very unpopular with all my lefty/hippie/stoned friends and so I gave the old Bob Marley a try. This song really stopped me in my tracks and got me to rethink reggae. I’m still not a huge fan, but I see the virtues now, and this song still gives me shivers. There is something haunting and passionate in the descending chords, the slight dischords, the feeling of celebration, but also sadness. The vocals are spot on and, personally, I find that the gentle groove of the band taps into something deep within my brain, closes my eyes, and takes me to heaven. The guitar is soulful, the organ well placed, the percussion inventive, the harmonies natural. This is reggae with a difference – I can’t explain why, but it will always be the one Bob Marley song I really care about
Just get stoned and listen to it.
5. Stickshifts and Safety Belts, Cake, from Fashion Nuggett
Rockabilly Cake style! A fantastic protest song against road safety, easily understood by us poor oppressed Aussie’s with our seatbelt laws. The singer laments “Stickshifts and safety belts, bucket seats have all got to go when I’m driving in the car they make my baby feel so far.” This song is perfect for parties and breakfast-time, the thumping arpeggio bass and the slick rockabilly guitar make this a real feel-good song. The harmonies are great too, with those lovely high whiny notes we’ve all come to associate with the best hick music around. Oh, and I nearly forget the drumming: very reminiscent of Johnny Cash if his music took speed – a fast paced, rock solid freight train of a drum line.
A great pick-up for any time of the day, you’ll never get it out of your head and you’ll have even more trouble wiping the smile off your face.
6. Smokey Mountain Lullaby, Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel, from The Day Fingerpickers Took Over the World, composed by Chet Atkins
This might sound like a bad thing, but it’s not: this track is perfect to fall asleep to. The two guitar masters interweave their melody and harmony lines with a simple string arrangement. They take perfect solos – simple, aching, haunting – in which virtuosity is put aside for a mastery of the simple melody, the perfect cadence.
If you have kids, fool them into bedtime with this one, it’s sweet, relaxing and perfectly realised.
7. Rudie Can’t Fail, The Clash, from London Calling
There are good reasons for people to idolise The Clash, and this song is one of them. It opens with the classic line “How’d ya get so rude and reckless, thought you’d be so crude and feckless, sipping chicken brew for breakfast” – or something like that, it’s a bit hard to tell, but I don’t care because it’s surrounded by one of the more dynamic bands I’ve ever heard. The band have a motley sound, but somehow also sound incredibly tight – the drums follow the feel of the song perfectly, the brass pops and wails, and several vocalists muck around and improvise, giving the song a genuine party feel.
Joints, wine, volume, singalong, dance – a good song for that state in between drunk and puking when all you want to do is laugh, sing and make ludicrous pledges of love to the moon.
8. Do You Realize?? (Remix), The Flaming Lips, from Fight Test (Single)
Ah, The Flaming Lips. This is a great remix – part Flaming Lips weirdness, part clichéd house beats. The remix retains the dreamy ethereal quality of the original, but adds something more to it. The driving beat, thumping on every crotchet gives a new urgency to the song’s message of immanent beauty and mystery – “Do you realize that you have the most beautiful face?” – “Do you realize that everyone you know someday will day?” There’s not much else I can say about this song, I find it very beautiful and I can’t stop listening to it long enough to write, just buy it and listen to it and write the review yourself.
9. Vitr, Yellow Sisters, from Singalana
0
Yellow Sisters are a four-piece a Capella group from (I think) Czechoslovakia. As well as being gorgeous one and all, they are very talented. Vitr is a tapestry of interacting voices, listening to it is similar to sitting at the centre of a beautiful storm – you can’t really decipher what’s going on around you, but it is stunning to witness. Throughout the song there is a solo line accompanied by lilting harmonies and increasingly percussive syllabic sounds. As the song reaches its peak the rhythmic voices become faster and more urgent, and start to break off from the main harmonies and rhythms into a frantic rising semi-quaver pattern in close harmony. At it’s climax the song dissolves into a hypnotic burst of jagged sound spray, that feels as if it comes from the primeval belly of an African desert tribe, long lost to the sands of time. By this point you should be floating through a dimension of space dissimilar in every way to supermarkets. I wish you luck navigating the waves therein, and we will meet again some sunny day.
1. Bombs Over Baghdad, Outkast, from Stankonia
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. This song changed all my thinking on rap, before hearing this epic hip-hop expedition I thought all rap was stilted, boring, misogynistic, soulless, dirgelike crap. But this is a masterpiece of joy and energy despite it’s serious themes - everything is perfect, from the echoing bass drum to the funk guitar to the gospel choir to the wickedfast synth riffs and the distorted keyboards. The track has a deceptive opening, with little bells preparing you for a lullaby, but this illusion shatters very quickly under a verbal assault from Andre 3000. The chorus is catchy and backed up by funk, scratched, wah wah guitar. Big Boi’s rap has a different feel to 3000’s, it starts sparse and slowly builds, with a devilishly quick staccato synth line and the re-introduction of the distorted keys from the first verse. The lyrics are fantastic: a diversity of subject matter and rhythmic word play. After the second chorus we are even treated to an extended guitar solo, gospel singing and then a dirty rock/rap interlude before the whole thing turns into a jam on “Ha-ho music electric revival” and funks and crunks into the sunset.
2. Speigel Im Spiegel, Arvo Part, from Alina
If there were a music of the spheres, if there was some song that the dying heard to draw them into heaven, or a lullaby sung by angels to newborns, this would be it. I really can’t describe the feeling of light, sad perfection that listening to this song creates throughout the entire body. It is only a piano and a cello, the melody is simple, as is the accompaniment and yet, somehow, Arvo Part creates a whole world with this piece. Listen to it on good headphones anywhere, anytime – you will see the world transfigured.
I am an atheist most of the time but, while I’m listening to this piece, there is a God.
3. My Detractors, The Black Swans of Trespass, from Duttigalla Exile
The Black Swans of Trespass are a blend of bluegrass, funk and reggae, with vocals similar to Tom Waits. Led by the very tall CC Thornley, they are a very unique band making their gritty way around the Melbourne music scene. In My Detractors, Thornley revels in the promised pleasure that his own failures will bring to his enemies. The song is very danceable with jazzy drums, bluegrass banjo and stabbing guitar. Thornley’s vocals are at their Armstrong/Waits/Throatgrowl best and the lyrics are bitter and funny, my favourite line being “Oh my vultures, oh my vultures, won’t you pick up your knife and fork and carve yourself a portion while we’re sippin’ our wine and we’re talking.” The song also features a tasty double bass solo, melodically plucked – despite a few minor dud notes. The banjo and guitar trade some nice melodic solos too. This is a good song to chuck on after one too many wines with the windows open and your dancing shoes on.
4. Sun Is Shining, Bob Marley and the Wailers, from One Love: The Very Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers
I have never been hugely into reggae. Too much homophobia, religious fanaticism and overly positive songs for me. This made me very unpopular with all my lefty/hippie/stoned friends and so I gave the old Bob Marley a try. This song really stopped me in my tracks and got me to rethink reggae. I’m still not a huge fan, but I see the virtues now, and this song still gives me shivers. There is something haunting and passionate in the descending chords, the slight dischords, the feeling of celebration, but also sadness. The vocals are spot on and, personally, I find that the gentle groove of the band taps into something deep within my brain, closes my eyes, and takes me to heaven. The guitar is soulful, the organ well placed, the percussion inventive, the harmonies natural. This is reggae with a difference – I can’t explain why, but it will always be the one Bob Marley song I really care about
Just get stoned and listen to it.
5. Stickshifts and Safety Belts, Cake, from Fashion Nuggett
Rockabilly Cake style! A fantastic protest song against road safety, easily understood by us poor oppressed Aussie’s with our seatbelt laws. The singer laments “Stickshifts and safety belts, bucket seats have all got to go when I’m driving in the car they make my baby feel so far.” This song is perfect for parties and breakfast-time, the thumping arpeggio bass and the slick rockabilly guitar make this a real feel-good song. The harmonies are great too, with those lovely high whiny notes we’ve all come to associate with the best hick music around. Oh, and I nearly forget the drumming: very reminiscent of Johnny Cash if his music took speed – a fast paced, rock solid freight train of a drum line.
A great pick-up for any time of the day, you’ll never get it out of your head and you’ll have even more trouble wiping the smile off your face.
6. Smokey Mountain Lullaby, Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel, from The Day Fingerpickers Took Over the World, composed by Chet Atkins
This might sound like a bad thing, but it’s not: this track is perfect to fall asleep to. The two guitar masters interweave their melody and harmony lines with a simple string arrangement. They take perfect solos – simple, aching, haunting – in which virtuosity is put aside for a mastery of the simple melody, the perfect cadence.
If you have kids, fool them into bedtime with this one, it’s sweet, relaxing and perfectly realised.
7. Rudie Can’t Fail, The Clash, from London Calling
There are good reasons for people to idolise The Clash, and this song is one of them. It opens with the classic line “How’d ya get so rude and reckless, thought you’d be so crude and feckless, sipping chicken brew for breakfast” – or something like that, it’s a bit hard to tell, but I don’t care because it’s surrounded by one of the more dynamic bands I’ve ever heard. The band have a motley sound, but somehow also sound incredibly tight – the drums follow the feel of the song perfectly, the brass pops and wails, and several vocalists muck around and improvise, giving the song a genuine party feel.
Joints, wine, volume, singalong, dance – a good song for that state in between drunk and puking when all you want to do is laugh, sing and make ludicrous pledges of love to the moon.
8. Do You Realize?? (Remix), The Flaming Lips, from Fight Test (Single)
Ah, The Flaming Lips. This is a great remix – part Flaming Lips weirdness, part clichéd house beats. The remix retains the dreamy ethereal quality of the original, but adds something more to it. The driving beat, thumping on every crotchet gives a new urgency to the song’s message of immanent beauty and mystery – “Do you realize that you have the most beautiful face?” – “Do you realize that everyone you know someday will day?” There’s not much else I can say about this song, I find it very beautiful and I can’t stop listening to it long enough to write, just buy it and listen to it and write the review yourself.
9. Vitr, Yellow Sisters, from Singalana
0
Yellow Sisters are a four-piece a Capella group from (I think) Czechoslovakia. As well as being gorgeous one and all, they are very talented. Vitr is a tapestry of interacting voices, listening to it is similar to sitting at the centre of a beautiful storm – you can’t really decipher what’s going on around you, but it is stunning to witness. Throughout the song there is a solo line accompanied by lilting harmonies and increasingly percussive syllabic sounds. As the song reaches its peak the rhythmic voices become faster and more urgent, and start to break off from the main harmonies and rhythms into a frantic rising semi-quaver pattern in close harmony. At it’s climax the song dissolves into a hypnotic burst of jagged sound spray, that feels as if it comes from the primeval belly of an African desert tribe, long lost to the sands of time. By this point you should be floating through a dimension of space dissimilar in every way to supermarkets. I wish you luck navigating the waves therein, and we will meet again some sunny day.
