I lie here alone in my bed, painting my nails festive green, and it occurs to me that I should put together a little post about Christmas music. Now, my absolute favourite Christmas song is Carol Of The Bells, but everyone fucking knows that one, so we'll leave that asi--- nevermind, I found Darth Vader conducting a bunch of college students in a cafeteria.
AND I MEAN, I CAN'T NOT LINK TO THAT. I don't have much else to say about it because, as I said, everyone fucking knows Carol Of The Bells. It's even the Television Broadcasting students! And Canadian! TAKE THAT, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA.
In 2007, the Manic Street Preachers released aChristmas single called Ghost Of Christmas. It did not reach #1, and we are not bitter in the slightest. This video is truly bizarre (not offficial), and I am not sure what references I am missing, but we'll go with it! It's just so upbeat and...I've been wrapping presents to this for weeks now.
No X-Box and no computers / we just used our imagination
And nostalgic, too. :')
I'm not honestly sure when the Manics first did Last Christmas. This is them performing it on TFI Friday in 2007, so it dates to at least then. This is my favourite guilty pleasure Christmas song to positively just scream along to. And once more with feeling...
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart / but the very next day, you gave it away
This year, to stop me from tears / I'll give it to someone special
OH GO ON, LOVE IT WITH ME.
Let's now take a complete change in direction...
Dead orcs roasting in a lava pit
The Guild's A Christmas Raid Carol! These are my absolute favourite webseries creators/geeks. This song is hilarious and so well put-together.
All port all ye Guildies, in the Christmas spirit / let's go help some newbies in the starting zone
SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN TO ME!
And finally, because I am a sucker for lights synchronised to music, let's have a look at some of the most annoying neighbours ever.
I know it's dubstep, and I know that dubstep is dubstep, but dubstep...kind of works for this kind of thing, albeit in the most oh my god how can you do this to the neighbours fashion possible.
God do
I ever miss the days when I'd drive around with my parents, looking at
Christmas lights. In the spirit of nostalgia, and because the end of the
year is a time for reflection, and consequently reflection on the memes of that
year, here is another house in which god how can you do that to your neighbours set to Gangnam Style.
If anyone happens to be reading this, Happy Christmas, or Happy Holidays, or just generally I hope you're having a really good day.
MTV MASHUPS!
IT'S AS IF IT'S 2003 ALL OVER AGAIN!
MASHING THE SONGS I LOVE WITH SONGS I REALLY COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT! AND IT SOUNDS GOOD!
But then I realised...why am I limiting myself to MTV mashups? There's a whole fucking wide world of mashups out there.
As Don Cherry would say: LET'S GO!
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
But hey, it IS set to music, so that counts for something. Maybe we'll talk about Adele later.
WITHOUT FURTHER ADO:
The preceding is a video which the wonderful Adrian O'Sullivan has created. I am super-proud of him, and I think it's absolutely awesome. It's a great example of how music can really generate a mood, and when matched with perfect video, create strong emotions in you.
So go watch, like it on Youtube, comment to it, and subscribe to his channel.
THIS HAS BEEN AN ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE GOOD GIRLFRIEND BROADCASTING NETWORK. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIME AND ATTENTION.
I would like to talk about the "songs that make you slit your wrists". There is no My Chemical Romance on this list. This is a list of the songs that will break you, that will tear you apart, like love. These are the songs of the Dementors, the songs that burn away the light and leave behind the remnants of a faded glorious night; these are the songs that stole the sun from your heart.
Never Is a Promise - Fiona Apple
Oh, Fiona. You sing my pain.
You'll say, don't fear your dreams, it's easier than it seems
You'll say you'd never let me fall from hopes so high
But never is a promise and you can't afford to lie
But I do, I fear them, we all fear them. She is singing about alienation, and despair, and hope, but so gently and poignantly that it makes us want to sob quietly in a bathroom stall like we are sixteen again. We've all been lied to; we're all lied to; we've all been too proud.
But never is a promise, and you can't afford to lie..
To quote an entirely different band: what a shame we've all become such fragile, broken things. Melancholy.
Too Cold Here - Manic Street Preachers
I honestly think it's the whistle at the beginning that makes this song so aching, but I don't have an explanation for that. Perhaps there's something about whistling being so cheery, and then the song being so painful. We get off to a bright start:
Born in burial gowns, recessing slowly
You soon wish you couldn't see at all
Tortured in the mind, six voices alone
Born in burial gowns. There is nothing delicate about the representation of pain in this song. These boys want to make you feel it, feel every searing moment of it.
Everyone asks what's wrong, but what's right?
I mean, the song is right. But god, what else?
High And Dry - Radiohead
It's the best thing that you ever had, the best thing you ever had is gone away.
Yeah, I think that about sums it up. Heartbreak/heartache. I can pretty easily see myself crying into a carton of ice cream over this song.
All your insides fall to pieces
You just sit there wishing you could still make love
Dive In - The Horrors
Tom Furse has said of this song: "It's like a sweet helplessness. It's helplessness, but you don't actually mind it." And you don't, but only because it's so beautiful; you don't mind going cold into the current. This song can be interpreted as being about suicide - it's hard not to interpret it that way - but, for me, it goes beyond that: it is almost a suicide note.
Away, away, away you go
Before they push you under
Away, away, away you go
Before they pull you in
And we return to our sweet helplessness.
Back To The Old House - The Smiths
I know, The Smiths are the most cherished, clichémisery band in the whole fucking melancholy world.
Listen, though.
I would rather not go
Back to the old house
There's too many
Bad memories
It's about lost love:
And you never knew
How much I really liked you
Because I never even told you
But it hurts like a painful childhood memory. It aches with all the things that hurt you when you were innocent. It will make you suffer in silence.
Hurt - Johnny Cash
This song was used very recently in the trailer for the video game Prototype 2. It played during televised Toronto Blue Jays baseball games. Woe to you if you didn't catch the remote in time to mute it. WOE. The original Nine Inch Nails version has a certain kind of pain as well; it's a darker, angrier pain. In the Johnny Cash version, all you hear is the pain of an old man and his regrets. CHRIST.
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
Death Is Not The End - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Nick Cave makes my soul feel all the emotions. When he sang Shiver with The Birthday Party, I felt my skin crawl in a pre-gothic way. His cover of Bob Dylan's Death Is Not The End makes me feel something entirely different. It's not a suicide note, not exactly. There's the desire to die, but too much strength to let go. It's an unwillingness to fall apart even when that is all that remains to be done. It is strength and despair and everything that is human.
And all that you held sacred
Falls down and does not mend
Black Star - Radiohead
This song makes me ache with how perfectly it represents every time my depression affected my boyfriend, my father, my mother.
I know all the things around your head and what they do to you
What are we coming to?
What are we gonna do?
I truly do not know what else to say about this song; it encapsulates the reality of living with a bitterly depressed loved one, and it makes me ache with empathy.
Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist - Muse
When I make suicide playlists, this song always plays second to last.
I know you're in this room, I'm sure I heard you sigh
and then
Look through a faithless eye, are you afraid to die?
Christ, Matt. I'm terrified.
Still A Long Way To Go - James Dean Bradfield
Before I went into the hospital, this song was all I could listen to: I would lie in my bed, wrapped up in and immobilised by blankets, just trying to be safe and listening to this song.
You're falling through the night, and giving in to bad dreams
I don't want to give in, but I think the same "sweet helplessness" applies here, too. It's the certainty of despair.
Like laughing in the dark, to keep the dogs at bay
Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky - Manic Street Preachers
I think that this song hurts largely because of the music. The lyrics are Richey, which just makes everything hurt more, as it always does when you know they're Richey lyrics and you know how the story ends. Oh, Richey. You destroy us. I wonder how you would feel, knowing your songs have such power. Maybe you do know.
Here chewing your tail is joy
Such a cheery image, but it conveys the apathetic despair of a deep depression.
Crowd Surf Off A Cliff - Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton
I mean, if you're going to open with cursed with a love that you can't express, it's not for a fuck or a kiss, you have to know that things are going to end in tears. And then if we're going to end with I wake up lonely....
I mean, fuck. Emily Haines' voice is so gorgeous, so haunting, so much the siren luring you to the rocks.
Are we breathing? Are we breathing? Are we wasting our breath?
William's Last Words - Manic Street Preachers
This song had to be on here, but I am dreading writing about it. The Manics have said very specifically that it is not Richey's suicide note, that they do not see it that way, but it is very hard to hear it as anything but. Maybe not his, but a suicide note regardless.
It's hard not to quote the entire fucking thing.
I'm just gonna close my eyes, think about my family
And shed a little tear
Shed a little tear and it's good night, nos da. To everything and everyone you have ever loved.
Street Spirit (Fade Out) - Radiohead
I can feel death, I can see its beady eyes
CHRIST.
Cracked eggs, dead birds
Scream as they fight for life
CHRIST. I'm about ready to go off myself now. Thom Yorke et al are so good at the imagery that tears at your heart, at every fibre of your being.
Yeah, so music is your boyfriend. Okay, so music saved your mortal soul. Fine, you love the song AND the singer. You still have to acknowledge that very little has such power to hurt and save and make you ache, ache with the hurt or as you scream as [you] fight for life.
And I haven't even touched the break-up and heartbreak songs.
I just wanted to make you feel. I know you probably know how music can affect you. I know you've been hurt by it and saved by it. I know there's a song that takes you back so strongly that it stops you in your tracks.
I really just wanted to make you cry.
It's Indie Week in Toronto, and I am EXCITED!
Visible in that classy webcam shot: wristbands for my boyfriend and I, and I've just realised that he'll be able to join me for maybe one night of it. Fuck.
...STILL EXCITED!
(Still also working full-time and in university full-time, but who even needs sleep, anyways?)
I should have done an introduction to Duke Special and Bell X1 before making that last post, for my boyfriend's sake if for no other reason. So, here goes!
I'm not entirely sure that it's possible to write an introduction to Duke Special. He's a wonderfully eccentric, charming, slightly awkward gentleman from Ireland. He plays the piano and sings with great enthusiasm, and you know, I'm not even going to try to encapsulate the man in words, let's just have a couple of videos.
Don't you just want to cry now?
HE IS JUST THE CUTEST.
And yes, I went out of my way to pick the one with the Jedward reference. :p
Bell X1 is at least possible to describe in words. Apparently, they gained fame in the US after their song "Eve, The Apple Of My Eye" was used in a lesbian kiss scene in The O.C., but I guess that fame never translated to Canada...okay, I'll stop being bitter about that. I did not know that about The O.C., but I suppose that's why we blog.
In any case, Bell X1 are Irish, and they come from County Kildare. There is a complicated history involving Damien Rice, which we won't delve into terribly deeply, but in summary: Damien Rice and most of Bell X1 used to be in a band called Juniper, and when Damien left Juniper over "creative differences", Bell X1 came to be formed.
Their first album, Neither Am I, was released in 2000. Here is Man On Mir, which hit #30 on the Irish singles charts.
The stamp on my hand reads "Chillax!", which is a direct result of me having been at the "Virgin Mobile" Mod Club to see Bell X1 (with Duke Special). I don't mind the Mod Club as a venue. The acoustics are pretty good, and the staff is generally pretty decent. Until about five minutes before doors, the "queue" consisted of me and three other women, and the bouncer was having a nice chat with us. I do mind seated shows. It just throws the atmosphere off. Paul Noonan even commented that it had a "town hall" feel to it. It was worse as the evening grew later and the crowd around the edges grew drunker and louder. Paul again commented on this, asking if the people at the back were "still with us". They weren't. I was already upset at the lack of interest in Bell X1. My boyfriend had ended up having to work, and I was literally unable to give his ticket away. I give so many fucks about this band, and they get a mediocre turn out and a shitty crowd. Fuck you, Toronto, fuck you. Having said that, the band itself was great. But I get ahead of myself. Duke Special opened. I love Duke Special. I think he is clinically incapable of doing things with anything but intense passion, but he has just a charming touch of awkward nervousness when he chats with the crowd between songs. He put out a loud, enthusiastic, rousing set, complete with two audience sing-alongs.
Duke Special @ the Mod Club 29/09/12
Then it was our favourite Irish boys. I swooned a little when they came out, I think. Even with the personal drama surrounding my attendance, I was desperately looking forward to this show.
Bell X1 @ the Mod Club 29/09/12
They opened with
Bad Skin Day, which wasn't an opener that I was expecting, but it was surprisingly effective.
It feels like we're always waiting
It feels like we're never leading
I neglected to write down the setlist, and no one has posted it on setlist.fm, so I'll just go through highlights.
There is, in almost every show I pay proper money to see, a point where I lose my shit. Last night, that point was during Velcro.
Now we're clacking at computers,
In the sickly light they throw.
All jonesing for wi-fi,
So we can steal more tv shows.
Watching a 6 year old on YouTube,
Playing drums to Billie Jean.
Now this is the stuff that binds us,
This and all those dairy creams.
For most other people, that point was during Flame, with the corresponding hand-clapping:
I wanna be near you and blink in your light
And toast marshmallows on a cold dark night
Or during Rocky Took A Lover:
He said 'The sun gives life, and it takes it away
But like all the greats, it'll burn out someday'
She said 'I don't mind, I don't want to get bored
I don't want to end up beached on this shore
I want to be that star'
And then I'll shine for you. Then I'll burn for you.
Then I can shine for you. That's what I'll do
I cried at one point. I wasn't expecting them to play Built To Last because they hadn't in Philadelphia, which was the only setlist I'd seen posted from this tour, and it really threw me.
We're made like the past
We were built to last
We're made like the past
We were built to last
Nighttime is the wrong time
To be with the thoughts you fear
They drag their nails
And rattle their chains
David Geraghty @ the Mod Club 29/09/12
My emotions were not prepared for that, and they definitely were not ready for David Geraghty, who sings lead on the track, to mess up and have to restart halfway through. That track, hands down, made the night for me, but I would have been sad (knowing, as I did, that they played it in Philadelphia) if they hadn't played I'll See Your Heart and I'll Raise You Mine, which they did as their closer/first encore.
Yea, they keep swapping shoulders
I think there's something going on
"Will you be my sweet pea?
Will you be the card up my sleeve?"
says one to the other
and this time they hold their gaze
for too long
God, I love this band, I love their sweet, soothing music, and I love their more dance-y hand-clapping songs, and I just fucking love this band. The problem is, though, as I discussed with an Irish friend who has seen them many times, they are very much a band who feeds off of the energy of the crowd, and the energy last night was ATROCIOUS. Apart from a few die-hards like myself, the viewers ranged from disinterested to loudly drunk. The band, especially Dominic, looked legitimately sad over this, and it was hard to feel like they, or anyone there, were really having a good time. The band still played well; they are great musicians, but the energy just wasn't there, and that was honestly kind of distressing to me given my ridiculous love for the band. I'll see them next time they're in town, but I'll go in with, well, the expectation of seeing a great band perform a set that's much less stellar than what I know they're capable of.
Seven
Nation Army – The White Stripes (Glitch Mob Remix)
Count In
Fives – The Horrors
If You Wanna – The Vaccines
Futures –
Jimmy Eat World
Time To
Pretend – MGMT
Knights Of
Cydonia -Muse
Help, I’m
Alive – Metric
Makedamnsure
– Taking Back Sunday
Not Gonna
Get Us – t.A.T.u.
Postcards
From A Young Man – Manic Street Preachers
I brought
you a present. It’s for those days when it’s hard to put on your shoes, turn
the key in the door, and progress to the subway. It’s for those days when you
only have the energy to stand right, not to walk left on the escalator. It’s
for those days when there just isn’t enough caffeine in the world.
It’s a
playlist to help you leave the house.
We’ll start
off with The Glitch Mob’s remix of The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army.
Yes, I know I just started you off with a remix of a classic. Hear me out. The
song in its original form is pretty much perfect. The opening lyrics – I’m gonna fight ‘em off, a seven nation army couldn’t hold me back –
are rousing, and the guitar riffs carry that spirit throughout the song. It’s been used as an anthem at sporting
events, notably by Italy during the World Cup(s), and as a protest song in
Egypt. Vastly different groups have gone to Seven Nation Army in search
of that motivating factor, and have found it and taken it for their own
purpose. That’s magical. The Glitch Mob’s remix keeps the essence of the song
and just makes it fucking dirty, for lack of a more appropriate word. 2:20 and
you’ll see.
Continuing
the dirty trend, I bring you Count In Fives by The Horrors, off of their
album Strange House. It’s not dirty in the same electronic way, but
you’ll want to continue moshing, headbanging, or rocking out in the manner of
your choosing. When Faris Badwan growls that and if another number confronts me, I will cut you in half, you’ll
want to join in the cutting. Watch the video and see him lose his mind, dancing. Join him. Who knew that a song that’s essentially about
maths could be so hardcore? HEY!
From there,
we tone it down a little to The Vaccines’ If You Wanna. Come for well I don’t wanna wake up in the morning,
but I’ve got to face the day, that’s what all the friends I do not like as much
as you say, air-drum throughout the song, leave to the strange looks you’ll get as you pogo to this down
a subway platform that you thought was deserted. Oops. JUST DANCE, YOU KNOW YOU
WANNA.
We get a
little more mellow with Jimmy Eat World’s Futures, but we’re probably
still dancing. Say hello to good times,
trade up for the fast rides. This song is here purely to make you feel
good, make you feel hopeful. The riffs will rock you from the very beginning.
Moving into
MGMT’s Time To Pretend, we are certainly dancing, now. Not headbanging,
not moshing, just fucking dancing. This
is our decision, to live fast and die young, we’ve got the vision, now let’s
have some fun. And yes, that is the sole reason for this song’s inclusion.
FOR FUN! We don’t just want to leave you feeling agitated enough to Leave The
House, we want you fucking enjoying it. I SAID YEAH YEAH YEAH.
Knights
Of Cydonia by Muse
is here to give you strength. It’s here to be FUCKING EPIC. It's here because there's fucking horses whinnying at the beginning. It’s here because NO ONE’S GONNA TAKE ME ALIVE, THE TIME HAS
COME TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT, YOU AND I MUST FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS, YOU AND I MUST
FIGHT TO SURIVIVE. This song is here to give you fight.
Now that
you’re feeling thoroughly roused again…well, maybe it’s more help I’m alive, my heart keeps beating like
a hammer. That’s why Metric’s Help, I’m Alive is here. Sure you’re
out and moving around now, you’ve done what you set out to do, but do you feel
really alive? Emily Haines' purity of voice will make you feel that way.
We need a
little aggression again. MakeDamnSure by Taking Back Sunday gives us a
little bit of edge again. I just wanna
break you down so badly in the worst way. Yes. Just yes. I have headbanged screamed-along
lost my shit to this song so many times. Because sometimes you just need the
spirit of destruction.
I threw in Not
Gonna Get Us by t.A.T.u. in case you wanted to dance again. It’s a guilty
pleasure, what can I say? Nothing can stop this, not now I love you, they're not gonna get us, they're not gonna get us.
We close
this playlist with Postcards From A Young Man by The Manic Street
Preachers. This song is the entire reason that I created a playlist for Leaving
The House. It just starts so epically!This WORLD WILL NOT IMPOSE ITS
WILL! I WILL NOT GIVE UP AND I WILL NOT GIVE IN! And nor should you.
I wanted to take a moment to honour my favourite Twitterers. At times nonsensical, at times philisophical, the Twitter of the young musical twins from Ireland is truly something special. I've decided to do this in two parts; there's too much gold here to cram into one post, so I'll do a separate one with Tweets containing photos.
Placebo fans have been very lucky this summer. The band has played the festival circuit in Europe, and a number of those have broadcast livestreams for for those of us who were unable to be there. I have been able to watch three, including two on the weekend. On Friday the 24th, Placebo was in Paris, France at Rock En Seine and on Saturday the 25th, Placebo was in Gelsenkirchen, Germany at Rock Im Pott.
Let's talk about Rock Im Pott.
Placebo has been playing together since 1994, although its current lineup has only been together since 2008. Brian Molko (lead vocals, guitar) and Stefan Olsdal (guitar, bass) have been playing together for that entire period, but drummer Steve Forrest only joined in 2008 after the previous drummer left. Placebo has actually always had a bit of trouble with drummers: Robert Schultzberg was the first, but left and was replaced by Steve Hewitt due to some conflicts within the band. Hewitt was replaced by Forrest. Lineup changes happen.
Anyways, they have been playing together since 1994, and have released six albums:
Placebo (1996) Without You I'm Nothing (1998) Black Market Music (2000) Sleeping With Ghosts (2003) Meds (2006) Battle For The Sun (2009)
They have also confirmed that they are working on a seventh, so yay to that.
Placebo has enjoyed tremendous success. All of their albums have reached the top 20 in the UK, and they have now sold over ten million records worldwide.
They have enjoyed a little bit of controversy due to the drug references in their songs - they aren't in every song, but they are noticeable. They even have a song called Special K, so you know. Brian Molko has also endured some criticism due to his androgynous appearance and openness about his bisexuality. Fuck the haters, though, he is (at least in certain ways) a class act, as we will see in our discussion about Rock En Seine and Rock Im Pott.
From their official website.
They've got the look, and they've got the sound to back it up, and that's pretty much where I'll leave it.
Also, hey, the livestream has died for me, but the Red Hot Chili Peppers should still be going from Rock Im Pott here.
