youngadultfiction

simulatedchance:

“Turnover” by Fugazi

Good song, no?

Best post to date.

simulatedchance:

“Bows + Arrows” by The Walkmen

My biggest Walkmen-releated memory is of being on a train travelling to university early on after a heavy nigh of drinking, feeling worse for wear and listening to several of their albums. A lot of The Walkmen’s music sounds like that feeling, including the title track off their 2004 album.

Hamilton Leithauser’s vocals start off sounding strained before “rising” to an unsettled moan. The guitar and organ keep cutting each other off. The drums remain steady but a little queasy and off. But, as ever, Leithauser’s lyrics strive to stay positive - “And somebody girl we’ll get along” he sings at the end, even though he admitted “Then I’ll do it again”. And that is pretty much how I was feeling that morning…

Been listening to The Walkmen a lot lately. Great band.

simulatedchance:

“Wind And Snow” by Grouper

Liz Harris, who records as Grouper, is an ambient musician whose work aims at projecting her own memories and experiences through her music. Although “Wind and Snow” is less song-y than other tracks on her 2008 album Dragging a Dead Deer Up A Hill, its hums and haws moving like a slow ripple across a pond, it does has a definite progression and melody. However, what is important above all is the feeling it creates. On other Dragging… tracks Harris uses her vocals and more traditional songwriting techniques to deliver those emotions, but “Wind and Snow” shows she’s adept using just noise to paint an impressionistic picture of her experiences.

Reasons why this is probably the worst post I’ve written yet:

1. I speak with authority about what Ms. Harris’ music “aims” to do. I have no idea what Ms. Harris’ aim is to do - I didn’t even bother finding an interview or anything. Maybe like every other shitty ambient musician she wants to create soundtracks for movies which don’t exist or whatever other bullshit they usually come out with. It’s just i hope she doesn’t aim to do that and i feel her music is more personal than those other ambient/noise musicians who I don’t actually listen to.
2. I describe music as “moving like a slow ripple across a pond”. That is pretty shit.
3. I use the term “impressionistic” like I know about art and shit. What the fuck do I know about impressionism? I guess in my head what “impressionism” means is similar to what I think ambient/noise music should be; using minimalism to create an impression (get it?) of something else - but something that is real and actual. I guess what I’m trying to get at is that when I use a word like “impressionistic” I’m using what I think that word means rather than what it does mean - except I don’t always know what that word means - and I don’t like writing like that even though I always do. Am I making sense? I don’t know.

Anyway, hope everyone had a good Bank Holiday. I went to an Andy Warhol exhibit than had lunch in a Pizza Express that was full of beautiful waitresses and screaming children. I’ve had this song in my head the whole day. Hope all is well.

simulatedchance:

“Kaskaskia River” by Sufjan Stevens

I’m too busy watching BBC 3’s coverage of the Reading Festival whilst making sarcastic comments on Twitter, so you’ll have to think up your own 100 words on this brief instrumental from Stevens’ 2006 out-take album The Avalanche.

Hmm, may have spoken too soon - they’re showing full sets by The Vaccines and Noah & The Whale aka the two most punchable bands in the world.

simulatedchance:

“Violet” by Hole

“Violet” is a break-up song - most likely towards Billy Corgan, although some maintain its directed against Kurt Cobain - but its one where neither side comes across very well. The repeated refrain of “Go on take everything/I want you to” suggests both a powerlessness on the narrator’s part and also a sense of almost childlike bitterness - a juvenile argument which has descended into “Well I don’t want you anyway” back-and-forths. But there’s different shades to Love’s character here, with “When I get what I want/I never want it again” hinting at a deep-seated dissatisfaction, the type which may disrupt any relationship. Fitting for a song entitled “Violet”, nothing here is black and white.

The Later Live performance is one this is one of my favourites.

simulatedchance:

“Whip You With a Strap” by Ghostface Killa

Ghostface’s epic storytelling skills + a great Dilla beat = A song which a better writer than I would be able to honour with more than just this.

Me & this song are sick

simulatedchance:

“Game of Pricks” by Guided By Voices

“Game of Pricks” probably didn’t cost a lot to record. Chances are Robert Pollard didn’t spend that much time writing it. Its “lo-fi” recording meant Guided By Voices probably didn’t spend time spend worrying over tiny production details or doubting Pollard’s lyrical (in)directness. What “Game of Pricks“‘s short running time and tinny production allow is for Pollard and his band to deliver the song warts and all, and the end result is a glorious, energetic, catchy and fully realised classic rock song.

The truth is you could beef up the production and it’d still be a great song - but why would you want to do something like that?

I know y’all hate me reposting this stuff but I actually have some extras thoughts for once!

The first draft of this had the following paragraph:

The important thing to remember about so-called “lo-fi” bands Guided By Voices is that their recording techniques were not meant as any grand statement or even a reflection of their supposed “slacker” personas. Rather they were just a way of  presenting songs in their purest form, often straight from the band’s rehearsal spaces to the listener.

But then I had a thought: Does anyone actually believe that lo-fi production (in the original sense of bands like GBV, Pavement et al.) was a) used as a grand statement of intent or b) a reflection of the band’s “not giving a shit” attitude? I just say that because it seems every time one of those artists is mentioned (see: the first paragraph of this) the writer always wants to challenge those types of assumptions and the whole “slacker” label applied to bands from that era but by this point I think most people understand that the lo-fi recordings of the 1980s-1990s weren’t done to be trendy or subversive but out of a basic necessity. The fact that bands like Pavement, Guided By Voices or even later lo-fi-ers like John Darnielle moved into proper studios undermines, in my mind, those sorts of suggestions - and I think a lot of people agree with me.

There are examples of lo-fi artists who did and are making certain arguments through their production but I’m not trying to deny that. I’m just saying that the usual thought process with bands like Guided By Voices is to challenge a belief about those bands that nobody actually seems to hold.

simulatedchance:

“If I Needed Someone” by The Beatles

A Harrison song, so automatically great. It does sound incredibly like The Byrds, though. I’ve tried to speak about The Beatles before and I’m obviously no expert, but I will say what makes a lot of The Beatles’ recordings so timeless is how perfectly balanced every element is in their songwriting. “If I Needed Someone” was covered by The Hollies shortly after its release and whilst their much-maligned version is decent enough, it seems nervous and jittery in comparison to the original’s assured calmness.

HEY GUISE HAVE YOU HERD OF THE BEETLES?

simulatedchance:

“How My Heart Behaves” by Feist

Pay attention and “How My Heart Behaves” reveals itself to be both a song of incredible finesse, with every element - the piano, the harp, the background vocals and Feist’s own beautiful voice - assembled with expert precision, and also an oddly downbeat song with real emotional weight.

Feist compares the fates of “cold” and “calm” hearts; the former bursts while the latter breaks. It’s a song, to my ears, about the seeming futility of love but made with a staggering attention to detail.

Three things:

1. This may seem a little slight but that’s because my laptop crapped out and for some reason Tumblr didn’t save it like it usually does. To be fair what I had was crap so…
2. The last time I remember listening to The Reminder in full was Christmas 2007 when I selected it to be the acceptable background music for a family game of trivial pursuit.
3. I remember a boy in my Sixth Form who wasn’t into “indie rock” who loved “the song off the iPod advert” but when I told him about Feist he wasn’t interested in listening to any of her music, not even the full version of “1234”. Those type of people really angered me when I was younger, but I’ve grown to just accept that for some people 30 seconds of a song by an artist they’re not even interested in is enough to fulfil their musical nourishment.

simulatedchance:

“Nevermind (What Was It Anyway)” by Sonic Youth

Second Sonic Youth track this week - why not?

This is from Sonic Youth’s 2000 album NYC Ghosts & Flowers. And, as I am ever the contrarian, that record also happens to be one of my favourites from Sonic Youth’s 2000s offerings.

The records genesis is well-known: After having a large amount of equipment stolen whilst on the road, Sonic Youth were forced to write the entire record on instruments and equipment they had stored away years prior. As a result a lot of the material on NYC harkens back to their early work; “Nevermind”, one of the more song-y tracks on the record, could have been on EVOL or Sister where as other songs are some of the most experimental and discordant Sonic Youth had recorded since Bad Moon Rising.

But there are also new elements on NYC - it is the first album Sonic Youth recorded with Jim O’Rourke (the band had previously collaborated with him live and on their experimental SYR series) and the groups lyrics showed a heavy Beat poetry influence.

I guess what I love about NYC Ghosts & Flowers is it encapsulates the Sonic Youth spirit - no matter the circumstances, over the past thirty years they’ve proven they will always challenge themselves. Sometimes that experimentation ends up with them writing pop songs and brings them into the mainstream but other times they make divisive, fragile records like this and get 0.0s on Pitchfork.

i had to try three times before i got a song who’s file size wasn’t too large for tumblr

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