Quantcast
 Everett True

That whole “music used to sound better when I was younger” theory

That whole “music used to sound better when I was younger” theory
Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Text Size Print This Page

NOVEMBER (81-92)

Astro Children – Jamie Knows

The second song on this new single from this Dunedin NZ duo is way better than the first, cos the second song on this new single from this Dunedin NZ duo clatters and scatters and unsettles because it knows how loneliness and paranoia are at the heart of most everything we hold dead. Dear. I mean, oh dear. I like this, because it’s not fully-formed and will dissipate into nothingness rather than let you come closer: I like the clattering and the nerve-end scowling. I like the psych rock traces, of course. And I particularly like the way everything reminds me right now of ‘The Black Angel’s Death Song’, a song I didn’t even know the full title of until about three minutes ago.

Etao Shin – A Solitude Sheer

Love this. Sometimes it’s like back when I was drunk and used to leave deliberately encrypted messages on my computer screen just to fuck with my (spit) sober self. Either that, or send offensive emails to everyone I could think of and then delete all traces, so my drunk self could later deny all knowledge to my sober self.

All that I wrote here a few days ago was “via Facebook messages”.

Yoko Ono – Bad Dancer

It’s fun, it’s ridiculous, it’s arty, it’ll wind a bunch of meatheads up AND you can dance ridiculously to it. It’s Yoko. And Bangs alive, that’s way enough for me today.

Silver Fox – Arosa

Silver Fox are agitated and scratchy and nervous, and help me itch the same itch I’ve been scratching at for decades now. It will never go away. It will never go away.

Charlie Boyer And The Voyeurs – I Watch You

Is that bad? That music can be so neatly categorised? Yeah, I guess. But… well, ain’t that a lot of the point of writing about music (whether it comes from critics or comes from the record label), that it can entice the undecided to have a listen. Aren’t we all waving our little red flags of enticement, the while? This is repetition and noise and art-punk and Lou and bruised velveteen crushes. Dude also sounds like the dude from Supergrass but in these parts that’s a ferocious plus. They got a groove, a sure-gone groove.

Gaptooth – Enduring Freedom

This series is all about queue-jumping. I hear something, I like something, I write about something. It can be a mutated Euro-beat feminist anthem full of big blowsy choruses and tricky couplets that recalls the heady days of Republica. It can be joyous infectious pop music from East London. It could start, “I only just fell from the womb/All wet and screaming/Now I’m supposed to be a functioning adult”. It could recall the intersection of dance and homespun recordings carved out by the folk who inspired St. Etienne during the 80s. (Uh, The Pet Shop Boys then.) It could be angry, questioning. It could sound a little like The Boy Least Likely To. It could be all of these things and more.

It could be Gaptooth.

Laura Mvula – That’s Alright

I know this will surprise precisely no one, but I don’t have a fucking single clue who Laura Mvula is. Just that I think this song is fantastic: fluid and elastic and playful and possessed of an easy, assured grace that reminds me of Nina Simone a little (and trust me, I don’t use that reference point often). It’s also very 2013 – and I guess that’s what I love most about it.

Edible Arrangements – Catholic Quilt

Within about half-a-second of tuning into this haunting glittery wonderland, I knew I loved this: it’s like Veronica Falls only not so much so. No hanging ’round graveyards for these devotional kinds from Brighton, UK: the spooky horror-show keyboard refrains owe more to the system-maligned cadences of early Fall spin-off band Blue Orchids than to any echo-chamber 60s revivalism.

Alba Lua – When I’m Roaming Free

Beautifully underplayed. A strange kind of quietened beauty from French four-piece Alba Lua.

Mean Bikini – I Cannot Play Guitar

Stumbled across this while looking for something else, and it made me smile. Smile and tap my feet. Smile, tap my feet, waggle my head from side to side and do a couple of quick shimmies on the imaginary dance floor inside my head.

Sky Ferreira – Boys

I love most everything about this. The over-saturation and distortion of sound. The way she intones her words, never helpless. The layers of noise crashing upon waves of noise. The fact Blondie hold still such a clear influence even in 2013. The fact I’ve never felt less like a character in a Brett Easton Ellis novel. The fact the song shares a title with The Shirelles. (Man, that song sounds so clean, so refreshing next to Ms. Ferreira.) The fact I stumbled across a message board two days ago still debating whether I was dating Courtney Love around the time she met Kurt Cobain. The fact that 2013 has been determined by the second-hand neon and twilight. The fact Lana Del Rey’s influence has clearly and abundantly transcended her own acquiescence and experience. The fact that these people are living dreams (read that the other way). The fact rock’n’roll is still alive in 2013. The casual, brutal repetition. The recognisable Nick Lowe influence. My half-full cup of coffee, just the WRONG side of too strong.

The Fireworks – Runaround

I can’t choose between the following songs. They all make me feel deliciously wantonly spookily wonderfully happy. They make me feel justified, a little less alone. The rumble of drums and the tingle of toothpaste send a rush of blood up through my toes as soon as they start up. Every time. I really can’t choose. I think that Emma’s vocals on the third song *just* tip it. Her vocals. The way Isabel holds the bass. Her style. Matthew’s chunky guitar. His guitar.

(continues overleaf)

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

One Response to That whole “music used to sound better when I was younger” theory

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.