It’s a strange set of circumstances, moods, settings and other situational factors in life that eventually develop into our belief systems, likes and dislikes, dispositions, and everything else that determines who we are as a person. Thing I’ve come to dislike, for instance, just may not have hit me at the right time in my life to gain the appreciation they may have gotten at an earlier or later time. On the other hand, many of the things I like probably hit me at times when I was particularly vulnerable to new things, falling back into old things or when I was just feeling one emotion particularly strongly. No matter what the circumstance, since the age of thirteen or so, I’ve placed a lot of importance on music. I didn’t mean to ramble so much, as I’m not one for pretension, but here are a few of my favorite songs:
Minus the Bear
“I’m Totally Not Down with Rob’s Alien” + “Hey! Is That a Ninja Up There?”
from They Make Beer Commercials Like This EP
These two songs are interesting contrasts to be paired one right after the other. The first is a slow, contemplative song about the joys of being alone with no worries in the world, set to an almost hypnotic, repetitive guitar line. The music and the words complement each other well, creating a peaceful mental image and the unbridled joy of absolute freedom. Then, immediately following that song, you have the yang to its’ zen-like yin; a song about doing all manners of stupid shit with friends. It’s a one-two punch soundtrack for summer that I never tire of.
Pullman
“To Hold Down a Shadow”
from Turnstyles & Junkpiles
From the samples of some kid laughing like a bozo at the beginning of the song, right into the folkish acoustic guitars and banjo (and probably a few other acoustic instruments my ear is too ignorant to distinguish) that wipe their feet and walk on in, this song just feels extremely warm and inviting. It sounds like everything that is good about the South and folk music compacted into three minutes and fifteen seconds.
Zeke
“Evil Woman”
from Death Alley
Evil Woman is everything that is right about dirty, fast, meat & potatoes rock & roll. No wasted time, no wasted notes, just the sort of music that makes you want to carry a switchblade and deal out ass-whippings wherever you go. If this song were used in a movie, it would be a scene where a guy’s single-handedly ruining everyone’s shit in a massive bar fight.
Boys Life
“Fire Engine Red”
from Departures & Landfalls
Songs like this are the reason I feel that it’s such a shame that the term “emo” has been hijacked and severely misused by the mouth-breathing masses. I can’t honestly tell you what the words to this song are, but it expresses a feeling to me that’s hard to put into words anyway. It’s a sort of heartfelt honesty existing inside a multi-layered chaos, like telling someone you love them for the first time as a train goes rambling past mere feet away.
Cave In
“In the Stream of Commerce”
from Jupiter
A lot of folks turned their backs on Cave In when they dropped the hardcore sound and started sounding like a more progressive Failure, but seeing as how we got Jupiter out the deal, I think it’s for the best. This song is everything that’s great about Jupiter; epic, satisfying buildups, Steven Brodsky’s voice going from a reliable rock staple to a stunningly polished falsetto at a moment’s notice, typically amazing musicianship from the entire band and so many things going on at once that subsequent listens yield new sounds.
Ghost
“Hazy Paradise”
from Hypnotic Underworld
The Japanese have proven themselves time and time again to be masters of taking things from other cultures and absolutely perfecting them. They have done it with cars, factories, video games and, in this case, psychedelic rock. Hazy Paradise is five minutes of sheer bliss, sounding exactly like the title of the album it appears on. Entrancing, hypnotic and sublime. If there were such a place as heaven, this would play on repeat in the lobby.
Many, many more to come…
