Part of the attraction to music, for me, is the way it tells a story, conveys meaning, emotion, feelings without explicitly putting an image in your mind – the precise visual element and the relevance to your own personal story can be left completely open.
The same song can mean one thing to one individual and something else, whether subtly different or completely contradictory, to the person sitting next to them.
It’s this personal interpretation that means, for me at least, that however I’m feeling, whatever I need, wherever I am, there’s always a song out there that’s perfect for the situation – and a lot of the music I’ve written about up here this year has come along at the “right time” to have significance in or relevance to my own life.
But sometimes you just want a party track…and this is mine from this year:
As far into the future I can see at this point (erm…NYE 2009?)…I will not tire of singing along to this, pretending I know the words to the Spanish part and counting with the accompanying hand gestures.
One, two, three, four…UNO, DOS, TRES, CUATRO!
They had better play this tonight. Wondering if I should burn it to a CD for the DJ just in case…
Happy New Year folks! May the coming year be better than the last.
I generally love Apple ads. They’re bright, colourful, vibrant and ALWAYS feature fun music.
The latest ad for iPod Nano is no exception – with its shoulder-shaking to the soundtrack of Bourgeois Shangri-La by Miss Li – but part of me is a little disappointed that it’s also being used to advertise Blossom Hill. It makes me wonder which came first and whether some poor soul got a slap on the wrist for a licensing error…
I hadn’t heard of this band until I went to see Au Revoir Simone at Proud Galleries earlier this year – 5 pretty Swedish high school girls who didn’t look old enough to be allowed into the venue making happy synth pop.
I have to say, they outshone the main event for me. Vibrant, energetic, happy, smiley, upbeat, dance-worthy pop from a bunch of kids who looked like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves vs. too cool for school (or at least for me!) though clearly talented, aloof desirables playing tap your foot quietly to the beat pop.
I couldn’t help but love them.
This is the lead track from their debut album, In Our Space Hero Suits, released in October ’08 and they’re signed to V2 Music Scandinavia.
The point? I reckon it would be perfect for an Apple ad :p
So much great music, and only 10 spots. Inevitably there were some that almost featured in the Musings top 10 for 2009 but didn’t quite make the cut. These are them tracks:
1. Chris Garneau – Fireflies
This was a last minute switch-out for Marmaduke Duke as it was completely unexpected given the firmly rock sound of Biffy Clyro.
2. Friendly Fires – Jump In The Pool
Was forced to pick one to drop last minute just before the session as I had 11 on my list. This was the drop.
3. Bombay Bicycle Club – Always Like This
Toss between this and Flashguns – BBC have dropped out of my most played list and Flashguns are still there so they made the cut.
4. Mumford & Sons -Little Lion Man
Got so annoyed listening to this on the radio with the f-word blanked out that I couldn’t include it despite it being a fantastic track.
We’ve almost hit the end of Musings’ first year (well, technically eleven months, given it started in February) and I thought I’d see it out with my own little “Top of 2009″ list, which was actually prompted by a mini-project for the office blog.
Most of them have featured in various posts throughout the year so this is more a “highlights” post than one that’ll introduce you to anything new but…if you only have time to listen to 10 recommendations from the Musings blog this year, I’d love for you to make it these 10.
All the links are to Hype Machine tracks unless specified.
UPDATE: A quick way to listen to 8 of them from one page: hypem.com/nishajl. I’ve cut my ‘loved tracks’ to the available 8. (although it appears they’ve switched to required sign-up to listen)
I mentioned this list was the result of a mini project at the office – we were asked to pull them together, along with our Top 10 albums and Top 5 live shows of 2009. You can find them, along with those of the rest of the Tonic folks, at www.tonic.fm.
I might do a “almost made the list…” addendum later this week. There are several.
The snow in North-West London has been the trigger for numerous moments of me staring out of the window and drifting off into thoughts of nothing in particular – and it made me remember this song.
On the surface it’s beautifully contented and melodic…it even breaks into what could be described as euphoria about 3 mins in before tapering off to a close – but on listening to the lyrics I discovered it’s actually about loneliness and loss.Sadness cloaked in beauty.
I first heard this when Sarah played it in the office (thanks Sarah!) a few weeks back – the band are from Queensland, Australia and the track is from their debut EP, The Middle East, which you can buy from their website.
They’re signed to Aussie label, Spunk, which has also released music from Animal Collective, The Shins, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arcade Fire and loads, loads more.
Download the track in exchange for an e-mail address from their MySpace.
It isn’t 80s pop, it’s Golden Silvers – London-based trio Ben Moorhouse, Gwylim Gold and Alexis Nunez – who released their debut album True Romance on XL Recordings (also home to Vampire Weekend, Friendly Fires, Jack Peñate, to name a few…) in April 2009.
Stereogum has been raving about this band and the album’s been on my “when I have some time…” list for a good while…until the peel-powers-that-be intervened and dropped this song onto my iTunes last week.
I could seriously imagine Molly Ringwald skipping around to the intro in an iconic 80s coming-of-age movie – Sixteen Candles or Pretty In Pink maybe? Or Demi Moore & Emilio Estevez in St. Elmo’s Fire. Pink leg-warmers, denim jackets, headbands, the whole shebang.
I noticed the lyrics are about London – so maybe we could have our own 80s shellsuits and sweater dresses version…?
The OMC version of this track came up on an episode of Being Erica a couple of weeks back – if you’re looking for a bunch of tracks to accompany a reminiscing session (or a party) centred around the decade that was the 90s, this is your show to crib from.
I don’t know what happened to OMC after this track, don’t think I ever heard anything more from them (one hit wonder?) but apparently, there’s a whole album!
CFCF is Canadian (another one!!) pop creator Michael Silver, from Montreal whose last.fm profile description brings Friends series 4, episode 7 to mind. The official title is TOW Chandler Crosses the Line but to me it’ll always be TOW Ross plays hilarious keyboard music.
I think it’s possibly the novelty value and the memories of my teenage years that made me want to post this one…but he seems to be doing fairly well with his remixes…
http://bit.ly/nishajl - All the Musings-related tracks available on Spotify. Updated as I post (tagged 'spotify')
http://bit.ly/the10 - The "master list" is getting a bit long so...these are the 10 tracks I can't get enough of right now. Tracklisting on the Spotify page.
When fellow pedestrians overtake you surely the goal should be to walk faster than you..., no? 2 days ago
RT @spicefm: Engrezi 80s... Tiffany - I think we're alone now... LOVE IT!!!! <- Makes me feel about 6 years old again! Give or take... tune. 2 days ago
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