Six Month Stickies # 12

September 01, 2013

As usual the tracks of music that got stuck in my head in the last six months, in order.
* Click image to download a ZIP of the compilation:

Kate bush

Song of Solomon
Oh is it that time again, where I get creepily obsessed with Kate Bush for six months? Yes, yes it is. This time it’s the self possessed, older, more sensual Kate. She’s so glorious.

This Womans Work
Ugh, so great. I can’t help but imagine how amazing it would be to see her sing this live in a small venue.

Sunset
I love the piano in this. I can so clearly see her hands hesitate for a beat and fall on the keys at 1:04

Bob Dylan

The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest

Interesting narrative. It’s as if it’s all a thinly veiled allegory that makes perfect sense once you know what it represents. I don’t, but it’s still a fun listen.

You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go

I feel a gnawing panic every time I listen to this song, that it might one day identify with it’s lyrics, staring vacantly into a half empty glass of whisky. Let’s hope not.

Haim – Falling

Totally a guilty pleasure. Especially if you see how appropriately asinine the video is. Hey sometimes you got to get down and dirty. Don’t judge me.

Hum – Stars
Brings me back to my angsty teenage years. Delicious.

Low – On My Own

I had overlooked this song until I saw them play it live, up close, in a tiny venue. One minute you have three people singing and playing instruments. The next, you feel the room spinning around you as you’re being rocked so hard you can’t help but laugh. Of course the moment I’m talking about starts at 2:09. Trust me, you want to see them live and let that wall of noise wash over you in devastating pulses.

Daft Punk

Doin’ it Right (feat. Panda Bear)

There was excitement in the air leading up to this album. It has it’s moments, and the production values are impeccable. I like the cleaned up robotized Animal Collective vibe.

Contact

I know some people were annoyed with this, but I loved every second of it’s affected epicness. Love how it starts with that organ trill to sting, and all the various ways the song builds tension. I want to see this music accompany an action sequence where someone is being chased around the hull of a giant spaceship with rocket packs.

The National

Don’t Swallow the Cap

A perfect band for your twenties. Now I’m kind of embarrassed for the lead singer, that he’s still singing about angsty girl drama at his age. He does it with enough stoic restraint and taste, that it works.

There’s some things that I should never
Laugh about in front of family
I’ll try to call you from the party
It’s full of punks and cannonballers
I need my girl
I need my girl

I Should Live in Salt

A perfect example of a national song that bores you with it’s redundancy, until it turns a hidden corner, and has you sitting up with attention and chills. I don’t know why his singing about salt should cause such cathartic release, but it does.

Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey

Check your musical baggage at the door, and tell me this song doesn’t take you somewhere amazing.

Nirvana

Heart-shaped Box

Not that you need an excuse to listen to nirvana, but I got a weird craving to go back to the music of my youth. I remember being so unnerved by the heart shaped box video.

In Bloom

I don’t especially remember listening to this song when I was a kid, but this time around I became obsessed with it. It’s perfect. Though I can’t help but feel it’s patronizing derision is aimed at me. Maybe I feel I’m a yuppy consumer whore, and it’s my self hatred that’s fueling my obsession with this song?

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Honestly how can this song not get stuck in your head. I remember the video being so perfect, and it signaling the entrance of MTV into my life.

Smashing Pumpkins

Tonight, Tonight
Zero
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
1979
Cherub Rock
Soma

Smashing pumpkins was one of the first bands I felt totally invested in. I couldn’t get enough of them in the nineties. I loved everything about their music and videos. I forgot all about that, until I randomly came across Tonight Tonight and got chills listening to the opening bars. I dived back in after fifteen years, and still think their great. Bullet with Butterfly wings, blew my mind in middle school. I still remember walking between classes thinking of the song and the video like I was in a trance.

Hank Williams

Ramblin’ Man
I Saw the Light
Long Gone Lonesome Blues

My lady is a country bumpkin who grew up listening to her dad play Hank Williams . She got me some CDs, which I played in my car so much that even she couldn’t take it anymore. I’ve always had a soft spot for singers who deliberately crack their voices.