What I Missed – Neon Bible

This is the first in my review of albums I have recently discovered that I just have to share with all my friends.

The second album from Montreal’s Arcade Fire was released in 2007 and is… how do I say this?  Ask me the classic desert island question of what five albums would you take with you and “Neon Bible” is probably on the list.

I say probably because, I really do not want to narrow the list down to five.  Cut a limb off?  Sure.  Pick only five albums?  [falls to knees and prays for foregiveness]

Back to why you should download this album.

Every song here is solid.  If I had to pick a clunker, I would say the finale, “My Body is a Cage,” but that is nitpicking.  If you like U2, Bruce Springsteen, sweeping arrangements and emotionally powerful stuff then Arcade Fire is for you.

I’ve embedded five of my favorite songs from “Neon Bible.”  Rather than go into detail as to why I like them, I will just let the music do the talking.

the drums, the drums, the drums…

I shouldn’t like The Ting Tings.    I really shouldn’t.

But I do.

They are a bizarro White Stripes.   One guy and one girl… rocking.   But instead of the guy on guitar and the girl in drums, it is reversed.

The insanely catchy “Great DJ” was my introduction to The Ting Tings.   Starts with a Jangly guitar riff and then the drums kick in.   Nonsensical lyrics and a chorus that sticks in your brain like a wad of delicious bubble gum.

“Shut Up and Let Me Go” starts with drums and then kicks in with a tremendous guitar riff.   Katie White’s singing puts this song over the edge for me.    Just a great slice of goodness.

“Great DJ”
Fed up with your indigestion.
Swallow words one by one.
Your folks got high at a quarter to five.
Don’t you feel you’re growing up undone.

Nothing but the local DJ.
He said he had some songs to play.
What went down from this fooling around.
Gave hope and a brand new day.

Imagine all the girls,
And the boys,
And the strings,
And the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums.

Oh.

Nothing was the same again.
All about where and when.
Blowing our minds in a life unkind.
Gotta love the bpm.
When his work was all but done
Remembering how this begun.
We wore his love like a hand in a glove.
There’s a future plays it all night long.

Nothing but the girls,
And the boys,
And the strings,
And the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums…..

Imagine all the girls.
And the boys,
And the strings,
And the drums,

All the girls
And the boys,
And the strings,
And the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums.

“Shut Up and Let Me Go”
Shut up and let me go
This hurts, I tell you so
For the last time you will kiss my lips
Now Shut up and let me go
Your jeans were once so clean
I bet you changed your wardrobe since we met

Now oh so easily your over me
Gone is love
It’s you that ought to be holding me
I’m not containable
This turns up
it’s not sustainable

I aint freakin’
I aint Fakin’ this
I aint freakin’
I aint Fakin’ this
I aint freakin’
I aint Fakin’ this
Shut up and let me go
Hey!

Shut up and let me go
This hurts, but I can’t show
for the last time you had me
Not Shut up and let me go!
For fear of leaving in regret
I changed this one when we first met

Now oh so easily your over me
Gone is love
It’s me that ought to be moving on
You’re not adorable
I was something unignorable.

I ait freakin’
I aint Fakin’ this
I aint freakin’
I aint Fakin’ this
I aint freakin’
I aint Fakin’ this
Shut up and let me go
Hey!

Oh love, hold this.
hey

Shut up and let me go
This hurts, I told you so
For the last time you will kiss my lips
Now Shut up and let me go
Hey!

Sorry for the delay

Grooveshark removed the ability for me to embed songs. Looking for something else in the meantime. Until then, come up with a story for this picture.

“We’ve got the vision, now let’s have some fun”

The first time I heard MGMT’s “Time To Pretend,” I was hooked by the music.

The second time I heard it, I was hooked by the lyrics.

I’m a big fan of a little humor in my music and this tune gives us a brilliant faux “origin story” of the band.  The line “The models will have children, we’ll get a divorce.  We’ll find some more models, everything must run its course.” makes me smile every time.

MGMT (pronoounced M-G-M-T, not management) were formed in 2002, during Ben Goldwasser and Andrew Van Wyngarden’s freshman year as art students at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After graduating the duo signed a four album deal with Columbia Records in 2006.  This is the first track off of their debut Columbia release, “Oracular Spectacular.”

These kids signed a recording contract after graduation.  Makes my first job managing a software retail store look as dull as it really was.  In a strange way this song captures that time right after college when everyone thought they would be rock stars in their field.  Everyone really had a vision that they would “find models for wives.”

I’m feeling rough, I’m feeling raw, I’m in the prime of my life
Let’s make some music, make some money, find some models for wives
I’ll move to Paris, shoot some heroin and fuck with the stars
You man the island and the cocaine and the elegant cars

This is our decision to live fast and die young
We’ve got the vision, now let’s have some fun!
Yeah it’s overwhelming, but what else can we do?
Get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning commute?

Forget about our mothers and our friends
We were fated to pretend

I’ll miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms
I’ll miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world
I’ll miss my sister, miss my father, miss my dog and my home
Yeah, I’ll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone

But there is really nothing, nothing we can do
Love must be forgotten, life can always start up anew
The models will have children, we’ll get a divorce
We’ll find some more models, everything must run its course

We’ll choke on our vomit and that will be the end
We were fated to pretend

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Go to free concerts, people

Saw one of my favorite bands last night. As usual, Guster put on a great show. The crowd was good and the Smithwicks were going down a little too smoothly…

Despite this being a free show, I still could not convince any friends to check them out.

Look, I can understand not wanting to drop some coin on a band you do not know. But, turning down a free concert outdoors?

What is the downside? You spend some money on beer & food and get a little sweaty (it was damn hot!).

The upside? You discover a new band.

If you feel uncomfortable not knowing anything by the band, go to Grooveshark to research the band.  Its free.

The lads of Guster

Live on YouTube

As I get older, I find it harder and harder to go to concerts.  But, tonight I’m heading down to see one of my favorite bands play at an outdoor music festival.  Thinking about that, I decided to hop on to YouTube and check out some live footage to get me amped up for the show tonight.

First, a little band you may have heard of called U2.  This is from Live Aid 1985.  This can’t be 24 years ago!?!  Damn, I’m getting old.  Hard to remember a time when U2 was still relatively unknown.  A star is born… mullet and all.

Next up is Pearl Jam rocking “Porch” in Denmark 1992.  At one point Eddie Vedder jumps into the crowd and you see the other members of the band get a “uh oh, where the f*** is our singer” look.

This video may be from 2008, but NIN completely destroys this verison of “Head Like A Hole.”  They kill it.

“You just have to see her”

They nailed it.

You broke up months ago.  You’ve convinced yourself that you are over her.  Time to move on.  Time to go out in public again.  Time to socialize.  Then you see for the first time… you are not over her.  Not at all.

The Airborne Toxic Event’s single “Sometime Around Midnight” superbly captures that moment when you see her and realize think that you still have feelings for her.

The first time I heard this song, I was transported back to that winter night at Rick’s happy hour.  It was my 5th year of college and I was out with some friends.  Sarah and I had started dating (read hooking up) that spring but had more or less broken up in the fall after trying a long distance relationship over the summer break.

I was about $6 full of $1 pitchers when I saw her.  Much like the song, I started tricking myself into thinking that I still had feelings for her.  And when I say “I”, I am referring to the beer.  Unlike the song, I did not run after her… for that, I can thank my friends.  Who were there to talk some sense back into me.

And it starts, sometime around midnight.
Or at least that’s when you lose yourself
for a minute or two.
As you stand, under the bar lights.
And the band plays some song
about forgetting yourself for a while.
And the piano’s this melancholy soundtrack to her smile.
And that white dress she’s wearing
you haven’t seen her for a while.

But you know, that she’s watching.
She’s laughing, she’s turning.
She’s holding her tonic like a cross.
The room’s suddenly spinning.
She walks up and asks how you are.
So you can smell her perfume.
You can see her lying naked in your arms.

And so there’s a change, in your emotions.
And all these memories come rushing
like feral waves to your mind.
Of the curl of your bodies,
like two perfect circles entwined.
And you feel hopeless and homeless
and lost in the haze of the wine.

Then she leaves, with someone you don’t know.
But she makes sure you saw her.
She looks right at you and bolts.
As she walks out the door,
your blood boiling
your stomach in ropes.
Oh and when your friends say,
“What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Then you walk, under the streetlights.
And you’re too drunk to notice,
that everyone is staring at you.
You just don’t care what you look like,
the world is falling around you.

You just have to see her.
You just have to see her.
You just have to see her.
You just have to see her.
You just have to see her.
You know that she’ll break you in two.

Blame it on Funk & Mechanical Matt

It has been there for a year or so.  Always in the back with its arm raised high.  I chose to keep ignoring it every time it pushed its way to the front of my mind.

I can ignore it no more…

I always thought it would be a podcast.  I’ve been an avid podcast listener for years now and I have always had the urge to do one myself.  I just never knew what I would talk about for 30 minutes, so the idea withered on the vine.

Then I reunited with an old college friend on Facebook.  He used host a weekly industrial music show on the campus radio station, where he earned the nickname Mechanical Matt.  Now he hosts the Digital Detroit Radio podcast.

I started thinking of starting a podcast again.  I knew that it would include music and me rambling on about something.  I even went so far as to downloading the program Audacity and playing around with it.

The my good friend, Funk, recently started up a blog.  This finally brought everything together.  The podcast was never a good fit for me.

I am a writer, not a talker.

I devour new music like a bag of Cheetos.  I am somewhat troubled that most of my friends have stopped seeking out new music.  They are content with what they know and what they hear on the radio.

I truly think that there is some damn good music being created nowadays and I want to share it with you.  I going to try and post at least one song each week… among other things.

K