Wednesday, January 03, 2007
chris 50-46
50 "light pollution."
dirty on purpose.
hallelujah sirens.
[north street].
"take the long way home / take the wrong roads."
possibly the worst live band ever and almost fell off the countdown because of this, but this recording is just too overbearingly and heartbreakingly beautiful to deny. their voices are almost broken and the drumming is barely competent, but the interweaving melodies and guitar sounds raise the song from "amateur" to "never-gonna-quit-my-dream" in under 4.5 minutes.
49 "andover."
bound stems.
appreciation night.
[flameshovel].
"we're headstrong / it's our fault."
speaking of on the brink of falling apart, this music is barely held together by its seams, but this time it's not coincidental. overly distorted chords, woozy keys, a drunken snare drum, and wavering male/female battle vox stumble through the stilted and almost-too-long song structure, until some incredibly layered catchier-than-thou master riffage brings the inebriation together and finally, you realize that it's got to go on for just a little too long, because missteps and wanderings are never concise. kind of like a run-on sentence.
48 "open cuts."
dwayne sodahberk.
cut open.
[tigerbeat6].
"i really want to hear the details / no, i really only want to hear the
sad parts."
don't crank up your speakers/headphones right away to hear the fragile acoustic plucking intro, because you will kill your eardrums when the washed-out fuzz busts in like it's the kool aid man. oh but what blissful and deathly romanticism becomes of this sadsack festival of a song. lo-fi and melodramatic, now that's real loneliness. never underestimate the strength of one man (and some haunting female backup vox), especially if he's got an arsenal of tools instead of a meager single acoustic guitar.
47 "death is the road to awe."
clint mansell with kronos quartet & mogwai.
the fountain: original motion picture soundtrack.
[nonesuch].
moment @ 7:36
never has a piece of a film score made me jolt out of my seat at a movie theatre. NEVER. until now. usually film scores get in my head and sit with me after the movie, but this score is all about the moment. just like the fountain itself, it's a flash before your eyes, just like how aronofsky manages to fit the ancient past, the present, and the distant future into a 90-minute music video. it breathes with you, but it's gone the instant the next second occurs, and suddenly the future is the present. and we've all lived nothing, but we are always living everything.
46 "lovers who uncover."
the little ones.
sing song [ep].
[astralwerks].
"won't you show us where your heart is?"
the longer i've gone without them, the more i miss sunday's best. thank god they've reinvented themselves, even if it's a new bright "indie-pop" sound, because their limitless energy can overshadow even the simplest of songs. when the verse, bridge, and chorus are all as catchy as each other, no listener loses. i bet they get tired from powerhousing the blasting chirping notes, and i even do just from listening to it, but that's a small price to pay for pop perfection.
check back soon for #s 45-41 and the initiation of qualler's top 25 songs of 2006 list!!! and please feel free to be even more nostalgic and look through our lists from last year, kept in mint condition below. ¶ posted by chris at 8:45 AM
50 "light pollution."dirty on purpose.
hallelujah sirens.
[north street].
"take the long way home / take the wrong roads."
possibly the worst live band ever and almost fell off the countdown because of this, but this recording is just too overbearingly and heartbreakingly beautiful to deny. their voices are almost broken and the drumming is barely competent, but the interweaving melodies and guitar sounds raise the song from "amateur" to "never-gonna-quit-my-dream" in under 4.5 minutes.
49 "andover."
bound stems.
appreciation night.
[flameshovel].
"we're headstrong / it's our fault."
speaking of on the brink of falling apart, this music is barely held together by its seams, but this time it's not coincidental. overly distorted chords, woozy keys, a drunken snare drum, and wavering male/female battle vox stumble through the stilted and almost-too-long song structure, until some incredibly layered catchier-than-thou master riffage brings the inebriation together and finally, you realize that it's got to go on for just a little too long, because missteps and wanderings are never concise. kind of like a run-on sentence.
48 "open cuts."
dwayne sodahberk.
cut open.
[tigerbeat6].
"i really want to hear the details / no, i really only want to hear the
sad parts."
don't crank up your speakers/headphones right away to hear the fragile acoustic plucking intro, because you will kill your eardrums when the washed-out fuzz busts in like it's the kool aid man. oh but what blissful and deathly romanticism becomes of this sadsack festival of a song. lo-fi and melodramatic, now that's real loneliness. never underestimate the strength of one man (and some haunting female backup vox), especially if he's got an arsenal of tools instead of a meager single acoustic guitar.
47 "death is the road to awe."
clint mansell with kronos quartet & mogwai.
the fountain: original motion picture soundtrack.
[nonesuch].
moment @ 7:36
never has a piece of a film score made me jolt out of my seat at a movie theatre. NEVER. until now. usually film scores get in my head and sit with me after the movie, but this score is all about the moment. just like the fountain itself, it's a flash before your eyes, just like how aronofsky manages to fit the ancient past, the present, and the distant future into a 90-minute music video. it breathes with you, but it's gone the instant the next second occurs, and suddenly the future is the present. and we've all lived nothing, but we are always living everything.
46 "lovers who uncover."the little ones.
sing song [ep].
[astralwerks].
"won't you show us where your heart is?"
the longer i've gone without them, the more i miss sunday's best. thank god they've reinvented themselves, even if it's a new bright "indie-pop" sound, because their limitless energy can overshadow even the simplest of songs. when the verse, bridge, and chorus are all as catchy as each other, no listener loses. i bet they get tired from powerhousing the blasting chirping notes, and i even do just from listening to it, but that's a small price to pay for pop perfection.
check back soon for #s 45-41 and the initiation of qualler's top 25 songs of 2006 list!!! and please feel free to be even more nostalgic and look through our lists from last year, kept in mint condition below. ¶ posted by chris at 8:45 AM
