Brenton Wood – Oogum Boogum
A friend and fellow soul lover recommended this to me a while ago. It is a little lightweight but it is impossible to hear it and not smile. For some reason I woke up with it on my mind and as such I (almost) skipped my way to work this morning.
Tupac Shakur – Changes
I have been itching to post some hip hop for a while. This was an early favourite, it resonated with me before I even knew who 2pac was. This was because it uses a sample of a song that my father would put on his yearly holiday mixes – Bruce Hornsby and The Range – The way it is.
Beneath all the posturing, bravado and aggression hip hop can sometimes provide some truth and wisdom and I think this is a pretty good example of this. A strong sample and some witty lyrics. That is always enough for me.
Crystal Fighters – Champion Sound
This has a bit of a cheesy vibe for my normal taste. But it is very infectious and has been something of a guilty pleasure for me over ecent days.
Bob Dylan – The times they are a-changin’
Bob Dylan is another artists whom I should have posted already by now given the impact he has had on my outlook on music. However, it seems apt to revisit this now as over the past few days restive young Londoners seem to have set the city ablaze around me. I was reminded of it recently and I was really struck by how fresh it still sounds, people yearn for change today just the same way as they did in 1964.
Bob Dylan. How can anyone ever have been this iconic?:
Neon Indian – Deadbeat summer
This is fun and irreverent Sunday night listening. It makes me want to dance around foolishly. There are worse qualities for music to have. Probably not great for everyone else though!
This is an old favourite. Classic 80’s. I like lots of the Waterboys stuff so it was a challenge to choose only one song. However, this was the first of their’s that I knew and it remains my favourite.
I wandered out in the world for years, while you just stayed in your room. I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon…
Japandroids – Young hearts spark fire
This is has a raucous, raw energy that makes it youthful and arresting. It is is a little more jarring and angular than the usual type of thing that I go for. However, for some reason I couldn’t get enough of it today. Along with the energy, the lyrics also resonated with me; feeling like I am not as young as I once was and trying to work out what that means.
Additionally, I think Japandroids is a pretty great name.
We used to dream, now we worry about dying… I just want to worry about those sunshine girls…
Summer Camp – Ghost Train
This has an innocence that I find charming, with a video to match. These guys were the support act to the drums when they played the best gig I saw in 2010, if not ever.
Slow train brought you to me. Fast train sent you back. Sent you far from me and now I’m alone, alone, alone…
Was out for dinner tonight in a local Japenese restaurant. The food was excellent and all in all it was a very civilised evening. Well civilised by my normal standards anyway. The only strange thing was the contrast between the serene restaurant and the manic, crazy J-Pop they had on the stereo. It inspired me to post something equally insane. With a video to match.
The Strokes – Someday
This IS my late teens and early 20’s. Is this it along with 3 feet high and rising burst the bubble of my focus on Britpop. They made me realise there was something much more edgy and hip out there to discover.
I heard it for the first time in years a few weeks ago. It has taken a long time but it sounded fresh.It is such a perfect pop song. Full of youthful energy and vigour.