Seven years ago, I was introduced to a song that would forever change my life, a song that would become an anthem, an autobiography I could sing in the late night when disheartened or driving towards a light at the end of my murky tunnels.

That song, from an album that to this day remains a top twenty, is the title track, Haunted, by a vastly underappreciated singer named Poe.

I frequently quote the lyrics for the song, drawing my primary online identity from my favourite line:  Time to gather up the splinters, build a casket for my tears.”  It seemed fitting in its imagery as I began a quest to find happiness after years of misery in childhood.  I wanted – needed – to bury the past somehow.

I can’t say I’ve managed to keep it all beneath the ground;  the dirt shifts loose, and tendrils wriggle free to snag my ankles, twisting and pulling me back to my knees.  But along the way, I’ve found a dull blade.  It saws through slowly, but surely, buying moments of reprieve.

I need something sharper.  I need a cleaner break.  I need to exorcise the lingering spirits that wander behind me, delicate shadows darkening my periphery.

I need to no longer be haunted.

Day 103:  Haunted – Poe

Day three of our Matthew Good week sees the single that truly broke Matthew Good Band into the mainstream of the Canadian rock scene.

A little history for this video:  it was nearly banned outright by Muchmusic (the Canadian equivalent of MTV) due to a suicide theme in the story; it was believed it was too much.  Matthew and the director fought viciously to keep it intact, arguing the artistic merit of the vision.  It floored the execs (in a good way) and went on to be one of the more infamous videos the man’s music has been attached to.

It’s also a powerful song about the corporate-driven empty society we have trapped ourselves within.  With or without band, this is one of Matthew’s strongest songs.

Day Ninety-Eight:  Apparitions – Matthew Good Band

Another year over, and another year begins…  And yet, I feel the same.

I’ve felt old for years.  My body is merely catching up to my soul, the one that always believed it would die young.  I suppose that I’m still relatively young, and therefore, not yet proven wrong.

To celebrate my birthday this year, I’m seeing Matthew Good three times this week, including today.  He is in my top five artists of all time, so needless to say, this is a huge treat for me.  From now until the 19th, I’ll be spreading the Matthew love in this blog, because he is a vastly underappreciated lyrical genius, a modern day Roger Waters born and bred in Canada.

This song, like many of Matt’s, literally saved my life.  Just as I would endlessly loop Spark by Tori Amos and Consolation Day by Finger Eleven, so would this track loop and repeat.  I would sing along at 3am, a plaintive plea to unseen judging faces born of the chemical imbalances in my head:  “If I was wrong, would it be okay?” Years later, I would find out that Matthew Good and I share a similar struggle with these imbalances, would find myself responding to one of his more personal blogs with a plea to hang on, just as his music has helped me to do.  And he does hang on, continuing to tell his story without shame, encouraging others to stop stepping over the mentally ill and stop and truly see them instead.

We have similar beliefs and passion, in that regard.  I admire it.

This song is meant for dark moments at 3am, a moment of beauty…  Matthew will never do it live again, I’m certain, which pains me.  But there are so many other songs that touch me that he does perform, and I’ll get by.

Welcome, 29.  Let’s end this decade on a high note, perhaps?

Day Ninety-Six:  Change of Season – Matthew Good Band

Funny how I declared one song by this artist to be my theme for 2009, only to choose another as the song that describes and defines my life in this last year.

It’s been a brutal year, and really, I shouldn’t have been surprised.  My life’s never been a cakewalk by anyone’s standards.  But this year was one of emotional devastation on a very different, outward-centred level.  Instead of personal disappointments and losses, actual people moved out of my life, leaving cavernous holes in my heart in the wake.

Through it all, the key thing I had to learn to do was to hold my head above the raging waters and swim for shore, even when my limbs simply felt too exhausted to try.  It seemed futile and pointless, and for a while, you could say I went into a dead float and decided to allow the tides to determine my fate.

Even then, I found myself nearing the shore.  More evidence that, “You’ve gotta swim, and swim when it hurts/The whole world is watching/You haven’t come this far to fall off the earth…”

Day Ninety-Four:  Swim – Jack’s Mannequin

This song will always be in my top twenty songs of all time, no matter what.  It has been an enduring part of the musical landscape that shapes me for over half of my life now, and is a key to the soundtrack of a beloved film.  It serves as a reminder of the possibilities of life, love and beyond in darker hours, that even in the gloom of rain and snow, the sun promises to return.

Day Ninety-Three:  It Can’t Rain All The Time – Jane Siberry

Last week Michael came across a post about an Advent Procession held at St Paul’s Cathedral on Sunday (with a repetition on Monday). It was listed as ‘One of the year’s most dramatic services’, and as Michael hadn’t been in the Cathedral before (you normally have to pay to visit…and I’ve been in it a couple of times for work) so he asked if I was interested. It was probably one of the first times (if not the first ) that Michael was the one pushing a religious activity, so who am I to argue?

So we arrive at the Cathedral, walking in with this whole throng of people: it definitely is a popular service! Luckily St Pauls is enormous, so it could easily seat us all .

The service started with the priests and the choir (I apologise in advance if anyone who is Church of England is reading this and I am using the wrong terminology…being Catholic that is the terminology I know, but I have already been told off once for saying mass not service O:)…so I apologise in advance if I offend anyone ) near the front door. With a service interspersed with readings and singing, the choir slowly made its way at intervals to the nave, then the transepts, then under the dome, and finally in the choir, with each step lights being lit in the new area, so that gradually the cathedral passed from a state of darkness to a state of light.

Being a regular church-goer when I was back home, I was never all that interested in going to a sung mass (mainly cos it made the service longer, and less interesting to me ). However, now that I am going less regularly, and also as mainly I end up going to a different denominational service rather than Catholic, I am starting to enjoy these services more, and appreciate the singing more than just something I need to wait out. In this case, having booklets with the words to be sung in Latin and an English translation was great…I could understand the words being sung (and could follow), and even more I was proud of myself that I could understand a great deal of the Latin…woohoo! (and no…I have never studied Latin, but it is sufficiently close to Italian and all the other bits and pieces I have learned from biology classes and from other services in Latin I have attended). There was only one hymn/song/anthem which I found VERY weird…the boys in the choir where in the transept singing what to me sounded very eerie, while a guy in the centre of the nave sung the melody…very eerie and weird in deed.

What did I think? I wouldn’t be all that excited if I was attending it every week . But it was really interesting for once a year (or once in a lifetime!). Certainly something to experience!

The most comprehensive collection of National Anthems available on one disc.
Ideal for Jingles & Quiz Rounds.
High Quality MP3 Tracks on a Data CD-R.

Sports and Music. Both packed with vibe, aggression, anticipation, excitement, noise, energy, and soul. As an athlete, hearing a song that boils your blood and widens your eyes is just one small characteristic in which music   can transcend physically into your own actions and thoughts. Eclectic restaurants and lounges are effective with paralleling their visual atmosphere to the aura it emits. Sport venues are no different. Rarely, unless you are at a   cricket match, will the arena blair ‘Mozart’s 21st concerto   in C major’ at the height of battle. 4th and 2 and one play to win or lose the game, here are the top 10 (due to change with time).

10. Eat the Rich – Aerosmith

9. Shoot to Thrill – AC/DC

8. Beautiful People – Marilyn Manson

7. Breakdown – Tantric

6. Desire – Ozzy Osbourne

5. Take the Power Back – Rage Against the Machine

4. Let it Rock – Kevin Rudolf feat. Lil’ Wayne

3. Man in the Box – Alice in Chains

2. Animal – Pearl Jam

1. Welcome to the Jungle – Guns N’ Roses

I’m not really a fan of Bright Eyes.  So many people have pushed Conor Oberst’s work at me, to no avail.  I have respect for him as an artist, but I simply don’t jive with him, somehow.

This song, however, is an exception, and has become an anthem in recent months to a degree.  Everything about it works so completely for me that I have to wonder why nothing else of his does.  Life is funny that way…  Maybe you can help, Bright Eyes fans?

Day Fifty-Five:  Lover I Don’t Have To Love – Bright Eyes

I really like Annie. I don’t really think you  need my convincing on why you should give it a chance. It’s dance music. So unless you’re from Elmore City, Oklahoma; you can definitely jam out to this.   It’s like totally edgy (i.e. non-American/British) and poppy (If Britney Spears was a classy mofo) . I love a little edge to my pop or pop with my edge. It might not be for you. I personally still enjoy the occasional earnest jam out to Spice Girls and Britney Spears. Annie is signed to Island Records with an international distribution deal for her new album Don’t Stop. All she really needs now is the Perez Hilton bump and she’s set for world domination. Until then she’s going to have to just do with me(and you) dancing shamelessly to her music.

I  like this Royksopp remix…

Cheeky…

I love well executed covers!

Oh a perfect example of a shittyshitshit cover of a great song.

Rating : ****

There was a day and age when people were frightened of microwave ovens, Keith Harris & Orville were national heroes and Boy George was still a woman but it was the arrival of the synth that brought us the soundtrack to the neon age!

Ministry Of Sound’s ‘Anthems’ series returns with yet another tip top 3CD set filled to the brim with unforgettable late 70’s and 80’s electronica (yes false advertising MOS, Gary Numan – Tubeway Army – M to name a few were at the back end of the 70’s) guaranteed to get any retro lover in the mood! You could call it an idiots guide to electronica but this collection truely is sublime with a few hits and misses along the way kicking off with the greatest #2 of all time, Ultravox’s “Vienna.”

From the obvious compilation inclusions of Soft Cell (“Tainted Love”), New Order (“Blue Monday”), Visage (“Fade To Grey”) and Pet Shop Boys (“West End Girls”) MOS spring the rabbit from the hat with a few surprises as usual. We never expected to ever see Sparks (“Beat The Clock”), Debbie Harry (“French Kissing In The USA”) and Johnny Hates Jazz (“Shattered Dreams”) included on a Ministry Of Sound album but as per usual the team have broken the taboo!

80’s pop fans won’t be dissapointed either as this set also contains hits from Duran Duran (“The Reflex”), Spandau Ballet (“To Cut A Long Story Short”) and Kajagoogoo (“Too Shy”.) So rather than buying a cheap old blando 80’s compilation this winter, this fiesty neon effort from MOS is more the pop pickers choice, all you need to bring along is Babycham and cheap hairspray!

“Ministry Of Sound : Anthems Electronic 80’s” is available from November the 9th on CD & Digital through MOS/Universal Music

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MGS

2003’s debut by British Sea Power seemed to come out of nowhere. Here was a band fully formed in terms of its sound and aesthetic, and who sounded about the most exciting British band for years. With echoes of late 70s Bowie (Lodger/Scary Monsters) giving a glam feel to their more traditional sonic palate. Signed to revitalised Rough Trade (who had shook up the British music scene with New Yorkers the Strokes) they seemed in the vanguard of a series of British rock bands who were “indie” but not afraid to write big songs. If there were some bands, like Athlete and Elbow, who appeared to be taking Radiohead’s introspective aesthetic, British Sea Power, along with Bloc Party, seemed to be in the other direction, wanting to make a new kind of alternative rock music for the young people (mainly guys) who came to their gigs. There was none of the faux sixties/faux new wave gestures of labelmates The Libertines, more the quirky art-rock aesthetic that you can find in bands like Magazine, Psychedelic Furs and Echo and the Bunnymen.

In songs like Carrion, they weren’t afraid to try their hand at the anthemic, and this side of their music would come through more and more on following albums, but for once, with The Decline of British Sea Power, a band seemed to have got all its good habits together on the debut.

Seeing them live in 2008, it was the songs from the debut that stood out from the sonic storm, careering riffs, reminiscent of Fripp on Scary Monsters, anthemic choruses, and a certain quirky raggedness. Follow ups Open Season and particularly Do You Like Rock Music? had their moments, but weren’t anywhere near as surprising. Listening to it now its one of the best debuts of the decade, and all the better, for having been such a surprise package.

Feeling very angsty and enraged about work these days…  Before this day ends and I get some sleep, a battle cry…  A song that seemed a fun little groove until years later, I actually read the lyrics and was floored at how deeply they cut to the core of my life.

Day Twenty-Seven:  Common People – Pulp

I remember the first time I heard Imogen Heap.

It was years ago, before Frou Frou, back when getting a copy of the album involved either dropping a ton of change on ebay or *ahem* you know…  I went with the latter.

This track was the first one I listened to, and I pretty much fell head over heels on the spot.  Imogen’s voice is such a raw, primal thing, and coupling it with clever lyrics and driving melodies just clinched it for me.  Even as her music evolves into more upbeat soundscapes, she still manages to both brighten my day and break my heart in a single album.

This song has been popping back into circulation lately, and I’m rediscovering my love for Immi’s first disc all over again.  I personally feel it to be stronger than Speak For Yourself, although that isn’t to say that her second disc isn’t fantastic.  I’m just a rocker girl at heart, and prefer the creepy Rake It In and haunting melody of Come Here Boy.

Day Twenty-Two:  Angry Angel – Imogen Heap

While I do enjoy the music of Delerium, is it blasphemous to say that Conjure One is the stronger project by Rhys Fulber?  Because personally, the sonic landscapes painted by Conjure One, coupled with the quality of guest vocalists, make the albums stronger if you ask me (although Karma is an incredible Delierium album).

It was because of one of those guest vocalists – Poe – that I stumbled onto Conjure One and promptly fell in love.  Conjure One is more summer music in terms of its mood for me, but this song is one of a few that strikes a chord with me.  I often blast it when everything is going absolutely wrong, to try and spur me forward in adversity.  There’s always a journey in every setback, it seems, or so  tell myself.  Always pleasure in the pain.

It’s time to face the music.

Day Sixteen:  Face The Music – Conjure One

While engrossed in coding last night, I had Media Player playing loads of The Killers – those guys absolutely rock live!

So, what’s your best live track/artist and why?

Me – The Killers “All These Things I’ve done” – that’s gonna be my funeral song…every time I listen, it’s just me!

I was about 20 foot back from the stage, just right of middle

“With all these things I’ve done…” – says it all in my eyes

After the 2nd/3rd song, Flowers made the comment “Is it too early to say you’re better than Chelmsford?” (V festival is played at 2 venues – Hylands Park, Chelmsford, and Weston Park, Staffordshire – although Chelmsford is closer, I always go to Staffs., better layout, better security, better crowd of people, better time…can’t wait for next year )

This shows the crowd (about 97,000?) ‘getting involved’ lol

Limping to the subway courtesy of my sprained ankle, this song, part of one of my writing soundtracks, shuffled up on the iPod.  It never fails to enrapture me.  Lyrically, it’s so representative of what so many of us feel, particularly the twenty-somethings of this generation, it’s an anthem.  Musically, it’s at once simple and rich, more complex on each re-listen.

But what makes this song resonate for me is the one line that says it all, the one line that every person who has wallowed in melancholy at once hates and loves for its truth:  “I think I’ll go out and embarrass myself by getting drunk and falling down in the street. You say I choose sadness – that it never once has chosen me.  Maybe you’re right…”

And lately, that says it all, without confessing everything.

Day Twelve:  The Good That Won’t Come Out – Rilo Kiley

GENIUS. nothing much else to say. Except why was the pop music in the 70’s and 80’s far superior to the shit we have to listen to now like Lady Vagiga

Mary Travers, the beautiful female voice of the folk-pop group Peter, Paul and Mary, has died of cancer at age 72. The trio she was part of made music history, bringing songs by Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, John Denver and others to the masses. They were famous for  many folk anthems, popularizing “Blowing In The Wind” before most people knew who Dylan was, having hits with songs like “Lemon Tree,”  “Leaving On A Jet Plane” and their own “Puff (The Magic Dragon).” The trio was a major part of the flower power and counter-culture movement. Mary, through her voice and her politics, was an integral part of the 60s.

For me, it is yet another sad death after so many recent sad deaths. Peter, Paul and Mary were a huge part of my childhood music education.

My mom was a child of the 60s and she had lots of records. She was involved in the Civil Rights movement and worked with Dr. King, even meeting him in the 60s. When I was a boy, I had a record player in my room and I used to play my parents’ records.  Peter, Paul and Mary taught me so much about melody, harmony and humanity. I remember being 3 or 4 years old and not being able to reach the record player, but standing on a small footstool I could put the Peter, Paul and Mary records on the turntable and listen for hours. I loved those songs and I always loved her pure voice.

When I first performed at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village, one of my thoughts was I was performing at a venue at which Peter, Paul and Mary once performed and made a name for themselves. It was one of the reasons I felt so honored to be there.

They sang “If I Had A Hammer (The Hammer Song),” written by the legendary Pete Seeger (and I believe rewritten/reworked by the trio) at the March on Washington. Enjoy this performance. Her passion shines through. Besides, no one could shake her hair like Mary Travers.