Kan Stavangerensemblet vera Noregs svar på XTC?

What makes for a great chord?  It depends on context and mood and purpose, obviously, but some generalizations can be made.  In jazz, Tin Pan Alley, and Broadway music there’s a well-trodden trail of chord enrichment.  You add the seventh note of the scale (as in blues) and then go on to add the ninth, perhaps the eleventh, conceivably even the thirteenth to color the base chord more and more with implied chords in neighboring keys.  It’s like blending ingredients into an amazing French sauce.  Here is the simplest version of the menu for enriching a C major chord:

BASIC CHORD NOTES
C (the 1^st)
E (the 3^rd)
G (the 5^th)

PLUS……………………. IMPLYING ALSO THE CHORD OR KEY OF
Bb (the 7^th)……………G minor
D (the 9^th)………………………and Bb
F (the 11^th)………………………………and D minor
A (the 13th)………………………………………and F

Popular music can accommodate complexity along these lines.  It’s how the luxurious opening chord in “A Hard Day’s Night” is built up, for example.  In art music, things can get weirder.  For a chord that’s all suspense, impossible to assign to any home key yet mysteriously longing to belong somewhere, try the “Tristan chord” from Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde:  F – B – D-sharp – G-sharp.

For a superchallenging chord with the strongest sweet-and-sour effect, try the “Petrushka chord” from Stravinsky’s ballet.  All the notes of a C chord are combined with all the notes of the maximally dissonant F-sharp chord, like a demented C 15^th.

If you long for just the sweetest and purest chord, I understand that, but an innocent C chord couldn’t be very impressive all by itself.  It needs to be tied to something else so that when you hear it, you are stretched or caught in the collision between different positions in the music-world.  Perhaps many would prefer to avoid Wagnerian or Stravinskian torture, but I think most of us enjoy a bit of a stretch, say between a C chord and an F chord nobly introducing it.  Here you not only experience a nicely consonant layering of the remembered F onto the new C, you get a bit of a thrill in being suspended between two ways of construing the F-C relationship, either F as the fourth in the key of C or C as the fifth in the key of F.  (If C dominates enough that you’re clear the F is meant to be the fourth of the C, the other possibility remains pleasantly on the edge of your awareness.)

Now let’s consider a song that starts in precisely this way, XTC’s “Another Satellite,” but then takes us on a journey to a much less common site of arrival.[1]

[Spacing is correct on the main Hooks page]

F…..C…………………………………………………………..F
…………..My heart is taken, it’s not lost in space

C………………………………………………………………………F
And I don’t want to see your moony moony face, I say

Eb……….Ab……………………Gb
Why on earth do you revolve around me?

The E-flat chord sounds sweet-tartly good—tastes like cherries, I’d say—because it shifts us from C to the closely related key of E-flat, a key that uses the notes C minor would use, except it’s major.  Keywise, it’s as though we’ve mounted up a level in a split-level house.  True, we also dropped down to the E-flat chord from F, as though going to the seventh in the key of F, which involves the feeling of a spring pushed down that will come back up.  And for yet another effect, the melody went from E-natural on “say” to E-flat on “why,” just a half step down, and changing keys while moving just slightly in pitch in the melody makes for a queasy feeling.  But in any case the melody of “Why on,” E-flat B-flat, is squarely in the key of E-flat, just as the earlier notes had reinforced the key of C.

Next in the chord sequence, going down to A-flat (“earth”) from E-flat feels logical, as A-flat is the fourth in the key of E-flat.  But since we only moved to E-flat a moment ago, we’re not all that firmly planted, and A-flat sounds so solid, so well supported by the melody, that we have to consider the possibility that it is our new key.  Maybe yes, maybe no:  we directly descend from A-flat to G-flat, which could be a move in the key of A-flat but could also simply be a routine whole-step chord change in some other key.  The next change after that is another whole-step descent, from G-flat to F-flat:

Fb
Aren’t you aware of the . . .

At this point we don’t know what’s going on, keywise; we seem to be in a free-fall of descending chords.  I wrote the chord as an F-flat because of the whole-step descent pattern we’ve been in.  But we’ll have to construe the F-flat in retrospect as an E chord (the notes are the same) because the next change is to an A, most naturally heard as either the fourth of E or else the first for which E is the fifth:

A
gravity . . .

We’ve already taken some adventurous steps to get to this A chord, which hangs in the air of our quite possibly now being in the key of A.  But the A is not (yet) our destination.  Abruptly we are modulated back to the original home key of C with the help of a G, C’s fifth:

………..G……………………C
Don’t need another satellite

—and that should be the end.  Yes, the return of C should mean the verse is over.  And the melody here sounds like it did at the beginning.  Uh-oh, the beginning . . . Now there’s a launch from C toward the strange true ending of the verse, a wild hair flying up over the last syllable of “satellite”:

C………………….G….A4aug!
satellite_______________.

We’ve pivoted on G again to go to A, which we once thought might be our destined home and maybe is after all.  But it’s not the pure A we heard before.  It’s got a fourth note added emphatically by the melody, not just as accompanying texture, and it’s not an ordinary fourth but a sharped (“augmented”) fourth, a D-sharp, which implies a B-major chord layered on top of the A-major chord for a very tangy polytonal effect—the auditory equivalent of double vision—and an exotic, dislocated sense of being “home” in the A.  (Imagine going home one day and seeing palm trees sprouting out of your windows.)  This is a possibility that you would find only on a much larger version of the jazz chord menu.

This A4aug wins my award for the greatest chord.  We’ve approached it in an invigorating sequence of harmonic reorientations, and when we round the last corner we come upon it as a darkly radiant thing, a light beaming from deep space in the extended last syllable of “satellite.”  Its unexpected D-sharp challenges us simultaneously as

(1) a flatted fifth in the A chord,
(2) a flatted third in our alternate home key of C major,
(3) the brash major third of the implied B chord on top of the A, and
(4) the first note of the E-flat that we took seriously as a home key possibility a few measures ago (for D-sharp is also E-flat).

In the event, this deftly prepared compound sounds like a cry of frustration and compassion:  the one who is urgently pushing the satellite away knows that the satellite needs even more urgently not to be lost in the void.

Just chilling on Friday night with my daughter.  We’re braiding gimp and waiting for The Wizard of Oz to come on.  Oh, and I’m playing her a bunch of songs she’s never heard before.  Currently she’s dancing like a crazy person to “Ballroom Blitz.”  You really gotta see it.

“Life Begins At The Hop” by XTC

XTC comes as close to the Platonic ideal of a pop band as is humanly possible. They write catchy tunes, fill them with clever lyrics and ear-catching sonic details (I mean, just listen to all the little guitar parts that crop up in this song), and they never descend to the Lowest Common Denominator kind of humor that some other bands like to traffic in. Perhaps that’s why they’ve never really been as popular as they should have been. Maybe they’re just too damn smart for their own good.

“I Got Loaded” by Los Lobos

You know the Mariachi band that was playing at that Mexican restaurant you ate at last week?  Now imagine that they are secretly one of the most flexible and effortlessly musical rock bands in the world.  That, in a nutshell, is the story of Los Lobos.  In their early years they paid the bills by playing traditional Mexican folk music in restaurants and at school assemblies.

This song comes from their 1984 major-label debut, How Will The Wolf Survive, which may be the most musically varied, emotionally mature record to ever be called ‘rock n’ roll.’  So of course I picked this song, a cover of an old Bayou party anthem.  Because I’m emotionally immature, you see.

“Greet Death” by Explosions In The Sky

Yesterday at work I got sick of listening to satellite radio, so I set up a Pandora account, created a station based on Tom Verlaine and Tortoise, and let it play for a few hours.  This song caught my ear, and while I had never heard of them before, I think this might be my new favorite band.  Consider yourselves warned.

One of my favorite things to do in the 21st century is burn CDs for people. Partly, it is the narcissistic belief that I listen to cooler music than anyone else on earth (Not true! My friends constantly surprise and delight me with new and wonderful music I have never heard before.)

Anywhatthehellhappenedtonapster, I made a CD for a friend and I’ve pretty much been listening to it on repeat for a week or so. (Eventually, I will give her the CD – just.not.yet.)

So I wanted to share it with yalls tonight because obviously, in my infinite wisdom narcissism, I have chosen songs that are ideal for a nice, leisurely jog in the park. Some of them are new, and some are pretty old, but all of them are awesome.

My morning jacket – one big holiday (live)
elbow – the bones of you
matisyahu – one day
Del tha funkee homosapien feat. dinosaur jr. – missing link
Toots & the Maytals – Take me home, country road
Devotchka – queen of the surface streets
Wilco – Jesus, Etc.
Jimmy eat world – bleed american
Raconteurs – steady as she goes
Them crooked vultures – mind eraser, no chaser
The Shins – Phantom Limb
Deadboy & the Elephantmen – Stop, I’m already dead
dangermouse & jemini – ghetto pop life
Dropkick Murphys – Shipping up to Boston
Them crooked vultures – new fang
social d – dear lover
XTC – Dear God
de la soul, teenage fanclub – Fallin’

I go through phases – sometimes I’ll go for weeks on end listening to nothing but death metal, then I’ll listen to ambient/electronic. Then bluegrass. This week, I appear to be on an alt rock kick.

Pay special attention to Them Crooked Vultures – Keith Buckley of Every Time I Die says this band just might save rock n roll…

I think he’s right.

Om The Brimstone Solar Radiation Band skriver Bergens Tidende at “høydepunktet er 4. plassen i EM i rock i Bilbao i 2003 der de ble slått av tre spanske band.” Det medfører heldigvis ikke riktighet, for da hadde jeg ikke giddet å skrive om dem her. I stedet sier vi at høydepunktet må være maktdemonstrasjonen som er deres forrige langspiller – “Solstice”; eventuelt er det kan hende platen som nettopp er kommet oss i hende og som i anstendighetens navn bør dytte dem, som man sier, til the next level. “Smorgasbord” er som deres tidligere utgivelser fylt med referansesterk popteft, selvbevisst blues og noe som bare kan kalles “tilstanden 1971″. Det finnes en forbindelseslinje mellom The Allmann Brothers og XTC og den heter Brimstone. Egon Holstad, for hva det er verdt, har omtalt dem som “landets mest forbigåtte og underkjente band”.
- Eh, kan du gjenta det? Jeg er på en måte litt fartsblind i ørene, sier Øyvind Grønner, bandets keyboardist og talsmann. - Jeg kom nettopp ut av øvingslokalet, skjønner du.
- Jeg sier at jeg hadde ipoden på shuffle og trodde jeg hørte en kul XTC-låt, men da jeg sjekket var det deres nye låt “Happy”! Blir stemmen til vokalist R. Edwards bare mer og mer lik Andy Partridge sin?
- Jøss, sier du det? Nei, jeg visste ikke at de var så like. Men sant og si så har jeg ikke så greie på XTC, da. Jeg styrer jo helst unna hele 80-tallet, selv om vi akkurat drev og snakket om at Traveling Wilburys var et veldig ålreit band, sånn egentlig. Men det er klart at jeg har et eksistensielt problem med 80-tallsproduksjonen.
- Det har tatt fire år siden forrige utgivelse, “Solistice”. Det har vært mange lugne dager, eller?
- Om bare. Nei, det er mer sånn at det har vært barnefødsler; vi er vel oppe i tre stykker nå, og at øvingslokalet brant ned. I tillegg var vi temmelig utkjørte etter forrige runde da vi spilte 50 konserter på rappen i Norge og Tyskland. Da ble litt sånn…vi mista liksom piffen. Men fordelen er jo at vi kan velge låter fra en enda større sekk når vi først kom igang igjen. Vi er allerede i gang med å tenke på den neste skiva. Helst ser jeg at den er ute allerede til våren eller noe.
- Dere slapp singelen Sancimonious High i august, flankert av en veldig forseggjort video. Hvordan i alle dager fikk dere råd til den?
- Vi fikk et sånn GAFFA-stipend som kommunen gir ut for å styrke samarbeidet mellom film og musikk. Det ble veldig bra, vi filmet under vann og allting. Den er laget av Asle Birkeland i Kamikaze.
- Deres svenske ekvivalenter Dungen og Soundtrack of Our Lives har opplevd en god del mer suksess enn dere. Litt selvransakelse – har dere gjort noen tabber?
- Jeg synes jo…vi driver jo ikke helt på med det samme, da. Samtidig ser jeg jo at vi henvender oss til mange av de samme folka; at vi har det samme nedslagsfeltet. Det var kanskje dumt å være borte i fire år – det har jo vært de fire beste årene til Dungen for eksempel. Og Soundtrack er jo rockedinosaurer som liksom er skapt for å være store. Nei, jeg vet ikke. Men vi er de flinkeste, det vil jeg bare ha sagt.

XTC online: Chalkhills

Este António Sérgio que não volta a fazer rádio foi tão importante para a minha geração como o outro António Sérgio, que escrevia livros, o foi para a sua.

Sei que isto para muitos será uma heresia. Mas quem o seguiu, desde os tempos da Rotação na RR, gravando programas inteiros nas velhas k7’s, única forma de ouvir a música que só ele passava em Portugal, e quem entenda que a música para nós ocupou o espaço dos ensaios, a comparação pode ser parva mas faz sentido.

António Sérgio abriu uma estrada de Lisboa a Londres e a Nova York que não existia, uma estrada com ligação directa às ruas de má fama, desviada de outros caminhos com passadeiras, os das todo poderosas editoras que moldavam o consumo da música moderna à maneira do negócio e da tacanhez, repetindo infindáveis Baby I Love You. Trazia canções que nos falavam de jovens urbanos chateados com o mundo, e era isso que nós também queríamos ter o direito a ser. Há uma revolução escondida nessas esquinas, obrigado por nos teres trazido decibéis dela.

Resta-me a consolação de saber que quando chegar ao inferno ele já lá estará a passar música. Pobre Diabo, a sua vida nunca vai ser a mesma.

Soltas:

• Martin Rev – Whisper (excerto);
• The The – Perfect 12”;
• The Creatures – Miss the Girl;
• Passions – Skin Deep 12”;
• Art of Noise – Beat Box (excerto);
• Theatre of Hate – Do You Believe In the West World;
• Virgin Prunes – Baby Turns Blue;
• Beatnigs – Television (The Drug of the Nation);
• World Domination Enterprises – Jah Jah Call You;
• Big Audio Dynamite – Much Worse 12”;
• XTC – Nearly Africa;
• Butthole Surfers – John E Smoke;
• The Fall – Strychnine;
• Dead Kennedys – Kill the Poor;
• Shriekback – This Big Hush.

O conhecimento da música que fez este Endrominus foi obra do António Sérgio. Muitos dos seus achados deixámo-los por descobrir. Mas, é o que importa, ficou-nos o olfacto. Em grande parte a ele o devemos.

Texto e sua leitura – João José Cardoso (originariamente no Aventar)

Voz e selecção – Pedro Lemos

1h01m33s – 56Mb

Download Endrominus 065

Benjamin, Bjolay, rinomato per la sua instancabile energia, a maggio si è recato nello Studio ICP di Bruxelles per lavorare al suo album, il quinto firmato con il suo nome. “La Superbe” offre una perfetta fusione di chansons e pop-songs. Dai taglienti arrangiamenti di XTC, alle ispirate atmosfere dei primi Smiths, attraverso il raffinato e allo stesso tempo grezzo Label Factory sound degli anni ’80 e l’hip-hop politico di The Streets, Benjamin rivela per la prima volta il suo affetto per la scena britannica.

The user is stimulated both physically and mentally. XTC has the ability to suppress exhaustion which doesn’t mean that the fatigue is gone but that it is only masked. After the rush, the feeling of fatigue returns more heavily. At the same time, perception intensifies. Under the influence of XTC, people tend to get more intimate with others. Effects generally appear within 20-60 minutes. The first hour after that the effects are felt the most. After 4-6 hours the effects are gone but some people still feel the effects the following day. That can be a nice feeling, but also an empty and depressed feeling. A depressive or miserable mood can last for days. Side effects are tension in the jaws, palpitations (rapid or irregular heart beat), a dry mouth and throat, nausea and shortness of breath. Sometimes, movements are difficult to co-ordinate. These negative effects can lead to panic attacks, and are quality and dose dependent and will vary depending on sensibility, mood, expectations and the health of the individual user. Last but not least, the environment can also influence the effects.

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Well, it’s been a week since this fancy blog of mine got started, and already I really have no idea what to tackle today. I had started writing about the controversy of the song “Science Is Real” off of TMBG’s latest kids album, Here Comes Science, but I just wasn’t feeling it. It probably would’ve turned out downright vile against those I hate, and I’m not feeling that today. So, in its place, I present a few songs about being out of ideas. With any luck, the ideas will start flooding in. On we go…

—-

They Might Be Giants – Number Three
First of all, I apologize for the video. It was the best I could do on such short notice. Disregarding that, when I think of songs about not being able to write more songs, this one springs to mind instantly. One of ol’ TMBG’s real oldies (it was on their fabled 1985 Demo Tape), it encapsulates their earlier abstract and absurd tendencies, while still managing to not sound forced. It’s fun, and, thankfully, the singer did manage to write more songs afterwards.

—-

XTC – Train Running Low On Soul Coal
This is really more broad than just simply a lack of ideas. In this song, Andy Partridge is the train, and, well… he’s losing steam. At this point in XTC’s career, they weren’t making money, they weren’t making hit records (although they never did that all that often), and they weren’t touring. They were losing it fast, and Andy just wasn’t up to it anymore. It would take a psychedelic side-project to get the creative juices flowing again, and after that, they were off again.

—-

The Kinks – Look A Little On The Sunnyside
While not entirely about being out of ideas, there is a sense of ideas being discarded on a whim by the powers-that-be. Ray Davies mocks the commercial music process with such lyrical chestnuts as “You sing ‘em the blues/And then they ask for a happy tune/And when you start to smile, they’ll say gimme that rhythm & blues/And when you give ‘em that rhythm & blues they’ll simply smile and say/We didn’t want to hear you play/We didn’t like you anyway.” So, not so much a lack of ideas, but a lack of interest by those who would allow those ideas to be heard. I suppose that’s similar.

Any others you can think of? I know I’m missing some great examples.

-Trevor

Watching Peaches Geldof with Ferne Cotton made me want to explore the tragic death of Paula Yates.  I remember at the time feeling the tragedy of her loss, leaving four young girls without a mum.  And right here I could explore the whys and wherefores of her ending, with the uncertainties of Hughie Green as her biological father plastered throughout the media and the suicide of Michael Hutchins all encompassed in an addictive personality which eventually lead to an accidental overdose of heroin.  

Ferne Cotton’s interview with Peaches was not the correct arena to explore the loss of her mother at such a young age.  Losing my mum at 17 was a young enough age, ten an impossibility to survive.  I would imagine there are many unanswered questions Peaches has, hence her interest in Scientology.  Answers of the unexplainable and I have searched periodically for an essence which fits my own spirituality – to make myself a better person.  I didn’t like who I was and desperately wanted to grow.  Now I know we must grow but grow slowly as my buddhist friend once told me.

I hated being 19 and I hated being 20.  My mum had only been dead 2 years and I still hadn’t worked out what was going on.  I envy Peaches as she appears to be a girl who knows what she wants.  She has a love for writing and how lucky she is to know at such a young age.  It wasn’t until I was 26 and had given birth that I realised my love for writing, my first short story, my experience of watching my mum die right before me.  Something I will never forget. 

And as Peaches mingles with the ruling elite her articles give us laymen’s an insight into a world beyond touch.  Ferne Cotton becomes a peasant as Peaches is use to interviewing people like Vivienne Westwood and Justin Timberlake.  And what do I get, mum’s in the playground and psychotic, schizo clients who even if I did interview, would ramble incoherently about buildings and all the demons in them.  But then I realise they are actually talking about the houses of parliament and maybe they are not so incoherent.

I can’t help but feel a sense of relief that 2 colleagues of Professor Nutt have quit and knew it would only be a matter of time before someone stood up to the bullying tactics of politicians.  I can’t help but get a sense of a totalitarian regime.  As mass surveillence encompasses our every move I sense my corset getting tighter, eventually so I may not breath for myself and the government will need to provide me with a machine to do it for me.  And as our state controlled BBC fragments life beyond recognition, with little for me or my family to relate to on BBC1 on a Sunday afternoon.   Forcing me to the otherside, consuming myself in an X factor culture I so loath.

My female role model

And as the myth of Wonder Women is exposed I now realise that I’ll never escape the evils of man’s world and that I sit powerless with the keyboard at my fingertips.  My lips have lost their shine, my mascara burried deep beneath the bags under my eyes as I strive for inclusion in such a fascist way of life.  I’m not sure there’s anything great about Britain anymore. 

I would love to know what Peaches would ask her mum given the opportunity.  Or maybe she’s just not ready to go there yet, yet…

Not only was Andre Agassi a meth user but he also wore a hairpiece back in the early 90’s. I think many girls and guys that were drooling over him in the 90’s feel a little nauseous about that right now.

Burlesque Dancer and ex of Marilyn Manson, Dita von Teese, also liked the drugs back in the early 90’s when she was sort of a club kid experimenting with LSD and XTC. It got so out of hand that she lost a ton of weight and got breast implants after a few years because her body was ravaged by the drug years. I think she took a little more than only those 2 things, because as far as I know they don’t make you lose that much weight. I always thought her tits were real.

Joe Jackson proved what Michael really meant to him by saying Michael is making a bigger impact now that he is dead and is worth a lot more dead then alive. What a loving and grieving dad.

Of course many celebrities dressed up for Halloween as well and here are some of the better ones. Both Paris Hilton and her boyfriend Doug went as Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ, fashion designer Michael Kors as a Hillbilly cowboy, Matt Lauer as Luke Skywalker, Perez Hilton as Lady Gaga, Heidi Klum as a raven(very cool), Kelly Clarkson as Stevie from Family guy(cool as well) and Elisabeth Hasselbeck as Countess Chocula.

I wasn’t writing posts in September so I wasn’t able to mention the passing of Heinz Edelmann (June 20, 1934 – July 21, 2009) The German illustrator and designer of Yellow submarine. He also did the cover for xtc’s Oranges & Lemons which contained maybe my fave xtc songs, The Mayor of Simpleton.

xtc

and here’s a sample of his actual work:

Talviaikaan siirtymisen jälkeen ei heräämisongelmia ole ollut.  Silti viikon biisinä XTC:n herätyskehoitus Wake Up levyltä The Big Express.

Just a few quick links today…

Ubuntu has released its latest version today, Ubuntu 9.10 “Karmic Koala”. Ubuntu isn’t my GNU/Linux distribution of choice, but it is far and away the best for people who’ve had little previous experience with GNU/Linux, so if you’ve been thinking of shelling out a few hundred quid for WIndows 7, and maybe having to buy a new computer to run it on, why not try downloading a totally free, better new OS instead?

Those of you who don’t read XTC’s MySpace blog really should. This week, Andy Partridge is interviewed about Collideascope, and briefly references Ditko and Kirby.

The Mindless Ones posted some Annocommentations for League: Century, but like the teases they are they took it down again. I have a cached copy, though. Mwahahaha etc. They do still have a pretty spot-on review of the last issue of Planetary though.

An interesting article on ‘doing your good deed for the day‘. Remind me sometime to explain how this ties in to my belief that almost all political blogging is counterproductive (I don’t do my own blogging to be productive – I do it to let off steam. If I want to make an actual difference I’ll go out and do actual campaigning, which I don’t do enough of).

And some Twain and Einstein adventures by Michael Kupperman…

(Tomorrow, if you’re lucky, a defence of libertarianism…)

Sorry I’ve been a bit crap at updating recently. Between computer problems at home, pressure at work, and the general blandness of most of the comics recently, I’ve not really had any momentum for posting. Hopefully that’ll be back again soon and I’ll be back to the level of productivity from last month within a few days.

Anyway, the nights are drawing in, so we all need some cheerful pop music to pick us all up, and here is a playlist of just that.

Come On In by The Association is as good an opener for anything as you could hope for. The one time I DJ’d I started this up as soon as the doors opened (unfortunately, of course, no-one heard it as they hadn’t arrived yet. This is the kind of thing you don’t think of if you’ve never DJ’d before).

Mayor Of Simpleton by XTC is one of those list songs like What A Wonderful World, to which it bears a huge lyrical resemblance – “Never been near a university/Never took a paper or a learned degree… And I may be the mayor of Simpleton, but I know one thing and that’s I love you”. The music is insanely catchy, though, and I’m amazed this was never a hit. Everything here’s perfect and thought through – listen to that bassline from Colin Moulding, going all over the place, commenting on the main melody – but at the same time it’s *immediate* in a way much of XTC’s stuff isn’t… I actually considered just doing an XTC playlist today, they’re so great.

Broadway by Stew is one of his few cover versions, a radical reworking of the Clash song, turning it into a disco track backed by drum machine, analogue synth sounds and fast-picked banjo (presumably played by Probyn Gregory?), this gives some idea of what the Negro Problem’s side project The Covers Problem sounded like (at some point I must post an MP3 of their live cover of the full Thriller album).

I’ve posted Nerdy Boys by Candypants in more than one playlist before, but who cares? It’s the best pop single of the last decade.

7 And 7 Is by Love is the song that invented punk, back in 1966 when the rest of California was busy inventing hippysim, and it’s still one of the most ferocious records ever (fantastic song to play live, too, especially since the rhythm section has to do all the work while the guitarists just have to slash out chords). Drumming by the great Alban “Snoopy” Pfisterer (I’ve told Holly that if we ever have a kid I’m going to name it Alban “Snoopy” Pfisterer in tribute, which has ensured we shall remain child-free).

September Gurls by Big Star is the track that invented powerpop. Unfortunately, Spotify removed the three proper Big Star albums recently, so this is what sounds like a full-band demo – every element of the track is there, but not *quite* as tight as the finished version. For those who don’t know the original, though, it’ll more than suffice.

More Important Things by The Mockers is another catchy-as-hell harmony-based spiky jangly guitar song. Sometimes I like those.

Baby It’s Real by The Millennium is a track I’ve adored for ten years even though it breaks the cardinal rule of lyric-writing , Harry Nilsson’s “Never use the word baby unless you’re talking about a little person”.

Friends Of Mine by The Zombies is almost unique in that it’s a song about being happy about other people being in love, although rather sadly almost all the (real) people named in the backing vocals have either split up or died (Jean and Jim are still together forty-one years later though, if that’s any consolation).

This Whole World by The Beach Boys is an astonishing tour de force. Stupid lyrics, but in one minute fifty-seven this manages to cycle through something like five different keys, never settling on one for more than a couple of bars, in a completely unusual structure.

Thankful/It’s Over Now by Linus Of Hollywood is another example of LoH’s rather odd attitude to women (which I can only hope is a Randy Newman-esque ‘writing in character’ thing) – “If you would just leave and take all of your things I’d be grateful… don’t forget to take your mood swings/don’t forget to take your nasty attitude” over one of the most upbeat, bouncy pop tunes I’ve ever heard. Again, a cleverly-structured, complex piece.

And Jaded by The National Pep is my attempt at doing a pop song as clever and complex as the last couple, or even more so. And if you listen to it through spotify, I’ll get a whole shiny penny to share with my collaborators…

…well it was a very close-run thing, but just edging half a point ahead (and actually due to his specialist subject rather than his expert knowledge of the Large Hadron Particle Collider) is A Ben Baker Of Keighley – congratulations on becoming the Out On Blue Six Telly Addicts Champion Of Champions 2009. And here to present your prize is Annwan Glover, TV ”Slim Charles” (Wire):

‘Normal’ Out On Blue Six will resume shortly…

After years of avoiding XTC – because I struggled to get on with the Nigel one – I finally made an effort this evening, ‘using’ Spotify.

Using is in scare quotes because it’s reductive. A tool-focused take on online music discovery is understandable and appropriate – most of the time.

But in the background, this time, lie:

• Half-heard play of Peter Pumpkinhead on 6music last week
• Desire to listen to a particular Joanna Newsom song tonight
• Failure to find the original in library, Youtube, Last.fm or Spotify
• A moany tweet about not finding it on Spotify
• A reply that said ‘Spotify gets me into things I wouldn’t normally listen to’

However you slice it, it’s a mess – an episode of discovery jerry-rigged on frustration, contingency and idle chat.

It reeks not of tool, but of person.

Yes, it’s the absolute 100% final round of Telly Addicts, by the end of which we will have discovered who is the Out On Blue Six Telly Addicts Champion Of Champions 2009 Xtreem! So, finalists, here are your questions on your chosen specialist subjects…

1. What ‘number’ was Cutthroat Bitch?

2. Which member of the team refused to assist when House was taken hostage?

3. Why was Ridiculously Old Fraud considered unsuitable for House’s team?

4. Which of the following is not a genuine remix of Teardrop by Massive Attack – Scream Team Remix, Mad Professor Mazaruni Mix, Teardrop ‘88 by thewomb Featuring MC It’s Never Lupus?

5. What did House name his pet rat?

6. Which semi-regular character from season five was considered for their own spinoff series?

7. How did Kutner get himself into the Guinness Book Of Records?

8. In 1986, Phil Cool made a guest appearance in House as a ‘rubber-faced’ patient whose face had become locked in position – true or false?

9. Which Hitchcock film does Wilson have framed poster art from on his office wall?

10. How many superconducting magnets – not counting the conducting magnets – are installed in the Large Hadron Particle Collider?

South Park (Garreth):

1. Which Monty Python sketch did Cartman and Kenny re-enact for BBC2’s Python Night?

2. What were Roostallion, Lambtron and Shoe?

3. How, according to the episode Cartoon Wars Part II, is Family Guy written?

4. What was the b-side of Come Sail Away by Styx?

5. What was the name of Randy Marsh’s former boy band?

6. Who introduced the episode Pip as ‘A British Person’?

7. What is the Tynacorp RG-400 Smart Towel better known as?

8. In 1986, over six thousand viewers complained to the BBC over the ‘inappropriate’ scheduling of South Park The Movie: Bigger Longer Uncut on Christmas Eve – true or false?

9. How did Cartman’s Confederate Army plan to blackmail Bill Clinton?

10. What occurs in the Large Hadron Particle Collider at discrete intervals of 25 nanoseconds?

The Tomorrow People (Bob):

1. Where was Spidron’s spacecraft hidden?

2. Which character was supposedly the son of a policeman?

3. What was the official spelling of Elizabeth’s surname?

4. Which band recorded an unused updating of the original theme music intended for the 1992 revival?

5. Which of the following is not the title of one of the tie-in novels – Three In Three, Four Into Three, Three In Four?

6. What was the name of the painting that alerted The Tomorrow People to the alien plot in The Blue And The Green?

7. Under what name did Mike Holoway’s band Flintlock appear in the series?

8. In 1986, the original cast reunited for a ‘Where Are They Now?’ feature on Max Headroom’s Worl-Worl-World Of Tomorrow – true or false?

9. Nicholas Lyndhurst made a guest appearance in which unlikely guise?

10. At what percentage of the speed of light do particles move in the Large Hadron Particle collider after achieving a Lorentz Factor of about 7,500?

So, there are your questions… let’s have your answers!

The great thing about revisiting albums years later – especially ones that not everyone is talking about – is that you hear them differently and pick up new wavelengths. It’s almost ten years since Beachwood Sparks released their eponymous album, and while I still enjoy it I’m able to discover other subtleties in the music beyond the major touchstones I identified the first time around. From legacy bands like the Grateful Dead to more recent purveyors Apples In Stereo, it’s all about texture.

Here’s what I wrote for Cosmik Debris back in 2000…

Gram Parsons described his style as “Cosmic American Music”, and I suppose that if he were around to hear Beachwood Sparks, he’d let the quartet on his bus without a second thought.

A quick look at the graphics and titles would have you trot out Buffalo Springfield or The Flying Burrito Brothers as a touchstone, but the production and arrangements owe as much to inventive popmeisters like Brian Wilson and Mitch Easter. In fact, I imagine that if Easter or master knob-twiddler Brad Jones were sent back in time to produce Parsons, this would be the result. Except “Something I Don’t Recognize”, where he would need the Nesmith-led Monkees. Or “Old Sea Miner”, where only XTC would do.

Aw hell, Parsons would have gotten around, he was that kind of guy. And the fact that Beachwood Sparks pulls all of this off without painting themselves into a corner is a hell of a compliment.

The overall sound is psychedelic, dreamy introspection, with interludes like “Singing Butterfly” leading into more uptempo Byrds/Poco moments like “Sister Rose”. Of course, just when you’re safely in that mood, they toss in an aggressive fuzzbox guitar solo over a go-go beat just to throw you for a loop. “See On Three” recalls Wilco’s experimentation, but the dizzying signature changes are probably even outside of Tweedy’s methods.

“This Is What It Feels Like” is another time-travel song, sounding like a pop track that somehow leaked into the future from 1967 California. “The Reminder” eerily and beautifully recalls the innocence of Neil Young’s first records with its delicate guitar and lilting vocals. Individually, these are wonderfully realized moments; as an album, it’s a mental watercolor painting that will dance with your imagination.

I had mixed feelings about their follow-up album, but I love the debut as much today as I did ten years ago. So if you haven’t savored this one yet, please do. And keep your eyes open – supposedly they will release a new album soon (it’s been an eight year drought!)

Beachwood Sparks on Amazon.

Beachwood Sparks on MySpace

I think I’ve made it abundantly clear that I love music. I like talking about it and writing about it and wallpapering my bathroom with it whenever I can.  I’ve been thinking of this post for a while now and I have a lot of questions.

Why do I like the music I like?

What sorts of songs move me and why?

What makes a great album great?

Should I buy a monkey?

Is it legal to keep a monkey in the house?

If I brought a monkey home, would it throw monkey feces at my kitty?

These are all important questions to ask yourselves, Internets. I’m going to try and help you with some of them, but you’ve got to do the rest on your own…there’s no substitute for good, honest work.

Monkeys aside, these aren’t the most artistically challenging, or earth shattering of Music’s albums, but they always make me happy and I sing along whenever one of these albums comes on.  And sometimes, as you’ll soon learn, these songs literally make me weep with joy.

So, in the spirit of musical devotion and charity, I offer you, in no particular order, the five albums that I like best in the world.

XTC-Skylarking

I love, love, love XTC and I’m not sure that they get the credit they’re due here in Magic America…or even the Magic United Kingdoms for that matter. They don’t tour or perform live at all due to paralyzing stage fright and I think that’s hurt their popularity. I’m sure the fact that they broke up a few years ago doesn’t help either.  They have a lot of great (and some not so great) albums, but this is far and away my favorite.

Skylarking uses the framework of the season cycle to examine the important events in a life. It starts with young lust and romantic love in the summer and moves through cosmic introspection and death in the winter.

This album is so good, but the why defies description. It’s like they perfectly captured the warmth of the Sun and stolen kisses and the smell of summer grass and fear and bumblebees and jealousy and the end of a holiday and regret and apples and mortality in a jar and transformed them into beautiful, little songs.

I love this album so much that I’m literally getting the weepies from thinking about it.

Superchunk-Foolish

Remember that time you fell in love with the lead singer of your band? Remember how wonderful it was to be young and with your love every day? Remember how band practice and live shows instantly got more fun?

Remember that time you broke up with him? Remember how sad he was? Remember how everyone in the whole fucking world knew that you two had broken up because you were in a well-known indy rock band? Remember how you were asked about it over and over again in interviews? Remember how awful band practice and shows got to be after that?

Remember that time after the breakup when he came into practice and said, “hey y’all, I just wrote a bunch of new songs for the next album!” and every.single.one. of them was about you and your dead relationship and how much he loved you and how badly you’d hurt him?

No? Well, me neither, but this actually happened to Superchunk’s Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance. Laura (the bass player and the one on the album cover) broke up with Mac (the singer/songwriter) sometime before Mac wrote the songs on Foolish.  I know, right?

I figured this out one day when I was working at a summer camp in college. I was sitting on my bed, listening to “Saving My Ticket”and it clicked together like Lego. I listened to it again from the start and cried for the rest of the album.  It’s not immediately obvious from the lyrics, but it’s like you can hear the giant, girl-shaped hole in his heart–it’s so raw and naked. The songs are crushingly sad, but they’re also smarter and rock harder than anything else that came out that year. I’ve been listening to this album on and off for almost 15 years and it still move me, every time.

Ben Folds Five-Ben Folds Five

The first time I ever heard a Ben Folds Five song (Jackson Cannery, maybe?), I was sitting in a Ft. Gordon AIT barracks in Augusta, GA, listening to some local radio. I’d like to think we were some of the first people to hear BFF due to our proximity to their North Carolina home, but who knows.

I don’t recall a lot of good music from the early/mid Nineties, but this album sounded like it was straight from Mars. It’s smart, funny, and band geeky weird and I instantly fell in love with Mr. Folds. The good songs on this album are more fun, exuberant, interesting, and sing-along-y than any other album I own.

Oasis-(What's the Story) Morning Glory?

Ok, I realize some of you may have “opinions” about Oasis and whether they’re a “good” band or not. Frankly, I don’t care and I suggest you take your hatred of Oasis and shove it up your bum shoot. I like this album, ok? I know every word to every song and sing along to it at least once a week. So there.

I’m not going to deconstruct the album or explain why it’s so good. It’s like the blue sky on a summer’s day or making out with that hot guy from Calculus class the first time. It’s just…right. Unfortunately, non-Morning Glory Oasis mostly stinks like Continental cheese, but whatevs. I’d much rather have one great album and a bunch of stinkers than a load of Creed any day.

The Smiths-Louder Than Bombs

The Smiths are pretty fucking close to my favorite band in the world, ever.  Like you, I was a troubled, too-smart, well-read misfit and Morrissey touched me in a way no other fey, asexual, Oscar Wilde-y Englishman ever had. The Smiths taught me how to be arch and clever (and wrap it up into an adorable, poppy package), but they never did much for my heterosexuality.

I love all of their albums. This isn’t really an album, more of a compilation with some new songs thrown in.  However, this is the The Smiths album I would take with me to the South Pole…or into outer space (the desert island thing is cliché and over, people).

Still unconvinced?

Young bones groan
And the rocks below say :
“Throw your skinny body down, son !”
But I’m going to meet the one I love
So please don’t stand in my way

and

Sing me to sleep
Sing me to sleep
And then leave me alone
Dont try to wake me in the morning
cause I will be gone
Dont feel bad for me
I want you to know
Deep in the cell of my heart
I will feel so glad to go

Check and mate, Internets.

And now, dear friends, I encourage you to respond in kind with your own five, happy-inducing albums of music.

How Swindon’s greatest musical export found Branson, c. 1980, in a pants-free whirl amid the bouncy-bouncy.

More XTC video: Google YouTube