Since I’ve started doing these again (it turns out it had been 4 years since I did the last one) I’ve been listening to my Ipod on shuffle way more. That’s over 25,000 songs and I’m rarely needing to skip, and every time i’ve been thinking this shuffle would’ve been perfect for the blog. So let’s do one and see how it goes, I’m sure this one’s just going to highlight every shameful musical artefact i accumulated through my adolescence but hey that’s half the fun…
Outroversion’s Ipod Shuffle XV
Amy Winehouse- Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (2011)
I started listening to Ms. Winehouse when her first album Frank was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize around 2003. Man, I loved that album. So much so when everyone was poring over Back to Black I tended to ignore the circus and publicity that surrounded it and be more inclined to listen to her mostly glossed over debut.
When word started to get out that she’d died I was at a musical festival, Trevor Moss & Hannah Lou were playing “England“ it was perfect and surreal. It was a huge loss but if you are going to die young, 27 is the age to do it.
I’d never really gotten into her most popular artistry having found it further away from the jazz artist that originally intrigued me and that’s why I think Lioness: Hidden Treasures which was post-humously released and containing a mixture of jazz standards and the original creations that lay the foundation for her fame, was a becoming tribute.
This track is a cover of The Shirelles’ 1960s Billboard topping Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow. There are a couple of versions of this in Amy’s catalogue, one recorded for a Bridget Jones movie and this, from 2011. This version is easily recognisable as a Mark Ronson production, buckets of brass whether it’s suitable or not. The thing is, she has a huge voice, she probably doesn’t need an even bigger band to accompany it. You put an average singer with a big band, they’re going to sound great. Put a great singer with a big band, you’re wasting everybody’s time.
Yellowcard- Something of Value
Some artists, I love a particular album of theirs so much that I have everything in their catalog on the back of it regardless of whether it is representative of them. Yellowcard have that honour on the back of Ocean Avenue.
This is from 2001′s One For The Kids, a time where their sound was really starting to find its legs. Back and forths, overlapping and harmonizing over well structured bass, light guitars and of course- the violin. Where would Yellocard be without that!
You know what you’re going to get with one of YC’s sweet songs and that’s exactly what you get here. It could be heavier, it thankfully isn’t any lighter it’s just pleasant and sometimes you need that.
The Felice Brothers- Greatest Show on Earth
There are a certain number of artists that I only listen to because they count themselves as associates of Conor Oberst. I guess that might be weird but I know enough people that are way more devoted to him than I am and trust me in comparison, I wouldn’t even be a footnote in a who’s who of Oberst obsessives.
The Felice Brothers have always made country, bluegrass, ramshackle sounding music, honky tonking pianos, downtuned guitars and straining brass sections with a Dylan inspired delivery.
I saw one of them, I believe Simone Felice at a festival in 2011 and I went to see him for the reason mentioned above. He had the same penchant for grass roots storytelling that is showcased in his brothers’ work. Musically, it’s extroverted and feel-good. Lyrically a tendency for the more introspective and insightful, this particular track is one of their big-hitters on the road.
Mewithoutyou- Yellow Spider
I can’t work out how I have so much of this band’s music in my itunes. I essentially have their greatest hits spread across 4 albums but I’ve no idea why. I kind of recognize the name thinking they played a few festivals I was at but searching google I can’t find anything of the sort!
Spoken word vocals, free-ranging musicianship I don’t even know what festival they could have fit in at. I’ve listened to them 10 times according to last.fm. They’re labelled as post-rock to but they don’t seem to be. Sure they’re a bit emo and in the Sunny Day Real Estatest of veins but…
This is a short song, reminds me Pheurton Skeurto. It’s over before it starts and if their music is anything like this I’ve no idea why I’ve spent time on them before but… There must be a reason, I’m absolutely baffled by this like I’ve spent 20 minutes trying to work this out…
The Libertines- Never Never
Some artists I will put anything they’ve ever recorded in my Itunes, John & Paul, Ben Gibbard, Conor Oberst, Chili Peppers and lastly- Peter Doherty. I have everything imaginable from unlistenable outtakes to strung out sessions but it’s the Libertines’ non-album studio recordings that seem to really produce music worth hearing.
This is a Carl Barat number, you can tell that from the guitar. I genuinely do appreciate him as a songwriter, France is as good as anything in the world but he does seem unable to make magic unless Pete is lurking nearby.
This was an Australian Bonus Track on the self-titled album and a B-Side to Can’t Stand Me Now.
Regina Spektor- The Calculation
I appreciate Regina Spektor as a musician, I wonder however whether her music shouldn’t be less listenable. She’s clearly got a talent for producing imaginative music and uses her voice as an instrument in ways few others are capable, with that you would imagine it wouldn’t be so radio-friendly.
The piano here for example is way too upbeat, I know she does this to contrast her often dark lyricism but again if you’re going to sing about overdoses and suicide why make it so kids will want to listen to it?
That aside, her lyrics are on a whole excellent, rarely failing to be profound and often revealing more on repeated listens. Her delivery and style of music does shift units but it is when you spend some time listening to her words that you appreciate it a little more.
Blood Red Shoes- Don’t Ask
From Brighton and better than most bands. Live, there are few that I can’t help but rock out to no matter how I’m feeling. I had an ear infection at a festival once and these guys came on and I didn’t give a fuck any more. So glad they’re playing somewhere I’m at this summer.
Their passion for the music they make is what has given them their reputation and longevity. Having just a guitar player and a drummer isn’t an easy thing to carry off on the long-term, just ask the Ting Tings (lol). BSR could easily have incorporated more members after their steady and consistent successes but they wouldn’t be the same band and man do people love this band.
They can and do kill at any festival or in any sized venue, they released their fourth album at the end of last year and you know they’re going to be touring til they bleed all summer like they do every year. It doesn’t get more real than the sound they make.
Our Lady Peace- Annie
If you dated any north american teenagers last decade with any sort of good taste in music you will have come across these guys and if you are no longer with that person chances are you don’t listen to them anymore for that reason. You listen to this band in your formative years, you can’t help but have a connection.
This song actually came out LAST CENTURY! Wow. That’s 15 years. Time is insane. The song is “about a girl contemplating murdering students at her school”, so that’s nice. It was also written three weeks before Columbine.
It’s faithful to the warped musical stylings that their best music is famed for. The delivery is lighter than the subject matter but you know, you don’t have to be feeling a particular way to listen to OLP but they are perfect for when you are.
Lewis Black- Settling of Minnesota
The angriest man in America always seem to turn up on these! I can’t help but hold this gentleman in high esteem, he’s how a lot of us feel inside but aren’t allowed to express because of the confines of the society we live. If you express a controversial opinion you could be disciplined or fired from work, arrested or simply frowned upon but no matter what we all know it’s better to keep our real thoughts to ourselves. Lewis Black doesn’t feel that way and he’s probably happier than a lot of people simply that he has an outlet.
Here he is on his Rules of Enragement tour expressing his surprise that anyone came upon Minnesota and chose to stay.
The Lovely Eggs- Hey there, Woodsmith!
There’s twee and then there’s The Lovely Eggs. I’ve often felt you need to be in a certain frame of mind to listen to this couple of Lancastrians. There’s bike horns and bells, lolloping rhythm and summery-folk childlike lyricism. This song can’t end quickly enough.
