Samstag, 26. Jun 2010, 8:10
Half time. What's been worth listening to? Has there been ANYTHING?
1. a-ha - butterfly, butterfly (the last hurrah)
Like the title implies, this is the very last release from my beloved norwegians. And it is just as beautiful as it should be. A synth-melody that''ll bring tears to the eyes of anyone carrying the fine thing called "emotion". And Morten's voice and knack for haunting vocal melodies. Haunting to say the least.
2. The National - conversation 16
"It's a Hollywood summer
You never believe the shitty thoughts I think
Meet our friends out for dinner
When I said what I said I didn't mean anything
We belong in a movie
Try to hold it together 'til our friends are gone
We should swim in a fountain
Do not want to disappoint anyone"
A decaying relationship, described in an almost "kitchen sink" way. Matt Berninger provides further proof as to why he is one of the most relevant lyricists around.
3. Wild Nothing - live in dreams
Pure pop ingenuity. There's not that much more to it. Amazing stuff.
4. Gil Scott-Heron - where did the night go
1:14 of dark, brooding and introvertive spoken word.
"Long ago the clock washed midnight away
Bringing the dawn
Oh God, I must be dreaming
Time to get up again
And time to start up again
Pulling on my socks again
Should have been asleep
When I was sitting there drinking beer
And trying to start another letter to you
Don't know how many times I dreamed to write again last night
Should've been asleep when I turned the stack of records over and over
So I wouldn't be up by myself
Where did the night go?
Should go to sleep now
And say fuck a job and money
Because I spend it all on unlined paper and can't get past
"Dear baby, how are you?"
Brush my teeth and shave
Look outside, sky is dark
Think it may rain
Where did
Where did
Where did"
Probably the best lyrics I've read this year. There's now words to describe my amazement.
5. kent - varje gång du möter min blick
Just when I felt quite indifferent to these old heroes of mine they announce the release of a brand new album, just seven months after the release of their last one. This is the best song from the new album. A grand, romantic yet very wistful love song. The exact type of song I want Kent to make.
6. CEO - come with me
Another melancholic popsong with an heartbreaking melody.
7. jay-z - empire state of mind
Had Woody Allen been a former drug dealer turned hiphop-billionaire from Marcy he had been making these kinds of songs all the time, with a huge smile on his face.
8. Cursive - discovering america
The genius Tim Kasher makes a song to support the rights of the native americans. Why is that such a marginalised subject? It should be much more common.
9. david dondero - number zero with a bullet
The brilliant David Dondero contemplates his own artistry and reaches the conclusion that he probably won't make it big.
Together with a-ha and Tim Kasher, Dondero is the most underrated artist in the business.
10. Laura Marling - devil's spoke
Nick Drake's most accomplished heiress? Marling takes Drake's poetic sense and musical delivery and mixes it with the poetry and prose of Shelley, Keats, Machen and Ducasse, but most importantly she makes it her own thing. Her darkness is her own and she is most needed in the musical climate of today.
"All of this can be broken
All of this can be broken
Hold your devil by his spoke and spin him to the ground.
But the love of your life
lives but lies no more
and where she lay
a flower grows."
Almost made it:
broken bells - vaporize
James Mercer skips the lyrical nonsense of The Shins and comes up with this quite brilliant almost existential piece of poetry.
Musically The Shins is still his most interesting project, but lyrically he says more about life with this song than he ever did with The Shins and their three albums.