« It is not invisible, but lost like a forest for the trees. | Main | Dear Autumn, Wait. Addendum: »
The Songs You Didn’t Know You Loved
By Billy | August 31, 2011
One of my new Austrian friends asked me the other day what music I like. I hesitated for a long time and didn’t really give a good answer, though I have weeks of music on my computer that I love to listen to. This post is effectively a mixtape of music that I won’t be offended if you don’t like. Some of these songs are pearls in oceans I have not explored, some are the only songs I can stand by the artist, and some represent my favorite artists ever. All of them are songs I reall, *really* like.
To start out, we’ll go with the Blood Brothers. This song melts at the end. I like it so much because it sounds alright for the beginning, and then decides to defy rhythm and understandability for the sake of perfection. It is a bit transcendental in this manner.
The Blood Brothers – Loves Rymes with a Hideous Car Wreck
This entire CD is a journey through different paths of self realization, in which the character of the story eventually ends up at the beginning again, right back where they started. Can’t you tell through the delicately delivered lyrics which are so easy to understand?
Circle Takes the Square – Interview at the Ruins
This isn’t my favorite I Hate Myself song. I don’t know why I didn’t link you to To A Husband At War, but I chose this one. I Hate Myself is probably my favorite band ever. I think everything they’ve ever done is 100%, absolutely flawless. I even bought one of their records. I don’t have a record player and I’ve never listened to it, but I have one of their records.
I Hate Myself – Caught in a Flood with the Captain of the Cheerleading Squad
When I discovered Agalloch, I was speechless. They embody just about everything I want from a musical group. They are skilled with their instruments and lyrics, include mythology in almost all their songs, they might worship or be in love with trees, and they play doom metal. Perfect. This song isn’t an example at all of doom metal, but it is pretty much the right mood. Also, that’s a mandolin, that’s an accordion, that’s a song that makes me feel emotions sometimes.
Agalloch – A Desolation Song
Daylight Dies isn’t far away from Agalloch in style. Agalloch has bigger grit in the gravely quality of their vocal growliness. Daylight Dies has a big, hearty, yet smooth growl. They didn’t just turn into Mr. Hyde, but have been stuck in that body for years and aren’t so terrified of themselves, it sounds like. Remember, when a metal song is more than 5 minutes long, you shouldn’t be sitting on the edge of your seat trying to suck it all in as excitedly as possible. They’re going for an atmospheric quality.
Daylight Dies – A Life Less Lived
Choosing a single rap song was difficult, but if I didn’t, I would have gone one forever. I seem to be attracted mostly to East coast gangster rap like the Lox, DMX, Black Rob, Ma$e, etc. Big Pun is probably one of the best lyricists ever. Maaaybe. I don’t know what it means to take someone’s manhood, as indicated in this song. Hm.
Big Pun – Dream Shatterer
The lyrics, the singing style, the instruments. It’s all there. Any song that starts out with the lines, “Kidnapped! I’ve been kidnapped! …by a guy with a moustache and a chick with an eye patch,” and any band that can pull it off seriously… is fine by me.
Les Savy Fav – Adopduction
So there’s a genre of music called lo-fi. This basically means that you don’t sing while you play good songs, but instead you talk without hardly tryin’. Silver Jews are the best at it. Their lyrics are awesome and stick with ya well after the song is over, but I still can’t figure out if it’s actually good music, or just enjoyable. Does that make it good?
Silver Jews – Random Rules
I haven’t listened to this song in a year or two, but I used to listen to it in its entirety once a day for many days on end. Opeth writes epicly lengthed songs. There’s a word for it. Opethic. I don’t know how to use it in a sentence, but I think this one deserves the word. Most people don’t talk about this Opeth CD, but I think it’s definitely the best.
Opeth – To Bid You Farewell
Do I like this title more than the song? No. Do I adore the title of this song? Yes. I like vocals that sound like demons or birds, (or Pidgey from Pokemon, come to think of it?) These songs are awesome. Funeral Diner is great. If you like this song, you may also like all of their songs. They’re also perfect. I don’t know what else to say.
Funeral Diner – My Fist Smells Like Graveyard
La Dispute. Where the hell did I find you? I have no idea. I love music where the vocalist sounds like he’s either on fire or having his heart removed with his own hands after they have been broken hundreds of times against his will and it has been shaped into a sharp mess of claw/bone each time as it heals poorly.
La Dispute – Such Small Hands
This song is so ominous sounding and surefooted. I am pretty sure this is what Saruman listened to as he sent the Orcs out to lay waste to that silly Helms Deep. (Tangentially, if you like this and Agalloch and Opeth, you may like Falls of Rauros. Why did they name their band that? Iduno.) Cult of Luna! God. This band makes me want to listen to nothing but Post-Doom Metal for the rest of my life, specifically just to Cult of Luna. I actually haven’t explored their discography or even the 1 CD I have of them, and I am quite certain it’s that as soon as I do, I will mourn for how long I’ve put it off, or because I’ll go into a week of isolation needing to listen to just their music. In short, I’m just not ready for this band.
Cult of Luna – Finland
There was a time when this song was all I could listen to. It made me go to sleep when I needed to sleep, and it got me pumped up when I needed… pumping up. It is sad and sweet and awesome. If you don’t like it by the first 2 minutes, I guess you can probably skip the last 6 of them. I don’t doubt that a major reason it’s so awesome to me is that it could easily be played during the ending credits of Double Dragon / Battle Toads for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Jesu – Wolves
Ladies and Gentlemen, Hau Ruck. This song is pretty much flawless. There’s an interlude in the middle with a soundclip of a man talking about “violence in America” and how it’s caused by thugs who always plague “the good people.” I watched a documentary in my Critical Issues in Recent Global History class that featured this exact speech and I recited that part of the speech out loud to the astonishment of my teacher. The speech was made in response to a prison riot which was made in response to mass murder and starvation in a prison.
KMFDM – Free Your Hate
And how could we get through this list without Mindless Self Indulgence? When I searched through my iTunes for “faggot,” only two songs came up. One by the homosexual industrial-music making insane person, and the other a song called “Kill the Faggot” by Styles P of the Lox. Styles has consistently been one of my favorite rappers since I first heard Ryde or Die Chick when I was in 6th grade. But about MSI. Hm. Is there anything the song doesn’t explain for itself? (P.S. Finding the best video for this was a challenge, I chose to go with an anime that involved swordfighting for symbolic purposes)
Mindless Self Indulgence – Faggot
And this last one I’m super happy to finally have found on the internet. None of the Dresden Dolls were online for a long while. Times is a changin!
All of their stuff is worth looking into. Yes, she uses the word carefuller. Duh.
The Dresden Dolls – Girl Anachronisms .
Well that’s all for now. I hope you found something you love so you can ask me for more. With a few exceptions, I can point you to some similar sounding artists from any of these videos. 😀
Topics: Uncategorized | Comments Off on The Songs You Didn’t Know You Loved
Comments are closed.