I first heard of the band The National somewhere near the end of last year by a friend who recommended their latest album The Boxer to me. This song, for me, stands out as one of the best songs on what is a very good LP. From the classical guitar style intro that is a feature throughout the song with horn segments sporadically interspersed, the song rarely changes tempo as Matt Beringer et al laments on the perceived changes he sees in a friend over time as they transform into a blue collar worker where once they were a free spirit it seems like a ‘million years ago‘. I’m sure we’ve all seen it in friends of our own…that’s life. Here’s a YouTube link to a live performance of the song.

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Right, let’s get this out of the way first. I love Kraftwerk, and have done ever since I heard the remixed version of Trans-Europe Express. Seeing them at Electric Picnic 2005 was a revelation, and I’ve been a committed fan ever since. Hell, I’ve even got a “Best of Kraftwerk” playlist on my iPod. I got into the song first when I was inter-railing, and of course a song about train journeys would fit well on such an odyssey.

The original version of ‘Trans-Europe Express’, from the 1977 album of the same name, is nowhere near as good as the remixed version from 1991, but I can’t find a studio-recorded version of the remix on YouTube. However, here is a live version from Budapest that’s very close to it. Lord, isn’t YouTube great?

The song has been acclaimed as a pivotal track in electronica, and was sampled by Afrika Bambaataa (real name Kevin Donovan, apparently!) for his seminal 1982 hip-hop single ‘Planet Rock‘. I think I’m breaking a record for YouTube links in a blog post here.

The drum machine, or percussion, or whatever it is, is synthesised to sound like a train running on the tracks – ‘metal auf metal’. It’s persistent, and works really well within the song. The keyboard line is really apocalyptic and, considering this was 1977, extremely innovative for its time.

Kraftwerk have some great albums – Trans-Europe Express, The Man-Machine, Computer World, etc. They were a big influence on Bowie’s mid-70’s stuff (which is, of course, the best Bowie), Joy Division, and pretty much all electronic music now, right up to LCD Soundsystem and…who’s the big electronic thing of the moment? Oh, nevermind.

What I like most about Kraftwerk is the cold, clinical way in which the music builds up. You imagine them donning white labcoats and going into the studio to conduct musical experiments. Each track builds up in just the right way, introducing a repeated sound here, percussion there, a keyboard line, and everything gels together perfectly for a little bit before the voice comes in. The voice, like the music, is generally cold, dispassionate, observant. My type of music.

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Kind of Blue is a classic jazz album, probably the most famous of all jazz albums. ‘So What’ is the first song on Kind of Blue, and is one of Miles Davis’ more well-known and highly-regarded compositions. It is also probably the pinnacle of ‘modal jazz’, where the rhythm section could use more improvisation instead of having to stick to a rigid chord structure.

The piece starts off with some very relaxed interplay between the double bass and piano, before kicking into a melody between the former two instruments and a shuffling drumbeat heavy on cymbal. After about 90 secondsd of this, the drums do a little roll before the best cymbal bash in history, and Miles Davis’ solo enters.

Because the musicians are employing the modal scale, Miles Davis can virtually play whatever he wants. What he does play is now the epitome of what you’d call ‘cool jazz’ – laid back, easy drums, a cheeky bass line, pianos mingling in the background, and Davis’ solo so seductive and easy that you feel like you need to pour a glass of red wine and start clicking your fingers.

Some people like jazz music in the background, the perfect musical setting for a dinner party. Some people think that jazz is pretentious. I bought Kind of Blue on tape over 10 years ago, and I still love listening to it. ‘So What’ in particular will always lift your mood.

Of course, ‘So What’ quickly became a jazz standard, like the other songs on Kind of Blue. Here’s the studio version, but also check out this live version with John Coltrane – fans of The Fast Show will like the introduction by the presenter. Nice!

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Any time I hear this piece of music I think of Barry Lyndon, the movie that gave me my first opportunity to hear the Piano Trio. Of course, because of the film, every time I hear the Piano Trio I think of British redcoats and French bluecoats marching against each other shelling each other to bits, with thirty soldiers cut down in a hail of cannonfire, all directed by Stanley Kubrick in our very own Kilkenny.

This piece is almost weary, as if it knows something about human nature that we don’t know but, by God, we’re going to find out in due course. Apparently it was one of the last compositions completed by Schubert, and there is definitely a sense of cynicism and world-weariness about it.

Piano and cello intertwine with each other and repeat each other’s notes, taking turns at playing the main melody. It’s a sublime piece of music, and works perfectly with Barry Lyndon. Beautifully melancholic, and possibly my favourite piece of classical music. Here’s a Youtube clip – well, a photo – from Barry Lyndon with the Piano Trio playing. Enjoy.

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Having recently downloaded Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga album (is that enough “Ga”?), I started to get into them. But it was on one of those rare occasions when I had MTV on and they actually played a music video, that I heard ‘I Turn My Camera On’.

I’m a very big fan of bands who like to use the bass as a prominent instrument – The Clash, Costello’s Attractions, Joy Division, The Jam…Lord, all those bands are from the ’70’s, when I was only a toddler. And now I feel old. Let’s see, more recent examples…The Stone Roses?

Anyway, I downloaded the Gax5 album the same day as I downloaded Person Pitch and Boxer, so that was a good day. But ‘I Turn My Camera On’ is on an earlier album, 2005’s Gimme Fiction, which is a really good album as well.

The song itself is very minimal, just some short, sharp drums and a really to-the-front bass, along with some crunchy, trebly guitar. It’s very poppy, very groovy. Very Booker T & The MGs.

As for the theme of the song, don’t ask me, I have no idea. There’s a bit of a stalker-type vibe going on, methinks (and please correct me if I’m wrong). The overall feel of the song is a bit unsettling in its insistence. But it’s such a funky song that I can never listen to it just once. Check out the video, and if you’re game for a laugh check out this video of a little gizmo (for want of a better word) dancing to the song.

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A mate of mine recently got into this song and declared it to be ‘the song for summer 2008′. I remember watching the Jools Holland show a few months back and, in between the portly Jools swanning around and fawning over relics from the ’60’s, they let MGMT play this song. I hadn’t heard of MGMT, and I was very impressed. I guess ‘blown away’ is an over-used phrase these days, so I won’t say ‘blown away’. But very impressed.

MGMT seem to be like America’s answer to Klaxons. Both groups have a similar feel for a really good melody, neither are afraid to be ‘poppy’, they both dress in ridiculous clothes, and much of their lyrics dwell on the ephemeral, intangible energy of youth. Well, truth be told, most of their lyrics I can’t understand. But ‘Time to Pretend’ is fairly self-explanatory:

“Let’s move to Paris, shoot some heroin and fuck with the stars/
Give me the islands and the cocaine and the elegant cars.”

‘Time to Pretend’ is about a group of youngsters who don’t want to get caught in the “morning commute”, they want to get rich through music and do the whole live-fast-die-young cliche. I’m not sure if they’re being ironic or being “oh hell, let’s just do it”. Remember, kids, that path will only ever lead to you resembling Johnny Thunders’ more haggard brother – no, that’s not a good thing.

Anyway, enough of that. ‘Time to Pretend’ is a great epic song, and here’s the official video for it. Their album, Oracular Spectacular, is well worth a listen.

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“Blood and chocolate/I hope you’re satisfied what you have done”. So begins the first song on the Blood & Chocolate album, a barnstorming return to form from the only Elvis that truly matters. Set against a scything, choppy guitar playing an E chord interminably, and drums that could be played by a muscular four-year-old, the title describes the song – it’s not rocket science, but it really hits home.

“When you’re over me/There’s no-one above you”. Familiar lyrical ground here for Elvis, the “This beautiful but unattainable female deserves my scorn” line that’s worked for him since the start. If you haven’t heard much Elvis before, Blood & Chocolate is a good place to start; alternatively, check out This Year’s Model, which is a stone-cold classic. And here’s a brilliant performance (YouTube) of ‘Uncomplicated’.

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This is the song that got me into Can [Wikipedia link], a very influential ‘krautrock‘ band. The drumbeat is so shuffly and slinky, and Damo Suzuki’s vocals give it a real otherworldly feel. My impression is that the song is about about a nuclear attack – “mushroom head” kind of gives it away. ‘Course, it could be about a guy who likes the ’shrooms. Either way, you’ve got to give Suzuki credit for his oblique lyrics.The explosion that starts the next song on Tago Mago (the equally brilliant ‘Oh Yeah’) leads me to believe it’s the former explanation.

Can are a hard band to get into, I’m finding. While I like the Tago Mago album, there are a couple of 15-minute-plus songs that are quite laborious. Nonetheless, the album is considered a classic, as is the Ege Bamyasi and Future Days (the last with Suzuki as lead singer) albums.

So, 15-minute-plus songs, ponderous concepts, incomprehensible album titles? Yep, it’s definitely on the pretentious side. Anyway, here’s the mandatory Youtube link. Enjoy!

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Satie wrote three Gymnopédie’s [read the Wikipedia article], obviously without knowing that these pieces of music would be a major influence on ambient, post-rock, and much minimalist modern classical music.

I was in Paris over Christmas, and any time I was strolling along the Left Bank, I always found myself humming this piece of ponderous, plodding piano music. There are so few notes in the piece, and yet they feel so right, there are no more notes than necessary.

Apparently, Satie referred to much of his repertoire as “furniture music”, meaning that the music could be played in the background, while still adding to the general mood or ambience. Good God, the pretentiousness! Personally, listening to this music has me yearning for a slow, lazy Autumn day with leaves falling and nature so close.

Anyway. Here’s a lovely little video on Youtube that uses ‘Gymnopédie No. 1′ as the soundtrack. If you like this piece of music – there’s a good chance you’ll have heard it before – then I recommend you check out ‘Gnossienne No. 1′ as well. Satie influenced Nick Drake, Brian Eno, John Cage, Talk Talk’s later stuff, and a host of other musicians who saw that silence, space and stillness could be used to perfect effect in music.

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