I’m really liking Klaxons at the minute. Their Myths of the Near Future album (which gets an unfair dissing on rateyourmusic) updates early ’90s rave music and staples it to solid pop grooves, brilliant harmonies, and quasi-mystical lyrics to brilliant effect.

‘Two Receivers’, the first song on the album, starts with a grungy drumbeat that seems to come from the ether, before bass and cascading keyboards announce the introduction to Klaxons’ worldview:

“Krill edible oceans at their feet
A troublesome troop out on safari
A lullaby holds their drones in sleep“

I’m not even going to try to interpret this, but the alliteration and phrasing of the lyrics work very well with the song and backing harmonies. With song titles like ‘Atlantis to Interzone’, ‘Golden Skans’, ‘Totem Timeline’ and ‘Gravity’s Rainbow’ (nice to see fellow Pynchon fans), it’s safe to say that many of the lyrics are digressive in-jokes and meanderings.

But one meaning I got from this song was a 2001: A Space Odyssey-style set of ‘receivers’, positioned “nearly out of reach” and tracking everything that humankind does, to report back to base camp. Hmmm…very profound.

The music, like all of Myths of the Near Future, is layered yet very hummable. Listen to this three or four times and you start to notice things in the music, the keyboard riff beneath the keyboard riff. It’s difficult to know what their next album will be like - they should be jailed for starting the ‘fluorescent adolescent’ craze in the first place - but ‘Two Receivers’ and the rest of the Myths… album are worthy debuts. Listen to the song on this YouTube video.

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I really got into Pavement when I was in my teens. Growing up in the middle of the Irish countryside, touch-me-I’m-sick bands like Nirvana or earnest, hand-on-heart-despair bands like Pearl Jam (sorry Des, I know they’re a favourite!) didn’t do an awful lot for me. My music taste focused on three groups: Sex Pistols, Velvet Underground and these boys, Pavement.

‘Cut Your Hair’ is a classic example of their ability to glue a great melody together to some sparkling wit. A commentary on the explosion of the “hair, flannel shirts and sincerity” groups that came up in the wake of grunge’s pioneers, the harmonies that open the song and come up after the choruses are inspired, like a slowed down Beach Boys on helium.

The lyrics always get me laughing, just for the surrealism. Lines like “hit me wearing muzzles”, “did you see the drummer’s hair” and (my favourite) “NO BIG HAIR!” just seem to come out of nowhere. It’s as if the band sat down to write a poppy song, but just kept getting sidelined into weird tangents that come out in the lyrics. This isn’t the only Pavement song that does that - check out ‘Silence Kit’ (or, as I always thought it was called, ‘Silent Kid’), the first song on the Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain album.

The whole Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain album is a really good listen, and their debut, Slanted & Enchanted is also recommended. Here’s the video for ‘Cut Your Hair’ - a treat in itself. “No big hair!”

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Richard Hawley belongs to a long tradition of crooners, dating back to Sinatra (In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning) and on through Jim Morrison, Iggy Pop, Ian Curtis and Ian McCullough to Hawley’s former bandmate, Jarvis Cocker of Pulp. The Coles Corner (no apostrophe) album is a very nice listen, and the title track is a definite highlight.

The song builds like a slightly more hopeful version of the song ‘In The Wee Small Hours…‘ (that’s three mentions now for the Sinatra classic), with syrupy strings and a very Christmas feel to it. You almost expect the first words to be “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…”. Then the song picks up a jazzy feel, with brush drums, lugubrious piano and Hawley’s deep, thoughtful voice:

“Cold city lights glowing,
The traffic of life is flowing,
Out over the rivers and on into dark.”

The lazy beat is reminiscent of Costello’s ‘Kid About It’, and is a melody that will stay for you a long time. It’s a melody to be sung at the end of the night, with the last glass of single-malt whiskey in your hand, as you empathise with the song’s narrative of a trip into town to find serendipitous love.

Here’s the video on YouTube. Another Hawley favourite of mine is ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’, also on Cole’s Corner. Get this album if you can, it’s a very soothing listen, and repeated listens will reward.

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The Kinks deal in that type of songwriting that I like so much - winsome, nostalgic, pastoral, conservative, English. For an Irishman, that’s something to admit. Nobody does this better than Ray Davies - not Weller, not Lennon, not Bowie, not anyone. Ray Davies had it down perfect.

Taken from the album of the same name, and not to be confused with the also-excellent ‘Village Green’ from the same album, ‘Village Green Preservation Society’ is Davies’ hymn to an England that, by the late ’60’s, was forever gone. If it was ever there, outside of postcard pictures and Arthuric legends.

In very matter-of-fact and to-the-point lyrics, Davies sketches his manifesto, telling the listener what they are for and against. They are for “vaudeville”, “the George Cross”, “tudor houses” and “little shops” among other things. As sure as God is an Englishman, they’ll come down hard on “office blocks”, “skyscrapers” and, well, change of any kind.

Although Davies often poured scorn on those who “do the best things so conservatively”, it’s hard to imagine him singing this entirely tongue in cheek. He seems fairly authentic in what he wants, and the whole Village Green… album is based on a theme of rose-tinted views of Ye Olde Englande. It’s this theme, recurrent throughout the Kinks’ career, that put a stop to them becoming as worldwide as the Beatles or the Stones.

Anyway, it’s a really nice song, and strangely makes me nostalgic for about 1996, when I got into the album. I was in college, and Dublin was quite a different place then, pre-”Tiger”. As things seem to be starting to go a bit pear-shaped with the economy, I can see nostalgia-drenched tunes like this coming back in. Listen to the song on YouTube.

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Another band that were sibling-recommended, Fujiya & Miyagi are absolutely class. They’ve got a really controlled funk style, where the drums, bass and lead guitar are consciously holding back, giving a really tight, almost aggressive feel to the song, while still coming across as quite laid-back.

Transparent Things, the album that ‘Collarbone’ is taken from, is an album that I’m getting to like more and more. Lead singer David Best whispers like a vaguely threatening Ian Brown (who’s threatening enough himself!), and uses repetition to get the point across, like all the best lyrics.

Rumour has it that this group met while substitutes for a football team - now that’s a great way to start a band. They’ve got a great way with influences too - think the Stone Roses trying to play like a ‘krautrock’ band.

Anyway, enough of my dithering, let’s get to the meat of the post - the song itself. Here’s the excellent excellent footie-themed video for ‘Collarbone’. Check out the bassline. If you like it, have a listen to ‘In One Ear & Out The Other’ and ‘Ankle Injuries’, two great tunes from F&M.

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For those of you that don’t know Tubeway Army was an alias that Gary Numan used in the late 70’s before embarking on a successful solo career as, well, Gary Numan (b.t.w another stage name). A few years ago I decided to check him out at the electric picnic festival but only based on two songs of his that are by far his most popular songs - Are Friends Electric and Cars. As these songs epitomise the whole 80’s snyth pop era. What suprised me about his live performance was how heavy his music was, real hard rock at times. I was expecting keyboards, synthesiser’s etc but found gibson’s instead and he was brilliant.

This song features some very heavy use of synthesiser’s which reach some very high notes and backed up by your normal drum and bass digest. To be honest I haven’t a clue what the song is about except that he’s talking about friends or so called friends which I believe are ‘robots’ judging by the song title. Here’s a live version of the song that was performed on the Old Grey Whistle Test music show. By the way the spoken word in the song reminds me a little of Mark E. Smith….

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I wanted to write about the song at the begining of the summer but was holding off for the summer to truly kick with great weather, BBQ’s and beer gardens but sadly it never really came at all so I’m to write about it now in the hope that it will bring some enjoyment (and not depression) when the weather is god damn awful. I’ve given up on ever again seeing a week of sunshine here…

Taken from Derry’s finest The Undertones and their first album aptly named, The Undertones, and clocks in typical punk/post punk fashion at a measly 1.43 minutes. Don’t let the relative shortness of the song deter you from this upbeat, enjoyable ditty (which is not typical of punk / post punk bands).

The context of the song is basically an ode to beaches and girls in skimpy clothes which is what most guys look forward to in the summer. I particularily like the first verse which goes something like

‘Oh baby baby what can I do
You know you drive me crazy when I’m looking at you
The summer’s really here and it’s time to come out
Time to discover what fun is about‘

The second and third verses are repeated and create images of lying on the beach looking at girls
that have a bit of colour instead of the pasty Irishness that is evident the rest of the year.

‘Keep looking for the girls with their faces all tanned
Lying on the beaches all covered in sand
Stretching out their long legs lying in the sun
They know they’re beautiful they’re having fun‘

God I need a holiday !!

Anyway you can watch the song here

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The song today is taken from Depeche Mode’s classic albumViolator. It’s strange but everytime I go on a short european break you nearly always end up hearing these guys on the loud speaker’s in pubs, restaurants etc, not that I’m complaining but it’s just a curious observation. There are many songs you write about from the band - Personal Jesus, Just Can’t Get Enough, Enjoy the Silence etc but this song really stands out for me. Many thoughts can be drived from the lyrical content from drugs, spirituality, relationships but for it means cleansing yourself from something you do want….

There is no traditional verse / chorus /melody in the song and the band totally let’s the lyrics speak for themselves as the music (especially the drums) play second fiddle. There is really not much to say about the song as the words pretty much speak for themselves. Some sample’s are

”The cleanest I’ve been
An end to the tears
And the in-between years
And the troubles I’ve seen’

or

‘Now that I’m clean
You know what I mean
I’ve broken my fall
Put an end to it all
I’ve changed my routine
Now I’m clean’

It’s a deeply sincere, open and honest song arranged brilliantly and really worth checking out here if you get a chance.

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Everybody who knows anything about the great English bandThe Kinks probably know this beautiful song taken from the album Something else about the Kinks. You know this song never reached no. 1 in the charts? Beatlemania was all over the place at that time which, in my opinion, makes this the greatest song ever made not to reach number one.

I’ve heard/read many stories regarding the lyrical content of the song from friends of the writer to a celebrity couple but for me the reason I like this song is that it reminds me of a place in our lives where we all feel safe from the world and comfortable as in these couple of lines of the first and second verses respectively:

‘but I don’t need no friends
as long as I gaze on waterloo sunset
I am in paradise‘

and

‘but I don’t feel afraid
as long as I gaze on waterloo sunset
I am in paradise‘

The first verse is very specific to the writers location (Ray Davies if you didn’t know) and describes waterloo sunset in London but can easily be interpreted to describe our own idyllic location while the second and third verses describe Terry and Julie and what they’re up to which to me is really just telling the story of two people getting on with their lives and doing what they got to do but he doesn’t mind because he’s happy where he is. This is truly a beautiful song, you can see a live version of the song here

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Infidelity has never been treated with so much tenderness and empathy as in this song, from Crowded House’s 1988 album Temple of Low Men. Over a slow, shuffling beat and muted acoustic guitar, Neil Finn weaves a tale of worried, confused, compelling intimacy with someone who is not his significant other. His emotions swing between desire (“I couldn’t believe my luck”, “The cradle is soft and warm”) and the disgust he feels at these base emotions (“The guilty get no sleep”, “Safe in the wide open arms of hell”).

That this song, released as a single, did not do well is no surprise. For the 1980s, it’s got none of the bells and whistles that made a hit single. Not only that, but the subject matter is far removed from ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’, Crowded House’s biggest hit.

And yet it’s probably Crowded House’s finest moment, where Finn’s McCartneyesque melody, masterful caption of the moment, and fine voice come together to create something magical. Here’s the video - as low key as the song itself, but also strangely affecting.

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