From Here To Obscurity: Memememememe

Monday, June 09, 2008

Memememememe

Sorry, that should be meme, meme, meme. They Call Him MISTER Leonard Pierce has tagged me for an online meme in which I should:

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to."

As Leonard rightfully points out, there ain't no Spring in Texas. It's been over 100 degrees here several times already this year, breaking all sorts of heat records. So Go Team We Don't Give A Shit! This here list is about avoiding the heat in the cool, cool indoor AC, which is, ironically, increasing the heat outside and thus necessitating even more effort in the AC unit, shake, rinse, repeat.

Boris - "Message" (Smile). This is the Japanese version of "Statement" from Boris's Smile album, and the heavy bass & drum beat, the "hoo-hoo" vocals stolen from "Sympathy For The Devil," and the breathtaking guitar breaks all add up to one of the most exciting songs I've heard this year. It's so good that it'll take me a while to come up with the other six.
The Au Pairs - "It's Obvious (Original Single Mix)" (Playing With A Different Sex). OK, I'm back. I hadn't listened to this track in something close to a decade when I hit it as part of my music library project (and I don't think I've blogged about it yet). Think about how unfortunate the Au Pairs were to be so closely associated with the absolutely stunning Leeds punk cadre, like the Gang of Four, the Raincoats, the Mekons, and the Delta 5, because the Au Pairs would shine in most groupings, but were overshadowed in this one. Which is a shame, because when the Au Pairs brought their A-game, they were stunning. This song in particular is a killer.
Om - "Pilgrimage" (Pilgrimage). Bass, drums, and electronics: music doesn't get much more minimalistic. And yet here this is, a psychedelic-metal teenage bonghit symphony to the God of Weed.
Robert Forster - "Demon Days" (The Evangelist). I cried when Grant McLennan died. I didn't know him, of course, but I felt his loss in the songs I knew he still had in him and the seemingly unending potential in his musical collaboration with Forster at the heart of the Go-Betweens. Forster's new solo album contains two songs that McLennan started and would never finish, and this one, one of the finest McLennan had ever written. No one can hear it the way that McLennan intended, but Forster gives it the gravity it deserves. Good man.
The Rolling Stones - "I'm Going Down" (Metamorphosis). For a couple of weeks, eMusic had the entirety of the Rolling Stones's ABKCO releases available. I bought a couple of booster packs and downloaded just about everything I could, including Metamorphosis, a collection of B-sides from the mid-to-late 60s. And this song just slays me. It's the ur-Stones track, built around one of Keef's most solid riffs ever set to tape, and including a sleazy horn track and bongos and Mick drooling like a man possessed. Yeah, the version of "Memo From Turner" on this album is pretty great, too, but this track practically begs for Scorcese to build a movie around it. Maybe he already has.
The Dexateens - "Out On Your Own" (Lost And Found). If the Stones had recorded this song around the time of Exile on Main Street, anyone who was raised on FM radio would know it by heart. Great stuff. Hard to believe that the Dexateens have been having problems getting this record released.
Bat For Lashes - "What's A Girl To Do" (Fur And Gold). This isn't a new song, but I didn't hear it until recently, because I'm semi-purposefully ignorant of Brit-pop, even when it's as layered with awesomeness as this track. It starts off with the drums from "Be My Baby," then follows a meandering path that winds in and out of a gorgeous Shangri-Las-as-covered-by-Bjork melody. What do you call this? Retro-avant-pop?