Original video located here. Accessed 27th September 2013
Song title: Strong
Artist: London Grammar
Year: 2013
Why I like this song:
It may be brittle and vulnerable but still has a strength and defiance. A tricky balancing act to be sure but it works.
Song title: Cannonball
Artist: Breeders
Year: 1993
Why I like this song:
If 1979 was a revelation, then discovering this was something else entirely.
Once 14 year old me discovered the wonders of alternative rock and raised there was indeed a world beyond that i was familiar with, i made the effort to seek out the very first Triple J Hottest 100 compilation, to find out what had passed me by years earlier. And I did indeed find some songs that were new and exciting to me.
And then there was Cannonball.
I could say that this song is the quintessential nineties song but many more have done that before me. So what i will say is that i will never tire of this song. It is the sound of a band firing on all cylinders and using every trick at their disposal: The bassline, distorted vocals, strange noises, vocal harmonies, a guitar doing a lot with very little, a rousing chorus and stop/start techniques.
There's a lot here to grab attention and, some twenty five years later, still sounds exciting.
Original video located here. Accessed 25th May 2023
Song title: Can You Forgive Her
Artist: Pet Shop Boys
Year: 1993
Why I like this song:
More explorations with the Pet Shop Boys.
I remember this, and Go West, as being huge hits at the time. Also there was a lot of buzz going around at the time that these guys were still getting hits even when they were of the previous decade and were supposed to have been cast aside in the changing of the guard. Obviously Neil and Chris didn't get the memo and instead mastered the house music of the time and made some strange videos that utilised early CGI.
That aside, Very is quite a strange album: the gay sub-context of Behaviour has now come to the forefront. This is due to Neil coming out of closet prior to the album and, from the sounds of it, he certainly seems happy about it. But then again, perhaps the Pet Shop Boys had exhausted their melancholy with Behaviour so the only direction left to go was to make something exuberant.
Such an approach shouldn't work in pop music but here it does.
Song title: My Country
Artist: Midnight Oil
Year: 1993
Why I like this song:
This song is pretty much what one can expect from Midnight Oil: A song based around a riff (in this case the piano figure), some loud drums, furious guitar and a delivery from Peter Garrett that's both passionate and pissed off. So yeah, playing to one's strengths.
What I find particularly interesting is that this song's parent album, Earth Sun and Moon, is not well regarded by the Oils fans, with common criticisms being that it sounds like a band not only standing still but taking root. Me? I think it's one of their best. It certainly has aged better than the production-heavy eighties efforts and, as this song demonstrates, still holds relevance in this current era (unfortunately).
Song title: You're in the Battlefield
Artist: Sekiria
Year: 1998
Why I like this song:
Further proof for my hypothesis that you can slip an anime track into a playlist and no one will notice.
Some old school BGC fans may lament how the metal of the original's soundtrack got replaced with electronics in the revamp that is 2040. But that is hardly a bad thing: The BGCT2040 has a soundtrack that boasts some great moments and this is one of them/
Yes it sounds very much like any other drum and bass act but who cares? It's energetic and will get anyone pumped to get fighting. Or do a World of Warcraft raid.
Original video located here. Accessed 2nd September 2013
Song title: Song From the Sixteenth Floor
Artist: Paul Kelly
Year: 1994
Why I like this song:
I had the pleasure of seeing Paul Kelly live recently. It was a birthday present from my sister.
I am Australian and being an Australian it is near inevitable that one would see Paul Kelly once in their lifetime. And this time was my time.
The support act was Urthboy. No doubt this was due to Paul's (surprising?) interest in hip-hop but he did a good job and was fun to watch on stage
It was an interesting show: For the first half, he played his latest album, Spring and Fall, in full. It should be noted that the audience was seated. It wasn't bad but the audience was somewhat cold - no doubt through being presented with, dare I say, unfamiliar tunes?
But then came the second half: Where the audience were encouraged to get out of their seats, come up the front and rock out to Paul playing all his best known songs: Before Too Long, Leaps and Bounds, Dumb Things, How To Make Gravy. It was crazy to see the audience respond so strongly to all these songs that they have no doubt heard many times before.
However the best part came at the end: For an encore, Paul's band abandoned their instruments, came forward around the one microphone and they all sung Song From the Sixteenth Floor. Magic in simplicity indeed.
All in all, Paul certainly was a charismatic presence and he knew how to hold an audience relying on years of experience. Great show indeed.