Explorations: Found Love in a Graveyard

Original video located here. Accessed 28th September 2016

Song title: Found Love in a Graveyard

Artist: Veronica Falls

Year: 2011

Why I like this song:

So I've heard whispers of this band, Veronica Falls. Enough to have my interest piqued and to look into further. I should point out that this was I going in blind: I knew of the name but that was it. Granted such an undertaking may seem strange given how in this day and age it isn't hard to find information about a band, but sometimes I like to be surprised.

And surprised I was: It's an odd combination of gothic music and surf rock. On paper it sure doesn't sound like it should work but somehow it does. It's the kind of music that succeeds because of, or in spite of, it's own bizarre nature. 

Choon of the Month: Long Holiday

Original video located here. Accessed 26th September 2016

Song title: Long Holiday

Artist: Flyying Colours

Year: 2016

Why I like this song:

They say that revivals happen in chunks of twenty years so of course this decade will see a clutch of acts aiming to recreate the sounds of the 1990s. And that means that someone will try their hand at shoegaze. 
Of course I could joke that someone got sick and tired of waiting for My Bloody Valentine to follow up Loveless so they decided to do it themselves but said follow-up has since emerged.

Still this is a great song in it's own right. Which is impressive as this is an Australian act and I've never known Australia as having it's own breed of shoegaze (given it is a largely UK genre).
Still, nothing wrong with a bit of 'I can do that too' as that's how many acts here get their start.

Nineties Revisited: 1979

Original video located here. Accessed 21st September 2021

Song title: 1979

Artist: Smashing Pumpkins

Year: 1995

Why I like this song:

In coming up with this list, it is a given that songs that resonated me and/or represent a particular time and place will rank very high. And that is the case here.

I've told the story many times now: In early 1996, i turn to Triple J for the first time and I hear this song. My perspectives on popular music change forever and the alternative rock scene beckons.

Perhaps it is fitting that I discover this song at age fourteen (see Episode 26). Because this song (and accompanying video) is really an ode to youth. Yes Billy Corgan wrote about being twelve years old but if it resonated with a fourteen year old me, then he clearly tapped into something universal.

Furthermore, the Smashing Pumpkins were a very important band for me in my teens and provided a vital soundtrack to that time period. Say what you like about Billy but when he puts his mind to it, he can certainly churn out a winner of a song.

This Song Rocks: The Next Day

Original video located here. Accessed 19th September 2016

Song title: The Next Day

Artist: David Bowie

Year: 2013

Why I like this song:

And now we've come to The Next Day. 
With David Bowie. it would appear that the further we get from the seventies, the more patchy his material becomes. As such, I have skipped over quite a few albums to come to this: An apparent bright spot in his later-day career.
Addressing The Next Day, it is indeed long, with fourteen songs which is odd for a guy who makes quite succinct albums. And yet it still has the oddness I have come to expect from the man. Sure there may be filler but clearly the man still has something to say.

Nineties Revisited: I Was Wrong

Original video located here. Accessed 16th September 2021

Song title: I Was Wrong

Artist: Social Distortion

Year: 1996

Why I like this song:

Sometimes a song can take time to reach you.

I first heard this song back in 1996 at age 14 where I didn't think much of it at the time. Flash forward to 2010: I play Rock Band 2 for the first time and notice this song. And then it clicks for me. A song I dismissed in my teens made sense to me as an adult. Maybe it was due to the life experiences behind me. Maybe it was through the mistakes I have made in the past that this song spoke to me. Maybe it was the situation described in this song that resonated with me. Maybe songs really do connect with people who have lived through the situation said song describes.

In any case though, this song rocks hard - and hey, any song that has a chorus with the line: 'Self-destruction's got me again!' deserves some credit.

Nineties Revisited: Walking Contradiction

Original video located here. Accessed 15th September 2021

Song title: Walking Contradiction

Artist: Green Day

Year: 1995

Why I like this song:

It's my theme song.

Some may think this a lightweight in Green Day's catalogue but it speaks for me - and, I imagine, a whole lot of other walking contradictions

Nineties Revisited: 1000 Miles

Original video located here. Accessed 9th September 2016

Song title: 1000 Miles

Artist: Dirty Three

Year: 1996

Why I like this song:

Another case of an album I didn't know of at the time but eventually arrived to at a later date.
When I was a kid I didn't think much of instrumentals as I felt that the guy out front didn't have anything to say. But it was only later that I came to appreciate them as a way to show of what the artist in question can do with their instruments. And that was the case with the Dirty Three: Three instruments being played by masters of their craft. 

The Asian Connection: Here With You

Original video located here. Accessed 5th September 2016

Song title: Here With You

Artist: Tatsuya Kato

Year: 2011

Why I like this song:

The anime this is from, Future Diary, is completely demented (Yuno amiright?) but this piano piece is surprisingly touching.

Nineties Revisited: Building Steam with a Grain of Salt

Original video located here. Accessed 2nd September 2016

Song title: Building Steam with a Grain of Salt

Artist: DJ Shadow

Year: 1996

Why I like this song:

I didn't know of this album at the time but when I did come around it, it made a sizable impression on me. Constructed entirely of samples it still manages to sound like nothing else.