I followed through on last night’s post and dug out my iPod Classic. It seems to work alright, although the only usb lead I have for it is very ropey. I’ve been digging through it to see what I had on there. It’s been a long time since I’ve used iTunes and it’s been a struggle. It seems intentionally clunky, like they’ve just handed me a crap Excel spreadsheet with shitty folders. Honestly, I’m a big spreadsheet fan so an Excel spreadsheet would be an improvement on this. I’ve been trawling through the old playlists and albums and there’s plenty of blog era specific tunes in there, but I also found some other spicy tunes. I was reminded of all the cheap CDs I used to buy just to get one song. One of the best cases of that is NOW 51, the 51st edition of the iconic pop compilation series. Some truly dreadful shit on that. But it’s all worth it for today’s song of the day, “Lazy” by X-Press 2 feat. David Byrne.
David Byrne is of course, a wizard. He’s responsible for some of the greatest songs of all time. He has such a distinctive voice. “Lazy” is a great song. The track itself seems subtle at first but there’s lots of good things going on in their. It’s very funky. The bass is very active in the mix. The keyboards and synthesizers combine with the beat to create a dance music sound but there’s probably enough for the song to exist as just the vocals and the piano. It’s atmospheric and danceable on its won but I think David Byrne takes it to the next level with his vocals. They’re very deadpan at times and feel like a voiceover, sometimes it’s almost a croon and at some points David Byrne’s voice is almost sassy.
It’s a great song and I’d happily pay whatever I paid for the full NOW 51 album again, just because for reminding me of it.
You can listen to “Lazy” by X-Press 2 feat. David Byrne here.
One of the great things about Spotify for me is rediscovering songs that I first heard on blogs back when people downloaded music. I had a nice iPod Classic and I would religiously download the Sunset in the Rearview monthly playlists. A lot has happened in the world in the time since, technologically, culturally and personally. It was a time when you could hear a couple of songs from an artist and then they’d change their name or just stop making music and there’d be no trace they existed after a while. Now music just stays on streaming services, ticking away, getting a couple of plays a year. For me, it was a mad transitional period of going to college, living in Galway for a while and starting work. Between the life changes and and the global shift to streaming, I lost track of a huge amount of artists whose music I had digital copies of. I think that’ll be a project for this week, finding my iPod and chasing down musical leads.
Part of the problem of losing track of music is that I’ll be able to remember riffs or vocal melodies and often forget lyrics so I can never find the songs again. The other problem is not really knowing what I was forgetting. The technology was all about how many hundreds of thousands of songs you could have, so the list is impossible to keep track of in my little brain.
I had rediscovered a song from that time recently and up to this point I was writing with that song in mind. I started writing and reading at the same time, doing my regular research. I was midway through what was going to be my next paragraph when I found some very problematic stuff about the artist. I don’t really feel comfortable featuring the song on my blog anymore. If more information comes out and the story changes then maybe I’ll think about posting about it but I’d rather not write about the song right now.
I’ve been trying not to write about relatively new films so I can avoid spoilers but here’s your spoiler alert for “The Suicide Squad”. I’m not going to ruin things but I’m going to talk about the film so read at your peril.
Here’s the poster for the film. It’s here to give you time to process the spoiler alert.
From the beginning, it’s important to make the distinction between “The Suicide Squad”(2021) and “Suicide Squad”(2016). “The Suicide Squad” is billed as a standalone sequel to “Suicide Squad” but it was also referred to as a “soft reboot”. So it operates in an in between space, not quite a proper sequel but not an independent event.
I went to see “The Suicide Squad” in the IMAX in Odeon in Blanchardstown on Monday. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I was definitely impressed. I knew that James Gunn was involved but I had very little faith in DC to get it right. I guess I was probably expecting something like “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2” crossed with “Deadpool”. At this point the charm of “Deadpool” has well and truly worn off and the second Guardians film, while better on the second viewing, was a weaker sequel. I had seen the trailers and they were pretty good, but I was confused as to why this film was being made at all.
The first Suicide Squad film was shit. It looked crap. There was all that nonsense with Jared Leto as the Joker. It seemed like it was more focused on seeming gritty than actually doing anything. It felt wasteful to use so many characters so badly. When you hear the criticism from the writer and director, David Ayer, it all kinda makes sense. Too much messing around, too much changing track midway. It’s just disjointed and if not for the cast and the promotion of it, the film would be very forgettable.
So since that was so bad, why make a sequel? There was some positive feedback to Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and they made the “Birds of Prey”. That was an alright film but not really a success financially. It really felt like they had a bad film in “Suicide Squad”, tried to milk what was good from it in “Birds of Prey” and at that point it should have been time to quit. There just didn’t seem like audiences would have an appetite for it. I definitely didn’t think I wanted to see a sequel.
But it’s great. It’s very funny. Plenty of proper laugh out loud moments. The characters are great. The characters are from source material so that might not seem like something that “The Suicide Squad” deserves credit for, but “Suicide Squad” managed to fuck up pretty cool characters so we can’t take that for granted. The cast are pretty solid and everybody was good in it. It’s always great to see David Dastmalchian. He’s very entertaining as Polka-Dot Man. John Cena kinda steals the show as Peacemaker. It’s probably Idris Elba’s best performance in a while. He’s a weird one. He was great in “The Wire” and I’m sure he’s had some other good roles since then, but it mostly seems like his acting has been limited to putting on glasses to show that he’s smart. He’s good in “The Suicide Squad” though.
One of the biggest things that I liked about the film was that it made pretty brave choices. I’m not going to get into details because that’s spoiler territory, but bravery is one of the most important things in film making in my opinion. The other DC films have been relentlessly cowardly in their approach to everything. The changes in direction; the casting in some cases; and even just the fucking storylines have not been brave enough to warrant the films being made. The last Wonder Woman film is the best example. Just unambitious crap. And the truth about it is that a film that doesn’t make brave choices is a film that has been made in an attempt to trick an audience. They’re not working hard to be original or interesting because they think that audiences are stupid enough to go to anything if there’s enough promo behind it. “The Suicide Squad” is trying to do more than that and I liked that about it.
The interesting question from watching “The Suicide Squad” is: has there been a better sequel that should never have been made? Despite the philosophical debates around whether “The Suicide Squad” is a pure sequel to “Suicide Squad”, the fact of the matter is, from the studio’s point of view, this was a sequel. It’s the same source material, same cinematic universe, same characters and even the same cast. The consensus is that sequels are usually worse. There’s a laziness to sequels as a concept and they have a vibe of selling out. So the opposite is interesting. A lazy film with an ambitious and interesting sequel. I would be interested to know if this has been through hard work and vision from someone over at Warner Bros. or if it was just a case of the stars aligning after successive blunders.
Is this how “The Suicide Squad” came into existence?
However “The Suicide Squad” came into existence, I feel like it was a great film. I could very easily see myself going to see it again this week. Lots of laughs, great action, great characters. Just an all around great time. Very much worth a watch.
I was in Prague in January 2017 and I was watching the music channels in the hotel when we got home one evening and I heard “Say Nada” for the first time. Up until that point, I didn’t really get grime or grime affiliated R&B. Then it started to make sense. I know by now it’s expected, but I liked that Shakka sings with his own accent and the language is local. “Say Nada” was the first time I heard JME. JME is a great example of how different accents create different flows and styles. I think people writing lyrics the way they speak opens the door for more of that. The English language has a huge amount of variation and it’s nice to hear things that aren’t made by Americans for Americans. The vibe is different as well. The American equivalent of this song would be in VIP sections and sports cars. “Say Nada” is weekday raving and Ubers.
The first thing that struck me was the riff though. The guitar fluctuates between levels of distortion but creates a bounce to the song. The beats in the verse are quite sparse and building into the hook where they lift up a level. I like towards the end of the song as it gets hectic. The layered vocals create a massive sound. I also love the lyric “My ex left saying she ain’t got the time, yo. I double take and pray the e-mail was a typo”. I like the idea that someone’s partner dump them via email.
You can listen to “Say Nada” by Shakka feat. JME here.
I’ve talked about this before, but, when I was a teenager, I didn’t want to like David Bowie. In my mind, he was the obvious glam rock choice. I was just a little dweeb. Over time, I heard more David Bowie songs and had to concede that he definitely had some good songs. Eventually, I fully accepted defeat.
“Golden Years” was one of my first favourite Bowie songs. I hate to admit it, but I think I heard the Marilyn Manson version first. I think that’s the only way anyone could ever think the Manson version was any good. It’s a very poor imitation of the original and Manson is literally just doing a David Bowie impersonation instead of actually singing in his own voice.
“Golden Years” starts off strong. The riff is the most obvious part and it’s a belter. Just grooving away. There’s also a lovely bit of finger snapping with tonnes of echo. That then reoccurs periodically throughout the song. Apparently it was written for Elvis. I love the idea of an Elvis version. It kinda makes sense. It’s a funk/disco song, but it’s an Elvis disco song. There’s a country twang to the guitar at times and there’s a bit of a croon to the way Bowie is singing at times. It’s a cool track because there’s a definite dancability to it, but it’s quite meandering at the same time. It’s a slow wiggling song. And I think that’s my favourite Bowie, slow wiggling Bowie.
You can listen to “Golden Years” by David Bowie here.
“Millionaire” is one of my absolute favourite tracks. I think it’d be one of my picks for greatest song of all time. It’s got so many perfect elements that come together to make something even better.
I’ve talked about Andre 3000 before and how I prefer Big Boi as a rapper, but “Millionaire” is an Andre 3000 highlight. His cheese, rats, cats verse is just so good:
“Where there is cheese there are rats Wherever there are rats there are cats Wherever there are cats there are dogs If you got the dogs, you got bitches Bitches always out to put their paws on your riches If you got riches, you got glitches If you got glitches in your life computer, turn it off And then reboot it, now you back on Can’t just put the cap on the old bottle Once you pop it, that’ll spoil it Go on and drink it and enjoy it, uh Mama I’m a millionaire”
Kelis almost takes a back seat in her own song. I’ve always really liked Kelis. She has a great voice. In “Millionaire”, it’s quite gentle. She plays it straight and then Andre 3000 goes wild on top of it. He’s got credits for the drums, music programming and keyboards as well as the producer credit. The drums are so punchy and drive the whole song. It’s a kinda chilled song but then the drums are just super hyped. The piano is gentle, but the keyboards are big and distorted. It’s a real combination of opposites, but it all comes together to be a fucking gem.
You can listen to “Millionaire” by Kelis feat. Andre 3000 here.
I was standing in the line in the cinema tonight and I heard the sample the forms the basis of “Steal My Sunshine” out in the wild, “More, More, More” by Andrea True Connection. It’s one of my favourite mind blowing samples of all time, made doubly explosive by the fact that I don’t feel like I actually know “More, More, More”. What I really know is “Moe, Moe, Moe” from The Simpsons which you can listen to a 1 hour loop of here.
I love a good sample. I love that a person could hear a snippet of a song and repurpose it, especially when it’s something a small as the portion that Len sampled here. “Steal My Sunshine” is mostly nonsense otherwise. The lyrics are fairly unintelligible, even with an explanation, but that doesn’t really matter. The chorus is a perfect earworm. The singer, Marc Costanza, reminds me of Jason Bateman’s commentator character in Dodgeball. I consider that a positive.
I think there’s a lot of misplaced nostalgia for the 90s by people who were mostly too young to remember the decade. I think “Steal My Sunshine” is a song that deserves nostalgia. It’s dreamy with very light hip hop undertones. The video has so many perfect 90s outfits – Globe skate shoes, side ways caps, baggy jeans, I’m pretty sure Marc Costanza has Fred Durst side burns with a shaved head. The video is actually a better version of the song because it doesn’t have the spoken parts.
You can listen to “Steal My Sunshine” by Len here or watch the video below:
Back in my days as a high flying pre cast concreteer, the radio was a big deal. We had a vibrating table which we used for making concrete fence posts and panels. It was ridiculously loud and we all wore ear protection but I’d turn the radio up so it was louder than everything else. A few good tunes could really make the day move a lot quicker.
We used to listen to Phantom before that went off the air and then we moved around a lot. Sometimes you’d get a good string of songs on Radio Nova. One of the best songs that Nova introduced me to was “Last Train to London” by ELO. It’s such a mad song. It’s got a “Boogie Nights” style bass line in the verse and it goes to the next level in the chorus. There’s strings all over the place. There’s a siren in there. And then the boys are just throwing in some chat about trains. There’s so much to it that I could never imagine how a human brain could write it. It’s probably not the first ELO song that most people would think of but it’s a gem.
You can listen to “Last Train to London” by ELO here.
I’ve been losing my mind a bit over the last year or two. Lots of talking about positivity and productivity. Just mental shit when you consider we’re all going to die. As part of that I’ve been trying to use my free time in a more fulfilling way. One of the biggest obstacles to that has been creeping back in to my life lately. FIFA. I’ve been playing FIFA again. FIFA 21 is free to download with Game Pass on the Xbox. Man, it makes me so sad. It’s not that fun and it’s so easy to just lose time to it. I play career mode so it’s really just designing a system and monitoring and improving that system and tweaking it over time. It’s just so lame.
The only real good thing about FIFA as a series of games is the soundtrack. The musical choices are very interesting and there’s always a couple of great tunes on each game. My favourite song this year is “Beginning” by LA Priest. It’s a wonderful little nonsensical song. I like when it comes on when I’m playing FIFA because it kinda makes the pointlessness of the never ending machine seem a bit whimsical. There’s a busyness to the layering of sounds that gives it a kind of whirring factory vibe. There’s an attitude to the vocals that makes me want to do some air punches and snap some kicks while having a wiggle. I read a song by song run through that LA Priest did with The Fader, where they talk about the emphasis on the texture of lyrics as opposed to meaning. I like that idea.
“Crush” is a banger. And in trying to figure out why I like it so much, I’ve come up with one of my dumbest hot takes of all time. “Crush” is the prototype for “We Are The People” by Empire of the Sun. The backing vocals are airy. The guitar is veeery similar.
But then at the same time, there’s something in the vocals that is very like George Michael’s “Fast Love”. Reading the Wikipedia for the song, there’s a quote from Larry Flick from Billboard where he talks about how Jennifer Paige manages to make “Crush” sensual subtly, by using her vocal range as opposed to “groans and moans”. A huge part of George Michael’s success was down to the sexiness of his songs so it all kind of adds up.
Honestly that’s probably enough to justify liking a song, but “Crush” is pretty iconic in it’s own right. It’s one of the less over played one hit wonders that are this good. The lyrics suit the song perfectly. “Here’s what I do, I’ll play it loose” is one of the greatest combinations of lyric and delivery in songwriting. Jennifer Paige’s voice is super effortless and that works so well with the blasé vibe of the lyrics.
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