The YouTube algorithm knows me well and, as a result, I get a lot of Flight of the Conchords clips recommended to me. Carol Brown is my favourite of their songs.

There’s lots to like about it. It’s light and sounds sweet but, like all Flight of the Conchords songs, it’s underlaid with constant reminders that the two guys are interchangeably idiots and bad people. I like the classic idea of person’s name with a rhyming reason that their relationship didn’t work. I like that in the show Brett has a weird instrument that translates and transposes the images of himself and Jemaine.

They’re good lads and, while I’m sure there are elements to the show that haven’t aged very well, they have had a serious impact on my little brain

You can listen to Carol Brown by Flight of the Conchords here or watch it in grainy late 2000s/ early 2010s YouTube style here.

Another after midnight post for the day before.

“I wanna know, is this real or fake?
Do I have a chance or am I pavin’ ways?
I’m tryna find a reason not to say your name
Like you, there’s no look-a-like”

I really like this song and part of the reason is that I had just become a fan of Aminé when it came out. I had heard his other stuff and had absorbed all the existing music I could find. Then this was released and I couldn’t get enough. It’s the honeymoon phase of discovering an artist.

You can listen to Spice Girl by Aminé here.

Hold On (I Was Wrong) is a great Spotify recommendation. It’s both sides of the coin. I love this song and I will always be happy to hear it, but I have never followed up and checked out Video Age. It’s the great power and weakness of Spotify for an artist. You can get your songs to people via playlists of recommendations, but how do you get them to come back and see what else you’ve got? That’s the big question.

My conspiracy theory for why I haven’t followed the trail back to see what else Video Age have is that this song reminds me of Picture Of You by Boyzone. And every time I hear it I get lost in the comparison which always ends up going the same way. I listen to Hold On (I Was Wrong). Then I listen to Picture Of You. Then I decide I dislike Boyzone on a deep personal level. I listen to Hold On (I Was Wrong) and decide I like it better. It has something of the elements of the Boyzone song that I like, but without Ronan Keating.

You can listen to Hold On (I Was Wrong) by Video Age here.

And if you want Picture Of You you can hear that here but you’ll be disappointed.

The obvious strength of The Thrill is that it’s just Wiz Khalifa rapping over Walking on a Dream by Empire of the Sun which is a near perfect song already.

It’s a mixtape era classic, where rappers would just rap over anything to show what they could do. The emphasis was entirely on the rapping so the beats and samples didn’t have to be perfect and the mixtapes were free downloads so nobody worried about clearing anything.

But then the problem happens as artists become massive and they can’t really get away with not clearing samples, particularly as they add the rarities from their back catalogues to streaming services. So it’s cool that this has been cleared and released and everyone has been credited appropriately.

You can listen to The Thrill by Wiz Khalifa here.

I’m posting after midnight so it’s definitely the 24th but it still counts as the 23rd for my blogging schedule because I haven’t gone to sleep yet. I’ve been working hard for the last year on trying to change my life. I’ve been trying to create healthy habits. I’m trying to focus on using my spare time in a fulfilling way.

And all that has slipped this week. I’ve worked 15 of the last 16 days. I’m not seeing a lot of people due to lockdown and I’m having a bit of a wobble. So I’m trying to correct my life systems. An important part of that is the sense of achievement from writing a blog entry. So here it is. Mission accomplished.

It’s a song for the occasion. The only motivation song that ever spoken to me in anyway, The Real Thing by Client Liaison. And it’s hard to tell, as things often are with Client Liaison, how serious this song is intended to be, but it doesn’t matter. It’s a fucking great song. It’s a great sing-along. It’s a great boogie

“Don’t stop keep moving get on your feet
You gotta know that you’re the real thing”

That’s my mantra for this week. I am The Real Thing. I am a superstar.

You can listen to The Real Thing by Client Liaison here.

In the early days of this blog, I lived in Galway in a mad house while I did my masters. In hindsight, I was having a terrible time and it has had an impact in terms of my physical and mental health. It was always dark. It rained so much. I don’t know if I should have done that masters at all and it made me feel shitty about college in general for a long time. It’s all stuff that I’ve made peace with and I see it as a learning experience about myself.

The best times in Galway were when people would come to see me. Galway is a great place to show someone around. There’s good food and good pubs and a beautiful part of the world on a good day.

Spare Time by Tides reminds me of when Shóna came to see me after my last exam of the first semester and we hung out in Galway for a bit and then she drove home. We listened to this song in the car as the weather turned and the rain came down in sheets.

It’s a cool song. Very pop. Very danceable. And it’ll always remind me of the good parts of my time in Galway, Shóna coming to see me and rescue me from the rain.

Listen to Spare Time by Tides here.

Don’t Save Me will always remind me of working in the Yard making concrete fencing. It was all over the radio and I used to turn the volume up so it could be heard over the machines and through the ear protection.

Haim were a band that became too big for me at the time. When everyone knew who they were I lost interest. It’s a lame personality trait and I like to think I’ve grown out of it. I think in part it comes from an oversaturation in whatever circles I was inhabiting and that Haim were a little too extra for me. The same thing happened at that time with Chromeo. And it was easier to come back to Chromeo because I have a signed poster of them in my room so they’re judging me all the time.

The truth is, in a world where people will still listen to R Kelly ignoring his shittyness as a person, I need to ignore the fact that I find Haim annoying as people and go back to enjoying some of my favourite songs. And Don’t Save Me is one of my favourites. It captures so much of that early 2010s indie era – synths, guitars, drum machines and harmonies. If I listen to it when I’m walking I have a dance routine that goes with it in my head. And that’s really all you can ask for from a song.

Listen to Don’t Save Me by Haim here.

Both versions of this song could have had posts.

Remixes are an interesting idea. Sometimes they’ll improve a song. Sometimes they’ll completely change a song. In this case I think it’s more of a subtle vibe change – possibly an improvement, but I haven’t fully decided. The Original Mix is a chilled driving montage song. The Fred Falke Remix cranks the dance-ability of the song up a notch.

I think Fred Falke really gets it right because he captures most of the great element of the original. The vocals are already great. There’s an attitude to it, kinda reminds me of Client Liaison and the eighties pop those guys are obviously inspired by. The bass is funky and the keys have a spacey feel.

So then in his remix, Fred Falke adjusts some levels, bringing the vocal out even more in the mix. He sticks a driving beat on it and creates a building momentum. Then when the chorus comes in it’s irresistible. It’s impossible not to dance to.

Love it. Two absolute bangers, one grown from the other. Very good, very good. Insane video also, which you can check out here.

Listen to Sunny Days (Original Mix) by Patterns here.

And listen to Sunny Days (Fred Falke Remix) by Patterns here.

This Club covered Teardrops by Womack and Womack while riding a small train on Dún Laoighraire Pier and it’s one of my favourite Youtube gems.

This Club were a massively underappreciated band and I think this is a great advertisement for them. This is an incredible live performance that highlights their great harmonies, their originality and their fun. They’re probably a band who happened slightly too soon for themselves. If they’d appeared in a post Spotify world they would have been all over the happiest cheekiest playlists and then they’d have conquered the world. As it is, they have one of the best Irish albums in my opinion and some absolutely incredible covers under their belt. Great songs by some good lads.

You can watch Teardrops by This Club here