18 August 2021 – Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Tears For Fears

August 18, 2021 kevinisabastardeverybody wants to rule the world, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, tears for fearsLeave a comment

I’ve always felt like Tears For Fears should be the name of a proto-goth band. The band look like sensitive boys but not in a goth way. “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” is probably an obvious choice if someone was making a list of the best songs of all time, but sometimes those type of songs can slip through the cracks in my never ending compilation of songs that I like a lot on a given day.

I’m not sure how a person or group could sit down and write “Everybody Wants to Rule The World”. There’s so many mad little bits to it. It’s so 80s. The beat, the singing, the synths and the serious guitar playing. The lead guitar is one of my favourite bits to it. Guitar playing in pop music is pretty tame nowadays but this is proper shredding. I think the singing has a similar vibe. The song ticks along with solid singing and solid guitar playing until these moments where they both go up a level and that’s what puts the song into the next bracket of quality. The best part for the vocals is in the chorus at the end:

“Everybody wants to rule the—
Say that you’ll never, never, never, never need it”

The part where his voice reaches for the higher note is pretty excellent.

You can listen to “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” by Tears For Fears here.

17 August 2021 – Circles by Post Malone

August 17, 2021 kevinisabastardcircles, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, post malone1 Comment

I’ve always been very suspicious of Post Malone. He seems like a nice boy but very odd. As a musical entity he makes very little sense to me. He seems so randomly generated that he could only have been created using big data to hit the exact demographics to be massive.

“Circles” is a sad song with a bit of a dance in it. The bass line keeps it bouncing along. It feels like the culmination of a decade of Fleetwood Mac influences creeping into pop music. Even the lyrics are Fleetwood Mac-esque in the finger pointing in the demise of a relationship.

“Seasons change and our love went cold
Feed the flame ’cause we can’t let go
Run away, but we’re running in circles
Run away, run away
I dare you to do something
I’m waiting on you again, so I don’t take the blame
Run away, but we’re running in circles
Run away, run away, run away”

I think part of what I like about Post Malone is that he’s relatable but not necessarily in the way other people might feel. I think some people think of his lyrics as relatable, which I’m sure they are for some people. In my case, he’s relatable because if I had the money, he’s probably what I’d look like. He does exactly what I’d do in a world of no consequences. Including transition from a rapper to writing and singing future karaoke anthems like “Circles”.

You can listen to “Circles” by Post Malone here.

16 August 2021 – The Dark Of The Matinée by Franz Ferdinand

August 16, 2021 kevinisabastardfranz ferdinand, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, the dark of the matinéeLeave a comment

I was a very odd little boy. I read The Guardian football and music sections as a child. It probably explains why I enjoy music and football in the way that I do, in an anorak-ish and kinda bookish way. I still read The Guardian but I’ve expanded my reading to include the demented relationship advice columns and the blind date segment. I have a couple of very distinct music journalism memories, but I think Franz Ferdinand were the first band I ever read about and then sought out. In a lot of ways they were the perfect band for me at the time and despite my suggestion that my dad might like their first album for his birthday, “Franz Ferdinand” by Franz Ferdinand arrived on what I assume must have been my 12th birthday.

“The Dark Of The Matinée” was the first song I remember hearing. It has a kind of an evil sound. I think part of the appeal is that the lyrics are obviously talking about things but I really didn’t understand what was going on. Rereading them now, they are daft but fantastic.

“Take your white finger
Slide the nail under the top and bottom buttons of my blazer
Relax the fraying wool, slacken ties
And I’m not to look at you in the shoe
But the eyes find the eyes”

The use of language and things like run on lines made the lyrics seem very cryptic. The bridge and, in particular, the concatenation of Terry Wogan and the word “how” to fit the rhyming pattern, are one of my favourite pieces of lyric writing.

There’s a lot to the sound of “The Dark Of The Matinée” that still appeals to me. There’s solid guitar riffs and some disco influenced guitar in there. The bass riff drives the song along. And then the drumming has that great indie disco sound. If you listen with decent speakers you can hear some mad harmonies. The vocals have a bored sound that was the coolest thing in the world and there are even moments where you can hear Alex Kapranos sigh. It was all part of the aesthetic and I thought it was brilliant.

You can listen to “The Dark Of The Matinée” by Franz Ferdinand here.

12 August 2021 – Fast Love – George Michael

August 12, 2021 kevinisabastardfastlove, george michael, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, olderLeave a comment

My first experience of George Michael was the album “Older”. When I was a kid, I used to go over to my grandparents house and play Quake II on the PC and listen to the main man, George Michael. “Older” is such a fucking cool album. George Michael’s voice is fantastic and the songs are all very funky but also so chilled and atmospheric. I’ve only really understood what the songs throughout the album are actually about as I’ve grown older and there’s some real sadness in there.

Picking a song from “Older” is easy for me though. It has to be “Fastlove”. It might not even be the best song on there, but it’s the song that has stuck with me the most through the years. The sample from “Forget Me Nots” by Patrice Rushden is perfect. The bass is so good. It’s strange to have a dance song that is about sex but seems sad at the same time. If you consider when this came out in George Michael’s life you really can see what he was going through and what was to come. He’s very clearly in a bad state. There’s the fairly clear gay references, but he wouldn’t be publicly outed until 2 years later in 1998. He’s isolated and depressed and a secretly gay man using sex to cope with his life. It’s worth giving the lyrics a read and seeing how it fits so perfectly into what was going on. It sounds so bleak but as a child listening to “Fastlove”, I just thought it was a bop. And I guess that’s George Michael. Bopping away but having a really tough time in the background.

You can listen to “Fastlove” by George Michael here.

11 August 2021 – I’m the One – DJ Khaled, Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, Lil Wayne.

August 11, 2021August 11, 2021 kevinisabastarddj khaled, i'm the one, justin bieber, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, lil wayne, quavoLeave a comment

This is probably the most apologetic I’ve had to be for a song of the day choice, but there’s enough pros to this song to justify its inclusion. “I’m the One” is a mad song. It’s worth getting the obvious out of the way. DJ Khaled is objectionable. Justin Bieber is objectionable. At one point Justin Bieber puts on a Jamaican accent that I don’t think got enough heat at the time.

Really it comes down to a couple of things. Chance the Rapper has a verse that I just enjoy immensely.

Uh, she beat her face up with that new Chanel
She like the price, she see the ice, it make her coochie melt
When I met her in the club I asked her who she felt
Then she went and put that booty on that Gucci belt

I think those four bars are just hilarious. Chance the Rapper generally has a pretty consistent flow so the whole verse sounds good, but those are some demented lyrics. The lines roll so perfectly but the idea of a grown man saying these things is so funny to me.

One verse of Quavo is the perfect amount. It’s hard not to enjoy some Quavo adlibs. The Lil Wayne verse is wild.

She think we Clyde and Bonnie
But it’s more like Whitney and Bobby,
God, forgive me!”

I like that idea. People in volatile relationships like to act like its them against the world, raising hell. The truth is that might be the case sometimes, but other times they’re smoking crack and bashing the heads off each other.

“I’m the One” is like a song from space. All these crazy aliens came together to make an insane song and for some reason I love it. Whenever it comes on I can feel my face light up. It’s good for a bop and it’s an all round good time.

You can listen to “I’m the One” by DJ Khaled here.

09 August 2021 – A post that dies in the third paragraph.

August 9, 2021August 9, 2021 kevinisabastardLeave a comment

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.

05 August 2021 – Say Nada by Shakka feat. JME

August 5, 2021 kevinisabastardJME, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, say nada, ShakkaLeave a comment

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.

04 August 2021 – Golden Years by David Bowie

August 5, 2021 kevinisabastarddavid bowie, golden years, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com1 Comment

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.

03 August 2021 – Millionaire by Kelis feat. Andre 3000

August 3, 2021August 4, 2021 kevinisabastardandre 3000, kelis, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, millionaire1 Comment

“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.

02 August 2021 – Steal My Sunshine by Len

August 2, 2021 kevinisabastardkevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, len, steal my sunshineLeave a comment

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:

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