10 September 2021 – Nighttiming by Coconut Records

September 11, 2021 kevinisabastardcoconut records, jason schwartzman, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, nighttiming, song of the dayLeave a comment

I can’t say I expected Jason Schwartzman to reappear in my song of the day list but here we are. “Nighttiming” appeared on some Spotify playlist and I liked it and added it to my liked songs so I’ve been listening to it on my way to and from work this week. I didn’t realise it was our pal J_Schwartz (that’s the K-Fedification of Jason Schwartzman in case it wasn’t obvious) until I did my little bit of research before this post. I’ve very fond of him in general and, relistening with the knowledge that it’s him, it all kinda adds up.

I was already gonna write about this song anyway. Sometimes the reasons that I like a song are kinda vague and a bit handwavy when it comes down to the explanation. “Nighttiming” has three distinct things that I really like. I like the verb “nighttiming”. It’s imprecise but implies a lot. Contextually, it’s clear that it’s seen as a negative, but it could cover the full spectrum of night time activities that would give a partner anxiety- partying too much, infidelity and just generally not being around at night. Getting into bed and the time before sleep is quite an intimate time as a couple. Having to go to bed while a partner is out leaves plenty of time for lying in the dark and thinking about what they’re up to. “Nighttiming” is a wonderful word and conveys those feelings really well.

The other two are quite trivial. The intro reminds me of “Apocolypshit” by Molotov, which appeared in Breaking Bad and was in the ads for the show on Channel 6 way back in the day when it first appeared. I didn’t watch Breaking Bad when it came out first so my mind goes more to the ad than its appearance in the show. I like that the intro brings up such a distinct memory.

Finally, when J-Schwartz opens with “Hey” it reminds me of this Vine where the little girl says “Hey, I want to be famous”. I love that Vine.

You can listen to “Nighttiming” by Coconut Records here.

07 September 2021 – Abracadabra by Steve Miller Band

September 7, 2021 kevinisabastardabracadabra, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, song of the day, steve miller bandLeave a comment

When I started going to parties back in 2010, we used to ruin a lot of people’s birthdays by playing “Abracadabra” by Steve Miller Band. We had a synchronised “dance” and we’d sing it as loud as we could and that would generally be the point in the night when the music would have to be turned down or turned off. It’s a daft song really. The synths are real blocky and the riff is kinda lame. At the same time there is something fantastic about it. It’s an earworm and a stomper. More than anything it always reminds me of that great pocket of time when I was drinking but still acting like a child.

You can listen to “Abracadabra” by Steve Miller Band here.

06 September 2021 – Hounds of Love by The Futureheads

September 6, 2021 kevinisabastardhounds of love, kate bush, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, song of the day, the futureheadsLeave a comment

Something in my hipster being makes me feel like picking a cover of a classic is kind of gross but I think The Futureheads cover of “Hounds of Love” deserves a spot on my infinite list of songs of the day. Kate Bush is a genre unto herself so it’s difficult to cover one of her songs without it being a poor imitation. The Futureheads take the song and make it very 2004/2005.

There’s lots I like about the Kate Bush version and it could easily reappear at a later date as a blog post, but I like the changes in the version of The Futureheads. I like that they sing in their own accents. The song is about being afraid of falling in love and I think they manage to create a totally different version of the same feeling as Kate Bush does. Kate Bush’s version feels more internal, whereas The Futureheads version feels more physical. It’s more energetic and hectic because of the layered vocals and that post punk guitar sound, so it feels like there’s an actual chase involved. At the same time it manages to encapsulate what’s so powerful about the original. There’s this cocktail of fear and excitement. I think that’s what makes this one of the best covers. It does its own thing but keeps the soul of the original.

You can listen to “Hounds of Love” by The Futureheads here.

03 September 2021 – How Will I Know by Whitney Houston

September 4, 2021February 24, 2022 kevinisabastardhow will I know, kevinisabastard.com, kevinisbastard, song of the day, Whitney HoustonLeave a comment

“How Will I Know” is an incredible song. I love how it’s so absolutely 80s in it’s production but how it’s built on a solid and timeless base. I always think the best way to see these things is to hear a stopped back version. I heard Erik Hassle’s version on YouTube and I got a new appreciation for the song. Whitney Houston’s vocals are amazing and capture the combination of excitement and vulnerability of the lyrics perfectly. The first verse in particular is iconic.

I love that at one point there’s a brief flirtation with a real shredder guitar breakdown coming out of the bridge and it then switches up to a saxophone solo. It’s part of what makes the song so incredible. In the same way that it was made to be an 80s pop/r&b anthem, it’s quite modular so it could be recreated as an acoustic guitar song like Erik Hassle’s version and just focus on the voice, or it could take those guitar bits and run with it and become a Van Halen song.

You can listen to “How Will I Know’ by Whitney Houston here.

02 September 2021 – GOMF by DVBBS feat. BRIDGE

September 2, 2021September 3, 2021 kevinisabastardbridge, DVBBS, GOMF, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, song of the dayLeave a comment

When we went to California in 2019 we stayed around Oakland and Berkeley. We rented a car and drove out to Yosemite. We had no mobile data so we just had what I had downloaded from Spotify. The song that I’ll always associate with that part of the trip was “GOMF”. I’m pretty sure it drove Shóna insane.

I first heard “GOMF” from the incredible Casey Frey viral video. That video is a work of art so I think I was positively disposed to the song from the off. It’s a banger with big bass. It just makes me want to do the dance from the end of the video.

You can listen to “GOMF” by DVBBS and BRIDGE here

31 August 2021 – Running Red Lights by The Avalanches feat. Rivers Cuomo and Pink Siifu

August 31, 2021 kevinisabastardkevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, pink siifu, rivers cuomo, song of the day, the avalanchesLeave a comment

We started watching “Nine Perfect Strangers” on Prime last night and “Running Red Lights” was featured at the end of an episode. It felt like a song that I knew but I’m not sure I’d ever heard it before. It felt familiar, like a song that I knew and loved.

It is a perfect combination of things to make up a song that I’d love. Rivers Cuomo is responsible for so many formative songs for me. I feel like his voice and song writing are the embodiment of the teenage boy, sometimes problematic, but mostly naïve and childlike. The intro reminds me of the album “Wincing The Night Away” by The Shins, which is a really nice album, and “My Girls” by Animal Collective. The vocal melody is very sweet but incredibly catchy, it sounds a bit like something from Dominic Fike. It’s funny to describe something in terms of other things that it reminds me of, but these are all things that I really like so it is intended to be complementary.

I’ve had a bit of a zoned out day and I’ve been listening to “Running Red Lights” on repeat. I’ve had a stressful few weeks and I’m coming out the other side of it. I’ve needed some quiet “me” time so walking to and from work and my little walk at lunch, with this as my soundtrack has been kinda therapeutic. There’s a very full and rounded sound to the production. It feels a bit like being immersed. It’s a super relaxing banger.

You can listen to “Running Red Lights” by The Avalanches feat. Rivers Cuomo and Pink Siifu here.

31 August 2021 – The Bare Necessities from The Jungle Book

August 31, 2021 kevinisabastardkevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, song of the day, the bare necessities, the jungle bookLeave a comment

“The Bare Necessities” was stuck in my head today. I didn’t have earphones with me in work so I just had to roll with whatever soundtrack my brain came up with. I think it was inspired by the fact that I had a very disappointing pear for breakfast and that made me think of the prickly pear and then here we are.

I loved “The Jungle Book” and “The Bare Necessities” is just such a banger. It’s a hardcore wiggler of a song. There’s something magical about it that makes it appeal to little kids. It chugs along with the bass and tuba and then the trumpet zips along on the top of it. The solos are incredible – particularly the trumpet, which might be my favourite solo of all time. Phil Harris has such a smooth deep voice and it has permanently decided the voice that I imagine bears have. It’s such a happy and hopeful song. It’s a nice outlook to take, to be content and fulfilled by having what you need to get by.

You can listen to “The Bare Necessities” from “The Jungle Book” here.

24 August 2021 – Downtown by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

August 24, 2021 kevinisabastarddowntown, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, macklemore, ryan lewis, song of the dayLeave a comment

I’m not sure if “Downtown” is actually a good song. It’s wildly inconsistent. The be completely honest I think the only bits I really want are the Eric Nally parts. The Macklemore parts just aren’t for me. How much of a song do you have to like to like a song?

Dealing with negatives, there are two, maybe three. Number one: as mentioned above, I just don’t really get Macklemore. Number two: the video has too many vests. The third negative is a bit of a combination of the first two. Macklemore really tried to make the thrift store thing his thing and just milked it to death.

I think the positives out weigh the negatives. Eric Nally has a great voice and it is a top notch feature from him. He really steals the show. He has one of those big voices like Freddie Mercury or Justin Hawkins. The song got some hate on blogs for ripping off “Uptown Funk” but that ripped off so many songs in the first place that that becomes redundant. I think the reason I like it so much is that one of my favourite things to do when a song gets stuck in my head is to mix and match the lyrics and vocal melody. It’s a standard enough meme idea that was particularly big around the time when “Allstar” by Smashmouth was getting the serious meme treatment online. So we eventually arrive at all the lyrics of “Downtown” becoming “Beef boy”. It was a running joke last summer when we played a lot of Warzone online so I’ll always have very fond memories of the song. And that’s enough for me to actually like it.

You can listen to “Downtown” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis here.

23 August 2021 – Mixed Bizness by Beck

August 23, 2021 kevinisabastardbeck, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, mixed bizness, song of the dayLeave a comment

When I was 15, Beck’s “Midnight Vultures” album blew my mind. There’s a bunch of great tracks on there, but “Mixed Bizness” was my ringtone in the days when you could first set mp3s as your ringtone. We used to sit out on a football pitch near my house and blow up cans of deodorant. I missed so many phone calls because it was essential to dance whenever my phone rang. I think the fact that the whole album was so focused on sex was a bit of a novelty as a teenager. It added a real element of mystery to the songs because it was hard to tell what was erotic nonsense and what were real things that I just didn’t understand. “Mixed Bizness” itself is Crash Bandicoot music and I mean that as a compliment of the highest order. It’s funky and speedy. I has loads of little fills and turn arounds. The surf guitar sound is pure gold throughout. The whole song is a general good time.

You can listen to “Mixed Bizness” by Beck here.

20 August 2021 – The Less I Know The Better by Tame Impala

August 20, 2021 kevinisabastardkevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, song of the day, tame impala, the less i know the betterLeave a comment

I like “The Less I Know The Better” a lot. It’s got a great video. It’s got great disco vibes. I feel like there’s been a bit of a swing back against Tame Impala because they have an association with a stereotype of a certain kind of shitty man. I think that’s fair because that indie, mansplaining man-child exists, but at the same time it’s a weird endorsement. It’s an acknowledgement that Tame Impala are good.

So where does that leave us? Well, I guess making a Tame Impala song my song of the day is not like I’m recommending something that nobody knows and that’s valid on my list. I don’t think “The Less I Know The Better” is taken for granted or forgotten about so I don’t really have an angle to it on that level. The reason “The Less I Know The Better” is my song of the day is because I like singing and Shóna doesn’t but she’ll very occasionally perform a high pitched re-enactment of the first verse, replacing all the words with “La”. And I always find it very funny.

You can listen to “The Less I Know The Better” by Tame Impala here.