22 June 2021 – Hollywood by RAC feat. Penguin Prison

June 22, 2021 kevinisabastardhollywood, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, penguin prison, racLeave a comment

I think “Hollywood” was the first time I heard Penguin Prison. I had been aware of RAC for a while, he pumped out remixes around the same time when I was starting to discover music online. I thought for a long time that my life would be complete if I could write a song that got a remix by RAC.

“Hollywood” has a gentle sound. I think RAC takes a traditional band approach to electronic music but also an electronic music approach to writing with “band” instruments and I like that about this track in particular. The elements of the song are all very modular and repeatable and easy to layer on top of each other. The guitar playing in particular is very concise so it’s hard to tell if it’s played as one straight piece or as a copied segment. There’s very little ego to that style of playing. It’s all about the sum of the parts and the final product.

Penguin Prison is one of my favourite singers. He has the ability to shift up a gear in his singing effortlessly. I love that the music is quite innocent and happy and the lyrics are real bitter. “Hollywood” was a great showcase of what he can do and it lead me to being a big Penguin Prison fan. I’ve been hesitant in picking a Penguin Prison song because he is one of my absolute favourites, but this is a fitting first entry into this list as it was my introduction.

You can listen to “Hollywood” by RAC feat Penguin Prison here.

21 June 2021 – Don’t Do Me Like That by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

June 21, 2021 kevinisabastarddon't do me like that, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, Tom petty & the heartbreakersLeave a comment

My first real job sent me out to work for a company near Merrion Square, down past the passport office. It was a nice place to work. There were ducks in the canal. Love Lane was across the road and because the registry office was nearby, newlywed couples would pose for pictures under the street sign of an otherwise grim alleyway. While I worked there, I was in the Spar on Mount Street and I heard “Don’t Do Me Like That” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers for the first time. It was on the radio and I missed the artist and song title so I didn’t know who it was, but I spent weeks going around singing some approximation of the chorus until I sang it in front of someone who recognized it and told me the name.

I think sometimes a great song doesn’t have to be incredibly original, but just a really good example of its style. “Don’t Do Me Like That” is a great late 70s American rock song for dads. It’s got good guitars. There’s pianos and an organ in there. The chorus is basically 5 words with a few baby babys thrown in for good measure. There’s a decent air guitar solo. It’s nice and safe. It makes me happy and always reminds me of starting work.

You can listen to ” Don’t Do Me Like That” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers here.

20 June 2021 – Back to the cinema at last

June 21, 2021 kevinisabastardkevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com2 Comments

Cinemas finally reopened last week. Since they’ve been open, I’ve been to see two films. The first thing I saw was “A Quiet Place Part II” and then, more as an excuse for a cinema trip than any interest, I went to see “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard”. Getting back into the cinema was fantastic. I love the cinema experience. I think because it’s loud and you’re in the dark it can be a nice break for the brain. There’s no space for thinking about stress or going on your phone. It’s an almost meditative act. The film has your full undivided attention.

The two films I saw were a quick reminder of all the good and bad of the cinema. As with all sequels, the originality of the first film is lost by the time we see “A Quiet Place Part II” We’ve seen the monsters, we expect the moments of sneaking and then accidentally making some noise and then a hectic chase. We know that the girl is deaf. Seeing those things in the first film was something new. It felt like a bad situation that kept getting worse. This time around, we’re used to all that. The truth is it doesn’t up it’s game this time around. It probably could have ended at the end of the first film and been a very solid and complete story. But the best trailer for a film is a successful prequel so they had to make a second one. I also think the film wasn’t as brutal as the first. It has one initial gruesome shock but I think the first one was less worried about offending audiences with shocking choices.

It seems weird to have a film that leans so heavily on a deaf character for drama and tension but then isn’t released as subtitled. It kinda undermines all the positive work that the film and the team behind it are trying to be seen to be doing. There’s probably a lot more to that than I know, but it seems weird.

All that being said, “A Quiet Place Part II” was fun to see on the big screen. Millicent Simmonds is great and probably overtook Emily Blunt to take the leading role. It was great fun to hear jump scares in the cinema again and enjoy the shared experience of watching films together with strangers. It amplifies the tension. I also enjoyed the short cameo appearance of Scoot McNairy, the actor with the best name in Hollywood. It’s definitely worth watching. My complaints aren’t really with the film itself, but more with sequels in general and the person at Paramount Pictures decided not to subtitle a film with a deaf protagonist.

While my complaints with “A Quiet Place Part II” are ideological, my complaints with “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” are much more straight forward. It’s just not good. It’s a real case of a film being propelled forward by it’s cast and it’s capacity to advertise watches and gin. It’s terrible with some funny moments, but those moments are like reminders that people were paid money to make this so they had to do something. This is not going to be anyone’s favourite film and I hope I forget about it soon.

So my first trips back to the cinema were a pretty good reminder of what we’ve missed. Some trash, some good times, but it’s all worth it to get to sit in the dark for a while and eat popcorn.

18 June 2021 – Sangria by Remi

June 18, 2021 kevinisabastardkevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, Remi, sangriaLeave a comment

I love “Sangria” because it’s a nice summery chillin song about a nice day. It’s simple idea. It’s that jazzy kind of hip hop. It’s got jazz flute. Remi has a slick flow, his similes and work play are very neat and he has a good voice. And that’s why it’s my song of the day on a chill Friday. Easy!

You can listen to “Sangria” by Remi here.

17 June 2021 – Broken Horses- Santo Domingo Edit by Twin Shadow

June 18, 2021June 18, 2021 kevinisabastardBroken Horses - Santo Domingo Edit, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, twin shadowLeave a comment

You can listen to “Broken Horses – Santo Domingo Edit” by Twin Shadow here.

When I was a kid, before I understood what cultural appropriation was, I wanted cornrows. It’s probably David Beckham’s fault. Anytime I played a video game where I could design a character I would give them cornrows. The album art for “Broken Horses – Santo Domingo Edit” reminds me of a player I might have designed in FIFA 2003 when I downloaded the creation centre.

That’s part of the general home made vibe to “Broken Horses – Santo Domingo Edit” that I like. The track itself is quite low-fi. It feels like it could be written on an old Casio keyboard. The drum beat has that pre programmed feel. It’s the type of thing that could sound cheap with a different artist, but Twin Shadow is such a tremendous songwriter that instead it just highlights what he does so well. His voice and his lyrics are great and it’s a brilliant song. His songs are often heartbreaking and sometimes it feels like the sad boy equivalent to the Olivia Rodrigo song “Good 4 U” for angry heartbroken girls. The songs are so emotive that you forget that you’re not heartbroken. That’s a powerful thing.

16 June 2021 – Wait (Chromeo Remix) by Maroon 5

June 16, 2021 kevinisabastardchromeo, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, maroon 5, wait (chromeo remix)Leave a comment

You can listen to “Wait (Chromeo Remix)” by Maroon 5 here.

Maroon 5 are a real weird band. Their music is so varied across that pop band space that they end up not really having any kind of identity. The truth is they have some good songs- they had a very good first album, but the good songs punctuate a lot of very lame, very clinical, very grating mega hits. The only two consistent things about them are the volume of music they produce and Adam Levine being intense.

However, if you pull the data from my Spotify, you might think I love Maroon 5. What I actually love is Chromeo’s remix of the Maroon 5 song “Wait”. The Chromeo remix has a totally different feel. It’s got disco guitars and bass. It’s got French house kinda production. It’s a song you can dance to. They seem to keep the main vocals very similar to the original which is bizarre to think about because it’s otherwise completely changed. The last minute or so are probably the highlight. The outro starts with a spacey kind of dripping keyboard added to the main riff. Then they add a classic Chromeo funk keyboard riff with a little more of an echo than they usually use in their own songs. It feels like a cover that really makes the song their own.

From a music industry angle, it’s interesting because this is the official remix. So somebody involved in the Maroon 5 universe pitched it to Chromeo. I think a Chromeo remix of “Wait” would always have gone in this direction so presumably they knew that the original song had the potential to be this good. And they stuck with it anyway…

15 June 2021 – Babies by Pulp

June 15, 2021June 15, 2021 kevinisabastardbabies, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, pulpLeave a comment

“Babies” by Pulp is a great song. I’ve never got too into Pulp, but I like what I’ve heard lyrically from Jarvis Cocker. He’s an odd man.

Musically, it’s interesting. There’s two guitars. Both have a dreamy sound. One has a country music vibe to it. The combination of the guitar, Cocker’s voice and the keyboards create what I think country music in space would sound like, but only space how it was imagined in the 90s.

“Babies” is a demented song really. I like the narrative element of it. I like songwriting as a mode of storytelling in general, but this is a bizarre case. The speaker, who I imagine to be a shrunken version of Jarvis Cocker, has a female friend. Female Friend has an older sister. Shrunken Jarvis Cocker hears the older sister having sex and kinda gets hooked on that and it escalates to the point where he hides in her wardrobe and watches her. Meanwhile, he’s in love with Female Friend, but doesn’t communicate it to her so she moves on to someone else. And then he’s back in the wardrobe up to his old tricks and tells us, across two of the greatest verses of lyrics of all time:

“Well, I guess it couldn’t last too long
I came home one day
And all her things were gone
I fell asleep inside
I never heard her come
And when I opened up the wardrobe
And I had to get it on, yeah

Oh, listen
Oh, we were on the bed when you came home
I heard you stop outside the door
I know you won’t believe it’s true
I only went with her ’cause she looks like you, my god!”

I love the idea that anyone would write this song and record it and the rest of a band would be onboard with it and then a label would get behind it and then it would be on the radio and on TV. There’s the nonchalant perverse voyeurism. There’s the idea that he gets caught being a pervert and things work out for him. There’s the use of the excuse that they look similar so it’s almost a compliment. There’s the idea of telling someone you love them by telling them you want to get them pregnant. It’s deranged. It’s arrogant. It’s ignorant. It’s deluded. But these things make it a wonderful song.

You can listen to “Babies” by Pulp here.

14 June 2021 – House Of Holy by Client Liaison

June 14, 2021 kevinisabastardclient liaison, house of holy, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.comLeave a comment

You can listen to “House Of Holy” by Client Liaison here.

I’ve tried to avoid repeating artists and picking new music as my song of the day for as long as I could. I wanted to avoid repetition for as long as I could to keep things varied but it was inevitable that we’d return to Client Liaison sooner rather that later. “House Of Holy” is an incredible song. Sufficiently incredible for me to pick a new song as my song of the day. I wanted this list to be my all time favourites, but it’s been a long time since I’ve loved a song as much as I love this one, so “House Of Holy” makes the cut.

Client Liaison are one of my favourite bands. I love the 100% commitment to being what they are. I’ve seen them live twice, once in Dublin and once in London. It’s pure entertainment. The music is as important as the visual and the clothes and the overall vibe. It all comes together perfectly.

I love “House Of Holy” first and foremost because it a great song dance, as you’d expect from a Client Liaison song produced by Richard Littlemore (of Pnau and Empire of the Sun). I think it’s what I wanted that last Daft Punk album to be when I heard “Get Lucky”. There’s an obvious Nile Rogers influence in the guitars and the keys. The bass is funky. Monte Morgan is an incredible front man and a singer and “House Of Holy” really utilizes his voice in the layered vocals. I love the art for the single as well. It’s like retro futuristic meets The Book of Kells. The whole vibe is happy and hopeful and that’s exactly what I need going into this summer.

11 June 2021 – Breakup Haircut by Danny and Alex

June 11, 2021 kevinisabastardBreakup Haircut, Danny and Alex, kevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.comLeave a comment

You can listen to “Breakup Haircut” by Danny and Alex here.

“Break up with me, that’s alright
I’ll just cut my hair tonight
Break up with me, it’s all good (It’s all good)
There’s a barber in my neighborhood”

Some songs are great because they’re insane. “Breakup Haircut” is a wonderfully deranged tune. I’m a big believer in the healing power of a haircut.

10 June 2021 – It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over by Lenny Kravitz

June 11, 2021 kevinisabastardkevinisabastard, kevinisabastard.com, lenny kravitzLeave a comment

You can listen to “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over” by Lenny Kravitz here.

I don’t know why, but the romantic songs that I like the best are the songs about heartbreak, relationships that don’t work out or relationships that seemed destined to fail. One of my favourites is “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over”. I’ve always really liked the sentiment behind it, even if it didn’t really work out for Lenny Kravitz. I like the acknowledgement of problems but the recognition that they were still together despite everything they’d been through together. I think romance needs hope and optimism, otherwise it’s either doomed or cynical.

Lenny Kravitz seems like an odd man and wearing leather trousers is a red flag, but “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over” is a gem. The opening drum roll gives it a dramatic introduction. The strings give it a kinda clichéd love song vibe but the guitar has a lazy strumming to it that gives the song a strut. The guitar solo has a floaty lost in space sound. Lenny Kravitz’s falsetto is pretty sweet but my favourite part is towards the end when he starts to lose his mind and give it socks.