Tuesday 10 June 2008

Seven Songs for the Summer

I was going to leave this to the slow period over the weekend, but I have a piece that's taking while to gestate and I'm keenly feeling the empty space where a post should have been. Anyway I've been tagged by my feline comrade Madam Miaow to fess up my top summer choons of the moment. Despite having a highly cultivated and sleek appreciation of music, this little meme is about letting it all hang out and to hell with one's self-respect. So here are mine, and remember, judge not lest ye be judged!

1) The Boo Radleys, "Wake Up Boo" - Yes I know, it's shameful. But I just cannot help myself. This snazzy sizzler was one of the songs from back in '95 that triumphantly announced indie bands were going overground. And what a tune it is. It's bouncy, catchy and, after repeated listens, bloody annoying! But still, if this happens to be the very first thing you hear in the morning it sets you up nice and cheery for the wage slavery ahead.

2) White Zombie, "El Phantasmo and the Chicken Run Blast-o-Rama" - Astro-Creep 2000 remains one of the finest albums of the 90s in my humblest opinion and is partly responsible for my brief musical journey into the heavier side of things. Nothing ever beat bombing around the sunny country lanes of Derbyshire with this shit pouring from your stereo.

3) Euroband, "This Is My Life" - This is way too much. I've become a little bit obsessed with this, Iceland's entry into the Eurovision song contest. It is simply incredible, words fail me ... (I am aware this paragraph may make me look slightly sad).

4) Garbage, "Only Happy When it Rains" - At first glance a strange choice for a summery song this, but I've always found it a bit of bouncy number, despite the miserable lyrics. "Pooooour your misery down" Shirley Manson moaned into the microphone, and we did by stomping and air guitaring our way across the Rock City dance floor sometime in the mid-90s. Only Happy was the summer sound track to Tinnitus and greasy hot dogs with plenty of mustard at two in the morning

5) Supermode, "Tell Me Why" - Crap video, brill song. And Jimmy is great.

6) Skin Up, "Juicy Red Apple" - "A juicy red apple is nice, but not every apple is red". Erm yeah, they be wise words. This evokes all those summers I was way too young to go to a rave, and when I finally did I was too knackered to do any silly old skool choreography. Humph! You are committing a crime if you listen to this on a rainy day.

7) Phil Oakey and Giorgio Morodor, "Together in Electric Dreams" - Back to the 80s with this cacky synth special. You can almost feel the wind blowing through the Oakey Blokey's mullet, the sun beating down on his designer stubble, and the surf dribbling between the toes of the weird lobster puppet thing at the end. Has anyone ever seen the film?

Right, who to afflict with the tags? How about:

Through the Scary Door
The Nation of Duncan
Inveresk Street Ingrate
Stropps
Catherine Buca
Leftwing Criminologist
Jim Jay

PS Comrades looking for images on Google would be best not to look up 'sunny' while at work. Eeeek!

5 comments:

Imposs1904 said...

You're the fourth person to tag me, so I should get my arse in gear. ;-)

Phil said...

I should ruddy well think so! I'm looking forward to pouring over your choices.

Anonymous said...

I like the Boo Radleys as it is a chirpy little song and I kinda always think of sunshine.

Adam Marks said...

"A juicy red apple is nice, but not every apple is red".

Mostly what I learned in school.

Adam Marks said...

"PS Comrades looking for images on Google would be best not to look up 'sunny' while at work. Eeeek!"

If I'm right in thinking that's what wes' country folk call and "elephant". The effect is complete if you pull your pockets inside out.