Songs All Sizes

This post is not related to reviewing a gig (that's the stated purpose of this blog by the way, if you're a newcomer), but is a reply to Adam's "meme". The accompanying picture is my girlfriend's dog, sitting in a flower pot. She was not prompted. Trixie is her own woman, and is always herself with no regard to what people expect of her. As evidenced by the fact that she sits in flower pots, for reasons known only to herself. Now, the meme.

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre,whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they're listening to." (I'm not tagging the other people, because everyone I know has already been hit, pretty much)

There is no theme to this. They're seven songs that are current in my head. The music I hum when I'm sitting around doing nothing.


The Fiery Furnaces - Straight Street
I came really late to the Fiery Furnaces. I am hypnotised by how many words they use. I am going to be honest and say I have no idea what this song is actually about, which is a problem with the Friedbergers' use of 10,000 syllables a sentence in their songs. It's still excellent though.

Kila - Tine Lasta
Everyone switches off when Kila are mentioned. This is a misstep. Ronán Ó Snodaigh sings like a pig on fire over his own drumming in this. Could be bodhrán, could be djembe, I dunno. It's as intense as you're going to find, though. I don't understand half of what he's saying, because my Irish isn't that good... but I don't understand the Fiery Furnaces either. It's the energy that matters.

M.I.A. - Paper Planes
I don't know what it is about this song. It's catchy as shit, obviously, but am I the only person who hears centuries of colonial oppression in every good M.I.A. song? I'm pretty convinced it's just because I'm a sap. But seriously. There are tonnes of bricks weighing on this track.

Mumblin' Deaf Ro - The Drowning Man
I love Mumblin' Deaf Ro. He writes genuinely interesting songs that read (listen?) like short stories set to music. I only have his albums on CD, because I got to like the idea of keeping anything I have in a physical format off my computer. So he's one of a few things I've bought in the past year that I actually sit down to listen to, with no MSN or blog-browsing or whatever in the background. "Float, float, float, float, sink, sink, drown". That's poetry if ever I heard it.

Grizzly Bear - Little Brother (Friend EP version)
This version of this song is one of my favourites ever. In my head, it soundtracks the winter from starting in Trinity in October to when it started to get brighter around April. Rain, dark, wet, gloomy. Early or late. Walking places alone. Also, that moment when everyone has left the party and you're one of a few left, just staring. Also, medication.

Jay-Z - December 4th
The song that gets one of the best albums of all time into gear. It's the Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man, the ultimate rap bildungsroman. I feel really uncomfortable trying to talk about rap because I've got minimal reference points, but this could be a capella and still be just as good. Proper oral poetry. The man is a genius. If you can't respect that, your whole perspective is wack.

Dublin Duck Dispensary - Electric Picnic
As friendly, as happy, as contented as meeting a warm towel after getting out of the sea. So lo-fi you might have found yourself checking to see if your speakers are blown if you weren't forewarned. Jars of colour. And exactly one tiny bit too short, the perfect way to be.


So there you go. I briefly considered trying to pick cooler stuff, but it's better this way. This is the stuff I walk around to. If your interest is piqued in any of them, go to my Muxtape and see what you can see see see.