Yes, it’s Tuesday, and despite my intention of profiling another obscure classic rock band, I just simply do not have the time. But that’s alright. I do have the time to provide some excellent news. Excellent news if you enjoyed the post stylings of last year at around this time.
Last December saw the inception of the Top 10 songs of the year list. Click here for the rundown of the top 10 songs of 2010. I wasn’t sure if I was going to have it become an annual end-of-the-year event, but, because of a great response from you fantastic readers, I have decided to bring it back…with different songs obviously. So, starting on Tuesday, Dec. 20 (supposing everything goes according to plan) I will start profiling the top 10 songs of 2011 (my opinion of course). This year saw the release of some excellent albums and songs and I look forward to sifting through potential list makers and picking the top 10.
As you may have taken from the picture at the top of this article, I do plan on previewing the list with a song. Will “Shell Games” by Bright Eyes, a song off of their February (oh how it seems so long ago) release The People’s Key, the band’s first in four years, be on the top 10 list? I’m honestly not sure. But it is a great song released in 2011 so I wanted to profile it for your listening pleasure.
Bright Eyes is led by the pained croon of Conor Oberst and his catchy melodies and lachrymose lyrics propelled Bright Eyes to Indie fame before the Indie genre was even in diapers. “Shell Games” moves to the tune of an obsessive piano, 80’s synth, heavy drums, and a distinct melody. It provides the Bright Eyes flavor we have all come to enjoy – a dark infectiousness. And the lyric. Goodness.
“I was dressed in white, touched by something pure
Death obsessed like a teenager
Sold my tortured youth, piss and vinegar
I’m still angry with no reason to be
At the architect who imagined this
For the everyman, blessed Sisyphus
Slipping steadily into madness
Now that’s the only place to be free”
His scholarly and literary lyrics depict a tortured bibliophile, a somewhat bookish musician who combines quasi-existential philosophy with rhythm. Intelligent music that is also enjoyable. I love that.
I drove down the dark winding street wearing a grey suit and holding a grenade in one hand. I paid attention intently to the road as the streetlights blurred past. The artist sitting in the passenger seat was speaking to our dear friend on the phone, persuading him not to fall yet. With his free hand he sketched what he saw through the windshield with a dried up pen. In the back seat the two oblivious lovers drank champagne and laughed as they ate the stolen cake and waved to the car fast on our trail.
“Keep a steady mind, don’t lose focus, we’re almost there,” whispered the artist in to the phone. I heard the two in the back tumble towards the right as I twisted the steering wheel left. The lights were starting to blur from the speed so I kicked the car into second gear as we flew down towards the cliff. I heard the screeching of the breaks behind me so I looked to my passenger and said “Now.” The artist repeated the word into the phone and the couple began to weep passionately. With my teeth I pulled the pin of the grenade and cut the wheel. The artist threw his drawing out the window just before we started rolling violently. The car chasing us flew by with a whiff of burnt rubber and rocketed off the edge and into the opposing cliff face with a bright explosion. The lights looked like a pretty blur as we tumbled; we were all smiles, eating cake, numb with anticipation.
The grenade exploded. All four of us were launched into the sky like cannonballs. We flew towards our friend the pilot as he parachuted down from the sky. He caught us all in his arms. We fed him cake and he told us about the fun time he had watching the heist from above. We descended slowly towards the streetlights below, upon their silent manifesto.
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Yo. Okay, time for a ska post. It is pretty much impossible to enjoy a good dose of ska. Especially if you find yourself wearing a suit and about to rob a bank. If you, however, are unable to enjoy ska and such things, then I will have to unfortunately inform you of your soullessness. But don’t worry, because it’s really hard.
Streetlight Manifesto is from New Jersey. The front man, Tomas Kalnoky, used to be the front man of another popular ska band Catch 22. The band is actually considered punk, with influences of ska. Basically, the music consists of many horns and fast, bass driven, chord progressions.
The songs which you may have already heard, or are still listening to, are from their albums Everything goes Numb and Somewhere in Between. The albums are fast paced and epic. The themes are dark and the lyrics depressing, yet the nature of the type of music prevents it from being perceived as anything other than happy.
Just in case you do not know how to read Youtube titles, here is the list of songs I used. “We Will Fall Together.” “Everything Went Numb.” “A Moment of Silence.”
This is the type of music that anyone can get into. It is instrumentally amazing. The man has that perfect punk voice. The themes approach something directly opposite of the vibe that the tunes puts out, a yin and yang rarely seen in the music scene. Most of their songs are pretty much about dying, yet they keep it cool with talks of guns and horns. What more can you ask for?
Warning: If you have taped the X Factor and have shielded yourself from any entertainment media outlets as to prevent yourself from seeing the top 5 then close this page! Also, if you have no interest in this highly entertaining, but somewhat contrived and most definitely hyperbolic mega-reality talent competition, then might I suggest reading about Dantalian’s Chariot (The Music Court’s Obscure Classic Rock post from Wednesday). Or, come along for the ride with me. I promise I will make this look at the X Factor’s final five accessible.
Well folks, we are down to our top five contestants on Fox’s The X-Factor. The show, which will reward the winner with a $5 million dollar prize and a super recording contract (and the heavy burden of attempting to not fall into competition winner obscurity, a plague that most singing competition winners have fallen victim to), has been thoroughly entertaining up to this point. Seriously. It has provided this authentically peculiar flavor, marked by waves of emotion, gaudy performances, and dueling judges. Personally, I think the best part of the show is the interaction between the judges, who “apparently” are not putting on an act just for the show. I put the word apparently in quotes because, despite contestants saying that the judges do legitimately fight off-camera, I am weary of believing anything I see on reality television. Real World: X Factor.
The basic premise of the show at this point is that the judges have their own specific groups of contestants. Arrogant but lovable Simon Cowell mentors the girls, king of the annoying head-shake, must similar to Night at the Roxbury, record-producer L.A. Reid advises the boys, insanely good-looking but candidate for mental analysis Nicole Scherzinger mentors the over-30s (now down to only one contestant), and a surprisingly sober and cogent Paula Abdul mentored the groups, all four of which have already been eliminated from the show. The judges all want their disciples to win. Obviously. Yet, they also vote for who gets eliminated when the two contestants with the lowest number of votes have to sing for their survival. This has been slightly altered over the past two weeks. The contestant with the lowest number of votes has been booted from the show without a chance to redeem themselves, and the contestants with the second and third least number of votes sing for survival. ANYWAY, we are down to the top five and I want to pose the question to all of you, who will win?
You know what that means? POLL TIME!!! Ahh…YEAH! Are you excited. No. GET EXCITED! Okay, I’ll stop. Let’s make this a poll with a large population sample. Spread this around. The more you get other people to vote, the more interesting this brief study will be. Below I will list off the final five and give a short sentence analysis. If you haven’t watched the show before, judge them on their performances (you can go on youtube and find more than the one I will post)
Chris Rene
Rene, in my mind, will be a succesful artist without even winning the show, which I think he will win. He is a multi-talented singer/songwriter/rapper and is able to cajole an audience with his elegant swagger, passionate voice, and sincerity.
Melanie Amaro
Amaro was/still is a favorite to win the show. She is the resident Whitney Houston (every show has to have one). She is true to her roots (recently paying homage to her Latin American heritage by randomly starting to talk in her true accent – which sounded like Miss Cleo. Seriously, click that and you will see the Youtube video of it.
Josh Krajcik
The last contestant in the over-30s, Josh Krajcik is a tremendous singer with rock roots. His performance of “Wild Horses” was majestic. He captures such emotion in his croon, but is also able to cut loose during rockier performances.
Marcus Canty
The always smiling Canty is so likeable that it’s hard not to cheer for him. He also puts a lot into his performances which perhaps covers up some vocal blemishes. Whatever the case may be, something has gotten him into the top five, and while I believe he may be the fifth placeman when all is said and done, I will still cheer for him.
Rachel Crow
And last, but certainly not least, Rachel Crow, whose cuteness can actually detract from her epic youthful voice and energy. She continues to easily slide by every week and, who knows, she may have a big enough fan base to propel her past the favorites.
There you have it. Who is going to win. Vote below! I’m also eager to here your opinions on why you think your favorite will win. Comment on this post and let’s talk.
When the psychedelic movement presented itself in Britain prior to 1967 it was back-shelfed by numerous radio stations and simply not played. It was a crucial part of the burgeoning underground culture and spacey, experimental sounds were initially only played by DJ’s like John Peel on Radio London. The British youth was drawn to psychedelic music’s distinct flavor and caught on quickly, sparking psychedelic clubs to open to accommodate individuals who wanted to tune in and move on from the now tired merseybeat/R&B movement. In 1967, psychedelic music traveled from the undergrounds into the limelight and several bands, who may/probably were not playing psychedelic music, started experimenting with odd sound effects, zany vocals, and different instrumentation. One such band was Dantalian’s Chariot, a band more known for its members than its medieval witchcraft inspired name.
Dantalian’s Chariot was founded by George Money, better known as Zoot Money. Zoot was the bandleader and keyboardist for the early 60’s Big Roll Band, which toyed around with rhythmic blues and jazz, garnering success in London clubs, but little album support (even though they were signed by Columbia). This is a solid genre foundation for psychedelic music. But psychedelic fusion, not the pop psychedelia that became pervasive in 1967.
In 1967, Zoot formed Dantalian’s Chariot, which was made up of Money, who would later play with the Animals, drummer Colin Allen, who would go on to play with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, skilled bassist Pat Donaldson, and a 25-year-old guitarist Andy Somers (prior to changing his surname to Summers) who, of course, is a member of the Police. So Chariot was one of those bands that would be considered a super-group lineup today, but not in 1967. And even though this psychedelic band was only around for a year and released only one album Chariot Rising under the Chariot name, their music is still worth a listen.
“The Madman Running Through The Fields,” the only single released by the band, is your classic piece of ’67 psychedelic music with its Byrds-like electric guitar, tape delay sound effects, and ending poetic psychedelic breakdown. Plus, go to the vocal part at around 50-55 seconds. Tell me that doesn’t sound like a Sting-like vocal outburst. Come on. A little? But still, as enjoyable as this piece is, it still falls into the trap of being like so many like it. Show me something Zoot.
“This Island” is my favorite song from Dantalian’s Closet. Yes, the sitar was becoming overused in ’67, but the mellifluous ocean sound mixed with western harmonies and strung out keyboard combine to make this song a wonderful example of pre-progressive instrumental. It is a quiet, reserved, unassuming piece and I love it for that.
The Music Court 