Thoughts on Every Song I Have Ever Liked* Part 2

 *on Spotify or YouTube

We actually got to the part 2 of something, yay! 

This project is also a good place for small updates. Skip to the next part if you're not interested. 

Update 1

I feel like I'm behind on many things like finishing S=0+, replying to certain friends, enjoying their recommendations. I try not to feel too bad about the last two since I fortunately have very understanding friends.  

And in fairness to myself, I don't think I've been using my time that unproductively; I've been focusing on things that are also important to me.  

I'm currently on vaccation and overestimated how much spare time I would have amid other activities. However, I've got a free afternoon now so I'm going to spend some time on this project.

Update 2

Considering making a new blog site ... I feel like I have enough experience with HTML that I don't want to be restricted by blogger any more. But this is something that's at least three weeks from even starting (and I should finish S=0+ first).

Songs!

 

Rewind featuring bladee by Charlie xcx, added 16th December 2024

I think when I listened to this and added it to the playlist I did it because I felt I finally "got" this sort of music. Apparently this was not a permanent effect since I don't really get it this time ... I do find it sonically pleasant but I don't really react to it beyond that.

 

Ramona by Jukebox The Ghost, added 2nd December 2024

I actually really like the name Ramona. I also really like this band's whole ouevre. Musically delightful and one of the few bands whose lyrics actually resonate with me; in this case those lyrics are fairly simple but I really enjoy "Take a little, take a little, take a little time, from the world". It's not an entirely original idea to wish the entire world just stopped/you could be separated from it for a bit, but it is one I often come back to. It's also very sweet (and comforting?) that the perspective of the song is from someone who wants to provide that for someone else.

I suppose part of me finds the idea of taking the people you love away from all the harshness of reality romantic but I also feel hestitant since, at least right now, I believe it's more important to confront and subdue that harshness. 

Inked in Blood by Sigh, added 11th Feburary 2018

Intense, relentless and dynamic, how do they do it? I think it's the fact that they switch between very different feeling types of intensities: from shredding guitar solos, dramatic laughter, right into melodies. I'd say the melodies are possibly the weaker part but I appreciate that they're included anyway (and to be fair, I'm comparing to Dir En Grey's Kyo who has a somewhat unreal vocal range).

Forgot how much I liked Sigh. 

 

[Okay so the next 12 songs are Kero Kero Bonito's entire Time 'n' Place album. I think it's best to comment on the entire albumn in that case]

 

Time 'n' Place by Kero Kero Bonito, added 2nd October 2018

This is one of the few times I felt like I was part of a cultural moment. The day this album came out I was shocked that the band that made songs like Flamingo and Pocket Crocodile also put out something like Only Acting. It's the sort of thing people posted about immediately in the Facebook groups. I had to message my friend who also a fan to ask if it was real (hope you're doing well Harpreet). I remember asking "Is Sarah [the lead singer] okay?" 


Memories are vague and often incorrect but I do remember shivering after listening to it. Is there a French phrase for desiring an abyss into which to release the echoes of an incredible experience (to avoid the alternative which is that they'll after reverberate and destroy you?). If not what about the probably grammatically incorrect "L'appel du vide (pour le raison de self-presevation)"?



Take Me To The Sugar by Electric Six, added 22nd November 2024

It certainly scratchs the Electric Six Itch. Sonically interesting, fun word play "Gravity, the solar wheel = brevity, the soul of wit" and bizzare visuals "Today's child actors are tomorrow's evil clowns". I'm actually not sure how interpret this song, but I appreciate the attempt to approach more obscure topics (or at least to have more cryptic lyrics) compared to their older albums. I think I didn't enjoy this as much as their earlier work at first, but coming back to it now, I really like the cool confidence and low-key vibes. 

 

Turquoise by Electric Six, added 22nd November 2024

Similar feelings as to the previous song. I'm impressed how the vocalist is able to embody quite different characters. I get a strong impression of a very cynical old man who's too confident in his own opinions (e.g., wearing Turquoise to protect himself and assuming others ought to do the same if they want to live). I think what this song is getting at is media-induced despair and how people cope with it. Possibly how easy it is to believe you're doing something when you're not? Or, a more optimistic interpretation, that we find ways to cope (even if they're not that directly useful) and that's independent of actually doing anything about the world.

 

Thoughts on Every Song I Have Ever Liked* Part 1

 *on Spotify or YouTube


I've had the idea to put down my thoughts on every song I ever listened to for a while. But it's basically impossible, so I'm going for this much more restricted set instead (which is 932 "liked" songs on Spotify, not counting playlists which consist of songs that I did not "like".) It's also an attempt to get me back into music.

The best way to do this, I think, is to go chronologically and anti-chronologically at the same time. This is mainly to add more variety since the first lot of songs are mostly Kero Kero Bonito. I'll put the date I added it the playlist next to each song.

Fish Bowl by Kero Kero Bonito, added 11th February 2018

The lyrics are delivered so casually, but YES I do pine for the sea, and I haven’t even thought about what I’d do if I reach the ocean. Songs like this inject a bit wonder into the mundane. It reminds me to (try to) stay humble enough to see my reflection in a goldfish. 

 

Flamingo by Kero Kero Bonito, added 11th February 2018

Definitely the most iconic song KKB ever produced. The first time I heard this song it was so entirely unlike anything I’d heard before. I think what I liked about it, and this era of KKB as a whole, is the idea of taking non-serious things seriously. I felt it fit into my aesthetic (of the time) of being predominately serious but very casually into silly things at the same time.

Once, I went to stay over at a friend’s house for an indoor sleepover, they put on this song as I arrived. That was one of the first times I felt truly loved by my friends. 

 

Try To Believe by Oingo Boingo, added 29th December 2024

Really enjoy the sax-guitar combo. The lyrics are (mostly) pretty simple (except for the final few), but delivered with a very relatable conviction. The simplicity only makes sense since optimisim, at it’s core, is very simple: you just carry on believing. Although it’s the song is more so about regaining optimism, rather than having it in the first place (even though you could argue that wanting to be optimisic is already quite optimisitic). But seeing base-level optimism as something which can go away and come back is quite comforting—in the times where my optimism has left me, I’ve certainly felt dissapointed with myself, while this song makes me feel like that’s okay.

It’s the sort of thing that should probably go in my playlist “The Unyielding Optimism Which Permeates the Foundations of My Being” which I listen to when I do feel that void of optimism.

Seven Lines, Mechanical Symphony by In Strict Confidence, added 19th December 2024

Not going to lie, I don’t remember this one at all, but I see why I liked it. It’s so dramatic.

OH, when the chorus started I got chills. THIS is definitely why I liked it. I think I definitely enjoy very long songs with a slow build up like this.

Is this what they call an eargasm?

I also really enjoy the darkly confident delivery of the lyrics. If I ever decide to go to the gym, this is definitely going in the playlist. The line “If you kill me, break my neck. Seven Times I resurrect” sticks in my head. I wonder if it’s a reference to something specific—it definitely feels Biblical.

 

Break by Kero Kero Bonito, added 11th February 2018

I definitely cried about this at some point when I was overworking myself. I also remember using it as a reminder to myself to take breaks (somehow it alleviated the guilt before I was able to do that more effectively by internal mechanisms).

Casting Agents and Cowgirls by Busdriver, added 11th February 2018

Busdriver’s rapping style really vibes with my brain for some reason. I think his style is what would typically be classifed as “lyrical miracle”. I’m not sure if the surrealism is par for the course, but I appreciate that too. There’s probably a lot of allusions I can't get here, but it’s a fun song to listen to. I can tell that it’s at least a very scatching critisism the the hedonism of celebrities and the culture that supports that.

Here’s a fun chain of links:

Busdriver (Regan Farquhar) has collaborated with both Islands (on their album Return To The Sea) and also David Firth (yes, that David Firth, of Salad Finger’s fame). Regan potrayed a news presenter in a movie called Kuso which honestly grossed me out too much to finish watching the first time (but maybe I’ll come back to it). David Firth and Flying Lotus (Steven Ellison, who is primarly known for his music which I admit I’ve never listened to before now) co-wrote Kuso, and also co-directed the music video for his own song Fire Is Coming which features none other than David Lynch (yes, that David Lynch). Well, I only just found out this last connection, so I had to look the video up, and ... what the fuck did I just watch (/positive).