This is Christmas time, and it is very quiet in the music world,… it’s the same story every year, we have to wait for the new year to get something new, but, as the end of 2012 is coming very fast, I was actually stunned to see that a few albums I keep listening to, are actually 10 years old! True, I realize that some of the albums on my iTunes and that I regularly upload on iPod (yes, I still use an iPod) are from 2002. 2002? Remember we were still buying CDs and Spotify was not even showing up in our wildest dreams. Now, 10 years is a long time, can you imagine how many albums, how many songs have been released since? Tons! I don’t know what this says about me (too attached to the past, should I let it go?) or about today’s music (a lot of it sucks?) but here are a few songs that I revisit quite often these days:
• ‘Do you realize?’ off ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots’ – The Flaming Lips: Of course a great classic, and always a good reminder of our human condition, but it is not a reason for getting depressed! On the contrary, the Lips are always there to celebrate, even when considering the perspective of our mortality, and I learned this from their shows.
• ‘The Golden Age’, ‘Paper Tiger’ off 'Sea change’ – Beck: or any song of this album… they are all so good, given that you enjoy ruminating your most bluesy thoughts and wallowing in pain. But damn these strings got me each time.
• ‘You Think I Aint Worth a Dolla’, ‘Go with the Flow’ off ‘Songs for the Deaf’ – Queens of the Stone Age: These propulsive aggressive tunes never get old for me, the strong hooks and the fury of the guitars have been the soundtrack of so many of my morning runs, it’s ridiculous… I can’t wait for their next album.
• ‘Jesus etc’ off ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’ – Wilco: This is probably the only Wilco album I listen to on a regular basis, and this song in particular has always been so special and heartbreaking without totally revealing its clear meaning, but that’s the deal with any great song… and our love is all we have.
• ‘Bowl of Oranges’, Let's Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and to Be Loved)’ off ‘Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground’ – Bright Eyes: ‘Bowl of Oranges’ is not a happy song despite the upbeat tempo and sometimes Conor Oberst says the simplest things with intricate lyrics, or are things that simple? Plus, I enjoy the world a little bit more each time I listen to ‘Let's Not Shit Ourselves’! The most passionate song ever.
• ‘A Better Son/Daughter’ off ‘The Execution of All Things’ – Rilo Kiley: Conor’s friends, at a time when they were writing great songs (I mean I prefer to forget about their last album), and this one is particularly uplifting, slowly awaking with its military march drumming and Jenny Lewis’ melodious vocals, it’s a fighting song and it’s liberating.
• ‘Obstacle 1’, ‘NYC’ off ‘Turn on the Bright Lights’ – Interpol: May be not the best Interpol album but announcing what the cold and distress-beauty that was about to come.
Can you believe that all these songs are 10 years old? I bet I can write the same post at the end of 2013.