Alright. [Song - Artist]
10) The Ghosts That Haunt Me - Crash Test Dummies
Bit of a toss-up between this and Winter Song by the same guys. This is actually the title track from their first album, from way-back-when [mid '80s or something, that's a long way back for someone of my age!]. The quality fell off a cliff after their second album, but yeah. I just like this song because it's unconventional: yeah, it's a love song, but it makes references to a lot of morbid things. Unique lead singer, too (who's actually a bit of an arse, but yeah).
9) Losing My Religion - R.E.M.
Pretty sure you've all heard this one before at some point. This song symbolises a lot of why I'm a big R.E.M. fan: Stipe has a unique voice, and really puts passion into what he's singing. The fact that the music video was done in one take, and that the song centres around a mandolin, just makes this so much more awesome. And, of course, the feeling of being frustrated with someone is all-too-familiar.
8) Fear of Failure - The Basics
Help who the hell are these people? The Basics are a band from Melbourne, which features Wally de Backer on drums (more prominently-known as Gotye). It's a bit corny to say that a song describes you, but this song hits #8 because I do feel it rings true to me a little. I'm often quite hard on myself, and this song is quite arresting in pointing that out to me. The harmonies are cool too, which is why I like pretty much everything The Basics do.
7) Afternoons and Coffeespoons - Crash Test Dummies
It's the Crash Test Dummies again! The reasons I like this song are much the same as why I like 'The Ghosts That Haunt Me', but in reverse -- the feel of the song is very cheery, but it actually describes quite a depressing situation. It's a song about growing old, and how pointless and repetitive life becomes when you're teetering on the edge of mortality. All of this is supplemented by strong harmonies and the unique feel of a Crash Test Dummies song.
6) Somebody That I Used To Know - Gotye feat. Kimbra
It was actually user BenVdd who introduced me to this song, sometime back in early 2011. I thought it was batshit weird [NAKED MAN IN MUSIC VIDEO WAT], but I really liked the song. I look into Gotye some more, and I like the rest of his stuff. I pre-order his new album, 'Making Mirrors'. A few weeks after I receive the album, this song explodes in Britain and America, and suddenly everyone is raving about how they're a Gotye fan. There's my hipster story for you.
5) Sally I Can See You - Kimbra
Kimbra does more than feature on Gotye's breakout track. I'll admit, I can't be considered some kind of hipster fan here, since I only found her through STIUTK, but I find Kimbra is a lot like Kate Bush, but a better singer. She experiments a lot with her styles, and I'm paying her a bit of a disservice by only linking one song. I particularly like this one because it's very atmospheric (
ooo atmospherrrrre) and has a good beat behind it. I can't really adequately describe what Kimbra employs in her music.
4) With This Ship - The Basics
Hm, I wonder what it would be like to have the feel of a Gotye song, but with the strength of a three-piece band behind it with really nicely-meshing voices. Oh wait, this! I find this song really immersive (nothing to do with the premise being a sinking ship), and it's a nice contrast to the previous Basics track I listed: this one has more a rugged determination, rather than a critical tone. When I have a really shitty break-up, this will be the song I'll be playing.
3) New Test Leper - R.E.M.
It's another R.E.M. song, and no it's not 'Everybody Hurts'! This is actually one of the songs that heavily inspired my recent extended work [Halfway into the Fog (HitF)], so it's sort of difficult for me to describe why I like this song so much without images of the book floating through my head. The premise of the song at first seems to be that Stipe is bemoaning his opponents in a debate on religion, but it then becomes apparent he is far more angered at the sensationalist format of the program. This contrast between hate against religion and hate of religious discussion was what fuelled HitF, so that's why this song is particularly special to me. No doubt this will be shoved further down the list once I get inspired by further projects, haha. The style of the song is also great, so it's not just the lyrics that I like.
2) The Worst of a Man - The Tinder Box
Here is where I go ultra-hipster. These guys are so unknown that I can't even get a Youtube link to the song, instead I'll have to link to their
facebook page. They aren't signed to a record label, and they actually have all of their songs up for free download. Definitely worth checking out, at the very least. I chose this particular song because of its powerful, lamenting feel -- I'm not sure I've heard any other song quite so raw and rich, which is pretty characteristic of the band's harmonies. Their sense of dynamics is superb, too.
1) Bronte - Gotye
Here is it, the big numero uno. Remember how I said earlier that New Test Leper was "one of the songs" that inspired me? Well, this was the other big one. The biggest. In fact, it was from this song that the entire book was spawned, and that's why I don't think will ever leave my collection of favourite songs. Forgive me if this is super-lengthy, but if you've read this far then I'm fairly sure you're up for reading a lot more.
To me, this song is about childhood, and how the world corrupts innocence. Like the girl in the video (which I highly recommend you watch along with your first hearing of the song), we all try to grow up so quickly, and then the world hits us -- suddenly, we want that childhood back. But the conclusion shows that we can never get back to that childhood: we are too far gone.
In much the same way that this song is about the abstract loss of innocence, so too is it about physical loss: i.e., bereavement. You can't go back to your childhood, and at the same time you can't regain a lost relative. This is where this song touches me the most: I've been fortunate enough to only experience one major bereavement in my life so far, but at the same time the singularity of that incident makes it far more poignant to me. My granddad. Of course you, as the distanced reader, feel no change of emotion in reading those words, but perhaps this line from the song can appeal to you more effectively:
Bronte said:
...and your voice still echoes in the hallways of this house, but now it's the end.
Moving more into how this song inspired HitF is how it deals with disillusion and cynicism -- the pain of loss becomes so much that it causes a disconnection, the sensation of which I believe is palpable in listening to the song. This inspired a Ms. Havisham-esque character, who is obsessed with what life could have been, and is disconnected from the world -- this, in turn, teaches the protagonists that obsession with loss will yield no good, and their outlook in the final words is resolute and happier, much like the final lines of the song.
I'm not sure how well I've expressed myself here, and I'm not sure how you will all view my music choices, but I figured if I was going to explain my reasons I wasn't going to make a half-assed job of it.
