WSG is going back home for 2 weeks, so the blog will be taking a small rest.
Probably interrupted by the inspiration from local music (Ireland and Portugal) which will be my future daily contact.
In the meantime, I’ll leave you with the (relevancy) of Take Me Back To Your House, from Basement Jaxx. I challenge every single man to not feel like taking Martina…home.
Bleed American is one of the biggest (and greatest) cross I carry from my adolescence. It’s just the perfect album to listen when you’re 18. It has it all, the love stories, the anger, the solitude, the happiness. Bless JEW for how they turned every 18 year old boy into someone much more inspired and sure of his feelings.
All songs in the album are remarkable but WSG wants to highlight 2 particular ones which stand out for all the right reasons.
Bleed American
I'm not alone cause the TV's on yeah.
I'm not crazy cause I take the right pills, everyday.
And rest, clean your conscience, clear your thoughts with speyside with your grain.
Days became brighter when I found Alice. I call her by her first name because we’re already very close. I guess everyone should be. The power of this woman’s voice is beyond what words can describe. It takes generations to find a soul funky voice like this, just ask Aretha, I’m sure she’ll tell you.
From track to track, from covers to originals, her voice just surprises me each time. It’s a joy to listen.
Still a shame she is living in the musical shadow, everyday that goes without her being famous is simply a crime. That’s what it is.
In the meantime, I take the outmost pleasure of tuning her in and be elevated to a different dimension. It’s a soul planet, and she’s the fucking queen.
Enjoy WSG’s nights of inspiration listening to:
The wonderful Lights Went Out
The soulful beauty of Let Us Be Loving
And finally, the most amazing cover of Crazy (original from Gnarls Barkley) - Damn, I get chills each time I listen to this.
As British trash-rock-garage as it can get. They grew up listening to stuff like The Clash and Sex Pistols, and that has to be respected. Of course Doherty’s drug problems charisma brought the band to a hall of fame they were never expecting. But I guess that’s a good thing, cause their music is the shit.
Namely their first album Up The Bracket, which is an ode to garage Rock & Roll. It’s just how every Rock & Roll fan likes it, pure and dirty. WSG is no exception.
The second album, self-entitled The Libertines is not as good, but still keeps it going. Featuring one of WSG’s favorites Can’t Stand Me Now.
Here below, the single Up The Bracket from Up The Bracket (easy stuff) live at Jools Holland and Can’t Stand Me Now from The Libertines performed by Carl Barat and Doherty.
They’d already hit the jackpot with Album and now it seems they’re going for a second on-the-spot-hit with Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Vomit is their new song and it demonstrates in perfection how high they've raised the bar.
The entire collection of out-of-the-box sounds/beats Girls got us used to is a trademark that gives them an interesting edge against what it’s been done recently. They are unique in every way, and that makes them special.
WSG would like to post 2 songs, starting obviously with their new promising single Vomit and from their first album - Album - the single Lust for Life which still gets me going pretty easily.
What wrong could came from the product of Birkin and Gainsbourg'slove? Very little.
Charlotte is indeed a pure talented person. Living in the shadow under the heritage of one of the most famous artistic couples ever.
As in most things in her life, Charlotte doesn’t have a long-term career in music. She basically does something when she feels like doing something, guess it is the normal behavior of an artist. And yes, she is exactly that, an artist. Whatever that really means.
WSG wants to focus your attentions to one single thing, her album IRM. Probably the biggest (positive) musical surprise of the past few years.
With the help of Beck – he produced the album and actually co-performs in one of the tracks, Heaven Can’t Wait – Charlotte was able to give the right direction to her beautiful, sexy, amazing voice. I think she just needed that, a direction. Like all artists do.
All our prays to what came out of IRM. A well-worked, transparent, dreamy album that is lucky enough to be part of WSG’s collection. A privilege that Charlotte can’t ignore. Btw, if you are reading this, stop calling me, I have a girlfriend.
As obvious as it might sound, Fleet Foxes are the hot thing in alternative folk music and are the first band to deserve a second post on WSG, now with a complete opinion and view after reflection.
They should – and kind of are - be leading the industry as a case study of immediate success on such a competitive complicated environment.
When I first heard their self-entitled album, Fleet Foxes, I felt things that I’d actually couldn’t explain. It’s such a deep, emotional, self-centered ride... in which you have to really understand how to absorb your feelings. Again, they’re just not another band.
Robin’s voice comes to fill our minds with dreamy-sad thoughts, to makes us question ourselves, to turn our heads around and smile. The lost harmony behind his voice is the perfect combination for a lonely day watching the rain outside your window or a no-ending car ride across a desert under the sunset.
It takes a person to a different place. A better place.
If their first album has taken a huge acclaim amongst music critics, Helplessness Blues took Fleet Foxes into a place where few are able to reach. It just raised the bar so high that their third album needs to be perfect.
In WSG opinion, and looking at all factors (poor musical year, being their second good album, etc.), Helplessness Blues is looking to be the right candidate to album of the year. And here is my justification for this second post. Fair enough, I have no other justification but to really love Fleet Foxes. Happy now? Anyways, WSG doesn't care.
And here what currently is my favorite, from Helplessness Blues, Montezuma :
Oh how could I dream of,
Such a selfless and true love,
Could I wash my hands of?
Just looking out for me
It all comes down to Ian Curtis. The music world has given us a lot of different tragic stories, early deaths, etc. but Ian is a whole different folder.
First because he didn't die @ 27 – he was 23 when he committed suicide.
And second, because he was a depressed, fucked-up-genius with epilepsy. That's got to be rare. His feelings of solitude, emptiness and total disconnection of the reality made Joy Division’s lyrics absolutely unique. It is a sea of desperation narrated by a young-brilliant-disturbed-mind.
However, credit needs to be given to New Order – for the ones who are lost in this story, New Order was the band started by the remaining members of Joy Division after Ian’s dead. They’ve accomplished the (commercial) success Joy Division didn’t stay long enough to achieve. Summer’s vocals were actually quite good and their music was a lot more joyful when compared to Ian’s orchestra of melancholic/depressed moments.
WSG consumes both, in one way or another, Ian’s stamp and heritage follows down the history of Joy Division and New Order. That somehow guarantees the stamp of – at least – lyrical wisdom and originality.
In the most remarkable and recommended Joy Division songs you may find Disorder, She’s Lost Control, Shadowplay, Transmission, Isolation, Love Will Tear Us Apart and Ceremony.
All of them are unique and special, but Ceremony is just epic – also suggest you to listen to the Radiohead version of this music, it’s amazing.
Oh, I'll break them down, no mercy shown,
Heaven knows, it's got to be this time,
Watching her, these things she said,
The times she cried,
Too frail to wake this time
And I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving a Joy Division post with only one song, so here is Disorder:
What means to you, what means to me, and we will meet again,
I'm watching you, I'm watching her, I'll take no pity from your friends,
Who is right, who can tell, and who gives a damn right now,
Until the spirit new sensation takes hold, then you know
What’s Indie Folk? Well my friends, indie folk IS Mumford and Sons.
From the day someone shared with me their video on Balcony TV back in Dublin, I’ve been following them with all the expectation a man can have. And they haven't disappointed me. They’re fresh and definitely relevant to the music industry.
A bit of the naiveness and pure-folk-vibe has disappeared, guess it’s the price of fame – happens to everyone that realizes music is an industry and not a true art - but they are still awesome.
Sigh No More should most likely be part of your music collection, this is all WSG can say.
Here is the video of Balcony TV and how I found out they existed:
And here is one of the most beautiful songs written in the past few years, White Blank Page:
Arctic Monkeys are in all senses and shapes how WSG thinks Rock & Roll should sound these days. Simple and effective, aggressive but sweet.
What they lack in charisma (yes, Alex is a fucking blast but they’re no Strokes baby), they compensate with dynamic catchy tunes and awesome lyrics. Just like the UK has got us used to.
Alex IS Arctic Monkeys. He writes the lyrics, he is the good looking one and he sings like a mad man (his voice is bloody powerful).
Their highlight and most precious work still is (and by the look of things will be), Favourite Worst Nightmare. It’s pure, transparent and catchy, I would even say it’s one of the top-10 Rock & Roll albums of the past 5/6 years.
What WSG likes more about it is the fact that it opens and closes with probably the 2 best AM songs.
Brianstorm, here live at T in the Park:
And the one and only 505, here live in Glastonbury:
In music, as in history of music, there was always a before and after something or someone. Well, for me there is a before and there will be def be an after Radiohead.
They are not just a 'band', they are an experience, an answer, they are what I signed up for when I realized music was life. If there was a planet named music, Radiohead would be its satellite.
It's almost impossible to try to bring them down to heart, to understand they're actually just some guys making music, going to a studio to record, going on the road for tours, giving autographs, having a pint and a normal meal. For WSG, they don't exist like that, they are superior to that. That's it, don't try to convince me Thom Yorke is just a random guy, he is not.
In each single album they've proved it's not only about making money, or getting sympathy, for Radiohead is all about taking their fans to another dimension, is making sure we are all treated in a very special way. On WSG music collection there is Pablo Honey, The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac, In Rainbows and The King Of Limbs, guess I'm just missing Hail to The Thief, pretty solid obsession collection. Well, it's not really an obsession after Kid A, it was just a matter of respect.
And there goes WSG's favorite - if such word is meaningful when talking about Radiohead. Kid A is simply the work of a visionary. There are not enough words in the dictionary to describe the feelings and sounds of each single track in the album. It's pure magic in music shapes.
Ok, WSG will open the books and share what is - for the sake of transparency and epic-ness (if that is a word) - one of the best songs ever made, Idioteque:
