5. Interpol - Obstacle 2
I know, you're thinking, "Jake is feeling guilty for enjoying an Interpol song...but I thought they were his favorite band?" I assure you, dear reader, I am guilty for loving this song for very simple reasons. One reason being that I actually enjoy it more than Obstacle 1 which is Interpol's breakthrough track from their first album Turn On The Bright Lights which contains Obstacle 2 as well. I am guilty of loving this song due to it's more straightforward (if not "poorly written") lyrics.
Exhibit A:
"I'm gonna pull you in close
I'm gonna wrap you up tight
I'm gonna play with the braids that you came here with tonight
I'm gonna hold your face, and toast the snow that fell
Because friends don't waste wine when there's words to sell"
This is a nice way to open a track after hearing so much enigmatic metaphor up to this point in the album. It's romantic in the simplest way, and totally straightforward. Loving where it's going...until the next part.
Exhibit B:
"I feel like love is in the kitchen with a culinary eye
I think he's making something special
And I'm smart enough to try
If you don't trust yourself for at least one minute each day,
Well you should trust in this, girl, cause loving is coming our way."
"I feel like love is in the kitchen with a culinary eye. I think he's making something special and I'm smart enough to try?" Holy shit, that is horrible! Those lyrics are just some of the worst I've ever heard. It's not that I don't get what it means, or even that the word choice is out of place. It's that it was such a forced rhyme that gets to me every time I hear this track! I would've loved to have been in the room when Paul Banks picked up his pen and paper, wrote the lyrics, recited them a few times, then proceeded to say, "Wow, these lyrics are horrible, but they will do." At least I hope he said that...for the sake of all Interpol fans.
4. Modjo - Lady
Could any song be more representative of French house music? I doubt it. Blah, blah Daft Punk, blah, blah Stardust, blah, blah. Yes, I know Daft Punk came before Modjo. Yes, I know they are pretty much the most popular French musical act in the world. But, they didn't write Lady and probably couldn't these days now that they are fucking robots. They don't even make house music anymore! Lady has a human quality to it anyway that I love. There is no digital synth sound. Only some fresh beats put over a sweet bass mixed with a nice dose of loudly chirping guitars. Those elements drizzled over a boldly repetitive lyrical concept (beginning every single verse with the word "Lady"...*thumbs up*) makes for an exhilaratingly fresh sound to your ears.
So it isn't a brilliant lyrical exploration. So-fucking what? It's catchy, fun to listen to, fun to dance to, and you can impress your friends by actually recognizing the track the next time you are in a club that is "hip" enough to actually play it (*double thumbs up*). Lady offers a chance to go nuts, get on the dance floor, embarrass yourself, earn hipster cred, and reminisce about the great French house music that was being made during George W. Bush's first term in office. Oh, and I'm pretty sure the video is alluding to some kind of threesome. Good shit.
3. Cheri - Murphy's Law
This is somewhat of a novelty song that relies heavily on a bouncing funky sound that is sung over by the Montreal dance duo. It's a fun song. You know, one of those songs you pop on in the car when you're on a long trip to New Hampshire or some shit that puts a smile on every person out of sheer amazement of how quirky and awkward it is. Through the chipmunks on helium sounding voices that repeat "got it all together, dontcha baby" throughout each chorus, and fumbling bass and horns, there is a catchy-as-hell quality to it.
Put your mind in the era for a minute with me. The year is 1982. Music is becoming more and more experimental as technology develops, disco is long dead, and Reagan is in office (think about how that is relevant for a minute...nah, it doesn't mean shit). What kind of obscure shit are people (white, Canadian people included) going to dance horribly to? How about a song where it sounds like Alvin and his fellow chipmunks are singing the chorus? HELL YES! God, people will always say, "This kind of song wouldn't reach the Billboard these days." I say, are you out of your fucking mind? Have you heard the gimmicky bullshit (autotune/Bieber) that we are force fed through our radios everyday? Give me chipmunk singing any damn day over this intolerable rubbish, PLEASE!
Oh, and this song reached #39 on the Billboard charts and reached #1 on the Dance chart back in '82 so how do you like them particular apples?
2. The Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
Okay, we're still trapped in the 80's, but give me an era with more guilty pleasures in music than that one and I'll turn off my Atari console and go to sleep. Moving on to a song that captures a darkly romantic tone that the 80's seemed to be filled with, we have Love My Way, a rumbling, synth-laden, xylophone packed tune that came straight from England. That's right, I said XYLOPHONE! Strange instrument=even guiltier pleasure. Now, this band had lots of early commercial success so I'm not basing all of my picks from the unknown areas of music. Richard Butler and company gave us the song Pretty In Pink which was later used as the title and main song of the film by John Hughes after all. Good shit, but it doesn't make my list. We're going for the obscure sound here.
Watching the video for this track makes me want to buy a Fisher Price xylophone and play that badboy into the night with Richard Butler's haunting vocals chanting to me like some heartbroken dark priest of a new wave, coke snorting, cult! Just listen to those sidewinding synths. You know you want to either dance in a darkly lit club with a goth chick or play GTA: Vice City right now...or maybe not.
1. Sharyn Maceren - Hard To Get
Let me start first by saying this woman is a sweetheart and one of the nicest musical artists out there. She makes every effort to stay in contact with fans old and new and really appreciates every one of them. When I became a fan of her via her song "Hard To Get" three years ago I sent her a message (which she quickly replied to) saying how hard I searched for the singer of the song and that I was happy to see she was actually making music. I had thought it was an older song possibly made in the 80's or early 90's since it had this old school freestyle sound that I thought had died out. PAUSE: Yes...old school freestyle music...the guiltiest genre next to country music where I'm from.
I don't know where you're from, but I'm from a rusted out chum bucket of a city that isn't exactly thriving in the club/freestyle scene. Sharyn Maceren is from San Francisco. I've never been there, but I'm pretty sure it isn't Lynn, Massachusetts on the West Coast. Still, the song has resonated with me for years now, and her honest lyrical style appeals to my senses. "You're so hard to get/You are the only one I can't forget/You've got me wonderin' since the day we met/You're so hard to get." Catchy, simple, rhyming, poppy stuff. It isn't exactly rich in metaphor, but fuck it. It puts me in a good mood, makes me think of brighter places, and gets me moving all the time...when no one is around.
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