The Dears, and some thoughts on what makes a great record.

Just before I went on holiday, I bought a copy of the latest (although admittedly still quite old) record by Candian indie-miserablists The Dears. They called it Gang of Losers. I listened to it a few times. It just didn't sit right with me. More on that later.

Flashback!

I fell in love with The Dears during my first year at university, shortly after Fresh had hooked me up with their critically lauded LP, No Cities Left. It was the same story though: at first, I just didn't get it. No amount of slow-burning, self-deprecating musical wonderment was gonna satisfy me until I got my fill of MELODY, god dammit. What is this shit?!

Turns out, No Cities Left was fucking packed with the stuff.

The Dears are the musical equivalent of Chrisiano Ronaldo. Really. The following six lines chart the journey of my brainbox in the first month or so of it's relationship with The Dears. Stay with me here people:

- Who are these fucking morons and why are they showing off so much?
- Hold on a minute - did that really just happen?
- No, no, I'm still not convinced. It's ever so fucking dreary/he can't pass the ball.
- CLICK.
- No wait - this is the best thing that's ever happened.
- I fucking love The Dears/Christiano Ronaldo. Everyone else thinks they're a bit shit.

From here on in, I will never attempt to write in overblown simile, metaphor or analogy again. It was foolish. There was no need.

But anyway - I was talking about Gang of Losers. Yea. It turns out, I think it's one of the most charming and emotive records I've got hold of on in a long time. It took nine, maybe ten, listens for me to realise this. I love the songwriting, the arrangements, the vocal performance and the hooks - oh my, the hooks are mind blowing!

I think this is a good example of a point that's worth making about one's 'favourite records', and an interesting contrast with what my man Rob has had to say below. I think it's also an insight into why music can be so awe-inspiring. For Rob, Xo was an instant hit. For me, No Cities Left and Gang of Losers took time and effort. As a result, when I finally realised how great they were, they felt so much more like my records. I'd put in the time, I'd noted every subtle nuance in the songwriting. I'd become an obsessive. Records that sit with you instantly can have the same effect, of course, but I find it fascinating that something that's been committed to wax, that doesn't change, that reflects a single point in time, can appear to morph into something new and exciting with every spin.

Of my top 20 records, this has to be the case with all of them.

I think I made a point. I'm not sure. The Dears are good though.

I have to go now. I'm going to watch the new Batman film.

J x

P.s. I've been reading Bukowski recently and it's terribly potent. I don't want to become a pretentious, literary cunt, but I do like Bukowski...

Untitled.

So it’s been a while, as Staind once sang, and I don’t wanna be another one of those people who gets a blog and leaves it to rot. I want to atleast revive the corpse once in a while.

As I have already mentioned my life is unbearable dull and I have to deal with it- Life’s a bitch, suck it up.

So today, I want to talk about the one thing in my life that brings me joy, comforts my soul and often makes me talk shit and rant. Music. When I thing about it a vast amount of my life revolves around music it scares me. I’ve been thinking about how much of my life is wrapped up in music quite a lot recently. I think it’s the only reason I got to work- so that I can get money to buy records and go to shows (not mentioning the rate at which I lurk music blogs and other websites whilst actually at work). I have no real desire to own HD TV or to have a fast car (even though I do have an interest in them), but records, compact discs, cassettes, even mp3’s they’re my lifeblood. Whether it is getting a sweet bargain in a second hand shop or picking up a sketchy demo for a quid.

I don’t desire to get a Saxo and stick a fuck off spoiler on the back, but I do desire a copy of Elliott Smith’s Xo on Bongload Records wax (I just don’t have the cash just yet). Both are arguably useless, I have Xo on CD it’ll be the same songs etc, I just want the vinyl as well. The same goes with actually going to watch live bands. I know of people that would rather sit in the same pub they go to days on end than check out a band they like. That makes my blood boil. I mean you’d probably expect this of me, I’ve driven hours to shitholes to watch Hardcore bands 99% of people have never heard of then jump around like a mentalist (I feel like Hong Kong Fooey of the Mosh at work…). And don’t even get me started on Morrissey.

I think the main point I’m trying to get at is because so much of my life is tied up in living and breathing music, I tend to judge people by this and in many ways I think this alienates me from people (definitely doesn’t help me with the ladies.). The idea of going to a club that plays 'funky house' or ‘Cheeese’ does no excite me. The idea that some people’s only value in music is a soundtrack to drink and try and fingerbang a intoxicated bird twists my fucking melon man. Call the Cops. This puts me at odds with this lifestyle and removes me from being a ‘normal person’ and despite how much I try, I just can’t go for it.

It also puts me at loggerheads with my friends sometimes as they listen to some fucking shite music and I can’t keep my mouth shut I have to tell them why it fucking sucks and my they are showing moronic tendencies by buying into such crap.

I argue with my mum over the X Factor bullshit as she will not accept that it’s just a fat cash cow for the high waistbanded one.

It also finds me getting bummed out because people don’t feel the same way. Let’s take the example of the aforementioned Xo. I was at low ebb in my existence (yes lower than usual) and I brought that album on props from H Boy. From the first listen something just touched me (not in the pants) and I completely immersed myself in that record. I can still remember coming home from work and just lying on my bed listening to it and empathising with every lyric and getting lost in the layers of sound. Needless to say this is one of my favourite albums of all time (The Queen Is Dead being number one).

I brought a copy of this for a friend of mine and it turned out she wasn’t as inlove with it as I was. I don’t know why that bummed me out but it did. I know everyone’s entitled to there opinion but I thought they would have the same reaction to this record as me.

However, for all these drawbacks my staunch views on music, the up side is amazing. Going to see bands play, hoping my records are in the post after work, reading books about roadies and shitty stapled zines, making horrible sounds come out of a guitar I cannot play ,or even just talking about music with my friends. It such a big part of me and I hope it never dies. My dad recently said he stopped buying records when he had kids and has only just started again. I doubt I’ll have kids anyway but at least I’ll know have a damn fine collection.

I’m also pretty sure I’ve met my best friends through music and for that the normal people can keep their Chris Moyles and Time and Envy.


R

Post Script - I’ve just reread this and I sound like a twat mostly but it’s staying up here. As if anyone lurks this anyway.

Finding my feet, finding a formula.

Okay, so here's the score: I don't know what to write on this thing! Could it be that I've lost confidence in my self? Why the fuck would you want to listen to anything I've got to say? It's all hyperbole - completely irrelevant. You could do so much better!!!

That said, I think I'm going to turn this into a 'what I'm listening to/watching/enjoying right now' kind of bloggy wog. It shall know no bounds in terms of how 'current' the content may be, there will be no word limits, no format in any way. Sometimes I may rant and rant and write and write for time immemorial. Sometimes, simply make note of an artist who is getting me all hot under the collar and tell you to get involved. Maybe you already know all about them and will think me irrelevant, brash and uncool. But it's important we talk about these things.

Yes, that suits me just fine. I'm constantly listening to stuff and thinking "this is shit/mind blowing because...!" but having nobody to talk to about it. It's really fucking annoying. I think the people I do talk to about it really don't want to listen either. Case in point: the entire deconstruction of Revolver whilst my family try to eat, relax and generally enjoy themselves. I'm crying out for someone who will listen! It's you! It's you!!!!

The internet can't tell me to button it, can it?

Shall we begin?

Whilst I was away last week (a family holiday in Majorca), I listened to a great deal of Adem. It's not hot weather music at all but, for some reason or another, it just felt right. I could tell you why, but I don't think you'd understand. I'll try. Maybe. I'm trying right now.

Adem is a man. A man with a band. Is he a singer song-writer? Urgh! Is he Nu-folk? I think he might be both, but I don't really know what either term, the second in particular, means. It's just not important. His songs are simple. And always, always honest. Sometimes his wistful vulnerability can be ever-so trying but, most of the time, you know, when it call comes together, it possesses unquestionable power. It possesses the power to make me, a tiny boy wound up so tight, just sit back for a minute and take stock.

The other side of Adem is a bit more spiney-tingley. It's most evident in his live show, in which he's joined on stage by a stupidly large band - about 24 limbs are flailing, tapping this and that; a 'doo daaa' here and a 'baa baa' there. It's quite, quite beautiful, and it makes your insides go all jiggly. If you get under covers and shut your eyes, you can get the same effect listening to his records - I really really advise you do this. He has three records out now, in this order:

Homesongs (2004)
Love and Other Planets (2006)
Takes (2008) - this is a covers record which, I must admit, I don't own a copy of.

Start at the beginning.

It's just music that makes you think that everything is going to be alright, okay?

J x

If you could hear the dreams I've had my dear...

I hate working in this hot weather, I just wanna chill and listen to Jawbreaker, The Descendants, Lifetime and Shook Ones. I just wanna blast these sounds with car full of bro's (and some ladies) and do roadtrips and shit.

But I'm not. I am stuck behind a desk playing with spreadsheets and online applications. Everything Sucks.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMtEDzOfwOQ



DGC can suck it for not letting me embed that joint.



Full update soon yo!