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enthusiastick) wrote2007-09-18 01:21 pm
enthusiastick) wrote2007-09-18 01:21 pm
Entry tags:
5 songs for feeling anxious
anxious. anx·ious. angk-shuh s. full of mental distress or uneasiness because of fear of danger or misfortune
5. "Feel Good Inc" by Gorillaz
The lead single off Gorillaz sophomore studio album, its 2005 rise to popularity helped to cement the band's reputation as more than a one-trick pony. It may seem a little upbeat to be appearing on this list, but in addition to being a great song its also a fundamentally creepy one. From the raucous laughter in the background to the the persistent two-note "feel good" riff, there are certain contexts in which this song still sends a shiver down my spine.
4. "Caring Is Creepy" by the Shins
Track 1, side 1 of the Shin's debut album Oh, Inverted World, this song also appeared on the soundtrack of Garden State, helping assure that as far as the pretentious indie rock scene was concerned the Shins were officially passe (nothing is any good, after all, if any people like it.) I don't know what it is about this song; its not my favorite song by the Shins. But it has some indefinable quality in common with later Beach Boys stuff that earns it the number four spot. Can you tell I had some trouble with songs for this week? And next week could be even tougher. Hoo boy.
3. "Edit" by Regina Spektor
There is an argument to be made that this song doesn't fit with the rest of the album (Begin To Hope, 2006.) The lyrics are exceedingly terse, while there's a complexity to the music that belies that stark simplicity of the talented Ms. Spektor's other tracks. Debate rages on the internet as to whether the "white lines" in the song's lyrics are a reference to drugs or blank sheets of paper (the fact that both "Doctor Roberts" and "Uncle Albert" appear in other songs, one by the Beatles and one by Paul McCartney, makes me suspect the latter.) Whether its writer's block or addiction, its a song about failure, and it makes me nervous.
2. "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades" by Brand New
I won't wax on too long about this song, as I fully expect it to make at least one more appearance on a 5 songs list, and wouldn't be surprised to see it make its way to number 1 elsewhere. I love this one unreservedly, both music and lyrics. But I thought it over and decided that, whatever mood it exemplifies, anxious is not it. So it clocks in at number 2, a song about the perils of getting everything you wanted, about the horror of ambivalence, about sex that may be rape, forever telling a simple truth: "this - is - so - messed - up."
1. "I Know Who You Are But What Am I?" by Mogwai
I believe this is the first instrumental on the countdown so far, and certainly the first to make it all the way to the top. I'm not a huge Mogwai fan, and in fact only became aware of them thanks to qcjeph, the esteemed author of Questionable Content. Stuart Braithwaite, one of the band's co-founders, is quoted in the Wikipedia article as saying, "I think most people are not used to having no lyrics to focus on. Lyrics are a real comfort to some people. I guess they like to sing along and when they can't do that with us they can get a bit upset." I'm certainly a whore for lyrics, but there's really something to the simplicity of this song, the way it builds upon a theme, piling more and more on without ever threatening to collapse. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and its sublime.
Next week: 5 songs for feeling apathetic.
5. "Feel Good Inc" by Gorillaz
The lead single off Gorillaz sophomore studio album, its 2005 rise to popularity helped to cement the band's reputation as more than a one-trick pony. It may seem a little upbeat to be appearing on this list, but in addition to being a great song its also a fundamentally creepy one. From the raucous laughter in the background to the the persistent two-note "feel good" riff, there are certain contexts in which this song still sends a shiver down my spine.
4. "Caring Is Creepy" by the Shins
Track 1, side 1 of the Shin's debut album Oh, Inverted World, this song also appeared on the soundtrack of Garden State, helping assure that as far as the pretentious indie rock scene was concerned the Shins were officially passe (nothing is any good, after all, if any people like it.) I don't know what it is about this song; its not my favorite song by the Shins. But it has some indefinable quality in common with later Beach Boys stuff that earns it the number four spot. Can you tell I had some trouble with songs for this week? And next week could be even tougher. Hoo boy.
3. "Edit" by Regina Spektor
There is an argument to be made that this song doesn't fit with the rest of the album (Begin To Hope, 2006.) The lyrics are exceedingly terse, while there's a complexity to the music that belies that stark simplicity of the talented Ms. Spektor's other tracks. Debate rages on the internet as to whether the "white lines" in the song's lyrics are a reference to drugs or blank sheets of paper (the fact that both "Doctor Roberts" and "Uncle Albert" appear in other songs, one by the Beatles and one by Paul McCartney, makes me suspect the latter.) Whether its writer's block or addiction, its a song about failure, and it makes me nervous.
2. "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades" by Brand New
I won't wax on too long about this song, as I fully expect it to make at least one more appearance on a 5 songs list, and wouldn't be surprised to see it make its way to number 1 elsewhere. I love this one unreservedly, both music and lyrics. But I thought it over and decided that, whatever mood it exemplifies, anxious is not it. So it clocks in at number 2, a song about the perils of getting everything you wanted, about the horror of ambivalence, about sex that may be rape, forever telling a simple truth: "this - is - so - messed - up."
1. "I Know Who You Are But What Am I?" by Mogwai
I believe this is the first instrumental on the countdown so far, and certainly the first to make it all the way to the top. I'm not a huge Mogwai fan, and in fact only became aware of them thanks to qcjeph, the esteemed author of Questionable Content. Stuart Braithwaite, one of the band's co-founders, is quoted in the Wikipedia article as saying, "I think most people are not used to having no lyrics to focus on. Lyrics are a real comfort to some people. I guess they like to sing along and when they can't do that with us they can get a bit upset." I'm certainly a whore for lyrics, but there's really something to the simplicity of this song, the way it builds upon a theme, piling more and more on without ever threatening to collapse. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and its sublime.
Next week: 5 songs for feeling apathetic.