In My Head Today:Smells Like Bubblegum

This just blew my mind, and so after a five year absence, I'm dipping into this little blog for a moment.

First, I have to say that the original version of this song changed my life. Trite, over-used, but true. It 100% changed my taste in music and sent me on a new trajectory. It also provided the kick-off point and a soundtrack to a few years of very bad behavior that I enjoyed tremendously.  :-)

Be that as it may...

I was a musician once - sort of. I sang for many years, I was in band for a long time, and music has obviously been so dear to me that I have this private blog no one knows about that I pour a few words into now and again. But I don't *understand* music. That is, I've never taken music theory, and I was never great at site reading. I have a great ear and I pick up harmonies easily and all that, but I can't explain to you what it is about any given song makes me feel a certain way. At a high level, I guess I understand that there's a difference between major and minor keys and they have a completely different impact. I can FEEL it, but I cannot EXPLAIN it.

Whatever. That's not really the point. Someone took this iconic song and auto-tuned it into a new key, thus turning it into a 90's pop song. What the fuck? Damn, it's catchy in that kind of grating but really listenable way. I'm annoyed at how much I enjoyed it with my old(er) ears.

Here is what struck me -

When I first heard Smells Like Teen Spirit, although I couldn't articulate it, I felt it was almost a done deal that Kurt Cobain would be dead soon. You can HEAR IT IN THE SONG. The song itself is a tragedy. I know, hindsight, right? I stand by that opinion.

Now THIS guy (this fictional dude that's been auto-tuned), our pretend Kurt.... he'd be touring as a nostalgia act right now, maybe with Blind Melon, or Blur, or maybe The Verve. This guy would have lived. Would have had some down years. Would have struggled for sure, but then he'd have pulled out of it and gone into the world of soundtracks, or music for video games, or some other use of his musical talents.

Ugh..... I mean, I hate that Kurt Cobain is gone, but THAT might have been a much bigger tragedy.



Here's a link to the Esquire article that explains it a little bit better than I can.

Oh, and by the way, There is much to catch up on in this blog. Bowie fucking died on us. SO MANY MUSICIANS HAVE DIED lately. More on that later, maybe. After all, no one sees this thing right??

In My Head: Today: David Bowie - Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix by James Murphy for t...

(WARNING: NSFW but toooooootally worth it!)

A little less than a year ago, I was sitting in bed, having come home from some evening activity or other. I was catching up on the Tweets of the day, when something caught my eye.

Duncan Jones @ManMadeMoon

Would be lovely if all of you could spread the word about da's new album. First in ten years, and its a good 'un!  http://www.davidbowie.com/the-next-day

I screamed like a little girl.

For those not hip to the fact, Duncan Jones is, in fact, David Bowie's son. So this was for REALS!

Okay, admittedly, I came to the David Bowie party late (see previous post about my year-long Bowie "catch-up" phase). But once I was in, I was waaaay in. So, hints of a new album were devastating... good devastating. Mind blowing, in fact.

But this January announcement wasn't about the actual album, it was an announcement that an album was on the way.

The Next Day - it seemed like the next year before the darned thing came out.

After months of waiting, a first video came out. The Stars (Are Out Tonight) is a mini-movie starring The Thin White Duke and Tilda Swinton. Right there, we are talking about something wonderful. Tilda is the new Bowie, after all! The album followed and OH  MY GOD! True Bowie. Poetic, melodic, weird, harsh, catchy - you name it. It was all there.

But, back to the video above. The song is one of my favorites on the album. This remix of the song is incredible, the video just mesmerizing. Every video that has accompanied The Next Day has been visually stunning. Works of art, befitting the man himself. It even includes some catch-it-if-you-can Bowie sightings. But this one.... it just sucks me in every time I see it. I pull up the link to send to a friend, or I post it on my FB page, or start a blog post with it and.... If I see more than about 30 seconds, I will undoubtedly watch the entire thing.

I don't have any ending for this entry. I don't have a deep insight into how this video reflects or informs my own life. I just fucking love this video. And should you happen onto this page, set aside 10 minutes (Remember the warning! NSFW) and enjoy.

In My Head Today: Vad hände med dem? - brian jonestown massacre

Huh.... go away from your blog for a little while, and suddenly it becomes MUCH easier to manage. Last time I visited, back when I was playing with this blog sorta-kinda regularly, I had to go through a painful process of grabbing the right link from YouTube and copying it into the post, hoping it would land correctly. Going back through my posts, there are some videos that aren't there anymore, or maybe never were. I was never totally sure that the process had worked.

Now I just click the "B" under the video and Whoomp, there it is!

So, Welcome Back Siren! Of course I rejoin this world with our usual hero: Brian Jonestown Massacre. Anton is building another album. Through the voyeuristic world of the Internet, we've been able to watch life giving him amazing highs and frightening lows since the last album came out. Music continued to pour out of his soul and onto YouTube. For a while there were soundtracks and disco mixes - new directions and experiments. And then slowly songs in the more traditional BJM vein started to emerge. Watching the Twitter feed, we got to hear first hand how he struggled to create tracks that he liked. As with Aufheben, we have watched more and more tracks emerge. Today's entry is just one of many that are being shaped and molded into what I think is going to be a stunning album. (you can head over to Anton's YouTube Channel if you want the sneak peek)

Some songwriters scratch some words together on paper, add a good beat and auto-tune the fuck out of it... and they call it good. In contrast we have these lyrics (As posted with the video, translated from Swedish):

nothing is right, nothing is good, nothing is the way is should
something went wrong so long long ago, something broke inside because of all those things we said
but I hope the winter will come soon and shut this whole town down
the snow will cover everything, every mistake we've ever made
go straight into the nothingness, just shut down and turn off
go straight into the nothingness, just shut down and turn off
keep on talking all you want but no one's listening anyway
you think you see something better up ahead, stretch out your hand and try to reach it
your lies are so full of holes that the sun is shining through
just let the light crash through your brain and wash everything away
just let the light crash through your brain and wash everything away

So... ya. Not so much on the "oooh, baby baby" line of songwriting. I think this is an example of why I hate listening to Top 40 radio. Oh sure, that Katy Perry song "Roar" (and no, I will NOT be linking to that vid) is a big Happy Independence Day To Me song, but for me it still rings hollow. I'm not sure how to describe the difference. Surely she's gone through something and come out the other side, and she's written a song about breaking free and asserting her freedom. Perhaps someone more eloquent than I can explain why that sounds shallow in comparison. I think Lou Reed started to touch on it in his final interview. It doesn't totally answer my question, but I will say that the depth of meaning he found in sound was... music to my ears.

Dear reader-who-is-not-there, I have so much music swirling in, around and through me. With this note I hope to kick myself in the ass and start to write again.

In My Head Today: Waking Up to Hand Grenades

Ah, the Brian Jonestown Massacre. We return to an ongoing theme. The good news is that The BJM have a brand new album out! Aufheben is fantastic. Finally, something new that I feel like listening to! It's kind of like the adult contemporary version of Their Satanic Majesty's Second Request. One thing that is totally cool about this is that Anton Newcombe, my favorite musical genius (as I've already noted) recorded the entire process of building the album on his broadcast station, DeadTV (see the DeadTV Facebook page and DeadTV). He released rough cuts almost immediately - often coming home from his studio and uploading or broadcasting his work the same day. So watching the process was cool. He put out something like 20 songs in this way, eventually shaping 11 of them into a full album.

His last album, Who Killed Sgt. Pepper was.... different. Dark. Very, very dark songs. I've posted some of them before. I'd draw your attention to the song, "Someplace Else Unknown" for a sample. Mind you, I loved most of the songs on the album. I was in a dark and twisty space myself so it totally fit my mood.

Nearly every review I've read of Aufheben says it is a "return to their previous style." Well, that's true, I guess. It is certainly more like their style prior to My Bloody Underground  and WKSP. As I've said before, I'm no expert and I'm no music critic. I just know what I like. I like that "aufheben" means - simultaneously - "to abolish" and "to preserve." Or as Anton has put it, "tearing apart something to save it." Hm. I can think of a number of personal situations in which I may have been saved by being torn apart.

But back to the video - or rather, the song. There were some dark times during the year or so that this album was conceived and recorded. Terrible world events, darkening moods, illness, etc. So imagine my surprise when I heard these lyrics (disclaimer: this is an approximation based on some of the lyrics sites. I think there are some inaccuracies, but it's close enough to make the point):

A voice from the ancient's
From way back in time
A gift from the sages
The melody fine
We've come to the altar
There's nothing to fear
Our waiting is over...
The good times are here

You're sleeping of late
You stay up all night
And going to church discretely
And turning out right
It's building an army
I wish you was here
Cause we're taking over

Our Time is here
Our time is here
Grab all the children
(inaudible)
Cause we're taking over
We're finally free
There's no way to change it
Cause this is our year
And we're gonna live forever

It's finally here
It's finally clear

Gather the children
And family near
And spread the goodness
It's finally here
The wisdom of ancients
The god of all time
He's finally found you
It's gonna be fine

It's gonna be ok.
It's gonna be fine.

I'll be honest: I cried. For me, this is a hopeful song. For the past year or so, life events have ratcheted up. In addition to the ongoing deterioration of my mother's health, there has been a huge tumult at work - interestingly, our organization has been abolished and rebuilt, in order to preserve it. Hm. Just figured that one out as I'm writing this! Mind blowing. At any rate, during this time of tumult and angst, hearing someone who has clearly battled his own demons sing, "It's gonna be fine" was pretty fucking powerful.

One other point of oddity - on iTunes, the song is called "Walking Up to Hand Grenades." WTF???

In my head today: catching up and discovering Bowie

Well, just to update on the past year or so....

I've been through a right long David Bowie phase and come out the other side. Not a huge Bowie fan back in the day (though I did love him in The Hunger), so I had a LOT of great music to discover.  Just to catch us up, here are a few of the videos I love best.

David Bowie: Cracked Actor

Well, I like anything called "cracked actor" - makes me think of some actors I know and love... who are definitely cracked! Anyway, this is a version from the 90's - about 20 years after he wrote the song. Better version, I think.

David Bowie: The Pretty Things are Going to Hell

Revisiting old demons. Epic.

David Bowie: Bring Me the Disco King

This is the last song on the last album of new work that he's made. Bowie fans are ever-hopeful that he's *thisclose* to putting out something new. In the meantime, we have a truly haunting [possible} end to a mind-blowing recording career. He lives on, produces art and generally enjoys life I hear. Good on him!

In My Head Today: Song to the Siren

Only fitting.

In My Head Today: Eleven is Waiting

Homeland - "Baby Anton" (Anton Alfred Newcombe)
For the record, I got the "Baby Anton" quote from Anton's own introduction to the song on his UStream channel, DeadTV.  If you have not checked out DeadTV, do it N.O.W. It defies description, but it is thought-provoking, riveting, entertaining, and there's a lot of great music being played.


           

  Homeland - Eleven Is Waiting
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

This song is new to me. Just heard it today for the first time. It's an old song by Anton Newcombe (of Brian Jonestown Massacre), made prior to BJM. So that's a long time ago. And it's soooooo much better than 100% of the crap you hear on the radio today. From over 20 years ago!

I am not sure who did the animation, but it's a beautiful match.

What interests me about this song (today) is that it speaks to my heart, and yet I don't have a clue what the words are yet. I tend to listen to music in an obsessive, repetitive fashion, in order to understand the lyrics. (doesn't always work, mind you....) Sometimes, though, the vibe is there before the lyrics. It reminds me that music is speaking to the unconscious in us. It's more than a cerebral exercise, you know? Music is part of your SOUL people!

Maybe that explains why music changes people's mood so much. "Music hath powers to soothe the savage beast" and all that. Without stereotyping people, I'll speak from my own heart and experience. Most of the songs I've posted here in the past are mood-altering substances for me. Nine Inch Nails will put me in a very specific mood - or enhance what's sitting just below the surface. My Bloody Valentine does the same thing.

Here's another one that alters my mood tremendously:


This one speaks to my fucked-up inner 15 year old.

Well, life calls and that's all I've got time to say today.

Eleven is Waiting.