I remember getting a random Airport Tapes and Records taster CD after a concert.
I don't remember the concert at which I got the CD, nor do I remember the songs on the CD.
But what I remember is hearing Stacy Clark's "Say What You Want" for the first time, not being able to get enough of the harmony, ignoring all the other tracks, and playing the song on a non-stop repeat. Something about the undulation of the drumming beat that guaranteed that one listen would not be enough.
You can imagine my surprise then, when I heard the first chords of "To Catch a Thief"" by a Seattle trio Sports. I initially thought this was a remix of Stacy Clark's song and expected to hear her silvery vocals at any point in the song. I never heard her voice, but the song didn't suffer from it.
Inserting a swear word in the chorus, let alone in the title, is a decision that never fails to challenge the taboo and grab the attention. The song may be playing along, with no one actively paying attention, but as soon as the first F-bomb drops, all ears prick up, and the red-faced owner of the family-run cafe scrambles to fast forward to the next track of the CD he got from his daughter's boyfriend. (He didn't really want to take it, but his daughter insisted, trying to bring them closer together, and after all, how can he say "No" to his little girl?)
Of course, the radio got around the problem of "verses with curses" by bleeping out the forbidden 7 words, but that approach, if anything, only manages to attract more attention to the word. The distracting bleeps only break apart the flow of the song, irritating the listeners and making them only more curious about what's hidden or covered up. After all, we are all curious creatures – give us a censor bar, and we'll try to look behind, even if we'll come to regret it the next moment.(N.B. For die-hard fans of censorship fun, check out these censor bars.)
Another politically-correct solution has been to completely change the inappropriate lyric, often resulting in changing the entire meaning and emotion of the line. Best examples of such approach have been "Let's Get It Started" by Black Eyed Peas and the recent renditions of Cee-Lo Green "Forget You".
And yet, despite (or maybe because) of these obstacles, it hasn't prevented the musicians from inserting the dreaded curse words not only in their lyrics, but even in the song titles. Of course, the king of expletives remains the F-bomb. Its versatility as a noun, adjective, adverb, verb, pretty much every part of speech save the particles, has ensured its immortality in colloquial uncensored English. Here is the short lesson on the usage of the word:
So without further ado, I would like to introduce to you some of the notable songs which have pushed F-word envelope. I have provided the official F-bomb count as well as the "Grandma Shock Value" rating to predict a response your Nana would have after hearing the song.
Cee-Lo's tour-de-F**k has been a resounding success of 2010. It has a bouncing beat, fun lyrics and has been sung in Glee, so you know it must be popular with the kids.
F**k Count: 16 S**t Count: 10 Grandma Shock Value: 7/10. I think Grandma could be reminded of her youth listening to this song, but she will be most likely offended by the repetitive F-explosions blasting out of the speakers.
The ultimate bad-ex-boyfriend-that-all-of-your-friends-disliked-and-told-you-about-it song. Nice post-breakup lyrics.
F**k Count: 16 Grandma Shock Value: 8/10. Grandma would probably really like the nice string arrangements in the background, but can't see her being too thrilled about the "What the f**k was I thinking?" question repeated for the last minute of the song.
Although the swearing is kept to a minimum as opposed to the previous two songs, the expletives are said with such a deliciously bitter venom, that they are worth twice as much. Ani almost savours rolling the F's off her tongue for the ultimate effect.
F**k Count: 6 Grandma Shock Value: 4/10. This is the point where your Grandma reminisces about the her first boyfriend, (it was before Grandpa, so she never told you that story) who dumped her for that skanky waitress from Chuck's. Lost in her thoughts, she forgets to be offended by the swear words.
You might not remember this song, but Eamon stormed the R&B charts with this ballad in 2004. He is probably the only founder and representative of Ho-Wop, a genre of R&B ballads with aggressive lyrics.
F**k Count: 24 S**t Count: 7 H* Count: 4 B*tch Count: 1 Grandma Shock Value: 10/10. Your Grandma has no time for this "urban" music with all of its swearing and violence.
Most of you may remember this electronic romp as the song in the stripclub from Lost in Translation. With one verse and the same lyric in the chorus, it's a great sing-along.
F**k Count: 24 T**ties Count: 3 Grandma Shock Value: 10/10. By now, your Grandma can not be having any fun, and frankly, is very upset that you made her listen to this playlist.
The trouble-making darling Lily takes on the homophobic bigot in this upbeat, bouncy song that hides the much more sober message.
F**k Count: 31 Grandma Shock Value: 3/10. If you turn the volume just low enough, Grandma will think that Lily is just a polite girl singing "Thank you very, very much."
In the fragility and self-deprecation of Michigan and Illinois songs,Sufjan Stevens has established himself as a deeply religious, self-chastising singer-songwriter. It, therefore, comes as a complete shock at 4 minutes into this song to hear him repeat that he's not "f**king around". It would not be an understatement to say that this is one of the biggest indie surprises of the year.
F**k Count: 16 Grandma Shock Value: 7/10. 16 repetitions of the dreaded word accompanied by a distorted guitar will not win the heart of any proper-behaving Grandma.
I continue to discover the beauty of Karkwa. After listening to this song, you will feel literally feel the "sleep in your blood". A great song that builds upon itself until a quiet, but resolute denouement.
Coming fast and furious at you, this is the best of October!
Chilly Gonzales - Knight Moves(stream only)
Gonzales is what you might call the Renaissance Man of the music business. A talented pianist, self-taught producer and songwriter, he has recently added acting to his CV. As a companion piece to his latest album Ivory Tower, he has released the same-titled film with fellow Canadians Tiga and Peaches. The story follows a chess game between two brothers (Chilly and Tiga), who are competing over the love interest of the same woman (Peaches). Oh, and just to highlight the ambition of this man once more, as of last year, he is the official Guinness World Record holder for the longest concert by a solo artist. He played 27 hours of music and nearly 200 pieces, ranging from Chopin to the Clash.
Due to the tumult of the last several months (travelling, moving, looking for a flat and a job, etc.), I have been procrastinating to have a proper sit-down with my favourite PC and spend some quality time on my blog. As I deal with everything in my life, I delayed until I could no longer stand it. The idle MP3's, hidden in the confines of my hardrive, never saw the light and kept on beating like the tell-tale heart from the floorboards of my laptop. Finally, I could no longer resist, and in a fashion as delayed as the government's response to natural disasters, I have finally decided to present the monthly playlists for August and September. The nearly 3 hours of music include the electrofunk from SomethingALaMode, 70's Bowie-esque space rock from LCD Soundsystem, a sombre guitar ballad from Correatown, a song from Absofacto reminiscent of Portugal. The Man, a tune from my new favourite Sharon van Etten and a wicked Neon Indian cover by the up-and-coming Millionyoung. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope I stop procrastinating.
This month's playlist will be a simple .ZIP file, since I'm in travel mode, and using a small Internet cafe in Berlin to post these songs. So I apologize, but there will be no write-ups for the songs, and they will come in one nice bunch. Simply unzip and enjoy!
Please enjoy the June edition of my new discoveries. I seem to have caught the music bug once again, after taking a leave of absence from the Internets. Here’s hoping it doesn’t leave me ever again.
A great new single from the Canadian indie powerhouse. If the rest of the album follow suit of this single, it will be definitely one of the best albums of the year. To be frank, Black Mirror was a bit of a disappointment, and I am craving the return of the Funeral sound. Don’t know about you, but I think there’s nothing more natural than to move out of Neighbourhoods and move into the Suburbs.
"To begin at the beginning," as Dylan Thomas once said. What has at one point started as a music-sharing club between a group of university friends, gradually turned into exponentially obsessive monthly CD compilations, composed of ear-catching freshly-discovered tracks both old and new. When one of my best friends had moved away, I started sending out my favourite selections from these monthly compilations by email. The list of email recipients slowly grew until I started recognizing that the electronic mail was no longer the most efficient way of sharing music with distant friends. Starting a music blog seemed to be the only solution, and while I am still terribly intimidated by the many well-established and knowledgeable adversaries, I am also incredibly excited to try my hand at this new venture.
I have always been a fan of pop, in all of its manifold manifestations. The late 1990's were spent teenie-bopping to the likes of Robyn, Natalie Imbruglia, numerous one-hit wonders and definitely Backstreet Boys. It was not until Grade 12 that I was exposed to non-mainstream-radio music, and ever since then my musical horizons have broadened while my musical tastes have narrowed down. Included below are 4 of personally influential songs which have defined my indie music development. They may not even be the best or my most favourite tracks, but each one of them played a huge part in forming my musical identity. I hope you enjoy them as I get a little nostalgic.
Stacy Clark - Say What You Want
Sports - To Catch a Thief
Cee-Lo Green - F**k You
Jenny Owen Youngs - F**k Was I
Ani DiFranco - Untouchable Face
Eamon - F**k It
Peaches - F**k the Pain Away
Lily Allen - F**k You
Sufjan Stevens - I Want To Be Well
Olenka and the Autumn Lovers - Odessa
Karkwa - Dors Dans Mon Sang
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs