Bigger Better Boy Bands BEATLES (60's)

Here it is, the first episode, featuring many (not all) of the big bands of the 60's. You would think with such a overtowering presence as The Beatles, it would be hard for anyone else to strive. This is far from the case with so much good music coming out of this decade it's amazing. On this note I get the feeling I'll have to do at least 3 60's episodes to do it any justice. It was hard picking bands for this episode but basically I went with the ones I knew best leaving me more time to get to know the rest. For all all boy bands of a similar genre there is a surprising amount of variety here:

1) Savoy Truffle - The Beatles
To put it simply, this band is the best. It is simply amazing, the amount of good music they produced. I dare say EVERY band today is influenced by these guys in one way or another. The majority of bands manage to come out with a decent first album - this is fair enough as it's usually a result of five or so years of molding themselves. The real test for a band is there second and third albums which test their creative ability in producing more good music in a limited time frame. What makes The Beatles so special is they released 13 albums in the space of 8 years, each full of excellent songs. It simply will never be repeated and EVERYONE should know and like these guys. As you can gather from above it's is impossible to pick just one song as their best. Every time I make a compilation I pick something different and this time I've gone for a song sung and recommended by George Harrison respectively, off their White Album.

2) Touch Me - The Doors
I'd never much listened to these guys but going through their catalogue, I'd have to say they're pretty close to the second best band of the decade. They've got a great variety and a great sound. This song I have known and loved for ages, before I really knew of the band and will always go down as my favourite of theirs

3) Swlabr - Cream
This song makes it in on lyrics alone. They are just so ridiculous. It's also helped by the fact it's a good song. As far as I know, Cream weren't really around for that long but they definitely had an influence on future music, especially their main man Eric Clapton who has gone on to be one of the biggest names in the guitaring world.

4) Surfin' USA - The Beach Boys
These guys were pretty big in their time, pressuring The Beatles with their high-pitched, surf themed music. What's probably less known about them is that there was really one creative genius behind this band, Brian Wilson, the others just sang. In fact the pressure of it all sent him to the brink of insanity. But he managed to write enough good songs to make it rather unpleasant for me to try and choose one. Should I go for one of his easy listening (mindless) surfy songs or one of his more deep and meaningful creations? In the end I chose this, well-known and for good reason

5) My Generation - The Who
Yet another big 60's band. These guys were a bit 'crazier' than some of the others and it would have been great to see Roger Daltry swinging his microphone round which such maniatic skill in person. It's obvious the Channel 9 news team has (had) good music tastes when they picked this for their theme. G-g-great song.

Open Your Eyes Podcast

This feature involved reusing old material. To find out why, click here.

Back in 2005, podcasts were all the rage and I simply had to get myself one. Armed with nothing but an interest in obscure indie music, a podcasting ‘how to’ guide and the belief that I alone could save the masses from the corrupting influence of commercial radio and the major record labels who were blinding them from a world of excellent music (hence the title: Open Your Eyes), I set about my work. Perhaps this rather self-righteous approach is why nobody took notice.

I decided on a formula where once a week I would play 5 of my favourite new songs and discuss what made each of them so great. This quickly fell apart when I discovered how much I despised the sound of my recorded voice and so my descriptions became restricted to the written word. By this point my ‘podcast’ wasn’t really a podcast at all, just 5 mp3s inconveniently clumped together.

It’s actually quite interesting to see how my writing evolved over the course of this project, with descriptions going from one short sentence to overblown mini-essays. Many stupid things were said, but overall I must say I am proud of the end result. My opinions have changed in many areas and there are definitely a couple of statements I wouldn’t mind taking back, but just for the fun of it, I’ll be posting everything in its original form. Feel free to laugh at me, I know I will be.

Episode 1 - Welcome Listener(s)
Episode 2 - Chilly Chimps
Episode 3 - She Says
Episode 4 - Big Cop Out
Episode 5 - Freakin' Wolf References
Episode 6 - Indie Kids United
Episode 7 - Reprezent
Episode 8 - The Exceptional
Episode 9 - TBA
Episode 10 - Fin

Fin

I'm sad to say that the time has come for me to finish the particular series....For now. It seems you'll have to get high on your own supply of music for a while. But fear not, I'm not plunging you completely into darkness for there is a faint light at the end of tunnel and that light is my next series. So until then....er....hold me now? Anyway back to normal speak, I'm taking a break for a while in order to build up some new songs. Basically the musical world doesn't pump out good music at a rate fast enough for my needs. I seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel as some of you may have noticed and so need some time to rejuvenate my supplies. I'm pretty impressed that I've only used one or two pre-2000 songs which perfectly suits my next series 'Get With The Times'. This will be done decadely from the 60's on to the 90's. Mostly likely I'll be doing multiple parts for each decade seeing as there was alot of good music going around. But now onto this episode. I'd like to say I have the best songs saved for last but well I don't. I withheld one from last week but that's about it. That being said it's still not bad. There was a few contenders that I had to cut and just minutes ago I realised I forgot to include a song I'd been planning to include. Another day perhaps. Anyway here are the last few eye opening songs I'll be supplying for a while:

1) The Time - British India
This is a band I've come to really like of late. Really electric, remind me a bit of The Cant's. I don't have their album yet but the songs I do have a pretty good. This particular song seems to be in tune with their namesake and in combination with their ugly appearances I can understand where they got it from. For the less intuitive, I was getting at the Indian music used and the fact that the British are ugly. The best thing about their name is that they're Australian

2) Get High On Your Own Supply - Dan Kelly and The Alpha Males
Another Australian band...I think. And another of the increasingly popular high pitched singers (more to come). This song had always been a favourite of mine and I picked it here rather spur of the moment. You like

3) Hazel Eyes - The Darkness
This guy has an incredible voice. An unbelievable voice. And I love it. Of course there's no point having a good voice without good songs to match. And thankfully this band delivers in spades. While this song may not be perfect, parts of it are pure brilliance and therefore worthy of inclusion. By the way this is off the new album which I listened to for the first time ten minutes ago. So far so good

4) Hold Me Now - The Polyphonic Spree
Some people love these guys and everyone else doesn't understand why. This is fair enough because before I saw them live, I thought they were good but nothing spectacular. But live, they are incredible. The main singer not only looks like Jesus but acts like him and you just can't help worshipping him. Meanwhile the other 30 or so band members (who are all dressed in robes by the way) go nuts on their various instruments. It needs to be seen to be believed. Whether you like them or not, SEE THEM LIVE. As anyone who's experienced it would know, Two Thousand Places is probably the best song live, however I think this song suits better here

5) Your Retro Career Melted - The Faint
These guys must be doing something right because this is dance music and I like it. I dunno what it is and why I like this and not others so all I can say is have a listen and see what you think.

TBA

How apathetic I'm becoming. I couldn't even be bothered thinking of a witty name this week. As the name suggests, I may think of something later and fill it in. But for now you have only the music to keep you happy, this music:

1) You Only Live Once - The Strokes
I actually think this is song is being played on the radio now so the fact that I have the whole album is negated. Yes, I have this album one month before it's release. The internet is sweet. Overall I think it's good, it definitely deviates from their formula a bit but then again it's still got the stuff you love. If you like them of course. Anyway, despite their knownness I just couldn't help featuring them. It most definitely comes under the 'new category'

2) Black - Okkervil River
Another band that's come to my ears on recommendation from the internet. Overall I think they quite good. Apparently this album was really big but I never heard of so who knows. This song is a nice ring to it.

3) What a Wonderful Man - My Morning Jacket
Short and catchy. The unbeatable formula for a song. Well maybe not quite but very often these songs are the best. Music good enough to take your fancy and short enough for you not to sick of it. Yet another band I'd heard nothing about in general life but again it seemed to get high accolades. I'm yet to really listen to it in depth but only time will prove it's worth

4) Sister Saviour - The Rapture
This song is straight out of my back catalogue of favourites. This album was released last year so is relatively new however I'm yet to meet many people who know these guys (not including the those who heard of them from me) and so they deserve to be hear. Their style is rather unique/weird which is often a good thing. This particular song is a bit less eccentric than the norm and so hopefully be appreciated by a wider audience.

5) It'5 - Architecture in Helsinki
Talking of weird bands this is very much one. 8 people singing upbeat poppy songs. I imagine they'd be more than entertaining on stage. On hearing them I originally went and got their first album which personally I found uninspiring. Thankfully their second album, which this is off, is much better and well worth a listen

The Exceptional

This week's unintentional theme seems to be good songs off bad albums. Being an album person rather than a song person, I tend to use bands I like in general and then feature one of their songs here. However a few of the songs in today's episode I really don't like the album they're off. Also this week I've delved back into the unknown a bit. Whereas the last couple of weeks I've been name dropping from my back-catalogue, this week features songs that haven't yet passed the test of time. So don’t complain if you don't like them. My whole purpose is to present music you MAY like, and you MAY like these:

1) So much for the Afterglow - Everclear
By the way none of the above applies to this song. I have known Everclear for a long time and this song has been a favourite for a while. However they are in no way a well known band. This song is really nice ranging from its Beach Boys intro to a more rocky body

2) Baby - The Drones
I ALMOST forgot to put in a local track and oh what a tragedy that would have been. While their album may have one or two other good songs, for the most of it, it just seems to be going nowhere. I really don't like that kind of music, which is probably why I'm not the biggest Mars Volta fan. I'm more into the standard song structures, making THIS song perfect

3) America's Boy - Broadcast
This song and the rest of this album passed me by as rather ordinary. I gave it a shot, but didn't really like and so it was destined for the archives. However listening to a mix I got from somewhere this song appeared and it made me realise that it was actually a pretty good song. So if it doesn't hit you right way, give it time. Best listened to whilst in a trance

4) Circle Square Triangle - Test Icicles
For me, screaming in songs is a touchy subject. There is a fine line where it goes from perfectly acceptable to downright painful. Unfortunately for this band they cross the line way too often. On top of this their name is just a worse version of an already-done pun. I won't even begin to mention the playstation references in songs names.... But with so much going against them, I could not let this song pass by because when examined on its own merits, it's actually quite good.

5) It's Not the Only Way to Feel Happy - Field Music
While this band may be a hybrid of Futureheads and Kaiser Chiefs, they sound nothing like them. They're fast paced style has put aside in favour of a more harmonious one. Though this song is probably at the extreme of their softness, it's not far from the norm. Either way this is the most soothing song I’ve heard in ages, whether that’s good or bad is up to you.

This was written November 30, 2005. What? Why?

Reprezent

This week features bands all from different countries. Nothing particularly special about this, I just noticed it as I was picking. Positive aspects of globalisation such as this far outweigh the slave labourers. It really only features us, United Kingdom and North America but come to think of it there isn't too many more predominately English speaking, quality music producing countries out there.....

1) Are you the one? - The Presets
These guys are Aussie electro-dance-rockers who are apparently really good live. Listening to their album I found myself disappointed for most of it. But that isn't to say there isn't good song here....Like this one for example. It's great vibe means I shall definitely be checking these guys out

2) With You - The Subways
Look! Yet another band attending BDO 2006. In fact before the last announcement I hadn't heard of this band. However I promptly checked them and they're not bad. I dunno whether this is good or bad but all the songs sound like other bands. It may be unoriginal but it also means variety. Being Brit-Pop, there's unsurprisingly some Oasis tinge on some and ,rather oddly, one very Mess Hall sounding song. The rest I'm yet to pinpoint. Either way I like this song as well as a few others on their album

3) Whatever Happened to Corey Haim? - The Thrills
More happy music - Irish style. If you've never listened to them you should definitely give them a listen. Er this description seems short. What should I write to lengthen it? Yeah that'll do

4) Combat Baby - Metric
Canadians are taking over the world. I featured two last week (arcade fire, new pornographers)and now another today, plus theres many many more (broken social scene, hot hot heat, unicorns). Perhaps they've finally worked things out and are putting their surface area to use. Maybe we'll be next. Anyway this band isn't quite as big as some of the aforementioned and haven't really listened to them much but they sound not bad. This song was the stand-out.

5) Buddy Holly - Weezer
Weezer have deteriorated like no other band. From their awesome first album, to their good second,................And finally to their 5th and most recent album which got reviews of 0.1 out of 10. But rather than looking to the future we should dwell on the past. If you like this song, you'll love their first album. It's a mix of great tunes and stupid lyrics. Thumbs up!

This was written November 22, 2005. What? Why?

Indie Kids United

I'm beginning to run out of REALLY unknown bands so I'm now delving into the semi-known bands. You may or may not have heard of them but either way you should like them. This week especially, features a few big (in my opinion) "Indie" (whatever it is this genre includes these days) names. Now if you think that sentence had poor structure you are correct. But enough said, on to the songs:

1) Lapse in Conversation - Neon
This song fills my weekly local content quota. It is a good song however I wouldn't be surprised if no one particularly likes it. Neon really don't have any AAA songs but to make up for this, their album contains 12 AA songs. So while they may not be suited for this particular format, they make some quality music which definitely deserves a listen to.

2) The Jessica Numbers - The New Pornographers
I assume their name is some sort of reference to the fact they are selling themselves in some way when they make they're music but I really have no idea. This band, despite not liking it, is often referred to as a 'supergroup' seeing as all 7 members have come from other known (to Canadians) bands and joined together. I personally listened to them cause I knew the main guy, A.C. Newman. Again this song is featured more because I like the band then because I like the song. But that doesn't mean its not good.

3) I Love You Cause I Have To - Dogs Die In Hot Cars
Speaking of names.......Can you get any worse? I realize that by now every 'The *' must have been taken, but some bands don't know what's good for them. However this song makes up for it. It's energetic, up beat and great to yell to..(not that I'd do such a thing) so listen!

4) Neighbourhood #2 (Laika) - Arcade Fire
This band received a lot of hype in the 'learned' music community however they never made big in the real world. While this may be good seeing as for most bands going mainstream means going gay, I still would have thought more people would know them. Perhaps their music is such that only a few people like it. Anyway who cares? This song has always been my favourite of theirs - before I even knew who 'they' were.

5) Wrapped up in Books - Belle & Sebastian
Every so often, a band comes along which I become completely obsessed with. I have an urge to become acquainted with every one of their songs. Maybe not that extreme but I listen to them a lot. Millencolin was one, so too Oasis and most recently (as in last year) it was Belle & Sebastian. I would have to describe their music as heavenly- a pleasure to listen to - well for about half of it - the rest is awful. I could have used "Step into my Office, Baby" but that's rather known plus I couldn't find it. I contemplated using "I'm a Cuckoo" but it was too long and it skips. And so, by destiny it seems, I have used "Wrapped up in Books" one of my many favourite songs.

I no longer see a need to conclude....

This was written November 15, 2005. What? Why?