Category: rock

Alternative Rock as a category

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Apropos nothing, is ‘Alternative Rock’ far too watered down and worn out to be an effective way of describing any particular music style? I mean, if you’re talking about something like ‘Speed Metal,’ images of long hair, tight costumes, and lengthy guitar solos brimming with unearthly arpeggio and glissando fill your head.

Maybe it’s just that I haven’t been paying attention, but alt rock just doesn’t resonate with me the same way. It’s not as easy to visualize. Is it Beck? Chumbawamba? The New Pornographers? And what, exactly, is it an alternative to? Somehow it seems to get itself tangled in ‘college,’ but I don’t get that association either. Anyway, I don’t feel that any of those three examples wouldn’t be better described (both by intentional double-negative use and) by something like ‘Electro Rock.’ And when it comes down to it, I suspect my brother and I skew things far more towards being an electro rock blog than an alternative rock blog.

Orchestral Movments in the Dark – Bloc Bloc Bloc (Crush, 1985)

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I really like this song. And one of th things that I like a lot about it, is I have nearly no idea what it’s about. Okay, that not totally true. I mean, as far as I can tell, it’s mostly just a bunch of verses about what this guy wants to do. Shall we get into it then?

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It starts off with a solid bass line, a little bit of reverb-y guitar, and hand claps. Also a little bit of synth on the top, and some shaker. Then, the first verse. Now before I get into the lyrics of the first verse, one of the things that I really like about this song is that there ISNT a chorus, it’s really just the verse part repeated over, separated by a little bridge part.

I want to go up to Detroit
I want to lie in the shade
I want to visit the president
And then I want to get laid

Then, right on cue and perfectly timed, enter the drums!

I want to go down to Memphis
I want to talk to the king
I want to tell him we’re sorry
And it won’t happen again

What does that mean? Is he going to tell Elvis that… he’s sorry that he died maybe? I have no idea, but it’s a really cool line regardless. A little bit of lead synth, and then back to the verses. Notice, we’ve also added an acoustic guitar strum to the beginning of each phrase. And, possibly my favorite part, the amazing call and response singing.

I’ve got a photo of James Joyce
It’s a photo by Man Roy
It’s not very very much like him
But it’s not for me to say

Who’s Man Roy? That’s what I want to know. I used to think he was saying “memory” A quick jump on on wikipedia reveals… Nothing! Who is this mysterious Man Roy? Why did he take a photo of Jame Joyce? We may never know! But on to the next verse.

She sacrifices her body
Almost every night
Just like a lamb to the slaughter
And she thinks it makes him feel right

Bridge, then lead synth, with the addition of some little saxophone hits.

You gave me so many problems
You made me crash in my car
I’ll have a martini cocktail
And then we’ll see where we are

So just be nice to your brother
I’ll take your sister to bed
And I can bloc bloc bloc till the weekend
But you’d better come back soon

“I take your sister to bed!” Ahhhhh. So great! What exactly does bloc bloc bloc, mean? Once again, I have no idea. I really think it’s a song in the Bob Dylan style. Verses that are really just cryptic descriptions of things, instead of being a coherent story line. But instead of being kitschy, it’s well implemented. And kinda silly. But good. I would strongly suggest checking out the rest of this album, as it is similarly good.

-James Out

The Incredible Machine – Will We? (The Incredible Machine, 2009)

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The final in my Incredible Machine triad. I’m really tempted to keep on doing songs by them until Matt starts to get annoyed with me, and kicks me off. But unfortunatly there are so many good songs, and so little time. Anyway, Will We?

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We start off with a killer banjo lick, and bass guitar, and jump right into it.

I’m going to write the song that breaks your heart today.
Trade pretty tears for pretty chords,
Leave you standin’
with nothing left to say.

Like a lemon, so bitter and sweet
Just desserts are not a fun dish to eat

“Like Lemon, so bitter and so sweet” Recalls the famous folk standard “Lemon Tree” And then “Just desserts are not so fun to eat” Just ties it together amazingly well. We move next to the chorus, which contains a bit of snare percussion (accenting the beat) and some backing vocals.

‘Cause I’m trying to see
What exactly it is you want from me
I guess we’ll never know
Will we?

The next verse is just more of the same goodness.

This is the hardest part I have to do today.
When I tell myself I never cared and
just imagine
this all away.

If this is a game then you’ve sure got me beat
Staring awkwardly down at my own feet

Oh no! Our scorned angry narrator is not possibly as scorned or angry as he would like to be. He’s torn between wanting revenge for a broken heart, and still having feelings for the person. I’d especially like to point out “If this is a game then you’ve sure got me beat”  Next chorus is same as the last. The last Verse is most certainly my favorite. It goes on as usual, then during the list of things, we get this cool breakdown part. Complete with hand claps and tambourine.

I’m going to write that song that breaks your heart today
Trade pretty tears for pretty chords,
Notes that shake you to the core
Let’s see what I’ve got to say:

She’s the one gives me the blues
Her tiny toes In dancin’ shoes
With hair that’s like a summer breeze
a picnic under Autumn trees
I lost the game I’d like to play
I’m feeling so alone today
I’m feeling so alone today

We end with another chorus (tambourine included) and a nice little ending bit. All in all, a fantastic song. Lots of really good descriptive lyrics at the end, combined with a simple poppy sound, makes this one a real winner in my mind.

-James Out

Belle and Sebastian – Family Tree (Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant, 2000)

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It’s a wonder to me that I’ve gone such a long time posting on this blog, without doing a Belle and Sebastian song. Especially since they are possibly one of the greatest bands of all time. And it’s also kinda interesting to me, that the first song (I assure you that I’ll be posting on their other stuff too) that I’m doing is coming off a semi-obscure album, that not a lot of people know. Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant, was released in between The Boy with the Arab Strap, and Dear Catastrophe Waitress, and was not very very well received. Understandably, coming off the heels of The Boy with the Arab Strap, it would be a tall order top that album. One of the reasons that I like this album in particular is because it features a lot of the band on vocals, that don’t normally get lead singing roles. But enough exposition on the history, let’s move on to the actual song it’s self.

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We start off with a little guitar intro, a drum intro into the verse. I’d like to take this moment to point out that this song is sung by Isobel Campbell, who’s vocals can be previously heard on “Is it Wicked not to Care” Off of their album, Tigermilk. Anyway, the first verse contains possibly some of my favorite lyrics in all of their songs. I think you’ll see why.

Ive been feeling down
Ive been looking round the town
For somebody just like me
But the only ones I see
Are the dummies in the window
They spend their money on clothes
It saddens me to think
That the only ones I see are mannequins
Looking stupid, being used and being thin
And I dont know why I hang around with them

The way they act, Id rather be fat than be confused
The way they act, Id rather be fat than be confused
Than be me in a cage
With a bottle of rage
And a family like the mafia

Okay. So first of all, comparing shallow friends to mannequins? Totally genius. But also, “The way they act, I’d rather be fat, then be confused” Has got to be one of the greatest lines of all time. There’s a bit of tasteful vocalization, some nice backing piano and flute, and then the next verse.

Ive been feeling blue
And I dont know what to do
And I never get a thrill
And they threw me out of school
cause I swore at all the teachers
Because they never teach us
A thing I want to know
We do chemistry, biology and maths
I want poetry and music and some laughs
And I dont think its an awful lot to ask

So wont you please get up off your knees, and let me go
So wont you please get up off your knees, and let me go
Cause Im here in a cage
With a bottle of rage
And a family like the mafia

That perfectly describes my feelings about school “I want poetry and music, and some laughs” The next section could be described as the bridge I suppose, but it’s a bunch or repetitive phrases. Note the addition of a little trumpet part, that, like the flute, just hovers over the melody.

If my family tree goes back to the romans
Then I will change my name to jones
If my family tree goes back to napolean
Then I will change my name to smith
If my family tree goes back to the romans
Then I will change my name to jones
If youre looking at me to be an accountant
Then you will look but you will never see
If youre looking at me to start having babies
Then you can wish because Im not here to fool around
You can wish because Im not here to fool around
You can wish because Im not here to fool around

Pretty great song, if you ask me. I really like Belle and Sebastian’s ability to not only craft really cool sounding lyrics, but create really beautiful instrumentation. If you’ve never really given them a serious listen, I’d strongly encourage you too. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

-James out

Men Without Hats – Hey Man (The Adventures of Women and Men Without Hate in the 21st Century, 1989)

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Many people know Men Without Hats for their very popular hit single, Safety Dance. And, unfortunately, like so many great 80′s synth-rock groups, it’s pretty much overshadowed their whole career. They’ve released a total of 8 albums all together, (the latest and final being No Hats Beyond this Point, released in 2003) and all of them are great.  Also, they’re lead singer, Ivan Doroschuk, as a cool singing voice, I think.

I picked this song because I think it’s really great. The Lyrics are kinda goofy, but the guitar part is really cool, and it’s all around just pretty good. So, shall we?

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We start out with a sinple drum part, and little rock-a-billy guitar part.

Somebody told me to live is a lie
But I know better got a woman inside
Tells me things that I should understand
‘Cause I know better even though I’m a man
So many things go in so many ways
Every single moment like a judgement day
Thank goodness things are gettin better for sure
I got the message
Love is the cure
Uh Huh
Oooh Yeah

Okay. I’m not realllly sure what that means. Except for that love is the answer to everything. The guitar and drums stay constant for the second verse, with the addition of a little backing guitar, accenting the chords.

Now I ain’t stupid but I can’t understand
Why so many things are gettin so out of hand
Think we should wonder what the problem could be?
All the world over sing “I wanna be free”
Don’t really matter what you think of me now
‘Cause I got the message
The message is wow
Got everything, got nothing to hide

I got.. What?
I got a woman inside
Uh Huh
Oooh Yeah

Did you catch that? A little reference to they’re song I got the Message. Next we get into the chorus. We’re joined by our friends the soulful backing singers, an organ, and a little synth trumpet.

I said, hey men.
Quit knocking your children ’round
I say, hey-hey men.
Quit mowin your women down
‘Cause it’s all in the way
That you look at who you are
So hey hey men
Quit looking so far
Oooh Yeah

A little bit of social commentary there, about abusing your children, and girlfriends. The song stays pretty similar, and moves into the third verse.

Land of the free is a poor alibi
I learned my lesson when I learned how to fly
Sounds so silly but I think its the truth
I got the message
The message is you
Somebody told me that we live in a dream
Sounds like something that you hear on T.V.
Got everything even though I’m a guy
Feels so good
I got a woman inside
Uh Huh
Oooh Yeah

Hmmmm. Is that more social commentary? “Land of the free is a poor alibi” Like… people use it to justify they’re actions? Also, “Somebody said that we live in a dream, sounds like something you’d hear on TV” is a pretty good lyric. From here on out the song pretty much continues on as normal. There’s a little bridge part that features come cool orchestral hits, and guitar and organ solos.

I’d really encourage people to look past Safety Dance, and check out their whole discography. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

The Decemeberists – The Hazards of Love, 2009

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My next project is going to be an ambitious one, to be sure. But I think it’ll pay off. The Decemberists have known for writing amazingly good songs, all of which usually tell a story of some sort. With the realease of The Craine Wife, we saw them move closer to a concept album. And finally, with the release of The Hazards of Love, they’ve done it. So what is my task, you might ask? I’m going to go through each song, track by track, and try and figure out: 1) How many story lines there actually are, and 2) How they are arranged cronologically, acording to the stories. Ambitious and Daunting, but ultimatly, will pay off. I’m going to try and fit it all into one giant post, but it might need to be broken up. We’ll see. Also, I’ll be focusing mostly on lyrical content, and very little on the actual musical side of things.

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I’ve started off by rolling the prelude and second track (hazards of love 1) all into one, through the magic of FL Studio. Since it’s goning to save us a lot of space, I’m just going to link you to the lyrics, and we’ll talk about them in dept.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-hazards-of-love-1-lyrics-decemberists.html

So the album starts off with the singer’s true love riding out, and coming upon a a wounded fawn. She, being full of charity, tries to set the fawn’s legs. But then, the taiga starts to change, and so does the fawn. This next verse is the one that is kinda vague and confusing. We find out that the subject of the song is Margeret (a major player in this story), and that she makes love to the fawn (hopefully in a human shape, although, once again, it’s not really clear on this point)

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/a-bower-scene-lyrics-decemberists.html

So later, I’m going to guess a good 7 or 8 months, Margeret is being chastized by her sister. And  she’s actually starting to show that she’s preggers. So she returns to the taiga, to find her lover.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/wont-want-for-love-lyrics-decemberists.html

This one is pretty simple. Margeret is setting out to find her love, in the taiga.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-hazards-of-love-2-lyrics-decemberists.html

This one is a bit vauge too. But I’m going to go ahead and guess that this is Margeret’s lover (who is still unnamed, and, as mentioned in the first song, used to be a fawn) who’s waiting for her, in the taiga (I’m really milking that word for all it’s worth)

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/isnt-it-a-lovely-night-lyrics-decemberists.html

The next song, The Queen’s Approach, is an instruamental, so I’ll roll it into the next one, Isn’t it a Lovely night.

Once again, I think this is about Margeret and her lover. Pretty simple song.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-wanting-comes-in-waves-lyrics-decemberists.html

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This one is one of my more favorite ones. Once again, there is very little naming, in this story, but I think that it’s a conversation between Margeret’s lover, and his mother (who’s called The Queen). So basically he’s trying to convince her to let him go and see Margeret. And then she’s trying to guilt trip him into not going. Finally she agrees to let him go, if he promises to come back at dawn, and then give his life to her.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-rakes-song-lyrics-decemberists.html

The next part is a little musical interlude, and then The Rake’s Song. The Rake’s song is a fairly innocolated song (as far as I can tell) because it has no bearing on the rest of the story line. It’s only mentioned again, in a later song, in a reprise. But We’ll get to that later. It’s about this guy that get’s married to a rich woman. Then when she starts having babies, he becomes dissilutioned with the idea. She dies in child birth, and not wanting to deal with the kids, he kills them off in various fashions.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-abduction-of-margaret-lyrics-decemberists.html

For some reason or annother, Margeret gets captured, and her captor has to now cross the river.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-queens-rebuke-lyrics-decemberists.html

Now we find that it’s by the Queen’s command that Margeret has been captured. This song is adressed to Margeret’s captor, sung by the Queen. We learn that it was through the Queen’s power that Margeret’s lover is changed into a fawn, durning the day time.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/annan-water-lyrics-decemberists.html

This one is also a bit tricky. It could be about a few things. It, once again, could be totally isolated from the main story line. Or, it could be sung by Margeret’s captor, who, is crossing the sea, with Margeret in tow, on the Queen’s request.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/margaret-in-captivity-lyrics-decemberists.html

This one is a bit more stright forward. It’s sung by Margeret’s captor. Margeret calls out to her love, but it seems to be in vain.

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http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-hazards-of-love-3-lyrics-decemberists.html

This is a reprise of The Rake’s Song, sung from the point of veiw of his children.

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The Next one, is simply a reprise of The Wanting Comes in Waves

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.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-hazards-of-love-4-lyrics-decemberists.html

Once again, this one throws me for a loop. Obviously it’s about Margeret, who’s on the ocean, if you remember. But last time that I checked, she was with her captor. Maybe, he’s really in love with her. And that’s why he complied with the Queen’s request? And so, as the ship is going down, he finally confesses is love for her.

PHEW. And there you have it folks. A comprihensive interpertation of the story. Any comments or suggestions are very much welcome.

-James Out

Antonio Bandaris feat. Madonna – Oh! What a Circus (Evita: Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1994)

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I know this is going to be a bit of a non-sequitor. Especially when you look at the other songs we’ve been talking about. It comes from the soundtrack to the movie version of Evita, a musical written by Tim Rice and Andrew Llyod Webber, based on the life of Eva Peron

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This song is an intro to the musical, sung by the character Che, who is played by Antonio Banderas (who’s arguably the spirit of Che Guevara). Anyway, we start out pretty simple with a little Spanish guitar lick, and get right into the song.

Oh what a circus, oh what a show
Argentina has gone to town
Over the death of an actress called Eva Peron
We’ve all gone crazy
Mourning all day and mourning all night
Falling over ourselves to get all of the misery right

Oh what an exit, that’s how to go
When they’re ringing your curtain down
Demand to be buried like Eva Peron
It’s quite a sunset
And good for the country in a roundabout way
We’ve made the front page of all the world’s papers today

“We’ve all gone crazy, mourning all day and mourning all night, falling over ourselves to get all of the misery right” Is a really great line. It sets the sort of cynical tone that Che exhibits through out the song. It picks up a little bit, adding maybe… a harp in the background, and we move back into the verse.

But who is this Santa Evita?
Why all this howling, hysterical sorrow?
What kind of goddess has lived among us?
How will we ever get by without her?

We start to pick up instrumentation here, with the addition of some more percussion, and a string section.

She had her moments, she had some style
The best show in town was the crowd
Outside the Casa Rosada crying, “Eva Peron”
But that’s all gone now
As soon as the smoke from the funeral clears
We’re all gonna see and how, she did nothing for years

Once again it reinforces the cynical attitude of Che. Then the chorus, which is all in Latin (sung by the crowd) and based on a real chant called “Salve regina” You can look it up if you want, but I’m guessing, unless you’re very well educated, you’ll have no idea what it says. So I’ll just omit those lyrics. Then, another verse.

You let down your people Evita
You were supposed to have been immortal
That’s all they wanted, not much to ask for
But in the end you could not deliver

A timpani roll and then Bang! We’re thrown in to the awesome rock-ballad section of the song. Abandoning Spanish guitars for electric, the addition of some rockin piano, and ethnic percussion, for a trap set.

Sing you fools, but you got it wrong
Enjoy your prayers because you haven’t got long
Your queen is dead, your king is through
And she’s not coming back to you

Show business kept us all alive
Since seventeen October 1945
But the star has gone, the glamour’s worn thin
That’s a pretty bad state for a state to be in

(Notice in the background of this section, the wailing guitar that accents the other electric)

Instead of government we had a stage
Instead of ideas, a prima donna’s rage
Instead of help we were given a crowd
She didn’t say much, but she said it loud

Sing you fools, but you got it wrong
Enjoy your prayers because you haven’t got long
Your queen is dead, your king is through
She’s not coming back to you

Then, suddenly, we go back to the chorus, in Latin. And with lush sweeping strings that reprise the melody, we are taken into Eva’s section.

Don’t cry for me Argentina
For I am ordinary, unimportant
And undeserving of such attention
Unless we all are, I think we all are
So share my glory, so share my coffin
So share my glory, so share my coffin

And as the song fades out, we’re left with Che’s final words:

It’s our funeral too

Over all, I pretty much love this song. Antonio Banderas does a wonderful job singing. I’ve actually, never seen the actual movie. But I’ve listened to the Soundtrack plenty of times, and enjoyed it quite a lot. I’d recommend it to anyone that likes musicals.

And, so, in parting, I’d like to attach a youtube video to the song, so you can actually see Antonio in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S39iFdZEiDA&feature=channel

-James out

Passion Pit – Better Things (2008, Chunk of Change)

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Sorry it’s taken me so long to get around to this other post. So this is my favorite song off of the Passion Pit EP, Chunk of Change, that was mentioned in the previous post.

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I think you’ll notice right off, that this song is a little bit more… low-fi, shall we say. Not as polished as Little Secrets. It starts out with a strange little voice clip and we are taken right into the song. Syth guitar and pads back up the song, as we get the chorus

you’re gonna drive me crazy
you’re gonna drive me mad
you got an angel on your shoulder
makin hairpins outta glass

The backing track drops back a little, there’s a cool little breakdown, then we get the verse.

i believe in believing
the things that we don’t see
and the skin violin is where the neighbors wont read meals
and the family heirloom jewelery
with sets and heaps of thieves
will cast down things
that you’ve never even seen

Suddenly the song starts building in intensity, adding a little bit of harpsichord in the background. Keep an ear out for the doubled ‘oh no’ in this part too.

ike the gods
like the glory like the stories
that your fathers set before you
ride the tiger round the kingdom
oh no (oh no)
oh no there’s a meeting in the canyons
oh no! (oh no) this is rising to the clouds

Very nicely exicuted Passion Pit. I can just imagine them members punching the air at every “oh no!” I know that I do. The chorus comes back with a little bit of electric guitar to accent it, and move directly into the next verse.

i’m shooting off the cannons
of the clouds begin to flow
and the baskets weave with your mother’s teeth but the ones we’ll never keep
just pretend that things are mobile and will never stay put
and the way we were the day we climbed to the top of the
steeple with its people spewing angels out their mouths and letting tables turn to charcoal in the lipstick and the lipstick in the evening(oh no)
oh no we were waving like the trees
oh no then they moved us to the sky

I really only take time to show you all of the lyrics, because I think they are really genious, and again, kinda easy to miss, if you don’t actually look at them. Anyway, on to the bridge. We get a little zilaphone part, and the drums back off a bit.

two or three times the bell will ring but when when we look for the better things we search for this we have not build i feel it crash upon your skin

The the drums start to come back in, and we get building hand claps,

i find it hard to believe there more
of these things behind the door
do you miss me like i miss you
do i miss you like you miss me

Then we’re thrown back into the chorus and secondary chorus for a few more times. Then it kinda fades away with a little organ part and wailing guitar.

All in all I think this is a fantastic song. It’s upbeat happy feeling, plus good us of synth, and shouting chorus parts, combined with really cool lyrics, makes it a definite winner. Anyone who enjoyed this one, I encourage you to check out the EP, and their album too (Manners)

-James out

Passion Pit – Little Secrets (Manners, 2009)

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I still have mixed feelings about  Passion Pit’s album, versus their EP (Chunk of Change). So in an attempt to better explain my conundrum, I thought that I’d post my favorite song off of each, and let you, the readers, decide.

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The first thing you’ll notice as we start off is a upbeat little 80′s intro synth line. Then, as the lyrics start, we get powerful drums, and a little higher synth part. Some pretty cool lyrics, if not a bit cryptic.

When I came down the sun poured into me
I shook em up, the walls came crumbling
my fists kept trembling with these salty wounds
my stolen gold inside the emperors tomb
now baby wait looks like a lovely face
I built this cardboard neighborhoods disgrace
who let it said that you’re my favorite sphere
within the confines of such chemistry

So…. yeah. I’m not really really sure what that all means. But like I said, cool and cryptic. I especially like “I built this cardboard neighborhood in disgrace” and “My fists keep trembling with these salty wounds” But just hold on, my favorite part is coming up. The chorus! Complete with Matt’s favorite musical device. Little children singing!

Let this be our little secret
no one needs to know were feeling
higher and higher and higher
But I feel alive and I feel it in me
up and up I keep on climbing
higher and higher and higher

God. This song really gets better and better as we go. Okay, so now there’s this really nicely exicuted drum break. Syncopated rhythm, if I’m not mistaken, and we get right back into the next verse. Which happens to contain my favorite lyric in this whole song.

My face blew up at such a casual sight
this miracle is of ecstatic fright
they’ll rush above me to oblivion
outlining white sidewalks with halogen

Oh have you ever felt so goddamn strong
how come it takes some people so damn long
he tried to squeeze the lemon juice to rain
the citrus drawing out the seasons stains

“My face blew up at such a causal sight” Holy Fucking Shit. I don’t know if I have the words to tell you how amazing that is. Also, “He tried to squeeze the lemon juice to rain, the citrus drawing out the season’s stains” Is really really good. Then the bridge, gives us some more amazing lyrics.

Watch the basin drain
as your life lines wane
and you cant explain
as your friends complain

You’ve caused all this pain
and you proudly shame
your whole families name

Wait, did they actually say “as your life lines wane?” The answer is yes. Yes they did. And let me tell you, anyone who can use the word ‘wane’ in a song this cool, get’s like… a hundred golden stars from me. We return to the chorus, and that’s about the gist of it.

So lets reveiw what makes this an awesome song:

  1. Really good 80′s style synthesizer parts
  2. Interesting and cryptic lyrics
  3. Intense drum break that leads into the second verse
  4. Well placed use of the word ‘wane’
  5. Children’s choir backing vocals on the chorus.
I think that’s about it. I encourage you to investigate the rest of this album, Manners, as it is very good. Also, stay tuned for the next post about the song off of their EP, Better Things.
-James Out