LMAO
Irony thy name is “international woman expert [insert man’s name here]”
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All good stuff from here on out, which makes Johnny a little unlucky.
In 8th place, scoring 8 points, JohnnyTruant with Clementine by Elliott Smith
Good song, very recognisable as Elliott. Not a huge fan of the deliberately lo-fi thing. I know I’m making a lot of comments on the production of songs. I think this is what happens when you listen to like 100 new songs in a row.
You may know that Elliott killed himself. Right? Well, so the story goes. Here’s how it apparently happened:
Smith died on October 21, 2003 at the age of 34 from two stab wounds to the chest. At the time of the stabbing, he was at his Lemoyne Street home in Echo Park, California, where he lived with his girlfriend, Jennifer Chiba. According to Chiba, the two were arguing, and she locked herself in the bathroom to take a shower. Chiba heard him scream and upon opening the door saw Smith standing with a knife in his chest. She pulled the knife out, after which he collapsed and she called 9-1-1 at 12:18 pm. Smith died in the hospital with the time of death listed as 1:36 p.m.
I mean. I feel like I can come up with an alternative story which more straightforwardly fits the facts of “arguing with girlfriend and is then stabbed to death by a knife with girlfriend’s fingerprints on it”. A story that doesn’t involve a guy stabbing himself in the chest, TWICE, hard enough to kill himself.
Since Ben Folds was mentioned earlier ITT, here’s the song he wrote for Elliott after his death:
In 7th place, scoring 9 points, Louis Cyphre with I Don’t Care As Long As You Sing by Beatsteaks
Just a good solid rock song. Hadn’t heard this one before. Don’t have a lot to say about it, but had a good time listening to it.
Need a new line of cans for women: Beat It by Dre.
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In 6th place, scoring 10 points, Goebs80 with Abra Cadaver by The Hives
Also new to me. I liked the verve and energy this brought, that little “aii” or whatever it is vocal sample really holds it together and helps it rock. Wisely keeps it short. Also, while I know I said I’d normally go melancholy for this category, I thought this was a good fit
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TFW you approach a lady with open backs and she pretends she can’t hear you.
In 5th place, scoring 11 points, microbet with How Many More Times by Led Zeppelin
Of Zeppelin’s earlier long songs I think this is one of the more rambling and unfocused and there are a couple points it starts to lose me, but ultimately it still rocks. Closes strong for sure.
In 4th place, scoring 12 points, jalfrezi with Kandy Korn by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
jalfrezi wrote:
Sorry, another Beefheart pick, this one a live in the studio version showcasing the band’s formidable talents. A decade ahead of its time.
(The other Beefheart pick was Blabber n’ Smoke, if anyone has forgotten)
I’m gonna be honest, I still don’t really know what I think about this. It’s freeform psychedelic rock in sort of an improvisational style, with some deeply weird lyrics about… candy corn? (Which if you’re not aware, doesn’t exist outside North America; I’ve never had it). I never worked out whether this was brilliantly weird, obnoxiously weird, indulgent or all three, but I had fun trying to figure it out. It was a trip.
Podium O’Clock
In 3rd place, scoring 13 points, pyatnitski with Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues by Bill Kirchen
As ever imo, Dylan is at its best when not sung by Dylan. Kirchen even imitates Dylan here and does a better job at being Dylan-ish than Dylan himself. I liked the energy of this take on the song. Good song, good band work, good stuff.
In 2nd place, scoring 14 points, Twist with The Boy with the Arab Strap by Belle and Sebastian
This is another one of those songs where I’ve heard it a lot and can’t tell if that’s just me. Definitely a great song anyway. Bonus Belle and Sebastian, my fave song of theirs:
I could have put that in that category about unusual associations with songs, because I’m unable to listen to that song without thinking about how when they say “Rather listen to Thin Lizzy-oh” they play a chord progression mimicking Boys Are Back In Town.
In 1st place, scoring 15 points, Lawnmower_Man with Riding For The Feeling by Bill Callahan
It took me a while to come to terms with the almost spoken-word style of singing in parts of this and to get into the vibe of the song, but once I did, I started really feeling it. I can’t even explain what I like about it, but a bit like Manchester Orchestra - The Silence the other day, it really got under my skin. I like it as a category fit. And also like Manchester Orchestra, on a podium where things could really have gone in any order, this got bumped to the top for being an entirely new artist to me and something I’d never have heard otherwise.
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Sure glad the forum saves drafts of posts, because I wrote that whole thing up on my computer and was about to post it and my machine locked up. Had to grab my phone and post the draft.
I am loath to listen to singer/songwriter stuff but this is the one act I enjoy. Something hypnotic about it.
Who knew coming in 6th could feel so good? What a great fucking game.
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How loud did you listen to it and on what system? If you tell me you listened on your laptop speaker or crap earbuds I’m gonna lose it. I was very explicit, multiple times, that if it’s not ridiculously loud you won’t hear the real song.
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This was my gateway into Bill Callahan:
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Bill Callahan is amazing. He started out as Smog, must be like 20 albums in by now, and is an absolute genius. At least imo, anyway.
Here’s the song that started my own mini obsession with him.
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I do dig that Bill Callahan song. But I don’t see it fitting this category.
But then again you said you were more of a melancholy person when given this category.
Well I guess then it is a good fit
On my (desktop) computer on good quality headphones. I tried it loud. Vocal style is something that matters a lot to me but it’s just idiosyncratic, like I find the singer from Muse annoying but I don’t find Billy Corgan annoying, for instance, and can’t explain why. That’s why I said no metal with death growls - but with death growls I understand the effect they’re going for, and I have no idea what they were going for with the production on your track. Every time I listened I was just like “why did you do this?” and couldn’t get past it.
The Callahan song is mostly what I was talking about when I said songs were growing on me btw, on first listen I had it somewhere in the bottom half, but I just kept liking it more. Wasn’t sure what the reaction would be to it winning so happy to see others liking it too. I was also trying to figure out what I thought about jalfrezi’s submission, that is an ongoing process.
Had to give this some love for making me laugh out loud at 6.30am on a Monday morning. TY 