Samuel Draper Rambles

Favourite songs of 2011 - 06: Owl City - Deer In The Headlights

This was going to be a collection of little mini-essays/writings about my endeavours with musical likes in the calendar year, but alas, I have been very, very awful at these so far. I do apologise. Hopefully I’ll manage to do a few more before I give up entirely…

I’ve loved Owl City ever since I heard Ocean Eyes back in 2009. Fireflies was the UK number #1, but then Owl City did nothing else worthwhile in the UK charts, which was slightly disappointing as it was fun pop at its best. Indeed, follow-up album ‘All Things Bright And Beautiful’ does not match it at all.

That being said, it is filled with great little pop songs again, just not as many as ‘Ocean Eyes’. I love the various flight-related stuff, Galaxies in particular, but also Alligator Sky. I also really adore The Real World, which is very easy to love, and would probably have been my pick for this if it wasn’t for Deer In The Headlights.

Adam Young (Owl City’s main guy) is from Minnesota, which is slightly sad because Deer In The Headlights runs to three minute exactly, has some lovely phrases as per usual with Owl City songs, and is just glorious pop music at its finest moment. I should not have to be telling you about it, you should be telling me that its your guilty pleasure song and that while you should hate it being on your radio all the time, it just is too good not to love.

Alas, somehow, pop music now doesn’t always get the audience it deserves. This song proves that point without me even having to try very hard.

Favourite songs of 2011 - 05: Noah And The Whale - Life Is Life

For me, Noah And The Whale were never a band I really liked, bar ‘Five Years Time’ which is obviously awesome, despite being as quirky as hell. That was until their new record, ‘Last Night On Earth’, which is packed with really good songs for no particular reason. In particular ‘Tonight’s The Kind Of Night’ and ‘Give It All Back’, although remembering ‘The Line’ has just made me rethink my decision…

Nope, I’m going to stick with ‘Life Is Life’ as my pick from the album. It’s a really really good pop song. Catchy as hell. I love the video as well. I love the lyrics as well. It could completely be a soundtrack to someone who wants to escape it all. Noah And The Whale have always been fascinately good with escapism though.

Favourite songs of 2011 - 04: Death Cab For Cutie - You Are A Tourist

I don’t listen to Death Cab For Cutie half as much as I should, which is weird because they make some brilliant tunes. This song, from their new album ‘Codes and Keys’ is exactly the kind of brilliant tune I am talking about. It also appears to be part of a running theme of city-based songs that I’ve liked this year, alongside The City by Patrick Wolf and Lions In Cages by Wolf Gang.

Favourite songs of 2011 - 03: The Music - Ghost Hands

I never really liked The Music (an actual band, this is not a comment on music in general). I thought I liked Breakin’, but it turns out that I just really like the first minute of that song, and the rest is bearable. So when they announced their split, I didn’t really feel anything.

This is their last song, and it is an absolute cracker. The repeated chorus line, ‘We get up, we get out, we make history’ is one of my favourite repeated lines in quite a while. And god knows I love repetition. Definitely a case of bowing out on their highest point for me.

Favourite songs of 2011 - 02: Trust - Anders

I usually hate people who are younger than me, but have more talent than I will ever own. It actually bugs me frequently that the list of things I will never be is longer than the list of things I could theoretically achieve. But there you go.

Earlier in the year, I saw a documentary called ‘Sounds Like Teen Spirit’. It focused on the Junior Eurovision of 2007, and my favourite song in it was ‘Anders’ by Belgian band Trust. They somehow managed to write a rock/pop song that Muse would be proud of. Hell, Queen would be proud of it. It’s in Dutch, but a brilliant song is a brilliant song regardless of language. And yet, these people are teenagers. And not late teens, but mid teens. MID TEENS. With a better song than full grown adults.

To date, it is Belgium’s worst entry in the Junior Eurovision, which seems slightly bizarre given that it’s probably one of the best songs I’ve heard this year, and an obvious choice for my favourite songs list. I don’t know what happened to Trust. In a parallel world, they’re probably the biggest band in the world right now.

Tomorrow is Junior Eurovision 2011, so maybe I’ll hear something then that will blow me away. But maybe, just maybe, this Dutch pop/rock song will outshine anything else by teenagers this year. And probably ever.

Damn teenagers…  

Favourite songs of 2011 - 01: The Alcoholic Faith Mission - Got Love? Got Shellfish!

This is a list of my favourite songs of 2011. They do not necessarily have to be released first in 2011, they just have to have made an impact on me in the calendar year. There might be little essays on why I like the song, or other things about the band/album in question. In general, it’s just something to get me writing every once in a while. I plan one a day between now and the end of the year, but that might not happen.

To start proceedings, here’s a fictional conversation between two people in my head.

“Good evening, bespoke song making service here.”

“Uh, evening. What is this?”

“We make songs according to what people want to hear. Why don’t you give us a try? The first song is free.”

“Thank you very much. Okay then, I want something that sounds like The National.”

“Great!”

“But it can’t be The National.”

“Fuck you! Go on, be more difficult, I dare you.”

“It has to be one of the top ten sexual metaphors of all time.”

“Okay then… Do you require a country of origin?”

“What’s popular?”

“Britain? America? Denmark?”

“Denmark it is! And, make it one of the top five sexual metaphors of all time.”

“Okay, thanks. We’ll see what we can conjour up!”

heaveniminheaven:

You can always tell the glee club’s biggest nemeses by the funky hats they wear.

(via kimmieohkimmie)

editorsargentina:

A fan is carried away by the talent and depth that provides Editors with ‘No Sound But The Wind’ at Rock Werchter 2010 :)