Februrary playlist

Ah February, you old swine. As much as I have a limited quantity of violent feelings towards this time of year, it always feels as though it is a rather confused month. Everyone seems to recognise January as being the worst month of the 12, despite the fact that some nice things actually happen (my dad's birthday, for example). Because February often feels neither here nor there, I am personally left feeling quite melancholic, for several reasons - first of all it is still freezing cold, furthermore, it is still spine-breakingly freezing cold (I rest my slightly frozen metaphorical case). Therefore, in my frankly "mmmm lists" centred brain, I have taken it upon myself to create a playlist in order to make you feel like you could take on the world (or even go outside for the first time all weekend!) Also, seeing as Andrew VanWyngarden's birthday was yesterday (frontman of MGMT, all round good-egg) there will be a few tracks of theirs rightfully featured.

> Brian Eno // MGMT
It wouldn't be a Sunday playlist without this gem of psychedelic wonder. An ode to the synth master himself, it's quirky and energetic, with a strong beat and the odd twinkling synth to keep your desire for beautiful melodies satisfied for approx 4 minutes 32 seconds (NB: Times depend on the frequency of you replaying the last minute)

> Colours To Life // Temples
Another suitably uplifting and trippy wonder from Kettering golden boys, this track contains enough lo-fi whirring noises and spaced-out moments of glittering guitars that should at least guarantee you'll get out of bed on a Monday morning...

> Get off Of My Cloud // The Rolling Stones
"HEY HEY YOU YOU GET OFF OF MY CLOUD!" enough said.

> Best friend // The Drums
Admittedly, this isn't the most gladdening of songs for a supposedly 'cheery' playlist. Complete with tale of lost friends and a moping Johnny Pierce in full brooding mode, it seems unlikely that it would enliven even the most optimistic soul. However, the music behind the dark lyrics is quite the opposite; a jangly rhythm that pushes the song along with the aid of an angular bass line that somehow makes the emotional wreck that is my mind-set  experience a temporary window of happiness.

> Morning Crumble // Holidays
Gently whirling guitars and a strong bass line with softly delivered lyrics makes you feel like you're on 'holiday' (wow appropriate) and engaging in some romance not to dissimilar to those badly acted out in rom coms. A clear winner for making you want to get up and "do stuff" (#lifelessons).

> Kooks // David Bowie
Reportedly written for his son, 'Kooks' for me, is essentially an ode to childhood belonging and feeling like your parents could do anything and everything for you, until the crushing moment when you realise that they're only human, and they can't hit your ex-boyfriend in the face for you. The score has just the right tempo for a bit of head-bobbing-and-old-man-foot-tapping to occur. "IF YOU STAY WITH US YOU'RE GONNA BE PRETTY KOOKY TOO."

> Your Life Is A Lie // MGMT
It would initially seem that this song is telling you that everything in your life is done with utter distaste, but on closer inspection, it feels like an ode to getting out of a boring life. It's a bit of a self esteem booster, as though you're being told to leave your boring house in a boring street and go and do something half interesting. Deal with it, folks.

> Can't Buy Me Love // The Beatles
What could a supposedly 'happy' playlist be without the 1964 classic?

> Dreamin // Mac DeMarco
Cymbals have managed to make this song so very 60's it seems like the 60's couldn't have created this track. Although it's slow and wandering qualities give it a feeling of desolation at times, it has enough contrasting moments of light to make you feel like a hip New Yorker when you walk around school.

> Ask // The smiths
"SHYNESS CAN STOP YOU FROM DOING ALL THE THINGS IN LIFE YOU'D LIKE TO" Anything I write about this would ruin it for myself and everyone else, it is simply too pretty for human words.

> Surf Bitches // Best Friends
"I WANNA BUILD A PEPPERMINT ISLAND" Lo-Fi vocals and guitar riffs are delivered in the style of FIDLAR, while a stronger driving force behind the music to give it a pacier feel remains. A New favourite.

I hope that some of these songs will help you face February and beyond. What are your favourite tracks for this time of year?

Lots of love, Paige x x x

How important are lyrics?

I'll be honest with you, I was quite stuck for an idea for this week's post. However, inspiration comes from the strangest of places, and this week it happened to come from my A-level French lesson; we had just moved onto the music topic (yay!) and I had to translate a sentence which read, "To me, lyrics are very important." and this got me thinking - how important are lyrics in a song? Does the quality (or lack) of the lyrics affect the quality of the song?

This is debatable. Of course, a song with profound, provocative lyrics is one which I will listen to over and over again simply to attempt to decipher what the artist was trying to say when he/she wrote it - but if the actual song wasn't of a high quality, I wouldn't be very likely to listen to it just for the pleasure of listening, for example whilst dancing about in my bedroom.

On the other hand, if the lyrics in a song don't mean anything ("The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed" being a prime example), it just feels like the artist doesn't care. Music is an art form, and art should always have a meaning. I find I feel more connected to an artist who channels their emotions, their feelings and their experiences, into the music they create.

I can think of one exception: I Am The Walrus by The Beatles. The lyrics make little or no sense; words thrown together for the sake of it. I heard somewhere that it was a backlash at the hundreds of music 'experts' trying to decode the lyrics in The Beatles' songs and making up nonsense that the band had never intended them to mean. In retaliation they decided to create lyrics that no-one could decipher because they didn't mean anything. 

As far as I'm concerned, the importance of the quality of the lyrics in a song is secondary to the importance of the quality of the melody, the riffs, the dance-ability. It does annoy me when artists get massive success from something which they haven't put any feelings into, yet not all of my favourite bands have outstanding lyricists, and I continue to listen to them because I thoroughly enjoy their music. Sometimes I'll sing along loudly to an album without even thinking about what the words mean anyway - basically, if the music is good, then good lyrics are just a bonus. Written by Molly McGrath.

Murder ballads: 10 fantastic songs about homicide

Murder is something portrayed very frequently in the arts, although probably in literature more often than any of the others. So as you’d imagine, a multitude of artists (generally angst-fuelled alternative rock bands) have written songs about killing and slaying and a whole manner of that sort of thing. For this week’s post, I’ve picked out my favourite songs about the unlawful killing of a person.

Sonic Youth sung about controversial themes regularly in their music.

The Curse of Millhaven – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

A large amount of Nick Cave’s work documents homicide and the like. In fact, the Aussie once released an album on the topic- 1996’s Murder Ballads. The Curse of Millhaven is Cave’s 7 minute long account of the tale of Loretta- a fourteen year old serial killer living in Millhaven, who kills the rich men, the poor men and even the professor’s terrier. Often cited as one of Cave’s finest and most sadistic tracks, The Curse Of Millhaven is a fast paced, yet slightly catchy ballad that cannot be overlooked by anyone.

The sleeve for Death Valley 69

Death Valley ’69 – Sonic Youth

Thurston Moore is a man of many interesting interests and fascinating fascinations, one of which being Charles Manson, and the Manson family. In Sonic Youth’s ’85 debut single, Moore writes about the Manson family’s brutal murder of Sharon Tate, wife of Roman Polanski. As well as Moore’s vicious snarls, the song features Lydia Lunch on backing vocals, whose blood curdling hollering creates a really sinister atmosphere. Although Death Valley ’69 is primitive compared to the group’s later work, it’s a must hear for anyone.

Sister Ray – The Velvet Underground

Although the earlier two songs are an account of unlawful death, the Velvets’ Sister Ray is a stunning depiction of the aftermath of a murder. Lou Reed once described Sister Ray as a story set at a New York house which stars eight different characters. In this, someone is murdered and no one does anything about it because everyone is off their face on smack and/or crack. The song is completely improvised and goes on for a visceral seventeen minutes- each second very necessary.

Rusholme Ruffians - The Smiths
The Smiths have never been afraid to sing about the darker aspects of miserable Manchester, and Rusholme Ruffians. This song is about a stabbing at a county fayre, according to Moz "only adds to the excitement". It's best heard on the Rank live LP, where it's featured in a medley with a cover of Presley's His Latest Flame. The song is also notable for Rourke's fantastic bassline, and Marr's country-inspired guitar playing. Definitely the highlight of the band's second album, Meat Is Murder.

The original artwork for Headache EP; it was swiftly replaced

Grinder – Big Black

Big Black, like Nick Cave, have written a large amount of songs about murder and other aspects of the darker side of American culture (listen to Jordan, Minnesota for more of that), so choosing a Big Black murder ballad was a bit of a toughie. In the end I went for Grinder, from the EP Headache (the EP itself has a mug shot of a shotgun suicide victim as its cover art, post-shooting). In Grinder, the character portrayed by Steve Albini’s snarling vocal is the murderer. Someone takes Albini’s tools, but fails to take his trusty grinder; this causes the murderer to pursue and kill the foolish thief in one of industrial-rock’s greatest songs. Elsewhere on the Headache EP, there are even more songs of a similar ilk, namely the brutal opener, My Disco; a song about a surgeon stamping his new-born to death. Genius.

Somebody Got Murdered – The Clash

An obvious choice, of course, but Somebody Got Murdered is one of the more overlooked Clash songs. Sandinista! was snuffed at by a large percentage of the music press upon release, because apparently 36 is a few too many songs for an album. Even though that might be slightly true, Sandanista! has some absolute crackers on it, namely Shepherd’s Delight, the Magnificent Seven and Somebody Got Murdered. Strummer wrote the latterly mentioned Somebody Got Murdered in disgust, after seeing the victim of a shooting’s carcass gracing the floor of a London car park. Strummer’s lyrics are incredibly powerful; especially “somebody’s dead forever” which once more proves his prowess as a songwriter. 

Maxwell’s Silver Hammer – The Beatles

Now, I’ll be the first person to admit that I’m not a huge fan of the Beatles. However, they did write some fantastic songs, and release some amazing albums. One of those fantastic songs is Maxwell’s Silver Hammer from the amazing Abbey Road. There is some debate over whether the silver hammer of Maxwell is about an actual murder, but personally I believe it is. Some say that it’s about sex, or drugs, or something of a similar ilk. But I believe that the incident in the song alludes to the murder of Joe Orton, the English playwright, who was beaten to death by his (male) lover with nine hammer blows to the head, which is quite the contrast to the upbeat sound of the song, don’t you think?

Let’s Lynch The Landlord – The Dead Kennedys

We’ve already had a song by the greatest punk band of all time on the countdown (The Clash), but the murder mixtape wouldn’t be complete without a song from the greatest post punk band of all time, would it? Let’s Lynch The Landlord is a track from the Dead Kennedys stunning debut album Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables which is much more humorous in joking about the homicide of Biafra’s bastard landlord than the aforementioned songs. Jello Biafra and co, with this song, have written another song about defying those that exploit the proletariats in the most extreme ways, and I have to say, it’s very catchy. Probably more catchy than it should be anyhow.

Liddle Towers

The Murder of Liddle Towers – Angelic Upstarts

In the late seventies, punk bands were popping up here there and everywhere. This was especially the case in London, as the city yielded the Clash, Sham 69 and of course the Angelic Upstarts. The Murder of Liddle Towers is a song based on; you guessed it, the murder of Liddle Towers. Liddle Towers was an amateur boxing coach murdered under police custody the year before AU’s conception.

Wave of Mutilation – Pixies

The Pixies song that lends itself to the name of their greatest hits is also, arguably, the closest thing they ever wrote to a murder ballad. The song is, probably, about a phenomenon in Japan where businessmen would drive their cars into the sea, with their families present. Despite this, it sounds every bit as serene as Where is my Mind? and lacks the ferocity of any of the work that Pixies released prior to Doolittle.

That concludes my somewhat gruesome post, which I probably should have made at Halloween or something, but I thought it might be of some sort of interest to a few people. Also it’s something I’ve wanted to do ever since I joined FIBLAR. Anyway, please post anything I’ve missed out in the comments, because I’d be really interested to hear from everyone else.

(written by Calum Cashin)