and the way i feel tonight i could die and i wouldnt mind

It was back in my first year of college that I discovered one of the best things that ever happened to me, and as such things go for me I was not even looking for it. My classmates and I happily highjacked one of those computer rooms one day inbetween lessons, and I grabbed the console usually reserved for the teacher. Propping my feet up on the table I logged on to the net, tuned into accuradio, and left it on the Brit Rock channel.

A peculiar song came on that at once reminded me very much of New Order, ( another brit post-punk band I was starting to put into heavy rotation then) a pumping and snarling celebration of dissonance in sound that seemed both joyously lightbeat yet somehow laced with a bit of visceral melancholy at the same time. It was not until after I looked the Jesus And Mary Chain up on Amazon and a visit to HMV that I found out that they specialized in two kinds of sound, one all revved up and charging like in the one I just heard and the other fuzzy droning guitar distortion.

It is this ability to meld both together, in an atmospheric and darkly poppy (?) way, that make them high on my list of favourite bands.

The Jesus And Mary Chain - Head On

an unofficial site, but is a good place to start..

Jamc's best of, " 21 Singles", does not wear out upon repeated listens but instead, like good things in life ( mm grape juice) turn out something new and interesting you never noticed before the more you listen to them.

i never really wanted your heart

Swathes of folk and psyschedelia cloaked in Hope Sandoval's trademark hypnotic vocals make for very good listening on rainy days and late nights. Her calm and understated singing set off against rambling distortions in the backgroundhere make for a song that manages just a right balance between a sense of capitivating ennui and delicate adult cynicism.

Though ' Blue Flower' is not one of Mazzy Star's more recognizable hits like ' Fade Into You' and 'Flowers In December', I find that this song exemplifies well a certain kind of sound that if I ever were in a band, would like to make. The noisy Velvet Undergroundish backscape by guitarist David Roback is already amazing enough, but it is Sandoval's singing and presence that is so utterly unique. Like eyes that seem to draw you in the more you look into them, she communicates more than what the plaintive folksy lyrics do with every nuance and inflection in her breathy and husky voice. Hope remains one of my favourite vocalists, for listening to her
never tires.

Look around for their other songs if you find you like what you hear. ' Blue Flower' is a fine example of Mazzy Star's earlier playful and noisy workouts, but the band's mellower and slower songs like ' Into Dust' demonstrates that they are very much capable too of music that make a virtue out of simplicity.

Something many look for, but few actually pull off. But when they do, it's beautiful.

Mazzy Star - Blue Flower

it's not official, but it's very well made. Look here if you want info, lyrics, chords and such.

The quality of the video is not very good, but here's another of Mazzy Star's that shows a different folksier side of the band. A better sounding version of the song is on radioblog just up there.

Mazzy Star - I've Been Let Down

It is not just her voice but the way she holds herself actually, and yep, that's a harmonica attractively played by a very attractive lady.

The popular alternative

Death Cab for Cutie provides a simple solution for the some of us who are frequently caught between the simplistic likes of popular music and the overwhelmingly anarchic nature of garage-born alternative tracks. Indeed, by weaving captivating (and occasionally haunting) tunes into song structures that go beyond the pre-chorus--chorus build so often seen in popular music, and presenting the resultant music with some very soulful notes on the instruments, the band, like Coldplay, has won its support from both the masses and the avant-garde.

In choosing which songs to put up here I have noticed there is no way I can give the reader a valid account of what Death Cab for Cutie is all about. They have come a long way since Ben Gibbard first started out alone, and the ground the band has covered between You Can Play These Songs with Chords and Plans, their latest album, is commendable and indicative of their willingness to experiment (and that is the ingredient that keeps alternative music alive, no?). That being said, “Brothers on a Hotel Bed” and “Death of an Interior Designer”, two of my personal favourites, remain shining examples of what it feels to pass through torpid days singing and fading to the rhythms of pleasant melancholy. Enjoy.

Note: More alternative tracks can be found in their earlier albums. Any song—and I really do mean any song--from the albums The Photo Album and Transatlanticism is good, and the song Transatlanticism itself is extremely potent when you’re down in your bed wishing you could be out there somewhere in space.

Note too that I am not Zhanhui.

Death Cab For Cutie - Brothers On A Hotel Bed

Death Cab For Cutie - Death Of An Interior Decorator

a happy ending or a broken heart

Songs dealing with rabid indecision and wavering vacillations do not often come off quite as spazzy and freewheeling as this. Precise chiming vocals and an oddly cheerful bassline square off against evocative songwriting, somehow turning into a rambunctious ode to hesitation and realtionships of the could-have-been kind that is actually quite fun to listen to.

I guess I have a thing for songs which lace otherwise depressive issues with a tinge of quirky cheerfulness. It is as if they have a life of their own, little worlds of freewheeling courage that tumble along a backdrop of red skies and craggy rocks. Bouncing along taking each bump as an excuse to create a kickass tune, happily dashing the expectations of those around that stand by and eye suspiciously. naa nana naaa..

The Futureheads - Skip To The End

where you can listen to their archive of earlier songs on video:

The Futureheads somewhat remind me of The Proclaimers. The video even more so.

summer is only winter with you

Obscure lyrics, creative acoustics, delicate song structures.. the typical marks of ' indie' bands are all here in these two songs. But the package does not often come better than this.

What separates these from the rest of the ( admittedly formuliac) pack is Pinback's abilty to weave all these elements together into an intimate tapestry of music that is at once nuanced and subtly sophisticated. A lush brown cloth interwoven with threads of wry darkness, stitched with tangles of just-there swaying guitar chords, colourful yet reserved, patterned with evening tinged strands that seem to be perfectly laced from the feel of quiet bus rides home. Of just sitting back and leaning your head on the window. Of crisp leaves underfoot. Of dusk and sundown. Of stillness and withdrawl. Of peace that comes with the night which we sometimes forget in the bustle of life.

It took me quite a while to discover ' 3x0'.. but that is the way with these kind of songs I suppose. They detach themselves into the noisy wallpaper and bid their time, waiting for just the right moment to slip out and take you completely, quietly enthralling you. Hm bliss.

Pinback - 3xO

Pinback - Fortress



See? War brings no good.

their site, where you can sample a couple more of their songs: