Other news:
Well, there's quite a lot. I've been playing the new sax loads over the last few days. Pictures to come probably after the weekend (when I'll be wailing like a mofo... gigs at Benson's place on Friday night, and at the Soiree on Saturday). Yers. That's faaaaantastic.
Can't really concentrate right now, I'm watching new South Park (yay). Got to see the Radiohead one (bigger yay). Now I've been downloading episodes faster than I can watch them.
Also, Jay was a winner in Zof's "draw me cause I'm fucking hot" competition. Mad props for Jay, I wish I could be Ani's cockslave just like you are.
We now come to the part of the show where I talk about how I blew up my headphones. Probably from listening to Citizen Erased too loud. I was chatting to Rainer not 4 hours ago. It went like this:
rainer 9/08/200 12:39 AM i think i've blown the speakers in my headphones from playing ce (that's "Citizen Erased", if you're not paying attention) too load and with too much bass
Jaymis 9/08/200 12:39 AM D00d! I did too!
Jaymis 9/08/200 12:40 AM fucking seriously, I realised it last night when I was playing my sax
rainer 9/08/200 12:40 AM nothing sounds right anymore
rainer 9/08/200 12:40 AM oh well they were 14 yrs old
Jaymis 9/08/200 12:40 AM I've blown the left speaker cone up
Jaymis 9/08/200 12:40 AM mine were like 8months :(
Jaymis 9/08/200 12:40 AM how trippy is that
rainer 9/08/200 12:40 AM i'm gonna write to muse and somplain then sue em for the price of new pair of head phones
Jaymis 9/08/200 12:40 AM I just noticed last night
rainer 9/08/200 12:41 AM fucken muse
Jaymis 9/08/200 12:41 AM yeah, I was going to send them an email to congratulate them for blowing up my phones
rainer 9/08/200 12:41 AM hows the sax goin?
Jaymis 9/08/200 12:42 AM cool, I've played it two days in a row @ band, with no normal sax... getting better with it
rainer 9/08/200 12:42 AM doin some crazy shit?
Jaymis 9/08/200 12:42 AM not really crazy, a little bit crazy maybe
rainer 9/08/200 12:43 AM thats crazy enough
We then went on to talk about which Muse songs turned us on the most, so I don't think he's really going to sue them. I'm pretty keen to send them that email though, that song still gives me shivers (check back to the 27th of the 7th to see my drunken-at-work-ramblings about that song and what it did to me). In fact, I might just play it now.
I have this thing for Epic songs. You know the ones, they generally go on for about six minutes or more, some of them have three or more movements, and they make me drool all over the place when I hear them. Some examples:
Muse - Citizen Erased = 7:21 or pure aural excitement. This song makes you feel like there's things floating around in your head without the use of drugs. It makes you listen to it so loud that you blow up your headphones.
Radiohead - Paranoid Android = 6:26 This song is so good that I bought the T-shirt :) Seriously though, one of the great compositions of the modern-music-era-thing. Radiohead can do whatever they like (and do) because this song is so great that it doesn't matter.
Jamiroquai - Just Another Story = 8:47. In my opinion the best song that Jamiroquai have ever written. It's an epic, and a journey. In fact, it's an epic journey.
Gomez - Devil Will Ride = 6:56. Just a damn good song.
Lamb - Gorecki = 6:30. One of the most beatiful songs that I listen to on a regular basis. I know that almost all techno/trance/goa/whatever "songs" are an infinite loop of music, but they don't do the same things to me. It may be that I just don't take e, but I never really get shivers out of electronic music. Doesn't mean that I don't love it, or indeed mean that I'm not trying my hardest to make my own stuff, but if the singing is sampled, then it loses its impact for me. This is why Lamb (which is essentially electronic) makes it happen for me; real singing.
Muse - Showbiz = 5:16 and epic like a MoFo. Not really length makes this epic, just massive layering of sound coupled with singing that just soars right out into the atmosphere.
Muse - Space Dementia = 6:22. If you gain nothing else from this, ou must understand that it's important to get this album. Piano is a big thing for me in a band. I hear piano in a modern band and I just go all soggy. Ben Folds did it to me (and still continues to do it, even though I havn't heard the new album), which brings me to:
Ben Folds Five - Narcolepsy = 5:24. Yes. Piano. I'm a big fan of the "thump the shit out of it" school of piano playing. Seems to transfer emotion more effectively to me. This is why I don't shun songs like Korn - Twist (one of the least epic songs in the world, ever). I like to hear screaming occasionally in my music. Don't care if it's going to screw the singer's voice by the time they're 50. If it does cool things to me, and makes me go YEAH! then I'm keen. I also like to be able to sing na na na na na na na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na na na na na. That turns me on too.
Radiohead - The National Anthem = 5:50... Fuzzy, distorted bass also turns me on. This is why my right headphone is currently buzzing with a broken speaker cone. Too much fuzz-bass at too high a volume. Bummer. This was my favourite track from Kid A. I played this song on repeat for so long that it became part of my dreams. My flatmates also hated me. It was worth it. This song also has cool horns at the end.
Filter - Welcome to the Fold = 7:39. I think that Filter's trying to be a little bit too cool for school in this song. However, the sheer force of riffage just compels me to list it.
Groove Terminator - You can't see = 6:39. Yeah, so he's a DJ, and Kool Keith is a rapper. I don't care. This song is a great journey, and it builds up really well. By the end of this song you can't help but have your groove fully on. Wanna get crazy dancing? This is a great song to do it with.
Propellerheads - On Her Majesty's Secret Service = 9:20. Oops, I've gone and contradicted myself again. I don't care, I don't place the Props in the same category as other technoish stuff, and it's Bond for shit sake! Just get over it.
Sick Puppies - Nothing Really Matters = 7:00ish. These guys are a young Aussie band, and have some massive riffage going on. The fact that the bass is being weilded pretty damn well by a gorgeous chiq doesn't turn me off this band either.
Creed - Higher = 5:20. Don't care if everyone hates this band or whatever. This song defines epic. If you've seen the Titan AE trailer that helps too. That was an amazing experience for me and the first time I heard that song. Still havn't seen the movie, but I went home and downloaded the trailer so I could listen to the song while I searched for the name of the band on the web.
VAST - Three Doors = 5:04. Big, big song. Like much of the album. Ethnic flava attached to hellish guitars and a voice that soars. VAST tends to have songs of epic proportions, even if they're only a couple of minutes long.
The Beatles - Hey Jude = 7:07. Those guys are just well wikkid. It just gets bigger and bigger, there's some Naaaaaah naaa naaa nanananaaaaaaa's and then with 3 minutes to go you get to scream Jude Jooooodeyjoooodeyjoodeyjoooodeyjooodeyaaaaaaaaouwaaaaoughh and go nuts for a couple of minutes, just like John Lennon.
Bush - Alien = 6:05. This song was my first love. I've fallen asleep listening to this song more times than I can remember. I do remember the night I first heard it though. New years 1996-1997. Party at Rohan's. I'd recently broken up with Rachael, and that was the night I met Amanda. I also heard this song (many times, I have a tendancy to abuse the repeat button, if you havn't noticed)
So anyway, after all the girls buggered off to Amanda's house to sleep (we were still too young to have a mixed party apparently... this is with me coming out of a year long relationship based almost entirely on sex. Parents are funny things) I helped Doug and someone else (probably Tony) finish off whatever alcohol was lying around, then roamed the streets singing this song and generally enjoying being young and plastered. We stayed out until dawn, until which time we legged it the two blocks to Amanda's place to interface with the girls.
A couple of honorary mentions: Fear Factory - Ressurection = 6:35. Jamiroquai - Too Young to Die = 6:05. Metallica - One = 7:20. Ani DiFranco - Swing = 6:09. Portishead - Glory Box = 5:35, and Roads = 5:10.
The point of all this? None really. I just wanted to make a list of some fantastic songs and talk shit about them for a while. Oh, and I guess it's a little message to all the Musicians out there. You don't have to be scared of the 4 minute barrier. Break it. SMASH it! Just keep playing until your strings snap, your sticks break and your jaws ache. I'll keep listening.
Oh, and if I've missed any out, give me an email with your thoughts. I love that.
