Secondly, I thought I’d explain my choices in the most recent Green Monkey Music Project, in which the lovely Barbara asked contributors to select six songs that give them ‘eargasms’. I decided to join in the fun, and blogger extraordinaire Splotchy has them on his rather excellent blog. Here, I’ll talk you through my selection.
1: Maybe Tenderness – Gintare
Eargasm moment: 1:37
Gintare is an eastern European singer whose voice is like a cross between Bjork, Enya and an opera singer. I received her album, Earthless, to review for my University newspaper, and was blown away. It is beautiful. Quite a bit of the album is very dancy, but the song I’ve chosen is slow and builds up nicely to a wonderful long note that always gives me shivers (around 1:37).
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2: Untitled #3 – Sigur Ros
Eargasm moment: 4.48
This was the first song I thought of when I read the criteria for this mix. For me, this piece of music is one long wave of anticipation for the moment at 4:48 when the key changes. The song starts with wave noises, a piano emerges and slowly, slowly, other instruments join in, and just when everything seems to be there, the piano goes up. Amazing.
Southern Accents – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Eargasm moment: 2:20
My favourite song by my favourite band of all time. The eargasm moment is really for the lyrics, which always seem to get me. I could listen to this song forever.
Helicon 1 – Mogwai
Eargasm moment: 2:55
It was difficult to pick only one Mogwai song for this compilation, given that they’ve provided me with so many eargasm moments. For those unfamiliar with this band of Scottish post-rockers, their early stuff mostly consists of very quiet, repetitive guitar melodies that suddenly erupt into huge, loud cacophonies of noise. Helicon 1 is a good example of this, with the quietest opening ever and lovely loud part at 2:55. I have announced in the past that I would like this song to be played at my funeral.
Nandodemo – Dreams Come True
Eargasm moment: 2:52
Apologies for a song in Japanese, but this is the first song I really loved when I moved to Japan in 2004. The moment that gets me is when the chorus is sung two more times with different lyrics towards the end. It’s almost breathless and peps me up end. The entire song epitomises for me the very Japanese word ‘Ganbatte’: Fighting, striving, never giving up, no matter what.
Concerto De Aranjuez (Adagio) – Rodrigo
Eargasm moment: 9:15
This is my favourite piece of classical music. Again, a great crescendo, the highlight of which for me is the moment when everything rises, holds for a breath longer than I expect it to around 9:15, then carries on before fading out. Beautiful.
10 comments:
Tom Petty is your favorite? But you have so much hipster stuff on your list!
A classical piece using flamenco guitar is hipster? Really?
Nah, I just like music. Tom Petty has been my favourite artist since I was 11. But it depends on my mood. Some days I'm in a Tom Petty mood, some days it's Aphex Twin, or Slipknot, or Fleetwood Mac, or J-pop.
Oww, sorry about the back - I hope you're feeling better.
Now get back to blogging and reviewing!
So, wait. It this a for real list of things you like? I'm confused.
Gorgeous choices! Thanks for playing along and bringing such a great selection.
Gintare has a wonderful voice. I have never heard of her, but will certainly keep my ears open for more. I came very close to listing a Sigur Ros song myself, albeit a different one, as you can never go wrong with those dudes.
And never apologize for adding a Japanese song! We need more Japanese songs. That one sounded strangely familiar to me.
I hope this didn't cause any more back pain. There is nothing worse, imo. Be well.
Some great recommendations! I hope you are feeling better soon..and take it easy on the pain killers..
And.I was thinking the same thing as Becks about Tom Petty. Like him too.
Suze: Yeah, I'm getting better. My employers have given me a taller desk. And I've got a few exciting new reviews planned, so don't worry!
Red: Don't worry. Normal service has been resumed.
Barbara: No worries, it was fun! I hope you enjoy the selection. And if I can bring Gintare to a larger audience, my work here is done.
Candy: Actually, those pain killers are provided Future Mrs Imaginary Reviewer with a lot of laughs. Apparently I'm quite hilarious when I'm on a loopy back pain binge.
I assumed all of your posts were written under the imagination-expanding influence of pain killers.
I'm kidding! Glad you're feeling better.
Wonderful and interesting choices, I hadn't heard most of them before so it's eargasms galore for me. Generally, I like Sigur Ros but occasionally they do remind me of what it must sound like when weasels are being skinned so thanks for not including one of those! If I keep saying I liked the songs, will you share your meds?
I'm a tad embarassed to say that Untitled #3 is the only track I'm familiar with on your list - and it truly is eargasmic! Everything else is very new stuff, so I look forward to dwonloading and listening to them :)
And Dale- Sigur ros= weasels being skinned?? Aww. You're not serious?
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