Sing-a-long-a-blog-along

Despite my commitment to being the trendiest indie boy who ever did love, it is easy to fall behind the curve. Two weeks ago, I felt very smug and on trend by covering a Fiona Apple song from her new album, showing just how in sync I was with current trends. Unfortunately, there is no winning in this age of content, and there may have also been another critically acclaimed indie album out that day, an album that I haven't even mentioned yet. You could say that I'm behind the curve, but I refuse to admit that. I will become trendy or I will become death itself. Today's song of the day, therefore, is Rina Sawayama's "Dyntasy" from her new album Sawayama  - inarguable proof that I will always circle back to even the trends that pass me by. Okay, nightmare irony aside, "Dynasty" rips. It is the perfect embodiment of that meme I've forgotten about bright and exciting music underlying deeply depressing lyrics. Listen to those chunky riffs and hypno...

As we touched on with "Cum on Feel the Noize", songs with multiple versions are hard. It's fine when it's "Hurt" (Johnny Cash's cover 4 lyf) or "All Along the Watchtower" (Jimi Hendrix fancam? I'm very socially maladjusted), but when there's more than two? Hoo boy. That's why "Personal Jesus" is such a source of stress to me. Clearly, the idea of having your own wee iJesus by your side is a timeless subject which appeals to many, which is why so many have covered it. There's all the covers, and then the remixes, too. It is a towering edifice of grandeur. The Personal Jesus expanded universe is a Lovecraftian deity that towers above mortal perception, which makes it hard to pick out a singular take from it. Which one is definitive? Is there such a thing in this case? Shall we just submit to the glorious will of "Personal Jesus"? In times of stress, I tend to pick the easy option. That's why today...

I have been washing my hands a lot lately. I know, not to state the bleeding obvious. We have all discovered the wonders of making our hands the absolute cleanest they can be, singing "Happy Birthday" twice while lathering just like our dear leader has suggested. There are, not to state the bleeding obvious again, good reasons to do this. Got to keep them COVID particles, or whatever the shit, away. Nonetheless, there's downsides too, namely that the surface of my palms has often come to resemble the salt flats of Utah. TMI? I don't know. I feel like there's been enough of an eczema uptick lately to make these things less gross, even if it's still gross. I've been weirdly interested in this irony lately. My cracked skin is proof that I am doing what needs to be done - making one bit suffer to save something else. I would try and make a wider point of this, but I can hear Donald Trump's yells of "the cure cannot be worse than the problem...

Yesterday, I did something terrible - I dedicated a full blog post to a song from the Suicide Squad  soundtrack. This was heinous, and I shouldn't have done it. All I can do now is repent. My repentance, as all repentances should be, is to do the bad thing, except good. Today's song of the day, Vince Staples and Richie Kohan's "Home", is also a song from a superhero movie by high profile rappers, except the movie is good and also the song. It's from the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse  soundtrack, and anybody who has seen Spider-Verse ought to tell you that anything associated with it is coated in gold dust. So it goes with "Home", which also has the pleasant nostalgia of being attached to the film's first teaser trailer. The entire soundtrack is honestly a delight, and this is a fittingly epic closer fit for soaring above the rooftops of New York City, an activity which nobody should ever have to perform. Check out that guitar riff from 2:...

Earlier this week, while discussing "Black" by Danger Mouse & Danielle Luppi (feat. Norah Jones), I mentioned that it couldn't quite compare to "Sucker for Pain" by Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa and Imagine Dragons (with Logic and Ty Dolla $ign feat. X Ambassadors), one of my favourite examples of beautiful collaboration in music. That got me thinking. Why not discuss "Sucker for Pain" by Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa and Imagine Dragons (with Logic and Ty Dolla $ign feat. X Ambassadors) at further length? Today's song of the day, therefore, is "Sucker for Pain" by Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa and Imagine Dragons (with Logic and Ty Dolla $ign feat. X Ambassadors) from the Suicide Squad soundtrack. What is it that I love about "Sucker for Pain" by Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa and Imagine Dragons (with Logic and Ty Dolla $ign feat. X Ambassadors), you ask? An interesting question. I think it's the sheer chaos of it. I mean, the posse cut is a...

My neighbours are playing music too loudly right now. It's frustrating me. Fine, it's early enough that it's not breaking any noise laws, but come on. It's intrusive. Listen to your own music in the privacy of your own home, you know? Not all of us have as good music tastes as me. Today's song of the day, therefore, goes out to my neighbours. It's Quiet Riot's 1996 cover of 'Cum on Feel the Noize', a song - and I cannot state this enough - which is literally just about getting really noisy and nothing else. There's an interesting question here, because this is the second cover of the original tune by Slade. Obviously, I had to pick a version for here, but I did not find this hard. Slade's is fine, but too gauzy and 70s. Oasis' is generic 90s Oasis, but 90s Oasis was pretty great, so it's solid. But come on (feel the noise): Quiet Riot's version walks it. It's shouty and aggressive, which is just what this song needs. I...

Gah. It's 10.30pm, and I haven't done this yet. I am extremely low on creative inspiration and not having a very musical day. Truth is, parts of today have been a bit of a bummer, and I don't feel like writing much. It's hard to stay optimistic during a situation engineered to bring out my inner pessimist. It's true that people, I've been sad. Today's song communicates that well. It's "People, I've been sad" by Christine and the Queens. I don't have the energy to check which album it's from. It's eloquent and bits are in French, so I think that says it better than I could. I am so sorry. It's that kind of day.