Songs of the Week #12- Editors Pick
“passionate feelings for a robot”
ROY:
"A Song With No Words" -- Burning Airlines
I don't process the words in this song, which is strange for me. I'm often the guy listening to whiny singer-songwriter crap hoping to have my heartstrings pulled hard. And the lyrics here are worth attention, but all I have ears for are the sounds: the doubled guitar line running dissonant on both sides of the stereo field; the tight, precise rhythm; the crisp steps of the vocal melody; the full-throated voice threatening to break but never quite doing so -- all nestled carefully in the clean, perfect engineering one expects from any J. Robbin's project.
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MATTY:
"Panda" – Dungen
There is something strangely comforting about the drumming style of both Keith Moon and Mitch Mitchell (of The Who and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, respectively), with the constant rolling off the snare drum into ruckus fills, and controlled but generally explosive playing. It doesn't happen that much anymore, with drummers either being dedicated to a decidely minimal style, or more haphazard and just less important to the overall makeup of the band. When it happens, and you hear a new drummer playing in that style, it's a real thrill. There's all kinds of other weird 60s stylistic references in this song (and in other material by the band Dungen), including some Iron Butterfly-esque guitar work. Last, the fact that the song is in Swedish may just end up being the oversight of the decade, meaning I barely noticed it the first time I heard "Panda," and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
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SHENYAH:
“Yours Truly, 2095” – ELO
When this song was released in 1981, the idea of falling in love with a robot was purely sci-fi, silly and playful. In this song, however, Electric Light Orchestra really pulls it off with meaning. The album Time was written as a concept album, telling a story of time travel. With the seamless blend of pop-rock and orchestral-rock, this song offers so much movement. This merge of musical genres allows the listener to have the dramatic experience of being lost in 2095, all the while experiencing passionate feelings for a robot and there's nothing silly about it.
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CARRIE:
"You Make My Dreams Come True" -- Hall and Oates
Zippy guitar dits? Percussive vocals? "Woo" echoes? Vocals that persist through psych-out silence? A compulsion to point out the window at a new stranger for every "YOU" that is cheered during this song? All this is and more can be yours, if you blare this song in a friend-packed car down a busy street in the middle of summer.
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JOHN:
“Clowny Clown Clown” – Crispin Glover
Crispin Hellion Glover and I both dislike clowns, perhaps he more than I.
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