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Author: tantan on April 16 2008 Viewed 3416 times. 25 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
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There have been many fave this, fave that blogs lately. Lets take it further.
Name your (no more than) five absolutely favorite songs of all time. I'm talking songs that are fundamentally, archetypally connected to your soul. Songs that you never, ever tire of hearing. Songs that make you cry, or shake your ass, or piss you off in that righteous sort of way every single time you hear it. Songs that other people can cover and you still feel that tug. Dig deep. There is no shame here.
Finally, to hell with lists. Say something real about these songs and where / how they get you.
Mine.
1. Depeche Mode. Stripped. This song, for me, is the perfect dark techno-pop song. The sounds are clever, the arrangement is very effective, and melodically it is a punch to the gut. Every time that big old string pad kicks in, I am toast. I love this song to death, and I love every cover version of it, including that recent sort of popular cover by Shiny Toy Guns.
2. The Cure. Sinking. There are so many Cure songs milling about in my subconscious, in particular this one, A Forest, and To Wish Impossible Things. However, this is the first of their songs that I heard that tapped into the sort of desperate emotional vibe that they would gratuitously, wonderfully exploit on Disintegration later on. The simple little piano riff kills me.
3. Bjork. All is Full of Love. Specifically, the Funkstorung remix that features in Chris Cunningham's video. A perfect, gorgeous song. The sounds, songwriting, and more than anything, her performance are terribly moving to me.
4. Slowdive. Dagger. So much of Slowdive's canon is huge and dripping the sort of miserable sentiment that I get off on, I'm not sure what it is about this tiny song that hits me. Contrast? Its sparseness in context of their other work? However, it moves me just as much out of context. I just know that it is a very simple little gem of a song, and it works because of it.
5. Skinny Puppy. Worlock. Oh man, that vocoder. Damn.
Hm, with the possible exception of the bjork track, no IDM or contemporary electronic peoples.
Also, due to popular request: please recount your five favorite jerkoffs -- identify the location, duration, and time of day.
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04/16/08
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flaptop
jimi hendrix - machine gun
radiohead - nude
the beatles - blackbird
aphex twin - flim
neil young - ambulance blues
04/16/08
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dylan
yeah, i love µ-ziq too. lunatic harness remains one of my favorite albums of all time.
04/16/08
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jogn
hasty boom alert
classic!
04/16/08
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Psyingo
uhm, god, this is going to be hard to write, but ill try and id probably change my mind. but i will restrain from adding new lists.
Throbbing Gristle- Discipline: I think this song is the epitome of industrial. 100%. It has every element that became bastardized and destroyed. If there is one song that I would use to explain industrial to people, it is definatley this. It makes me rock out everytime.
Skinny Puppy - Cult: Maybe nostalgia. but this song is so great. perfectly composed. great samples and great vibe. one of my fave skinny puppy songs. definatley a stand out track.
King Crimson - Three of a Perfect Pair: dont know what it is about this song... but its just so goddamn awesome. I really love their 80's stuf and this is probably the highlight track for me.
Candlemass - Solitude: One of the best doom metal songs, so much awesomeness packed into a song. great guitar sound and riffage!
thats all i can think of. so only 4.
04/16/08
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dkarma
1.Dirty Epic - Underworld - Why because it's fuckign priceless thats why...made me fall in love w/ underworld
2.Cowgirl - Underworld - Why? Makes me want to move.
3.Pool Shark - Bradley Nowell - (sublime) speaks volumes about his addiction
4.Funny Break - Orbital - Why? three words "i touch stars"
5.Acid 8000 - Fatboy Slim - Why? "if this don't make your booty move your booty must be dead!"
Seriously though only 5 songs? That's total bullshit. It's like asking hey of all the times you jacked off which one was the best??!?!?
04/16/08
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Highdropod
inna boring class,so wtf...
miles davis - pharoah's dance - this song continues to blow my mind and should be required listening for any musician
ozric tentacles - yog-bar-og - because it's fucking jammin space rock
wu tang - bring da ruckus - it tickles the balls of my inner thug
soundgarden - rusty cage - actually the whole album is the shit, but this song always gets me
van halen - panama - arguably the best rock songs of the 1980's... it's a nostalgia thing
04/16/08
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license
frnortnr said: "brothomstates -kava- the sharpness of the percussion mixed with the melody just kills. i LOVE this song. could listen to it 1.8 billion times in a row."
Yes! The percussion is perfect and the melody is about as mysterious as you can get in 9 notes. And that reverb that sounds like an empty swimming pool. Thanks for reminding me, that is a great track.
Also "mdrmx" on that album is pretty amazing, it's probably the best summer vacation melody I've heard. That whole album is great, I wish he (or someone) would expand on it - it's so good but it feels kind of unfinished, it begs for a sequel.
04/16/08
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astroid
dkarma said: "It's like asking hey of all the times you jacked off which one was the best??!?!?"
1. when i first starting slingin brughurt
2. in a field in colorado during the winter
3. on a trip to europe after abstaining for 9 days (at 15)
4. trip to olympia when i couldn't consummate a night of hardcore cuddles
5. ...
damn you're right that IS hard
04/16/08
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minisystem
yes, perhaps we were lovers in another life.
i just put down the ones that popped into my head. i don' t really love 'how soon is now' anymore. it was used for a beer commercial in the early 90s. kind of ruined it for me. but it still bored a hole deep into my brain and was my gateway to all the rest of the smiths' work. similarly, the cure's 'fascination street' was, strangely, my soundtrack to falling in love for the first time. never listen to it now, but its in there somewhere, buried deep.
04/16/08
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Roshi
Wire - The 15th (haunting and perfect)
Gary Numan - Cars (he rewrote the rules with this song)
Alfred Schnittke - Collected Songs Where Every Verse is Filled With Grief (haunting, perfect, sad, lovely string quartet)
English Beat - Mirror in the Bathroom (unbeatable energy)
Bauhaus - Third Uncle (Eno Cover, but sooo perfect)
04/16/08
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hecanjog
This thread just made me realize how music music I lost in my recent hard drive crash.  Still fun to think about. Here's mine:
Bernhard Guenter - a little piece of a salty snow
I had an epiphany while listening to this that changed the way I listen in general fundamentally. Like reading a poem and suddenly seeing the beauty in the letterforms. I also meditated to this piece so often in college that I can't put it on anymore without quickly feeling calmer and more focused.
Slowdive - Rutti, Altogether, Alison, Machine Gun...
I could probably list their entire catalog here. Bryan and I were saying today that strangely for both of us, Slowdive is one of those bands we easily forget how much we love - which is incredible since I now count them probably as my favorite band period. The fact I can go months without even thinking about them totally confuses me. In any case, times like today when I get to rediscover them all over again are so so nice. I know we're supposed to list why we like. The best I can come up with (besides the fact slowdive RULES) is that I associate them with my best moments in college.
The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
This record feels like a single well oiled unit to me, so I couldn't pick out a particular song really. Oddly enough, I think this was one of the last Beatles records I heard. It rarely fails to give me that feeling you get on the first day of spring whenever I listen to it. Know what I mean? First nice day outside, and you get that buzz from the nice weather. Why? I'm not totally sure - but I think it was probably an early exposure to the possible magic and warmth of recording technology, so that could have something to do with it.
Bennie Green - glidin' along
Again, I think of this as a whole. My uncle gave this to me when I first started playing trombone, and I transcribed almost every note on the damn thing. Putting this on and singing along with his solos used to be so much fun. Damn, I need to get a copy again - I wonder if I still know every tiny moment like I did. Reminds me of middle and high school, when I was musically entirely focused on jazz (and later 'avant garde' concert music) and the electronic music thing was more like a hobby I did alongside. Weird. Good memory though.
Philip Glass - String Quartet Number 2 "Company"
Same difference as above. Man I loved me some Glass in high school. I still can put on anything I was obsessing over back then - the string quartets, soundtrack to mishma, later symphonies, einstien on the beach... - and get the same feeling I used to then.
04/16/08
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hecanjog
^ Probably goes without saying, but I'm sure if I wrote this list over again tomorrow or yesterday it would be completely different - except for the Guenter.
04/17/08
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astroboy
for emotional rather than rational reasons:
"crank heart" or "i broke up" or actually almost any other song by by xiu xiu - link
"corpse pose" by unwound - link
"cock ver10" by teh aphex twin
"disorder" by joy division (the live version from "les bains douches")
"three seconds of dead air" by the twilight sad - link
it's hard to make a choice. there are hundreds of favourite songs...
04/17/08
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WhiteBox
RV - Faith No More
53rd and 3rd - Ramones
The Look of Love - Dusty Springfield
'Head of Steam - DJ Shadow
Higher than the Sun - Primal Scream
I like them all for the same reason - They take me back to amazing times in my life.
04/17/08
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thehydrax
Nice to see Slowdive coming up a few times. My fave Slowdive song is Albatross. their cover is golden hair is awesome too
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