onthebeatntrack

Now that I am one of Australia’s 5% of unemployed persons – however voluntary and off-shore my inclusion in that demographic might be – I’m going to have a little bit more time on my hands. With a bit more time on my hands I plan to do heeeaps of stuff, including catching up on a few things and there’s no time like the present – well, that’s not true, there’s ALWAYS tomorrow but then that’s the sort of attitude that has seen me get to this point and be ‘slightly behind’ in my to do list. But what does this mean for your lovely selves today then? Well, we both know that I’ve made a few commitments to you in our short but sweet time together that I’ve not yet honoured and to ensure those promises don’t end up as empty as the space between Denise Richards’ ears (too harsh? Have you seen ‘Denise Richards – It’s Complicated’? I’ll give you a hint … it isn’t), I’m going to make good my word! And, you know, better late than never and all that …

So that means coming your way (and in no particular order because I’d hate to make further commitments that I probably won’t honour in the process of honouring these already existing commitments – you feelin’ that?):

• The follow up to the covers blog where I’ll present the ‘Cover YOUR Tracks’ playlist of my readers’ favourite covers (if you missed the ‘Cover MY Tracks’ playlist of my favourite covers  you can click here to read it – it was one of my better efforts … just saying)
• The condensed thesis that is my ode to the Dixie Chicks
• My follow up to the inaugural ‘round the disc in 30 days or so … ‘ so I can share with you all ALL my feelings for Miike Snow

Given I’m currently sweltering in Bangkok (my sweat-o-meter is telling me that the temperature today is ‘Wow, OMG, just … WOW’) I could do with a dose of something cool, so let’s start with my most recent yet-to-be-delivered promise and take a trip to ‘the Snow’. And while I am about 30 days overdue with this particular deadline this should have given you all PLE-E-ENTY of time to go ‘round the Miike Snow disc, so in a way I was totally doing you all a favour …

SO, before we get down it (baby baby) I’d like to understand how many of you have used the additional 30 days that I’ve generously provided you and listened (even better, bought) the disc that we were to go ‘round? I am aware of at least 4 (thanks team, you each get a virtual gold star and the opportunity to appreciate this blog more than everyone else – you go ahead and nod as knowingly as you deserve over the next 10 minutes). Given I’ve heard no others getting all Oprah with their seal of approval I’m going to assume that your silence represents a lack of participation rather than you having nothing nice to say (or that you blindingly take advice from former boy band members and believe that Ronan Keating was talking to you when he sang ‘you say it best when you say nothing at all’ – c’mon, that would be ridiculous … had Justin Timberlake said it however, I would consider that advice well taken and you would be excused).

If you didn’t catch the original Miike Snow post and it’s causing a little bout of FOMOphobia for you, click here for a bit of self medicating.

Miike Snow are – remember, there are three of them – both instantly loveable in a radio friendly pop kind of way and yet also nicely complex and interesting in a whole album take-you-on-a-rewarding-journey kind of way, so you might call them oxymoronic (I do like to throw in a big word every now and again so you’ll remember to take me seriously … and also to see if Microsoft Word tells me whether it’s an actual word or not – both boxes ticked this time baybeee yeah!). But their oxymoron (in a good way) status doesn’t end there, it also extends to the sound which is somehow both like big band AND electronic – you could imagine the songs being played by an orchestra, but with a DJ and someone on the keyboard thrown in somewhere between the brass. Either way, it’s an absolute bloody delight to listen to and catchy as a baseball glove!

It’s not really a surprise that there is a pop vibe to this album, remembering that within Miike Snow is the duo of Bloodshy & Avant who have an impressive track record in the event that is pop music writing and production. It’s their job to give their clients (Kylie, Britney, Madonna, et al) music that is at least familiar, fun and hopefully interesting too – and they succeed more often than most
(refer list of songs in the previous Miike Snow post – missed it? Click here). This album is all of those things and pleasantly addictive (even by my own obsessive compulsive standards) but not unhealthily so because unlike a large amount of mainstream pop we hear, there is something different (maybe even unassuming) about the way this album is presented that means two months in, it hasn’t become tiresome – not one little bit.

As I’ve mentioned before, I love albums in their entirety – and always from start to finish – and lyrics are usually what keeps my ‘enthusiasm’ levels high for particular albums. I listen until I work the them out and then listen again (and again and again) to fully take advantage of any side effects – warm heart, wet eyes, tingling spine, enthusiastic grinning, tapping feet and so on. And as good as the instantly loveable sounds on this album are, the lyrics had me at ‘there was a time when my world was filled with darkness, darkness, darkness’. They are a rare collective of expressive, sincere, cryptic and many times sentimental and romantic. I’m still trying to work out what half of these songs are about but then, I reckon that’s half the fun so don’t worry about me, I’ll be ok. 

Words and Sounds – Miike Snow

To save me giving any more ‘general’ comments about the album, I’ll now talk you through my favourite moments and considering there are no bad moments and my ‘way’ with words, it’s not going be easy to keep this concise but I’ll do my best …

The opening track Animal is deceptively dark and totally charismatic – the philosophical words are disguised in an upbeat production, so you could be forgiven for thinking this song was just a bit of fun, but lyrics like “I change shapes just to hide in this place, but I’m still an animal” and “but I’m still trying to make my mind up, am I free or am I tied up?” confirm that there’s something a bit more Dr Phil going on here – song meaning still currently being diagnosed by Dr. Ock and second opinions are welcomed.

Silvia is EPIC (pretend that’s still a good word like before it started spending so much time with FAIL) and one of the classiest and most unique ballads I’ve ever heard. The instrumental fades and climaxes at the most the perfect moments and the emotion pours out via the second-guessing questions “did I say too much, did I say enough? I don’t know, Silvia-a-a” and the mutual helplessness “and it’s all my fault for not getting off and you made it start, can you make it stop? You don’t know, Silvia” (I just got a little shiver writing that line – love it). As the song draws to a close and he echoes “Si-i-i-il-vi-i-i-a-a-a” I suspect that the injury sustained on this crashing rollercoaster ride is a broken heart, or maybe even two.

In all its knowing honesty and understated way I really love Song for No One – ‘No One’ is seemingly an ex-flame that I’m guessing has attended to a bit of out of season burning and in the process has left a few scars. Although the song’s repeated verbal affirmation “this is a song for no one” would try to convince us otherwise, the song is clearly about Some One (no relation of No One, just FYI). You might think I’m really clever for working through this, but the chorus actually spells it out for us. While that probably classifies as deliberate irony, maybe it just represents the first stages of moving on. The playful sequences of whistle-like high pitched beats, both in the song’s intro and at the end of the chorus, sound to me like someone optimistically trying to convince themselves that happier times lay ahead. It’s a neat little ditty that has a sweet, if not slightly sad, sentiment – just the way I like them.

Other highlights are the awesome madness of Plastic Jungle (easily one of my favourites but I totally have no effing idea where to start writing about that one) and the sombre ending of a relationship that is Burial (“misery is all we know lately” and “no I don’t want to get thrown in your ocean”).

I’ll save my best for last and that is the near perfect Black & Blue. Where Animal is slightly more hectic and Song for No One mostly understated, Black & Blue strikes the perfect balance somewhere in the middle and yet still delivers a little bit of the cryptically literal “the dog is always barking at the mailman” – sure they mean the dog is barking at the mailman, but what does it really mean? ‘He’ sure is a frustrated ‘man’ is our Miike – “hey world I’m tired of this black and blue” and I’m selfishly taking total delight in all of his craziness and misfortune.

The Snow trio have been more than a welcome breath of not just fresh air for my collection of music. Their fragrance is sweet and spicy and has some serious long lasting freshness – they are the shiz, so my advice is to take a BIG whiff.