Awwwww yeah, it’s time to get all up and funky! I am quite the fan of the Ocean’s films, all of which feature insanely brilliant soundtracks. When you’ve got a fun, smart series of heist films, you need a suitably funky soundtrack to go with it. Heck, I’d become a master thief just so I could have these soundtracks playing in my ear when I carry out jobs. Jail time is but a detail to me!
Hey guys, remember the Beatles? Yeah, we haven’t mentioned them. Much.
If I’m being honest though, the entire Beatles back catalogue will eventually feature on this little blog. Ditto Elliott Smith. Not in one chunk, but over time, until my hair is grey and I can barely remember how to spell ‘Beatles’. But all that has nothing to do with this post, because it is a cover! Thanks to Sienna Miller and her talent in hawking perfume, I was introduced to this rather spirited cover of Drive My Car. It doesn’t really diverge too greatly from the original, but it is infectiously peppy, so who cares?!
Let’s have some more tunes from Sound City because why not. Go look at yesterday’s post and maybe this one too, so I don’t have to explain things again!
This time around, we have Stevie Nicks doing what Stevie Nicks does best: being ethereal and powerful at the same time.
Having finally gotten around to watching Dave Grohl’s documentary Sound City, I find myself overwhelmed by feelings of wanting to rock the heck out. So, what better place to start than the original soundtrack for the film? Grohl corralled together a whole bunch of artists that recorded albums at the titular studios (groups like Fleetwood Mac, Rage Against the Machine, Nirvana, and so on) to record a bunch of completely analogue-based tunes for the film, using the Neve mixing console that he bought from the now defunct studio.
What results is a pile of new tunes that carry the DNA of the artist contributing to it: in this case, Robert Levon Been and Peter Hayes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. And god, I friggin’ love it!
So, Mr. Zach Braff has a new film out soon. It looks set to further cement his uncanny knack for picking out lovely tunes, as well as his ability to direct lovely films (I rather loved Garden State, and with any luck, Wish I Was Here will also feature the same perfectly blended mix of melancholia and sweetness).
Anyway, here is the song from the trailer to his new film. The Shins featured rather prominently in the Garden State soundtrack, and no doubt benefitted from the increased exposure it afforded: this song has had many millions of views, though none of which include me! Yes, I am a musical dunderhead! It is a lovely, gloriously uplifting spot of indie pop rock, which is sometimes all you need to get through the day.
I’m no metal head, but I certainly enjoy the music at times. I just find the culture behind metal and related genres to be inherently comical and a bit naff. As such, I tend to enjoy Tenacious D’s output because they wonderfully lampoon the whole image of metal, while still delivering some pretty rockin’ tunes. True metal heads probably want to slap me quite hard now!
Anyway, here is a tune from their film, The Pick of Destiny, once again starring Dave Grohl as Beelzebub himself. If I’m not mistaken, according to the Tenacious D canon, this is the song that Tribute is about. And it’s a corker of a tune!
Guess what I missed recently? Yep, all the hubbub about Nirvana! I am the greatest music writer ever.
Since we’ve covered my favourite Nirvana song, I figured we should hop on the bandwagon and post their most famous song. While it doesn’t really exemplify what Nirvana were all about, it is such an important song in music history. Much has been written about Smells Like Teen Spirit’s cultural significance, but most of it boils down to the fact that it gave disenfranchised generation Xers (and future generations) a mouthpiece to communicate the relevance of their counter-culture. It’s not even as if they wanted to convey coherent message of protest either: it was just an outlet for angst, delivered with a devil-may-care, “don’t give a shit” attitude.
Nirvana certainly changed the world, but to me they’ll always be that little grunge band from Washington that wrote and performed for the hell of it. And honestly? They are all the better for it.
Today feels like a Jeff Buckley day, and if Darth Vader has taught me anything, it’s that I should search my feelings and find them to be true. As such, I’m obligated to obey such feelings.
Anyway, here is the first Jeff Buckley song I ever heard, courtesy of my mysterious friend from my equally mysterious past. It’s one of those songs (and artists) that’s stuck with me for years, and will probably stick with me in the foreseeable future. It’s raw and passionate, and one of the best ballads ever written.
