Six Month Stickies # 10
March '12 - August '12

As usual the tracks of music that got stuck in my head in the last six months, in order.

Apologies that it's six months overdue...

Most of the tracks on this sticky list got stuck in my head while I was in Japan for six weeks. The change of environment, friends, and experiences, made me have especially potent music cravings for whatever reason.




17 - Youth Lagoon

He really nailed it with The Year of Hibernation, with an appeal that's so completely obvious. His awesome recipe is best showcased in this song. I must have listened to this song fifty times in the first week.


Tortoise

Dot/Eyes
High Class Slim Came Floatin' In
Ten-Day Interval
The Equator
Magnet Pulls Through

I really didn't want to like Tortoise. I thought "I've got way too much of this nonsense in my music library already, I don't need yet another intellectual, jittery, instrumental, electro/acoustic groove rock/soundscape band." But I kept finding myself coming back to their albums, and finding that they're particular brand of sound, scratched a certain spot that no other band in my library could.


Sonic Youth

Teen Age Riot
Hyperstation
Eliminator Jr.

I know I'm late to the party, but figured it was finally time to check out Sonic Youth. They didn't disappoint. Reminds me of My Bloody Valentine but not as fuzzy/droney.

Teen Age Riot is my favorite, such a solid song, I can't even really think how best to describe the impression it makes on me. It just feels so substantial and meaningful for some reason.

Eliminator Jr. is so badass. Haha, the intro gets me every time. Take a walk in the park? Shit, yeah!


Mew

Special
Am I Wry? No
Eight Flew Over, One Was Destroyed
The Zookeeper's Boy

I never know what to say about Mew. It's almost like they're not real. Some weird future/space pop found in some abandoned space station somewhere. It's hard to imagine a bunch of dudes writing and performing these songs.


In the Air Tonight - Phil Collins

This was the first song to get stuck in my head when I got back from Japan. My friend Kazz played it on our way back from a plein air session. I then became so creepily into it. I never really gave Phil Collins a fair shake. I always just sort of thought of him as a poor man's Peter Gabriel. And I know this song is hardly obscure, but man it just suddenly unlocked something in me. I spent like three weeks listening to this super loud when I woke up in the morning. Which is so incredibly epic. Because it's all quite and soothing until it suddenly isn't at all, and blows your damn mind when the drums kick in. Well played Phil, well played.


Brian Eno & David Byrne

Regiment
Help Me Somebody
Moonlight in Glory
Defiant

These two are badass. This is one of the most touch worn albums in my library. It offers so much that it's hard to not regularly find myself in the mood to listen to it. Such a nice balance of seemingly effortless play, heady intellectualism, groovy rhythms, and unintuitive music choices (especially with the samples). It's like a Daft Punk album in that it makes it seem like finding that balance is so obvious and inviting, and yet like Daft Punk, no one has managed to hit that sweet spot in decades.


M. Daguerre - Rachel's

Rachel's are one of my favorite bands, but I don't often get their tracks stuck in my head. The sticky point for this track is at 7:35 where the piano and strings seem to repeatedly recoil in this marvelously jerky way. It's so unique and yet simple and entrancing. This whole track plays out like a Godspeed You Black Emperor composition, with the seemingly disconnected passages that slowly build up to a grand edifice that leaves you awe inspired.


Full on Night - Rachel's

I like the subtle groove from 1:13 - 2:00


I Can't Explain - The Who

Man this song got so violently stuck in my head for weeks. I really like the swaying/spinning sensation each time he says "Dizzy in the head..." And the snare hits at 1:19. This song is pop music at its finest.