Co-Choices #3 - Andy and Jon

Doom and Gloom – The Rolling Stones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPFGWVKXxm0

Jon - I’ve always been more attracted to The Stones than the Beatles. Undoubtedly The Beatles pushed music forward in a way which was and will for a long time be unprecedented but The Stones raw animal sex appeal is something that feeds my appetite for Rock & Roll. The fantastic BBC documentary ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ shows how rebellious and powerful The Stones were in their prime. In age saturated with authority and ideology rock music provides a respite. No band can transport us into a world of hedonism quite like Jagger and Co. Doom and Gloom is the Stones latest single and not only proves they can still write World-class songs but it also provides us with a portal into the energy of the 60's in an increasingly similar political landscape.

Guest Choices #3 - Thomas Jones

 Home Away From Here - Touché Amoré 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6rGV5p8A2c

Hailing from Los Angeles, Touche Amore might be one of the best bands I’ve ever found. With not one song off their two studio albums being as long as 3 minutes this is easily questionable to anybody who dislikes bands that step away from ‘conventional’ song writing. However, once you realise that each 1 to 2 and a half minute track is just sheer hard-hitting new wave punk then you should notice just how good this band are.

This particular track is easily my favourite track at the moment and, bearing in mind it’s only 1:50, I have it on repeat constantly and never get bored. For me, the best thing about this track is how powerful not only the music is but also the lyrics and vocals. It really feels that the band actually put their heart and soul into writing their music and for me, that’s one of the most important things about being a musician.

Co-Choices #2 - Andy and Jon

Thug Nation (feat. Krayzie Bone) - Layzie Bone 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS0jWFEYoDY

Andy – Why am I bringing this clichéd example of previous-level modern rap to your attention? Because, if you forget the subject matter, this track has some of the best rhythm that I have ever heard in a rap track. Krayzie and Layzie Bone both guested on the last verse of Chamillionaire’s all-too-popular track “Ridin’ Dirty”, and that is how I discovered them.

The ideas are stereotypical, the “N-word” is overused and there is a distinct lack of originality, but I think the quality of the word-based beat overrides all of these facts.

Guest Choices #2 - Ross Watson

American Slang – The Gaslight Anthem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAqbnTKQBIY

I think this song, the title track from their third album, sums up the band’s style: no nonsense American rock and roll.  I love the way the song slowly builds and then bursts into life at beginning. I think the lyrics in this song hold a lot of meaning to the band. They could maybe represent the long forgotten ‘American Dream’ or could just be about someone’s dream of fortune.

Co-Choices #1 - Andy and Jon

Atoms for Peace – Default

Jon – Atoms for Peace are a super-group (featuring Flea and Nigel Godrich) formed by Thom Yorke to tour his solo album ‘Eraser.’ They had so much fun together playing live they started to write songs together. Default is their first song released as AFP and although it may be too similar to KOL era Radiohead it’s a truly addictive electro song with a fantastic rhythm section.  

Guest's Choices #1 - Mike Saunders

Delinquent Habits – Return of the Tres

Quintessential Chicano music.  This is a twist on hip hop; somewhere in LA a group of low-riders are rollin’ down the street in slow motion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhYtgoc3Swg

Jon's Choices #2

The O’Jays- Ship Ahoy

I found this track when I was researching the lyrics for ‘Coral’. It was on a list of ‘sea songs’ and although it is much more about slavery than the sea itself it was by far my favourite ‘sea song’ on the list. I’m not usually a fan of sound FX in songs but the atmosphere at the start of this track is stunning. I was not particularly familiar with Soul music until I found the O’Jays but Ship Ahoy is such a majestic song it single handedly got me into Soul or more specifically, Philadelphia Soul. Ship Ahoy is the name of the album too. It’s an album explores various social issues from slavery and greed, to the environment which is unusual for Soul and puts the O’Jays into a bracket of their own.

Andy's Choices #2

Scroobius Pip – First Time I Met Musik

It’s not beats, but it is poetry. However, the synth-based riff/rhythm is very catchy, using simplicity and repetition with that shows progressive attitude. Or it might have been because the whole album (1000 Words) was self-produced, and only 1000 copies were made because this was Scroob as an amateur. This track is more magical realism topic than the previous mundane biopic that we had last week, and it is a wonderful missive for music generally, so hopefully something that we can see eye to eye with.

Jon's Choices #1

PJ Harvey- The Glorious Land

I’ve briefly introduced you to Polly with ‘Down By The Water’ which we used as our base inspiration for ‘This Is Not a Horror’ but she has written so much great music and is by far one of my favourite musicians of all time. She is the only artist to ever win the Mercury Music Award twice. The second win was last year with ‘Let England Shake’ which is the album that got me into her. It’s an anti-war record which she spent years researching for with the aim of putting the horrors of war into simple but powerful words. She achieves this perfectly in this haunting song which in which she plays an autoharp. PS she played one of the ‘Let England Shake’ tracks on the Andrew Marr Show. David Cameron was a guest and she slated him over arts cuts.

Andy's Choice #1

Gorrilaz – All Alone (feat. Roots Manuva)

I really wanted to include some Gorrilaz as I am a huge fan. This is from their second album, Demon Days, and is doubly as good as it includes big dub/dancehall/grime artist Roots Manuva, (who you can expect to turn up again). I think that the ideas behind the Gorrilaz are great; Albarn is pushing the boat out with collaborations and a disregard for restrictive ideas of “genre” – Albarn has too much respect for music to have a restrictive sense of “that’s not proper”. This music does definitely not get the credit that it deserves due to people writing it off as a gimmicky side-project.