[mp3] 1000 Minutes: Andy #60

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Aug 022010

After a little more than a month away from doing one of these posts, it’s been interesting to think about what I might want to put in my next one.  If you hadn’t noticed, we tend to shy away from posting tracks from, say, The Beatles.  This isn’t because we don’t love The Beatles, but more that their music isn’t personally defining.  But maybe I’m just speaking for me.  Let’s get back into it.  It’s probably going to be another month before I do another one of these.

121. Badly Drawn Boy – Disillusion (mp3) from The Hour of Bewilderbeast (4:07) [Time Remaining: 448:39]

I haven’t been much of a fan of Damon Gough’s work after his Mercury Prize-winning The Hour of Bewilderbeast.  But my appreciation for his first album is so complete that I could include at least two more songs from it on my particular list.  That’s in addition to this one and “Once Around the Block,” which I talked about previously.  ”Disillusion” is just such a flat out great feeling song that it is impossible to ignore.  It ends with a rollicking minute and a half jam session that defines what I love so much about it.  It’s like he sings in the lyrics: “Why’d you have to make it so complicated? Can’t it just be beautiful?”  Sometimes, that’s all any of us need to hear.

122. Ben Folds Five – Selfless, Cold and Composed (mp3) from Whatever & Ever Amen (6:10) [Time Remaining: 442:29]

On the opposite end of the spectrum from Badly Drawn Boy is Ben Folds Five’s “Selfless, Cold and Composed.”  I play this song often when it gets into fall around here.  With the falling leaves and the autumn rains, it becomes much more apropos.  It’s a sweeping, sad song about the end of a relationship. (Ben Folds has been married four times, so he has plenty of experience on that subject from which to draw.)  And while my own relationships might not end with such gorgeous music, I can certainly identify with the sentiment of wanting the other person to display some kind of emotion over the end of a relationship.  Thankfully, it’s been a while since I’ve had to feel that way.

Posted by Andy at 8:30 am Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1000 Minutes: Dave #36

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Nov 182009

The past few days I have been spending a great deal of my time both holding an infant and watching loads of television shows recorded on my DVR. Each new television season my wife and I set a bunch of premiering shows (in addition to our old standbys) to record for consumption. We slowly weed the new shows down and quit watching what we don’t enjoy. In doing so I always come across characters in shows I would weed out. I think I do this in most shows I watch, even those I truly enjoy. But in newer shows I think about it more often because the show, and therefore its characters, are not yet established.

Specifically, in two new shows we have watched, I would weed out characters I find annoying. We have been watching NBC’s comedy Community and for the most part have enjoyed it. My main issue with the show is Chevy Chase’s character. Maybe it is the actor’s inherent dislikability, or the character’s uselessness, but I think the show would be better off without him.

On the other hand we have also been watching the show Flash Forward. I really liked the pilot but it has gone steadily down hill from there. One of the two lead females on the show (not Penny) is a horrible actress. I couldn’t even tell you her character’s name but in the most recent episode we’ve watched, and we’re pretty far behind now, she was shot. All I could think of was that I hoped they bumped her off, even though I knew it wasn’t coming.

So, I suppose my useless ramblings have a connection to this project, however remote, but really it was just an easy way to write about these two characters that I find to be less than essential. Hopefully these songs aren’t that for you, because they certainly are not less than essential for me.

73. Ben Folds Five – Army (mp3) from The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner (3:22) [Time Remaining: 705:04]

I’ve never been as big a fan of Mr. Folds’ work as most of my friends. Honestly I enjoy some of his poppy-er type songs more than some of his piano centered sad-bastard/angry-bastard work. This song is my favorite of his entire catalogue, Five or solo, and I’ll always have the memory of it being the first song played during the dinner portion of my wedding reception. Immediately following a speech while nearly everyone was peculiarly quiet, the DJ played this song. Now, Mr. Folds uses a swear quite early on in the song. When everyone was fairly quiet and the song began, I knew right away a loud ‘fuck’ was going to be heard by everyone in the room. Maybe no one noticed, but I thought it was a little bit funny. That only added to my ultimate enjoyment of the song, because would I otherwise have put it on my very strict wedding playlist?

74. Sun Kil Moon – Carry Me Ohio (mp3) from Ghosts Of The Great Highway (6:21) [Time Remaining: 698:43]

And I drop to under 700 minutes remaining in my 1000 minutes with another song from Mark Kozelek. Essentially the same band as Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon didn’t derive from the formula all that much. Another slow, melodic and gorgeous song with amazing lyrics and beautiful vocals that match the melodies perfectly. Love lost, or perhaps not reciprocated, is not a feeling I’ve ever experienced, yet that fact does not make this song any less affecting. But once again, I love the song mostly because of the sound and feel I get from it, not the actual lyrical meaning.

Posted by Dave at 8:31 am Tagged with: , , ,

1000 Minutes: Andy #31

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Sep 152009

This week’s chapter of my 1000 Minutes Project is far more nostalgic than I intended it to be at the outset, but it’s not a bad place to look back upon.  To see where I’ve been already with this project, check out my full list.

63. Broken Social Scene – 7/4 (Shoreline) (mp3) from Broken Social Scene (4:54) [Time Remaining: 692:49]

While not nearly as affected by it as some, I certainly enjoyed – and even partially identified with – Steven Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower.  The most famous line of the novel – “and in that moment, I swear we were infinite” – even has a home on Urban Dictionary as being “one of the greatest lines from the greatest book ever.”  While that definition can almost certainly be classified as hyperbole, the feeling the quote describes is undeniably true.

This song gives me that feeling of the infinite.  It’s a hand outside of the window while on a road trip.  It’s the nervous twinge of excitement about what the next day will bring.  And it’s as unforgettable as any of the experiences that define us.

64. Ben Folds Five – Underground (mp3) from Ben Folds Five (4:11) [Time Remaining: 687:38]

Following close on the heels of The Perks of Being a Wallflower – at least in terms of the teenage need for finding acceptance – is the mid-nineties geek/piano rock of Ben Folds Five.  I’d be lying if I told you that I was up on Ben Folds Five when their eponymous debut was released; like most people, I heard them when I when “Brick” was everywhere.  Saving up my dollars from my teenage job stocking shelves at the local drugstore, I bought Whatever and Ever Amen and then, working backwards, I discovered Ben Folds Five.

When I look back at it today “Underground” was more influential than “Brick” could have been.  The thematic elements of “Brick” were so far removed from my seventeen year old mindset that they simply made for a sad, thoughtful song rather than one upon which I could have any personal claim.  But “Underground,” in all of its rollicking, inclusive glory, was much more my speed – just a little to the left (or right, as it was then) of where I assumed most everyone to be, and completely perfect.

Posted by Andy at 7:30 am Tagged with: , , ,
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