Those who know me will not be surprised by this choice. I have long been extolling the greatness of this band in general and this song particular.

For those who do not know, Arctic Monkeys exploded onto the UK music scene in 2005 and became the biggest act in England in forty years. Their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I Am Not is a masterwork and their 2007 follow-up Favourite Worst Nightmare showed growth that most bands take years to acquire. This year they released their third album Humbug. Humbug is a bold departure from their earlier work. While still the hard indie rockin’ music they’re known for, the songs have an edge and heaviness not present in their earlier work.

Arctic Monkeys’ lead guitarist, vocalist, & songwriter Alex Turner has a lyrical complexity unseen in popular music today. His voice is one of the two things this band has over all others on the scene today (the other is drummer Matt Helders). But it’s Turner’s lyrics that set the songs apart.

Their Sheffield accents and very-UK references may make some of their songs hard to follow for US listeners and may require Wikipedia to get some of the names, places, and adjectives. (i.e., the word “something” is pronounced “summat” and rhymed accordingly).

“Cornerstone” is nestled in the back-half of Humbug. After the melancholy of “Crying Lightning” and “Fire and Thud,” it at first seems like a more upbeat number. But it quickly becomes apparent this may be the saddest song on the album. The protagonist journeys through various pubs (that’s what he’s naming at the top of each verse, not parts of a ship) looking for a girl he’s lost. In each he sees someone who looks like said lost girl and asks each if he can call them by said girl’s name. All turn him down in succession until he runs into the girl’s sister who consents.

There’s a lot to love here but I want you hear the song before I speak any further. So give it a listen.

At first you make think this is a creepy song about a dumped boyfriend simply obsessed with his ex. I would agree except for two facts. (1) The first girl is described as “close enough to be your ghost” and (2) the sister says “I’m really not supposed to”.

While you may argue some kind of sisterly love triangle, I think we’re dealing with deeper loss. This is a song about a man who’s girlfriend has died and he’s looking for some unhealthy comfort. The kind of comfort that he could only get from someone in as much pain as himself.

The songs ends right when he gets what he wants. No coda, no chorus repeat, his search is over. And the sad marches on.

Amazing.

p.s.
Click here to learn about Letraset.

Here’s an acoustic version which I love.

Arctic Monkeys official site.

I’ve extolled the virtues of “Weird Al” Yankovic in an earlier blogging so I’ll just say why I love this song in particular.

It is indeed true that it’s hard to be an actor. And there are those who would ignore those challenges and those who would loft them to an irrational level. The absurdity of being a professional actor has been made fun of a thousand times. But never with such respect.

Is it possible to mock someone respectfully? Yes. Yes it is.

“Skipper Dan” is possibly the greatest actor in the world (on paper). But he finds LA impossible to navigate career-wise and the only “acting” work he can find is as a tour guide on the Jungle Cruise attraction at Disneyland. This is a familiar story to those of us who live out here but it needs to be told to the rest of the world. It is simultaneously a warning.

It’s a hard knock business. And even if your the best at every stop up the ladder you still might not get your ultimate dream. That is rough but that is what it is. And it should be told. And Alfred Yankovic has done it.

And it’s damn funny.

“Skipper Dan” is from Weird Al’s latest album Internet Leaks which just received a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album.

“Weird Al” Yankovic official site.

Riki “Garfunkel” Lindhome and Kate “Oates” Micucci run a respectable heating & air conditioning business in the valley. But in their spare time, they write and record songs of immense social and economic import. In fact, their debut recorded release Music Songs maintains the entire economy of Togo (the country, not the sandwich shoppe).

Known in Los Angeles for songs such as “Sex with Ducks” and “Me and You and Steve” Garfunkel & Oates have developed what could generously be described as a book club’s worth of followers that gather from time-to-time at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. They then go straight the Scientology Celebrity Center across the street where they reëdit Losin’ It for the rest of eternity.

Their “show” must be experienced to be believed. You can’t simply watch the 8th season of Scrubs or The Last House on the Left. You must go, sit, watch, listen, imagine, drink more, and find the meaning for yourself. From the depths of your soul the song “Weed Card” will call to you. You will hear “Pregnant Women are Smug” and divorce your wife. You will listen to their “Worst Song Medley” and kill four of the five members of Deep Blue Something with your mind-grapes.

But above all of these is their first foray into the world of what Dr William H Cosby Jr calls “hippity-hoppity” music: “This Party Took a Turn for the Douche”.

Chronicling a night historians are now calling “The Night,” Riki & Kate don their G&O masks and take us deep into the world of the Los Angeles party scene. But this is not the scene that it once was. Gone are the day’s punch and home by midnight, now the scene is populated with those that would see it destroyed. They are the douche. And now thanks to the brave Kate Micucci and the very, very tall Riki Lindhome you know how to spot them.

Garfunkel & Oates official site.

Elizabeth & The Catapult are (like everyone today) a Brooklyn-based trio lead by classically trained pianist & vocalist Elizabeth Ziman. Their debut album Taller Children came out in June on Verve.

I had trouble picking one song from the album for this list but I forced myself to not repeat any artists in my Top 5 and so had to listen to this album over and over again. And let me tell you, I hated ever minute of that.

What makes Taller Children a solid debut is its variety. Elizabeth & The Catapult certainly have a distinct sound they’re working on but they shake up the tracks with different beats and layers to give each song its own identity.

A lot of indie artists seem to get flummoxed by the studio. I can’t tell you how many bands I have seen live and excitedly bought their CD only to discover their live presence has been stifled by slick production values. Whilst I have never seen Elizabeth & The Catapult, Taller Children has a quality to it possessed by the best albums. A quality I can only describe as “balls”. Two other favorite tracks are “Momma’s Boy” and “Hit the Wall” but I landed on “Complimentary Me” for its raw emotional honesty.

Ziman’s vocals have a slight break in them that you hear with some frequency on the radio today. But unlike other artists, Ziman has total control over her voice and can take it wherever she wants. The song’s protagonist wonders why she uses objects in her life (both real and imaginary) as avatars for herself since this practice has left her completely alone. But the heartbreak of the song comes when we realize that she cannot (or will not) change her station and therefore is doomed to repeat herself.

Put a catchy beat behind that, arrange it just so, and you’ve got yourself a song.

Elizabeth & The Catapult official site.

I’m a movie & TV guy, I don’t listen to much music (not much new music away). My music listening tendencies lean more towards a research scientist. I find a band I like, I acquire their entire catalogue, then I move on. I love music. Love playing music & seeing live music but I’m not what you’d call an audiophile. So why a Top songs list? Am I qualified? Do I know what I’m doing? Well, no, but that’s more your problem then mine.

Unless you troll YouTube regularly, I’ll wager you’ve never heard of Israeli musician / composer / animator Kutiman (born Ophir Kutiel). But that’s as may be. For his 2009 project ThruYOU he combine the best techniques of a video editor with an uncanny ear as he mixes instructional music videos from YouTube together to make cohesive songs. Seven songs altogether in a project that took him a little over two months. Kutiman himself puts it thus: “At first I took some drummers - before I had the idea about ThruYou I took some drummers from YouTube and I played on top of them - just for fun, you know. And then one day, just before I plugged my guitar to play on top of the drummer from YouTube, I thought to myself, you know - maybe I can find a bass and guitar and other players on YouTube to play with this drummer.”

Now, I know what you’re saying to yourself: “Patrick, how can that be anything more than a fun little experiment?” Well, it can, so shut up.

These are REAL songs. Not just some electronic mixed noise but real, honest-to-God, listenable songs. And the leader of this pack is the first track of the album “The Mother of All Funk Chords”. Combining the efforts from at least a dozen different videos, Kutiman has created a funk song worthy of George Clinton. It’s infectious beat and wonderful riffs will make you listen over and over.

Due to copyright restrictions that would be nearly impossible to entangle, ThruYOU will never be released on any other format than Kutiman’s own site. But that is not a shame, that is a blessing. This is a project of pure joy created for the love of music and given to the world for free. Let’s not ruin that shall we?

ThruYOU | Kutiman mixes YouTube official site (I also recommend track 4 “Babylon Band”)

SOURCES:
“Kutiman” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutiman, as of December 7, 2009
“Kutiman in Wroclove, p.2″ - an interview for radiowroclove.com, June 19, 2009