‘Happy Holidays, You Bastard’ – Blink 182

I’ve said it before and I have no shame in saying it again – my life is on hold until I see Blink 182 live again. Their music meant a lot to me when I was a kid and I have so many great memories attached to it. I’ve seen them live before – it was my second ever gig, 15 years old on a school night. Badass. It ruled.

These were the days where those explicit language stickers governed what I could and could not have. My mother used to be very strict about listening to music that had swear words in it, so Blink was one of my secret pleasures. I remember going to Kmart with her and asking if I was allowed to have The Mark, Tom and Travis Show, and she spied the little warning sticker on the front of it and said no. I threw a tantrum right then and there in the Kmart. It was shameful.

A friend of mine gave me the album this song is from, Take Off Your Pants And Jacket, for Christmas in 2001. I had just turned 13 and it was the first full-length Blink album I’d listened to (in fact, I didn’t even listen to Enema of the State in full until maybe two years ago – I just knew and loved the singles. Before you judge, remember that this was in a time before torrenting.) Right away I was super drawn to it and memorised every word of every song. This one stood out to me because it was just so NAUGHTY and I felt like such a rebel for listening to it and swearing along with it and besides, who doesn’t love a good lyric about ejaculating into a sock?

I’m 22 now. I should be over it. I’m totally not. Whenever I hear this song I still crack a smile, and I listen to Blink an ungodly amount even still. It makes me feel young and happy and nostalgic for the past, and as much as I love different kinds of music now I do not think anything will ever make me as happy as this band once did. And I still laugh whenever I hear this song. It’s utterly ridiculous and I love it, just like this band is utterly ridiculous and I love them. I always, always will.

And this is the greatest way that my past and present interests have ever collided:

‘A Wolf At The Door (It Girl. Rag Doll)’ – Radiohead

Firstly, I cannot play anything at my funeral, as I will be dead.

Secondly, I do not often think about death. I see it as something that is inevitable and thus not really worth worrying much about. When the time comes, it will come. Having said that, when I do think about it, it upsets me, especially when I think of everyone I love one day no longer existing in a tangible form. I have only ever lost one person close to me, and I was nine years old at the time. I still can’t come to grips with the fact that I will never see my grandmother again, nor can I ever forget the empty feeling that overtook my entire being when I saw her at her funeral, lying completely cold in an open casket. It was her and it wasn’t her. I cannot deal with it still, and it’s been almost 14 years.

I am not sure if I want my funeral to be a sombre occasion or one where everyone who loved me (I hope those people exist) gather to celebrate the fact that I ever existed. If it was a happy occasion like that, then this song for sure:

…the saddest part is that I’m not even really joking. ABBA is the bomb. Come to think of it, if my funeral was a celebratory occasion I’d just want 70s and 80s music pumping the whole time. This too:

I didn’t want to use any bands twice in the 30 Day Song Challenge, but when I was faced with this question, other than my 70s and 80s silliness as outlined above, I couldn’t think of anything but this song. For reasons that I now can no longer remember, when I was younger – probably in high school – I decided that this song would be perfect for a funeral, possibly my own funeral. To me it’s about disintegration. Wow, a little depressing.

Radiohead changed my life in a big way. I wrote this about my discovery when I was 17, though it was probably around a year ago that I seriously got into them. If there is a band that has affected me so much in life, surely they would be a fitting one to send me off once I am dead. I’m not sure any more why I chose this particular song all the way back then, but I feel like it would be fitting.

Remote Control/Inertia

Oh, internet. While my dear mother warned me endlessly against cyber stranger danger and the slasher crime scene that would inevitably follow, without the fanciful act of befriending randoms online, Collarbones would never have come into existence – and Australian music would be so much poorer for it. E-pals turned musical besties Marcus Whale (Sydney) and Travis Cook (Adelaide) have made a gripping debut from across state borders, mixing the best parts of electronica, R&B and pop.

Pulling hints from groups like Seekae, what makes this pair different is that they’re unafraid of splashing convention across their unconventional sounds. The glitchy synthesised and sampled sounds are lathered with Whale’s stunning melodic vocals, nowhere better than ‘Beaman Park’, the first carefully constructed single which meshes differing styles together with ease (and a hell of a breakbeat). It’s the songs where Whale sings that are the biggest treat – the vocals are used in fascinating ways, really setting Collarbones apart from its contemporaries. On ‘Kill Off The Vowels’, the vocals fall down to a disparate register and are blended further into the instrumentals in an industrial haze; they’re used sparingly on ‘Id’, where the synthesised sounds act more as the main melody carrier, voices as accompaniment; they’re chopped and changed as much as the music on ‘The Ghostship’. ‘Berlioz’ consists of one repeated synth line but sustains intoxicating addictiveness despite wordlessness, and even the 51-second ‘Transylvania’ borrows heavily from hip-hop to create a snatch of careful electronic-infused soul.

This is pretty close to perfect, and we’re only on album number one so there must be a world of even greater ideas waiting to burst forth. Bring on the future – and if these guys are ever, EVER in seeing distance from wherever you are, get your bum to one of their shows. Stupidly amazing and they get better every time!

‘I Will’ – The Beatles

Oh, weddings. For a long time I was kind of anti-marriage for a bunch of reasons. To begin, the fact that it is such a largely religious institution doesn’t sit super well with me, especially since I feel unfairly privileged, being heterosexual – were I homosexual, that privilege would not exist for me and so I feel a little uneasy about that. Secondly, SO MUCH FANFARE. I understand how weddings are beautiful and romantic and all that, but people spending tens and thousands of dollars to put their relationship on show seems a bit off to me, especially when statistically speaking the marriage will more than likely unravel anyway. Thirdly, I don’t see why marriage is a necessity in this day and age – civil partnerships work just fine, or even just de facto – we are out of the dark ages, people! You do not need a piece of paper to prove anything!

What a cynic, I know. I’m pretty sure I’ve made my mother cry with these beliefs before. Apparently I’m way too modern – my family strongly believes in no sex before marriage, only very traditional marriage ceremonies, no children out of wedlock and the whole shebang. To say that my beliefs are comparatively radical is a massive understatement. I love and respect my family, but we differ greatly when it comes to these fundamental moral beliefs.

But having said that, lately marriage hasn’t seemed so repulsive to me. Even though I can still count a thousand things I don’t like about it, there are things that might not be so bad. I have absolutely zero interest in doing the white dress in church thing, but I think it can be a fun little celebration of love. If I get married I want it to be unique and memorable. I almost crapped myself when I saw this wedding captured in photographs. AMAZING. That’s more what I’d be interested in.

Anyway, I’m 300 words deep and still haven’t answered the question. Good one, idiot. I really love this song because it’s very short and very sweet. It cuts to the chase and doesn’t try to be incredibly poetic – it’s just exactly what it is. No BS. That’s exactly what I’d want my marriage to be, if I ever have one, and so I think it’d be a lovely song to have playing on the day. I have a background in classical music and have played at countless weddings in a string quartet. Maybe I can get a string quartet to play this song and someone can sing. Or my future husband can sing. Whatever.

Weddings can be cute. Mine will be the cutest.

‘I Know It’s Over’ – The Smiths

I was beginning to wonder when these dudes would make it into this song challenge. How fitting that there’s a question about sadness. Kings of maudlin, The Smiths are. I adore them to bits and have for a while, but there’s no denying that a lot of their music is so terribly morose.

This is the sound of heartbreak for me. Maybe it’s a dumb idea to listen to sad songs when you’re sad, because it’ll only make you more sad, right? I used to have a playlist called “Heartache”, and this was on it, as well as ‘Hurt’ by Johnny Cash and quite possibly ‘Last Goodbye’ by Jeff Buckley. So I like my dejected emotions. Only God can judge me, bitches.

Morrissey has a voice that is so inherently emotional, nowhere more so than this song. It speaks of hopelessness and desperation and all those awful feelings you can’t push away, as much as you wish you could. I have always loved his lyrics, and this song is a pretty fantastic example of their simple, yet super effective power: “The sea wants to take me, the knife wants to slit me, do you think you can help me?”

Like I said, probably counterproductive to listen to depressing songs when you’re already feeling a little down in the dumps, but I guess I’m dumb like that. In the event of a break up (touch wood that doesn’t happen any time soon), I know that this song is the one I’ll synchronise my crying to on repeat forever. So emo. But it’s nice to know that someone else has felt those horrible things before, too. Something about not feeling alone.

Some fun facts about me:
- I have a soft spot for Perth. I’ve never been there, but my other half grew up there and hearing him talk about it is always endearing. Whenever I find out bands are from Perth, a little part of my heart smiles for whatever reason.
- I love ‘indie’ music. I love folk music. I love a bit of electronic music.

So when all these things come together, they make me very happy indeed. Hello Anton Franc, a ‘folktronica’ duo from Western Australia whose new single, ‘Letting Go’, from their first and self-titled EP is now floating around the interwebs for you to have a sneaky peek at.

Listening to it, I’m reminded of far-off landscapes, earthy browns entering the gaps between my toes as I walk through barefoot. It’s super chill stuff, starting off with a gentle finger picked guitar and delicate tinkers, before the airy vocal begins, steady but with a feeling of real lightness. For some reason my first thought was Iron & Wine, but it’s not quite as textured or fluffy as Sam Beam’s voice – it’s got that same effect though, calming but very controlled all the same.

‘Folktronica’ is a funny word, but after listening to this track a couple of times through, I understand how those elements can seamlessly come together. There are equal parts of both, the electronica acting as a driving force but the folk keeping it withdrawn enough. I especially dig the build up to the chorus coming in for the final big bang; the twitters of birds and joyful shouts of children overlap the silence before the vocal and instrumental smacks back in.

Worth a listen for you folks who like…folk. Folk with a little itty bit of difference. Super cool.

Head to the band’s Bandcamp page to download the track for free in a selection of audio formats.

‘We Are The Sleepyheads’ – Belle and Sebastian

Belle and Sebastian is one of my favourite bands and has been for about five years now. I first heard them when I was 17, in my last year of high school. A boy I’d been talking to a lot was a massive fan of them, and I was a massive fan of him, so by the rules of transitive property I had to like them. Right?

Haven’t seen or spoken to the dude since then, more or less, but I am still totally besotted with this band as much as I was the first time I heard them. The Life Pursuit was the first album of theirs I heard, and it’s one of my favourite records ever – it just puts me in such an excellent mood. The songwriting is spot on and sure, it’s twee as hell, but who doesn’t like happiness? Life grinches, that’s who. I am not a life grinch.

This is the first song I thought of when I read that I had to think of a song that makes me happy. I adore the opening of it and its vibe is just so upbeat and carefree – when I listen to this song, and this album, it honestly feels like there is nothing in the world that could possibly make me sad. It’s so uplifting and ecstatic.

Finally seeing this band after five long years of waiting in March was, to say the least, an emotionally relieving experience. I saw them on two nights and they were perfect in every way you could possibly imagine. They didn’t play this song, but they played almost everything else I could have asked for and I just felt really, really lucky to have stumbled upon some stupid boy who liked them, because even though I’ve no clue where or what he is now, this music has stayed with me for half a decade and I am so excited to stick it out with this wonderful band for as long as they continue to write songs that slam away the darkness and open up the happiness.

‘One Step Closer’ – Linkin Park

I’ve been thinking about this for a week. Seriously, one entire week. I have sat around picking my brain, thinking about what I put on when I’m pissed off, and after a whole week of thinking… I have nothing. Nothing at all. Usually when I’m angry I listen to the sound of my own sobs. Ha! (But seriously.)

I used to listen to this song when I was young whenever I was feeling a little pissed off. Usually about totally important things, like pocket money and curfews. Sooo many problems. I thought I was a badass for owning this album, which I bought with my own money, and that I was totally rebellious and awesome. Yeah. This is the first thing that comes into my head when I think about ‘angry’ music. SHUT UP WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU!

I don’t know what else to add… I was a pretty cool kid.

‘The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows’ – Brand New

Whenever people ask me what my favourite album is, I find it kind of hard to give an answer because there are so many that I love. For a while in high school, I swore I’d give my first son the middle name Floyd and my first daughter the middle name Grace, to honour what I thought then were my two favourite albums forever and ever – Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Jeff Buckley’s Grace. Though I still love those two albums dearly, I don’t think they are my favourites any more.

I think everybody has an album that changed them significantly, and this is that album for me – Deja Entendu by Brand New. Musically I don’t listen to so much stuff like this any more, but when I first heard it, it spun my life around and repeated listens just make me love it more, if that were even possible after thousands upon thousands of spins over the last eight years.

Long story short, this is the album that made me REALLY care about music. Before it, I certainly did enjoy listening to music and was passionate about a handful of bands, but after it I cared about little else. I loved the lyrics, I loved the imagery, I loved the sounds and I was just so enamoured with it as a whole. I remember the first time I heard it – it was my 15th birthday and I sat on my bed, rapt the whole way through, and was immobile at the end because I didn’t want to break its spell.

I could go on and on and on about all the things this band means to me, about how I used to line up for hours at their shows, about the time I won backstage passes to meet them and wrote a letter only to have the tour cancelled, about interviewing Jesse Lacey when I was 20 and feeling like I was about 14. This album means so much to me, and I don’t know if anything will ever even come remotely close. It is hard to explain, especially to people who think of this band as one with an ‘emo’ stigma. They are much more than that.

I think this was the first Brand New song I ever heard. It’s also been missing from the set list each of the four Brand New shows I’ve been to. I wish I could hear it live, it would mean the world to me. I don’t care what other people think of this band or album; it changed everything for me.

‘Should Have’ – Cloud Nothings

FIRSTLY, apologies for being totes MIA the last few days, I have been working and attending amazing local gigs and I also went to a wedding and slow-danced alone to ‘All My Life’ by K-Ci & Jojo, it was pretty boss.

Now as I said, I don’t really listen to the radio, so I don’t really have any songs that I wish were played more often/at all etc. I like just playing my own stuff whenever I feel like it because then I don’t have to worry about hearing songs I don’t feel like hearing and it is a continual playlist of awesome. But then again, it’s pretty great when you are listening to the radio and a good song unexpectedly comes on.

I have really been digging Cloud Nothings lately. They seem to be the perfect blend of things I love – the same youthful recklessness you find in pop punk mixed with a lo-fi energy. I like the album a lot, but my favourite track from it isn’t on YouTube so I just went for this one. I would be pretty stoked if I heard this randomly on the radio. Really really really dig the album, once again, so seek it out.