SIDE A | by Ovidiu Zimcea
1. Radiohead | Like Spinning Plates
This was the first song I ever tried to learn to play and do a cover of after learning to work with Propellerhead's Reason and getting the first cheapest Acoustic guitar I could find. It didn’t work out, but I still had tons of fun. Also, I’m not sure which I like more: the Amnesiac version or the live solo piano version. Both are amazing in their own way.
2. Björk | Come To Me
I’d heard of her, and wanted to do the same as I did with Tom Waits, start from the beginning, see how she got there (I think Homogenic was the first thing I heard). And this was the smoothest and most romantic without being cheesy song I fell in Love with from her discography. And it stuck. Not sure she has another like it actually.
3. Jonny Greenwood | Prospectors Arrive (There Will Be Blood Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Heard the soundtrack before I saw the movie. Because I used to be a Radiohead nut. Still am in a way, they’re still an influence, but I saw them live after obsessing over them for quite some time and my reaction was pretty much OK, so I saw them. And the now what came right after, when Greenwood released this soundtrack. I’d heard his Bodysong soundtrack and loved it, but this topped it. It worked on its own, then I saw the movie and it was the best soundtrack I’d heard in a film ever. And I remember reading a few comments previously saying it’s not really suitable for a Western. I have to disagree. This track especially. I think I even had some dust in my eye during the movie when this was playing. Really chilling.
4. Clogs | Thom’s Night Out
Wanted to like the whole album, but for some reason the title track is the only one that really stuck. I’m not sure what to say about this. I did a Contemporary Dance workshop with Lavinia Urcan a few years ago and at the end of it we had to put on a show. I proposed this song for the bit I was doing. She liked it. It worked. That’s the only story relating to this song I can remember.
5. A Winged Victory For The Sullen | A Symphony Pathetique
The more I get into thinking about my favourite songs, the more I realise I listen to some sad ass songs, man. But this is beautiful. In some ways I like this more than what they did with their main project, Stars Of The Lid and The Dead Texan. I guess I like that it’s a bit more towards the Contemporary Classical side of things. Fell asleep to this record so many times. It’s on my travel playlist. Puts me right to sleep no matter how many crying babies are right THERE. IN MY FACE.
6. Tom Waits | Hoist That Rag
This is such a damn dirty song. It sounds like it’s a demo. Sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom from across the hall. Then the guitar comes in. Still dirty but brings a bit more clarity. Then Tom’s voice muddies it all up again. And when the chorus hits it’s PIRATES TAKING OVER THE GODDAMN SHIP. And the guitar solo is beautiful. It’s quite possibly the only guitar solo I love. I wanna dance to it. Shivers down my spine. Fucking… You name it. It’s the best. THE BEST. SHUT UP! And the lyrics, as usual, are amazing. But there are tons of songs like that that have come from this guy.
7. Godspeed You Black Emperor! | Sleep: Murray Ostril: "...They Don't Sleep Anymore On The Beach..."/Monheim/Broken Windows, Locks Of Love Pt. III./3rd Part
I don’t think I need to explain this one. It’s beautiful. Not sure when exactly I started listening to it. High School? 11th Grade? Probably. Anyway, it's the kind of song that could bring peace to the Middle East, but it’s probably not their jam. Too many words already for a song with so few. Listen to it if you haven’t. As if this is the only one I’m recommending...
8. Omar Rodriguez Lopez | Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo
I’m sure Cedric (The Mars Volta) has got some lyrics he’s written in his crypto language he operates in. And I’m sure they’re pretty good. What I appreciate about this song is that you cannot understand the lyrics. Not a word. Kind of like a Progressive Cocteau Twins on peyote. That’s the point though. The impassionate delivery counts more than the words. I’ve had tons of songs misinterpreted because I didn’t hear the lyrics properly. Anyway, the instrumental is great, the piano bits on this are elegant as hell, guitar is a bit more tempered than most Volta stuff, which is why I believe this to be better. The whole album is pretty flawless. The musicians on here fit so well together. If you like Mars Volta or did so at one point, this might be better that anything they’ve done with that project to be honest. I was in the first year of University when a friend recommended it to me. I think we listened to it in the kitchen first time or something. In between fire alarm parties and Tom Cruise's Scientology videos. Interesting times.
9. Slint | Good Morning, Captain
I was never that much into Grunge. This has a lot of Grunge in it. I was never that much into Spoken Word. The whole album is more or less spoken, full of Word. It’s a story. This song is the end of the story. The story is great, but I didn’t expect the ending to be this good. Also one of the few Math Rock albums I love. It had the same effect that Radiohead's Blow Out had on me when I first heard it. Can't remember when that was. But I remember it would end and I'd play it again. I was still in my listen-to-one-song-on-repeat-for-the-whole-day period.
10. The Cake Sale | Aliens
Another album closer. This time it’s The Cake Sale, which was one of those collab albums done for a charity actually, Oxfam Ireland’s Make Trade Fair campaign. This is by far the best track on the album if you ask me. Features Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy on vocals. It’s the kind of track even my grandmother would’ve liked. The whole album is pretty easy on the ears in general, but this has that little bit more to offer. I guess because it gets noisier and I love the simplicity and honesty of the lyrics. It’s pretty much Pop. It’s on my break-up playlist I guess, everybody has those right? It's a pretty obvious pick I guess.
+11. Jemaine Clement | Goodbye Moonmen (Rick And Morty Original Soundtrack)
I saw the episode. Fell in Love with the song. Works alone or in the episode. I just listen to it really really often since then. It's so well written and well sung for something in an Animated Comedy series. I love that shit. And the timing with all the crap that went on in Bucharest's fire at Colectiv. The Paris terrorist attacks. The ongoing not well reported list of other attacks. Not sure how relevant that is. But when I heard of all that stuff I just thought I need to listen to that song again. It's funny, yeah. But it's also dark and relevant in its own way.
+12. Jorge Elbrecht | No Real Friend (feat. Ariel Pink)
+ Hang On To Life... Not sure when I heard it. But it's one of the best things they've done.
SIDE B | by Alexandru Iovan
1. The KLF | Madrugada Eterna
Taking night buses from one bad side of town to another in Lisbon, Portugal. They call their night transportation rede da madrugada, so this always stuck with me. Watching bleak faces in the city lights, drugged out thugs or just late night minimum wage work class heroes going back home. This song and the rest of the album were my companions throughout.
2. Boards Of Canada | '84 Pontiac Dream
Refreshing like a summer breeze, yet Psychedelic, it reminds me of times when I rather walked around my hometown with headphones in my ears than meet up with people downtown. I'd walk, take the longest most isolated road and entered almost a meditative state.
3. Pharoah Sanders | The Creator Has A Master Plan
Yet another walking song for me, as this used to be and still is one of my favorite activities to accompany my Music listening. It was the quietest sunny day and I went only to pay some bills, trying out this song for just the 2nd time in my life. And it hit me, right as I was passing by some Romanian stray dogs in a park. That's how the true comprehension of Jazz began for me.
4. Etron Fou Leloublan | Lavabo
Possibly the best song in the Universe. I found this whilst exploring the Rock In Opposition genre, which is weird by itself, but when I stumbled upon this, it was something different altogether. A coherence in Chaos impossible to match for many bands - and all this in a drumless song. The silly French lyrics are mixed with the most playful bass, sax and synth lines you'll ever hear. Prior to finding this I didn't know Music could be this way and it forever changed my perspective. I've even convinced my bandmates some years ago to do a cover of this, adding equivalently stupid Romanian lyrics to it, but we never got to play it live.
5. The Lounge Lizards | Harlem Nocturne
A Jazz standard among these, although most of them don't touch me in any way. But the smooth approach of The Lounge Lizards - and particularly that of John Lurie - is really something that any Music listener should check out, even if they think they're not into Jazz. It's not about being accessible Jazz, 'cause we have Elevator Music and technical Blues-minded jazzmen for that, it's about being bohemian, almost Punk-like Jazz (even more in their other songs). This song taught me that Non-Spiritual Jazz doesn't have to be just a boring display of Technique.
6. My Bloody Valentine | Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)
The first time anyone listens to MBV they're not able to truly realize all the layers in their Music. Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside) is one of the songs that hits earlier than others from their catalogue and it was one that took me deep into a nostalgia for times that I had never lived in. This nauseating/pornographic atmosphere still gets me every time.
7. King Crimson | Starless
You can definitely tell when a group is comprised strictly of great musicians who aren't there just to show off, but to make Music. This is a masterpiece on the same level with Classical Music for me and, by the way, its lyrical theme is plunging straight into the Futility of Life, so this is why it appealed to me instantly. What a way to end the last album of the first King Crimson era!
8. Bark Psychosis | The Loom
Bark Psychosis is the band for which a British journalist first coined the term Post Rock in March 1994. For some reason, whenever I take a long train trip somewhere I start it with this song in my headphones. Its effect on me is always soothing and I can't get enough of the 2 LPs this band has released. Rainy days, hollow days, gloomy days, they all work perfectly with this tune.
9. Mr. Bungle | None Of Them Knew They Were Robots
Starts off as an aggressive song, but then mutates even into Surf Rock. Mr. Bungle is the band that did it all in one song (and this one isn't the only example). It's Post-Modern Art at its best, a collision of many templates and different approaches, quickly changing from one state of mind to the other, a full embrace of Diversity and Contradiction. So I guess you have to be a bit this way to enjoy it. Moreover, the lyrics are also pure genius.
10. Gong | You Can't Kill Me
This is also one of those songs that made me say I didn't know Music could be this way when I first heard it. It includes one of my favorite sax styles ever. And I say style, because I don't care about the person that much, but about the way the sax lines are crafted in concordance with the other instruments. This is definitely a song that will be played on my funeral so everyone can have a blast and remember my cheekiness.
1. Radiohead | Like Spinning Plates
This was the first song I ever tried to learn to play and do a cover of after learning to work with Propellerhead's Reason and getting the first cheapest Acoustic guitar I could find. It didn’t work out, but I still had tons of fun. Also, I’m not sure which I like more: the Amnesiac version or the live solo piano version. Both are amazing in their own way.
2. Björk | Come To Me
I’d heard of her, and wanted to do the same as I did with Tom Waits, start from the beginning, see how she got there (I think Homogenic was the first thing I heard). And this was the smoothest and most romantic without being cheesy song I fell in Love with from her discography. And it stuck. Not sure she has another like it actually.
3. Jonny Greenwood | Prospectors Arrive (There Will Be Blood Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Heard the soundtrack before I saw the movie. Because I used to be a Radiohead nut. Still am in a way, they’re still an influence, but I saw them live after obsessing over them for quite some time and my reaction was pretty much OK, so I saw them. And the now what came right after, when Greenwood released this soundtrack. I’d heard his Bodysong soundtrack and loved it, but this topped it. It worked on its own, then I saw the movie and it was the best soundtrack I’d heard in a film ever. And I remember reading a few comments previously saying it’s not really suitable for a Western. I have to disagree. This track especially. I think I even had some dust in my eye during the movie when this was playing. Really chilling.
4. Clogs | Thom’s Night Out
Wanted to like the whole album, but for some reason the title track is the only one that really stuck. I’m not sure what to say about this. I did a Contemporary Dance workshop with Lavinia Urcan a few years ago and at the end of it we had to put on a show. I proposed this song for the bit I was doing. She liked it. It worked. That’s the only story relating to this song I can remember.
5. A Winged Victory For The Sullen | A Symphony Pathetique
The more I get into thinking about my favourite songs, the more I realise I listen to some sad ass songs, man. But this is beautiful. In some ways I like this more than what they did with their main project, Stars Of The Lid and The Dead Texan. I guess I like that it’s a bit more towards the Contemporary Classical side of things. Fell asleep to this record so many times. It’s on my travel playlist. Puts me right to sleep no matter how many crying babies are right THERE. IN MY FACE.
6. Tom Waits | Hoist That Rag
This is such a damn dirty song. It sounds like it’s a demo. Sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom from across the hall. Then the guitar comes in. Still dirty but brings a bit more clarity. Then Tom’s voice muddies it all up again. And when the chorus hits it’s PIRATES TAKING OVER THE GODDAMN SHIP. And the guitar solo is beautiful. It’s quite possibly the only guitar solo I love. I wanna dance to it. Shivers down my spine. Fucking… You name it. It’s the best. THE BEST. SHUT UP! And the lyrics, as usual, are amazing. But there are tons of songs like that that have come from this guy.
7. Godspeed You Black Emperor! | Sleep: Murray Ostril: "...They Don't Sleep Anymore On The Beach..."/Monheim/Broken Windows, Locks Of Love Pt. III./3rd Part
I don’t think I need to explain this one. It’s beautiful. Not sure when exactly I started listening to it. High School? 11th Grade? Probably. Anyway, it's the kind of song that could bring peace to the Middle East, but it’s probably not their jam. Too many words already for a song with so few. Listen to it if you haven’t. As if this is the only one I’m recommending...
8. Omar Rodriguez Lopez | Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo
I’m sure Cedric (The Mars Volta) has got some lyrics he’s written in his crypto language he operates in. And I’m sure they’re pretty good. What I appreciate about this song is that you cannot understand the lyrics. Not a word. Kind of like a Progressive Cocteau Twins on peyote. That’s the point though. The impassionate delivery counts more than the words. I’ve had tons of songs misinterpreted because I didn’t hear the lyrics properly. Anyway, the instrumental is great, the piano bits on this are elegant as hell, guitar is a bit more tempered than most Volta stuff, which is why I believe this to be better. The whole album is pretty flawless. The musicians on here fit so well together. If you like Mars Volta or did so at one point, this might be better that anything they’ve done with that project to be honest. I was in the first year of University when a friend recommended it to me. I think we listened to it in the kitchen first time or something. In between fire alarm parties and Tom Cruise's Scientology videos. Interesting times.
9. Slint | Good Morning, Captain
I was never that much into Grunge. This has a lot of Grunge in it. I was never that much into Spoken Word. The whole album is more or less spoken, full of Word. It’s a story. This song is the end of the story. The story is great, but I didn’t expect the ending to be this good. Also one of the few Math Rock albums I love. It had the same effect that Radiohead's Blow Out had on me when I first heard it. Can't remember when that was. But I remember it would end and I'd play it again. I was still in my listen-to-one-song-on-repeat-for-the-whole-day period.
10. The Cake Sale | Aliens
Another album closer. This time it’s The Cake Sale, which was one of those collab albums done for a charity actually, Oxfam Ireland’s Make Trade Fair campaign. This is by far the best track on the album if you ask me. Features Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy on vocals. It’s the kind of track even my grandmother would’ve liked. The whole album is pretty easy on the ears in general, but this has that little bit more to offer. I guess because it gets noisier and I love the simplicity and honesty of the lyrics. It’s pretty much Pop. It’s on my break-up playlist I guess, everybody has those right? It's a pretty obvious pick I guess.
+11. Jemaine Clement | Goodbye Moonmen (Rick And Morty Original Soundtrack)
I saw the episode. Fell in Love with the song. Works alone or in the episode. I just listen to it really really often since then. It's so well written and well sung for something in an Animated Comedy series. I love that shit. And the timing with all the crap that went on in Bucharest's fire at Colectiv. The Paris terrorist attacks. The ongoing not well reported list of other attacks. Not sure how relevant that is. But when I heard of all that stuff I just thought I need to listen to that song again. It's funny, yeah. But it's also dark and relevant in its own way.
+12. Jorge Elbrecht | No Real Friend (feat. Ariel Pink)
+ Hang On To Life... Not sure when I heard it. But it's one of the best things they've done.
1. The KLF | Madrugada Eterna
Taking night buses from one bad side of town to another in Lisbon, Portugal. They call their night transportation rede da madrugada, so this always stuck with me. Watching bleak faces in the city lights, drugged out thugs or just late night minimum wage work class heroes going back home. This song and the rest of the album were my companions throughout.
2. Boards Of Canada | '84 Pontiac Dream
Refreshing like a summer breeze, yet Psychedelic, it reminds me of times when I rather walked around my hometown with headphones in my ears than meet up with people downtown. I'd walk, take the longest most isolated road and entered almost a meditative state.
3. Pharoah Sanders | The Creator Has A Master Plan
Yet another walking song for me, as this used to be and still is one of my favorite activities to accompany my Music listening. It was the quietest sunny day and I went only to pay some bills, trying out this song for just the 2nd time in my life. And it hit me, right as I was passing by some Romanian stray dogs in a park. That's how the true comprehension of Jazz began for me.
4. Etron Fou Leloublan | Lavabo
Possibly the best song in the Universe. I found this whilst exploring the Rock In Opposition genre, which is weird by itself, but when I stumbled upon this, it was something different altogether. A coherence in Chaos impossible to match for many bands - and all this in a drumless song. The silly French lyrics are mixed with the most playful bass, sax and synth lines you'll ever hear. Prior to finding this I didn't know Music could be this way and it forever changed my perspective. I've even convinced my bandmates some years ago to do a cover of this, adding equivalently stupid Romanian lyrics to it, but we never got to play it live.
5. The Lounge Lizards | Harlem Nocturne
A Jazz standard among these, although most of them don't touch me in any way. But the smooth approach of The Lounge Lizards - and particularly that of John Lurie - is really something that any Music listener should check out, even if they think they're not into Jazz. It's not about being accessible Jazz, 'cause we have Elevator Music and technical Blues-minded jazzmen for that, it's about being bohemian, almost Punk-like Jazz (even more in their other songs). This song taught me that Non-Spiritual Jazz doesn't have to be just a boring display of Technique.
6. My Bloody Valentine | Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)
The first time anyone listens to MBV they're not able to truly realize all the layers in their Music. Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside) is one of the songs that hits earlier than others from their catalogue and it was one that took me deep into a nostalgia for times that I had never lived in. This nauseating/pornographic atmosphere still gets me every time.
7. King Crimson | Starless
You can definitely tell when a group is comprised strictly of great musicians who aren't there just to show off, but to make Music. This is a masterpiece on the same level with Classical Music for me and, by the way, its lyrical theme is plunging straight into the Futility of Life, so this is why it appealed to me instantly. What a way to end the last album of the first King Crimson era!
8. Bark Psychosis | The Loom
Bark Psychosis is the band for which a British journalist first coined the term Post Rock in March 1994. For some reason, whenever I take a long train trip somewhere I start it with this song in my headphones. Its effect on me is always soothing and I can't get enough of the 2 LPs this band has released. Rainy days, hollow days, gloomy days, they all work perfectly with this tune.
9. Mr. Bungle | None Of Them Knew They Were Robots
Starts off as an aggressive song, but then mutates even into Surf Rock. Mr. Bungle is the band that did it all in one song (and this one isn't the only example). It's Post-Modern Art at its best, a collision of many templates and different approaches, quickly changing from one state of mind to the other, a full embrace of Diversity and Contradiction. So I guess you have to be a bit this way to enjoy it. Moreover, the lyrics are also pure genius.
10. Gong | You Can't Kill Me
This is also one of those songs that made me say I didn't know Music could be this way when I first heard it. It includes one of my favorite sax styles ever. And I say style, because I don't care about the person that much, but about the way the sax lines are crafted in concordance with the other instruments. This is definitely a song that will be played on my funeral so everyone can have a blast and remember my cheekiness.
