A few weeks ago I did a twitter thing where I shared some of
the music I have on my spotify playlist. At the time I just posted photos of
each track and artists that came up with little intro or meaning. In this
blogpost I hope to, even if just a small sentence, give the song a background
and how it fits in with my listening pleasures.
1) Against the wall by Jimi Tenor and Tony Allen
Jimi Tenor is a Finnish electronic artist whilst Tony Allen is the drummer extraordinaire who basically
is the father figure of Afro beat percussion. He is otherwise known as the
drummer who plays on Sebastien Tellier's "La Ritournelle"
2) Mon Svijet - Sergei Cetkovic
This was Montenegro's Eurovision entry in 2015. A well-built
Balkan ballad that has a great crescendo. Second best entry to date.
3) Common People by Pulp
Who was best Oasis or Blur...? WRONG it was Pulp. Released
in the height of my teens it still sings to my heartstrings
4) Get frighten by Lolita Zero
This was my spirit animal during National Final season for
Eurovision in 2017 and in many ways it still devastates me that this never got
chosen to go. Lithuania's winning song failed to qualify...
5) Real by Wolfsheim
German darkwave duo that are sadly no longer together. Their
albums are full of amazing work, mostly in English but some German language
work. The singer, Peter Heppner has gone onto some success as a guest vocalist on
other tracks.
6) Auntie Maggie's Remedy by George Formby
What a northern hero. I remember watching the movie this
came from "Turned out nice again" on the telly in my teens and finding this particular song hilarious, especially the line about ankles XD
7) Mensch by Herbert Grönemeyer
A classic song by a classic German artist. A huge star in
the German music world but seems to have lived in London for as long as I can
remember. Love the video too
8) O Superman by Laurie Anderson
If in doubt, stick on a bit of avant garde to calm the mind
down. I think I've been listening to this for half my life and I still don't
really know what this is or what it means - but frankly who cares!
9) The system only dreams in total darkness by The National
This is basically down to my husband who plays this pretty
much every time we are the car and I have absorbed this by osmosis
10) Oblivion by Tenfold Rabbit
In 2012, this came 3rd in Eesti Laul, the Estonian Eurovision
selection show. The song that won eventually came 6th in the final but STLL
think this is better
11) Confusion !! by Cycle
I first heard this song whilst watching the San Fermin
celebrations on TVE. Although the song contains many obscure English
references, they are mostly Spanish!
12) Trees by Marty Casey and the Lovehammers
Marty Casey was second in the MTV show “Rock Star INXS”
where the winner became the new lead singer of their band. Although he did not
win, he honed this song in the process and was the best thing to com out of it.
13) Yambo by Salif Keita
This is an album track from his album M'Bemba. I think this
one because of its repetitive lyrics and banjoesque feel of the opening
instrument and also builds in an interesting way
14) River flows in you by Yiruma
Yiruma is a Korean pianist and composer many of his
compositions can be found as background music in films and tv scores. It's the
kind of music that sounds familiar but you don't really know it.
15) Jam by Michael Jackson
If you can think of a better Michael Jackson song then you
are WRONG WRONG WRONG !!!
16) Cette femme est un heroes!!! by Alex Mansion
This Belgian artist can be found as the source of many hits
since the 80s although most of them are under band names and pseudonyms. He
also conducted Luxembourg's entry at Eurovision
17) Enga Fordoma (karaoke version) by Pollapönk
This Icelandic band sang a
full English version of this at Eurovision in 2015 and they describe them
selves as a 'child friendly punk band'
18) Morgens immer müde by Laing
This band came to prominence when they entered the
Bundesvision Song Contest in 2012 coming second with this reworking of the song
by comedy actress Trude Herr.
19) Caravan by Inspiral Carpets
In the realm of Brit Pop some bands predated the whole thing
and almost started it off without even knowing. That is this lot - but with
ruder t-shirts!
20) Jolibwa by Melissa Laveaux
I saw this performance recently on Later and loved the
guitar work. It's deeply rooted in Afro beat but has that lackadaisical Caribbean
feel at times