I added an “i” by accident thinking the name’s Portuguese. It’s actually Janet Noguera.
If you wanna look up Michael Hedges, I think his best album’s Aerial Boundaries.
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I’ve always liked Breakfast in the Field, but I don’t think I ever listened to Aerial Boundaries.
Are Def FX still my favourite Australian band? I guess so, but they disbanded in 1995.
Slayer guitars, pop structures, rapping, drum machines, female lead, cosmic surfer aesthetic on the side. There was a feeling nobody could fit them in anywhere.
I heard them in 1992 when I was watching Rage (late night all music videos show) and this thing came on (I missed the track name), and apart from being instantly hooked on the music, the presentation and the fact they seemed to yell out ‘sex’ about 1000 times had an explosive effect. I was like ‘what the **** was that?!’.
The answer turned out to be this track Sex Game Sucker. The lyrics are 90s snarl about sex in the culture, not the silliness of Kings of Leon ‘Sex is on fire’ for example. But I wonder if any other song has this word in it so many times without being contrived.
Here we are:
-Wade
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I’ve been listening to a lot of Glass Animals lately, and in particular, I’ve been listening to Agnes.
It’s apparently a semi biographical song, about losing a friend (Agnes) to addiction, and subsequently, suicide. I don’t normally watch music videos, (and many of the bands I like don’t have the budget to make them), but this one was fascinating.
In it, he’s stuck inside of a human sized centrifuge, and spun until he can’t breathe- you can see him physically fighting to lift his head, gasp for air- barely be able to move his lips to sing along, sweat trickling down his brow, face furrowed in pain.
Apparently, they put him in eighteen times, and the reasoning behind it was he felt it was an authentic portrayal to the crushing weight of depression and the struggle that unfolds through the storyline in Agnes. It begins off lightly, and you gradually see him struggle harder and harder, and as the closing lines come to an end- “You’re gone but you’re on my mind- I’m lost but I don’t know why” repeated over and over, until the vocals cut out, leaving only the eerie absence of the rich, warm melody that’d filled the air- and him gasping, choking for air, as a lonely, forlorn, distorted siren wails. It’s a really gorgeous, fascinating portrayal of his physical struggle alongside the emotional agony the titular Agnes is going through.
This is the artist's statement on the song.
dear friends…nervously excited to share with you the video for Agnes. it’s hard to explain exactly how it feels inside a human centrifuge. you sit in a small egg-like pod about the size of a horse which hangs off a 50 foot steel horizontal frame. It looks like something out of a bond villain’s lair. it’s claustrophobic and uncomfortable and also incredibly hot. slowly the whole thing starts to rotate like a helicopter blade. Faster and faster until every part of you becomes crushed under the extreme gravity. its like being slowly sat on by an elephant, or like your whole body being punched in slow motion. you have to flex every muscle and use every ounce of strength you have to keep going. breathing requires serious effort. movement becomes incredibly strained and almost painful. everything that once weighed 5 kilograms now weighs 50. its difficult even to keep your eyes open. it hurts in places you really didn’t know existed. veins and capillaries burst under the pressure and bruising begins. its a rapid physical overdrive.
the blood rushes from your brain making it impossible to think rationally or focus. your eyes are also drained and you get tunnel vision…only able to see small circles of the world directly infront of you and your sight goes completely greyscale…no more colour. your balance and spatial awareness goes and the world begins to spin like you’ve had way too much to drink. but the most striking thing is the way that the machine pulls on your heart. you can actually feel it struggling to beat and changing shape…flattening inside of your chest. Its similar to that horrible sinking, tugging heartache that comes only with complete and overwhelming sadness. and then you pass out. we ran the centrifuge 18 times while i tried to sing along to a song which i find difficult to listen to at the best of times. this was probably the most intense video-making experience I’ll ever have. But its the only way that we could just about begin to simulate for a moment what happens within Agnes.
speak soon,
dave
I had a bunch of reactions to it- first off, I was surprised he was so handsome, since I had no idea what the singer looked like until now, and the music video confronts you with a tightly cropped, deeply intimate shot of him head on. He’s handsome in a very particular way though, he has the sort of face that would look perfectly natural in a historical movie setting- I think it’s also partly due to how they styled him in this, with the swooped hair and green, sensible clothing.
Then- it was a very enjoyable song, as so many of theirs are- wonderful lyricism, an expansive, rich soundscape, and little punchy bits of electronica beneath his warm voice to ground you in the experience. And- that this was a rare song I’ve encountered that is really enhanced by watching the music video, which I typically skip, or isn’t available due to listening to smaller artists- because his desperation really brings to light the plight of Agnes.
There is some really tender, pretty lyricism on display here as well- (a trait I deeply love in my favourite artists, like The Front Bottoms clever, irreverent, vulnerable work.) What strikes me is the warmth to what could be such a devastating, bleak experience- and yes, there is suffering, and life shattering loss and grief: but you also get to see the love that the POV character has for Agnes, their compassion and affectionate notice of all the sparkly, wonderful things that made Agnes, Agnes- even while they were mired in sorrow. There is love, even in such a painful story- and while it makes the loss even more devastating, it’s also oddly almost comforting. A really beautiful tribute.
Some excised lyrics I'm especially fond of.
That trembling tender little sigh
And so it goes
A choking rose back
To be reborn
I want to hold you like you’re mine
You see the sad in everything a
Genius of love and loneliness
Where went that cheeky friend of mine?
Where went that billion dollar smile?
Guess life is long
When soaked in sadness
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Catchy bass line in that song. Nice!
I’m a huge fan of Men At Work. Their Business As Usual (1981) album was a staple of my childhood. One of the best albums of the 80s!
Men At Work - Underground
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T-Pain’s music is super nostalgic for me. This arrangement shows off his singing voice, and it’s lovely.
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Can’t believe these songs are so old now… But of course, if you’re listening to old T-Pain songs, you’ve got to pull up some Akon ones.
Also fond of Dawin’s music. This one’s nice to have in the background while drafting lately.
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T-Pain is in a league of his own, without question. What a voice. Effortless.
I’m reminded of his “Monster” performances on the Masked Singer.
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Yes! His singing is gorgeous. Konvict Muzik put out some awesome music back in the day. His use of auto-tune pushed to the extreme to explore it as a tool in musicality, rather than simple smoothing out of rough edges aiming for escaping notice made for some really fun party music, (and definitely influenced music across genres after his work) but beneath it he’s always had a gorgeous singing voice. So beautifully controlled, and so soulful. He doesn’t get his flowers often enough for it- usually people just remember the Autotune.
Similarly, Usher’s dance performances from then were fantastic- the dramatic swoosh of rain he kicks up in U Remind Me is so cinematic, and he moves so smoothly, but his group performances like in Yeah! are super fun to watch- a combination of explosive, sharp movements, and tight, precise finesse with the footwork. He makes it look so effortlessly fluid, especially in Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home) [flicker/flash warning of his mouth overlaid the dancing, lasts for about a second] (which is one of my favourite songs by him for easy listening, even if the lyrics are a bit silly, haha.)
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Currently listening to static (yay headsets!). It’s weirdly soothing and comforting, and just variable enough to be interesting. There’s a calm sort of quiet when it’s just you and the headset and the muffled sounds of the world around you.
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Right now listening a radio which the motto for today: Slapstick.
There were for anthems/soundtracks from Stan and Ollie, the Benny Hill show etc. And the best of it is running now: Henry Mancini: “Pink Panther Theme”
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What did the Pink Panther say when he stepped on an ant hill?
Dead ant. Dead Ant… 
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I never saw any of Usher’s performances or videos before, but I’m a fan of Michael Jackson’s work. (Apparently they went on stage together at one point.) I never knew Usher was like a modern era Jackson. That first video is mesmerizing! Thanks for sharing. 
But who’s better, Napoleon Dynamite or Usher? I kid though. It was a rhetorical question. We all know it’s Napoleon. 
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I love that movie. That dance scene especially.
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@SomeOne2 I saw you mentioning in another thread that you hadn’t heard Mastodon. If you would indulge me…
This is an awesome Mastodon song with a really solid metal base (the chorus is soooo aggressive sounding)…
Mastodon - Blood and Thunder
However, they have a great rock sound too…
Mastodon - Show Yourself
That will learn you for mentioning certain band names in other threads within earshot of me.
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This song reminds me of the marriage in one of Amanda’s more recent games. It’s about the dissolution of a relationship, the promises that’re broken and therein become lies- and it’s all smooth and crooned and nostalgic feeling. Looking at the lyrics- there’s the husband, the (skeletonized!) illicit lover, and the wife.
I swore that I’d become a better man for you and I tried
Tried to change my ways and walk the line you follow
I bore a flame that burned a thousand suns for you but it died
Told you I could never love somebody else but I lied
I told you I’d be coming back again for you but I’m not
Going way out where the world will never find me
I made a claim that I would dance until we’re bones with my bride
Told you I would never leave you all alone but I lied
I read your letter in the morning by the lake and I cried
They were tears of joy, my chains are finally broken
I made a vow to stand beside you 'til the day that I die
Told you I could never live without your love but I lied
Been relaxing to Polyphia’s music throughout today. I particularly like their track Amour. It’s rare for me to like instrumental only music, I typically listen to my usual gamut of music with vocals while writing, but the crunchiness of the backing and punchy beats make this a super fun song to jam out to.
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My dad used to listen to this song a lot in the car, and it’s one of my favourites. Very fun and bouncy.
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I don’t know anything about this particular group- I used to listen to Kpop when I was younger, mostly groups like Girls’ Generation, BigBang, Wonder Girls, Kara, SHINee, 2NE1- mostly girl groups, not so much the guy groups. An older relative was a huge fan of BigBang, which is how I absorbed most of the songs I listened to from them- Girls’ Generation, Wonder Girls, and Kara were probably my favourites when I was that little.
But I saw a bunch of people comparing this idol to Zayne from Love and Deepspace, and my god, they weren’t kidding. He is basically literally wearing the Dawnbreaker outfit Zayne has, and they’re sort of similar in overall vibe.
