The Music Banter Members' Journals Monthly Update Thread

[Trollheart]

February is here! Valentine's is on the way! Clear those halls and widen the doors for all those cards. And worry not: there will not be a repeat of Stacey-Lynn's 100 favourite Love Songs this year! What WAS that girl thinking?

But what is happening in the many low-rent hovels and seedy motels down in Journaltown? Why, I thought you'd never ask...

Anteater comes to the end of his odyssey through the wild and wonderful world of Gino Vanelli in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...n-dollars.html

while Briks is ripping me off one more time with a cpy of my “Bitesize” reviews, looking at an album by some band called Mineral. Hey, if he thinks my fearless lawyers won't venture into the depths of http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...seur-cave.html ... well, he's right apparently. Bunch of pansies I have working for me! Don't know why I pay them. Still, he can't stay in there forever...

There's something of a “cloud” (cough!) hanging over DJ this week, as he has been locked out of his data by the Internet Gods, so you won't get http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...chameleon.html until after Friday next. We'll be waiting man! Hope it all sorts itself out.

More from http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ening-log.html with albums from The Ohh Sees, Bad Plugs and Self Defense Family among the music in Goofle's headphones this week.

Having recovered from his bout of illness, Ki is back firing on all cylinders and reviewing Foo Fighters in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nal-music.html and thinking of venturing down those Country roads, apparently. Stay turned for Willie Nelson, he says. Interesting.

Neapolitan has a tribute to the late Pete Seeger in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...i-journal.html and is also commenting on the sterling work Urban is doing on his. Quite right too, Neap --- er, sorry, Neo! What is this? The Matrix??

Powerstars thought I was joking about legal action. Well, go visit http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...sicalness.html and see if I was joking! You watching this, Briks? Huh? Huh?

Undertaking quite a few projects myself, not least of which is listening to and reviewing all 100 of the Top 100 Prog Albums of 2013, as chosen by Progarchives, in my thread “Trollheart's Fortress of Prog”, so although I've tried to keep my journals updated it's been tough. Over at http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...d-journal.html there's the first ever instance of my merging two sections, with Train's “California 37” fitting the bill for both “Nice song ... shame about the album!” and “More than words”. New sections also due up soon. Third episode of “Mayday” is up now at http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-emporium.html, while as promised/threatened last week, http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...m-reviews.html returns with a really strange little band called Stumbleine...

Things are beginning to heat up now as Unknown Soldier raids the archives of the NWOBHM and explores 1980 in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...y-history.html with great albums from Saxon and Angel Witch. What a great time for metal that was!

Urban's really putting in some work in his journals this week. First off, in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...who-thing.html there's the long-awaited (!) “Timelash”, while jumping on the “get Trollheart” bandwagon, he's slagging off my reviewed album covers and dissing my music in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...nal-stuff.html --- you know, the usual you expect from this guy! Not only that though, he's also enthusing (!) abotu a new pop band called Santamaria (I know you love them really Urban!) and of course continuing his review of “1001 songs you must hear before you die.”

YorkeDaddy takes us out this week, and again I apologise for leaving the opening entries from his new journal out last week. This week, in http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-personal.html he's ranting about songs while drunk. Actually, read on a little further...

Yep. In a bid to make it up to him for overlooking his journal last week, and also because it's damn funny, and only just beat Urban's in-depth review of Santamaria's “Virtual” album by a hair, YorkeDaddy is my choice for

Probably best read when you too are drunk. Or maybe not. This man has a bright future!

Originally Posted by YorkeDaddy

DRUNKEN RAMBLINGS WITH YORKEDADDY: SONGS THAT SUCK BUT ACTUALLY DON'T

Hello there, and welcome to Drunken Ramblings With Yorkedaddy, where I pick something and ramble about it whilst drunk. And today, I'm going to ramble about another one of my favorite songs ever and why it should be one of your favorite songs ever too even though it sucks.



First off, some history behind the band. Bombay Bicycle Club is a few British blokes that have released three albums so far, and all of them are absolutely awful. I mean frankly this is some seriously uninteresting attempts at indie folk and there's only three minutes and fifty-five seconds out of their whole catalog that has ever truly interested me, and it's this song right here.

Now I don't know how the hell stuff like this happens, and by stuff like this I mean crappy bands coming up with impeccable tunes. Maybe an actually good songwriter came up to them with the idea for this song and was like hey, do this. And then they did it, and I love the **** out of it.

The first few seconds you are greeted with the coolest bouncy piano riff I've ever heard, and it's frankly the crux of the song. The bridge fades it in along with some thick bass and it's just overwhelmingly cool for some reason, despite the fact that this band is ass in every other realm.

The lyrics are actually really cool. "Weight is coming off/Soaring high/Pleading you to stay/Come alive" is the opening verse which accompanies the piano riff. All of it just invokes feelings of pure joy and nostalgia in me. It just makes me want to bop my head and revel in everything in life that makes me happy, despite me having no idea what it's actually supposed to be about. Why is the song called "Shuffle"? I have no idea, because it makes no damn sense because the dudes in this band are not actually smart and they got lucky to make such a sweet ****ing song.

"Once you get the feeling, it/Wants you back for more/Says it's gonna heal it, but/You won't make the call/One step back you're leaving it/Now it's moving on/Why won't you believe in it/'till it's gone?"

I think these guys are talking about themselves here. Once you get the feeling it wants you back for more is referring to this song. I feel like I want to listen to this song all the damn time, and I keep thinking I'm going to actually like this band ("Says it's gonna heal it but you won't make the call"), but I never actually do like them ("One step back, you're leaving it, now it's moving on") and I refuse to accept that they actually deserve to take the credit for writing such a good song ("Why won't you believe in it"), but then I realize that maybe I'm taking such a wonderful tune for granted ("'till it's gone?") and then I give Bombay Bicycle Club the proper credit it deserves.

So kudos to you, Bombay Bicycle Club. Your track, "Shuffle," which is the sixth track on your album "A Different Kind of Fix," is one of my favorite songs I've ever heard. It's bouncy, joyous, and everything I love about music. I can close my eyes and listen to it and feel happy as that piano riff echoes through my brain.

But everything else you've made sucks dick.

#journaloftheyear2014

And so we reach the end of the first Journal Update for February. I've been watching a lot of Charlie Brooker recently, so taking a leaf from his book, instead of my usual rambling closing address I'll just say fuck off out of my thread.

Till next week,
Toodles!