Fave Music of 2011

I had a lot of headache problems this year which meant not listening to music under headphones, so I wasn't as deeply immersed as usual. I suspect I own a bunch of really fabulous songs that flew under my radar.

But here are the ones that made a blip.

ALBUMS - Faves out of the complete albums I bought.

Feist's Metals - Here's the song "How Come You Never Go There." Feist really took time to back away from the business and spend time with herself before creating this album. That balance really paid off--it's different from her last album, with delicate and ethereal tunes, and then moments of Big Drums and Sudden Drama. Quite Kate Bushesque.


The Go! Team's Rolling Blackouts - song sample: "Secretary Song." I just love the energy of this band. Music for when you're gonna Clean All the Things.


Kate Bush's Director's Cuts -  For this album Bush took two former albums and made new versions of them. Super interesting to listen to, and as beautiful as ever. On one of those albums she'd wanted to set to music Molly Bloom's soliloquy from Ulysses but James Joyce's estate didn't give permission. So she wrote her own lyrics and called it "The Sensual World." First time I listened to the song I just about died, it was so beautiful. For this new album she got permission from the estate and re-recorded the song with the same music but Joyce's words.



INDIVIDUAL SONGS

Love or Break Songs

"Someone Like You" - Adèle - I didn't lurv 21 as a whole, but this song should be a contender for best song of the year. Blood must have run from her pen when she composed this one.
Who would have known how bittersweet this would taste?


"Time to Think" - Sean Rowe - I never even listened to the lyrics, I just love his voice.


"She's Not Mine" - Robbie Robertson (feat. Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton) - Sound-wise, this is almost as good as "Broken Arrow." Really lush.


"For What It's Worth" - Stevie Nicks - Her album wasn't newish enough to make my tops, but this is a great song.
What you did was, you saved my life
I won't forget it


Okay let's cheer up now...


Dancey Songs

"Jet Lag" - Simple Plan with Natasha Bedingfield - Never been a SP fan but I loved this as soon as I heard it. Can't imagine how hard it is to keep up a relationship if you're anyone who has to travel a lot, and "my heart is so jet lagged" is a cute summary of that feeling. And they made a French version complete with re-done video (not dubbed!) So Canadian.



"Moves Like Jagger" - Maroon 5 -  File this under Songs I Tried Longest to Resist but Had to Cave. I even dance when sitting. ...And Jagger finally knows this song is about him.


"Free" - Natalia Kills with will.i.am - You gotta have superficial songs in a recession. I love her fashion sense; though this video feels like it tried to be Grace Jones-esque, and failed.



A Little More Substance

"Complicated" - Ali Milner - After the fiasco that was Am Idol, a couple good vocal shows came out, Eg. The Voice and Cover Me Canada (bands doing covers of Cdn songs). I didn't watch them through cause I wasn't watching a lot of tv, but I sampled most of the songs and this my fave. So this is my Best Cover Song or 2011.


"Say It to Me" - Ali Fontaine - I was sampling Canadian Aboriginal Music Award nominees and came across this. I found it really infectious. She's 18, an Ojibwe from the Sagkeeng First Nation.


"Absalom Absalom" - Steve Bell - A song brilliantly embroidered from the brief glimpse of King David's reaction to his son's death; and touchingly covered by Steve Bell.
You were watching when I took a good man's wife
Gave the order for his murder just to cover up my crime
All the vanity, cruel arrogance and greed
Absolom, you learned it all from me


"Who You Are" - Jessie J - Jessie J's a sort of P!nk--poppy but with a social conscience. I don't know if it was a case of like-attracts-like but I knew a lot of people who, like myself, had it rough this year. The sentiment of "it's okay not to be okay" was oft repeated.
Tears don't mean you're losing
Everybody's bruising
Just be true to who you are


"Illumination" - Lindsey Buckingham - A lot of the greatness behind Fleetwood Mac came from Lindsey Buckingham. His last couple albums have been too internally samey to wow, but when he's on, I'm in.


"Kiss Cam" - Arkells - I've been slowly accumulating Arkells songs so I may be turning into a fan. And they're Canadian! And they put lyrics on their site! Who the hell does that??  LOVE this song, it's so stomp-your-feet.
At a time you were kissing me,
The camera found chemistry; cheering for us in cheap seats.
Driving home I can see you stare at me differently.
We’re stuck in the nosebleeds baby.


That's it! When I post Part II, it will be my fave songs that I bought this past year, but released in years previous to 2011.

   

Positivity: Some assembly required

An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea. - Siddhartha Gautama Buddha

So positive thinking week continues here in Mabel Land...

 

Maybe one of the reasons positive thinking gets a bad rap is because some portray it as:

(A) Think positive -->  (B) Things get better

without inserting some sort of action between A and B. And when that doesn't work, people get all anti-stoopid-positive-thinking. It's bunk, this positive thinking crapolatude.

Back in April I posted some stories about Oprah--she sees the goal process sort of like this...

* Want something passionately
* Be positive AND do everything in your power to bring it about
* Then let go of your desire
* Trust that whether you Get or Don't Get the thing you were aiming for, it will be the right path for your life

In one case this led her down a totally unexpected path: She wanted to be a teacher, and ended up a talk show host, where she did teacherly things. If she had never let go of the teacher dream maybe she would have become a mediocre teacher, or a good but unhappy teacher, or ended up in some other random job bitter and depressed. But instead she let the dream go and allowed life to lead her down a new path.

Another time, she desired with all her heart to act in the film version of The Color Purple. It looked like she wouldn't get it, but she kept doing what she thought she should, until one day as she ran 'round the track at a fat farm she finally let the dream go, completely. A moment later she got a call from Spielberg who said to get out! If she lost a single pound she wouldn't get the part!

In both cases she didn't sit back and stare at the wall, waiting to become a teacher, or waiting to get the part. She did all she could do, and then let go.

I don't write this as a shaming--someone who is in a depression or has a chronic illness, etc. might be capable of less *action* in pursuit of their goals. Whatever "doing everything in one's power" means can only be judged by ourselves. But Helen Keller said, "because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do." (She was a total Pollyanna.)

All this to say, positive thinking should lead to some action (unless you just need to meditate cause you're very stressed out.) But equally important--once you've done your darnedest--recognize it, and shift directions before you drive yourself mad, or into depression and bitterness. 

The idea is well expressed in this oracle deck I like...

(I've drawn this card twice in the last few months, once in each direction. Lolz!)

 

Ally (right side up) The Phoenix is constantly reinventing itself and rises up whole and new and even more powerful with every death it experiences. This could signal an end of a relationship -or a dynamic within one- or an end of a job, a project, or even a life.

Perhaps no failure is involved, but it's time for a complete overhaul of your circumstances. You may be tired of what you're doing, or you may know intuitively that it's time to move on and try something new. Whatever the case, a death of the old and a celebration of the new are called for! Whatever you do now will indeed be a successful endeavor, for a rebirth is imminent!

Challenger (upside down) When the Phoenix challenges you, it’s really just a gentle reminder to let go and let what doesn’t work fall away. Maybe you’re not allowing things to change because you’re more comfortable with the familiar, even if you know that it’s not the best you could create for yourself. Fear of change is a crippling experience, as it works against Nature itself. The task at hand is to allow for an ending, as it’s timely and right that you do so for the highest good of all. In surrendering to the fundamental purposeful change, you will most definitely find yourself in better circumstances. The action needed is allowing. A rebirth is assured.

 

SONGS OF THE DAY

#1 - Doing Your Best - Eminem's "Lose Yourself"

Here's a guy who knows how to give it all in the pursuit of his dreams, which is why he's considered by his peers as one of the best rap artists. This song perfectly encapsulates the idea.

#2 - Letting Go - Eminem's "Talkin' 2 Myself"

This is from Eminem's last album, when he finally returned to writing decent music. It's about him listening to some of the rappers out there right now and almost writing raps taking shots at them--and then realizing he didn't want to do it because they sucked (which is cool in rapland) but because they were good. He was jealous. He had to let go of his ego, his embarrassment about hitting bottom, and just refocus back on his own talent. 

That's the power of letting go. And while I wouldn't call Eminem an optimist, his first single was "Everybody come take my hand, we'll walk this world together!" and "It's time to exorcise these demons, these motherf***ers are doing jumping jacks now!"   :-D  I'd say he's in a more positive place than he's been in his life.

         

Puppet women--worse than Kanye's "Monster"

I'm going to have to spoil my flower garden with two actual posts this week.

I was writing up a post for Friday about another video, when I came across David Guetta's latest hit "Where Them Girls At?". I started writing it up as a footnote in the other post, then decided, wotthehell, it deserves its own entry.

David Guetta is a French DJ and house music producer. I want to make fun of him and be all "doesn't he look like a Eurotrash asshole?" but what do I know about how much input he had into this stupid video? No point poking fun at him. One doesn't wish to be immature.

So onto the video itself,  which has as its only redeeming value the always watchable Nicki Minaj. Here it is, if you want to sample it first:



This idea is he's blowing bubbles out of his speakers, and when the bubbles hit people it makes them dance but...

* What really happens is the bubbles hit mostly hot women and makes them flail around like possessed puppets while men watch. It's especially disturbing at the beginning when you don't know why it's happening. I was like: Why are these women flailing around? And why do the men look so pleased about it?


*Eventually you find out what's happening, but it still only seemed to happen to women, so it was still creepy. And then it happened to men, and a poster. But it never stopped being creepy. Creep. ee. It wouldn't have been creepy if they touched the bubbles and started DANCING. Getting FUNKY. GETTING DOWN. As opposed to flailing around like they were in pain. It's never disturbing to see someone suddenly dancing! Then it's like a musical!

* Everyone in this city is gorgeous, young, and pretty much light skinned. Aside from the skin part, I understand a club looking like that, or a party, or a street scene maybe, or an office... but a whole city? It reminded me of the advice I quoted from How Not to Write a Novel, that peopling your book this way gives the reader the feeling that some sort of ethnic cleansing has taken place. Soylent green anyone?

* This concept of a city being invaded by dancing bubbles would have worked so much better if the city hadn't been one big hot-people's-club, but had a street-scene video à la Chris Brown's "Yeah 3X."* Some kids, some oldies even, and an excuse to hire some hot dance crews! And you still could have kept the scene of hot girls coming from all over town to your party. It just wouldn't have felt like you were serving old people as the main meal.

Videos like Kanye's "Monster" don't disturb me, cause it's an attempt at art, and therefore some thought has been put into it, whether one agrees with the end effect or not. This crap disturbs me, cause it's a slapdash, thoughtfless, shitty, mindless, shallow attempt at entertainment that at its worst is harmful because of what it calmly contributes to the mass of images and ideas that some women and men, just looking for a fun song and a hot video to go with it, unthinkingly take in.

Ten vomits out of ten.


_____
* The Brown video.  (Oh CB... please stop throwing chairs and being homophobe so I can believe you won't hit girls anymore. You're so talented. Hapoo.)