arysguide

[arysguide]

If you like this concept you HAVE to read "Together" by Haus of Decline, about a married couple who unexpectedly find themselves fused together at the finger. It's 240 pages long, the story escalates to ridiculous proportions, and you can read the whole thing for free on his website, [hausofdecline.com].

WARNING: the body horror is grotesque and I'd say the story is pretty dark and anxiety-inducing. But there are beautiful moments in it and it is ultimately about the power of love (depending on how you interpret it). One of the best comics I've ever read, hands down.

(Page 6 of the comic shown below.)

had a dream that I met a wizard and we fell in love and became unhealthily attached to each other so we decided to meld into one single creature together but the process was horrifically slow and painful and most of the dream was us lying in bed holding hands while lesions opened up in our skin and seeped out blue and green fluid and the wizard said "this is going to take a very very long time" and I said "that's ok"

#haus of decline #comics

[arysguide]

a song a week: #12

Verliefd Op de Kermis - Prijs (2020)

Went to a super fun Kermis themed event by the hyperpop collective KlokPack6ix at Ekko on Thursday!! danced sooo much, got cotton candy, fished for duckies 🐤 The decorations and set design were incredible. Definitely keep an eye on their instagram page for pictures and updates on their next events!!

Claar, Prijs, Onkruid, KEY/GEN, Y4k4r1 & DJ Safke created such a high energy and sweet atmosphere. Check out the Spotify playlist for the event to get a taste ✌🏻

#klokpack6 #klokpack6ix #prijs #verliefd op de kermis #hyperpop #dutch hyperpop #asongaweek #Youtube

[arysguide]

a song a week: #11

Wees Maar Niet Bang!!! (prod. Hugo Remmen) by Prijs (2021)

Seeing this perfomed live at Ekko on Thursday was so great 💜💚💜💚💜

Ik ben een jongen met lippenstift. Wees maar niet bang. Ik ga je heus niet pijpe!!!!!! 💋💋💋

#Youtube #klokpack6 #prijs #hyperpop #dutch hyperpop #asongaweek #klokpack6ix

[arysguide]

a song a week: #10

New Wage Slavery by End It (2022)

Great song. Great music video.

There's blood on the coil Somebody's on the floor It's the face of somebody I love No one gets out alive. Turn your back and run I believe! The ones below will reap the consequence from those above We tip the scales in the fight for truth and love This world's a never ending cycle of pain New wage slavery! Know that we're not the same New age slavery! Feel the weight of the chains

I saw this hate5six video of their set and was hooked from the start. What a way to start a show. Just trust me, whatever you're expecting from a hardcore show, it won't be this.

(Jan 08 2023 at Bryan Glazer Family JCC in Tampa, FL)

#hate5six #end it #baltimore hardcore #hxc #hxc punk #Youtube #asongaweek

[arysguide]

a song a week: #9

Fuck de kroon by Het Beginnetje (2022)

A simple one this time because my last post was pretty long! I have almost caught up with the correct number of songs! (I know no-one except me cares about that but really we should be on #10 by now 🤓)

I saw Het Beginnetje in Vondelbunker on 2nd September 2022! It was a really fun night, all 3 bands were great (Bowl, Het Beginnetje & Asociaal Kabaal). Here's a short clip of that performance. Since then this short but sweet anti-monarchist song has stuck with me.

Amalia krijgt een miljoen Want die kan blijkbaar niks doen Zonder excessen van kapitaal Huis oranje krijg de tering Die shit is zo 1814 Drop die oranje shit en maak het rood

It's also on Spotify. There are some other Het Beginnetje songs in this Volta Lockdown performance that haven't been officially released anywhere else. I also found an interview with them from Omroep Flevoland in which they talk about how the band came to be and about their politics. At 11:35 they play the song Ik Doe Liever Niks.

I'm not really sure if they're still active because their last social media post seems to be from 2022. I hope they are!! They have a great live presence, strong leftist views, the songs are catchy and memorable, the lyrics have a sense of humour. What more could you want? I can only hope this promising band is rehearsing somewhere in Flevoland right now.

#het beginnetje #asociaal kabaal #bowl band #nederpunk #flevoland #anti monarchy #Bandcamp #asongaweek

[arysguide]

a song a week: #8

I went to Emo Night yesterday and it dislodged a lot more teenage angst than I was prepared for. I'll be honest, I enjoy the music but it's not that nostalgic for me. I wasn't really that type of emo growing up. As a little girl I misguidedly really wished I could be scene, and I tried teasing my hair and spraying it with hairspray but it didn't accomplish anything, because I wasn't allowed to take a razor to it and give myself bangs. As a teen I was actually a lot more into Tyler the Creator, I listened to some Panic! At The Disco, then got into extreme metal, and I only really got the hype around My Chemical Romance after I graduated high school. So basically I'm a poser, but today I'm gonna talk about a song that some people consider emo:

(WOW) I Can Get Sexual Too - Say Anything (2003)

I only heard this song very recently and I've become obsessed with it. Somehow it felt instantly familiar, even though I'm certain I had never heard of it before.

This is douchebag music. In the mid-2000s it seems like acts from across the musical spectrum were trying to out-edge each-other with blatantly sexual and frankly misogynistic lyrics - but emo and pop punk bands got a particular reputation for overly whiny songs about women. At the same time it was tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic or, or, ironic, right? It's actually really funny and clever if you think about it, right? Because it's self-aware, that makes it almost kind of cute, no? For reference, see The Curse of Curves by Cute Is What We Aim For (2006), or Panic! At The Disco's Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off (2005).

It wasn't just emo - check out any of the songs 3OH!3 released around this time. (I'll admit it - watching the music video for STARSTRUKK (2008) for the first time was a life-changing experience for me.) Blink-182's influence on the pop landscape surely had a lot to do with this development, here's a really good video about that by Trash Theory. And then of course there's the kings of self-deprecating rock, Weezer (dubbed losercore down bad music by NeoPunkFM).

Of course there's nothing new under the sun, there's plenty of classic rock songs about vapid and naive young women, sometimes explicitly about underage girls or groupies, countless songs about how libidinous and reckless young men are. What sets this wave of mid-2000s pop punk apart is the nudge and wink at social commentary - now you can dance along to a song about acting like a total dirtbag and giving into your basest impulse, but it's not "real", it's a caricature and not meant to be taken seriously. Sex still sells, but these bands had something to say about it. Sort of. By 2013, multiple articles had been written on this phenomenon of 'hipster sexism' - "also known as ironic sexism or liberal sexism, 'hipster sexism' is the notion that if sexism done is tongue-in-cheek it's okay, even hilarious (Kelsey Wallace for BitchMedia)." A lot of women weren't keen on laughing along because a lot of these dudes turned out to be card-carrying misogynists. It wasn't even just the men, plenty of songs of this era are by women about… how vapid or slutty other women are. (See Paramore's Misery Business (2007), complete with calling someone a wh*re, and a music video in which Hayley Williams grabs another woman's chicken filets right out of her bra and wipes off her makeup.) There was a hateful and resentful edge to it that seems like a bastardisation of the genre's distant punk roots. Plenty of better writers than me have explored the way that celebrity and tabloid culture of this time resulted in a media landscape that was intensely objectifying and hateful towards women, full of contradictions.

Let's back this up - how is any of this related to the song this post is about? I'm trying to figure that out myself.

Being familiar with the music I mentioned above, that's what I automatically associated this with. But it actually came out before any of those, in 2003. Is it really douchebag music? Or just a song that happens to be about a douchebag?

It's so catchy, and it paints a picture, it's funny but really dark: this guy knows he's pursuing a girl he doesn't care about, because he's bored, and he's willing to lie just to get what he wants - oh brother, this guy STINKS! I love that it's explicitly about phone sex, and the line about "chatting on the interweb," it feels quaint now. I also love the irreverence of : "When she described her underwear, I forgot all the rules the rabbi taught me in the old shul." Here's a great article on the Yiddishkeit of Say Anything. In fact, the song Alive With The Glory of Love is inspired by Bemis' grandparents who survived the Holocaust.

In contrast to some of the less lyrically-inspired songs that came after it, it's a lot more about how heartless and empty the guy is, rather than making the girl the butt of the joke. In short, it's actually good satire. If you're not convinced it's meant to be self-deprecating satire, the rest of the album 'Is A Real Boy' will beat you over the head with it for 21 tracks straight. … And maybe listening to it too much is making me meaner. The track 'Admit It!' lampoons the hipster attitude mercilessly, while indicating that the singer realises he's really no better than them. Too bad the hipsters didn't get the message. Being sincere and wholesome was out of vogue for, like, the next decade. At least now, years later, we can admit we enjoy cute cats, craft beers and retro music un-ironically without making a whole production about it.

All that being said, something a lot more important has shifted in the meantime. Misogyny is decidedly uncool now, at least as far as mainstream pop is concerned. The late 2010s pop landscape seemed to be all about feminist and #girlboss moments. The 2017 #MeToo movement caused a lot of people in the entertainment industry to re-examine their role in creating an environment that is safe (or unsafe) for women. Jesse Lacey of Brand New was accused of sexual misconduct against an underage girl, which he did not deny. In light of that, Max Bemis chose to retire this song, writing on Twitter "It may speak partially of my flaws but it's mostly a sarcastic caricature of someone i've never been at all and is no longer appropriate during this crisis", "we all need to care more, respect women more, respect ourselves more and GIVE A SHIT" and finally: "On a lighter, but direly important note, i don't want to hear about not hearing that song for the FIVE BILLIONTH time this tour from us because it's not REALLY on is a real boy. it now belongs to you, official emo night. go have fun." (For the full thing see this AltPress article.)

So where does that leave us? If even Max Bemis himself disavowed this song, why am I still so compelled by music like this? Does that make me a bad feminist? Is it an internalised misogyny thing? Yeesh. I'm still not totally sure. There's something fascinating to me about the vulgar display of selfishness in this song - it feels like the ultimate taboo. Everything about the way I've dealt with sex and relationships is incredibly neurotic, so there's something cathartic about pretending to be someone without any of those hangups for 3 minutes at a time. It confronts me with my own impulses towards selfishness, and ways I've been selfish in relationships in the past. It's a cautionary tale that works both ways: a) there's something seductive about the idea of behaving so recklessly but you better be prepared for the guilt that comes with it, and b) if I was the girl in this song I would really despise this guy.

These YouTube comments express it a lot more succinctly than I have:

At this rate I'll be heading for electric chairs I'm only human with my cross to bear When she described her underwear I forgot all the rules my rabbi taught me in the old shul You're too young to be this empty girl I'll prepare you for a sick, dark world Know that you will be my downfall But I call, and I call, and I call

For a longer and more informed discussion of some of the things I mentioned: check out The Misogyny of Third Wave Emo and Pop Punk on the Podcast 'Stuff Mom Never Told You'.

#Youtube #say anything #emo #2000s emo #third wave emo #pop punk #hipster sexism #asongaweek

[arysguide]

Part 2: Ary's favourite releases of 2023

What?! More 2023 releases?! Yes. Friday night music for my pop girlies this time. . .

This post has it's own Spotify playlist !!! What the hell !!! Go listen !!! go ahead & shuffle it cause I did not bother with a specific order ✌🏻

some of the below links are to Bandcamp, the rest are YouTube :)

Row 1

Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

100 gecs - 10000 gecs

LIL UZI VERT - PINK TAPE

Aliyah's Interlude - IT GIRL

Hemlocke Springs - going...going...GONE!

Row 2

Fabiana Palladino & Jai Paul - I Care

Babymorocco - The Sound

Skrillex - quest for fire

pinkpantheress - Heaven knows

Bladee - Requiem (Requiem ft. Thaiboy Digital, Obsessed with Death)

Row 3

Britney Manson - FASHION

Basement Jaxx, 100 Gecs - where's my head at_

So Drove - Got Damn Star (Black Dresses Remix)

Babymorocco & Frost Children - SXC

Megan Thee Stallion - Cobra

Row 4

pinkpantheress - Boy's a liar Pt. 2

Ice Spice - Like..? (Deluxe)

Evian Christ - Yxguden

Alice Longyu Gao - Let's Hope Heteros Fail, Learn and Retire

Kelela - Raven

Row 5

Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS

chi - I've Seen The Lizard People

ShyGirl - Nymph_o

Underscores - Wallsocket

Skrillex - Don't Get Too Close

Thank you for listening! Love, Ary. (By the way I was kind of joking about Nicki in my last post. Team Megan guys.)

#100gecs #hemlocke springs #jai paul #babymorocco #alice longyu gao #underscores #bladee #caroline polachek #hyperpop #britney manson #aliyah's interlude #shygirl #pinkpantheress #kelela #olivia rodrigo #thaiboy digital #evian christ #skrillex #so drove #aliyahsinterlude #frost children #lil uzi vert #megan thee stallion

[arysguide]

a song a week: #7

Everyday's Torture (Cover) - Jackie Cornell aka Jacky Cornell (1971)

This song had to make an appearance at some point. I believe I found this on the compilation '(Joost den Draaijer presenteert) The Golden Years Of Dutch Pop Music - The Seventies Part 1 (Hits & Tips 1970-1971),' released in 2016, available on Spotify. Sidenote: Joost den Draaijer is the pseudonym of Willem van Kooten, legendary radio DJ and record producer, now 83 years old.

I can't remember anymore if I listened to the whole compilation, either way, on Disc 2 there it is: this song by Jackie Cornell. It's stuck with me for years now. For those of you that are familiar with late 60s - early 70s Dutch pop music, you might have noticed this is originally a song by famous The Hague band Golden Earring (1969). The Golden Earring version is also quite good, with a guitar solo at about 2 minutes in that I wish had been included in Cornell's version. (Another sidenote: Cornell also appears to be from The Hague.)

What Cornell's version really has going for it is an incredibly powerful and expressive voice - he really sounds like a man at the end of his wits, driven crazy by a doomed romance. I almost wish the song was slower, or perhaps the instrumentals took more of a backseat - this guy is singing his heart out and the string section has the audacity to compete with him! Jacky's tortured bluesy sound feels very James Brown inspired. I can listen to it dozens of times and not get tired. So why isn't he more famous? Seems like I'm not the only one wondering that.

I found a post about the song and Jacky's music career on the blog Ondergewardeerde Liedjes (Under-appreciated Songs). The post was made in 2018, it's in Dutch but Google Translate does a good job of translating it into English. These days Jackie Cornell, real name Jacques Eckhardt, runs a respected oyster bar in Toronto with his wife Phebe. There's a lovely article about it in the Toronto Star (from 2021). If I'm ever in Toronto I'll have to visit, and if Jacques happens to read this: much love from The Hague, thank you for sharing your voice with us.

I'm a man, know my destiny But it seems, love is dead for me I'm hung up on a woman's resolution There's nothing left but a dream, an illusion I'm a man, know my destiny But it seems, love is dead for me Free me, free me

See also: this helpful page about his discography on Nldiscografie.nl.

#youtube #golden earring #jacky cornell #jackie cornell #the hague #nederpop #asongaweek

[arysguide]

Part 1: Ary's favourite releases of 2023

Before you ask, yes I know that Mitski and Sufjan Stevens released albums this year! I'm gonna go ahead and assume they're already on a lot of other people's lists! However, if you think I'm missing out on YOUR favourite album of 2023, let me know. If you're thinking: "63 albums isn't that many, I wish there were more" - you're in luck because there's a Part 2. Part 2 has a different (more pop? upbeat? accessible?) vibe. Don't think too hard about it...

The chart isn't ranked, just arranged in a way that looked nice to me. Metal, hardcore, rap, emo, skramz, bedroom pop and more!!!

Here are Bandcamp links to all of the albums (for those not on BC there's a YouTube or Spotify link). Honestly I'm never quite sure what genre something is, but there's a lot of metal in any case.

Row 1

Lauren Bousfield - Salesforce [digital hardcore]

Dead Times - Dead Times [harsh noise extreme metal]

Danny Brown - Quaranta [rap/hiphop]

Underdark - Managed Decline [post black metal]

Boris & Uniform - Bright New Disease [psychedelic heavy metal]

PUPIL SLICER - BLOSSOM [blackened mathcore]

Sanguisugabogg - Homicidal Ecstasy [death metal]

Row 2

Full of Hell & Primitive Man - Suffocating Hallucination [death metal/grindcore]

Radeloos//Ziedend - Doodsverachting [blackened crust]

Agriculture - Agriculture [ecstatic black metal]

Victory Over the Sun - Dance You Monster To My Soft Song! [progressive black metal]

fog lake - midnight society [bedroom pop]

Bell Witch - Future's Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate [funeral doom]

Krallice - Mass Cathexis 2 - The Kinetic Infinite [progressive black metal]

Row 3

Svalbard - The Weight Of The Mask [postmetal]

Terzij de Horde & Ggu:ll - Van Grond [vitalistic black metal]

portrayal of guilt - Devil Music [blackened post-hardcore]

SAINT VEHK - Practice​/​Doubt I&II [occult death industrial]

Sightless Pit - Lockstep Bloodwar [dub/power electronics]

Designer Violence - We Gave Peace A Chance [electropunk]

geronimostilton - The Vampyre [skramz]

Row 4

Chat Pile & Nerver - Brothers in Christ [sludgey death metal]

Afsky - Om hundrede år [depressive black metal]

Full of Hell & Gasp - FOH/Gasp (Split) [death metal/grindcore]

Solar Temple - The Great Star Above Provides [blackgaze]

Fluisteraars - De Kronieken Van Het Verdwenen Kasteel - II - Nergena [atmospheric black metal]

Fluisteraars - De Kronieken van het Verdwenen Kasteel - I - Harslo [atmospheric black metal]

Andre 3000 - New Blue Sun [spiritual flute jazz]

Row 5

Aesop Rock - Integrated Tech Solutions [rap/hiphop]

Blood Incantation - Luminescent Bridge [cosmic death metal]

Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter (fka LINGUA IGNOTA) - SAVED! [experimental gospel metal]

Spetterpoep - Stoelgang Van Zaken [coprogrind/grindcore]

Gnaw Their Tongues - The Cessation Of Suffering [blackened drone metal]

JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - SCARING THE HOES [rap/hiphop]

The Lemon Twigs - Everything Harmony [70s inspired rock]

Row 6

Old Nick - "The Truest Spell" [dungeon synth/raw black metal]

Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips [rap/hiphop]

Liturgy - 93696 [transcendental black metal]

Helena Hauff - fabric presents Helena Hauff [hardcore techno]

That Same Street ⁻ Electric Angel [skramz]

That Same Street - Endgame [skramz]

the scary jokes - Retinal Bloom [dream pop]

Row 7

Bull of Apis Bull of Bronze - The Fractal Ouroboros [occult black metal]

Katie Dey - never falter hero girl [hyperpop]

Full of Hell & Nothing - When No Birds Sang [grindcore/shoegaze]

All Men Unto Me - Chemical Transit [classical/doom metal]

RXK Nephew - Till I'm Dead [rap/hiphop]

Panopticon - The Rime of Memory [rabm/black metal]

Yaeji - With A Hammer [electronic]

Row 8

DRAIN - LIVING PROOF [punk/hardcore]

909 Worldwide - Hardcore Will Never Die, and Neither Will You [happy hardcore/rave]

lobsterfight, gingerbee, Cicadahead, godfuck - a lobster, bee, & cicada walk into a bar and find god [skramz]

GingerBee - Our Skies Smile [skramz/5th wave emo]

Curta'n Wall - Siege Ubsessed! [dungeon synth/raw black metal]

GEZEBELLE GABURGABLY - Gaburger [alt pop]

crisis sigil - God Cum Poltergeist [cybergrind]

Row 9

Lamp Of Murmuur - Saturnian Bloodstorm [black metal]

Crystalline Thunderbolts - Blessed Hands Touch The Ophanim Under The Golden Rainbows [experimental black metal]

Tomb Mold - The Enduring Spirit [black/death metal]

FIRE TOOLZ - I am upset because I see something that is not there. [electro-industrial/experimental]

Angel Electronics - ULTRA PARADISE [happy post-hardcore]

Vylet Pony - Carousel (An Examination of the Shadow, Creekflow, and its Life as an Afterthought) [electronic]

Ada Rook - Rookie's Bustle [electronic]

This post took forever to make. Again if you have any thoughts on it please tell me!!!! And share widely with your friends :)

Love, Ary

#bandcamp #black metal #death metal #extreme metal #skramz #grindcore #bedroom pop #emo #power electronics #rap #hiphop #doom metal #hxc #dutch metal #full of hell #black dresses #liturgy #lingua ignota #industrial music #experimental music #rabm #postmetal #mathcore #prog metal #boris #sanguisugabogg #katie dey #ada rook #gnaw their tongues #gezebelle gaburgably

[arysguide]

a song a week: #6

This week's song is Mark Z. Danielewski by Snowing (2011) because I finally picked up a copy of House of Leaves. I'm going in completely blind. Ask me in two weeks if I've made any progress on it. Song suggested by a friend. It's kind of fucked up, I like it.

If our conversations aren’t inspired I’ll kill them quickly, I am not some sort of liar. I’ll just mumble that I’m tired And I'm tired of being alone

Song also on Bandcamp. The rest of the album I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted is quite good too.

P.S. I will be posting my favourite albums of 2023 soon. And there's a lot of them.

#snowing #bandcamp #youtube #asongaweek #house of leaves #emo

[arysguide]

a song a week: #5

Unfinished Sympathy (Cover) by Underdark (2023)

I've been a fan of trip-hop for a while now. I have to admit I don't know that much about the genre broadly but I love Massive Attack. I've lost count of the amount of times I've listened to their albums Blue Lines, Heligoland and Mezzanine. Blue Lines (1991) is one of trip-hop's most iconic albums, and Unfinished Sympathy is one of its most iconic songs. A perfect fusion of cinematic strings, gorgeous strong vocals, and the undeniable cool of the sampling and crystalline beat. A mysterious song that appears to be about questioning if a relationship with undeniable chemistry can continue after a betrayal. But this post isn't really about that song. This post is about the black metal cover by Underdark, released over 30 years later. Definitely a ballsy choice, I couldn't believe what I was seeing or hearing the first time I encountered it.

Underdark are a fantastic black metal band from Nottingham. (No strangers to an interesting cover, they also covered Plainsong by The Cure in 2020.) My love affair with black metal started a few years later but now hugely influences what I listen to on a daily basis. To an outsider it may seem like a genre myopically concerned with only the darkest of human emotions, rage, depression and hatred. In truth a lot of black metal albums are like that, for better or for worse. However in all of the intense darkness there is potential for endless complexity. This cover is truly a shining example of that. It really showcases not only excellent musicianship but also an incredibly interesting take on the original song that clearly comes from a place of deep affection. I know this sounds very intellectual and sure, this is post-black metal after all (à la "post-metal", beyond heavy metal conventions), the kind of metal derided as "hipster metal" back when hipsters were still a thing. But let's be clear - for all its complexity this song absolutely rips. The breakdown is incredibly satisfying and ferocious. The end of the song elegantly winds down to just the guitar melody recalling the melancholy feeling of the original.

If you enjoyed it, definitely check out their latest album, Managed Decline.

Really hurt me, baby, really cut me, baby How can you have a day without a night? You're the book that I have opened And now I've got to know much more

Song also available on Bandcamp.

#Youtube #Bandcamp #Underdark #Massive Attack #black metal #trip hop #post black metal #asongaweek

[arysguide]

a song a week: #3 and #4

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

(Didn't post for the past 2 weeks! Will be posting another song for this week.)

Song #3 is New to Me by The Lemon Twigs (2023). The last track on their fantastic latest album Everything Harmony to close out the year. This is a beautiful song "inspired by their shared experience with loved ones suffering from Alzheimer’s".

When your face is new to me The way it used to be Don't try and make me see We can fall in love again My eyes are wide, and scared And you are not prepared, I've always had my cares Now I've nothing to defend.

Also available on Bandcamp.

Song #4 is Sowing Season by Brand New (2006). The first track on the album The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me for the beginning of the year.

Nothing gets so bad, A whisper from your father couldn't fix it. Your whisper's like a bridge, he's a river span. Take all that you have, And turn it into something you were missing. Somebody threw that brick, shattered all your plans. (...) Time to get the seeds into the cold ground. It takes a while to grow anything, Before it's coming to the end, yeah.

#Youtube #brand new #lemon twigs #the lemon twigs #bandcamp #asongaweek

[arysguide]

a song a week: #2

If We Make It Through December - Merle Haggard (1972)

This lush country ballad is about a father who got laid off at the factory and can't afford to buy his daughter a Christmas present. This song really resonated with me a couple of years ago when I was struggling a lot in this time of year. I am a sucker for a gorgeous country voice. If for some sick and twisted reason you're not into this style of 70s country song, I'd recommend Phoebe Bridgers' cover which is quite beautiful.

"Now I don't mean to hate December, It's meant to be the happy time of year. (...) If we make it through December Everything's gonna be alright, I know It's the coldest time of winter And I shiver when I see the falling snow."

Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt (1982)

This week there's a bonus song(!). Think of it as a present. It just feels right to put these two side by side. Shipbuilding is an incredible anti-war and workers' rights song about workers in the British shipyards during the 1982 Falklands War. While Robert Wyatt's version is iconic, it's originally an Elvis Costello song. This is a performance of the song on Old Grey Whistle Test in June 1983. The beginning of this video linked below starts with a little bit of context. I also recommend this video of Costello' and Wyatt discussing the song (the song plays first, and talking starts 3:25mins in) in May 1983 on TV program 'Loose Talk'.

Well, I ask you The boy said, "Dad, they're going to take me to task But I'll be back by Christmas" It's just a rumour that was spread around town Somebody said that someone got filled in For saying that people get killed in The result of their shipbuilding (...) With all the will in the world Diving for dear life When we could be diving for pearls.

#Youtube #robert wyatt #elvis costello #merle haggard #phoebe bridgers #old grey whistle test #asongaweek

[arysguide]

a song a week: #1

All I Want for Christmas Is You - the iconic song we are forced to listen to every December. All jokes aside, it's a good song and I like it - so let's listen to it again. Black Marble's cheeky synthwave take on the original feels nostalgic, even melancholy, but not detached. There's a warmth to it that keeps me coming back. It feels like the coolest person you know is admitting their crush on you - they don't have to show off to make a lasting impression. (Released: 2020)

Also available for purchase on Bandcamp.

#all i want for christmas is you #black marble #synthwave #music recommendation #Youtube #coldwave #bandcamp #christmas music #asongaweek