Song Of The Day 28/02/2011: Okkervil River - Blanket And Crib

Okkervil River really are stunningly good at this kind of uptmebo gradual build. Something about Will Sheff's voice means that whatever he sings sounds amazingly earnest, and this effect is accentuated at higher volumes - I'd say he probably does the 'shouty' stuff better than any other current artist (with the possible exception of Conor Oberst, who he sounds quite like occasionally anyway).

This song, from their second proper album, the underrated 'Down The River Of Golden Dreams', is just great. In my opinion, it is addressed to a newborn baby called Philip - much like another song discussed on these pages before, Richard & LInda Thompson's 'The End Of The Rainbow'. This song, however, is much more hopeful than the Thompsons' bleak masterpiece - it has a lot of the same kind of depressing stuff about the life that the baby will grow up to live, with the first and second verses really fairly downbeat, but the song then does something that Thompson doesn't. The lyrics speak for themselves, really, and are some of the most striking and affecting I've heard. I'm going to give into temptation and just write them here, verbatim, for you to follow. The accompanying music is almost triumphant, with a horn section alternating between aggressive blaring and more soft, introspective fare over a piano-led melody. A genuinely stunning song from one of my favourite bands around at the moment - I really can't wait for their new album, 'I Am Very Far', released in a couple of months.

Okkervil River - Blanket And Crib

Safe, safe, enjoy your time feeling so safe,
and treasure that smile on your face, OK,
Because time will see that it's replaced in a while.
So go on, smile.
And handshakes all around: that's your style,
and no one would call it denial,
for you're not even sure what's in store.

And it's more than youll be able to take standing up straight.
And it wont be OK.
And you wont be somebody who it's just happening to,
Because it's a trap that you, and only you,
Have laid. Laid with a towel up over your face,
In your armchair, just lying in wait,
Waiting forces were gathering outside your door.
They sharpened their knives
And smiled with no smiles in their eyes,
A little bit larger in size
And a little bit hungrier for that tiny prize.

And my mother once said
"Son, remember this, no matter what someone did:
That they once were just a kid at breast and in bib,
In blanket and crib.
So just reach inside yourself
And find the part that still needs help,
Find that part in someone else
And you'll do good"
So I thought that I would.

Hey - I love you, it goes without saying.
I would give you the world on a tray,
Though they're already tracing a line across your throat.
Far too late in the game you'll find that you have been betrayed:
Propped up and pushed into your place.
I could claim that it all would go great,
But the reason I came is to say that it won't.
You should know that it won't,
And so, Philip, let go.

Song Of The Day 27/02/2011: The Superimposers - Make It All Better

'Make It All Better' is from London band the Superimposers' third album, 'Harpsichord Treacle'. With obvious inspirations being Brian Wilson, Ronnie Lane and Ray Davies, It's very 60s-y, and very sugary - in my opinion, the album as a whole is a bit over-poppy, something I don't often say about this type of thing. As a standalone song, however, it is perfect for just lazing around in the summer, be it on the beach or in the park, and with the weather as cold and dreary as it is today I thought it might be nice to have a quick shot of summer warmth. I can imagine this band playing a great mid-afternoon set at a festival.

Song Of The Day 26/02/2011: Rocketship - I Love You Like The Way That I Used To Do

Rocketship were a mid-90s Slumberland Records band, at the twee end of that label's releases. A forerunner to the current trend of shoegazey 60s-influenced indiepop, they only released one album, 1996's 'A Certain Smile, A Certain Kindness'. This is the first track from that album.

The song has fairly basic lyrics, that verge on being too sugary - 'hug, hug, hug me and kiss, kiss, kiss me, tell, tell, tell me you'll miss, miss, miss me' is a case in point - but the best thing about this track is how well it switches from the 'pop' sections to the more dreamy shoegaze sections and back again. The lush sounds of the organs and the guitars, which have one of the nicest, smoothest, warmest effects combinations I've ever heard on a shoegaze record, blend together perfectly, making it the kind of breathless indiepop rush that can't really be improved on.

Rocketship – I Love You Like The Way That I Used To Do

Song Of The Day 25/02/2011: Nico - I'm Not Sayin'

'I'm Not Sayin'' was Nico's first single, released in 1965, two years before she guested on the Velvet Underground's debut. Andrew Loog Oldham, manager of the Rolling Stones, was introduced to her by Brian Joes, who had 'discovered' her potential, with her then working as a model and actress in various minor films. Jones also introduced her to Andy Warhol, triggering him to ask the Velvet Underground to take her on as a 'chanteuse'. Having got her to record a version of Gordon Lightfoot's 'I'm Not Sayin', Oldham released it as the third single on his own record label, Immediate Records, under the moniker 'The Beautiful Nico', and filmed a promotional video of her in a London dockyard. Interestingly, the session musician Oldham brought in to play the 12-string was a very young Jimmy Page. Later in her career, she was known for a markedly different style, using her harsh Germanic voice and passion for bleak organs to produce some of the most genuinely terrifying music I have ever heard. This, however, is fairly upbeat, throwaway pop that bears little resemblance to anything that came later. It is clearly nowhere near her best release, but there is something about the way she sings it that makes me wonder how she's have turned out if she hadn't been quite such a depressive personality.



Here's a better-quality mp3 too, as the sound in the above YouTube clip isn't great -

The Beautiful Nico - I'm Not Sayin'

Song Of The Day 24/02/2011: Melys - Chinese Whispers

Melys were a late 90's band from Betws-Y-Coed in North Wales, and were a big favourite of the late John Peel. They recorded 11 sessions for him over the years, and in 2001 came top of his 'Festive Fifty' with this track, Chinese Whispers. The album it is from, 'Suikerspin' (which is the Dutch for 'candyfloss', apparently), was their third, and they split up two albums later having not really made much of a dent in the marketplace, coincidentally around the time of Peel's death. They leave behind some loyal fans, however, and in the last year or so have reunited for a couple of crowd-pleasing shows.

The song itself is fairly emotive stadium-pop. But it is much better than that sounds. There's nothing massively clever about it, but it is probably the high point of this kind of late 90s/early 00s proper pop music.

Melys – Chinese Whispers

Song Of The Day 23/02/2011: Allo Darlin' - Silver Dollars

Allo Darlin' are probably my favourite of the current new wave of London indiepop bands, and are probably the closest to genuine twee that scene can boast. This is one of their best tracks, from their debut album released last year. They're a band that are great at pretty much anything they try - they have a ukulele-only song called Tallulah that can bring entire rooms to a hush, and that may well be a future SOTD - but I think this kind of twinkly guitar-led pop is what they do best. Everything about it is great - the lovely, trebly, chiming guitar part is backed by some fairly basic bass and drum parts that'll get the kids dancing. The lyrics are exceptional too, all about the trials of being in an indie band, with no money. Some of the lines in the song are absolutely brilliant, such as 'I'm even starting to wish that I'd finished a legal vocation. Yeah, my life would be dull, but at least I could go on vacation' and 'though you say we're just friends and that this love is purely platonic, I'm hoping that you'll forget after this round of gin and tonic'. It all adds up to a song I have played a frankly luidcrous amount over the last year.


Allo, Darlin' – Silver Dollars

Song Of The Day 22/02/2011: Thrushes - Loyalty

Thrushes are a band from Baltimore. The song I've chosen today is from the first record, "Sun Come Undone", and they had another one out last year (although I haven't listened to it much). Both of them are on Spotify so give them a listen.

Anyway, Thrushes occupy the same territory as a few other bands on the edge of shoegaze and dreampop, with some "epic" post rock-style touches, but they basically do it a bit better than most of their contemporaries. Their first album's really good, a nice combination of some strong songwriting, great guitar sounds and lovely female vocals (which, as I have mentioned before, is a winning formula for me). And although they clearly love the same first-wave shoegaze bands as me and everyone else (Slowdive in particular I think), they're good enough to sound like they're adding something of their own to the well-worn formula. So don't listen to this expecting groundbreaking sonic experimentation or startling innovation; go into it expecting some lovely hazy dreampop and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

Thrushes - Loyalty