Thirty Days Of Music Day 17 - A Song You Hear On The Radio Often

The mighty combination of DJs and Producers Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso make up Swedish House Mafia.  Eric Prydz, although officially a member, has been in London and so is somewhat redundant to the band at this stage but a great renunion may be in store for us in the future.

Their first official single, One, is a mightily epic club tune that has been invading our radios for the last few months.  The reason it's so popular is that it's so easy to dance to - those meaty synths are compelling and the beats are hard - and the lyrics ('I wanna know your name') are easy to sing along to.

They roped in the silky smooth Pharrell Williams for the vocals, and have created one of the best dance tunes of 2010.  It's easy to see why they one Best Swedish Band at the MTV Awards - a category which is as competetive as almost any other. 

Thirty Days of Music Day 16 - A Song You Hate But Used To Love

Welsh metal band, Bullet for my Valentine, released their debut self titled ep in November 2004 on the Visible Noise label.  They sparked a minor craze, with a large amount of the alternative teen population falling in love with their pained, dark lyrics and unleashed energy.
 
Hand of Blood, probably their most famous song, is a crazily energetic riot of a song that screams for attention.  It's all about the sickeningly fast guitar and violent screaming, with the pounding drums driving the whole intrumentation forward.  I used to absolutely love this song but as I've grown older I have moved away from this style of music.  I'm not saying that I absolutely despise it, because the guitar is still catchy and the song has a certain charm to it.  My main problem with the song is that I've mellowed quite considerably since 2005 and this song isn't subtle enough for my liking.

It's a shame that Bullet haven't really produced anything up to the standard of their first few releases since then, but I suppose it was hard for them to live up to that early strength.

Thirty Days of Music Day 15 - A Song That Describes You

So I've just about reached the half way point of this little challenge I've set myself, and it's going ok.  I've had to bend the rules a few times and I've enjoyed writing about some songs more than others.  This time around was a very hard choice - it's so hard to choose a song that describes yourself without being arrogant, pretentious or unnecessarily modest.  A few songs came to mind straight away, including Creep, Charmer, The Fool and Your Protector but most of these seem a bit stupidly comic and blatant.

In the end I went for Devil's Spoke/ Sneh Ko Marg because it is a fusion of English and Asian in the same way that I am of a similar fusion.  This, once again, is a bit of a cop-out but I still wanted to choose a damn good song for this category and so this was the only thing I could come up with.

Devil's Spoke is a great song on it's own - creating a wonderfully dark atmosphere - but when it's combined with the dreamily quick, flowing Indian singing it works brilliantly.  The voices of Laura and the Dharohar Project are absolutely stunning and it's a shame there is only a live version available at the moment because it would be great to hear the polished-up tune.  There is great contrast between Marling's and the other vocals and the Dharohar Project make great use of variations in note length to create a mystical, intangible tone to their music.

Usually I get jealous when great artists go and tour other countries, leaving us English fans neglected, but this song was born from Marling touring India with Mumford and Sons.  If we're going to be gifted with such gems every time she tours another country, then I don't want to see her back in Hampshire for a good few years.

Thirty Days of Music Day 14 - A Song That No One Would Expect You To Love

Rap, as genres go, has not been an especially respected genre among music geeks - and when it is, other than the our beloved Kanye, it tends to be proferred to only the non-commercial hip-hop acts such as The Roots.  Lupe Fiasco is perhaps an example of one of these well respected rappers - he's no Big Boi, I admit - but he has certain qualities that appeal to the music-geek in me.

Unlike most commercial rappers, Fiasco's lyrics aren't about guns, money and whores but have a certain abstract nature to them.  In Dumb it Down he rants about record bosses trying to get him to dumb his lyrics down - he ends with: 'but I flatly refused I ain't dumbing down nothing'.  His voice is silkily smooth and his rhythm and rhyme are immaculate, clashing cleverly with the chorus and chanting.  The electronic backing is catchy and tense and the drum beat is simple an unobtrusive.

He approaches topics of education, feminism and rapping stereotypes - taking an ironic angle on them in the chorus, surrounded by the luciously verbose verses that make the song.

Thirty Days of Music Day 13 - A Song That Is A Guilty Pleasure

I'm slightly ashamed to admit that XO by Fall Out Boy is my most played song on itunes - racking up an impressive 146 plays.  I bought From Under the Cork Tree when it came out in 2005 and was soon addicted to the incredibly catchy hooks and witty lyrics that Fall Out Boy utilised at the time.  It's one of those albums that you either love or hate, and it polarised ciritics at the time, but I think it's still brilliant.  I admit my music taste has changed dramatically since 2005 but I have to give them great respect for pulling off an album that could have easily been sickeningly poppy.

XO is probably one of the best songs off the album - the whole band's sound changes pace brilliantly, Stump's vocals moving from rushed lists ('to drinks in the club to the bar/ to the keys in your car') to soaringly held chorus notes and the drums following them perfectly.  The album version has simple, but effective echos on some of the vocals and Stump's voice is extremely powerful.  You get the impression that the guitar and bass are pretty redundant in XO, they are barely heard other than at the beginning, being drowned out by the vocals and drums - maybe this is a good thing, though, because it works to create an extremely catchy, swift-footed song that seems to end all too soon.

Thirty Days of Music Day 12 - A Song From A Band You Hate

Even though I'm supposed to be choosing a song from a band that I hate, I still wanted to choose a song that I like.  This meant I had to compromise slightly on the hate side of the choice.  It's not so much that I actively hate Smashing Pumpkins, but that I've never really seen their appeal as a band.  I find their style too coarse, and Corrigan's voice grating and unpleasant.  Of course, they're a massive band so they're obviously doing something right - 1979 is the only song by them that gives me a glimpse of what has made them so popular.

It's a much more relaxing attempt by Corrigan and co, with gentle, dreamy guitar and low-key vocals that create a muffled tone.  The chorus ups the energy ever-so-slightly, soaring over the intrumentation, and the guitar builds as the song goes on.  The lyrics reinforce the dreamy nature of the song - they are suggestive of the reminiscence over a past relationship, Corrigan's husky voice singing: 'Justine never knew the rules'.

Considering they've been together since 1988, it's a shame they haven't produced more songs that meet this level of craftmanship.  Then again, maybe it's my fault and they have but I haven't found the hidden gems just yet.

Thirty Days of Music Day 11 - A Song From Your Favourite Band

'Indie poster boy' Sufjan Stevens has been producing albums as a solo artist for the past ten years, debuting in 2000 with A Sun Came.  One of the most consistantly magnificent songwriters of the decade, he has made a load of wonderful albums including Illinois, Michigan, Sevens Swans and my #4 album of 2010 The Age of Adz.

Casimir Pulaski Day is one of the best songs off his 2005 album Illinois.  Included in almost every Album of the Decade list that I have seen, Illinois is a orchestrally grand, perfectly accurate depiction of the state and it is filled with rich, layered, incredibly uplifting songs.  Casimir is a beautifully heartfelt lament over a lost love - the lyrics are stunningly evocative and the guitar line is beautifully simple.  Sufjan's voice is delicate and emotional, and the images invoked throughout the song are lucid and moving.  This song represents acoustic songwriting at its best.

The video is a live performance at a radio station in America - his live shows are really eccentric, but also brilliantly coordinated - there are rumours of a European tour in the wake of the release of Adz and I can tell you that I would sell my kidney for tickets to see him.