Easy Like Sunday Morning #8

Last night was a rarity of sorts. What started out as a simple trip into Belfast city centre to get Soulwax tickets and a few pints descended into multiple pints, countless shots of tequila and a few double vodka and cokes. I have only vague recollections of busting some serious moves on the dancefloor but that's where it ends. We somehow ended up in a houseparty packed to the brink with a lot of strangers and a lot of people we know. We didn't leave till 9am and needless to say I've been feeling it today. You may notice this post is a little on the late side. This is primarily because I have spent most of today sleeping or reeling in agony. At least Ghostbusters was on to cheer me up.

On the concert front, one of my biggest regrets is not going to see Jason Mraz when he played here. Although I was and sort of still am a little unfamiliar with with his main body of work, I'd heard enough of his material and been impressed enough with it to warrant a ticket purchase. For some reason I didn't go ahead with it and to this day it bewilders me. The track I'm going to concentrate on today is a catchy little number by him entitled I'm Yours. Surprisingly, I was first introduced to this track via a Halo 3 montage. This is possibly why it stood out so much. Granted, it was employed as credit music, but even then it was hugely different to what most people use as their choice of background music for these types of things. There is a simple yet innocent quality to it. I don't know about you, but I find something about a man and his guitar to be very endearing. Rather than coming across as contrived or overly elaborate, instead, Jason Mraz adopts a much more D.I.Y approach to his music. When most people think of D.I.Y they envision an assortment of tools making suitably distracting and unnerving sounds in order to achieve production. When I think of D.I.Y with regards to music, and in particular, music from singer-songwriters, I think of hard work and good song structure. Mraz doesn't disappoint on this front, offering a brightness that would no doubt make Jack Johnson stand to attention if he heard it.

Jason Mraz - I'm Yours

For the second song I'm going to break a self-imposed rule. Given the fact that we've all been busy with a variety of different things over the past while, unfortunately we haven't been able to cover all the genres we'd like to cover in this blog. Hip-hop is one such genre. Long-time readers may have heard me referring to this in previous posts of this nature, and though this is a rule I've primarily implemented for myself, in actuality, there have been tracks of a hip-hop or rap nature posted by me on this very blog. The simple truth is that when you feel like a track fits the bill, you gotta go with it regardless of what type of music it is. The main reason we've been saving tracks is so we can do a huge post on the genre itself and our favourite tracks from it in the near future. With this factor in mind, I don't feel quite as guilty about posting this next one: Eye Know by De La Soul. The reason I don't feel guilty about this is because I a song by them which is quite possibly one of my favourites of all time stored for later, and no, it isn't The Magic Number. You'll just have to wait and see. As for the group themselves, De La Soul are one of the most inspirational and original rap groups out there, blending an extensive mix of jazz influences with unconventional sampling and creative and stylistic wordplay to help create one of the most cherished and highly respected genres in the world, alternative hip-hop. You may not know the style by name but it has been heralded and adopted by the likes of A Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers and Jurassic 5 which should give you some degree of indication as to just how critically and commercially acclaimed it was and remains to be. Refusing to conform to existing rap stereotypes, the basis behind alternative hip-hop was to blend styles and draw from differing genres proportionately. This is half the reason I decided to go with Eye Know, the other half is because it has been regular Sunday morning-to-mid-afternoon listening for me for many a year now.

De La Soul - Eye Know

The middle track for today's post is by a band many of you will undoubtedly be familiar with, Explosions In The Sky. While I didn't have a chance to catch them on their most recent tour of Ireland, I did get to see them in Dublin a year or so ago and they were overwhelmingly awe-inspiring. Like Mogwai's Hunted By A Freak, the song I have decided to go with could be considered one of their bigger tracks, a breakthrough release if you wish. Of course this is a matter which is debatable amongst fans, largely due to the fact that neither First Breath After Coma or its containing album The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place ended up breaking the sales charts when they were released, but they have subsequently recieved critical accolade as well as First Breath After Coma being featured in multiple ads and even in the Michael Moore film, Capitalism: A Love Story. Though many could argue that First Breath After Coma isn't the standout track some hail it as, I'm inclined to both disagree and agree. The reason behind this concurrence is because Explosions In The Skys' material is so typically of high standard that it is difficult to place any of their work above the rest. From an alternate perspective, however, First Breath After Coma is above all a manifestation of the spirit of post-rock with its simple yet sufficient rhythmic melodies and sentimentalist ambience.

Explosions In The Sky - First Breath After Coma

Fourthly, we have a song by a band who I can almost guarantee you wouldn't expect us to post: The Korgis. Who are The Korgis I hear you asking? Well, the simple answer is that they were one of the better British pop groups of the late 70s to early 80s. It is unlikely most readers will be familiar with the majority of their material, but I'd be surprised if anyone reading hadn't heard Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime and what a tune it is. It is such a widely covered song that there are some covers and reinterpretations which are actually more well known that the original. Everyone, from Erasure to Vanessa Carlton to Glasvegas have covered this track. I suppose it isn't really that surprising given that it is assuredly one of the best pop songs out there. I don't know about you, but most pop tracks in this day and age get on my nerves. I don't mind other popular hybrids but most of what is considered pop music as a genre is just lazy and uninspired. Unknown singers continually pop out of the woodwork and with the help of a producer and a little bit of audio technology they can release number one singles, providing they have enough backing from music television channels, of course. I don't mean to sound cynical or in any way dismissive but unfortunately we're at a point where it is difficult for anything but the latest new thing to reach the masses. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule but I personally think that the popular music machine is due for a shake-up very soon. For now, we'll just have to settle with The Korgis unparalleled structuring, simplicity and transparent purity.

The Korgis - Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime

Lastly we have a track by possibly one of the most underrated rock bands of them all, Failure. You could say I've saved the best to last in this respect because, like Karma To Burn, they are a critically lauded band who narrowly failed to find a worldwide audience despite being fantastic at their respective instruments and as a cohesive unit. During their career from 1990-1997, they were often compared to the likes of Nirvana and Mudhoney, especially due to the fact that grunge had such a foothold on mainstream society at this point. Contrary to these suggestions, however, they were a breed of their own, distinguished by scrupulous attention to production, engineering and textural sonic detail and by the development of an unconstrained sound that was not typically associated with rock bands of this generation. Being the talented individuals that they are, Failure are one of the few bands out there who manage to retain the basic framework of their style on every album yet also make each production significantly different in a number of ways. The track to be posted today, Failure - Another Space Song, is a good example of this cross between contrast and coordination. While it is very much a Failure track, they expand enough with it for it to be considered not only a new but a worthy addition to their catalogue. This is how their music befits them.

Failure - Another Space Song