Azul Buho"Hey, Azul!" everyone's been shouting at me. "What #music are you listening to RIGHT NOW? We need to know this, for some reason. Tell us. Tell us immediately!"
Well, okay, here you go. This is my ongoing #NowPlaying thread.
What better place to begin my #NowPlaying thread than with a track that knocked my socks off the first time I heard it, and hasn't stopped since? But then, any song containing the phrase '#CollectiveBargaining' is gonna get me going. #JoinAUnion
Wurk, by #LinquaFranqa
Red Light Spells Danger, by #BillyOcean.
Banger. End of.
I listened to #Christmas #music for 10 uninterrupted hours today, which was a bit much even for me.
So I put my 'lovely' #playlist on as a palate cleanser, and soon it gave me this beauty of a #song. I'm a sucker for singers with #accents, and if that accent is #Scottish I am yours.
#NowPlaying 'Isobel', by #HealAndHarrow.
So while we're talking #lovely #music sung with a #Scottish #accent, here's another one.
#NowPlaying: #CoverYourEyes by #KarinePolwart
(I think this #song is about Donald Trump being allowed to build a ghastly golf resort on some precious bit of #Scotland's coast.)
Fookit, have another one from my 'lovely' #playlist. #Welsh #accent this time though.
#NowPlaying: #NothingHurts by #Catatonia
(Was a toss-up between that and Dead From The Waist Down.)
To see out this infernal year, I will spend its dregs listening to the #music #Tidal tells me I played most in #2022.
Firstly, because #RandomPlay is *obsessed* with playing me this track: Don't Play That Song, by #ArethaFranklin. (If random play is trying to tug at my heartstrings, it is shit out of luck as I haven't had romantic yearnings for anyone for quite some time now.)
I've never really got into the Dropkick Murphys before, because I fookn hate the bagpipes. But I was fookn angry at rich/non- #socialist people *a lot* in #2022, and this track suddenly broke through for me, so I listened to it on repeat. You can play this #song at my funeral, and hire a fookn bagpipe player too.
Worker's Song by #DropkickMurphys.
Same #socialist anger as previous #song, minus bagpipes and English, plus Spanish and #ska. 'Tu enemigo es el patrón".
El Vals del Obrero, by #SkaP
I still think this is one of the most exciting songs of the last... oh fook, I just looked it up and this was released in 2005! 17 years! God, I'm old. (I actually did dance like a robot in 1984, though I was more into #breakdancing than #robotics.)
Anyway, I often play this and sing along in what's left of my #Sheffield accent, and that is a good thing.
#ArcticMonkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
Talking of feeling old, here's a song all about that. "I ain't as good as I once / But I'm as good once as I ever was". Yep. Agreed. Me too.
#TobyKeith - As Good As I Once Was
This one just knocked my socks off as soon as I heard it. An absolute belter of a #pop #song. Should've been number one on the hit parade (if they still do the charts).
Into My Arms by #DianaDeMuth
It's not a prize every time with HMHB, but boy howdy do they get it right every now and then.
Joy Division Oven Gloves, by #HalfManBiscuit
Ah, now, there was a theme to my music tastes in #2022. What with the pandemic, and with the breakdown of the old societal fixtures that brought people together, I really worry about people feeling alone, lonely and vulnerable. And I was bang up for anything and anyone that was saying "We're still here - we'll find a way to be together again, if we can just hold on now".
Storm To Weather, by #GracePetrie (whom I love v much).
Um, see previous post in thread. Life's shit. Be together. And if you're hurting no-one, don't feel bad for being happy for a bit.
Nothing to Regret, by #Robinson
As per previous few posts...
I know this song might be about the afterlife, and is almost certainly about the delusion of the American Dream, but it's also about comforting your loved ones with hope. That's powerful stuff. Use it.
Across the Border, by #BruceSpringsteen.
(I'm not crying, *you're* crying.)
Ever feel like you need a Happy Song? Here's #AlexTheAstronaut. Join in! Dah daaah dada dada dah...
OK, this is just a lovely undemanding #pop #song. If there is a smile in me to be smiled at all, this will put it on my mush.
Brighter than the Sun - #ColbieCaillat
As per previous post - just a lovely #song to smile for.
Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae
And this one! I have absolutely no idea who these people are, or what they want, but I love their #song anyway.
"Danger! High Voltage" - #ElectricSix
I don't really do #NewYearsResolutions, but I do want to catch up with #EzraFurman in #2023. But they're so prolific! Hard to keep up!
"Take Off Your Sunglasses" by Ezra Furman and the Harpoons.
Just a solid banger. That's it. That's the post. (Name a better bass opener?)
The Night, by #FrankieValli and the #FourSeasons.
Talking of bangers... BANGERISSIMO! You will never go back to that weedy #SoftCell cover after hearing the original.
You know what we need now? Some banging Ukrainian electrofolk. Luckily I happened to listen to this song A LOT in #2022, so it's on the list. (It's actually quite a sweet and innocent song about Spring being really nice.)
Shum, by #GoA
I love this #song. I love her. This will probably be on my most-played list next year as well. You may ridicule me for it. I don't care. It's a chooon.
The Boy Does Nothing, by #AleshaDixon.
Now, stick with this one. It needs time to build, but it fair rattles along by the end.
Spoon Out My Eyeballs, by #BenjaminBooker.
I was born in entirely the wrong time and place to have been on the #NorthernSoul scene. (Also, I'm not much of a dancer, or clubgoer.) But by gum I love the #music that came out of #WiganCasino and the like.
Cry No More, by #BenEKing
Like, this is cheezy as all giddy-up. And it's by #TonyBlackburn, for heaven's sake! But it's really good #NorthernSoul. No, it really is. Honest.
Oh, there's apparently one more #NorthernSoul track that I listened to lots last year.
Feels So Good, by #BobbyHarden and the #SoulfulSaints.
I am an absolute sucker for a bit of #HammondOrgan, me. And here's a lovely swinging cracker of a #song that has hammond out the wazoo. (Someone will now tell me it's not actually a hammond organ. And I won't care.)
Surrender to the Rhythm, by #BrinsleySchwarz.
I'm looking at what's left on my #MostPlayed in #2022 #playlist, and wondering if I've got enough upbeat tracks left to get us to the #NewYear without harshing the mood.
We're alright for now, though. Here's Sixteen by #DietCig.
This is a corker in general, but there's a genuinely thrilling passage from about 2m40s. HEY! HEY! IT'S JUST A LITTLE HEARTBREAK!
Sea Hearts, by #Honeyblood.
Ooh, hold on. We're back on the #hammond, and I'm going to use a word I hate: we are boogying it right up.
Buried Alive In The Blues, by #JanisJoplin.
OH! HERE WE GO!
This has become one of my absolute favouritest songs EVAH. And I have no idea how it swam into my life. If you gave it to me - thank you so much. It has become a precious joy in my life. (And I don't even have any lingering break-up trauma to process. It's just a great #song.)
I Will Dance (When I Walk Away) - #Katzenjammer
And if we're talking joyful...
Walking On Sunshine, by #KatrinaAndTheWaves.
I have never fallen out of love with this song. Rare is the time it comes up on random play and I skip it. It's gotta be one of the tracks I've listened to the most in my entire life.
I am not religious. But I know a gospel banger when I hear one. And if it has a big bass drum and includes the phrase 'I used to smoke, drink and dance the hoochy-coo', then I'm in. Save me, Jesus!
Saved, by #LaVernBaker.
I cry a lot. I cried watching this at the time. People being together, and joyful, and hating positively at scumbag cunts... Yeah, alright, I'm crying now too. But in a good way!
#FuckYou - #OliviaRodrigo and #LilyAllen
Olivia Rodrigo - F*** You (feat. Lily Allen) (Glastonbury 2022)
If I've heard a more touching depiction in #song of poverty, heroin, #SexWorkers and johns, I can't bring it to mind. Shout up if you have any ideas.
#NowPlaying #music #playlist:
Don't Wake The Scarecrow, by #TheFeliceBrothers.
Sitting in this #pub, feeling a bit delicate cos I've just started #AKindOfSpark by #ElleMcNicoll (which is about an #autistic kid). It's wazzing down, in a bleak #UK #Winter sort of way. I don't want to live in this stupid country anymore. I am not happy.
And then the wurlitzer plays one of my favourite happy songs. #DanceTheNightAway by #TheMavericks. (I know: they're not cool; I don't care.)
The Mavericks - Dance The Night Away
And then an odd thing happens. This #song suddenly starts playing in my head. In quite some clarity. I can hear the detail of the strings, the thud of the drums, and everything. 'Don't think you are exceptional. Don't dream you're better than anyone else. You're only feeling good. A sober night would do you good.' Alright, #depression, I get it. I can't have a happy moment with a #beer and a #book. Sheesh.
I Come After You
I'm sure I've said this before, but I bloody love #GirlRay, me.
(They have a #NewSong out, which is ace and which I'm sure I will love in due course, but I went off listening to their older #music and it made me happy. This one is drenched in #ToddRundgren.)
Mouse Dee@azulbuho oh I sure do hear you on the gospel. I'm not religious at all, my brain wiring doesn't accommodate it, but religion-inspired music is hella powerful even for me, especially gospel. Anyone who sees me singing a gospel song in a choir would think I'm a true believer, the feeling of belting that shit out together with other voices is so powerful.
@Mouseydee Totes. I've never sung in a choir, but I have friends who do it and they are addicted. I can see why religions make use of it so much. If anything was going to convert me, it'd be a gospel choir. But alas I am lost to the Lord (who doesn't exist, so it's no biggy.)