Suzie – Boy Kill Boy

Video on YouTube

I was a DJ in a past life.

Summer of 2006. On the home straight for my MSc at Brighton University. I’d missed out on the opportunity at taking a slot on the student radio station whilst doing my degree at UCL, so I was eager to grab the chance during my one year on the South Coast. Turns out, Brighton University didn’t have a radio station.

But the University of Sussex did, and somehow, I got a slot there – Sunday afternoons, between three and four in the afternoon. I’m not sure if anyone was listening, apart from my family – especially after the bloke before me used to end his show with long, long songs from Jesus Christ Superstar – but it was great fun. If I was lucky, the person due on after me wouldn’t turn up, and I’d get to do two hours.

This song was on a promotional CD which was left lying by the faders, and it’ll always remind me of that tiny studio. It’s throwaway indie-guitar-pop, but the melody, and the backdrop of electronica made it a hit for me, particularly as I’d never heard of the band before. It was this, or Seaside by The Ordinary Boys, and, well, maybe not (though that is a great summer record).

My other stint as a DJ at the much-missed Play/Pause indie-disco, at the Albany on Great Portland Street, a few years later, may have been more cherished, but this was a chance to do something a little different – (sort of) proper broadcasting.

Robin The Hooded Man – Clannad

Even the album cover, seen in this video, takes me back.

There’s a part of me which is quite dissatisfied with some of these topics – since I was a child, I’ve been surrounded by some form of music, be it on the radio, or on vinyl, CD, tape, minidisc and so on. So plenty of songs remind me of someone, somewhere, some event, and so on. It’s going to be hard to pick one.

But I’ll go with the first one that springs to mind, tonight. This reminds me of several things – sitting in the back of the car – a very 80s family car Honda, I can even remember the colour of the sticker on the passenger window warning would be intruders that the car was fitted with an alarm – orangey-red, like a sunset, whilst a shadowy figure runs away – whilst going to primary school; playing around with cassette tape boxes.

Watching the entire series on VHS growing up. Listening to the album on almost every car journey.

A hot early summer more recently, where we re-watched most of the series.

Me making up rather more childish lyrics for the chorus.

But most of all, it reminds me, as does the whole album, as do most songs by Kate Bush, or by The Police, of the first person who shaped my musical tastes – my mother. So this one’s for her.

Not very cool, I know, but hey, honesty.

Exile Vilify – The National

An excellent, fan-made video which really hits the emotional core. All the feels.

Tricky one this, as I don’t make a habit of listening to many songs that make me feel sad, especially in terms of ‘upset’ sadness. So this will do. It’s how I discovered The National.

“You’ve got sucker’s luck. Have you given up?”

Written for the game Portal 2, it’s melancholic and emotional. Discovering it within the game was one of those moments where it just hits you – instantly bringing a depth to the story, situation and characters, making you wonder what you’ve not been told yet. But you only really hear snatches on a broken radio. Listening to it on full volume, outside the game, it really hits you.

“Does it feel like a trial? Does it trouble your mind like you trouble mine?”

It feels like a plea to a lost cause – an acknowledgement of such – indeed, it feels like it’s a statement of familiarity, of surrender. Comforting and yet wallowing in the sadness.

“Vilify – don’t even try….did you fall for the same empty answers again?”

Underneath it all, though, there’s a steely resolve to carry on – the repetition of lines gives it that. It gives it a feel of a hint of anger in there too.

The strings and piano give the song a cinematic scope, as it gently tosses the listener from side to side, rolling from peak to trough but never advancing – stuck in a rut. And that single, lasting piano note at the end – not a crescendo, but a stasis.

Don’t Falter – Mint Royale (featuring Lauren Laverne)

The 90s is where it all made sense, for me – sure, there were bad days, but those endless summers, the imagination and freedom and so on. There’s plenty of 80’s music I like, but if you really want to trigger my happy gland, play me some indie/disco/pop from the mid-90s. Although I don’t especially remember it from the time, rediscovering this song in the last few years has been revelatory.

Like Day 1’s song, it speaks of summer, of hope. It has that vague memory of the early internet, Mel and Sue’s Light Lunch, rare and special trips up to Oxford Street to spend an hour or so in the massive Virgin Megastore, HMV and Electronics Boutique. It’s unashamedly romantic – “and as long as we’ve got each other, it’s gonna be officially Summer”, and has valuable advice, too – “you must decide to risk your heart for love to find you..”. Perfect.

The video’s completely out of sync with my thoughts on the song, though.

Just a Little – Liberty X

and no, I’m not going to give it the oxygen of Internet publicity by linking to the video.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate commercial pop music by default. But this was the first song that sprang to mind that really annoys me – particularly the lyrics. They are so at odds with the sentiment of the song, so on the nose, un-subtle, clumsy, so not passionate, that when I am forced to listen to even a little snippet, it is the proverbial nails on a blackboard.

There’s a great line in a completely different song – History Repeating, by the Propellorheads & Shirley Bassey, which states that “some people won’t dance if they don’t know who’s singing”. Unfortunately, I fall into that category. Often it’s the melody which is the most important thing, but when you get the lyrics this wrong, then even Bassey’s admonition that “why ask your head, it’s your hips that are swinging..” doesn’t cut it here.