Beeps and Boops

What is it about music? Why do we like it, man? Why does it compel us? How can some person singing about something that has nothing to do with the listener affect the mood of the listener? It is crazy magic. It is emotional alchemy.

And I am a soft touch. So, so soft. My heart is on my sleeve. Plus it is oversized. I've got a lot of heart, is what I'm saying, and it is a very sensitive heart. Music, the right music, punches me right in my big soft heart.

Everything and everyone is putting of best of the year and best of the decade lists. I have not listened to enough music to make such a list, but there is a list I can make. Music of the last decade that punches my heart and. In a good way.

I don't mean that they make me sob. That they make me sad. That they make me feel bad. No. But they make me feel. My brain becomes aware of my eyes and my breathing and my heart rate, because they've all been affected by this music I'm listening to. Music, man, crazy.

Right. The List.

My Emotional Hits of the Naughts:

I'm going to start with the song that inspired this whole thing. I heard this on the R3-30, and then re-listened to it a good half dozen time before I could continue the countdown And this is from an album from 2008, how the hell did I miss this.?



It's a lovely little song, but the part where it's just the dude and his guitar that really gets me. That's the part that made me notice the song and then listen to it a zilion times. And the zillion times made me notice all the other bits of loveliness in there. Lots going on in that song. I want to go into detail, but I don't want to sound like a wanker.

And I could wank all over any of theses songs.

But taking inspiration from the dude and a guitar let us listen to...



How does that work? Just a dude and some kinda noise maker singing gibberish (she brings me seeds from olive trees?) and it dampens my eyes. The crowd singing along really helps, I reckon.

Speaking of singing along: one of, if not my favourite concert going experiences was seeing Arcade Fire (this was pre Neon Bible, just to give a time frame). And screaming along with the rest of the crowd to all the songs. So primal. A lot of their music gets me, but the one that works the best on me is



Just imagine yelling along with that. Good for the soul. Maybe I should have used Wake Up instead. The acoustic version, the one from the Where the Wild Things Are trailer? Hell, that trailer makes my vision blur every damn time.

But back to just a dude and a guitar.

I looked and I looked but I could not find a linkable version of Greg Macpherson's The Company Store. But I highly recommend you listen to it. It's about something that happened a long time ago to people you don't know, but it is such an angry song you just want to punch someone by the end of it. Again, anger at something long since gone provoked by nothing more than a voice and a guitar.

And you don't even need to understand the voice.



That is just hooky as shit. Just strings and skins. The vocals are just something for the audience to scream as their bodys jump up and down.

Good God did I do a lot of jumping up and down for this band.



I doubt I will ever see any band live more than I saw K 106. They played every Tuesday at a club about 20 minutes away from my job. My friend Ben would travel substantially further to see them. They are so awesome live. I cannot divorce their music from their shows, their music takes me back to being in their club and that makes my brain so happy. And maybe a little sad.

Another great Japan gig experience was seeing Matsuzaki Nao



That is not the song I was looking for, but that is just an awesome video. The song that sold me on her was Ki No Uta (roughly translated: tree song). The first time I saw her perform it, she was with a band and it was all drums and bass, with her voice just as strong and loud. The second time I saw her she performed the song solo and it was beautiful in a completely different way.

I wonder if I would think less of this Japanese stuff if I had a better understanding of the language.



I can't understand half of what they sing in this song either, and it still gets me. The best version of this song that I've heard (and I went through a phase where I listened to them all).



The best/worst thing about Hawksley Workman is that he so damn prolific.



Why the hell did they get rid of the word shit? Dude is Australian. More than half of Aussie kids' first word is shit.

I'm sure there are tonnes more but my brain has been a little fuzzy for a while now (you may have noticed) so I'll just finish off with something nice and happy. And Canadian.