Hey
there. This is my first post in over two months. I've moved back to North Wales and am looking for a job. Still no luck. Fun times. But I'm going to try and get back into writing again, I have the time at the moment but in honesty I've had a lot of writers block. I'm not in my own comfort and environment at present and I'm just struggling to think properly. I hope you like the new website design. I'm going try to start posting again; it might not be all the time but I'll give it a go when it feels right. This Mixtape was definitely a nice distraction so I hope you enjoy it.
Welcome to a Jubilee special. Happy Diamond Jubilee and all that jazz. I'm really not that big on royalty so I'm not really celebrating it, but if you are, then enjoy yourself. This Mixtape came from an idea I had whilst working with the British Heart Foundation (I'm currently volunteering there). There's a sweepstake in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee that had a load of songs you can put £1 on to donate to charity. All the songs were referencing royalty in some way or another, either in their song titles or the band or singer's name. I thought it made a brilliant idea for a Mixtape, obviously mine would have some obscure songs that would not feature on that list, but it's still a lot of fun and you know what? It's a damn good list of songs below if I should say so myself.
Not familiar with my Mixtapes? Here are the rules.
A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or era. The
list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with further
recommendations if some of the songs aren't to your taste. Remember kids,
downloading is wrong!
So the songs below are my way of celebrating the Diamond Jubilee. I hope you celebrate it in a way you see fit. Enjoy your day off! Also, this Mixtape is now available to listen to fully on YouTube so subscribe to me if you want to listen to it properly.
Thanks for joining me on this site again. I do love writing and I hope you enjoy reading my work. I hope I can start working on the site more now, I just hope my head clears a little so my work isn't crap. Anyway enough rambling from me, have a good night.
For the latest updates on my work, 'like' me on Facebook here!
Hey there, welcome to my newest Mixtape. This one is paying homage to the music of the FIFA football games, something that has been a constant source of decent sound for some time. Now, if you know me personally or have been following my work on this site, you'll know that I love my metal. My interest in indie is nothing on metal, and don't get me started on dance music, electronic, RnB or ambience. These other genres for the most part don't interest me. But they are always evident in the FIFA games and quite often the songs that are chosen year upon year are great. So what I'm hoping you'll see in today's list is a different side to my musical tastes.
Not familiar with my Mixtapes? Here are the rules.
A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or era. The
list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with further
recommendations if some of the songs aren't to your taste. Remember kids,
downloading is wrong!
Okay, before I start, I'd like to say two things. Firstly, FIFA didn't really have long and productive soundtracks on their games until FIFA 2004 came out, and while certain games before it had one or two popular tracks, nothing was really substantial until then. Secondly, I haven't played every FIFA game. I've played most of them, so one or two games are missing from the list. But I cover most of the games, and I think you can appreciate the amount of games that are actually covered here. Enjoy!
And that's my playlist. If you like the genres mentioned above and haven't heard some of these songs give them a listen, the videos all link to Youtube where possible. I'm starting to run dry on ideas at the moment for future Mixtapes, so if you have any other ideas comment below, with some suggestions and I might cover them. That's it from me today, have a good night.
For the latest updates on my work, 'like' me on Facebook here!
Hey again, this is Part 2, celebrating and paying homage to my favourite singles of the decade. You’ve seen the mixtapes, so here’s a condensed down “Noughties Greatest Songs” collection, biased, that I’ve put together. Let’s count down from #90 to #81.
#90. “Dynomite” – Ima Robot
Released: 16/9/03
Album: Ima Robot
Dynomite represents Ima Robot’s only entry into this Top 100 but that doesn’t mean they only did one good song, their debut album is brilliant, as you have been told by me in the Top 20 Albums of the decade listing. But this was their best single, it’s not very long but it’s very explosive, it’s a lot of fun.
#89. “Fever” – Pink Grease
Released: 22/3/04
Album: This is for Real
Fever was a song that I liked back in the middle of the decade, and then the band just disappeared out of nowhere. After compiling the majority of the material for this project, I then heard it on Last.fm. It was a surreal moment as I completely forgotten about them. The Pink Grease are a very odd bunch, yet they are a decent little glam rock-revival band that were capable of doing decent songs. This was definitely their best though. Where are they now? They’re still together, but are unsigned. Shame really.
#88. “B.O.B” – OutKast
Released: 6/9/00
Album: Stankonia
B.O.B. is a song I only heard a few years after their mega hit “Hey Ya!”. I heard “Ms. Jackson” and “So Fresh and So Clean”, but not this hip-hop thumping cracker. I heard it years later and immediately fell in love with it. It’s my favourite track by the duo, and it just sounds brilliant, it’s a real feet mover.
#87. “Kiss With a Fist” – Florence and the Machine
Released: 9/6/08
Album: Lungs
Here’s the second and final entry for Florence in my personal Top 100. Kiss With a Fist is a brilliant track, one of the best off the album, and was her debut single. It unfortunately wasn’t a big hit, but she raised some eyebrows with the lyrics (she denies it’s about domestic violence, I believe her). But it definitely set the platform for her music career; it was only going up from here. But the song itself is my favourite single, it just sounds really kick ass and the video is pretty good too. Florence is pretty lady.
#86. “The Good Ones” – The Kills
Released: 7/2/05
Album: No Wow
The Good Ones is one of those songs that just sounds so fucking cool. It’s got a great guitar riff and Alison Mosshart’s vocals are very sexy. She’s got a great, powerful voice, so good that you can barely hear Jamie’s vocals in the background. It just sounds brilliant, it’s just a very cool song.
#85. “Morning Has Broken” – The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
Released: 11/3/02
Album: Hörse of the Dög
The debut single by TEMBLD is a noisy little ditty. Wait. I can actually say that about every track off their debut album actually. They were all noisy little ditties. Well what’s the difference between this and the rest? Very little, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t sound good. The guitars are fantastic and Guy McKnight’s vocals are as dry and distinctive as usual. The best bit is definitely the closure, when the music starts building up and we just hear “love, I feel love, I feel love” amongst the trembling noise. It’s great stuff.
#84. “Frantic” – Metallica
Released: 15/9/03
Album: St. Anger
The only Metallica song from the decade to make the Top 100 is Frantic. I prefer this to St. Anger, despite their similarities. I just like the sound of this more, I love the “Fran-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic-tock” and the guitars, like in most Metallica songs, are just great. “My lifestyle, determines my death style”. Really? Good for you James.
#83. “Mosh” – Eminem
Released: 26/10/04
Album: Encore
The second Eminem song to make the Top 100 is his protest song against George Bush and his presidential election back in 2004. Unfortunately for Eminem, the protest song was a failure as Bush kept his job for another 4 years. Anyway, the songs lyrics are brilliant, Eminem really pulls all the stops to tell us why he wants Bush out of office, why he is against the war in Iraq and why America should concentrate on problems in the US rather than out in the world. Eminem’s protest song was a failure, but that doesn’t mean the song was bad, or that the message wasn’t powerful, it was in fact the opposite, it was well rapped, well written and it’s one of Eminem’s finest performances to date.
#82. You Know Your Right” – Nirvana
Released: 8/10/02
Album: Nirvana
It’s a difficult song to talk about as some Nirvana purists hate the fact that the song was not only forged to exist with old material, but that it was released as a single. Some Hole/Courtney Love purists maintain that it’s not even called “You Know Your Right” but that it’s called “You’ve Got No Right”. Regardless of what they think, this is a biased listing and I love this song. I think whoever made this version of the song exist deserves kudos as it sounds like a proper Nirvana track. Maybe Kurt won’t be happy with the outcome, but then again was he ever happy? Anyway, I really like this song and it was one of the highlights back in 2002, in terms of the “history of music”. Weird to think that it was 8 years ago though.
#81. “Drama Queen” – Switches
Released: 29/1/07
Album: Heart Tuned to D.E.A.D.
I heard this song probably in a similar way that many people did, through FIFA 08. It was my favourite track on the soundtrack and it just sounds so good. I love the “doo-doo-doo-do” and the vocals are cool too. I was quite surprised when I listened to the explicit version as it’s got a lot of drug references in it, where as a lot of the FIFA version cut this out and changed the lyrics. Regardless, it’s the sound of the song, and not the lyrics, that make this song hit the Top 100.
Part 2 done, I shall be back tomorrow for Part 3, counting down #80 - #71, so see you then!
Welcome to Part 16 of the Noughtie series. This is the eighth Mixtape, celebrating the year of 2007 in rock and metal. 2007 marked a turn in music officially in my eyes. Emo music was really at the centre of everything, and finding good bands was starting to get difficult. The last three years of the decade were the worst three, in my opinion, but there was still some good stuff coming out. As usual, here's the rules of the Mixtape.
A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or era. The list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with further recommendations if some of the songs aren't to your taste. Remember kids, downloading is wrong!
So what songs do I like from 2007? Let's find out shall we!
What were your favourite songs of 2007? Do you agree with my assessment that the decade took a turn for the worse this year? Add any comments below. I'll be back on Monday for possibly my favourite part of the series, counting down my favourite 20 music videos of the decade. Have a good day.
