Motley Tunes #11

Motley Tunes is a weekly segment featuring an assortment of 2-4 songs we find worth sharing. But this one is going to be (slightly) different. 

And so I begin my journey on Oscillate Wildely, joining my dear friend Atharv in sharing the music we oh so love. Honestly, I initially planned to rekindle this blog with a bang. But I eventually realised that I don't want to do so much talking just yet, because soon enough I'll be launching into incredibly long reviews of albums, infinitely-dimensioned analyses of music and its influences, and hopelessly emotional truths about the music I hold close to my heart. Definitely, I'm very grateful for Atharv's wholehearted invitation to me to join in the ride. But this time, I'll let the music do the talking. Perhaps more than I do, it deserves to be heard.

1. Madness by Muse 

Recently, I've been exploring Muse's music, and I've been left with my jaw constantly on the floor with almost every note of theirs. Madness is no exception, except for the fact that it's left the greatest impact on me during my insane experience with Muse thus far. It's such a masterpiece in every way, as it beautifully weaves lyrics about the madness of love through mesmerising rhythms and electronic riffs to build to a captivating crescendo, all this while maintaining an air of bursting calm. Call me absurd, but I dare say this is our generation's equivalent of I Want To Break Free by Queen. Matt Bellamy even slots a cheeky solo in the middle of the groove; something reminiscent of what Brian May did on Queen's track. But seriously though, this song is gorgeous.

2. I Want To Break Free by Queen

Merely mentioning one of the greatest forces to have ever shared their art with this earth is far from enough. Calling another song the modern manifestation of their sonic influence while doing so however (see above), could plummet my post from not being worth your time, to being a whole new level of ridiculous. And so I share this song with you too. Even if you feel this track and the previous are worlds apart, take a moment to relish the glory and legacy Queen left behind (and rekindles in their concerts with Adam Lambert) to this day. I don't even need to justify why this song is amazing; it's simply because it's Queen. Queen, is. 

3. Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2 

Since the last two songs already set the tone with their ability to fill arenas, the final track in this post shall be one that shares this beautiful trait. Sunday Bloody Sunday is more than a political statement, it's a heartwarming cry for unity, for all hearts to beat as one in the face of tragedy. Needless to say, this song opens U2's album War on a groove that, as cliche as it sounds, surges through your veins, finding its way through our heart, renewing it with hope. All those still sour about U2 "invading" your phone with their latest LP "Songs Of Innocence", put your hate aside. We stand as one on this one, with music too.

"How long? How long must we sing this song?" 

So there we go. A little snippet of what's dominating my head, of the music that makes me feel so alive. And I truly hope, that this music will give you its life, too. 

Oscillate Wildely, my friends.

Cheers,
Karan.

Motley Tunes #10

Motley Tunes is a weekly segment featuring an assortment of 2-4 songs I find worth sharing.

It's holiday time for me, and that means listening to more music. I've been digging in to (and exhausting the discography of) bands like Weezer, the White Stripes and Pixies for sometime now, and am trying to learn Neutral Milk Hotel and Nirvana songs on my guitar; besides I haven't posted a Motley Tunes post in quite some time now - so yeah, long story short, this post will feature 5 songs instead! Yay!

1. Debaser by Pixies

The Pixies were the godfathers of alternative rock. Their jarring songs, incongruous lyrics and noisy purgative music gave them a massive underground appeal. Debaser, driven by a relentless bassline, jarring guitars and surreal lyrics (slicin' up eyeballs / I want you to know) delivered in anguish, is quintessential Pixies. Watch out for Francis Black screaming "I am un chien Andalusia" (lyrics inspired by a silent surrealist 1929 movie) on this one. 

2. Hello Operator by the White Stripes

Raw, stream-of-consciousness delivery with a pounding guitar playing against a wailing guitar and a middle section consisting of nothing but clicking noises which imitate an operator pressing buttons - Hello Operator is perhaps the White Stripes' most thought-out song. 

3. Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson

Probably the sexiest Jack Johnson song. So laid-back it'll make you fall out of your chairs. I wanna sing out these lyrics to someone someday :)

"Waking up too early
maybe we could sleep in 
making banana pancakes 
pretend like it's the weekend."

4. History Lesson - Part II by Minutemen

Uncompromising punk rock stalwarts Minutemen leave their trademark brutality and incoherence aside to give us this nostalgic autobiographical song that opens with the legendary line "Our band could be your life." 

5. El Scorcho by Weezer

The most slapstick Weezer song. Loose, self-deprecating and gauche, the song offers a cool twist to Weezer's favorite theme of earnest-geek-yearning-for-love (singing 'I think I'll be good for me if you'll be good for me'). The music video is weirdly funny too!

Favourite lyrics:

"But that's just a stupid dream that I won't realise
Cuz I can't even look in your eyes
Without shaking, and I ain't fakin',
I'll bring home the turkey if you'll bring home the bacon."

Motley Tunes #9

Motley Tunes is a weekly segment featuring an assortment of 2-4 songs I find worth sharing.

1. Hong Kong Garden by Siouxsie & The Banshees

Their first single: shiny, compact, a perfect post-punk song; was a shocker. Because it was too poppy, too perfect, given their otherwise uncompromising unconventional take on post-punk. Nevertheless, a brilliant if underrated song - faux Oriental riff (played edgily on a xylophone), Siouxsie's commanding vocals, sinister lyrics - concluded with a resounding gong to remind you just how Oriental it's trying to be.


2. November Rain by Guns N' Roses

Why? Because no November is complete without this epic pretentious melancholic masterpiece (thankfully) by a band otherwise known for foolhardy pretensions (just why, why the hell was Axl Rose braying like an ass on your trashy cover of Knocking On Heaven's Door?). Anyways, GnR do hold their shit here for 9 minutes (their only noteworthy achievement since Appetite For Destruction). Watch out for Slash's eargasmic solos on this one.

"Nothing lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
Nothing lasts forever 
In the cold november rain."

Oscillate Wildely is back!

Oscillate Wildely? Why the name (besides the obvious wordplay on Oscar Wilde and the Smiths' reference)?

Oscillations. Ups and Downs, To and Fros, Back and Forths. Ad infinitum. Flames rising up from a hearth, Waves hitting the shore, Wind making a flag flutter, the Earth on its axis. Elementary motion.

Assuming, for a split second, some semblance of order, an equilibrium, before being disturbed. Striving for order again. Disturbed yet again by forces beyond its control.
Ad infinitum.

A predictable destination, an unpredictable path.

Like the lives we live. Dynamic, fluctuating, inescapable.

Knowing where to go but not how to go there or knowing how to go there but not knowing where. Clinging to the past, worrying for the future, forgetting the present.

Enter wildness. Chaos. A deliberate injection of more randomness to mock the forces beyond our control. For the heck of it.

Clinging only to the present. Because its there, because it can be held on to, made interminable without worry for what's happened or what will.

Chaos in order, order in chaos.

Like Music. For what is music but pleasant sound and what is sound but wild oscillations of air?

Oscillate Wildely, friends!


Thank you for getting through that eccentric, esoteric, enigmatic twaddle. Here's announcing my return (after what can only be described as a hellish time - exams, more exams designed as projects, more exams of the physical and emotional kind...).

Here are some tracks to kickstart this return. Here's to music!

1. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire's first song off their debut album - Funeral. Brilliantly textured, reflective, and such pretty (though serious) lyrics!

2. Karma Police by Radiohead

A Radiohead classic! Felt like sharing it because I've been listening it a lot these days!

3. Buddy Holly by Weezer

Chill, laid-back song by a chill, laid-back band! Don't tell me the 'OO WEE OO I look just like Buddy Holly' bit isn't catchy!

'Til next time!

Motley Tunes #7

Motley Tunes is a weekly segment featuring an assortment of 2-4 songs I find worth sharing. 

1. Obstacle 1 by Interpol

A dour, melancholic retelling of a love that isn't what it once used to be. Beautiful.

"I wish I could eat the salt off of your lost faded lips 
We can cap the old times, make playing only logical harm"

"She puts the weights into my little heart."

2. Slow Dancing In A Burning Room by John Mayer

To have heavily blues-inspired musicians like John Mayer in today's day and age is a priceless gift to music. This song demonstrates why.

Motley Tunes #6

Motley Tunes is a weekly segment featuring an assortment of 2-4 songs I find worth sharing. 

1. Paranoid Android by Radiohead

Radiohead at their absolute finest. The Stairway to Heaven of the 90s this song is, if you ask me. Beautiful.

2. The Air Near My Fingers by The White Stripes

Jack White, despite the distorted guitars, his raw punk-ish voice and amateurish production comes up with a surprisingly charming song. The song is good on its own, but his boyish charm and the sweet line"I get nervous when she comes around" take it a notch higher.

Motley Tunes #5

Motley Tunes is a weekly segment featuring an assortment of 2-4 songs I find worth sharing. 

1. The Dark Of The Matinee by Franz Ferdinand

Stumbled upon Franz Ferdinand last week. They're solid. This song's my favourite thus far. Solid intro riff, catchy hook, sexy lyrics (like really sexy) and most laudable of all - they actually use the word 'Matinée' in a song (and repeat it four times in the chorus) and execute all of it with aplomb.

"You take your white finger,
slide your nail under 
the top and bottom buttons of
my blazer,
Relax the fraying wool, slacken ties,
And I'm not to look at you in the shoe, 
but the eyes, find the eyes" (how sexy is that huh?)

2. I Will Dare by The Replacements

This one's from the 80s, a charming love-song but more importantly one of the early famous jangle-pop songs that formed the cornerstone of the 80s-90s alt rock movement. 

"Meet me anyplace or anywhere or anytime
Now I don't care, meet me tonight 
If you will dare, I will dare"

Motley Tunes #4

Motley Tunes is a weekly segment featuring an assortment of 2-4 songs I find worth sharing. 


1. Travelling by Paper Lions

This song has an extraordinarily pleasant vibe that just feels so good!

2. Happy Before by The John Steel Singers

The John Steel Singers mess around with their pop beautifully in 'Happy Before.'

3. How You Like Me Now? by The Heavy

Great fusion of raspy soul and spiky garage rock.

Motley Tunes #3

Motley Tunes is a weekly segment featuring an assortment of 2-4 songs I find worth sharing. 

The lineup for this week graces 3 songs with uber-cool bass work.  

1. Under Pressure by Queen (and David Bowie)

Two notes - that's all it took Deacon & Queen to compose this iconic riff that has cool written all over it. Vanilla Ice shamelessly sampled the bassline for his 'Ice Ice Baby' crap.

Freddie Mercury once said 'F*** You' to a packed Wembley stadium while performing this song (2:04), only to send the damned audience cheering, clapping and howling wildly ;)

2. Always Like This by Bombay Bicycle Club

Mellow, snuggly and emotionally raw, even more so cuz of its bassline. My favourite BBC track so far.

PS. They're having a gig in Singapore next Tuesday, and guess who can't make it because he's got no $$$ :(

3. For Whom The Bell Tolls by Metallica

On the other end of the spectrum, this thrash gem by Metallica features some crazy bass work. Particularly enamoured by this live performance of the song, where Rob Trujillo prances around like an animal while working his sick bass.

There you go, songs of differing intensities, all featured here because of their superb basslines.

Motley Tunes #2

Motley Tunes is a weekly segment featuring an assortment of 2-4 songs I find worth sharing. 

1. The City by The 1975

(lyrics) This electro-dance group puts the synth-driven beats of the 80s in a more modern context. Ambitious (and hailing from Manchester) - they have big shoes to fill in. Expecting more from them soon! And oh, they're playing in Singapore next week (I'm giving them a skip, though).

2. Tap Out by The Strokes

(lyrics) On their 5th album Comedown Machine, The Strokes venture into softer, synth-driven territory without forgetting their garage-rock roots. Tap Out features a lovely beat, two gorgeous, contrasting melodies and their trademark chugging guitars (+ a solo, yay!).

"Decide my past, define my life, don't ask questions cuz I don't know why"

Two excellent synth-driven dance tracks for this week, ya!

Motley Tunes #1

Motley Tunes is a weekly segment featuring an assortment of 2-4 songs I find worth sharing.

1. Fluorescent Adolescent by Arctic Monkeys

Amusing music video, this.

My favorite Arctic Monkeys song. Has a nostalgic ring to it, which makes one reminisce about the good ol' days. The lyrics are quite wild but very witty - "was it a Mecca dauber or a betting pencil" (did he have a long 'pencil' or a short one? :O) - always makes me chuckle. The fact that Alex Turner sings in his trademark Sheffield accent adds to the song's sexiness. AM reminds us that adolescence is a very colorful time that must be cherished. 

2. Heavy Metal Drummer by Wilco

Oh those drums, oh that cheerful yet wistful mood! Have we not ever fallen head over heels for a charming band member? A pretty bassist, or that handsome singer?  I love being naive when it comes to crushes, don't we all do? On growing up, I hope I look back on the line "I miss the innocence I've known" (song lyrics here) and cherish this naivety.

So yeah, there you go, two great songs, both having different takes on yearning about a life once lived (oh how I brood over my early teens!). May they make your day!