Picture jacked from Ugly Smile

This summer, since I have the time, I will document certain songs that have influenced me in one way or the other. Originally this was meant to be the 100 best songs on my itunes. 100 songs that is a lot of post so I threw together the songs of summer thing since it sounded better and that way I could give it up when I went back to school. Each one will be about 200 words long and cover a wide spectrum of genres.

Blondie – Hanging on the Telephone.
When I fell head deep into music about four years ago I always used to listen to this one internet radio station that played 70’s punk. This song and X offender were the two Blondie contributions to a radio station that played the same 50 songs. I will always have a crush on Debbie Harry even if she committed one of the cardinal sins of rapping on a record. Hey if I was living in that time and successfully managed to mix rock, punk, pop and disco why not throw in some rapping. On this song the band demonstrates their strengths. Some stythns, tight drumming and some good guitar solos all mesh well within the short time. The song reminds me of classic killers, specifically Bones. Of course Rapture might be their best song but this strong effort demonstrates that this band could play any party. The lyrics seem to suggest that Debbie is playing a needy girl who wants to urgently show her affections to the other party. The throaty end to the song shows some regain of composure whereas the beginning seems to be more desperate.


Klaxons – Golden Skans (Erol Alkans Ekstra Spektral Dub)
This is a beauty of a song. As someone that has probably listened to every klaxon and justice remix ever made (apart from the horrible homemade dj ones). I don’t feel the need to go to Ibiza mainly because I am pretty anti-sun and the prospect of being that close to dribbling e-heads makes me nauseous. However, as a massive Erol Alkan fan, I would go if I knew that this gem was to be played. Erol takes the klaxons most pop hit and makes it into this multitextured space ride. It could be played as a comedown track or a build up track in a set. Or as I found out today can just be played in the middle of the day on the bus. The creeping piano solos that were hidden in the original come out in this song and are used as bridges to the next build up. Which climatically come around 6.33 where he could have taken it into nu rave craziness he demonstrates that sometimes just keeping it simple can be a joy in itself. There are rarely more than 3 or four parts playing at once with is a contrast to a lot of remixes these days which seem to focus on just throwing out as many swooshes as possible. It is within these outlandish ideas that we realise that his decision to become stop producing albums could be my music sphere’s biggest loss for years to come.