Music to drink tea by
Posts tagged Nada Surf
Back When They Were Good: Nada Surf
13 years ago
now
Throwaway pop. Nothing more, nothing less.
then
There was a time when Nada Surf ranked amongst my favourite bands. You have to go back a fair way, but there was a point around the time of their third album (Let Go) that they seemed like they would become huge. Huge for doing something right too. The album was really just an ‘all things to all people’, but somehow it all held together to make a superb album. Even better than their fantastic debut High/Low, which is saying something.
Thing is, it never really happened for Nada Surf like it should have done. So they went away and came back with another album. Pleasant enough but ultimately throwaway. Then they did they same. I fear this is all we’ll get from them now. I suppose it must work for them to a degree, but it still makes one wonder ‘what if’?
There’s also an unintentional overlap with yesterday’s song here too, meaning you get another bout of joy all about wishing you had that perfect relationship. I wonder if my iPod (and the overly complicated method I have for picking songs on here) is trying to tell me something.
Top 44 Songs of 2007: #44-36
14 years ago
in Best of 2007, MP3s
Fuck. Not a good start.
As last year, there are no clear cut rules to this list. Some of the songs aren’t from 2007. Some may be older, but only reached my ears properly last year. So it’s really just a list of songs I’ve enjoyed over the past year. What will be number one? Last year it was the mighty You! Me! Dancing! by Los Campesinos!, so it has to be something pretty special to match up to that. Any bets? No? Great! On with the list:
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44
The Cribs – Don’t You Wanna Be Relevant?
May as well start with the most populist song on here. I can’t explain my liking of The Cribs, but I’ve actually liked the handful of songs that I’ve heard. They don’t seem to have the indie cool factor, and most of the elitists seem to enjoy pissing all over them. Who cares about that though? Don’t You Wanna Be Relevant? is certainly enjoyable enough, and if this is what passes as “mainstream indie” these days, I can live with that.
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43
Amida – Class of 2000
Amida are a band from Manchester who I first heard about via the awesome Skatterbrain. I’d never heard of them previously, so there’s something rather strange in the way that music travels. Amida don’t sound particularly British though, and on first listen I was pretty certain that they were American. None of which really matters though given how good this song is. A blistering attack on the mundanity of settling in the “dumb, happy and fat” life that seems to suit the majority.
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42
The Welcome Committee – The Way You Looked At Me
The Welcome Committee is actually a two man vaguely folk project than a committee, but we can forgive that. The song itself is entirely non-sensical, somehow coming together as some epic globetrotting adventure with some very random interludes (“the liger led to certain death by stinging Charlie Sheen”). It’s all backed by a gently strummed guitar (sometimes at odds with the words), but it’s so catchy that none of this actually matters. And who can really argue with a song that features humming and actually gets away with it?
Download MP3 (expired)
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41
Saturday Looks Good To Me – Make A Plan
I’ve never really been able to get into Saturday Looks Good To Me. I liked The Girl’s Distracted and When The Party Ends from earlier album Every Night, but I never cared for the rest. With Make A Plan though, the band has finally settled into a sound that I like. Slightly electronic undertones are added into the mix, which seem to make all the difference. Tempo changes occur with alarmingly regularity, yet Fred Thomas’ melancoly vocal remains consistent, resulting in a sound that hovers somewhere around depressing beauty.
Download MP3 (expired)
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40
Jakobinarina – This Is An Advertisement
We would even change our name to the Coca Cola band just to get our pockets filled
Jakobinarina is an Icelandic band that wants to rock pretty hard, and they do so, with most of the their songs being over and done with in two minutes. They are also very playful, which is what wins me over most. This Is An Advertisement cynically tackles the marketing culture in music, which is even more impressive when you take into account they look like they aren’t even old enough to have paper rounds.
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39
Royal Treatment Plant – Undercurrent
Continuing their growth that started in 2006, RTP’s sound has only improved over the last twelve months. Each new song has sounded more assured than the last, the pinnacle of which is Undercurrent. A stunning assault on the eardrums that starts politely enough before building in both volume and aggression. With a bit of luck these guys will be able to break out and find the wider audience they deserve over the coming year.
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38
586 – Rags & Tags
Imagine if you can The Decemberists as a skiffle band. It’s an interesting thought, isn’t it? Well, that description is just halfway to covering what 586 sound like. Unusual instrumentation, theatrical vocal deliveries, frequent time changes, and lyrical shades of Fairytale of New York all form the three minutes of joy that is Rags & Tags.
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37
Nada Surf – See These Bones
Better than nearly everything off of the last album, even if it’s still kind of flat, and something that grows on you considerably. These mid-tempo, mildly rocking numbers seem to be their most common type of late, but they aren’t usually the most daring. It’s usually the more reflective songs that work best for me, or the ones that really want to rock. And Popular of course, but I can’t see them doing that again. That said, See These Bones sounds lovely, creating a richer sound than the band can usually achieve, and it’s certainly stronger than some of their past efforts lyrically.
Download MP3 (expired)
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36
Adele – Hometown Glory
If I can get away with placing Kate Nash at number four last year, you can let me have this one, yeah?
Download MP3 (expired)
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The next lot tomorrow. Hopefully.
New Nada Surf: ‘See These Bones’
44 years ago
in MP3s
The Nada Surf rollercoaster is gearing up for it’s third ascent. After reaching a high on their first album, plummeting to earth for their second, up again for the third and dropping for the crushing mediocrity of the last one, they are back for another go. The band is preparing to release their fifth studio album, Lucky, early in the new year. Thanks to the wonders of the internets, a song is already available from it.
Unfortunately I don’t really know what to make of it. Certainly it’s better than nearly everything off of the last album, but it’s still kind of flat. These mid-tempo, mildly rocking numbers seem to be their most common type of late, but they aren’t usually the strongest or most daring. It’s usually the more reflective songs that work best for me, or the ones that really want to rock. And Popular of course, but I can’t see them doing that again. That said, it sounds lovely, creating a richer sound than the band can usually achieve, and it’s certainly stronger than some of their past efforts lyrically.
So what does all this mean for the next album? I have absolutely no idea, but at least it’s made me curious.
MP3 Nada Surf – See These Bones (expired)
What others are saying..
“..an attractive song that will fit well on radio, without sacrificing the band’s musical integrity.” – Puddlegum
“..songs like this go a long way in showing that you don’t always have to do something original, just make sure that you’re really good at whatever it is that you’re doing.” – Side One: Track One
“..a strong track with sweeping melody, really picking up towards its killer ending..” – My Little Ghost Friend
Lucky will be released next year via Barsuk Records.
Some of the classics..
It’s been a month since we last did covers?
2Here I was thinking I’d be falling back on them every week.
It’s been a slow week here at Another Form of Relief, mostly because I’ve spent much of it working in London, which combined with the commute, severely limits my time and energy levels. Everything is back to normal now though a regular blogging schedule should once again resume.
MP3 Ted Leo – Since U Been Gone (expired) (Kelly Clarkson)
There seems to be a lot of appreciation for the regular kind of pop music lately, and Kelly Clarkson seems to be at the forefront of this. Call me a jaded indie kid but I don’t get it all. It’s just generic pop music. Pretty shitty generic pop music at that. A strong singing voice in itself doesn’t equate to good music. This will just have to be one of those things that remains a mystery to me though. I don’t know whether Ted Leo was trying to be ironic or not in covering this one, but somehow it comes off rather well. Granted his high notes seem a little too high at times, but the rest of it all works well, from the powerful acoustic guitar through to the song suddenly diverting into a cover of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ‘Maps’ halfway through. That you can move from Kelly Clarkson into The Yeah Yeah Yeahs so easily is more than just a little disturbing.
MP3 The Bens – I Touch Myself (live) (expired) (The Divinyls)
For those unfamiliar, The Bens is a supergroup consisting of Ben Folds, Ben Kweller and Ben Lee. They released one EP back in 2004 and toured together a little, but that was it. This is something of a shame as they were actually really good. This cover is taken from a show in Sydney that was recorded for radio. For the most part it’s Folds and Lee playing off of each other, although Kweller does make it into the song at the end. This is the weekly cover where I’m not familiar with the original, so I can’t really tell you how it compares, but it somehow manages to be the perfect kind of song for these guys. A tad juvenile? Of course. A hell of a lot of fun? Most certainly.
MP3 Nada Surf – There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (expired) (The Smiths)
Much as I can respect the influence that The Smiths have had over music as a whole, I’ve never really liked them very much. There’s nothing wrong with their music at all and the songs are good, but I’ve never found myself actually wanting to listen to The Smith, or Morrissey for that matter. That said, there are a handful of Smiths songs that I enjoy, and ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ is one of them. It also seems to be the most covered Smiths song, although most of them sound pretty awful. There’s a version by The Lucksmiths that I like though, even if it’s almost a note perfect copy of the original, and there’s this one by Nada Surf. I really like Nada Surf, even if their music sometimes wanders into the middle of the road. I’m not sure where this recording comes from, although from the quality I’d hazard a guess it’s from a live radio performance or something. Obviously if anyone can clarify where it does come from, the comment box is waiting below. As for the song itself, Matthew Caws doesn’t have the vocal power of Morrissey, but it doesn’t really matter with a song like this. Caws delivers the song as if he is incredibly weary and just wants to rest. He’s backed up by a nicely restrained guitar and some strings that soar, but never overwealm the other elements of the song. It’s not perfect, and the start seems a little bland, but once it gets going, it’s far better than it really has any right to be.
