This week I got to sink my teeth into Radio Silence’s new vampire flick and give my thoughts on a one-woman thriller starring the monster mommy from Evil Dead Rises and George Mackay’s chilling portrait of an incel psychopath. I finally got to check out my 4K of a James Cameron aquatic masterpiece, Robert Downey Jr., Park Chan Wook and Don McKellar have cooked up something I’m in total love with and so much more!
I really thought I had a good, slightly mellow but completely accessible playlist going on for for number seven. I even opted for the most mainstream sounding song by an old nu-metal favorite of mine and had some classic “sounding” rock, as the oldest record appearing on this list was from 1995, a song I taped of FM radio then played it to death. Then, I come through with the facemelting metal of Dez Fafara and an epic metalcore group from down under before finishing off with one of the best album openers of 2022. I would also say that this playlist brings home the important
Track #1: Phantogram – Black Out Days – Voices (2014)
To be completely honest, I don’t think I’ve come across a bad Phantogram song yet and that includes their side project with Outkast’s Big Boi called Big Grams. This duo from Greenwich, New York always has precise beats, incredible vocals and a drive that always makes you want to groove to it. This was the first track I ever heard by them, the second track off of their second album, and my electro-pop obsession became fully realized with them. I also heard it on the series How To Get Away With Murder very quickly afterwards.
“Dig a hole
Fireworks exploding in my hands
If I could paint the sky
Well all the stars we shine are burning red”
Track #2: Puscifer – The Mission “M Is For Milla Mix” – “C” Is For (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference Here) E.P. (2009)
Before Tool or A Perfect Circle even make their first appearance on one of my playlists here, in comes one of Maynard James Keenan’s weird side projects but one that is very much him. I will say that I got into Puscifer very late but it was this badass track that got me into them and the Milla in this mix did for sure. For those who don’t know, Resident Evil and The Fifth Element actress Milla Jovovich guests on this song and adds even more attitude to an already gritty and biting song.
“Bought a hot shot gat from a north end Guinea
(What do you know?)
Ante up with your ass ’cause you ain’t got a penny
(What do you know?)
Droppin’ bombs from above cut ya all down to size
(What do you know?)
‘Cause they’re hip to the bull and they’re hip to the lies
And they’re hip to the lies”
Track #3: Thrice – Of Dust And Nations – Vheissu (2005)
As an album, this fourth one from Irvine, California rock band Thrice, Vheissu, is an important one in my life and a record that I constantly and consistently go back to. A disc with an incredible flow to it, this track, in particular, brings an atmosphere to it that is truly special and resonant with haunting guitar licks from Teppei Teranishi, one of my favorite songwriters ever. I recommend putting on headphones, closing your eyes and drifting away to Dustin Kensrue’s lyrics. This is definitely not the last Thrice appearance.
“Step out from time
See the dust of nations
Step out from time
Hear the stars’ ovation”
Track #4: PVRIS – White Noise – White Noise (2016)
Another Spotify recommendation that just caught on to a fever pitch, I was first brought to the electro pop sounds of the Lowell, Massachusetts trio with their third album, Use Me, and the first single off of it, Death Of Me, a song that will definitely end up on a playlist in the future. This track came from a dig into their other albums, this song coming off of their debut record, and it hits on my love for groups like Metric, Dear Rouge and Yonaka with a cornered sound within electro pop.
“I’m watching
I’m waiting
I’m aching
Suffocating
I’m breathing
I’m speaking
Can you hear me?
I’m screaming for you”
Track #5: J. Cole featuring Amber Coffman & Cults – She Knows – Born Sinner (2013)
I’m definitely very new to the music of J. Cole and the Fayetteville, North Carolina rapper seems to be very much in the news right now with this beef and diss track war between Drake and Kendrick Lamar so maybe it’s the best time to add him to a playlist. I love artists who go outside of the genre to create like Kid Cudi does or Mac Miller did, rest in peace. This is an awesome reflection of that and an absolute earworm that got recommended to me on a random playlist.
“She knows
She knows, ayy
Bad things happen to the people you love
And you find yourself praying up to heaven above
But honestly, I’ve never had much sympathy
‘Cause those bad things, I always saw them coming for me
I’m gonna run, run away (Oh, I), run run away, run away (Oh, I-I-I)
Run away and never come back (Well, alright)
Run run away, run run away (Oh, I), run away (Oh, I-I-I)
Show ’em that your color is black (Well, alright)”
Track #6: Korn – Twisted Transistor – See You On The Other Side (2005)
Yes, this is definitely one of the more commercial songs from this Bakersfield, California band that will always have a special place in my heart. I thought maybe I would’ve started with something off of their debut or even the follow-up, Life Is Peachy or even Follow The Leader but there was something about the way this song hit my ear that I know this would be the beginning of many appearances for Jonathan Davis and company. Like a lot of Korn songs, this track plays on themes of loneliness but I love that Jon is more on the point of music being your savior.
“Because the music do
And then it’s reaching inside you
Forever preaching, “Fuck you too”
Your scream’s a whisper
Hang on you, twisted transistor”
Track #7: Wolfmother – Dimension – Wolfmother (2005)
Roaring out of Sydney, Australia, Andrew Stockdale and his trio were put on this earth to remind everyone that the classic rock n’ roll that the boomers rail on about having disappeared is alive and well and inspiring so many people. The cheat here is that I say this song came out in 2015 in this blog but I’m taking the track off of the ten-year anniversary edition of their landmark debut record and not one of the easy songs like the radio single Woman or the now hockey anthem The Joker And The Thief. Instead, I opted for a tune that has a good old Stockdale scream at the beginning, for added effect.
“Lightning crash on the hill tonight, yeah
And I got a feeling everythin’ is gonna be alright
Then a horse came a-runnin’ to me
I said, we’re gonna go to the sanctuary
Then a storm began to blow into another dimension”
Track #8: Spacehog – In The Meantime – Resident Alien (1995)
Being a generational MuchMusic kid, when the music video debuted for this track off the debut record of this Leeds, West Yorkshire alt-rock band, I was infatuated. I taped the video and watched it over and over again, singing along and breaking it all down, heck, I wanted to BE lead singer and bass player Royston Langdon. He was damn cool, so cool that he later married one of my dreamgirls Liv Tyler. They later divorced but that’s not the point. The point is he is and was pure cool and this song will always be an all-timer for me just for this simple reason. And that piano outro? C’mon, it’s magic.
“And when I cry for me, I cry for you
With tears of holy joy
For all the days you’ve still to come
And did I ever say I’d never play, or fly toward the sun
Maybe in the meantime, something’s wrong”
Track #9: Klaxons – Golden Skans – Myths Of The Near Future (2007)
My love for this track has to be directly related to my wife Jen showing me them along with a handful of other British groups that had slipped under my radar with all my heavy metal consumption at the time. Pulled from the debut record of the London band, categorized as dance-punk, new rave and pop rock, the harmonized vocals and the rising drive to this song pulled me in deep. To me, it’s crazy that this was the second single but Magick is still pretty great although I don’t think it gives a broad enough feel as Golden Skans does.
“Light touch my hands, in a dream of Golden Skans, from now on
You can forget our future plans
Night touch my hands with the turning Golden Skans
From the night to the light, all plans are golden in your hands”
Track #10: MISSIO – Bottom Of The Deep Blue Sea – Loner (2017)
I get really into dark pop and electro songs and this duo from Austin, Texas piqued my interest with the radio anthem Middle Fingers but hooked me down to the depressing depth beats with this beautiful and haunting track. The crazy thing is that among their three tracks that have charted as singles on United States alt-rock radio, it ranked the lowest. Sometimes I feel like the world doesn’t have any taste because this song has soul, and production and is a focus on founding member Matthew Brue’s winding road to sobriety as he reflects on his teen years as an alcoholic and addict.
“Welcome to my cage, little lover
Attempt to rearrange with ya, baby
Still don’t know your name, Miss Honey
Let’s go up in flames, pretty lady”
Track #11: Moby – Extreme Ways – 18 (2002)
Going old school to a simpler time in 2002 when electro was still pretty popular but the man at the top of the mountain, arguably at the time, was the New York City-born musician Richard Melville Hall, known to us as Moby. 18 is a long and fantastic record but this song pulls from my love for movies and music as this song is also known as the Jason Bourne theme, first playing in the Matt Damon character’s debut in The Bourne Identity that same year and appearing in every one of the films afterwards. Those beginning notes are iconic but the rest of the song gets me as Moby’s music always has a growing atmosphere that resonates with me every time I hear them.
“Extreme ways are back again
Extreme places I didn’t know
I broke everything new again
Everything that I’d owned
I threw it out the window, came along
Extreme ways I know will part
The colors of my sea
Some perfect colored me
Extreme ways that help me
They help me out late at night
Extreme places I had gone
That never seen any light
Dirty basements, dirty noise
Dirty places coming through
Extreme worlds alone
Did you ever like it then?”
Track #12: DevilDriver – Pray For Villains – Pray For Villains (2009)
After over ten tracks of pretty solid but largely calm and acceptable tracks, I’m now going to shift the script and melt some faces, starting with this title track off of a Santa Barbara, California groove and melodic death metal band’s fourth album that means a hell of a lot to this metal head. My love for Dez Fafara’s band Coal Chamber led me to his much heavier new project with their debut record and, after buying each subsequent record that followed I remember my anticipation putting on this CD as soon as I got it and this leading and title track ripping through me like a lightning bolt of energy. This song flies from the build-up at the beginning and is relentless to the end. My kinda jam.
“Every sorrow has its source
And your conscience isn’t free
In the dog days of summer
On another sober September
This was meant for you”
Track #13: Parkway Drive – Dedicated – Ire (2015)
Alright, let’s head back down to Australia for some more shredding metal and guttural screams with this monster of a track from this Byron Bay, New South Wales metalcore group. This track plays as a celebration of the band’s twelve years of existence and has some brutal breakdowns that feel almost iconically related to them. At its core, this song feels like a beautiful brochure to come visit Parkway Drive sonically because they have some metal wonders to show off and they definitely won’t be slowing down any time soon. The track is a ferocious gift that keeps on giving.
“12 years I’ve fought for this
12 years my heart still beats
For the ones who’ve stood beside me
Through the values that define me
No compromise, no surrender
These beliefs, they make me whole
Never the breaker, promise keeper
Remains the ethic instilled in me”
Track #14: Bad Omens – CONCRETE JUNGLE – THE DEATH OF PIECE OF MIND (2022)
After my discovery of Bring Me The Horizon, this was my next post-hardcore immersion and the leading single off of their second album, Finding God Before God Finds Me. Cue the arrival of their next album and one of my favorite records of 2022, THE DEATH OF PIECE OF MIND, a record filled with banger after banger and maybe the crowning achievement of this Richmond, Virginia four-piece. CONCRETE JUNGLE is the first song on the album and sets a brilliant tone for it, especially with the first growl from singer Noah Sebastian with the line on the breakdown “And I’m the fucking king”. Just awesome and an immediate energy bringer.
“The coyotes cry
And the sirеns pass and harmonize
Fires starting every day and night
Burn around us while we’re trapped inside
Wouldn’t it be nice
To play the game without a crooked die?
In a world where you don’t have to hide?
You don’t have to live in a disguise”
This week is a big episode for me as an Alex Garland fan as I talk about one of my hugely anticipated films of 2024 and A24’s biggest theatrical hit ever. I also dig into an Aussie horror thriller currently streaming on Shudder, a Criterion Collection addition from an acclaimed Hungarian auteur and a film which was banned in the area where it was filmed when it was first released. Chloe has a couple of pieces of the increasing goldmine being produced with television adaptations of video games and much more.
This week there are two absolute masterpieces of genre in theaters, Late Night With The Devil and Monkey Man, and I also checked out possibly the crown jewel of Robert Altman’s illustrious career in Criterion 4K for the first time. Andrew Scott takes on the role of Tom Ripley in a new Netflix adaptation, shot in black and white, a chilling and traumatizing Steven Soderbergh thriller in 4K and Chloe so much more on this latest episode.
Six playlists in now and, yeah, I can definitely see how they are jarring from time to time tone wise but that is the multi headed hydra of creating a listing of songs out of the music that catches your ear day by day. I will say as a result for this week, it leads to a hard shift from Florence Welch to the hard bark of Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe but that’s part of the fun right? Look, I start it all off with an actual Nobel Prize winner so that is a good start, right?
Track #1: Kendrick Lamar – King Kunta – To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)
This man’s lyrical ability is so incredible that it land him a Nobel Prize for his follow-up to this record, DAMN, but it was that album that led me to check out this one and King Kunta stood out to me right away. With a killer beat and groove, this song is clearly about the main character of the novel and television adaptation Roots and the main character of Kunte Kinte. Kendrick compares both of their paths as well as the attempts to hobble them both, like the cutting off of Kunte’s foot. Just a fascinating song at its core but damn is it catchy!
“The yam is the power that be
You can smell it when I’m walkin’ down the street
(Oh yes, we can, oh yes, we can)
I can dig rappin’, but a rapper with a ghostwriter?
What the fuck happened? (Oh no!)
I swore I wouldn’t tell, but most of y’all sharing bars
Like you got the bottom bunk in a two-man cell (A two-man cell)
Something’s in the water (Something’s in the water)
And if I gotta brown-nose for some gold
Then I’d rather be a bum than a motherfuckin’ baller (Oh yeah!)”
Track #2: Boston Manor – Foxglove – Datura (2022)
Boston Manor was a gift given to me by the Gods of Spotify as a recommendation, which is a great argument for always making sure that you click like on all the songs you dig on the app. This Blackpool, Lancashire, England rock band hooked me with their album Glue and this new track was the leading song off their latest record, which is the first of a two-album concept. Sometimes I just need a good and edgy song to rock out to and this filled the need big time.
“These fucking problems keep following me
Maybe I’m the problem, maybe it’s me
Find me at the bottom because that’s where I’ll be
No one’s invincible, I’m stuck in the middle”
Track #3: Fear Factory – No One – Digimortal (2001)
With a barrage of mindblowing double kick drums, fast palm mutes and an operatically trained lead singer, Fear Factory was one of my favorite bands of all time. An almost daily listen for me, Burton C. Bell, Dino Cazeres, Christian Olde Wolbers and Raymond Herrera created three albums in a row of instant classics for me and this track leads with that double kick assault that gets my blood pumping and adrenaline flowing. They are also must-see in concert, one of the best I’ve been to, but this iteration of the band especially.
“Sadness in my heart like a storm that ripped apart
All the fragments of what was happiness
It takes over, and numbs me
Shows the fear inside me
Takes over and numbs me
Shows the fear inside me”
Track #4: Billie Eilish – Billie Bossa Nova – Happier Than Ever (2021)
Along with Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Father John Misty, Post Malone and a few others, Billie and her brother Phinneas are up in the top echelon of the greatest current songwriters. It’s an undeniable fact, no matter what any ignorant hater has to say. Billie is also one of the greatest singers on the planet and has released two full albums to prove that and has the incredible ability to chameleon herself into many different genres, just as this track showcases. Using the Brazillian style, Billie outlines the story of having romantic hotel trysts under the guise of fake aliases which is such a fitting topic for her that only expands as her fame does. We all have to remember how young she is and that this world largely only seeks to take her down, sadly.
“I’m not sentimental
But there’s somethin’ ’bout the way you look tonight, mm
Makes me wanna take a picture
Make a movie with you that we’d have to hide”
Track #5: Creed – What’s This Life For? – My Own Prison (1997)
On Zombie Jesus Day (Good Friday), we listen to Creed and croon along with Scott Stapp on a single that was part of a landmark debut album in my opinion. Yes, I well know the decline that the band would go through as ego and fame landed on Stapp’s shoulders but this song has such a great drive to it and that bridge is still incredible and like the sun breaking through a raincloud. Yeah, I got metaphorical with Creed here.
“But they aren’t here anymore
Don’t have to settle no goddamn score
Because we all live under the reign
Of just as you know of one king, one king, one king”
Track #6: Supergrass – Mary – Supergrass (1999)
My love for this song definitely can be attributed to my maturity as a music lover as I didn’t appreciate Supergrass in my late teens but forty-year-old Steve is all about them. A really simple song at its core, Mary is an easy bop to rock out to and that tried and true sing-along chorus style cements it as a sneaky little go-to party song. Chill vibes in rock and roll must always be sought after I think.
“I get the feeling you’re not ordinary
I got a head like falling masonary
I’ll cut your strings, ah yes, a puppet machine
I watch you drop and fall apart at the seams
I meant to get you, let there be no doubt
You wanna try and get your teeth knocked out
I’m gonna push you further into my dream
The back of every head holds something obscene”
Track #7: BLOXX – Curtains – Curtains (2017)
An indie pop rock four-piece out of Uxbridge, Middlesex, England, I fell hard for these guys immediately with their record Lie Out Loud, an album that doesn’t have a single weak song on it. During my newfound obsession with lead singer and guitarist Ophelia Booth and company, I started digging into their back catalogue of singles and found this gold little morsel, another notch on the early career of a band destined for superstardom.
“I’m in love with her pale face
And I’m chewin’ on metallic taste
But I don’t like the way she talks to me
‘Cause I’m in love with her pale face
And I’m chewin’ on metallic taste
But I don’t like the way she talks to me”
Track #8: In This Moment – The In-Between – Mother (2020)
Maria Brink is an absolute metal goddess and I’m really disappointed in myself that I didn’t get into them before the pandemic days but the releases of the Mother record, a very fitting title, solidified that I needed this L.A. metal band’s music in my life regularly. This song is a brilliant showcase of their sound and certainly Brink’s commanding power.
“My mother said that I was holy
My father said that I would burn
My mother said I was an angel
My father said that I would turn
So I believed these words and I turned on myself
‘Cause maybe he’s right, maybe I’m worthless
Or maybe he’s wrong and my mother was right
I got a killer in me to give me purpose”
Track #9: Nirvana – The Man Who Sold The World – MTV Unplugged In New York (1994)
I fuly regard that this isn’t the original version of this song and this isn’t taking anything away from that incredible David Bowie creation but Kurt and company added something incredible to this and that is their grit. One of the leading songs off of one of the greatest live albums of all time, this song always stirs me up inside just with the beauty in how it’s delivered. It’s fascinating that the song’s main character is a man who felt like he had sold his soul and personality, which is exactly what Kurt was feeling at the time. Crazy and so sad.
“We passed upon the stairs
We spoke of was and when
Although I wasn’t there
He said I was his friend
Which came as a surprise
I spoke into his eyes
I thought you died alone
A long, long time ago”
Track #10: Arlo Parks – Eugene – Collapsed In Sunbeams (2021)
Another Spotify recommendation, this was the first song that put this Hammersmith, West London singer on my radar and I’ve loved everything I’ve listened to. The song feels very personal to Arlo, as do most of her songs, and was born from a late night bus trip poetry writing according to the stuff I read when digging into her work. I love finding new artists and it seems the England is always my biggest go to.
“Hey, I know I’ve been a little bit off and that’s my mistake
I kind of fell half in love and you’re to blame
I guess I just forgot that we’ve been mates since day
Yeah, I don’t know what to say
Hey, I know I’ve been a little bit off and that’s my mistake
I kind of fell half in love and you’re to blame
I guess I just forgot that we’ve been mates since day
Yeah, I don’t know what to say”
Track #11: Florence + The Machine – What Kind Of Man – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (2015)
One of the most powerful voices in music ever, Florence Welch is a force of nature and an awe inspiring talent. I am so enamored with her that I still hold it against Sam Smith that she never got her chance to shine as a Bond theme song artist. This song, the lead single of four off of her third album, starts with that incredible lead in that hooks youtube the ear and doesn’t let up. Love Florence and the sound of the machine for sure.
“Hey, I know I’ve been a little bit off and that’s my mistake
I kind of fell half in love and you’re to blame
I guess I just forgot that we’ve been mates since day
Yeah, I don’t know what to say
Hey, I know I’ve been a little bit off and that’s my mistake
I kind of fell half in love and you’re to blame
I guess I just forgot that we’ve been mates since day
Yeah, I don’t know what to say”
Track #12: Lamb Of God – New Colossal Hate – Lamb Of God (2020)
This cray assault of metal from Richmond, Virginia will always hold a special place in my heart as they are the band I’ve seen the most live and it is always an incredible experience. I would’ve thought that my first of their songs would have been off an album like Ashes Of The Wake or The Sacrement but there’s something ferocious about this track that spoke to me when it came on and I couldn’t deny it. According to guitarist Willie Adler, the song was the first from their Maine writing session and was Frankensteined together from other demos. It is such a ripper of a song, maybe my favorite on the record.
“The mother of exiles stands there weeping
As her children tear themselves apart
Knives are out, her thoughts are bleeding
Blood runs down her welcoming arms
Her feral brood has turned neglectful
The chains she broke are rusting closed
Imprisoned lightning burns forgetful
Spoiled blind to the light that she holds”
Track #13: The All-American Rejects – Move Along – Move Along (2005)
Every now and then I let my pop punk flag fly high and there is no other outcast anthem from the mid-2000s than this inspirational sing-along piece from Tyson Ritter and his Stillwater, Oklahoma band. I can not lie, the big catalyst for me adoring this song was it’s use in the Amanda Bynes comedy She’s The Man, a movie I used to put on time and time again when I was a video clerk but it is probably the only song of the All-American Rejects that still makes its way into my playlists. Will I go back and pull any more off of this very popular album? If I’m feeling emo enough on that day? Sure will.
“When all you gotta keep is strong
Move along, move along like I know ya do
And even when your hope is gone
Move along, move along just to make it through
Move along”
Track #14: Poppy featuring Diplo – Time Is Up – Am I A Girl? (2018)
Poppy is definitely an artist who taps into my weird side of music but she is also a genre bending songmaker as, this song is an electro si-fi pop bop but my discovery of her music was I Disagree, a true post hardcore metal song. A former YouTuber out of Boston, Massachusets, I saw Poppy perform on a NXT pay per view and I was totally intrigued into checking out the album leading me to this track, a song from an AI point of view that has decided that the human race is too destructive to let continue to exist. I thought the approach was so wild and Diplo is a great producer of that style.
“In the factory, in the sterile place where they made me
I woke up alone
Dizzy from the programming, have I been wiped again?
Oh my God, I don’t even know
It’s a mystery, everyone around me’s so busy
Is this my home?
Am I your prisoner or your deliverer?
Oh my God, you don’t even know”
It’s time to head back to the Monsterverse in this week’s episode as Steve digs into Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, then switches gears totally for the new based on a true story comedy with the brilliant pairing of Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley. One of Steve’s top films from last year’s Vancouver International Film Festival finally gets a limited release, the Alex Jones documentary is here to make you hate him more (it’s possible) and much more!
We’re back in video form this week in a return to normalcy. We then turn to the paranormal with the new sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, I have some good thoughts about the new Road House remake which might make up for my double dip of very French films. Re-issues on Blu-ray lead to my first watches of Harrison Ford’s one and only Oscar nomination and Jeff Bridges as a great fictional president. All this and lots more on this new episode!
Number five is in this week and I took it easy a little on the metal and only blasted your ears with some Machine Head and one of my favorite Canadian bands of all time. My all-time top singer makes her first appearance on the list, some really focused rock n’ roll tracks and even a couple of definite top 40 pop hits to close it all out. Be warned, this is the first of guaranteed to be many Chevelle songs forced on you.
Track #1: Led Zeppelin – D’yer Mak’er – Houses Of The Holy (1972)
It was only a matter of time before one of the greatest bands of all time made an appearance on a playlist I put together but choosing their most reggae-sounding song is a definite choice. Heck, I didn’t even try to focus on their love of Tolkein at all! I love singing along to this song so much and Jimmy Page’s guitar riff is so groovable. I have to also mention that I’m a total nerd for John Bonham’s drum sound, not just on this song but on this whole album. Some really trendsetting stuff obviously.
“When I read the letter you sent me, it made me mad, mad, mad
When I read the news that it broke, it made me sad, sad, sad
But I still love you so and I can’t let you go
I love you, ooh, uh—baby, I love you, ah”
Track #2: Protest The Hero – Sequoia Throne – Fortress (2008)
I’m super excited about this pick as it is one of my favorite bands of all time featuring one of my top ten singers of all time, Rody Walker, and, the best thing about it, they are Canadian, from Whitby, Ontario. The first single off of the Fortress record, this song is a ferocious attack on organized religion as the destruction of humanity but from an alien point of view. Yeah, this song is as wild thematically as the shredding you are hearing in your ears but the idiosyncratic style of this magnificent five-piece.
“Stuffing corpses
Full of shit and faith
They bloviate about a future beyond the moon
To bring about another planet’s doom
To discover peaceful life
And beat our war drum to its tune
Unless my prayers are answered
Our end is coming soon”
Track #3: Queens Of The Stone Age – The Sky Is Falling – Songs For The Deaf (2002)
Queens is one of my favorite bands of all time and I was really weighing on which of their songs would be the first one I would put on a playlist but there’s something about the collection of tracks on this album that is undeniable. This song in particular has the best of everything, Josh Homme’s echoey vocals in that opening and his beautiful falsetto in the chorus, Dave Grohl’s hart hitting drums and a killer bassline from Nick Oliveri to pair with the grinding guitar from the Ginger Elvis himself. Oh, baby, this is an all-timer.
“I wanted something
Nothing blank I don’t know
It’s hard deflecting
Stones are easy to throw
Oh, in a moment, I notice
Hours, days left behind
Of wasted, useless
Selfless, none of a kind”
Track #4: The XX – Islands – xx (2009)
This Wandsworth, London, at the time of this release, quartet was put on my radar by my roommate at the time Matty as I heard the chill vocals and beats of their debut record coming down the hallway from his room. To me, they feel like the yang to the yin from the energetic Matt & Kim and I love to listen to them back to back. The beginning guitar riff to this song from Romy Madley Croft and her and Oliver Sim’s quiet vocals bring you in and don’t get me started on how incredible that last minute of the song is. Just put it on repeat.
“I don’t have to leave anymore
What I have is right here
Spend my nights and days before
Searching the world for what’s right here
Underneath and unexplored
Islands and cities I have looked
Here I saw
Something I couldn’t overlook”
Track #5: Lana Del Rey – Carmen – Born To Die (2011)
The goddess of vocals makes her first appearance on the playlists but make no mistake, Lana is usually a daily listen at some point as she is my favorite singer and songwriter in the world at the moment. Born To Die is a no-skip masterpiece but the flightiness of Carmen always enchants me to no end, which is a weird thing to say about a song that tells the story of a seventeen-year-old girl with substance abuse problems, I know. Lana just makes it come through this song filter because she is undeniably the best songwriter on planet Earth today.
“The boys, the girls, they all like Carmen
She gives them butterflies, bats her cartoon eyes
She laughs like God, her mind’s like a diamond
Audiotune lies, she’s still shinin’
Like lightning, oh-oh
Like lightning”
Track #6: Faith No More – Epic – The Real Thing (1989)
Faith No More is a special band to me because it was the first band that I felt I discovered on my own, a love forged from all of the music appreciation tools that I had developed thanks to my parents and those close to me. Mike Patton immediately became my number one frontman of all time in his introduction as the lead singer for the band, replacing Chuck Mosely from their debut record Introduce Yourself. This song put me on the journey for that cassette tape and will always be a meaningful track in music history in my mind.
“Can you feel it, see it, hear it today?
If you can’t, then it doesn’t matter anyway
You will never understand it, ’cause it happens too fast
And it feels so good, it’s like walking on glass
It’s so cool, it’s so hip, it’s alright
It’s so groovy, it’s outta sight
You can touch it, smell it, taste it, so sweet
But it makes no difference ’cause it knocks you off your feet”
Track #7: Machine Head – From This Day – The Burning Red (1999)
Rob and Machine Head are one of my all-time favorite bands if not simply for the fact that they are one of the heaviest and most entertaining live acts I have ever seen. This album’s tour and performance of this song in particular at the Croatian Cultural Centre makes it probably the song of theirs that resonates the most with. When it comes to a random playlist, I always crank the sound big time. That intro build-up, that riff, that energy, how could you not love this song?
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you gotta
Stand tall and cut away the ties
Drop walls and hold that head up high
The world is fast and youth ain’t gonna wait
So grab a hold before it gets too late
Bare your soul and strip away the cold
For withered life that’s past so gray ya know
‘Cause all the pain that’s filled these eyes you see
Was only made to bleed just recently”
Track #8: Staind – For You – Break The Cycle (2001)
This is one of those songs that bring me back to an era of my life entirely and is part of a fantastic pack of songs that kick off this album. I definitely can’t say that the writer of the music and lyrics and I see eye to eye in everyday life and politics but this song is that angsty type of anthem I used to play so often and it was really great to get immersed in it again. I obviously revisited the record after this track popped up.
“I sit here, locked inside my head
Remembering everything you said
The silence gets us nowhere
Gets us nowhere way too fast”
Track #9: Mad Season – River Of Deceit – Above (1995)
With Alice In Chains being one of my all-time favorite bands, I’m a little surprised in myself that a song from Layne’s side project made its way to the list first but there is something incredible about this song that stops me in my tracks every time. With words given to music already written before he joined the band, Staley lightly touched on his addiction with lyrics inspired by Kahlil Gabran’s The Prophet. The song is so beautiful, reflective and, sadly, prophetic about his demise.
“My pain is self-chosen
At least I believe it to be
I could either drown
Or pull off my skin and swim to shore
Now I can grow a beautiful shell for all to see”
Track #10: Rainbow – The Temple Of The King – Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow (1975)
This is the song of a journeying warrior, or so it feels. Like the minstrels of sword and shield, Deep Purple great Ritchie Blackmore brings you into this world with a killer guitar riff and then the “rising to a soar” vocals of Ronnie James Dio come in and a legend was born. This song is so damn good that so many bands have covered it but the best version still belongs to these incredible musicians. I feel like Jack Black loves this song to death.
“There in the middle of the circle he stands
Searching, seeking
With just one touch of his trembling hand
The answer will be found
Daylight waits while the old man sings
Heaven help me
And then like the rush of a thousand wings
It shines upon the one
And the day had just begun”
Track #11: Nothing But Thieves – Honey Whiskey – Nothing But Thieves (2015)
The only reason I started listening to this Southend-on-Sea, Essex band was through a Spotify suggestion and I was immediately hooked. With a sound that I put in the same big category shoes of a band like Muse, they have fantastic grooves and so amazing vocals from lead singer and guitar player Conor Mason. They are on display in this song big time, a track off of their debut record, and I just love how he sings that chorus.
“This air is getting so thin
Go down, go down, go down
The honey whiskey’s kickin’
Go down, go down”
Track # 12: Chevelle – Well Enough Alone – Vena Sera (2007)
Chevelle is a band I listen to at least once every day and it seemed impossible to pick the first of their tracks that would end up on my playlist then this song burst onto my randomizer and I knew this would be it. With a fiery scream from lead singer Pete Loeffler, this song arrives heavy but has such an anthemic sing-along quality to it that I love it. The first single off of their fourth record, this song was actually a holdout from their previous record This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In) and the bridge is absolute fire.
“And like before, makes no sense
Never coming, always leaving
Right before, hooked on substance
Digging deeper, can’t reveal”
Track #13: Lizzo – About Damn Time – Special (2022)
Joining Lana on this playlist as the only top 40 pop-ish hit on here, I love Lizzo’s work a lot. She is charismatic, an incredible workhorse and burgeoning with so much talent and I also just found out that she is a lifelong fan of Incubus as well. The first single off of her second album, the song is an obvious address that it has been too long since her last new solo music as Cuz I Love You was released in 2019 and her only other track between was the Cardi B collaboration, Rumors.
“It’s bad bitch o’clock, yeah, it’s thick-thirty
I’ve been through a lot, but I’m still flirty (Okay)
Is everybody back up in the buildin’?
It’s been a minute, tell me how you’re healin’
‘Cause I’m about to get into my feelings
How you feelin’? How you feel right now?”
Track #14: The Weeknd featuring Ariana Grande – Save Your Tears – After Hours (2020)
Like Taylor Swift’s Folklore and Chevelle’s Niratias, The Weeknd’s After Hours record was a collection of songs that not only got me through the pandemic but were part of the defining songs of that year, as weird as it was. Honestly, though, this song didn’t take off for me until this second version with Ariana Grande on it. My wife is a big fan of hers and I like a couple of her songs but she is the piece that makes this song come together, so much so that its my preferred version.
“Met you once under a Pisces moon
I kept my distance ’cause I know that you
Don’t like when I’m with nobody else
I couldn’t help it, I put you through hell”
Technical difficulties descend on the show this week but Chloe is a pro and we salvage a one-sided video recording! This week I give my thoughts on the new Blumhouse horror Imaginary, we both have our thoughts on Australia’s official submission for the Academy Awards this year plus some big new television series hits Netflix. All this and more on this special episode!
This week I take in Jack Black as the dragon warrior for the fourth time, Millie Bobby Brown playing action hero and John Cena steals the show again in a very R-rated comedy from one of the guys that brought us Dumb And Dumber. Lots of great television, including Kate Winslet and HBO’s new collaboration as well as a few great Blu-ray arrivals.
Steve Stebbing 