Archives for July 2015

Certain Songs #247: The Connells – “Hats Off”

July 11, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Darker Days
Year: 1986

Maybe because it was they were fellow Southerners, but to my ears, very few bands took up the jangly guitar challenge issued by early R.E.M. better than The Connells. And not just because their name was practically “Connelly” either.

And while that name might have helped me notice them, the rip-roaring anthem “Hats Off” is what sealed the deal.

Certain Songs #246: The Concretes – “Fiction”

July 10, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: In Colour
Year: 2006.

If I enjoyed the Concretes debut album in fits and starts, I loved their second album, 2006’s cheekily-titled In Colour, from beginning to end. While perhaps not a edgy as the debut, I think that In Colour was more consistent overall.

On some songs, they just added little dabs of colour, but on the album’s centerpiece, the 6 minute, horn-laden “Fiction,” they added great gobs of that colour.

Certain Songs #245: The Concretes – “You Can’t Hurry Love”

July 9, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Concretes
Year: 2003

For awhile in the early 2000s, MTV2 revived 120 Minutes, and — just like in the late 80s — I would occasionally record it looking for things that hadn’t previously crossed my radar. That’s how I first came across acts like Broken Social Scene, Secret Machines and where I first saw the amazing animated video for “You Can’t Hurry Love” by the Concretes.

That video is one of my all-time favorites, depicting what I assume are The Concretes interacting with icons from the 1970s & 1970s: Eno, Ono, Elton, Buckingham & Nicks, and probably some others that I’m missing. It’s the perfect video for one of my favorite songs of this millennium.

Certain Songs #244: Coldplay – “The Scientist”

July 8, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: A Rush of Blood to the Head
Year: 2002

First off, I’d like to apologize to my fellow music snobs for not hating Coldplay like I’m supposed to. Instead, I think that Chris Martin has a complete understanding of how ludicrous it is to be a rock star in a post-rock era, and piss-takes like their recent Game of Thrones: The Musical show a sense of humour that I think more mega-selling artists should emulate.

While I haven’t liked any of their music since Viva La Vida, I thought both that record and A Rush of Blood to The Head were pretty good, especially on the radio.

Certain Songs #242: Close Lobsters – “Now Time”

July 6, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Kunstwerk in Spacetime EP
Year: 2014.

Here’s the thing: you don’t get to broken up for two decades, reunite for the inevitable nostalgia-driven shows for the older geezers, and then make new music of any kind of consequence. That’s not how it works: just ask Black Francis.

And sure, Dinosaur Jr has done it, but J. Mascis & Lou Barlow have been working songwriters for that entire time (and let’s face it: Mascis is an all-time great).

But a band that made two albums and an EP and then broke up? No way. Which is why the Close Lobsters 2014 comeback, “Now Time,” was such a pleasant surprise.

Certain Songs #241: Close Lobsters – “Knee Trembler”

July 5, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Headache Rhetoric
Year: 1989.

One of the great thing about the 1980s was that if I got into an artist late into their first album cycle, I’d often get inundated with new music from that artist just as I’d digested their debut. And so it was for me as Close Lobsters tossed two albums and an EP into my life — all of which I loved — in the space of little over a year.

After all, yearly releases weren’t an anomaly in the 1980s, but rather an expectation.

Then they broke up, of course, leading me to obsess over what they’d already done and mourn what they’d never do. Especially since their second record, Headache Rhetoric, was tougher and darker than Foxheads Stalk This Land. And while it wasn’t quite as consistent, Headache Rhetoric sported a couple of songs that I absolutely cherish: “Nature Thing” and one of my absolute favorite songs of the 1980s, “Knee Trembler.”

Certain Songs #240: Close Lobsters – “Let’s Make Some Plans”

July 3, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: What is There To Smile About? EP
Year: 1988.

Coming on the heels of Foxheads Stalk This Land, the late 1988 What Is There To Smile About? EP showed the Close Lobsters toughening up their music. They were still jangling all over the place, but this was one of those EPs that was more of a progress report than a stopgap. Songs like the title track and “Loopholes” sported the kind of world-class guitar riffs & hooks that would make Johnny Marr spin around in his grave.

And if you’ve ever heard any Close Lobsters song, chances are it’s “Let’s Make Some Plans.” Not only was there an actual video made, it was covered by the somewhat less obscure Wedding Present during the height of their somewhat less obscureness.

Certain Songs #239: Close Lobsters – “In Spite of These Times”

July 2, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Foxheads Stalk This Land
Year: 1987.

While Foxheads Stalk This Land came out in 1987, I didn’t buy it until 1988, which is why my memories of listening to it revolve around the apartment at Wishon & McKinley during the dread summer of 1988.

That summer was those times in my life where it felt like everything was crashing around me, and the Wishon & McKinley apartment was the first time in my life I’d ever lived alone, so music felt like it was pretty much all I had.

Thus, my love for “In Spite of These Times.”

Certain Songs #238: Close Lobsters – “A Prophecy”

July 1, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Foxheads Stalk This Land
Year: 1988.

One of my favorite running Twitter jokes is to take a random phrase that someone has just tweeted and use it as a band name. The usual construction is something like “I saw Fake Dead Girlfriend open for the Pixies at the i-Beam in 1991.”

The reason, of course, that this joke works is that there are real-life bands with names like “Close Lobsters.” It’s a name that makes no godsdamned sense, and it might even be just weird enough to be off-putting, which I guess is part of the point.