My original plan for this week was to write about a cassette for the first time, but unfortunately the Summer 2018 mixtape I'd picked out is all chewed up from being played so often on my Walkman in the office (not to mention the previous tracklisting that I've painted over). I had to throw the tape out, so instead I'm listening to the Spring '18 mix CD that I recorded a lot of it from.
1. The 1975 - Give Yourself A Try 💜
I was so thrilled with this song came out. It leaked just before its radio debut, when I was on the bus home from work and I was able to find it and play it on repeat as I travelled back to my house to put the radio on. It reminds me of Busted and the pop punk bands I listened to when I was a pre-teen and it just makes me so happy. Matty covers all of his neuroses and uses the 3 minutes to bring us up to date with how he's been in the 2 years since the last 1975 album came out, over a simple repetitive bassline and screeching guitar.
One of the things I mourn most about an alternative, pandemic-free 2020 is this song as part of The 1975's encore. They used to play it first which was no good because for some reason everyone has their phones out to capture them coming on stage or are too caught up in the excitement of the show starting to enjoy the song and dance, but on the tour they did at the start of 2020 this song was moved to the end of the set which was the perfect place for it. I went to 4 shows on that tour but they weren't enough, I need more moshpits catapulting me to the front of the crowd to this song (although in one city I bumped into a woman who looked like she would have punched me if I'd stuck around by her, no more of that post-pandemic please).
The 1975 promoted this song and the album it comes from by posting out a 'manifesto' to random fans and I was lucky enough to get one. It included a poster with the lyrics to this song which has hung over my turntable ever since. I love everything about Give Yourself A Try - the timbre, the simplicity, its flippant yet sincere lyrics. .. it's knocking on the door of my 'all-time favourites' list.
2. Cigarettes After Sex - Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby 🎀
The bassline, the muted drums, the low-key vocal... this is a perfect dream pop lullaby. Greg Gonzalez' androgynous vocal style is spellbinding. I firmly believe that this is one of the greatest love songs of this century, if not all time. It doesn't make any grand statements about true love; it deals in everyday intimate moments like dancing in the living room to 90s songs and feels more real than a big power ballad. It's the kind of song to listen to in the dark, lying on the floor in between your speakers with the song spinning on vinyl, the bassline reverberating through the carpet. It's the feeling of being safe and loved. I saw Cigarettes After Sex play this song in 2019 and it was a special experience.
3. Dear Boy - Love Interest 🎀
I wrote a previous entry about the Dear Boy EP and how it feels like home to me, but if I had to pick a favourite song of theirs, it would be this one. It's another romantic song that weaves the everyday through the lyrics but this time with a jangly British indie sound. The melodies are luscious and Ben Grey swoons and almost whispers this ode to his beloved. In the middle he yells out the "I'm gonna wait for you!" part of the chorus which is my absolute favourite part of this perfect song. Love Interest is one of those songs that has been on my playlist since it came out and I still get excited when I hear the intro - it's unfathomable to me that they're not much more well-known.
4. The Last Shadow Puppets - The Dream Synopsis 🎀
"Isn't it boring when I talk about my dreams?" Usually, yes, but when Alex Turner turns his dreams into lyrics they're captivating. Again, this is romantic, a late-night lounge song, led by the bassline with a great sax part. The song is witty, not only self-aware but perfectly conveying the absurdity of a dream which only becomes clear when you reflect upon it after waking ("there was palm tree debris everywhere and a Roman colosseum"). It sounds like American crooners, or maybe European, but Alex expertly reminds us of his roots with references to Sheffield city centre and "you, and me, and Miles Kane, and some prick I went to school with". I think there's a pretty convincing argument in favour of Alex Turner being the greatest lyricist of his generation.
5. Yazoo - Only You 🎀
Another great love song (a theme is emerging here), I adore Only You in all its forms but I think the original will always be the best. It's another song that makes me feel all emotional even though it's this fairly primitive staccato synthpop tune. I think it's the contrast between the cold synths and Alison Moyet's soulful singing style that really elevates this song - I've never been able to piece together the narrative from the lyrics but she delivers them perfectly. It must be mad to be Vince Clarke and to have this, Just Can't Get Enough and A Little Respect on your resumé, what an achievement.
6. Depeche Mode - Route 66 💜
Depeche Mode aren't a group that you'd expect to hear a great driving rock song from, but it works so well. I know they can't take credit for writing Route 66 but it's such a cool song and this is an excellent version to dance to. The instrumental break that's lifted from Behind The Wheel (the single which Route 66 is the b-side to) is a bit long but I appreciate the way that they've smuggled it in here. I listened to this song a lot in 2018 so I started to get a bit sick of it but now I've given it a couple of years I can get a lot of joy out of singing the list of destinations along with Martin Gore.
7. Pulp - Babies 💜
In a documentary about Pulp's hit Common People, Jarvis Cocker describes the keyboard part at the root of the song as 'toy-town' which I think is also an appropriate descriptor for the guitar riff that opens Babies. It's low-key and even a little cheap-sounding which matches their 70s charity shop aesthetic. I think this is one of Jarvis' best story-songs which is saying something as he's a fabulous storyteller. No matter how many times you listen to this, and I've listened to it a lot, it's impossible not to get sucked in to the narrative every single time. The climactic "I only went with her because she looked like you, my God!" line gets me every time, it's so funny and delivered with such drama. I also need to point out the synth stabs courtesy of Candida Doyle which really make the song. It misses out on being top-tier only because I listened to it so much around the time I made this mix and I've not quite recovered.
8. Placebo - 20th Century Boy 💜
This is a very straight cover of T. Rex's hit but they have the benefit of a 90s recording studio so everything is that bit heavier, louder and sleazier than Bolan was able to put on vinyl in the 70s. The whole thing sounds like the film Velvet Goldmine (which it soundtracks) looks, dripping in glitter, and Brian Molko's glam snarl fits the song perfectly. It sounds like the best Studio 54 party where everyone is outlandishly dressed and having the best night of their lives.
9. Paramore - Passionfruit 💜
Another cover. Paramore dispense with the annoying false intro of Drake's original and add the supreme talent that is Hayley Williams on vocals delivering the kind of subdued performance that you usually hear on acoustic recordings. At this point in their career Paramore were making New Wave inspired pop, so listening to them turn this RnB/hip-hop chart hit into something that fit their style is magical. Drake may be considered the king of being in touch with his emotions in pop, but Hayley delivers a more emotive performance than anything he's come up with. If you asked me whether I prefer this or the original I'd find it very hard to choose, but Hayley throwing in a couple of lines from Hold On We're Going Home at the end might just win me over.
10. Prep School - Come As You Are 💜
I love this style of dark, soft, slow-build cover with dreampop vocals, and this has rainstorm sounds which make it even more intimate. You have to wait almost 2 minutes for the iconic riff (which Nirvana employ from beginning to end in their original version) and for the song to get heavy. I love the way they play with dynamics to create a really cool take on such a well-known song.
11. The Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way 💜
I love the xylophone sound that runs through this song, it really cuts through the gothiness of Richard Butler's drawl. Love My Way is used so effectively in the movie Call Me By Your Name that it's hard for me to hear the song and not picture Timothée Chalamet watching Armie Hammer dancing to it. However the song is actually pretty dark and spooky, the sort of thing you'd expect to hear on the Lost Boys soundtrack rather than in a disco.
12. Nicole Dollanganger - Tammy Faye 💜
I adore Nicole and this is one of my favourite songs of hers. It has all of her trademarks - sad-girl-in-love, melancholia, obsession-with-death - but her voice isn't as high here as in her earlier EPs. The lone guitar has a country vibe, the ideal sound for "a crazy bitch, crying in the kitchen to Tammy Wynette".
13. Harry Styles - Sign Of The Times 💙
This song is so grand and well put together, it's a great choice of first single to release as a mission statement for what solo Harry Styles will be. Is it apocalyptic or about the death of a specific character in the song? I'm not sure but it's another of those songs that sounds like the end of something. The slide between the solo piano intro part and the full band verses is exquisite, like lifting a curtain to reveal the orchestra. It's not unlike Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby in that it offers safety and reassurance but where Cigarettes After Sex are minimalist, Harry Styles goes huge. It's a bit long which isn't necessarily bad for the song but sometimes it's a little bit much for me.
14. Sky Ferreira - Everything Is Embarrassing 💙
Sky Ferreira's music sounds like it should be the soundtrack to all those neon thriller movies of recent years that have killer synth sounds, it's modern but nods to the 80s. This sounds like it ought to have been a hit single but for some reason Sky Ferreira isn't a household name. There's something unusual about her voice that I can't pinpoint but her choruses stick in my head and I think this is my favourite song of hers. There's an alternate universe where this is a pop radio hit. I'd live there.
15. Prince - Darling Nikki 🎀
Probably my favourite Prince song. Darling Nikki is iconic and important in that it made the Filthy 15, the list of songs that outraged conservatives and led to explicit lyrics stickers being added to CS cases, because he mentions masturbation. Not that it deterred Prince, this isn't even close to being his dirtiest song. I love the way that the guitar sounds like it's stepping into the scene wearing stilettos, and after a few verses things descend into sexy chaos with some excellent yelping from Prince. The ending is really weird - it's a backwards message but with the addition of heavy rain, it sounds like the aftermath of the storm where the song is being washed down the drain.
16. Mazzy Star - Fade Into You 🎀
The all-time number one dream pop classic. Fade Into You sounds like a teen movie homecoming slow dance scene with gauzy fabric and fairy lights overhead. Hope Sandoval's voice is even, almost bored, backed by tambourine and country slide guitar. It feels like it drifts in on a summer night's breeze and drifts back out without being intrusive. It's a flawless record.
17. HAIM - Don't Save Me 💙
Something about HAIM sounds like they've been dropped in from the 70s, like they were made to wear flares and hang out with Stevie Nicks but they were accidentally created in the 2010s instead. Their music is so funky and cool and it's hard for me to describe what I like about them in an aural sense - they're one of those bands who have a whole aura around them, they sound like being out in nature on a cloudless sunny day.
18. College & Electric Youth - A Real Hero 💜
This is on the soundtrack to the movie Drive and it sounds like neon pink signs and city lights at night - the synth stabs are like watching the white lines on the road being illuminated and devoured by headlights. The vocal is soft and, like Only You, delivers warmth to contrast with the electronics. There's something uplifting about the delivery of lines like "155 people or more, all safe and all rescued... you have proved to be... a real hero". It sounds so kind and loving.
19. Dua Lipa - New Rules 💜
Here's a pop hit from the universe I do live in. With New Rules, Dua Lipa went from just another of the girl pop stars on Radio 1, to a proper star and it's not hard to see why with this. There's nothing catchier than a song with a counting bit in it and this is a girl power song that doesn't feel too #girlboss and contrived. One of my favourite recent chart hits.
20. The xx - Say Something Loving 💙
There's something really satisfying about the vocal melody in this song. I don't think either of the two singers in The xx are particularly strong vocalists but as a trio this band sound really great together. There's echoes of Yazoo in the juxtaposition between synth and singing; perhaps The xx are the modern equivalent of that group. There's an urgency to the melody, almost begging, but it still has this serenity about it.
Before I sat down and listened to this, I didn't realise how much I've grown to favour music that's slow, subdued, intimate and romantic. I made this CD almost three years ago so it's interesting that I still love all of this - it's densely populated with songs that I'd shortlist among my all-time favourites.
I've started a Spotify playlist with all my 'pink' favourite songs which I'm adding to with each entry:
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