Franz and the Ferdinands, mostly

[petronia]

Glad the AC fic amused. To bypass accusations of productivity, here is some music.

Franz Ferdinand - I'm Your Villain: my brain has preemptively associated the guitar intro with a certain currently spectacle-less manga villain. As in, when he appears on the page the music starts up in my head. I feel compelled to share that.

I promised to upload some of my sister's Franz Ferdinand demo collection:

Franz Ferdinand - I'm Your Villain (Demo)
Franz Ferdinand - Walk Away (Demo)
Franz Ferdinand - Well That Was Easy (Demo)

"Walk Away" differs the most: entirely acoustic and without the spy-movie guitars. I'm liking this album more with every listen, as the lyrical content starts to sink in.

The Karelia - Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want: Alex Kapranos sings the Smiths (courtesy of mitethe, from some Argentinian tribute EP). I've known several people to say they like Leonard Cohen songs much better when it's not Leonard Cohen singing them. I don't... like Smiths covers better than the originals, precisely, but they often hit me harder. I think the jaunty pop guitars and that vibrato quality to Morrissey's voice actually mask the emotional impact of the songs; you know, the UNBEARABLE SOULCRUSHING WRISTSLITTING HOPELESSNESS OF IT ALL. Low's cover of "Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me" may be the saddest thing I've ever heard. The Karelia cover doesn't get that sad, but it's still pretty sad.

Suga Shikao - AFFAIR: from 4 Flusher. In my top five Suga Shikao songs - the closest any Japanese artist has gotten to Marvin Gaye, by me.

EDIT -- Poetry meme. For consistency's sake they're actually the lyrics to a song.

Pure reason must never win

Pure reason must never win
We badly need new lies
To guide us across the universe
And to give us the feast of the world
To drive us into delirium
And to sing us to the most quiet slumber
To warn us of the boring truth
And to pity our deepest pain
To rock us in bamboo-baskets
Pure reason must never win

Pure reason must never win
We badly need new lies
To show us the preciousness of madness
And then to bow to us
To crown us to kings
Only to taunt us secretly
To hiss in our ears
And to wipe our eyes
To fight them, who want to help us
Pure reason must never win

Pure reason must never win
We badly need new lies
To preserve our beauty
But to split us deep inside
Much more: To deconstruct us
And then to touch us tenderly
To lead us into darkness
To resign to our will
And to bend us like soft fences
Pure reason must never win

We are so light, we could fly...


(Grabbed off the ILM Kompakt thread sometime before I actually got to listen to the CD; don't know who wrote it, don't know who translated it from the German either. ^^;)

Comments

[motorbike.livejournal.com]

The links are not working for me?

Am eager to jump on the Suga Shikao bandwagon, I adore "Room 201" and also his insert pictures are real swell.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Hmm, think it's the server. ^^; Try again later I guess?

[vonbrigthi.livejournal.com]

You know, shamefully, I haven't heard any Franz Ferdinand songs (or any new bands of the past 5 years, wheee!). So, I take. Thanks! :D

[mitethe.livejournal.com]

I love how FF aren't afraid to change the meter halfway through their songs even if, as someone once commented, it makes I'm Your Villain sound like 3 different songs squished into one. The final chorus is my favourite bit. XD

Speaking of affecting covers, PSB have covered live a fan's acoustic version of Was it worth it. The joyous defiance in the original is great but the other version makes me go ;____; every time.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Where it goes into the chord progression from the Phantom of the Opera theme, yea. XD That was one of the things everyone seemed to find cool about "Take Me Out" - the fact that a third of the way through it's just like "Haha, fooled ya!" and turns into a completely different song.

[genkischuldich.livejournal.com]

I'm giving the first FF song a listen, because I don't think I've ever actually heard them, although they get talked about a lot. ^^ Thanks!

[helvetius.livejournal.com]

AIZEN YIS? YIS?

(If so, I think your Aizen has way much cooler background music than mine. XD)

That Suga Shikao track is <3.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

How many currently spectacle-less manga villains are you aware of? XD

[pere-chan.livejournal.com]

Smiths covers seem to work much better than Cure covers; maybe I'm predisposed toward the original Cure sound, but the only Cure cover I've ever heard that I liked was Tori Amos's version of Lovesong. The one I liked least was a cover of Boys Don't Cry by the Chapin Sisters. I rather liked their sound, but they turned the song round to sing from the girl's POV--"I" becomes "you" and vice versa ("You would say you were sorry if you thought that I would change my mind"). The mood switches from remorseful to arrogant; it's a big difference.

The songs are lovely, especially Pure Vernunft. After listening to Franz Ferdinand's big productions, it's funny to hear them just with vocals and an acoustic guitar. ^_^

[amei.livejournal.com]

Nabbed the FF! Mainly because I suck and yay! A version I can actually play. It's weird to hear it in this key... still good though. XD XDXD

(o god random person) The new FF cd -does- improve with listening.

[marej.livejournal.com]

snatched the files the other days and forgot to thank youuuu.

I'm your villain, man, what a great song. So yes, thank you.

[disprove.livejournal.com]

Low's cover of "Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me" may be the saddest thing I've ever heard.

Well that sounds like a ringing endorsement. Would you mind putting it up?