Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love: one of the best music videos ever

/ David James / Leave a comment

This song always makes me feel like I’ve been shot out of a cannon.

It’s a shot of pure adrenaline, that irrational rush of falling in love for the first time. Three whiplash minutes to express the insanity that throws into the atmosphere, leaving responsibility and real life below.

The forces of order try to capture the young lovers. A daring chase through the woods ends at a mysterious party, bursting with lights and color. The jig is up, but our heroine has a plan. Slapping handcuffs on her and her lover’s wrist, they take flight into the dark as the song spirals away.

The camerawork, the costumes, and the urgent sense of drama make this one of the best music videos of the 1980s, and all time as far as I’m concerned.

Kate Bush 1978

I’ve been in love with Kate Bush for a long time. Her music reached its pinnacle with the album Hounds Of Love, a weird mutant of operatic ambition, entrenched firmly within an 80s pop production framework. It’s as daring and progressive as anything she ever recorded, yet reaches the apex of pop perfection several times within its first half. The second half, subtitled The 9th Wave, takes us out into the open ocean before erasing any boundaries between the reflection and the stars.

I’m going to have to follow up with a post about her Running Up That Hill video.

Classic Video Game Music: River City Ransom

/ David James / 1 Comment

I decided that my friends would be a great resource in collecting the ultimate list of classic old school video game music. To start us off with an example that’s been bouncing around my head for probably 25 years now, I present the music of River City Ransom.

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River City Ransom was the first game I fell absolutely in love with. It’s a hybrid beat-em-up RPG that plays like Final Fight but lets you spend calmer moments in shopping districts, enjoying meals or steam baths between battles. You can raise your stats by eating noodles and asking for smiles from the burger shop waitress. It’s got a hyper-cheesy plot about high schoolers Alex and Ryan fighting hundreds of local gang members on the way to face Slick, who has taken over the town and kidnapped Ryan’s girlfriend.

The best part is that this game works far better as a two player affair. I spent days upon days teaming up with my stepbrother, Greg, and completing the game in one go. To be fair, we had to; the only “save” system was a three-line code you could write down with pen and paper to give yourself updated stats when you restarted. It was less of a pain in the ass to just play it all over, mostly because the game is incredibly fun.

The game was the perfect two player, co-op game. While fun on its own, RCR is an utter riot with a partner. Some of my favorite gaming memories involve sitting on the basement floor with Greg first thing on a Saturday morning, not getting up until Slick was defeated and all of the noodles were devoured.

The most memorable aspect of the game itself is the music. I can unspool any of these tunes in my mind just by thinking of the game. What I would love is for you to comment with your favorite 8-bit or 16-bit era game scores. Leave youtube links for any particular songs if you want. I know everyone (of a certain age at least) has a few absolute heartwarming favorites they’ve loved for years. Let’s share! I will be making more posts with more of this music as long as there’s interest.

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It’s been 3 years, mom.

/ David James / 6 Comments

Three years ago today, my mother died suddenly.

There was no warning, and I didn’t get to say goodbye. We didn’t get to say goodbye. My sister and I are still picking up the pieces.

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Here she is, teaching me videogames and the art of biting one’s tongue in concentration.

I wanted Tears Are In Your Eyes, by Yo La Tengo, played at her funeral. She loved this band. I wrote a lengthy ode to my mom, but couldn’t read it myself, crying too hard. Turned out, the pastor was too choked up to read it clearly either. And then this song came on, washing over us like a tidal wave.

This is one of the most deeply felt songs in my life. There’s a titanic gravity attached to this song now, but it was always one to gut me with this one specific line. A line that my mom said thousands of times to her kids, in varying words, throughout our lives. I’m going to share it below.

Although you don’t believe me you are strong,
Darkness always turns into the dawn.

The Best Music of 2014

/ David James / 26 Comments

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This is a list of seriously amazing music. The best albums released in 2014, no shit. You probably haven’t heard of some of these artists. That’s okay. That’s awesome, in fact. Most of it’s off the beaten path, and it’d be a shame if that’s the only reason you never heard it. My biggest pleasure with this blog is hearing from friends who discovered something that’s become absolutely essential in their lives. I treasure that feeling and only hope to spread it. Enrich your life. Be adventurous, try out some of the music streaming on this page! It’s free right now and you’re definitely not doing anything better!

Okay.

I know this is late in the sense that most people publish their lists before the year is done, but I couldn’t care less about being first in judging an entire year’s worth of beautiful music. I’d always rather be finished than first.

Every piece of music on this list deserves attention. You’ll probably love some and hate others, because that’s how taste works.

See the Best of 2014 Honorable Mention list for the greatest albums that didn’t quite make the final cut!

[Note: excepting the ABSOLUTE FAVORITES section, these albums are listed in the order I heard them.]

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About Creative Work

/ David James / Leave a comment

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“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

– Ira Glass

 

Sigur Rós “Untitled” – amazing music video, reminds me of…what?

/ David James / 1 Comment

I’ve been fond of this brilliant clip for well over a decade, yet I never quite put my finger on what 20th century sci-fi short story it reminds me of.

I’m thinking Bradbury, I’m thinking Clarke? Dick? I have no idea. I merely recall a short story in middle school English class that lodged its way deep into my mind. The story of kids in a future (on a different planet?) where they could not go outside because of some extreme weather phenomena, and finally had a momentary opportunity to do so. It could have been poisonous air, like this video. It could have been solar radiation. I could be entirely wrong.

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Does this ring a bell to anyone? Does the video conjure memories, or the name of a story?

I know I could probably stumble through google trial and error and figure it out, but I prefer learning things directly from people. I like finding out what happened because someone told me. I like having a connection reveal the information I seek, at least some of the time.

It can get lonely, having all you need to know at your fingertips all the time.

~

I read today that Vertigo Music would have the first vinyl issue of Ágætis Byrjun since its original pressing 15 years ago, and was reminded that I hadn’t paid this group much attention in recent years. Their impact may have dulled a bit with the passage of time and a billion miles traveled in my music journey, but there’s still nothing quite like Sigur Rós.

If you can help with my search, or if you’re just reading this, thank you. I write for you.

Arca – Xen

/ David James / 3 Comments

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This sounds like towering columns of shattered light, the kind of futuristic timbres that I associate with crystalline sky cathedrals in some imagined Final Fantasy game.

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