Seven up

A break from the holiday diary, courtesy of being tagged by Ian...

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring summer. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to."

OK, here goes...

'Hopscotch Willie' - Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

The second track from the album that is hands-down my favourite of the year so far, and one which was key in convincing me Real Emotional Trash would be as good as it is as far back as Green Man last year. Hopscotch Willie may be going down, but at least he's been immortalised in a great song.

'Sixteen Straws' - The Drones

For reasons explained above. Described as "shit" by the recipient of my Shuffleathon CD last autumn, but I beg to differ.

'Let It Slip' - The School

Just to prove it's not all doom, gloom and epic tales of suicide and extreme violence round these parts - a pop song! Yes, that's right, a bona fide pop song courtesy of the Cardiffians currently very much flavour of the month round at Parallax View Towers. At some point (but who knows when - I'm making no promises) I might get round to writing about Thursday's gig at the Bullingdon.

'Brunettes Against Bubblegum Youth' - The Brunettes

Not even being associated with that shower of shite 'Hollyoaks' can detract from the brilliance of this track by the recent Broken Social Scene support act.

'Sad Eyes' - Bat For Lashes

How is it that a song as amazing as this could have slipped under my radar when I finally got Fur And Gold just before Christmas? Pisses on the rest of the album, and so good it would stand out even on Cat Power's The Greatest.

'Goodnight Goodnight' - Spiritualized

I thought I'd better get Songs In A&E in advance of Glastonbury, and yesterday I invested in the limited edition book version. Of all the pictures of needles, designer Mark Farrow has said: "The idea was to elevate them and draw attention to them... They are incredible things... On a completely la-la level I love the fact that [in the phoographs] they look like pinned insects, they take on a beauty when you see them presented in that way". Hmm, I take the point but am still not sure it was worth the extra £6. Anyway, that's beside the point. Obviously I'm still familiarising myself with the album, but what captivated me about 'Goodnight Goodnight' is that at the very end, barely perceptibly, Jason Pierce repeats the words "funeral home" four times. Noticing they're not there on the lyric sheet and thinking it was perhaps just my ears, I checked online and they are definitely there - the very last words of an album supposedly about Pierce's brush with death and return to good health.

'Only Shallow' - My Bloody Valentine

Can't wait for Mr Shields and company doing their darndest to deafen me with the likes of this tomorrow night. I'm not sure I've seen a better comment on a YouTube video than this, from Schizima: "This song is like when you fall asleep on a public bus and have an erotic dream about a girl and then you take 5 minutes to get up because you have an erection." There's nothing like seeing or hearing something in a new light...

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No formal tagging malarkey here - if you haven't already joined in and fancy doing so, then go for it.

See also: Betty's Utility Room