"Tagged" by JJ

JJ had a bad experience the last time she tagged people to do a meme, so I have selflessly nominated myself to respond. Again I won't nominate people but if you fancy having a go then feel free.
This is what you do - 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. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.

1. Main Theme to Indiana Jones by John Williams - one of the most instantly recognisable pieces of cinematic music. I went to see Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull recently (I will pass judgement in another post) and in anticipation of this Vince and I have been singing the theme a lot. Unfortunately it's now got completely stuck in our heads and if we start singing it we curse the other!!

2. Canonball by The Breeders - this song from Kim Deal's band (formerly of the Pixies) came out in the 90s but I never heard it until I got a DAB radio and started listening to BBC 6Music. They played it A LOT in early 2007. I'd been trying to buy the album for ages but they didn't have it in any shops in Carlisle; now they have a new album out they finally had Last Splash in for £5. If only I'd heard the album when I was about 13/14 as I would have thought it was amazing and in fact I can't believe it wasn't on the Ladykillers album I had at that time. I love this song as it's catchy, a bit grungy and has the best bass intro :)

3. All I Need by Radiohead - taken from their latest and most controversial album In Rainbows, this is actually quite a sexy song for Radiohead. The best bit for me is the crescendo at the end (from about 2.45 onwards) with Thom Yorke singing a repeating rising melody which sounds a little out of the ordinary, which I am told is because it is in the Lydian mode. There is an official being played on MTV but I picked the other one because I liked the juxtaposition of the images of the natual world with the music, especially the rainstorm with the crescendo mentioned earlier. If you want to see the official video, which is also good, then you can find it here.

4. One Pure Thought by Hot Chip - Hot Chip are probably the band that I've most recently got into. It all started with 'Ready for the Floor' which I blogged about earlier as it sounds like they're singing "Numberwang guy". This is their current single and if you're not singing "I won't be on my way" after watching the video then I want your brain because you are immune to the evils of repetitive tunes! What I love about Hot Chip is that a lot of their songs are jolly and sing-a-long but they quite often go a little bit bonkers and sometimes have a dark melodic underbelly.

5. Where Is The Line by Bjork - since seeing her in Blackpool on 01/05 I have developed a bit of a Bjork obsession. This track is from her last album Medulla and has quite a dark feel to it. When she played it live I had a vision of what the music video would be like, or a section of a film it was used in. You can see the official music video that was made here (pretty weird, much like the song itself). The one I imagined would be a cross between a Chris Cunningham video (warning - not for the faint hearted) and er, well, porn. But it would be arty, the lighting would just create shadows and just show outlines of things and not details, and because of the glitchy way in which it was edited (see Chris Cunningham video) you wouldn't really be sure what you were seeing.

The story would be based around two lovers (they could be of any sexual persuasion but as I am straight I imagined a male/female coupling) getting into a more and more experimental sado-masochistic relationship. I think the idea for this comes partly from the lyrics "I want to be flexible/I want to go out of my way for you/But enough is enough... I want to have capacity for you/And be elastic, elastic, to be elastic for you/Where is the line with you ?", and me mishearing "I want to hurt you" when in reality it is "I want to help you" (in reality the lyrics of the song are about being annoyed by someone borrowing money all the time). Also I think it comes from the sort of violent, pulsing energy the song has. I think my favourite element is the big bombastic choir. Quite why I divulged all that in such detail online I am not sure...

6. The Perfect Me by Deerhoof - I had never heard of Deerhoof before I went to see Radiohead and Beck in a double headline concert in Edinburgh as part of the fringe festival in 2006. I quickly became a convert however. This song encapsulates the true Deerhoof spirit I think, a bit bonkers, fun and lively with amazing drumming. That is why I love this song - the drumming and the weird time signature. It almost sounds as if Animal from the Muppets is playing (but if you watch the video you'll see he looks more like Shaggy from Scooby Doo). In fact when we saw them live he was playing so hard he snapped a stick but was able to carry on! I become periodically obsessed by this song as I have it as a ringtone on my phone so it depends how many people ring me.

7. Sex And Drugs And Rock 'n' Roll by Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Vince and I quite like to listen to the Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show on BBC 6 Music as we love a good slice of funk. I listen to it when I'm getting ready to go out and putting my make up on; it's also bloody good first thing in the morning when you're finding it hard to get up. Having bought this album incredibly cheaply we found that a lot of the songs are a bit cheesey, but you can't beat this one! Listen to it and I defy you not to dance...