Song obsessions are those songs that we listen to on repeat. I noticed that my obsessions are often a week long. I also thought that other people might have similar obsessions. I’ve collected a panel of a few like-minded individuals and gotten their “song obsessions of the week.” Quite often it’s easy to explain why the song is good; it’s much hard to explain why we’re obsessed. Maybe you’ll become obsessed with one of these.

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Adrian (me):
French Miami – Science Fiction (mp3) (not available? label’s site; artist’s myspace)

Just a well put-together song. The guitar part is ace. The keyboards, drums and vocals all work really well and add to the song. The breakdown/ slowdown pulled me in. I was fully obsessed with this for most of the week.

Me (again)[1]:
Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd St. Band – Movin’ On Up/ I Can’t Turn You Lose (mp3, originally from this Soul Sides post) (buy)

I’ve written about how much I love this tune. The groove is tight and the song is fun, but what makes me obsessed with it is the 30-or-so seconds of “People Get Ready” and specifically the insane vocals during that section. I like the Impressions song and various other versions, like Curtis Mayfield’s and the Chamber Brothers, but this is unlike anything I’d heard before.

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Keith:
Bess Rogers – Undone (mp3) (buy)

While I’d like to think I judge each song/album based on merit, truth is I’m just as susceptible to manipulation as the mainstream music listener. But it’s not plastic surgery disasters that positively manipulate my attention. No, it’s the geek girl. Perhaps Bess Rogers would object to my objectification of her as a nerdy girl, but I’m afraid those sexy librarian photos on her latest CD (there’s even more of them on the website – I checked) have only one interpretation in my lecherous mind. Oh yeah, the songs are quite fetching as well.

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Oz:
Motel Motel – Coffee (mp3) (buy)

Last week I mentioned an unsigned band named Gringo Star. Today I have another unsigned act out of Denver by way of NY called Motel Motel that describes their sound as “shwag rock.” These guys are working on releasing their debut LP, appropriately called New Denver, in the coming months. Until then, get shwaggy.

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Natalie:
Frightened Rabbit – Backwards Walk (mp3) (buy)

would put all of The Midnight Organ Fight as my song obsession(s) for this week, if that were allowed. Since I downloaded it on Tuesday, I’ve probably listened to the album in its entirety at least 8 times. With this song in particular, I love the line “You’re the shit/and I’m knee-deep in it.”

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[1] This is totally cheating. I’ve never let myself or anyone else have more than one song obsession in a week, but what was I supposed to do? Five days were dominated by “Science Fiction” but in the last 48 hours I haven’t been able to stop listening to the Charles Wright song.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 9:51 am Posted by adrian in SF bay area, blogs, mp3s, song obsessions. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.