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.

–

Adrian (me):
Joe Pug - Hymn 101 (mp3) (free at the artist’s site)

I heard this over at hearya. Immediately I felt the same way the first time I heard Dylan’s “When the Ship Comes In”. Similarly, it has a certain timeless melody and lyrics that one can tell, even before one start processing the lyrics, that they have some well of depth that they’re drawing from.

–

Keith:
the Katydids - Always (mp3) (buy)

This week on my favorites of the 90’s list @ #90 is the 2nd album from American singer/British pop-band hybrid Katydids. This particular cut is masterfully produced by pop auteur Ian Broudie, just listen to the sumptuous interlocking backing vocals in the chorus. This album was pure obsession for me in 1991, pretty vocals and glistening guitars were an irresistible combination.

–

Oz:
Joe Pug - Hymn 101 (mp3) (free at the artist’s site)

I think I’ve listened to “Hymn 101″ about 101 times in the past week. Joe Pug is a relative newcomer to the Chicago music scene and a shockingly good lyricist for a songwriter in his early twenties. Listen to this song and you’ll see what I mean. It still gives me chills on my 102nd listen - “The more I buy, the more I’m bought. And the more I’m bought, the less I cost.”

His debut EP, Nation of Heat, is incredible from start to finish.

–

Rob:
David Bowie - Sense of Doubt (mp3) (buy)

For the last few weeks basically every time I’ve found myself wondering what to listen to next I’ve been putting in “Heroes”. As has no doubt been noted before, the whole album is stellar and I had a
tough time picking one of the tracks. I thought about “Blackout” due to the slight edge that my mishearing the lyrics gave it (he’s under the Japanese influence of his mother’s estate?) but settled on “Sense of Doubt” for the sheer I’ve-never-heard-anything-else-quite-like-it factor; this song more than almost any other instrumental I’ve ever heard paints a definite picture in my mind, and it is at once more hopeful and more desparate than any song I can think of off the top of my head that tries deliberately to be one or the other. Really wonderful.

–

Andy:
Kepler - Loose Ground (mp3) (buy)

Kepler was the best quiet band you’ve never heard. Beautifully clean guitars, half-whispered vocals, nicely reserved brushed drumming, and the piano from your parents’ living room hiding just below the surface. I first found Fuck Fight Fail while working in college radio- it immediately became one of my favorites. “Loose Ground” is one of my favorites from the record, along with the 9-minute “Upper Canada Fight Song”.

Since their breakup, Samir Kahn (who I believe sings on “Loose Ground”) has gone on to form Tusks, who are excellent as well.

–

This is the first time two people have had the same song obsession in the same week. It’s kind of like two friends having a crush on the same girl. It’s pretty awkward. Not really–music’s not a zero-sum game like that. But if it were, Oz would have “dibs” as he found the song first.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 2:20 am Posted by adrian in mp3s, photos, song obsessions. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.