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):
Johnny Flynn - Ghost of O’Donahue (mp3) (from tour only vinyl (see artist site for tour dates), buy an EP with the song)

Since I saw Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling last Sunday I’ve been listening to quite a bit of Johnny Flynn, but it was a hectic few days until I had a chance to listen to the tour only split 7″ they were selling. I played through the Laura Marling side–it was good–and then flipped it to Flynn’s side and it was another experience entirely. And I couldn’t get enough. Four straight plays that night, then I had to start the next day with it as well. Before I knew it I was playing the song in my head throughout the day, even while physically listening to other things.

I’m a sucker for old Anglo-Irish folk ballad-sounding songs. Combine that with the quirky “ah ha” background vocals, the compelling melody on the lead vocals and pleasing fingerpicking and you have a lot of the reason why I couldn’t get enough of this. A strong sense of melancholy throughout also helps plenty.

–

Keith:
Pony Up - Matthew Modine (mp3) (buy)

The song I’m actually obsessed with is only available on a split single, so instead I’ll pick another early effort by the same band. Pony Up dropped the ! from their name for their debut album, but unfortunately that’s not all they dropped. Instead of fun songs about inconsequential romantic affairs and obsessions they applied the standard weighty relationship woes trope. Here’s an early example of this girl group’s bountiful charms, too bad it’s a path they’re unlikely to tread again.

–

Scott:
Nagisa Ni Te - Anxiety (mp3) (buy)

this song sounds happy and secure enough with itself to admit it…it seems to lack the subtext of irony that lots of twee uses to retreat from the vulnerability of happiness.

–

This entry was posted on Friday, October 3rd, 2008 at 6:24 am Posted by adrian in SF bay area, blogs, mp3s, photos, radio, song obsessions, tour dates. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.