Like a monkey with a miniature cymbal

Well. It turns out that I can be arsed to get a Guest Editor this week after all. Well, I say that, but to be honest it was more a case of me receving an email from someone who was so taken with the whole concept of the earworm that they had been religiously writing down the tracks that were passing across their brain and was wondering if I would be so good as to let them have a go. Naturally I was only too happy to oblige, particularly as this person has recently expressed a love of the V for Vendetta comic book. Someone after my own heart then, and someone well suited to the unique rigours of this challenging slot.

Ahem.

Anyway. Ladies and Gentleworms, without further ado.... it is my great pleasure to present for your earworming pleasure.....

Earworms of the Week - Guest Editor #36 - Stef from Life. One Post At A Time

This last week I've been travelling a lot so I've been raiding my CD/MP3 collection and stuffing my head full of tunes, some of which have lodged into my conscience. It is for that reason that I volunteered to bring you this weeks Earworms - I'm over-run with them and feel the need to share! Be warned though, it's a really mixed bag!

To add to your listening pleasure I've uploaded the tracks on to the net, just click on the song title to start the download. They should be there for about a week thanks to the nice folks at YouSendIt.com

10. Sisters of Mercy- Marian

Mark, Last weeks earworm DJ, and I have been discussing all things goth for a while and he suggested that the poppy This Corrosion by the Sisters was the greatest goth song of all time. He is of course wrong, it's Bela Lugosi's Dead by Bauhaus. However it is this gem from the Sisters' first album that got stuck in my noggin.

"To take the water down and go to sleep,
To sink still further,
Beneath the fatal wave."

Now that's goth!

09. The White Stripes - I'm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman

Forget Seven Nation Army and most of the Elephant album, The White Stripes are based on stripped-down blues rock formula that I love. Not only is Jack a great musician but a fantastic song-writer. You may not like his music but with lyrics like these...

"Well I'm finding it hard to say
that I need you twenty times a day
I feel comfortable so baby why
don't you feel the same?
have a doctor come and visit us
and tell us which one is sane"

I just lose track of the number of times I find myself humming his rhythms and reciting his lyrics. This is a real gem that's stuck with me this week.

08. Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone

"How does it feel?"

There's nothing I can say about this song that hasn't already been said a hundred times by people more knowledgeable and articulate than me. I'll just say that this is one of the few tracks that I can (and often do) play over and over, singing my little heart out as I do. "

You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal."

07. Mark Ronson - Just

Mark Ronson did that lame R&B/pop track 'Ooo-wee' a while back that was... Crap. This however is just fantastic. It's the classic Radiohead track from back when they were good done in a more laid-back, less pretentious way - but with a horn section. Superb!

06. The Honeydrippers - Impeach The President

Talking of horns, this is a great bit of original funk that has just been lodged in my brain. It sounds as fresh and as relevant today as when it was made and Nixon was in power. Pure class.

05. Arctic Monkeys - Fake Tales of San Francisco

Over-hyped? Yes. Talented? Yes. I hate to jump on a bandwagon and I do think they're over-rated but I can't get this track out of my head. Not as catchy or immediate as I Bet You Look Good... but with lyrics like "So all that's left is the proof that love's not only blind but deaf" you can't go wrong. The fact that the same song then goes on, moaning about people pretending to be something they're not, by saying "You're not from New York City, you're from Rotherham" is just great.

I've listened to this album a few times in the last week and its this track I keep coming back to; it hasn't been played to death on the radio

04. Different Gear - Worry

A little slab of electronica for a change, one with a bassline so filthy it's positively disgusting!

The breathy vocals over the top add to that sense and add a sense of humour. She basically just vocalises about all the things she worries about, some of them silly, some of them not. It makes for quite an interesting/unusual track with a bassline that just keeps looping in my head.

"I worry that don't pay attention to smart people and that I laugh too loud at inappropriate things"

03. Jurassic 5 - Concrete Schoolyard

"I live in America but fuck this government!"

This isn't any 'gangsta' hip-hop rapping about guns and bling *yawn* but intelligent, laid back rhymes and rhythms very much in the style of 'old-skool' hip-hop. I've actually been listening to more DJ Format (from the mean-streets of Southampton!) than J5 but this track is just incredible. If you haven't checked Jurassic 5 or DJ Format out, even if you don't like hip-hop, you really should.

02. Salt 'n' Pepa/ The Stooges (mixed by 2-Many DJs) - Push-it/No Fun

A really good DJ can give you a night out like no band can. The problem is that so few people have seen a really good DJ do what a club DJ should do: cut up records to make something new, something crazy. Done live on the decks this truly is musicianship in its own right.

The 2 Many DJs album starts off with ELP's version of Peter Gunn overlayed with the vocals to Basement Jaxx's Where's Your Head At. Crazy yes but it just makes me want to jump up and down and shout like a mad man. It's later in the CD that the DJs really get creative though. It's the dirty, grimy riff of The Stooge's No Fun overlaid with Salt 'n' Pepa's ghetto-kitsch lyrics to Push It that really makes me smile and wish I was jumping and shouting like a mad-man on the floor of some club.

01. Hot Chip - Over and Over

Did someone say kitsch? Oh yes... A while back a friend sent me a link to the video for this track and since then this catchy, poppy, electro sound has just been looping around in my head; "Over and over and over, Like a monkey with a miniature cymbal." It really has to be heard to be believed.

Well, that's it, that's my first (and probably only at this rate!) Earworms slot. I thank you and good night!

-----

Thanks mate. There's some quality tunage in there and mistake. That 2 Many DJs album in particular is an absolute show-stopper. If you haven't had the pleasure, then go listen.

Next week? Who knows. If you fancy a go, let me know (first time applicants only need apply, I'm afraid. I know Mark had a second go last week, but that was a competition prize.)

[Previous Guest Editors: Flash, The Urban Fox, Lord Bargain, Retro-Boy, Statue John, Ben, OLS, Ka, Jenni, Aravis, Yoko, Bee, Charlie, Tom, Di, Spin, The Ultimate Olympian, Damo, Mike, RedOne, The NumNum, Leah, Le Moine Perdu, clm, Michael, Hyde, Adem, Alecya, bytheseashore, adamant, Earworms of the Year 2005, Delrico Bandito, Graham, Lithaborn, Phil, Mark II]