Cage

Cage (Chris Palko) is an artist I have only found in the past couple of days, and he is everything I have looked for in an artist in recent months or for the past year if I think about it actually, everything I have been searching for. He blends guitars with spoken word, or rap I guess, and he is so wonderfully dark. I thought songs I listened to by Scroobius Pip or Immortal Technique were dark, but Cage's songs are horror stories and I love it, as I may have mentioned in a previous post I like songs which tell stories or songs that you actually listen to and have to follow and keep you drawn in, as opposed to songs that play in the background of your mind.

I realize that paragraph may have seemed a bit too much or a bit over the top as I look back over it. I sincerely hope I don't over-listen to his songs, something I have a habit of doing with everything I love - I listen to it or eat it or watch it or whatever so much that I become sick of it and a song that I used to listen to again and again time after time becomes the song I know back to front and skip over it, and sure I may come back and have a brief relapse in a few months or so, but somehow I just don't see it happening with cage.

The Old Chris Palko - sometimes too high to record anything.

Part of what appeals to me about Chris Palko so much is his personality and what he grew up with and just who he is. Personal items like that about artists have never really intrigued me as much as this before, but I suppose it is because it is so easy to access Palko's thoughts and how he describes his life. I feel almost compelled to tell you about his personality now, and although I had never heard of him last week I feel like I have known him and his songs for as long as I can remember, I know more about him now than I know about artists that I have in fact been listening to for as long as I can remember. Going back to his personality and his origins, I can't for two reasons. I feel as if I'm almost disrespecting him by talking about him in the way that I am or would do by writing about things like that, and also because there is just so much, but I will try to dumb it down so painfully that I am seriously considering hitting the backspace now. It just doesn't give him enough credit, so actually I don't think I will. Look it up on his website: www.chrispalko.com

I have said so much, more than I've said on any artist, in a shorter time I've spent writing about anything else on this blog, yet I haven't actually really talked about his music.

Cage fits into the underground hip hop genre but with his recent albums it's slightly harder to still include him there, as he has moved to a more guitar-heavy orientated background for his lyrics, which always in any song he makes, remain the focal point of the piece. He started out with his first album being very much like that of say Immortal Technique, fitting, as he says, into a black stereotype. The album is called 'Movies for the Blind' and some of his songs are so explicit and brutal, Agent Orange remains to be my favourite on the album though. That reminds me: he also took on the name Alex, after the protagonist in A Clockwork Orange having left the mental institute, and there are some definite similarities between the two. I think he says that that first album was about his childhood and how angry he was, I'm being ignorant about this and I feel bad about it because I know he deserves more credit, its not exactly along those lines, but I'm pretty sure that album came out just after he tried getting off hard drugs and started trying to turn his life around.
His later album, 'Hell's Winter', comes from the idea that he didn't have to be the person he was and he didn't have to be that white guy going for the black guy stereotype (as he says) as it just wasn't him, and this too is so dark, with Subtle art of the breakup song being perhaps the most popular song on the album.
It's no surprise that his most recent album (released 2009) 'Depart From Me' remains dark, but its not as explicit, in the words of his good friend Shia Labeouf ( at first sighting it would seem that it's Cage who latches onto Shia, but actually from the youtube videos I've seen and stuff I've read its more as if Shia makes the effort with Cage, Shia said he had been listening to Cage since he was 12). Depart From Me contains my favourite Cage song I Never Knew You which I think is one of if not the only Cage song to be made into a music video, that music video was directed by Shia Labeouf, and he has a brief appearance at the beginning.

I feel like I've missed something and that's because I probably have (his involvement in groups, main one being The Weathermen though I think he prefers producing his own music with close friends instead of collaborating with strangers for the sake of appealing to a wider audience and to sell more tracks). If this post has intrigued you, then I would strongly recommend you go to his website, he even has published the notebook he kept during his time at 'The Lodge' (mental institute) which is pretty interesting.

The five main Cage songs I like are as follows:

• Subtle Art of the Breakup Song
• Grand Ol Party Crash
• Ballad of Worms
• I Never Knew You
• Agent Orange

I will link the Spotify tracks for these songs but the video for I Never Knew You will be down below as well.

                                            
                                           
                                            
                                           

Eels

Mark Everett - the mastermind of Eels also known simply as E - has had a spectacularly sad life, but at least music comes easily for him, and appears to make the most of it. Both his parents died of cancer when he was still young and then after this, his sister committed suicide, a series of depressing events that would have a life changing effect on anyone, and maybe this reflects in the melancholic and mellow music he produces.

Some say that they jumps from "50's garage rock, roadhouse blues and swampy distortion", I just love the sad sound to all their music, and how the lyrics touch on depression, love, and sometimes glimpses of hope amongst despair.

One of my favourite songs by the Eels is 'I need some Sleep', this song sums up everything I like about the Eels, a soft tune that immediately soothes you before the lyrics kick in and then your heart turns heavy as his voice almost croaks. The lyrics suggest he has a problem so deeply inflicted on him that he can't sleep to the point where he tries 'counting sheep' but then he says 'there's one I always miss', and everyone is telling him to leave it and 'let it go' but it obviously means a lot to him if he simply can't.

Another great song is 'That look you give that Guy' another classic song by them, there's just something about these sorts of songs by them that always make me stop and suddenly become immersed in the simple, ponderful, forlorn lyrics that make me want to just cry... Anyway, if you just listen to the lyrics they really leave a mark on you. If that was too cringe worthy, then to be quite honest, this time I don't care because this band are really special.

Here are the two songs:

Red Hot Chili Peppers

One of my favourite bands with some of my least favourite songs. They are recognized for their funk and groove, with Flea attacking the bass jamming out some of the most psychedelic tunes. But those are the songs I really hate.

I love the chilled back songs with Antony Kiedis's voice softly singing the lyrics to 'Under the Bridge', or the tune of the guitar to 'Snow'. They have been going for a really long time and loads of things have happened to their members, including death, so thats probably why their songs vary from almost heavy metal to quiet, reflective songs. Some people say their latest stuff has become to forced and is based more on advertising and business, but I prefer their latest songs to the songs when they first started out as a garage band, playing songs for their school.

Here are my favourite songs by them:

• Under the Bridge
• Californication
• Can't Stop
• By the Way
• Scar Tissue
• Soul to Squeeze 
• Snow (Hey Oh)

Give It Away is one of their more funky songs which is alright, but not as good as the ones mentioned above.

Jamie T

Jamie T is one of my favourite artists of all time, partly because of his lyrics and how he makes and performs his music, but also because he is incredibly cool.

He's different to most other people as he raps most of his music but is still indie, he isn't the cliché of a rapper as in making mindless and meaningless shit whilst talking about what car he has and the bitches he pimps... Jamie T's lyrics actually tell a story and that is what I love in songs: stories but with good tunes to go with it. He is a lyrical genius - 'Sticks n' Stones': he is now an adult and is looking back on the days when he used to be young and reckless, running from gang leaders and causing havoc with his mates, living the teenage life to the full. 

Here are a couple of his songs, listen closely to the lyrics, they're the best bits. 

                                     

Oasis

This is a band that I have been listening to for most of my life and are one of my favourites if not the favourite. They have had songs in XFM's lists like the greatest songs of all time as high as number 2 and have also had the honour of having the best British song (supersonic I think?) according to the listeners of XFM. Pretty much my whole family like them, but I don't like them just because my family likes them.

There's that rough and raw feel to their music with Liam Gallagher's whiney voice singing with his hands behind his back knowing he is one of the coolest people alive. Definitely Maybe has to be their best album because it is the most pure, their latest album - Dig Out Your Soul - has about one or two average songs and that's it. In a way I'm glad they broke up because I would not want my memory of their brilliance to be wrecked by another effortless album, because Beady Eye is just Oasis without Noel Gallagher and I don't see them being anywhere near as good as Oasis, probably because they lost Noel, and probably because Liam thinks he is the reincarnation of John Lennon and feels he must revive the reign of the Beatles. I guess I'm ranting now so I'll try and get back to my point. The main thing I like about Oasis is how they are pure and raw.  They're pure unlike some overgrown cheerleader singing hit me baby one more time or some Miley Cyrus/Justin Bieber wannabe telling us about the days of the week and how she's gotta get down on Friday. 




In my opinion people like Rebecca Black and Britney Spears don't deserve half the attention they get when there are people out there like Oasis who actually know how to make music.

Here are my favourite songs by them:

The Blog Itself

I wish I could take credit for the videos and pictures shown on this blog, but I can't. None of the images on the entire blog are taken by me, nor do they belong to me, likewise with the videos.

To begin with, the posts on here will be taken from my other website which will shortly be taken down. Then I will move to this one permanently and post regularly (or whenever I can). I always have a hard time describing my taste in music, so hopefully, through this blog, you will get some sort of insight into the music I like. It also happens to be the best music. I will post nothing but the best. Other than the occasional rant.

I will post articles about some famous bands, some of the most famous bands ever in fact, but I will also post articles on bands I believe to be just as good as these bands, but are so unheard of they cannot even be found on youtube. I listen to all of my music on Spotify, and with the bands that don't have songs on youtube, it would be difficult to convey their music to you. So I would be extremely grateful if anyone could leave a comment on how to link Spotify songs onto this blog. 

Thanks.

P.S. Please understand that my music taste does indeed change at points, so do not be surprised by a mix of certain genres or styles. Also some of the earlier posts were written far earlier than they were published, so please excuse the sort of childishness about it - it will get better soon.