I’ll Hear What She’s Hearing - What Songs She’s...

I’ll Hear What She’s Hearing - What Songs She’s Loving This Week, 7/20/12

After SO MUCH PROCRASTINATION, a Lovely Young Woman is sharing a choice selection of songs she’s loving this week. She played this list for me to listen to without me looking at the screen, which is a very dangerous thing. We’ll see why later.

This week, we had a shit day, you gotta twist it (to the left AND the right), and we take a stroll down main street.

P!nk - Blow Me (One Last Kiss)

INNUENDO. Sneaky. This was chosen by Lovely Young Woman (herein referred to as R) because unlike your Britneys and Christinas of the world, she still enjoys the stylings of one P!nk. She enjoys the anthemic sound, the strong lyrics, and the high energy all masking the very simple message of “Fuck You (Seriously, You’re an Asshole).” That’s all well and good, but I have one burning question.

Was P!nk’s name always spelled that way? How was I not aware of this before? I’m going to be a hard-ass for a second and say that it can’t pronounced “peenk” then. It has to be a loud, percussive “P!” followed by a very awkward “-nk.” I will now refer to her this way.

Deer Tick - Main Street

R relays this video of a performance of this song at Sasquatch! next to a row of porta potties. RAWK. Seriously, it’s very good.

It’s a toss-up as to which version is better. You have your toe-tapping full-band version, and your quieter, somber acoustic version that lets John’s vocals really shine through.

Speaking of music festivals, I attended The Village Voice’s 4Knots Festival at South Street Seaport in Manhattan on Saturday, and it was a good time featuring a couple of bands I really enjoy (Hospitality! The Drums! There was also truck food for me to eat!), but it reminded me of how much I hate being of VERY slightly below average height. Every time I found the perfect spot to stand in, some jackass who had the nerve to grow past the height of 5’8” decides, or so I’d imagine, “fuck this guy, I’mma stand in front of him, ruin his day, and watch a band I’ve never heard of because I’m selfish, tall, and a jackass.”

Tall people are the worst.

Usher featuring Pharrell - Twisted

And here’s where not looking at the screen while listening got me in trouble. I’m pretty sure I’ve never proclaimed myself an Usher fan, but when this song came on, I was bobbing my head along to it, saying that I was enjoying its “funkiness,” because I was BOBBING SO HARD I couldn’t think of any other adjectives. R looked amused, waiting for me to ask who it was so that when I did, a minute or so into the song, she replied, SMUGLY MIGHT I ADD, that it was Usher. I was TRICKED.

I bobbed my head a little softer after that. I didn’t want to allow Usher the satisfaction.

But, yeah, it has the makings of a pop song that’d burrow itself into your head if you let it (and probably even if you don’t). The chorus is too damn catchy, with clear directions for how to dance to the track, mainly via lateral movements, I’d imagine.

The Lumineers - Ho Hey

If Main Street is my favorite song of this list, Ho Hey is a very close second. Elements of the song remind me of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, mainly the backing “Ho! Hey!” and the timing of the chorus, if not exactly the content:

I belong with you, you belong with me,

You’re my sweetheart

R randomly heard this on the radio and it was killing her that she couldn’t find it on Spotify until lo and behold, she did. She was highly confident that I’d like their sound and I have to agree, Ho Hey is right in my wheelhouse, the acoustic ditty that it is.

Squeeze - Tempted

A more random, and more randomly enjoyable, song to close us out I cannot imagine. This is one of those songs that’s SO 80s, just SO 80s, that it conjures up images like this:

and this:

and… alright, that’s enough. Tempted is the classic “that song” by “that band” that nobody can actually identify, so that when we were listening to this song together, I proclaimed that I totally knew this song, then completely failed to name it or the band who made it. This is like a song as trivia question. R chose this one because Squeeze are back on tour, apparently? I… could not imagine wanting to hear any other song outside of Tempted.

Bonus song: Aimee Mann - Charmer

R called an audible this morning and would like everybody to enjoy this fun new, straight-forward, bright and spacey keyboard-filled song by Aimee Mann. Here’s Charmer.