My name is Sweep and this is my blog.
There are many like it but this one is mine.
I use this space to write about my video games and my addiction to them. I hope, somehow, my personality does not appear as two-dimensional as the games I choose to discus.
Music is important. It always has been to me, at least. So i'm going to dedicate this blog to some tunes that I have been listening to, now and from now on.
Tune: City Life
Artist: Logistics
Album: Now More Than Ever
I can't remember the first time I heard this song. It must have been some time in 2006, which was a while ago. For christmas last year my girlfriend managed to track down a 12" Vinyl copy and framed it for me. It now hangs above my bed. It's a song I love so much I don't even have to listen to it any more.
You know when you hear a song in a certain context and from then from then onwards whenever you hear that song again you are reminded of that specific point in history? This song reminds me of growing up, and that life goes on.
Tune: Come
Artist: Lemon Jelly
Album: Lemonjelly.ky
Lemon Jelly are one of those great artists that have a niche and they fucking cornered the shit out of it. If you want chilled out lounge music then these guys have got your front, side and back. Come has always been the song I listen to when i'm trying to relax or calm down. I have listened to this song hundreds of times and it still works. I'm sure each of you has your musical sanctuaries. This is mine.
Tune: Fish
Artist: Mr. Scruff
Album: Keep It Unreal
The jumbled, surrealist adventures of Mr. Scruff, into the realms of the audio, are wonderfully charted. The production and execution of his songs are pure class. It's music with a playful sense of humour. As someone who is often concerned that he's fucking insane, I have always taken comfort hearing my own insanity reflected in this song.
Tune: Weak Become Heroes
Artist: The Streets
Album: Original Pirate Material
Hearing someone carve out their own genre was stunningly refreshing. There's something about the early streets tunes that were... honest? It's a fairly typical lament of the schoolboy elitist but when Mike Skinner was just dicking about in a studio singing about how he got trashed in a nightclub toilet, things were so much more unpretentious and simple. The magic isn't lost, it just got left behind. We can always go back...
Tune: Electricity
Artist: The Avalanches
Album: Since I Left You
I don't really know how this song arrived on this list. It's a song that I seem to play by default. Mellow and haunting, it requires quite a specific mood. If i'm honest this whole album is fucking incredible, but for some reason this song in particular is the one I keep playing. The Avalanches aren't afraid to fuck with your head, and their style has always demonstrated a great methodical harmony to the madness.
Tune: The Wine Song
Artist: The Cat Empire
Album: The Cat Empire
I can see Australian users spinning themselves into early graves at the very mention of The Cat Empire. I'll concede that for the most part their music is a little... naive. I was obsessed with their songs when I was growing up, as I got older I began to see through their whimsical bullshit. All that remains now is The Wine Song. There are worse fates, even if you can't think of any.
Tune: By The Wall
Artist: Thomas Dvorak
Album: Machinarium OST
It's perhaps testament to the honesty of this list that the final song should be taken from a videogame soundtrack. I like to think we are defined by the music we listen to and it's nice to know that somewhere in there videogames also played their part.
I heard this song before playing Machinarium, If anything it was the driving force behind my purchase. Machinarium is a beautiful game, and this song reflects that. It's a game I wish I could experience for the first time, every time. I can't do that, though. I can't forget the answers to the games many intrinsic puzzles. But the song is still beautiful, and that beauty is not limited to the fresh context of it's virtual landscape.
It's a song that I love and that I can't stop playing.
Thanks For Reading. And For Listening.
Love Sweep
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