Song #524 of 9999 - Shake It Off by Taylor Swift

Song #524 of 9999

Title: Shake It Off
Artist: Taylor Swift
Year: 2014
Album: 1989

First, an admission. I don't really know Taylor Swift's entire catalog or history or much of anything about her. So, if you're a big fan, you may find my comments and, especially my generalizations, to be off-base. I'll try not to do that! Second, you should know that I like Taylor Swift, at least what I've heard, which is often just bits and pieces. I've said before that I just barely exist on the periphery of pop culture. I know it's there—I just don't pay much attention to it. Usually, when I write about a current pop song in this space, I am hearing it for the first time in its entirety. I know, it seems impossible, but it's true.

For example, I didn't know this little cheerleader section existed in the middle of "Shake it Off." Like, why is that there? It adds nothing to the song except time (although it does set up that nice little vocal run into the high note at 2:43) and interferes with what I think is a superb example of what you can achieve with three simple chords and some imagination. 

I also thought this album was going to be more 80s-influenced. I get it, she was born in 1989. And she was supposedly influenced by the music from that period while writing this song, but the fact that she uses so many current (and soon to be retired) phrases like "haters gonna hate" and "this sick beat" tells me she's not very interested in this music having much longevity. Which is fine but unexpected.

But I digress! As I mentioned earlier, this song has three chords: Am C G (ii IV I). That's it. You can play it now. You just learned it. It also has a killer beat and clocks in at 160bpm so you're going to bop around to it whether you like it or not—it's in your DNA. That's just science. 

But back to the harmony. Once again, my friends the major 7th and major 9th show up in a modern pop song. Can you believe this? Check out the verse. The entirely pentatonic melody lands on a B each of the first two times it's sung, the first time creating a 9th against the Am and the second time a major 7th against the C. It only becomes consonant at the end of the verse when sung over the tonic G Major. Maybe this happened all the time for the last 50 years and I'm just noticing, but I don't think so.

I really like Swift's voice in this upper register. Maybe she's hung out there before (remember what I said at the outset!) but I don't think I've ever heard her in this range. Lyric quibbles aside, I think this is a great song and anyone who doesn't like it is, well, you know....haters gonna hate.

Song #523 of 9999 - Wrong Club by The Ting Tings

Song #523 of 9999

Title: Wrong Club
Artist: The Ting Tings
Year: 2014
Album: Super Critical

Don't think about it; just dance.

Song #522 of 9999 - Habits by Tove Lo

Song #522 of 9999

Title: Habits
Artist: Tove Lo
Year: 2014
Album: Queen of the Clouds

The blog was off on Tuesday so I didn't get to engage my usual TWOsday connecting device and feature two songs. I realized later I missed a chance. After writing yesterday's post about "Boom Clap" by Charli XCX, I remembered my mid-2014 obsession was another downtempo dance number by relative newcomer Tove Lo. This Swedish artist was also brought to me by NPR (probably Ken Tucker) and damn, I could not get enough of this hook for about a month.

The first time I heard "Habits," I was kind of put off by the opening verses, which are a little too graphic in their description of the protagonist's junkie lifestyle (I get home/I got the munchies/Binge on all my Twinkies/Throw up in the tub/Then I go to sleep). The tub! That's where she eats!!

But when that hook arrives, all is forgiven.

You're gone and I gotta stay 

High all the time
To keep you off my mind
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh 

Damn, that's clever. And I would have been fine with that hook plus the little vocal siren at the end, but Lo (is this a last name?—I have no idea) introduces a new melody for the third quarter of the chorus that just ramps it all up a notch.

Spend my days locked in a haze
Trying to forget you babe
I fall back down

I remember talking to my colleague about this song and we both just drooled over the minor mediant (iii) chord in the middle of that passage. But as it turns out, the whole song has the same progression (I-iii-V), so why did we hear something special in that moment? I think it's because Lo sings a Bb (Trying to forget you babe) that rubs against the D minor triad (iii) and that dissonance (coupled with a sweet spot in her voice) increases the sense of longing already inherent in the chorus.

And listen, in case you were worried about Tove, her next single let us know once and for all she's "Not on Drugs." Okay? So stop worrying.

Song #521 of 9999 - Boom Clap by Charli XCX

Song #521 of 9999

Title: Boom Clap
Artist: Charli XCX
Year: 2014
Album: Sucker

Like all old people, I learn about new music from Fresh Air's critic-at-large Ken Tucker on National Public Radio. Tucker is pretty open-minded and sometimes he likes crap and I sometimes I like it with him.

This is one of those times. "Boom Clap" by London's Charli XCX first appeared on the soundtrack to the teen sobfest The Fault in Our Stars (didn't see it—you?). It's not a particularly brilliant song or anything. In fact, it may not even be the best song on Sucker, her sophomore effort. (I'm partial to "Break the Rules" for its anthemic call to all the boys and girls around the world to skip school and go dancing and get high instead. Sounds like a plan!) But something about this song and those that surround it on this slick electropunk collection elicits a Pavlovian response that transports me right back to a time when Missing Persons was lodged in my cassette deck.

I don't want to let you go without talking a little bit about what makes this chorus so ridiculously catchy. The lion's share of the credit must be given to the jaunty syncopation in the vocal melody, which is made even more evident by the use of the angular perfect fifth interval. Look at how busy the rhythm is while the harmony sludges along underneath at an 84bpm crawl.

But it's those specific intervals she sings that has my interest piqued because I think I may have discovered the melodic/harmonic secret of today's pop. Remember last week when I got all excited about the major 7ths and 9ths in the vocal melody of Bruno Mars's "Locked Out of Heaven"? Well, here they are again—the G# set a major 7th above the A in mm. 1 and 3 and the F# set a major 9th above the E in mm. 2 and 4! It's such a neat trick and it works on me (and probably you) every time. Maybe this is a brilliant song after all.

Song #520 of 9999 - The Writing's on the Wall by OK Go

Song #520 of 9999

Title: The Writing's on the Wall
Artist: OK Go
Year: 2014
Album: Hungry Ghosts

I just spent a couple of hours pouring over the albums of 2014 and I discovered a few decent songs but now I don't have any time to write about them! But since I couldn't post last night, I thought I would at least put something up tonight. I'll keep it short.

I like OK Go. I still like Ok Go. Even now, I like them. A few minutes from now, I expect I will still like them. 

I liked OK Go before they made their first Rube Goldberg-inspired video and I suspect I will like them after they've made their last. And while their videos are fascinating, if you listen really closely, you'll find that there's actually a song accompanying the images! And a pretty good one at that.

And thus ends the post. I still like OK Go. With or without the videos.

Song #519 of 9999 - Low Key by Tweedy

Song #519 of 9999

Title: Low Key
Artist: Tweedy
Year: 2014
Album: Sukierae

In my estimation, Sukierae, the "solo album" by Jeff Tweedy and his teenaged son Spencer, is as good as (almost) any Wilco album. It's underproduced and the musicianship is not as stellar as that on, say, Sky Blue Sky, where guitarist Nels Cline plants his indelible flag of virtuosity. But in its place are more than a dozen great songs (there are 20 total—let's not throw the word "great" around willy-nilly) and intimate reflection we rarely get from the Wilco's recordings. Tweedy describes the recordings as having "unrealized potential" and he celebrates the idea of leaving the recordings in a spare state and not overworking them.

On Halloween Day last year, I was lucky enough to be one of about 30 people in attendance at a live radio broadcast from the SiriusXM Studios that featured Jeff and Spencer Tweedy performing a handful of songs from the record and discussing the inspiration and making of the record. The interview was illuminating as the charming duo talked about Jeff's wife going through cancer treatment, what it's like to be touring as father and son, what kinds of guitars Jeff prefers and, most important, how the songs are written. It had been reported that Tweedy wrote over 90 songs prior to recording and, when asked, he responded with an answer only a songwriter would understand: "What you think of as a song and what I think of as a song are probably pretty far apart." (paraphrasing) Basically, he said he had 90 ideas he felt he could develop into full-fledged songs with a lot of work. This is something I think is often lost on people: that a songwriter can get pretty excited about the smallest spark of an idea and see the potential of that idea very early, even if he never actually fleshes it out. (I have a lot of "songs" like that, just sitting around my brain, collecting dust. They're the best songs I've never written.)

Anyway, I could have chosen any number of songs to feature from Sukierae. It's a spectacular album and the understated, but extremely effective, drumming of Spencer Tweedy is one of the most pleasant surprises on the record. I chose "Low Key" because it has a really interesting harmonic structure that relates to one of my recent posts. Back in Song #509, I talked about how the tonal center of Maroon 5's "Payphone" is hidden somewhat by the circular progression that begins on the dominant (V) and ends on the subdominant (IV) with the tonic (I) tucked in the middle. "Low Key" does something similar in that the verse avoids the tonic (E) altogether:

Chords: A            G#m     F#m         F#m                    B 
Words:  I want to let it be known  |   Ever since I was young      
      I've always been a refugee    |   Of the very high strung           
           I've always been low key  |   Let's let the record show    |  No....

When the tonic finally comes on the word "no," it's a very satisfying arrival because it has been kept from us for so long! There's an unusual meter thing that adds another level of intrigue. Each line of the verse is actually 4.5 bars long (18 beats total) except the final line, which is the more traditional 4 bars long. This gives the effect of arriving to the chorus a bit early, which is kind of interesting. But the real pièce de resistance for this music theorist happens on the final line of the chorus. When Tweedy sings "I'm gonna love you the same" over the chords A G#m F#m (remember those from above?), the line both ends the chorus and begins the second verse. Love it.

And as if that weren't enough, they made a really cute video for the song (directed by Nick Offerman) that you can watch here.

Song #518 of 9999 - Do You Love the Sun by Scud Mountain Boys

Song #518 of 9999

Title: Do You Love the Sun
Artist: Scud Mountain Boys
Year: 2013
Album: Do You Love the Sun



Is there still a place in this world for a band like Scud Mountain Boys? The Massachusetts band recorded three records in the 90s before disbanding and sad-sack leader Joe Pernice went on to have a modicum of solo success outside of my house, where he is a mega-superstar. Their reformation in 2013 was met with praise but praise doesn't pay the bills, does it!

So what do we do with a band like this? They seem ready-made for the extinct AM Radio of the 1970s. I think one or two of Pernice's songs have shown up in "hip" TV shows like Gilmore Girls (where Pernice actually had an acting cameo as a roving troubadour) but it hasn't translated to widespread success.

Hell, they can't even get a weekday spot on my blog. Everyone knows no one reads it on the weekend, Frank. But, if you're one of the few who is checking in, take 37 minutes to check out Do You Love the Sun. You won't be sorry.