Your best is my worst

Upon reading @luiskatigbak 's tumblr post this morning, i realized that most of my favorite bands/albums/songs dont usually make it to the 'best of' or end-of-the-year lists. Although I dont really base my musical preferences on which is THE best or which one makes it to the top of NME's list, it makes me question myself: Do I have the worst taste in music? So, here's a list of my favorite bands/artists that these 'listers' may have overlooked.

1. Cocteau Twins

They may be on the top 3 best shoegaze acts(if there's a list) but seem forgotten when people list the best bands in general. If my memory serves me right, one of their albums is part of 1001 Albums You Need To Hear Before You Die. But still, Cocteau Twins should be on every Best Bands Ever list.

2. Club 8 and Blueboy


Apart from Belle & Sebastian, I think most of indie-pop/twee bands dont get easily picked up by people to be part of their best lists. I dont know if these listers just dont wanna be out of their comfort zone (aka google zone) or they just dont appreciate the simplicity and charm of the sub-genre. These two band might not have the influence of Kenye West but they should have a spot on someone's Top 500 Best of. Kahit 500 th and 499th spot.

3. The Sundays and The Cardigans


I think these two bands brought the dream-pop and twee genre to mainstream consumption and yet these snob 'listers' dont seem to recognize their worth.

4. Travis and Tahiti 80


They rather put Coldplay and Phoenix.

I still have a lot of fave bands in mind like Dead Can Dance, Ivy, Morcheeba, 10,000 Maniacs, Zero 7, Kings of Convenience, etc. But it's ok. These lists dont really matter, anyway. You know at the end of the day, the best on your list could be my worst. :)

BAND CRUSH: Naked.

I've been obsessing with this new band from UK called Naked. the whole week and I think they deserve a separate post here. There's not much info about Naked. on the Internet as of the moment or at least about this band. Try googling 'Naked' and you'll see what I mean. They play this achingly beautiful dream pop music which sounds familiar but I couldn't find a reference to it.

The vocalist's eyes kind of remind me of Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser's...

Here's the only track on their Soundcloud and it's major LOVE!! Hope to hear more from Naked.

Cocteau Twins appreciation night

just sharing some of my favorite Cocteau Twins music videos. *fanboy face*

My most favorite Cocteau Twins song! Though, i like the album version better. Elizabeth Fraser wrote this song as tribute to Jeff Buckley. He's a big fan of the poet Rilke.

Everything seems like a dream.

A Xmas Mixtape

Here's a playlist for 'tis season. Happy holidaze! Photo from here

DOWNLOAD HERE

Cocteau Twins - Half-Gifts (Live on MTV's Most Wanted)

The "Infinite" Playlist

Dear Friend,

I know it's been a while since I've posted something on my blog and that's because I was too busy trying to participate. Well, not really. I dont want to put into details but let's just say that our Internet provider is such a rip-off. Hahahaha! Yeah, so that's me doing my own version of Charlie, the main character from the novel-turned-film The Perks of Being a Wallflower which I watched for like 4 or 5 times already. Crazy, I know, but it's just so good. Well, for me at least. I also read the book and it made me loved it even more. Prolly one of the reasons why I loved it so much is because of it's awesome music which is a big part of the story. It's set on the early 90's when grunge music was starting to pickup what's left of the new wave era and mixtapes were a form of love letters. In the film, the main characters exchange mixtapes which gave me the best nostalgia of my teen years. I never really gave anyone a mixtape when I was a teenager because I didnt think people would appreciate my chosen songs. I just made them for myself  to make it easier to listen to my faves without the hassle of  changing cassette tapes and fast-forwarding to the tracks.  I wish I could post some photos of my early mixtapes but my teenage memorabilia were all drenched in Ondoy flood :( Anyway, I have not loved a soundtrack since Garden State and Wallflower's is just spot on. 

This is not a review of the soundtrack but rather a rundown of my favorites from the film. Let's start with Cocteau Twins' Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops from The Spangle Maker EP. In the film, Sam (Emma Watson) told Charlie (Logan Lerman) that she used to listen to the worst Top 40's until she heard this certain old song. When she mentioned Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops, my heart skipped a bit. I knew she was talking about a Cocteau Twins song! It's one of my faves from the band. And when the song played during the last days of highschool scene, I died. I just couldnt believe Cocteau Twins will be part of a movie soundtrack.
 
'The Innocence Mission!,' I shouted in my head when their song Evensong played during this Homecoming Dance scene. I havent heard The Innocence Mission in a film since Empire Records and I couldnt be happier to hear them again.
 
One of the standouts is The Smiths' Asleep which was Charlie's favorite song. You cant go wrong with The Smiths.
 
One of my favorite scenes was the Winter Formal dance particularly when Charlie slowly walked his way to the dance floor to join his friends and Dexy's Midnight Runners' Come On Eileen was playing. So adorable! I thought the Save Ferris version was the original, though.

 

And of course, David Bowie's Heroes. They call it the "tunnel song." Such classic track that's fitting for this amazing film. It's the kind of song which you sing with your friends in a roadtrip and then you will realize that you all feel infinite. WTF!!!??? hahaha

 

Crowded House, XTC, Sonic Youth, Galaxy 500, L7, New Order are also heard on the film. If you liked the songs on this post and you havent seen or read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, then go ahead and "participate." You'll love the film as much as you'll love the songs.

MUST LISTEN: Wax and Wane (Cocteau Twins cover) by Deftones

I didnt know that Deftones had a cover version of Cocteau Twins' Wax and Wane until I saw it on my Tumblr feed today. Not really a fan of Deftones and I only know their song Sextape (which I really love). I thought their music was too loud for me that's why I never really tried listening to them. But god! covering Cocteau Twins?! Big turn on for me. It's not too late to like Deftones, right? Here's the original version of Wax and Wane...

It's from Cocteau Twins' debut album Garlands

Any other Deftones songs suggestions?

Pure Essentials

While everyone's doing color blocking, my friends from Paradigm Shift made their collection as white as possible.

PLAY THIS MUSIC WHILE BROWSING:

Lazy Calm by Cocteau Twins

And their accessories (ehem designer..) are love! With it's soft texture, they added real metal nails to give it an edge and spiked it up a little bit. The purest of pain (yaiks) :)

To place an order, you can check their official website www.paradigmshiftclothing.com

MUST LISTEN: Elizabeth Fraser [Cocteau Twins Rework] by Star Slinger

I was reading some emails this morning and discovered this recommendation by someone unnamed. I guess he/she/it knows that I am a big fan of Cocteau Twins that's why he/she/it sent it to me. Thanks! I'm gonna give to Star Slinger for this awesome "remix" of Cocteau Twins' Heaven or Las Vegas. It's a totally different song now with Star Slinger's distinct heavy beats and R&B rythm. I dont know if other Cocteau Twins fans would approve, though. But for me, it's a two-thumbs-up.

 

RARITY: Sugar Hiccup(Cocteau Twins cover) by Sugar Hiccup

Today's a good day for music hunting for me. I found lot's of new stuff as well as old ones. Just like this rarity by one of my favorite local bands from the 90's Sugar Hiccup. I have been searching for this song for ages and I finally got a copy.

Ever wonder where did they get their name? It's a song by the band who most influenced their music and sound- Cocteau Twins. Sugar Hiccup(song) was part of Cocteau Twin's EP Sunburst and Snowblind. Sugar Hiccup(band) then cover it for a tribute album for Cocteau Twins called Half-Gifts.

But what does Sugar Hiccup mean? Thoughts?

Here's the original version from Cocteau Twins:


And here's Sugar Hiccup's version:

Which version is better?