Track of the Day - 12/31/11

The Waterboys - "This Is the Sea"

Well, it's New Year's Eve here at The Casualty Report (and elsewhere, but who cares about anything else, right?) and that means it's time for another Track of the Day! Today's track goes all the way back to 1985 when British band The Waterboys released their album, This Is the Sea. I actually first discovered The Waterboys through random sampling of my parents' CD collection when I was about 11 years old, and I've just recently reconnected with the group.*

This Is the Sea fits into a fairly small genre dubbed "Big Music" that had a surge in Scotland in the 80s, and the title track is perhaps the "biggest" song on the album, filled with lush, naturalistic instrumentation that builds and crashes alongside the water imagery in the lyrics. It seemed like an appropriate choice for the new year, as 2011 was a pretty tough year for me, and statistically speaking, you as well (actually, according to the Blogger tracking stats you have a high chance of being a very confused German that stumbled on this site by accident, so I don't really know how this past year treated you) and the song deals a lot with putting the past in perspective and moving on to the future. So, here's wishing you a happy new year, and let's make 2011 the river, and 2012 the sea.

Previous days' connection: Yeah, both tracks had Karen O. in them. All of you imaginary readers missed out on an easy chance to win some great imaginary prizes with that one. This connection is a bit harder, so here's a hint: it has to do with a repeated lyric in "This Is the Sea." Good luck!




*Fun (or not) sidenote: My musical tastes as a wee lad were very strange, in retrospect, as I combined the shitty pop of the time with completely random music from my parents. I might have been the only person whose stereo system would alternate between R.E.M.'s Monster, Ryan Adams' Gold and The Waterboys, and Backstreet Boys and Pokemon 2 B A Master. I also really liked Rusted Root. What the fuck.

Track of the Day - 12/22/11

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Cheated Hearts"

Ok, the connection between today's track and the last is so obvious I feel a bit like I cheated (see what I did there?), but I've just been in a Yeah Yeah Yeahs mood the past couple weeks. "Cheated Hearts" is off their 2006 album Show Your Bones, an excellent record that I much prefer to their debut Fever to Tell (and an opinion shared by virtually nobody else). The track builds beautifully behind driving drums and Karen O.'s powerful vocals, and seems to me to be one of the most cheerful-sounding and optimistic breakup songs out there - not to mention it just sounds fucking awesome.

Previous day's connection: Couple options here really, as Santigold and Switch from Major Lazer have done a bunch of work together: Santigold is featured on the Major Lazer track "Hold the Line," and Switch has remixed tracks off Santigold's self-titled debut album.

Random Topics - How Hyperbole is KILLING THE INTERNET

As I trekked across the majestic lands of the Internet this fine evening, I discovered this article from the blog Boing Boing, which interrupted my appreciation of the night's sojourn and left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. That's what she said?

Anyway, the entry is a reprinting of a plea from a group called Fight for the Future concerning the Protect IP Act, an anti-piracy bill making its way through Congress. Here at The Casualty Report I normally like to keep things focused on the things that really matter, like fantasy books and movie trailers, and I try to avoid blogging about political matters because I have the fear that it will cause me to break out in boils and spout insufferable vomitus to everyone I come across. But 1) This particular matter is somewhat related to the stuff I cover and 2) This rant of mine isn't so much designed to talk about the substance of the bill, but rather the manner in which its opponents choose to argue.

Random Topics - Worldbuilders 2011

Just a quick post to spread the word about author Patrick Rothfuss' awesome annual charity drive, called Worldbuilders. I wrote about it last year, but in brief: Worldbuilders was started by Rothfuss, and gives people who donate money to Heifer International via his site a chance to win some cool prizes - mostly genre novels, but there is always a lot of great stuff in the mix. If you're feeling charitable or just want a chance to snag some new books, check it out!