Song Of The Day No.49

Prozac Vs Heroin

by The Brian Jonestown Massacre (And This Is Our Music, 2003)

The Brian Jonestown Massacre is basically Anton Newcombe. The band's constantly changing line-up is a little dizzying and the band's discography can also make the average man feel a bit queasy at the sight of it with eleven LPs and seven EPs in seventeen years. The band were stars of the documentary DIG! which followed The Dandy Warhol's road to success and BJM's frustration and repeated implosion at the hands of it's star.

This song is a fairly typical offering from the group whose sound can range from shoegaze, psychedelia and sixties pop to electronic and experimental with various combinations included. 'Prozac Vs Heroin' mixes psychedelic sounds with a wall of sound/shoegaze atmosphere. Various strummed guitars fill the soundscape with the occasional stringed instrument while Newcombe's voice steadily drones through the lyrics.

AR

Song Of The Day No.39

I Believe It

by Spacemen 3 (Playing With Fire, 1989)

Hailing from Rugby in Warwickshire, England, the band have a good claim to be the most famous people to emerge from this quaint town on the River Avon, along with Arthur Bostrom of course. Founded by Jason Pierce (Spiritualized) and Peter Kember (Spectrum, E.A.R.) in 1982 after meeting at art college the band went on to pioneer genres like space-rock and shoegaze, while incorporating other genres like psychedelia and post-rock into their sound. One aspect of their sound is embodied in 'Suicide'. Off the same album, the song is an undulating throb and drone as a wave of distortion and feedback pulsates for eleven minutes.

'I Believe It' has a different tact, relying on the band's ultra-minimalist outlook with a gentle hum of guitar aided by an electric organ alternatively keying in two well held chords to provide the background and slight melody. Softly sung lyrics linger over the reverberations pleading to the powers that be for something and later simplistic cymbal tapping and a slight increase in volume signal the end of this hushed, calming album track.

AR