The Dust Lounge

Tag: Grind Spark Earworm

  • Grind Spark – the complete earworm sessions

    It’s time to close the book on Grind Spark.

    Not completely, there’s still tweaks and edits afoot.

    But times are a-changing and new WIPs (Work in Progress, Walrus in Pants, Wet Insidious Pulses… whatever takes your fancy) with whole new earworms are calling.

    So it’s time to wrap up the Grind Spark playlist.

    I present to you here, in one place, for your most decadent earjoy, the majority of songs that I listened to while fighting words and wrestling keyboards, and also while writing Grind Spark.

    Genesis by Justice

    Utopia by Jackson and His Computerband

    Ain’t no sunshine by Liz Hodson & Josiah Wolf

    Idioteque by Radiohead

    Avril 14th by Aphex Twin

    White Cyclosa by Boards of Canada

    Brennisteinn by Sigur Ros

    Getting ahead in the lucrative field of artist management by UNKLE

    Feral by Radiohead

    Vengeance Rhythm by Two Fingers

    Spitfire by The Prodigy

    Turn Down for What by DJ Snake and Lil Jon

    Killa Bunnies by Moloko

    Hungry Face by Mogwai

    In the House, in a Heartbeat by John Murphy

    Don’t worry, dusty fiends, there will be more musical interludes, but they’ll be writing background to the new projects. But what music fuels your writing? What songs are the neighbours complaining about because you play them so loud in the middle of the night when the muse strikes? Share the sounds in the comments below. And keep writing, fiends.

  • Grind Spark Earworm #15 – John Murphy

    28 Days Later

    It’s Grind Spark earworm time everybody, and this week we’re sort of staying with the soundtrack theme.

    Last time we listened to the hauntingly beautiful Hungry Face by Mogwai, featured on the TV series Les Revenants.

    This time we’re listening to a song that still sends shivers up my spine.

    A song that spreads out across an empty city, while a lone man looks at empty roads and wonders what’s happened.

    A song that sets music to zombies, with a backdrop of cruel humanity.

    Not that there are zombies in Grind Spark.

    But if I was all alone at the end of the world, I think this is what I’d be listening to.

    This is In the House, in a Heartbeat by John Murphy, as featured on the 28 Days Later soundtrack.

    Listen to it alone under storm clouds.

  • Grind Spark Earworm #14 – Mogwai

    HAPPY SUNDAY, GUYS! HAPPY FIRST DAY OF JUNE!

    Wha’?

    IT’S THE FIRST DAY OF JUNE, MAN!

    Are you smoking that shit you bought off the purple crocodile living at the bottom of the garden again?

    ERM… NO…

    Right…

    THAT WAS THE SEASONING FOR LAST NIGHT’S PIZZA.

    *Rolls over, digs in under the blankets*

    BUT IT REALLY IS JUNE.

    Which it is, as I gulp down mugs of coffee and wonder what’s happened with the rest of the year – perhaps that pizza knocked me out for months and now it’s Summer (only wet and quite cold). So now it’s time to fill in the rest of the year and make plans, and for all of that I figure I’ll start with working out what to eat for dinner and maybe work my way up from there.

    Speaking of which, it’s Grind Spark playlist time as you tuck into your Sunday lunches or post-drink fry-ups.

    Last week it was all about killer rabbits… this week we’re channeling the sounds of the returning dead.

    Not that there are any zombies in Grind Spark.

    But there is a yearning for the past. A desperate grab for something that is long gone.

    So you end up with a plastic sheen that replicates the real thing but doesn’t quite feel like it. I guess you could insert the Great British Bake Off here.

    This song comes from the soundtrack to Les Revenants, one of the best television series I’ve seen for a while (although I haven’t managed to catch the end yet so… shush about what happens, yeah?)

    This song is Hungry Face by Mogwai.

    Listen to it when the sun sets and faces turn to blurs.

     

     

  • Grind Spark Earworm #13 – Moloko

    Moloko Killa Bunnies

    Woah, it’s only come around to that Grind Spark playlist time again. There’s been less posts recently due to my head being buried in a couple of new WIPs and running through final edits on Grind Spark – don’t worry though, there’s wordage being stored up to shortly be spewed into bloggity format for your eyeball delectation.

    Last week we went on a little trip off piste to check out DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s Turn Down for What. I trust you all played it appropriately loud.

    This week I’m picking probably the lightest song from the playlist.

    Well, when I say light, I mean it has fluffy bunnies in it.

    So that’s light, right?

    So this is for the pet lovers.

    This is Killa Bunnies by Moloko.

    Listen to it whilst hopping.

    Or eating carrots.

  • Grind Spark Earworm #12 – DJ Snake and Lil Jon

    Turn Down for What

    Is it Grind Spark playlist time again?

    I think it might just be.

    Last time we went for rage and dancing with The Prodigy.

    This week we’re doing something different. This week we’ve got a BRAND SPANKING NEW addition to the playlist. Not spanking like paddles and chains and red lights. More spanking like Julia Childs with a nice piece of tripe.

    And the new addition was suggested by Gabriel Novo (find him on Twitter as @GabrielNovo). He’s a pretty darn cool dude, who seems to have got things pretty much right when he suggested my musical tastes seemed to be pretty odd. To be fair, I’d go as far as to say it’s not just my musical tastes… but let’s save that for another post.

    So, for your eardrum delectation, here’s Turn Down for What by DJ Snake and Lil Jon.

    Listen to it loud. Probably without your gran.

    Thanks Mr Novo. Any more recommendations hit me up in the comments below, or on Twitter and Facebook.

    Now turn it up.

     

  • Grind Spark Earworm #11 – The Prodigy

    Spitfire by The Prodigy

    This week I am finally able to share the news that Grind Spark hit the longlist for the Bath Novel Award – one of only 32 novels out of 649. This is all pretty darn cool and since I heard the news I have celebrated appropriately with wine, beer, chair dancing and shouting HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS? NO, WAIT, I CAN’T SAY YET BUT IT’S AS EXCITING AS A KANGAROO FIRING PARTYPOPPERS FROM ITS POUCH.

    Ok, well, maybe not that exciting.

    But I’m not sure anything is ever more exciting than kangaroos.

    But enough shouting and partying, time to get back on track and it’s time for the next instalment of the Grind Spark playlist.

    Last week we had Vengeance Rhythm by Two Fingers, with its most awesome video that will mean you can never look at a stuffed bear in the same way again.

    This week we’re going to dance off the anger.

    We’re going to dance off the rage.

    We’re going to find a way to spend the last few hours of Earth having fun, fuelled by music and drugs.

    And we’re going to pretend we’re happy so we can pretend we don’t hate each other.

    And we’re going to smile with glassy eyes and call it love.

    This week we’re listening to Spitfire by The Prodigy.

    Listen to it so you can’t hear the screams outside.

  • Grind Spark Earworm #10 – Two Fingers

    Two Fingers Vengeance Rhythm

    It’s time for the next instalment of the Grind Spark playlist.

    Last week we took in the jittering pulses of Radiohead’s Feral. If you were busy drowning in hot cross buns and chocolate, then listen to it now.

    This week I’ve been suffering from toothache.

    An insistent, persistent fire in the side of my face that sprouts periodically from a bored wisdom tooth. The sort of toothache that leaves you constantly checking your chin for dribble while clutching at your cheek as if your head might completely fall off. Or explode.

    It’s not that I ate lots of chocolate over Easter… no… definitely not…

    *Hides wrappers and empty boxes*

    No siree.

    *Ahem*

    So, this Sunday, we’re taking the Grind Spark playlist not just into a club filled with latent dance-hidden rage that spills out when everything is pointless and everything is going to end.

    Not just into a place where the lights are out and the dry ice is thick and the people are horny.

    It’s also a place that will cover up the constant drilling pain that threatens to consume my entire jaw.

    This is Vengeance Rhythm by Two Fingers.

    Listen to it while I knock back aspirin and hold an ice pack to my face.

  • Grind Spark Earworm #9 – Radiohead

    Radiohead Feral

    Last week the Grind Spark playlist took us somewhere dark and unsettling from the ’70s – the years when Ball Buster seemed like a good idea at the time. And the music was from the genius mind of UNKLE – go and disturb yourself now.

    So right now I imagine you’re soaking up the daytime beer with a steaming hot roast, and the kids are eyeing the Easter egg boxes on the shelf but they don’t know that you ate three of them last night so they’re just going to have to share what’s left… they won’t notice that the chocolate bunny is missing a head… right?

    *Passes a tissue*

    There’s chocolate on your chin.

    Or perhaps you’ve gone away for the long weekend? Hightailed it out of the city and the smog and now you’re sitting in the Grandparent’s house and wondering when Jason and the Argonauts is going to be on, and when gran is going to pass out on sherry, and why she still makes you wear the Easter bonnet you made at school all those years ago.

    And this song is for the journey there.

    This song is for the hours on the train.

    It’s the ratcheting rhythm of the wheels and hiss of the carriages as the train slides through the landscape.

    It’s the inevitable arrival at your destination.

    And it’s too late to get off now.

    This song is Feral, by Radiohead.

    Listen in transit.

  • Grind Spark Earworm #8 – UNKLE

    UNKLE Psyence Fiction

    Last week the Grind Spark earworm took us to the epic soundscapes of Sigur Ros – listen to it and get lost in mountains here.

    This week, well, this week it’s time for something completely different.

    It’s time for something that I didn’t even realise came from an advert before I searched YouTube for a clip of the song.

    It’s time for something that probably seemed like a good idea at the time (well, it was the 1970s).

    This week, we’re listening to UNKLE‘s Getting ahead in the lucrative field of artist management.

    Which also happens to belong to the following advert.

    Watch it, and, erm, just remember, it’s “fun for children. And for adults, it’s exciting.”

    Oh, yes.

  • Grind Spark Earworm #7 – Sigur Ros

    Brennisteinn Sigur Ros

    Last week we took a break from the Grind Spark playlist to hear the sounds that whip your creative muse into action. Thought of some more? Then get yerself over there and add em in.

    But now we’re back, spiralling down into the dirty ribcage of the Grind Spark earworm.

    And this week it’s gone a bit epic.

    This week we’re taking in vast sounds and sucking up the power of nature.

    And it’s piping direct into our brain tubes, and there’s no escape.

    And it’s so much bigger than us.

    And the mountain doesn’t care if you’re beneath it when it crumbles.

    And the rain in the sky isn’t tears.

    This is Brennisteinn by Sigur Ros.

    Listen to it and let the world smother you.