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- Reggae doesn't make Guardian readers cry, but here are some songs that do ...
Last week, Guardian critics talked about the tracks of their tears. Then you lot joined in by listing the songs you play when you've been, you know, chopping onions ...
Add to our collaborative playlistLast week, in the spirit of Nick Clegg's leaky-eyed relationship with music, we asked you to nominate songs that make you cry. More than a thousand readers suggested music that had them manning the emotional floodgates – and what's interesting is the things you can learn about people when they tell you something so personal. Like, for one thing, reggae doesn't make Guardian readers cry.
A Spotify playlist was created so everyone who felt the urge could chuck their song into to this vast, bubbling broth of love and loss, hurt and exhilaration. Within this list was one solitary nomination – for the brilliant Linton Kwesi Johnson track, Sonny's Lettah – to cover half a century of dread-fuelled laments. Likewise, country music – surely the most lachrymose musical genre – was neglected, with only a couple of Emmylou Harris songs, Gram Parsons's $1,000 Wedding and a Dixie Chicks' track. What, no one nominated Gregory Isaacs's My Relationship, or the Stanley Brothers' White Dove? Well, no.
Of course, music needs an extra emotional connection to have a lasting effect. A sad song only becomes poignant when it reminds you of something, or someone, else. But when it does the effect can be uncomfortably real, like you've been physically struck.
SnoopDogStevens says, with a note of regret, that it's "horrible to daytrip in the genuine sadness at a close family friend's funeral but Olympian by Gene was like a punch in the solar plexus that day. RIP." Lunabell, writing about Abba's underrated 1982 blub-fest Slipping Through My Fingers, said: "The first time I heard it I was just about to give birth to my youngest child, and the lyrics punched me in the heart."
At other times that effect can make you angry. Adlad writes beautifully of a deeply loved uncle broken by drink and gambling and how he can't hear the Cars' Drive without remembering the man he worked with on Live Aid day. "The faux-emotional hit," he says, "forcing your deepest depths open without demanding anything from you that might equate to understanding or analysis, just the pornography of that pairing of bland soft-rock with that horror."
But for most people who contributed, those painful memories are among the best. So flatshare favourites Radiohead and super-goth Robert Smith (six for the Cure, one for his 80s side-project, the Glove) come in first, each having seven songs guaranteed to make someone well up. The benighted late-60s/early-70s troubadours (Neil, Joni, Jackson, Waits) all do well, while the National, Elbow, Bon Iver and LCD Soundsystem keep things current. Four Tet had more than the Four Tops and Cat Power had more than Cat Stevens, both of which bode well.
I would like to thank Swanriverdaisy for being the only reader to mention Red House Painters, a band who never fail to give activate my tearducts (though my money's on the song before yours on that album, Grace Cathedral Park).
And finally, to Raford0 who chose Deep Purple's When a Blind Man Cries? That really had better be an amazing story.
You can still add to our collaborative playlist here
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Tune-Yards – whokill: exclusive album stream
Her debut album, Bird-Brains, won rave reviews and now Merrill Garbus is back with a brilliant follow-up
Merrill Garbus (aka Tune-Yards) slayed the critics with her charming debut album Bird-Brains in 2009, a patchwork creation of loops, Afro-pop and electronica recorded on a Dictaphone.
The follow-up tidies up the rough edges a little, but don't fret that her avant urges have been dampened – whokill is one of the most distinctive-sounding records we've heard this year. Just listen to Powa, for instance, which starts out as a gentle ukulele strum before a detour into cosmic-rock territory that ends up falsetto-ing off into some far-flung sonic galaxy.
Let us know what you think below – the Guardian's Film&Music will review the album this Friday.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - New music: 2:54 – Cold Front
Creeping lo-fi pop that will get under your skin
The enigmatically monikered 2:54 (named after their favourite moment in a Melvins song), are sisters Hannah and Colette Thurlow, wearers of leather jackets and sombre expressions – and makers of some of the best lo-fi noise-pop around. They first emerged last May with their debut offering, Creeping, a swampy mix of guitar squall and soft harmonies. This was followed by the slower, meaner On a Wire, with its glowering basslines and "I will find you" lyrics. New single Cold Front sees the duo hitting their stride, combining that chilling atmosphere to classic melodies, the guitars chiming over dramatic cymbal splashes and a gorgeous chorus that kicks in just as the guitars shift up a gear. It's still gloomy, but this time you can dance to it.guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Music Weekly podcast: TV On the Radio and Lykke Li
Alexis Petridis is joined this week by Rosie Swash – who has brought the sun back from LA – and Rob Fitzpatrick. The trio discuss Nine Types of Light, the latest album by TV On the Radio.
There's much talk about a shift in tone for the Brooklyn band: is it a new record label, a new optimism ... or a new love? Whatever the reason, you can hear the album on the Guardian music site. Let us know your thoughts below.
The Feature With No Name sees Alexis salute a long-forgotten – possibly never remembered in the first place – gem by Chad and Jeremy called The Ark. They suffered from "toffs can't rock" dismissal in the UK, but were big in America. Stand by for English whimsy.
Finally, there's an exclusive live track from Lykke Li.
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