To get through the entire alphabet (and numbers) I’m gonna have to make 27 of these posts. That means, that even if I were to post one of these every single week, it would take me at least 6 months to get through. And since I also want to do my songs of the week and music of the moment posts, where I can show you some more recent songs, I thought it’d be best to have the alphabet posts take up all other weeks. Else you, my dear reader, will have to hold out for too long. Since I don’t want to stall the Music ABC for too long, I’m bringing you the letter B today.
Bird Song – Florence And The Machine
Let’s start off this letter with my favorite song by Florence and the Machine. Well one of my favorites. Back when her debut album Lungs launched a few years ago I was one of the first to hop on that bandwagon. I believe I even had a few of her songs floating around my playlists before she even released an EP. I kinda liked her second album, but since that is in the vein of songs loved by the masses, I didn’t love it as much as her first one. What I loved about that first album is that it is so versatile and has so many different flavors and sounds. To me, Bird Song is a quintessential early Florence + The Machine song: it has her amazing voice, a harp, drums and eerie lyrics.
Blue Monday – New Order
An older song, yet nonetheless a gem in any music collection. This 80s track by New Order is what I would call THE New Wave track. And if you don’t know what New Wave is, then certainly give this a listen. In the age of the computer becoming more of a standard for creating music, this song is a pioneering track, not just for electronic music, but also for any type of dance music that was to come in decades after. In fact, lots of 80s electronic tracks sound like early versions of much later house, trance and other dance songs out there. The song was remade by the band in 1988.
Box – Johnny Flynn, The
Johnny Flynn has been one of my favorite artists ever since I saw him sing this song in the Takeaway Shows by La Blogoteque. He walks the streets in Argentina and into a bodega while playing his guitar singing this song all by himself. I fell in love with his voice and bought his first album A Larum. And what’s not to love?! This man not only plays guitar and sings, but also plays the violin and can pretty much do a whole song by himself. I finally managed to see him live and this song sounded even better in real life than I had imagined. This is folky, bluesy type stuff with catchy lyrics and he’s played with Mumford & Sons before.
Bread And Butter – Newbeats
On to some 60s beat music. In the 60s, many bands started adopting the ‘beat’ sound which was firstly promoted by early Beatles music. Many of those bands didn’t necessarily cross the pond, nor stood the test of time and have been forgotten. Since I have a weakness for this type of music, I came across this live version of the Newbeats’ Bread and Butter one afternoon. It’s catchy (Sesame Street tune anyone?), a bit cheek in tongue and of course the song is made by the falsetto by the lead singer.
Breathe On Me – Britney Spears
On to the last song, which is straight up pop. This song was never a single, but it’s on Britney’s album In the Zone. The video is from the accompanying world tour and it shows Britney in her heyday: before the craziness. I don’t even really know why I love this song in particular, but it’s always stood out to me and this was out when I was in my hardcore Britney loving phase. I still love her, I have all her albums and I love her music most for dancing along to, so that’s what I usually do with this song mostly. Now all I need is myself a hot male dancer to make out with in the instrumental section.
What letter B song is your favorite?