About The Red and Black (Athens, Ga.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 2014)
18 AMPERSAND | FEB/MAR 2014 Will Guerin (Editor’s Choice) Drew Kirby (guitarist/vocalist, New Wives) 1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - “Hysteric” - A weightless, floating arrangement that doesn’t sacrifice the venomous bite of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs cata logue. The song combines the blissful reverberation of chimes and guitar with the brash personality of Karen O’s vocals as she breaks out of sugary verses of “flow sweetly, hang heavy, you suddenly com plete me” into the shouted refrain of “Hysteric-al!” It strikes the right balance with a push and pull between emotion and physicality. 2. My Bloody Valentine - “I Only Said” - You might be setting the bar a little high with this one because if you aren’t enraptured in joy ful love making, you’ll probably be jealous of what Kevin Shields has going on over there with all those bleeding guitars. 3. Beach House - “Silver Soul” - Wow! What an original pick Will, who would have thought of Beach House? And admittedly, this leans a little too much to the mushy, “let me make love to you” side of things. But c’mon, you can’t beat that guitar tone or Victoria Le grand’s vocals. 4. Purity Ring - “Lofticries” - There is something that makes you lust after “Lofticries.” Maybe it’s the pairing of Megan James’ femi nine mystique with the brooding bass and ethereal synths. Ideally, it would be a little faster paced, but the slow grinding tempo has it’s benefits as well. 5. Vampire Weekend - “I Think Ur A Contra” - What’s sex without the blissful afterglow of brushing hair out of each other’s eyes and laying on the bed exhausted? Ezra’s aiming straight for your heart on this one - just don’t read too much into the (somewhat deceptive) lyrical heartbreak he pens. 1. tUnE-yArDs - “Powa” - It’s a song about sex from the woman’s perspective, which I feel like you don’t really hear enough of. Always loved the line “I need you to press me down before my body flies away from me.” 2. Outkast - “Stankonia (Stanklove)” - I could put the whole album on here really, no one writes about sex like Andre 3000. “Both brains become one mind sensually, every nerve becoming its own individ ual entity with its own lusts, its own needs to serve, longing for the love of all the other nerves.” 3. “Channel Orange” by Frank Ocean - I don’t think this one needs any explaining. 4. The Beatles - “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” - Obvious sexual over- tones aside, all the shifts in this song kind of hit on all the different feelings in sex - it’s smooth, then just gets real dirty and gritty, all of the sudden it speeds up doubletime, then the whole end section feels like a blissful release. And they did it all in 3 minutes. 5. Lil B - "F*** Me (Remix)” - Because everyone needs to keep it positive. Specific Song Connected With Sex - The only song I really distinctly remember is “Ball and Biscuit” by the White Stripes. It was pretty perfect, the song pulses really nicely and alternately explodes and then calms down. I love the builds before the solos, there’s so much tension that has you so ready to dive into the next loud part. The White Stripes in general have a pretty raw, carnal sound. Not to men tion it’s a pretty long song too, so it really feels like a trip.
