Ear Worm #3

Peter Nagle
Ezio – ‘Bruce Springsteen’
I was sent the new album from English Folk-Rock band Ezio before Christmas and it’s been on regular rotation ever since. The band name is also the first name of main songwriter Ezio Lunedei and their formation is described on their website like this; “1990 in Cambridge: Ezio whose musical roots are somewhere between Van Morrison and Jeff Buckley, looks for the ideal partner.

When he met Kenyan born Booga, next to 2 Metres high and nearly that wide, it was only a matter of time before a musical union of unprecedented quality was formed.” Ezio has the dubious honour of having two of their songs in Tony Blair’s top5 ‘desert island’ disc selection! The album entitled ‘This is the Day’ contains some really nice acoustic folk tunes as well as songs like ‘Bruce Springsteen’ you can hear below!

Ezio – Bruce Springsteen by 2uibestow

Eoghan O’Sullivan
Kid Cudi – ‘Scott Mescudi Vs The World’
I am still trying to catch up on the best albums of 2010. Luckily, I decided that Kanye West was not the be all and end all of rap music this decade, and that Kid Cudi deserved a chance. His 2010 album, Man On the Moon II: The Legend Of Mr Rager, is full of surprises and has at least a 50% song hit-rate. Below is the opening track, ‘Scott Mescudi Vs The World’ and features Cee-lo Green, and one of the best choruses of 2010.

Kid Cudi – Scott Mescudi Vs. The World by Insoportable Magazine

Steven O’Rourke
3epkano – ‘Lullaby for Isobel’
For those that don’t know 3epkano create scores for silent movies. It’s a really interesting concept and they are a band that work really well when you watch them playing in a park on a warm summer’s evening with a glass of wine in you hand. There’s a multitude of influences at play and yet, almost everything they create sounds original and fresh.

‘Lullaby for Isobel’ is a beautiful piece that captures my mood this past week perfectly.

Elaine Kirwan
Bon Iver– Blood Bank
I tend to listen to Bon Iver (pseudonym for musician Justin Vernor) a lot, him being one of my favourite singer-songwriters, but regularly hearing his song “Babys” on the new Miller ad has really made his music stick in my head this week.

“Babys” is from Bon Iver’s EP Blood Bank, which was released in January 2009. The EP is a follow-up to the indie-folk singer-songwriter’s award-winning debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, and features just four tracks (you may recognise Vernon’s bravest effort yet, “Woods” from Season 3 of British teen drama Skins). Blood Bank is beautifully constructed, brimming with stunning arrangements and is a daring move forward for the Wisconsin native. The whole record sounds as if it were created by a full experimental band rather than just Vernon and his musician friend Mark Paulson.

Each song has multilayered harmonies, hypnotic melodies and the same fragility and depth we encountered on hearing Bon Iver’s acclaimed 2008 album, the aforementioned For Emma, Forever Ago. It is a truly heartwarming and engaging listen. I for one cannot wait to hear what this guy comes up with next.

Below is the Miller ad, for those of you who haven’t seen it. You can listen to tracks from Bon Iver’s Blood Bank EP on his MySpace page here.

Darragh McCausland
The Smiths – ‘Half a Person’
The thing about us Smiths fans is that loving them never was, or is, a ‘phase’. In some flustered and private teenage ceremony, we make our vows to Morrisey and from that point on, well, it’s game over. There is no growing up, getting wise, moving on – no amount of cat-loving, xenophobic nonsense can break th’ties that bind. And our thoughts are never less than a couple of removes from a lyric or song.

Karl and Seán (who write for this blog) were posting their favourite Smiths stuff on Twitter during the week and, seeing the internet Moz signal go up, I got in on the shenanigans. I linked to one of their minor pieces ‘Half a Person’.

It’s a riddle of a song, with a troubling lyric and shifting meanings that hide some sort of sickly stalker’s secret that is never given up to us. Marr’s downbeat guitar only heightens the mystery, creating melodic spaces that Morrisey’s lyrics don’t fill – leaving us wondering what ghastly information the “morbid” and “pale” bequiffed one is holding back? Brrrr.