Blog: 10 Tracks I Could Only Love on YouTube

As an avid music fanatic, I take pride in organizing my artists across the digital plane. For instance, iTunes houses only full albums that exist tangibly somewhere. Spotify is for party playlists. Grooveshark is for records I intend to buy. Finally, YouTube is for videos and other random finds; consequently, I don’t buy most of the tracks on my YouTube playlist. Nor do I obsess over their context. They are simply my own personal one hit wonders forged by some intense musicians. Check out this YouTube medley for some quirky gems:
1.) “Heavy Bells” by J. Roddy Walston & the Business:

This southern-sounding group with the insanely long name is about as modern indie as you can get. A bunch of hairy hipsters decided to form a blues gospel rock band and created something genius. I found these guys on a whim, searching randomly on Dave Matthew’s ATO record label website. This song popped out of the radio and into my mind. What a find.
2.) “Momma Sed” by Puscifer:

This song is Puscifer’s little, promotional baby and rightly so. While Puscifer is often regarded as pure Maynard, many fans find it too minimalist for their prog metal cravings. While the debut record “V” is for Vagina may be lost in this respect, “Momma Sed” remains firmly etched in my mind. It must be the appeal of an old gunslinger strutting across a desert that just makes me tic.
3.) “Bye Bye” by WHOwho:

Welcome to the wonderful world of K-Rock. Don’t be fooled by the more popular – less appealing – K-Pop, Korea knows the future of rock lies somewhere between Daft Punk and this band. I found WHOwho through a left-wing article about world music…and that’s the only place I found them. Though the band managed to stake a plot on Spotify, they have a low internet presence, mostly in Korea. Squeeze what you can out of this exotic genre.
4.) “Tennis Court Flume Remix” by Lorde and Flume:

Lorde is pretty cool. Flume is pretty cool. Lorde and Flume together are unstoppable. Lorde does not fall victim to remix dilution. She is layered by Flume’s swishy dance signature and the sexualized union makes headlines. Its accompanying gold-infused music video makes it a YouTube collectors’ item.
5.) “Pink Cigarette” by Mr. Bungle:

I don’t know where I found this fan video, but it was apparently creepy enough to archive. And it’s a Mike Patton project. And it made me cry. Like many of the Mike Patton gems I find on the internet, I listened to the track incessantly with little knowledge of the albums…until recently. Mr. Bungle’s California is one of the band’s only accessible albums to sober listeners and I found it in my parents’ garage.
6.) “Heart’s a Mess” by Gotye:

It’s a shame Gotye never wrote anything more mesmerizing than this. I just to want to own whatever tripped out water drum he’s pounding on and write a lullaby for my future children. My mother introduced me to Gotye through old fashioned email, when “Somebody That I Used to Know” was her favorite song. For a while, this one was mine.
7.) “Baby’s on Fire” by Venus in Furs:

Remember that movie where Ewen McGregor dressed as a Cobain-esque Iggy Pop glam rocker makes love to a vulnerable Christian Bale on an 80s rooftop? Surprisingly, most people don’t. Hedwig inspiring rock opera Velvet Goldmine churned out a pretty sultry soundtrack with some serious rock masterminds, like Thom Yorke and Brian Eno. “Baby’s on Fire” is orgasmic.
8.) “Blue Skies” by Albert Hammond Jr.:

This is the cutest little folk song I’ve ever heard. The chorus’ descending notes strike just the right feels. It’s quite a charming way to release a solo album. Sadly, the rest of Yours to Keep comes across as generic and lacks the purity inherent in this song.
9.) “Jealous Guy” by Deftones:

The only thing better than Deftones songs are Deftones covers. I could not resist looking at that adorable kitten accompanied by a rendition of my favorite Lennon song interpreted by one of my top five bands. This one had quite an unhealthy amount of replays and emotional whistling.
10.) “Back Pack” by Andrew Jackson Jihad:

Caution: This song should be played on low volume so as not to upset other members of the household. Emotionally wrecking and hysterically depressing, “Back Pack” is like the end of a terribly sad movie. One of AJJ’s more heart wrenching eulogies, they flicked a melodic switched. Their tragic lyrics finally inspire equally broken songwriting. Since I met this off humor band through a high school heartbreaker, I tend to avoid them. But once in a while, when nostalgia bites, I come back to it, and continue to laugh and cry simultaneously.