Firstly, the goose-bump-inducing “This Woman’s Work” by Kate Bush, and it’s accompanying video.

This is one of those songs where the video plays a key role in understanding the song - a man sits alone in a waiting room, impatient, upset, while a woman’s spirit tries to console him; tries to get close to him; but he pulls away again and again. He slips into a reverie where the spirit, his wife, wraps a jacket around him, and we see their love. A nurse pulls him from his reverie, checking on him in the waiting room.

A meal. The wife collapses, and he rushes her to hospital, his last touch of her arm one as she’s rushed away by gurney. Finally, we’re back in the waiting room; the nurse reappears; and she looks positive. She says something to the man, and he sits, in shock, but what seems like relief.

This song will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Pray God you can cope.
I stand outside this woman’s work, this woman’s world.
Ooh, it’s hard on the man, now his part is over.
Now starts the craft of the father.

I know you have a little life in you yet.
I know you have a lot of strength left.
I know you have a little life in you yet.
I know you have a lot of strength left.

I should be crying, but I just can’t let it show.
I should be hoping, but I can’t stop thinking…

…Of all the things I should’ve said, that I never said.
All the things we should’ve done, that we never did.
All the things I should’ve given, But I didn’t.

Oh, darling, make it go, make it go away.

Give me these moments back.
Give them back to me.
Give me that little kiss.
Give me your hand.

Kate Bush - This Woman’s Work

www: Kate Bush

No, I’m not talking about Obama*, but about something nowhere near as important.

The Kings of Leon - those wonderful brothers/cousins/sons of a United Pentecostal evangelist who grew up on the road between Oklahoma City and Memphis - released their forth album, Only By The Night, to critical acclaim. Don’t you love that phrase?

But…but…after the huge first hit single, “Sex on Fire”, they’ve now released their second, “Use Somebody”. And while listening to it, something occurred to me. Kings of Leon have gone rock. Proper rock. From their initial slightly alternative, slightly rockabilly, and mainly catchy-but-weird beginnings, Kings of Leon are now churning out anthemic, lighters-in-the-air four minute mini-epics. Somewhere between U2 and Snow Patrol, Kings of Leon have managed to claw themselves a nice little piece of land, and combined with Caleb Followill’s wonderful voice (listen for the vocal turn on the phrase “use somebody”), I like them even more.

And isn’t that the pinnacle for any artist?

You know that I could use somebody
You know that I could use somebody
Someone like you

Off in the night,
While you live it up, I’m off to sleep
Waging war to shake the poet and the beat

Kings of Leon - Use Somebody

www: Kings of Leon

* For the record - the man can talk the talk. I just hope that he’s ready, willing, able and allowed to walk the walk.

With lyrics as simple, yet as hard-hitting, as

Well, I wonder which song they’re gonna play when we go. I hope it’s something quiet and minor and peaceful and slow. When we float out into the ether, into the Everlasting Arms, I hope we don’t hear Marley’s chains we forged in life.

Did you hear the ‘59 Sound coming through on Grand Papa’s radio? Did you hear the rattling chains in the hospital walls? Did you hear the old gospel choir when they came to carry you over? Did you hear your favorite song one last time?

And I wonder were you scared when the metal hit the glass? See, I was playing a show down the road
When your spirit left your body. And they told me on the front lawn. I’m sorry I couldn’t go, but I still know the song and the words and her name and the reasons.

if this doesn’t get your foot a-tappin’ and your head a-thinkin’, nothin’ will. Sorry, I’ll use proper grammer now.

No’.

The Gaslight Anthem - The ‘59 Sound

www: The Gaslight Anthem

I’m sorry - what? Have people’s attention spans really gotten to that stage? In a world of ever-decreasing song (and music video) lengths, have a number of suits sat around a boardroom and thought, “You know what? These 3 minute music videos are too long - we’re losing market share. Has anyone any ideas? What about….what about….2 minutes of each music video! That’s it - that’s the winner!”

Sad.

I adore Matthew Good. Ever since I got my hands on “White Light Rock & Roll Review” (still one of my favourite albums of all time - maybe even my favourite….), I’ve passionately got my hands on nearly everything he’s released - either as part of the Matthew Good Band, or on his own.

One thing I noticed very quickly on playing any of his music to others was their immediate reaction of discomfort. After this happened a number of times, I finally challenged someone on it, who admitted, “Well, it’s just that it’s…a bit too heavy. It’s really intense. And long.”

Well, I can’t argue with the intense part. Or the long - Matthew doesn’t really “do” many songs under 6 minutes.

From that day, I adored Matthew a little more.

And I know from my friends faces that this particular track, “While We Were Hunting Rabbits”, holds two awards - being my favourite MG song of all time, and being the song that makes most of my friends the most uncomfortable.

Buy in, it’ll shut you up. Try it, it should shut you up. We’ve brought someone in to shut you up. It’s a life’s work

And I dance. And I sing. And I am a monkey in a long line of kings. We dance. We sing. And we’re all monkeys in a long line, long line. I’m just a boat on the ocean, I’m just a ship lost at sea.

7 minutes 59 seconds of guitars, strange lyrics, and big bells (listen carefully - I do love that bit).

7 minutes 59 seconds of one of the most unsettling videos ever created. (Well, 6 minutes 12 seconds, but it ruins my cool riff here).

7 minutes 59 seconds of my personal music perfection.

Matthew Good - While We Were Hunting Rabbits

www: Matthew Good

I’ve hardly been outside my room in days, ’cause I don’t feel that I deserve the sunshine’s rays. The darkness helped until the whiskey wore away. And it was then I realise the conscience never fades.

And when her gorgeous Aussie inflection shines through on happier (but no less impactful) lines such as

And we will only need each other, we’ll bleed together. Our hands will not be taught to hold another’s, when we’re the special two.

it leaves you not giving a Fosters XXXX about anything else.

A 25-year-old who has released two albums to date - both propelling her to ARIA awards (the Australian Grammy) as “Best Female Artist” in 2005 and 2007, and both being the highest-selling albums in Australia in their respective years - Missy…

Ah screw it - you didn’t come for her bio. Just listen to the songs. They’re gorgeous.

Missy Higgins - All For Believing

Missy Higgins - The Special Two

www: Missy Higgins

The overall theme of the record is one of loss.  This is not a light-hearted record with mass appeal.  Says Nilsson, “I have no plans to quit my day job.  This is music best listened to in solitude”.  Although not a threat to challenge on the charts, it may be an album for those that appreciate delicate songwriting in the vein of Hayden, Nick Drake or Nebraska-era Springsteen.

My own words:

While my tastes range wide and far, and my liking for an artist can depend on so many factors, including my mood when I first encounter them, who they are most similar to, and the waning and waxing of the moon, every so often I come across a song that completely stops me in my tracks; that pushes the world around me away for a few minutes; leaving me in my own world, just myself and whoever is singing that song.

Sean Nilsson, a.k.a Sheltered in Sound, is the first artist to do this to me in over four months, since I first discovered William Fitzsimmons. I’ve included two of his songs here - the Ryan-Adams-circa-Suicide-Handbook-esque “Falling Stars” and the Tom-McRae-meets-Matthew-Ryan sparsity of “Held Hostage By A Restless Heart”.

Sheltered in Sound has a number of reference points - Matthew Ryan’s more accessible work and an artist I adored on MP3.com many years ago named Jon Kahn (latterly of the band The Color Green, even more latterly back as a solo artist, and even more latterly back with The Color Green again (yes, I know using latterly like that doesn’t make sense. Shut up.)) immediately spring to mind. However, Sheltered in Sound takes familiar ground and treads it in his own way: ground covered in frost, where only his, and ours, footsteps can be seen, and where deeply affecting music can be heard.

Just amazing.

Support Sheltered in Sound - Visit his site, and buy his album.

Sheltered in Sound - Falling Stars

Sheltered in Sound - Held Hostage By A Restless Heart

This is the second in my series of apologies for the delay in my posting. There are a number of reasons - moving jobs recently, outfitting my apartment, and a few other things happening at the same time - but this isn’t an excuse. Well, it is.

So, I promise to post more over the coming weeks and months. But…I made a promise previously that I would not sacrifice quality for quantity, and it is taking more and more time to find music that I feel fits with the site.

I do want to thank all the artists who have sent me music to put on the site - quite a few to date. I’m sorry if I don’t feature many of you - it’s not that I don’t like your music (I do), it’s just that my mood when posting usually determines the music I write about. However, please keep submitting to me!

For my loyal followers (hahahahaha I do amuse myself) there is a good one coming. I promise.

Iglu & Hartly are one of those times. I first caught the video for their single “In This City” a few weeks ago, and watched it, dumbfounded, thinking “How on Earth did a bunch of San Fran jocks get their hands on an audience and a camera?” Of course, I also noticed my foot was tapping.

Then, last week, I read a review with the band, where they talked about when they had finished writing “In This City”, and realised that they might have written the greatest song of all time.

Uhm, sorry guys, no. I’m afraid you’ve written a very catchy tune, soon to disappear into the big box marked “Andrew WK - Party Hard”, and never be heard of again. Enjoy your 5 minutes (uhm, sorry, 4 minutes 11 seconds) of fame, boys. It was fun. For about the length of the song.

Iglu & Hartly - In This City

Several years ago, I read a review of “Under Cold Blue Stars”, and asked my sister for it for Christmas 2002. After a blank look, and a long search, I found it in my stocking, and listened to it a couple of times, before discarding it to gather dust on a shelf. However, over the next few months, I got my hands on some of Josh’s older albums (namely 1998’s “Dressed Up Like Nebraska” and 2000’s “Home”), and once “1972″ was released and gained critical acclaim in 2003, I was happy to role out my elitist head, and utter those immortal words: “I’ve been listening to him for ages!”

Josh has just released a “best of” from one of his older record labels, the resulting collection of which is a must-have for non-Josh fans. Yep, you heard me - the collection is a whistle-stop introduction to Josh, and pulls together most of his top songs. However, if you’ve already gotten most of JR’s work, then you’ll already have most of 25 of the 32 songs on the collection (the other 7 being demos and rare tracks).

However, being the Josh completist that I am, I got my hands on the collection as soon as it was available. From it, I’ve decided to include four of my favourite Josh songs:

• Directions - the song which got me into Josh in the first place; a rip-roaring, high-tempo ode to a bad relationship
• Feeling No Pain - not quite as rip-roaring, but still up-tempo; a happy tune about the invincibility that love can instill
• Nothing Gives Me Pleasure - from the same album as “Feeling No Pain” (2002’s “Under Cold Blue Stars”), a slow, insistent little ditty about dependence on another
• My Love Is Gone - and finally, the song containing my favourite Josh Rouse line of all time….

And I sleep with the TV on. Its the only sound, our love’s gone.

And so, here’s to Josh Rouse. Releasing nearly an album a year (and I’ll be honest here - of ever-decreasing quality). Getting happy and married and moving to Nashville. Having that marriage end and moving to Spain. Producing bittersweet (and sometimes just plain sweet) music. And now with a post on my blog. Surely the pinnacle of his career.

Josh Rouse - Directions

Josh Rouse - Feeling No Pain

Josh Rouse - Nothing Gives Me Pleasure

Josh Rouse - My Love Is Gone