Music discussion. Poison and Antidote tracks

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I’m an old dude, and my musical tastes have shifted over the decades. But one thing that remains the same is I always tend to find a song here and there that reaches me on a very deep level. Its not often, but once I find one, it’s like a poison. As my family will attest to, I tend favor music that is depressing to most. (I’m sometimes not allowed to pick the music for parties :rofl:)

I relish in dark, sad, melancholy moods. I’m not a depressed person, but it’s my comfort zone.

I’m torn with this music. It’s my absolute favorite thing on earth at times, but I also know that these songs can be like poison to my soul. I can spend so much time in this mood that it starts to effect me negatively.

But… I also found songs that are the opposite as well. Antidote songs!

Do you have any songs that fit the bill?

I’ve got more examples to share than I can shake a stick at, but here’s one I encountered today on my walk:

Greyhound by Foxing. I didn’t know anything about Foxing until I heard this song last year. This one can absolutely rot my soul. I’m not usually a lyrics person, but these are fucking brutal.

I feel like I’m in a dream that’s described by friend
I am in but have no interest in hearing
… It means nothing to me

Full Lyrics

… I’ve been feeling like I can’t come up for air
For these last ten years
What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with us?
What’s wrong with us?

… It’s like I’m trying to find the beauty underwater
All I do is focus on my breath
And there’s nothing I can do but laugh
There’s nothing I can do but laugh

… So I laugh at my telephone
Look at how beautiful the telephone can be
Look at how he loves me
Look at how he loves me

… I feel like I’m in a dream that’s described by friend
I am in but have no interest in hearing

… It means nothing to me
It means nothing to me
It means nothing to me
It means nothing to me

… I had a dream of the present eating past
Like a blue whale grazing in the Table Rock
Oversized and underfed
I had a chance to amend what was wrong
But the wrong was still to come so the whale had run aground
Heaving breaths over time, soothed itself like child
Until it disintegrated
I admit it meant nothing to me

… I’ve been feeling like my peak is in my past
And my leg is tangled, trapped in the coral now
Dropping everything I love to the bottom of the pond
Just to free my fingers up, pry the polyps off
But the will is in the wave
Just to suffocate and break every spirit, every vital sign

… We’ll get fooled again
We will get fooled again
We will get fooled again
We will get fooled again

… But oh, I’ve been feeling like
I ain’t got nothing left to give
I’ve been feeling like
I ain’t got nothing left to give

… I’ve been feeling like
I ain’t got nothing left to give
I ain’t got nothing left to give
I’ve been feeling like
I ain’t got nothing left to give
I ain’t got nothing left to give

… I’ve been feeling like
I ain’t got nothing left to give
I ain’t got nothing left to give
I’ve been feeling like
I ain’t got nothing left to give
I’ve been feeling like I-

I love it and hate it. These dudes are funky and usually more lighthearted, but this one is toxic for me, in a good and bad way i guess :slight_smile:

But I can undo any poison in my soul by listening to Blood Orange. His newest album, Essex, is definitely one of my favorite things to come out in the whole of last year. Might be one of the best albums of the last 10 years. I tried to pick it up on vinyl at Grimey’s in Nahsville but they said they can’t keep it in stock.

This track… and even the video… it’s like a warm hug. This song is love. It’s a rework of the Durutti Column piece and features one of my favorites of all time Caroline Polacheck

Just don’t read the comments on that youtube video unless you want to cry. For real. This track seems to reach many people in life changing moments.

Feel free to share your deep and uplifting tracks!

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My tastes tend to twangy alt-country, folk, (a little) bluegrass, and roots rock, what has sort of been lumped together as “Americana.” I too am barred from selecting music in public due to too many dead wives and other sad songs. It is hardly my fault that murder ballads connect with the soul.

But yeah, for a poison song, try “Larosse” by Bruce Robison. Just an album track that didn’t make much impact even in a pretty niche scene, but oh holy shit the lyrics are perfectly overwhelming, they way the price keeps going down as more of the story comes out, and the fact that our fella here loves the horse as much as he ever did, but it just isn’t enough…

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Pardon me mister I’ve come aways down
They tell me your the man I should see in this town
The bay there is all I’ve got left to my name
He’ll never give up and he’ll never go lame
Fifty dollars and he’s yours tonight

[Verse 2]
His name is Larosse for the sound of his breath
I was there when he’s born and he carried me west
Saw the heavens draw open on god’s golden plains
Said we never would go back again
But I’m tired of the look on his face

[Verse 3]
Pardon me mister I’ve come aways down
They tell me you’re the man I should see in this town
The bay there is all I’ve got left that I own
He’ll never give up and He’ll never go wrong
Fifty Dollars and he’s yours tonight

[Verse 4]
A little long in the tooth and he won’t win no race
But he’ll walk many a mile for a scratch on his face
Travels as smooth as a robin will glide
Only horse that my little girl ever would ride
No sir she got the fever and she died

[Chorus]
He climbed over the rocky’s with a fire in his eye
Flew down the mountain with an indian cry
Felt the sun warmin saw some fine mornins
but there ain’t nowhere left to go

[Verse 5]
Pardon me mister a minute or two
This horse is the finest that I ever knew
When I built me my cabin outside chester town
He dragged every timber with never a sound
But we left all we had there beneath the cold ground

[Verse 6]
Pardon me mister are you on your way home
I got this old horse and there’s a snow comin on
I traded my saddle so I got no use
He ain’t much to look at and he’s needin some shoes
Ten dollars and he’s yours tonight

(Spoken-ish)
That’s a deal get him out of my sight

[Outro]
His name is Larosse for the sound of his breath
I was there when he’s born and he carried me west

For an antidote, I can go with his brother Charlie (RIP) and a Celtic-inflected banger about a bare-knuckles boxer called John O’Reilly. The opening riff was my ringtone for a while, back when those were more of a thing.

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The Larosse video was very nice. Lovely performance. I would call that “einfach” (German) or “semplice” (Italian). Straight forward and simple. Very honest and not easy to pull off. You could tell the audience was dead silent with attention.

A very short movement from Schumann from his Davidsbundlertanze work has the title “Einfach”

This one is safe for me no matter the mood. It’s a simple, beautiful statement. Tinged with sadness, but most of Schumann’s works had that melancholy feel. This was one of my go-to pieces for putting myself in a gracious mood. It is medicine. Antidote.

To this day one of my favorite works of his, and only 2 minutes long. I taught myself piano to learn this piece. I wouldn’t suggest it as a starting point. :rofl:This was the brilliance of Schumann… he could say so much with so little. Unfortunate that he died in an asylum.

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Ooh fun topic. I’m also a fairly old dude whose tastes have evolved a lot over the years, and I also get into some somber vibes.

I’ve also got too many of examples of both, here’s just a few that come to mind:

Sad / Nihilistic Poison:

DJ Shadow - Blood on the Motorway - 2002

just, oof man - has something of its own antidote built in, but…

Blockhead - Triptych Pt 3 - 2004

don’t be ruminatn’

Makeup And Vanity Set - Pulsewidths - 2020

abstract nihilism vibes

This guy has so many:

Aesop Rock - Gopher Guts - 2012

desolation laid bare

Aesop Rock - Oh Fudge - 2021

feelin’ gross

Aesop Rock - Marble Cake - 2020

zen, but nihilist

Satirical / Sarcastic Poison:

KMFDM - Superhero - 2002

I listened to this a lot in high school and got an unhealthy ego boost from it even though I knew it was satire

Antidotes!

Makeup And Vanity Set - Go! - 2018

whee I’m Speed Racer

TWRP ft. The Protomen - Phantom Racer - 2018

whee I’m Speed Racer’s brother

Aloe Island Posse - Welcome to Aloe Island - 2014

it’s summer forever!

Mother’s Cake - Cyberfunk - 2023

this whole album is such a fun vibe

Blue Öyster Cult - Don’t Fear the Reaper - 1976

hear me out - nihilist, but lovely, and a reminder that surrender can be its own kind of freedom

Ridin’ the Storm Out - R.E.O. Speedwagon - 1973

stuido version - how can you not have fun listening to this song: harsh conditions, and yet - prosperity, wonder, and good times

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That’s a lot! I’ll have to take some time and go through them. Thanks for the suggestions :+1:

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Ha, I think you’ve actually cracked-into a topic I spend a lot of time in, if unconsciously.

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