Afternoon, folk.
I just want to say, thank you to everyone who has provided feedback to us recently. Given the recent developments with Spotify (e.g. public libraries) the demand for Spotisfaction is dwindling, it would appear. In order for us to keep this up, we require input from the community. Without input and support from the community, Spotisfaction will die. David and myself are looking into the recent suggestions and other ways to keep the community together, hopefully we”™ll pull something out of the hat.
Today we have the mighty Ben Hawling with a fantastic idea for a playlist. This is the soundtrack to his life circa 2006. And now, I will give it a listen. I hope you will too.
If anyone has any ideas for Spotisfaction, or wants to make any suggestions for the future, please drop us an email: spotisfaction@googlemail.com. Cheers
Thom
Ben Says:
1. I Don”™t Know What It Is = Rufus Wainwright
2. Dollars & Cents = Radiohead
3. Distance = Editors
4. Burning Benches = Morning Runner
5. Valentine = The Delays
6. See The World = The Kooks
7. Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery = Graham Coxon
8. TV Pro = The Vines
9. Despair In The Departure Lounge = Arctic Monkeys
10. Don”™t Stop Now = Lemon Jelly
11. Daylight Robbery = Imogen Heap
12. Soul Meets Body = Death Cab For Cutie
13. Theres A Good Reason These Tables”¦ = Panic! At The Disco
14. Colours = Hot Chip
15. Atlantic = Keane
16. Control Myself = L.L. Cool J Ft. Jennifer Lopez
17. Give It Away = Zero 7
18. Fixed Income = DJ Shadow
19. Hoodoo = Muse
20. We Are Your Friends = Justice Vs Simian
21. Can”™t Lose = We Are Scientists
22. Creepin Up The Backstairs = The Fratellis
23. When You Were Young = The Killers
24. Missing = Beck
25. My Imaginary Friend = The Divine Comedy
26. Littlest Things = Lily Allen
27. Bruised = Ben Folds
28. Legacy = Mansun
The soundtrack to my life”¦”¦2006
Every track in this list represents a feeling, a mood, or event during my 2006 that stands out for one reason or another. It was a big year for me, and the eclectic mix above was with me all the way through the peaks and troughs.
Janurary – March =
During this time, I found myself juggling mounting workloads at sixth form, and shit long hours at work (Waitrose), and holding together a relationship. This ultimately led to me being run down and contracting glandular fever, eek! ”˜Dollars And Cents”™ and ”˜Distance”™ both capture my intense and cloudy judgement and head space at that time, as the respective albums were all i listened to for a while. I bought the Morning Runner album the day it came out, as my then girlfriend bought The Delays album on the same day. These two songs are significant as we then burnt copies of our albums for each other. I tended to listen to The Kooks album, as well as a lot of Blur and Graham Coxon whilst being bedridden with the glandular fever, and they totally got me through it, so cheers!
April – June =
My then girlfriend went away during the Easter holidays of 2006, so I hung out with my friends a lot more (something I should have done a lot more of anyway) and got into The Vines, Death Cab For Cutie and Imogen Heap, all of which providing perfect noise to the sunlight. I also watched Spaced a lot during this time so naturally got into Lemon Jelly big time! Keane are one of my favourite ever bands, so I was hugely excited when Under The Iron Sea came out, opening with the epic ”˜Atlantic”™. The LL Cool J track came out during this time and me and my mate loved it so much that we got it played at our sixth form leavers ball, woop!
July – September =
Then came study period for my A level exams, so I naturally listened to loads of albums. Stuff like Zero 7 and DJ Shadow brought a relaxing, and cool vibe to the studying. Tracks like ”˜We Are Your Friends”™ were anthems for the summer, and I remember listening to We Are Scientists a lot when I was gathering items for my V Festival checklist the day before going. The week before I left for University, The Fratellis first album came out and I couldn”™t stop listening to it. ”˜When You Were Young”™ means a lot to me as it was the song playing on the radio on the first drive to uni, when I felt massively homesick and anxious, yet excited of what was to come. The song seemed to symbolise my transition from being young, to growing older and leaving home for the first time.
October – December =
I got into Beck and The Divine Comedy in a fucking massive way at this time, and went to see The Divine Comedy at my uni, which left me smiling out loud! I also started going out with a girl in the first few months of uni, and her mannerisms always reminded me of Lily Allen. Plus ”˜Littlest Things”™ came out at this time. I love anything Ben Folds does, and was blown away by ”˜Bruised”™ due to its delicacy and honesty. I got into Mansun over this whole time, because: 1. They are amazing, and 2. because no one else I knew at uni liked them, so i liked having that special appreciation. Their second album ”˜Six”™ blow my mind and opened my eyes to what great music really was, and to what bands can achieve if they truly experiment with sound. ”˜Legacy”™ tends to sum up my mood at this time also.
Its a pretty boring story, but its story none the less, and best of all”¦..its real. I love how music shapes our lives, but mainly how we cling to music and its magical properties in order to make sense of the mess of human behaviour.
So that was my 2006, and thinking back, I completely changed as an individual from January to December, fascinating!
2007 was just as interesting”¦”¦..honest!
Nuff said!
Ben Hawling.