TSL writer necromoonyeti randomly recommended “Naki Kyoku” by Boris to me out of the blue one day and just said, “you’re gonna love this.” No buildup, no explanation—just that confidence. And honestly, it didn’t take long to see why. The track doesn’t hit you all at once; it kind of eases in, like it knows it’s going to win you over eventually.
What really hooked me is how the song balances this heavy, almost suffocating atmosphere with something strangely delicate underneath. The guitars feel thick and immersive, but they’re not trying to overwhelm you—they just kind of surround you. There’s this hazy, dreamlike quality to it, like you’re drifting through something emotional you can’t quite put into words, but you definitely feel it.
If you’re expecting Boris to go full-on loud or abrasive, this track flips that expectation. It’s way more restrained, but somehow just as intense. Instead of chaos, it leans into mood and slow-building weight. It feels introspective, almost like the song is asking you to sit with it rather than react to it, and that makes it stick in a different way than their heavier stuff.
Honestly, it’s one of those songs you don’t fully get on a casual listen—you kind of have to give it space. Throw it on late at night with headphones and just let it play out. It’s subtle, but once it clicks, it really lingers. That recommendation ended up being dead-on.
When the infamous epic Caligula was first released back in 1979, a disco version of Caligula’s love theme — We Are One — was also released as a promotional gimmick. If you’ve sat through the behind-the-scenes footage on the Caligula Imperial Edition DVD, this song has probably been forever branded on your brain.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
This song is so over-the-top, so blatantly exploitive, so insidiously catchy, and so totally inappropriate for the film it was written for that it simply cannot be ignored. To me, this song represents everything that makes the Grindhouse great.
(As well, I hope whoever was playing bass got paid extra…)
While we’re on the subject, I’m also going to include the opening credits of Caligula because I’ve always liked the use of Profokiev’s Romeo and Juliet.
(I also love the fact that the screenplay is credited as being adapted from a script by Gore Vidal yet no one is given credit for doing the adapting, the editing is credited to “the production,” and director Tinto Brass is credited with “principal photography.”)
Yes, for my latest pick for song of the day I shall dial things back from all the J-pop, metal, hard rock and film scores. My pick for song of the day is Frédéric Chopin’s Nocturne, Op. 27 (No. 1 in C-sharp minor and No. 2in D-flat major).
A nocturne is a musical composition which takes it’s inspiration from the night itself or, at the very least, evocative of the night and darkness. It’s an easy enough description for a type of music which were typically arranged for piano solos. The nocturne was first originated by 18th-century classical composer, John Field but it would find it’s popularity at the hands of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin. Chopin wrote 21 nocturnes and it is Op. 27 (two solos) that I’ve chosen. This particular piece is widely considered by many as one of the greatest pieces of music Chopin ever wrote and I, for one, agree wholeheartedly.
This particular version is played by one of the greatest pianist of the 20th-century and one whose playing style goes hand-in-hand with Chopin’s free-flowing style. When one hears the name Arthur Rubinstein (he himself a fellow Polish musician just like Chopin) one automatically thinks of Chopin and, specifically, his 21 Nocturnes.
I am not one to adequately break down, deconstruct and examine just what makes Nocturne, Op. 27 such a great piece of music, but personally I’ve found it to be evocative of not just night, but one which brings with the night breeze a sense of mystery, the magical feel of the night and the accompanying darkness. For one such as myself whose personality and character make-up has been steeped in the darker nature of things this piece of music (calling it a song is so inadequate a term) definitely speaks to my inner self.
The latest pick for Song of the Day is one that is, quite literally, worshipped by some people I know. For them, this is the greatest song ever committed to record — or, if not the absolute pinnacle, something so close to it that the distinction barely matters. Today’s selection is Blind Guardian’s “And Then There Was Silence,” and if you’ve never heard it, you are about to understand what the word “epic” actually means.
The song runs a staggering fourteen minutes long and comes from this German power metal band’s 2001 album, A Night at the Opera. The lyrical foundation draws from two of the greatest works in the Western literary canon: Homer’s The Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid. Let that sink in for a moment. A heavy metal song rooted in ancient Greek and Roman epic poetry. Specifically, “And Then There Was Silence” chronicles the final days of Troy — the fall of a city, the collapse of a civilization, and the human cost of a decade-long war — all rendered in the language of power metal. The ambition alone is enough to demand respect.
There is a persistent and deeply unfair misconception about metal as a genre — the idea that it is nothing more than formless noise, guttural bellowing, and musicians who wouldn’t recognize a melody if it knocked them flat. “And Then There Was Silence” will dismantle that notion within its first minute. Blind Guardian frontman Hansi Kürsch doesn’t merely carry a tune; he commands the music with a vocal range and precision that rivals the most accomplished operatic tenors and sopranos working today. His voice soars through passages of genuine beauty, then plunges into something more urgent and desperate, perfectly mirroring the emotional arc of the story being told. This is singing in the most demanding and traditional sense of the word.
This is also the song that finally pulled me headlong into the world of power metal — a subgenre I have affectionately and unapologetically taken to calling “nerd metal.” The label is meant as the highest of compliments. Power metal draws its lyrical DNA from fantasy novels, mythology, folklore, medieval history, science fiction, and the great legends of human civilization. It is music made by and for people who stayed up past midnight reading Tolkien, who know the difference between the Trojan War and the Peloponnesian War, and who see no contradiction between loving heavy guitars and loving great literature. Blind Guardian, in particular, have built an entire career on this premise, and “And Then There Was Silence” represents the form at its absolute peak.
What makes the song especially remarkable is its narrative perspective. Rather than presenting the fall of Troy from a broad, panoramic viewpoint, Blind Guardian tells the story through the eyes of Cassandra — the Trojan princess cursed by Apollo to speak true prophecies that no one would ever believe. She saw every catastrophe coming and was powerless to prevent any of it. It is one of the most haunting figures in all of classical literature, and the choice to center the song on her experience gives the music a quality of grief and inevitability that the straightforward historical account could never achieve.
The structure of the song itself echoes that of an ancient epic poem. It builds, recedes, transforms, and builds again. I have compared its finale to the ending of Peter Jackson’s The Return of the King — the one famously criticized for having too many endings. Just when you feel certain the song has reached its emotional peak and is preparing to close, another movement begins, and rather than feeling excessive, each new section deepens and enriches everything that came before it. The song earns every one of its fourteen minutes.
Here is the honest truth: even people who are entirely indifferent to metal — who would not voluntarily put on a heavy guitar record under any ordinary circumstances — tend to find something in this song that reaches them. Something in the melody, the storytelling, the sheer scale of it connects across the usual genre boundaries. It asks only fourteen minutes of your time and, in exchange, offers something genuinely unlike almost anything else in popular music. That seems like a reasonable trade.
And Then There Was Silence
Turn your head and see the fields of flames
He carries along
From a distant place
He’s on his way
He’ll bring decay
(don’t move along cause things they will go wrong
the end is getting closer day by day)
in shades of grey
We’re doomed to face the night
Light’s out of sight
Since we’ve reached the point of no return
We pray for starlight
We wait for the moon
The sky is empty
Alone in the unknown
We’re getting nowhere
We have been betrayed
By the wind and the rain
The sacred halls empty and cold
The sacrifice made should not be done in vain
Revenge will be taken by Rome
We live a lie
Under the dying moon
Pale faced laughs doom
Indulges in delight
It’s getting out of hand
The final curtain will fall
Hear my voice
There is no choice
There’s no way out
You’ll find out
We don’t regret it
So many man have failed
But now he’s gone
Go out and get it
The madman’s head it shall be thine
We don’t regret it
That someone else dies hidden in disguise
Go out and get it
Orion’s hound shines bright
Don’t you think it’s time to stop the chase
Around the ring
Just stop running, running
Round the ring
Don’t you know that fate has been decided
By the gods
Feel the distance, distance
Out of reach
Welcome to the end…
Watch your step, Cassandra
You may fall
As I’ve stumbled on the field
Sister mine
Death’s a certain thing
Find myself in darkest places
Find myself drifting away
And the otherworld
The otherworld appears
Find myself, she dies in vain
I cannot be freed
I’m falling down
As time runs faster
Moves towards disaster
The ferryman will wait for you
My dear
And then there was silence
Just a voice from the otherworld
Like a leaf in an icy world
Memories will fade
Misty tales and poems lost
All the bliss and beauty will be gone
May my weary soul find release for a while
At the moment of death I will smile
It’s the triumph of shame and disease
In the end
Iliad
Raise my hands and praise the day
Brake the spell, show me the way
In decay
The flame of Troy will shine bright
The newborn child would carry ruin to the hall
The newborn’s death will be a blessing to us all
Good choice?
Bad choice?
Out of three
You’ve choosen misery
Power and wisdom
You deny
Bad choice
War is the only answer
When love will conquer fear
So the judgment’s been made
To the fairest
The graceful says
Badly he fails
Warning
Fear the heat of passion, father king
Don’t let him in
Don’t let her in
Desire, lust, obssession
Death they’ll bring
We can’t get out
Once they are in
She’s like the sunrise
Outshines the moon at night
Precious like starlight
She’ll bring in a murderous price
In darkness grows the seed of man’s defeat
Jealousy
I can clearly see the end now
I can clearly see the end now
I can clearly see the end now
The thread of life in spun
The coin’s been placed below my tongue
Never give up
Never give in
Be on our side
So we can win
Never give up
Never give in
Be on our side
Old moon’s time is soon to come
Nowhere to run
Nowhere to hide
Nothing to lose
Like one we’ll stand
We’ll face the storm
Created by man
Troy, Troy, Troy, Troy
And as the lion
Slaughters man
I am the wolf
And you’re the lamb
Hallowed Troy shall fall
Round the walls
Faith is shattered, bodies fall
Nowhere to run
Nowhere to hide
Nothing to lose
Like one we’ll stand
It’s all for one and one for all
All we live for will be wiped out
I feel that something’s wrong
Surprise, surprise they’re gone
Full moon your time goes by
And new moon’s still kept out of sight
We live
We die
Misty tales and poems lost
All the bliss and beauty will be gone
May my weary soul find release for a while
At the moment of death I will smile
It’s the triumph of shame and disease
In the end
Iliad
Raise my hands and praise the day
Brake the spell, show me the way
In decay
The flame of Troy will shine bright
Roam in darkness
Spread the vision
We will be lost if you truly believe
Troy in darkness
There’s a cold emptiness in our hearts
That they’ve gone away
And won’t come back
They’ll tear down the wall to bring it in
They’ll truly believe in the lie
With blossoms they’ll welcome the old foe
The vision’s so clear
When day and dream unite
The end is near
You’d better be prepared
The nightmare shall be over now
There’s nothing more to fear
Come join in our singing
And dance with us now
The nightmare shall be over now
There’s nothing more to fear
The war it is over, forevermore
No hope
The blind leads the blind
Carry on
Though future’s denied
Mare or stallion
There’s far more inside
We are in at the kill
We’ll cheerfully die
Misty tales and poems lost
All the bliss and beauty will be gone
May my weary soul find release for a while
At the moment of death I will smile
It’s the triumph of shame and disease
In the end
Iliad
Raise my hands and praise the day
Brake the spell, show me the way
In decay
The flame of Troy will shine bright
Its holy light shines on
So the judgement’s been made
We’re condemned though the trial’s far ahead
The crack of doom
Father
Your handsome son is heading home
Heading home
Still the wind blows
Calm and silent
Carries news from a distant shore
Out of mind
Can’t get it
Can’t get it out of my head
Last Monday, I made a change. I moved from my small, cozy apartment (with its paper-thin walls and bedroom window that I could never quite get to shut all the way) to a big, two-story house that I’ll be sharing with my sister and BFF, Erin Nicole. As excited and happy as I am having made this move, it also meant that, last week, I spent less time than usual obsessing over grindhouse exploitation and pop culture.
In other words, I’ve got to make up for some lost time.
I’d like to begin by highlighting one of my favorite songs, perhaps my favorite song of all time. Siouxsie Sioux may have been first known as simply a groupie for the Sex Pistols (Way back when, Bill Grundy’s lame attempts to hit on her led to the televised profanity that inspired the infamous “Filth and the Fury” headline) but she later proved herself to be a brilliant and intriguing artist in her own right. As the vocalist for Siouxsie and the Banshees, Siouxsie was (and is) one of the most important figures of the post-punk era.
Proving once again that I was simply born several years too late, I didn’t get a chance to appreciate the Banshees until they had already ceased to exist as an active group. In 2004, having just recently seen 24 Hour Party People, I was obsessed with all things punk and all things new wave. While everyone else was discovering the Black-Eyed Peas or trying to maintain a sense of ironic detachment while buying the latest from Ashlee Simpson, I was devoting my time to Joy Division, New Order, The Slits, the Talking Heads, Patti Smith, the New York Dolls, and Public Image, Ltd. I haunted the used book and music stores of north Texas and, like an archeologist, I would chip away at all of the boring, modern sediment in hopes of discovering something wonderful hidden underneath it all. Without a doubt, my greatest discovery was Siouxsie and the Banshees.
I discovered a CD entitled The Best of Siouxsie and the Bansheesat Recycled Books in Denton, Texas and it quickly became one of my most prized possessions. Over the years, my life has taken a lot of twists and turns but there has always been one constant — whenever I’ve needed them, Siouxsie and the Banshees have been playing on my CD player.
My favorite song off that CD is Kiss Them For Me, a song first released in 1991. The song, which admittedly does have more of a “pop” feel to it than other Banshee songs, is Siouxsie’s tribute to another frequently misunderstood icon, Jayne Mansfield. Like Mansfield, the song is unapologetically over-the-top and wonderfully self-aware. It’s a song that pays tribute to a legend by being legendary itself.
(It’s also the song that I had playing nonstop while my sister and I were unpacking our things this week.)
The song’s lyrics refer both obliquely and explicitly to Mansfield’s decapitation in a 1967 car accident. (Mansfield’s daughter — Mariska Hargitay — survived the accident and is currently the star of Law and Order: SVU.)
It glittered and it gleamed
For the arriving beauty queen
A ring and a car
Now you’re the prettiest by far
No party she’d not attend
No invitation she wouldn’t send
Transfixed by the inner sound
Of your promise to be found
“nothing or no-one will ever
Make me let you down”
Kiss them for me — I may be delayed
Kiss them for me — if I am delayed
It’s divoon, oh it’s serene
In the fountains pink champagne
Someone carving their devotion
In the heart shaped pool of fame
“nothing or no-one will ever
Make me let you down”
Kiss them for me — I may be delayed
Kiss them for me — I may find myself delayed
On the road to new orleans
A spray of stars hit the screen
As the 10th impact shimmered
The forbidden candles beamed
Kiss them for me — I may be delayed
Kiss them for me — I may find myself delayed
The song of the day is one which I consider one of my favorite pieces of music ever composed and played. I speak of “Voices” from the Japanese OVA/film Macross Plus. The song was composed by Japanese composer Yoko Kanno and originally sung by singer-musician Akino Arai.
Anime has become of one my major hobbies and interests and during the early 90’s Macross Plus dominated my viewing rotation and it was partly due to this song. The moment I started the VHS tape (yes that’s how far this song goes back) and heard the very first verse of this song and the techno-tinged Japanese sound of the song I was hooked. I listen to it almost as much as I did when I first heard it 16 years back.
One of the best memories of this song just happened recently as Yoko Kanno made a surprise appearance at this past Anime Expo 2010 in Los Angeles. While sitting in the Nokia Theater for the May’n and Megumi Nakajima concert Ms. Kanno appeared on-stage to play the grand piano and started playing this particular song w/ J-pop singer and seiyuu Megumi Nakajima performing the lyrics. To say that this was the highlight of the Expo for me would be a huge understatement. Listening to the song done live showed me why I love this song and why it’s my pick for song of the day.
Acoustic Ver.
Cello Instrumental
Voices (Japanese)
Hitotsume no kotoba wa yume
Nemuri no naka kara
Mune no oku no kurayami wo
Sotto tsuredasu no
Futatsume no kotoba wa kaze
Yukute wo oshiete
Kamisama no ude no naka e
Tsubasa wo aoru no
Tokete itta kanashii koto wo
Kazoeru you ni
Kin’iro no ringo ga
Mata hitotsu ochiru
Mita koto mo nai fuukei
Soko ga kaeru basho
Tatta hitotsu no inochi ni
Tadoritsuku basho
Furui
Maho no hon
Tsuki no
Shizuku yoru no
Tobari itsuka
Aeru yokan
Dake…
We can fly…
We have wings…
We can touch…
Floating dreams…
Call me from…
So far…
Through the wind…
In the light…
Mittsume no kotoba wa “hum”
Mimi wo sumashitara
Anata no fureru ude wo
Sotto tokihanatsu
Voices (English)
The first word in my dreams
I could clearly see
Planet Eden high beyond the skies
Beautiful and sad
is this story I’ll tell
of the winged travellers eager
’twas one day
the wind guided him where to go
like an eagle high above he flew
Waving from down below
he flew out of sight
into the mystical darkness
Neither a smile nor a cry
I gave when he left
feeling my spleen decline
And hoping
one day we’d fly over
back to the places we once shared
Where vessels glide
in silky waves and of gold
deep in the gulf such planet lies
Surrounded by this universe
of love and hate
confusion breaks through and dwells
Cast a spell
from the old magic book
set a path
in the black magic box
something strange will happen
it will take you so far
So try…
We can fly
We have wings
We can touch floating dreams
Call me from
so far
Through the wind
And the light…
Someone came from the dark
over from the stars
protecting my heart from crying
Taken back by surprise
my traveller returned
What went wrong? Why did he change.
Recently, I’ve been reading Clinton Heylin’s history of punk rock, Babylon’s Burning: From Punk To Grunge. Not surprisingly, one of the main characters in this book is John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten). Along with detailing Lydon’s time as the lead singer for the Sex Pistols, the book also examines Lydon’s subsequent career as the frontman for Public Image, Ltd. The book also inspired me to track down and listen to one of PIL’s earliest efforts, a song that was originally called Death Disco (though it was also released under the name Swan Lake for reasons that become obvious once you listen to the song).
Death Disco was written after and in response to the death of Lydon’s mother. Though the song is now over 30 years old, it remains a powerful and cathartic cry of pain and loss.
As an added bonus, here’s two interviews with Lydon, one from the late 70s that was recorded shortly before he formed Public Image, Ltd. (and in which he looks so incredibly young and, dare I say it, rather adorable in his bratty way) and one from 2007 in which he discusses the meaning of life.
As I sit here frustrated by my attempts to write about how great a movie Winter’s Bone is and feeling depressed for the usual sordid, personal reasons, I realize that I’m still in a Flight of the Conchords type of mood.
Here’s Bret and Jermaine performing my all-time favorite Conchords song, Hurt Feelings.
For the latest song of the day I go back to my teenage years growing up in the 80’s when hair metal ruled the world. While my heart still resided with thrash metal and heavy metal I still got caught up in the power ballad which defined the mid-to-late 80’s. It was this power ballad in all it’s cheesiness which to this day is still quite catchy to listen to. I mean Mötley Crüe in one’s playlist at the time meant getting tail instead of chasing them away.
“Home Sweet Home” is one of the few Crüe songs that seem to have survived the test of time. Chappelle may think Poison’s “Every Rose Has It’s Thorns” was the power ballad of the 80’s, but he is wrong. This song is and shall always be. Plus, it has that awesome slow-mo sequence near the end where the band dances to the beat. Yeah, cheesy like I said earlier.
Another reason I picked this as the latest song of the day is what will be posted afterwards.
Home Sweet Home
You know I’m a dreamer
But my heart’s of gold
I had to run away high
So I wouldn’t come home low
Just when things went right
It doesn’t mean they were always wrong
Just take this song and you’ll never feel
Left all alone
Take me to your heart
Feel me in your bones
Just one more night
And I’m comin’ off this
Long & winding road
I’m on my way
Well I’m on my way
Home sweet home
Tonight tonight
I’m on my way
I’m on my way
Home sweet home You know that I seem
To make romantic dreams
Up in lights, fallin’ off
The silver screen
My heart’s like an open book
For the whole world to read
Sometimes nothing-keeps me together
At the seams
I’m on my way
Well I’m on my way
Home sweet home
Tonight tonight
I’m on my way
Just set me free
Home sweet home
