So last year's multiple posts with screen after screen of links and videos and blurbs didn't seem to be a big hit. Except for the post listing my 10 favourite songs of the year. So here's how I'm going to break it down this year: one post, ten songs and a link to everything else. I looked back over the list of my favourite 100 songs that I either heard first in 2015 or heard first in 2014 but really hit their stride for me in 2015 and realized that I pretty much shared all of them with you over the course of this year. So if you have been following along, there is no real news here. Except for the fact that LCD Soundsystem is getting back together and Radiohead just dropped a new song online. Squee!
The full list of my 100 favourite songs of the year has been converted into a youtube playlist HERE. I invite you to go have a look. Spoiler alert! The first song on the list is #100 and, as Casey Kasem used to say, as the numbers get smaller, the hits get bigger. I am featuring the tail end of the list (#10 to #1) below.
#10: "My Silver Lining", First Aid Kit
Followers of this blog over the past couple of years know that I've got a thing for Swedish music. This is the country's lone representation in my top 10 of the year. Not the kind of song that I would have listened much to a few years ago, but it really stuck itself in my consciousness this year. I'd say that I regret missing the sisters' show at Osheaga this past summer (apparently it was amazing), but the festival schedulers created a real Catch 22 for me by scheduling them opposite The War on Drugs (more on that later) so regret isn't the right word. "America" and their 2012 recording "Emmylou" were other songs of theirs I listened to this year. Definitely check both of them out.
#9: "Fool For Love", Lord Huron
Interesting. For all of the electronic uptempo music I listen to, we're kicking things off with a couple of rootsy tunes. "Fool For Love" ranked as Billboard's #15 Adult Alternative song of the year and you'd think that with a hit that big, they'd have followed it up with something else by now but I have no indication of what their next move is. With this song as my jumping-off point with Lord Huron, I took the opportunity to travel back in time and explore their previous album, Lonesome Dreams. The title track is definitely a winner and the album is a nice slice of folk.
#8: "Bloodstream", Ed Sheeran and Rudimental
Ed Sheeran's had a pretty nice run over the past year and a bit with hit after hit from X getting played on the radio. Billboard even had "Thinking Out Loud" as their #2 Hot 100 track of the year. Impressive. This track ended up hitting #2 in its own right on the UK, Scotland and New Zealand singles charts, was followed up by Rudimental's minor hit "Rumour Mill" (that just barely missed my top 10) and then the current collabo that you can still hear on mainstream radio in North America, "Lay it All on Me". Looking forward to hearing more from both Sheeran and Rudimental.
#7: "Snake Eyes", Mumford & Sons
When M&S released Babel in 2012, the world shook. It seems that with the band's brief hiatus since then, they lost some steam and the lead single from Wilder Mind, "Believe", didn't quite fare as well as "I Will Wait" did three years prior. But it still got played a lot. "The Wolf" followed and then the current release "Ditmas", but the standout single for me was definitely "Snake Eyes". A bit formulaic for the band (see: "Awake My Soul"), but still a pleasure to listen to.
#6: "Disappearing", The War on Drugs
Even though Lost in the Dream came out early in 2014, I really only warmed up to it after a number of listens later in the year. "Red Eyes" made my top ten list last year and a number of tracks lived on to have an impact on me this year. The greatest of these was "Disappearing", an ethereal track that featured minimal vocals and a five-minute instrumental denouement. Pitchfork apparently suggested that a potential inspiration for this song was Tears for Fears' "Pale Shelter". You be the judge.
#5: "First", Cold War Kids
Seriously, that's five alt-rock songs out of six now. I'm a little stunned. This was Billboard's #3 Alternative Rock song behind only "Shut Up and Dance" and "Renegades". This was my most buzzy track from March and it held sway through the spring and beyond. I still love cranking it up.
#4: "Loud Places (feat. Romy)", Jamie xx
When all is said and done and I look back at the songs to which I was introduced in 2015, this will probably go down as my all-time favourite. It came along a bit late in the year to have as much overall impact as the top 3 songs of the year, but I'll at least take this space to say that I have a special place in my heart for this song (as well as most of Jamie xx's album).
#3: "Fade Out Lines", The Avener
I'm a total word dork and I've decided that French DJ The Avener's name is a play on "avenir", meaning "the future". Then again, Wikipedia says that an avener is the chief officer of a king's stables. I like my idea better. I'm not sure if Phoebe Killdeer and the Short Straws (whose song forms the basis for this mix) will ever surface again, but this has provided some pretty awesome exposure across Europe. Not sure why it wasn't a bigger deal here. Except in Quebec. I have a feeling that "Fade Out Lines" will figure prominently on year-end charts of radio stations like this one.
#2: "One Touch (feat. Rae Sremmurd and AlunaGeorge", Baauer
I never thought this song would click with me this year like it did. I'm not really a Rae Sremmurd guy, but I am an AlunaGeorge guy and I am a wicked bass drop guy. This came off the ß album by Baauer (although I'm not sure if this is the Greek B (likely) or the German ss (less likely). The single apparently only surfaced on the Belgian charts, so I suppose I share something with my Flemish friends aside from a love of frites and mayo!
...drum roll...
#1: "Falling Short", Låpsley
British ambient electronic songstress Holly Lapsley Fletcher (aka Låpsley) takes the crown this year. "Falling Short" is from her debut EP, released in January of 2015. Allegedly a full-length album is due out in 2016 and I will be keeping my ears open for that. I always find it interesting to stumble across a song that I come across digging through music blogs online in mainstream pop culture references and "Falling Short" offered up one of the most unexpected pop culture sightings of the year when it was featured in episode 2 of HBO's "Ballers". Granted, this show featured a TONNE of my favourite artists (such as Gallants, Kendrick Lamar, Daft Punk, Busta Rhymes, The War on Drugs, Major Lazer, The Knocks, Sleigh Bells, Outkast and the above mentioned Baauer) so I guess it shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise.
Thanks for listening and Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 25, 2015
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
December Tunes
This is it! The last monthly rundown of 2015. It's been a good year, I've found some new artists and some great new songs. Every year, I think "I'm not going to hear a song next year that I'll like as much as I liked (insert song from current year)" but I'm never disappointed. Well, I have been a bit disappointed in The Hype Machine - over the past few months it seems that fewer and fewer songs are clicking with me. Spotify was doing OK for a bit (I'm a cheapskate and was using the free web browser) but now it doesn't seem to want to load anymore. Boo. Apple music has been OK (though I hate not being able to load the songs onto my iPod. Oh well). To celebrate the Closing of the Year, I even offer you a bonus 11th song this month (and also because I might have music hangover in January and the blog might be slow to get up and running again in the new year).
11 - "Shine", Years & Years
It's been a good year for these guys in my opinion. A little disappointed that the Brits couldn't break through in North America but that just means I get to keep them a little more to myself:). This is the third single from Communion that I've put up here and the other two will definitely factor into my tracks of the year, to be released later this month. Years & Years is up for BBC Music Awards' British Artist of the Year Award (to be awarded in a couple of days) against (alphabetically) Adele, Ed Sheeran, Florence and the Machine, Foals and Jamie xx. So, essentially the bulk of my playlist at any time.
10 - "Keep You On My Side", CHVRCHES
In one day I went bananas and bought the new albums from New Order, Disclosure and CHVRCHES. The New Order one was the flattest of the bunch as both of the others had some real gems on them. More on Disclosure coming up. "Leave a Trace" is one of my favourite songs at the moment, but in the next tier of tracks on Every Open Eye, this is the frontrunner for now. Pure 100 proof synth pop straight into your bloodstream. Given that none of this track's youtube uploads seem to have cracked the 20,000 view mark, it doesn't seem to be many other people's fave. So. What.
9 - "Her Morning Elegance", Oren Lavie
This is so weird. I heard this song recently and really liked it. Then I booted up this video and I thought that I had definitely seen the video before. I don't remember the song at all but sure enough the video was in my search cache. It must have been when I was looking for Grammy nominees for music video work as this one was shortlisted in 2009. Wiki says that he revealed in 2012 that he had a second album coming but that doesn't seem to have materialized. Anyway, smooth jam.
8 - "S.O.B.", Nathaniel Rateliffe & the Night Sweats
Ahh the misery of alcoholism laid out in a stomper that sounds like it's straight out of the 50s. I heard this one toward the end of summer and thought it was pretty interesting as a song but it took a while to sink its hooks in me. Now it seems to be a fairly massive alternative hit across the continent. Apparently their performance on Fallon is what ignited their exposure (Future Islands anyone?) and they've been riding the wave ever since.
7 - "Cream on Chrome", Ratatat
Oooooh that opening is so sweet. These guys are off in their own genre. I've been listening to Ratatat for almost 10 years now (my brother was actually the first person who tipped me off, shortly after they had released Classics in 2006) and I still haven't found anyone else who fuses electronic music and guitar work in such an interesting way. Wiki dubs the style "rocktronica" if anyone is wondering. The last minute is not as funky or strong as the front end, but it's not crazy enough to completely derail the song.
6 - "If You Ever Want to Be in Love", James Bay
Yep. Despite the fact that REAL MUSIC CRITICS tend to pan this guy (like this or, WOW, this), I still dig. Although the hat is starting to make me think of Maria Bello's fedora in Prime Suspect.
5 - "Automatic", Zhu X AlunaGeorge
I was thinking the other day about compiling a list of artists that I'm happiest that hunting through music blogs has turned me on to, that I likely would not have known about otherwise. Both Zhu and AlunaGeorge would have been on the list at one time until they had radio hits with "Faded" and "You Know You Like It", respectively this past year (so I probably would have found out about them anyway). I will have to get around to pulling that list together.
4 - "Magnets (feat. Lorde)", Disclosure
This is an interesting departure from the sound that Disclosure put forth on many tracks on both Settle and Caracal (odd fact: I knew what a caracal was thanks to my kids watching Wild Kratts). It's great to see Lorde back (the Mockingjay tracks didn't quite do it for me) and I'm very interested to see what she does next.
3 - "Loveless", X Ambassadors
Another rock-life act that makes REAL MUSIC CRITICS go meh, I have a bit of a soft spot for X Ambassadors ever since we shared a moment in Montreal this summer. Fine, I shared it with many other screaming fans, but it was still good. "Unsteady" had a good run with me and now I've moved on to "Loveless", a much more uptempo romp. An antidote to "Renegades" I suppose.
2 - "Hourglass (feat. LION BABE)", Disclosure
LOL on the Youtube comment "I'm glad to see the silhouettes from the ipod commercials still finding work". This is that Disclosure sound I was talking about earlier. If house music is not your thing, please don't even press play here.
1 - "Ocean Drive", Duke Dumont
One of the beneficiaries of Disclosure breaking through a couple of years back is English DJ Duke Dumont. Though this song sounds NOTHING like his past hits and more like something out of the 80s. The song has topped the US Dance Club charts and was a fairly big hit in Australia. And in my house.
And oh yeah, no snow yet!!
11 - "Shine", Years & Years
It's been a good year for these guys in my opinion. A little disappointed that the Brits couldn't break through in North America but that just means I get to keep them a little more to myself:). This is the third single from Communion that I've put up here and the other two will definitely factor into my tracks of the year, to be released later this month. Years & Years is up for BBC Music Awards' British Artist of the Year Award (to be awarded in a couple of days) against (alphabetically) Adele, Ed Sheeran, Florence and the Machine, Foals and Jamie xx. So, essentially the bulk of my playlist at any time.
10 - "Keep You On My Side", CHVRCHES
In one day I went bananas and bought the new albums from New Order, Disclosure and CHVRCHES. The New Order one was the flattest of the bunch as both of the others had some real gems on them. More on Disclosure coming up. "Leave a Trace" is one of my favourite songs at the moment, but in the next tier of tracks on Every Open Eye, this is the frontrunner for now. Pure 100 proof synth pop straight into your bloodstream. Given that none of this track's youtube uploads seem to have cracked the 20,000 view mark, it doesn't seem to be many other people's fave. So. What.
9 - "Her Morning Elegance", Oren Lavie
This is so weird. I heard this song recently and really liked it. Then I booted up this video and I thought that I had definitely seen the video before. I don't remember the song at all but sure enough the video was in my search cache. It must have been when I was looking for Grammy nominees for music video work as this one was shortlisted in 2009. Wiki says that he revealed in 2012 that he had a second album coming but that doesn't seem to have materialized. Anyway, smooth jam.
8 - "S.O.B.", Nathaniel Rateliffe & the Night Sweats
Ahh the misery of alcoholism laid out in a stomper that sounds like it's straight out of the 50s. I heard this one toward the end of summer and thought it was pretty interesting as a song but it took a while to sink its hooks in me. Now it seems to be a fairly massive alternative hit across the continent. Apparently their performance on Fallon is what ignited their exposure (Future Islands anyone?) and they've been riding the wave ever since.
7 - "Cream on Chrome", Ratatat
Oooooh that opening is so sweet. These guys are off in their own genre. I've been listening to Ratatat for almost 10 years now (my brother was actually the first person who tipped me off, shortly after they had released Classics in 2006) and I still haven't found anyone else who fuses electronic music and guitar work in such an interesting way. Wiki dubs the style "rocktronica" if anyone is wondering. The last minute is not as funky or strong as the front end, but it's not crazy enough to completely derail the song.
6 - "If You Ever Want to Be in Love", James Bay
Yep. Despite the fact that REAL MUSIC CRITICS tend to pan this guy (like this or, WOW, this), I still dig. Although the hat is starting to make me think of Maria Bello's fedora in Prime Suspect.
5 - "Automatic", Zhu X AlunaGeorge
I was thinking the other day about compiling a list of artists that I'm happiest that hunting through music blogs has turned me on to, that I likely would not have known about otherwise. Both Zhu and AlunaGeorge would have been on the list at one time until they had radio hits with "Faded" and "You Know You Like It", respectively this past year (so I probably would have found out about them anyway). I will have to get around to pulling that list together.
4 - "Magnets (feat. Lorde)", Disclosure
This is an interesting departure from the sound that Disclosure put forth on many tracks on both Settle and Caracal (odd fact: I knew what a caracal was thanks to my kids watching Wild Kratts). It's great to see Lorde back (the Mockingjay tracks didn't quite do it for me) and I'm very interested to see what she does next.
3 - "Loveless", X Ambassadors
Another rock-life act that makes REAL MUSIC CRITICS go meh, I have a bit of a soft spot for X Ambassadors ever since we shared a moment in Montreal this summer. Fine, I shared it with many other screaming fans, but it was still good. "Unsteady" had a good run with me and now I've moved on to "Loveless", a much more uptempo romp. An antidote to "Renegades" I suppose.
2 - "Hourglass (feat. LION BABE)", Disclosure
LOL on the Youtube comment "I'm glad to see the silhouettes from the ipod commercials still finding work". This is that Disclosure sound I was talking about earlier. If house music is not your thing, please don't even press play here.
1 - "Ocean Drive", Duke Dumont
One of the beneficiaries of Disclosure breaking through a couple of years back is English DJ Duke Dumont. Though this song sounds NOTHING like his past hits and more like something out of the 80s. The song has topped the US Dance Club charts and was a fairly big hit in Australia. And in my house.
And oh yeah, no snow yet!!
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