Hello all. Snow is finally on the ground, 2016 is here and I'm ready for another year of finding interesting music that you might not hear on the radio. It was a fairly busy holiday and I didn't seem to take as much time as normal sifting through best-of lists. So some blogger faves from last year might trickle out through this site over the coming months. Apologies for the lag:)
10 - "Show Me Love (EDX's Indian Summer Remix)", Sam Feldt
Confession: I once took a couple of sessions' worth of hip-hop dance classes. I wasn't any good but enjoyed talking music with the 20-year-old who ran the class. Halfway through the first session he told the class that he found this old-school song for warming up that he wasn't sure any of us knew. Enter Robin S. "Show Me Love" always makes me think back to those classes, for better or for worse. This is a nice fresh take on the original.
9 - "Nightcall", KANT
I know very little about KANT. Apparently, he is Danish and in Danish, "kant" means "edge". This is a smooth little number that will have some echoes next week. Now I suppose you'll just have to stay tuned.
8 - "Twinkle Twinkle", Tom Misch
OMG. As if I couldn't already get enough of Tom Misch. This is not from his Beat Tape 2 album, but just popped up online at the end of 2015. Flute. Harp. Beats. A Busta Rhymes sample. My head just broke. And only 11,000 clicks so far!
7 - "Gosh", Jamie xx
If you weren't sick of me pimping Tom Misch, perhaps you're sick of me pimping Jamie xx. This song starts out feeling like a tease: where's the bass? Where is this song going? Must keep listening... Once it shifts at 1:54 it picks up and then at 2:24 it really starts to soar. Kind of a mesmerizing video too.
6 - "Lonesome Dreams", Lord Huron
I mentioned last month that I had been giving this track some love. Now I am officially sharing it with you. It's from a couple of years back, but that's never stopped me before. Apparently the theme and feel of this video carried through the rest of the videos that they shot for tracks from the album. Looking forward, Lord Huron is part of a VERY NICE line-up at Sasquatch this May. Sigh. Wrong coast.
5 - "Empty Threat", CHVRCHES
Another perennial favourite and on the bill at Coachella this year (sigh. Wrong coast again), CHVRCHES made Rolling Stone's videos-of-2016 list with this one. I am very much in love with this album and am going to promise featuring another couple of songs here before the summer. P.S. Congratulations Rolling Stone on making me read avidly down to #17 on your list of the best albums of the year before making me shake my head and say "Oh, Rolling Stone..." Most years, that happens in the top 5.
4 - "As Crazy as it is", ZHU x A-Trak x Keznamdi
In November of 2015, ZHU released this track (and the one I featured last month) as part of the six-track "Genesis Project". These tracks are not compiled on any sort of album and are only available for digital download. I love Keznamdi's sound - very reminiscent of Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley.
3 - "Streams", JackLNDN
I feel like if I had a part-time gig spinning in a bar where people dress up nicely and drink martinis, this one would be a no-brainer for ambience. When I first saw his name, I thought it was the same guy who did this song I used to listen to in 2011, AndrewLngdn. Similar name, but not quite.
2 - "Flesh Without Blood", Grimes
This might challenge "Entropy" for Grimes's best work since "Genesis". Though not quite as "best list ubiquitous" as Kendrick Lamar, Grimes had herself a good 2015. I still have no idea if she'll become a household name someday or if that's something she even wants.
1 - "Willing and Able (feat. Kwabs)", Disclosure
Yes. More Disclosure. This is what happens when I buy a bunch of albums and then they become my collective soundtrack over the course of a couple of months. Apologies. I saw a recording by Kwabs covering "Bloodstream" on the BBC Live Lounge a while back and thought it was just OK. Apparently he's best known for the single "Walk" although I have to admit to having never heard it until now. And I'm not sure I'll play it a second time:(.
And oh yeah, no snow yet!!
