At least the title of the post matches the month again. I'm another decade older but I still love music. Here are the highlights from my July listenings...
10 - "Only", RY X
The man responsible for my favourite song of 2014 is back in the rotation with the first cut from his new album, Dawn. Actually, "Berlin" and "Sweat" have been available for public consumption for a while - the LP rounds up some tracks from the Berlin EP and adds some new material link "Only". Click here for a review of the album from the NY Times (spoiler alert: it's positive).
9 - "Singularity", New Order
Almost a year now after I first heard Music Complete, I'm still finding gems on the album. I haven't pimped "Superheated" here yet so I'll slip that in here too without being too overt about it. I found it interesting to note that New Order has been recording (with three founding members along for the ride the whole time) longer than lead singer Bernard Sumner had been alive when Joy Division became New Order. It's actually not even close.
8 - "What Do You Want (feat. Josh Taylor & Benny Bridges)", Justin Jay
All of a sudden a couple of months ago, Justin Jay's work began flooding The Hype Machine's website. Everyone seemed to like this guy. He's 22, he's released five EPs of house music and he's starting to hit the electronic festival circuit this summer and HardSummer in California. Flash in the pan or FO REAL?
7 - "Good Help (Is So Hard to Find)", Death Cab for Cutie
Man this is a strange video. Like The Sneetches on crack. I'm still warming up to Kintsugi - the big alternative hit from last year, "Black Sun", completely didn't do it for me. But there are still some tracks I've found worth listening to. This one is pretty awesome. Now I'm off to punch a star-shaped hole in my head.
6 - "Lake Arrowhead", Nora en Pure
Oh man, does this ever bring back Tiesto-infused memories of summers past. I know nothing about Nora en Pure aside from the fact that she is a DJ (no, really), was born in South Africa and now resides in Switzerland. And she apparently spun at Coachella. But that's it.
5 - "Blue & the Green", Loyal
I saw a live version of this song on youTube and I was confused - who was this woman singing? Where's the male lead vocalist? It turns out that the vocals on "Blue & the Green" are a pitched-down version of the natural vocal track so that pretty much explained everything. I dug up a press release about the meaning of the song, so if you're interested: "Blue & The Green" questions whether it’s better to fight for something once cherished, or the decision to give up and leave this thing behind. Blue and the green represents land and sea (the earth) as well the emotions of sadness and jealousy. So there you have it.
4 - "This Girl", Kungs vs. Cookin' on 3 Burners
For the second year in a row, I had a song on my radar from following some European charts and then that song ends up playing on the radio in Montreal during a visit. Radio there is so avant-garde compared to the stations here:( The song in question last year was "Fade Out Lines" by The Avener and "This Girl" is this year's hit. This song has it all...Disco! Soul! French deep houseness! And a collabo with an artist called Cookin' With 3 Burners, the best artist moniker I've heard since The Kite String Tangle. If this song had touched down in Canada maybe a month earlier: summer megahit.
3 - "Hold Up", Beyonce
Looks like Beyonce went all KanyePrince with her latest album, Lemonade. Snippets of "Hold Up" exist online but you have to go to Tidal just to get unadulterated audio (hence that pitched-out junk video clip I attached). In any case, this is one of the few tracks from the album that I've been able to get into. As with Bey's last album, I'm finding this one to be a bit of a tough listen. And not because I'm Becky with the good hair. Styles are all over the place (a pro) as is accessibility (a con). Stay tuned to see if some other tracks limp onto my monthly suggest lists. One thing for sure: it's going to be hard to actually share the songs with you.
2 - "St. Ides", Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
In case you're not up on what St. Ides is, definitely check out this ad. This song is going toe-to-toe with "Bolo Tie" for my favourite from This Unruly Mess I've Made. The vibe is reminiscent of "Neon Cathedral" from The Heist, one of my favourites from the previous album. Good luck trying to see M&RL in concert over the next while: they're currently Down Under, followed by a victory lap through Washington State and then a leg over in Asia. Man seeing them in Washington would be great.
1 - "Tilted", Christine and the Queens
Doubling down on her first appearance on the list last month, Heloïse Letissier, a.k.a. Christine and the Queens, is back with a great pop track this month. I've seen this one mentioned a couple of times online and in print over the past few weeks, most notably lauded by Elton John in the pages of EW. I was due for a song with some French in it anyway - thanks for filling up the quota nicely!! Plus this has got to be the first song I've ever heard to name check Methuselah.
Hope everyone's summer is going swimmingly:)
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Sunday, July 10, 2016
June-ish tunes
Like a competitor in the Top Chef kitchen, I am officially behind. I'm just going to crank this one out so that I can hopefully post a July entry too this month.
10 - "Burn the Witch", Radiohead
The first release from A Moon Shaped Pool has apparently been teased for years and it definitely unlike anything else on the album. I'm looking forward to seeing Radiohead again this summer, though I hope that the show is more lively than most of the offerings on Pool.
9 - "Depreston", Courtney Barnett
She was up for the Best New Artist Grammy last year and yet this is the first time I am posting anything of Courtney Barnett's. Then again, Meghan Trainor somehow won that Grammy after having performed at the previous year's ceremony, so I still had some time before Barnett is considered passé, I suppose. There's a great bit in the Song Exploder episode covering this song where Courtney said that after having written the song, she told her friend about the event it was based on, an open house visit in Preston, and her friend told her that the event never even happened in Preston, but in another town. Awesome.
8 - "Bad Blood", Nao
Um, this video is NSFW and fairly messed up. London singer Nao released a pair of acclaimed EPs in 2014 and 2015 and then contributed vocals on the most recent Disclosure album. Nao was named third on the BBC Sound of... 2016 list and now "Bad Blood" is the lead-off track from her forthcoming full-length release For All We Know.
7 - "Completely", Alpines
All bands should be based in cities called Somewhere upon Somewhere Else. Alpines hail from Kingston upon Thames and "Completely" marks their first release since their debut full-length album in 2014. They've been together since 2010 and this is the first time I've ever come across their music.
6 - "Learning for Your Love", Marcus Marr & Chet Faker
While "The Trouble With Us" has been a mainstay on the iPod over the past half-year, I couldn't get behind "Birthday Card" quite as much, possibly due to the lengthy outro. "Learning for Your Love" is pretty solid though. The Work album is proving to be a great uptempo collection of summer jams.
5 - "Track Uno", Kaytranada
Whether you interpret "Uno" as referring to being the best track on the album or just the first, you might be right either way. For some reason this year, I seem to be getting back into instrumental music and so this song is catching me at the right time. I think the first time Kaytranada crossed my radar was when I fell in love with his reworking of Jill Scott's "Golden" in 2013. Looks like the jury is in on his new album 99.9% and the jury likes. I was hoping to catch Kaytranada at Osheaga this summer, but he's playing opposite HAIM and that's just not fair for him.
4 - "Real Friends", Kanye West
Once again, no real stream to share with you. Thanks Mr. West. This is pretty funny though (apparently reaction videos are a thing). "Real Friends" seems to be the second most-favourably received track from TLOP behind "Ultralight Beam" (which I've listened to a few times but it's just not clicking). Erykah Badu actually copped the track from "Real Friends" to record "Trill Friends". Interesting.
3 - "Bolo Tie (feat. YG)", Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
My playlist is getting a bit explicit - a bummer as I keep having to flip through stuff while the kids are around. They're not listening to this one:). The songs on the recent Macklemore & Ryan Lewis album fall cleanly into two camps: will listen to a bunch/will skip almost every time. "Bolo Tie" is definitely one of my favourites on the album with a couple of others likely to make cameos on these lists in the coming months. Stay tuned.
2 - "Roll Up Your Sleeves", Meg Mac
Megan McInerney of Australia goes by Meg Mac and is fairly well known back home. This was her first big hit, to be followed by "Never Be", which earned her a couple of ARIA award nominations in 2015. Personally, "Roll" is more my speed. Meg Mac had a cup of tea touring in the States, supporting both tours for Clean Bandit and D'Angelo.
1 - "iT", Christine and the Queens
Next up on the pseudonym train: Heloïse Letissier, who goes by Christine and the Queens. As per her Wiki page, Heloïse is from Nantes, France and dedicates much of her work to the trans community. It seems that "iT" wasn't released as a single at any point in time, but was the lead-off track from her full-length debut Chaleur Humaine (an English version was released in the UK in February while the original French version was released in France and various other countries almost two years prior). The album reached the top 10 in Belgium, France, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland.
Hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later.
10 - "Burn the Witch", Radiohead
The first release from A Moon Shaped Pool has apparently been teased for years and it definitely unlike anything else on the album. I'm looking forward to seeing Radiohead again this summer, though I hope that the show is more lively than most of the offerings on Pool.
9 - "Depreston", Courtney Barnett
She was up for the Best New Artist Grammy last year and yet this is the first time I am posting anything of Courtney Barnett's. Then again, Meghan Trainor somehow won that Grammy after having performed at the previous year's ceremony, so I still had some time before Barnett is considered passé, I suppose. There's a great bit in the Song Exploder episode covering this song where Courtney said that after having written the song, she told her friend about the event it was based on, an open house visit in Preston, and her friend told her that the event never even happened in Preston, but in another town. Awesome.
8 - "Bad Blood", Nao
Um, this video is NSFW and fairly messed up. London singer Nao released a pair of acclaimed EPs in 2014 and 2015 and then contributed vocals on the most recent Disclosure album. Nao was named third on the BBC Sound of... 2016 list and now "Bad Blood" is the lead-off track from her forthcoming full-length release For All We Know.
7 - "Completely", Alpines
All bands should be based in cities called Somewhere upon Somewhere Else. Alpines hail from Kingston upon Thames and "Completely" marks their first release since their debut full-length album in 2014. They've been together since 2010 and this is the first time I've ever come across their music.
6 - "Learning for Your Love", Marcus Marr & Chet Faker
While "The Trouble With Us" has been a mainstay on the iPod over the past half-year, I couldn't get behind "Birthday Card" quite as much, possibly due to the lengthy outro. "Learning for Your Love" is pretty solid though. The Work album is proving to be a great uptempo collection of summer jams.
5 - "Track Uno", Kaytranada
Whether you interpret "Uno" as referring to being the best track on the album or just the first, you might be right either way. For some reason this year, I seem to be getting back into instrumental music and so this song is catching me at the right time. I think the first time Kaytranada crossed my radar was when I fell in love with his reworking of Jill Scott's "Golden" in 2013. Looks like the jury is in on his new album 99.9% and the jury likes. I was hoping to catch Kaytranada at Osheaga this summer, but he's playing opposite HAIM and that's just not fair for him.
4 - "Real Friends", Kanye West
Once again, no real stream to share with you. Thanks Mr. West. This is pretty funny though (apparently reaction videos are a thing). "Real Friends" seems to be the second most-favourably received track from TLOP behind "Ultralight Beam" (which I've listened to a few times but it's just not clicking). Erykah Badu actually copped the track from "Real Friends" to record "Trill Friends". Interesting.
3 - "Bolo Tie (feat. YG)", Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
My playlist is getting a bit explicit - a bummer as I keep having to flip through stuff while the kids are around. They're not listening to this one:). The songs on the recent Macklemore & Ryan Lewis album fall cleanly into two camps: will listen to a bunch/will skip almost every time. "Bolo Tie" is definitely one of my favourites on the album with a couple of others likely to make cameos on these lists in the coming months. Stay tuned.
2 - "Roll Up Your Sleeves", Meg Mac
Megan McInerney of Australia goes by Meg Mac and is fairly well known back home. This was her first big hit, to be followed by "Never Be", which earned her a couple of ARIA award nominations in 2015. Personally, "Roll" is more my speed. Meg Mac had a cup of tea touring in the States, supporting both tours for Clean Bandit and D'Angelo.
1 - "iT", Christine and the Queens
Next up on the pseudonym train: Heloïse Letissier, who goes by Christine and the Queens. As per her Wiki page, Heloïse is from Nantes, France and dedicates much of her work to the trans community. It seems that "iT" wasn't released as a single at any point in time, but was the lead-off track from her full-length debut Chaleur Humaine (an English version was released in the UK in February while the original French version was released in France and various other countries almost two years prior). The album reached the top 10 in Belgium, France, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland.
Hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later.
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