14 months after my last monthly post, I'm daring to try this again. Maybe it will stick, maybe it won't. I'm going to take this opportunity to throw out 10 songs that I'm listening to lately that I haven't yet put up in this space. Maybe you'll find one of them interesting. Maybe not.
10 - "Ms. Communication", theMIND feat. Sun
Turn the bass up, and get ready for a little head nod. This comes to us from American theMIND with help from Montreal producer Da-P and Montreal vocalist Sun. Definitely seems like a housed-up Anderson .paak jam. Which is fine by me.
9 - "Older", Parcels
And now for something completely different... This is not the kind of song I would normally latch on to. And yet... sometimes a little Australian funk-pop takes things to the next level.
8 - "Hyperreal", Flume feat. Kučka
This song is not hot off the presses. It's so old that this still photograph video has somehow already racked up 6M views. THERE'S NOTHING TO SEE HERE. This song can be found on a companion EP to his 2016 release, Skin (the song most people know from that album is "Never Be Like You", though I think "Say It" was far superior...both songs were nominated for the APRA for "Most Played Australian Work" and the former release won the award.). I was just reminded via the Interwebs that Skin won the Grammy for best Electronic album in 2017. Cool.
7 - "Meridian", ODESZA
These guys from Seattle exploded across the internet in 2015 when it seemed that a new song was topping the Hype Machine charts every few weeks. I like me some electronic music, but their material never totally resonated with me. I think the first ODESZA track that I liked a fair amount was a remix of Emancipator's "Eve II"...but I like "Meridian" much better. It definitely reminds me of my past obsession with Deep Forest to some extent. LOL. Somehow, their song "Line of Sight" hit the US Alternative charts last year. I'm going to have to give that a listen now...I'm back. Song was just OK. Post-apocalyptic robot buddy video was neat. Poor chicken.
6 - "Not a Love Song", bülow
I'm starting to cheat a bit here. I haven't exactly posted this song explicitly on this site before, though it was on my list of favourite songs from last year. Some of the songs further on down the page are on the 2017 list as well. I didn't think that this song was getting around at all, but then it popped up on the Stingray "Hits" playlist the other day. Bizarre. Is this the best musical use of the finger-cheek-pop sound since Men Without Hats' "Pop Goes the World"? Coincidentally, it looks like bülow is going to be moving to Canada from the Netherlands this spring (her EP is produced by Mike Wise, who also produced Canadian acts Virginia to Vegas and Scott Helman)
5 - "Don't Tell Me", Ruel
Um, how old is this kid? Answer: barely 15. I really like the sound of this. Hozier/Bieber's love child? Ruel is just getting started so there's really no sign of whether he's going somewhere
at this point. Time will tell.
4 - "Cold Little Heart", Michael Kiwanuka
For any of you who enjoyed the TV series Big Little Lies, you should recognize this right away as the track playing over the opening credits. I had never quite figured out how Leon Bridges broke through while Kiwanuka's sort of stayed on the sidelines...but then I found this article in The Guardian that shed a little light. His I'm Getting Ready EP from 2011 is fantastic (it later got folded into his debut album Home Again).
3 - "Here if You Want (Pale Blue)", MOSSS
I love the sound of fingers slipping along guitar strings. I love falsetto. I am indifferent to triple letters in words.
2 - "Belong", FYFE feat. Kimbra
I listened to FYFE's "Solace" quite a bit back in 2013 and then never really heard anything from him (him's name actually being Paul Dixon) until this. This song had a much more pop feel to it and I love the melody in the verses. Kimbra has also darted in and out of my consciousness over the years since she and Gotye blew minds with "Somebody that I Used to Know". I'm hoping to see her show when she comes through town this summer.
1 - "Would You Ever", Skrillex feat. Poo Bear
This has become a total earworm for me. Apparently this came out at the start of last summer, but I only heard it for the first time in the fall. "Would You Ever" was released with three other tracks at the time, but has not put out any new material since. Wikipedia says that the song became a moderate hit in Australia, Canada (really?), Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. If you're wondering, Poo Bear is a major Justin Bieber collaborator and co-wrote "Where are U Now" and "What Do You Mean".
Enjoy!
