June adds

Summer breeze. Makes me feel fine.

About time this summer got started. Garden's blooming. Kids can smell the holidays. Iggy Azalea's on the radio 2.3 times an hour. Yep, it's summer, and I'm staring down a pretty sizeable road trip in the near future. I'm excited to see new things, go to new places, visit some friends and listen to some music. Here are some of the songs I'll be cranking with the windows down:

8. "I Can't Keep Up (feat. Will Heard)" - Tourist

"Will someone ever show me love, won't somebody give a f…?" Somebody get this guy some time on the couch! He's only 21! OK, so fine. The kids will have to be asleep if I'm playing this one (and even then…rumour is they hear everything). The song starts out having the same soulful feel of some other recent electronic hits featuring male vocalists (which stand out because the tendency is for electronic artist to go with the generic female vocalist) such as "Latch" and "Black and Gold" (dang - that's a good one…up for a Grammy and everything!). I just so happen to enjoy those songs, so listening to this one a few times was a no-brainer.



Bonus cut! Adele covering Sam Sparro! Love the throat-clear to kick things off:)



7. "Lost on the Way Home (feat. Solange) - Chromeo

I didn't really want to share more than 5 tracks this month, but then what would have happened had I run into Solange in an elevator and left this off the list? Too soon? I love some of these new albums by acts that have been bubbling under for a while that are just loaded with great collaborations. Disclosure's Settle is the blueprint, but Chromeo's "White Women" is in the discussion this year. Man, Solange has a voice on her.



6. "The Journey" - Tom Misch

Awwww yeah. Cue the dimmed lights, get me this track on vinyl and let the loving begin. So smooth. Reminds me of something that would have been right at home on Mark Farina's Mushroom Jazz compilations back in the day. This is off Misch's debut EP Soulection and, oh, dude's 18!!! I remember what I was doing when I was 18 and it wasn't anything this beautiful. My eyes are officially on Tom Misch.



5. "Okay" - Holy Ghost!

I thought LCD Soundsystem was done. My bad. I've been loosely aware of these guys for a few years (and even recall hearing one of their tracks piped into the sound system at the excellent local bakery Art Is In, scoring points for both the duo and the eatery!), but never got around to digging into their music at home until now. Consider myself initiated.



4. "Mine (feat. Drake)" - Beyonce

Yeah, yeah. The album's been out for half a year. To tell you the truth, it was a bit of a hard listen for me. I found the chopping of many of the songs into multiple keys and multiple time signatures at once interesting yet distracting. "Mine" is a prime example as it essentially plays out in three parts. Oh, and Drake? Canada even thinks your being a bit too Drakey lately. Tone it down. "Partition" is probably my favourite track on the album, but this one's been getting more spins around here lately.



3. "Loveless Way" - Belgian Fog

Ah sweet falsetto. Definitely on my list of "little things that make a song more appealing to me", along with "background noise like traffic or people talking", "removal then reintroduction of percussion" and "use of nonstandard instruments". Given the tempo and feel of this song, it's easy to gloss over the lyrics. Somebody's not in the right kind of relationship. I've read in a couple of places that the inspiration was actually Flemish songwriter Jacques Brel…hence the pseudonym of the artist (who is American and not Belgian).



2. "Southern Sun" - Boy & Bear

It's killing me. This song is very derivative of something retro and I can't put my finger on what band or song I'm thinking of. "Southern Sun" is off this Australian group's second album, Harlequin Dream and, as per Wikipedia, pays "homage to [Australian singer/songwriter] Richard Clapton's relaxed 1970s steel guitar sound". Not knowing anything about Richard Clapton, that's probably not what I'm freezing on. Oh well, I'll figure it out someday.



1. "Coffee" - Sylvan Esso

Hands down, this is the winner of the month. Feist-y/Regina Spector-y/Noosa-y vocals over electronic beats? Sign me up. And this is before I saw the video which was partially filmed at a contradance in North Carolina. I have not contradanced, but have had a number of discussions about it with friends recently and it was serendipitous on some level that it turned up in this video. Sylvan Esso is Amelia Meath (formerly of Mountain Man) and Nick Sanborn (formerly of Megafaun) and "Coffee" is actually the second song of theirs I heard (the other being "Hey Mami", which is also something special, just not AS special). My wife better like this one or it's going to be a long summer.

May adds with an extra!

Or should I say an extra with May adds? I should have posted some of the songs I have been putting on repeat lately a few weeks ago but life has been getting in the way. It's better this way anyway because the video below wasn't out earlier in the month - apparently it was released today, in fact. Anyone listening to alt rock radio has heard the song a few times, but now you have a visual to accompany the audio. This is movie star Andrew Garfield dragging it up for the video of "We Exist", which apparently closes on footage from Arcade Fire's second-weekend show at Coachella. I can only assume that A.G.'s intrusion at the concert would have been a bit confusing. But now it all makes sense. Here is the video:



And now for some of the big hits around my house.

5. "Faded" - ZHU (¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

The rest of this post leans a bit synth-poppy so I'm going to start the May list off with some bigger beats. I'm not sure what it is about EDM falling in love with being faded and/or wasted (see Tiesto, DJ), but it seems to be a bit of a trend. This is a total earworm and I love that the distorted part of the song suggests that you might be listening while faded. As far as I know, nobody knows a lot about this person (it has to be a person, right?), aside from the fact that they (?) are a producer from L.A.. ZHU released its (?) first EP NIGHTDAY this past week. Allegedly, a tour is also in the works. 1.6M listens on Soundcloud for "Faded" (and the other EP tracks are running in the hundreds of thousands) is definitely a good sign.



4. "Seasons (Waiting on You)" - Future Islands

The world has already seen this clip twice over, but I'm going to help spread it some more. Future Islands made a NAME for themselves with this little performance on Letterman a couple of months ago. Then, they marched on to Coachella, where many considered them to have served up one of the breakout performances of the festival. This Sam Herring guy? I think he likes his job. I also love how one writer online called his death-metal-like growl his "cookie monster" voice.



P.S. This article about the Letterman performance is awesome.

3. "Paris" - Little Dragon

You know I love me some Swedes. Well, these are some of my very favourites. Little Dragon's last album, Ritual Union, is still one of my favourites and I look forward to hearing more of Nabuma Rubberband. "Let Go" and "Klapp Klapp" have been officially released, but "Paris" is my bread and butter. Have a listen:



2. "Shooting Stars" - Bag Raiders

How did I miss this song? Oh I know, I don't do this full-time. This one goes back to 2009 so it kind of predates my dip into the indie pool. Excuses, excuses. These guys are from Australia and this track blew up back then and somehow made a comeback last summer, re-cracking the top 50 of the national charts. Regardless, I'm in on this song now. Enjoy.



1. "Red Eyes" - The War on Drugs

They're playing a local show this summer and their label is Secretly Canadian. I feel like I am predisposed to like these guys. The band has been around for nearly a decade and one of their co-founders, Kurt Vile, has already left to go solo (see "Wakin' On a Pretty Day"). The group just released their third studio album, Lost in the Dream and this was the first release. I am definitely looking forward to hearing "Red Eyes" live.

Top April tunes

Howdy. I had hoped to put up a second post in March, but life got in the way. Here we are in a new month, there's still snow on the ground and "Turn Down for What" is still annoying. Here are some of the songs I've been listening to the most over the past couple of weeks that weren't on my radar when I last posted:

Big Data featuring Joywave, "Dangerous"



Awwww yeah! That is one sweet bass line. Joywave was last seen on my iPod doing "Tongues" with KOPPS. Now they're back, collaborating with Big Data on a song that I believe is about to get some traction on Alternative radio stations soon. The interesting thing about the artist listing is that one person, Daniel Armbruster, is actually a member of both Big Data and Joywave. I should also mention that clapping along to this song is encouraged.

Kenzie May, "Skeleton Key"



Well isn't this a racy little song. If you don't like f-bombs, you're going to have to skip the first 30 seconds. From what I can figure, Kenzie May was born in Boston but was raised in London. The video for "Skeleton Key" can be found on Kenzie May's home page at www.kenziemay.com.

Robot Koch, "Trouble (Robots Don't Sleep)"



Like "Dangerous" above, this song got me from the opening beat. Check out some additional information on Robot Koch at this link. "Trouble" is off his most recent EP, entitled Robots Don't Sleep. Another of his songs, "Here With Me", made an appearance in Episode 3 of the TV show "The Blacklist" earlier this year.

BANKS, "Are You That Somebody?"



Yes, this is an acoustic cover of that Aaliyah song with the sample of the cooing baby. I love the original and this is a fresh take on it. In fact, I've fallen completely in love with BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. Lots of cool acts coming on and dropping some buzzy covers. This past year alone, Ellie Goulding has done "Mirrors", Daughter covered "Get Lucky", Robin Thicke took care of "I Love It", Arctic Monkeys tackled "Hold On (We're Going Home" and Aluna George took on Frank Ocean's "Thinkin' 'Bout You". One of my favourite tracks recorded at the lounge was Jamie Cullum's jazzy take on Pharrell's "Frontin'". Check out some of the track listings of albums made from the show here (Navigate to more recent titles using the Live Lounge chronology links on the right-hand side of the Wiki page via this link).

Lusine, "Gravity"



I needed to slip SOMETHING electronic in here, right? So last weekend, I spent some time reminiscing online while checking the Coachella feed on YouTube (Click here to get there). The above video is a time-lapse video that was occasionally used to fill time between sets. It focuses on the travels of a large mobile art installation (the making of which is the subject of a separate YouTube video) and gives you a pretty good idea of what being on the ground at the Indio Polo Grounds is like. The song is a bit repetitive, but a really nice listen as far as ambient tunes go.

Favourite March adds

March is right around the corner so it's time to reveal my favourite five songs that I have latched on to over the past month. Here they are:

5) Bombay Bicycle Club, "Luna"



This is the first track I had heard from the group's latest album, So Long, See You Tomorrow, which was released at the start of February. My love of BBC goes back to their Flaws album from 2010 ("Rinse Me Down" was in my top 5 of the year) and "Always Like This" was one of my favourites from last year. Another standout from the new album is "It's Alright Now", a song that somehow reminds me of a Christmas carol. I doubt that was intentional.

4) Elbow, "New York Morning"



While most of the time, I'd prefer to embed Soundcloud links on this blog, sometimes I feel compelled to insert a music video. The video for "New York Morning" is just amazing. Somehow it still has only about 100k views. Ridiculous! It was no surprise to me to find out that Gabriel-era Genesis was one of the band's influences - you can hear a lot of Gabriel in lead singer Guy Garvey's vocals. I also remember reading somewhere that they recorded their soon-to-be-released album The Take Off and Landing of Everything at Gabriel's Real World studios.

3) Coldplay, "Midnight"



Wow. Chris Martin might have holed himself up in Justin Vernon's Wisconsin cabin in order to birth this ethereal ear-candy. Is this the direction the band has gone in for their upcoming album, due this year? Not sure, but it's got me intrigued.

2) George Ezra, "Budapest"

EARWORM WARNING



I think I played this song once for my wife on Friday and she has been signing fragments under her breath for 3 straight days. This one might burn itself out a bit too quickly if that keeps up. It is a very catchy tune from this U.K. singer/songwriter. George was ranked fifth on the BBC Sound of…2014 list so big things are projected for him (the four artists finishing ahead of him were Sampha, BANKS, Ella Eyre and Sam Smith. Chvrches finished fifth last year and we know where they are now.). So have a listen, but you just might be back for more.

1) Chromeo featuring Toro y Moi, "Come Alive"



Like the robots in The Lego Movie say, "That's my jam!". This is a slick little tune that fits very well into the Chromeo pantheon. But working with Toro y Moi? That's like drilling bacon-peanut-butter sauce all over everything. A hilarious video, an infectious beat, a solid chorus - this one's going to be on heavy rotation for me for a while.

No blog views in a week! Maybe a new post will help.

I'm back to drop a few tracks that I started listening to last month and have grown on me since. I'm going to skip mainstream radio tracks that are getting a bit ubiquitous like Pharrell's hat's "Happy" and stick with the lesser-known stuff. Many of these tracks came off of best-of-2013 lists so the true hipsters out there will likely already be familiar with all of these. I'll never be a true hipster and I'm OK with that.



Man this guy has been doing things for a while. The Northern Borders definitely has a Four Tet vibe to it, which means it's up my alley. The kind of stuff I would have put on my Discman in my dorm for an all-nighter many years ago. "Cirrus" is the big release from the album, but I thought I'd share this lesser-circulated track for your listening pleasure. Oh, and if you didn't know: a bonobo is a type of monkey.



My brain melted when I saw this. The artists behind probably my favourite album of 2013 remixing "F For You" (a decent song, but not one of the album's show-stoppers) with Mary J. Blige. YO!!!! I am embedding the video in case her 43-year old silhouette impresses you too. Mary J. better watch out - this may be opening the door to Patti Labelle territory (yes, that's a "Not Tonight (Remix)" reference…and oh yeah, that's Mary J. in that video).



Ed Sheeran, remixed. I suppose even that can happen. But then again, there's a Soundcloud clip out there of him and Passenger mashing up "Thrift Shop" and "No Diggity", so like Kevin Garnett said "Anything is possibllllllllllle!". "I See Fire" is his latest work and was composed for The Hobbit 2 and plays over the end credits. Kygo's remix adds a bit of bounce to it, making it a little less dirge-y. When I first heard this I thought there was no way that was Ed Sheeran, not being used to hearing his lower register. It's cool that he plays all of the instruments on the original aside from the cello. Singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalists are amazing to me.

OK fine, here's the "No Diggity"/"Thrift Shop" mash-up:





After Sam Smith broke through with a big helping hand from Disclosure, many sites/bloggers/music types have projected greatness for him this coming year. "Nirvana" is the second track on the EP he released in the summer of 2013 and has received a fair amount of acclaim. Last week, he released "Money on My Mind" as the lead track from his first full-length album, but I'm a much bigger fan of "Nirvana".



Lastly, a little something from someone I know very little about. This song is the first track from Mikal Cronin's second full-length album MCII, an album which seems to have earned some fairly high praise. While I would never guess that someone into "garage punk" or "noise pop" would be my idea of a good time, this is a really good listen and I thought I'd pass it on to you.

February 2014 Adds

After spending an awful lot of time poring over "2013 Best of" lists, i came to a depressing conclusion that these lists contained songs I had already fallen in love with or songs that I didn't really care for. At the end of 2011 and 2012, I found a pile of previously unknown gems in year-end lists. It seems I might have spent too much time actively seeking out new music last year as there was very little left at the end of the year to discover. Oh well. 2014 is now in full swing and it's time to turn my ears forward to some of my first new sounds of the year. I thought I'd share a few songs I'm adding to my February listening list.


Well, first off some full disclosure: she's Swedish. From the same producer who brought us Mapei's "Don't Wait", this is "Younger" by Seinabo Sey. I'm of two minds when it comes to this song: I find the opening very strong and that hyper-pregnant pause between the first chorus and the second verse is tremendous. However, while the vibe of the bridge that kicks in at about 2:04 meshes well wight he message in the lyrics, it takes the song in a very bizarre direction. Regardless, it's worth a listen…maybe even many, many listens.



OK, so this one isn't quite new. It's from Remix Artist Collective's (RAC's) Don't Talk to EP, released last September and has recently surfaced on the local alternative rock station. Not bad for an electronic group that has amassed a rather large online following remixing other artists' tunes. This is by far the standout track on the EP…the biggest letdown would definitely be the track featuring Tokyo Police Club. I had such high hopes.



This Oscar-nominated Pharrell track has quickly become my kids' favourite car tune. Historically, this has not boded well for the longevity of a song in my personal playlists. For now, though, this funky ray of sunshine is getting a lot of play around here. I'm looking forward to hearing the new album. Pharrell's last album didn't fare so well to many people's surprise. Perhaps "Happy" will serve as a strong launching pad for this one.



I do love me some instrumental electronic music. Some songs are definitely better than others and my current favourite is "The Finishing" by Stavroz. However, this one is definitely an up-and-comer. Again, not a new release as this came out on Bonobo's The North Borders album, released last March. However, the more Four Tet-ty you can sound the better and this song definitely hearkens back to some of Four Tet's finer works from There is Love in You. My one beef is that 2:10 is a touch too long to wait for the beat to drop, but I suppose making you want it more makes it sweeter when it materializes.



This has a little bit of Josef Salvat to it (a good thing). It is also the first song I have latched onto performed by a member of the cast of Game of Thrones (to the best of my knowledge). Raleigh Ritchie is otherwise known as Jacob Anderson, a 24 year-old British actor/singer who has been landing acting gigs for over five years already. His EP Black and Blue just got released and this is definitely a promising track.



Another song from a March 2013 release. This is exactly the type of song that my wife would have loved 15 years ago and I would have mocked her for it. I suppose I've softened my stance on folk music as I've branched into listening to more indie stuff. I love the removal of the drums right after the 2:00 mark without essentially changing the guitar chords or the vocal melody. Nice addition through subtraction. Waxahatchee, you have my attention.

January new stuff

The word new is so funny when it comes to music and blogs. The Hype Machine's "Popular" chart even suggests that a week ago is old. I want to make it clear that music I put forth as new is simply new to me. It may be decades old, but if it's something I've heard for the first time recently, then it's good enough for me.



While we all wait for Justin Vernon to trek out to his cabin in Wisconsin and whip up another album, I guess I'll just have to subsist on tracks like "Berlin" by RY X. As per his wiki page, RY X is Ry Cuming, an Australian musician based in L.A. and signed to a Stockholm label. Of course. This song is totally long enough to hook but short enough that you're wondering if it cut off or something instead of naturally coming to an end. It's beautiful, regardless.



I fell in love with "Fall 4 U" from Young Hunger when it came out just over a year ago, but for whatever reason I never payed much attention to the rest of the album. Well, I finally got around to listening to "I Owe You This" and it gets my thumbs up. Here's a Guardian bio of Chad Valley a.k.a. Hugo Manuel, written just before the release of "Young Hunger", in case you want to do some reading.



Believe it or not, one of my first Scandinavian electronic crushes was from Norway, not Sweden. Röyksopp's Melody A.M. album is still one of my electronic classics - up there with Daft Punk's Discovery, Cassius's 1999, Jazzanova's In Between, the Wipeout 2097 soundtrack, Chemical Brothers's Surrender, Underworld's Beaucoup Fish and the Hackers soundtrack. I'm probably missing a few, but that's a pretty solid list. Hm - I see that they were actually nominated for a Grammy in 2009. Cool. "Something in My Heart" is the duo's most recent release and it features Jamie McDermott of the Irrepressibles. Last I checked, this single was roaring up the Norwegian charts and might crack the top 10 (bated breath).