I know, I know. October's almost over. I guess I got bloggburned out on the previous post. But I thought I'd share a few more tunes before November rolls around. Listen:
10 - "Shake it Off", Ryan Adams
Well isn't this an interesting improvement on the original (in my opinion)? Ryan's rerecording of the entire 1989 album is pretty cool. Has anything like this ever been done before? Covering an entire album? Applause from me.
9 - "10,000 Emerald Pools", BØRNS
While "Electric Love" is doing the rounds at alternative radio, this one wins out in my books. It took a couple of listens, but eventually it sunk its claws in. Don't let the cool "Ø" in the artist's name lead you to believe this is some Danish import or something - Garrett Borns is from Michigan. He toured with Charli XCX and Bleachers this past summer and his debut album Dopamine was released just last week.
8 - "Lay Down", Son Little
And now for something completely different. I don't know if Leon Bridges bringing old old school soul back to life has brought some other folks like this out of the woodwork, but this is some nice bluesy smoothness from Son Little. Son's from Philly and has worked with both RJD2 and the Roots crew. I'm not sure if his album has actually come out yet, but this is the first single.
7 - "Back of the Car (feat. Nate Henricks)", RAC
RAC is back at it again and once again, not in the electronic remix genre. If I have this right, Nate Henricks is a super DIY record-at-home folk artist from Kansas. Not entirely sure how he and RAC hooked up but the result is pretty catchy.
6 - "Show Me Love (EDX's Indian Summer Remix)", Sam Feldt
Why does nobody ever play "Love for Love" anymore? Can anyone tell the difference? Oh Robin S.... While it might not seem like it from some of the songs I've posted this year, I'm not the biggest fan of covers of decades-old iconic pop hits. But this one grabbed my attention. .
5 - "Omen (feat. Sam Smith)", Disclosure
Disclosure goes back to the well with Sam Smith and radio went back to the well with both of them, but only briefly. No, this track is no "Latch" and Sam Smith has been around the block now so he doesn't have that new car smell, but this is still a decent song and I'm a little surprised that the reception was so luke warm. One of many reasons I don't let others program what I listen to anymore. By the way, I bet the tattoo scanned to get into the party in the video read "fidelio".
4 - "One Man Can Change the World (feat. Kanye West and John Legend)", Big Sean
This one's been rattling around for a while. Overdue to get some shine on this list. Call your grandmothers.
3 - "Beautiful Escape (feat. Zak Abel)", Tom Misch
611 views on this video! Awesome. My man Tom Misch released his debut LP Beat Tape 2 a few weeks back and this is by far the standout on the album. However, I doubt it will be the last album track I highlight on these pages...stay tuned! Hi guitar work reminds me of some of the instrumental "new jazz" they used to play at ungodly hours on my childhood fave radio station in Winnipeg....I think the show was called "A New Way to Relax" and I kept hearing it on the way to the airport for early morning flights. But I digress. Tom is 20. 20!
2 - "No Justice", Astronauts, etc.
This is Anthony Ferraro, a guy who has worked very closely with Toro y Moi. In fact the two of them have a cover of Elton's "Rocket Man". I have read that Anthony was studying at UC Berkeley to be a classical musician but that career was sidelined due to arthritis. Yay internet facts! "No Justice" was released back in May and makes for a very nice listen.
1 - "All Your Love is Gone", Boxed In
Here's everything you need to know about Boxed In. Thank you, Guardian, for lines like "All Your Love Has Gone, has been all over Radio 1 like an indie-disco rash". Enjoy as I spread the rash?.
See you in a couple of weeks for the November rundown. And then the ever-popular tracks-of-the-year rundown (almost all of which I've put up for you on this site...but in what order will they settle???)!
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Saturday, September 19, 2015
The J500
So back in 2008 or 2009, a good friend planted a seed by mentioning to me this pet project of his where he generated a list of his current 500 favourite songs and updated it annually. I like music. I like ranking things and I like making lists. Sometimes the longer the better. I thought about how I would go about creating something like this but kind of make it my own. In the end, I decided to make a list of the songs that have meant the most to me over time. This could be interpreted as the songs that I've liked the most, the ones that have been tied to the some of my most significant moments or (for the lucky ones) a fusion of the two. I like to think of it (morbidly) as a list that could be played at my funeral to give people an overall sense of the essential songs of my life.
It took a while to get that first list together: scouring through my collection (digital, CD and cassette!), going through old music charts to cover the top 40 obsession years and wracking my brain to fill in the gaps was a fairly involved process. The Internet was extremely useful, as was taking suggestions from friends and family. Ranking the songs was another chore altogether. I would never have been happy just leaving it as some alphabetically-ordered list, but it became hard to figure out things like whether the first dance song at my wedding would be higher on the list than that song I couldn't stop listening to that one summer or the first pop song that my kids and I both liked or the song I first liked enough to go out and pick up the album. I gave it my best shot and have tried to stay on top of it by updating it every two years to incorporate new songs that should be added to the list.
There are very few rules for eligibility:
It took a while to get that first list together: scouring through my collection (digital, CD and cassette!), going through old music charts to cover the top 40 obsession years and wracking my brain to fill in the gaps was a fairly involved process. The Internet was extremely useful, as was taking suggestions from friends and family. Ranking the songs was another chore altogether. I would never have been happy just leaving it as some alphabetically-ordered list, but it became hard to figure out things like whether the first dance song at my wedding would be higher on the list than that song I couldn't stop listening to that one summer or the first pop song that my kids and I both liked or the song I first liked enough to go out and pick up the album. I gave it my best shot and have tried to stay on top of it by updating it every two years to incorporate new songs that should be added to the list.
There are very few rules for eligibility:
- Generally speaking, I'm starting the eligibility period with 1990, when I first started loving songs and buying my own music. There are some songs that predate 1990, but they are almost all tied to events occurring in 1990 or after or being songs that I discovered/rediscovered in a serious way after that time.
- I have to be able to still want to listen to each song on the list. This wasn't originally a rule, but I found that I'd get the earlier versions of the list together, but then I wouldn't be able to fully enjoy it as there were songs that I'd want to skip. So maybe this affects the purity of the list, but I just had to be able to throw it on shuffle and know that I'd be ok with whatever came up. NOTE: this rule is in no way an attempt to eradicate embarrassing entires from the list. Jude Cole, Nelson and Deep Forest should back that up. I have to say though that a song's position on the list is definitely influenced by longevity - it will take some time for songs from the past five years to mean as much to me writ large as favourite songs from the 90s that I've never grown tired of.
- Ummm, I think that's actually it. The idea of disallowing seasonal music was brought up, but I don't think there were any applicable tracks that would have cracked the list anyway.
In the end, there were a few things that I'm still a bit bummed about. I love jazz music, but the genre itself is pretty much nowhere to be found here. I realized that there were very few songs that I couldn't get enough of and that it was more jazz albums that I loved...and this didn't really fit the methodology. Same with some other albums that I listened to throughout my university years (primarily as study music) where none of the actual tracks stood up to the others on this list. So shouts out to the Joshua Redman canon, Ella Fitzgerald, Vince Guaraldi, Astrud Gilberto, To Rococo Rot, 1 Giant Leap, Sade and Kruder & Dorfmeister - none of you are anywhere to be found here.
So that's about all there is to be said about my funeral list. There's a lot of good music on it. And a lot of music most would consider bad (I'll just file it under "guilty pleasure"). There's a lot of very popular music and a few songs that most people wouldn't have ever heard of. The selected songs are a little all over the map and I'm pretty happy it turned out that way. Through the magic of YouTube, I've constructed video playlists of the whole thing so you can flip through the tracks at your leisure. Over time, I suspect that some videos will be pulled down (particularly those by Prince - that dude does NOT like his work in the public domain) so I'll have to keep an eye on that. This version was finalized last week so it's set in stone for another couple of years.
With these playlists, the first number is the rank of the first song of the list and the second number is the rank of the last song. So the playlists are arranged like a countdown.
As always, enjoy!
Sunday, September 6, 2015
September tunes
What happened? Summer already seems to be over. Oh well, at least there's always new music to dig up online. Here's what I have for you this month (you might notice that a number of Osheaga acts have made their way onto this list):
10 - "Breathe In (Carmen Rizzo Remix)", Low Roar
Well, it seems that I'm making my way through Scandinavia now. Low Roar's frontman is originally from Oakland, but recently moved to Iceland to start this band. The original version of the song features Amiina doing instrumentation - a really cool experimental female group who opened for Sigur Ros here in Ottawa a few years ago. This track has a really nice chill vibe for late summer, er, fall nights.
9 - "I'm a Ruin", Marina and the Diamonds
I've heard a lot of Marina and the Diamonds before but none of it has ever stuck. I think this is a first. I think this is one of the most "pop" songs she has done. Yes, it would probably find a home at AC radio rather than CHR, but I'm almost 40 so it's allowed.
8 - "Need You Now", Hot Chip
More deep house from Hot Chip. I was at a party a few weeks ago and some guy used his phone to play some music but I'm pretty sure nobody asked him to, so it was a bit weird. An onslaught of under the radar indie rock followed, none of which was recognized by anybody...and then "Need You Now" popped up. What a playlist. If anyone's curious, 1) the song samples vocals from the very end of Sinnamon's 1983 release "I Need You Now" and 2) the song has enjoyed the most popular success in Belgium.
7 - "Between Me and You", Brandon Flowers
This is a really sweet song from The Desired Effect. I like the alternation between the use of "between me and you" as a measure of distance and a suggestion that something is being communicated in confidence. I like wordplay. If anyone wants to see a live version featuring Chrissie Hynde, crowd singing and feedback, here ya go.
6 - "In the Wind (feat. Joey Bada$$, Big K.R.I.T. and Chauncey Sherod)", Statik Selektah
Awwwwwww yeeeaahhh. That's smooth. There's not a lot about Statik Selektah out there - he's from Boston, used to be a radio personality and has already released seven studio albums and two EPs. K.R.I.T. and Bada$$ are a couple of nice names to have on your track though.
5 - "Ship to Wreck", Florence + the Machine
While this video is not as out there as the one for "What Kind of Man", it still features suspension of the laws of physics, rain, wrestling, questionable degrees of consciousness, an apparently comfy tub and the ever-present flailing.
4 - "Pirouette", Made in Heights
I'm a little shocked to see that I never included MiH's track "Panther" on this list. I sure listened to it a lot. I like "Pirouette" even more. Playful, breezy, nice to throw on in the background. Their album Without My Enemy What Would I Do just got released so their material might be popping up in more and more places (ads, shows, movies, etc.) over the next while.
3 - "Could I Be", Sylvan Esso
This live performance is a pretty faithful rendering of the album track - not really any surprise considering it's electronic music. But still, there's a lot of room for the vocal to be rubbish. That dude may just be twiddling knobs when performing, but he sure seems to enjoy himself. Their interplay at Osheaga was pretty cute.
2 - "It's All Okay", Julia Stone
The opening piano/drum combination screams "Moby". The closest song I could find though was Mothers of the Night, which is different enough to be outside the plagiarism zone:) Despite the fact that the song is three years old, I'm still loving it right now. Songs being a little dated has never stopped me before.
1 - "Leave a Trace", CHVRCHES
Oh man, look who's back and who has not lost a step. CHVRCHES! And you had best believe that I am getting that album the second it's released in a couple of weeks. I have nothing more to say. Enjoy the syntheses of it all.
Before leaving this week, I want to throw a shout-out to whosampled.com, a FANTASTIC resource for sorting out those samples that you totally recognize but not quite enough to identify. Check it out.
10 - "Breathe In (Carmen Rizzo Remix)", Low Roar
Well, it seems that I'm making my way through Scandinavia now. Low Roar's frontman is originally from Oakland, but recently moved to Iceland to start this band. The original version of the song features Amiina doing instrumentation - a really cool experimental female group who opened for Sigur Ros here in Ottawa a few years ago. This track has a really nice chill vibe for late summer, er, fall nights.
9 - "I'm a Ruin", Marina and the Diamonds
I've heard a lot of Marina and the Diamonds before but none of it has ever stuck. I think this is a first. I think this is one of the most "pop" songs she has done. Yes, it would probably find a home at AC radio rather than CHR, but I'm almost 40 so it's allowed.
8 - "Need You Now", Hot Chip
More deep house from Hot Chip. I was at a party a few weeks ago and some guy used his phone to play some music but I'm pretty sure nobody asked him to, so it was a bit weird. An onslaught of under the radar indie rock followed, none of which was recognized by anybody...and then "Need You Now" popped up. What a playlist. If anyone's curious, 1) the song samples vocals from the very end of Sinnamon's 1983 release "I Need You Now" and 2) the song has enjoyed the most popular success in Belgium.
7 - "Between Me and You", Brandon Flowers
This is a really sweet song from The Desired Effect. I like the alternation between the use of "between me and you" as a measure of distance and a suggestion that something is being communicated in confidence. I like wordplay. If anyone wants to see a live version featuring Chrissie Hynde, crowd singing and feedback, here ya go.
6 - "In the Wind (feat. Joey Bada$$, Big K.R.I.T. and Chauncey Sherod)", Statik Selektah
Awwwwwww yeeeaahhh. That's smooth. There's not a lot about Statik Selektah out there - he's from Boston, used to be a radio personality and has already released seven studio albums and two EPs. K.R.I.T. and Bada$$ are a couple of nice names to have on your track though.
5 - "Ship to Wreck", Florence + the Machine
While this video is not as out there as the one for "What Kind of Man", it still features suspension of the laws of physics, rain, wrestling, questionable degrees of consciousness, an apparently comfy tub and the ever-present flailing.
4 - "Pirouette", Made in Heights
I'm a little shocked to see that I never included MiH's track "Panther" on this list. I sure listened to it a lot. I like "Pirouette" even more. Playful, breezy, nice to throw on in the background. Their album Without My Enemy What Would I Do just got released so their material might be popping up in more and more places (ads, shows, movies, etc.) over the next while.
3 - "Could I Be", Sylvan Esso
This live performance is a pretty faithful rendering of the album track - not really any surprise considering it's electronic music. But still, there's a lot of room for the vocal to be rubbish. That dude may just be twiddling knobs when performing, but he sure seems to enjoy himself. Their interplay at Osheaga was pretty cute.
2 - "It's All Okay", Julia Stone
The opening piano/drum combination screams "Moby". The closest song I could find though was Mothers of the Night, which is different enough to be outside the plagiarism zone:) Despite the fact that the song is three years old, I'm still loving it right now. Songs being a little dated has never stopped me before.
1 - "Leave a Trace", CHVRCHES
Oh man, look who's back and who has not lost a step. CHVRCHES! And you had best believe that I am getting that album the second it's released in a couple of weeks. I have nothing more to say. Enjoy the syntheses of it all.
Before leaving this week, I want to throw a shout-out to whosampled.com, a FANTASTIC resource for sorting out those samples that you totally recognize but not quite enough to identify. Check it out.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Summer tunes Pt. 2/Notes from Osheaga
This summer's been pretty good to me, musically. First, that batch of songs I posted in the last missive were part of a solid soundtrack for July. Second, my wife was kind enough to take the kids for the long weekend as I hopped off to Montreal to attend the 10th annual Osheaga music and arts festival. This is really only the second music festival that I've attended in the sense of being on site trying to see as many acts as possible, start to finish. Ottawa's Bluesfest and Folk fest don't count - too few acts or too many days. I though that the line-up was pretty strong, although the distribution of acts I was interested in was a little lopsided. Day 1 had some points of interest, but gaps big enough that I could take the time to wander the grounds and get used to the layout (most importantly, being able to figure out timing, such as the travel time between stages, average wait time for food and water, etc.). Day 2 was seriously cobbled together from past Bluesfest pre-headline acts, artists that if I were on-site, I might check out...but I'd never buy a ticket just to see them. Day 3 was a heart-attack though. There were a pile of bands that I would have loved to see if only they had been scheduled on other days as opposed to against bands I was more excited to see. Sigh. At least I wasn't let down by anybody on Day 3 - choosing one band over another and then being let down would have left me wondering but now I have no regrets.
With regards to overall comments regarding the festival, the layout is great in the sense that the stages are far apart from one another that there is little opportunity for sound bleed. Furthermore, the main stage area was large enough to accommodate over 20,000 people on either the flat ground or the grassy hill at the back of the site (the hill was actually so far back from the stage that the sound and video were out of sync!). However, the layout stinks in that the ways in which one can get from a grouping of stages to another are limited and so thousands of people all taking the same path tended to bottleneck at times, making it tight to get from one set to the next. However, the flow back and forth between the two main stages was seamless - one act would finish on one stage and the other would start up within a minute or two, tops. Also, the park is on an island and so, generally speaking, the only way off at the end of the day is by subway. The line-ups to get on the subway were horrendous. I actually left a few minutes early twice to avoid the brutal wait I suffered on night 1.
Just as I made adjustments to my plan of attack after the first day of sussing things out, the festival also made some adjustments. For example, the way in which they funnelled people into the site was made much smoother (yay) and they took away an entire water station (boo). Seriously, was that a cash grab to take a bottle-filling station away? Kind of a safety issue, no?
While it was still to see so many cans and bottles discarded on the ground, I have to commend the festival for having a grounds crew working all day long to pick up garbage as shows were going on and for adopting an eco-cup system whereby drinkers had to pony up $2 for a cup in which draft beer could be poured all weekend and then the cup could be returned at any point for a $2 refund. This probably put a dent in the mountain of trash.
As for the acts themselves, just like March Madness where the top seeds pre-tournament don't necessarily win the whole shebang, I was interesting to see how my anticipation of shows didn't necessarily correlate with how good they turned out to be. Angus and Julia Stone disappointed; George Ezra, Zhu and Ryn Weaver (honourable mentions) surprised. The moment of the festival might have been when a severely disabled man in a wheelchair was crowd surfed to the stage where he was greeted by the lead singer of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and then invited on stage for the band's finale, "Home". Pretty cool.
Because I like to rank things, here are my favourite 10 shows from the weekend:
10: Hot Chip - well, they didn't win the fashion award...but then again neither did most of the festival-goers (note for next time: cut my hair short, grow a thick beard, wear a crazy print - preferably floral - on a tank-top, weave a tiara out of something that looks like a flowering vine and apply glitter press-on tattoos). The musical highlights might have been the book-ends, "Huarache Lights" and a cover of "Dancing in the Dark"
9: Of Monsters and Men - I'm not too familiar with much of their repertoire aside from "Little Talks" but it was a strong set with a little bit of banter. Side note: in the same way that nobody ever knows what DJs look like from the sound of their voice, I had no idea what the male vocalist looked like before the show. Now I do.
8: Alt-J - expectations were high and unfortunately they didn't really engage the audience and messed up the lyrics pretty badly twice. They definitely played the right tracks and played most of them really well, I just wanted more.
7: Iron + Wine with Ben Bridwell - this was unexpected. I like Band of Horses quite a bit and have heard a few Iron + Wine tracks, but I hadn't heard anything from their joint album of covers. A fairly stripped-down early-afternoon set, but it had a mix of tempos and they got the crowd into it. It was apparently their last show together too so that was neat.
6: The War on Drugs - primarily a hit-the-highlights run through Lost in the Dream, they played pretty much every song I wanted to hear except maybe "In Reverse". Adam Granduciel hurling his guitar on the stage and walking off to close was a nice touch.
5: Weezer - I was warned that these guys didn't have it anymore. Psshht. Weezer whipped through a number of their best-known songs in a 1-hour set. Occasionally, a couple of kids ended up on stage: a girl who looked like she might have been 7 or 8 took over on the keys for a couple of songs and a younger boy showed up twice to rock out on an inflatable guitar. The entire band wrapped by hammering out a group drum solo (?) that hearkened back to tam tam jams on Mont-Royal.
4: James Bay - this guy might not have the biggest fan base, but it is young and hungry. The entire set, which I got to enjoy right close to the stage, was one big sing-along and James enjoyed flashing a "yeah, I got this" smug sneer between tracks while pointing to people in the crowd ("did you see that? I killed that.). A very enjoyable show.
3: Sylvan Esso - I was expecting to sit in on this set for 20 minutes or so on my over to Future Islands. Sorry Future Islands, this NC duo DESTROYED their side stage with a bass-heavy organic-feeling dance party. The highlights for me were "Coffee" and some new song that they didn't name and setlist.fm doesn't seem to list. Argh.
2: X Ambassadors - This was the biggest surprise of the weekend. All I knew of them was "Renegades" and that they were featred in a Jeep commercial. Well, their lead singer laid it all on the stage. Lots of charisma, relatively strong vocals (including a wicked falsetto) and can handle guitar, bass guitar, the sax and drums. In fact recorded tracks on the album VHS are a bit of a letdown...that has to be the sign of a good show. Also of interest: their keyboardist is visually impaired. Not something that you see every day.
1: Florence + the Machine. Earned top marks for everything I'd want to see in a show: great music and vocals, chit-chat from the artist and engaging/interacting with the audience. They only missed bonus points for a left-field cover, but that's just getting picky. Great song selection, 7 musicians and 5 backup vocalists (3 of which occasionally formed the horn section) on stage for creating a wall of sound. Florence herself was a dervish, whipping herself all over the stage, getting into the crowd and clearly enjoying herself.
Now that I've spent this much time blah-blahing, I'm just going to lay out my top 10 new tunes of the month without any comments. Enjoy!
10: Passion Pit double shot!! Lifted Up (1985) and Pay No Mind by Madeon
9: Feki - Remember
8: Grimes - REALiTi
7: Billie Black - Hung Up
6: Alessia Cara - Here
5: Sjowgren - Seventeen
4: The Black and the White - Torn Up
3: Freedom Fry - Yeah You
And I know that I'll be spinning these next two into the winter:
2: Jamie xx - Loud Places (feat. Romy)
1: Rudimental - Rumour Mill (feat. Anne-Marie and Will Heard)
With regards to overall comments regarding the festival, the layout is great in the sense that the stages are far apart from one another that there is little opportunity for sound bleed. Furthermore, the main stage area was large enough to accommodate over 20,000 people on either the flat ground or the grassy hill at the back of the site (the hill was actually so far back from the stage that the sound and video were out of sync!). However, the layout stinks in that the ways in which one can get from a grouping of stages to another are limited and so thousands of people all taking the same path tended to bottleneck at times, making it tight to get from one set to the next. However, the flow back and forth between the two main stages was seamless - one act would finish on one stage and the other would start up within a minute or two, tops. Also, the park is on an island and so, generally speaking, the only way off at the end of the day is by subway. The line-ups to get on the subway were horrendous. I actually left a few minutes early twice to avoid the brutal wait I suffered on night 1.
Just as I made adjustments to my plan of attack after the first day of sussing things out, the festival also made some adjustments. For example, the way in which they funnelled people into the site was made much smoother (yay) and they took away an entire water station (boo). Seriously, was that a cash grab to take a bottle-filling station away? Kind of a safety issue, no?
While it was still to see so many cans and bottles discarded on the ground, I have to commend the festival for having a grounds crew working all day long to pick up garbage as shows were going on and for adopting an eco-cup system whereby drinkers had to pony up $2 for a cup in which draft beer could be poured all weekend and then the cup could be returned at any point for a $2 refund. This probably put a dent in the mountain of trash.
As for the acts themselves, just like March Madness where the top seeds pre-tournament don't necessarily win the whole shebang, I was interesting to see how my anticipation of shows didn't necessarily correlate with how good they turned out to be. Angus and Julia Stone disappointed; George Ezra, Zhu and Ryn Weaver (honourable mentions) surprised. The moment of the festival might have been when a severely disabled man in a wheelchair was crowd surfed to the stage where he was greeted by the lead singer of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and then invited on stage for the band's finale, "Home". Pretty cool.
Because I like to rank things, here are my favourite 10 shows from the weekend:
10: Hot Chip - well, they didn't win the fashion award...but then again neither did most of the festival-goers (note for next time: cut my hair short, grow a thick beard, wear a crazy print - preferably floral - on a tank-top, weave a tiara out of something that looks like a flowering vine and apply glitter press-on tattoos). The musical highlights might have been the book-ends, "Huarache Lights" and a cover of "Dancing in the Dark"
9: Of Monsters and Men - I'm not too familiar with much of their repertoire aside from "Little Talks" but it was a strong set with a little bit of banter. Side note: in the same way that nobody ever knows what DJs look like from the sound of their voice, I had no idea what the male vocalist looked like before the show. Now I do.
8: Alt-J - expectations were high and unfortunately they didn't really engage the audience and messed up the lyrics pretty badly twice. They definitely played the right tracks and played most of them really well, I just wanted more.
7: Iron + Wine with Ben Bridwell - this was unexpected. I like Band of Horses quite a bit and have heard a few Iron + Wine tracks, but I hadn't heard anything from their joint album of covers. A fairly stripped-down early-afternoon set, but it had a mix of tempos and they got the crowd into it. It was apparently their last show together too so that was neat.
6: The War on Drugs - primarily a hit-the-highlights run through Lost in the Dream, they played pretty much every song I wanted to hear except maybe "In Reverse". Adam Granduciel hurling his guitar on the stage and walking off to close was a nice touch.
5: Weezer - I was warned that these guys didn't have it anymore. Psshht. Weezer whipped through a number of their best-known songs in a 1-hour set. Occasionally, a couple of kids ended up on stage: a girl who looked like she might have been 7 or 8 took over on the keys for a couple of songs and a younger boy showed up twice to rock out on an inflatable guitar. The entire band wrapped by hammering out a group drum solo (?) that hearkened back to tam tam jams on Mont-Royal.
4: James Bay - this guy might not have the biggest fan base, but it is young and hungry. The entire set, which I got to enjoy right close to the stage, was one big sing-along and James enjoyed flashing a "yeah, I got this" smug sneer between tracks while pointing to people in the crowd ("did you see that? I killed that.). A very enjoyable show.
3: Sylvan Esso - I was expecting to sit in on this set for 20 minutes or so on my over to Future Islands. Sorry Future Islands, this NC duo DESTROYED their side stage with a bass-heavy organic-feeling dance party. The highlights for me were "Coffee" and some new song that they didn't name and setlist.fm doesn't seem to list. Argh.
2: X Ambassadors - This was the biggest surprise of the weekend. All I knew of them was "Renegades" and that they were featred in a Jeep commercial. Well, their lead singer laid it all on the stage. Lots of charisma, relatively strong vocals (including a wicked falsetto) and can handle guitar, bass guitar, the sax and drums. In fact recorded tracks on the album VHS are a bit of a letdown...that has to be the sign of a good show. Also of interest: their keyboardist is visually impaired. Not something that you see every day.
1: Florence + the Machine. Earned top marks for everything I'd want to see in a show: great music and vocals, chit-chat from the artist and engaging/interacting with the audience. They only missed bonus points for a left-field cover, but that's just getting picky. Great song selection, 7 musicians and 5 backup vocalists (3 of which occasionally formed the horn section) on stage for creating a wall of sound. Florence herself was a dervish, whipping herself all over the stage, getting into the crowd and clearly enjoying herself.
Now that I've spent this much time blah-blahing, I'm just going to lay out my top 10 new tunes of the month without any comments. Enjoy!
10: Passion Pit double shot!! Lifted Up (1985) and Pay No Mind by Madeon
9: Feki - Remember
8: Grimes - REALiTi
7: Billie Black - Hung Up
6: Alessia Cara - Here
5: Sjowgren - Seventeen
4: The Black and the White - Torn Up
3: Freedom Fry - Yeah You
And I know that I'll be spinning these next two into the winter:
2: Jamie xx - Loud Places (feat. Romy)
1: Rudimental - Rumour Mill (feat. Anne-Marie and Will Heard)
Monday, July 13, 2015
SUMMERTIME! (Part 1, obvs.)
'Tis the season for rolling down the windows and letting people know what you're listening to. Pull up beside me and this is some of what you'll hear:
10 - "Rich (feat. Anndreyah Vargas)", Cosmo Sheldrake
I'm pretty happy with how eclectic the list is this month. For starters, this song doesn't really seem to fit into any sort of category. Seriously, is that an oboe? Cosmo Sheldrake is pretty quirky and seems to play every instrument under the sun. There are some interesting factoids about him on his website. Plus, if you wanted to see him lay this track down in a barn, just click here.
9 - "The Night", Honne
I have no idea how to pronounce Honne, but it apparently comes from the Japanese for "a person's true inner feelings"? This U.K. duo (music teachers!) has a few tracks circulating online and they appear to be recording an album at the moment (if I believe their Facebook feed). This is my favourite track at the moment, though "Top to Toe" isn't too far behind.
8 - "That's Love", Oddisee
Well, it took three tries, but I finally found someone on this list with some wiki presence. Oddisee is Amir Mohamed el Khalifa, from DC. Since 2008, it looks like he's been pumping out albums and mixtapes and has earned some minor fanfare recently. "That's Love" is his most recent release, coming out earlier this year.
7 - "Sparta", Ten Walls
A seemingly very basic instrumental song that has been stuck in my head repeatedly. Hopefully you don't suffer the vicious combo of hating it AND getting it stuck in your head.
6 - "Entropy", Grimes + Bleachers
Oddly enough, pop stations in Canada don't seem to be touching this song and instead it's being promoted to alternative radio. Really? I get the alternative/Bleachers angle, but this song doesn't sound like anything successful in that format. The song was apparently featured on an episode of Girls earlier this year. The best thing on Grimes's wiki page is the quote from Tastemakers Magazine describing her as an "alien love-child of Apex Twin and ABBA". Wow.
5 - "Peanut Butter Jelly", Galantis
Last summer, my family was all about putting "Budapest" on repeat. This summer, it's "Peanut Butter Jelly". Nothing like a 3 year-old wandering around going "VISUALIZE!!!". I've put enough Galantis material up here already this year, so I'll just sit back and let you experience sleepless nights at the chateau.
4 - "Lonely Town", Brandon Flowers
Is this the only song to use "Gravitron" in its lyrics? Nope. Apparently, there was a song by Au Revoir Simone called "Gravitron". Also of interest: typing in gravitron led Google to auto-complete it to "gravitron bong". This is definitely the standout track from The Desired Effect although I can't figure out for the life of me what sort of radio format is spinning Brandon Flowers's solo material these days. Adult Alternative perhaps? Apparently "Can't Deny My Love" had a cup of coffee on the alternative charts in May. "Crossfire" from Flamingo seems to be his only even moderate hit to date. We'll see if things change.
3 - "Holding On (feat. Sam Dew)", Julio Bashmore
Recently Julio was probably best known for his production work on Jessie Ware's Devotion album, although I seem to think that his name's been floating around there on The Hype Machine for a few years. He's about to release his first album (Knockin' Boots) this month and "Holding On" is the lead-off single. Summer. Jam.
2 - "Snake Eyes", Mumford & Sons
This is possibly the Mumfordiest song the band has recorded since Sigh No More. Start off all mellow, then let the instrumentation swell while the vocals are still chilling in the second verse and then completely rock out to bring it home. I may have seen this routine from them before, but I like it every time.
1 - "Don't Wanna Fight", Alabama Shakes
It's not often that you refer to a woman hitting the high notes as "falsetto", but I suppose that's exactly what we have on our hands here. My love for this song didn't fully blossom until a few listens through, but I'm there now. I was listening to this in the car with my wife when we were driving in to Toronto a few weeks ago and she asked if the band toured much in Canada. We hit the Internet and it turned out Alabama Shakes was playing Toronto that night. Hilarity. We were already booked up with wedding festivities but I bet it was a good show.
Happy listening!
10 - "Rich (feat. Anndreyah Vargas)", Cosmo Sheldrake
I'm pretty happy with how eclectic the list is this month. For starters, this song doesn't really seem to fit into any sort of category. Seriously, is that an oboe? Cosmo Sheldrake is pretty quirky and seems to play every instrument under the sun. There are some interesting factoids about him on his website. Plus, if you wanted to see him lay this track down in a barn, just click here.
9 - "The Night", Honne
I have no idea how to pronounce Honne, but it apparently comes from the Japanese for "a person's true inner feelings"? This U.K. duo (music teachers!) has a few tracks circulating online and they appear to be recording an album at the moment (if I believe their Facebook feed). This is my favourite track at the moment, though "Top to Toe" isn't too far behind.
8 - "That's Love", Oddisee
Well, it took three tries, but I finally found someone on this list with some wiki presence. Oddisee is Amir Mohamed el Khalifa, from DC. Since 2008, it looks like he's been pumping out albums and mixtapes and has earned some minor fanfare recently. "That's Love" is his most recent release, coming out earlier this year.
7 - "Sparta", Ten Walls
A seemingly very basic instrumental song that has been stuck in my head repeatedly. Hopefully you don't suffer the vicious combo of hating it AND getting it stuck in your head.
6 - "Entropy", Grimes + Bleachers
Oddly enough, pop stations in Canada don't seem to be touching this song and instead it's being promoted to alternative radio. Really? I get the alternative/Bleachers angle, but this song doesn't sound like anything successful in that format. The song was apparently featured on an episode of Girls earlier this year. The best thing on Grimes's wiki page is the quote from Tastemakers Magazine describing her as an "alien love-child of Apex Twin and ABBA". Wow.
5 - "Peanut Butter Jelly", Galantis
Last summer, my family was all about putting "Budapest" on repeat. This summer, it's "Peanut Butter Jelly". Nothing like a 3 year-old wandering around going "VISUALIZE!!!". I've put enough Galantis material up here already this year, so I'll just sit back and let you experience sleepless nights at the chateau.
4 - "Lonely Town", Brandon Flowers
Is this the only song to use "Gravitron" in its lyrics? Nope. Apparently, there was a song by Au Revoir Simone called "Gravitron". Also of interest: typing in gravitron led Google to auto-complete it to "gravitron bong". This is definitely the standout track from The Desired Effect although I can't figure out for the life of me what sort of radio format is spinning Brandon Flowers's solo material these days. Adult Alternative perhaps? Apparently "Can't Deny My Love" had a cup of coffee on the alternative charts in May. "Crossfire" from Flamingo seems to be his only even moderate hit to date. We'll see if things change.
3 - "Holding On (feat. Sam Dew)", Julio Bashmore
Recently Julio was probably best known for his production work on Jessie Ware's Devotion album, although I seem to think that his name's been floating around there on The Hype Machine for a few years. He's about to release his first album (Knockin' Boots) this month and "Holding On" is the lead-off single. Summer. Jam.
2 - "Snake Eyes", Mumford & Sons
This is possibly the Mumfordiest song the band has recorded since Sigh No More. Start off all mellow, then let the instrumentation swell while the vocals are still chilling in the second verse and then completely rock out to bring it home. I may have seen this routine from them before, but I like it every time.
1 - "Don't Wanna Fight", Alabama Shakes
It's not often that you refer to a woman hitting the high notes as "falsetto", but I suppose that's exactly what we have on our hands here. My love for this song didn't fully blossom until a few listens through, but I'm there now. I was listening to this in the car with my wife when we were driving in to Toronto a few weeks ago and she asked if the band toured much in Canada. We hit the Internet and it turned out Alabama Shakes was playing Toronto that night. Hilarity. We were already booked up with wedding festivities but I bet it was a good show.
Happy listening!
Monday, June 15, 2015
June tunes
It was a year ago that I set off on the road trip of a lifetime. Lots of time spent in the van, jamming out to my favourite tunes from last May and June. Many of those songs (as well as some of the bigger radio hits of the summer like "Am I Wrong", "Latch", "Fancy", "Problem", "Rude" and "Stay With Me") will always remind me of driving out to the ocean with the family. Sigh. On to the current month's picks!
10 - "Huarache Lights", Hot Chip
This list starts out a bit electronic so apologies if this isn't really your thing. I've been interested in Hot Chip on and off since "The Warning". I say on and off because it looks like I've never heard their big hit, "Ready for the Floor". Oh, now I have. Not my jam. "Huarache Lights" is the lead-off from their latest album and I love that little callout - reminiscent of Groove Armada's "I See You Baby". Classic.
9 - "Bloodstream", Ed Sheeran & Rudimental
My wife just saw Ed Sheeran in concert and said it was a great show. She was most impressed that he played alone, looping his own vocals and music to layer everything into a complete piece. Ed Sheeran impresses me a great deal too and I don't think he's done with being Grammy darling. As for Rudimental, they are a drum and bass band from the U.K. who actually have writing credits on Sheeran's album version of "Bloodstream" (along with two members of Snow Patrol). The remixed version was released at the end of March and hit #2 on the British charts. Not a bad piece of work. And Ray Liotta's in the video. What more could you want?
8 - "Julia", Jungle
Jeez Soundcloud...you're letting me down this week. I suppose the tracks I'm highlighting are just too mainstream for you:(. I dropped "Busy Earnin'" on last week's list. This is yet another interesting piece of choreography (krumpoeira?) so I suppose it's just as well I'm including the video.
7 - "Gold Dust", Galantis
With "Help", Galantis definitely hit a double with me. "Gold Dust" might just pump that up to a triple. Their album just got released last week and I'm getting into it. In case you're wondering what that animal is on all of their artwork, they apparently call it a Seafox. I've also just learned via wikipedia that Galantis was voted "Best Dance Moment" at Coachella 2014 - pretty impressive considering some of the artists on hand that year (Calvin Harris, Disclosure, Girl Talk and Flume).
6 - "What Kind of Man", Florence and the Machine
This video features dialogue, wild flailing, big hats, too many guys, nudity, symbolism, emoting, blatant lack of seatbelt use and a lot of water. Feel free to watch it more than once.
5 - "Leaf Off / The Cave", Jose Gonzalez; "After All is Said and Done", Junip
Yeah, that's right, I'm doing it! A Jose Gonzalez DOUBLE SHOT. I try to keep it to one release per artist, but I'm cheating a bit here, including some new solo material as well as a strong track from his second album recorded with Junip (from back in 2013). Jose's cover of The Knife's "Heartbeats" (Wiki reports that the original was ranked #15 song of the 2000s by Pitchfork Media.) is one of my favourite songs of all time so pretty much any time he puts something new out, I'll give it a listen.
4 - "Fool for Love", Lord Huron
In case it's not obvious, we have now moved on from the electronic portion of the tunes list. "Fool For Love" is off Lord Huron's sophomore album Strange Trails, released back in April. I'm still getting into Lord Huron (not my typical fare), but I suppose I've heard this song enough times to get a feel for the vocals...I heard a song on the HBO show Togetherness whose vocals sounded familiar and it turned out to be the title track from Lord Huron's first album, Lonesome Dreams. Cool.
3 - "My Silver Lining", First Aid Kit
First Aid Kit is our third and final Swedish artist on the list this month. I would have slipped this in a double shot last month with "America", but they don't have Gonzalez-level cred quite yet. This is a relatively old song, released early in 2014. The two sisters performed it on Letterman, Conan and Ellen last year and Billboard named it one of the best songs of the first half of 2014. Regardless, it's on my list for 2015. Take that, chronology!
2 - "Ohio (Filous Remix)", Damien Jurado
I know nothing about Damien Jurado. Apparently, he is from Seattle and is label mates with The War on Drugs. "Ohio" is from Damien's 2nd album, released in 1999 (!). Austrian DJ Filous has been all over the Internet lately, remixing all sorts of music. This is probably the track that he is best known for, but that might not last long. If you're interested in what's hot in electronic music in Vienna, Filous has created the following playlist
In case you want to hear the original version of "Ohio", here it is:
.
1 - "Breathe Again", The Kickdrums
When I hit up Soundcloud and see that a song I really like has racked up 1M listens, I'm not terribly surprised. However, when I see that the song in question is more around the 100k mark, that's when I wonder "how did I stumble onto this song?" "What do I see in it that others don't?". I'm not really sure on either count for "Breathe Again", though I think I've figured out the tiniest part of "Breathe Again" that hooks me...it's where it feels like the chorus should be. There's something about those simple sung notes around 1:04 that make me happy. Nothing special. Maybe it hearkens back to some other song I loved a long time ago...I can't place it. Regardless, it's my favourite song right now that I have yet to share with the masses.
Happy listening!
10 - "Huarache Lights", Hot Chip
This list starts out a bit electronic so apologies if this isn't really your thing. I've been interested in Hot Chip on and off since "The Warning". I say on and off because it looks like I've never heard their big hit, "Ready for the Floor". Oh, now I have. Not my jam. "Huarache Lights" is the lead-off from their latest album and I love that little callout - reminiscent of Groove Armada's "I See You Baby". Classic.
9 - "Bloodstream", Ed Sheeran & Rudimental
My wife just saw Ed Sheeran in concert and said it was a great show. She was most impressed that he played alone, looping his own vocals and music to layer everything into a complete piece. Ed Sheeran impresses me a great deal too and I don't think he's done with being Grammy darling. As for Rudimental, they are a drum and bass band from the U.K. who actually have writing credits on Sheeran's album version of "Bloodstream" (along with two members of Snow Patrol). The remixed version was released at the end of March and hit #2 on the British charts. Not a bad piece of work. And Ray Liotta's in the video. What more could you want?
8 - "Julia", Jungle
Jeez Soundcloud...you're letting me down this week. I suppose the tracks I'm highlighting are just too mainstream for you:(. I dropped "Busy Earnin'" on last week's list. This is yet another interesting piece of choreography (krumpoeira?) so I suppose it's just as well I'm including the video.
7 - "Gold Dust", Galantis
With "Help", Galantis definitely hit a double with me. "Gold Dust" might just pump that up to a triple. Their album just got released last week and I'm getting into it. In case you're wondering what that animal is on all of their artwork, they apparently call it a Seafox. I've also just learned via wikipedia that Galantis was voted "Best Dance Moment" at Coachella 2014 - pretty impressive considering some of the artists on hand that year (Calvin Harris, Disclosure, Girl Talk and Flume).
6 - "What Kind of Man", Florence and the Machine
This video features dialogue, wild flailing, big hats, too many guys, nudity, symbolism, emoting, blatant lack of seatbelt use and a lot of water. Feel free to watch it more than once.
5 - "Leaf Off / The Cave", Jose Gonzalez; "After All is Said and Done", Junip
Yeah, that's right, I'm doing it! A Jose Gonzalez DOUBLE SHOT. I try to keep it to one release per artist, but I'm cheating a bit here, including some new solo material as well as a strong track from his second album recorded with Junip (from back in 2013). Jose's cover of The Knife's "Heartbeats" (Wiki reports that the original was ranked #15 song of the 2000s by Pitchfork Media.) is one of my favourite songs of all time so pretty much any time he puts something new out, I'll give it a listen.
4 - "Fool for Love", Lord Huron
In case it's not obvious, we have now moved on from the electronic portion of the tunes list. "Fool For Love" is off Lord Huron's sophomore album Strange Trails, released back in April. I'm still getting into Lord Huron (not my typical fare), but I suppose I've heard this song enough times to get a feel for the vocals...I heard a song on the HBO show Togetherness whose vocals sounded familiar and it turned out to be the title track from Lord Huron's first album, Lonesome Dreams. Cool.
3 - "My Silver Lining", First Aid Kit
First Aid Kit is our third and final Swedish artist on the list this month. I would have slipped this in a double shot last month with "America", but they don't have Gonzalez-level cred quite yet. This is a relatively old song, released early in 2014. The two sisters performed it on Letterman, Conan and Ellen last year and Billboard named it one of the best songs of the first half of 2014. Regardless, it's on my list for 2015. Take that, chronology!
2 - "Ohio (Filous Remix)", Damien Jurado
I know nothing about Damien Jurado. Apparently, he is from Seattle and is label mates with The War on Drugs. "Ohio" is from Damien's 2nd album, released in 1999 (!). Austrian DJ Filous has been all over the Internet lately, remixing all sorts of music. This is probably the track that he is best known for, but that might not last long. If you're interested in what's hot in electronic music in Vienna, Filous has created the following playlist
In case you want to hear the original version of "Ohio", here it is:
.
1 - "Breathe Again", The Kickdrums
When I hit up Soundcloud and see that a song I really like has racked up 1M listens, I'm not terribly surprised. However, when I see that the song in question is more around the 100k mark, that's when I wonder "how did I stumble onto this song?" "What do I see in it that others don't?". I'm not really sure on either count for "Breathe Again", though I think I've figured out the tiniest part of "Breathe Again" that hooks me...it's where it feels like the chorus should be. There's something about those simple sung notes around 1:04 that make me happy. Nothing special. Maybe it hearkens back to some other song I loved a long time ago...I can't place it. Regardless, it's my favourite song right now that I have yet to share with the masses.
Happy listening!
Friday, May 8, 2015
May tunes
Finally, a month that doesn't start with snow on the ground. Now I can roll the windows down in my hot ride (minivan) and crank some of these tunes for my neighbours..
10 - "1998", Chet Faker
I really missed the bus on watching the Coachella Live Stream online this year. One guy I did not miss though is Chet Faker, a mainstay on these monthly lists. I'm not sure if "1998", "Gold" or "No Diggity" got the biggest crowd response, but it was close. This song has been around an awfully long time to be showing up as "fresh new music", but I have no shame. Plus nobody reads this:). I'm hoping to get to Osheaga this summer to see Faker in person. Fingers crossed.
9 - "Fade Out Lines", The Avener
The Avener is a French house DJ and this is his reworking of "Fade Out Lines" by Phoebe Killdeer and the Short Straws. I actually heard this in a diner in Montreal last month (massive cool points for whatever station was spinning this) and was very surprised. For anyone who wants to hear the slower original without the driving bass thump, here it is.
8 - "Ain't That Easy", D'Angelo and The Vanguard
Holding down the 8-spot for back-to-back months, it's D'Angelo with another single from Black Messiah. For follower(s) of this blog, you know I love interesting rhythm in music so this song gets some points for the seemingly slightly uncoordinated hand-clap every couple of bars. This is a great lead-off single and definitely caught my attention when I first booted up the album. Hope you enjoy.
7 - "Kansas City", The New Basement Tapes
While I might not be all caught up in the new Mumford & Sons single, I do appreciate this cut from Mumford's work on the New Basement Tapes sessions. The album is not really my cup of tea, but it made a great gift at Christmas for some of the classic rock/Dylan lovers in my family.
6 - "Where are U Now", Skrillex and Diplo feat. Justin Bieber
And now for something completely different. I'll probably take some heat for listening to anything associated with Biebs. Shrug. I'm hoping that the Skrillex/Diplo presence works as a sort of carbon offset. I'm not entirely sure if this passes for Can-con, but I've heard it a few times on local radio stations, which has surprised me a bit. In an case, it's a very strange confluence of musical minds that I'm not sure I would have ever predicted would work together.
5 - "Somebody New", Joywave
I first heard of these guys a couple of years ago when "Tongues" (feat. KOPPS) did the rounds (a very different sound from "Somebody New" with a REALLY weird video). Then last year, they were featured on Big Data's alternative smash "Dangerous". I'm very intrigued by these guys and will be keeping an ear open for more.
4 - "Busy Earnin'", Jungle
So these guys love making some choreographed music videos! This is the first of theirs I saw, but "Time", "Julia" and "The Heat" are all along the same vein. Like one, you'll like them all. Jungle exudes a pretty sick retro cool that doesn't sound like much else out there right now. Me gusto.
3 - "King", Years & Years
I'm trying to figure out what decade this hearkens back to. Mid 80s? The synths remind me a lot of Cut Copy from a couple of years ago. Very catchy..
2 - "America", First Aid Kit
I have a monster soft spot for Fleetwood Mac. But I also have a separate part in my heart reserved for Simon and Garfunkel. This is a pretty nice cover of an S&G classic. I promise I'll hook you up with some more First Aid Kit (Swedish!) next month (feel free to track some down yourself if you like;)).
1 - "A Thousand Miles (Vanessa Carlton Refix)", MNEK
Oh my God I can't get this song out of my head. Make it stop! No wait, one more play. Obviously, if you were not a fan of the original, then this won't go well for you. The infusion of "Love Shack" is pretty awesome, imho.
Happy listening!
10 - "1998", Chet Faker
I really missed the bus on watching the Coachella Live Stream online this year. One guy I did not miss though is Chet Faker, a mainstay on these monthly lists. I'm not sure if "1998", "Gold" or "No Diggity" got the biggest crowd response, but it was close. This song has been around an awfully long time to be showing up as "fresh new music", but I have no shame. Plus nobody reads this:). I'm hoping to get to Osheaga this summer to see Faker in person. Fingers crossed.
9 - "Fade Out Lines", The Avener
The Avener is a French house DJ and this is his reworking of "Fade Out Lines" by Phoebe Killdeer and the Short Straws. I actually heard this in a diner in Montreal last month (massive cool points for whatever station was spinning this) and was very surprised. For anyone who wants to hear the slower original without the driving bass thump, here it is.
8 - "Ain't That Easy", D'Angelo and The Vanguard
Holding down the 8-spot for back-to-back months, it's D'Angelo with another single from Black Messiah. For follower(s) of this blog, you know I love interesting rhythm in music so this song gets some points for the seemingly slightly uncoordinated hand-clap every couple of bars. This is a great lead-off single and definitely caught my attention when I first booted up the album. Hope you enjoy.
7 - "Kansas City", The New Basement Tapes
While I might not be all caught up in the new Mumford & Sons single, I do appreciate this cut from Mumford's work on the New Basement Tapes sessions. The album is not really my cup of tea, but it made a great gift at Christmas for some of the classic rock/Dylan lovers in my family.
6 - "Where are U Now", Skrillex and Diplo feat. Justin Bieber
And now for something completely different. I'll probably take some heat for listening to anything associated with Biebs. Shrug. I'm hoping that the Skrillex/Diplo presence works as a sort of carbon offset. I'm not entirely sure if this passes for Can-con, but I've heard it a few times on local radio stations, which has surprised me a bit. In an case, it's a very strange confluence of musical minds that I'm not sure I would have ever predicted would work together.
5 - "Somebody New", Joywave
I first heard of these guys a couple of years ago when "Tongues" (feat. KOPPS) did the rounds (a very different sound from "Somebody New" with a REALLY weird video). Then last year, they were featured on Big Data's alternative smash "Dangerous". I'm very intrigued by these guys and will be keeping an ear open for more.
4 - "Busy Earnin'", Jungle
So these guys love making some choreographed music videos! This is the first of theirs I saw, but "Time", "Julia" and "The Heat" are all along the same vein. Like one, you'll like them all. Jungle exudes a pretty sick retro cool that doesn't sound like much else out there right now. Me gusto.
3 - "King", Years & Years
I'm trying to figure out what decade this hearkens back to. Mid 80s? The synths remind me a lot of Cut Copy from a couple of years ago. Very catchy..
2 - "America", First Aid Kit
I have a monster soft spot for Fleetwood Mac. But I also have a separate part in my heart reserved for Simon and Garfunkel. This is a pretty nice cover of an S&G classic. I promise I'll hook you up with some more First Aid Kit (Swedish!) next month (feel free to track some down yourself if you like;)).
1 - "A Thousand Miles (Vanessa Carlton Refix)", MNEK
Oh my God I can't get this song out of my head. Make it stop! No wait, one more play. Obviously, if you were not a fan of the original, then this won't go well for you. The infusion of "Love Shack" is pretty awesome, imho.
Happy listening!
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