Hello all. Snow is finally on the ground, 2016 is here and I'm ready for another year of finding interesting music that you might not hear on the radio. It was a fairly busy holiday and I didn't seem to take as much time as normal sifting through best-of lists. So some blogger faves from last year might trickle out through this site over the coming months. Apologies for the lag:)
10 - "Show Me Love (EDX's Indian Summer Remix)", Sam Feldt
Confession: I once took a couple of sessions' worth of hip-hop dance classes. I wasn't any good but enjoyed talking music with the 20-year-old who ran the class. Halfway through the first session he told the class that he found this old-school song for warming up that he wasn't sure any of us knew. Enter Robin S. "Show Me Love" always makes me think back to those classes, for better or for worse. This is a nice fresh take on the original.
9 - "Nightcall", KANT
I know very little about KANT. Apparently, he is Danish and in Danish, "kant" means "edge". This is a smooth little number that will have some echoes next week. Now I suppose you'll just have to stay tuned.
8 - "Twinkle Twinkle", Tom Misch
OMG. As if I couldn't already get enough of Tom Misch. This is not from his Beat Tape 2 album, but just popped up online at the end of 2015. Flute. Harp. Beats. A Busta Rhymes sample. My head just broke. And only 11,000 clicks so far!
7 - "Gosh", Jamie xx
If you weren't sick of me pimping Tom Misch, perhaps you're sick of me pimping Jamie xx. This song starts out feeling like a tease: where's the bass? Where is this song going? Must keep listening... Once it shifts at 1:54 it picks up and then at 2:24 it really starts to soar. Kind of a mesmerizing video too.
6 - "Lonesome Dreams", Lord Huron
I mentioned last month that I had been giving this track some love. Now I am officially sharing it with you. It's from a couple of years back, but that's never stopped me before. Apparently the theme and feel of this video carried through the rest of the videos that they shot for tracks from the album. Looking forward, Lord Huron is part of a VERY NICE line-up at Sasquatch this May. Sigh. Wrong coast.
5 - "Empty Threat", CHVRCHES
Another perennial favourite and on the bill at Coachella this year (sigh. Wrong coast again), CHVRCHES made Rolling Stone's videos-of-2016 list with this one. I am very much in love with this album and am going to promise featuring another couple of songs here before the summer. P.S. Congratulations Rolling Stone on making me read avidly down to #17 on your list of the best albums of the year before making me shake my head and say "Oh, Rolling Stone..." Most years, that happens in the top 5.
4 - "As Crazy as it is", ZHU x A-Trak x Keznamdi
In November of 2015, ZHU released this track (and the one I featured last month) as part of the six-track "Genesis Project". These tracks are not compiled on any sort of album and are only available for digital download. I love Keznamdi's sound - very reminiscent of Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley.
3 - "Streams", JackLNDN
I feel like if I had a part-time gig spinning in a bar where people dress up nicely and drink martinis, this one would be a no-brainer for ambience. When I first saw his name, I thought it was the same guy who did this song I used to listen to in 2011, AndrewLngdn. Similar name, but not quite.
2 - "Flesh Without Blood", Grimes
This might challenge "Entropy" for Grimes's best work since "Genesis". Though not quite as "best list ubiquitous" as Kendrick Lamar, Grimes had herself a good 2015. I still have no idea if she'll become a household name someday or if that's something she even wants.
1 - "Willing and Able (feat. Kwabs)", Disclosure
Yes. More Disclosure. This is what happens when I buy a bunch of albums and then they become my collective soundtrack over the course of a couple of months. Apologies. I saw a recording by Kwabs covering "Bloodstream" on the BBC Live Lounge a while back and thought it was just OK. Apparently he's best known for the single "Walk" although I have to admit to having never heard it until now. And I'm not sure I'll play it a second time:(.
And oh yeah, no snow yet!!
Friday, January 15, 2016
Friday, December 25, 2015
My favourite songs: 2015 edition
So last year's multiple posts with screen after screen of links and videos and blurbs didn't seem to be a big hit. Except for the post listing my 10 favourite songs of the year. So here's how I'm going to break it down this year: one post, ten songs and a link to everything else. I looked back over the list of my favourite 100 songs that I either heard first in 2015 or heard first in 2014 but really hit their stride for me in 2015 and realized that I pretty much shared all of them with you over the course of this year. So if you have been following along, there is no real news here. Except for the fact that LCD Soundsystem is getting back together and Radiohead just dropped a new song online. Squee!
The full list of my 100 favourite songs of the year has been converted into a youtube playlist HERE. I invite you to go have a look. Spoiler alert! The first song on the list is #100 and, as Casey Kasem used to say, as the numbers get smaller, the hits get bigger. I am featuring the tail end of the list (#10 to #1) below.
#10: "My Silver Lining", First Aid Kit
Followers of this blog over the past couple of years know that I've got a thing for Swedish music. This is the country's lone representation in my top 10 of the year. Not the kind of song that I would have listened much to a few years ago, but it really stuck itself in my consciousness this year. I'd say that I regret missing the sisters' show at Osheaga this past summer (apparently it was amazing), but the festival schedulers created a real Catch 22 for me by scheduling them opposite The War on Drugs (more on that later) so regret isn't the right word. "America" and their 2012 recording "Emmylou" were other songs of theirs I listened to this year. Definitely check both of them out.
#9: "Fool For Love", Lord Huron
Interesting. For all of the electronic uptempo music I listen to, we're kicking things off with a couple of rootsy tunes. "Fool For Love" ranked as Billboard's #15 Adult Alternative song of the year and you'd think that with a hit that big, they'd have followed it up with something else by now but I have no indication of what their next move is. With this song as my jumping-off point with Lord Huron, I took the opportunity to travel back in time and explore their previous album, Lonesome Dreams. The title track is definitely a winner and the album is a nice slice of folk.
#8: "Bloodstream", Ed Sheeran and Rudimental
Ed Sheeran's had a pretty nice run over the past year and a bit with hit after hit from X getting played on the radio. Billboard even had "Thinking Out Loud" as their #2 Hot 100 track of the year. Impressive. This track ended up hitting #2 in its own right on the UK, Scotland and New Zealand singles charts, was followed up by Rudimental's minor hit "Rumour Mill" (that just barely missed my top 10) and then the current collabo that you can still hear on mainstream radio in North America, "Lay it All on Me". Looking forward to hearing more from both Sheeran and Rudimental.
#7: "Snake Eyes", Mumford & Sons
When M&S released Babel in 2012, the world shook. It seems that with the band's brief hiatus since then, they lost some steam and the lead single from Wilder Mind, "Believe", didn't quite fare as well as "I Will Wait" did three years prior. But it still got played a lot. "The Wolf" followed and then the current release "Ditmas", but the standout single for me was definitely "Snake Eyes". A bit formulaic for the band (see: "Awake My Soul"), but still a pleasure to listen to.
#6: "Disappearing", The War on Drugs
Even though Lost in the Dream came out early in 2014, I really only warmed up to it after a number of listens later in the year. "Red Eyes" made my top ten list last year and a number of tracks lived on to have an impact on me this year. The greatest of these was "Disappearing", an ethereal track that featured minimal vocals and a five-minute instrumental denouement. Pitchfork apparently suggested that a potential inspiration for this song was Tears for Fears' "Pale Shelter". You be the judge.
#5: "First", Cold War Kids
Seriously, that's five alt-rock songs out of six now. I'm a little stunned. This was Billboard's #3 Alternative Rock song behind only "Shut Up and Dance" and "Renegades". This was my most buzzy track from March and it held sway through the spring and beyond. I still love cranking it up.
#4: "Loud Places (feat. Romy)", Jamie xx
When all is said and done and I look back at the songs to which I was introduced in 2015, this will probably go down as my all-time favourite. It came along a bit late in the year to have as much overall impact as the top 3 songs of the year, but I'll at least take this space to say that I have a special place in my heart for this song (as well as most of Jamie xx's album).
#3: "Fade Out Lines", The Avener
I'm a total word dork and I've decided that French DJ The Avener's name is a play on "avenir", meaning "the future". Then again, Wikipedia says that an avener is the chief officer of a king's stables. I like my idea better. I'm not sure if Phoebe Killdeer and the Short Straws (whose song forms the basis for this mix) will ever surface again, but this has provided some pretty awesome exposure across Europe. Not sure why it wasn't a bigger deal here. Except in Quebec. I have a feeling that "Fade Out Lines" will figure prominently on year-end charts of radio stations like this one.
#2: "One Touch (feat. Rae Sremmurd and AlunaGeorge", Baauer
I never thought this song would click with me this year like it did. I'm not really a Rae Sremmurd guy, but I am an AlunaGeorge guy and I am a wicked bass drop guy. This came off the ß album by Baauer (although I'm not sure if this is the Greek B (likely) or the German ss (less likely). The single apparently only surfaced on the Belgian charts, so I suppose I share something with my Flemish friends aside from a love of frites and mayo!
...drum roll...
#1: "Falling Short", Låpsley
British ambient electronic songstress Holly Lapsley Fletcher (aka Låpsley) takes the crown this year. "Falling Short" is from her debut EP, released in January of 2015. Allegedly a full-length album is due out in 2016 and I will be keeping my ears open for that. I always find it interesting to stumble across a song that I come across digging through music blogs online in mainstream pop culture references and "Falling Short" offered up one of the most unexpected pop culture sightings of the year when it was featured in episode 2 of HBO's "Ballers". Granted, this show featured a TONNE of my favourite artists (such as Gallants, Kendrick Lamar, Daft Punk, Busta Rhymes, The War on Drugs, Major Lazer, The Knocks, Sleigh Bells, Outkast and the above mentioned Baauer) so I guess it shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise.
Thanks for listening and Merry Christmas!
The full list of my 100 favourite songs of the year has been converted into a youtube playlist HERE. I invite you to go have a look. Spoiler alert! The first song on the list is #100 and, as Casey Kasem used to say, as the numbers get smaller, the hits get bigger. I am featuring the tail end of the list (#10 to #1) below.
#10: "My Silver Lining", First Aid Kit
Followers of this blog over the past couple of years know that I've got a thing for Swedish music. This is the country's lone representation in my top 10 of the year. Not the kind of song that I would have listened much to a few years ago, but it really stuck itself in my consciousness this year. I'd say that I regret missing the sisters' show at Osheaga this past summer (apparently it was amazing), but the festival schedulers created a real Catch 22 for me by scheduling them opposite The War on Drugs (more on that later) so regret isn't the right word. "America" and their 2012 recording "Emmylou" were other songs of theirs I listened to this year. Definitely check both of them out.
#9: "Fool For Love", Lord Huron
Interesting. For all of the electronic uptempo music I listen to, we're kicking things off with a couple of rootsy tunes. "Fool For Love" ranked as Billboard's #15 Adult Alternative song of the year and you'd think that with a hit that big, they'd have followed it up with something else by now but I have no indication of what their next move is. With this song as my jumping-off point with Lord Huron, I took the opportunity to travel back in time and explore their previous album, Lonesome Dreams. The title track is definitely a winner and the album is a nice slice of folk.
#8: "Bloodstream", Ed Sheeran and Rudimental
Ed Sheeran's had a pretty nice run over the past year and a bit with hit after hit from X getting played on the radio. Billboard even had "Thinking Out Loud" as their #2 Hot 100 track of the year. Impressive. This track ended up hitting #2 in its own right on the UK, Scotland and New Zealand singles charts, was followed up by Rudimental's minor hit "Rumour Mill" (that just barely missed my top 10) and then the current collabo that you can still hear on mainstream radio in North America, "Lay it All on Me". Looking forward to hearing more from both Sheeran and Rudimental.
#7: "Snake Eyes", Mumford & Sons
When M&S released Babel in 2012, the world shook. It seems that with the band's brief hiatus since then, they lost some steam and the lead single from Wilder Mind, "Believe", didn't quite fare as well as "I Will Wait" did three years prior. But it still got played a lot. "The Wolf" followed and then the current release "Ditmas", but the standout single for me was definitely "Snake Eyes". A bit formulaic for the band (see: "Awake My Soul"), but still a pleasure to listen to.
#6: "Disappearing", The War on Drugs
Even though Lost in the Dream came out early in 2014, I really only warmed up to it after a number of listens later in the year. "Red Eyes" made my top ten list last year and a number of tracks lived on to have an impact on me this year. The greatest of these was "Disappearing", an ethereal track that featured minimal vocals and a five-minute instrumental denouement. Pitchfork apparently suggested that a potential inspiration for this song was Tears for Fears' "Pale Shelter". You be the judge.
#5: "First", Cold War Kids
Seriously, that's five alt-rock songs out of six now. I'm a little stunned. This was Billboard's #3 Alternative Rock song behind only "Shut Up and Dance" and "Renegades". This was my most buzzy track from March and it held sway through the spring and beyond. I still love cranking it up.
#4: "Loud Places (feat. Romy)", Jamie xx
When all is said and done and I look back at the songs to which I was introduced in 2015, this will probably go down as my all-time favourite. It came along a bit late in the year to have as much overall impact as the top 3 songs of the year, but I'll at least take this space to say that I have a special place in my heart for this song (as well as most of Jamie xx's album).
#3: "Fade Out Lines", The Avener
I'm a total word dork and I've decided that French DJ The Avener's name is a play on "avenir", meaning "the future". Then again, Wikipedia says that an avener is the chief officer of a king's stables. I like my idea better. I'm not sure if Phoebe Killdeer and the Short Straws (whose song forms the basis for this mix) will ever surface again, but this has provided some pretty awesome exposure across Europe. Not sure why it wasn't a bigger deal here. Except in Quebec. I have a feeling that "Fade Out Lines" will figure prominently on year-end charts of radio stations like this one.
#2: "One Touch (feat. Rae Sremmurd and AlunaGeorge", Baauer
I never thought this song would click with me this year like it did. I'm not really a Rae Sremmurd guy, but I am an AlunaGeorge guy and I am a wicked bass drop guy. This came off the ß album by Baauer (although I'm not sure if this is the Greek B (likely) or the German ss (less likely). The single apparently only surfaced on the Belgian charts, so I suppose I share something with my Flemish friends aside from a love of frites and mayo!
...drum roll...
#1: "Falling Short", Låpsley
British ambient electronic songstress Holly Lapsley Fletcher (aka Låpsley) takes the crown this year. "Falling Short" is from her debut EP, released in January of 2015. Allegedly a full-length album is due out in 2016 and I will be keeping my ears open for that. I always find it interesting to stumble across a song that I come across digging through music blogs online in mainstream pop culture references and "Falling Short" offered up one of the most unexpected pop culture sightings of the year when it was featured in episode 2 of HBO's "Ballers". Granted, this show featured a TONNE of my favourite artists (such as Gallants, Kendrick Lamar, Daft Punk, Busta Rhymes, The War on Drugs, Major Lazer, The Knocks, Sleigh Bells, Outkast and the above mentioned Baauer) so I guess it shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise.
Thanks for listening and Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
December Tunes
This is it! The last monthly rundown of 2015. It's been a good year, I've found some new artists and some great new songs. Every year, I think "I'm not going to hear a song next year that I'll like as much as I liked (insert song from current year)" but I'm never disappointed. Well, I have been a bit disappointed in The Hype Machine - over the past few months it seems that fewer and fewer songs are clicking with me. Spotify was doing OK for a bit (I'm a cheapskate and was using the free web browser) but now it doesn't seem to want to load anymore. Boo. Apple music has been OK (though I hate not being able to load the songs onto my iPod. Oh well). To celebrate the Closing of the Year, I even offer you a bonus 11th song this month (and also because I might have music hangover in January and the blog might be slow to get up and running again in the new year).
11 - "Shine", Years & Years
It's been a good year for these guys in my opinion. A little disappointed that the Brits couldn't break through in North America but that just means I get to keep them a little more to myself:). This is the third single from Communion that I've put up here and the other two will definitely factor into my tracks of the year, to be released later this month. Years & Years is up for BBC Music Awards' British Artist of the Year Award (to be awarded in a couple of days) against (alphabetically) Adele, Ed Sheeran, Florence and the Machine, Foals and Jamie xx. So, essentially the bulk of my playlist at any time.
10 - "Keep You On My Side", CHVRCHES
In one day I went bananas and bought the new albums from New Order, Disclosure and CHVRCHES. The New Order one was the flattest of the bunch as both of the others had some real gems on them. More on Disclosure coming up. "Leave a Trace" is one of my favourite songs at the moment, but in the next tier of tracks on Every Open Eye, this is the frontrunner for now. Pure 100 proof synth pop straight into your bloodstream. Given that none of this track's youtube uploads seem to have cracked the 20,000 view mark, it doesn't seem to be many other people's fave. So. What.
9 - "Her Morning Elegance", Oren Lavie
This is so weird. I heard this song recently and really liked it. Then I booted up this video and I thought that I had definitely seen the video before. I don't remember the song at all but sure enough the video was in my search cache. It must have been when I was looking for Grammy nominees for music video work as this one was shortlisted in 2009. Wiki says that he revealed in 2012 that he had a second album coming but that doesn't seem to have materialized. Anyway, smooth jam.
8 - "S.O.B.", Nathaniel Rateliffe & the Night Sweats
Ahh the misery of alcoholism laid out in a stomper that sounds like it's straight out of the 50s. I heard this one toward the end of summer and thought it was pretty interesting as a song but it took a while to sink its hooks in me. Now it seems to be a fairly massive alternative hit across the continent. Apparently their performance on Fallon is what ignited their exposure (Future Islands anyone?) and they've been riding the wave ever since.
7 - "Cream on Chrome", Ratatat
Oooooh that opening is so sweet. These guys are off in their own genre. I've been listening to Ratatat for almost 10 years now (my brother was actually the first person who tipped me off, shortly after they had released Classics in 2006) and I still haven't found anyone else who fuses electronic music and guitar work in such an interesting way. Wiki dubs the style "rocktronica" if anyone is wondering. The last minute is not as funky or strong as the front end, but it's not crazy enough to completely derail the song.
6 - "If You Ever Want to Be in Love", James Bay
Yep. Despite the fact that REAL MUSIC CRITICS tend to pan this guy (like this or, WOW, this), I still dig. Although the hat is starting to make me think of Maria Bello's fedora in Prime Suspect.
5 - "Automatic", Zhu X AlunaGeorge
I was thinking the other day about compiling a list of artists that I'm happiest that hunting through music blogs has turned me on to, that I likely would not have known about otherwise. Both Zhu and AlunaGeorge would have been on the list at one time until they had radio hits with "Faded" and "You Know You Like It", respectively this past year (so I probably would have found out about them anyway). I will have to get around to pulling that list together.
4 - "Magnets (feat. Lorde)", Disclosure
This is an interesting departure from the sound that Disclosure put forth on many tracks on both Settle and Caracal (odd fact: I knew what a caracal was thanks to my kids watching Wild Kratts). It's great to see Lorde back (the Mockingjay tracks didn't quite do it for me) and I'm very interested to see what she does next.
3 - "Loveless", X Ambassadors
Another rock-life act that makes REAL MUSIC CRITICS go meh, I have a bit of a soft spot for X Ambassadors ever since we shared a moment in Montreal this summer. Fine, I shared it with many other screaming fans, but it was still good. "Unsteady" had a good run with me and now I've moved on to "Loveless", a much more uptempo romp. An antidote to "Renegades" I suppose.
2 - "Hourglass (feat. LION BABE)", Disclosure
LOL on the Youtube comment "I'm glad to see the silhouettes from the ipod commercials still finding work". This is that Disclosure sound I was talking about earlier. If house music is not your thing, please don't even press play here.
1 - "Ocean Drive", Duke Dumont
One of the beneficiaries of Disclosure breaking through a couple of years back is English DJ Duke Dumont. Though this song sounds NOTHING like his past hits and more like something out of the 80s. The song has topped the US Dance Club charts and was a fairly big hit in Australia. And in my house.
And oh yeah, no snow yet!!
11 - "Shine", Years & Years
It's been a good year for these guys in my opinion. A little disappointed that the Brits couldn't break through in North America but that just means I get to keep them a little more to myself:). This is the third single from Communion that I've put up here and the other two will definitely factor into my tracks of the year, to be released later this month. Years & Years is up for BBC Music Awards' British Artist of the Year Award (to be awarded in a couple of days) against (alphabetically) Adele, Ed Sheeran, Florence and the Machine, Foals and Jamie xx. So, essentially the bulk of my playlist at any time.
10 - "Keep You On My Side", CHVRCHES
In one day I went bananas and bought the new albums from New Order, Disclosure and CHVRCHES. The New Order one was the flattest of the bunch as both of the others had some real gems on them. More on Disclosure coming up. "Leave a Trace" is one of my favourite songs at the moment, but in the next tier of tracks on Every Open Eye, this is the frontrunner for now. Pure 100 proof synth pop straight into your bloodstream. Given that none of this track's youtube uploads seem to have cracked the 20,000 view mark, it doesn't seem to be many other people's fave. So. What.
9 - "Her Morning Elegance", Oren Lavie
This is so weird. I heard this song recently and really liked it. Then I booted up this video and I thought that I had definitely seen the video before. I don't remember the song at all but sure enough the video was in my search cache. It must have been when I was looking for Grammy nominees for music video work as this one was shortlisted in 2009. Wiki says that he revealed in 2012 that he had a second album coming but that doesn't seem to have materialized. Anyway, smooth jam.
8 - "S.O.B.", Nathaniel Rateliffe & the Night Sweats
Ahh the misery of alcoholism laid out in a stomper that sounds like it's straight out of the 50s. I heard this one toward the end of summer and thought it was pretty interesting as a song but it took a while to sink its hooks in me. Now it seems to be a fairly massive alternative hit across the continent. Apparently their performance on Fallon is what ignited their exposure (Future Islands anyone?) and they've been riding the wave ever since.
7 - "Cream on Chrome", Ratatat
Oooooh that opening is so sweet. These guys are off in their own genre. I've been listening to Ratatat for almost 10 years now (my brother was actually the first person who tipped me off, shortly after they had released Classics in 2006) and I still haven't found anyone else who fuses electronic music and guitar work in such an interesting way. Wiki dubs the style "rocktronica" if anyone is wondering. The last minute is not as funky or strong as the front end, but it's not crazy enough to completely derail the song.
6 - "If You Ever Want to Be in Love", James Bay
Yep. Despite the fact that REAL MUSIC CRITICS tend to pan this guy (like this or, WOW, this), I still dig. Although the hat is starting to make me think of Maria Bello's fedora in Prime Suspect.
5 - "Automatic", Zhu X AlunaGeorge
I was thinking the other day about compiling a list of artists that I'm happiest that hunting through music blogs has turned me on to, that I likely would not have known about otherwise. Both Zhu and AlunaGeorge would have been on the list at one time until they had radio hits with "Faded" and "You Know You Like It", respectively this past year (so I probably would have found out about them anyway). I will have to get around to pulling that list together.
4 - "Magnets (feat. Lorde)", Disclosure
This is an interesting departure from the sound that Disclosure put forth on many tracks on both Settle and Caracal (odd fact: I knew what a caracal was thanks to my kids watching Wild Kratts). It's great to see Lorde back (the Mockingjay tracks didn't quite do it for me) and I'm very interested to see what she does next.
3 - "Loveless", X Ambassadors
Another rock-life act that makes REAL MUSIC CRITICS go meh, I have a bit of a soft spot for X Ambassadors ever since we shared a moment in Montreal this summer. Fine, I shared it with many other screaming fans, but it was still good. "Unsteady" had a good run with me and now I've moved on to "Loveless", a much more uptempo romp. An antidote to "Renegades" I suppose.
2 - "Hourglass (feat. LION BABE)", Disclosure
LOL on the Youtube comment "I'm glad to see the silhouettes from the ipod commercials still finding work". This is that Disclosure sound I was talking about earlier. If house music is not your thing, please don't even press play here.
1 - "Ocean Drive", Duke Dumont
One of the beneficiaries of Disclosure breaking through a couple of years back is English DJ Duke Dumont. Though this song sounds NOTHING like his past hits and more like something out of the 80s. The song has topped the US Dance Club charts and was a fairly big hit in Australia. And in my house.
And oh yeah, no snow yet!!
Thursday, November 19, 2015
November Tunes
Well, I'm posting earlier in the month than I did in October. #smallvictories. Now I have the Faith No More song going through my head. Great. I have 10 more songs for you NOT by Adele (although wow. What a comeback single. Looking forward to seeing 25 blow past the million sales mark when it comes out). Here they are:
10 - "Morning Sun", Melody Gardot
I could not find an edited cut of this song anywhere. The only one I saw was on the billboard website here but it's been blocked in Canada for copyright reasons. This concert footage is the only thing on youtube and vimeo, dailymotion and other sites came up blank. She gets going at the 1:13 mark after goofing around for a while. Melody is a jazz/blues singer-songwriter hailing from Philadelphia and this is a pretty smooth sound. A beautiful song to start your day or read the weekend paper (like that's something I've done in the past eight years) to.
9 - "Frail Love", Cloves
Yikes UMG - copyright issues on this song too. Back to Soundcloud we go! I said no Adele, but I didn't say anything about people wanting to sound like Adele. Cloves is Kaity Dunstan and she hails from Melbourne Australia. She released her debut single about a month ago, entitled "Don't You Wait" and is not touring across the southwestern U.S. with James Bay. If you happen to be in the 'hood.
8 - "Sedona", Houndmouth
Speaking of the Southwest, we're going' to Sedona! Now that is some straight up folk/Americana. This song is doing the rounds at alternative radio and comes from the band's second LP, released earlier this year (in March). Nice retro vibe out of this one.
7 - "Different Colours", Walk the Moon
I remember the first time I saw the video for "Shut Up and Dance": I though "catchy song but what is this video??". Now everybody knows who there guys are and they have a little more cash to up the production value the next time around. I like this song nearly as much as their debut release (which had to be the most timeless hit of the year, the song that could have been released at just about any time in the past three decades and been a hit). Not sure at what point "Different Colours" is going to be promoted on mainstream stations but this might be another hit.
6 - "Barcelona", George Ezra
Continuing his trek around Europe, George Ezra has moved from Budapest to Barcelona. This was one of the highlight performances from his show at Osheaga. A wonderful song.
5 - "Everyday", Diane Coffee
It's like Dirty Projectors' "Gun Has No Trigger" crossed with "Rocky Horror Picture Show". Not my typical fare, but there's something very ear wormy about this song. P.S. Diane Coffee is a man...specifically Shaun Fleming, a.k.a. the drummer for Foxygen.
4 - "Then Comes the Wonder", The Landing
Oddly enough, the second link I found about The Landing (from Brooklyn) says "sounds like: Foxygen". Weird. As per The Landing's Facebook page, it sure looks like someone is into the cosmos! Hence the artist's name, I'm sure.
3 - "Sleep Sound", Jamie xx
And now we've tipped right over into bleep and bloop land. I have nothing to say about this song. I love Jamie xx. Watch the video.
2 - "Window to the Sky", Kim Churchill
And back we go to Australia. This is an acoustic version of the song that I wasn't aware existed. Over the years I've found some cool content on Mahogany Sessions and this is no different. If you like the plugged-in stuff, feel free to check it out here.
1 - "Lovesick F**k", Mura Masa
I love how the creator of this video felt the need to point out that this was unofficial "obvs". Mura Masa (a.k.a. Alex Crossan) is another wondering a la Tom Misch. HE'S 19!! "Lovesick" is off MM's debut EP released in April and topped the Spotify viral charts (always a good place to look for cool new music) in the UK and US. A number of his tracks have popped up on The Hype Machine but this is the first one that has mesmerized me. Recently, I've been listening to "Love For That" feat. Shura as well so perhaps that track will pop up on a future list.
12 degrees today. Seriously awesome November weather. Perhaps I can crank the December post out before the snow flies!!
10 - "Morning Sun", Melody Gardot
I could not find an edited cut of this song anywhere. The only one I saw was on the billboard website here but it's been blocked in Canada for copyright reasons. This concert footage is the only thing on youtube and vimeo, dailymotion and other sites came up blank. She gets going at the 1:13 mark after goofing around for a while. Melody is a jazz/blues singer-songwriter hailing from Philadelphia and this is a pretty smooth sound. A beautiful song to start your day or read the weekend paper (like that's something I've done in the past eight years) to.
9 - "Frail Love", Cloves
Yikes UMG - copyright issues on this song too. Back to Soundcloud we go! I said no Adele, but I didn't say anything about people wanting to sound like Adele. Cloves is Kaity Dunstan and she hails from Melbourne Australia. She released her debut single about a month ago, entitled "Don't You Wait" and is not touring across the southwestern U.S. with James Bay. If you happen to be in the 'hood.
8 - "Sedona", Houndmouth
Speaking of the Southwest, we're going' to Sedona! Now that is some straight up folk/Americana. This song is doing the rounds at alternative radio and comes from the band's second LP, released earlier this year (in March). Nice retro vibe out of this one.
7 - "Different Colours", Walk the Moon
I remember the first time I saw the video for "Shut Up and Dance": I though "catchy song but what is this video??". Now everybody knows who there guys are and they have a little more cash to up the production value the next time around. I like this song nearly as much as their debut release (which had to be the most timeless hit of the year, the song that could have been released at just about any time in the past three decades and been a hit). Not sure at what point "Different Colours" is going to be promoted on mainstream stations but this might be another hit.
6 - "Barcelona", George Ezra
Continuing his trek around Europe, George Ezra has moved from Budapest to Barcelona. This was one of the highlight performances from his show at Osheaga. A wonderful song.
5 - "Everyday", Diane Coffee
It's like Dirty Projectors' "Gun Has No Trigger" crossed with "Rocky Horror Picture Show". Not my typical fare, but there's something very ear wormy about this song. P.S. Diane Coffee is a man...specifically Shaun Fleming, a.k.a. the drummer for Foxygen.
4 - "Then Comes the Wonder", The Landing
Oddly enough, the second link I found about The Landing (from Brooklyn) says "sounds like: Foxygen". Weird. As per The Landing's Facebook page, it sure looks like someone is into the cosmos! Hence the artist's name, I'm sure.
3 - "Sleep Sound", Jamie xx
And now we've tipped right over into bleep and bloop land. I have nothing to say about this song. I love Jamie xx. Watch the video.
2 - "Window to the Sky", Kim Churchill
And back we go to Australia. This is an acoustic version of the song that I wasn't aware existed. Over the years I've found some cool content on Mahogany Sessions and this is no different. If you like the plugged-in stuff, feel free to check it out here.
1 - "Lovesick F**k", Mura Masa
I love how the creator of this video felt the need to point out that this was unofficial "obvs". Mura Masa (a.k.a. Alex Crossan) is another wondering a la Tom Misch. HE'S 19!! "Lovesick" is off MM's debut EP released in April and topped the Spotify viral charts (always a good place to look for cool new music) in the UK and US. A number of his tracks have popped up on The Hype Machine but this is the first one that has mesmerized me. Recently, I've been listening to "Love For That" feat. Shura as well so perhaps that track will pop up on a future list.
12 degrees today. Seriously awesome November weather. Perhaps I can crank the December post out before the snow flies!!
Saturday, October 24, 2015
October tunes
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???)!
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, 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.
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