It’s funny when you hear a song and you just can’t place from where, but it is oh-so familiar. This is what happened when I heard last month’s release from Belle and Sebastian I knew immediately that I had heard it before, but I just couldn’t place where from.
It took a couple-few minutes for me to place the original, stubbornly avoiding using the internet for the easy route to information. And then it hit me, this was a track from the almost austere collection of music most commonly known as the original sound track (OST) of Dumb & Dumber. A movie that has suffered from a prequel, with all new cast, and currently a sequel slated for later this year. I’ll let your brains deal with that horrible idea for a mo’.
The song is Crash by The Primitives. A much more upbeat version this; its hard not to at least acknowledge your toes predilection to tap as a result of the song. I have quite the softspot for the song, more accurately the album. Don’t ask me why but the Dumb And Dumber: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was one of the first CDs I ever owned, so naturally I listened the shit out of that disc. While `Crash’ is no `Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead’ its pretty close to the best aged song from the disc. If you are curious about a sample of light alternative pop music that can be inoffensively tagged onto a very silly comedy film from the 90s, check out the soundtrack. Otherwise, just enjoy the quicker paced original now.
Just a quick update, I found this track via the folks over at Nylon Mag. I’m new to Caged Animals, though their heavy involvement with SXSW checks the requisite hipster box.
Teflon Heart is a track that is a good mixture of `up-beats’ and melancholic lyricism.
You can check out more of their music at their websitebandcamp.
It’s a Saturday evening of studying and as a man who seems unable to be in a quiet environment 1 Nevertheless it is a certain class of music, and indeed TV shows, that is needed to remain productive and not wonderfully distracted. Today, as I was wandering through NPR’s lovely Tiny Desk Concerts I stumbled upon the illustrious Sir Tom Jones’s entry.
The coupling of the man’s baritone and trite lyrics allow you to tune to the melody while safely moving past distracting words. I put to you that this works even when reading through a text which is let’s say densely written2. If you have the luxury of not needing to work this evening, relax, enjoy, and maybe do some dishes.
I don’t know about you but for me things, especially when the internet is concerned, seem to come at me in waves. An example, earlier this week as I procrastinated the day away on my internet I encountered not one but two amusing internet videos about monkeys. While I chose not to share those past the usuallinkbaiting I did ride a much more enjoyable wave later on in the week.
In my stumblings to find (acquire, collect, judge, etc.) more music that the world may have to offer I caught ahold of a few electro-pop tracks: all from Sweden.
Let’s start upbeat shall we? First up we have Miike Snow with the second track from their still upcoming album (late March). We have Paddling Out, a track that starts infectiously upbeat and manages to does itself with an upper by the time the first chorus hits. It the kind of song that reminds you how much fun dancing ’til 6am can be, without making you regret being stuck in on a sunday evening.
Hey these guys are pretty cool, I hear you saying to yourself, I’m surprised I’ve not bumped into them before. Well you probably have… sort of. Two of the three members that make up Miike Snow are also Bloodshy & Avant! You know, musical duo who pen tracks for the stars? Still nothing, eh? How about Britney’s Toxic, bells being rung? Toss in some Madonna and Kylie, amongst others, and you have a pretty talented pop duo.
Let’s flip over the first track they released for the new album, Devil’s Work. A little less punchy but the piano hooks are still strong, laid back vocals and the odd horn come together for a fairly dynamic track. If Paddling Out is dancey, then Devil’s Work is head-groovy.
It’s not just a snowstorm, we also have a young 16 year old swede who is making music sans label. Its pop, its electronic, but it doesn’t quite live in the same world as our friends above. Be prepared for a slooowdown. A methodical beat paired with melancholy lyrics and vocals make for a track you can still immerse yourself in but movement will be minimal if at all. Melt into this one folks; headphones would be a welcome accessory I think.
And if that wasn’t enough Miike Snow for you, or you need to ramp that heartbeat back up, head on over to RCRDLBL to download Devil’s Work and a handful of other tracks. (Registration required but free)
For most February 14th means a day of romance, or needless heartache, or comical indifference. Regardless of the situation I happen to be in at the time, its usually veering towards indifference that I get to. But this year another thing happened, well probably more than just the one but I assume that you are picking up what I’m putting down at this stage. Islands have released a new record “A Sleeping & a Forgetting“. For those not in the know Islands are a band originally from Quebec that have been kicking about the Canadian indie scene since around 2005, though now they reside in sunny California.
After a quick listen through most of the tracks, I’m pretty happy with it. The upbeat tracks have good hooks and steady toe-tappable rhythms. But the album tends towards the more somber of content, while still maintaining a joggable, well walkable, beat. No Crying is a good example of a bridge between the two varieties. The clear winner on the somber side is This is Not a Song. A steady slow beat its got, but with lyrics like:
If this is just a song,
Then why do I find it so hard to move on,
Feels a crime to be crying for this long.
and sweeping instrumentals its a hard track to argue with.
This next track isn’t wholly indicative of the overall tone of the album its hard not to avoid. With a steady toe-tapping beat, and infectious piano-vocal harmonies I challenge you not to stay still during this one. I could go on but I think I’ll let the track speak for itself.
Well 2012 is firmly upon us, and a quick reflection of updates reveals that if I were to have a resolution for the new year it really should be along the lines of update frequency, forgetting quality of content for the moment.
So with that in mind I bring you just a single track. As I’m in Canada, and my readership mostly not, today we have a lovely track by Quebec artist Coeur de Pirate“. That’s Pirate Heart for the hard of French out there. Juno award winner and generally well-lauded by critics. Given that most of her songs remain in French, her popularity with anglophonic-Canadians should speak for itself.
Danse et Danse is a great track to introduce you to the style and range of her vocals with a solid beat that defies you not to move to tap your feet. The pacing of the song really works well; with crescendos down to lulls that draw you right back in.
If you are into that, I do recommend checking out her song ‘Comme des Enfants‘, its got a lovely little video over on youtube, unfortunately its not embedable so I can’t share it here. However, the song is beautiful, and lyrically it best resides in the wonder that is the French language. My skills with that are a little bit rusty, but it was worth looking into to appreciate.
And of course, given that it is me posting we can’t get around the inevitable coversong, there is something about the total turnaround of a song while it still being unmistakably ‘the same song’ that really gets me, but that is a topic for another day. For now, enjoy Coeur de Pop:
Apologies for the tacky video, but it was the best version of the track I could find on your tubes.
Runnerup: Grimes – Genesis. An ethereal female poptrack which is enjoyable, but mostly forgettable, and lyrically indecipherable in the way that only breathy backed by electric pianos only seem able to pull off.
For all you community fans out there, I have tracked down that wonderfully ridiculous song that has become another of Abed and Troy’s in-jokes.
The adult contemporary, some might rather ‘elevator music’ track is: “Michael Haggin – Daybreak” here in all its glory.
For the uninitiated to the wonder that is Community, first off shame on you, second here’s the first time we encounter the song (I believe, feel free to correct me if I am mistaken).
The episode contains other such ‘scary stories’ that allow us to peak into the neuroses of all our favourite dysfunctional characters. Do watch.
Now before you immediately jump ship at the mention of Ke$ha, and increase my bounce rate on gAnalytics as a result, just bear with me for a moment. I’m guessing you are in either of two camps. 1. You have no idea what a Ke$ha is, or 2. You know well enough to think that there is nothing worth seeing here.
For the uninitiated, or those who want a stark reminder go ahead and watch the first 30s of her breakout single from waay back in 2009 “Tik Tok”. Spelling obviously was not her strongest subject in school, though she is still the frontrunner for ASCII abuse for the third straight year.
Well, that was fun, wasn’t it? The key line to remember, is the bit about “brush my teeth with a bottle of jack” because WTB? Cultural scholars are still trying tro wrap their heads around her cavalier approach to referencing, and the dentists are just salivating at the idea of her fans following suit…
So now he have the standard pop starlet story, albeit with some more obscure leanings. The moment my opinion slightly turned on our dollar-sign embedded chum would probably have to be when the, usually hilarious, people over at Funny Or Die made this video explaining the source of the ASCII abuse.
Not supremely hilarious, sure, but at least there is evidence of self-awareness. And the premise is highly entertaining. So at least she knows that her persona is ridiculous. If we left it here, I would be with you in thinking that that is definnitely not enough and why have I wasted time reading this mild exposition. That’s why you need to watch the video for ‘Blow’. As a song its what one might expect genericy pop sounds and a decent beat. But the video itself is some sort of amazing mashup of self-awareness and meme-mashing up. It opens with the disclaimer that “No mythological creatures were harmed in the making of this video.” Her costar, and barely love interest (for music video standards), none other than Dawson from the creek: James van Der Beek. And trust me he knows exactly what part of the cultural arena he inhabits in this day and age. To coin a phrase that is already a victim of linguistic inflation: “This video is all kinds of epic.”
Regardless of your opinion, previous or current, of Ms. Ha, you have to admit that this video is clearly the product of the internet circa early 2011 and proof that these silly people probably know exactly what triggers the silly faces you pull when confronted with their particular breed of nonsense.
A final note, for you Van der Douche fans, you should check out his brief role in the otherwise terrible “The Big Bang”, Antonio Banderas vehicle. The man knows his limits, and is seemingly revelling in them.
(Also its really hard not to type ‘s’ after the $ because mentally one is typing ‘Kesha’ and $ don’t make sounds…)
Hey folks, this is just a quick note letting you know that you can stream the new Feist album, “Metals”, which comes out on October 2nd and 3rd, depending on your location.
Having only just listened to a handful of tracks, I can say that this is definitely a Feist album, however no track has really jumped out at me and proclaimed itself in the way one wants from their music.
Perhaps I will write more on the album if it grows on my in subsequent, non logic-homework filled, listenings.
To get the coveted streaming link simply dump an active email address into the box below. And you gmail users don’t forget you can add as many “.”s to make filters if you are spam-worried. It seems I’m having some plugin issues on the new website so if you can’t see the feist’s fancy flash thingy below, just click through to here.
Just a quick weekend update of a couple acoustic tracks that struck my fancy this week.
As we are officially mid SXSW, first up is a 2010 entry that the folks over at NPR took a liking to, for good reason. Without further exposition, here is their ‘Tiny Desk Concert’ starting with the toe-tappingly infectious “Beautiful Lie: Ivan & Alyosha”
Keeping with the live-acoustic-session-in-a-small-space theme of the post. Here’s “Daughter” playing a supremely gentle tune, ‘In the Shallows’. On first blush, I wasn’t sure what to make out of the track; and to be honest I’m still not sure, yet I return. I think it may simply be the delicacy of her acoustic touch. The song itself, lyrics, melody and all, is nothing super enthralling. But the light, almost frail sounding, plucks of the guitar strings just seem to draw one in to keep listening.
Its even out on vinyl, for those into that sort of thing.
