Man, it snowed (well sleeted, technically) today here in Vancouver. What that has to do with this song is that I'm stoked to release Summer Guide 12, which means summer, and everything better (than snow) ... but it's a long, long ways away.
Anyway, as explained here, the Summer Cuts are literally songs cut from the Summer Guide list, and ... well ... any song that doesn't temporarily make it on to the SG list is not entitled to make it to the Summer Cuts collection. So when that happens to songs, this is my place to share them.
And here is this song. A good one. Loved it first listen. But it just doesn't come close to meeting the Summer Guide criteria.
With a few exceptions, you don't hear the 60's-sounding organ much any more. It takes a lot of confidence and musical swagger to pull off, you need great vocals and musical accompaniment, and you gotta be frickin' cool too.
Three months until Summer Guide 12, and I'm being forced into making decisions about some track which I haven't known what to do with for ... well ... in some cases (like this one) ... almost a year.
"Buoy" has been played and re-replayed on a few of lists for 12 months. It made the early drafts of SG11, but simply got bumped by some other fantastic tracks. Thank god CuzMusicRocks allow us to share great finds like this, even if our messed up system of treating songs like professional athletes getting called up from the farm team takes us a year to do so. Enjoy! Loudly.
The Rapture haven't been very prolific over their career, and that makes it easier to lose sight of them. They burst onto the scene in 2003 with "House of Jealous Lovers" a housey, 'more cowbell' dancefloor burner, and kind of picked up the torch of electronic dance band from the likes of Underworld. With their debut album 'Echoes' they got a record label bidding war started, won Pitchfork's band of the year, and toured with Franz Ferdinand and Daft Punk.
The Rapture had a long hiatus between their 2006 album "Pieces of the People We Love" and 2011's "In the Grace of Your Love" which was released September 6. They had some lineup changes and bassist Mattie Safer left the band. This album was produced by super producer Philippe Zdar who I featured on this blog back in October. Here is a fine track from that new album, that I kind of secretly hoped was a cover of the Bee Gee's classic , but this is an track with it's own life. Just given the band's name, you might expect some religious under/overtones in the music. The 'Hallelujahs!" in this song make me want to raise my hands, give praise, and shake my ass!
When Outkast released this song about 9 years ago, it pumped enough energy through the airwaves and dance clubs for an entire year. I know I couldn't get enough of it in 2003.
Like all super hits, the hype subsided, people got sick of it, and "Hey Ya!" found its place in the pop music's historical archives.
And then, just enough time passes where everyone's forgotten about it, and the time is right for a slowed-down cover version of the track... and that's just what Cocoon does here. Enjoy.
Here's a belated Valentine's number. I love the way that Jewell has reimagined Cupid as a bad-ass shot-gun wielding maniac. Sometime love works that way right?
From Eilen Jewell's 2011 album 'Queen of the Minor Key' on Signature Records.
The summer of 1996 was my rock star summer. I was one hour away from losing my seat in the university program I was enrolled in, and I left it until the last minute because I almost quit to start a rock band. Alas, that never happened (long story), but the Summer of '96 was special (and crazy) indeed.
That spring Sloan released their One Chord to Another album which ... in hindsight ... catapulted my intentions to start a rock band into an almost-reality. In an era of cynical, grungy, and distorted music, their album hit the Canadian airwaves like a breath of fresh air. It definitely gave me the confidence to (almost) quit college and start a band, "If they're writing music like this, I should/could too!"
Here is - in my opinion - the best track from that album ... if only by a hair, because all the tracks were amazing!
I'm heading out for a ski day today at Sunshine, Banff. One of my favorite runs there is "Ecstasy" a lovely mogully black diamond run. This song will run through my head as I shred.
Well, we've moved into that time of year (3 months leading up to the mid-May release) where I share Summer Guide 12 casualty after casualty.
I went for a run today and previewed the SG12 folder for the first time (something I limit myself to so as to not associate the tracks to winter weather), and this song – while a great track – just didn't meet the criteria of Summer Guide, Summer Cuts, or the 2012 Leaves compilation.
It's an incredible song, though ... from its telecaster guitar, the smooth background vocals, the (very subtle) Hawaiian drums, and the "buuuum-sha-boom" drum beat ... Blind Pilot mastered an incredible track in "We Are The Tide."
A track worthy of many compilations ... maybe yours.
Wow, we finally made it! Our number one song of 2011, and as you can see from the post below, it wasn't without some intense and profane discussion. It is such an amazing tune, but it's already hard to keep put it in perspective. This song catapulted Lana Del Rey out of obscurity and into "the next big thing", maybe it happened too fast, and a negative tidal wave backlash is forming. She bombed on SNL. Her album was released this week, and was prettyuniformilypanned, as fluffy pop, and doesn't deliver on the depth promised from 'Video Games'. In a way, the hype was SO big, that anything that was to follow was sure to be a letdown. This was a part of the discussion, not to let the backlash impact your perception of this song.
Have another listen. This song IS SO GOOD! The strings. The vibe. Her voice! Sultry, wanting, desirous, enticing. It makes me wonder at the fool who's ignoring her in favor of Call of Duty. And yet in personal and professional practice I see this all the time. The desire for men to escape, leaving behind the troubles of the world, and the woman they love. It's the escapism epidemic that is part of our modern world (dont' get me started!)
It doesn't matter that Lana Del Rey's album kind of blows, or that in fact she's not much of a performer. Even if she is remembered only for this song (which I hope she will be), and fades back in obscurity, it takes nothing away from the fact that this song is a masterpiece, and that in our opinion was the best song of 2011.
I've thought about how best to introduce this song, and our passion for it, for a long time, and have concluded that quoting an inside negotiation where I pushed for this song to be #1 after we agreed it was #2 would be best.
Wanna rejig our Top 10? We could slot it (current #1) lower and move everything up one. I think it would be so cool if "Change" won #1 ... especially considering how under-represented he is, and especially considering how awesome the (sci-fi) video is. And him live!!!
Unfortunately, as the chat session below reveals, the standings remained:
Regan: CHLLNGR! What say you?
Marc: On one hand I don't want to f#¢k with our countdown just because the hype has turned on _____. On the other hand, CHLNGR is f#¢king awesome.
Regan: Yeah ... but maybe we got hyped and haven't had the time to realize it. I'm all for a bump down. Listening to "Change" now ... so f#¢king awesome
Marc: WHAT??? No way!
Regan: waaaaaaay better than _________
Marc: _________ remains my song do the year. ___ cut an amazing single. It doesn't matter if the other songs suck. That song is amazing. Better give it another listen
And with another listen, I was persuaded to let our original picks stand, with CHLLNGR living up to its artistic name by almost ousting #1 at the last minute.
Picture beaches, good times, piña colada's, and what more can I say. We are so proud to showcase this indie rock/reggae wizard at #2. Here it is: Change!
