Music You'd Better Listen To

Super Viral Brothers - Volvo (Commercial Shit)

Website / Myspace / Swine Flu Shot Mixtape

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Awwww yeah.

I found this mixtape two days ago on one of my blogs and was totally jamming out to it while working the other day. And then when the first lyrics of this song came on, I laughed way harder than I have in a while because of song lyrics.

Seriously, I don’t think I’ve heard a more upbeat, energizing track in a looooooong time.

I wish I had something deep/intelligent/insightful to say today, but apparently I don’t. I just started reading this book called Telling True Stories today; it’s a collection of essays and speech transcriptions about the art of narrative nonfiction.

So there you have it. Enjoy this (commercial) shit. And maybe download the mixtape, it’s all killer. No filler.

Miami Horror - Make You Mine (Cassian Remix)

Website (Miami Horror) / Myspace (Miami Horror) / iTunes (Miami Horror / Myspace (Cassian)

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Lordy.

I am by no means the first person to blog this track, and I undoubtedly won’t be the last. But it’s so dance-y and bounce-y. To the point where I started typing “dance” instead of “last”.

The funny thing is, this one really grew on me. When I first heard it, I thought that it was a really good, actually relevant track reminiscent of the MC Mario Mixdowns I used to stay awake for (until 9PM!!!) when I was 8 years old, lying in my bed and listening to Mix 96. ‘Cuz, you know, all the cool, older kids listened to MC Mario.

(Hehehe…)

But, in spite of the whole cheesy ’90s ultra-club-style sound to the remix, both Cassian and Miami Horror are so utterly behind this track it’s inspiring.

I saw it blogged for its third time today while working, blasting through my electro tastemakers’ recent postings. And when I heard it in Cassian’s awesomesauce minimix today… well, that was the last straw.

Today has been all about bounce. In fact, these past few days have been. Ultra-good news keeps coming in, in spite of some sadness back home. And I can’t help but dance at my desk.

Soulico feat. Rye Rye - Exotic On The Speaker

Website (Soulico) / Myspace (Soulico) / iTunes (Soulico) / Myspace (Rye Rye) / iTunes (Rye Rye)

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Today has been a day of new beginnings for old projects. Fitting that I should first hear this track today.

A goal from last summer is looking more promising than it’s ever looked, and I know I can achieve it this time. I wish I could be less vague, but I don’t want to jinx things any more than I currently am.

The work I’m doing is ready to be launched, which means a ton of progress has been made since last week — a lot of materials hadn’t even been drafted before Thursday!

Now, why does this Soulico track represent that to me?

First, it reminds me of music that I’ve listened to at shisha (hookah) bars in Montreal. Well, most any Middle Eastern music has the same qualities — you know what I’m talking about. But it makes the genre much more relevant and “everyday” listen-able than it ever was to me.

Second, this is the second time I’m hearing of Soulico. A couple of their tracks were posted a few months ago, and they got me excited for the upcoming album. Then this one was sent around the blogs this past weekend, and I just can’t wait to get my hands on the LP.

As Semisonic once said, every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.

(And yes, you did just catch me referencing Semisonic.)

The Beatles - Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand

Website / Myspace / Amazon

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At first, I was debating what song to put up today. But then I realized: this week has been a Third Eye Blind and Beatles week at the office, and this blog should reflect that.

This song made me laugh out loud in the office today for way too many reasons. The girl who works near me (Adele) looked at me as if I was crazy, but I didn’t care. I was into the German Beatles. As you should be right now, too.

First, this was hilarious because I never knew that The Beatles performed songs in German, let alone recorded them.

Second, it reminded me of a Beach Boys record I bought the first time I was in Chicago — The Beach Boys’ 40 Greatest Hits! It was a German import and, while the songs were all “normal”, the packaging was entirely in German!

Third, after hearing this song watching a repeat of an old Ed Sullivan Show episode with my Mother one night, a few weeks before camp, I was often found requesting I Want To Hold Your Hand at our camp socials, trying to dedicate it to my girlfriend at the time (yes, I was 10).

They never played it. I guess my music taste had to regress into Top 40/Bubblegum before it got back up to my 10-year-old self’s standards.

The Beatles - I Should Have Known Better

Website / Myspace / Amazon

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This morning, I put on A Hard Day’s Night while getting ready for work. And, for the second time in as many weeks, I’ve regretted not listening to this album in its entirety in years.

I think I felt that way because of the recent developments in my life. My father’s birthday is tomorrow, and my brother and I have recently re-connected over a number of things, most of which was the design of his birthday present.

But, what was more salient at the time, was a budding relationship. I’ve recently confessed my feelings to a girl I have a slight history with, and she feels the same way. While we haven’t had “the discussion” in its entirety yet, this song — indeed, this album — raised my spirits nice and early today.

The Clash - Train In Vain

Website / Myspace / iTunes

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I don’t remember the first time I heard this track. I remember the first time I learned its name (and I’m kind of ashamed of how late it was, but more on that in a moment), but it feels as though Train In Vain has pervaded the collective consciousness. Or, at least, my social groups’.

This is definitely going to knock my “I’m the music expert” voice down a few notches, but I’d rather be an honest friend than someone you look up to:

I finally learned this song’s name last year, when I was in Korova, and my friend Justin put the Discotech remix of it on while DJing.

And yeah, that’s really weird to admit, especially since The Clash’s London Calling was treated as a big influence of my high school band. I guess I wasn’t ready to appreciate their poppier material while trying to keep up my unaffected punk aura.

(Thank God that’s over.)

Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life

Website / Myspace / iTunes

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The other day, I noticed that Third Eye Blind released a collection album. Not having listened to them semi-seriously in years, I immediately… obtained it. And that proved to be another decision in a week that’s already full of great decisions.

Semi-Charmed Life holds a very special place in my heart, even though it’s not really relevant to me lyrically or musically anymore.

I remember listening to this track multiple times a day on Big Shiny Tunes 2. It was the third song on the album, coming just after Blur’s Song 2. If that CD were a tape, I would have worn it out.

I remember losing their self-titled first album, and being more sad that I only had one version of this song to listen to. The backup was important.

I remember the lyrics. And singing it with my father at one of Donald K. Donald’s birthday parties he brought me to — he wanted to stop in briefly, on our way back to the suburbs from spending an evening downtown.

I remember singing it in the shower after soccer games, swim meets, and everything else a little suburban kid.

But, most importantly, I remember how happy it made me every time I heard it. And how happy it still makes me to think about it… and to hear it.

The Detroit Cobras - Cry On

Website / Myspace / iTunes

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This evening, I blocked off a good 15-minute chunk of time to listen to Vishal Vaid’s South Asian improvisation on TED.com, and I’m glad I did. It’s been far too long since I gave a piece of music the attention and respect it deserved.

While Cry On doesn’t share much of anything with Vaid and his band’s performance on the surface, they both have the same effect on me: I’m forced to sit back and take it in.

That’s the beauty in art forms: you don’t have to like, love, dislike, or hate pieces to enjoy them. Far too many people get caught up in their valences that they fail to appreciate what’s before them.

Hell, I don’t think I’m ever going to listen to Vaid again… I much prefer Shankar’s styles to his. But hot damn, that 15 minutes gave me more pleasure and relaxation than most of what I’ve watched, listened to, or observed this week.

Bob Dylan - Ballad of a Thin Man

Website / Myspace / iTunes

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I was in my early teens when my Dad recommended me some Bob Dylan.

I mean, I had heard Dylan before. Like A Rolling Stone is ubiquitous, and one of my camp counselors was absolutely obsessed with the latter half of Blood on the Tracks.

On my father’s recommendation, I picked Blood on the Tracks and Blonde On Blonde out of his CD collection. Upon listening, I became curious about why my counselor would skip the first half of the former; I also grew to understand why Nada Surf wrote an ode to the latter.

But I stopped there. For some reason, I never really explored much more Dylan. I mean, there was Masters Of War, recommended to me by an anthology of music writing I picked up in my first year of University, but I just ignored the rest of his albums.

That is, until last Fall.

I got my hands on Highway 61 Revisited, and I gave it the best first listen one could ever give a Bob Dylan album.

I’ll remember this image forever: I was walking 2.7 kilometres down Bloor Street, from Bathurst all the way to Jarvis. I was carrying a toaster oven in a giant, oversized box that required my arms to wrap all the way around it. I had a few other trinkets from Honest Ed’s in my hands. My custom-fitted earphones (I’m serious about music, y’know) were in place.

Now, before I say this next bit, let me tell you: I walk everywhere.

That walk was, without a doubt, the most meaningful-feeling walk I’ve ever taken.

Glasnost - No Survivor

Myspace / iTunes

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So the day after I lament about not posting as much new material as I initially thought I would, here’s something pretty hot off the presses for you.

This past couple of days has been all about the electro blog. Demetrius asked for a bunch of suggestions, and I have a pretty big (200+) backlog of posts from my favourite bloggers to go through.

Of those, I obviously prioritized my favourites: Dani Deahl’s “d squared”, the IHEARTCOMIX blog, and Beats’ Hot Biscuits are always the first ones I peruse, simply because their selections are always bang-on.

Case in point: today’s track. I heard it originally on Dani Deahl’s blog yesterday, but it was overshadowed by a Techjio remix of Dem Slackers, and my Montreal hombre Grand Theft’s remix of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ By The Way. I mean, I liked it, so I downloaded it, but it didn’t hit me like it did today.

Listening to this song today proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that even I fall prey to familiarity bias. Beats (or Markus G — formerly Sirhan) had posted over at Hot Bizzie’s, and I fell in love.

Fell in love all over again, apparently.