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I have not followed the career of Canadian singer-songwriter Patrick Watson, but like so many I was once wrapped up in the ubiquity of the piano he performed on ‘To Build A Home’, The Cinematic Orchestra’s signature track. Released on Ninja Tune in 2007, the song quickly became celebrated for its haunting sound and the emotional vocals that Wilson penned.
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Good afternoon and happy New Year! In 2007, the Cologne label Kompakt’s flagship acts Superpitcher (Aksel Schaufler) and Michael Mayer teamed up to deliver this unexpected gem. Rufus Wainwright’s ‘Tiergarten’ has no place on the dance floor, but that was before Supermayer did their thing to create a club anthem.
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The autotune is often seen as a cheat that distorts the truth and lacks emotion. In its defence, it did give us ‘Sensual Seduction’. You wanna see the Snoop “playing” keyboards and “singing” like Zapp’s Roger Troutman? You got it. A year after the single release, the song appeared on Snoop’s 2008 LP Ego Trippin‘ entitled ‘Sexual Eruption’.
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I already knew Les Savy Fav for the single ‘Patty Lee’, which I had labelled as The Clash/Mick Jones inspired. Recently, the whole of their 2007 album Let’s Stay Friends was bumped up my playlist and I now find them much harder to pidgeonhole. The song ‘The Year Before The Year 2000’ popped on first listening. Clearly, Vocalist Tim Harrington and his NYC band can also do angular post-punk tributes to Prince. Shout out WK.
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While being a regular contributor to indie rock band and musical collective Broken Social Scene, Leslie Feist was quickly establishing a winning solo career. In 2007, she released the Grammy-nominated The Remainder with the help of producer-musician Chilly Gonzalez. The album features the remarkable ‘The Limit To Your Love’ with all its Philly-soul inspired production.
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Lianne La Havas’s beautiful cover version of ‘Weird Fishes’ caught my attention this week. It features on her self-titled, third studio album. But you’ve got to say she had a great material to work with. The original ‘Weird Fishes/ Arpeggi’ appears on In Rainbows, Radiohead’s seventh studio album. The drum groove, the guitar harmony and shimmering arpeggios… this was outstanding musicianship. Have a great weekend.
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Good morning! I can’t believe I haven’t featured this nostalgic, midlife masterpiece already. In 2007, LCD Soundsystem released a song about one’s life slipping by. James Murphy was 37 on the song’s release (he’s a year older than me which makes all the difference obvs). He wondered where all his friends were that night… probably not just avoiding the dissonance of some midweek krautrock. I look forward to catching up with many of my friends this weekend.
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A bonus track this Thursday, because I’ll be busy tomorrow. ‘The Runner’ is also downtempo, but of a very different variety. In 2007, Kings of Leon were still at the height of their powers. It was the year that they released Because Of The Times, their third album – and as one pundit put it, it was also the moment that the former Southern Strokes aimed to become the Southern U2. That’s a bit harsh, but I think we can hear where they’re coming from. The Nashville band almost deliver a rock’n’roll lullaby with ‘The Runner’, the tenth track on the album. “Awful sick and tired of the game/And it’s cold and it’s cold and it’s cold and it’s cold when you’re near/Cold when you’re nearing the bottle.” That’s a great line. Have a good weekend.
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On the celebrated album From Here We Go Sublime – well it is in electronica circles – The Field’s Axel Willner found inspiration in the oddest of corners. Kate Bush, Fleetwood Mac and The Flamingos are all sampled. But there is nothing more unexpected than Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello’ popping up in the outro of the hypnotic ‘A Paw In My Face’. It’s worth the wait.
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I’ve decided that Gerry & The Pacemakers are not the way to end the week. Something a little more upbeat as a bonus… ‘Niobe’ is the closing track off Caribou’s 2007 album Andorra. The album is great, but on the eight minutes plus that close the album are so on the money – in fact, I think the the last 60 seconds or so would really set the direction that Dan Snaith has traveled since.
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If 24 Hour Party People is my movie soundtrack of choice, the music for Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive is very high on my list of favourite original scores. In a big part that’s because Refn had originally chosen Johnny Jewel of the Chromatics, Glass Candy and Desire to score the film. In the end, the studio hired composer Cliff Martinez to imitate the style and feel of Jewel’s bands, but did shell out to supplement the wall of synths with some of the inspiring source material, including College & Electric Youth’s A Real Hero, Desire’s ‘Under Your Spell‘, Kavinsky’s ‘Nightcall‘ and the dark energy of today’s post: ‘Tick Of The Clock’. I also feature a photo of Chromatics’ Ruth Radelet; and why wouldn’t I?
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It did not have the pop hooks of ‘Mr. Brightside’, nor was it given the prominence of 2006’s lead single ‘When You Were Young’, but ‘Read My Mind’ is the best song off The Killers’ album Sam’s Town and probably their best song period. What it did have was the lyrics: “A teenage queen / A loaded gun / A drop-dead dream / The chosen one.” It had the nostalgic new wave guitar solo. It had the stadium presence of U2’s best work. And it had the global touchstone of a video, all shot in Tokyo, and featuring a Japanese Elvis. What else do you want?
Samuelsounds 