As I sit here on the plane flying home for Christmas I am fantasizing about my ideal New Year’s — perhaps this sudden daydream has been sparked by the December issue of British Vogue “the Glamour Issue” that is placed in the seat pocket in front of me…. So I decide to pick it up and have a little read. The features include subjects ranging from glamorous people, to home décor, recipes and vacation spots… all the most ‘glamorous’ of course… and then I come across the party feature: “Golden Age of Couture”-the party of the year in London with guests such as Kate Moss, Mario Testino and the always cool, Agyness Deyn, who to me, represents the quintessential ‘it’ girl of 2007. The moment I come across this photo, my mind instantly conjures up another image of Agyness — one that is in my lookbook on style.com — from ‘Boombox’, London’s coolest, most fashion forward nightclub. …. If only I could spend my New Years there hanging with Agyness, Henry Holland and all of the other East London hipsters who will most likely be decked in the latest Hedi Slimane, Christopher Kane and Comme Des Garcons…. So where am I going with all of this??? I swear there is a point to this story and it DOES have to do with music… not fashion… although… music is a part of fashion and fashion a part of music… the two go hand in hand….clothing styles are inspired by music and music is inspired by fashion and style…. So really this post is 100% appropriate for Cavacool… but to the point!!!!!!! Spending New Year’s in a fabulous club with fabulously dressed, cool people would be amazing. However, it would not be complete without fabulous music to carry everyone through the evening…. Good music really is the backbone for a fun party… and New Year’s is an occasion where music is of the utmost importance… SO, I have compiled here a list of songs that I would hope to hear this coming New Year’s Eve…. whether I’m at Boombox, Lax (with Cory & all the Cobrasnake wannabees), or in my own basement. These tracks will make for an amazing time with friends and family and hopefully an unreal night of dancing into Janvier…
The first ever Ca Va Cool mix includes some highlights from the writers’ favourite albums, eps, and singles of 2007. I feel it is pretty representative of what was important this year in indie pop, rock, and dance (indie being a sound, attitude, and aesthetic, rather than commercial means). This was a team effort, and you know what they say about herd mentality…it’s never wrong!
Click here to download the Ca Va Cool Mixtape! [Link removed 17/01/08]
The Ca Va Cool Mixtape 2007 includes…
01. Spoon - The Underdog
02. Shout Out Louds - Tonight I Have to Leave It
03. Tokyo Police Club - Box
04. The Teenagers - Homecoming
05. The Shins - Australia
06. Radiohead - House of Cards
07. Basia Bulat - I Was a Daughter
08. M.I.A. - Paper Planes
09. The New Pornographers - My Right Versus Yours
10. Panda Bear - Comfy in Nautica
11. The National - Slow Show
12. Miracle Fortress - Maybe Lately
13. Two Hours Traffic - Stuck for the Summer
14. LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
15. Jens Lekman - The Opposite of Hallelujah
16. Handsome Furs - Handsome Furs Hate This City
17. Feist - Past in Present
18. Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
19. Stars - Window Bird
20. The Cribs - Moving Pictures
21. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Satan Said Dance
22. Black Kids - I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You
23. Band of Horses - Is There a Ghost
24. Arcade Fire - The Well and the Lighthouse
25. Au Revoir Simone - Sad Song
Should’ve asked for a little more roll with that rock. Had these confused, aging white men done so, they might have been delighted with any of the following selections:
I’m kinda feeling rock ‘n’ roll this week but I’m also kinda feeling like I have an exam tonight. Regardless of how bogus said exam may be, I’m going to keep things brief. Cazals are rocking that Kitsune scene, but I prefer this version to the one on the new comp. Also, the content is vaguely apropos given my current situation.
I wasn’t sure anything could top the remix of The Gossip’s Yr Mangled Heart that Linus Loves did ages ago now, but Guns ‘N’ Bombs came pretty close with this new one they dropped a few weeks back.
The new Hot Chip album, Made in the Dark, is great from start to finish. It’s also a fair amount more bangin’, which is good if you’re a fan of things like movement and fun. My favourite track is “Out at the Pictures”, but I don’t really want to get sued, so you get to make do with this one that’s been more widely released. There’s a few remixes floating around for this song but the original is still the one.
Speaking of lawsuits, the Bloody Beetroots have been responsible for a lot of great songs (including that remix of “She’s a Maniac” that I’ve played and danced wildly to at probably every single event this year), but this time they went and done did up an old Metallica track, “Search and Destroy”. Metallica, notorious fans of file-sharing, would no doubt be thrilled to see this posted. Assuming they still have a pulse.
And finally, much as I love Rick Ross, there can be only one Boss: Bruce Springsteen. A lot of people are doing best songs of the year type lists right now, and this one occupies slots 1-10 for me. You can decide for yourself how serious I am.
So, I read Pitchfork a lot. And by a lot I of course mean daily. And by daily I of course mean whenever my Profs become less than adequately engaging. Thus, I get a lot of my musical stylings from Pitchfork recommendations, especially the ‘Best New Music’ list. However, on occasion, it’s difficult to cut through the hype to see which records are actually worth spinning and which records are simply getting positive reviews because the writer knows a guy who knows a guy who robs a guy who plays in, say, Vampire Weekend (although I’m really getting into their demos). As Ca Va Cool Contributor / Headmaster / Generalissimo Dan suggested, I will be attempting today to cut through the hype with a clear head, open ears, and biting satirical wit. I will be giving you guys the top three records from 2007 that deserved the Pitchfork hype, and the top three records from 2007 that did not deserve the Pitchfork hype.
Put simply, I think that this is one of the great records of this decade, taking a place alongside Is This It?, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Elephant, Turn On The Bright Lights, etc. etc. (you can insert your record of choice here to avoid argument). On Boxer, Matt Berninger crafts intensely personal stories in a more understated manner than on Alligator. However, what Berninger loses in ‘jaw drop factor’ he makes up for in understated beauty and one of the most accurate accounts of modern American life yet put to vinyl. Further, Boxer features beautiful orchestral arrangements that complement the band’s instrumentation while never overshadowing it. I could continue on for pages upon pages, but I won’t. I will simply ask you to pick up this record as soon as possible (get yourself a Christmas gift, you deserve it).
I have already written about this record once on Ca Va Cool, so I won’t say a lot about it. Its funky, its rocking, its OCD (Britt Daniel, who has previously written songs about fitted shirts and his tour manager, dedicates an entire song to My Little Japanese Cigarette Case), and, at times, its haunting. The Ghost of You Lingers crops a krautrock piano line while heavily reverbed voices swirl, asking the question “If you were here, would you calm me down, or settle the score?” However, when You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb starts up seconds later with its bubble gum hooks, Motown horns, and Phil Spector - esque production palette, it doesn’t seem out of place. That’s what makes this record so good.
M.I.A. is pissed off. She’s pissed at The War on Terror (being a Tamil Tiger might have something to do with that), the music press’ belief that Diplo was primarily responsible for Arular’s success, and a whole host of other issues that I fear my comfortable first world existence may be causing. However, instead of channelling that anger into the typical tools of protest so often seen among activist groups, M.I.A. has created a record spanning cultures and languages. While Arular seemed to sugar coat its political content with electro beats and fuzzy synth sounds, Kala takes its beats straight from the battle drum, ensuring that the listener knows M.I.A. would much rather fight you than dance with you, given the chance. This record is everything that I think hip-hop should be today which it unfortunately isn’t (although I love both Rich and Soulja Boy). Kala is swaggeringly confident, radical, sexy, absolutely terrifying, and a masterpiece.
And now to the bitchy section. Records that didn’t deserve the hype.
Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
First of all, I don’t think this is necessarily a “bad” record. I really tried to get into it over the summer, but was unsuccessful. Missing Fauna has its moments – The production on the record is interesting and original, the hooks are solid, and Gronlandic Edit has got an excellent bass line. However, it wasn’t the career defining, genre changing, or intensely engaging record that Pitchfork made it out to be. I figure this won’t be a popular opinion, maybe I’m missing something, but I just don’t like this record all that much. Plus, I think I’m the only person on earth who doesn’t like The Past Is A Grotesque Animal. It’s really self indulgent people.
Again, maybe I just don’t get it. This record is weird, but not in a good way (just like Dan Deacon). To put it practically, if I was waiting in line at Pizza Pizza at 1:30 AM on a Thursday night and I somehow knew that the sweat pant clad, balding, mouth breathing guy behind me was the creator of Spiderman Of The Rings, all of my sheltered, Queen’s student paranoia would be confirmed. This record is not pleasing to listen to. I would suggest that you not listen to it.
Thank you for bearing through the length of this piece. I hope that at least some people have agreed with my general conclusions, and I sincerely apologise if you do not. Music is music, it all is excellent in one way or another, as long as it means something to you and connects with you in a positively. I hope the entire readership of this website enjoys a happy and healthy holiday season, and a prosperous and peaceful 2008. Plus, totally check this out.
British band Black Box Recorder have teamed with Art Brut’s Eddie Argos to release the best Christmas-themed pop song since Elton John’s “Step Into Christmas.” The group, called The Black Arts for their only 7′’ release “Christmas Number One,” is hoping to win the cherished number one Christmas spot this year, a victory which evaded Cliff Richards for so many years. Although this seems unlikely, let’s spread word and see if we can make their Christmas wish a reality.
I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes. Christmas is all around me, It’s everywhere I go.
I was on the bus back from Toronto this evening and there were a couple super duper hipster French girls heading back to Montreal sitting with me. They seemed to have just been shopping. It was probably for the best that my French is piss-poor, otherwise I might have pretended to be really impressed and asked where I, too, could get an entirely polka-dot wardrobe before it goes out of style next week. Instead, I slept, except for occasionally being wakened by their loud ringtones. They were texting each other….
Here is a collection of songs for indie Franco girls, spoken in the international language of American Apparel.
This remix is off the 5th Kitsune Maison comp, usually not so down with those discs but this new one is really quite solid. Kitsune’s a French record label, Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya are from Paris, and theme weeks are agréable.
Numero# are from Montreal. This song was a really fun one at places this summer, maybe you’d recognize it. It was actually on a Kitsune comp too. More French Connections in this post than in Satan’s mall.
TTC are the illest group ever and if you came to any of my dance parties this year you have no doubt heard me screaming like a teenage girl during this song.
A friend and I were contemplating the other day that indie rockster snobs perpetuate their snobbery by sorting music into categories and sub-categories of genres. A demonstrative conversation:
“Their recent album feels like a dream-pop reverie, fused with elements of shoegaze, slowcore, and noise-rock.”
“On the contrary! To me, it rings more of a post-grunge, post-punk milieu, with nuances of math-rock and twee.”
It’s enough to make your head spin, particularly if you’re more about actually listening to the music and less about making other people think you’re a musical elitist. But, it’s generally good to expand your vocab and be aware of your listening styles. That’s why I’m going to briefly introduce two genres near to my heart, give some recent/upcoming examples, and break down the barriers of pretension. If you don’t know the terms, you’ll learn something. If already know, you can squabble about my interpretation.
Lo-Fi: Literally, low-fidelity (or lower quality) recordings. Some songs are lo-fi because of lack of proper equipment, while many are made this way for the raw, edgy effect. Often, lo-fi musicians favour simple arrangements of instrumentation, but there are branches which lean more toward the wall-of-sound (see next definition). Basically, it’s a hodge-podge genre. A few artists I would consider lo-fi are Guided by Voices, The Mountain Goats, The Apples in Stereo, and the one I want to focus on – The Magnetic Fields.
The brainchild of Stephin Merritt, the MagFields are listed under “Indie Pop”, “Twee”, “Synth pop”, and a bunch of others, but since I’m writing this, I’m going to call it Lo-Fi. Using a variety of different vocalists (often Merritt’s bass, but also featuring female vocalists Susan Anway or Claudia Gonson, and many other guests), they delve in different aspects of life and comment with witty lightheartedness or dark satire. Power ballads, egocentric ponderings, silly melodies, they do it all. If you haven’t listened to the album 69 Love Songs and are feeling ambitious, give it a go. It’s a bit overwhelming (the album name is literal) but it’s up there on my list of all-time favourites. They’re releasing a new album – Distortion – in January, and I’m pretty psyched. Here’s an early leak from the disk, as well as an older gem.
Shoegaze: Distorted and fuzzy alternative rock, circa mid ‘80s to mid ‘90s. A sub-genre of Lo-Fi, it’s rumoured that shoegaze owes its name to the guitarists who stared intently at their guitar pedals near their feet while performing. Think whispered or unclear vocals and dreamy melodies. A few trailblazers in this “scene that celebrates itself” are The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Cocteau Twins, and My Bloody Valentine (who are REUNITING next year, ZOMG!). More recent examples include The Radio Dept., Asobi Seksu, and my next feature – Young Galaxy.
This duo released their self-titled album at the beginning of the year. A member of the Arts & Crafts family, Young Galaxy represents a different side of the record label; instead of the traditional upbeat indie pop, they host mysterious lyrics, soft harmonies, and an overall dreamy feel. Right up my alley. Here’s the video for “Outside the City”.
Disclaimer – most of the information in this post was my opinion, not set fact. Please feel free to disagree with what categories I put bands into, or even with the fact that I categorized at all. Most bands fall into a bazillion genres anyway, and I couldn’t pick a favourite genre if I tried. Also, I left the picture grainy on purpose. It’s lo-fi too! Clever? Or too lazy to fix? Only I will know for sure.
With only three songs recorded and released, a lot of people are telling me that it’s too soon for me to put my money on Lykke Li as Sweden’s next sensation. To those people I say, read this couplet from her single “Little Bit”:
It’s for you I keep my legs apart,
I forget about my tainted heart.
Any girl that’s capable of writing something so dirtay, and yet so coy and tender, has my vote and love. Add to the mix that she’s Swedish, and I’m smitten.
Lykke Li has already generated a fair amount of buzz in Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia. Now 21 years young, she spent her childhood summers growing up in the mountains of Portugal, and winters traveling with her mother through India, owning only one album - a cassette of Madonna’s Immaculate Collection. She eventually got her hands on a few more albums and in September of this year, with the release of her first EP (”Little Bit”), Lykke’s quickly gotten “a buzz bigger than insects in Texas” (for reference, I try to make one Kanye shout-out in every post I write, even if it has to sound as forced and contrived as this last one sounded). After playing a few shows with Peter, Bjorn and John, over the past few months, Björn Yttling decided to executive produce her full length debut, to be released in early 2008. The album will also feature work from fellow Scandinavians Röyksopp and Kleerup (as much as I like Kanye reference, I also love a chance to use a good umlaut - look out for these in future posts as well).
So for those of you who aren’t just sold on the fact that she’s hot and Swedish, there’s also something to be said for her music. In the same way that fellow Swede, Jens Lekman, makes the act of self-administering an asthma inhaler soft and romantic (You pick up your asthma inhaler and put it against your lips/oh those lips i’ve loved/ they’re so red and soft/ i’m so sorry i couldn’t love you enough!) Lykke’s song writing achieves the same end, by inviting the listener into her world, and taking them through what feels like a very natural and intimate thought process.
“Little Bit” is a song about how hard she finds it to tell the guy she’s seeing that she loves him; partially because she doesn’t know if she does, and partially because she’s scared he won’t say it back to her. She starts out the song boldly saying “Hands down, I’m too proud for love” - unfortunately, I hear that one every time I try to close a deal at Alfie’s. But by the end of the song, it seems very natural when she says “I will do it, push the button, pull the trigger, climb a mountain, jump off a cliff ’cause you’re my baby / I love you love you a little bit.” All that emotion (or as R. Kelly would call it “real talk”) set to an infectious beat, makes this song a must have. The video is pretty cool too, directed by Mattias Montero.
In keeping with the Christmas spirit of things….. nothing about this song is Christmasy at all…. BUT…. it is fabulous, fun and it makes me feel good the way Christmas does.
Another amazing remix by my favourite Parisian dj duo…Justice…. this time remixing British alternative/new rave rockers, Klaxons. If you lurve 70s pop than you will heart this song… i swear!! The kids at Missingtoof pointed out a similarity between this remix and the Doobie Brothers’ 70s classic, ‘What a Fool Believes’.
As everyone knows by now, Radiohead released their newest album In Rainbows for download for the price of “pay what you want” at their website. But the last chance to do so will be on December 10. If you haven’t already taken part in this interesting social experiment and would like some free mp3s, check out the link below, fill out some information, and download away.
