Starsailor - Lullaby [britpop]

Along with Stereophonics' "Have A Nice Day", another song I remember really well from back then was "Good Souls" by Starsailor. I was relistening to that the other day and was checking out the other songs on that album. I definitely didn't realize how good a singer the vocalist, James Walsh, was back then (of course I'm sure a certain friend of mine would vehemently disagree but w/e, his presence does not extend to here). Here's a memorable song (that's not "Good Souls") from their debut 2001 album Love Is Here. This shouldn't be confused with "Lullaby" by James Walsh as a solo artist.

"Lullaby" by Starsailor from their debut 2001 album Love Is Here

Camera Obscura - French Navy [indie pop]

"Spent a week in a dusty library; Waiting for some words to jump at me"

Well ok, the singer is referring to something else entirely, but that's pretty much been an apt descrption of me for the past bit. But, anyway, someone asked me if I liked this band after I sent a link to Seasons by Future Islands (they're both on 4AD, along with a fair bit of bands I like actually...). Well, I didn't before but I sure do like it now ... mellow pop goodness, yum. Scottish indie pop band Camera Obscura has been at it since 1996, I'd be interested to see how their sound has evolved over the years. Anyway, thanks for the pseudo-recommendation ... now back to the dusty library part.

"French Navy" by Camera Obscura from their 2009 album My Maudlin Career

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) [synth pop]

Do you like slice-of-life music videos, particularly ones involving horses, pick-up trucks, leather boots, cowboy hats, and lassos? Well, you'll be thoroughly impressed with the video for Seasons (Waiting On You) by Future Islands. Only after watching it about a dozen times did I realize that the contrast between life and death (toddler thing and funeral, respectively) throughout the video. That only added to it. Also, now that I think about it, Future Islands might have a knack for slice-of-life-type music videos.

Anyway, this song definitely capture the spirit of Future Islands ... namely a steady stream of synth layers, a compelling bassline, and the unmistakable vocals of Gerrit Welmers, the electric guitar that picks up during the chorus is certainly another welcome component.

"Seasons (Waiting On You)" by Future Islands from their 2014 album Singles

(I try to sing this sometimes but my voice clearly lacks the innate qualities that make Future Islands music great. Also, I might just lack enthusiasm.)

Stereophonics - Have A Nice Day [rock]

Something was a bit different today. The sun seems to be just a bit brighter, the air a bit crisper, my knee has finally stopped hurting after at least a month now, and the canker has begun to go away too. While walking to the library, "Have A Nice Day" by good ol' Stereophonics came on and it all made sense. You know what? I will have a nice day, thanks guys.

While I've been listening to this song for well over a decade, it hadn't appeared in the current iPod playlist until very recently. It also falls under the category of things I can meagerly sing. Apparently there are two music videos, the one on the official Stereophonics channel that features many females of the scantily clad variety and the one less-official-and-only-exists-as-240p version that I remember watching on MuchMusic back in the day.

"Have A Nice Day" by Stereophonics from their 2001 album Just Enough Education to Perform.

Ivan & Alyosha - Running For Cover [folk pop]

There're three songs of late that I find myself singing to almost every time they come on (ok, obviously not on a crowded subway or in the middle of the library).

Ivan & Alyosha are a folk-pop group from Seattle. I first heard this song on the Summer Sampler by Dine Alone Records last year but I guess it hasn't been until recently that it finally migrated to my regular playlist. Its strength as a sing-along-song is its cathartic chorus. It's reminiscent of some Matthew Good Band stuff that I liked to approximate vocally. It's also catchy without being too in your face with some sort of contrived positivity. Annddd, there's an Asian guy on electric rhythm (is it somehow racist for me to point that out?)! This song can be found on their 2013 album All The Times We Had.

"Running For Cover" by Ivan & Alyosha from their 2013 album All The Times We Had

(Can you imagine me singing this? It'd probably be for the better if you didn't lol.)

Pure Bathing Culture - Dream The Dare [dream pop]

I actually listen to things other than dreamy indie stuff, seriously. But, I guess there was a bit of a revival in interest of sorts. Ok ok, after this last one, I'll post other stuff, yeesh.

I guess if I followed trends better, I would've heard of Pure Bathing Culture back in 2013, you know, when they came to Toronto to tour. But, no, yet another band I was destined to miss. Apparently, because of a strap for cash, this whole album was recorded in a single day. I don't know if that would affect the overall mixing but it does seem live performances are really when this song shines (when the voice and instruments are more pronounced). I'll post both live and recorded versions because the music video for the record version is pretty rad. This song itself is about the crow, which is the spirit animal guide for the month of October, when this album was released ... or something like that.

"Dream The Dare" by Pure Bathing Culture from their 2013 album Moon Tides

Twin Sister - All Around And Away We Go [indie rock]

Along the same vein as the last post's song is this one by Twin Sister. I probably found them using last.fm's related artist function (which is totally great by the way) ... probably for Memoryhouse or something.

"All Around And Away We Go" by Twin Sister from their 2010 EP Color Your Life

Radiation City - Summer Is Not An Act I [indie rock]

I'm not sure why but I just really liked this song by Radiation City since the first time I listened to it. I was even more surprised by their live performance of it.

"Summer Is Not An Act I" by Radiation City from their 2012 album The Hands That Take You

Widowspeak - Puritan [dreamy indie rock]

Widowspeak's eponymous 2011 release was another album was unjustifiably collecting virtual dust. Dreamy vocals with more rocky instrumentals, quite a nice combination really. Of course, I missed their Toronto concert as per almost every single other band that I like. Woe is me right?

"Puritan" by Widowspeak from their 2011 album Widowspeak

Summer Camp - Pink Summer [indie pop]

I heard some of Summer Camp's stuff a couple of months ago. Ok, the singer doesn't strongest voice in the world but there is definitely a well-appreciated upbeat vibe from their stuff. This song is from the British duo's eponymous 2013 LP.

"Pink Summer" by Summer Camp from their 2013 album Summer Camp

Village - Nowhere [dream pop]

So, a nice transition from the last post would be back to standard-for-me dreamy stuff. I think I had Village's EPs from a while ago but I just forgot about them or something. Well, I found this Vancouverite band's stuff again while rummaging through the collection back in March and have been listening to it quite regularly ever since. Her soft trailing voice combined with the steady instruments in the background just make for a very pleasant experience. N'est-ce pas?

"Nowhere" by Village from their 2012 EP Nowhere

Part Time - Night Drive [dreamy synth pop]

I'm still into the whole dreamy sound thing. I guess that was the connector between dream pop and chillwave for me. Well anyway, here's a pretty great random song. I don't know what it is ... I'm just going to arbitrarily call it "dreamy synth pop". The comments say that it sounds very similar to "Shadow" by Wild Nothing, which was released in 2012. While the album with "Night Drive" was released afterwards in 2013, the music video below was uploaded back in 2011. So, who knows who influenced what... it might even just be a red herring.

"Night Drive" by Part Time from their 2013 album PDA

RLMDL - Bilingual [dreamwave ... lol that's not a thing]

"Bilingual" is definitely one of the more memorable (i.e. more listened to) songs in the past couple of months. The effected electric guitar and creeping bass notes make for a very nice listen. The video was most definitely filmed in Toronto (RLMDL is based out of here) and my geographical intuition places it somewhere West of the downtown core around Bathurst or Dufferin (ok it's a big range, I'm not Google Maps). This song is from RLMDL's 2013 LP Before Then Was Now.

Tycho - L [electronic, downtempo]

Tycho released his latest album back in March. I was actually really looking forward to this because of this one particular song ("L") I heard as part of a commercial for some PS4 game. While I'm definitely not the biggest Tycho fan ("Coastal Brake" is probably the only other Tycho song that I really like), something about the combination of the strong bassline, tremolo, and playfulness of the melody really attracts me to this song. Oh, and here's a link to the commercial.

"L" from Tycho's 2014 album Awake.

Blackbird Blackbird - It's A War; Brothertiger - Lovers [chillwave]

During the last few months, I started listening to a lot more chillwave stuff. I don't know how that came to be but it started off with Blackbird Blackbird and Brothertiger. I might've overlistened to them or maybe just didn't like them that much because they aren't too frequently played nowadays. Still, I think they're still worth mentioning. While I do like the parts of "It's A War", the parts just get a bit repetitive after 7 minutes. It has a calming music video. I think I heard "Lovers" a year ago or so. I probably wasn't totally sold on the whole 80's synth feel yet but time did its thing and now it's simply the greatest thing ever (hyperbole).

"It's A War" by Blackbird Blackbird from his 2012 album Boracay Planet

"Lovers" by Brothertiger from his 2012 album Golden Years

Revival

I haven't posted on this thing since 2013.

I guess this place does have some purpose for me ... it is nice to look back and see what things have caught my attention and seeing the progression of things. So, let's try again. Of course, the timeline might be a bit disjointed given the reliance on my fragmenting memory. That's ok, I suppose.

Probably, most notably, I began listening to a lot more chillwave. Unfortunately, I don't have any recent poetically relevant songs that deal with revival or resurrection. Oh well.