Life hey?
It comes with ups and downs, smiles and frowns (don’t worry I am not planning some sort of weird poetry thing here), peaks and valleys, thrillingly novel events and beige banal moments, and all manner of helter-skelter what-the-hell emotions in and around it all.
Articulating how all of that contrary activity makes us feel can be a really hard thing to do at times, which is why it’s good that we have artists who can either put into words what it is that’s coursing through our veins or at least give us a kickass soundtrack to live it out to.
Artists like the following people who manage to beautifully merge art and life together in a way that makes getting through the day make more sense while giving us a spring in our step or a sympathetic shoulder to cry on.
That’s real rubber hitting the road art and it is the new soundtrack for your life.
“Games” by Melwonderland
Ain’t love grand? I mean when it’s in full glorious, heart-stoppingly wonderful bloom that is.
When it isn’t, and your heart’s been broken into a thousand tiny blistering pieces, then it’s a million different kinds of grinding pain and sadness.
And it seems that Melbourne singer/songwriter, Melwonderland, has artfully managed to soulfully articulate each and every one of them in her hauntingly sparse debut song, “Games”, a song which lives in those dark, broken places very few of us like to call home for too long.
There’s an aching, melancholic longing to the song that is with you from the very first trembling beats, and yet for all the sadness, that intimate sense of being deep in the heartbroken trenches with someone, there is a haunting beauty too, a sense of tremulous frailty that is brought to the fore by her rich, emotionally-evocative voice.
This is real life brought forth in song, the coming together of exquisite piano-driven melody, desperately but beautifully sad vocals and lyrics that don’t stint on telling it like it is, and I have no doubt that the music professionals of America, who Melwonderland is heading over to court this year, will be similarly mesmerised by her electronic pop that wears its heart most assuredly, and winningly, on its sleeve.
“Careful” by Karl Kling
The ’80s musical vibes are welcomingly strong with this one.
From the opening beats, which skip along with the sort of bright, bouncy beats that seemed to suffuse every song I listened to in my bedroom way back when, Portland, Oregon-based Karl Kling, best known for his production work as part of justifiably venerated Remix Artist Collective or RAC, is indulging his inner ’80s synth wunderkind with the delightfully upbeat “Careful”.
Lest you think he has simply, and somewhat derivatively, channelled his inner Tears for Fears persona, Kling’s pop sensibilities and accomplished musicianship lend the song a freshness and vivacity that no slavish homage to the era of hypercolour Tshirts and new wave glam could ever hope to achieve.
There’s a dreamy, warm quality to “Careful”, a sensation amplified by Kling’s Postal Service-like vocals which sound as jaunty as the tune itself.
The remarkable thing about the song though is the way he weaves lyrics in which are a little dark, brooding and meditative, full of reproach and words of gentle admonishment as a relationship of some kind doesn’t quite play out as planned.
In that respect, it’s very Scandinavian in its feel, mixing the light and the dark, the musically happy with the lyrically sad, a perfect distillation of the weird contrariness of being human all set to a beat you can dance your cares away to when it all gets too much.
“Crave” by La+ch
A little further north in Canada, we come across talented music producer La+ch, who serves up some of the most pulsating, lost-on-the-dancefloor house beats I’ve heard in some time.
Forget the dark, brooding house beats you might usually associate with the sound.
“Crave” is all insistent, disco-fabulous, danceable beats, emotionally-intense yet ethereal falsetto vocals and a delicious late night sense that you’re not in Kansas anymore Toto.
This is music to escape headily into, to absolutely subsume yourself into, forgetting that just outside the club doors lies real life,and a lot of its soulful groovin’ sensibility comes from La+ch membership of the sideways crew (along with Coleman Hell, Dustbuster, Shan Vincent de Pau), a Toronto-based collective swimming with dazzling musical talent.
“Crave” is a brilliant opening salvo for La+ch’s full-length debut LP which drops March 31.
“One Million Chances” by Lyon & Lowe
“One Million Chances” by Lyon & Lowe, is the sort of giddily joyous track that makes your world better just by hearing it.
It’s the latest in a line of songs that Pigeons and Planes refers to as “future pop”, which kicked off with the equally as infectious to listen to “Like Oedipus” way back in May 2014 when the two artists, one based in the UK, one in the USA decided ti make sweet, beautiful music together 4000 miles apart.
Though they may be physically separated by the wide expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, you wouldn’t know it from their songs which exude a warm, intimate friendliness that Ferrvor rather nicely described as this:
“This duo is one of a kind, combining classical piano playing, distorted vocals, and snares and kicks from an EDM style. All of their songs are fun, upbeat, and will have you nodding your head along with their unique sound.”
They’re right on the money with their description of this talented twosome who make the sort of brimming with the Bluebird of Happiness pop that puts a spring in your step, a jaunt in your commute and a great big stupid grin on your face.
And in a world where so many people at the moment seem to be trying for quite the opposite effect, that’s an insanely good thing to be responsible for.
“Like You Do (Ghost Beach Remix)” by Pink Feathers
Joyfully distorted, ethereal vocals? Check.
A bouncing, gleefully insistent beat that grabs you by the collar and insists you join it on the dancefloor? Check.
And a chorus that dizzily, delightfully, soars and swoops and dives in sheer utter exuberance? Also check with shiny red dance shoes on.
Pink Feathers, purveyor of self-described “Eccentric Oregon Pop”, has had her brand of sunny indie electronic pop, anchored by her fantastically her happily malleable voice which suits the jangly guitar undertones to a tee, augmented to a deliriously good degree by New York-based duo Ghost Beach, who have also seen fit to brand their own music as “Tropical Grit Pop”.
It’s one of those musical matches made in pop heaven which leaves everything we love about the originating artist intact while giving it a whole unique new wholly-pleasing sheen.
NOW THIS IS MUSIC EXTRA EXTRA!
Australia has an official song picked out for Eurovision 2015! Yes we do!
Hot on the heels of Guy Sebastian being picked to represent Australia at European music’s night of nights in May this year in Vienna, Austria, comes the announcement that he will be singing a trademark R&B inflected tune, “Tonight Again”.
It’s a bright upbeat song that stands in marked contrast to the ballads which seem to be predominating in this year’s competition and has the potential to bring the vast arena in which the contest will be held well and truly alive.
And here’s what the good people of Wiwi Bloggs had to say about Australia’s entry …
Now if you’re the sort of person who’s been riding the vinyl revival of the last few years, you will no doubt already be planning how to get all the limited edition offers which will available at this years Record Store Day.
The event, which was set up to bolster the presence of good old bricks-and-mortar record stores in an age of iTunes and Spotify, has grown year on year with this year’s raft of amazing releases described by Line of Best Fit as “one of the best years yet”:
“As usual there’s a huge list of big-ticket items, including releases by Jay Z, Death Cab For Cutie, Pulp, Foo Fighters, Florence and the Machine, Hinds, Glass Animals, Shura, Animal Collective, Sex Pistols, Ryan Adams, Johnny Cash, Jon Hopkins, chvrches, A$AP Rocky and The Charlatans.”
The full list can be found here.
And finally in a case of art inspiring art, here’s the cast of Orange is the New Black performing a song whose creation was a direct result of a scene in Netflix’s much talked about and loved penitentiary hit.
According to Digital Spy, this is how it came about:
“After fans saw Leanne Taylor (Emma Myles) performing a diss complete with rhymes and hand gestures in the season two finale, many Vine users – including Twaimz and Lycia Faith – started posting videos of the chant set to music.
“YouTube rapper Tre Coast then remixed Faith’s version and added his own rap lyrics to the track to create a video that went on to generate more than 9 million views on the video sharing website.”
Impressed by the effort, Netflix got some of the show’s star’s together to bring the whole effort full circle:
“The Orange Is the New Black parody version features several characters from the show, including Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), Sophia Burset (Laverne Cox) and Alex Vause (Laura Prepon), while also providing a first look at newcomer Ruby Rose as new arrival Stella Carlin.”
The result is nothing less than brilliant and a nice stand-in till Orange is the New Black returns this summer for its third season.