Our weekly (or however often) roundup of this week’s discoveries and old faves. Usually it’s friends of mine or just music I like. Now including “liner notes” to help guide you through this journey and hopefully introduce you to some new, great music!
THE ROLLING STONES –IT’S ONLY ROCK’N’ROLL (BUT I LIKE IT) –LIVE
One of the definitive rock’n’roll anthems.
THIS MAD DESIRE –STAND UP AND DREAM AGAIN
One of my fave anthems from our album AMERICAN DREAM. I remember writing this during a period when I had kind of walked away from the music industry to focus on working at something else, which I found to be a little bit soul-sucking, so maybe this idea was a bit of a “Note To Self”, a reminder to Stand Up And Dream Again. When I released it, we were dealing with lockdowns and riots across the USA and part of the message became a little bit inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. as well. I find that over time my relationship to songs I sing changes and reflects the zeitgeist and the overall mood of the times. That's why sometimes I hesitate when people ask me what songs are about because what they are "about" is often changing.
ALI WICK –GIVE ME THE MONSTER
I just e-met Ali recently at Indie Week and like the songs she has released. I seem to be meeting quite a few artists in Alberta lately, which is great to see. This track I’ve been listening to in my car driving around town for the last month and I really dig it. Her voice has kind of a warbly, emotional quality that I like. The dance-y production is up my alley too. I kind of like that when I’m bopping around the grocery store or driving on the highway. I don’t know who Kill3rhertz is but I take it this person is responsible for the production. Excellent work, Ali!
PJ HARVEY –MEET ZE MONSTA
One of my fave tracks about monsters in the history of monsters. I was in Boston during Reading Week when the To Bring You My Love came out and there was an interview with her in a local music newspaper. I was already a fan but this album really took it to the next level for me. I still listen to it fairly often. I saw her on this tour opening for Live just outside Detroit, and honestly, I could have left after her performance but I watched Live and they were ok. They were just HUGE on the radio at the time with Lightning Crashes. Actually while I was in Boston and also New Hampshire, people were playing that Live CD in almost every car I got into. By the time I saw the tour in the summer, I think they had become overplayed in my world.
KITTY –OKAY CUPID
And now for something completely different. Kitty used to be Kitty Pryde until Marvel told her to cease and desist. This track is exactly like it sounds –a white teenage girl rapping in her bedroom. I love it! I put it on because I was checking out a newer song of hers also in this playlist.
THE ARCS –EYEZ
I came across this in my own This Mad Desire Radio on Spotify. I don’t know anything else about them. It has a great groove and again, kind of perfect for shopping and driving around.
KITTY / GORYGANG –YOUR HEART
This is more of a “song” from Kitty and frankly, I prefer the rapping but I like to keep up with artists I like.
JANIS JOPLIN / JORMA KAUKONEN –TROUBLE IN MIND
This comes from the recently released Legendary Typewriter Tapes featuring Joplin on vocals, Kaukonen on guitar, and Jorma’s wife Margareta typing away intermittently in the background. Without knowing that Margareta is randomly typing and unrelated to the music, you catch yourself thinking, “Jeez, this is cool percussion. I wonder how they thought of this.”
GREG DULLI / ANI DIFRANCO –A CRIME
This is a cover of a song by Sharon Van Etten and I have not heard the original but I like this version. Maybe in the coming weeks, I’ll take a look at the original to compare.
GA-20 –DRY RUN
This also came from my This Mad Desire Radio. Definitely an old-skool rock style on this one. I can imagine being at Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe from Archie Comics.
JAWNY –ADIOS
I can’t remember how I came across this but there’s a really cool hotrod car in the video footage they have paired with this music.
SPILL TAB –CRÈME BRULEE
This was another random discovery on Spotify. She is a French Korean American singer-songwriter. What a combo!
THOMPSON TWINS –WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?
This track comes from the Red, Hot and Blue compilation that came out in the 1990s and featured artists playing songs by Cole Porter. Tom Waits, Annie Lennox, U2, Sinead O’Connor, and many others are on it and I think it was raising money for AIDS research. This song was always one of the more fun ones. Who wants to be a millionaire with flashy flunkies everywhere? I don’t. And I don’t because all I want is you. The lyrics are actually very sweet and definitely funny. It’s no surprise that Cole Porter is one of my all-time favourite songwriters. Sometimes when I’m writing, I’ll grab one of his songbooks and trace out the chords of some of his great songs for inspiration. Cole Porter and Gershwin are great for that.
ELECTRIC SIX –STRUTTER
Electric Six are, I think, most famous for Gay Bar –which is an all-time classic. There’s this great cover band whose name I can’t remember from Montreal that used to come through here quite a bit and they did a fantastic version of Gay Bar and lots of other crazy covers. Definitely not Top 40! If it pops in my head what the name of that act is, I’ll update this blog. Anyway, this is Electric Six doing Strutter by KISS. They’ve added a piano but otherwise, this is pretty faithful to the original song, and this is also just a fantastic song. The Donnas also cover it. I think I read somewhere Joe Perry from Aerosmith saying this is his favourite KISS tune.
ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS –FISFUL OF LOVE
Around this time, Antony was touring as a guest vocalist in Lou Reed’s band and so here Lou Reed returns the favour by guesting at the beginning of this song, which is pretty undeniable.
DIAMANDA GALAS –I’M GONNA LIVE THE LIFE
Diamanda is one of the greatest singers/performers in the history of singing and I have often considered covering this song.
SADE / COTTONBELLY –BY YOUR SIDE
This is another one from the Red Hot series. This one is from Red Hot + Riot and is a remix of the classic Sade tune By Your Side.
TOM ODELL –JUST ANOTHER THING WE DON’T TALK ABOUT
I’m a subscriber to American Songwriter Magazine and I usually like to check out the artists they feature. Tom Odell is British and very well-established although I had never heard of him. His most recent album is just him and a piano and what I like about it is it sounds like you are right inside the piano itself. You can hear all the strings shifting and the hammers moving. It’s extraordinarily intimate, and this song itself brought a tear to my eye.
WINE LIPS –EYES
Our second Eyes song of this playlist and another from This Mad Desire Radio. I believe this band is from Toronto and they are over the top awesome. This track has so much energy. I want to jump around and throw myself off of tables into wild crowds of dancing people. And I think that’s an envelope filter on the guitar at the beginning. Not sure but it sounds great!
BAD NERVES –LAST BEAT
Spotify suggested this one and I have yet to research it but the track has a similar energy to the Wine Lips song. I love music like this. Of course, I don’t write music like this. Maybe I should!
And with that, this wraps up this week’s playlist. Hope you enjoyed it!!
If you like this playlist, please share it and follow these artists. Music is the fuel that fills our soul.
If you are an artist that would like to be included in the future, reach out anywhere and I’d love to check out your tunes!
Yours in music,
Mac