Our weekly (or however often) roundup of the greatest music in the universe!! Usually it’s friends of mine or just music I like. This week’s includes a number of artists I’ve met at Indie 101, an online music conference in Toronto. (Next week’s will include Indie 101 people as well.) Actually our last few singles have collaborations with people I met at this same conference last year. So you know the conference attracts quality people!
Below are “liner notes” to help guide you through this journey and hopefully introduce you to some new, great music!
HALSEY –YOU SHOULD BE SAD
Admittedly this is pretty mainstream compared to our usual fare. Nonetheless, I had an email exchange with Greg Spero last week and we’re going to have a quick meeting so I can help beta-test his new app which lets audience members Pitch challenges to artists for money (yes, we’re all basically whores. More on this later!). Anyway, Greg was the touring keyboardist for Halsey for four years and so I was reminded of how much I like some of these songs! I know my buddy Erica Corbo in Philly is a fan, so this one’s for you, sistah!
PIXIES –LA LA LOVE YOU
Pixies! I cant tell you how many times people have told me my songwriting reminds them of Pixies and/or Frank Black, and there’s probably a good reason for that, not least of which is I’m a huge fan!
THIS MAD DESIRE – QUEEN OF YOUR DREAMS
This is an old chestnut from our Celebration album, produced by Andrew McPherson, whose project Eccodek’s new release will be in next week’s playlist. I had been talking to my new friend Karen Claypool about vocal harmonies. The ones in this song are all Andrew and his Queen-esque intro is beyond compare! I’ve only performed this live a few times. In Iceland, I had my female co-singer take the lead. At the time, I was interested in singing songs from any gender’s point of view and pretty obviously made this one from either the perspective of a woman or perhaps a drag queen.
DIRT ROAD ANGELS –WHERE IS THE LOVE
Karen, who I just mentioned, is one of four singers in this “girl group” from Alberta. This track is a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll, as they say. Kind of retro-sounding and the harmonies are fantastic. I’ll probably be taking a few singing lessons from Karen soon. She really knows what she’s doing!
KEELY BRENNAN –I’M DONE PLAYIN’ CINDERELLA
This is in a similar genre to the last track. Apparently, this is Keely’s first ever single and it wound up getting a fair bit of airplay in Louisiana last year. I just met her at Indie 101 and looking forward to hearing what she does next!
TOM KEIFER/LZZY HALE –NOBODY’S FOOL (DUET VERSION)
Well, Tom Keifer is apparently NOT done playing Cinderella! This was a big hit for his original band Cinderella back in 1986. This version includes Lzzy Hale from Halestorm co-singing. I think she is also originally from Pennsylvania, like Tom Keifer.
MELISSA MARS –LOVE MACHINE
Another Indie 101 attendee, Melissa is a French pop artist and actor, who has performed in the movie From Paris With Love with none other than John Travolta. She doesn’t know this yet but I’ve included the French version of our song Paris of Love –Paris Amoureux further along in this playlist and Melissa and John Travolta and I are going to be creating a signature dance for that track that people can do on TikTok. This is going to be the next Stayin’ Alive! Kidding aside, this is a really great track from Melissa!
LT –CHERRY COLA
LT (formerly Leanne Tennant) is one of my many new Australian friends and I met her at Indie 101! Rolling Stone Australia has even written about her. She has quite a lot of material available on the interwebz but this one jumped out at me partly because of the title. Great dream pop music. Very sweet indeed! Maybe she’ll grace This Mad Desire with some backing vocals in the future.
KARI LYN –DARK SIDE (REMIX)
Kari was at Indie 101 although I met her last year at Indie Week. She’s from PEI, lives in Toronto, brands her music as cottage core, and sang bg vox on This Mad Desire’s Deck The Halls (feat. Jessica Magoch). She’s a very talented singer and songwriter.
NINA SIMONE –SEE-LINE WOMAN (LIVE AT CASINO MONTREUX, 13 JULY 1990
Speaking of talented singers… Nina Simone! One of the coolest singers of all time. Most of her recordings that I’ve listened to are from the 1970s and prior so it was interesting to hear this later version of this classic tune.
KIMBRA –SETTLE DOWN
Kimbra is a very cool singer from New Zealand who does a fair amount of work with vocal loops. I think this track might have been her breakout song a number of years back. Something about the Nina song made me want to hear this one.
CLAUDIA IS ON THE SOFA –THE MATCH
This is the latest from our new friend Claudia, who is from Italy. There’s actually a great video for this which includes a lot of animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1kAn06uMbI. She tours mostly Italy and Europe, I believe, but we met at Indie 101.
FUGAZI –LONG DIVISION
One of my favourite bands of all time. I love the counter-melodies and rhythms in the guitar lines of this one.
SEBADOH –MIND READER
This comes from their Harmacy album and is by Jason Louwenstein. He and Lou Barlow sang and played most of their songs. I’m actually covering one of Lou’s Sebadoh tracks on an upcoming collection of cover songs I’m working on. Jason sings this one and we’ve actually become Facebook friends! Lol. This song could have been done by Hendrix, it’s that classic.
CHRIS CORNELL –YOU DON’T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT LOVE
Speaking of cover albums, this comes from Chris Cornell’s post-humous covers album. What a singer. I only saw him one time, with Soundgarden at Lollapalooza 1992 in Minneapolis. We took a bus trip down from Winnipeg and had a great time. Soundgarden sang Cop Killer by Ice-T’s Body Count on that tour.
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT –SHELL
The following year (1993), we went again to Lollapalooza in the Twin Cities and saw Arrested Development. As far as I know, this was the only indoor Lollapalooza that ever happened. The Mississippi had flooded Harriet Island and so this moved into the St. Paul Civic Centre. At this particular gig, I lost my shoes in the first five minutes during Rage Against the Machine, but after the set, Tom Morello handed me my shoes back from onstage.
SHARI WALKER –HARD TIME SLEEPING
Shari’s from California and this track comes from her new full-length Heart Twist, which just came out. Mostly she is doing spoken word over poetry addressing social issues, mental health, the foster system, empowerment, and other topics. And she was quite an active contributor at Indie 101.
MJOY –TIME TO BE ALIVE
Also from California (and Indie 101), Maia Wiitala or Mjoy makes tuneful, lo-fi alternative rock. Her stuff is actually quite well-written. I’m looking forward to digging into more of her tunes!
PIQSIQ –TUKTU STRUT
If you like throat singing, have I got a treat for you! This stuff is incredible. I came across them in a workshop at Indie 101 where we were listening to a metal song they are working on, which blew my mind. This is not that track but it will definitely take you to another dimension.
TRICKY –THE LOVE CATS
I liked the whisper-y stuff in this track to bring us back to reality after that last one. I saw Tricky perform at the Phoenix in Toronto back when he was a media darling. I still like throwing him on once in a while.
LA CAROTTE POLAIRE –LE SOLEIL JOUE L’INFIDELE
This is the second Claudia of this playlist and she is from Montreal. She is the founder and operations manager for Le Sanctuaire –Coop Culturelle in Montreal, an artist in her own right, and an Indie 101 attendee. I like how the piano enters into this track. It reminds me of something but I can’t quite place it, but isn’t that how all great music is?
THIS MAD DESIRE –PARIS AMOUREUX
I admit I’ve included a second or “deuxieme” track of my own just to show my French friends on this playlist that I also have a French song. I wrote this song after performing in Paris. Around the time we were filming the Operators Are Standing By video, I met Iris Gardet, who was living in Toronto but originally from Paris. She’s since gone back but not before she provided a great translation for us and appearing in the Paris videos. Merci, Iris!
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