The soft piano and symphonic melodies start off the sound of Sea White Salt right, with the vocals of Joseph Sant effortlessly accompanying the meticulously placed ambiance, drawing you in for more. Recorded with producer Gabriel Galvin in overnight marathon sessions, Sea White Salt delivers a resilient message. The overall tone of Sea White Salt carries the environmental inspirations of Seattle, Washington and Brooklyn, New York. When one listens to the album, one can cross the parallels of musical textures with Sant’s background. On the standout track of Sea White Salt, one can hear the soul and kind hearted love within the track, that transcends as an undertone on the EP. Drawing comparisons of their sound to Broken Social Scene and the dream pop circuit, Joseph Sant’s deliverance and creation does not disappoint. With longtime collaborators, Stirling Krussing, Tyler Graham, Gabriel, Galvin, and Georgia Tan, the five piece band definitely works together to create a dream pop sound for all to hear.
Merry Christmas everyone! You have made it to the #1 song on the Music Court’s annual countdown. So, what has found itself among the distinguished company of past top songs like “King of Spain,” “The Afterlife,” “Pompeii,” and “Got it?” We have to travel back to January 2015 and “the center of the hollow moon” for this gem.
The #1 song of 2015 is “Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf)” by the eclectic, potent, and genre-less AWOLNATION.
There are so many comments that I want to make about this song that I just don’t know where to begin. So, for the sake of chronology, I will start from the first few seconds of the song. Do you know the feeling when you listen to the first few notes of a song – in this case AWOLNATION employs a rhythmic electronic beat – and you know immediately that this song is about to be played on repeat several times. It’s a gut feeling, but most times you are correct. In this case, my hypothesis was tested and proven true.
The draw of this song is the electronic beat, the electric conductivity of the song that makes the listener feel like he/she is in the middle of a Nikola Tesla experiment. Aaron Bruno, the mastermind of AWOLNATION, possesses a unique artistic ability to make any song he creates sound perspicacious and driving. The song powers forward with Bruno’s almost reckless voice mixed with fragmented percussion. The chorus, which features the repetition of the line, “Ima make a deal with the bad wolf so the bad wolf don’t bite no more,” carries forward with a unique, toe-tapping, almost pernicious intensity; this quasi-wickedness is one of the best qualities of AWOLNATION’s music; every song sounds like there is some evil, malevolent intent behind it, and that makes the song powerful.
How about cleverness? Does the song have any cleverness. It certainly does. Bruno sings about making a deal with the bad wolf and then subtly, in his repetition of the lines, sings “Ima bad wolf” indicating that he is the entity he wishes to make a deal with, thus introducing an acute duality.
From there, the song escalates with imprecation and anger. The song is almost violent in its power, reckless and entropic. The disorder of the song is ordered. The carelessness of the song is clean. The song is an oxymoron and that is just the way the band wanted it. And, thankfully, as you see in the video above, the video reflects the song perfectly, depicting frozen dancers who eventually erupt in a wild dance party.
“Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf)” is the clear choice for song of the year. It is creative, unique, eccentric, and tremendous. The song is a melodic and visual spectacle. It is a depiction of the talent of AWOLNATION, and I, for one, cannot wait to hear more from this band.
Here is an immediate fun fact about Leon Bridges. He is not Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, or Marvin Gaye. He is, however, young enough to be any of those singers’ grandsons. That’s surprising isn’t it, especially after you listen to the following:
Let me repeat my earlier statement: Bridges is not one of those seminal soul artists; that said, he is doing his best to assure that the legacy of these individuals is not spoiled. I am going to make a proclamation; it’s bold, I’m just giving you bold morning. If Bridges had been his age in 1965, we would be talking about him in the same breath as the singers I mentioned earlier. Bold, yes. Reckless, no. Bridges is already a consummate musician and performer; he is deft and adroit, a passionate performer and baby-face smooth singer. Bridges is tremendous in every sense of the term. If he represents the future of music, music is in good hands.
For an “oldies” music lover like me who adores both Motown and STAX records, Bridges is refreshing. He is a chip off the old block. He is what music should be, what it should sound like. And the fact that Bridges’ song “Coming Home” was a Top 10 Most Viral Track on Spotfy that is a good sign for the direction of music. His debut album of the same name as the title track hit #6 on the charts depicting an insatiable urge of individuals for pure, old-fashioned, unadulterated music. There are no special effects here. It is Bridges, a keyboard, two guitars (one of bass variety), and some drums. The formula for great music is not complicated. When I wrote about this song some time ago, I also had some flattering comments about the song, which I will share below.
“Coming Home” immediately takes on the feel of “You Send Me” with tastes of “A Change is Gonna Come,” and Bridges soft croon, a smoother Hozier (to make a modern comparison), has a rich Gospel feel to it that is just the right kind of sweet, not mawkish and not overpowering – it’s a voice that you can sink into, like silky gelato. The song itself is classic early Motown. It is carried by a bluesy piano and guitar mixed with traditional percussion. It is not difficult to imagine Sam Cooke or Otis Redding singing this song, and Bridges’ voice is not really a step down; heck, I am almost willing to go so far to exclaim that Bridges parallels the singers in a sense. Not too shabby.”
Here are a few interesting facts about X Ambassadors: the band is from Ithaca, NY, it was discovered by Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds, and keyboardist Casey Harris, whose brother Sam is the leadman for the group has been blind from birth. If that does not draw you into the intriguing story of the band that came out of nowhere this year to rock the charts then perhaps its most popular song “Renegades” will trigger your interest.
“All hail the underdogs
All hail the new kids
All hail the outlaws
Spielberg’s and Kubrick’s”
This bridge might very well be possess the best lyrics written in a song this year. It is simple in its message, and possesses such a wonderful message. The video above depicts several people overcoming challenges in life, much like keyboardist Casey Harris, and this lyric is a true testament to that sentiment. While the song was oddly enough initially written to be in tandem with a Jeep Renegade commercial, it has shot beyond the commercial realm with its skillful melody that combines claps, “heys,” and other melodic sounds with a potent acoustic riff, consistent percussion and great keyboard.
It’s a great song all around and well deserving of a spot on our list. X Ambassadors is not a one-hit wonder; look for the band to make a continued rise throughout the music landscape.
When thinking of words to describe Los Angeles-based Indie Pop band Saint Motel, it would not be cold. Instead, the band’s creative blend of effervescent horns, Motown-infused disco rhythms, and jaunty piano is warm and cozy. “Cold Cold Man”fits the paradox; it is a synth-driven pop piece that inspires dance and sing-a-longs. It is the quintessential Saint Motel song, and it is on The Music Court’s top songs of 2015.
The song, which was actually released in 2014 but premiered as a single in 2015, has often been viewed as a secondary piece next to the band’s prominent hit “My Type,” but, in a similar manner to “My Type,” it successfully combines so many tremendous components into one concise ditty. Saint Motel has the ability to do just that – combine a score of elements together to create a song with an enticing melody, catchy vocals, and skilled instrumentation. The band has been doing this since it came together in 2009, through the band’s debut LP in 2012, through the slew of concerts they have played in support of bands like Imagine Dragons and Weezer, and finally through the release of their most recent EP My Type, which will hopefully lead to the band’s sophomore EP soon.
“Cold Cold Man” is on this list because it has yet to leave my mind since I listened to it in preparation of writing this post. The song’s potent harmonies mix with its keys-focused melody; it plays like a mix between newer Coldplay and Jukebox the Ghost if both bands were transported back to a colorful 70s spy television show; thus, the band is almost impossible to compare. It is a true throwback. Saint Motel is a throwback to a time when music was edgy and perspicacious. The band is tremendous, and I look forward to hearing more from then in the future.
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