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Top 10 Songs of 2015: #10 – Kissing by LUM

16 Dec

LUM

The first installment of our Best Of list has earned its spot purely by virtue of being the song I played the most this year. “Kissing” is a multi-faceted song, and every single tiny detail has forced me to play it incessantly.

“Kissing” is a glitchy tune that fills my spirit with some aural ooze, music that I can feel in my core. There are shimmering moments throughout; at one point we hear something I can only describe as a processed glockenspiel riff. This is one of those tracks that puts a grin on my face after I hear just the first few notes, with a lo-fi, attention-stealing intro that easily slides into a gorgeous cacophony by way of an unusual verse. The verses in this track are really more like short quips of commentary, but the more ambiguous, the more relatable, which could be another reason that I cling to it.

One thing most of the tracks I play on infinite repeat have in common is their singability- or how well I can approximate the noises that are lyrics so I can sing along. LUM may not have provided full lyrics like, say, Joanna Newsom, but there are so many audio clips used as part of the beats that it doesn’t matter. I find myself belting “huh huh huh” and “whoooa whoa” with the same enthusiasm as I might have sung “got it got it” last year.

LUM is a Canadian electronic artist on the label Bedroomer, but I have been unable to find many other details about him. He’s got a fairly current Instagram account, but there is only so much I can gather from out-of-context photos. He has a mustache! Other than that, all we have are beats. But if I had to, I could live on those for years.

Track Bedroomer to get updates on new sounds from LUM.

Top 10 Songs of 2015 – The List Begins … Tomorrow

14 Dec

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As we are about to say hello to 2016, it is once again time for The Music Court to countdown the best songs of 2015; And, yes, I did make an Adele pun. Her hit song will almost certainly end 2015 at the top of the Billboard charts (as her new LP is selling like hot cakes doused with maple syrup). It may even start 2016 at the top and pull an “Uptown Funk,” which ravaged the Billboard charts for around four months before giving way to the melancholic summer hit, “See You Again.” That said, let’s move beyond these introductory pleasantries and get to the nitty gritty of the list.

Last year, Zoe and I labored over several songs to choose a Top 10 list fit for the music kings and queens, and this year is no different. Thus, as always, some well-deserving songs were left off the Top 10. Thus, like each year we have done this list, on the eve of the list’s start we bring you a few songs that just missed the top 10 and found themselves on the environs, still excellent songs in their own right.

#12: “Ong Ong” by Blur

After a 12 years, the longest album gap in Britpop mainstay Blur’s illustrious career, Damon Albarn and the boys released The Magic Whip in April of 2015 and with it released track 11, “Ong Ong,” a jaunty, repetitive track that just might be one of the best songs ever released by the band. Why? It’s droning underbody hums like that of a dying car’s roar, which sounds awful, I know, but in reality it is infectious. The song carries from there in a tight, skilled manner only an organized, experienced band can create.

#11: “Stressed Out” by 21 Pilots

We go from sagacious songsters Blur to relatively new kids on the block Twenty One Pilots whose blend of alternative-rock hooks mixed with hip/hop make for a unique and exciting sound. “Stressed Out” is excellent for two reasons – lyrics and hook. I’m not a big rap fan (as the music selection on this blog may suggest); however, the rap in this piece is effective – the song’s message is that of nostalgia.

“It’d be to my brother, ‘cause we have the same nose,
Same clothes homegrown a stone’s throw from a creek we used to roam,
But it would remind us of when nothing really mattered,
Out of student loans and treehouse homes we all would take the latter”

21 Pilots does an effective job melding youthful memories with current mid-20s problems. The hook talks about turning back time and does so with an almost reserved vigor that is melodic and catchy.

 

Great songs and they missed the list! The top 10 starts tomorrow. Stay tuned.

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Falling Awake in the Early Morning

17 Nov

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I remember years ago traveling in a rental car out west with my family while listening to music ooze out of my headphones. I had my favorites list pumping out a randomized selection of music, but I only distinctly remember listening to “Falling Awake” by Gary Jules as I stared out the window of the cloudy landscape and considered the vast contradictions in our world.

This morning I found myself staring out the window contemplating the incomprehensible evil that prompted the recent Paris attacks and, on that note, all recent attacks that serve to challenge the inherent safety individuals should possess. My iTunes was on, and Gary Jules’ familiar croon rose above his plucked acoustic guitar. I mouthed the words, as I have heard this song countless times, and I realized that it fit the questions spiraling around my head.

Jules, who most know because of his haunting cover of “Mad World,” which has been featured on countless television shows, has released four full-length albums. His blend of soft vocals and acoustic guitar is enticing, and his lyrics are focused and intelligent.

“Falling Awake” is a quintessential Jules song. Since first hearing the song, I thought the title and consequent sentiment of the song was fascinating. It is inherently oxymoronic, and such is life. As evidenced recently, events often happen that are perniciously paradoxical to humanity and we are left to question how such horrendous events could happen.

Josh Ritter is Ready to Get Down

5 Aug

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When I saw Josh Ritter several months ago (just after he finished recording his new album Sermon on the Rocks, which will be released on Oct. 16.) he introduced his newest ditty off the upcoming release, “Getting Ready to Get Down.” It was a crowd mover, a bubbly track much in the style of “To the Dogs or Whoever” with rapid lyric spitting and a funky bass riff mixed with a hip drum beat. Ritter recently released it to the public (July 31), and it has shot up the iTunes ranks, so much so that it appeared on the front page of Hot Tracks today.

So, of course I need to share the track. Josh Ritter is one of my favorite artists creating music today. He blends several styles of folk/rock with intelligent lyrics. It’s easy to sing-a-long to most of his songs, and he carries the title of almost universally creating highly listenable tracks. “Getting Ready to Get Down” is that type of song.

I particularly enjoy the country guitar stylings featured in the middle of the song; it’s a bit different, and it may signal an intriguing dynamic on the new album. But, like always, Ritter’s most endearing quality is his lyric, and this song has a killer verse that I need to share.

“They said your soul needed savin’ so they sent you off to bible school
But you know a little more than they were sure was in the golden rule
Be good to everybody, be a strength to the weak
A joy to the joyful, the laughter in the grief
And give your love freely to whoever that you please
Don’t let nobody tell you ’bout who you oughta be
And when you get damned in the popular opinion
It’s just another damn of the damns you’re not giving”

Talk about bible puns and satirical paradoxes. Ritter tells a message with a punch, a socially liberal sermon from his own personal mount, and I am an eager myrmidon to Ritter’s church of great music.

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AWOLNATION Rocks the Hollow Moon

11 Feb

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Back in 2011, AWOLNATION – the moniker of adroit musician Aaron Bruno and the rest of his four-person band (not pictured above) – released one of the album’s of the year with Megalithic Symphony. There was no question that Bruno’s blend of heavy electronic rock with infectious rhythms broke several genre boundaries and created a multifarious alternative/rock amalgamation. So, three years later, with AWOLNATION on the precipice of a new album (RUN to be released on March 17 of this year), I, as well as other music fans, have high expectations for the new release.

Thankfully, AWOLNATION released the first single from its new album, and “Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf)” is a tremendous example of AWOLNATION’s tremendous sound and variegated music. The song begins with stuttered synth that bounces like a Buddy Holly track. The verse features elegant distortion with an almost maniacal undertone. There are echoes and harmonies and crashing percussion. It is like the listener is in the mind of a crazy genius. The chorus is odd. It’s a peculiar mix of late 90s heaviness and a darker Grouplove-like jocularity with austere subtleties.

After a video game link, Bruno chants an expletive and then shouts that he will be back from the dead soon, and this is so badass that it’s difficult to put into words. And, when Bruno starts to yell at the end of the song, you just want to yell with him – a melodic catharsis!

This is an excellent song for several reasons. Simply, though, AWOLNATION kicks so much behind! Bruno and his band is ridiculously talented, and “Hollow Moon” is evidence of that blatant fact. Listen … now!

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