Welcome to Friday, folks! Just a few more hours and then you are on your way to the weekend – two full days of adventure and musical discovery are ahead of you. And we here at Mixtape want to inspire your weekend playlist with a few songs that you may or may not have heard.
And since this was a big week for Canadian music, what with the Polaris Prize releasing their short list and all, we decided to go back to the long list and suggest some tunes that you may have missed (because it really is a long list of albums), but should really hear.
1) Hayden featuring Lou Canon with “Blurry Nights” from Us Alone
This dude has been a featured name in the Canadian scene nearly two decades and when you hear this song, you’ll understand why. The emotionally laced lyrics and simple chord progressions mixed with some interesting pedal sounds, like what you hear in “Blurry Nights”, seems so basic. But it is often those basic sounds that hit you right in the heartstrings. This song is a good example because it makes you want to reach out through the sound waves and tell him that it’s alright, he’ll find true love some day (for the record, he has – he’s now happily married with kids, which is a far cry from the sad bastard that wrote the album Everything I Long For in 1995).
2) Chilly Gonzales with “White Keys” from Solo Piano II
This man is making the piano cool again and not in the same awkward way Tori Amos did for the 90s. While Gonzales is best known for his electro-pop albums, this album demonstrates that he was born with one of those uncanny natural talents that we are secretly all jealous of. His level of mastery on those 88 keys is demonstrated throughout the album, but we chose this song in particular because the melody he plays tells a vivid tale without a single word…or a single black key (Note: This song would be good for country drives…just sayin’.)
3) Kid Koala with “‘8 Bit Blues (Chicago to LA to NY)” from 12 Bit Blues
Kid Koala has been spinning beats in this country for years and has established himself as an international powerhouse in the DJ world. Pulling (literally) samples from jazz, funk and other “older” sounds, Kid Koala produced his version of an unplugged album and recorded the whole thing using a piece of ancient tech – a 1987 E-mu SP-1200 sampler. This song presents a good representation of what the entire album is like, so start here – but make no mistake about it, we don’t intend for you to stop here.
4) Lee Harvey Osmond with “Devil’s Load” from Folk Sinner
This band primarily features Tom Wilson, who is another one of those Canadian musicians who has managed to stand the test of time. Maintaining the grit from the music scene of his hometown, Hamilton Ontario, Wilson collaborates with members from classic Canadian bands The Cowboy Junkies and the Skydiggers on this album creating some tunes that make you want to get lost on country roads and go on day-tripping adventures. Devil’s Load is one of those songs that sticks in your head for a little while and is probably best fit to be in a Taratino Movie.
5) Mac Demarco with “My Kind of Woman” from 2
There is this beautiful moment in the video for this song where you have Demarco decked out in drag, holding a microphone and he winks at the camera – it makes you feel like he’s singing to you. Further to the point, this song – while it is a great example of why this album is awesome – is a fantastic take on the craziness of love. And if you’ve ever actually been in love, you know exactly what we mean.
To listen to the entire playlist, check it out on our YouTube channel.