Toronto – Seeing how Australian music has been highly influential in my music tastes these days, it should be no surprise that another electro pop act has caught my eye.
Gypsy And The Cat consists of Melbourne DJs Xavier Bacash and Lionel Towers. At the tender age of 21 years old, they appear to be kinda new. This track started receiving heavy airplay from Australian station Triple J, and for good reason – it’s really catchy. The track reminds me of Empire of the Sun without all the drugs. Check it out.
Toronto – I came into work and listened to a bunch of Manic Street Preachers. Lefty Canada appears to be in a bit of a turmoil right now with the election of a Conservative majority and while it appears to be dark days ahead, I am reminded of a time in England when the Conservative government was dominating and all hope there seemed to be lost. Some freaking good bands came out during that time and if you look into the past, you will find that when ever the government sucks, great music emerges. So I’m looking forward to some kickass Canadian music coming out in the next little while.
This Manic Street Preachers song has nothing to do with the election, but it arguably has the coolest song title ever. A single off their 1998 album This is My Truth Now Tell Me Yours and has the distinction of being the #1 hit with the longest title (without brackets). The song is about the Spanish Civil War.
Toronto – Can you believe The XX made their monumental debut over two years ago? How incredible is that? While we anxiously await their sophomore record, here are some covers to satisfy your needs.
This first one is by the band Jonquil, who I have written about quite a bit lately. It’s probably because I like them. I actually used another photo for this post at Paul’s insistence. Their version of the song Infinity adds a little more beat and a little sleaze into it. I heard them play this live in Austin and it was pretty cool.
Next up is singer songwriter Holly Miranda. This foxy lady is also in the band Jealous Girlfriends, a band I think Wade once took me to for a concert. This version of Crystalized is pretty similar to the core, maybe even a little more stripped down than you would imagine.
You know your music is pretty special when legendary bands such as OMD cover you. This version of VCR retains most of the XX essence, only if the song was sang by Andy McCluskey.
Alright, that’s it. Have yourselves an XXcellent weekend! (lame)
Toronto – How talented is this guy? Chad Valley is the solo moniker of Jonquil lead singer Hugo Manuel. While the latter is a rousing uplifting jangly poppish band with love of pianos and horns, Chad Valley happily resides in samples and synthesizer land. The result is a lush, ambient Fred Falkesque dance/lounge martini track called “Fast Challenges.” It’s off the upcoming EP Equatorial Ultravox, which is released one day after my birthday – June 20th. Check out the track
ps. I almost didn’t check out this band because Chad Valley to me screams country music singer, not electro dancefloor bliss. I should probably stop judging bands based on band names.
