Song of the Day

SXSW Song Of The Day: Duotang – Nostalgia’s A Vice

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This week, SXSW dropped their biggest announcement so far of performers for this year’s festival and while I’m sure there will be more to come soon enough, there’s plenty of stuff to get excited about in the current crop of announcements. One of the names that jumped out at me was Duotang. The Winnipeg two-piece is back this year with New Occupation, their first album since 2001, but as “Nostalgia’s A Vice” makes clear, the band’s not really down with being anybody’s nostalgia act, nor do they seem to be crazy about the whole idea of nostalgia in general.

“Are you lost in the digital age and do you distrust people half of your age?” sings Rod Slaughter, presumably to some old curmudgeons who haven’t liked anything new since the turn of the century. As someone with some curmudgeonly tendencies myself, it’s tempting to go down that road, but Slaughter’s prescription for weaning yourself off of nostalgia is a good one and probably also a good motto for anyone heading to Austin in March: “You’ve gotta move on, explore the options and embrace something new. It might be good for you.”

Retro Song of the Day: Mims – This is Why I’m Hot

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Can you believe this song is ten years old? Me neither. I have never heard of this song before but apparently it was popular in 2007 among the commoners so here we are.

Based off what I’ve read on wikipedia, Mims is basically a one hit wonder.

This makes me wonder… will we treat 2000’s era one hit wonders with the same love as we gave 80’s and 90’s one hit wonders? Only time will tell.

This song repeats the chorus a lot and samples California Love and Kanye’s Jesus Walk for some reason.

You will note that during the entire chorus, Mims never actually says why he’s hot:

This is why I’m hot
This is why I’m hot
This is why
This is why, uh
This is why I’m hot (uh)
This is why I’m hot
This is why I’m hot, woo
This is why
This is why
This is why I’m hot
I’m hot ’cause I’m fly (fly)
You ain’t ’cause you’re not (Mims)
This is why
This is why
This is why I’m hot
This is why I’m hot

He also never did a follow up song called This is why I’m fly which I suspect led to his downfall as a rapper.

Such logically gaps in his songs is probably why his career never took off

Song Of The Day: Esben And The Witch – Sylvan

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End of year lists are great, but inevitably, stuff will always fall between the cracks with many releases that come out near the end of the year not really getting their due until sometime in the following year. This seems to be the case with Esben And The Witch‘s Older Terrors, an album I didn’t even realize was out until right at the end of last year

Having been out of the spotlight for a couple of years, the band returns with one of their heaviest efforts yet, appropriately released on French metal label Season Of Mist. Opening track “Sylvan” unfolds at a leisurely pace, building to a powerful climax and is definitely the standout from the four song album. Give it a listen.

Song Of The Day: The Courtneys – Silver Velvet

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Flying Nun Records got its start it the early ’80s, making its name with such legendary acts as The Bats, The Clean, Tall Dwarfs, and The Dead C – all of them from New Zealand. So it’s fairly noteworthy that the label has signed its first act not to hail from New Zealand – Vancouver’s The Courtneys.

The Courtneys’ second album, appropriately named The Courtneys II, will be out February 17 of next year, but in the meantime, have a listen to the fuzzy, punky, poppy sound of lead single “Silver Velvet.”