After half a year+ of absence on this blog, I am back to share some really cool tunes I've been obsessed with this past week. For those of you who are into chillwave, electronica and/or hip-hop, hopefully this post introduces you to a new unheard of love. Sticking purely to Canadian artists, this small compilation really shows how every layer of the music scene is just as good or even better than the previous one. In comparison to my previous reviews there is definitely a development in the variety of music I listen to, although this doesn’t mean that I’ve ditched good ol’ indie rock (Deerhunter, I might love you), crazy psych rock (King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, why am I a year too late?) and incredibly catchy vaporwave (Skylar Spence fka Saint Pepsi, teach me your ways).
Tennyson - “With You”
Tennyson is composed of mastermind Luke Tennyson and younger sister Tess Pretty on drums, an incredibly talented eighteen-year-old and sixteen-year-old from Edmonton, Alberta. Known for using random samples and making them sound beautiful, the track incorporates loops of bubbling water, phone dials and old school iPod scrolling noise to create the perfect combination of easy listening and dance party music. With little to no lyrics other than sporadically placed “with you”s, your ears are glued as each section unexpectedly hooks you with well-made cheesy ‘80s discotheque grooves and those so-called 2011 beat drops.
Side note: How did someone this young created such a great tune?!
Grimes - “REALiTi”
We haven’t heard from Grimes a.k.a Claire Boucher in a while. The last news to surface was that she scrapped her entire album and started again from scratch because she didn’t want to play depressing songs. To compensate, this is her way of showing love to her patient fans as she builds a masterpiece of an album. Like her previous work, “REALiTi” sustains the electronic and pop qualities that made Grimes famous. With an accompanying video consisting of tour footages, the song’s fresh and natural sound totally goes hand-in-hand with Grimes’ visionary dance moves.
BadBadNotGood - BBNG2
This Toronto-based hip hop-jazz trio is one of the first to popularise this fusion - at least in Canada anyway. Together, music geniuses Alexander Sowinski, Chester Hansen and Matthew Tavares make jazz more relevant and hip than ever. Before releasing their debut album III, BBNG2 was one of the two albums released for free - a compensation for the sake of widespread dissemination of their music. Despite requiring you to pay no money at all, the trio puts together such a well thought out yet seemingly improvised album, making you firmly believe that everything they do is amazingly good. I mean, even Tyler, The Creator thinks so.
