I’ve moved a lot over the past 5 years. 7 times. There’s something about the first night in a new place. Anticipated excitement. The thrill of daydreaming about what the place can look like.
There’s always a tradition I follow that first night: plug in receiver, hook up speakers, and listen to the song of the moment on repeat while I dance around the place.
Al can attest to this. When I showed up in T.O. I celebrated my arrival by taking out a street lamp with my UHaul and then toasted the moment by listening to Mr. Brightside about a hundred times.
Last June I closed on my house, an old little two bedroom near the heart of Westdale. I moved two things over the first night: my bed and my stereo. It was hot. I was sweaty. Forever I will remember blasting my 5th favourite song of 2007 over and over while I ran around the place, blown away that it was ‘mine.’
The lethargic pace with which I’m working through this list has little to do with the minimal attention I’ve given this site. It has everything to do with public taste catching up to my eclectic ear.
Kidding, of course.
Although, I do continue to believe there will be a day when the world understands the brilliance that is Brother Ali.
I remember coming across him for the first time. It was at a live show in a tiny club in Toronto. Al and I - stained by sweat and soaked in beer - left the club and spent a long walk home trying to figure out not who the unknown opening act was but why he sang so passionately about being a minority.
Sure we were young and drunk. But a white male singing about the struggles of a minority? “Maybe he was doing an Ani Difranco cover song?” Maybe. For the entire concert? “Meh, maybe he’s that artistic.”
Forever this song will be linked to some memorable runs through Westdale in early fall. Classes were starting at McMaster and the village was alive with frosh week action supported by the warm Indian summer.
Gotta Get Myself Into It by The Rapture is my 7th favorite song of 2007. If you’ve been following the transition of my music taste over the past two years you’ll understand just how perfect of a fit this song is for me. Here’s the video for the song.
If I was to tell you that MGMT - Kids was a song of the year and you were to respond “but Fraser, you only discovered that song two short days ago” you would be correct.
I share that song for a few reasons: (i) I’m totally addicted to it right now; (ii) Ken sent me an email saying “always appreciate the exposure to new tunes” and I don’t want to let him down with this entry; and, (iii) there’s a part of me that feels I should be embarrassed about the number 8 song of the year.
Do you ever get guilty pleasures that bubble up from unexpected places? I do. And the number 8 song is definitely one of them.
Follow along with me: I was listening to Stern and Duran Duran played Hungry Like the Wolf, a song I love, to promote their new song (album?). I picked up a copy of their greatest hits to listen to an old guilty pleasure and in the process discovered this song, a new guilty pleasure.
Oh, and Ken, check out MGMT. Their album is superb.
The National’s 2006 album, Alligator, is an album that needs to be chewed on in order to be fully embraced. It’s thick and rich and heavy.
Boxer, their follow-up album released this year, was similar though failed to produce the same results. Filled with complex lyrics delivered simply by Berninger’s trademark baritone voice the songs are strong but few stood out.
One song which continues to move me is Start a War (listen to it here), a track where, as Pitchfork put it, “the possibility of loss looms threateningly.” This is classic stuff from The National and is my 9th favorite song of the year. Complexity that develops layered over music that grows. It’s possible to simultaneously have no clue about what’s spoken yet fully understand what’s sung. That’s the joy of The National.
Here’s a video of the band performing the song after dinner, outside under a tree using a few guitars, some cutlery, and wine glasses. Beautiful stuff.
