Tuesday Tunes--November 3, 2015
Shaun Cordingley
After a weekend Halloween, I figured that you may appreciate a mellow Tuesday Tunes this week, and here are 5 songs that should fit the bill perfectly (especially if you're looking to chill and watch the stars a bit this week, or have a long drive ahead of you).
The Guys From do not hold the rights to any of these songs, it is more our hope to expose our readers to new and different music, or re-expose them to things they may have forgotten about.
At the top of each section, will be the song name, followed by the artists' name linked to their website, so you can fall down the rabbit hole, finding and supporting what you dig.
Drinkee - Sofi Tukker
This indie dance track is a little bit of something different to start us off this week. 'Drinkee', by New York based electro-duo Sofi Tukker, featuring lyrics adapted from Brasilian poet Chacal (sung in their original Portuguese) is one of those hyper cool songs which blends a chill dance aesthetic within a layer of funk-style guitar that just screams to be featured in other pop culture; do not be surprised if beyond the Apple Watch Ad that the song has already been featured in, is soon supplanted by a snappy movie trailer.
Or at the very least, you owe it to yourself to plug this in and drive around your home city at night with some friends and feel like you're in a super cool, audience-award winning style indie film.
Just a heads up, this next video is slightly NSFW
Pelican - The Maccabees
'Pelican' is actually a few years old now, having dropped at the end of 2011, but it is just one of those songs that hit the very edges of wide recognition. The Maccabees are an indie rock band from London, U.K. with four studio albums under their belts, including their most recent release Marks to Prove It from July of 2015. I find 'Pelican', from the 2012 album Given to the Wild, with it's hopping guitar, and catchy, upbeat (if slightly depressing) lyrics is a great introduction to the band.
If you have heard of this Mercury Prize nominated, Ivor Novello award winning band before, I would not be overly surprised, but if this is your first exposure to them, perhaps blame the difficulty that Given to the Wild would be to play live...so many layers...
Speak Easy - Mansionair
Looking for something with a warm, dreamy feeling to it? 'Speak Easy' by Sydney-chillpop trio Mansionair (which you have to admit, is a pretty spectacular band name) will be right up your alley. A soft, warmly layered song, 'Speak Easy' is Mansionair's latest single (releasing just this past September) that is just begging for you to listen to, smothered in blankets and watching the snow fall, perhaps with a cat who isn't a jerk.
Recently opening for acts such as chvrches (you may remember them from before) and mellow-pop darlings Alt-J, Mansionair definitely has the lyrical and melodic chops to ascend to similar heights.
Used To - Mutemath
Mutemath is far from new to the scene: this New Orleans alt-rock band has been working since 2003, and were even nominated for a Grammy in 2008 for their music video for 'Typical' (which they should have won for, by the way, you know, because they did their song backwards).
However, Mutemath remain lesser known, for some reason, so here we are, 10 days before the release of their latest album Vitals, and the release of this fuzzy, synth-y rock groove is yet another example that Mutemath is one of those bands who will do just about anything if they can pull the sound off, and in 'Used To' it works, yet again.
Take Me Home - Poolside
Another song from 2011, 'Take Me Home' is all the guitar, and I can speak to personal experience about how this is a spectacular song for road trips. Poolside, the combination of two DJs, Filip Nikolic and Jeffrey Paradise, was a group whose the goal was putting out something they dubbed 'daytime disco': a sort of hybridization of some of the fun, disco beats with a chillwave flow. This, to me, is the highlight of their work together, as the guitar combined with the lyrics that just stroll through the music, without a care in the world, blend into one of my favorite songs to relax to.
Knowing that a lot of folks are on the go, Shaun has also taken it upon himself to compile the October Tuesday Tunes into one handy Apple Music Playlist for your listening pleasure. Being a former DJ, he also could not just throw them on a list, so he put it together like they were a set.
Thanks to the proliferation of streaming services, today's five songs are readily accessible throughout the web, but we do encourage you to purchase any music that fits into your groove. Believe us when we say artists cannot be expected to produce work for free; most are willing to spend 5$ on a cup of coffee, maybe chuck 1$ or (*gasp*) 10$ at an artist...or if you got all of these songs, it'd still cost less than coffee...just sayin'
See you again next Tuesday with 5 more tracks.