26 July 2024 - Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing

You know, I sometimes sit on drafts for a very long time, especially when they are unexpected.  

And the unexpected pieces of this, the fourth single and title song from her second album, are as follows:

1) Suzanne Vega, usually a solo songwriter, co-wrote this song with her backing band, who feature prominently in the video.

2) This song was her 2nd trip to the Billboard Hot 100 (her first being "Luka", of course).  The third single from Solitude Standing - you know, the one that preceded this one - "Tom's Diner" - in it's DNA remixed version, would go on to become her third.  

I bought Solitude Standing in 1987, on cassette - it came in a longbox, which was a type of packaging to prevent theft - and this song, which personifies solitude as a woman, was quickly one of my favorites.  

Somehow, when performed live, the song becomes a little angrier, sharper - more focused.  The cool, laid-back version jumps to life when there's a crowd.

Vega recorded a sparser version of the song in 2011 - she did a series of four albums called Close-Up - each labeled by volume.  This version is a live version of the one recorded on Close-Up Vol. 3.  

The Close-Up albums are really cool and interesting, by the way, and if you are a Suzanne Vega fan, you should seek them out.  

25 July 2024 - Maná - Lluvia Al Corazón

What?  We're ending our hiatus on an obscure Spanish-language song?

Yes.  Yes we are.  

You see, Maná has been around since the early 1980s (in 1981 as Sombrero Verde, adopting their later name in 1986) - and yet, this 2011 song, literally thirty years into their career as a band, was a breakthrough single for them in their home country of Mexico.  They had other singles, and a couple of other hits - and a ton of US Latin Chart hits - but this one - this launched them into the upper stratosphere of hitmaking.

But, this is a band that has won many awards, including four Grammys and eight Latin Grammys.  

It's a mournful and still an upbeat song.  And it doesn't matter that you don't speak Spanish.  Enjoy the emotion.

Of course they did a pandemic live version, 9 years after its release.  And of course it sounded just like the original.   Maná has been nothing if not consistent!

1 July 2024 - Charlotte Cardin - Passive Aggressive

Happy Canada Day for those who celebrate.  

Here's Canada's own Charlotte Cardin, with her 2020 hit that established her as a credible artist and a Canadian hitmaker - the first single from her album Phoenix.  The Montreal-born singer-songwriter, has been making waves in the music industry with her unique blend of pop, jazz, and electronic elements. Her track "Passive Aggressive" offers a raw and honest look at the complexities of modern relationships. 

The song deftly tackles a common yet often unaddressed issue in relationships. The song's lyrics paint a vivid picture of the frustration and confusion that arise when direct communication breaks down. Cardin's portrayal of passive-aggressive behavior is both relatable and uncomfortable, forcing listeners to confront their own experiences with this destructive communication style.

Charlotte Cardin's background as a French-Canadian artist adds an intriguing layer to her music. Growing up in bilingual Montreal likely influenced her ability to convey complex emotions through her songwriting. The city's rich musical heritage, blending North American and European influences, can be heard in the sophisticated pop sensibilities of "Passive Aggressive."

The production of "Passive Aggressive" is a masterclass in creating atmosphere through sound. The track opens with a sparse, almost eerie piano line that sets a tense mood from the outset. As the song progresses, layers of electronic elements and percussive beats are added, mirroring the building frustration in the lyrics.

Cardin's vocals are treated with a light touch of reverb, giving them an intimate yet slightly distant quality that perfectly captures the emotional state of someone dealing with passive-aggressive behavior. The chorus explodes with a fuller sound, representing the release of pent-up emotions.

One of the most interesting production choices is the use of distorted, chopped vocal samples in the background. These create a sense of internal dialogue or conflicting thoughts, adding depth to the song's exploration of communication issues.

You didn't expect such an in-depth analysis from this blog, did you?   Well, expect it now.

18 June 2024 - Mother Mother - Infinitesimal

Wikipedia would have you believe that Mother Mother are a Canadian indie rock band from British Columbia.

Mostly because they are.  But they're more than that.

They're one of the holdovers from #MapleLeafMarch 2023 that I could not even get to in 2024 OR 2025 because they were so full.  I mean, I did post "Hayloft" eariler this year, which pushed this song back FURTHER, but I've had this draft for years.

This song, from the 2012 album The Sticks, was released as a single in 2013. This particular tune was a top 20 alternative hit in Canada in 2013 - and I'm a little surprised it didn't go bigger. Bigger was in their future and their past.  

They are a band with some depth, for sure.  Here they are, performing the song in a stripped-down manner in Calgary in 2012. 

11 June 2024 - Carole Pope ft. Peaches - Lesbians in the Forest

Look, you're not supposed to take Carole Pope too seriously.  She's a comidienne, who makes humourous music. 

So, you can laugh at all the stereotypes that she wrote into this song.  From her 2014 album, Music for Lesbians, and co-written by TIm Welch (who plays a lot of the instruments) and Peaches, the song is quite the journey.  

But she's also a punk pioneer, being a founder of Rough Trade and other early punk acts.   She's a classic, through and through, and she's still making music.  She was also one of the first openly lesbian musicians - so when she goes to a forest, she is literally a lesbian in a forest - but also, she was unafraid, even from her early days.  

So, even though this song was a bit of a laugh, it's also a testament to Carole Pope's life.

Like everyone else during the pandemic, Carole did a live version of this video over Zoom, and yes, Peaches shows up here, in typical Peaches fashion.

7 June 2024 - Cœur de Pirate - Golden Baby

You thought we were doing a thing.  We told you we were doing a thing. 

So why this nice young lady with a œ in her name?

She came out at queer after the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016. It's an excellent read, and I strongly recommend it.

This bright song is from her 2nd solo album, Blonde.  And it's fun.  And it was a big hit (in Belgium and France - where her music sells very well).

This live performance of the song from 2015 - in front of a largely English-speaking crowd - was well-recieved, and equally bright as the recording.  She started the performance very nervous (a lot of the material from that day was new and untested, and French), but this song was already well known and a favorite.

6 June 2024 - Wham! - I'm Your Man

I don't know why I love this song by Wham!  I always did - it always brings a smile to my face.  Is it a great song? NOPE.  Is it consistent with the rest of the Wham! catalogue? NOPE!  

It is, however, one of the last singles by Wham! before their 1986 breakup, hitting #1 in the UK and #3 in the States - and various chart topping worldwide.  It's a bright, fun single, an homage to Motown of sorts - the horns! the harmonies - written entirely by George Michael.

It strikes me as more of a George Michael solo song and less of a Wham! song, I suppose, although Andrew Ridgeley is clearly front and center in this video. 

Indeed, George Michael did go solo soon after this single's release - this was the last song they played as Wham! at Wembley Stadium, at their farewell show in 1986.   Terrible video exists and here it is.

However, in 1991, in Rio, at a a George Michael show, that is CLEARLY Andrew Ridgeley performing with him.  We're glad the split was not acrimonious - it was, in fact, quite amicable - and in fact, the two men remained great friends for life.

5 June 2024 - Culture Club - Church Of The Poison Mind

Yeah, we're doing a thing and we are proud of it.  

This song was the lead single from Culture Club's 2nd album, Colour by Numbers, and it was a top 10 hit worldwide, including the US (#10) and UK (#2).  Was it their biggest single? No.  "Karma Chameleon" was.  But it was such a big and enduring hit that it was in the top 10 at the SAME TIME as "Karma Chameleon", which was released later.

I think history has forgotten just how huge Boy George and Co. were in the mid 1980s.  We were all embracing this gender-androgynous vocalist without issue.   I hope this post remedies a little of that.

Anyway, this was my favorite Culture Club song, off the first cassette tape I ever bought with my own money.  It was a good purchase.   Written by the band, the song features uncredited backing vocals by the huge voice of Helen Terry - and she appeared on several other tracks as well - who appears in the video (and several others by the band).

Helen Terry also performed with the band live, which is amazing, and their 1983 performance of this song is incredible.

This more recent performance, from the late 2010s, does not feature Helen Terry, and features a less androgynous Boy George - and also interpolates Wham's "I'm Your Man".  

It is incredibly cool.

4 June 2024 - Jazmin Bean - Puppy Pound

So, let's talk about Jazmin Bean.  Who are they?

They have been releasing music for six years - their first performance at age 15 involved a bar and a chicken liver they rubbed on themself.  They rose to prominence with their extreme makeup styles (and they do have a makeup line, by the way).  They come from music royalty of sorts, as borh their mother and their father are from well known British punk bands.

They are a very interesting person. They idenify as non-binary, use they/them pronouns, and specifically refer to themself as "generless".  

We are cool with that.  Because they seem happy. 

This song and video are kind of a fever dream.  That's about the best we got here.  But it's interesting pop electronica, and we think you should listen.

They also perform to sold-out crowds and we think they're really singing and not lip-syncing. 

3 June 2024 - Peaches - Fuck the Pain Away

We took a break, but we're back with a vengence. 

So, let's talk about Peaches.

She's definitely unique. A sex-postiive musician (and yes, this is her signature song) and performance artist, she was once roommates with Feist - and yes, they have collaborated, a lot.  She reinterpreted Jesus Christ Superstar as a one-woman show (and it's beautiful).

Peaches Christ, Superstar, do you think you're what they say you are?

She's also from Toronto, which is in Canada, and the 2nd t is silent.  Go ahead, fight me on this. She started her career as a drama teacher at conservative Hebrew schools in Toronto - she also attended Jewish school as a child, for which she was bullied.

No one is bullying Peaches now.  

Let's talk about this song, her best known and, yes, you've probably heard it - in The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu, the movie Lost In Translation, or maybe as Liz Lemon's ringtone on 30 Rock. 

This song was released in September of 2000, and appears on her 2000 album Teaches of Peaches.  Its original recording was not done in a studio.   So, this 2022 recording from Full Frontal with Samantha Bee is just as credible as the one on record. No, we're not sure what the hell she's wearing.

Well, crap.  That was age-restricted.  It's worth the click to get to YouTube, though.  Let's see if this 2009 performance of the song is any better.

Stay in school, 'cause it's the best.  

23 May 2024 - Nelly Furtado - Turn Off The Light

The Juno Awards happened back in March.  For those not familiar and who don't read this damn blog, that's basically the Canadian Grammys, for Canadian artists (with one award exception).  

Nelly Furtado was the host of the 2024 Junos.  She also hosted the 2007 ceremony.  

And, with more than 45 million records sold, she is one of the most successful Canadian artists in history.

Her debut album - Whoa, Nelly! - was a huge hit - generating two top 10 singles in the US.  Her first, "I'm Like A Bird", is well-known, and hit #9 on the US charts in 2001.  Its follow-up, this song, written by Furtado, hit #5 and was a bigger hit in the States.  

Neither song was as big a chart hit in Canada (the former did hit the top 20, and both got a fair amount of airplay), but she would continue to record hit after hit on both sides of the border, and also in other countries.  

This is a song for which two official videos exist, and yes, we have them both. Same song, sparser video.

Nelly has been known as something of a musical shapeshifter, bridging pop, rock, folk, hip hop and even Latin music.  In 2006, she was in her hip hop period, and this live version of the song surfaced.

It's actually pretty much the same song.

Furtado, whose parents were Portuguese immigrants to Canada, performed the song for a very small audience - the cast of Big Brother Brasil.   Yes, she speaks Portuguese.

When she recorded the song in 2012 for Walmart Soundcheck... well, it was harder and slower.  Still, very cool version of the song, even if it was comissioned by Walmart.

Guys, this is our last post until next week.  Please stay safe this weekend.

16 May 2024 - Emei - That Girl

Meet Emei.  She was born in California (as Emily Li) and raised in New Jersey to Chinese immigrants.

She also competed on Chinese Idol and Dancing With The Stars China.  She was enough of a star in China to be on THAT show.  

She's an angry pop-rock artist with some great songwriting chops, like this 2022 single by her.  Did it chart? No.  Did it make an impact?  Yuppers.  This song is fun and angry and empowering and you will be dancing by the end of it.  

14 May 2024 (special edition) - Mélanie Renaud - J'm'en veux

For most of you, you don't know who Mélanie Renaud is.  

Born in Haiti in 1982, she was adopted at 8 months to parents from Quebec.  She built a hell of a career as a singer and a stage performer.  Today's song won the Félix Prize, an award for Quebec songwriters, for in 2002.  Her debut album, Ma Liberté, won the Canadian Independent Spirit Award for Francophone Album the same year. She fought and beat substance abuse.  Her huge voice never suffered.

Renaud passed away today at age 42, from overian cancer.  Her legacy and her music remain. 

A few months before she passed, Renaud did a beautiful acoustic version of this same song.  It is breathtaking and haunting.

14 May 2024 - Marie-Mai - Tu t'en fous

I tried like HELL to get this song into Maple Leaf March this year.  Since we featured Marie-Mai as part of a Simple Plan post in 2023, I've been trying to slot her in.

Marie-Mai is not that well known outside of Quebec, but inside Quebec, she's a star.  She got her start on a Quebec-based singing competition show, finishing third, and followed that with a part in the musical Rent. 

It's been a lot of music over the last twenty years as well, with hits in francophone Canada and France.  She has gravitated a little more pop nowadays, but she was always pop/rock.  This is one of her earliest, from her debut album, Inoxydable, from 2004

Of course she performed one of her biggest early hits live.  By this time, she had gone a little mellower and more towards a poppier direction, but the rock edge is still here. 

9 May 2024 - Big Black - The Power of Independent Trucking

Had I not woken up to the news that Steve Albini had passed away on Tuesday, I would have made this a Special Edition.

Steve Albini wasn't best known for his music with Big Black, Rapeman and Shellac, although all three bands were great, and what will likely be the last Shellac album is coming out next week.  He was best known as a great record producer - producing such albums as Surfer Rosa by the Pixies, Pod by the Breeders, In Utero by Nirvana, Rid of Me by PJ Harvey, and so, so many others. He was notoriously not easy to work with, but also, down to earth, even personally answering the phone in his recording studio.

Big Black's second and final album, Songs About Fucking, probably the most honestly titled album ever, was a masterpiece, and it opened with this minute and a half long ode to, well, independent trucking... and absolutely about fucking. Released in 1987, it was probably a little ahead of its time.  Albini layers distorted power chords with atonal squeals, creating a relentless feeling of claustrophobia that perfectly captures the cramped confines of a diesel cab.  

His voice, his guitar, and his production will be missed.  

8 May 2024 - Tara Slone - My Little Secret

Born in Quebec and raised in Nova Scotia, Tara Slone isn't exactly a household name outside of the San Francisco Bay area, and even then mostly with hockey fans.  She has been a longtime hockey commentator - first with Sportsnet in Canada and now with NBC Sports Bay Area.

But before that, Tara Slone was a musician.  She got her biggest break with a band called Joydrop (yes, we've featured them before) and then she went solo.  She did take a slight turn in trying to be the lead vocalist for INXS - that's not a joke - but did some credible solo work in her own right. 

She had a pretty solid straight-ahead rock sound that was compelling - an extension of Joydrop, but even heavier.  

7 May 2024 - Teya & Salena - Who The Hell Is Edgar?

Meet Austria's 2023 Eurovision entry.  Teya and Salena are separate Austrian musical artists - both quite talented.  They met on the TV show Starmania 21, which is a music competiton in Austria.

This ended up being a hit song in many countries, and the 15th place finisher in Eurovision.  It is the biggest hit to date by either artist, and they've gone on to continue to record and release singles together.  

By the way, the titular "Edgar" is Edgar Allen Poe, who has possessed the songwriters, these women, along with their producers, Ronald Janeček and Pele Loriano.  The song was written during the last hour of a songwriting camp in 2022, and was always intended for Eurovision... for Salena to sing solo.  It just worked better with both of them.

Just have fun with it.

Eurovision is, of course, about the performance, and this is their performance. Again, it's a fun, goofy song.

Of course they continue to play the song, like during this charity play in Austria.

They've even done a stropped down - I refuse to call it "acoustic" - version of the song.

6 May 2024 - The Darling Buds - If I Said

I was REALLY SCARED we wouldn't have something to continue this.  I mean, it's going to have to end someday, right?  The Darling Buds only released so much music.  

This is not the year it ends.  But I scared you, didn't I?

There have been rumours of new Darling Buds music coming soon.  I will let you know if I see it anytime soon, but we won't post it here until next May 6th.  We have to conserve our Darling Buds, you know. 

3 May 2024 - Manel - Per la bona gent

Manel are a Spanish band.

But that ain't Spanish that they are singing.

You see, Manel are from Barcelona, in Catalonia, in the north of Spain.   The native language there, banned for so many years by Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain from the end of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s until 1975, is Catalan.  

Manel are a band who perform in Catalan.  

This song was the title song from the 5th album, released in 2019.  They use a sample from the song "Alenar" by Maria del Mar Bonet, a Majorcan singer who stood in defiance of Franco by singing in Catalan in the late 1960 - the native language of Majorca, strangely enough, is a dialect of Catalan as well. 

If this is the first time you've heard Catalan, it may sound a little strange, like someone is pronouncing Spanish with extra h's.  It is a beautiful language and this song is a banger.

 

The song is just as cool live, if not cooler.

2 May 2024 - Daoko × Kenshi Yonezu - 打上花火 (Fireworks)

Daoko is a young Japanese singer and rapper who first hit the scene in 2012, at age 15, when she uploaded her songs on the video streaming site called Nico Nico Douga at the time (now it's NicoNico). 

This single, a collaboration with Kenshi Yonezu, who wrote the song.  Featured on her 2017 album, Thank You Blue as well as the anime Fireworks, Should We See It From The Side or The Bottom, it would go on to top the Japan Hot 100.  It would go on to be the 3rd biggest hit on the 2017 Billboard Japan year-end chart.

Here's where it gets crazy.

It would also go on to be the 4th biggest hit on the 2018 Billboard Japan year-end chart.

It would also go on to be the 21th biggest hit on the 2019 Billboard Japan year-end chart.

OK, so now I'm done.

No, wait. It was the 75th biggest hit on the same chart in 2020.

In an all-time hit chart released in 2022, it was the 13th biggest Billboard Japan hit of all time.

The song is sad and beautiful at the same time, and was heralded for that dichotomy.  The video is, well, anime.

Daoko isn't an anime, though.  She's a real person, who really performs live, as she did in 2018.

1 May 2024 - Jennifer Rostock - K.B.A.G.

The Bundesvision Song Contest is a German competition between the 16 states of Germany that is loosely based on Eurovision's concept.  

In 2008, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern band Jennifer Rostock didn't win, but they did get noticed and a record deal followed.

Oh, we should probably address this for our non-German readers.  Jennifer Rostock is a band, fronted by Jennifer Weist.  The name came from an earlier studio misunderstanding, where notes to the band were directed at Jennifer, and since they didn't know her name, but only that the band was from the coast, they just put the only coastal town they knew, Rostock - which was not where the band was from, but close enough, I guess? - and the screwed-up name stuck.

The band rocked hard and they continue to rock hard.  This single, from 2014, is a great example of that.

They rock just as hard live.

30 April 2024 - Danna - ATARI

I am absolutely on an Élite kick lately.  

It doesn't hurt that the actress who played Lu - Mexican singer/actress Danna Paola - in seasons 1-3 of the show released a single last Tuesday... and that it's a banger.  The second single from her new album, Childstar, it's already got a LOT of views and listens on your favorite streaming platform.  Co-written and co-produced by the now-mononymous Danna (with a large team), it's a fun and sexy song.  

Even you English speakers will recognize a few of the words.  

The song's title is a reference to the popular Atari 2600 VCS, the first mass-market home video game systems with interchangable cartridges - you know, you can play with her like an Atari.... I guess.

It's also really easy to dance to. 

29 April 2024 - Louane - Donne-moi ton cœur

I've featured Louane on this blog before.  More than once.  

The French hitmaker has a lot of great singles to choose from, including this 2020 single, written and produced by Wolfgvng and Damso, the latter of whom Louane met at a music festival, where they bonded and decided to work together.  The song is a slow electronic love song, whose title literally translates to "Give me your heart". 

The song would go on to be a hit in Belgium and Switzerland, and a minor hit in France.

In addition to her excellent pop vocals, Louane is a pretty good pianist, and she does an acoustic version of this song, which is slower and more heartfelt.

It's beautiful.

It also wasn't a one-off, as she also did this version live, on French television.

That doesn't mean she doesn't perform the original live.... or that it isn't differently beautiful. 

26 April 2024 - Soul Coughing - Super Bon Bon

Move aside, and let the man go through.

This song was on heavy rotation in the 90s on Rochester, NY alternative radio station WBER, which is how I became aware of Soul Coughing. 

This song, written by the band, was one of their biggest hits on alternative radio, becoming something of radio favorite in 1997. It was used as wrestler entrance music, in video games, in television.... it was something of a cash cow for the band.  

It is probably better to see a live performance by the band, and see the energy that they bring. Watching M. Doughty go apeshit while the rest of the band stays cool is a sight to behold.  

25 April 2024 - Paula Abdul - Straight Up

This was not Paula Abdul's first single.  It was her third.

It was, however, her first top 40 hit, the first of four from Forever Your Girl, at the time the most ever from a debut album.  Written and produced by Elliot Wolff, it would eventually hit #1 around the world - in the US in February 1989.  To get into the technical, the song is at a tempo of 96 beats per minute, which is known as a "shuffling" tempo.

You aren't here for the technical.  You're here to see Arsenio Hall.    

Did you watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2022?  Then you saw Paula Abdul, 35 years after the single's release, tap dancing and lipsyncing the song.  

She does also perform the song live for real from time to time, but really, you should be here for the choreography, because Adbul was and is a gifted choreographer.

24 April 2024 - Mala Rodríguez - Tengo un Trato

We're presently binging the Netflix series Élite. The show was originally made for Netflix Spain, and is dubbed into English for our viewing pleasure.  It's a cool show, with a lot of twists and turns.  There's also a lot of great music to discover, much of it music I have never heard.

Season 3, Episode 4 is where we are as I am writing this, and as the episode was starting, this song came on.  I instantly recognized Mala Rodríguez's voice, and this song, which was her debut single in 2000.  It set the stage for the in-your-face style that is a hallmark of everything La Mala has done.

The song's title literally translates to "I Have A Deal" and is a classic rap battle response.  For that, you need her attitude. 

La Mala is not one to forget where she came from, which is why, in 2020, she was still performing this song, with as much bravado as the first day she performed it.

23 April 2024 - Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond

This is a very, very, very long song.  

It's also a very complex song with a lot of changes and movements.  Written by David Gilmour, Roger Waters and Richard Wright, it is an opus in nine parts, and a tribute to Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett.  Appearing on their 1975 album, Wish You Were Here, it quickly became a band favorite.  

I'm going to leave this without much commetary, because the emotion of the song - the love for Barrett and the guilt in forcing him out - is enough.  

Here is the band, led by David Gilmour, performing the song in 1990.

Here's another performance, from Nassau Coliseum in 1988.

22 April 2024 - Fine, It's Pink - Did It All for You

I've been following Romanian band Fine, It's Pink since 2013.  That's when I heard their amazing cover of Phantogram's "When I'm Small".   Now, the original of that is one of my favorite song, and I'll probably fire it up on the turntable pretty soon.  

I've written about them a few times on this blog, too, most recently in 2021.  

I write this blog to tell you about the music that I enjoy, and, well, I have discovered music thanks to this blog.  It was purely accidental that I discovered this Romanian band, over here in the States, and yet I did.  

Watching Fine, It's Pink mature as musicians - watching their original songs get more adult and more beautiful - is one of the best things I have ever experienced in writing this little blog.  Their new single, out last week, is perhaps their most mature and beautiful work to date.  The song was written by Fine, It's Pink, with Ioana Lefter writing the lyrics she is singing herself.  

I hope this is the song that breaks them out of Romania and onto the world stage, because few musicians deserve it more.  

19 April 2024 - Coi Leray - Players

It's like a jungle sometimes.

It makes me wonder how I keep from going under.

No, I'm not talking about my personal struggles.   I'm talking about the Grandmaster Flash sample that the outstanding Coi Leray employs prominently through this song.

This 2022 single ended up in the Top 10, her first and at this point only trip there. It absolutely an explicit and empowering song, and I love it a lot. 

It is unusual to see a new video for a REMIX of a song, but in the case, it is appropriate, as DJ Smallz put a new spin on the song.

This remix by DJ Saige replaces the Grandmaster Flash sample with a Busta Rhymes sample.... and Mr. Rhymes himself guest stars.

18 April 2024 - Sigur Rós - Hoppípolla

You know when we feature bands with non-English characters in their names, when we have to figure out the ASCII codes for writing these non-English characters, that they must be special.

Icelandic superstars Sigur Rós, described as a post-rock band (accurately) are that kind of special.  Their best known song is this one, a song with some Icelandic and some nonsense words, about childlike fun and holding onto that spirit....

,,,which is probably why the video prominently features several elderly people pulling pranks on people, including members of the band.

The song, like a lot of their music, is beautiful and different and thought-provoking.  

Of course it's a live favorite.  Why wouldn't it be?!

17 April 2024 - Beyoncé - Texas Hold 'Em

For those who do not know, the former Beyoncé Knowles was raised in Houston, TX.  She was raised on country music.  She performed four times at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, an event she attended many times as a child.   She's performed COUNTRY MUSIC in the past, with the (former Dixie) Chicks and Sugarland.  Her songs have been covered by Reba and others.

So explain to me: why would anyone have any issue with her "going country" when she's performing (and she co-wrote) a really catchy country album?

I sure don't.  This song, released during the Super Bowl this year, is damn catchy.  She didn't even send the song to country radio, but it is getting significant airplay.  It's also getting significant airplay on pop radio, making it one of the more significant crossover songs of the last several years (miss me with that Jason Aldean and Morgan Wallen talk, kids).  

And yes, we hear it.  It sounds a lot like the Franklin theme song.  

16 April 2024 - DRAMAS - Coma Call

Sometime soon, we are going to have a week of nothing but non-English songs.  

It was a search for those songs that led me to DRAMAS, an Austrian band that is making some of the most interesting music on the planet.  And thank Courtney for this one - she found it and introduced it to me.

Formed in 2016, they made a splash in Europe right from the get go. Viktoria Winter and Mario Wienerroither are the whole band, and they bring a lot of noise and emotion.  This song, their latest single, was inspired by old French music.... and yeah, I can hear it.  

"Coma Call" isn't going to win awards for lyrical complexity, but that's precisely the beauty of it.  It's a track that revels in pure sonic pleasure.  It's the kind of song you crank up while cruising down a nighttime highway, windows down, feeling the wind whip through your hair.

So please, enjoy my family's current earworm.

15 April 2024 - Labi Siffre - I Got The...

Labi Siffre built himself a long and illustrious soul career with classic songs and great beats that live on.

This was the opening track of Siffre's 1975 album, Remember My Song.  It is probably the song for which he is best known.

However, it was never a hit song on his own.  

Nope, it was a hit because Emimen sampled it as a singificant part of his song, "My Name Is", in 1999.  Siffre was initially not allowing this song, which he wrote and performed, to be sampled, as the original Eminem track contained a lot of derrogatory language againsts women and gay people (Siffre is openly gay).  Eminem changed his lyrics and submitted a clean version, and the sample was approved.  (Eminem DID release the other version as well, as a dirty version).  

The song, however, was pretty great as is, even if it was a bit obscure.  Here.  Enjoy it.

Since then, the song is no longer obscure, even getting use in an episode of Better Call Saul.

15 April 2024 - Eminem - My Name Is

This 1999 single is likely the first thing you heard by Eminem unless you saw him as a freestyle rapper in Detroit as a kid.  

It earned Eminem his first Grammy, for best Rap Solo Performance.  Cowritten by Marshall Mathers (Eminem), Andre Young (Dr. Dre) and Labi Siffre (Labi Siffre,who was credited because of the significant sample of his song "I Got The..."), the song was meant to be humorous and light-hearted, but ended up being also pretty groundbreaking.  

That was the version that Labi Siffre approved.

He expressly did NOT approve this version, which contains some homophobic slurs - calling it "lazy writing".  But we'll talk more about that another day.

Eminem released it anyway.

Yes, of course, he did perform ths song live, like in this performance at the legendary Whisky A Go Go on the fabulous Sunset Strip.

12 April 2024 - Elvis Presley - A Little Less Conversation

We don't have enough Elvis on this blog, right?  

Well, this song.... it wasn't a hit when Elvis recorded it in 1968.  It was a minor hit when rerecorded later that year for a TV special.... but it wasn't a hit, despite being a fun and energetic song.  Written by Mac Davis (who wrote and later rerecorded a lot of Elvis songs) and Billy Strange, it was perhaps more than people were expecting.

Here's a video of the original, from the movie Live a Little, Love a Little, where the song first appeared.

You likely know this song, but that version you just heard doesn't sound right, right?

Fast forward to 2001. The song was featured in the movie Oceans 11, and then Junkie XL remixed it.  

THIS SONG was a worldwide hit in 2002, everywhere... except the United States, where it was still a MINOR hit, but not to the level of everywhere else, where it was a top 5 hit. Even in the US, it was his first visit to the Billboard Hot 100 in twenty years.

11 April 2024 - Chappell Roan - Naked in Manhattan

It was only a matter of time until I got to Oliva Rodrigo's opening act, right?

But Chappell Roan is so much more than just an opener.  She's a singer/songwriter from the middle of Missouri, who makes campy, poppy music with a drag-queen inspired aesthestic.  This song, a 2022 song that ended up on her acclaimed album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, co-written by Chappel Roan, Daniel Nigro and Skyler Stonestreet, and its video, with all its pop culture references and over-the-top fashion is a perfect illustation of that aesthetic.  

To be sure, she is unique, and so is this song.  I'm genuinely impressed.

I could have very easily found a GUTS tour opening act performance of this song - and I did. I chose INSTEAD to share a more intimate club perforance of this song, which sounds better anyway. She engages the crowd, and they respond.  She doesn't even need a background vocalist (she supplied her own on the album anyway).   

10 April 2024 - Sylvester - You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)

This 1978 disco classic was co-written by Sylvester and James Wirrick.  It was not more than a minor hit in the US - not nearly his biggest - and was a huge hit in Europe.

But that is only the start of the story.

The song was also a hit in discos - a club hit, as we would call it today.  It is here where his star would truly shine - and endure.  The song has been used as an anthem for LGBTQ+ pride in the years since the song was released - the magazine Time Out ranked it #8 on a list of songs to celebrate Pride all year long.  

Sylvester himself, with his androgynous looks and the fact that he was, in fact, gay, was propelled by this song into icon status within the gay communitiy, and beyond, because the man was fabulous.  Sadly, he passed away in 1988 from complications from HIV - I'm so grateful that that disease is not the killer it was in the 1980s but we still need a cure. 

We are so happy to bring you a live version of this - not every disco song has that, but Sylvester did perform live. The laser sounds in the song are replaced with horns, and my goodness, it's a fantastic sound. 

9 April 2024 - Olivia Rodrigo - obsessed

I want to scream.

Olivia Rodrigo released one of my 2 or 3 favorite albums of 2023 - GUTS - in September.

Last week, she released GUTS (spilled) with five more songs.

Do I buy the new vinyl? Probably not.  But this, the first new single, is pretty spectacular.  Co-written by Rodrigo, Dan Nigro, and Annie Clark, it rocks hard and is already a top 20 hit.  Fun fact - this is the 2nd Olivia Rodrigo song on which Annie Clark is listed as a songwriter ("deja vu", which borrows heavilty from "Cruel Summer" being the first), but the first on which they truly collaborated.

Anyway, it's a banger.  Check it out.  

Even before the expanded album, the song existed - and was on some special versions of GUTS (although not the one I own, dammit).  It is included on the GUTS tour playlist.

8 April 2024 - Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart (Turn Around)

Oh, come on.  You kniow we had to do this. 

This song was written and produced by Jim Steinman and was Bonnie Tyler's biggest hit by a long shot - becoming one of the hugest hits worldwide in 1983.  It is a sad song - and one that's probably going to make you cry if you are prone to that.  Originally clocking in at seven minutes, the radio version was around the four minute mark.  

The song was Grammy-nominated, and would have likely had more had it not come out the same year as Michael Jackson's Thriller album.  

Still, it's made Bonnie Tyler the name you know today.

And, oh yes, she did perform the song at the Grammys.  And it was spectacular.  Her husky voice shone strong that night.

5 April 2024 - Flower Face - Cat's Cradle

I knew it was a possibility that Flower Face would come out with new music soon, and starting in late February, she started teasing a new video and a new song.  There are very few posts I would not have immeduately bumped in favor of a brand spanking new Flower Face single.   Maybe not The Beaches, but anyone else.  

I gave up waiting early and put up another of her songs for Maple Leaf March.   

Well, she would release it just after March was done.  April 4th, 9pm Eastern time.  As I am writing this post, the song has been out for less than an hour, and now I'm rescheduling my Friday post to get this out, quickly.  I just moved it to next week, so no big deal.

Seriously, she was very public on social media when she was recording her new album, and now a single is out.  It still is written and performed by Flower Face, and it still features her rich, soft voice.  It has a slightly more poppy sound - and her lyrical maturity shows through strong here.  I can't wait to hear what comes next.

I suspect this is going to be in my heavy rotation for the next several weeks.  I hope you enjoy it.  

4 April 2024 - Gayle - butterflies

I seriously, SERIOUSLY debated whether this song from the Barbie movie deserved to be here - and not on Totally Covered.  

Gayle is listed as a songwriter.  She absolutely did lift the chorus from the Crazy Town song "Butterfly", The original songwriters are listed.  But what Gayle did almost could be defined more as a sample than as a cover.  

And, let's be clear. whereas the Crazy Town song is listed as one of the worst singles of all time (which means we will post about it eventually), Gayle's version absolutely slaps.  It is NOT laid back, but instead a straight-ahead hard rock song.  

Gayle has a condition called chromesthesia - in which sound invokes a color response.  We wonder what colors she sees when she performs this song.  

By the way, it's also a song that sounds absolutely terrific live.  And seems to be very pink. 

3 April 2024 - Felix Cartal & Lights - Feel Less

Thanks for sticking with me through my fourth #MapleLeafMarch.  I didn't think it would last, and I didn't think it would change my musical taste forever, but both of those things happened.  

I also didn't think I'd have to push a post from March to April 2nd just to make sure it was posted in a timely manner.  For those who are regular readers of this blog, I asked a couple of days ago, "Why the hell couldn't I just move Lights?"  This is the post I was referencing.  I ended up moving it for something ELSE important.  

At this point, I know what a Lights release cycle looks like at this point.  This is the point where she ends an "era" - in this case, the "PEP" era - and spends time collaborating with other artists.

Well, in this case, it's an artist she's worked with before.  Felix Cartal is a Canadian DJ - Vancouver - who has done a LOT of great collaborations.  This is their latest one - written by Cartal and Poxleitner-Bokan (because she does have a last name) (also, Felix Cartal is a stage name - Taelor Deitcher is his real name) (how the hell is Lights NOT just a stage name but Felix IS?!) (InB4 "but she was born Valerie" - I know! I know! You do know who you are talking to here, right?) released in February - and it is, once again, phenomenal.   

Also, sorry about all the Lights recently.  But I couldn't ignore this one.

Also, NOW we're at 20.

2 April 2024 - Shanin Blake - Senses

Guys, we need to talk about Shanin Blake.  

Who is Shanin Blake, you ask?

Well, she's an independent musician and something of a TikTok and Instagram influencer. She's a single mom to a tween. She's kind of a hippie.  She's very comfortable with her own body, clearly.  

She also writes very positive music - borderline hippie.  And it seems like the combination of her free spirit public image, her embracement of psychedelic drugs in some of her music, and her positivity really pissed people off on Twitter X....

She's @shaninblake999 on Twitter X.

....enough to get her to join Twitter X and bring her positivity there.  

I don't understand the hate - she seems genuinely kind and goes out of her way to interact with her fans.  I love her! Her sweet spirit is absolutely infectious.  Also, proving that there's no such thing as bad publicity, the attention has hepled bring her music to a broader audience.

This song is from her 2021 album Lioness and it's a very ethereal, very light song - I'd almost say atmospheric.  

1 April 2024 - Bodo Wartke ft. Marti Fischer - Barbaras Rhabarberbar

This absollutely bonkers song is based on a really long German tongue twister.  

It's about a small-town woman named Barbara who is really well known for her rhubarb cake. She opened Barbara's Rhubarb Bar, which was discovered by barbarians. They would come to be known as the rhubarb barbarians (rhubarbarians?).

We're 30 SECONDS into the song at this point.

Over the years, the barbarians mellowed.  They became, in Barbara's words, kinder, more than even Barbapapa, who, by the way, is a nice pink blob from a kid's book.

Barbapapa

However, the barbarians were very hairy, and they grew really shaggy barbarian beards, which Barbara did not find special at all.

You have to know where this is going.

She sent them to a barbarian beard barber.  He even styled their entire barbarian heads in his barbarian beard barber shop. After they were done, the barbarians invited the barbarian beard barber to Barbara's rhubarb bar.  They drank a beer together at the bar, the rhubarb barbarians and the bearded barber, and they ate a piece of rhubarb cake without any barbarism.

These tough men became very approachable, all thanks to Barbara's rhubarb!

So, three barbarians and the bearded barber were sitting in the bar one evening having a beer.  Then, the police came, looking for the Three Barbarians and the Bearded Barber. 

1:27, we're done.

And now, you've enjoyed a delightful German tongue twister.  

31 March 2024 - The Beaches - Blame Brett

Maple Leaf March ending on a Sunday is kind of a downer.  

You see, we get reduced readership on Sundays, in general.  

We don't publish on Sundays for 11 months of the year (or Saturdays, for that matter) unless there's a Special Edition need to do that.   

During March, we do.

On these weekend days, we usually feature either 1) smaller, up-and-coming artists or 2) artists we feel like we have to feature even though we don't love them.  (We do love that song, though). Also, Lights.  

This year, we had WAY too much content.  We almost doubled up on weekdays - and DID on some days.  The Beaches getting pushed to a weekend feels wrong.  

And yet, here we are. 

Why the hell couldn't I just move Lights? (Editor's note: Yeah, we did end up moving Lights to another day OUTSIDE OF MARCH because this month was THAT packed, so there's no link there!)

The Beaches are a Toronto band that have been around for a decade, and finally broke through to US alternative radio in 2023 with this absolutel banger.  As of the time I am writing this, they are nominated for two Juno Awards this year (Group of the Year and Rock Album of the Year, for Blame My Ex, who absolutely is a real ex of Jordan Miller named Brett) (edit: they WON both of those Junos), but those were awarded last week as of the time you are actually reading this, so hopeful we remember to update this post. (Edit: we did but a little bit late) 

  

We really feel badly for relegating this absolutely great song to a weekend.  We're going to promote the hell out of this post.

But, to be fair, they really ARE up and coming.  They only just appeared on Jimmy Kimmel's show last month.... and they were spectacular.

'

Here is the band in Ottawa last summer, performing the hell out of this song.  They give off a Go-Go's vibe, and not Loverboy, for sure.  

We promise to post more of them on weekdays in the future.  We may not even wait until next March.

When possible, I like to include concert footage with a personal connection.  My sister went to their show in Toronto on Nov. 1, 2023 - and got footage of this song.

Wanna see it?

Wanna see the crowd go nuts?!

Here ya go.

30 March 2024 - Maryze - FBP (Female Brad Pitt)

Some days, I don't want to choose.  

This is why you're getting your 2nd Maryze post within five minutes of the first.  

In this post, though, we're going to talk about this 2021 non-album single that is just a fun song about being pretty and poor. Also, it's about owning your identity and who you are - Maryze identifies themself as queer, gender-fluid and non-binary, and this video features Maryze with a lot of their friends being who they are.  Filmed in Montreal, it makes me want to go there now. 

And yes, I know.  The song is called "Female Brad Pitt" so that seems to really imply a gender.   Maryze's pronouns are she/they.  

Also, it's pronounced "mar-ize".  Now you know.

30 March 2024 - Maryze - Emo

It is always a struggle for me to choose what music to include and what to leave out every March.  It is especially hard this year, when there are so many weekend days.  

This is really the only time of year we post on Saturday and Sunday, and I try to turf lesser-known artists to those days - up and comers, if you will.  

One of those up and comers is Maryze (her real name - Maryze Bernard), based in Montreal but originally from Vancouver, who released their debut album 8 in 2022.  It took me a few listens to really get the alt-pop feel of the whole album - of which this song is an absolute centrepiece - but I'm in.  I'm all in.  

This song starts a little slow but build quickly, and the seizure warning is no joke.  Directed and concieved by Maryze themself, the video is visually appealing and draws you in.  

29 March 2024 - Cœur de Pirate - Place de la République

Some artists don't release bad albums.  

It took a while for Blonde to grow on me, but it did.  Her solo catalog is eight albums deep at this point, and I'd put at least three of them in my top 20 of all time - Roses (easily top 5 and probably top 3), Perséides,  En cas de tempête, ce jardin sera fermé - and the rest aren't far behind, including Blonde.

This absolutely stunning song, written by Béatrice Martin (who by now you should know is Cœur de Pirate), is the reason Blonde exists.  It is a hauntingly dense and beautiful song that she was dying to record.  Named for the plaza in Paris, it is a melancholy love song, and it sits smack dab in the middle of the album.  

Voici Cœur de Pirate interprétant la chanson en direct et en beauté à l'Aéroport international Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau de Montréal. Est-ce une salle de concert insolite ? Bien sûr. Est-ce absolument magnifiquement réalisé ? Absolument. Ai-je utilisé Google Translate pour vous écrire ? Vous pariez que je l'ai fait.

28 March 2023 - Neil Young - Rockin In The Free World

Born in Toronto, and a Canadian citizen, Neil Young is an absolute national treasure. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1982 - 7 years before today's song was released.

This song, from Young's 1989 album Freedom, is one of his biggest hits ever, being both a Canadian chart hit and a US rock radio hit.... plus MTV loved this song, which you can't say about every song and video he made. 

This song was something of a career revolution for Young, who subsequently toured to packed houses and released a live album - Weld - that was also a hit.  Written by Young, it is absolutely a song of revolution.

The song was actually on the album twice.  This acoustic version was also featured.  They're both really powerful.

Young also performed the song live on Saturday Night Live in 1989, a performance Dennis Miller called the greatest ever for the show.

This is the REHERSAL.

It was so important to include Neil Young this month, and this song specifically, I moved Lights.

27 March 2024 - Loverboy - Turn Me Loose

Anyone who knows me personally knows that I spent several months in Calgary, Alberta in 2019... and visited for a day in 2022 as well.   I love the city.  It was a great place to work and live and visit, and I would gleefully return. 

Why am I spending time evangelizing Calgary?  

Because today's Wicked Guilty Pleasure hails from Calgary.  Formed in 1979, they got their start as Kiss's opening act in Vancouver.  

Seriously.  That was their first live performance.

An album followed in 1980, and their first single, released in 1981, was "Turn Me Loose".  Mike Reno really sells the song - practically begging to do it his way or no way at all.  It ended up being a Top 40 hit in the US (and a huge hit on rock radio in the States as well) and Top 10 in Canada.  It also won the 1982 Juno Award for Single of the Year. 

It would be their biggest Canadian hit (but by no means their only!), but they did a lot more in the US, where MTV embraced them.

And, yes, they are Canadian Music Hall of Famers - 2009 inductees - beating Shania Twain there by 2 years. 

And yes, they are still together - after a brief hiatus in the late 80s, they reformed in the early 90s and never looked back.

And Mike Reno is older, but still commands the stage.  That classic bassline is still there.  The classic guitar is still here, more than 40 years after its initial release.  

26 March 2024 - Riit - qaumajuapik

I don't think I've ever featured an artist from Nunavut.

Hell, most of you don't know where Nunavut is.

Riit is from a town in Nunavut called Panniqtuq located on Baffin Island, which is about 45 km. south of the Arctic Circle.  For those who measure distance in screaming bald eagles instead of kilometers, that's about 28 miles.  Nunavut is a Canadian territory, formed in 1999 when the Northwest Territories were split roughly along ethnic lines.  Nunavut is primarily Inuit, who are a First Nations group that you may know by another name we're not saying.

(There are certainly Inuit outside of Nunavut, which you already know if you read Totally Covered, so, you can miss us with that).

Riit is the stage name of Rita Claire Mike-Murphy, who is a children's television show host. She hosted a show in English and Inuktitut called Anaana's Tent.  Here's the Season 1 promo in English.

And here it is in Inuktitut.

We don't make this stuff up.

In 2017, she released her debut album, and followed it in 2019 with the critically acclaimed Ataataga - a 2020 Juno Award nominee - which included the lead single "quamajaupik".  Her music is traditionally Euro-synth, except the lyrics are all in Inuktitut.  Literally translated to "you are shining", this is a love song that preserves her native First Nations language, which is exactly her intent.

As part of the release of this single, Riit also had a performance for CBC Music in which she debuted this song.....

The performance is just spectacular, and that's why we're doubling up today and not pushing Riit's Maple Leaf March debut to 2025.  

26 March 2024 - Carly Rae Jepsen - Beach House

It's funny.   We've been doing this Canadian music thing in March for four years now. 

We've now had Carly Rae Jepson posts in three of them.  The year we missed?  2022.  

This song is from Jepsen's 2022 Juno-nominated album The Loneliest Time.   

The video is absolutely hilarious, and the song is a bop (and hilarious in its own right) that should have been a hit everywhere. 

We know from past experience that Carly Rae puts on a hell of a good show.  Here she is in Montreal putting on a hell of a great performance of this banger.

25 March 2024 - Charlotte Cardin - Confetti

Congratualtions to Charlotte Cardin on her multiple Juno Award wins.

I don't know as of this writing (I wrote this in February) whether she won last night or not, but, given all her nominations and critical acclaim, I'm going to bet she did.  I'll edit this post if I was wrong (but I won't be).

(Edit:24 March - she won Pop Album of the Year. and one of the major awards, Album of the Year.  She did lose Artist and Single of the Year - both to Tate McRae.) 

This song was nominated for Song of the Year this year (one of her six Juno nominations, including two for the album 99 Nights).  Written by Cardin, Jason Brando and Lubalin, this song is funky and has a strong R&B influence, with Cardin's husky voice carrying the track.  The song is lyrically a little depressing - reminding me a bit of "Habits (Stay High)".   

The song has been Cardin's biggest hit in Canada - her first top 10 entry - and she is absolutely an artist that deserves attention outside of Canada. 

Could Charlotte Cardin be the Canadian Taylor Swift? Who knows, but this crowd is really into her performance. 

I failed to mention earlier that Cardin is from Montreal, is of course still Canadian, and currently lives in Paris.  

I mention this because, on her 99 Nights Deluxe release, which was mostly French, she included 4 extra songs.... and really, this was just 99 Nights plus her EP,  Une semaine à Paris.

Actually, I think we mentioned this before.

The EP was centered around a French version of this song.

By the way, I am partial to this piano version - Cardin is an accomplished pianist, and performs her own song so well in such a stripped-down fashion.

(Edit: 25 March 2024) Of course, there is the version she performed at the Juno Awards...

24 March 2024 - Begonia - Marigold

Yes, Begonia is nominated at this year's Juno's (Adult Alternative Album of the Year, for Powder Blue), which are TONIGHT. 

Begonia is the stage name of Alexa Dirks, a singer/songwriter from Winnipeg, Manitoba, which, to those in the States who aren't following along this March, is in Canada.  She is unique, and flamboyant, and entertaining, and she deserves a bigger spotlight, which is why we're featuring her on a Wednesday and not a Sunday.

This song is a centerpiece of her nominated album, and was co-written by the artist with Matt Schellenberg and Matthew Peters (the three of them also produced the song).  It is a short song, sure, but also, it's a great showcase for one of the more unique voices in music today.

Begonia's songs are known to be even more epic live.  This is an in-studio live performance of this song at incredibly influential CFNY in Toronto - so maybe not so epic, but still, amazing. 

23 March 2024 - Feist - Of Womankind

If you didn't know that Feist was still making music after "1 2 3 4",  you're missing out on a fabulous solo artist.  The Nova Scotia-born and Calgary-raised artist released her comeback album Multitudes, nominated for a Juno and shortlisted for the 2023 Polaris Music prize (it lost that), in 2023, and it is truly delightful.

The album documents the death of Feist's father and the adoption of her daughter - which makes for a rich tapestry of just beautiful folk-pop music.

As is typical of Feist, she puts on a hell of a live show - and in this show, she also shows the phenominal video she made for this beautiful song.

Also, this month is so packed we've got Feist on a SATURDAY!