24 April 2025 - Chairlift - Met Before

A couple of days ago, I featured a solo artist that emerged from a previously posted band.

Today, I go in the other direction.  

Before Caroline Polachek was a solo artist, she was in a band called Chairlift.  Polachek founded the band with Aaron Pfenning in 2005, and they lasted more than a decade before breaking up in 2017. 

This song, the second single from their 2012 album Something, is fun and sonically interesting. At this point, Pfenning had left the band, but early member Patrick Wimberly was still there. Polachek and Wimberly co-wrote this song, which has hints of an 80's sound (the band mentioned OMD and Art of Noise among the influences on this album). 

There's a lot of record of the band performing the song live, but my favorites are the stripped down versions, like this one for Belgian radio, where it's just a guitar, keyboard, and voices.....  

... or this duet version that even removes the keyboard. Polachek and Wimberly had a nice harmony that really pops here. 

23 April 2025 - Los Lobos - Shakin', Shakin' Shakes

This song by just another band from East L.A. was the lead single from their third album, By the Light of the Moon, in 1987.

It did not chart, but it DID get a lot of MTV airplay, and I have to say, it's what really got me into the band, ahead of their hitmaking years. Co-written by Cesar Rosas (the vocalist) and T-Bone Burnett (the producer), the song has a rockabilly/Latin feel - which makes sense given the songwriters. 

On an album that is somewhat bleak, I always found this song to be a bright breath of fresh air, even as a 15-year-old music fan in 1987. 

Guys, the band is still together, and the core of their lineup is still together, all these years later.

And of course they perform this song live, still.

And of course they still sound great!!

22 April 2025 - George Michael - Faith

Strangely, we have twice posted Wham! on here, but never George Michael solo work.  

And yes, when I posted this last year, I very clearly called it more of a George Michael solo song, but it wasn't in name.  THIS was.  

This was Michael's second solo single, but also, probably his most iconic single.  It held the top of the Billboard charts for four weeks in 1988, becoming the biggest single of the year by ANY artist. The song was never intended to be a single - until it was and THAT is when the songwriter - not coincidentally, George Michael - added the famous guitar solo. 

The pipe organ at the beginning is actually a nod to a Wham! song, "Freedom".  

And c'mon, the song is just fun.

25 years later, he performed the song live and it still sounded great. 

21 April 2025 - beabadoobee - Beaches

I'm guessing a lot of you who are indie pop fans are saying "well, it's about time he got here."

I got here.  This draft has been kicking around for months. 

And really, Beatrice Laus is one of the greatest and most accomplished singer/songwriters of her generation, so it's surprising she's not a household name already.  But it's starting to happen - this was a top 40 Rock chart song in the United States and was also a hit in New Zealand. From her fantastic album This Is How Tomorrow Moves, this song was released as a single in late 2024 and is an absolute gem. 

I was originally going to post this last week.  

I'm glad I waited, because she performed this song THIS WEEKEND at Coachella, and that was a delightful performance that I now get to share with you.

16 April 2025 - Lowell - Palm Trees

I've been really bad at updating this blog because I have been consumed with work and, really, the Canadian election that's coming in a couple of week.  So, I figured I'd borrow I post I already had written for March 2025 and post it today. 

And I chose a hell of a Canadian to post about today - Lowell. 

Did you know that Lowell was nominated for a Juno in a non-performer category in 2025? And WON?!

Yep.  She's a songwriter. And a Canadian one at that. 

She was also nominated for a Grammy, by the way.  Song of the Year. For "Texas Hold-Em", which she co-wrote.  

Although it's been a few years, she is a musician in her own right as well, despite her non-performer nomination. Born Elizabeth Lowell Boland and Toronto-based, she was born in Calgary in 1991 and has collaborated with a lot of pop and rock artists we've featured on this blog.  She's also produced - she co-produced the 2023 breakthrough album by The Beaches, Blame My Ex. 

This song, from 2014, from her album We Loved Her Dearly, is dreamy noise experimentation, at once interesting and different.  Lyrically, she's been called "the next Kanye West."  I get it.   Anyway, I encourage your timely listen. 

The song also sounds great stripped down to piano, like in this 2015 performance. 

11 April 2025 - Cœur de pirate - Cavale

Why does every Canadian artist I listen to release new music in EARLY APRIL right after I dedicate a month to them?

And yet, here we are. Our favorite record mogul (owner of Bravo Musique) with "œ" in her name has a new single out today.  And, frankly, it's a bright and fun banger.  

8 April 2025 - Dua Lipa - Love Again

This MAY be the first time we've ever had a song with Bing Crosby credited as a songwriter, but he is.  You see, he wrote the lyrics for a song called "My Woman".  And, Dua Lipa and her songwriting team were writing this song with a disco feel..... and one night, one of her songwriters started singing the song "Your Woman" by White Town over top of the pieces of "Love Again" they had already laid down.  

Dua thought it was from Star Wars.

Anyway, they laid pieces of Bing's recording over top of what they had already - with some significant pitch correction.   So, Bing, and not Jyoti Mishra, got a songwriting credit, because, despite what you've heard on social media, Dua didn't sample "Your Woman".  Both "Your Woman" and "Love Again" sampled the same parts of "My Woman".   

The more you know. 

Anyway, it's a cool, disco-y song and adding the sample makes it better. 

This was a pretty big hit song for Dua Lipa, especially in Europe, so she performs it live a lot.  However, I love this version she did with Elton John and a bunch of strings live-performing the "My Woman" sample.  It takes on a less disco and more torchsong feeling, but it still works, really well.   

Also, the woman can sing.