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Best tunes of 2013: #17 Suede “It starts and ends with you”

<< #18    |    #16 >>

Suede (aka The London Suede) is a band that I didn’t love upon first hearing. I thought their self-titled debut was just… ok. Nevertheless, I grew to appreciate them more with each new album and upon return listens and further reevaluation of their previous outputs. So by the time of their fifth album, 2002’s “A new morning”, the album that would ultimately break up the glam rock, erstwhile Britpop outfit, I was a full-fledged fan.

My fandom continued to grow in their absence and thus, I was ecstatic when the group re-formed in 2010 for some concerts, thinking I might finally get a chance to see them live, and then, super-enthused when new material started appearing. I still haven’t seen Brett Anderson and company perform live but I’ve fully enjoyed the four albums they have released in the last decade or so and am looking forward to hearing their tenth album, released just today. The first of their post-reunion albums was 2013’s “Bloodsports”, an album that was a critical darling the world over upon release and got quite a bit of love by yours truly on my old blog, Music Insanity!

“And then I fall to the floor like my strings are cut
Pinch myself, but I don’t wake up”

The first single to be released from “Bloodsports” sounds from its title like it could be a straight-ahead love song, the stuff of fairytale wedding first dances. But hey, this is Suede we are talking about here. Like much of the album, it blends the best of what made their first three albums so great. “It starts and ends with you” is epic without being overwrought and glam without too much glitz and none of the saccharine sap. It is sonically dense, layers of razor sharp guitars and pounding drums. Brett Anderson is as cheeky and hip-smacking as ever, teasing both the good and the bad of being completely in love. Is it a healthy relationship or is it really catastrophic, destined to end in pain on all sides? You decide.

But while you consider, I’m just going to press play one more time, turn it up even louder, and dance in my bedroom like no one is watching.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2013 list, click here.

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Best tunes of 2020: #10 The Exbats “Hey hey hey”

<< #11    |    #9 >>

I couldn’t imagine being in a band with my father, whether at 10 years old, 20, or any age really. But that’s the relationship between the two primary members of The Exbats, the band behind our song at number 10 from my list of favourite tunes from 2020.

Originally called The Numbats, the band began over a decade ago when Kenny McLain, who had recently picked up the guitar, decided that his 10 year old daughter Inez needed to learn to play an instrument. He gave her the option of learning to play the piano or to pick up the drums and play in a band with him. She chose the latter and they never turned back, though they both freely admit that it took them quite some time to get to where they are today. Inez also provides vocals on most of the songs and they have in the past employed a bass player* to bring their band complement to three. They’ve released five full-length albums and a handful of EPs, most of which have come in the last five or six years.

I couldn’t tell you now exactly how I came across this DIY indie group based in Arizona. It was early days in the pandemic and I had a lot more time on my hands, as all of us did. I didn’t really pick up a new hobby as I’ve heard others might have done, I just spent more time doing the things I was already doing. I probably discovered a lot of artists that I mightn’t have otherwise done under normal circumstances, looking under proverbial stones in corners of the internet that I didn’t often have time to reach. I probably came across The Exbats’ third album “Kicks, hits and fits”, just over a month after its release while mindlessly scrolling late into the night and quickly fell for its retro leaning, jangly pop rock. Admittedly, I haven’t to this day heard any of their other material but this album is rooted deep in 2020 for me, having brought some sunshine in an era of darkness and confusion.

“I wrote a stupid song today. (Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey.)
And I threw it all away. (Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey.)”

Perhaps fittingly, the penultimate and my favourite track on the album, “Hey hey hey”, is apparently all about the feeling of isolation in this world that’s heavily influenced by social media. It’s a bouncing and haunting number, very retro sounding, layered vocal harmonies, some rough hewn and some clean, a bopping bass line, clipping drums, all succumbing to a reverb drenched negative space, reminiscent of Phil Spector production. Beautiful stuff.

*When I came across them, Bobby Carlson Jr was filling that role.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2020 list, click here.

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Best tunes of 2003: #9 Belle & Sebastian “Dear catastrophe waitress”

<< #10    |    #8 >>

“Dear. Catastrophe. Waitress.”

Back when I first moved to Ottawa, I was employed at a call center taking calls for a utility company that I will not name here. It was unionized and pretty good pay and I was often able to pick up extra shifts to pay down my student debt. And if they hadn’t closed up shop in 2006, I might even still be working there today.

My coworkers were good people and management understood that taking calls was a tough job so they were often looking for ways to improve office morale. They held plenty of social events, encouraged fun, theme days in the office, and offered prizes for keeping call times low, call quality high, and for perfect attendance. While I was rarely in the top for call times and my quality was middling at best, I never missed work days, which meant collecting a hundred dollar gift card at the store of my choice for perfect attendance once a year. Of course, my store of choice back then tended to be HMV Canada, which allowed me to score a handful of CDs. The second year I got my gift card, my trove of purchases included the newly released sixth album by Belle and Sebastian, “Dear Catastrophe Waitress”.

I had been a fan of the Glaswegian twee pop collective for a few years by then, having been introduced to them by a friend in my final year of university. I had taken quickly to their first three albums, all of which had been released in just as quick a succession in the last few years of the 90s. And it was really on the backs of those that I bought the compact disc. I hadn’t taken as hastily to their fourth record, “Fold your hands child, you walk like a peasant”, though I’ve since grown to appreciate it, and the same went for 2002’s “Storytelling”, which was sort of the soundtrack to the 2001 Todd Solondz film of the same name*. Happily, I found “Dear Catastrophe Waitress” a complete shift in gears and a revitalization of Belle and Sebastian’s sound. There was tons to like and pick through and I spent a lot of time doing so**.

“I’m sorry that you seem to have the weight of the world over you
I cherish your smile
There’s a word of peace on your lips
Say it, and with tenderness I’ll cherish”

“Dear Catastrophe Waitress” is now one of my favourite albums by Belle and Sebastian and the title track is easily my favourite on the album. Track two is just over two minutes in length but it’s a frenetic two minutes. Like an ill run, short-staffed restaurant at lunch time, slammed by ornery and ignorant tourists. After two repetitions of the title, frontman Stuart Murdoch launches hard into an ode to the under-appreciated waitress. Meanwhile, the drums are non-stop and the symphony of horns and strings are all ramped up in keeping up, a cacophony of cartoon sounds, the coyote and roadrunner conspiring together.

By the end, we are all left breathless and sad. But ready to start it all over again.

*Which I also didn’t really like and unlike the previous album, I still don’t really like this one.

**I even picked up a novel from the library by Brendan Halpin, an author I had never heard of, a few years after the album’s release, simply because it borrowed the album’s title for its own. (It was an enjoyable read.)

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2003 list, click here.