Tag: 2020

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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 2020: #11 The Reds, Pinks and Purples “Forgotten names”

<< #12    |    #10 >>

Memory is a funny thing. And it seems to have gotten an even more bizarre sense of humour over the past half decade or so.

I used to have a great memory, being able to recall the names of every actor and every director of all my favourite films, having the names of all the great musicians and bands I love at my fingertips at the odd chance that someone might ask for my opinion or any music recommendations. It hasn’t been quite as reliable of late, some of that being related to certain medical issues that I’ve been recovering from, but some of it might just be my age, and even just the age we’ve been living in, with all the collective insanity of the last five years. All in all, my relationship with and my thoughts about memory have definitely changed and so when I think about it, see references to it in films and hear raps on the theme in music lyrics, I take note and ponder.

And even though it may not be the case, it feels like Glenn Donaldson, frontman and driving force behind The Reds, Pinks & Purples, also seems to have a complicated relationship with memories and nostalgia. His songs (and there are a lot of them of late) mostly sound like they are ruminations on some memory or other, whether explicitly or implicitly, directly through narrative or hinted at through the dreamlike quality of his music. Whenever I put on his records, I know that my mood is going to be quite nostalgic by the end, whether I started out that way or not.

I got into The Reds, Pinks & Purples with their third release, 2021’s “Uncommon weather“, and immediately went digging for more of their tunes. There was already plenty to find and there’s been no lack of new output every year, given that Donaldson has been quite prolific with this project, releasing over 8 albums and just as many (if not more) EPs since his first release in 2019. And the tunes have been consistently great, and consistent in their dream pop sound that hearkens back to heyday of late 80s John Hughes soundtrack material.

“I always said you were the thief
you’ll be a star
with a red guitar
you took from better bands we used to see”

Track two on “You might be happy someday”, the 2020 mini-album by The Reds, Pinks & Purples, is a spritely three and half minute wistful guitar jangle wonder called “Forgotten names”. It’s held together by a jaunty but cheerful drum beat, seemingly content to just hang out, cool for cats, simply drifting in all the reverb, but it’s there to tempt your toes to tap. Donaldson’s voice is typically plaintive, like a memory of a dream faintly remembered from a lemon-light sunny Sunday afternoon nap, the kind where you dip in and out of consciousness, you’ll never know which was which later on. It feels like a song about those people that have made a mark on us, like it or not, something they said or did coming back to haunt us at random moments, even though they may have only passed through our lives for a short time and though their names are long lost to us.

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

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Best tunes of 2020: #12 Elliott Brood “Stay out”

<< #13    |    #11 >>

It was an old high school friend that tipped me off to Elliott Brood close to two decades ago. I haven’t seen Jeff in the flesh for many, many years but we’ve long been friends on the Facebook and at some point in the 2000s, he posted on his page about his cousin Casey’s band. I was mildly curious so I checked out their website. Their self-description as ‘death country’ made me laugh enough to give their debut long player, “Ambassador”, a listen and the rest, as they say, was history.

The trio of Mark Sasso, Stephen Pitkin, and Casey Laforet formed in Toronto in 2002, a few years before that fateful Facebook post. I’ve since found much to like in their alternative folk/country/rock over the years, have seen them live a couple of times, and would jump at the chance to do so again. By my count, they’ve released six studio long players and a bunch of EPs, including 2023’s “Town” and 2024’s “Country”, which were collected together to form one super album last year.

Today’s song, though, comes care of their last full-length album, “Keeper”. Of track two, Casey Laforet fully admitted that it was inspired by an old mandolin that he bought in St John’s, Newfoundland, that he calls ‘Old Smokey’. He hadn’t picked the instrument up in a while but when he finally did, “Stay out” simply burst forth into existence. He says that he doesn’t think the song could have or would have been written on a guitar. It was ‘Old Smokey’s tale to tell. Indeed, the mandolin strum is prominent and alive in the song. But so too are the foot stomps and hand claps* and for that we can only be eternally grateful.

“I got healthy kids and a beautiful wife
But I don’t wanna go home
I’m proud and thankful and terrified
But I don’t wanna go home”

“Stay out” is a joyful sounding number despite its not-so-joyful lyrics. Sometimes everything appears to be going well on the outside but things are not quite right on the inside. Thankfully, we have songs like this that make it all feel alright and we can get up to stomp it all out.

Thanks, Old Smokey. And you too, Elliott Brood.

*Both are sounds that the band went to great lengths to include on “Keeper”.

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