It’s kinda fun when you discover a band that completely blows your mind and not enough people know about them yet. Brooklyn group Tigercity produce a genre-defying sound, a mish-mash of melodies and harmonies that sits somewhere between Steely Dan and the Bee Gees. Only with tighter jeans. Want proof? Well, ok. Check out their track Other Girls. It’s 1976 all over again.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers / Learning To Fly We tried to cover this once, but realized we sounded like a bunch of douche-bags next to the real version. There’s nothing better than driving a van through the middle of nowhere America while listening to this song.
Alternative folk artist, Krista Polvere, left Australia for New York in 2007 to immerse herself in the city and be inspired by the streets that have spawned some of her favourite songwriters. Once there, she caught the attention of Ryan Adams, who collaborated on songs on Polvere’s beautiful debut album, Here Be Dragons.
Etta James / At Last When I play this song I start to swing around the house — singing and dancing like a crazy person. Her voice is sublime and the string arrangement is extraordinary.
California duo, Rubies, combine the sweet melodies of Fiest and Kings of Convenience with disco beats and a subtle funk undercurrent. All of which is reflected on their debut album, Explode From The Center, which has been described as ‘bedroom disco meets danceable folk’. Indeed. These are the songs that inspired that recording.
Wildbirds and Peacedrums / Doubt/Hope This is from a relatively new band from Sweden. The first time I heard it, I stood up and started dancing. I love how it’s just vocals and percussion — there is so much energy in this track, it sounds like it’s coming from people that are on the verge of exploding. I want more bands to have this energy. It’s like these guys have never listened to music before and created their own genre. I love them.
Not many grungy musicians have a past as both a chemical engineer and a rugby player, but Vines drummer Hamish Rosser does. Before joining the enigmatic buzzsaw three-piece, Rosser was also the skinman in a cover band, Sixties Mania.
The Strokes / New York City Cops An era defining moment was the Is This It album. Critics fell over themselves trying to describe how cool these five New Yorkers are and they inadvertently spearheaded the garage rock revolution of 2002 that we’re stoked to have been a part of. Sadly for the American market, this track, with the lyric ‘New York City cops, Ain’t too smart’, was left off the album as it was seen to be in bad taste given the heroism of New York’s finest on September 11. Too bad. It’s the best song on the album.
Los Angeles-based six-piece Dengue Fever play an interesting and assorted blend of Cambodian inspired pop music, directed by their multi-cultural make-up and driven by a darker psychedelic undercurrent which rattles the chord changes and adds colour to the arrangements. Their latest album, Venus On Earth, is epic, much like the Playlist of Paul Smith, the band’s drummer and producer.
Fela Kuti / Expensive Shit It seems fitting with the economy lumbering and prices on the rise. It has that eternal dance feel that can’t help but bring about hope. Great horn lines, great rhythm. We could use a Fela Kuti-like presence in America right now.
London-based four piece Burn Down Rome are on the fringes of the burgeoning alternative-hardcore scene with a thumping debut album — Devotion — and a Playlist that gives props to some of the contemporaries whose adventurous approach they take their inspiration from.
The Smiths / Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before The Smiths are the single biggest influence for Burn Down Rome. Everything from the riffs, to the ethic, to the lyrics, we love. Stop Me gives me shivers every time I listen to it. Below is a cover by Roy and Dale from the ska-punk band the Eclectics.
The music of Calexico has a subtle warmth to it. It’s intimate and loose, and it conjures up a thousand sandswept memories. Or something like that. They’ve always displayed their influences boldly on their well-worn jean patches, which is what makes frontman Joey Burns’ Secret Playlist such a diverse yet strangely familiar collection of songs.
The Acorn / Crooked Legs Hailing from our northern border, The Acorn have the talent of building melodies that are simple enough to dive into and stay deep in your consciousness long after the music dies. They are from Ottawa, the land of long summer days, and we met at Winnipeg for a rainy day festival. Caked in mud and shielded by thin tarps from the storm, we found this unexpected group’s catchy grooves and songs warming and nurturing. It’s good medicine for campgrounds.
The Panics are a Melbourne-based indie rock band who exploded onto the Australian scene in 2003 with the critically acclaimed album, A House on a Street in a Town I’m From. Since then, the Aria Award winning band have released two more long players, including Sleeps Like a Curse and last year’s ARIA and J Award winning album, Cruel Guards. We got the word on the tunes that make up their Playlist from guitarist Drew Wootton.
Jimi Hendrix / Have You Ever Been I don’t think I’ll ever get out of my Hendrix ‘phase’. I always liked the slower playing stuff though. His humanity seems to come through a lot easier on the ballad-y stuff. I also loathe ballads, so he’s got me good. This song is lush and pretty weird sounding. I love Hendrix because he’s got the innocence and creativity that reminds me of being a little kid, wrapped up in my own daydreams.
What more can be said about Seattle-based indie-rock group Death Cab For Cutie that hasn’t already been written in a hundred Spin articles. The band is now a decade old and still going strong, as evidenced in the release of their latest album — Narrow Stairs. Rolling Stone had this to say about their sound: ‘melodic, melancholy songs about feeling both smart and confused, hopelessly romantic but wary of love’. And so it is. We got the inside word on what they’ve been playing on their stereos from guitarist Chris Walla.
Hailing from Omaha, Nebraska, tap dancing five-piece, Tilly and The Wall are something else. Then something more again. They’re kitsch-cool-camp-vauderville meets pop-folk-flamenco, with a tap dancer for a drummer and some serious, serious charisma for a calling card. Kianna [first four songs] and Nick from the group gave us the lowdown on what they’re spinning right now.
Boys Noize / & Down It’s the ultimate club banger! Hard and straight to business.
My Secret Playlist is a music discovery website and weekly email publication. We invite our favourite bands and musicians to give us the rundown on their eight favourite songs right now. These are their words on the music that inspires them.
