The 8 Track – Weekend Listening Edition

It’s been awhile since I sat down and had 8 songs I felt strongly enough about to string them together into another installment of the 8 Track.   Happy Listening!

1. The Nursery – “She Speaks The Wave”

“She Speaks the Wave” is the latest single from Toronto four-piece The Nursery.  It’s a fantastic slice of power-pop which has a distinct European flare as it incorporates a distinct atmospheric underpinning of electronica.  It’s a song which is poised to catch fire on Canadian airwaves, it’s accessible, undeniably infectious and absolutely worthy of your time. Plug in and enjoy!

2. Mumford & Sons – “Believe”

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I was starting to experience banjo fatigue. While the new Mumford & Sons sound has drawn comparisons to both Coldplay and U2, and has wildly polarized its fan base, personally it is a necessary and completely welcome change.  If I didn’t fear an impending yeti attack if I rolled down my window these days, I’d have the windows cranked down and this tune blasting.

3. Florence + The Machine – “What Kind of Man”

Another major release for 2015, Florence + The Machine have stormed back with the fiery “What Kind of Man”, a big bombastic song that allows her powerful delivery to perfectly fill a room. Be it a club or an arena, this is a tune that you’ll be hearing a lot more of in the coming weeks.

4. Paper Lions – “My Friend”

It’s funny to think about what it takes for a band to really resonate with you, and in the case of PEI’s Paper Lions, it took a radio station (the Peak FM) out in Vancouver (those flip flop wearing, well tanned Jerks) to play this impossibly infectious and poppy tune.  It reminded me of Hollerado and Said the Whale and I was shocked to find that it was in fact a great local Maritime act.

5. Alabama Shakes – “Don’t Wanna Fight”

While the studio version of this track is fantastic, the band’s recent appearance on SNL completely blew it away.  The band’s performance is a taut tightrope walk between coming completely unhinged and giving in to the moment, and poise and control with the band finding that perfect middle ground with a blistering performance of the lead single from the band’s forthcoming release.

6.  Hozier – “Jackie and Wilson”

This song has been my savior during the latest blasts of winter, as it just brims with this sunny summery warmth which invokes memories of that season we used to call Summer. After a few massively huge, booming tunes such as “Take Me to Church” and “Angel of Death and the Codeine Scene” this is a far jauntier track than most are accustomed to with Hozier, but it lacks in no way, it’s a fantastic blast of summery warmth.

7. Thirty Seconds to Mars – “Stay”(Rhianna Cover)

After having bumped around in the YouTube tunnel I fell into, Hozier led me to this collection of really cool performances at the BBC Studios, of big name acts covering recent and well known pop/rock tracks.  Leto absolutely nails this cover of Rhianna’s smash hit “Stay”.

8. Joywave – “Somebody New”
https://youtu.be/FUyeviPn3DI
If you ever wondered what would happen if you combined the DNA of Weezer with that of Devo, doused it heavily in euro synth pop, and then asked the lovechild of John Waters and Jonah Ray to front said band, you would have created Joywave.  The heavily stylized image of the band is unmistakable, but thanks in large part to their collaboration with Big Data, Joywave is a much more common name after the huge success of their trojan horse “Dangerous”.  Now that you’ve let them in, they will win you over.

 

About the author

Trev

A proud and over-caffeinated husband, father, runner and writer. I've written for the local weekly The Coast for over a decade and have since taken to creating and writing for HAFILAX for even longer. I hope you enjoy the musings of a guy who has loved music for the better part of 4 decades, and has an album of concert tickets to show for it.

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