Pop Music Challenge- Feist

Im gonna kick off this Pop Music Challenge with an old favorite. Feist is just lovely; not only is she a hot lady who plays music, but she also writes some really catchy shit. Shes been a part of some really neat side projects, like her work in Broken Social Scene and her awesome rendition of 1234 for Sesame Street, and her solo works have been continuing into more interesting territory. From her debut forward (2004s Let It Die) she had my attention, kicking off her career with tracks like One Evening and Secret Heart, but really snaring me in with track 2, Mushaboom.

Again, this shit is just pop gold, and the video compliments the song greatly: from the start of the video, she gets out of bed singing along to her own song being played on the radio. The lyrics talk about optimism and being happy with what you have, with dreamy undertones of the possibilities of life and love with a properly stoked imagination. When she suddenly enters the dream world, where everyone on the streets turn into her backup dancers and things happen because she wills them into existence, it is just so damned fun and happy. I love the effect of having the song enter full range stereo as she transitions from her life in the apartment to her dream life in the streets.



let it die

Pop Music Challenge- Talking Heads

I have officially hijacked the Swords to fill it up with pop music, new and old, and I have no shame in this action (my facebook post of The King of Wishful Thinking notwithstanding; it IS catchy, and damned hilarious).

To continue on, i must mention this favorite of mine for the last few years. I will get straight to the point: This Must Be The Place, off of their live album Stop Making Sense, is Talking Heads at their very very super-berry best. I have been listening to it a lot recently; it instantly puts me in a good mood. I first critically noticed how very repetitive the rhythm section is in the track.. The bass, guitar and percussion play precisely the same progression through the duration of the song, which in certain instances can mean a very redundant sound, but David Byrnes varying vocal melodies (with the great harmonies provided by his backup singers) lend the track many unique sections, with such nice lyrics behind them:

"Home is where i want to be/ But i guess im already there
I come home/ she lifted up her wings/ i guess that this must be the place"



stop making sense

Pop Music Challenge- Ninko

As another "thanks" (as we quickly and quietly passed our 30,000 views milestone), and also as an inclusion to the Pop Music Challenge, i wanted to show you guys another song of mine. It came about while i was listening to a lot of Flying Lotus, and set out to create an 8-bit sounding instrumental track in his style; i wrote up to the 40 second mark without any further thoughts and decided to take a break for a shower, when the vocal melody hit me. And bam, in about 5 hours i completed the entire track; sometimes you get rolling and cannot stop it. The lyrics are about wishing you were The Hero in your story, the guy who saves the day and rescues the princess. Blam!

06 The Hero by ninko