For Valentine's Day 2017, Keith surprised me with tickets to see YtG at Stubb's that night - a show that had sold out fast and to my great disappointment. Yay I have a fantastic boyfriend and that's just a tiny bit of the evidence! Also, it was a great show. For this new single, I feel like the band has taken their style slightly closer to the kind of soft rock power balladeers I grew up hearing as credits rolled on the VHS. Maybe I'm just thinking that as I've been listening to a lot of 80s lately, including some of those soundtracks. Or maybe it's the romance of this song making me feel nostalgic for those movies, as well as grateful for what I have.
The 1975 - Give Yourself a Try
WHOOPS. We let a month go by silent - as if we aren't constantly inundated with Important Songs. Anyway, hello again. I made a draft of this a while back and forgot.
This song is so 1975 - I found it immediately catchy. But also precious that it's about getting older and changing and adulting being hard, but c'mon let's all keep on trying. It's only too cute when I put myself above Matty and his specific problems with too much money/fans/drugs. Honestly, I need to be reminded on the reg to give myself a try. And I agree about whiskey (3rd verse).
Upcoming Shows
Parquet Courts - Total Football
Parquet Courts' new album, Wide Awake!, is fantastic, with many tracks worthy of a Most Important choice. I decided to go with "Total Football" because I feel like it captures what makes them great and because it feels a bit timely with World Cup coming up next week. If you've not had a listen to the album, do yourself a favor and cue it up, it's a gem.
Upcoming Shows
Angelique Kidjo - Once in a Lifetime
I heard Kidjo interviewed on NPR yesterday and immediately was excited about her covers of the Talking Heads Remain in Light album (in its entirety) - her versions almost feel like THEY are the originals. Of course that's because of the deep inspiration Byrne et al got from West Africa in creating the soundscape of the album, but it also has to do with how she interpreted the sometimes seemingly nonsensical lyrics - they spoke to her in a way that translates to me. Even if that's not the case for you, it's a great interpretation and hope you enjoy this Most Important Song.
Upcoming Shows
Shout Out Louds - In New Europe
Swedish pop-wavers Shout Out Louds are one of the few current bands that really pluck my strings of nostalgia. They're most often compared to The Cure, and I get that, but a strong as the comparison is, that's not the string I'm talking about. (And that incarnation of The Cure, the dreamy poppy version, is not nearly my favorite. Give me the dark, gothic rock of the really early days.) No, to me they remind me of the more sophisticated wave-rock of bands like Visage and Ultravox. This latest single, "In New Europe" feels a bit lighter than all that, it's a bit of a chair dancer, but the hints are there.