During my early teenage years I listened to a lot of what I now consider to be sub-standard music – I won’t name any particular artists for fear of trampling on anyone’s tastes, but let’s just say that for the longest time I was perfectly content with the onslaught of whiny voices, unimaginative power chords and love/above rhymes that dominated the charts at any given moment.
Then came the event that changed everything – in 2005, my friend Sean made a mix CD for me that compiled a plethora of music by Indie Rock artists, most of whom I’d never heard of before. Within a few weeks I had abandoned most of my prior music library, replacing it with the songs that Sean had given me.
Out of the hundreds of new tracks that I had added into my iTunes playlist, the ones I ended up listening to the most were Raw Sugar, Combat Baby, Hustle Rose and Calculation Theme – all songs by Canadian band Metric. The combination of masterful lyrics, playful yet pensive synth chords, as well as Emily Haine’s beautiful, mesmerizing voice just completely sucked me in and they’ve been my favorite band ever since.
Over time I also discovered Emily Haine’s solo project, Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton, which found Emily’s voice being used in a much darker, haunting tone – I ended up using ‘The Lottery’ from Knives Don’t Have Your Back in my Video of the Month for Dan and Dave Buck’s website to great effect.
Later that year, Metric ended up being the first concert I’d ever go to. As I’d hoped, they were just as good live as they were on CD, and Emily Haine’s stage presence was nothing short of breathtaking. During the show they played a bunch of new tracks off of their upcoming new album, which has been in the works for a while. For a while updates on the band were few and far between, but as luck would have it, a routine check on their website earlier today turned up this little video:
Apparently I’ve been out of the loop for a while since this video was posted back in early November, but I was really excited to hear that there’s been a lot of progress on the new album, with an amazing new song to show for it. Listening to Haines talk about the writing process, her insecurities, and the increased understanding of herself as a result of her work with the new album gave me some great insight into the creative process and motivation driving one of my favorite artists.
All in all, I’m really pumped for the new album, which according to the most reliable source on the internet should be out sometime in early 2009. From what I’ve heard so far, I’m confident it’s going to be amazing – wouldn’t expect anything less.
For more updates from Emily and the gang, visit ilovemetric.com
w00h Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton > Metric.
The great thing about the Indie genre is that I could name 25 bands that you don't know and you could do the same to me. Great for discovering amazing music!
Says you! Metric > Margot & the Nuclear So and So's anytime. Take that, pianissimo!
Anyway, totally agree with you on the band-naming aspect of Indie music – for every 5 obscure bands that you know of, there are at least twenty other great bands out there whom you've yet to discover. Which is, I feel, probably why most people tend to stay within their own confines of the chart-topping albums – they can't be arsed to go out of their way in finding good music.
-Kev, The Virts
After I started to speak to you, I have started to listen to a lot more Indie. Which is very cool, because it's a really interesting genre.
But it's strange how it works. Some of my friends listen to a lot of funk/jazz, and some listen to blues etc. And one of my friends even play Norwegian folk music, and it's all awesome, and these people have helped me expand my musical taste. Music is so colorful!
So what I think people should do, is not to just look at the Top 20 lists, but take a deeper search in older as well as new music and see if there is something that fits their personality, instead of the other way around.
Take care,
Stein
Glad to be of influence, Stein :D
And yes, it's mind-blowing how much great music there is out there, yet to be discovered. Just today I was going through my library, and I came across some tracks by Albert Hammond Jr. – beautiful, beautiful stuff. I listen to far more music than anyone ever should, but I'm always open to expanding my tastes… and if I don't like it, there's always the Delete button ;)
-Kev, The Virts
these posts keep getting better, all the orange things for me to click on keeps me entertained and shows you spent some good time :P
But thanks even more for really showing us your sweet taste in music, I really like all the songs and artists you’ve said so far. In the past weeks, just from this blog I’ve added nearly 200 songs to my iPod. (searched for music by the people who made the songs/related artists.
Glad you like them, Sean! My Firefox bookmarks section is just an orgy of random links, so I find a way to use them somehow… hehe.
I used to be stingy with my musical tastes in the past, since I was always afraid of people using songs I loved in shitty videos, thereby ruining my experience of the track forever. But as I've come to realize, for every song you love that gets violated in some two-bit video, there's always the opportunity for someone to really do it justice, and besides there are hundreds of other songs that are just as good that you still have up your sleeve So with that in mind, I decided to divulge the full soundtrack information for my videos on this site, and will be writing about many other artists I love in the future.
-Kev, The Virts
Glad you like them, Sean! My Firefox bookmarks section is just an orgy of random links, so I have to find a way to use them somehow… hehe.
I used to be stingy with my musical tastes in the past, since I was always afraid of people using songs I loved in shitty videos, thereby ruining my experience of the track forever. But as I've come to realize, for every song you love that gets violated in some two-bit video, there's always the opportunity for someone to really do it justice, and besides there are hundreds of other songs that are just as good that you still have up your sleeve So with that in mind, I decided to divulge the full soundtrack information for my videos on this site, and will be writing about many other artists I love in future posts.
-Kev, The Virts
Hahaha, kev, we have almost the exact same vocab: orgy, shitty, hehe , etc.
Well, what else am I supposed to do when I'm in a shitty orgy, etc? Hehe.
-Kev, The Virts
Glad to hear you'll post more of 'em! I'm kinda the same way sometimes, afraid to favorite certain songs I might use in a video; and I really hate the same song being used twice in a card-video!
Also I was wondering if you listen to any music by Sublime, Aerosmith, MGMT, Sweatshop Union and Soundgarden? Some awesome bands… if you haven't listened to too much stuff from them yet.
But I think the best song out there today would be by Andy Samberg:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4&fe...
I used to listen to some Aerosmith a while back, and I pretty much have of all of MGMT's stuff – they're awesome.
I checked out the other bands you mentioned, and while they're not exactly to my tastes, I do see why other people would like them.
And yes, that SNL track is the greatest. Can't wait to pick up Incredibad when it comes out ;)
-Kev, The Virts
Thank's to you I discovered Emily Haines, and then Metric which is one of my favourites band nowadays. Specially I love their 2005 album Live it out! :) Cheers,
Miquel Roman
Great to hear you're digging Metric – Live it Out is a great album, but my favorite by far has to be Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? – it pretty much encompasses everything I love about the band, from the catchy vibe of IOU and Combat Baby up to the lullaby-esque mood that Calculation Theme and Love Is A Place create. If I had to choose one thing to bring on an island with me, it would be that album and a CD player with headphones.
Oh, and some food and water of course.
-Kev, The Virts
Great to hear you're digging Metric – Live it Out is a great album, but my favorite by far has to be Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? – it pretty much encompasses everything I love about the band, from the catchy vibe of IOU and Combat Baby up to the lullaby-esque mood that Calculation Theme and Love Is A Place create. If I had to choose one thing to bring on an island with me, it would be that album and a CD player with decent headphones.
Oh, and some food and water of course.
-Kev, The Virts