🎶 Notes on Notes (2021–06–16)
So I always get nostalgic with that song.
Another single-heavy week. I took a peak ahead at the coming weeks and months and there appears to be at least a handful of very interesting albums on the horizon. Could be interesting. Could be a huge letdown. Too early to tell.
👀 Goings On About Music
Let us take a look at some new(ish) albums and singles…
💿 Albums
Dizzy - Separate Places ( Apple | Spotify )
It seems way too early in their career to call them prolific, but it seems like since I first heard their debut album in 2018 (which I didn’t hear until a year later), there’s been a steady stream of new music to enjoy. They seem to be taking a 1975-esque (at least early in their career) approach of releasing multiple EPs frequently rather than full-length albums less frequently. I was in favour of this with The 1975 and am in favour of it for Dizzy. Get out the music quickly and let it represent where you and the band were at the time rather than stewing on it and trying to combine different moods and vibes from a longer period of time. This is definitely more laid back than previous releases and seems to have more extra elements to the music (background noise, instruments with effects on them, variety of supporting instruments in addition to the basic band setup, etc) but the vocals still seem to be the best part (or at least the part I enjoy the most)
Islands - Islomania ( Apple | Spotify )
This isn’t an original concept but a friend of mine is strongly of the opinion that a lot of preferences in your life get locked-in to a time when you last considered yourself to be, “cool”. Your style, your music preferences, etc. Now I think I’m still pretty cool so I obviously don’t have this lock-in problem (right?) but the bands I first learned about in the late 2000s when I really started getting into the Canadian indie scene continue to be part of my ongoing music rotation. This includes Islands. I may be misremembering some of their earlier material (which, given their multi-year absence during an apparent breakup, is quite a bit older) but I don’t remember their music being this dancy or groovy. I’ll have to go back through their catalogue but regardless, this is a fun album to listen to.
🎵 Tracks
Weezer - Tell Me What You Want
I’ve previously noted that Weezer is one those bands whose musical choices no longer bother me. I’m fine with whatever they want to do - I’ll listen and then add it to a playlist or move on, no harm no foul. I have no idea what Wave Break is (seems like a video game) and I have no idea how or why Weezer is releasing songs for the game(?) but this is both the most uncharacteristically Weezer song AND also absolutely a Weezer song. Rivers seems to write pretty personal songs regardless of how inane the topic may seem. In this case, he’s naming names and targeting the tastemaker market and I’m, as the kids say, here for it. At the same time, this might be the most confrontational song Weezer has ever written - it’s practically a diss track.
Wavves - Hideaway
Can a song sound like it was performed by an indie garage rock band AND a west coast surf jam band? If it could, it would sound a lot like this one. I used the word, “fun” to describe the Islands album earlier in this note but I think that fits here as well. It’s a fun song. It made me smile and feel happier while I listened.
Big Wreck (feat. Chad Kroeger) - Middle of Nowhere
I’m not sure what has prompted this but over the last month I’ve seen new singles from The Tea Party, Moist, and now Big Wreck. If this is leading to some 90s Canadian alt-rock festival tour then it will all make sense but otherwise I can’t wrap my head around it. What’s next - Our Lady Peace? I Mother Earth? Maybe some Econoline Crush? Anyways, of the three bands releasing tracks, Big Wreck probably tops my list. I’m not sure the song needed that Nickelback flavour on the later verse but if it gets them more attention, go for it. The song is basically the epitome of not being able to teach a dog new tricks. This could have been released alongside any previous Big Wreck - or Thornley side-project - album and it wouldn’t have seemed out place. Big rockin' guitars, rough-ish vocals. Will be interesting to see if they can put together a whole album that’s worth listening to but I’ll gladly take a few more singles of this.
🎧 In My Queue
Aside from those albums and singles, what about some other tracks?
Octoberman isn’t a band that I can say I actively seek out to listen to. I came across their music in the late 2000s, liked it, and have enjoyed their music since but they don’t come to mind when I’m looking for a track to put on. This new single fits that exactly - I like it, I’ll listen to it. I continue to like the sound of the vocals and the avant-garden sax is an enjoyable touch… Joseph of Mercury was new to me but was interesting. The music has a sense of urgency to it but the vocals don’t mirror that. There isn’t a huge catalogue of tracks to dig through, but it might warrant some time… If you didn’t hear Lorde in the early 2010s you probably didn’t listen to music. She burst onto the scene with the track Royals in a way that made it impossible to not notice. I thought she had been away for a while but it turns out I completely missed her album from 2017. This last week, though, I felt like I saw some mention of her new single everywhere I went on the internet and I’m still not sure if this is because I underestimated how popular she is OR if the hype machine is just looking for anything to latch on to. Regardless, the new single is a good listen… DVBBS has put out some really bangin' dance tracks that I’ve liked. This one has an interesting folksy edge to it and if you’re a fan of Ellie Goulding, you’ll like the vocals - it’s not her, but it has a similar quality to it… As much as I like to suggest I’m a discerning listener with exquisite musical taste, there’s a bunch of things I’m a sucker for - and the heartbeat-style drum beat with echoey synths that kicks in around 15 seconds of this VINCINT song are a combination that I’m a sucker for. It helps having Tegan and Sara on the vocals as well…
Joseph of Mercury - Black Cat
Wavves - Hideaway
Weezer - Tell Me What You Want (From “Wave Break”)
Big Wreck - Middle of Nowhere (feat. Chad Kroeger)
Octoberman - It’s Time to Get Freaky Again
Dizzy - Sunflower, Are You There? (feat. Kevin Garrett)
DVBBS - Lose My Mind
Lorde - Solar Power
Islands - (We Like To) Do It With The Lights On
VINCINT - Getaway (feat. Tegan and Sara)
Subscribe to the In My Queue playlist on Apple Music or Spotify. It’s updated weekly with the new tracks.
Check out my profile Apple Music or Spotify for links to the playlists from previous weeks.
🏳️🌈🤘.