New Music Monday #9 - Merdan Taplak
Truth be told, I knew nothing about Merdan Taplak until 34 hours ago. The Artist Manager of some friends mentioned me in a tweet:
Some Doug, all the way from Canada, just bought @merdantaplak’s debut album. Love! #initforthehoney (@janeccman)
Sidenote: Don’t you just love Canadian connections? I do. Send them all my way!
My curiosity was immediately piqued. New music? I’m there. Plus, if “some Doug” from Canada liked his music, maybe I will too. I eventually landed on Merdan Taplak’s website and on the Video page—since the Music page wouldn’t load on my iPhone and I was too lazy to load up my SoundCloud app. The first thing I played was the video above for “Nice to Be A Girl” featuring Eline Mabilde from Gent, Belgium (is everyone from Gent?!) (She’s really pretty, by the way.) The song is cute, and, as a girl, I love the lyrics, but the video with the kids playing house puts it over the top. I mean, did you see the way their feet dangled under the table? They couldn’t even reach across to play footsies. And the boy wore a fedora to his show and killed it!
Sometimes I wish I was a boy
Sometimes I just want to destroy
Merdan is a DJ/producer from Antwerp, and his debut In It For The Honey, which I’m listening to right now on SoundCloud, came out only a month ago. Pretty cool that he’s even got Princess Superstar as a guest artist (among others) on the album. There are so many instruments on all the tracks; it blows my mind. I think my favourite, besides “Nice To Be A Girl” is “JIMS”.
Honestly. When did I start listening to techno?
Merdan Taplak
Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | SoundCloud
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New Music Monday highlights my favourite new musical discoveries. The series will encourage me to actively seek new music and (hopefully) encourage others to open their ears to something new. Got a recommendation? Write me!
New Music Monday #7 - Horses on Fire
It’s Monday, and I’m listening to one of my new favourites on repeat, and—for once—I’m not entirely exhausted from work and le social life, so here I am!
I honestly cannot recall how I found out about Horses on Fire. I also have no idea how popular they are in Belgium. All I know is that for a band that doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page, Horses on Fire feels like a band I’ve listened to for years. I love their album. Love.
They call themselves “Belgium’s best-kept guitar secret. Up until today, at least.” I might have to agree with that. They have that vintage rock sound the modern radio desperately needs, to counter all the ridiculous teen pop and angry, dirty hip hop. And I can definitely imagine Horses on Fire becoming a huge hit on 102.1 The Edge. Perhaps, it’s their familiarity that has me in love with them. Sadly, I’m awful at pinpointing who bands sound like, i.e. they are a touch of x with a mix of y and the vocals of z. I can’t do that. (Which is why I can never be a professional music critic.) You tell me: who do they sound like?
Their untitled debut album was released only three weeks ago on February 6th, 2012. Their Belgium album release show was five days ago, and their Netherlands show isn’t even until Thursday. The band is comprised of Thijs De Coledt on guitar, Michélé De Feudis on vocals and guitar, Alessandro De Feudis on drums and Anthony Statius on bass guitar. My three favourite songs on the album are “Draw The Line” (see music video above), “Raw Meat”, and “Better Than You”. Stream their album in its entirety and tell me which is your favourite.
I also love their music videos. That robot kills me. “I’ll 11011 you ‘til you drop, love.” <- That needs to be on a t-shirt.
If these guys get famous in North America, I want to be credited as the girl who made them that. Keep that in mind, k?
[Edit:] I lied. I think I figured out how I learned about them. Studio Brussel’s YouTube channel, duh. As always. It was their cover of Easy that had me hooked.
Horses on Fire
Website | MySpace | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | SoundCloud
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New Music Monday highlights my favourite new musical discoveries. The series will encourage me to actively seek new music and (hopefully) encourage others to open their ears to something new. Got a recommendation? Write me!
“XO til we overdose…”
Part of me is mad at Drake (aka Aubrey Graham) and The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye) for bringing everyone into my world of XO.
Yes, I claimed it to be my own. There is something so beautiful about the marriage of the letters x and o that had/have me loving the idea of kisses hugs intimacy relationships love. It’s simple, meaningful, yet so tragic.
When I began this post, I had The Weeknd’s “Next” at the top. I have been listening to the Echoes of Silence mixtape on repeat despite thinking, just months ago, I’d never fully enjoy his music. How wrong was I to dismiss him and his work. Browsing through Tumblr just now, I stumbled upon Beatrice Martin (Coeur de Pirate)’s reblog of The Weeknd’s posting of that song. When I went to The Weeknd’s Tumblr, I was reminded of the XO symbol now so ubiquitous and popularly associated with him and Drake. The “XO Gang,” they call themselves.
I was suddenly reminded of what XO means to me—what it meant to me, not now but years ago when things weren’t so…what’s the word…composed.
If Elliott Smith was still alive today, he would be turning 43 this August. I can only imagine how his life would have turned out: I dream of a world that becomes inspired by his music, his talent, and his emotions; but the reality is likely that the same tragic ending would nonetheless have occurred somewhere down the road. It almost seemed inevitable that he would part from us too soon, his life too short-lived (but maybe that’s all/what he wanted/needed).
Elliott Smith’s 1998 album titled XO changed my…life—I hesitate to use this word in fear of demeaning what I’m getting at, but I have no better way to put this. His music effectively changed my outlook; He made me feel like I belong; I could relate to him, although I knew I could never understand all that he went through and how he felt.
He empowered me to love. And all that I can do to thank him for his influence is to live my life as happily and confidently as I can, always seeking the positive in every situation, person, success, and mistake.
Looking out on the substitute scene
Still going strong
XO, Mom
It’s ok, it’s all right, nothing’s wrong
Tell Mr. Man with impossible plans to just leave me alone
In the place where I make no mistakes
In the place where I have what it takes
