Summer 2010 Flashback

Last summer I was really getting into a few awesome bands who put out records that set a fantastic tone for my summer. It seems like another age, looking back, and while I don’t have nearly as much idle time, there’s still plenty of great music!

At the time, in very heavy rotation was Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs, Wolf Parade’s Expo 86, and Tokyo Police Club’s Champ. I realized today that I have something ‘new’ to share from each of those artists, and I thought it would be fun to do an omnibus post!

Arcade Fire-
So I’m sure everyone is essentially sick of me talking about how much I liked The Suburbs, which is fair, but nonetheless: I’ve been jamming to a decent live recording of that album’s title track, and recently the AF crew did a rearrangement of the emotive centerpiece of that album, ‘We Used To Wait

      We Used To Wait (Rearrangement for WBEZ) - Arcade Fire

It’s definitely a softer, less aggressive cut of the song, and while I miss the piano, this version is still very full in terms of instrumentation, even as an acoustic track.

Wolf Parade-
Sadly, nothing legitimately new from Wolf Parade. You can hop over to NPR and listen to their Sasquatch set, which is really good. I think there’s a live stream of their last set too, which I heard did not disappoint. Instead, from these guys I instead offer a track from their previous effort, At Mount Zoomer.

I bought the record last summer, but never really sunk much time into it. Feeling nostalgic, I fired it up, and found a lot to like.

      California Dreamer - Wolf Parade

Above is an example, ‘California Dreamer‘ of the epic soundscapes that Wolf Parade so excels at. (9 tracks, only 1 of which is less than three minutes, 4 of which are longer than five!)

Tokyo Police Club-
This isn’t purely TPC, but instead by proxy of their keyboard player, Graham Wright. He has a solo album coming out soon (June 28) titled Shirts vs. Skins which has a lot of TPC’s signature sound to it, and I really warmed up to this track.

      Soviet Race - Graham Wright

I can’t tell to what extent I’m supposed to associate it with October Sky, but it’s a lot of fun regardless.

So that’s it for the summer 2010 flashback. Believe it or not, I have some legit album reviews in the works. Kinda had a mini-crisis where I decided I hated everything I was listening to, and had to start fresh with some new material that’s worked out much better.

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