After several weeks of working independently, we are proud, this week, to present a collaboration. Across both space and time, our two heroes have managed to throw together a poppy chorus with Canadian indy-rock influenced verses and record it for presentation here as the twenty third song out of fifty two. Just think, if songs were years, our little project would already be legally drinking throughout North America, and would be just two years off from being able to rent a car everywhere. What a magical time. Bah dap Bow! Read the rest of this entry »
Archives for category: upbeat
When one writes a song that one wants people to be able to dance to, but when one does not profess to possess any expertise in that domain, one might procure a song like this week’s Here’s looking at you, my dear. Do the added beats sound like mistakes? Does one feel compelled to dance upon hearing this song? (If you are bobbing your head by the chorus, we’ll take that as a yes). Is there a hint of modern country seeping through the bassline and drums? All these questions, and more, will be answered in just under 4 minutes. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, they paved paradise and they put up a parking lot, with a pink hotel, a boutique and a swingin’ hot spot. They took all the trees, put them in a tree museum, and charged the people a dollar and a half just to see ’em. Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone? Yes, it don’t. Read the rest of this entry »
Concurrent to the progress of 52 song project, 2011 is shaping out to be a truly historic year. Canada’s contribution to this story was added to last Monday as Canadians elected their first Green MP, gave NDP official opposition status, obliterated the Bloc and Liberal parties and restored the Government of Stephen Harper. In direct audio response to this Blue Monday, and in the spirit of Dylan (though not in musical style), we bring you Suburban home: sick blues.
The lyric “maybe I got on the wrong boat” reminded Claire Salloum of the Jane Smiley quote “I’m not the right bird for this flock,” thus this week’s illustration in the style of Charley Harper. Read the rest of this entry »
Ok, there are a lot of moving parts with this week’s song, so listen up! First, this week comes with a behind-the-scenes video documenting the writing and recording process that took place last Saturday morning at the Steam Whistle Brewery in downtown Toronto. Second, after recording that demo on-location using only an iPad 2, we decided to record another version back in our controlled and familiar Pro Tools environments. The result is that this week we’re posting two different recordings of the same song, plus a video, plus a lot of explanation. It was an extra fun week. Hope you feel the fun! Oh, and pleasea drinka responsibly. Read the rest of this entry »
We are surrounded by negativity, bad news and malicious people. But we are also surrounded by beauty, love and awesome people. With hard work and integrity, we can “be the change we want to see in the world” – this song is about choosing the long road over the shortcut, the kind words over the vengeful ones, and forever striving to be a good soul. Join us! (Hey guys, guess who wrote that paragraph, Steve or Chris? Go ahead, guess.) Read the rest of this entry »
For two white, middle-class (middle-aged? No… not yet, right?) men, we are hoping this offering strikes somewhere on the reggae pendulum around 311 but well below Bob Marley. A gender-specific (but not exclusive) song about strength, confidence, adversity and rain storms, we hope to convey a message of strength: don’t give up. Read the rest of this entry »
This is our most ambitious recording to date. Song 12 includes, in no particular order, 22 different layered audio tracks, over 70 audio plugins, lyrics and melodies lifted from Eddie Murphy, made up words, wind chimes, distorted Danko Jones-style bass, a fake party at Steve’s place and a breakdown with autotuned vocals recorded using an iPhone and the I Am T-Pain app. This week’s illustration also has more detail than any that precede it, so we recommend you click on it to see the larger version.
Now, all of this effort and work doesn’t necessarily a great song make. Just look at Avatar. And yet! We’re happy with it, and we hope you are too. Specifically, we hope you like to gambo. Read the rest of this entry »
This one is a reverse chronological song about being tempted by the devil. Wait, is devil spelled with a capital “D?” I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Speaking of which, has anyone else noticed that the world has been getting a little wild? Though this song leans on poor decisions, today we encourage you to go out and make someone’s day. Please. And thank you. Read the rest of this entry »
So, Chris is in Austin and Claire’s internet is down – so you’ll notice a couple of things this week. Most visually, there is not yet a graphic, so that will just be a little nugget you can look forward to in a couple of days… I was going to try to do one myself, but there is no way I could do it justice. Secondly, in Chris’ absence, to introduce this week’s song which is inspired by the rain slowly washing our snow away, I will be talking to myself. Read the rest of this entry »
