Well well well my friends. I know I’m a new writer and all so you probably don’t really sympathize or anything but I finished my last class of my undergrad yesterday and praise be. I’m actually going to miss U of T, it’s been good to me. Although those actually painfully aware of all the insane fees they clandestinely threw onto our tuition invoices every year may feel differently, I’ve had some amazing profs over these past four years.
To commemorate, I’d like to share some songs I’ve been listening to over the last couple of weeks as the school year draws to an end. They are mostly old, but have been the soundtrack to late nights and very early mornings sitting at the edge of my chair forcing my eyes to stay open while I put together works cited lists for my papers, of applying eye shadow and trying to throw a reasonable outfit together with too little sleep, of skipping off to the subway with said essays in my bag, the early spring air crisp at my heels, on my cheeks, of hours spent in Robarts Library, in Pratt Library, staring at the blinking cursor, wasting time on Facebook, thinking about men, boys, guys, whatever you call them, spring fever sighs, a hand on my kneecap, trying not to fall asleep, of hitting save to do pharmaceuticals just to put off the impending deadlines just a little bit more, of falling in infatuations with beautiful men weekly, bi-weekly, of the long, shaking rides back home on the last westbound subways leaving the house of a man who has lived and suffered more than I have, whose skin I wanted to envelope mine even though he is still a stranger, remembering the smell from his wife-soon-to-be-ex-wife’s perfume bottles sitting on the glass shelf in the bathroom, walking through that rundown laneway again from Dufferin Station back home, just to flip through notes, dead tired but still going, keeping that GPA up… of trying to shut out everything in my life that was getting in the way, of taking long, long walks and clicking the wheel on my iPod higher and higher until I couldn’t hear anything else. This playlist is for those times. All of them. Haha.
OK GO – I Want You So Bad I Can’t Breathe
Alright, remember OK Go? G-g-g-g-get over it? That semi-annoying song that was popular back in 2004 or something like that? Then they had that wonderfully choreographed music video for that song ‘A Million Ways‘ that was pretty much Oscar-worthy or whatever the equivalent is for dancers. Well I downloaded their discography for nostalgia’s sake and turns out their sound has changed a lot. More synthy, less rock, more experimental. This song is off their latest, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky (2010), which is a concept album based on a “pseudoscientific book published in 1876.”
Mount Kimbie – Ode To Bear
Mount Kimbie played at Wrongbar a couple of weeks ago and of course I was too busy writing a paper to go, but that was when I first heard of this duo and the genre ‘postdubstep’ which obviously puts me behind in the game but nevertheless, this is definitely my new favourite genre or pseudogenre.
Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx – I’ll Take Care Of U
More postdupstep! Jamie xx’s remix of Gil Scott Heron’s ‘I’m New Here’ is just a shining gem. This song was released this January.
Moby – Everyday It’s 1989
Great house classic that should be played more. On a side note, why is Toronto lacking in such good house clubs? I’m sick of that Richmond St top 40s shit, there needs to be a club scene renovation in this city. I’m sure I’m not the first to say this.
Azure Ray – Don’t Make A Sound
A great band from Saddle Creek, off their first album. Good song for listening to while crying to yourself staring outside the giant windows in Robarts because life suddenly just got way too hard. How tragicomedic.
Silversun Pickups – Catch and Release
Off their latest, Swoon (2009). I loved this band from that first single of theirs to become a big hit, ‘Lazy Eye’ that summer of 2007, was it? That song announced summer that year, and although I was wary of Brian Aubert’s borderline annoying-emo-band-lead-singer voice, I quickly grew to appreciate it and his amazingly vivid lyrics. This song kind of makes me horny. But a lot of things do these days. Pay attention to the strings, they’re great.
Supertramp – Breakfast in America
A classic if there any was any, this song speaks for itself.
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