For the Early Morning Risers

I’m the type of girl that needs to play music to wake myself up in the morning. It can’t just be any song though. Choosing my early morning wake up song is a serious decision.

If I choose something too mellow, it’ll make me want to crawl back into bed or it’ll put me in a somber, zombie like state for the rest of the day. If I choose something too loud, it will just irritate my ears and leave me with a daylong headache. There are very few songs that have the ability to put me in a “feel good, I’m ready for the day” kind of mood.
If it wasn’t for my dear friend Tali bringing home new fantastic music from Australia, I would have never found what I consider to be one of the top 5 songs to play before 7:30 a.m., and that is “Teenage Crimes” by Adrian Lux

This Swedish artist who started his career as a dancehall reggae DJ has gained a reputation for successfully meshing “minimal and grandiose sounds” in his music. His perfect balance of sounds has won over the hearts of music listeners around the world; it has even attracted the non house/techno music listeners (like myself) to not only bear this particular song but to love it to the point that it now holds a spot on the everyday playlist.

It’s the first few seconds of the song that make us reconsider whether this song should actually be labeled under the “dance/techno” genre. What initially throws the listener off is the introductory strumming on the guitar. That mixed with the incessant clapping produces this light and positive sound; it almost resembles what you would hear on an Edward Sharpe track (you know, where all you want to do is bounce your head back and forth to the catchy beat.)
At 0:15, this sound falls to the background as the pretty, female voice emerges and sings, “we don’t sleep when the sun goes down” in such a natural and effortless tone.
So already, just 15 seconds in, the song has you hooked because you have this simple, pleasant tune filling your ears from the moment you open your eyes… which I believe is much better than having your mother belt out your name numerous times from the top of the stairs.

Then, at 0:30 we begin to hear the techno beats creep in and intertwine with the guitar, almost making it seem they were there pulsating in our ears the entire time. As the lyric “we don’t sleep till the sun goes down, we don’t waste no precious time…” stays on repeat, the beats begin to rise causing every limb in our bodies to wake up. And finally, at 0:46 we are hit with a high voltage of sound screaming from the mixing boards.
It’s at this point that you realize why this is a perfect song to wake up to in the morning. The techno beats are bubbling in full force but they’re not overpowering the calmness of the female voice. The sweetness of her voice keeps you relaxed while these beats react to your body, providing it with the energy it needs to actually get out from under the covers.

And it’s from 1:20- 1:38 that we are awake and on such a high that we want to dance it out. Every beat is now unleashing on us, swirling in and out of the speakers, pumping up our energy while somehow mixing perfectly with the soft whimsical voice that’s singing “doooon’t goooo awaaaaaay.” At 2:31, the sweet female voice fades out as does the intense beat cycle and all we hear are those pleasant guitar chords drifting into silence.

So, how has this song changed my life? For starters, it pulls me out of my usual “mega grumpy, don’t want to speak a word to anyone” morning mood. And secondly, I have now acquired a taste for dance/techno music. But, it’s only because of the way Adrian Lux lays out the beats. They don’t hit you the second the song does, nor do they bombard your head making it impossible to hear yourself think. Instead, he slowly introduces them and only adds more once we are comfortable with the basics. He combines foreign sounds with ones that we could very easily hear on the radio, which makes any kind of music listener interested in this song.

Bottom Line:
1.    A big thank you goes to Adrian Lux for giving me another music genre to love.
2. This song can also be used as a good pre drink pump up.
And 3. Listen to this song…it’ll change your life… or at least your mornings. 

Perfect Tune for a Camp Bonfire

So, I don’t usually tell my readers how to read my blog, but trust me when I say to follow my instructions on this one. For now:  Play the Youtube clip above and listen.

…It’s pretty amazing, right?

Ok, so moving on. As I looked through my iTunes library this week for a new fabulous song to blog about I realized… there are quite a few songs I can no longer listen to. It’s not because I’m done loving them or that I’ve exhausted them on repeat to the point that I’m bored. I can’t play the damn songs because they seem to remind me too much of someone or some thing-- they either cause me to have someone stuck in my head that I don't want there, or they cause me to replay a situation over and over again.. when really I just wish to forget it.

But, it’s these songs, which mean something to me that make me truly appreciate the ones that are just fun and easy to listen to. They’re the ones that entertain your ears and almost cloud your mind from thinking about anyone or anything. That song for me is “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes.

In my head, whenever I think about the late 1950’s/early 1960’s, I imagine society as being very “Pleasantville” esque. Back then, everyone was just happy with the simple things in life. Guys ‘pinned’ girls…(no, this is not a Blackberry reference. Guys literally gave girls their pins indicating that they were now a couple) and everyone just met at the local dance club on the weekends. It was a sweet way to live life.  
When listening to this song, it instantly teleports you back to this time period.

I think it’s the introduction of the whistling and the taps on the tambourine that throw you back and make you feel like you’re at your town’s high school dance. This vision really starts to come alive though when you hear the first verse of this lovey dovey duet shared by Edward Sharpe and Jade Castrinos. It’s lines like:
“I do love my mah and pah” and “Well holy, moly, me oh my, you’re the apple of my eye” that make you feel like you’ve entered a classic old school love story.

At 0:51, with their two voices colliding alongside the trumpet’s joyful blasts do you feel yourself falling into this content state; you can’t help but find yourself smiling from ear to ear while bopping your head and tapping your fingers on any hard surface you can find.

After the second “feel good” verse passes and we reach our second chorus at 2:29, there’s this aura that's connecting us to the song making us feel as though we wrote these words ourselves. And, with what sounds like an 1000 person part harmony we hear the chant: “Home, let me come home. Home is wherever I am with you.” This feeling of being in the song is only enhanced at 3:14 when we get to listen in on the romantic banter between Edward and Jane until finally, Edward confesses his love for her.

That moment where the break for conversation resorts back to the third chorus is the same moment that should make us want to restore our faith in love songs... that not all of them are to remind us of heartbreak and how our exes cheated. But rather, how some still promote this once upon a time bubble gum pop, fun type of love.

4:22 in to the song, we hear a unique yet different type of orgasm--- the horns are pumping in full force, the accordion’s sound is echoing with every inward thrust, and the tambourine is shaking rapidly while Edward and Jane cheer different parts of the song. You don’t necessarily feel the usual shiver or the overbearing heart beat. What you do feel is complete satisfaction as this joyful tune continues to cloud your head for just a few moments longer.

So how has this song changed my life? Please refer to paragraph three.

Now as fabulous of the studio recorded version was to listen to, it’s time to understand and see why this band is pretty close to perfection.

This live performance only shows us how alive people become through music. Every member in this performance is having the time of their life as they present the crowd with real, unrehearsed, authentic music. There is no stage. There is no sound mixer or any other fancy sound equipment there. There's just the instruments and the band, fully immersed in the crowd, making every fan feel as though they are vital part of the performance.

Watch the entire video…the second song is just as life changing as the first.

So bottom line:
1.    Edward Sharpe or Jane.. if either of you stumble upon this blog and want to get me a ticket to your sold out show this Friday in Toronto…that’d be cool.
2.    If the live performance doesn’t make you instantly happy... well then I don’t know what would.
3.    This song makes me wish I was Penny Lane living in the 60’s.
Oh and 4, listen to the song… it’ll change your life.