I don’t know if there’s really such a thing as a perfect song but if there is Canada’s Patrick Watson has surely hit upon it.

Watson is an immensely talented and creative performer who’s music is just nothing short of enchanting. This song is no different, but on track lists full of lots of other incredible music, it surely stands out. It’s simple, super-simple, but Watson’s voice over the gentle ebb and flow of the piano creates some kind of other-worldly bliss. With overly complicating things he captures some kind of raw emotion and, for me at least, it resonates big time. Performed live, as you’ll hear, this song is just breath-taking.

The Great Escape

It’s not often when a band can take a track and make it sound so much better live than it did in the studio. In the case of Talking Heads that’s exactly what they’ve done here, and why this track is so worthy of a mention as one of my favourite live tracks.

In 1984, Talking Heads produced a live concert record and movie, Stop Making Sense. In many respects, the film and album were ground-breaking and the production quality is absolutely outstanding. The stage and set design, the concert production, and the well-directed scenes were enough, in and of themselves, to make the project important and worth a look but beyond that, the music is incredible. Incredible.

Here you have David Bryne, the New Wave genius, dressed up like a computer programmer from IBM, strutting the stage like a chicken and delivering his lyrics with an obvious, honest passion. He’s into it. And he isn’t alone. It’s incredible how much energy they can pack into this relatively anti-climactic song. The quality of music, the arrangement of the song, the passionate delivery, really sells this track.

This is probably my favourite Talking Heads song and to hear it done so well, live, is an absolute treat.

This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)

This clip first aired during the Athens Summer Olympics in 2004.

Mary Carillo, former professional tennis player turned Olympic correspondent for CBS, was anchoring a late-night badminton match when she decided to compare “backyard” badminton to the stuff that the “bad boys of badminton” play at the Olympic Games. What ensues is a pitch-perfect Seinfeld routine delivered with such straight-faced seriousness that it makes you wonder if she wrote this ahead of time or if it’s all off the top of her head. Either way, Carillo doesn’t miss a beat and her performance is legendary. Shame I hadn’t seen this clip until now.

Via BoingBoing.

This video starts slow, but the pay off is huge.

Via BoingBoing.

My goal with The 90′s series has been to prove that the decade of my musical youth featured more than a couple of gems. This week’s band, Sloan, are one of those very precious gems.

Sloan were one of those rare 90′s bands that, looking back, were well ahead of their time. Ahead of that more stripped-down rock and roll sound that lots of bands today are trying to achieve. Well ahead of the whole indie rock movement. Even their music video, which has a decidedly Fargo feel to it, seems ahead of the curve when you compare it to the other stuff that was being committed to film in the 90′s. But, I’ll let you decide for yourself.

The Good in Everyone (1996)

In this new series, Live Tracks, I’d like to share with you some of my favourite live performances.

When I first heard of John K. Sampson it was as a member of the Canadian punk ensemble Propagandhi—a Winnipeg-based, liberal-minded, politically-charged group of young musicians looking to express their angst while making a difference in the world. To put it lightly. As a kid of, I guess, fourteen themes were largely lost on me but I loved the fast-paced, high-energy sound that the band managed and despite not really grasping what they were singing about a song that sounded like someone reading a textbook at an extremely rapid rate was nothing short of awesome.

Sampson ended up leaving Propagandhi, mellowing out, and putting together The Weakerthans— a Winnipeg-based, liberal-minded, poetically-poignant group of slightly older musicians looking to make good music and tell interesting stories. Occasionally, in concert, Sampson will revisit some of his old Propagandhi material and make it sound great. In this case, Sampson takes a high-tempo song and makes it sound awesome as a simple guitar and voice combination. In its stripped-down form, its the simplistic melody and the lyrics that really stand out. It’s Sampson’s overwhelming talent as a musician, I think, that really shows. Check it out, and enjoy.

Gifts

Shad is a Toronto-based, Kenyan-born rapper who I have become absolutely obsessed with. Why? Because he is absolutely dripping in talent, and positivity. His lyrics are insightful, intelligent, and awesome.

His latest single, which samples from the Lynn Anderson song Rose Garden, is nothing short of incredible and I applaud the raw wisdom that he seems unashamed of sharing in his music. And, he’s hilarious as evidenced by some of his earlier material (which you should also have a look at).

Is that not enough for you? Should be.

PS: I’m buying a pair of those shoes, Maria!