Tuesday Tune-Up is a weekly sampling of music worth adding to your iTunes. Focusing on a different theme each week, we’ll cover territory from old to new, local to export, and mellow to bangin’ with one constant: it’ll be pretty, pretty, pretttty good.
The third edition of Tuesday Tune-Up showcases the best tracks from last May, and album releases headed your way this June. Let’s gooo!
The Best of May:
Remix: Chainsmokers remix Phoenix’s “Trying To Be Cool”
It’s a beautiful thing when a remix makes you rethink the original song on which its based, and Chainsmoker’s take on “Trying to be Cool” leaves Phoenix’s version feeling naked and lacklustre. With twice the funk and fun of the already-tired “Get Lucky”, Chainsmokers gives us a saccharine summer track that will stick around until shorts devolve into shpants, and back into actual pants. Bangher!
Best Cover: Tame Impala covers Andre 3000’s “Prototype”
Australia’s favourite psychedelic rockers took on The Love Below‘s dreamy “Prototype.” And speaking of covers, did you notice that Tame Impala’s Kevin Paker looks exactly like SNL cast member Taran Killam covering Brad Pitt’s Chanel ad? Dreamy indeed.
Best Video: Vampire Weekend’s “Diane Young”
VW’s star-studded video for “Diane Young” features Da Vinci’s Last Supper with Santigold, Chromeo, Sky Ferreira, Walkmen frontman Hamilton Leithauser and Dave Longstreth of Dirty Projectors. This party has everything: Caprese-faced men, espresso fetishists, and a human auto-tuner. (It’s like that thing when Ezra Koenig channels his lyrics through a man who looks psychotic in a balaclava while Rostam Batmanglij autotunes him.) Also, someone hits a bowl out of a sax (see above, duh).
Coming This June:
Smith Westerns, Soft Will
Smiths Westerns’ first single, “Varsity“, was great, and Satellite Radio knew it. Their second release, “3AM Spiritual”, is even better. Chicago’s favourite retro-pop trio is back for their third album, Soft Will, which will drop June 25. You can also catch these guys in Toronto on July 29 at Lee’s Palace.
Disclosure, Settle
I can get fussy with dance music. Real fussy. Okay, usually, I just don’t get it: either it’s too monotonous and drone-like, or it’s too brash and abrasive. For me, Disclosure’s new hit “When a Fire Starts to Burn” covers both of these bases. So bear with me here – I’m still learning. But other hits like AlunaGeorge-collabo “White Noise” and “Latch” (below) make me think I could actually get into this whole dance thing. Whether you’re using it as a gateway album or just another notch on your belt, Settle is a dance music (debut) album not to be missed. Stream the whole thing here, and buy it online June 11.
Camera Obscura, Desire Lines
“Do It Again” (below) opens with a riff that sounds as if it was cut from the Allman Bros’ “Blue Sky”, and the track carries that same feeling of retro-summer sun with it the whole way. I initially discovered Camera Obscura on on “French Navy“, which conjured some comparison to the beach-bum vibes of Tennis, but with a little more melancholy. Snappy hits are spread out between some great ballads, among them “Cri Du Coer” and “Fifth in Line to the Throne”. But the wait’s over: Desire Lines dropped yesterday on iTunes.
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Jeremy Schipper is an intern at Toronto Standard. You can follow him on Twitter at @jeromeoschipps.
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