This Bud’s for you. A classic 80s commercial for Budweiser with music by Oingo Boingo featuring Danny Elfman.
Video: Neil Young goes record shopping, finds his own bootlegs in 1972
In this video allegedly filmed in 1972, Neil Young goes shopping at a record store and finds his own bootlegs, confronting the clerk and walking out of the store with the record before calling the manager.
Elton John Madman Across The Water – 50th Anniversary Reissue Announced
UMe today announces the 50th-anniversary reissue of Elton John’s Madman Across The Water. Available to pre-order now on stunning 3-CD and 1 Blu-ray Super Deluxe Box Set, 4-LP, 1-LP Limited Edition colored vinyl, and 2-CD formats, the album will be released on June 10.
Spawning the hits “Tiny Dancer” and “Levon,” Madman Across The Water was Elton’s fourth studio album, released only two years after his debut. Recorded in 1971, it was a foundation stone of what was to become a dazzlingly prolific decade for the global-icon-in-waiting. Madman Across The Water was largely written after Elton had made his initial foray to America, offering the opportunity for lyricist Bernie Taupin to witness first-hand the landscapes and people he’d only seen on a screen or on the page. Recorded at Trident Studios in Central London in February and August 1971, it was the first album where all five players of Elton’s fabled band lineup (Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson, Davey Johnstone, and Ray Cooper) were featured. The album also featured Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who plays Hammond organ on three songs.
A newly unveiled Piano Demo of “Tiny Dancer,” taken from the archives and previously unheard, will be available to stream in full later today Here. Watch a preview of the track now Here. Recorded at Dick James Studios in central London in Spring 1971, it is an intimate performance of the song with Elton alone at the piano as a guide for the band later to follow.
While the UK’s love affair with Elton was on the precipice of exploding upon Madman’s release at the start of the ’70s, these nine tracks immediately struck a chord with US audiences, reaching the Top 10 of the Billboard album charts. It also spawned two hit singles, “Levon” and “Tiny Dancer,” both reaching the US Top 50. After years as a best-kept secret to Elton’s fans, “Tiny Dancer” has gone on to become one of his most loved songs with his worldwide fanbase, third only to “Rocket Man” and “Your Song” in global streaming numbers. Capturing the headiness of California at the time of Elton’s first US concerts, the song was used to phenomenal effect in Cameron Crowe’s classic 2000 film Almost Famous. Both “Levon” and “Tiny Dancer” remain live favorites to this day, taking pride of place in the setlist for Elton’s record-breaking Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
The celebration of Madman Across The Water comes in four different formats. All formats contain Bob Ludwig’s 2016 remaster of the main album. There are 18 previously unreleased tracks across the Super Deluxe 3-CD/1-Blu-ray box set, which also contains rare, restored material from the era, piano demos of the album, and the audio of the BBC Sounds For Saturday concert, broadcast in 1972. The Blu-Ray contains a 5.1 mix by Greg Penny, plus the Sounds For Saturday and his 1971 Old Grey Whistle Test performance. The audio of the Super Deluxe CD/Blu-ray set will also be available on a 4-LP set. The box set includes photos, an essay with interviews with those who helped make the album, as well as memorabilia and artwork taken from the Rocket Archive. The album will also be available as a limited edition blue and white-colored 180g LP.
Track Listing
3-CD / 1-Blu-ray Super Deluxe Box Set
CD 1
Tiny Dancer (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Levon (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Razor Face (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Madman Across The Water (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Indian Sunset (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Holiday Inn (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Rotten Peaches (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
All The Nasties (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Goodbye (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Indian Sunset (Live Radio Broadcast)
Madman Across The Water (Original Version, featuring Mick Ronson)
Rock Me When He’s Gone
Levon (Mono Single Version)
Razor Face (Extended Version)
CD 2
Madman Across The Water (1970 Piano Demo)
Tiny Dancer (Piano Demo)
Levon (Piano Demo)
Razor Face (Piano Demo)
Madman Across The Water (1971 Piano Demo)
Indian Sunset (Piano Demo)
Holiday Inn (Piano Demo)
Rotten Peaches (Piano Demo)
All The Nasties (Piano Demo)
Goodbye (Piano Demo)
Rock Me When He’s Gone (Piano Demo)
Rock Me When He’s Gone (Full Version)
CD 3
Tiny Dancer (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
Rotten Peaches (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
Razor Face (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
Holiday Inn (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
Indian Sunset (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
Levon (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
Madman Across The Water (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
Goodbye (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
Taped November 11, 1971 / transmitted April 29, 1972
Blu-ray
Audio
Greg Penny 5.1 mix of Madman Across The Water (Original Version, featuring Mick Ronson)
Greg Penny 5.1 mix of Madman Across The Water
Audio-Visual
Sounds For Saturday (Taped November 11, 1971 / transmitted April 29, 1972)
Old Grey Whistle Test (Transmitted on December 7, 1971)
4-LP Set
LP1
A1 Tiny Dancer (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
A2 Levon (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
A3 Razor Face (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
A4 Madman Across The Water (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
B1 Indian Sunset (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
B2 Holiday Inn (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
B3 Rotten Peaches (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
B4 All The Nasties (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
B5 Goodbye (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
LP2
A1 Indian Sunset (Live Radio Broadcast)
A2 Madman Across The Water (Original Version, featuring Mick Ronson)
A3 Rock Me When He’s Gone
A4 Levon (Mono Single Version)
B1 Razor Face (Extended Version)
B2 Rock Me When He’s Gone (Piano Demo)
B3 Rock Me When He’s Gone (Full Version)
LP3
A1 Madman Across The Water (1970 Piano Demo)
A2 Tiny Dancer (Piano Demo)
A3 Levon (Piano Demo)
A4 Razor Face (Piano Demo)
A5 Madman Across The Water (1971 Piano Demo)
B1 Indian Sunset (Piano Demo)
B2 Holiday Inn (Piano Demo)
B3 Rotten Peaches (Piano Demo)
B4 All The Nasties (Piano Demo)
B5 Goodbye (Piano Demo)
LP4
A1 Tiny Dancer (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
A2 Rotten Peaches (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
A3 Razor Face (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
A4 Holiday Inn (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
B1 Indian Sunset (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
B2 Levon (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
B3 Madman Across The Water (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
B4 Goodbye (BBC Sounds For Saturday)
Taped November 11, 1971 / transmitted April 29, 1972
2-CD SET
CD 1
Tiny Dancer (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Levon (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Razor Face (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Madman Across The Water (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Indian Sunset (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Holiday Inn (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Rotten Peaches (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
All The Nasties (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Goodbye (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Indian Sunset (Live Radio Broadcast)
Madman Across The Water (Original Version, featuring Mick Ronson)
Rock Me When He’s Gone
Levon (Mono Single Version)
Razor Face (Extended Version)
CD 2
Madman Across The Water (1970 Piano Demo)
Tiny Dancer (Piano Demo)
Levon (Piano Demo)
Razor Face (Piano Demo)
Madman Across The Water (1971 Piano Demo)
Indian Sunset (Piano Demo)
Holiday Inn (Piano Demo)
Rotten Peaches (Piano Demo)
All The Nasties (Piano Demo)
Goodbye (Piano Demo)
Rock Me When He’s Gone (Piano Demo)
Rock Me When He’s Gone (Full Version)
1-LP Limited Edition Blue & White Vinyl
A1 Tiny Dancer (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
A2 Levon (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
A3 Razor Face (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
A4 Madman Across The Water (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
B1 Indian Sunset (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
B2 Holiday Inn (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
B3 Rotten Peaches (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
B4 All The Nasties (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
B5 Goodbye (2016 Bob Ludwig Remaster)
Sesame Street: Showing Fairness with Brett Goldstein
The Word of the Day is Fairness as Brett Goldstein and Tamir are showing the new F-word on Sesame Street. Fairness can be making sure every gets a turn when playing, helping clean up after making a mess, or sharing a freshly baked cookie with a hungry Cookie Monster.
My Next Read: “Folk Music: A Bob Dylan Biography in Seven Songs” by Greil Marcus
Across seven decades, Bob Dylan has been the first singer of American song. As an artist, he has opened up the territory where Tony Bennett’s “Once Upon a Time” can be sung as if it is as much a folk song as his own “Blowin’ in the Wind,” as recited by a fictional Malcolm X. As a writer and performer, he has rewritten the songbook until the traditional and credited sources that might have been printed on the title pages fell away, and it is only a matter of who we are listening to.
Here Greil Marcus tells Dylan’s story through seven of his most transformative songs. Marcus’s point of departure is Dylan’s ability to “see myself in others.” The motor of his music is empathy: as at the beginning of his career in New York he spoke of writing a song about Emmett Till in the first person, nearly sixty years later he circled the globe as John F. Kennedy arguing with infinity as he waited between life and death.
Like Dylan’s songs, this book is a work of implicit patriotism and creative skepticism. It illuminates Dylan’s continuing presence in cultures, especially where such capacious imaginative identification with the other is in short supply. This is not only a deeply felt telling of the life and times of Bob Dylan, but a rich history of American folk songs and the new life they were given as Dylan sat down to write his own.
Rosalía Announces Her Highly Anticipated ‘Motomami’ World Tour
Grammy and eight-time Latin Grammy-award winning artist ROSALÍA has announced her first ever global outing – MOTOMAMI WORLD TOUR – a massive 46 show run across 15 countries this year. Produced by Live Nation, the MOTOMAMI WORLD TOUR kicks off July in Almería, Spain at Recinto Ferial de Almeria making stops in Barcelona, Madrid, Mexico City, São Paulo, Santiago, New York, Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Milan, Amsterdam, London and more before wrapping in Paris, France at Accor Arena on December 18th.
The tour will celebrate ROSALÍA’s highly acclaimed new album MOTOMAMI and, along with many of her already well-known groundbreaking hits, bring its vision to life, for fans around the world. After an intensive three-year creative process filled with incredible attention to artistic detail, and wide global media picks that already established it as “One of the Most Anticipated Albums of 2022,”MOTOMAMI delivered an expansive, out of the box album that looks to erase previous conventional lines defining different cultures, genres, gender roles and more – providing a deeply personal modern musical duality self portrait of a strong, innovative, and proudly feminine young woman taking us on a seductive and multifaceted musical journey. The album’s March 18th release was met with an immense ‘Five Star” critical response; “A Masterpiece… One of the most ambitious albums of the decade — regardless of genre… The most thrilling, forward-thinking music we’re likely to hear all year”… representing what is new and exciting about pop music.”
As a result, MOTOMAMI debuted at #1 on Spotify’s Global Album Chart, (a first-ever accomplishment for a Spanish artist), scored the strongest Billboard chart debut of any 2022 Latin album, and achieved the highest Metacritic rating (95) of any album released this year. In tandem with the release, ROSALÍA also personally oversaw the innovative and widely praised production for performances on Saturday Night Live, and a first-of-its-kind TikTok Live that attracted Three Million viewers, while building even further anticipation for her full-fledged tour production.
Rosalía is a Grammy & Eight-Time Latin Grammy Winner who has quickly “leapt to the forefront of the global pop landscape” on the strength of her innovative musical fusions and distinctive style. She has repeatedly shattered barriers for both female and Spanish language artists, while being widely hailed as: “a complicated genius … reflecting femininity and strength… a new generation leader…making Flamenco a global phenomenon… while becoming Earth’s Most Exciting Pop Star.” With the May 2018 release of Rosalía’s innovative breakthrough single “Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)” – and the fall arrival of her landmark album “El Mal Querer,” fans worldwide quickly embraced Rosalía’s phenomenal vocal capability meshed with her now fully realized fusion of classic Flamenco and other timeless music styles of Spain, with R&B, hip-hop, contemporary Latin-American rhythms and electronic beats. Coupled with Rosalía’s strong influences from industrial visual arts, female empowerment, fashion and choreography, it became clear to critics that: “El Mal Querer is a boundary-breaking modern masterpiece … that has resonated like a shockwave… it stands out from virtually everything else on the global pop landscape.”
As a result of the album’s long-running impact, and additional 2019 singles that followed, Rosalía garnered a GRAMMY Award, standout GRAMMY performance, the historic first-ever Best New Artist Grammy nomination for a Spanish Language artist, and eight Latin Grammys, including Album of the Year. Additional acclaim has included 2 MTV VMA’s, multiple magazine covers-including the annual Sunday New York Times Magazine’s special Culture Cover, highly praised Coachella and Lollapalooza festival appearances, the most watched global YouTube video of 2019 for a female artist, and “Best Music of the Decade” picks from Rolling Stone, Billboard, GQ, The LA Times, Pitchfork and more. While Rosalía has spent a large majority of time immersed in the creative process of writing and recording her eagerly-awaited next album, she also finalized landmark brand partnerships with Nike and MAC’s “Viva Glam” campaign, lead the field of LATIN GRAMMY winners for the second year in a row became the first-ever all-Spanish language music artist to grace the COVER of VOGUE in the United States (with the January 2021 “Vogue Values” issue, photographed by Annie Leibovitz), and joined Travis Scott, Bad Bunny, the Weeknd, Billie Eilish, Arca, Tokisha and more on massive streaming collaborative tracks. She now begins her next creative chapter with the music of MOTOMAMI.
ROSALÍA – MOTOMAMI WORLD TOUR 2022 DATES:
Wed Jul 06 – Almería, Spain – Recinto Ferial de Almeria
Sat Jul 9 – Sevilla, Spain – Estadio La Cartuja
Tue Jul 12 – Granada, Spain – Plaza de Toros
Thu Jul 14 – Malaga, Spain – Marenostrum
Sat Jul 16 – Valencia, Spain – Auditorio Marina Sur
Tue Jul 19 – Madrid, Spain – WiZink Center
Wed Jul 20 – Madrid, Spain – WiZink Center
Sat Jul 23 – Barcelona, Spain – Palau Sant Jordi
Sun Jul 24 – Barcelona, Spain – Palau Sant Jordi
Wed Jul 27 – Bilbao, Spain – Bilbao Exhibition Centre BEC
Fri Jul 29 – A Coruña, Spain – The Coliseo
Mon Aug 1 – Palma, Spain – Son Fusteret
Sun Aug 14 – Mexico City, Mexico – Auditorio Nacional
Wed Aug 17 – Guadalajara, Mexico – Auditorio Telemex
Fri Aug 19 – Monterrey, Mexico – Auditorio CitiBanamex
Mon Aug 22 – Sao Paulo, Brazil – Tokio Marine Hall
Thu Aug 25 – Buenos Aires, Argentina – Arena Movistar
Sun Aug 28 – Santiago, Chile – Movistar Arena
Wed Aug 31 – Bogota, Colombia – Movistar Arena
Sat Sep 3 – La Romana, Dominican Republic – Altos De Chavon Amphitheater
Fri Sep 9 – San Juan, Puerto Rico – The Coliseo
Thu Sep 15 – Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall at Fenway
Sun Sep 18 – New York, New York – Radio City Music Hall
Mon Sep 19 – New York, New York – Radio City Music Hall
Fri Sep 23 – Toronto, Canada – Budweiser Stage
Mon Sep 26 – Washington, D.C. – The Anthem
Wed Sep 28 – Chicago, Illinois – Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
Sun Oct 2 – San Diego, California – Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre
Tue Oct 4 – San Francisco, California – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
Fri Oct 7 – Inglewood, California – YouTube Theater
Sat Oct 8 – Inglewood, California – YouTube Theater
Wed Oct 12 – Houston, Texas – 713 Music Hall
Fri Oct 14 – Irving, Texas – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
Mon Oct 17 – Atlanta, Georgia – Coca-Cola Roxy
Sat Oct 22 – Miami, FL – iii Points Festival
Fri Nov 25 – Porto, Portugal – Altice Forum Braga
Sun Nov 27 – Lisbon, Portugal – Altice Arena
Thu Dec 1 – Milan, Italy – Mediolanum Forum
Sun Dec 4 – Berlin, Germany – Velodrom
Wed Dec 7 – Dusseldorf, Germany – Mitsubishi Electric Hall
Sat Dec 10 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – AFAS Live
Mon Dec 12 – Brussels, Belgium – Forest National
Thu Dec 15 – London, United Kingdom – The O2
Sun Dec 18 – Paris, France – AccorHotels Arena
My Next Read: “A Likely Lad” by Pete Doherty
Peter Doherty’s is the last of the great rock ‘n’ roll stories. As an icon, he is on par with the early Rolling Stones and Sid Vicious – bad boy and public enemy. To his devoted fans, he is a cult hero, a modern-day Rimbaud. Musically, there is no doubt he has defined the past twenty years of British rock ‘n’ roll with his sound, lyrics, lifestyle and aesthetic.
Since The Libertines rose to international fame, Doherty has proved endlessly fascinating. A whirlwind of controversy and scandal has tailed him since his first spell in prison in 2003. He divides critics; for every award and accolade, there is a scathing review. All too often his talents as a songwriter and performer have been over-looked. Hard drugs, tiny gigs on the hoof, huge stadium shows, collaborations, obliterations, gangsters and groupies, Doherty has led a life of huge highs and incredible lows.
In A Likely Lad, Doherty explores his darkest moments. With astonishing frankness – and his trademark wit and humour – he takes us inside decadent parties, substance-fuelled nights, prison and his self-destruction. Doherty also reflects on the turbulent relationships with various significant people in his life across the years. He discusses poetry, Paris, philosophy, politics, the music business and his key influences (from Hancock to Baudelaire). There is humour, warmth, insight, baleful reflection and a defiant sense of triumph.
This is Doherty’s version of the story – the genuine man behind the fame and infamy. This is a rock memoir like no other.
Legendary Canadian Band STRANGE ADVANCE Are Having a “Perfect Day” with New Single; Announce Tour Dates
Borrow from tomorrow, and get a Strange Advance on a “Perfect Day.” The legendary Canadian prog-rock-pop indie group from those heady days of 80s MuchMusic have got the inside track on a throwdown with their latest single, and it’s as exciting sonically as it’s a hat tip to the yesteryear of pop influence.
While the band was initially formed in the late 70s by Drew Arnott, Darryl Kromm, and Paul Iverson, the lineup would shake into its current existence of Arnott joined by Ian Cameron, Ross Friesen, Rob Bailey, Sean Dillon, and Alexander (A-Train) Boynton. Together, the culmination of individual talent, meshed with their like-minded influences in pop and prog rock, Strange Advance has continued and maintained their unique eclecticism of sound and song.
Nominated for a 1983 JUNO Award as Most Promising Group of the Year and again in 1985 as Group of the Year, their first two albums, 1982’s Worlds Away and 1985’s 2WO, were Canadian Gold-selling records.
And the songs. Oh, the songs… “She Controls Me,” “Kiss in the Dark,” “Love Games,” “Worlds Away,” We Run,” and “The Second That I Saw You” still sound like the sweet-tooth brand of dance music like you remember. Their crisp, precision-tooled work shows the group were masters of unleashing wave after wave of melody with songs of bittersweet chances of love.
“This time Strange Advance has the best combination of players ever,” Arnott promises. “Each one of them is multi-talented and more importantly, super nice. That makes such a difference when having to deal with rehearsals, recording sessions, and of course life on the road. These guys are in this because they love the music and I think it shows in our performances.”
“Perfect Day” is the perfect amalgamation of career musicians creating an instant classic, using their perfected recipe of songwriting.
“I don’t normally write songs ‘about’ anything in particular, but ‘Perfect Day’ was different,” reveals Arnott. “It’s based on the death scene of Edgar G. Robinson’s character in the film Soylent Green. At the time he died, the earth had been ravaged by mankind and in return for volunteering for an ‘early death’, the powers that be allowed the volunteer to go out in style. A good last meal watching footage of the earth in its prime, listening to the music of their choice. In his case Beethoven. It turned out to be Edgar’s last film. He died two weeks after filming of his death scene. Powerful stuff.”
“Perfect Day” is the drastic juxtaposition between the acceptance of death’s finality, set to a groove that permits the listener to find the good in the vibe. Detailed lyrics that both metaphorically and categorically sum up the concession of inevitably, “Perfect Day” boasts licks, synths, and electronica 80s rock that sends the message home on a voyage of blissful hooks and melodies. It’s okay to permit the cease of existence. Just do it in style.
“My favourite thing in the world is writing songs,” Arnott says. “It’s always an adventure. I collected so many songs that stood the test of time and I was afraid that no one would ever hear them. So, Strange Advance 4. And playing live”.
Strange Advance are giving you the power chords to dance away the difficulty on a cut that makes the sad seem much more manageable.
To sum up: they’ve offered you a “Perfect Day.”
Genre-Bending Rock/Hip-Hop Musician Chris Caulfield Finds Solace in Poignant New Single, “Feelings”
Packed to the brim with emotion and strife, Chris Caulfield’s newest single “Feelings” is hauntingly delicious in all the best ways.
Despite the wave of new musicians crashing on the shores of 2022, Caulfield stands above the noise with introspective lyrics and evocative melodies, using engaging compositions as the foundation for his tightly woven mix of alternative, emo rock, hip-hop, and more.
Playing in bands around the Toronto area exposed Caulfield to the production side of music at a relatively early age — however, nothing was solid yet. He spent a good chunk of his early twenties managing his own businesses and starting a family and, while he may not have taken the plunge into music yet, he was constantly exposed to situations that would eventually fuel his songwriting.
Caulfield is no stranger to strife. Struggling with chronic pain, mental health, and a range of challenges and obstacles standing between him and a successful music career, there was never a shortage of inspiration for this emerging artist. Throw a global pandemic into the mix and you’ve got a recipe for disaster — or success, in Caulfield’s case.
Once the lockdown was in full effect, Caulfield went to work setting up a home studio. While his initial intent when beginning the producing process was to find a healthy coping mechanism, it eventually blossomed into something else. Within a few short months, Caulfield had three singles with fleshed-out release campaigns; he released “The Other Way”, “Gripped” and “Wolves”, followed a week later by “Letdown” which hit 10,000 streams in its first 30 days on Spotify.
With a full-scale production team, two European-based independent labels, an opportunity to write songs for TV and movies, and an artist development project with a Canadian indie label, there was nothing standing in Caulfield’s way.
Cue the release of Caulfield’s most recent single, “Feelings,” which does a bang-up job of creating a soundscape for the listener to get lost in. It’s easy for the listener to get lost in the intricate sonic environment presented to them when taking their first listen.
“Feelings” production complements the timbre changes of Caulfield’s vocal performance, creating powerful swells of energy and dropping the listener into the void. This rollercoaster recreates the swells of emotion that come from emotional highs and lows, especially as our brains try to check out of high-intensity situations.
“The brain can enter a ‘numb’ type state following periods of high intensity, such as an anxiety attack, a traumatic experience, etc,” Caulfield shares. “The result of the rush/crash acts as a protective mechanism; that’s what I wanted to re-create in the song.
“I found my first experience with numbness uncomfortable and, while short-lived, it was something that both intrigued and concerned me – a calm in the eye of the storm, but a feeling that you shouldn’t be there,” he adds.
The depth that Caulfield endowed upon the overarching story of “Feelings” is breathtaking when stepping back and taking a deep listen. The production compliments the “rush/crash” feeling that Caulfield describes. When listening to the lyrics this hyperbole becomes obvious.
“That sort of conflict associated with going ‘numb’: trying to associate our brain’s protective efforts of going ‘numb’ yet feeling the intensity of a situation or pain. It shouldn’t be masked or taken out of focus, and I wanted to weave that into the song.”
Caulfield provides an empowering reference to this internal dilemma while reflecting on his choice of words.
“On top of the heat, fire burns the skies / And all I still hope is the numbness dies”
“There’s a calm in my mind / Deep inside that I can’t feel”
“Feelings” is available now.
Hip-Hop Group The Royaies Are A Family Affair And Tease New EP “Thus With A Kiss I Die”
There are few things in this world sweeter than sultry Latin guitar mixed into an 808 and drum beat, and Toronto’s The Royaies know this. So well, in fact, that they’ve created the perfect blend of these elements in their new single, “This With A Kiss I Die.”
“We blended electro-esque beats, soft R&B vocal textures, and soft rap,” member Elijah Royaie shares of the track. “Each verse paints a picture of desire and wants — all contradicted by misery, a sense of loss, and a dark sense of regret.”
A sultry yet inebriating production, “Thus With A Kiss I die” takes the listener on a journey through heartache and regrettable desires. The Royaies built on this concept when writing the song, finding the mood of the music should match the lyrics.
“The mood of the song is a resemblance to a sense of misdirected love or a sense of ill-fated beliefs,” Elijah continues. “This mood is cast within a thematic background of black and gold when I imagine the color of the music.”
Fluidly blending genres into immersive and ever-expansive new soundscapes is a signature skill for The Royaies, a group of wildly versatile and multi-talented musicians comprised of four family members — Shyon Royaie, Elijah Royaie, Axel Klain, and Alvin the Poet.
Showcasing the group’s dynamic ability in the realm, “Thus With A Kiss I Die” features delicate Latin guitar, deep trap 808, driving hip hop drum beats, and a touch of pop vocals.
Overall, despite the initial tone set by the beat and lyrics, “Thus With A Kiss I Die” is truly a song about moving on and getting over that final hurdle of heartbreak. While verses start with heartfelt longing, they move into a final resounding conclusion:
“I left you on read all night /Cuz you’re not my girl anymore
Life changes us over time / And we are not the same anymore”
“Thus With A Kiss I Die” is the title track from the group’s newly minted EP, which also features “Enough For You” and “Stay Away.” The three-song offering lands as a breakthrough followup to the Toronto-based four-piece’s internationally acclaimed genre-bending debut single, “Princesa.”