Favorite Songs of 2013 (Early Edition)

May 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment

The baby Kimye

June 18.

Maybe Kanye’s dropping a new album. Maybe Kim Kardashian is dropping baby Kimye. Something’s dropping.

Only 42 or so days until we get answers.

‘Til then, today I’m dropping my Favorite Songs of 2013 (Early Edition). I considered listing my favorite 20 songs but decided to show some restraint and list 10 tracks that have listened to over and over so far this winter/spring.

Below the songs are listed in alphabetical order (according to artist’s name). Also: Check out the playlist at the bottom of the text. Enjoy!

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Cajun Tomato’s 2012 Favorite Songs List

January 1, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Hip-hop, Portland, and a touch of fun.

My 2012 favorite songs list features all of the above and more. This is a favorites list, not a best of, meaning I took liberties with choosing album cuts over singles in many cases. I limited myself to one song per album – thus you will not see three Frank Ocean songs on this list, for instance.

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Six Musical Degrees Of The Cajun Tomato

August 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Cajun Tomato Dance Party

Earlier this week, NPR took a bite out of Kevin Bacon with its list of six musical questions. You are what you listen to, and don’t you forget it, the web site suggested.

I am eclectic in my musical tastes. I like trashy pop music. I like sad bastard indie rock. I like to dance and I like Motown. Oh, and I once bought a Christian rock album. So there’s that.

I am a musical smoothie. You can be one too. Indulge.

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Track Review: “Chained” by The xx

August 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Pouting lips and longing stares, slow-burning cigarettes in dark rooms, an uncomfortable love and an uncomfortable listen. These are the things I think about when I recall the xx’s self-titled debut. When it dropped in 2009 I might have been one of the few people in the world who heard it and thought “meh”. The understated album, with the exception of the single “Crystalised,” failed to move me.

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Track Review: “Yet Again” by Grizzly Bear

August 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Shields out Sept. 18

When Grizzly Bear fails to move me – and they failed quite often on their last album Veckatimest – it’s because they settle for a pretty sound that is seemingly satisfied with being pretty and little else. On Thursday, the band released “Yet Again”, the second taste of its upcoming fourth LP, Shields. And while “Yet Again” is pretty and lacks a clear-cut destination, Ed Droste’s wistful vocals, buttressed by gorgeous multi-layered harmonies and Daniel Rossen’s melancholy guitar, prevent the track from becoming the musical equivalent of wallpaper. It is the type of track that signals a change is blowing, albeit an uncomfortable one. The fall can be a lovely time of year, after all.

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Track Review: “Same Love” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

July 18, 2012 By 1 Comment

Macklemore performing at Roseland Theater

“America the brave, still fears what we don’t know” ~ Macklemore

This morning I wished a “Happy Birthday” to one of my most cherished friends. John is a talented writer, a dedicated mentor, and a damn fine shanty singer. He’s also openly gay.

Hours before I wished John a “Happy Birthday”, Seattle hip-hop act Macklemore & Ryan Lewis dropped “Same Love”, a track, that when I first heard it, brought my thoughts back to John and the equality people like him are denied on a daily basis. The first taste off Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s highly anticipated debut, The Heist, tackles homophobia and misconceptions about homosexuals in hip-hop culture and society, at large. The words beautiful, powerful, and important all describe this song.

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Track Review: “Lofticries” by Purity Ring

July 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

So chaste, so mysterious

I made a glaring omission in my list of acts I wanted to see at MusicFest Northwest. Perhaps to my defense, I had not heard Purity Ring’s music prior to making that list. Because if I had, I would have ranked the Montreal-based glitch-pop duo in my Top 3 alongside NOLA Sissy Bounce Queen Diva Big Freedia and Detroit oral pleasure enthusiast Danny Brown.

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Goodbye, Girls: A Jersey Boy Picks Their Best Songs

July 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

Christopher Owens and his dirty hair

Today’s both a momentous and sad day. My friend Lloyd is making his blog debut, an event I never thought I would see. And, of course, there’s the news about Girls. Take it away, Lloyd!

Leave it to Girls to break your heart on a Monday morning.

Girls frontman and chief songwriter Christopher Owens announced today on Twitter that he’s leaving the band.

Dear all, This may come as a surprise to many & has been an issue of much thought for me. My decision was not easy to make. I am leaving Girls. My reasons at this time are personal. I need to do this in order to progress. I will continue to write & record music. More will be announced soon. I thank you all for everything. Sincerely–Christopher

Girls leaves behind two stellar albums, 2011′s Father, Son and Holy Ghost and 2009′s Album as well as 2010′s Broken Dreams Club EP.

And as one should do at the end of every great relationship, it’s time to look back at the Top 5 – how it started, where it got great, when it got weird, and how we said goodbye.

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Track Review: “Wasted Days” by Cloud Nothings

June 30, 2012 By 1 Comment

Dylan Baldi

The fist-pumping loser anthem of 2012, “Wasted Days” is a blitzkrieg love letter to anyone who believed they would grow up to be universally adored, richer than God, with a beautiful house, car, and wife, and everything else David Byrne once seemed so confused about. The standout track from Cleveland-based Cloud Nothings’ third album, Attack On Memory, is also one of 2012′s best songs.

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Track Review: “Ruin” by Cat Power

June 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Cat Power (photo by Stefano Giovannini)

This is the year of Fiona Apple’s return from creative exodus, if the blogs are to be believed. I have never been into her music, aside from “Criminal”, so I am skeptical. I bought Extraordinary Machine for a girlfriend when it came out, but that was a lifetime ago so I am fuzzy about the details.

Chan Marshall of Cat Power fame, now she is a different story. I love her music, specifically that smoky, raw, heartbreaking voice she possesses. She has not released an album of new, original work since 2006′s The Greatest. Her forthcoming album Sun, out Sept. 4 on Matador Records, is a revival I will gladly attend.

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