I run a lot of old music but I’m not someone who really thinks it was all better back in the day, or is all trash now. So from time to time, the Song of the Day is going to be something I liked on the car radio while I was driving around today. Today, it’s Beck + Call by July Talk. Who knows if it’ll still have listeners decades from now like most of the selections here, or even centuries like some. Who cares? It’s a nice tune, needn’t hang its head in the current company, and July Talk are hot stuff live.
A few months ago I liked one of the July Talk songs so much that I actually went and purchased the album Touch from Bandcamp; I love it that Bandcamp lets you buy uncompressed audio (reasons here). And I buy albums because I like supporting artists directly as possible. The songs are a little uneven, but I heard Beck + Call today and remembered how much I liked many of them. (BTW, a lot of July Talk songs have “+” in the name.)
It’s got a big bad beat, a pleasantly rough guitar sound, decent melodic hooks, and terrific singing from Leah Fay. And hey, looking them up in Wikipedia reveals that they’re Canadian, yay.
Beck + Call also has a cameo appearance from Tanya Tagaq, postmodern vocalist who does Inuit throat singing and lots of other excellent stuff too. Having seen her perform, I totally recommend the experience.
They’re a good listen, but check out some video too. They’re fronted by Ms Fay and Peter Dreimanis, and they turn most songs into complicated athletic girl/boy dance theater. Some of it reminds me frankly of a pas de deux in a Tchaikovsky ballet, which is not a bad thing.
This is part of the Song of the Day series (background).
Links · iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, live video (really, check it out).
