My Secret Playlist: Weezer’s Mikey Welsh
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|Former bassist of Weezer, Mikey Welsh, has since reinvented himself as a successful artist. We covered his recent exhibition at Rhode Island’s Montanaro Gallery and checked in with him to get his Secret Playlist, a rundown of the tunes that spin while he’s working on one of his canvasses. The first track on his Playlist is the frenetic Minutemen song, Search: ‘Clocking in at 51 seconds, The Minutemen lay down all the goods that made them one of the best bands in history. This track features throbbing, melodic bass from Mike Watt, glass-breaking guitar from D. Boon, and tom-tom heavy swirls from George Hurley. Watt takes the mic for this one, at times sounding a bit like David Byrne. Almost as soon as you get your head around this tune, it’s done’. Read more of Mikey Welsh’s Secret Playlist.
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Tagged: My Secret Playlist, pop music
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Julia Nunes has been a singer-songwriter since age 13. She plays guitar, ukulele, melodica, and piano, but she also uses household items, such as pillows, water bottles, tissue boxes or an old slinky, for extra percussion. Her charm is best displayed on stage or in the videos she posts on YouTube. Using video/audio layering and a unique approach to song arrangement, Julia has created over 60 music videos of originals and covers, most of which have been viewed an average of 650,000 times. She began her Secret Playlist with The Early November song, Hair: ‘When I listen to this song, I allow myself to be as cynical and damning of the world as I can possibly get, and still have a spring in my step. I envision a Barbie version of myself making her way through the world, becoming self aware and crestfallen with a smile frozen on her face’. Read the rest of Julia Nunes’ Secret Playlist.
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El Perro Del Mar’s Secret Playlist
Sweden-based El Perro Del Mar, otherwise known as Sarah Assbring, recently released her third full-length album, Love Is Not Pop and supported Peter Bjorn and John on their North American tour. We asked her to tell us about her favourite songs by other artists and she started with the Joy Division song, New Dawn Fades [listen below]: ‘I fell into a dark Joy Division crack last Summer. Usually that’s a very good sign that I’m not feeling so good. Still, I think I managed to pick something good out of it for the first time. New Dawn Fades is one of those moments where Ian Curtis’ lyrics hurt so much, you don’t know where to turn. It’s like this slow build-up to heartbreak. The ending of this song, where he’s singing, ‘It was me waiting for me, hoping for something for more. Me seeing me this time, hoping for something else,’ breaks my heart anew every time I hear it’. [Read the rest of El Perro Del Mar's Secret Playlist]
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Land Of Talk’s Secret Playlist [psst, they like Bon Iver]
Red hot Montreal band Land of Talk feature Elizabeth Powell, a former punk who got her start playing her own anti-rock anthems on the local scene of Guelph, Ontario, during her mid-teens. We got the inside word from her on the tunes that inspire Land of Talk’s own high energy frock and roll. The first track she propped was, drum roll please, Bon Iver’s hauntingly evocative, Re:Stacks: ‘This song changed my course, emotionally. I can’t tell you how, but it levelled me. Everyone I’ve played it for, or who has heard it, has had the same or similar reactions. This is a song I will listen to well into my twilight years’. Read the rest of Land Of Talk’s Secret Playlist.
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