Now that summer has reached its climax, all we need is a good soundtrack – the debut album And I Thank You by the Canadian band The Elwins for instance. It consists of ten wonderful songs that are just perfect for swimming in a lake and making out in the sunset.
In our interview with drummer Travis Stokl we have talked about music by The Shins, The Beach Boys, Vampire Weekend, Kylie Minogue and Daft Punk. More after the jump.
THE SHINS A Comet Appears
Sounds a little celtic to me…that’s no insult though. When a song can stand strong on it’s own you really have to commend it. I like how inviting it is.
THE BEACH BOYS Wouldn’t It Be Nice
Whenever anyone asks the band what our influences are we always say The Beach Boys. We’re all huge fans. The first time I heard it was in grade 10 at a friends house during a thunderstorm. I was so happily confused by the arrangement, harmonies and the instruments that were used. I put it on repeat, listening to it nearly twenty times by which point my friend had left the room by the fourth go around. It’s funny because as I’m recalling this I can remember turning it off only merely to not seem like a jerk to my buddy.
Definitely one of my favourite songs ever. Years after I realized what Brian was writing about and (yet again) it blew my mind. So many songs have been written about the same thing granted, however this one kind of knocks them all out the water in my opinion.
VAMPIRE WEEKEND A-Punk
They’re a good band. Any musician can tell that they put a lot of thought behind each of their quirky numbers. To me this song seems like it was one of the times where a band comes up with a song so fast that by the time it’s finished they all unanimously look at one another with that grin that says “Yep… It’s a winner, let’s keep going!”
I really hope they’re around for a long time. Having a band who are very aware of wanting to push to limit of the pop song is a phenomenal asset.
KYLIE MINOGUE Spinning Around
Kylie is awesome! She has a handful of tunes that I really admire. Her voice always makes my think I’m in outer space. The chorus is irresistible. If the verses were a bit more punchy this song could have really soared.
BLONDE REDHEAD My Plants Are Dead
I regret not seeing them at Coachella a few years ago because I hear they’re fantastic live. Ryan Hadlock who produced And I Thank You recorded two of their albums and he often mentioned how they were super relaxed people who knew exactly what they were doing but at the same time very much open to exploring different ways to create a song.
It’s a neat thing when a band or artist can propel a vibe through their music so well. They also have one of the best band names hahah and that never hurts.
DAFT PUNK (ft. PHARRELL WILLIAMS) Get Lucky
The promotion of Random Access Memories was amazing. Super engaging, fresh and simple. Just had to say that.
It’s a smart song that has proven to really appeal to the masses both by the music and lyrical content. A great thing to have in a popular song is left-field lyrics that don’t serve much of a purpose other than sounding good to the ears which is why I enjoy the opening line quite a bit. The best part is when the Daft Punk guys come in with the vocoder bit, it’s so much fun!
THE ELWINS Forgetful Assistance
I’m glad people like this song. Matt wrote the majority of it with some help from Feurd. Taking it into pre-production in Philadelphia was awesome because the old (Juston Stens) and current (Eric Slick) drummers of Dr.Dog came in separately without knowing the other had been there with rhythm and bass suggestions. Extremely cool for us that they were both interested and stuck around the studio for a good twenty minutes each to share their thoughts.
