Since I screwed with you all damn week, it seems only fitting that I end this week with an actual Lights song.
This song, a 2020 collaboration with MYTH, was the title song and lead single from a album of remixes and new songs.
Lights & MYTH also performed a lot of the songs from this album, live at Joshua Tree in California. I have taken the liberty of queuing this song up for you - but please, listen to the whole thing. It's incredible.
If you haven't noticed, this entire week has featured other Canadian artists collaborating with Lights. And also, if you haven't noticed, we question your reading comprehension skills.
This song is a single, from her 2012 album, Siberia. Like the rest of the album, it is fantastic.
Two days, two Canadian hip hop artists. There's no other reason to include this post.
From the 2013 album Flying Colours, the song is very much in your face. It reminds me of a younger Kanye West, who has clearly had an influence on Shad's music. The song is produced and co-written by Shad and Mike Tompkins.
Oh, there was a third songwriter, and she appears in the video.
Wesley Williams (born March 31, 1968) is a Canadian rapper, record producer, actor, and author. He is known professionally by his stage names Maestro Fresh-Wes.
He was born in Maple Leaf March, so how can we not feature him? He's also one of the first Canadian hip hop artists to achieve mainstream success, so that's an achievement. Originally from Toronto, Williams relocated to New Brunswick in 2020 - and who could blame him?
This 2013 single features vocals from another Canadian.
Let's talk about Felix Cartal. This Vancouver-based DJ and producer is best known for his splashy collaborations, and this one is among his best known and most danceable - making a splash on the US Dance charts in addition to its Canadian Top 40 splash. Although this single was released in 2019, the album on which it is features, Expensive Sounds for Nice People, was not released until 2021.
Lyrically, it's about unrequited love. It doesn't get much more straight forward than that.
Live versions of this song exist. This one is from a December 31, 2020 CBC broadcast, and features Cartal on bass.
this also happens to be one of my favorite Lights songs and since she does everything acoustic here you go.
Well, I didn't have to do it this way, but it was more fun.
As I alluded to earlier, without alluding to it, there's a second version of this song - with vocals provided by another Canadian artist. This isn't their most recent collaboration (there's this, for example), but it is probably their best known. This song was a dance hit in 2018, actually preceding the release of the Polar soundtrack.
The great thing about this song is that there are live versions of them doing the song together. This version is clearly a longer version - but really, the first half is "Drama Free" and the second half is "Midas Heel". It doesn't matter. Just enjoy it.
I can't not post this. We know that Lights does acoustic versions of everything. That includes this.
For our second go-round of this Month o' Great White North, we weren't going to leave out deadmau5. If you know this song, and have read this blog once or twice, you know that we aren't JUST going to talk about the pride of Niagara Falls, Ontario, but let's start there, and keep this post drama free.
Joel Zimmerman is one of the most successful electronic musicians and DJs in the world - and yeah, that's probably partially due to the mouse head. His work is unique and critically acclaimed - and Canadian. He's been at it for more than 20 years.
So when looking for an artist to do a soundtrack for the Netflix movie Polar, a dark and critically panned comic book adaptation, of course deadmas5 is who comes to mind. The first single from this soundtrack was this excellent electronic piece, which is of course all we're going to talk about.
I know this isn't really much of a video here - it's kind of dark and could use more lights - but it gives you a great idea for what the song is and what the deadmau5 sound is.
