Welcome to The Listening Booth, a brand new regular series of posts on automatism. Each post features a guest musician, dj or music devotee sharing their current three favourite songs with automatism readers. I'm very excited to kick off the very first Listening Booth with my brother Greg Langille, who is not only an extraordinarily talented musician but an all around great guy, too. Enjoy!
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About Greg
I have been playing music in various (mostly rock) bands since I was 15, most recently with the Bible All-Stars. You can find music by clinking links for the Bible All-Stars, thIngS fALL apART, the Patsies, and many other long-forgotten entities. I am a Canadian government drone who grew up and still lives in Ottawa, Canada.
Greg's Three Picks
M.I.A. — Bad Girls
M.I.A. has so many facets that it's hard to briefly describe any part of this. This is such a superb blend of Eastern music, hip-hop and electronica that it might be an experiment if it wasn't so damned catchy. Mostly I like the fact that this is the freshest sound I've heard in quite a while. Generally I like (mostly all-guy) bands, but M.I.A really kicks it. The video is fun too — I drive like that sometimes.
Kathleen Edwards — Change the Sheets
Kathleen Edwards is a (sorta) home-town girl so this pick is a little biased. I've followed Kathleen's career from solo acoustic sets at the Manx (a terrific little Ottawa pub) to her current... uh... almost-there fame. This song is insidious. The Bon Iver production really works well with her sound and voice, which is just about perfect. This song scales well: it works as a quiet acoustic piece, with a 5-piece rock band, or (I'm guessing) a full orchestra. A bittersweet lyric, a simple but effective riff, and some interesting but background-y keys make this a song that seems to work best when you listen to it by yourself. Nice!
Kid Koala — Yo Gabba Gabba
This one is really my favourite of the favourites of the 5-year-old in my house. I put this on and instantly dancing ensues. It's eerie. I used to be pretty dismissive of turntablists and DJs (don't they just hit play? I can do that!), but after seeing Kid Koala live I must say I was impressed. The ability to do a slinky jazz solo using vinyl was like a magic trick to me when I first saw it. His live performances are always fascinating and different and this song is a great example of why: it appeals to the 5-year-olds and the... er... older-than-5-year-olds equally.
(photo by peter kragballe)