Savoir Adore’s been around for a long time (“We Talk Like Machines” is actually from a 2009 EP of theirs and their “latest” record is from 2010), but they’re finally gaining much-deserved fame!
As you may have begun to realize from my previous posts, I really love robots. That’s why this song has a special place in my capacitor of a heart deep in my chest.
And, as I tend to divulge not just my artistic appreciations of music a la media studies analyses and fangirl-style posts but also my reasons for personal attachments to songs, I will state this:
Another reason I love this song is that it makes me feel stupid romantic happy feelings because it reminds me of a girl I really like. Yeah, stupid, right? But she’s really cute and doesn’t mind my obsession with robots and accidental tactlessness that she, thankfully, interprets as a “sense of humor.”
Without further ado, here’s “We Talk Like Machines” by Savoir Adore:
Metric is a BoxSpeaker perennial favorite – extending from middle school dalliances because of a homeroom BFF, throughout high school because of three electro indie enthusiast buddies, on constant repeat in college, and still forever in all my hard drives (solid state and otherwise) to this day.
Basically, I love Metric.
That’s why BoxSpeaker is excited to present Metric’s new single “Youth Without Youth,” which premiered is previewed today via Metric’s site and SoundCloud account. Their newest album comes out tomorrow, May 1 in June!
CORRECTIONS: The new single OFFICIALLY comes out tomorrow (Tuesday, May 1), and the album comes out in June! I totally jumped the gun on that because I was super excited about their new upcoming songs. 🙁
I love the totally 80s feel of it (well, duh, it’s called a “1984 remix”). This remix is yet another example of what I’d like to deem “newtro.” (Remember my ramblings about how current/new artists are creating music in the same new wave stylings that are considered “retro” now? How I couldn’t decide if it should be a new new wave, neu wave, neu new wave, etc etc.?)
Anyway, this remix totally has that Charlie XCX and Kavinsky kind of modern appropriation of Duran Duran stylings. (MEDIA STUDIES GEEK OUT TIME.)
In fact, last I was talking about the unique ability of new wave (and new wave-influenced) music to make songs whose lyrics and topics are sad sound happy – or at least dancey. Hana and Gracie were bouncing their heads side-to-side when the original Gotye version came on and explained to me that that’s their “Somebody That I Used to Know” dance because it’s got such a cute dancey melody and beat despite its depressing lyrics. I commented that that’s just like almost all New Order songs, especially “1963,” which is super upbeat despite being sung from the perspective of a Marilyn Monroe supposedly about to be murdered by JFK’s guys.
wires entangle my neck, my hair, my ears,
my entire body in a mess of rubber-encased wiring
electricity pulsing through these thin metal strips in rhythm with
what I think is what you would call a heart
The pulses of an encoded heart.
My heart.
when what is heard is now felt
these deep vibrations
pulsating,
mixed from right to left
and back and forth
a wave of electricity
hertz
it’s hertz
it hurts
I’m wrapped in the arms of the only thing that loves me
A machine connected to machine after machine
Replaced one by one.
Something shiny and new comes along.
A sleek, glass screen.
When what is heard is now felt.
The auditory embodiment of those lights pulsing.
Cold metal to my skin when all I want is your warmth.
As my older followers (those who followed me since back when I was MusicStarved) know, I LOVE ELLIE GOULDING.
I also love anything by and remixed by Chiddy Bang.
Well, this song brings both together. Chiddy Bang is just such an awesome duo like The Knocks in that both take awesome songs and make them even cooler by adding their personal touch. In this case, Chiddy Bang took most of “Under the Sheets” and then added in their own vocals.
Two of my favorite lines:
“And if you look at me, I bet I have you starry eyed” and “I make her give me one on the cheek and she ain’t over me yet, so I put her under the sheets.”
Yeah… Don’t hate me, but this totally deserves what is coming next….
A few minutes ago, I was listening to M83’s “Midnight City” and some Savoir Adore tracks, specifically “Dreamers” and the Yes Giantess remix of “We Talk Like Machines.”
I realized that electro beats are robot heartbeats and thought about the giant light cube at Creator’s Project a couple weekends ago.
I’ll admit it, I found out about Mal Blum’s “New Year’s Eve” in a totally uncool way – it was in a commercial. No finding out about her song on a super indie music blog. No stumbling upon a tiny show of hers at a dive-y venue. No. No. No. No.
I found out about her because I was totally Google-creeping Freja Beha. I’ll be honest, I was Facebook chatting a friend and the topic of how hot Freja Beha is came up and also the fact that she’s one of my dream girls and also the fact that she’s a model and the fact that she’s a lesbian. Basically, she’s the girl I wish I could sleep with and also the girl I wish I could be. If only I were 7 inches taller…
Anyway, I happened to come across Nylon’s “Fashion Movie: Freja Beha x Free People” post about the (at the time) latest Free People ad spot featuring Freja Beha in various lookbook-esque poses and outfits.
It’s pretty obvious why they used Mal Blum’s song:
Freja Beha blurry but still beautiful.
“I don’t like my t-shirt. I don’t like my blue jeans.” I mean, come on, of course you’d want to buy some awesome Free People pieces if you’re reminded that you don’t like t-shirt or your jeans. And how perfectly timed to include a song that mentions “it’s a happy New Year unlike all the rest. Feels like I am changing, and I know it’s for the best.” What is more epitomic of change, especially New Year’s change than a total wardrobe change? And what else is perfect? “Last year is ending just in time…” Yes, last year is ending just in time, considering the ad was featured on January 31. Essentially, what music could be more perfect for a Free People ad?
Ok, Media Studies major tangent over… kind of. And no, I didn’t mean for that to all sound sarcastic. I really do believe that that song was just absolutely perfect for a January clothing ad.
The New Year for me, the beginning of 2012, felt as if it were taking a massive dump on me.
I was broke – in so many definitions and levels of the term:
My bank statement looked pretty depressing.
I had a disgusting cold and a decommissioned right shoulder.
And for almost two weeks, I was so pathetically heartbroken that all I could do was just go home after work to a bottle of cheap wine and cry.
Most of all were five moments that seriously stick out for me:
A few days before New Year’s, during one of those morning after hours, a girl asked me jokingly “Do you ever sleep alone?” reminding me of the promiscuous reputation I’ve gained among friends of mine.
A few days later a different girl told me that she really wanted to sleep with me but didn’t want to just end up another girl on my list.
That reminded me of a few months before when a girl told me, “I don’t want to just be another girl you sleep with. I want to feel like I’m special to you.”
On December 31 around 8pm, I found out that the girl I’d fallen for at the beginning of 2011, the girl who told me that she was so physically attracted to me but who “respected” me so much that she didn’t want to be the person she used to be who would “use [me] physically”, the girl who told me that she was at a position where she felt she really just needed a friend, just got a girlfriend. An amazing, gorgeous, beautiful woman of a girlfriend. I’d never felt like more of a kid than at that moment. No matter how much I talked about my work in consulting. No matter how much I bragged about graduating a year early from a top-ranked university. No matter which big-name client I hyped up – I still felt like some stupid kid compared to this amazing, world-changing bombshell of a girlfriend of hers.
And that’s when at 10:45pm on December 31, 2011, I realized that I’d never be anyone’s girlfriend – that I’m just the skinny, “attractive” kid that people want to sleep with. And yeah, 99% of the time, I love that. I just want to sleep with gorgeous women and be friends and hang out. But when it hit me that the only time I wanted anything more than that with someone as enthralling as that girl yet couldn’t have it, I nearly broke down.
And with that, I present Mal Blum’s “New Year’s Eve,” which I discovered via a Nylon Magazine post about a Free People Freja Beha ad at just the exact time I was getting over all the emotions described in the song:
I found out about Charli XCX completely by accident because of a mistake made by the Knocks/Popshop Radio.
I was listening to the Popshop Radio 12 mix by The Knocks and thought “Man, this really sounds like Feist if she went all electro” at the end. I went over to the Popshop site to see the track listing on the mix and at the very end, I saw “Nuclear Seasons” by Charli XCX.
Googled Charli XCX and found out her site offers that exact song as a free download. “SCORE!” I exclaimed in my head (because I already exclaim too many things out loud in front of other people – not that it mattered at that moment because I was alone at the time). Anyway, I plug in my info and download the song. Click the play triangle on iTunes and am surprised to realize it sounds nothing at all like the Feist-sound-a-like I heard earlier. In fact, Charli XCX sounds like Marina and the Diamonds but with more 80s-inspired, Madonna twinkly synths and boom-boom-ahhhhhs. I can’t remember exactly which 80s band/singer’s darker notes this reminds me of, but I’ll post that in when I do remember.
Maybe I was going about it the wrong way? the darker synths weren’t a female 80s pop star’s style but more Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence”? DEFINITELY! It feels/sounds right.
ANYWAY…
Is this a NEW new wave? Neo-new wave? neu new wave? Awwwww… Just looked it up: I can’t patent “neu wave” or “Neu new wave” because 1) there’s a company called Neu Wave. I think it’s for acne medication, 2) there’s a band called “Neu!” (The exclamation is actually in their name. I don’t know if I’m excited about them just yet. I’ll have to listen to them first.), and 3) I’m pretty sure I’ve heard people talk about “new new wave” before or so. Damn
Newtro? as in New+retro? Neutro? Neutron. hahahaha
Morning Music Epiphany: “Little Bit” by Lykke Li and Florence + the Machine’s cover of Drake and Rihanna’s “Take Care” makes a really good conversation between songs/singers. Heard back to back, it’s like they’re in love with each other.
A big part is that Lykke Li sounds as if she’s so uncertain about being in love with someone — it’s as if she’s scared to make herself vulnerable for love. However, she does admit, “And for you I keep my legs apart and forget about my tainted heart, and I will never ever be the first to say it, but still I, you know, I I I.” The end of that line really gets me because it’s as if she’s hesitant to declare her love, her vulnerability.
After “Little Bit” stops playing, Lykke Li’s vulnerability and fear of allowing oneself to be in love is answered and reassured by Florence and the Machine. In particular, it’s as if she is actually telling Lykke Li “I know you’ve been hurt, by, someone else. I can tell by the way, you carry yourself. If you let me, here’s what I’ll do. I’ll take care of you. I’ve loved and I’ve lost.”
And then the kicker? When Florence sings “Dealing with a heart that I didn’t break.”
