The French Kicks - So Far We Are - mp3 review
So, turns out sudifed, alcohol, and marijuana don’t mix very well. This is my memory of last night. went to meet Andy for a few beers before creature, had a few vodka drinks at creature. Met a brazillian artist (dude) that Im pretty sure was hitting on me. we smoke a joint in that little side room at saphire. The next thing I know one of my friends is putting me into a cab and the cab driver is asking me where I live while Im hanging out the back window throwing up on the street.
moral of the story - dont hang out with brazillian dudes.
Im sure some of you guys prolly already have heard this track, but I really like it. so there.
-mark
August 11th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
mark, this is the band I was playing in my car that we forgot the name of….i was listening to this on the way into work…great album…this is one of my favorite tracks.
btw…why the hell has everyone stopped reviewing these songs…keep the emails coming or mark will get discouraged and stop sending us free tunes….DO IT
-Lani
August 11th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
These drums sound fantastic, cool ass beat. French Kicks generally write interesting pop songs. This one sounds pretty good at first listen. I’ll bet this song rocks a lot harder live, especially on the build up parts. It’s a feel good pop song- smoke a spliff while riding in a convertible on a country road, ya know?
Are these guys still on Startime? I love Startime, cool fucking lable.
Rob
August 11th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
they are on startime. but startime got bought by vagrant. its not going to be the label it was.
August 12th, 2006 at 9:26 am
I want to vouch for all Brazilians everywhere. We are great. Except at soccer apparently …
This song is pretty cool – palatable pop. I had never heard it before and on first listen it was pretty catchy, original and not boring - which songs like this can become very quickly. It’s also simple, and a lot of times simple goes a long way. I like it.
G
August 12th, 2006 at 11:45 am
Not to hijack discussion of the song, but trying to stimulate discussion:
I would love to get opinions on what makes a song great, and i’m also really curious how people listen to music… Not doing marketing research or anything, but i’m just wondering, is it mostly ipod on the train or at the gym, or on the computer at work or the stereo at home? I love the shuffle feature on the ipod, but i’m rarely walking around with the headphones on. For me, i listen mostly in the car and i do a lot of driving for my job. But that’s where my deepest opinions are formed about the songs i like.
To me, i keep holding these songs up to really high standards, chief among those is whether i want to listen again, and whether i will want to listen again in 6 months or a year. Will people remember this song? In 20 years will some young band want to cover it? It’s fairly easy to make a pretty good sounding recording, and there’s tens of thousands of bands writing songs and playing shows, so what makes one song better than the other, in your opinion? (Dave pointed out to me how we used to get drunk and have discussions like this smoking cigarettes in front of the house; maybe it’s nostalgia on my part.)
August 12th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
I listen to music on my ipod on the train, have headphones on while at work listening, and at home I listen while working on my computer through speakers. I prefer to listen to music through a nice pair of headphones so that I can really hear those subtleties that you may not hear when listening to speakers.
Another aspect of this discussion that I think would be interesting is how people actually get their music. Are you downloading, going to record stores, etc.
August 15th, 2006 at 8:05 am
Does this song have a weird beat on the chorus or did my download get f’d up? It almost sounds like it’s skipping, but maybe that’s intentional?
August 15th, 2006 at 10:12 am
I had the same impression. I’m assuming it’s intentional. That would be a pretty specific virus to only affect the chorus of French Kicks songs.
I can’t put my finger on what makes it so unusual sounding–it’s still in four right?
August 15th, 2006 at 11:00 am
Drum geek, here…
He’s moving a 16th note. The time signature doesn’t change, but your sense of where you are in the measure does: Normally you’d have 1e&a 2e&a 3e&a 4e&a, with the snare backbeats on 2 and 4. If you move the backbeat back a 16th, to the “a” of 1 or 3 (a 16th before the traditional backbeat), you get a hip little displacement that throws everything off by one sixteenth, until (if you choose) you bring the big downbeat back on 1 of the next measure and set everything right again. In the French Kicks’ tune, in the breakdown part of the chorus he’s already delaying the beat to the “&” of 2 and 4, then hitting a sixteenth early from that (the “e” of 2 and 4, llike anyone’s going to read this).
(Lispy): Guitarists, to your drum machines!
I think it’s a cool little hook that helps the chorus. Since i’m sitting here singing it in my head, having not listened in a few days, i may have to upgrade my assessment of this song from my initial take. However, “So Far…” is probably second only to “Beautiful” in songwriter cliche lyrics (says the author of “Like the Sun to You”). Still not true love for me, but maybe we’re getting exclusive?
Geek
August 15th, 2006 at 11:15 am
Thank you Dan for that insightful explanation.
Now we can all play along at home. Follow the bouncing ball and watch for the delayed sixteenth notes.
August 15th, 2006 at 11:20 am
That was probably the only one (email) i read all the way through Dan. I like your lesson in time signatures. No offense to anyone. But if its good or not is just so subjective to the listener. Though discussions are always good fun and its always nice to know what your friends are into. If anyone cares there’s a few philosopher’s who study aesthetics and taste and where it comes from such as Schopenhauer and Kant. Wikipedia those guys. Some think it comes from the same place where morals are developed. Very interesting stuff.