The Floozies

So funk won the day and I went and saw The Floozies on Saturday night. The opening acts were decent and godawful, respectively. Seriously, the second opener who was from Detroit made me want to tear my ears out. I would have run out for the duration of his set if it weren't bloody cold outside. As it was, I betook myself to furthest corner from the stage and tried to occupy myself with reading random stuff on my phone while my innards were getting pounded by the pointlessly heavy bass.

However, The Floozies made up for it big time with a really rocking show. They're two brothers, a drummer and a producer/guitarist/frontman, who play some really cool retro sounding but still original electro-funk that's a whole lot of fun, especially live. They also brought in a guest saxophonist who I think should become a part of the band because he took the music to another level. The show was sold-out and I didn't see a single person who wasn't at least moving around a little if not straight out shaking it. It was a little disappointing to see the lack of appreciation for the drummer and the saxophonist in the second half of the set, when the music was less danceable than in the beginning. I personally enjoyed this part a lot and found it much more interesting. Not that dancing to the funkiness wasn't fun, but I like a little depth to my music. Overall, a very enjoyable show and I would definitely go see them again if I get the chance. No regrets on my choice for the evening.

Here's one of the best tracks from their newest album, which incidentally is available for free download here:

Daft Punk

Just got done listening to their latest album, Random Access Memories, for the first time. Have mixed feelings about this one. For one, it is very un-Daft Punk-like. They wanted to explore something new, I guess, which is all well and good. But the result is such a mixed bag. Parts of it were really good, and some were alright, but others were just too cheesy. And not cheesy in a good way like some of their older music is. I'm all for retro sounding, cheesy music as long as there's also some aspect to it that takes the music forward, but I found none of that here. The cheesiness was so bad, especially in a couple of songs with very earnest sounding lyrics, I almost couldn't listen anymore.

The odd thing is this record is obviously meant to be listened to as a whole, but I don't think I will ever listen to it all the way through again. The stand out tracks for me were:

Give Life Back to Music - Recognizably Daft Punk sounding track but with live instrumentation as opposed to samples. Pretty fun and groovy overall.

Giorgio by Moroder - Absolutely loved this - highlight of the album for me for sure.

Get Lucky - It has single written all over it. Chill and danceable with a catchy hook.

Doin' It Right - Nice collab that takes the best of both worlds and makes an enjoyable whole. Panda Bear's very distinctive vocal style really works here. And speaking of Panda Bear, I highly recommend checking out his album Person Pitch, if you haven't already. One of my all time favourite chill out albums.

Contact - Most old school anthemic track on the album. Perfect closer.