Track of the Weekend #52: In The Valley Below - “Peaches”
It’s strange how music works sometimes. When we were looking up bands to check out at the Rock en Seine Festival last weekend here in Paris, we came across a group called In The Valley Below, a girl/guy duo from L.A. Having never heard of them before, we did a quick Whyd search and found their single “Peaches," added a few months before by Evergig Community Manager and good friend FP. Tony re-added it before going to the show, the track had a lot of untapped potential.
It was an excellent performance, complete with unusual instruments (the girl was using chains as a sort of percussion) and a creeping vibe that builds into powerful choruses. It was definitely the type of group that you see turning into a cultural force.
When we checked the Hot Tracks on Monday, “Peaches” was already #2, and since Tuesday, it has held the top spot with no sign of letting go. Have a great weekend listening to this jam!
Track of the Weeknd #51: “Royals”
We’ve been doing the Track of the Weekend for a long time now, having racked up an impressive 50 previous selections that lit up Whyd and rested atop the hot tracks. Yet there is one artist that has been ridiculously popular on Whyd that has never held that honor, and it is in a way ironic, since that artist is called The Weeknd.
It is even more ironic since The Weeknd broke onto the world stage in 2011 after uploading some tracks to YouTube and disseminating mixtapes online: the exact type of thing that Whyd was designed to help with, taking new talent to new areas of the world. Well, now one of the tracks of The Weeknd is a Whyd Track of the Weekend.
“Royals" is a multipart harmony sung by a mesmerizing female voice that trashes the expectations set by songs of wealth and dreams of Cadillacs and tigers on gold chains by stating "We don’t care, we aren’t caught up in your love affair…we crave a different kind of buzz." And it was our very own designer Loïck that hooked it up for Whyd. Thanks dude!
Track of the Weekend #50: Mumford & Sons - “Hopeless Wanderer”
Wow! Can you believe it? No really! Can you believe it? We’ve been doing this for almost a year and a half and we’re only at 50 tracks of the weekend! I didn’t realize that we missed so many weeks… This is literally the only thing that I have to do…
Ah well, nothing can diminish the importance of this milestone. The Track of the Weekend has been a career-making stepping stone for artists in their rise to fame. Who could forget when “Thrift Shop" was the Track of the Weekend when the video only have 5,000 views? Or the legendary single of French post rock group Man Is Not A Bird? What about Get Lucky? Face it, no one would’ve heard it if it hadn’t been for Whyd.
Yes, the Whyd community really are the tastemakers of tomorrow. We look forward to another 50 Tracks of the Weekend — no matter how many weeks it takes — and we celebrate our 50th with an excellent track and hilarious video thanks to Green Room Session. No one is a stranger to Mumford & Sons, easily the world’s most popular group to feature a banjo, whose southern style and liberal syllable use is immediately recognizable. “Hopeless Wanderer" could be anyone of us, but instead it’s the comedy quad-fecta of Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Ed Helms, and Will Forte taking the roll of the Mumford family. Over-the-top? Of course, but that’s why it’s so fun.
So unclip your suspenders, ruffle your beard, raise a metal beer mug: here’s to the future!
Track of the Weekend #49: Flight Facilities - “Foreign Language” feat. Jess
You know what? Funk you. Funk you motherfunker.
No, I know what you’re going to say, why the hate? Shouldn’t we all love each other? Isn’t that what sharing music on Whyd is all about?
Well, you clearly don’t get it. You see, to call someone a Motherfunker is a compliment on Whyd. It means that you have succeeded in sharing music that involuntarily moves parts of our bodies. It means you have pushed us into a glorious place where music takes over.
Le Blog des Pépites Musicales (literal translation: The Blog of Musical Nuggets) is definitely a motherfunker. These dudes have been climbing the World Whyd Rankings, dropping hot tracks all over the place, and now officially receive the coveted Track of the Weekend with the sizzling, funktastic Flight Facilities - “Foreign Language” feat. Jess from the Australian indie electro duo who have been coming out from down under since “Crave You” garnered world wide fame, but “Foreign Language” seems to be the theme of the summer, hopefully inspiring a lot of motherfunking.
Track of the Weekend #48: Darius - “Velour”
Man, it was a hot week in Paris. Everyone was sweating, sitting planted in front of fans spinning merciful air around our oven of an office that bakes in the afternoon sun until it’s impossible to type on your keyboard without drenching it in dripping sweat. It was so hot this week that the Hot Tracks on Whyd were just Tracks. It seemed like everything was on fire.
***Editor’s note: We are not complaining about the heat, au contraire, it is actually welcome after almost two years of no summer or heat. It feels beautiful, the city of light glows in bright sunshine, the architecture is crisp and dynamic, all of those little details that fade away with the gray drizzle are startling present, like a treasure you forgot you had buried away in your closet. That being said, there is also no AC here, so it does get a little toasty.***
But like ice in our coffee the Track of the Weekend provides a cooling emotional soundtrack to the week. With the ticking of a stop light ready to start a race, “Velour” by Darius was added by Aline — who has been setting trends left and right and now passed over 10,000 subscribers. “Velous” develops like the heat it suppresses, burying layers of sound over the fire until it all re-ignites into a blaze of glory.
Never stop jamming!
Track of the Weekend #47: Disclosure - “F For You” (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Remix)
We’ve had a bit of a lag for the past couple of weeks missing a couple of weekends but we’re back and this track is lighting up the whole Whyd web, and especially the Hot Tracks.
Added by Green Room Session, Disclosure's track “F For You" is the type of music that is likely to be enjoyed across Whyd, but it is actually the remix and touch of class provided by Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (TEED) that rocketed the song to the heights it has reached now.
It might seem a little strange that a guy already named Orlando Higginbottom would want to go by another name, but no one is going to criticize his brontosaurus obsession. TEED has been taking the world by storm recently, and this track elevates us all with him.
Track of the Weekend #46: Arctic Monkeys - “Do I Wanna Know?”
The month of June is almost to a close, and the rapid development of Whyd is taking place under a grey sky that continues to pulse small amounts of drizzle like a dick that you think is done peeing but nope, nope, it’s not quite done yet.
So it fits well that this week’s Track of the Weekend is the trudging beat and raspy vocals of the indie band Arctic Monkeys. “Do I Wanna Know" crawls up and down until it lodges itself firmly in the back of your head, like the final breathes of a deer hit by a car, whose ribcage rises erratically as it waits to pass to the other side. Heavy.
Thanks Julien for bringing us all down with this delightfully depressing tune.
Track of the Weekend #45: Gesaffelstein - “Pursuit”
It’s the summer solstice, the longest day of the year and the beginning of what is supposed to be two nice months here in Northern Europe. It is also, according to French tradition, La Fête De La Musique, which sees concerts, performances, and epic partying across every city in the country.
In Paris, the afternoon streets are stuffed with partiers dancing along to pulsating beats blasting from apartment windows, storefronts, and impromptu gatherings. After 20hr00 things start to get a little sloppy, stumblers start to fall, garbage bags are already overflowing with the remains of the day. The occasional flying beer bottle must be dodged. Then, after midnight, if you find yourself without a party, venturing down the street can be a perilous adventure, with the wild packs of drunken suburban Parisians brainlessly trashing their self-acclaimed “most beautiful city in the world.”
The Track of the Weekend this week is the soundtrack to that moment, as you try to just get home, drunk yourself but saner than the collective insobriety allows, thinking simultaneously “what could be better than a fête de musique?” yet also “what could be worse than this fête de musique?” "Pursuit" by Gesaffelstein has awakened the runner in us all. Thanks to Aline for bringing it to our attention!
Track of the Weekend #44: Disclosure - “You & Me” (Flume Remix)
We’re going to do something that we’ve never done before, and before you purists out there start spouting off about how it’s not the weekend yet please read this first:
We are posting the sacred Track of the Weekend on a Thursday this week for a number of reasons:
1. It’s dark in Paris, rain falling incessantly, cold like autumn and just fucking disgusting out, so it helps to think about the weekend.
2. Tomorrow we will be announcing the awesome new playlist contest organized by Do You Like That Song?
3. It’s after noon on Thursday, and for me mentally that means it’s the weekend.
4. But most importantly, this track of the weekend this week is the most popular song on Whyd since Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky" took over the world.
Flume’s remix of “You & Me” by Disclosure creates a mental impression similar to the semi-haunting Disclosure faces with the white lines. It is epic enough to be played during the series finale of Game of Thrones. At times it feels like a heart fighting back against a coming heart attack. Yet it is so satisfying and freeing that it cannot be listened to just once. It will be a big surprise if it relinquishes its place atop the hot tracks before the end of next week, or even the week after that. Thanks Steven for getting it to our ears!!
Track of the Weekend #43: Robin Schulz - “Cheating” (Bootleg)
Summertime is definitely here, you can feel it in the way the music grooves these days. And there is nothing brighter right now on Whyd than this shiny groove unearthed by Radar! The Track of the Weekend “Cheating" by Robin Schulz is everything that summer should be: smokey like a rose vine BBQ, hoppy like an ice cold IPA, and smooth as the clear blue sky.
See you in the sun!