Bop With Brescia
Welcome back to another edition of Bop with Brescia from Editor Lauryn Bikos! This week, find soundtrack recommendations, a featured artist, and general recommendations.
Banging Soundtracks:
This week, I want to highlight the soundtrack from the movie Grosse Pointe Blank. This 1997 movie has a stellar cast of John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Joan Cusack, Alan Arkin, and Dan Aykroyd, to name a few. As a warning, it does have violence and dark humour throughout; the premise is a hitman gains a conscious and goes back home to finish his last assignment while his high school reunion takes place.
While this may not be the movie for everyone, part of what breathes life into the rollercoaster of a plot is its incredible soundtrack. Some essential songs on the soundtrack are:
“I Can See Clearly Now” Johnny Nash
“Blister in the Sun” Violent Femmes
“The Killing Moon” Echo & the Bunnymen
“In Between Days” The Cure
“Under Pressure” Queen & David Bowie
Check out the full soundtrack here.
Brilliant Artists:
This week, a brilliant artist I want to focus on is Macklemore. The following biographical information has been taken from the music site Genius.
Macklemore (Ben Haggerty) is a rapper of Irish descent who is best known for his massive radio hits, like “Can’t Hold us,” “Thrift Shop,” and “Same Love”.
However, this artist’s B-side songs are arguably worth ten times his catchy hits. Since his split with producer Ryan Lewis in 2016, Macklemore has become a solo artist, producing albums GEMINI and his latest, BEN, which has been released today!
You may be surprised that this was my choice of artist to focus on this week but stay with me. While Macklemore’s music may not be everyone’s favourite, there is no denying the depth of his lyrics. His album This Unruly Mess I’ve Made focuses on themes such as substance addiction, mental health, grief, and self-reflection (with some fun songs thrown into the mix, like “Downtown”). This album is not well known to the general public, but Macklemore fans see this album as full of raw emotion and honesty.
Macklemore also addresses political topics throughout his albums, such as same-sex marriage in “Same Love” from The Heist and elitism and white privilege in “Light Tunnels” and “White Privilege II” from This Unruly Mess I’ve Made. The soon-to-be-released album Ben has themes such as relapse, self-reflection, and a reintroduction of the artist. I think this artist is one that many can relate to; many of us have faced these topics before, whether with ourselves or with family and friends. Macklemore brings awareness to these issues with a true vulnerability that takes bravery to share.
You can check out Macklemore’s music on Spotify.
This week’s recommendations:
General:
“Would That I” Hozier
“Sweetest Goodbye” Maroon 5
“Hericane” LANY
“La Lune” Billie Marten
“Dear To Me” Electric Guest
Upbeat:
“All These Things That I’ve Done” The Killers
“Everybody Wants To Rule The World” Tears For Fears
“Hung Up” Madonna
“Til I Am Myself Again” Blue Rodeo
“High” Sir Sly
I Forgot About This Song!:
“Fireflies” Owl City
“Hold On, We’re Going Home” Drake
“All Good Things (Come To An End)” Nelly Furtado
“Warning Sign” Coldplay
“Use Somebody” Kings of Leon
Here is this week’s playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5UZtyxmePvuoX8lELpTUaA?si=37a822bc7e2341b5
Music can mean something different to everyone, and that is the beauty of it. If you would like to collaborate with the Editor on this column, please reach out via email (bresciabuzz.editor@bucsc.ca) or Instagram @thebresciabuzz.