Made In Québec - Bobby Bazini

Can you believe that when the entire planet talked of nothing but Justin Bieber, the teenager star was only second place in the English Palmares sales here in Québec?

We had eyes ears for another young singer, a twenty-one-year old musician from the province with a rich and deep music: Bobby Bazini. He hold off the charts against Bieber and Rufus Wainwright for over seven weeks.

Don't be tricked by his age. He might be a month younger than me (I still have trouble accepting that fact), but Bazini is a professional in his field. His music is authentic, smooth, both uplifting and melancholic. Somehow it manages to both relax me and renew my stack of energy.

I'm not good at music classifications, so I'll run with his website's information, along with some of his known sources of inspiration.. that is "a disc that snakes between soul, jazz and pop." So if you like Otis Redding, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Jim Morrisson, you might want to give it a try (those are his stated favourite artists, among others).

Now, here are three of his tunes, handpicked from his album...

Mellow Mood - 'cause it's my favourite!

 Turn Me On - This one is a jolt of energy, and SO fun to sing loudly

 I Wonder - A more relaxing song. Lovely lyrics. Also, it has an official videoclip.

I meant to put Freaky in there, because it's my "writing song" from this album. I love the mood it creates.

I hope some of you like this kind of music, because Bobby Bazini is a gem. I find he mixes very well with Mumford & Sons.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow. It'll be a special day!

M - Music

I can't write without music.

At the same time, I can't write with new music in the background. Unless it's classical. I pay too much attention to lyrics.

What I need is a single tune from an artist that I already know well, if not by heart. I set it on repeat, and let it play in the background. I know is said and no longer pay attention to it over what I'm writing.

This means, of course, that I have a couple favourite. Often, the lyrics relate to writing (yes, despite not listening to them, I pick lyrics related to writing). At others, it's the sheer awesomeness of the music that gets me.

 I worked it down to three, only one of which is from Quebec (that's a little miracle. Most of my playlist comes from Quebec).


Bullets, by Tunng

 I don't know what about this tune gets me. It's a little on the crazy side, it's upbeat, there's a lot of weird sounds, the rhythm is good and the end blends seamlessly with the beginning. Great for a single-tune loop.


Le Vertige, Karkwa

I love Karkwa. Seriously, all-on groupie love. I never miss a concert and keep playing their discs. When I write, I use either Le Vertige (it has 1488 hits on my iTunes, gives you an idea), L'Acouphène, or La façade. I could only find the latter on the tube but there you go:

Philip Glass
No specific music here. I love Philip Glass. Anything I've heard from it. He made the music from Koyaanisqatsi, along with many concertos and operas. I love the rhythm in his work, the almost mathematical frequency of sounds. It's weird and awesome, and makes for a great ambiance.

So that's it! I could have put twenty and more tunes is, but I reserve my fangirly love for music from Quebec for another time. These are what I listen to during my writing.

What do you listen to? Or do you prefer silence?