Hard Fi - Stars of CCTV is 10

2005 was a peak time in the resurgence of my musical passion. Several albums from this year made a huge mark on me. As huge a mark as albums do in a person's teenage years. Hard-Fi's début album Stars of CCTV was one of those albums. It came out ten years ago yesterday.

The gritty, cutting guitars, the groovy basslines, the insistent, in-your-face vocals and the driving yet danceable drums all come together in these classic punk inspired tunes and current lyrics to form a modern classic album.

Here are my favourite tunes:

"Cash Machine"

"Tied Up Too Tight"

"Gotta Reason"

"Hard To Beat"

"Better Do Better"

"Living For The Weekend"

Pic from Amazon.

Five-by-Five: Great UK bands

Why does the UK have such a stronghold on freaking awesome bands? I was grooving to a playlist of 5-star songs and I heard Radiohead, The Kooks, Biffy Clyro, Hard-Fi, and Maxïmo Park. Rule Britannica!

"High And Dry" by Radiohead from 1995's The Bends

"Naive" by The Kooks from 2006's Inside In Inside Out

"Saturday Superhouse" by Biffy Clyro from 2007's Puzzle

"Hard to Beat" by Hard-Fi from 2005's Stars of CCTV

"Graffiti" by Maxïmo Park from 2005's A Certain Trigger

New Hard Fi video for Bring It On

Hard-Fi have released a new video for "Bring It On" from their most recent album Killer Sounds.  Fun track!

Ruminations on a Friday

Today I worked late and as I took the subway home I saw so many people heading to places with happy liquor store bags. They were off to a friend's or a party or just home with a bag of a bottle of something to help them get through, or put a smile on their face. I had some lovely tunes to put a smile on my face until I got home. 

My favourite songs: Awesome and cool songs of 2010-2011: My best of list: Top 70 songs

Since I didn't put up a post for my favourite tunes and albums of 2010, and since it takes me a while for things to grow on me, I'm going to be a little different than other music writers. I'm going to do "best of" posts for 2 year periods. This will allow me to be late to the party, and give songs extra time to germinate in my little brain. So this set of posts will cover 2010 and 2011.

1. "Whirring" - The Joy Formidable

2. "Heartsink" - Blood Red Shoes

3. "Kill Me Carolyne" - The Whigs

4. "Conversation 16" - The National

5. "Lonely Boy" - The Black Keys

6. "The Smidge" - The Hold Steady

7. "Let's Get Out Of Here" - Les Savy Fav

8. "Rill Rill" - Sleigh Bells

9. "Old Fangs" - Black Mountain

10. "Fuck You" - Cee Lo Green

11. "Tighten Up" - The Black Keys
12. "Not At All" - Emily Warren & The Betters
13. "Punching In A Dream" - The Naked And Famous
14. "Hang With Me" - Robyn
15. "Good for Nothing" - Hard-Fi
16. "Swim Until You Can't See Land" - Frightened Rabbit
17. "Belong" - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
18. "Pumped Up Kicks" - Foster the People
19. "Crash Years" - The New Pornographers
20. "The Glitter Prize (Feat. Kay Hanley)" - The Posies
21. "Hit The Ground Running" - These Electric Lives
22. "Medicine" - We Were Promised Jetpacks
23. "Anyone’s Ghost" - The National
24. "Dancing On My Own" - Robyn
25. "Please Ask for Help" - Telekinesis
26. "A Heavy Abacus" - The Joy Formidable
27. "Dear Rosemary" - Foo Fighters
28. "Terrible Love" - The National
29. "Satellite" - The Kills
30. "Naked Kids" - Grouplove
31. "Forced To Love" - Broken Social Scene
32. "Our Whole Lives" - The Hold Steady
33. "Light It Up" - Blood Red Shoes
34. "The Body" - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
35. "Chicken Bones" - John Grant
36. "Cruel" - St. Vincent
37. "Future Starts Slow" - The Kills
38. "The Spirit of Jazz" - The Gaslight Anthem
39. "Cradle" - The Joy Formidable
40. "Romance" - Wild Flag
41. "Love Song" - Hard-Fi
42. "Called It Off" - These Electric Lives
43. "Rock Problems" - The Hold Steady
44. "So Lonely" - The Whigs
45. "Crossed Wires" - Superchunk
46. "Fixed" - Stars
47. "Abducted" - Cults
48. "It Is Happening Again" - Blood Red Shoes
49. "Young Blood" - The Naked And Famous
50. "Year Dot" - Sky Larkin
51. "Helena Beat" - Foster the People
52. "Country Lane" - Telekinesis
53. "Heart In Your Heartbreak" - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
54. "Don't Ask" - Blood Red Shoes
55. "Heaven's Gonna Happen Now" - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
56. "Blue Cassette" - Friendly Fires
57. "Under Cover of Darkness" - The Strokes
58. "Behold the Hurricane" - The Horrible Crowes
59. "Lights" - Ellie Goulding
60. "Tired" - Chikita Violenta
61. "Euphoria, Take My Hand" - Glasvegas
62. "Colours" - Grouplove
63. "Get Away" - Yuck
64. "Dirty Thing" - Telekinesis
65. "World Sick" - Broken Social Scene
66. "DNA" - The Kills
67. "Dressed Sharply" - An Horse
68. "Holing Out" - Yuck
69. "Get Some" - Lykke Li
70. "Lotus Flower" - Radiohead

I'm going to tease out my Top 10 by posting a song a day over the next couple of weeks!

I've decided to update this post with my top 10 so my full list is in one place.

Check out the rest of my best of posts, including my favourite albums of 2010-2011.

Hard-Fi are back with Killer Sounds

Hard-Fi were one of the British bands that hit me really hard, in a good way, in around 2005. Along with Bloc Party, Maxïmo Park, Editors, The Bravery, and Kaiser Chiefs, among others I'm probably forgetting. They have a new album coming out on August 22. It's called Killer Sounds and they have the second video out.

I featured the first tune, "Good For Nothing", a while back. The second single, "Fire In The House", doesn't have the so much of the pronounced guitars of their previous albums, but it does have a strong chorus, a groovy bass line, and some nice and soulful backup vocals.



They also have another full song and samples of the rest on their audio player. Check it out. Sounds like the band is evolving and I like what they're coming up with.

Hard-Fi - Killer Sounds Sampler by Hard Fi

New tune from Hard Fi

I discovered British band Hard-Fi several years ago with the release of their Stars of CCTV album. I really loved that album and their follow-up Once Upon a Time in the West. They've got a new song on their web site called "Good for Nothing". Sounds really good and gives me high hopes for a great new album from these guys in the not-too-distant future.

And if you know of more bands like these guys, please let me know!



And if you're not familiar with Hard-Fi, here are a couple of great tunes from them.

"Cash Machine"



"Suburban Nights"



"Hard to Beat"



"Living for the Weekend"



"Tied up too Tight"



"Better do Better"