scoring life with the golden filter

another random daily activity, another oddly appropriate soundtrack, this time courtesy of two tracks, old and new, from one of my favorite up and coming blog artists of 2009, the golden filter...


my love affair with this group actually began not with their first single, the epic song-of-the-year contender "solid gold," but with a remix of one of my favorite singles of 2008, cut copy's "far away." the winning disco glide they gave to that track prompted me to check out their own stuff (or what little of it i could find) and from there, i was hooked.

with nary a roller rink in sight where i live, i often find myself shuffling to solid gold while doing the next best thing: walking. i walk to work. i walk home. i walk aimlessly throughout the city, and every time "solid gold" comes on my ipod, my walk hastens into a catwalk-worthy strut, regardless of who's watching. the simple yet insistent beats (both programmed and live), the razor-sharp synth jabs, even singer penelope's languily lilting vocals inspire blissfully linear momentum.

this past weekend, i found myself walking up the avenue of the arts to wxpn in the evening to do some prep work for my radio show (more details on that later) and guess what came on the shuffle? as the song reached its percolating crescendo, something almost magical happened. the lights that dress and caress the upper windows of the buildings on the block of broad street between walnut and locust street began to blink, changing colors in nearly perfect synch with the song's twinkling final chorus like some large-scale, metropolitan mirrorball. i kept waiting for the passers-by on the street to form a soul train.

needless to say, this fanciful occurrence re-piqued my interest in the filter (who've been more or less radio silent throughout the summer) going into the new week. i came into work to do my daily morning blog scroll and came across the most gloriously timed news, they have a new single coming out in november on dummy! it's called "thunderbird" and the label was oh so kind enough to release the track (along with a pretty sick dub version) this week for free download.

they recommended playing the track "somewhere very high just before dawn breaks, somewhere very cold and very bright, or at night anywhere the northern nights can be expected." i couldn't wait to find anywhere like that so i listened to it while walking through the city, just as the sun was setting. daybreak, twilight, this song is all about the sun. the percolating bass in the verse was personified by the dull glimmers of light bouncing off of the building surrounding me. and as the soaring chorus took flight, i passed the buildings and the sun literally blossumed out from behind, bathing and blinding me while penelope's donna summer wail (i dare you not to think of "i feel love" when hearing this) simply went higher and higher until it seemed to be swallowed into its own light. the feeling i was left with was downright ethereal.

i've re-listened to the track at least ten more times in the twenty four hour span since then. no such moment of equal euphoria has happened again yet. but i doubt that will stop me from trying at least another ten times by tomorrow.

get the song here and see if you have your own revelation.