TotW: This City's a Mess

This one is a classic... well, not a classic in the sense of it being from the '90s (like, say, I'd pulled treblecharger's Red for the TotW today...) but in the sense that it's awesome and fun and great and always a fun song to hear.

Juno Award winning, Vancouver, BC -based band, Said the Whale have had their good times and their bad; if you haven't already seen it, check out their movie/documentary, Winning America for all the details. But, as a result, this super-hard working band has earned their fame through relentless touring and an honest love for the music.

This City's a Mess starts out with a steady drum beat and a wicked hand-clap pattern... then the guitars join in... the soft vocals next... and then everything kicks in. It's another song with a "ba- ba- bada- ba" bit in the chorus, more group vocals, more slow- fast- slow- stylings... but it's still it's own song. Hearing them shout "this city's a mess, this city's a mess" during the final chorus is such a sing-a-long moment.

If you like what you hear here, you've got a lot of StW to hear. This is from their 2008 album, Howe Sounds. They released a second album in 2009, Islands Disappear, and are (I believe) just finishing up the follow-up to that stellar album now. The band is also out on the road right now, touring... again.

» Listen: Said the Whale - This City's a Mess