A few weeks back bhagpuss featured a song by Toronto’s own July Talk in one of his music posts. Wondering if I’d shared it myself, I was shocked to discover I have apparently never featured July Talk in my Song of the Month segment before.
It is true that I haven’t liked the direction the band has taken in their more recent albums, but their first two albums are absolute killers, so you’d really think I would have posted something by now.
There’s also an amazing live band, by the by. When I saw them, Leah spent most of the song Guns + Ammunition crowdsurfing, brought her mic with her, kept singing the whole time, and didn’t miss a beat. To say nothing of the provocative poses and raw sexual energy that make their performances feel as much burlesque show as rock concert.
Anyway, here’s possibly my favourite song of theirs, though Summer Dress and Beck + Call are also strong contenders.
Seeing that this video is eleven years old has done me serious psychological harm.
Superior Realities 
I don’t know July Talk all that well, just a few tracks and all of them older ones like this, Summer Dress and Guns + Ammunition. Reading your comment on the more recent albums, I wondered what they might be like so I listened to a few tracks on YouTube and while they were good, they scarcely sounded like the same band. None of the menace, no Tom Waits growling and precious little rockabilly backbeat. I wonder if he damaged his voice, singing that way, and had to stop?
Have you heard/seen Starcrawler? They have a similar dynamic between the singer and guitarist and they rock hard, although not with quite the same fifties swing. More sixties/seventies now I think about it.
Not heard of Starcrawler, no, but I looked up some songs just now. Not bad, but I’m not sure I see the July Talk comparison. They reminded me more of Hole than anything.