“Melodic Mondays” is the new bi-weekly column of GRAPHITE’s culture section, featuring three songs of different genres linked together by their uplifting and mood relieving qualities. Every two weeks, at ten in the morning, be sure to come to the Music section of our website to check out the new picks of the week. If you have any suggestions, feel free to comment below!

 

Easter weekend has come to an end, and despite the four-day allowance for carefree thinking and minimal efforts, you may find yourself needing a little extra juice to kickstart yet another one of those weeks. To mask the dreariness of having to switch party hats for thinking caps, here are three hand-picked pick-me-up, get-me-started, fill-me-up-with-mojo-juice tracks.
Whether you’re waking up at the “crack of dawn” for that 8 o’clock class, or whether you’re just not used to waking up earlier than 2pm anymore, these tracks will surely have you kicking off your bedsheets and springing back into life. So forget the OJ and your morning espressos, and tune in with us instead.
The first pick-me-up of the week is a song by English electronic artist Four Tet. “As Serious As Your Life” wastes no time in splashing its listeners with musical and rhythmical enthusiasm, jumping straight in with an upbeat and well-constructed melody. Space noises resounding through the track, one feels gracefully pushed forward through time, from beginning to end. Four Tet combines the beat of the drums with whacked out electronic soundscapes to make a song worth stomping your feet to.

 

 

Next on the list is Fitz & The Tantrum’s “Moneygrabber,” a soulful track by this Los Angeles’ trumpet-infused indie band. Although the song’s lyrics revolve entirely around an unfortunate gold digger’s demise, frontman Michael Fitzpatrick might as well be singing about the first day of spring in Montreal - the same enthusiastic energy resonates in both cathartic moments. So, free your hands and don’t feel embarrassed to embrace those Motown vibes; sooner or later your arms will be flaying around in a frantic, pseudo-soulful, debatably epileptic manner - and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

The last leg in this week’s musical tripod is a song by prodigies Nas and Damian Marley. “Count Your Blessings” literally has both artists listing all the reasons why they (and others) should consider themselves blessed, from having “love and assurance” to “new health insurance,” from “free school and daycare” to “pension and welfare.” If you’re in a rut and need reasons to wake up in the morning - take note from these two men and start listing all the smaller things you have in life. Who knows, maybe you’ll come up with enough reasons to write a song yourself.