In Which I Talk About Hands

While I wait for my Google+ profile picture to upload, here: 

Darwin Deez - "Radar Detector"

I first heard this when my sister and I were indulging in an underwear sale at American Eagle. Have you seen their patterns? So cute. And so cheap!

I usually dismiss music based on where I hear them. (Alternatively, 15 year-old me nearly had a heart attack of joy when H&M started playing Yule Shoot Your Eye Out as part of their in-store Christmas music.) But once I heard Darwin Deez, I could not keep myself from dancing. In fact, I still dance to this song. In my seat. In a library at school. At 1:30 in the morning, more often than not.

I realize that what gets me moving is this: hand claps. What is more joyous than a steady rhythm of happy hand clapping? Nothing! That's what!

In celebration of my blissful obsession with hand movements and palms forced together, here are some songs that feature clapping. Both of these have collectively been on my iTunes for over five years now. 

Tokyo Police Club - "Citizens of Tomorrow"

I would listen to this song on the way to school in the morning. I thought I was so cool when I went to HMV to buy their EP, not knowing that buying music from a mass distributor wouldn't be as cool or hipster as, say, digging around in Sonic Boom in downtown Toronto. Oh, lost youth.

Point is, the dystopian themes and eerie synthesizers in this song really make it stand out in my mind. I went to go see TPC in concert sometime in the spring and they had us clap along to this song. It was great, and I felt like so much of my lost youth's happiness was regained in those moments.

Also, the lyrics are bad-ass.

The xx - "Heart Skipped a Beat"

I paid no attention to The xx when I first heard them in the summer before going off to university. A few months later, with the help of my friends' heckling me, I gave the album another try. Granted, it's not something I could listen to over and over again in exact track order but, hey, "Heart Skipped a Beat" really caught my eye. Or ear, whichever. The clapping is a bit haunting and a bit jovial at the beginning - you can't really decide until that guitar comes in and you think, "Oh. This is a song about lamenting shit like broken hearts and slamming the door on your way out." Then again, my heart breaks and I slam the door every time my cat doesn't respond to my declarations of love. But what can you do, really?

Heartbreak!