Balthazar – Fifteen Floors

Balthazar – Throwing A Ball

Kind of a busy weekend for me so I don’t have much time to keep up with my Song of the Day. I’m so sorry to disappoint my immense amount devoted viewers (Could you pick up the sarcasm?) so to make up for missing yesterday, and possibly tomorrow, I’m throwing two amazing indie gems at you today.

For most people I feel the name Balthazar gives the wrong impression as to what this Belgian Rock/Pop outfit is all about. Try to wipe clean your demonic pre-misconceptions and understand that Balthazar make music that is more on the heavenly end of the spectrum. Their 2010 debut album Applause was like a gift from the Gods themselves and never ceases to sweep me off my feet with each listen, and is undoubtedly the best album of 2010 that you have never heard. So what makes this album so special? Just listen to Fifteen Floors and tell me with a straight face it is not in fact something special. (And if you did I’d simply call you a liar) The trumpet, the bass, the mother-fucking Disney endings… it’s all there! And that’s only track numero uno out of a wonderfully crafted set of eleven songs. Now I could’ve added any other track from the album to this post but I had to choose my personal favorite from Applause, Throwing A Ball. It’s like a fairy tale dance hall hit minus the glamour and princess bull sh*t. The bass guitar in the song just takes over and the gritty viloin accompaniment just drives it all the way home. Throw in the catchy lyrics and it’s very hard for me to find reasons not to love this song. If Fifteen Floors or Throwing A Ball even remotely sparked your intrest I highly recommend sending a few euros Balthazar’s way and pick up a copy of Applause.