Between 2005-2008, I was a resident DJ in a pub I regularly frequented. And no, I wasn't a "proper" DJ; I didn't mix, beat-match or any of that fancy stuff, I simply played music I liked. My sets were quite eclectic, going from indie to electronic to hip-hop to rock to anything in between and back again. I just enjoyed playing the music I loved to people and introducing them to stuff they probably hadn't heard before. Being told that someone had discovered new artists and bands through my sets was a great feeling since I enjoy sharing music with others. Sadly, it all came to a head early 2008 when a new landlord took over and replaced all the resident DJs with people he knew, but it was fun whilst it lasted.
That said, it was during one of my sets, one evening in 2007 that somebody made a recommendation to me: a guy came to the DJ booth and asked me if I'd heard of Broken Social Scene, I told him that I had, but wasn't familiar with their music (which was the case). He recommended that I check them out as he thought I'd like them. He wasn't wrong.
The following week, I took a trip to HMV and looked to see what they had available. There was a lot to choose from, but this is the one that stood out the most to me. I hadn't heard anything by this point, so what drove me to choose this album in particular, was something between intuition and chance. In an earlier entry, I mentioned the inherent risk of buying an unknown CD, and fortunately, this was another case where such a gamble paid off.
Playing this album now reminds me of what I was doing when I first heard it. I'd not long moved into my new flat and was enjoying my independence again. Summer was just around the corner, the place I worked was only 10 minutes away from where I lived and, as mentioned above, I spent a lot of my weekends either DJ-ing or doing live gigs performing my own music. It was a really carefree and mostly happy time that I remember with great fondness, and every time I play this album, I am back there again. For me, YFIIP is best played when the sun is shining, in the spring/summer months. All the songs have that "sunshine" feel to them, and the album is one that genuinely makes me feel happy.
I never did see the guy who recommended BSS to me again, but I did start to include their tracks in my set after that whilst also moving on to some of their other albums (including the eponymous record which is quite similar to this one, but less refined overall). The song I include below was one of my many favourites, and also the one I played the most in my sets. And when I close my eyes, it's 2007 again, and there I am, alive with possibilities.
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