Chris DeLine

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Bran Van 3000 feat. Curtis Mayfield “Astounded”

Published in Culture Bully, The Blog. Tags: , .

Largely remembered for the band’s 1997 single “Drinking in L.A.” (the single being from the album Gleewhich would yield the collective a 1998 Juno award for Best Alternative Album) Montreal’s Bran Van 3000 reinvented itself somewhat with the first single from its 2001 album Discosis. Blending electronics with a bit of disco flavor, the song features a vocal sample from Curtis Mayfield’s final recording ever. Mayfield’s enthralling voice largely makes the song, but the synthetic strings and backing vocals go a long way in ensuring that the song sounds as fresh today as it did then. “Astounded” would later become the group’s most successful Canadian single.

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]