Bran Van 3000 feat. Curtis Mayfield “Astounded” (Best of the Decade)
Largely remembered for the band’s 1997 single “Drinking in L.A.” (the single being from the album Glee which 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.
