Monday 29 April 2013

New Music: Braids- Amends


Montreal band Braids are back with their first new music since the release of their excellent 2011 LP Native Speaker. The band will come out with a new 12" single  In Kind // Amends on June 12th. The release will include the songs "In Kind", "Amends", "Near Enough" and "A Dawn in Me"

Braids will also be releasing a full album some time later in the year.

The group have completely moved away from guitar music and embraced the electronic sound that lead singer Raphaelle Standell- Preston used so effectively in her other band Blue Hawaii. Listen to the first song from the 12", "Amends" below:

In Kind//Amends will be out on June 12th via Flemish Eye/Arbutus.

For fans of Grimes, Purity Ring.





New Music: Surfing- Hollow Sparrow



Nice new shoegaze track from Virginia based band Surfing. "Hollow Sparrow", will be released on 7" some time this summer. Listen to the track below:

For fans of Eternal Summers, 2:54, Yuck.





Sunday 28 April 2013

Five Star Songs: The Teardrop Explodes- Passionate Friend


"Passionate Friend" was released in 1981 and was the first single from the The Teardrop Explodes second and last album, Wilder.

News came this week that the seminal 80's post punk band will be reissuing Wilder in a two disc CD set. The first disc will contain the original eleven song album and the second disc will feature a plethora of b-sides and BBC sessions including those recorded with the legendary John Peel.

Wilder originally had a poor showing in the charts when it was originally released back in 1981 and deserves a second chance. The colourful art rock sound of the album simply didn't gain an audience.
Shortly after they concluded the tour for the album the band went through major upheaval with infighting and disagreements between members. In 1982 lead singer Julian Cope decided to leave the group and he went on to forge a successful solo career.

Wilder will come out on June 24th via Mercury/Universal Music catalogue. Look for it in record stores.





Friday 26 April 2013

New Music: Los Porcos- Do You Wanna Live? + Jesus Loves You Baby


The guys in WU LYF were just as surprised that singer Ellery Roberts left the band as the rest of us. Important members leaving up and coming groups is happening all too frequently recently e.g. Girls and most recently Yuck. The rest of WU LYF have picked up the pieces and joined forces with members of FAMY and Profondo to form a new eccentric indie pop band called Los Porcos.

The band describe their music as yacht rock which you can definitely hear in their 70's soft rock disco throwback debut songs "Jesus Loves You Baby" and the six minute " Do You Wanna Live?" Listen to the quirky songs below:

For fans of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Yacht Club.









New Music: Roman á clef- Lucky Toasts


Roman á clef is a new indie pop group that features members Ryan Newmyer and Jen Goma of A Sunny Day in Glasgow and Kurt Feldman of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Listen to their summery, infectious new song "Lucky Toasts" below:

For fans of Prefab Sprout, Aztec Camera, China Crisis





Wednesday 24 April 2013

New Music From the Inbox: Featuring The BB Guns, Girl Band, Here Is Your Temple & Strange Names


Toronto indie band The BB Guns were featured on the awesome compilation album Psych Pop From Toronto late last year and now they have announced they will be releasing a new EP. The 4-song Baby I Hate You was produced by Brain Borcherdt (Holy Fuck/Dusted) and will be available May 7th via Marineville Records.

Watch the video for the fun surf punk song "Pennie Lane" that was partially shot at Toronto's Sunnyside Beach (best place in Toronto to run....and drink beer) and the Parkdale No Frills grocery store ( a place where I used to buy groceries regularly).

The BB Guns will be opening for Bleached at The Silver Dollar Room here in Toronto tomorrow night.





Girl Group are an Irish noise punk band that are being heavily hyped by NME and were included in that magazine's Best New Bands of 2013 issue. Stream the Nirvana/Jesus Lizard influenced single "You're a Dog". The band have a 6-song EP that you can download here.







Another band being heralded by NME is Swedish shoegaze group Here Is Your Temple who were featured in the the magazine's The Buzz page. The band have a new EP, So High, that is out now and you can stream it on Soundcloud.

Watch an acoustic performance of the title track.




Strange Names are a rising Minnesota indie rock duo who recently debuted their video for "Once an Ocean" over at A Heart Is A Spade. The track is the b-side of the band’s Minor Times/Once an Ocean 7”, which was produced by Lewis Pesacov (Best Coast).

The single is available now via White Iris.  Watch and listen below:





New Music: SISU- Light Eyes



Dum Dum Girls member Sandra Vu steps out from behind the drums to show off her multi instrumental skills and vocal talent with her new project SISU.

Much like Dum Dum Girls original drummer Frankie Rose, Vu's sound is much more shoegaze/dream pop than her regular gig. Listen to "Light Eyes" which is the title track from a new five song EP that is available for purchase on Bandcamp.

For fans of Dum Dum Girls, Frankie Rose, Black Tambourine.






Tuesday 23 April 2013

New Music: Wild Nothing- A Dancing Shell + Music Video


Jack Tatum and his dream pop project Wild Nothing announced today that he will release a quick turnaround follow up to the excellent Nocturne album. The seven song EP will be titled Empty Estate and will come out May 14th via Bella Union/Captured Tracks.

The first track from the EP, "A Dancing Shell", comes accompanied by a music video that features odd geometric shaped people strolling down the street. Listen and watch below:

For fans of Talking Heads, Neon Indian.





Monday 22 April 2013

R.I.P. Divinyls Singer Christina Amphlett






One of my many teenage music crushes passed yesterday following a battle with breast cancer......

Christina Amphlett and her band The Divinyls were responsible for the sexually suggestive hit "I Touch Myself" back in the early 90's that prompted many young hormonally unbalanced boys to instantly fall in lust with the singer.

Primarily known as a one hit wonder group in this part of the world, back in their home country of Australia they were very well known and had several chart smashes. As proof listen to the band's new wave hit "Science Fiction" above.



New Music: Gauntlet Hair- Human Nature





Denver indie rock band Gauntlet Hair are back with a new single and their second LP, Stills. According to singer Andy R. the new album was inspired by the music he listened to when he was a kid growing up in the 90's.

Drummer Craig Nice added, “I started listening again to the stuff I would have in my discman in the back of my mom’s car,”  “White Zombie, Marilyn Manson — the production on those records is so amazing."

The first single from the record, "Human Nature", hints at that nineties sound and does not have the band's signature jangle guitar that was so prevalent on their debut self titled album. But don't worry these guys will not be making any angry industrial metal anytime soon. Listen above.


Stills will be out July 16th via Dead Oceans.

For fans of A Place to Bury Strangers, Women.


New Music: Tempers- Strange Harvest


New York electro duo Tempers are sort of like The Kills, if the The Kills were an icy industrial synthesizer couple instead of a bluesy guitar duo. "Strange Harvest" is the band's second single and the 7" will be released on April 24th via Pendu Sound.

For fans of The Kills, Cold Cave.




Sunday 21 April 2013

Five Star Songs: Orange Juice- Rip It Up


Record Store Day is always a frustrating ordeal, especially for someone who shops for vinyl every other weekend of the year. My Saturday mornings are made for sleeping in and even know there is some rare vinyl to be had during RSD , it is not worth waking up at dawn to go stand in line on a freezing cold morning.

In prior years, I have always gone Record Store Day shopping in the afternoon only to find that all of the good records have been snatched up. Further frustrating is that these stores would bring in live bands to play for further promotion.  I love live music but when I am shopping for records I want to be able to search the aisles trouble free, without a crowd standing in the way watching a band play. So this year I compromised and made my way down to Sonic Boom records at Bloor & Bathurst in Toronto at 10 AM in the morning hoping that I could find most of the RSD releases on my wish list. 

This included The Flaming Lips Zareeika reissue, The White Stripes Elephant reissue, PIL debut single reissue of "Public Image", Bat for Lashes "Laura/Marilyn" 7 inch, David Bowie's "The Stars Are Out Tonight"7 inch, Foals special edition Holy Fire LP, Orange Juice's reissue of Rip It Up and a heck of lot more. The only three releases I was able to find were the Orange Juice, Bowie and Foals records. Everything else was either already taken by early birds or Sonic Boom did not have them in stock. 

I got lucky with the Bowie single as it was the last one on the shelf. Then when I was standing in line some guy saw it in my hands and offered to buy it from me straight up. Unfortunately for him, I was not going to sell it, whatever the price. (He did call Kops Records and they have it in stock. Hope he was able to get there before they ran out).

Surprisingly, some records that were not snatched up for some reason were the Domino Orange Juice reissues. All four original records from the seminal Scottish indie pop band were still in abundance by the time I got there. I only grabbed one of them, that being their 1982 classic Rip it Up.

If you are not familiar with Orange Juice, you are missing out on one of the great Scottish bands of the eighties. Led by Edwyn Collins (famous for his hit "A Girl Like You" from the Empire Records soundtrack), the group was formed in the late seventies. They didn't start releasing singles until 1980 and their first album, You Can't Hide Your Love Forever, came out two years later.

After that album, Collins fired a couple of members of the band, hired drummer Zeke Manyika and let him write a few afro beat inspired songs for a new LP.  The result was Rip it Up, a mixed record full of reworked reggae influenced B Sides, leftovers and the aforementioned Manyika tracks. It may have been a mess but it was great sounding mess and included the band's biggest hit, the title track and first single off of the album, "Rip it Up".

The song charted at Number 8 in the UK pop charts and the sound was miles away from the post punk of the band's first album. The production of the track was exceptionally professional and the music was dance oriented with disco drums and funky guitar. The song's sly lyrics hint at the group's reinvention and the earlier firings of original band members. Watch the video for the song below:

Unfortunately Collins suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in 2005, had to have brain surgery and was not able to perform again until 2008. Thankfully, he recovered enough to release three solo LPs including the album Understated which came out last month.

Check your local record store to find the vinyl reissues of You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever (1982), Rip It Up (1982), Texas Fever (1984) and The Orange Juice (1984) or check out a 6 CD w/DVD box set available at Amazon








Friday 19 April 2013

Friday Music Mix: Featuring Empire of The Sun, Valleys, Holograms, Savages & More


Here is a wrap up of the best new music of the week plus one hugely disappointing new track:

Flamboyant Australian synth pop act Empire of The Sun are back with a new song from their upcoming LP. Listen to "Alive" from Ice on the Dunes, out in June via Astralwerks.





"Hounds" is a new track off of the forthcoming new album Are You Going To Stand There And Talk Weird All Night from Montreal electro dream pop act Valleys. The LP is out April 30th via Kanine.





Holograms have already announced plans for a new LP this year following the release of the brilliant self titled LP last year. The new record is titled Forever and will be out September 3rd via Captured Tracks. "Flesh & Bone" is the first single off of the album.





Dre Skull enlists the help of Purity Ring's Megan James on his new summery dancehall reggae song "First Time".





Cayucas debut album Bigfoot will finally be out April 30th on Secretly Canadian. "East Coast Girl" is the latest preview from the LP.

Cayucas- East Coast Girl



Record Store Day is tomorrow and here are two late submissions added to the almost endless selection of vinyl going on sale Saturday.

A Place To Bury Strangers have recorded an album of cover songs. The tracks are all songs by seminal punk rock band Dead Moon. Listen to "Don't Burn the Fires" from the new LP.

A Place to Bury Strangers- Don't Burn the Fires

French indie pop artist Sebastien Tellier has enlisted the help of Chairlift's Caroline Polachek for his exclusive RSD 7" single "In the Crew of Tea Time."

Sebastien Tellier & Caroline Polachek- In the Crew of Tea Time



Can't leave the week without a new Savages song. Watch the video for "Shut Up" from the English post punk's much anticipated new LP Silence Yourself out May 8th via Matador.





Bonus:
After all of the hype, the new Daft Punk song leaves me sleepy.  How did Pitchfork warrant this song as "Best New Track'"? Sometimes I think payola is alive and well in 2013. Judge for yourself and listen to the new song "Get Lucky" ft Pharrell.

Daft Punk- Get Lucky




New Music: Azure Blue- The Road I Know (featuring Julia Vero)


Swedish Indie Grammy Award recipient Azure Blue, aka Tobias Isaksson, recently announced he will be releasing a new LP titled Beyond The Dreams, which will be the much anticipated follow up to his heralded debut album Rule of Thirds.

The first single from the record is titled "The Road I Know" that features production from iamamiwhoami’s Claes Björklund and the backing vocals of Swedish electro star Julia Vero. Listen to the dreamy romantic song below:

For fans of M83, I Break Horses, Niki & The Dove





Thursday 18 April 2013

New Music: Poliça- Tiff (Featuring Justin Vernon)


You know, I always keep meaning to check out Minnesota electro R&B band Poliça's earlier work, but I just haven't had a chance. I really love Gayngs, in which Poliça member  Channy (Caselle) Leaneagh is the lead singer, but didn't really know that until later.

Now comes a brand new song from Poliça that once again has me regretting having checked this band out earlier. "Tiff" was premiered live at Coachella last weekend and features fellow Gayngs member and Bon Iver dude Justin Vernon. Fellow Minnesotan and Gayngs fan Prince would be a fan of this song.  Listen to the funky tune below:

For fans of Gayngs, Purity Ring, Rhye.





Wednesday 17 April 2013

New Music From the Inbox: Featuring Ra Ra Riot, Imaginary Cities, Saturday Looks Good To Me and More




Ra Ra Riot are celebrating Record Store Day and their upcoming tour with the Shins with a special limited edition 10" release titled Binary Mind. The song "All I Fear" is a track that harkens back to their earlier LP's and lacks the synth pop the band have recently adopted. Listen below:






The River Cry is the solo project of singer Hilary Claire Woods who used to be the bass player in Irish indie rock band JJ72. The beautiful song "Honeymoon" is taken off her debut eponymous album which was released earlier this year. You can buy the album from her website or bandcamp.

The River Cry-Honeymoon


Winnipeg's Imaginary Cities new album, Fall of Romance, is out now. Listen to their anthemic new single from the LP "Chasing the Sunset."





New single titled "Break In" from Saturday Looks Good To Me who's new album One Kiss Ends it All will be available May 21st via Polyvinyl.





New song from Irish indie band Bell X1 titled "Starlings Over Brighton Pier". Taken from their new album Chop Chop which is in early July.





Finally, watch the video from Swedish electro act I Used to be a Sparrow and their new song "Warpaint On Invisible Children" from the duo's recently released LP You Are An Empty Artist.

Video: I Used To Be A Sparrow- Warpaint On Invisible Children




Tuesday 16 April 2013

New Music: Camera Obscura- Do it Again


Finally got word in March of a new album, Desire Lines, from Scottish indie pop band Camera Obscura, and it is a record to look forward to, especially when word came out that both Neko Case and Jim James of My Morning Jacket will guest on the LP.

Today the band released the first preview on the record in the form of the song "Do it Again". The song contains the same melancholic lyrics Camera Obscura fans are used to, but they have changed up the sound a bit from previous albums and have even added some synthsizer. Listen to the track below.

Desire Lines is out June 4th via 4AD.





New Music: Beaches- Send Them Away


Beautiful new song from Melbourne Australia five piece indie rock band Beaches. These guys are already well known in their native land having made the Australian Music Prize short list for their debut album. Now Beaches are taking on the rest of the world as evidenced by their new scuzzy jangle pop track "Send Them Away".  Listen below:

The track is taken from the band's upcoming new LP She Beats, out May 5th via Chapter Music.

For fans of Twerps, Beach Fossils.





Monday 15 April 2013

New Music: Bass Drum of Death- Shattered Me


Mississippi lo-fi garage rockers Bass Drum of Death recently announced they will be releasing a new self titled LP in June and also gave us a first taste of the record. Listen to the hard charging, riffy "Shattered Me" below:

Bass Drum of Death's new self titled LP will be released June 25th via Innovative Leisure.

For fans of Thee Oh Sees. Ty Segall





Sunday 14 April 2013

Five Star Songs: Sinéad O'Connor- Black Boys On Mopeds


I know I shouldn't give a shit about British politics, and for the most part I am ignorant to what goes on in that country. However, during the 80's it was hard to ignore the unfathomable ultra conservative frightening reign from Margaret Thatcher, the leader of Great Britain from 1979 to 1990. The amount of anti-Thatcher songs that came out in that era were endless and made everyone angry from punks to folk singers to more well known musical artists. BuzzFeed made a pretty good list of some of the more angrier songs that were written as the result of her rule. You can read it here.

These feelings were stirred up again this week with the death of the former PM. One of the biggest artists to release a vitriol statement saying they are glad she has passed away was Morrissey. Never shy to mince words Moz simply stated on his fan website that "she didn't give a shit about people." Just an aside to back this up: besides Thatcher's economic policy that put a lot of Britons out of work and her war over a couple of rocks in the south Atlantic, one of the most atrocious policies of her legacy was supporting the South African apartheid government and labelling Nelson Mandela as a terrorist. Yes, she did help end apartheid, but only because sanctions were hindering South Africa's economy and not because she cared anything about that country's black majority.

I actually caught a glimpse of Thatcher when she was visiting Toronto in 1988 for the G8 summit. I remember I was in an office building beside the King Edward Hotel where she was staying. Looking from eight floors up, I could see the limo pull up in front of the hotel and Thatcher stepping out waving to her admirers. Even in liberal Canada she had her fans. While this was going on, I remember a slew of snipers on top of the hotel on guard looking for trouble. Scary stuff.

Getting back to the music, one of the songs on the aforementioned BuzzFeed list was Sinéad O'Connor's "Black Boys On Mopeds." The song appeared on the album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got and is about an incident where a black youth was pursued by police for stealing a moped, even though the boy was innocent of the crime. When trying to evade police the boy crashed and was killed. The death was ruled accidental but O'Connor alleges in the song the only reason that the boy was suspected of the crime was because he was black. The start of the song references Thatcher and notes how strange it is that she was shocked at what was going on in China while the same things were going on at home in Britain. Listen to the political song-as performed on the Late Show in 1990-that points Thatcher as a hypocrite below:





Friday 12 April 2013

Friday Music Mix: Featuring New Music From The National, QOTSA, The Flaming Lips, CSS, Basement Jaxx and More



Time to play catch up. Check out a bunch of new tunes below:

The National release their sixth studio album Trouble Will Find Me May 21st via 4AD. Listen to the first two songs from the LP, "Demons" and "Don't Swallow the Cap"

The National- Demons
The National- Don't Swallow The Cap


New music video from Portland pop punk band The Thermals. Watch the clip for "Born To Kill". From the album Desperate Ground due out April 16th via Saddle Creek.

Video: The Thermals- Born To Kill


"Monomania" is the title track to the Bradford Cox psych pop project Deerhunter's new album that will be out May 7th via 4AD.

Deerhunter- Monomania

Queens of the Stone Age are back with a song and album. Listen to "My God is the Sun from the LP ...Like Clockwork, out June 4th via Matador.

QOTSA- My God is the Sun

New music from Scottish indie twee band The Pastels. "Check My Heart" is taken from the band's new album Slow Summits, out May 28th via Domino.

The Pastels- Check My Heart


M83 have soundtracked the new Tom Cruise sci-fi action move Oblivion, which will be in theatres April 19th. Listen to the title track that features Norwegian singer Susanne Sundfør.

M83- Oblivion


Veteran indie rock duo Rogue Wave have announced a new album, Nightingale Floors, to be released June 4th via Vagrant. Listen to the first track off the LP, "College"





Hey!! Two tracks with the same name in the same post. This time it is Philadelphia garage pop band Bleeding Rainbow with their song titled "Oblivion." The song will be available digitally April 23rd via Kanine.





The new album The Terror from Oklahoma freaks The Flaming Lips will be out on this side of the pond next week on Warner Bros. Listen to the 13 minute psychedelic trip that is the song "You Lust."

The Flaming Lips- You Lust


"Hare Tarot Lies" is another great synthy dream pop song from Montreal band No Joy. Taken from the album Wait To Pleasure, out April 23rd via Mexican Summer.





Brazilian party rockers Cansei de ser Sexy (CSS) have a new Dave Sitek produced album on the way. The LP is titled Planta and will be available June 11th. Listen to "Hangover", the first single from the album.




Finally, a new song from British dance crew Basement Jaxx. The awesome new single "Back 2 the Wild" features Korean singers Miss Emma Lee and Baby Chay.






New Music: Rainbow Arabia- Math Quiz


The Los Angeles synth pop trio RainbowArabia have released another great song from their upcoming new album F.M. Sushi, which is due next week via Time No Place. Check out the saxy new song "Math Quiz" below:

For fans of DIANA, Puro Instinct.



Wednesday 10 April 2013

New Music: Moon King- Dreamtrap + Icarus


Here are a couple of more crazy good new tracks for your listening pleasure from Toronto dream pop project Moon King, ahead of the release of their new EP Obsession II next week. Listen to "Dreamtrap" and "Icarus" below:

Obsession II will be out April 20th via One Big Silence.








New Music: Postiljonen- Supreme + Music Video





This song sounds like it could been recorded by M83. So much so, that I had to check my ears when I first heard it. "Supreme" is actually by a band called Postiljonen who are an electro dream pop band from Sweden.  The breezy track and accompanying video details a teen romance where a girl seems to trying to decide between some skateboarding dude and a Robert Pattinson looking guy. Kim and Jessie would be proud. Watch above:

For fans of M83 and Air France.






Tuesday 9 April 2013

New (Old) Music: Broken Social Scene- Deathcock


Always good to hear from Toronto's most famous artist collective Broken Social Scene, even though they are supposed to be broken up. Let's just say they are semi-retired and whenever one of their friends has an anniversary they get back together for the party. In this case it's the band's record label Arts & Crafts who are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year with a compilation of songs from the label's group of artists and the Field Trip Festival, a special concert in the heart of downtown Toronto featuring BSS, Feist, Bloc Party, Ra Ra Riot and more.

"Deathcock" is one of BSS"s contributions to the album, Arts & Crafts 2003-2013, and despite the song's name, it is a really good representation of what the band sounded like when they were at the height of their career. Beautiful, sprawling, 7 minutes worth of joyous noise. The song was recorded as part of the You Forget it in People sessions and is already included on the 2004 BSS b-side compilation album Beehives. However, the song deserves a little bit more love. Listen below or head on over to Soundcloud to download the track:

Arts & Crafts 2003-2013 is out April 16th.





New Music: Mikal Cronin- Weight


California garage pop artist Mikal Cronin's new song "Weight" starts with the line "I've been starting over for a long time. I'm not ready for another day." Thoughtful lyrics about aging from someone so young. I think this guy has a lot of time yet before he has to worry about growing old...none of this BS about a quarter life crisis. Anyway, the song is good. Listen below:

Taken from Cronin's new album MCII, out May 7th via Merge.

For fans of Ty Segall, Alex Chilton, Mac DeMarco


Monday 8 April 2013

New Music: Weekend- Mirror


The Bay Area of California seems to have spawned a lot of dark post punk music in recent years, almost making us forget that San Francisco was once a hippie town. The San Francisco/Oakland scene boasts the likes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Film School, Tamaryn, Soft Moon, The Bilinda Butchers, Young Prisms, Permanent Collection, Whirr and of course Weekend.

Weekend released one of my favourite albums in 2010, Sports, and are now set to release their sophomore LP which is titled Jinx. "Mirror" is the first track to be previewed from the new record and it seems to indicate that the band may going in a darker direction. Listen below:

Jinx will be released July 23rd via Slumberland.

For fans of Tamaryn, Interpol.


New Music: Sean Nicholas Savage- She Looks Like You


"She Looks Like You" is the second song to be previewed from veteran Montreal singer-songwriter Sean Nicholas Savage's forthcoming new album Other Life. Glad  to see Savage is getting a little bit of attention these days, after all he has already put out several albums and is well known in the Montreal Arbutus records artistic community that includes Grimes, Doldrums and Blue Hawaii. Listen to the smooth retro sounding new track below:

Other Life will be available April 30th via Arbutus.

For fans of Destroyer, Spandau Ballet.







Sunday 7 April 2013

New Music: Chains of Love: Follow Me + Music Video


The Mad Men season premiere is tonight and to get you ready, here is a new 60's psych influenced song by Vancouver indie rock band Chains Of Love.  "Follow Me" also has a cool retro psychedelic video that brings to mind all of those old swinging parties from the hippie era. Watch below:

Chains of Love are finishing off their latest album, Misery Maker, and it should be ready some time this summer via Manimal Vinyl/ Frenchkiss.

For fans of The Babies, Raveonettes.




Five Star Songs: The Dandy Warhols- Godless + News of a 13th Anniversary Reissue of Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia


Portland psychedelic alt rock band The Dandy Warhols released some of the finest LP's from the time around the turn of the century including ....The Dandy Warhols Come Down, Welcome To the Monkey House and their best album Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia. These guys were a welcome reprieve from the musical garbage of The Limp Bizkits and the Creeds et al who were polluting the airwaves in the era before The Strokes.

News came this week that the band have announced that they will be playing a tour to celebrate that classic 2000 album plus reissuing a special edition of the record (details to come). The Dandy's already did a mini tour around their hometown on March 27th, singing one song at thirteen different location in and around Portland. Now the group are about to embark on a tour of North America where they will play the album in full at each stop. They will be playing The Phoenix in Toronto on June 6th. Check here for all tour dates.

The song "Godless" was the third single featured from the album and probably the most understated track on the LP. The song features a surge of trumpets underlain with Courtney Taylor-Taylor's quiet vocals and a great mess of head swirling acoustic and electric guitar. Listen below:






Fan-Tan Visit BTR Live Studio




Watch: Brooklyn band Fan-Tan bring their post punk stylings to BTR Studio for a performance of "Everything Will Be Fine" plus an interview with the band.

Fan-Tan's new album A Strange Game is out now through Goodnight Records.



Friday 5 April 2013

New Music: Jenny Hval- Mephisto in the Water


Beautiful, haunting folk from eclectic Norwegian singer-songwriter Jenny Hval.  Hval is a known musical artist, writer and journalist in her homeland and she has already put out three albums of material plus has contributed to several European magazines. The song"Mephisto in the Water" is taken from Hval's newest album, Innocence is Kinky, out April 19th via Rune Grammofon. Listen below:

For fans of PJ Harvey, Cat Power.







Thursday 4 April 2013

New Music: Cold Cave- God Made the World




Another great track from the brilliant darkwave artist Wesley Eisold, aka Cold Cave......

Eisold announced via his Tumblr that "God Made the World" will be part of a series of new singles. The series includes three 7" singles that are the aforementioned song, "BlackBoots b/w "Meaningful Life" and "A Little Death To Laugh" which will be pressed for the third time. Also available digitally and vinyl for pre-order through Deathwishinc is "Oceans With No End."  Listen to the new song above:

Also announced was a tour that will stop at Parts & Labour in Toronto on June 26th.






Wednesday 3 April 2013

New Music: Catlow- Pinkly Things + Music Video


Okay....this song isn't that new, but the music video for the track was released this week and because of that I had the privilege of discovering a brilliant new artist. Catlow (real name Natasha Thirsk) is a Vancouver indie pop artist who specializes in making beautiful dreamy music.

"Pinkly Things" is a track off Catlow's 2012 EP of the same name. Watch the beautifully shot, experimental travelogue video for the song below:

For fans of Cocteau Twins, Warpaint.





Tuesday 2 April 2013

New Music: Bleached- Dead In Your Head


"Dead In Your Head" is the second song to be previewed from Bleached's debut album Ride Your Heart which came out today. Listen below:

Ride Your Heart is out today via Dead Oceans.

For fans of Dum Dum Girls, La Sera



New Music: Decades- In Sequins + Music Video


Toronto post punk band Decades have released a new video for the song "In Sequins" which is a track off of their forthcoming new record. Much like Wax Idols, who we previewed yesterday, Decades began as a garage rock band and have evolved into British post punk. Watch the purple hued performance video for the new track below:

Decades’ self-titled album is out April 30th via White Girl Records.

For fans of Cocteau Twins, Toy.





Monday 1 April 2013

New Music: Chvrches- Now Is Not The Time + Music Video


This blog is officially obsessed with the Scottish synth pop band Chvrches. The band released a new music video today for the beautiful song "Now Is Not The Time" from their excellent Recover EP. Watch the group play a roller rink in the clip below:

Recover is out now. Get it via Glassnote.





New Music: Young Galaxy- New Summer


Frigidly cold here in Toronto again today and it is a real bonus to hear songs at this time of year with themes, titles, lyrics or even sunny sounding songs that make you long for summer. Young Galaxy fits that template with their latest, " New Summer," which is the third track previewed from their upcoming new LP. Listen below:

Young Galaxy will release their new album, Ultramarine, April 23rd via Paper Bag.

For fans of School of Seven Bells, Chvrches.




New Music: Spectrals- Milky Way


This is the first we have heard from former Girls member JR White since the break up of his band. British songwriter Louis Jones and his band Spectrals have just released a new single, "Milky Way" that features both assistance and influence from White on the track. Listen to the finished product below:

Spectrals new LP. Sob Story, will be available June 18th via Slumberland.

For fans of Girls, Girls Names, Brilliant Colors.





New Music: Wax Idols- When It Happens


Due to computer issues and the Easter holiday weekend I am really behind in the music I want to post. For the next couple of days I am just going to post with minimal writing and just let the music do the talking.

First up is Wax Idols latest song "When It Happens." The band continue to move away from their garage rock origins and into classic British post punk with this track. Watch the performance video for the track below:

Wax Idols released their sophomore LP, Discipline & Desire, last week via Slumberland.

For fans of Savages, Siouxsie & The Banshees.


Wax Idols - When It Happens from Slumberland Records on Vimeo.