Posts Tagged ‘Canada’

ARCADE FIRE – ” The Reflektor Tapes ” Documetary

Posted: August 12, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Arcade Fire release their first feature film, The Reflektor Tapes, in theaters September 23 for a limited time.

Arcade Fire’s fourth album Reflektor is a sprawling, 75 minute double album featuring James Murphy, Jonathan Ross, voodoo, disco, dub reggae, bobbleheads and disco balls. To debunk, or perhaps further demystify the album released in 2013, the Canadian group have created The Reflektor Tapes, a film that arrives in cinemas in America on 23rd September and worldwide on 24th September. 

Directed by 2013 Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Short Films winner Kahlil Joseph, and produced by award-winning studio Pulse Films (20,000 Days on Earth, Shut Up And Play The Hits) and What Matters Most, it is a hybrid of documentary, music and art which explores the making of Reflektor. Using personal footage and interviews tracing back to its initial beginnings in Jamaica, to the recording sessions in Montreal and an impromptu gig at a Haitian hotel on the first night of carnival, the film also takes a peek behind the curtain of their tour, capturing footage from their arena dates in Los Angeles and London.

Arcade Fire said of the film: “There were parts of the Reflektor tour where I think we, Arcade Fire, came the closest in our careers to putting on stage what we imagined in our heads. We were insanely lucky to have Kahlil Joseph documenting from the very beginning.”

 

MILK and BONE – ” Pressure ” and ” New York “

Posted: August 7, 2015 in MUSIC
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Milk and Bone are Camille Poliquin and Laurence Lafond-Beaulne from Montreal Canada.

The background: Milk & Bone are a duo from French-speaking Canada, and there is a breathy Gallic lilt to their voices, although they sing in English. They sound almost eerily enchanting, like Aluna George with a dark secret, or a less full-bodied stereo Suzanne Vega. You will either warm to their cool dispassion or go cold. Suffice to say that, for all the easy pleasures of their dreamy, slow-tempo electronic pop/R&B, they offer ample opportunity to violently loathe them. The music on their debut “Little Mourning” EP is lush and lovely, lo-fi yet luxuriant. It is made, we’re guessing, largely on laptops, and it’s immensely cute. But for some the balance will be all wrong, and they will dismiss it as cutesy.

Their single Pressure has already had 1m Soundcloud plays, and they’ve already won fans in Austin (SXSW) and Paris (David Lynch’s Silencio) this year, playing their intimate songs about disappointment and claustrophobia and petty crises concerning characters who sip on coconut water while wondering if their unrequited crushes will ever work out. “We tend to write songs that are true and raw,” Lafond-Beaulne, the Bone to Poliquin’s Milk, said recently. “I think that people like that. I think that people want to hear the truth, even when the truth is not that pretty

Milk & Bone wrap their raw truths in very pretty packages. They cite as inspiration Blood Orange, Solange, James Blake, Purity Ring and Chvrches, and say they write their songs on Lafond-Beaulne’s ukulele, before covering the melodies in synths. Songs start slowly, then build, in their own quiet way, to epic climaxes. Elephant starts with a siren, but that’s just about the last dissonant note struck on the EP. Easy to Read, like everything here, is deceptively “nice”. Meanwhile, the lyrics (“My time is too short”, “I’m stuck, I can’t move”, “This is not going well – the doors keep on closing”, “The water is trouble … there are rapids ahead”) provide the “bitter” to the music’s “sweet”. Pressure, we’ll concede, is overly twee, but that is easily made up by New York, which has none of the triumphalist air of the Alicia Keys NYC paean and more of the lustrous darkness of Laura Nyro’s New York Tendaberry.

The Little Mourning EP is out now on Honeymoon

ALDEN PENNER – ” Meditate “

Posted: July 30, 2015 in MUSIC
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Montreal’s strange indie-pop trio The Unicorns abruptly split in 2005, two years after releasing the shambolic but strangely brilliant ‘Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone?’, their first and only album. The band reformed briefly last year for a short tour, including support slots for Arcade Fire, but this five-track EP sees frontman Alden Penner  who has sporadically released solo work since the breakup  shift his focus back to solo matters. Inspired by Dutch nonprofit organisation Mars One, which aims to see humans establish a colony on the red planet by 2027, ‘Canada In Space’ is wonderfully idiosyncratic. In particular, the sprawling and jarring ‘Meditate’  which features Juno actor and musician Michael Cera on backing vocals  may be the best thing Alden Penner’s done outside of The Unicorns.

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FAITH HEALER – ” Canonized / Universe “

Posted: June 16, 2015 in MUSIC
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Jessica Jalbert’s astral, deadpan psychedelia is the style of the best Lou Reed tribute you’ll ever hear. Instead of stripping the Velvet Underground for parts, Jalbert latches onto the weird renderings of tiny details that made that band iconic and coats them in her own reverb, coppery harmonies, and blown-out guitars. That’d be a reason unto itself to listen to “Cosmic Troubles”, but the factor in her incisive, sardonic songwriting . Here’s an uncharted universe of wry, golden fuzz-pop replete with barbed phrases, eyerolls and towering analogue dreaminess.

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Jessica Jalbert makes psychedelia sounds as Faith Healer, and her debut album under that name, Cosmic Troubles, is one of the year’s most cohesive records. Today we’re premiering the video for “Canonized,” a clip that features half of the tight-knit Edmonton music scene holding a Tarot reading and drinking wine spliced with shots of a lone figure trying to start a fire in the Mill Creek Ravine. It includes Caity Fisher (of Tee-Tahs and Caity Fisher & The Wastoids), Ian Waddell (of Diamond Mind), Mitch Holtby (Mitchmatic, Faith Healer), Layne L’Heureux (Maude), Ben Crossman (Ben Disaster, Love Electric, Tee-Tahs), and of course, Jessica Jalbert herself. It was directed by Mike Robertson and you can watch the whole crew’s oddball debauchery unfold below. If you take one thing away from this post, though, I hope it’s the realization that you seriously need to check out the Faith Healer album.

SYZZORS – ” Leo “

Posted: June 4, 2015 in MUSIC
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The lush vocal harmonies and dark synth melodies of Syzzors’ beat driven dream pop won us over when we noticed them on the charts at CISM. Since their previous release, this Montreal-based band brought in an additional member, moving them to shift their songwriting style. These changes paid off, delivering six captivating tracks on their brand new, self-released album “Leo”.

The RADIATION FLOWERS – ” Play With Fire “

Posted: April 14, 2015 in MUSIC
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The Radiation Flowers (formerly Powder Blue)

The sound of elevation throbbed into a vertical sky, The Radiation Flowers navigate the same sonic playground as influences Spacemen 3, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Cure, among many others. Guitar rock for northern lights and dark side mantras muttered in the drowsy light, these folks know how to get you off with minimal chords played to maximal effect. Like they say, “it’s a sci-fi-hurricane kinda groove”. Their debut EP was named one of the ‘Best Psychedelic Albums of 2013’ by The Active Listener – “Dream In Black”, a haunting score of dark keys, lush reverbed guitars and warm harmonies that fashion a soundtrack to both your dreams and nightmares.

Shelby Gaudet – Vocals, Guitar ,Amber Kraft – Drums, Percussion , Christopher Laramee – Guitar ,Sonia Dickin – Bass, Vocals , Elsa Gebremichael – Keys, Vocals, Hometown − Saskatoon, SK

 

The WOODEN SKY – ” Maybe Its No Secret “

Posted: April 12, 2015 in MUSIC
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We’re excited to announce that you will finally be able to get a copy of our new album, “Let’s Be Ready”. We’ve partnered with longtime friends Nevado Records who will be releasing the record worldwide on June 16th. We have a handful of US appearances planned with many more to come later this summer.

The Wooden Sky has been making music for over a decade, so when one of the founding members left the band, the Toronto folk-rock band had to figure out how to regroup and move forward. Nowhere near calling it quits, they headed home to Canada and hit the recording studio. To capture the raw power of their live performances, they kept on the move, bouncing throughout several studios in Toronto. They’ll soon be emerging with Let’s Be Ready, their fourth full-length album,

“Maybe It’s No Secret,” the first single from the upcoming album, showcases the Wooden Sky’s exuberant and explosive style, which continues to unfold after repeated listening. It’s a rock-driven track, with steady percussion, playful guitar and an easy, melodic style that, when paired with Gavin Gardiner’s deep, folksy warble, is reminiscent of Tom Petty and other folk-rock greats. The Wooden Sky has a well-earned reputation for putting on incredible and unique live music experiences.

from the Hidden Studio Session, This time, they’ve found their way to the Indie88 Hidden Studio to perform “Saturday Night” from their new record Let’s Be Ready, as well as “North Dakota”, a classic from their 2007 debut album When Lost At Sea.

 

 

TESS PARKS – ” Somedays “

Posted: March 12, 2015 in MUSIC
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Tess Parks is a musician and photographer born and raised in Toronto. The granddaughter and daughter of musicians and an art school dropout, she moved to London at seventeen years of age to pursue music and to study photography. She has played as a solo act for the past four years between the UK and Canada.

After overstaying her visit in London, she reluctantly moved back to Toronto on the advice from one of her heroes. Once home, she put together her amazing psychedelic backing band of “sexy and talented musicians”, The Good People, in late 2012, compromising gifted guitarist Andrew McGill, bassist Thomas Huhtala and her record’s producer and multi-instrumentalist Thomas Paxton-Beesley.

Early in 2013, she released a self-funded EP “Work All Day/Up All Night“, which was recorded in Toronto. At the same time, Tess began demoing songs for what will become her debut album, which were also available via Bandcamp.

“I was brought up on Bob Dylan and Nirvana and The Beatles and Rolling Stones and Zeppelin and all that good shit,” says Tess. She’s hung out with the likes of the Dandy Warhols and met Alan McGee in London. “We stayed in touch, that was it really. I just got so lucky,” adds Tess. “I love Oasis, Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine… He’s affiliated with all of my favourite musicians.”

Tess describes her songs as “lo-fi alternative drones with a hypnotic vibe”. Another of her influences is Elliott Smith. Indeed, Tess is organizing and performing at a tribute night dedicated to the late musician at the Handlebar, Toronto on August 6.

Tess Parks’s debut album came out in November 2013. “It’s like the project that my whole life has been leading up to,” explains Tess. “I think it’s gonna be really special. I’m just the happiest I have ever been. I have the best band, they’re my best friends. It’s just so good to be alive. Music is the greatest.”

FAITH HEALER – ” Canonized “

Posted: March 5, 2015 in MUSIC
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Jessica Jalbert is the brains behind the Edmonton band Faith Healer, whose music is like a cross section of ’60s psychedelia and lo-fi bedroom recordings. Jalbert’s voice is understated yet bold, and it fits like a glove over tracks that range from Byrds-esque jangles to garage rock freak-outs. On “Canonized,” the newest track from the band’s upcoming “Cosmic Troubles” LP, we get a sampler of the many flavors that Faith Healer is capable of pulling off. It moves flawlessly between an ominous prog-rock verse and a chorus that explodes in fizzy guitars and retro backing vocal “ahs.” The whole thing feels like your acid is kicking in right as the sun cuts through the rain clouds.

BRAIDS – ” Miniskirt “

Posted: February 12, 2015 in MUSIC
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Taken from Braids‘ new LP “Deep in the Iris”, out April 28th on limited white/green marbled vinyl through ArbutusRecords

Last year, around this day, we were driving across America to a cabin in the dry woods of Prescott Arizona, to start a new record. We wanted to leave winter, to leave what we were familiar with, to go to a place where we felt sunlight on our face, a great expanse when we looked out, roads that we had not walked, a sky that was new. Just us three, chopping fire wood, taking hikes, cooking meals. We didn’t attempt to “write” anything – we spent a lot of time breaking down barri…ers of self scrutiny, judgement, expectations, pushing to be raw and vulnerable in front of one another, focusing on process rather than goal. The intention was to create a space where we felt supported by one another, safe to let anything out, encouraged to see an idea through to the end, a conscious attempt to cultivate curiosity because it’s so easy to let it sleep.

Today we get to begin sharing the songs from this process, and we’re very happy/nervous/excited to be doing so. The record is called “Deep In The Iris”, and it’s out late April on Arbutus Records and Flemish Eye. The first single, “Miniskirt”, and its lyrics are below.

Much love goes out to all those who helped us make this record happen…….Braids

 

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