Suspense; Without A Violin String

They’ve been compared to the Arcade Fire but The Rest has a more auspicious sound, delicately sweeping over a swindled layer of percussion and wandering whimsical guitars. The Ontario band released their debut album in 2009 and it received glowing reviews across the world. The band declare that not a single negative review can be found, quite a fine achievement.

The seven piece band is a very creative, ambitious bunch, and since forming the band has had many diversions into other art forms, musical side projects and running a record label. Their latest journey into the art world fuses with their music, releasing an EP and a book side by side. Cried Wolf tells the story of an adult whose falsified accusations one day come back to haunt him, twisting the fable of ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ into a darker, grown-up version. The book is beautifully illustrated by MLXNDRSC and the EP contains three new tracks and a cover of pop singer Robyn’s ‘With Every Heartbeat’. It can be downloaded for free, in exchange for your email address.

The band’s debut album Everyone All At Once (which collected all the positive reviews when it was released in North America last year), will be released world-wide on March 15th. Check out the video for ‘The Lady Vanishes’ (one of the albums’ stand out tracks) which uses a montage of film segments from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1938 film of the same name.

 The Rest- With Every Heartbeat: MP3

The Rest- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Canada
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The Art Of Confusion

After gushing over Dandi Wind for a very long time I’m only just getting into Fan Death, Dandilion Wind Opaine’s other notable musical project in collaboration with Marta Jaciubek- McKeever. The duo has just released their debut EP titled A Coin For The Well and hearing the track ‘Soon’ has me hooked. Going back and listening to songs from their first two 12″ records Veronica’s Veil and Cannibal has me wondering why I never got into them sooner.

They have been labelled nu-disco by some critics and in some ways they are definitely crafting a new path for the genre. With ghostly beats and short, sharp stabs of pop synths, their timing and fluid rhythms are in tune with the genres changing guard. In step with Opaine’s creative thinking (she’s a photographer, video producer, sculptor and digital animator), Fan Death has a large visual element to their sound, sparking images of flamboyance and grand costumes, something that has perhaps been associated with disco music since the beginning. But this is obviously a new era and the band’s style is most certainly cutting edge.

Opaine wrote and directed a music video for their song ‘Reunited’ which appears on the new EP. Throughout February Fan Death is on tour with Vampire Weekend, a strange combination but one that will hopefully work to their advantage. A Coin For The Well is currently available in the UK via The Pharmacy Recording Company and will be available in the US on February 23 through Last Gang Records. Fan Death’s debut album Womb Of Dreams is also set for release in 2010, due out some time in May.

 Fan Death- Soon: MP3

Fan Death- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Canada, Vancouver
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Drooling Abacus

Dan Snaith aka Caribou recently released the first single from his forth-coming album Swim, due for release on April 19 via Merge Records (North America) and City Slang (world-wide). Titled ‘Odessa’, it takes his music in a very swampy direction, leading with a crunchy punk sounding bass riff and howling guitar parts. He sings over the top like some sort of Scandinavian crooner, gently bringing his voice in and out of the shadows. Throughout the song there’s a subtle movement away from the minimalist beginning to a more densely layered ending where some lovely twinkling synths and jingling percussion come in to fill some of the more empty sections of the song.

If the song is at all an indicator of what we can expect from Swim, it could see Snaith offering a rougher, slightly less melodic sound than we heard on his previous record Andorra. But it might not indicate anything at.

Caribou- Odessa: MP3

 Caribou- Myspace

 Download ‘Odessa’ via Caribou’s Website

Posted by Nick Fulton under Canada
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Secret Little Opiate

While most of us have been captivated by Dandilion Wind Opaine’s other band Fan Death all year, she has been secretly recording some new material for Dandi Wind. To reward our patience she has released a new limited edition 7″ silkscreen printed vinyl split with Chicago’s Dead Gods, which you can buy from her myspace page.

The 7″ features a new song titled ‘Incubation’ and like her previous material it’s a bit of a banger. Known for her grimy tribal-electro, she again utilises a lot of percussion and midi-synths, laying it all out beneath her gruesome voice. The images and calculations Dandi is able to install in to her music is quite astounding, making her one of few artists with the unique talent to draw together music and the mind.

It’s probably not surprising then to learn that her talents in other art forms are as equally  impressive. She is an accomplished photographer, video producer, sculptor and digital animator and has directed music videos for Lady Sovereign and Metronomy, as well as making a short animated film in conjunction with Dandi Wind’s second album Yolk Of The Golden Egg. Her stage costumes are of a similar artistic reflection, often incorporating bright tribal make-up, paper-mache props, custom designed clothing and crazy hair styles, making her live show not only a musical performance but a display of performance art.

If you want to check out Dandi Wind’s back catalogue of music, images and videos then head to her website. You can listen to the new track ‘Incubation’ on her myspace page.

Dandi Wind- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Canada
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Celestial Microscope

Canadian experimental musician Chad VanGaalen’s Soft Airplane was one of my favourite albums of 2008, an amazing foray into the mind of an eclectic DIY mastermind, severely underrated around the world. A year after this release, VanGaalen has put up for free download an EP of nine bent and skewered songs that for some reason didn’t quite make the cut for Soft Airplane but are still super impressive in their own right. Combining his trademark love of munted drum machines and gritty guitar with his Neil Young-like warbly voice, his self-recorded (in his  basement) songs are rough around the edges, containing the same heart and excitement as Soft Airplane, picking up from where VanGaalen left off. VanGaalen remains one of my favourite current recording artists from Canada, and this EP shows his talent, no two songs are the same and they’re all amazing!

Chad VanGaalen- Microscopic World: MP3

Click to download Chad VanGaalen’s Soft Airplane – B-sides EP free

Buy Soft Airplane from Flemish Eye Records

Chad VanGaalen- Myspace

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Canada
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Hell Is Other People

Canadian duo Tegan and Sara have announced the beginning of pre-orders for their new album Sainthood today and the first single is ‘Hell’. Fans can now place their orders from iTunes for the twin sisters’ sixth album and get two bonus iTunes songs, ‘Wrists’ and ‘Light Up’. The pre-order also comes with ‘It Was Midnight’.

The girls have kept busy since the release of their acclaimed 2007 album The Con, and are releasing their publishing debut alongside the new album. ON, IN, AT is a three-book set which chronicles different periods of their lives (their 2008 US tour, 2009 Australian tour and a joint writing session in New Orleans for Sainthood) in writing and photos.

The third track from the new album, ‘Hell’ is a fast-paced, almost punk song for T&S, with driving guitar and harmonic singing. It’s an interesting departure from their previous quieter, somber fare, apparently written about a newspaper article in the Vancouver Sun about Tegan’s new neighbourhood being deemed “Vancouver’s four blocks of hell”.

There are special celebratory shows in New York and California at the end of the month for Sainthood, after which T&S will tour Europe, Canada and the US.

Tegan and Sara- Hell: MP3

Tegan and Sara- Myspace

Tegan and Sara- Website

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Canada, Montreal, Vancouver
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Fun and Laughter Returns

Returning for the first time since front woman Lizzie Powell suffered some quite serious vocal ailments in 2008, Land Of Talk has made a storming comeback with their new single ‘May You Never’ and bring with it news of a new EP titled Fun and Laughter, out via Saddle Creek Records on October 13.

It’s also the band’s first release since touring in support of their critically acclaimed debut album Some Are Lakes, recorded in early 2008 with help from Justin Vernon (Bon Iver, Volcano Choir) and released in October last year. During the tour, Powell announced that the band would be going on hiatus, but the differences within the band sorted themselves quickly avoiding any long term breakup. Guitarist Chris McCarron left to join The Dears and was replaced by current guitarist Joe Yarmush.

Fun and Laughter is a unique package, containing four new tracks, three videos and comes with limited edition screen-printed art (CD version only) designed by the band. Pre-orders can be made now from Saddle Creek’s website.

The new single, ‘May You Never’, shuffles sideways slightly, away from Land Of Talk’s previously succinct jaunty garage rock, leaning more towards the eternal indie rock spectrum. Touring with Broken Social Scene may have had an influence but fans have little to worry about as Powell’s beautiful female croon is still the driving influence behind the band. She adds some pretty swishy guitar licks as well, they’re just a bit more tailored to Death Cab than we’re all used to.

 Land Of Talk- May You Never: MP3

 Land Of Talk- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Canada, Montreal
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Handsome Furs

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Bacco Room, Auckland

 More Handsome Furs live photos

Posted by Nick Fulton under Canada, New Zealand
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No You Don’t

Islands are back with an awesomely catchy new single called ‘No You Don’t', in the lead-up to the September 22 ANTI- Records release of their third album Vapours. The song is surprisingly reggae-ish in tempo and rhythm, but with trademark shimmering, squelching synths and rawk-out guitars, this is a sound more curious and straight-forward poppy than their previous more lush, orchestral and beefed-out records (2006’s Return To The Sea and last year’s Arm’s Way). I don’t know about you, but I really like it! Ringleader, ex-Unicorns member Nick Thornburn (nee Diamonds) said in a recent interview, “I needed to withdraw from overblown metaphors and filling every possible sonic space. So this record is just made up of sequenced programming, synths, drum machines, guitars, and real bass. And an electric sitar.”

There are only four members on the new record – Thornburn, Jamie “J’aime Tambourine” Tambour (Thornburn’s Unicorns bandmate who was on the first Islands album) and brothers Evan and Geordie Gordon from the Magic.”

Look forward to Vapours being more hip hop and playful than Thornburn’s previous gore-themed indie albums. Thornburn says, “I feel like Vapours is going to catch people and cast a spell on them. It’s manifest destiny; I got tendinitis right after I made Arm’s Way, so I feel like I’m trying to change things in a positive way here. But this new album still casts the doubt on whether or not I’m able to entertain and cast vapours. It’s not a completely confident picture.”

Thornburn also says he’s “mildly serious” that there may be some auto-tune on the album. We’ll have to wait and see for that! Islands are doing an extensive North American tour beginning next month. Many dates are scheduled to be with support from ex-Be Your Own Pet frontwoman Jemina Pearl, check Islands’ myspace page for dates.

 Islands- No You Don’t: MP3

Islands- Website

Islands- Myspace

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Canada
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Coming in August…

The dates aren’t on the band’s myspace page just yet, but we’ve just seen a poster for the Wellington show on Facebook. Montreal band Handsome Furs will be playing Wellington’s San Francisco Bathhouse on Wednesday, August 26 and no doubt they’ll be an Auckland date and if we’re lucky a South Island date as well.

Handsome Furs are of course the husband and wife duo of Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade) and Alexei Perry.

Handsome Furs- All We Want Baby Is Everything: MP3

 Handsome Furs- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Canada, New Zealand
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