Molten Bicycles

I normally try not to let name-dropping sway me, but when a certain Fab Moretti from The Strokes comes into play, my interest can’t help but be piqued. With high hopes I clicked into Chocolate Robots’ bandcamp, and fortunately they delivered. Sounding somewhere between The Unicorns, The Zookeepers and maybe The Strokes or Fab’s other breezier, beachier project, Little Joy, Chocolate Robots capture that youthful rapture that stole my heart with the former morbid, mythical creature-obsessed Canadians. The Unicorns’ producer Mark Lawson (who also worked with Arcade Fire) lent his deft touches to the album, along with Thom Monahan (Devendra Banhart, Vetiver), who worked on three tracks. The pro engineers’ influences are noticeable, from the atmospheric drum sound to the wayward melodies given free reign to wander to the warm near-tape-fuzz vibe.

The guys behind the beautiful pop mess are, charmingly, brothers Mike, Mutt and Marco Giresi, who all work in their parents’ pizza shop. Naturally they decided to call their debut album Pizza Face, though I love the slapstick image-conjuring name so much I think they should switch it to their band name.

So the delightful story goes, they recorded their album, they say, “on a bunch of old tube and tape equipment our dad had left over from being an Italian singer songwriter in the ’70s”. Unfortunately the initial mixes “sounded like Michael Bolton”, but then they fatefully “ran into the Fab Moretti from the Strokes”! They continue – “We went bowling and after the game he kindly passed our music on to Thom Monahan (Devendra Banhart, Vetiver). Thom started working on the record and the music came together. It sounds better than we ever thought it would! Drunk on confidence, we got Mark Lawson (Arcade Fire, Unicorns) to mix three songs on the record as well.” So all worked out well in the end. You can download three free tracks from Pizza Face here, or buy the whole album for $10US. The songs are so good, why wouldn’t you? And if the band ever has any doubts about the Chocolate Robots moniker, perhaps they could call themselves Pizza Shop Boys?

Listen to and download Pizza Face

Go to their amazing website (ft. a pizza-faced bikini babe)!

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Canada, Ontario
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Let’s Get Cold Together

Dreamy duo Memoryhouse from Ontario, Canada creates fairytales with Denise Nouvion’s pristine vocals and Evan Abeele’s ethereal instrumentation. The swirling atmospherics envelope splicing drums and foggy guitar. ‘To The Lighthouse’ is immeasurably beautiful, with perfectly formed instrumentation and haunting lyrics with a sleepy haze drawn over top. Denise’s voice is gentle but strong, sometimes wordless but always with the same forthright crooning ability of Beach House‘s Victoria Legrand or Glasser‘s Cameron Mesirow. She keeps her dulcet voice near while retaining a weightless presence over Evan’s guitar and soundscapes. Memoryhouse’s songs sound very structural and rhythmic but the melodies are definitely forefront. ‘Lately (Deuxième)’ is a strikingly beautiful, delicate artefact from a gentler time, and ‘Bonfire’ shows the band’s dynamism as they enter starker territory.  The strength of the songs is further shown in their ability to be transformed into rad club bangers, with MillionYoung’s version of ‘To The Lighthouse’ sounding like a lesson in remixes. They also do a dazzlingly beautiful cover of Grizzly Bear‘s ‘Foreground’. Currently on their Everyone Hears The Voice tour of America with Twin Sister, they’ve made their EP The Years available for free download from their myspace. The first pressing of the ‘Lately’ 7″ (backed with a Teen Girl Fantasy remix) sold out but another is available for purchase from Inflated Records.

Memoryhouse- To The Lighthouse: MP3

Memoryhouse- Bonfire: MP3

Memoryhouse- Lately (Deuxième): MP3

Memoryhouse- To The Lighthouse (Millionyoung remix): MP3

Memoryhouse- Website

Memoryhouse- Blog

Memoryhouse- Myspace

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Canada, Ontario
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///////TRUST///\\\US\\\\\\\

Further news of Crystal Castles’ sophomore album hit the web a couple of days ago and already a bunch of new tracks (apparently from a demo copy of the album) have hit the blogs. You can stream about half the album on Hype Machine, linked from a number of different sources. From listening to the few songs made public it sounds like Crystal Castles has evolved into a more pop friendly macabre-esque villain, ditching their glitch-y circuit bent keyboards for some shiny new tools to make themselves sound more accessible, but still moderately alienating themselves from the asserted disco audience. In a way it sort of contradicts their image and reported personalities, which portrays them as eccentric trouble makers, slightly psychotic and highly unpredictable. One would have expected Ethan Kath and Alice Glass to become even more messed up and further displaced from the mainstream with their second full-length album, but it sounds like they have done the opposite. ‘Doe Deer’ is the only track showing any obnoxious intent, Glass’ vocals warp and distort in a kind of dirty, heavily compressed lo-fi wave. The album’s first official single ‘Celestica’ is very clean, and is definitely a step away from their grimy past. It contains more of a disco vibe, rolling with a smooth keyboard melody and Glass shows off her luscious singing voice.

On April 17 (Record Store Day) ‘Doe Deer’ was released as a limited edition 12″ vinyl (500 copies), backed by three tracks the band recorded in 2004 that had previously been unreleased. There was no digital or CD release and as expected it sold out pretty quickly.

The fourteen track album is due out on June 7th in Europe, June 8th in the US via Fiction Records and June 14 in New Zealand via Shock records. It is apparently going to be self-titled, again.

 Crystal Castles- Celestica: MP3

Crystal Castles- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Canada, Ontario
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