Last weekend, The Independent published a great piece by Sam Delaney called Pages Of Innocence, with the subtitle "Devotees are creating an online archive of the magazines that chronicled their youth." It covers the burgeoning number of online blogs - they highlight three - that scan partial or full issues of British music magazines, most now defunct. Awhile back, I blogged about Brian McCloskey's excellent site [...]
Lo-fi rockers Fergus & Geronimo are leaving the warm embrace of Texas and will be stopping in DC on their Summer tour. Come party with F&G and some of newdust's favorite DC bands, including Long Walks On The Beach and Archivists. See ya there! Velvet Lounge (915 U. St NW, Washington D.C) Tuesday August 17th Fergus & Geronimo [...]
'Tis the season of going back to 2009 for damage control, the realization of what has been overlooked in the past year, and one thing that shines, especially on this somber morning is The Archivist 's "The Keeper of the Library", found thanks to Headphone Commute 's perceptive ears. Moteer boss and The Boats/The Sea (with partner Andrew Hargreaves and the newest addition Danny Norbury) & The Remote Viewer main man, Craig Tattersall's new alter ego The Archivist gathers his unreleased stuff for UK's Lacie's Records. I don't [...]
I realize this is a week late - I apologize. It wasn't just to build suspense; I suppose I decided to get a bit of actual relaxation in when I finally started my holidays four days ago. At any rate, let's dip into what autumn brought for albums. September gave us releases from Sondre Lerche, frYars, The Cribs, The Big Pink, Dragonette, Boys Noize, Yo La Tengo, Noah and the Whale, Sliimy, David Sylvian, Jamie T, The Voluntary Butler Scheme, and surprisingly, Prefab Sprout. Wild Beasts broke through with their sophomore album (being contrary, I thought it wasn't as good [...]
I realize I've missed yet another weekly mix last week; as usual, work has been hectic, and I had to go out of town for a work meeting - really out of town, meaning the rock-and-tree landscape of northwestern Ontario, not really my comfort zone. For this week's mix, I'm going to return to a theme I did last year: songs inspired by literature/books/authors. If you're interested in what I chose last time, or want to check before you point out that I missed some obvious song, click here . One of my favourites in this [...]
photo from Archivist's facebook page. Montreal's Archivist * has crafted a devastatingly gorgeous album. " Learning to Live on Poison " cycles through the various emotional states of heartbreak. Ben McCarthy channels it all: from the insomniac's depressiveness to the shouting defiance where he rages against himself, his lover, the world, before returning to somberness (although never resignation). The album is filled with emotion but it is ever trite or overblown. Seemingly deeply personal – the songs are filled with the pronoun 'I' and, on a few occasions, by McCarthy's first name – the emotion [...]
There was a time when being in a band with your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/li fe partner was asking for trouble. These days it seems to be getting more and more common and simultaneously less and less annoying. Bands like Matt and Kim and Mates of State not only craft great music but are also adorable couples. But does your relationship have what it takes to weather the artistic storm of being in a band? We thought we'd ask a few Newlywed Game -style questions to bands who are also dating to see if it's a match made in heaven. (For those of [...]
May 18, 2009, 4:31pm
MBV
Dirty Projectors - "No Intention" (Removed at label request) One of my favourite songs of the year so far, "No Intention" showcases the Dirty Projectors as summer pop band, as streamers in a park, as spangled yacht-sails in the harbour. But as airy as it feels, (like Spoon on a beach, or the instrumental middle-eight of Vampire Weekend's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa",) "No Intention" is virtuosic, utterly intricate. The arrangement of voices, of fingers on guitar-strings, of rhythmic twitch and back-step. There's the complexity of a bluebird hopping from branch to branch, snapping sunshine out [...]
Dirty Projectors - "No Intention" . One of my favourite songs of the year so far, "No Intention" showcases the Dirty Projectors as summer pop band, as streamers in a park, as spangled yacht-sails in the harbour. But as airy as it feels, (like Spoon on a beach, or the instrumental middle-eight of Vampire Weekend's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa",) "No Intention" is virtuosic, utterly intricate. The arrangement of voices, of fingers on guitar-strings, of rhythmic twitch and back-step. There's the complexity of a bluebird hopping from branch to branch, snapping sunshine out of the sky. An illuminated colouring-book in grass [...]
The packaging has a homemade, dossier feel to it with its courier font and textured card stock. A rambling, nearly stream of conscious lyric sheet is stuffed in one of its pockets like a frantically-typed, yellowed note to self. The inside cover has red type that reads: "One said the elliptical sleep sound unwound in the throat of her abed exhaling dreams that you find at the back part of your mind and she can't sleep for it." It is secretive and raw. This is Montreal musician, Ben McCarthy's project Archivist, including members of The Dears, Sunset Rubdown, Pony Up [...]
1) Twiggy Frostbite - Heroes (Acoustic Version) Twiggy Frostbite @ MySpace 2) Papercuts - Baby It's You (By Casiotone For The Painfully Alone) Papercuts @ MySpace 3) Royksopp - Happy Up Here (Holy Fuck Remix) Royksopp @ MySpace, Holy Fuck @ MySpace 4) A Broken Consort - The Elder Lie A Broken Consort @ MySpace 5) Archivist - Sunday Morning Archivist @ MySpace
Sometimes it's not just the poppy laced melodies or rich literary depth that can be found in an artist's work that hooks you on your first few listens. Sometimes, the way the artist describe himself/herself on the bio section adds a few more dimensions to the sound. This is the case, for me, with Montreal, Canada's Archivist (not to be confused with the mysterious The Archivist blogged here before ). The lead man of the group, Ben McCarthy, aided by some talented friends (from The Dears , Pony Up , Sunset Rubdown and [...]
Archivist is the project of Montreal-based songwriter/multi-instrumentali st Ben McCarthy. He's set to release his new album, Learning To Live On Poison, June 2nd.Lending McCarthy a hand are members of The Dears, Land Of Talk, and Sunset Rubdown, among others.Get a taste of the Joy Division-inspired "Jagwagger" here:The track listing for the record shakes out like this:OpeningSunday
It's sort of a slow day so far, the kind in which you keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, except that you are sitting barefoot and have no shoes at all. Also, it rained. A lot. Does any of it make any sense? I guess I got a bit twirled by a few of The Archivist's tracks. An enigma in person, he has released, that I know of, a single self titled EP in 2007 to critical acclaim. His songs have a tendency to sweep you off your feet into some dream-like existence where reality mixes [...]
Looking for a shot of new wave techno rave that's heavy on the dance vibes and easy on the bass lines? Try giving Couples Therapy , the latest EP from NYC duo The Glass . It came out last month and its futuristic throw-back sound how paradoxical is that?) is sure to get your feet moving and glow-stick swinging. The Glass - Mad At You : Couples Therapy [...]
I just recently made some progress through the latest enormo backlog of links I had collected, so thus, I present some standouts: This track is actually one that I've been listening to for months but have just neglected to mention; It's by some Swedes called Al, Marc, & Sandy (no PB&J jokes, PLEASE), and it's called "Julie Bell," and no, I don't know if it's about Boris Vallejo's partner . But it is a damn good song, and it actually reminds me of another Swedish band (that I adored), namely Lesser [...]
" Jeremiah " is a beautifully warm and wistful pop song that the Archivist made in his bedroom, and I've had it on repeat all evening. It drifts away too soon though, fading into some disorienting yet hypnotic found sounds about the stars that make you forget what you were listening to in the first place. Promising, and recommended. mp3: The Archivist Jeremiah If you liked that song you can (and should) download The Archivist 's whole EP for free here .
The Archivist - "Signs & Symbols" For pretending that these warm fall days are something they're not, for wasting the busiest times of the days, for regulating your intake of anything more than megaphony vocals and altocumulus guitar, this song is perfect. And it fades, if you'll forgive, like all things. [ MySpace ] Björn Benny Agnetha & Frida - "Ring Ring" Biking while listening to music is dangerous. I was listening to this the other night, and a car pulled slowly up beside me as we headed to a red [...]
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