We're, what, two and a half months into this year and I don't know, maybe some important things happened. I think Iceland was sold to some pimply-faced teenager in Indiana, and Chrysler just accepted my 'bailout plan' of expired Canadian Tire money and a dollar-off coupon from KFC. Luckily, using the high technology of my music player release-date sorter (apparently my top track from 1924 is Al Jolson's California), I sorted through 2009's record releases so far and have revealed a decent(ish) slate of CDs that have graced my fake iPod and noise-damaged ears. I think the problem with music [...]
Bruce Peninsula - Shutters Whether you're feeling sorrowful or perfectly refreshed, this is ideal Sunday listening. A huge-sounding ensemble of singers, yellers, whisperers, whiners, garglers, gentles and goons from Canada deliver a burst of modern day gospel. A Mountain Is A Mouth is out now on Bruce Trail. Official MySpace Buy Photo by His Noodly Appendage, licensed under Creative Commons [...]
I realize that is a pretty strong statement to make. But Bruce Peninsula IS the best band from Canada, named after a Peninsula in their home province (Ontario) and part of the band is a gospel choir. Plain and simple, this is some of the most interesting music I have heard in months. Get more info here. Listen: Bruce Peninsula ∞ Inside/Outside Bruce Peninsula ∞ Shutters More: Randomness Use some of your 50 [...]
Ohbijou A bit short on time today, so just a quick one with a Canadian focus. The release of Ohbijou's second album Beacons is still over a month away - April 14 is the date to circle - but thanks to the deluge of MP3s that accompanies the official SxSW lineup and schedule, a sample is now available to download. I've had the privilege of living with a copy of Beacons for a little while now, and can say that "Black Ice" very much captures the feel [...]
New Wax My reaction halfway through the first track on Bruce Peninsula's debut album A Mountain Is A Mouth : "Wow, what the hell is this?" It should be infinitely amusing to see what kind of classifications fellow bloggers and music writers conjure up in describing this Toronto band's imaginative hodgepodge of folk, indie rock, blues, soul, and even jam-band. The band's most noticeable and endearing quality has got to be that gospel choir backing lead singer Neil Haverty's throaty vocals. Yeah, you read that right. A freaking [...]
Frank Yang If there's an advantage to writing about the same band for the third time in the span of a month, it's that rather than try and lay down some background, I can just point you here and here and voila - you're up to speed. If there's a disadvantage, it's completely running out of things to say. But I'll soldier on. Sunday night was the long-awaited album release party for Bruce Peninsula's debut A Mountain Is A Mouth and there [...]
Frank Yang So yes I'm a bad Torontopian. I know it'd been a while since I'd been to Wavelength , but a little archive digging revealed that it'd been almost four years since I last darkened Sneaky Dee's doorway on a Sunday night. That's a long time. And so with the local institution not only celebrating its ninth anniversary but its upcoming final year this past weekend, I got off my butt and headed out. Don't get me wrong - I've always loved and supported the idea and mission of [...]
by kevin diamond What am I doing here? I recently got a day job that involves sitting around a wine shop all day waiting for customers. Which means only one thing to me: I've got time to sift through all the MP3s I download and never listen to. I finally feel hip again. Anyway, music hype seems to come in waves (no pun intended) and the hype recently seems to come in two flavors: lo-fi DIY bedroom garage rock, and 80s style atmospheric electronic pop. I've got about 8 songs [...]
Stereotypes are difficult to shake off some genres, as the primary innovators of them are usually considered to be the archetypical reference point for those aspiring to pursue the style. Structural tendencies are rarely what define a genre since experimentation can be prevalent in all styles of music without it being a hindrance to classification. As a result, listeners often resort to classification through means of instrumentation, historical relevance, and even methods of production. The latter proves to be a rather outdated method since the definition of "quality production" seems to fluctuate with each passing year, but the other two [...]
Frank Yang Please understand, as much as I like them, I have no desire to make write-ups on Bruce Peninsula a weekly feature . However, their in-store performance at Soundscapes on Wednesday night to mark the release of A Mountain Is A Mouth merited a little more than cursory, "hey Bruce Peninsula played an in-store it was great let's see what else is going on". Typically, in-stores involve a minimal setup - say acoustic guitar and mic into a PA - and a handful of songs, [...]
Image: holgabot Thousand Crazy Nights - Music Go Music From Warm in the Shadows ( eMusic , Amazon ), Myspace Image: Byron Barrett Keep a Secret - The Whitest Boy Alive [...]
The Good : Bishop Allen - "Dimmer" ; I kind of jumped the ball last week with the Bishop Allen tune I posted, but here we have an officially released tune from Bishop Allen's much anticipated new record Grrr... and I'm pretty much in love with the track and it's little "olly, olly oxen free, can you see me?" refrain. It's sugary sweet and hypnotic and awesome indie pop at its best. Can't wait for this one! Grade : B+ [...]
Feb 4, 2009, 1:04pm
MBV
Kenneth Capello Though Midnight Boom came out almost a year ago, The Kills aren't done with it yet - not even close. The sultry "Black Balloon" will be released as the lead track on an EP due out March 23 in most of the world but April 14 in North America, and be backed up with a selection of acoustic tracks. They've also cut a video for the song, the fifth from the album - that's almost half the songs on the record with their own promo [...]
I have been lacking with my new bands to watch for months. I always find tons and tons of new bands that deserve some spotlight, but it is impossible to post about them all. Bruce Peninsula is a new discovery of mine that has really left me impresssed. Take a look at the photo above. Bruce Peninsula is a pretty large band with ten members! The songs as you expect are quite epic with plenty of contributions from the various members. Their debut album "A Mountain Is A Mouth" actually came out today and it is fantastic. The songs are [...]
Kenneth Capello Though Midnight Boom came out almost a year ago, The Kills aren't done with it yet - not even close. The sultry "Black Balloon" will be released as the lead track on an EP due out March 23 in most of the world but April 14 in North America, and be backed up with a selection of acoustic tracks. They've also cut a video for the song, the fifth from the album - that's almost half the songs on the record with their own promo [...]
Named after an Ontario landmass teeming with rambunctious flora and fauna (including homosapiens on holiday), Bruce Peninsula -- the band-- is a formidable force of nature in its own right. Think hurricane, earthquake, or the kind of thunderstorm that makes you crawl under the bed with your blankie. Or, more to the point: the communal quasi-religious fervor of Arcade Fire, the Polyphonic Spree, Bodies of Water and The Mae Shi. With a bruised shout reminiscent of Peter Gabriel's, Neil Haverty leads the dozen-member Toronto collective, including an all-female choir and an art-rocking instrumental [...]
myspace For some reason – no, that's not true, the reason is the shitty economy and the constant fear of being unemployed while we watch the technology sector crumble and Wall Street reward itself with 18 billion in bonuses – it's been a struggle lately. The underlying anxiety starts to take over and every time the phone rings or an email pops up on your screen, your heart starts to race. You start comparing yourself to your coworkers that you actually know nothing about using random comparisons with obscure qualifiers to judge your worth. [...]
Last week I had been listening to both A Mountain Is A Mouth and You Will Land With A Thud rather extensively, so my enthusiasm for Saturday night's show was sitting at a comfortable level of antsy. I almost always have fun when I go to a live show (wouldn't be doing this if I didn't) but I have to say that it's been quite a while since I've had THIS much fun at a concert! The audience was receptive, the bands were tight and there was a certain level of uplift in the air. [...]
Yuula Benivolski When you've become gotten to know a band exclusively through their live performances, it can be difficult to accept them as a recorded entity. Especially so when the band in a live setting possess a sort of elemental energy that you can't imagine being done justice in a studio environment. This was the case with Toronto's Bruce Peninsula , who made a serious impression with a series of shows back in 2007 which established the band, ten members deep when at full strength, as a potent [...]
Bruce Peninsula was #5 on i(heart)music's Hottest Canadian Bands Poll (which, I was a part of), but I had never sat down to listen to them (so, naturally, I didn't vote for them). At that point, a large part of their absence - from my ears - was because they had only released a 7" with 3 songs... and still they were #5 on a list that should make anyone whoever complains about CanCon on the radio feel really, really, bad. At any rate, last week I got my hands on their full [...]
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