The Softies' Rose Melberg at a solo show / photo by David Greenwald If you're not familiar with One Week One Band , founded by my friend Hendrik Jasnoch, it's grown from a concept - that old music is worth talking about in the flood of Relevant New MP3s - into a sort of weekly blog version of the 33 1/3 books. I'm proud to be writing about the Softies, my favorite band, for the site all week. Here's what's up so far: * The band's other projects and pre-Softies work [...]
If 2010 was the year of the EP , 2011 was the year of the... not EP. While 73s and Bandcamp singles haven't killed the album off just yet, there was no shortage of tasty bite-size release this year. 10. Wet Years - Sleepy Cove cassette From the opening moments of "No Surf" - guitar murmurings that sound like gulls' cries - Wet Years make their beach allegiance clear, but the band dips into reverb only for the final brushstrokes on an [...]
I've been listening to a lot of Rose Melberg lately, so I'm thrilled that she has released an EP with Jay Arner (who performs solo and with Fine Mist ). It's got six songs from her most recent solo album, Homemade Ship , which have been reworked with electronic beats and an array of gorgeous synths. Click below to hear the dreamy "Old Days," which features a guest spot from Apollo Ghosts ' Adrian Teacher. The whole EP is killer, so you should buy it from Bandcamp [...]
Things I wasn't expecting to hear this morning: chillwave remixes of Rose Melberg's mom-folk classic, Homemade Ship . And yet, here is Homemade Ship (Remix) , six tracks re-envisioned by Melberg pal Jay Arner (of Fine Mist). The singer's porcelain voice works extraordinarily well over synthesizers and fake hand-claps - she could've taken these songs on tour with '80s Kate Bush and been a big star. Stream/download the collection after the jump for $5 and don't sleep on the Rawkblog heroine's other new record, Brave Irene's s/t EP . [...]
No Fun Good Ideas The ever so delightful Rose Melberg (The Softies, Go Sailor, Tiger Trap, and solo records) sweeps back into our lives with her latest project...the new band Brave Irene (named after famous Canadian stunt-pilot and dynamite-juggler Irene Reeves). Melberg was looking to be in a band, looking to make noise, looking to use her guitar, and looking to use a distortion pedal so she stuck to her guns and delivered eight, wonderfully wistful, quick, high energy, and catchy pop songs about [...]
Between this blog and Cokemachineglow, I've probably written more nice things about Rose Melberg than anyone on the Internet. I sure hope so. The Softies/Go Sailor/Tiger Trap singer's latest project, it's no surprise, deserves more kudos. Brave Irene is a five-piece band that finds her returning to the beloved jangle-pop sounds of yore, though the group's tightly knotted harmonies and underlying vintage keyboards gives it a psychedelic feel absent from her previous work. Brave Irene is fuzzy but not Alf-esque, with an engineering job that squeezes its pleasures into a trim, compressed package, like a Snickers [...]
A few nights ago, Brave Irene threw a release party for the record that contains my most-played song on iTunes . Only two of the five band members were in town, but they played through the entire eight-song mini-album (which is out now via Slumberland ). Here's another great tune from that collection. It's called "Longest Day," and it's a two-minute blast of peppy rhythms, catchy organs and charming indie pop melodies.
Photo by David Greenwald If you're as surprised as I was on the arrival of Brave Irene, the new band of Rawkblog heroine Rose Melberg (The Softies, Go Sailor, Tiger Trap), here she is on why the band started: "'I want to make noise.' It started out like that," laughs Melberg... "I want to be in a band. I want it to be loud. I want to use my electric guitar. I want to use my distortion pedal." Given the thoroughly great results, nothing wrong [...]
According to my iTunes, my most played song since I got my new computer in early October is "No Fun," the first track off of Brave Irene 's self-titled EP. I don't think I can give any higher praise than that. I just want to listen to this song all the damn time. It's a melancholic pop tune that's as upbeat as it is poignant, with noisy guitars waging a beautiful war against lovesick lyrics, bubbling organs and haunting vocal harmonies. Singer Rose Melberg (who I've written about here and here [...]
![[Listen/Download] – Brave Irene – "No Fun"](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3161816_lg.jpg)
This post is a "QuickPick". QuickPicks are my attempt at getting all of the music that's sent to me that I like (or just music I like but have no words for because it's so awesome), out into the dubya dots. Any time I get sent music that I like I "star" it in Gmail and then go back and listen to it a day later. If it's still as good as it was a day before then it goes up on the site, but sometimes I get backlogged and can't get [...]
Brave Irene is the new project from Rose Melberg of The Softies/Tiger Trap. The self-titled ep will be released on Slumberland Records March 15. Check out the wildly infectious girl-group jam "No Fun" below. Brave Irene "No Fun" by Slumberland Records
After the long stint in Tiger Trap, Go Sailor, The Softies and her solo project, Rose Melberg is back at it with a full band with Vancouver's Brave Irene. The band contains the same elements that have drawn the indie pop community to her work throughout the years. And till this day, she still garners [...]
Tiger Trap was the first band fronted by Rose Melberg , the best singer in the universe . The quartet was active only briefly in the early '90s, releasing an EP and a full-length. I've had the LP on heavy rotation for the last few months. Here's one of my favourites from that album, "Words and Smiles." It's an unrequited love song that's equal parts hopeful and poignant. The drums are bouncy and the fuzzy surf licks are gorgeous, but there's no mistaking the desperation in the lyrics, as Rose sings, "I won't tell [...]
Brave Irene is the new project of Rose Melberg, the best singer in the universe. Inevitably, the band's debut EP's debut singles are absolute jams. Both "Longest Day" and "No Fun" pick up where Melberg's Tiger Trap and Go Sailor left off, picking up the pace and going electric after a pair of quiet solo records and her tenure in the Softies. There's a '60s psychedelia influence at play here along with the familiar indie-pop jangle - the lava-blast lead guitar of "No Fun," the vintage keyboards of "Longest Day" - and Melberg shares the vocal stage with the harmonies [...]
Rose Melberg (feat. her mom) - "This Will Be Our Year (Zombies Cover)" I was going to post a big rambling thing about how this song is near and dear to my heart. Instead, I think I'll keep it brief. I thought about this song a lot this past year, and I can't think of a better way to usher in the new year than with Rose's cover of it.
Lately I've been on a Rose Melberg kick. I've been listening to a lot of Tiger Trap , as well as her new band, Brave Irene . Go to Exclaim! to read about Brave Irene's new record, which will be coming out in February via Slumberland . Here's Rose's cover of "This Will Be Our Year" by the Zombies . Her version reinvents the poppy original as a sensitive folk song with just a hint of reverb. It features her mom on ukulele and backing [...]
What better way to start 2011 than with a new Rose Melberg song? Don't answer that. Here's our heroine (and her mom on backing vox!) covering the Zombies classic. Rose Melberg - "This Will Be Our Year" : mp3 Previously : Photos: Slumberland 20th Anniversary show | The Canon, Examined: Go Sailor (Photo by David Greenwald)
With its rotating cast of vocalists and Malt Shop Memories meets indie-pop bent, if I didn't know better, I'd assume Gigi's Maintanent was a new Saturday Looks Good To Me album (or one by the Magnetic Fields, for that matter). Nevertheless, Gigi – a project by Nick Krgovich (P:ano, No Kids) and Colin Stewart more than a proper band – has crafted a worthy addition to the genre. Though the singers change from song to song, all share a uniform devotion to the sincere style of the girl group era, with the music wrapped up [...]
With its rotating cast of vocalists and Malt Shop Memories meets indie-pop bent, if I didn't know better, I'd assume Gigi's Maintanent was a new Saturday Looks Good To Me album (or one by the Magnetic Fields, for that matter). Nevertheless, Gigi – a project by Nick Krgovich (P:ano, No Kids) and Colin Stewart more than a proper band – has crafted a worthy addition to the genre. Though the singers change from song to song, all share a uniform devotion to the sincere style of the girl group era, with the music wrapped up [...]
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