The Besnard Lakes hail from Montreal, Canada, formed in 2003 by husband and wife duo Olga Goreas and Jace Lasek. Now a four piece, Are The Roaring Night comprises the band's third studio album. With the second, "Are The Dark Horse" featuring guest appearances from Stars, Godspeed You Black Emperor, The Dears and Silver Mt. Zion - and recording having taken place at Lasek's own Breakglass Studios, the album received a nomination for the Polaris Music Prize 2007 for its immeasurably huge take on rock music and orchestral shoegaze. Are The Roaring Night was released back in March, [...]
(photo: Jessica Eaton) The timing of yesterday's Polaris Music Prize longlist announcement couldn't have come at a worse time for a conscientious and OCD-afflicted blogger like myself. Mere minutes after having the whole list announced, I literally had to pack my crap up at work and run out the door to make the trek to Toronto for the Rufus Wainwright show at the Elgin Theatre last night (more on that tomorrow). A little pre-list announcement work ensured that I got yesterday's post up, but I saved any (semi-)serious Polaris talk [...]
Christine Lim Though not technically related, yesterday afternoon's announcement of this year's Polaris Music Prize long list in the midst of all the NXNE hubbub was no coincidence. What better time to reveal the consensus cream of the Can-con crop than in the smack dab in the middle of one of the biggest festivals and conferences in the country? A perusal of the 40 albums that made the cut reveals a lot of the names I'd have expected, based on factors such as public profile, track record and oh yeah, artistic merit, [...]
Filed under: News , Canada As NXNE kicked off in Toronto, organizers of the Polaris Prize took advantage of the spotlight on music to announce the 40-album long list for the esteemed annual award for best Canadian album. Hosted by CBC Radio 3's Grant Lawrence, the event drew media and music-industry types to Toronto's Drake Hotel to find out which artists had made it past the first round of voting by the 198-member jury -- made up of music writers, broadcasters and bloggers from across [...]
Toronto - Ah. When the wind blows north from Austin every summer, we look to North by Northeast to showcase Canadian and international bands. Since 2001, NXNE has also added a film element. I have never been a big fan of music related films. The reason is simple - even though they are complementary media, there's always a compromise one takes backseat to the other. I am, however, looking forward to seeing SUCK: the movie. This is reminescent of Dancing with the stars - famous people are casted in a vampire band film. Even though there's nothing original about it, [...]
From the " No Art EP ", here's the opener in Young Galaxy 's 'Invisible Republic'. An epic featuring duo Stephen Ramsay's (guitars, vocals) and Catherine McCandless' (keyboards, vocals), the band are embarking on a tour with The Besnard Lakes and stop at NXNE this week. Keep in touch with them, they'll be releasing a full length album (enginered by Jace Lasek of the Besnard Lakes) very soon. Actually, think I just saw a press release about that. Stay tuned. Young Galaxy - "Invisible Republic"
Hailing from Quebec, husband and wife team, The Besnard Lakes , made it to TT the Bear's at the end of May. Listen to "Albatross" while you view photos from the concert. The Besnard Lakes - Albatross Photos by Tom Gilmore [...]
The Besnard Lakes // UK festival dates and shows, and a new video
We're almost at the halfway point of 2010 and I can say without reservation that this has been the greatest year in indie rock I've ever seen, at least in terms of the number of new releases and/or tours by bands that take up top spots in my favorite artists of all time. The National. Wolf Parade. Broken Social Scene. Silver Mt. Zion. Joanna Newsom. The New Pornographers. Mono. Mogwai. Midlake. The Album Leaf. Balmorhea. Shearwater. And oh yeah, there's also new albums and/or tours coming later this summer from The Arcade Fire, Superchunk, and Pavement. Wow. It's been truly [...]
Here is part 2 of who I or you should check out at NXNE in Toronto. So this will be Thursday night's event. It is going to be busy insane Thursday at NXNE. A hard decision to choose on who to see badly. Let's check out who will be playing. Found out that from Thursday to Sunday there is going to be a " Live in Bellwoods " picnic series at Trinity Bellwoods Park. It is present by The Musebox and Humble Empire. [...]
I've been doing a fair bit more random listening to my Polaris '10 playlist over the weekend. Here's been some of the highlights: Another definite lock for my top 5 to start the day with: The Besnard Lakes and their sultry, soulful The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night is quite possibly the one record released this year that I'll never get tired of going back to time and again. As a matter of fact, it's sitting at the #1 spot on my ballot right now. [...]
![Music Mid Terms: Mini Reviews From 2010 [Pt. Un]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/2600410_lg.jpg)
The quality albums and big name releases came thick and fast from mid-March onwards, creating a backlog of reviews just begging to see the light of day here on Heavier - Than - Air . Really, the iPod went on strike under the sheer pressure of burgeoning reminder playlists. Though the odd tweet acted as a minor release valve, the only sensible method for relieving the pressure before the situation goes all [...]
The Besnard Lakes took the stage around midnight on Sunday at TT's for the final performance of an eight-week tour. The PA hummed and squealed with the static-riven introduction to their magnificent new album, The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night . Jace Lasek, who looks eerily, gleefully like Spinal Tap's David St Hubbins, sidled up to the mic fingering a childish figure on his keyboard, and let loose his uncanny, piercing falsetto, as improbable and inhuman as the feedback squall it surfed. A few seconds later, the wave crashed so hard Lasek bust a string. [...]
Enjoy their absolutely fab performance of 'Albatross' in the feature below. MP3: The Besnard Lakes - Albatross
Grandiose dark psyche pop in love with The Beach Boys, The Besnard Lakes always get it right. They played all the good stuff (including "Light Up The Night") and closed with "Disaster." Poor lighting on everyone except Jace (lead guitarist) and me standing dead center means he's the only one I took any pictures of. At least he was animated. More photos on Flickr .
Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News In case you ever wondered what_thumbnail.gift to get the musician in your life, the Besnard Lakes can offer a suggestion. During the band's Friday night performance at New York's Bowery Ballroom, frontman Jace Lasek revealed it was wife Olga Goreas ' birthday and she only wanted one thing: "A bartender dressed up as Fidel Castro to serve her mojitos all night long." Although Lasek was not able to fulfill the request, the singer brought out opening band Land of [...]
Following up 2008's wildly underrated Some Are Lakes LP, Montreal's Land of Talk returns this August with its second full-length, entitled Cloak and Cipher . The album was produced by the Besnard Lakes' Jase Lacek and features a host of guests, ranging from members of Arcade Fire, A Silver Mt. Zion, Stars, and Esmerine. The album is due out August 24th, once again, via Saddle Creek . Cloak and Cipher: 1. "Cloak and Cipher" 2. "Goaltime Exposure" 3. "Quarry Hymns" 4. "Swift Coin" 5. "Color Me [...]
The Besnard Lakes - Albatross ( buy ) Playing Bowery Ballroom tonight . The textural guitars are mostly static and the winsome vocal is delivered at a single patient pace throughout its five minutes. Its calmness makes it build slowly so it feels like a time lapse video of spliced together nature films and urban quotidians (not unlike the actual video ). At it's cymbal-crashing climax you can easily imagine a budding flower or a baby walking; [...]
We're devastated that science ( y'all getting me pissed! ) hasn't yet given the common man the power to clone himself, because we'd like to be in three places at once this Sunday night. Boston is hosting three fantastic acts, and we can't decide whom we want to see more. Toots & the Maytals , whom Colin in Portland so effusively praised , is bringing their classic reggae to the House of Blues . The gorgeous Diane Birch , whom we interviewed [...]
by Bill Pearis DOWNLOAD : Braids - Lemonade (MP3) DOWNLOAD : No Joy - No Joy (MP3) DOWNLOAD : Psychobuildings - Birds of Prey (MP3) DOWNLOAD : North Highlands - Sugar Lips (MP3) DOWNLOAD : The Besnard Lakes - Albatross (MP3) DOWNLOAD : Land of Talk - May You Never (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Cheap Time - Woodland Drive (MP3) DOWNLOAD: [...]
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