Merry Christmas everyone!! This year Christmas has fallen on a Sunday. This week is special since the Top 10 is all Christmas/Holiday themed songs. So if you were wanting to check out the current singles don't worry some of the songs from chart #87 would re-enter next week. This year Montreal's Belgrave has the Christmas #1 in my singles chart. Trying to make this all Canadian with two non-Canadian acts in the Top 10. Yes there are two acts that covered the same song but I wanted to be diverse. Some [...]
It's been a quieter week - the standouts have been our hundredth post, and watching the end of term school show with excellent versions of The Three Billy Goats Gruff and Roald Dahl's Snow White as well as some modern dance pieces.So we'll finish the week with this gem by the Canadian band Wintermitts from their Heirloom album that came out last year. Mixing French and English with equal ease,
Well, I'm done with my final exam (sucks for Jamie and Bob!) I'm also in the midst of a downpour - hooray NYC. What better to do than toss up a mix?! matt pond PA - "Summer Is Coming" [MP3] (from Nature of Maps ) Turin Brakes - "Pain Killer (Summer Rain)" [MP3] (from Ether Song ) Wintermitts - "Schoolyard" [MP3] (from Heirloom ) Phoenix - [...]
Podcast Page Direct Link RSS Feed Hey folks. I wasn't feeling too hot today. My back hurt all night long, and that's put me in a lot of pain today. So, I didn't think I could concentrate enough to write. I recorded a podcast episode instead, which requires a little less attention. Unfortunately, it still requires a good amount of sitting in front of the computer, which made my back hurt more. Anyways, hopefully I'll be back [...]
(Continued from a few days ago.) Last post of this now. I've got a few interesting ones lined up. I feel better for it. Wintermitts - DANS The Antlers - Two Nicholas Stevenson - A Song [...]
We've recently decided to add MP3's to our Album/Gig reviews and features; this is so you can have a better indication of what the band/artist at hand sounds like, especially when it comes to our radar series. So to start off this new chapter in the 405 book, here's a few songs for you that have appeared in our posts from the last month! MP3: The BPA - Spade MP3: Passion Pit - Cuddle Fuddle MP3: [...]
by bmac Did everyone catch Radiohead at the Grammys last night? They recruited the USC marching band for their first ever Grammy performance, and they fucking killed it with a badass rendition of "15 Step" (video after the jump). The whole marching band was rocking In Rainbows tshirts , and the percussion section was going absolutely crazy. Definitely the highlight of the night. Some other quality acts included collaborations by Paul McCartney/Dave Grohl, Al Green with a bunch of [...]
by cheryl santa maria (pic by ryan walter wagner) I've been on hiatus for the past couple of weeks. Please forgive me, I've been busy ... Knitting. Artist: Wintermitts Song: Schoolyard [...]
![Wintermitts - Heirloom [Album Review]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/1479540_lg.jpg)
Canada is rocking. The influx of solid indie music streaming in from north of the border is pleasantly astounding and I'm not just referring to high profile artists like Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene. There is a thriving artistic culture spawning fresh-sounding music that is being imported regularly to the U.S.—perhaps one of the unintended benefits of NAFTA. One example is Woody's recent review of The Rural Alberta Advantage , which easily made my '08 top-20 list. If you haven't listened to this band yet, do so now. Which brings me to the Canadian indie pop [...]
Wintermitts are a bilingual quintet from Vancouver BC who use a diverse set of instruments along with both English and French lyrics to craft some really delightful pop music. The band has been together since 2005 and they really have produced a familiar yet original sound. Familiar in the sense that this is a bright, warm, indie album. Original in their approach to making their music. They use a wide assortment of instruments such as an accordion and glockenspiel. There are moments where they reminded me of Arcade Fire or Los Campesinos. The band can bring both upbeat, charming, guitar [...]
We recently received the Wintermitts' semi-new latest CD, Heirloom , in the mail, and I have been commandeering The Boyfriend's car stereo for several days listening to it. From the press release: Live or recorded, Lise Monique intertwines English and French lyrics with the ease of elementary school girls braiding each other's hair in Canada's schoolyards, while music pulls you to your feet or keeps your eyes on the stage. Listeners beware: some tracks on this latest Wintermitts effort will cause a head-nodding hypnosis while others still will leave you wishing you understood French, [...]
I wanted to touch on something that I am sure is discussed many times in the new era of Blogging. The unfortunate, or not so unfortunate flare up of "Blogger Crossover". What I mean is when you see the same artist, song or whatever blogged by a million bloggers at the same time. For us "slightly off the beaten track" internet denizens, it happens less, but still happens. I mean how many times do you need to see the new Kanye West or MGMT remix on Hype Machine?? In what could be considered unfortunate to the musicians themselves, [...]
I like bilingual bands. To paraphrase Woody Allen, you have double the chances of finding a venue for your gig and the audience has twice the fun. It also shows that the group is willing and ready to communicate its message even more so than a regular band. It can also raise some problems, of course: while French can appear to be seductive, enchanting and mysterious, even on the most mundane of topics, it's also, for the non-French speaker, a mostly unintelligible but rather beautiful stream of musical utterances. But music is more than simply words. [...]
(photo: Ryan Walter Wagner) I wish to draw your attention to a cozy little quintet from Vancouver B.C. who go by the name Wintermitts . Then band have been playing together since 2005, and have shared the stage with luminaries like You Say Party!We Say Die!, Julie Doiron, and Laura "Robot Ponies" Barrett. Their last release, Heirloom , is a bilingual set of folk-forged melodies of the lo-fi variety. I love that their doesn't seem to be a clear M.O. to their sound; each track exists in its own little [...]
Up in Vancouver, B.C. is a band called Wintermitts that is oh so cute and oh so impressive. Their specialty is using different types of instruments and subtly working them into songs in a very natural way. They're latest album, Heirloom , shows off their talents as well as their ability to speak French (yay bilingual music!). Their songs are short (typically clocking in at two and a half minutes) but they manage to work in plenty of material. Wintermitts is upbeat and I like that. They're like the chipper younger sibling of Arcade Fire. [...]
![Wintermitts: Heirloom [Album Review]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/1444326_lg.jpg)
Written by Fense It's the first thing in the morning. I snored a bit last night and thus the girlfriend kicked me out - or rather, I offered to get up and hit the coffee shop early - so she could get a final hour and a half of sleep without my interruption. So I'm a little woozy and haven't completely come around. I've already written two items and I feel they're a bit bland in comparison to my usual excited self. I really hope this piece, on Heirloom by [...]
Podcast Page Direct Link RSS Feed Theme Music! Brazilian Girls, "Good Time" (Diplo Remix) Website Myspace Dan Bodin, "Radioactive Werewolf" (Artist gave me permission to link to the album download ) Website Myspace Buy at CDBaby Paper Route, " Sing You To Sleep [...]
I'm not just including this here because the band are called Wintermitts and it's a cold and wet December day. Nope, this is a group to embrace no matter what the weather is like because they always see fit to include handclaps or glockenspiel (they also whistle and do hand stands) and have a singer that sounds remarkably like Emma Pollock from the Delgados (yeah I know, I miss them too). They'
Accordions, glockenspiels and handclaps dominate on the indie pop gem, Heirloom [ buy ], from Vancouver collective Wintermitts . Alternating between French and English, lead singer Lise Monique 's enchanting vocals are a combination of Karen O ( Yeah Yeah Yeahs ), Josephine Olausson ( Love Is All ) and Sue Tompkins ( Life Without Buildings ). Enjoy. Schoolyard mp3 DANS mp3 [...]
The accordion is the sort of instrument relegated to French soundtracks or the older generation, so it's refreshing to hear it used in more modern offerings, such as Wintermitts' Heirloom . Part of the burgeoning Vancouver scene, Wintermitts set themselves apart with a combination of ingredients rarely found in one place: the above-mentioned accordion, flute, melodica, trumpet, and glockenspiel. Add to that the haunting bilingual vocals of Lise Monique Oakley, and you have some very interesting listening. Formed in 2005, the Vancouver-based Wintermitts share duties on much of the instrumentation, which makes for variety [...]
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![Niki & The Dove - The Fox [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/l2f6UbMnlq4_130.jpg)
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