It seems like ages since Die! Die! Die! released their last record, Promises Promises but I guess it really hasn't been that long. The illusion of years and years might just reflect my excitement for their new album which is coming soon. The first taste of the forthcoming record is called We Built Our Own Oppressors and it, not surprisingly, slays. While those sharp guitars and shouty vocals might be Die! Die! Die! trademarks, the use of some other instrumentation shows these guys are expanding their sound. Really love this track (and I really [...]
I had been waiting patiently and losing hope that Massive Attack would announce a Vancouver date. I love the Sasquatch Festival and this year's lineup is pretty stellar but I was hoping to be able to catch Massive Attack at their own headlining gig. They are one of my very favourite bands but I've never seen them live so a distracted festival audience was not appealing to me. Just when I thought it wasn't going to happen today I find out that Massive Attack will be playing Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park on May [...]
As previously mentioned , Thom Yorke played a solo show in Cambridge a few days ago which included a number of brand new songs. At this point it's unclear if these will end up on the next Radiohead album or if they are destined to wind up on another solo record from Thom. They sound a bit more Radioheadish to me and The Daily Mail seems likely to be a new title for A Pig's Ear which appeared on the infamous Radiohead blackboard back in September 2005 . But who knows, maybe Thom is working on [...]
Above, Thom Yorke performs a new song called Give Up The Ghost (not sure if it's a solo song or a Radiohead song) in Cambridge tonight/last night. I'll post more mp3s and video soon (the whole show as recorded) but here's an mp3 of Give Up The Ghost. Download Thom Yorke - Give Up The Ghost The complete (stunning) setlist from the gig: The Clock The Eraser Weird Fishes/Arpeggi The Daily Mail (debut; formerly known as Pig's Ear) Pyramid Song [...]
On Friday night while I was at the Vancouver Olympic Centre watching Canada defeat Denmark in women's curling (how random does life get during the Olympics?), Twitter informed me that Broken Social Scene would be performing a last minute, secret(ish) show at the Ontario Pavilion as part of the Winter Olympics. The band were in town for the Neil Young tribute so it made sense the band would want to play their own headlining show. Troops were gathered and the following day we made it down the False Creek to Ontario House to line up for the show. [...]
Before the last Feist gig I attended I worried that with her tremendous success and relentless touring her live show might have lost the magic it had before she soundtracked iPod commercials. Thankfully, I was wrong and the gig was amazing. Sadly, last night's gig at the Orpheum Theatre (as part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad ) was not quite as special. Though Feist giddily bounced onto the stage, her set never seemed to take off. After opening with a percussive, guitarless version of I Feel It All, My Moon My Man lacked [...]
Due to a rigorous touring schedule this year, Japandroids will not have time to write and record a follow up to one of last year's best albums , Post-Nothing . Instead the band are going to release a series (five in total) of 73 and digital singles (the vinyl will be limited to 2000 copies). The a-sides will consist of previously unreleased songs written during the period leading up to Post-Nothing while the b-sides will be covers. Each single will be released over the course of 2010 with the first single, Art Czars [...]
Despite being a fan for about eight years, last night at the Biltmore was my first chance to see Do Make Say Think live and I was not disappointed. I'd been hearing for years how powerful DMST are on stage and I finally found out for myself. The nine-piece band (four of whom had made their way to Australia over the past four years as members of Broken Social Scene) were absolutely immense. Two drummers, guitars, bass, horns and Julie Penner on violin all made their presence felt on Do Make Say Think's vast soundscapes right [...]
I'm generally not a huge fan of videos that are entirely computer-generated but this video for Massive Attack's Splitting The Atom is something else: evocative, thought-provoking and full of images that are not easily forgotten. Splitting The Atom is the first single from Massive Attack's new record Heligoland which is out next week. (How great is it to be able to talk about a new Massive Attack album that is actually coming out?) The quality of the Splitting The Atom video really isn't a surprise as the band have always made amazing music videos [...]
A couple weeks ago the Peak Performance Project ended, an ambitious radio-sponsored project that brought some well-deserved attention to a bunch of British Columbia bands (like The Painted Birds and Adaline ). When the project reached its finale, three bands were left standing: We Are The City , The Left , and Bend Sinister . To be honest, at that point I thought it was a lock: Bend Sinister had this thing. They make incredibly fun, BIG music (imagine that Elton John mated with Queen and you have a hint [...]
On March 9 The Besnard Lakes will release The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night , the follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2007 record , ... Are The Dark Horse . The last record took a while to grow on me so I'm expecting the same from the new one. Or at least I was...because if Albatross, the first taste of the record, is anything to go by then this record might be a lot more immediate than the last one. Albatross is immense. While the press release claims [...]
On Sunday night Radiohead played a benefit gig in at the Music Box Theater in Los Angeles to help raise funds for Oxfam's Haiti relief efforts . Tickets for the gig were only available by auction and ended up raising over a half million dollars for Oxfam. Not much rehearsal took place before the gig (the band are currently recording a follow-up to In Rainbows ) which resulted in an, at times, endearingly ramshackle gig. But for the most part the band were spot on, playing some of their most well-known material. In the [...]
Back in 2008 Frightened Rabbit released one of my favourite albums of the year , The Midnight Organ Fight ; in March the band will be releasing their follow-up to that great record and it's called The Winter Of Mixed Drinks . Late last year they released the first single from the record, Swim Until You Can't See Land which continues the band's ability to write invigorating songs in the midst of heartache and pain. You can download the single and its accompanying b-side (which won't be on the album) below. [...]
One of the geekiest/coolest things I saw online this week was this post by Michael Deal . Michael is starting a project that explores The Beatles through charts and graphs. The above snapshot comes from a graph that details the authorship of every Beatles song . Be sure to check out the entire post for a few more infographics. Perfect for Beatles nuts like myself. Which actually reminds me...I don't think I even mentioned The Beatles reissues from last year. I bought the Mono Box Set and love it. The sound quality is amazing [...]
While browsing through Zulu Records late last year I came across a series of records put out by Soundway Records . Focusing on sharing indigenous music from around world, the people at Soundway are doing amazing things. From their website: Soundway Records is dedicated to unveiling forgotten chapters from some of the world's richest musical cultures. From the Highlife, disco and rock sounds of 70s Nigeria to the golden age of Panamanian music, Benin's Afro-Latin grooves, Colombia's Champeta and all other forms of Tropical and Afro sounds imaginable. Soundway's [...]
Four years ago tomorrow I first posted about Massive Attack's upcoming fifth album. Four years ago. At that point the record was supposed to be coming out in February 2007. That didn't happen. So that month I wrote about the album again this time saying it was looking like 2008 was more likely as a release date. Towards the end of 2008 I once again wrote about this elusive forthcoming record which had still yet to see the light of day. At that point, based on interviews with 3D and Daddy G, [...]
2009 was another great year in gigs for me. From a crazy January that was highlighted by an insane Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds show at the ATP Festival through to finally getting to see the Manics again, 2009 was a fantastic year. Thinking back on some of these shows brings back some pretty amazing memories. Links will take you to the original review of each show. Have a happy new year! Underworld @ Bondi Beach Underworld blow my mind on New Year's Eve. [...]
Sad news indeed. Rowland S. Howard (The Birthday Party, The Boys Next Door, Young Charlatans) has lost his battle with liver cancer today in Melbourne. Mess & Noise and FasterLouder have brief articles. More word is expected soon. Australia has lost a truly unique songwriting voice and one that I was spurred onto exploring after his placing on this year's Top Australian Bands list .
Album #1: Journal For Plague Lovers by Manic Street Preachers The Manics had no business making an album this amazing, this essential , nine records into their career. But they did. Using a notebook of lyrics that Richey Edwards had bequeathed the band, the Manics set about making a visceral, confronting record and that is exactly what Journal For Plague Lovers is. Journal has the best lyrics of any record I heard in 2009 (not bad considering the lyric writer wrote them in 1994) and the band [...]
Album #2: Primary Colours by The Horrors If you had told me at the beginning of the year that The Horrors would release a record that I would want to listen to more than once I wouldn't have believed you. So the fact that they released a record that I listened to a lot is, well, shocking. And #2? Unbelievable. But here it is. Primary Colours isn't particularly original sounding (it sounds like every cool 80s new wave/shoegaze band in a blender) and its lyrics aren't spectacular. But the songs [...]
A Reminder
Azealia Banks - '1991' [Listen]
Metric Debuts Album via Synthetica Hide+Seek, Tickets On Sale Now For Fall Tour
THE MASTERSONS — BIRDS FLY SOUTH
