If you go to the homepage of High 4 Records between now and October 13th, you'll see a large spread featuring Toronto pop-rock darlings, Crush Luther . Click on the left, and you can make your claim as a "starving student" and access the band's new album Some People Have No Good To Give at no cost. Click to the right, "the band eats this week", and you choose the price you're willing to pay for some quality tunes and snappy PDF album art. Behind these two choices is a black and white photo [...]
Here are some things I learned from War Child 's Busking for Change. 1. Luther from Crush Luther gives great hugs! That's a great cardigan he's wearing. He and Matt (on the left) like to perform jump kicks and power stances during the most inappropriate times of a song. Their second album was released digitally yesterday on High 4 Records, and it's pay-what-you-can until October 13th. So go get it . Otherwise you can pick up a physical copy on October the 13th, and [...]
Inspired by Raine Maida 's busking for charity event in 2007, War Child Canada has put together Busking for Change. Many of our country's established musicians will take to the streets of Toronto to raise money for war-affected children around the world. If you're in town, take in some culture, and spare some change. Today's list of performers (as taken from Chart Attack's list ) include: Chantal Kreviazuk IllScarlett Sass Jordan Neverending White Lights - The World Is Darker (mp3) ( amazon ) ( iTunes ) Shiloh Down With Webster Kevin [...]
Hahaa, made you look. "Once upon a summer we were desperate to be younger still..." Just what is Chasing Kings going on about in the title track of The Current State of Our Futures EP?! Younger still? What do they know about wanting to be younger still? They not even-! "Forget what they say! We're still young!" Yeah, that's right! None of these kids have even reached the age of twenty yet. But they sound so mature and upstanding. When I read that statement [...]
A lot of times, things get lost in my inbox because of the amount that gets submitted and it's definitely not aided by my own horrendous organizational skills. So when I started to go through some earlier emails, I was very upset that I missed the email containing an advance copy of Birdmonster 's new EP. There's something incredibly satisfying and pretentious about hearing music before everyone else is allowed to. It was already released by the time I read the email and I missed the chance this time, but I enjoyed the EP anyway. [...]
I thoroughly enjoyed Princeton 's older material. The simplicity of their 2006 debut A Case of the Emperor's Clothes piqued my attention in the group with its strong melodies and concise but stripped down acoustic guitar pop. I don't know how I wasn't aware of their 2008 Bloomsbury EP , a concept album about an imaginative group of British intellectuals, no doubt inspired by the group's stay in London, UK. On Sept. 29, 2009, they will release Cocoon of Love , which of course, is an advancement of these last two records, with [...]
Ashleigh Ball of Vancouver's Hey Ocean! has got one of the sweetest voices I've ever heard. In my mind she's one of those girls who could say anything, doesn't matter what, and it would immediately cheer you up on a bad day. So take that voice and pin it to an 15 track album that's got the feel of a trendy jazz club on the side of a beach on a summer afternoon and you've got a hell of a feel-good album. Hey Ocean!'s It's Easier To Be Somebody Else is exactly that. Vocals with a [...]
Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika Mika. Even his name is fun to say! How many times will I say "Mika" during this post? LOTS. Michael Holbrook Penniman! Even his birth name is fun to say! But just how much Mika is too much Mika? That's what I asked myself when I first saw the video for his latest single, We Are Golden . Island Records doesn't want me to embed the video here, but in short it consists of Mika dancing in his colour-saturated bedroom in naught but his [...]
Right, so I think we were all pretty excited when Julian Casablancas announced that he was working on a solo project. But I also think we were all expecting it to sound less like a late 80s dance hit. The new single from his album Phrazes for the Young definitely confused me, what with all the synthesizers and all. Who knew that his signature voice would go well with that style? At the moment I'm still confused, but the track is growing on my every time I listen to it. Not that sounding like an 80s [...]
Bad Lieutenant is composed of New Order 's Bernard Sumner and Phil Cunningham and Jake Evans of Rambo and Leroy . Never Cry Another Tear is the debut and it is out Oct. 12, 2009. They're not be confused by the Nicolas Cage movie of the same name to be released later this year. But the first track "Sink or Swim" is like a Nicolas Cage movie. It's like I'm seen (heard) this before! Bad Lieutenant - Sink or Swim (mp3) (buy)
So it's true! Pavement is coming back together, with a lineup of members Mark Ibold, Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg, Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich and Steve West. They'll be playing shoes "coming to a town near you (if you live near a big town)" according to an Matador Records . So does that mean Toronto? Their last show was in 1999 at the Brixton Academy in London and their first announced show is In New York at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park next Sept. 21, 2010. Pavement - Unfair (mp3) [...]
The Paper Cranes , a husband and wife indie-pop duo from Victoria, BC has expanded into a roster of more than two. That's just as well, their last outing of infectious pop with super cute lyrics will require more energy and the more the merrier. As well as hanging more musicians onstage, this will is something that will find a bigger audience with the indie kids who dance in public, like bright colours and are drawn to shiny things. So after years of supporting other acts and becoming the darlings to watch out for within the indie writers [...]
I love this album cover. It's the latest album, Good Advice, Bad Advice from cello and acoustic guitar duo Ed Gorski and Ken Oak also known as Oak & Gorski . It's got an organic string sound, but just the right amount of contemporary pop to make it accessible to the mainstream. Oak & Gorski - Pretty Far Gone (mp3) (buy)
People don't realize that when they try to introduce you to someone or something, they need to make a good impression. The first track you hear from a band will no doubt influence what you think about them regardless of the rest of their catalogue. It's going to take a long time before you warm up to them before you jump on the bandwagon again, so to speak. The person who introduced me to the Kaiser Cartel did so with the track "oh no". Oh no, that's right. It's kinda boring. But luckily, that [...]
If you saw the movie Once , you probably swooned over the story that plays out with the help of a little bit of music. The real life band consisting of the actors Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are back after Grammy nominations and Oscar for Best Original song a few years back. Swell Season 's new album is entitled Strict Joy , after a poem by the late Irish writer James Stephens. It is out Oct. 27, 2009. Swell Season - Low Rising (mp3) (buy)
AIR (a French acronym for Amour, Imagination, Rêves, which translates to Love, Imagination, Dream) is releasing Love 2 on October 6,th 2009 and the latest single is "Sing Sang Sung". This being AIR, means lots of dreamy, ambient, Euro-synth pop. The band handled all the instrumental and production duties themselves at their own Parisian Atlas Studios with Joey Waronker on drums, who has previously played with them on their 2008 tour. AIR - Mer Du Japon (mp3) (buy) AIR - Sing Sang Sung (mp3) [...]
It was inevitable. Sibling rivalry has disbanded Oasis . I mean, probably. Maybe. Noel Gallagher has quit a couple of times before, but this time, I actually believe him. In an official release on the official website for the group this week, he wrote: "It's with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer. "Apologies to all the people who bought tickets for the shows in Paris, Konstanz and [...]
A "sunshower" is a rare meteorological phenomenon in which rain falls while the sun is shining. Sunshowers often lead to rainbows. "Sunshower" is also the title of Jupiter One 's sophomore album. There are rainbows and plastic foxes on the cover. Fantastic! Jupiter One has got a chipper pop-rock sound with the occasional pinch of trippy. Upbeat and fun enough to party with a mainstream audience, but still casual and progressive enough to still be considered cool by the indie kids. The first single Flaming Arrow is the best [...]
Even though Richard Hawley 's upcoming album, Truelove's Gutter explores the idea of broken things, damaged people, and the alienation surrounding modern life, his voice still makes everything sounds hopelessly romantic. This guy is a definitely a crooner. And while all the places he mentions in his songs are geographic landmarks in his hometown of Sheffield, UK, the lush instrumentation and vocal style bring to mind a fantasy world that's classy, timeless with an air of mystery. That place and time could be in real time, in Sheffield. But it could also be anywhere else from a [...]
Brooklyn, NY's the Antlers got their start when Peter Silberman began writing what would become Hospice as a explanation of why he disappeared and moved to New York in 2006. The storyline of this concept album also weaves the story of man who loses someone he loves to disease and struggles morality. After two years of creating the record, the songs are a "reminder to never lose oneself again." Released on Aug. 18, 2009, its gotten high praise from indie snobs from bloggers to Pitchfork alike. Antlers - [...]
Impressionable Youth
[LISTEN] Gotye (Passion Pit Remix)
Big Boi & Theophilus London (feat. TRE LUCE) - 'She Said OK'
