Months ago, I got an invitation from my friend Donivan Berube who plays in the band Blessed Feathers , to be apart of his zine. I love zines, I sort of have this unrealistic fantasy about zine'in but when I really get down to it - it never gets done. But in my mind, I zine. So at the very least, contributing to zines is deeply satisfying. It makes me feel like I'm somehow apart of that culture - the manifestation of childhood cut 'n paste married with grown up thoughts in the form of [...]
Andrew Bird 's new record Break It Yourself is a given, right? It's not a new, undiscovered gem - but boy is it ever a gem. Now, I never really got into Andrew Bird before, not because I didn't dig his music, but because he sort of just fell off my radar. And I get it, he's legendary, I have so much to catch up on. I don't know what brought me to sit down with his record, but something washed over me when I heard those strings and that whistle. This is the first time [...]
The Shakedown is the sound of some real growth for Yellow Ostrich . It's so exciting to hear an artist really pushing the limits of their sound to a direction that is more guitar heavy. Their LP Strange Land is due March 6th via Barsuk and redefines the whole youtube-bedroom-pop that garnered Alex his inital hype, but now a fully-formed three piece band. Really excited to hear this record. Yellow Ostrich - The Shakedown
This video certainly caught my attention during my morning coffee. I think my exact words were: CREEEEPY! ALX. Otherwise known as Allie Hughes, this Toronto synth pop babe has recently re-emerged with a new sound, and I think it suits her well. ALX will be making their debut performance at the Drake Underground on March 15th with RatTail (Man, I forgot, I love that band too!). Download the free track over at the Bandcamp. The video concept is genius! I don't want to spoil it but it involves an [...]
![The Mixtape Series // Jo Schornikow [Mix 23]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4099368_lg.jpg)
For the latest mixtape, I invited Jo Schornikow of The Shivers to put together a mix for me and it is called "Lovers and Friends". The Marilyn Monroe collage artwork (seen below) was designed by my friend Andrea Nakhla , who has been known to have put together many past album artwork for me. She's a real fancy illustrator too, check out her website here. The Album I first met Jo long after I'd [...]
![[Premiere] Birds & Batteries Remix Peter Wolf Crier](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4097938_lg.jpg)
I'm excited to premiere the Birds & Batteries remix of Peter Wolf Crier 's Right Away off their album Garden of Arms . Birds & Batteries gave the original track a real atmospheric sound with fluid bass tones, punctuated drum beats and synth to give the original reverse guitar loops more of a rhythmic feel. I like that it doesn't stray too far from the original sound, while maintaining the melodic structure - the remix acts as a sort of elastic, stretching [...]
I've loved Glass Cake for years and because I've never known all that much about her, I always assumed she was a Berkeley college student that recorded beautiful lo-fi music in her bedroom. But then I got word of her Honey Months EP and was glad to learn this might just be more than a hobby. I noticed that one of the tracks was a cover of Diane Cluck's "Yr Million Sweetnesses". It felt like my girl band-crush worlds were colliding. Watch Glass Cake performing Yr Million Sweetnesses below.
Bravestation sent me a new track that became available for free download yesterday, and you can grab it here. The song has a tropical/futuristic vibe. Excited to hear the rest of the full length. It's got a real chill, down tempo groove to it. Derek Wilson of Bravestation will be joining me and a few other bloggers for this Friday's Toronto Music Industry Association panel on "digital tastemakers". Really excited to chat about blurgin' with him. Read his interview here. Signs of the Civilized [...]
It's been a while since I've heard anything from That Ghost so I was interested to hear the latest EP. The EP is titled after his grandmother who died at a young age to cancer. He'd never met her but he had this photograph of her and it left him romanticizing her life, wondering what she was like. As a result, the songs sound heavy and haunted - hinting of a nostalgia for a past he himself never experienced. Heavy reverb and layered vocals make it sound all the more weathered and old. That [...]
The Wooden Sky - Grace On A Hill Pt1 - Bald, Naked and Red from Black Box Vimeo on Vimeo . The Wooden Sky have always been good about documenting their music in a way that feels intimate and cinematic. Their latest video premiered exclusively on Interview magazines ' site today and features a french girl subtly setting the scene via a phone call to someone while pacing back in forth, in where else? but an empty church. There is something spiritual about [...]
Germany Germany is back from hiatus and sent me two new tracks - Departure & Disconnect ft. Steffaloo. These are off an upcoming full length called Blank Mind Empty Heart. It's pretty mellow and calming. Steffaloo's vocals blend perfectly in Disconnect. Listen, below.
Spanish Prisoners - Know No Violence (official music video) from Spanish Prisoners on Vimeo . New video from Spanish Prisoners for their track "Know No Violence". Everyone knows I seem to have a soft spot for slo-mo videos of weird girls dancing in the forest, so this video pretty much covers it for me. Watch above! And download Gold Fools here.
I wrote about Howth a while ago when they did that Dolly Parton (but really Whitney Houston) cover of " I Will Always Love You " and I thought it was a really beautiful take on the original(s). In fact, when Whitney passed and everyone was posting their covers, I was reminded of how good Howth's was. So when they recently reached out to tell me about their Kickstarter project I was excited to hear the new record. And it is fantastic. This record is their transformation from a folk duo to [...]
Thanks to my friend Jimmy from Head Underwater for posting about this one - I watched a pretty beautiful video for Glass Vaults on his blog and it led me to discovering more about this band. Glass Vaults are a duo out of New Zealand that put out their second EP Into Clear a little while ago and just recently, a video for the track "Gold Star" (see below). You can stream the record here. Glass Vaults - Gold Star from jukboxr on [...]
It's stuff like this that keeps me blogging, or at least makes me feel like what I'm sharing is important. Deerhoof ft. Dave Bazan, renamed "No One Asked Bazan To Dance" along with a B Side called "Gas and Matches" from Headphones. It's available in limited quantity as a translucent blue vinyl that you can buy here. I just bought mine! Excited to see him on March 15th in Buffalo with my pal, Billy. I'm driving all the way to Lockport for this. Listen to the track below. Deerhoof (feat. David Bazan) [...]
I've been meaning to update you on the blog, as some of you might have noticed - the posts have slowed down quite a bit. And there's good reason for it! I recently started working at Etsy, so that has been taking quite a bit of my time. It's been so thrilling and satisfying to be apart of a company like Etsy, and I feel truly honored to get to represent Canada (I gush all about it here ). I've been adjusting to the new rhythm in my life, and with that - haven't been able to tend to [...]
Have you ever wondered what would happen if The X Files and hip hop combined forces? If so, I’ve found the solution to your query. Meet Tidus , an intergalactic entity producing music for feeble-minded earth creatures. Not your archetypal hip hop artist, his music touches on topics such as galaxies, spaceships, and harnessing the power of the self. Temporarily grounded in NYC and managed by 3qtr (Odd Future, The Jealous Guys) he produces all his own tracks and directs his videos. Be sure to grab the Absolute Anywhere LP , Mirrors EP [...]
I haven't had much time to invest in checking any email submissions and that always conjures up a mix of guilt and overwhelming thoughts of where to begin? I scratched the surface on some free time this evening and I feel really good about it. I also managed to come across Paul Stewart, a Vancouver-based artist that describes his music as "defeatist folk". It's this sort of self deprecation that I find so endearing. It really does have this soft melancholy, real fragile sounding layers that aren't thick enough to support one another - but they're not trying to. His [...]
Ooh, how I love Soko - that accent, those delicate yet subtly badass folk songs. She's got a certain husk to her voice, like she hasn't slept in a week. It's so much more endearing when you hear the accent. I feel like I'm listening to someone sing out their adolescent journals. You can stream the album via Stereogum. Soko - I Thought I Was an Alien
Damien Jurado 's Maraqopa, due Feb 21st via Secretly Canadian is fantastic. Admittedly, I'd never listened to any of his previous releases although I'm aware that he's something of a legend in the indie folk world (yes, I realized that it's his 10th album). But this record hit me hard, it feels epic and expansive - it feels like something that requires movement somewhere. It feels just as much an internal exploration as it is an external voyage - like looking over the Grand Canyon and trying to make sense of the magnitude of it. He [...]
Friends With Both Arms
Watch Kurt Vile Play Letterman
Todd Edwards Essential Mix
Weekly Mix Vol. I
