
I've had this sitting in drafts for an awful amount of time, considering it came to me by the way of an email over a year ago. This is quite shameful of me, as I've been sitting on some alt. country GOLD. As I've mentioned before , I do love me a spot of alt. country. It circumvents the saccharine sap of country music and offers something that flows from melancholy to sentimental and moody. High Twilight certainly does that, and it's simply beautiful as a result. (No stream today, as this song [...]
Girl in a Coma – Exits & All the RestDownload “Smart” Girls – Father, Son, Holy GhostDownload “Vomit” The Go! Team – Rolling BlackoutsDownload “T.O.R.N.A.D.O.” Goldenboy – SleepwalkerDownload “She Belongs to Me” Grey Reverend – Of the Days Gringo Star...

Montreal, Quebec has always been at the pinnacle of arts and entertainment in Canada, if not in all of North America. Aside from deliciously artery-clogging amounts of poutine (the secret is in the fries) on every street corner, a hearty smorgasbord of lively bars and pubs, and some of the prettiest people on the planet, the city is inundated throughout the year with various festivals and events. In fact, there are so many festivals in Montreal that it's hard to keep track and even locals may be desensitized as to "what's going on this weekend." It would be [...]
Montreal's Daniel Isaiah is a lot like a Canadian Iron and Wine, for a variety of reasons. Montreal's Daniel Isaiah is a lot like a Canadian Iron and Wine. Like Sam Beam, Isaiah has a background in the film industry. (Isaiah is an award-winning filmmaker, whereas Beam was a film professor.) Like Beam, Isaiah mines a kind of hushed, folksy brand of music. However, Isaiah peppers his lush sounds with a little bit of roots rock and Daniel Langois-esque atmospherics - so that's pretty much where the comparisons end. Here, on Isaiah's...

This week's new songs includes Eleanor Friedberger (of the Fiery Furnaces ), Musikanto , WU LYF , Steven Malkmus & the Jicks , and others: Eleanor Friedberger My Mistakes – [mp3] (from Last Summer ) Musikanto – Every Which Way [mp3] (from Sky of Dresses , out August 2) WU LYF – Dirt [...]
Emotive pop rock has seemingly gone by the wayside. The singer-songwriter moniker often makes the music-blogger in me cringe. That being said I was always a fan of folks like Ben Kweller and Josh... [go to the website to read the rest of the article, download mp3s and more]

ARTIST: The SWAG Report 62 with freebie mp3 downloads for songs by Boots Electric, The Mekons, Gang Gang Dance, Apparat, Descendents, Marianne Faithful, Joel Plaskett, Nurses, Mean Creek, Matthew Barber, The Charlatans UK, Widowspeak, Zee Avi and more! So much more! DATE: 06-23-11 WRITER: Don Loder 'Ey youse, Awright, so, this week, we're gonna go whole hog on gettin' ya some free SWAG cuz half the world ain't workin'. I dunno if ya heard, but there's a mail strike goin' on in Canada, [...]
It's been seven hours and fifteen days since we last had an Editors Picks. It hasn't, though it would be true if we were in a Sinead O'Connor song. See what we have been up to in the last week below, no doubt activities such as eating dinner in a fancy restaurant, seeing a doctor - and guess what he told us? Maybe to put our arms round every boy we see whilst bemoaning all the flowers that our mothers planted in the garden. My week has been [...]

Black Lips, Cults, Fucked Up, Tom Vek, Battles, Arctic Monkeys and Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr headline the week, but it goes deeper than that as well. New releases from The Rosebuds, Frank Turner, Givers, The Postelles, Sondre Lerche, Peter Murphy, Oneida, City and Colour all make it a pretty deep week for ear spins. Have at it. Playlist: New Releases 06.07.11 Playlist: New Releases 05.31.11 (missed last week) Black Lips - Arabia Mountain [...]

As regular visitors to the blog will know we are suckers for most things with a"roots" tag. In fact, anything half-decent ticking the Folk, Country, or Americana boxes is in with a chance on MM and this bunch is a whole lot more than half-decent. From start to finish, Jo Henley's album Mohawk is brimming with story-songs: a rollicking retelling of the Schenectady Massacre of 1690, a Celtic-tinged ditty about the plight of the Irish immigrants who found work digging the Erie Canal, dark ballads about some of Campolieto's most intimate and haunting memories, [...]

Secret City Records has curated a roster of eclectic musicians that are consistently top shelf, despite each band sounding completely unique. Refusing to cater to a standard sound, it might be impossible for Secret City to put together a fluent gig, but the label's latest signing, Daniel Isaiah , might be the bridge that connects the dots. Hints of Canadiana, spacey pop, warm organ notes and even Dixieland are introduced with a deft touch, but Isaiah works best when he's delivering Gold -era Ryan Adams nuggets like "High Twilight" and [...]

Check out Daniel Isaiah 's vision of hell, a vision that materialized into "Naked Night," a track from his recently released album, High Twilight , out on Secret City Records. Definitely a good track and good album to get the Monday going. enjoY! Daniel Isaiah - Naked Night

Thanks to Sasquatch! Music Festival and other pressing issues, I missed last weeks crop of new releases, headlined by My Morning Jacket and Death Cab For Cutie ( and Robert Pollard, and Eddie Vedder on the ukelele, and Seapony, and...). For the past two days, I've been down with a fever, so this week's was in peril too, but I've switched my tea for coffee, propped myself up with some pillows and made a go of it. All because this is a great week for releases. Black Lips, Cults, Fucked Up, Tom Vek, Battles, Arctic [...]

While waiting curiously for the result of Danny Malone recording his next album in Denmark right now, i'm listening to Montreal's Daniel Isaiah (Schachter) (ex Percy Farm/Shoot the Moon) and his planet wavily/cohenesqy solo-debut album "high violet". Similar voices, different character, different moon. A sligthly burlesque Lloyd Cole and the commotions, without the rattlesnake, if you get what i mean. On my favorite chanson from the album "The hours" he sounds bigband-jazzy like Iggy on preliminaries, well, almost, and thats a compliment. A fresh take. Will people like it? I [...]

Reignited German/American cyberpunks Atari Teenage Riot have booked a return trip to America this Fall. With information warfare, net neutrality, government opacity, and human trafficking all in the news, Atari Teenage Riot’s 4th album Is This Hyperreal?, out digitally June 7th on LA Electro-stomp label Dim Mak, is their most topical yet. Atari Teenage Riot starts their campaign for justice across America in September. For a taste of the hardcore digital punk of Is This Hyperreal? check out the riotgrrl energy of "Blood In My Eyes" tale of human trafficking and "Activate!" a hyper-kinetic death ray call to [...]

Secret City Records will release Montreal songwriter Daniel Isaiah's album, High Twilight , on June 7th. The album features some guests from the Montreal and Canadian music community with vocals by Charlotte Loseth (aka Sea Oleena), guitar by Warren Spicer (Plants and Animals), drumming by Dave Payant (A Silver Mount Zion), and cello by Claude Lamothe. "High Twilight" http://www.secretcityrecords.c om

Daniel Isaiah (Schachter), set to release his debut album, High Twilight , on June 7, just released the title track as a free download. For an artist who hasn't received much publicity outside his home of Montreal and is a rookie in solo music-making circles (he's been in a couple full bands in the past), Isaiah composes remarkably mature alt-folk, filled with breezy harmonies. The underlying sound is pretty simple, which allows Isaiah to easily build off of each song. Daniel Isaiah - "High Twilight" [MP3] High Twilight [...]
Daniel Isaiah - High Twilight

On an Early Note One to Watch in 2011 ONE TO WATCH As I type these words I listen to a soft, rapturous intent-filled debut of an album called High Twilight from Daniel Isaiah Schachter (who goes by Daniel Isaiah on stage.) The results are [...]
In my years on Facebook, I've managed to avoid a lot of the regular occurrences that have become a part of the social networking giant. I've never played FarmVille, I don't quote famous inspirational quotes, and I've thankfully never stalked an ex (more than what was normal and healthy). But one of those annoying pitfalls I have fall into is the 30-Day Song Challenge. Here, hapless folks post a new song a day that reflects parts of their life, from their favorite tune to a track that describes their inner self and even the musical offering with their favorite bassline. [...]