Techno and house music, probably one of the most popular genres now, is a wide genre that comes in a wide variety of forms. Most of the Top 40 music made today is in this genre, but now it seems like so many underground bands have at least one synth. This allows techno fans to find a wide selection of artists and forms to choose from. One of the recently growing subgroups has been termed post-internet because artists now have such a large pool of influences that it becomes impossible to claim them now. [...]
Whether you like it or not, the tide is turning for the indie scene. Back at the beginning of 2013, Grimes wrote a brilliant piece on her Tumblr, documenting her favorite tunes of 2012, which included "Gangnam Style", "Call Me Maybe", and a tune or two by Taylor Swift and Lana del Rey. She's also, time and time again, quoted Mariah Carey as the ultimate inspiration for her work as Grimes. With Grimes, we saw the dawn of a new era of indie music, not stylistically alone, but in mindset. In the post Internet world, it's literally just as easy [...]
When Blue Hawaii do crawl out from the Montréal underground as they quite categorically will with their sophomore full-length, Untogether , there will commensurately undoubtedly, I assure you be this one comparison to plague them forever more. And that will be with one Claire Boucher. It'll be lazily articulated and repeatedly expressed, and it will from then on always be there. Yes, Raphaelle Standell-Preston – who sporadically floats away from BRAIDS to combine with Alex Cowan in becoming Blue Hawaii – can sound vaguely reminiscent of Grimes, as she unquestionably does at times [...]
It's been quite some while already that art-pop daydreamer Airick Woodhead has been hanging around in the Doldrums of blog culture, which automatically creates a dangerous amount of anticipation around this, his début full-length. For his is a name of quiet notoriety already: he's been around the world a couple times touring his scattily collated bits and pieces; done the prerequisite Grimes collaboration. And Lesser Evil even appears to neatly encapsulate both a learned outlook on modern-day electronica, and indeed the sonic identity of his native Montréal. Though why, therefore, does it never quite work as one? [...]
Here's this year's top 10 albums list from Music Liberation . Whilst we didn't quite get to review all of the albums we'd have like to have this year, I feel the records we did get to were all really strong and as a result it was a difficult but wholly enjoyable process of narrowing down the final list you see before you. Hopefully you'll discover something new here you might have missed this year, and at the bottom of the post we also mention those albums we really rated but didn't quite get round to reviewing. 2012 has [...]
Vancouver electronic band Myths just rocked the house with Grimes at Neumos last week. The two-piece band also acted as her backing band during her stellar set . But opening the night, Quinne Rodgers and Lief Hall assaulted the audience visually and aurally with a dynamic and visceral set of noise and color. Myths' music draws on a lot of influences. Some similarities can be drawn to the noisy, dark synth pop of Grimes, but the two also utilize the primal screams and heavy house beats of goth dance band Crystal Castles. Finally, the dynamic [...]
Mike Skinner is one of my favorite artists hands down. Why? Basically, because Mike Skinner (The Streets) is unique, original, and you can follow his paper trail to where he is today. He started at the bottom and worked his way to the top of the food chain. Incredible. We can actually see an artist evolve from a garage type setup, to a studio, to a super-studio facilitated album. Evolution of The Streets is apparent and refreshing. The Streets have done 5 albums, all of which are different, all of which are excellent, and all of [...]
Cadence Weapon - Hope In Dirt City Upper Class: 2012 Poet laureate, like the postmaster general or even the Queen of England, is a grandiose title that precedes a position I don’t quite understand. Rollie Pemberton, 26, served as poet laureate for the Canadian city Edmonton, from 2009-11. And, while it’s not clear what exactly that role entailed, it appears to have only helped his growth as an artist. Pemberton, better known in hip-hop headphones as Cadence Weapon , returns to the rap world with Hope in Dirt City , his [...]
Swedish do-it-yourself bedroom artist Soso demonstrates a powerful and edgy vocal range on The Time I Dug So Deep I Ended Up In China, leaving you covered in a dirty layer of grit.
Due to unfortunate scheduling conflicts, I never managed to see Grimes perform at SXSW 2012. I do, however, consider myself lucky that I’d seen her perform months before she was signed to 4AD at the start of 2012, albeit it was for an opening set before Lykke Li ’s show in May 2011. Claire Boucher and all her previous work had then been completely unknown to me. As this goth pixie with a little girl’s voice and fierce eyebrows readied her electronics, I wondered if she was [...]
Exceptional experimental musicians make me ecstatic. Every so often there comes a wave of really good music and an argument can be made the most recent occurrence came on January 31, 2012. Two of my favorite albums of the year, Gotye’s Making Mirrors and Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die, were released on the same day. You can argue its pure coincidence, but I think not. The old proverb “all good things come in threes” comes to mind when discussing this auspicious occurrence and Grimes latest album Visions, which was also released on January 31, 2012, proves my [...]
Visions is the first album of 2012 - maybe even of the last twelve months - to make me want to shout about it (or indeed blog about it). It's an album that throws out (most of) the clichés of electronic music and takes stunning risks - not in an overblown, prog rock fashion, but entirely unpretentiously. There's plenty of lo-fi electronic music about at the moment (mostly of the Washed Out variety), and you could be forgiven for mistaking Grimes for another one of these acts. But thought it may also sound as like it's [...]
I could start off by whining about the lack of decent female producer/artists on the electronic scene but it’s been done before. Besides, I know at least 3, and Montreal based vocalist, composer, and all round artiste Claire Boucher aka Grimes is definitely one of them. A one man (sorry - one woman) machine when it comes to making the most bewildering disarray of stunning beat based electro sound - drawing influence from people like Prince and Enya , from vintage pop to hipster vogue to the Indian orient ( [...]
That dark electronica which Boucher creates in Visions has a cybotic ambience to it, a style which is somewhat alien in its construction.
To say that Canadian solo artist Clare Boucher, aka Grimes , has been prolific over the past two years is the very definition of understatement. While neither of her first two albums arrived perfectly crafted, they displayed a distinct voice and progression of style and mood. This growth as an artist leads us smoothly to her third full length outing, Visions , her most accomplished and polished offer to date. Shadows of Geidi Primes and Halafaxa dance across Visions but the album vibrates with nuance and progressive thinking. With her [...]
![[album review] Grimes // Visions](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4108177_lg.jpg)
Tweet vaso link Tympanogram Grade: A- A synth-pop album vacant of hooks may seem like an oxymoron, but Montreal DJ Claire Boucher has never been one to fit a mold, or follow any set of instructions that have been set before her. Instead, with the limitless possibilities of electronics and the versatility of her own voice, she has created an album in Visions that is a testament to her personal evolution as a musician and the [...]
![Grimes – Oblivion [Music Video]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4102302_lg.jpg)
Grimes just dropped the long awaited music video Oblivion . Oblivion is taken from the critically acclaim & popular album Visions. Hey! Isn't that football field filmed at the McGill Sports Centre?? Isn't that the Olympic stadium during that motorbike rally? Have a look at the music video directed by Emily Kai Bock .
If this is your first introduction to this strange and invigorating Canadian artist, Grimes is a name you should get used to. 2012 will be 23 year old Claire Boucher's breakout year. Her new album, Visions , came out Tuesday on 4AD Records, and she is currently touring in support of it. Unfortunately, she already passed through Seattle, playing a show at Sunset Tavern on Monday. It sold out overnight. Visions is the third full length album by Grimes. Her first two albums, both from 2010, were released on Arbutus Records. Her [...]
![Grimes – Visions [Review]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/4084382_lg.jpg)
2012 will be a big year for Claire Boucher who records under the name " Grimes ". This past week Grimes drops her much hyped new album "Visions". Apparently the initial drop date was slotted for January 31st on Arbutus Records but was pushed back to February 21st after news broke that she signed to 4AD . If you aren't familiar with Grimes then you may not know that she is a Montreal musician with an amalgam of styles that [...]
Grimes' excellent third album, Visions , presents No Genre with a difficult critical challenge. On the one hand, I feel compelled to try to say something intelligent about an album that has more than earned the right to be pondered. But on the other, the album is so good that I'm a little stuck writing anything like a cogent argument in its defense, which keeps leading me to idiotically simple thoughts (e.g. " Visions is a good album"). So, we'll just go ahead and indulge both impulses because Visions has clearly been speaking to these two sides [...]
The Rotation
KEXP Blog
Dots & Dashes
Music Liberation
Mind Inversion
Potholes In My Blog
The Owl Mag
There Goes the Fear
The Ripple Effect
Quiff Pro 'Fro
Addict Music
State Magazine
Tympanogram
PhotogMusic.com
No Genre
CDCmixtape: ¡Lo Mejor de Abril y lo que va de Mayo 2013!
Video: “Man I Need” by Jagwar Ma
