Posts Tagged ‘first spin’
The NewMusic First Spin: Taken By Trees
Monday, September 7th, 2009
Victoria Bergsman seems like she’s a lifetime removed from her former band, not simply three years. The former vocalist for The Concretes, Bergsman left behind their big, orchestral indie pop for a sound that was naked, minimal and intimate - an obvious statement that she was looking to do everything on her own.
She debuted her solo work as Taken By Trees a few months after leaving The Concretes, and a year later unveiled her first album. Produced by Björn Yttling (of Peter Bjorn & John, who she duetted with on their hit “Young Folks”), Open Field was a stunning piece of music that featured an array of instruments - vibes, mandolin, harmonium, zither, flutes and strings - that united to follow the soft touch of Bergsman’s gorgeously diffident voice.
Looking for new inspiration to help her make a second record, Bergsman grabbed multi-instrumentalist Andreas Söderström and left Sweden for the exotic land of Pakistan. Immediately it was “emotionally difficult to cope with the cultural differences” she said in a short documentary that was shot by National Geographic. However, after learning the traditions and gaining respect from not just the fellow musicians but also the men that surrounded her, Victoria soon found her supporting cast.
East of Eden is a rich, organic listening experience; you’d never guess that it was recorded with only two mics, one computer and a team of musicians who’d never seen a computer before, all during a series of rolling power outages. With a deep interest in Sufi music, Bergsman transcended into a sponge, absorbing all of the colourful sounds the culture had to offer.
“To Lose Someone” makes its introduction with a journeying blend of classical guitar, flutes and percussion, and single “Watch the Waves” keeps the instrumental mélange animated with polyrhythmic climbs and fluttering guitar work.
The hushed arrangements of both “Greyest Love Of All” and “Tidens Gang” sound like vehicles for Victoria to shine vocally. And then at the opposite end of the spectrum is “Wapas Karna.” Without any trace of Bergsman, the song allows the cast of musicians to show off their stuff, as a Pakastani vocalist takes the lead over a lone hand drum and organ.
What is sure to be one of the most talked about songs of the year is Bergsman’s rendition of Animal Collective’s “My Girls.” Altering the title, “My Boys” removes all of the band’s bubbling psychedelia, and strips it down to a crowded ensemble of vibes, polyrhythms, kalimba and organ, which capture the song’s abundant melodies in a whole new light.
East of Eden is one of the more rewarding albums of 2009. To learn more about the process of how it came together, you can watch the National Geographic doc with Victoria Bergsman in Pakistan by clicking here.
Listen to it here
Artist: Taken By Trees
Album:East of Eden
Release Date: September 8, 2009
Label: Rough Trade
Genre: Indie Rock
Author: Cam Lindsay
First Spin Live Until: September 15, 2009
Track Listing:
Tags: first spin, Taken By Trees
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NewMusic First Spin: Datarock
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
“The Blog” is a bold statement to open an album with. A crowd cheers, a robot speaks and then a series of vocal samples waxing about the information highway (MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Napster, iTunes, etc.) set the stage for Datarock to make their grand entrance. It seems a bit ridiculous but that’s Datarock for you.
Still sporting the patented red tracksuits and that wacky sense of humour, Norway’s leading neo-new wavers return four years after they taught us all how to find love at computer camp and got us moving like carefree idiots to “Fa-Fa-Fa.”
Not much has changed with these guys. They still sound like they used their studio time to hold dance-offs, and even if they didn’t, well, Red is certainly an album designed to do that yourself. If you don’t know how, they’ve made a video for the adrenalizing first single “Give It Up” to show you. Hell, they’ve even recorded a song so encouraging that they could only call it “Dance!”
Somehow, they’ve even captured the zeitgeist with a very New Romantic song called “Molly,” which not only pays tribute to the famous redheaded Ringwald, but also the recently deceased John Hughes, a man who would certainly have used Datarock on a soundtrack 25 years ago. How’s that for timing?!
Just as kitschy is “True Stories,” a funky number that’s not only written entirely using song titles from the Talking Heads’ songbook (Google it and see for yourself!), but also sounds an awful lot like David Byrne’s former crew.
But those are the type of tongue-in-cheek gags we expect from a band that’s known just as much for their break-dancing skills and piss-taking humour as they are for their actual music. But no worries, there’s plenty of actual music to enjoy on Red.
Listen to it here
Artist: Datarock
Album:Red
Release Date: September 1, 2009
Label: Nettwerk
Genre: Electronic
Author: Cam Lindsay
First Spin Live Until: September 8, 2009
Track Listing:
- The Blog
- Give It Up
- True Stories
- Dance!
- Molly
- Do It Your Way
- In The Red
- Fear Of Death
- Amarillion
- The Pretender
- Back In The Seventies
- Not Me
- New Days Dawn
Tags: Datarock, first spin
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NewMusic First Spin: Apples In Stereo
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
After 17 years of making the most candied music in the indie rock cosmos, Denver, Colorado’s Apples in Stereo issue a career-spanning retrospective before they make that crucial step towards the future and a sound that’s been self-described as “early seventies R&B as played by a UFO.”
Led by the inimitably helium-voiced Robert Schneider (the band’s only remaining original member and co-founder of the Elephant 6 Recording Company), Apples in Stereo were always underappreciated. As the title suggests, #1 Hits Explosion should be that obligatory “greatest hits” collection that most bands release this stage in their career, however, because of their underground status and forever mutating sound, the band have yet to record a true hit.
That said, the timing for this kind of record couldn’t be any better, considering the band’s biggest commercial success yet, “Energy,” is all over the television being sung by American Idol hopefuls and selling cans of Pepsi. It’s no surprise then that the anti-lethargy anthem kicks off the Explosion. Originally featured on 2007’s New Magnetic Wonder, the song sets the pace for one of the most sickly-sweet albums ever assembled.
Giving a snapshot of the band’s history, this comp does a fine job of leaving no stone unturned. All six studio albums are represented, with most emphasis placed on New Magnetic Wonder and The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone, both of which have four songs here.
Her Wallpaper Reverie’s “Strawberryfire” has more Beatles DNA in its 4:22 running time than Oasis have in their entire catalogue, not only referencing the band’s trippier moments in the title but also in the backwards masking, psychedelic guitars and soaring vocals.
“Seems So” and “Shine A Light” speak for the band’s jangle period of Tone Soul Evolution, while “Tidal Wave” from Fun Trick Noisemaker, on the other hand, demonstrates how the Apples also enjoyed covering themselves in a thick layer of fuzz.
And let’s not forget “Signal in the Sky,” their kid-friendly track for The Powerpuff Girls soundtrack that was expected to be the Apples’ break-out hit back in 2000.
While some fans could argue some oversights, like the absence of the 7-inches like “Everybody Let Up” and “Man You Gotta Get Up,” the festive “Holiday Mood” or Velocity of Sound’s “That’s Something I Do” single, #1 Hits has more hooks than a fully stocked Bass Pro Shop.
Listen to it here
Artist: Lullabye Arkestra
Album:#1 Hits Explosion
Release Date: September 1, 09
Label: Yep Rock Records
Genre: Lo-Fi Indie Pop
Author: Cam Lindsay
First Spin Live Until: August 11, 2009
Track Listing:
- Energy
- Go!
- Strawberryfire
- Tidal Wave
- Please
- The Rainbow
- Seems So
- Same Old Drag
- The Bird That You Can’t See
- Shine A Light
- 20 Cases Suggestive Of…
- Ruby
- Signal In The Sky
- Can You Feel It?
- Winter Must Be Cold
- Sun Is Out
Tags: Apples In Stereo, first spin
Posted in The New Music | 1 Comment »
NewMusic First Spin: Lullabye Arkestra
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
Previously featuring an infinite membership, Toronto’s Lullabye Arkestra took shape after scaling it down to just its original core of drummer Justin Small (also of Do Make Say Think) and bassist Kat Taylor-Small.
But let’s bypass all of the chatter about their minimalistic set-up and just be amazed about the nasty, blood-spewing rock’n’roll that sweats out of these two bodies.
Their 2006 debut album Ampgrave (released on Constellation) took five years to set free, and it didn’t disappoint, as the two married sludgy punk’n’roll with a twisted R&B fever that gave them a unique sound all of their own.
Now signed to VICE Records, a company that certainly knows a thing or two about debauchery and rock’n’roll, Lullabye Arkestra now have a second album. Threats/Worship isn’t a far cry from that depraved, good stuff they discharged on Ampgrave, but that’s the beauty of it.
“Get Nervous” makes its introduction with a metallic blast, followed by a chugging, head-banging rhythm before it settles into its charging groove. Kat then cranks up the fuzz on her bass for “Icy Hands,” the break downs for which shows the chemistry these two have is as much musical as it is marital.
“We F**k the Night” is a song so gnarly that it could only be accompanied by a video where the band’s mosh pit is attacked by flesh-eating zombies (one of whom is local avant-rockabilly dude Slim Twig). The Ark know to shake things up too: “Surviving The Year Of Wolves” revisits the hardcore of Ampgrave’s “Nation of Two,” intensifying the pace and throwing in a break down that fuses gang vocals with what sounds like someone playing the whirly. It’s rad.
Their repertoire deepens even more though. “Fog Machine” kicks into the type of drone that Spacemen 3 would trip out to, “Foating Graveyards” lulls into deep, murky doom metal riffage, and “Sad Sad Story” is no nonsense rhythm and blues that leaves Kat’s vocals naked and on full display to wind down the sweltering blitz of everything prior.
This is heavy, so be ready for it.
Listen to it here
Artist: Lullabye Arkestra
Album:Threats/Worship
Release Date: September 1, 09
Label: Vice Records
Genre: Alternative Rock
Author: Cam Lindsay
First Spin Live Until: August 11, 2009
Track Listing:
- Get Nervous
- Icy Hands
- We F*ck The Night
- Voodoo
- Surviving The Year Of Wolves
- Fog Machine
- Telepathic President
- Euroshima
- This Is A Storm
- Foating Graveyards
- Sad Sad Story
Tags: first spin, Lullabye Arkestra
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NewMusic First Spin: Young Galaxy
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Young Galaxy first came into most people’s consciousness as an addition to the Arts & Crafts family in 2007. Representing as the label’s token dream pop act, their self-titled debut struck a chord with the shoegazer community for its ethereal textures and refreshing depth, not to mention the boy-girl tag team vocals of primary members Stephen Ramsay and Catherine McCandless.
Now with a new label, Fontana North, Young Galaxy return with Invisible Republic, a more varied album that still keeps its head in the clouds, but comes back down to shake up the foundation they laid out on their more direct debut.
Long Live the Fallen World opens with some ’80s nuances courtesy of the splashing synths and that angelic call of McCandless (think very early Sarah McLachlan). Things get more interesting when it breaks into its coda, slamming on the brakes, pulling a U-turn and then chugging to a Krautrockin’ motorik pulse. Destroyer sets its guitars to a jet engine squeal that recalls the late L.A. shoegazers Medicine, before it descends into one of the more memorable choruses on the album.
The standouts, however, stray more from what Young Galaxy has become known for. Pathos drops the guitar squalls for a bit of piano, which waltzes in a carnival-esque motion before it rises up to heaven. Disposable Times is even more unpredictable, shimmying to the type of sexy, hand drum rhythm Sade is known for. Queen Drum looks to U2 for some inspiration, nicking those marching drums from “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and the Edge’s signature guitarscapes to guide McCandless on the weighty chorus.
The only way to sum up the closer Firestruck is by declaring it their “Freebird.” While it could be twice as long to sustain its epic scale, everything – McCandless’ poignant vocals, the gospel choir, the soul-saving organs and the melting guitar solo – converges for a finish that is certain to inspire the swaying illumination of lighters and cell phones whenever it’s performed live.
Author: Cam Lindsay
Track Listing:
Tags: first spin, young galaxy
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NewMusic First Spin: Still Life Still
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Arts & Crafts’ latest signings may seem new to a lot of people but they’ve actually been together for a decade, just like the label’s flagship act Broken Social Scene. Just one difference though (and I do mean just the one): Still Life Still began when the members were 13. So, not a grey hair or weathered tour vet in the bunch.
No, this is a bunch of fresh-faced 23-year olds who spent most of their existence developing their sound in East York (aka the east end of Toronto) basements. That is before they were finally discovered by BSS figurehead Kevin Drew, who took them under his wing and decided to not only sign them to A&C, which he co-founded, but also help them record their debut album, Girls Come Too.
You could say Drew and his indie rock collective had a profound influence on Still Life Still in many ways. While they have about one-third of the membership, this five-piece certainly modelled their sound after the BSS archetype: layered, curving guitars, hushed vocals and bursts of “jam it out loud” noise.
Working up a sweat on his kit, drummer Aaron Romaniuk takes a page out of Justin Peroff’s book on Lite-Bright Lawns and Danse Cave, while Brendon Saarinen and Eric Young go through fluid motions with their guitars. Kid and Wild Bees, on the other hand, use the soft textures and guitar-bending style of Modest Mouse to sell their music acoustically.
It’s safe to say, Girls Come Too fits right into the Arts & Craft canon. Whereas most of the label’s roster contains one element of Broken Social Scene’s genetic makeup, it’s hard to argue that Still Life Still weren’t trying to up the ante. There’s obviously some hero worship in their music, but it’s safe to say a lot of Scenesters should dig what they hear.
Author: Cam Lindsay
Track Listing
Tags: first spin, still life still
Posted in Reviews, The New Music | 5 Comments »
NewMusic First Spin: Jack Peñate
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
Jack Peñate turned some heads in 2007 with songs like “Spit At Stars” and “Torn On The Platform” that had many, or at least, me hailing him as this generation’s Billy Bragg. Okay, so he wasn’t exactly a politico fighting for miners rights, but he had a zippy pop style and knack for storytelling that left me comparing the two Londoners.
But Jack’s debut album, Matinée, left me feeling a bit empty and thinking he would forever be remembered only for his early singles. And so here comes that lesson I keep learning that I shouldn’t be so quite to write off a career based on the debut album.
For his follow-up, Jack sought the production wizardry of Paul Epworth, who famously manned the boards for the first albums of Bloc Party, Futureheads, Friendly Fires and most recently, Florence and the Machine, and the decision seems to have done wonders.
Everything Is New, his bio reads, is “in short, a soul record.” But only on the inside. On the outside it’s a perky listen that is chock full of colours, distinct international flavours and heaps of woeful melody.
With Epworth’s guidance, Jack gathered a ridiculous amount of influences that became a self-proclaimed mash up of “Brazilian Tropicalia, Krautrock, New Orleans marching bands, Bashment, Afrobeat, lo-fi hip-hop, gospel, Reggaeton and Philly Soul.” Sounds like a recipe for disaster, and normally this kind of genre dabbling ends with messy results, but Jack Peñate somehow manages to pull it all together.
Single Tonight’s Today jumps aboard the Caribbean bandwagon for a shuffling tropical vibe that would make Vampire Weekend a bit jealous. Be the One, on the other hand, uses soul as a foundation the way Primal Scream did with Screamadelica’s “Come Together. And Let’s All Die calls on a commanding Afrocentric rhythm section to make meeting your maker seem like a fine idea.
Never has a voice this melancholic sounded so pleased to be miserable. And with such a skip in his step you’re left wondering if he wrote this for the Cure as a sequel to Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, which really is one of the greatest compliments I could ever give to a record.
Listen to it here.
Artist: Jack Peñate
Album: Everything Is New
Release Date: August 18, 2009
Label: XL Recordings
Genre: Indie Pop/Rock
Author: Cam Lindsay
Track Listing:
Tags: first spin, jack penate
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NewMusic First Spin: The Antlers
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
Every once in a while you stumble upon an album that is so intimate you almost feel uncomfortable listening to it. Hospice is one of those albums. The third full-length by Peter Silberman, who’s better known as the driving force behind The Antlers, Hospice was borne from a solitary bedroom in Brooklyn and grew into a full-on collaboration with musicians who would come to form a proper band.
Self-released earlier this year by the Antlers, the album has spread like wildfire thanks to unanimous praise from music bloggers. The overwhelming reaction led to a record deal with FrenchKiss (Les Savy Fav, Dodos, Passion Pit), which will now reissue the album on August 18th.
Garnering regular comparisons to the Arcade Fire for its sweeping orchestrations and sombre tones, Hospice is an exhausting trip through a rough patch that Silberman experienced between 2005 and 2007. Said to be written about his nightmares, the narrative follows a man watching his significant other succumb to bone cancer in the Sloan Kettering Cancer Ward. (For a sobering experience, you can read the lyrics and liner notes here)
However, it’s Silberman’s haunting, fragile quiver and the band’s spacious, shoegazed dreamscapes that turn his words into such an emotionally devastating listen. The opening Prologue prepares you for the floodgates to open on Kettering, a funereal torch song that sets up the narrative to unfold. From there, Sylvia is a passionate release that raises the volume with soaring guitars, Bear is a driving song that contemplates mortality and, despite its disturbing imagery, Two introduces some lightness with its positive melodies. It all sets the tone for the melancholy that hits with Wake, where the man says goodbye.
After it ends with the apt Epilogue, there is a staggering feeling of catharsis for Silberman, his character and yourself that feels both poignant and draining. Hospice is a demanding, but deeply rewarding listen.
Artist: The Antlers
Album: Hospice
Release Date: August 18, 2009
Label: Frenchkiss Records
Genre: Indie Rock
Author: Cam Lindsay
Track Listing:
Tags: first spin, the antlers
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NewMusic First Spin: The Cave Singers
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
If you’re still heartbroken over the demise of Pretty Girls Make Graves, well, it’s safe to say you won’t get your fix from The Cave Singers. After PGMG split, Derek Fudesco traded in the bass for an acoustic guitar and left behind the angular post-punk muscle he flexed in both PGMG, as well as the fiery rock and roll of his previous band, Murder City Devils (which he reunited with for a tour earlier this year). He then began plucking along with singer Peter Quirk and percussionist Marty Lund to a very different tune.
As they proved in 2007 with their their debut album, Invitation Songs, The Cave Singers may seem more aligned with the downhome, whiskey-soaked charm of earlier Ryan Adams and Langhorne Slim, but like those two shit disturbers, they’re frayed at the edges like any good punk band.
The band returned to Colin Stewart’s Hive in Vancouver, BC for album number two, Welcome Joy. With a richer sound full of new textures (thanks to some assistance from Amber and Ashley Webber of Lightning Dust), The Cave Singers move beyond any sort of trappings into a time capsule that smacks of airy, ’70s AM rock and standard alt-country.
Quirk’s voice is the band’s strongest asset, quivering words of loss and affection like there’s a bottle of Jim Beam clutched in his hand. Fudesco’s intricate guitar work is as much more pronounced this time around; on the rollicking Leap, where Quirk aches his pleas, the notes race from Fudesco’s acoustic like a wanted fugitive on a midnight run.
At the Cut turns up the guitars and the bass drums for a deep Southern tinge, equally as in debt to Exile On Main Street as it is CCR. Both I Don’t Mind and Hen of the Woods, on the other hand, have magical, sentimental washes to them that were last heard on Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk. Jangle keeps things contemporary, with a slice of Americana modeled after something suited for Adams’ Whiskeytown.
The Cave Singers aren’t your typical rootsy band, as they’re straddled somewhere between an indie rock past and a deep Southern sound. But that just makes Welcome Joy fine for either type of audience.
Listen to it here.
Artist: The Cave Singers
Album: Welcome Joy
Release Date: August 18, 2009
Label: Matador Records
Genre: Folk-Rock
Author: Cam Lindsay
Track Listing:
Tags: first spin, the cave singers
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NewMusic First Spin: Jay Reatard
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
After making a great leap forward last year from the depths of the underground garage/punk scene to the overexposing indie rock circles, Jay Reatard keeps his prolific rep in tact with yet another new release. His singles collection for Matador was a nice experiment that rewarded longtime fans, but Jay returns with his first proper LP since the 2006 breakthrough, Blood Visions.
Though he’s not a fan of having to record full-lengths, this doesn’t sound like a disgruntled songwriter at work. In fact, Jay sounds pretty content for the scoundrel he is, leaving most of the ferocity from his earlier solo work behind for something a little more restrained, but also a hell of a lot more melodic.
Having established himself as more of a popsmith with last year’s Matador Singles ‘08, Jay has taken his patented buzzsaw garage and sanded it into some carefully considered power pop. The result is Watch Me Fall, a flat out, unapologetic pop record.
Has he turned his back on his roots? Well, yes and no. Lead single It Ain’t Gonna Save Me could have found its way onto Blood Visions, sure. So, depending on how you view him (A fire-breathing hellion who fronted The Reatards as a teenager? Or a shrewd dude who realizes that rehashing the same stuff every time kills artists dead?) it’s fair to say he sounds both different and similar on this record. The razor sharp riffs have been rounded with flecks of ’60s pop, the blood curdling screams have been tamed into bellows and howls, and well, there are strings and more of those acoustic guitars on the lovely Hang Them All. But there’s no arguing that this is the ‘Tard at his best.
While I’m Watching You sounds 45 years old and English, like it was dug up from the Kinks’ formative years, Rotten Mind finds him working at his trademark breakneck pace, but toning down the aggro and actually, y’know, harmonizing. Nothing Now, on the other hand sounds goth enough to justify that album cover, which suggests Jay relocated to Norway to become a black metaller and burn churches part-time.
All in all, he’s bound to lose some fans here. But I’m guessing he’s gonna double that total in gaining new ones. The perfect summer album for disaffected youth across the country, indeed.
Listen to it here.
Artist: Jay Reatard
Album: Watch Me Fall
Release Date: August 18, 2009
Label: Matador Records
Genre: Lo-Fi Indie Rock
Author: Cam Lindsay
Track Listing:
Tags: first spin, jay reatard
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