Much-hyped Cults are back with their fourth, count it, fourth song, and although these guys seem to get about as much coverage per song as most bands do per album, I’d have to say it’s largely warranted. Like their other songs, “Oh My God” is full of dreamy, glockenspiely goodness, bright sprightly vocals, and an underlying mellowness that begs to send you off into a pleasant, dream-filled mid-afternoon nap in the shade of your favourite tree. So pick a nice spot to lie down, press play, and let the mus… zzzzz…
Montreal-based The Hoof & The Heel formed in mid-2009 and recently released their first EP. Last.fm describes their style as “a mix of intelligent indie pop, sentimental melody and unpretentious joy”, which frankly sounds like the perfect mix of styles for summer listening. Fireworks is the first song off of the EP and is a great, light, fun song for summer lounging while catching some rays.
If you’ve been looking for a new summer song to blast out of the car stereo with the windows down, or out of your iPod while taking a summer stroll down the sweltering sidewalk, Hot Spa’s Kiola Beach may be your ticket. I’m not sure whether it’s the delightful twang of ukeleles(?), the lo-fi sounds reminiscent of portable boomboxes at the beach, or the grainy home-made video spliced together from years of authentic Australian summer vacation footage, but this one is a pleasure to listen to.
Manimal Vinyl just announced that it will be releasing a David Bowie tribute album on September 6, 2010 entitled “We Were So Turned On”, with proceeds going to War Child. This makes me doubly excited. First, David Bowie is amazing. Second, I think Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros are pretty swell, and they have already pre-released their contribution to the effort, a cover of Bowie’s “Memory of a Free Festival”. The album will also feature contributions by Duran Duran, Warpaint and Chairlift, amongst others. You can get the Edward Sharpe song below, which I must say, remarkably channels the David Bowie spirit. The first half features Alex Ebert vocals that sound amazingly like Bowie, and the second half is just a hand-clapping good time sing-a-long.
Jónsi‘s “Go Do” features in a marvelous ad which fits the song so well that it might as well be the music video. The ad is for Dulux Paints’ “Let’s Colour Project” which aims to transform grey community spaces with the use of colour. Like the featured song, the ad itself is beautiful, emotive and remarkably well made. A must watch.
There’s something to be said for occasionally satisfying your sweet tooth with some sugary indie pop. For those looking for a dose of high-fructose corn syrupy musical goodness, the new Marina & The Diamonds video will certainly hit the spot.
I’ll fully admit that this song and video was almost too much for me at first – to keep comparisons up, I suppose it was like going into diabetic shock at the beginning of the song. But by the end of the song, Marina had completely won me over with what is an unabashedly fun and infectious pop song with a vivid, bright, exciting, video that fits the music absolutely perfectly. Think shiny 80’s comic book. Awesome.
John Grant, the former singer/songwriter of The Czars (who I am not familiar with), has teamed up with Midlake (who I am familiar with) to record his first debut album “Queen of Denmark”, released earlier this year. “I Wanna Go to Marz” is off of this album, and for those of you familiar with Midlake, you will immediately recognize their fingerprints all over the song. Like some of their other songs, the instrumentals and melodies are soft, atmospheric, and at times eerie. This all matches up well against John Grant’s mellow vocals which float along darkly, meandering slowly through the lyrics and melody. When you actually listen to the lyrics, you soon realize that the vast majority of them consist of Grant stringing together the names of different types of candy – I’m not particularly sure why this is, but it only seems to add to the whole disorienting atmosphere. I’m not sure whether I have a natural affinity for eerie music (although my previous post on Warpaint’s Billie Holiday suggests that I may), but for whatever reason, I like this one.
Also, for an extra-special “treat”, you can also check out the official music video, which is pretty cool, but also really, really, super-weird. Basically, imagine ghosts meeting up in the afterlife in a candy heaven, complete with 70’s-themed costumes and a celebration for the birth of a candy child. Yeah. Mind-altering drugs not included.
So the short list for the Polaris Music Prize was announced a couple of days ago and is full of the usual suspects. Now, I am indeed a betting man, but frankly I’m not sure who I would put money on in this race – it will be interesting to see whether we have a repeat winner (both Caribou and Owen Pallett/Final Fantasy are nominated this year), or whether someone new joins the ranks of previous winners Fucked Up, Patrick Watson, and the aforementioned Caribou and Final Fantasy.
Without further delay, here is the short list (along with some selected songs).
Glass Printer is the fifth song off of husband and wife duo The Besnard Lakes’ third studio album. This one is like a fuzzed out, slightly psychedelic slice of Canadiana. Also, the vocals kind of remind me of Sloan…
Track 8 off of this album is Lewis Takes Off His Shirt, which features some horns accompanying Owen’s characteristic looped strings to great effect. The multitude of diverse sounds build up at the end to create a clear, beautiful, and driven chorus.
Opener World Sick is the clear standout here, but Chase Scene, waiting on the on-deck circle, is no pushover either. The frantic energy and build-up make Chase Scene an astute title – listening to this one while walking down the street will have you turning around nervously every 30 seconds to make sure no one is running after you.
Opening song Odessa is the most popular tune off of Caribou’s most recent release and with good reason. Super-danceable and yet a total chill-out song, its blending of diverse elements into melodies and catchy rhythms is an addictive hallmark of all Caribou material.
Dan Mangan’s “Robots” makes a return appearance from the Roboteering (great name!) EP into Nice, Nice, Very Nice which is no surprise seeing as how it was arguably the Canadian song of year in 2009. Remember, robots need love too.
The Mynabirds (not to be confused with The Mynah Birds*) are the Omaha-based band of lead singer and songwriter Laura Burhenn. Despite being a relatively new resident of Nebraska, where she moved after parting ways with her previous band in late 2008, elements of a mid-Western existence already permeate through her sound. Her debut album features songs that seem almost old-fashioned, with soulful, powerful lead vocals and complementary backup vocals and instrumentals that remind listeners of a simpler musical age without synthesizers or auto-tuners. Which is not to say that The Mynabirds play exclusively in this domain – while the back-up vocal-driven melody of “Numbers Don’t Lie” has a more classic appeal, the album also features the edgier “Let the Record Go”, with it’s lively, bouncy, playful chord repetition and tempo changes. Depending on your musical tastes, you may favour one versus the other – or maybe you’ll be like me and find a soft spot for both.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m basically as clueless about this whole vampire thing as you can get. However, that doesn’t mean that I can’t look beyond what is, without a doubt, a terrible, terrible fad and pull out a silver lining. The silver lining is that while tweens across the world are crowding theatres for a glance at unnecessarily pale faces and an obscene amount of eyeliner, they will at least be subtly brainwashed into liking good music through a Clockwork Orange-esque modified Ludovico Technique.
The artist list for the soundtrack to the latest Twilight movie reads like a who’s who of trending artists: Metric, Fanfarlo, The Black Keys, Vampire Weekend, and Band of Horses to give a taste. While admittedly the snob in me shudders a bit at the thought of armies of tweens playing these artists non-stop on their iPods, it is clearly good for the artists and is frankly a much better outcome than losing the tween musical zeitgeist to the likes of Justin Bieber.
Another one of the artists gracing the soundtrack is the incredibly powerful and fiery Florence + The Machine. Her track, “Heavy In Your Arms” has become a recent favourite of mine through equal parts darkness, dramatics, and diva – a formula that’s success should be no surprise to existing fans of her music. It seems designed for a soundtrack, and I mean that in a good way. It would clearly have the ability to set mood and shape a scene without overpowering it, which I think is a hallmark of a great movie track. Anyways, take a listen.
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