Alright, long weekend everybody! I’m on a farm in Langley, working my ass off and generally not relaxing at all. I still have an interview to do today and a bunch of articles to write before I go on actual vacation next week, but I’ll try to chill out with the cheery “East Harlem” by Beirut.
Chad VanGaalen is full of surprises these days. The biggest surprise? That he’s releasing such simple, straightforward music. He’s already put out Diaper Island this year, which was his most down-to-earth album yet.
His production work on the debut Extra Happy Ghost!!! record, Modern Horses, is similarly no-bullshit. Go to Exclaim! to read my review of the album, and also check out my interview with Extra Happy Ghost!!! mastermind Matthew Swann.
Below is another song from that album, “Mercy, Mercy.”
In addition to being a co-frontman of Sun Wizard, songwriter Malcolm Jack plays in a band called Capitol 6. Unlike his other outfit’s raw and upbeat take on classic guitar rock, this band favours heady, reverb-hazed psychedelia. I wrote about Capitol 6’s Captain Rehab 10″ EP for Exclaim! a while back, and you can hear the enticingly woozy cut “I Sure Can Pretend” below.
The band also has a new 7″ out in August. If you’re doing the math, that’s 17″ of wax available through Light Organ. Check out both releases over at Bandcamp. Vancouverites can catch the band live on August 17 at the Biltmore.
I take back anything negative I ever implied about Wolf Parade side projects. Dan Boeckner’s new album with Handsome Furs is totally incredible. Here’s “Repatriated,” a banging electro track from Sound Kapital, which is out now through Sub Pop.
I interviewed Boeckner for the Georgia Straight and wrote about the album for The Tyee. Is it too early to start thinking about Polaris 2012?
Here’s another great cut from Vancouver’s Weed. This one is called “Eighty,” and it scales down the shoegaze noise (somewhat) in favour of winding guitar licks and a bubbly, infectious vocal line. If you turned Animal Collective’s “Who Could Win a Rabbit” into a fuzz rock song, it would sound something like this.
This is the B-side of Weed’s upcoming seven-inch, due out August 11.
You probably don’t need me to tell you how good the self-titled new Bon Iver album is. But seriously, it’s awesome. I wrote about it for Exclaim! a while back, and I still can’t believe how much better it is than 2007’s also-awesome For Emma, Forever Ago.
In case you’re one of the seven people who reads music blogs and hasn’t listened to it yet, check out the delicate, falsetto-laden “Holocene” below.
If you haven’t gotten around to checking this album out yet, I apologize for indirectly insulting you or suggesting that you’re out of touch. As a music writer, I get in a mindset in which it some inconceivable that someone hasn’t heard the new Bon Iver/Fleet Foxes/Washed Out/whoever. It’s my fault, not yours. That said, the song below is good.
Dum Dum Girls‘ 2010 LP I Will Be was great, and the recent EP He Gets Me High was even better. So I’m pretty excited about the upcoming Only in Dreams, due out September 27 through Sub Pop. In the widget below you can check out the album cut “Coming Down,” which is an aching six-and-a-half-minute ballad. Just how sad and dramatic can a rock waltz be? Here’s your answer.
You can tell a lot about “Hollis” by Vancouver’s In Medias Res just by looking at the waveform below. It starts with a slow intro punctuated by swells of guitar before giving way to sombre, bare bones verses. In the second half, it explodes into a snarling rock crescendo, led by fractured guitar licks.
This comes from It Was Warm And Sunny When We First Set Out, available now through File Under: Music. Read my article over at Exclaim! for more (and see this tour announcement).
New Jane’s Addiction? Sure, why not. Nothing’s Shocking and Ritual de lo Habitual are sweet records that I listened to like crazy as a teenager. And it’s better that the band makes albums instead of dubious reality shows. (Does anyone remember ‘Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen & Dave? I never watched it, but yikes.)
Here’s the single “End to the Lies” from the upcoming The Great Escape Artist. The song has the expansive, glossy sound of 2003’s Strays. It’s not exactly the next “Ted, Just Admit It…” or “Three Days,” but it won’t cause you to rethink your love of the past records either. Consider me intrigued.
Go to Exclaim! to read my story about the new album. While you’re there, follow the links in the sidebar to read the other stories I’ve ever about the band.
Vancouver’s Siskiyou is back. The band will release Keep Away the Dead on October 4 via Constellation. The first single is called “Twigs and Stones,” and you can stream it below. Like some of the group’s past work, this eerie tune evokes Neutral Milk Hotel with its blaring horns, chilling vocals and brittle folk rock.
