Listen to Sleigh Bells new song- "Born to Lose"

Sleigh Bells was my favorite new group of 2010, and their upcoming second LP, Reign of Terror (awesome name!) is my most anticipated of an already crowded 2012. I was satisfied for the time being with a simple knowledge of it's existence and a quick glance at the track listing. So when Spin got their hands on the first single of Reign, "Born to Lose", you can imagine my palpable excitement. "Born to Lose" is fantastic, an intoxicating blend of dread and playfulness with Sleigh Bell's trademark devastating guitars playing with slightly quirkier synth and samplers than they usually produce. It's an interesting evolution of the group's dynamic while still capturing the ferocious energy that made them such a blast the first time. Check it out.

M83 at Venue

Saturday, November 12

Doors open at 7pm. It's an early show, supposed to be over by 10, so expedience is of the utmost. It's 7:28 and everyone is still outside. It's cold enough that my extremities have slipped uncomfortably into that purgatory of numbness. Things are behind schedule, I'm cold and pissed off- it could be going better. It's times like this that I sometimes ask myself how much I really want to be going to what ever show it is I'm in line for. Not this time, M83 was playing and I wasn't going anywhere. No level of frostbite, hypothermia, or barrage of scalpers and homeless people was going to keep me away from my most anticipated show of the season. The same unfortunately can't be said for the 50 plus people lined up hoping to get a ticket at the door. Not likely as they were only selling 20; it would seem the show, part of their tour promoting the recently released double LP, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, had more or less sold out some time ago. Those people missed out on one of the best shows I've ever been to.

Special and innovative efforts seem to have been afforded to setting the mood as the festivities initiated. One of Dreaming's most fascinating attributes is how it's such a transformative and other worldly experience. To successfully recreate this state of mind the crowd would have to be sufficiently divorced from reality. A certain level of sensory deprivation and disorientation would be required to accomplish such a feat. Well, that definitely happened. A phalanx of assaulting and vivid flood lights, blanketed the audience, as ferociously deep and absurdly heavy tones engulfed the room. You couldn't so much as hear the sounds as you could feel them- battered and burdened by them, deep in your core; and maybe even a little below it. You could't so much as see the lights as your retinas were scalded by them. It was intense and destabilizing, shaking you loose from an apparently tenuous grasp on reality. Perfect. As the sensory bombardment eased, a figure emerged from the chaos. Rather than any obvious member of the band, a just shy of impossibly tall figured took to the stage, cloaked in black ceremonial robes, and wearing something similar to the alien/anteater mask that was revealed with the debut of “Midnight City”. He raised his hands as if he was gesturing to a brainwashed cult. It wasn't until after the shock and awe of such a creature wore off that I noticed that the standard and mundane constructs that cluttered the back wall of the Venue stage had been draped with a starry light back drop. It was gorgeous and went a long way from orphaning me from the last cognitive vestiges of being at regular show in a regular building. I was out in space (I promise I wasn't on drugs).

Playlist: Murder Camp Horror Weekend

Halloween is this weekend, so now is the perfect time to post my horror music play list. I got the idea to do this when Shangri-La by YACHT was released earlier this year. It struck me how much the music seemed like science fiction. Then I began to think about how genres in music relate to genres in film. Certainly a rock album is analogous to an action flick. You could perhaps liken a hip hop release to some kind of gangster type film. If Shangri-La is like a sci fi movie, where else can one take this idea? There isn't really any kind of neat and simple basis for comparing music to the horror movie genre- but hell, it's worth a shot. While doing this, I didn't want to take the obvious route and going with just loud, visceral, angry music- though there is some of that here. Instead regardless of volume and output, I wanted music that invoked senses of dread, anxiety, nervousness, and terror. Yes, I opened and closed with Crystal Castles- stuff creeps me out. play list is below with track listings underneath.

1. Crystal Castles- Fainting Spells
2. Radiohead- 2+2=5
3. Grizzly Bear- Dory
4. The Knife- The Captain
5. Bjork- Hunter
6. Justice- Stress
7. Boards of Canada- Music is Math
8. Emily Haines- Doctor Blind
9. The Rapture- Olio
10. The National- Afraid of Everyone
11. The Organ- Steven Smith
12. Arcade Fire- My Body is a Cage
13. The Mars Volta- Interstatic esp
14. Boards of Canada- The Beach at Redpoint
15. Crystal Castles- I am Made of Chalk

Review: M83- Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

The tumultuous and disruptive decade since the onset and onslaught of the digital revolution has transformed not just the music industry, but has done a pretty neat job of changing music. As the synthesizer and the computer replaced the piano and the studio, people began to realize en mass that anyone could be a musician. For better or worse this is the state of affairs we find ourselves in as we scan the internet, sleuth the blogs and sites, dig through torrents looking for increasingly aggregate numbers of new music, new artists, new genres. I tend to think of it for the better, as the late 90s saw the traditional pillars of rock, pop and hip hop decaying and rotting from the inside out due to a void of creative contributions. The caveat to this situation and challenge to all potential contributors is how do you make yourself noticed? When every divergent genre and sub genre is constantly flooded with new content running the gambit along on all levels of quality and taste, what chance does an artist have beyond being innovative or spectacular. M83 does both; with Hurry up We're Dreaming, M83's Anthony Gonzalez creates an adventure that completely subverts and surpasses genre, even breaking free of the limitations on how music should be crafted, as dictated by things as blase as reality. With cutting edge modernity, coupled with a respectful talent for the classical- both in terms of instrumentation and the merits of the studio process- Dreaming is an album that seems future perfect and timeless all at once.

Gonzalez makes it immediately and enticingly apparent that this will not be an album defined or restrained by traditional and tangible barriers such as linearity, pacing, or thematics. In the expansive and dazzling depth of “Intro”, before Zola Jesus' commanding and celebratory voice kicks in, we hear a diminutive girl whisper, “we didn't need a real world, we didn't need a story... I knew you before you even existed”. Things like time and space are rendered meaningless here, Dreaming aims to exist where such concepts can't be accurately measured- in our dreams. Gonzalez has said he no longer wants to live in the real world, rather he would prefer to escape into the endless but stimulating void of our dreams. Here, story and structures, time and space, are nebulous and variable; and possibilities open up infinitely. This album codifies and embraces that sense of discovery and the wonders of the unknown. Instrumentation and arrangements are spacious and lush. Massive crescendos and dizzying dissents are common place to the point of being not just expected but unalienable, yet always introduced and handled in refreshing and creative ways. Synthesizers are purposed towards otherworldly and celestial hooks like the dazzling and potent beat of “Midnight City”, and the boisterous “Year One, One UFO”. Vocals and choirs, like those found in the bizarre and exciting melodic hook they form in “Ok Pal”, are heavily altered by modifiers and post production to ensure the album's ample background vocals carry the signature of something beyond human- alien and heavenly all at once. I hope the technical and evangelical implications of such a descriptor are not lost on people, for when do such concepts ever operate so beautifully together, as opposed to diametrically clashing. This paradigm is replicated in other ways like in the overtly artificial and crass 8-bit measures of “Another Wave From You”, beautifully and dutifully ferrying Gonzalez's demure and frail vocals along. More classical instruments, horns, piano, supplement this by adding an ever intensifying sense of grandeur, but only to some of the tracks.

Songs of The Week: "Suns Irrupt", "The Undiscoverd First", and "Helix"

Lot's of cool stuff lately, so I'm going to throw a few things at you this time around. While I wasn't a huge fan of the new Neon Indian, Era Extrana, it does have a few err, polished tracks. One of the more exciting and sensory engaging songs is the sublime, “Suns Irrupt”. With a robust and textural percussion back bone and a swell of slightly queasy yet soothing synth tides, it's a joy to listen to. While much of the album is too cluttered and messy to discern, “Suns Irrupt” is distinctly and properly layered. Alan Palomo's voice is sedate as usual, but in this case betrays a sort of mystic echo in the background. It seems steeped in a fantastical kind of history, yet is carried along by an overtly tech oriented sci fi psychedelic beat. I like it.

The new Feist album, Metals dropped pretty recently, and to the shock of no one, it's pretty good. What's a little more surprising is the territory she traverses, in her own delicate sort of way in “The Undiscovered First”. It starts off so restrictive, so frail and uneasy. Feist sings with a inalienable confidence. She conveys hints of sweetness slightly mixed with just a touch of scorn and contempt. The melody in turn timidly stalks her voice; scratchy and haphazardly arranged guitar strings and snake rattles keep their distance from her at first. It takes a partly domineering yet supportive horn section to kick in to match Feist's particular brand of restrained passion and for the arrangement to rise to the occasion- and then does it ever. The guitar expands with gruff reverb, and Feist starts channeling some serious Dead Weather and together the whole song just seems dauntingly fierce- especially verses it's diminutive origins.

The new Justice album, Audio Video Disco, is finally approaching, and the few brushes we've had with it so far are extremely promising. Their hooks just keep getting better, and so far “Helix” is the best. Aiming to be more arena rock oriented than dance club pop, “Helix” fits the bill, with a highly punctuated and rapid fire guitar hook that's way too much fun. A ghostly echo of a voice that would apparently rather dance than haunt you makes it all the more goofy and delightful. With the song's conclusion, Justice gracefully takes their hook and transitions it from dirty guitar staccato, to exclamatory and dramatic keyboard finale. So much fun!

Listen to Bjork's new album

After months of mysterious clues and bizarre and mind boggling videos, Bjrok's multimedia experiment Biophillia is just about here. It's been years since her last full length and people are no doubt eager to see what kind of metamorphosis Bjork has undergone this time. Early previews reveal a fixation on the lesser dramatized or sermonized aspects of existence- viruses, bacteria, the celluar inner workings of life. Is Biophillia some musical microcosm of the universe, an endeavour by Bjork to take her mammoth in scale and gorgeous stylings, and pervert and invert them inwards? Who knows, it's streaming on NPR so give it a go! As always, big thanks to NPR!

Broken Social Scene at the Malkin Bowl

September 24, 2011

Broken Social Scene is a band- or perhaps more accurately a brand- that seems to be in a perpetual state of productivity, even when it's been a while since their last official release. As a group comprised of so many artists accomplished in their own rights, there is vast catalogue of musical projects spread across Canada that carries anything from a semblance of their aesthetic to their guiding influence. Everything from Fiest to Metric to Stars and countless others is seeded with the spirit and the biology of Broken Social Scene. No matter what the current shape of the musical sound scape, Broken Social Scene seems to maintain a sort of seasoned and historical relevance. When not the subject of current events, they still linger in the background with a sort of parental gaze. You'd think with the foundation that has coalesced around them within the Canadian music industry, I'd have gotten around to seeing them live before now. I hadn't. Sorry. Rest assured I was immediately aware of the error of my ways when I went to see them at the Malkin Bowl.

I rarely see a group where the first thing to occur is the singer walking up to the edge of the stage for a brief moment or two of light banter with the audience, but Kevin Drew was happy to take the time do so. Drew, throughout the evening would continue to do so, proving to be easily one of the most likeable performers I have ever seen on stage. He has a talent for supporting his band and their performance, with a sense of drama, heart, and meaning- but doesn't indulge in the slightest in the pretentious artistic high horse he could so easily mount. He could hammer out an achingly raw and personal rendition of an already emotionally weighted track like “Sweetest Kill”, and then just as quickly seem completely unaffected by it, effortlessly sliding back into playful back and forth with his band mates or the audience. He could be on his knees, perilously perched upon the precipice of the stage (thankfully not a rain slicked precipice as the weather was quite nice), bellowing out a tune in the most hyper dramatic style, without making it seem overwrought and hammy. I got the sense that if he so casually yet earnestly engaged with others, always brimming with optimism, his more theatrical efforts carried a similar kind of sincerity. Between his limitless congeniality and harrowing intensity, I can see why people often say Kevin Drew is one of the coolest people in the business. Or is that just me saying that? I'll be saying it more often anyways.

Review: Neon Indian- Era Extrana

Era Extrana, the new release by Neon Indian, is not awful. A disclaimer as such is necessary as I'm going to spend most of my time here explaining all the things that are wrong with it. Again, the album is by no means a complete misfire, like some ill conceived experiment that births a wretched creation terrorizing an unsuspecting lot of villagers- although that is sort of the imagery that formed in my head. It's just that it's most pronounced attributes are also it's most glaring flaws, concealing the more admirable aspects. However I cannot claim Era Extrana to be a great, or even good album either, as Neon Indian has failed to expand or improve upon the shaky yet promising ground the broke in their first LP, Psychic chasms.

Ultimately I feel as if a thorough and deeply objective analysis of the counters and crevices of Era Extrana is sadly unwarranted when all that is required of me to say is that this album suffers from the same nearly crippling aliment that Physic Chasms did. That being a deeply rooted lack of confidence in their abilities as musicians coupled with their grotesque over indulgence as editors and post production hucksters. This album is at its core comprised of competent, and occasionally alluring tech-synth beats, only to be smothered and congested by an obtrusive and offensive amount of musical detritus. The melody is strangled and snuffed out by a tangled and ill defined web of haze and subterfuge in the form of obtrusive distortions in bloated numbers. I mean that last part rather literally as the basic beat of some of their tracks show real promise. The endearing and remorseful few seconds of their opening interlude, “Heart: Attack”- which is made all the more impressive and expressive since they composed it via canned 8 bit audio tracks provides hints of grandeur and importance. The inquisitive parading scales of their lead single, “Polish Girl” are equal parts superficially catchy and mentally stimulating- and in just the right balance. Clearly Neon Indian can at times, construct a good tune. Why they feel the need to consume these tunes in an unbalanced tide of post production bullshitery is distressing as both of these tracks quickly loose direction awash in a mess of distorted measures. Before one dissents and says there is no basis to say this is all egregiously applied after the fact and argues that much of what you here is performed in real time- stop. It's not. I have seen Neon Indian live, or should I say I have had the pleasure to see Neon Indian live. Their songs are significantly striped down; considerably leaner and more linear. The simplicity that they seem “restrictively” forced to convey is so much more appealing than their sloppy mosaic approach to music.

Songs of The Week: "Honey Bunny" by Girls and "Girl" by Das Racist

You'll have to forgive the corresponding symmetry between these two entries; it was not intentional. I meant to throw up one of these songs last week but a mastery of time and even basic coordination are skills that continue to elude me- so let's do a couple at once. The first track is "Honey Bunny" by Girls, off their new LP Father, Son, Holy Ghost- which some people are just retarded for. I think the album is quite good, if somewhat derivative of Belle and Sebastian, who are in turn occasionally riding the coat tails of The Beatles, who's influence is also quite prevalent throughout the album. "Honey Bunny" seems to stand out as the album's best track, with a tight surfer grunge guitar riff to open things up and singer Christopher Owens proving to be an inescapably endearing and inviting force with his soothingly care free voice. He jumps back and forth from jaded albeit brushed off rejection, to pure adoration. And while the best part of the song is that amazing hook- "They don't like my boney body, they don't like my dirty hair"- I appreciate that he didn't end the song with it. If the romantic side of him didn't overcome the cynic, it wouldn't be the gratifyingly optimistic track that it is.

Next up is "Girl" by Das Racist off their new album, Relax, marking their first release on a record label, Greedhead music in this case. Relax is condescendingly referred to as their first "real" LP, relegating the equally valid offerings Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man to the quasi legitimate status of mix tapes. Just because they made these records themselves without the distributive assets or production capabilities of a record label, they are marginalized as lesser forms of art. Why most sources of music criticism are so complacent in this admittedly mild form of discrimination is unclear. Perhaps not being on a label and not officially releasing their work as an "LP" allowed Das Racist to avoid potential obstacles in the form of royalties due to all the people and intelectual properties they reference; royalties that a label backing them may be willing to pay. That rant aside, I was interested to see how the guerrilla warfare brand of hip hop that Das Racist indulges in would change under the production and scrutiny of an actual label. "Girl" is indeed the most produced and glossy experience on Relax. It has a wonderful if perplexing- considering the group here- spaced out pop melody that would feel more in place in an MGMT song. Das Racist has, if not a striking talent, than at least a persistent habit of creating pretty interesting rhythms, but paying them little or no regard when building lyrics around them. They deviate from this custom, but only at first, surprising many no doubt by actually, you know, singing. Half way through they switch over to not quite rapping, more some sort of spoken word monologue. The beat proves expansive and melodically stimulating enough to support both styles I think. I really enjoyed this singular instance where the Das Racist crew was more interested in using their music as a means to communicate something sincerely, rather than a crude delivery system for their still rather amusing lampooning of obscure and washed up pop culture references. They have the rest of the album for that after all.

Listen to Ladytron's new album

If you're looking for some music to help you transition smoothly from summer into fall, Ladytron might do the trick. The fifth LP from the moody synth duo, Gravity The Seducer- cool name by the way, and really cool album cover!- is out now and you can stream the whole thing via the always useful Soundcloud, or right here if you're too lazy to hit a link.

 Ladytron - Gravity The Seducer by nettwerkmusicgroup