how many others have you drowned?

Atlas Sound — February 28, 2008 @ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern

limping on two legs again

In November of last year, wonderquins Tegan & Sara released an ep exclusively on the U.S. iTunes store entitled I'll Take the Blame. The EP includes "Back in Your Head", a remix of the song by world-renowned DJ Tiësto, and two b-sides from The Con. Since the EP is only available to purchase if you live in the U.S., I figured I would upload the tracks for those of us (Canadians etc.) who can not.

Back In Your Head (Tiesto Remix Edit)
One Second
I Take All the Blame
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

Buy it nowhere (unless you live in the U.S.)

go see the nymphets live

My favourite band from last year’s CMW, The Nymphets are doing a FREE show at Wrongbar in Toronto on March 8th!

You Look So Good [wicked-cool song]
Wednesday Morning [wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

upcoming Nymphets dates:
March 7th , Zoobizarre in Montreal, Quebec
March 8th, Wrongbar in Toronto, Ontario (8pm... free show!!!)
March 14-15, South by Southwest in Austin, Texas

what's your favourite number?

These New Puritans have posted "Navigate, Navigate (The Loving Hand Remix)" here. This track, along with the original version are available on a limited edition 12" single. You can enter a contest to win the 12" here or you can buy it via Domino Records (US).

If you are interested, you can read the press release of this special 12" below:

A week before Hedi Slimane's Autumn ‘07 collection for Dior Homme was to be introduced on the catwalk, Slimane called Jack Barnett (These New Puritans' de-facto band leader) to Paris, requesting of him the no small task of composing a 15-minute soundtrack suitable for the collection. In under a week, they worked for hours on end long into each night, only retreating for sleep to the top floor of a block of Paris flats, writing, producing, recording, mixing and mastering the 15-minute track. The resulting “Navigate, Navigate” seemed to draw as much of the resulting press as Slimane's sleek, elegant costumes. It showed the band, in only a few short months, to have moved light years ahead of previous work.
The epic “Navigate, Navigate” highlights the artistic ambition and raw talent of the young band whose rich and disparate influences range from the sound of early 80’s industrial music to numerology, from This Heat to Dubsteb, and from J. Dilla to the films of David Lynch. The track begins with an unassuming sound collage of ambient electronics and feedback drones, which quickly fade out to make way for an urgent drum beat accompanied by brash guitar stabs and Jack’s dislocated vocal musings. Over the course of 15 minutes the track is an ever-mutating blur of layered vocal chants, taut rhythms and subtle details. A track of such stature had to be given an entire side on this, the band’s debut North American 12” release.

On the flip side is a club ready remix by Tim Goldsworthy under The Loving Hand moniker. Tim Goldworthy is part of the heralded DFA production team who have worked with and remixed artists such as The Rapture, LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip and more.

cover song(s) of the moment

David Shrigley released his songbook Worried Noodles in 2005; last September, 39 artists adapted Shrigley’s lyrics from it and interpreted them into music for a double-CD compilation album by the same title. Although David Shrigley never recorded these songs; he is however, responsible for the song lyrics, that is why I am calling the songs below covers.

Grizzly Bear: Blackcurrant Jam (David Shrigley cover)
Yacht: I Saw Gold (David Shrigley cover)
Liars: Panic Button (David Shrigley cover)
Scout Niblett The Bell (David Shrigley cover) [wicked-cool song]
Final Fantasy: Joys (David Shrigley cover)
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

buy Worried Noodles here

awesome.

"Dress Me"

foals: antidote

I can’t help but think of Menomena every time I listen to Foals’s new album. Whether the five lads from Oxford, England are aware of their similarities to Menomena or not, their debut full-length, Antidotes is one outstanding record! The album features Menomena-like multi-layered, mellow and rhythm driven rock style sounds; in addition, Foals effectively explored and experimented with the meter and tempo throughout Antidotes as well. What I enjoy most is how each layer and piece of sound is carefully incorporated in each song to create the exceedingly complex melodies heard throughout the album – the timing of the saxophone on "Cassius" and "Heavy Water" is just speechlessly perfect! If Menomena is your thing, you should definitely check out Foals’s Antidotes.

Cassius [super-wicked-cool song]
Heavy Water [wicked-cool song]
Big Big Love (Fig. 2)
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

Antidote comes out on March 24th in the UK and April 8th in the US, you can pre-order it here (UK) and here (US)

jimmy and ben

1000th post!

As many of you might have noticed, the blog looks a bit different. Lycanthropy had used the same old graphics for about two years so I decided to make some changes to it today. Hope you all like it and thank you all for your continuing support!

One Swan Swam

Photo by Sean Fennessy

Tenniscoats, possibly a mis-romanization of the japanese for tennis courts, is the moniker for the musical creations of husband and wife team Saya and Takashi Ueno. Their latest, Tan-Tan Therapy, was recorded with the help of Swedish musicians Tape. Their current label's website (Häpna) describes them as 'living music', and with this album the claim becomes almost believable. This is the sound of songs unravelling, of crystallized moments and subtle epiphanies. Listening to songs like "Oetsu to Kanki no Nanoriuta", I feel that perhaps the best way to describe them is as sonic impressionists; a bit of organ here, some guitar and glockenspiel there, and here we have a late-afternoon sun's splintered reflection in a pond. Tenniscoats take pop songs, isolate elements of electronic music and splice into them experimental aspects such as breathing sounds instead of a beat, with the end result being a fragile but beautiful sonic landscape for the listener to escape and fall into.

バイババビンバ(Baibaba Bimba)
嗚咽と歓喜の名乗り歌(oetsu to kanki no nanoriuta)
ウンバレパ！(Umbarepa!)
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

buy Tan-Tan Therapy here

be your own pet: get awkward

Be Your Own Pet have carried their awesomeness from their debut record over to Get Awkward, the band’s sophomore out on March 17. BYOP’s latest features all the great qualities from the first record: the fast, fun, noisy, and energetic garage-punk-rock sound; yet, Get Awkward is a better album because of its harsher and more playful attitude. BYOP are great in that they are able to make their songs so damn fun and carefree so the listeners forget that the subjects and lyrics are simple and immature at times.

My favourite song off of Get Awkward, and perhaps the most amusing song of the year is “Becky”. It is an absolutely hilarious tale about a girl seeking revenge on her former best friend… I think the chorus sums it up best: "I heard you talked a lot of shit about me to your new best friend. What does it matter anyway? Cos I found a new best friend ok, me and her will kick your ass, we’ll wait with a knife after class." “Becky” is a great example of what the rest of the album feels like: the bitter and reckless mind-set is always complemented with a witty attitude. Get Awkward is an outstanding second record and it has successfully fulfilled all my expectations.

Heart Throb [wicked-cool song]
Becky [super-wicked-cool song]
Blummer Time [wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

Get Awkward comes out on March 17th, you can pre-order it here

natasha khan, her dark force, and her big drum sticks vs take that

Bat For Lashes talked and performed on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge last week, download a mp3 rip of the entire show below, enjoy!

Bat For Lashes : BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge (February 12, 2008)
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

see more pictures of the session here

grand archives: grand archives, i was a club scout: i want you to know that there is always hope

There are a couple of records I want to recommend in this post, so I will try to keep each one relatively short.

The first record is a self-titled debut by Grand Archives. Like many people, I was drawn to the band because of Mat Brooke, the founder of the band and an ex-member of Band of Horses. For me, the most appealing quality of the album is how the magnificent vocals by the five members generate comforting and warming harmonies. In addition, the instrumentations on most songs feel very uplifting: whether from the horn and harmonica in “Miniature Birds”, or the strings, piano, and tambourine in “Sleepdriving”, the feeling of success and consoling closure is felt throughout the album. Grand Archives is nearly perfect, it is one of those albums that will force you to close your eyes and just fall into a fantastic pit of vocals, rhythms and melodies.

Torn Blue Foam Couch [wicked-cool song]
Index Moon [wicked-cool song]
George Kaminski
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

Grand Archives comes out on February 19th, you can pre-order it here





My second album suggestion is I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope by I Was a Cub Scout. It is excellent simply for the fact that it is a straight forward rock record. Todd Marriott’s vocal is delightfully soothing for the most part, while it becomes passionately and emotionally charged at just the appropriate moments. I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope is a cross between Manchester Orchestra and The Twilight Sad... but slightly more poppy. It is very difficult for me not to upload the entire album because it is full of incredible songs; nonetheless please enjoy what I have posted.

Save Your Wishes [wicked-cool song]
Pink Squares [wicked-cool song]
Recommendations [wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope is out today in the UK, you can buy it here

"and so it starts..."

The first song from Hadouken!'s debut album is up on MySpace!!!!!!!!!!

Get Smashed Gate Crash

everyone's right and no one is sorry

For those Lucky people who pre-ordered Nada Surf’s latest emotional pop sensation from Barsuk Records, it is highly likely that you purchased the 2-disc limited edition of the album. Unfortunately, that edition is now all sold out; nevertheless, you can download songs from the bonus disc below… enjoy!

Whose Authority (Acoustic) [wicked-cool song]
I Like What You Say (Acoustic) [wicked-cool song]
I Wanna Take You Home
Everyone's On Tour [wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

buy Lucky here

The Night Bus & The Dark Side

Two internet morsels for you.

1) Bishi performed on BBC2's Desi DNA on February 13th. She played "Night Bus" and "Vicious Stories". You can watch her performance and an interview with her here.

2) Lightspeed Champion posted this in a myspace bulletin today:

In spite, we rejoice like stars exploding

My Brightest Diamond is Shara Worden, together with her own band of merry wanderers.

Dealing with themes of loss, rebirth and the discovery of one’s purpose in life, Bring Me the Workhorse (released August 22, 2006) seems to creep from the corners of rooms that are shrouded in darkness save for those few hours of light in the late afternoon. But that’s just it, although many of the songs deal with subject matters from the darker parts of life, there’s a hidden optimism to the work. In “Dragonfly”, a dragonfly is caught in a spider’s web, but even still beckons to the singer to fly again despite her fears. Children in “The Robin’s Jar” pray to God to re-animate the corpse of a bird they found in the back yard; a woman decides to go on loving her man despite his multiple faults in “The Good & the Bad Guy”. The themes are crystallized in the title track “Workhorse”, a reference to the novel Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, where Shara sings from the vantage point of the evil master who has misjudged his stallion. The dark horse (depicted on the album artwork with Shara) fails as a workhorse, but we all know that Black Beauty was destined for greater things.

With the sweeping strings of a quartet, and peppered with bells and the sounds of dreams, Bring Me the Workhorse sparkles. Shara’s voice undulates and vibrates (I love the trilling on “Something of an End”) around the lyrics, and sounds like a hybrid of Fiona Apple and Joni Mitchell with an operatic twist.

Something Of An End
Dragonfly
We Were Sparkling
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

Listen to My Brightest Diamond's cover of Radiohead's Lucky here


buy Bring Me The Workhorse here

new contributor to team lycanthropy

With the heavy school load and all, I have added a new member to this blog. Watch for posts by Liam soon!

i walked outside, i could not cry, i don't know why

Bradford Cox has once again uploaded a handful of free Atlas Sound tracks up on his blog. His latest post included some very interesting outtakes/demo versions of "Recent Bedroom", a song off of Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel.

from deerhunter/atlas sound/lotus plaza blog
Orange Ohms Glow EP
Cloves
Recent Bedroom Demos

from Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel
Recent Bedroom [wicked-cool song]

blood red shoes: box of secrets

I am quite in love with a band called Blood Red Shoes at the moment. It’s not like the band’s new to me... I have a collection of lovely 7-inches/singles in my iTunes library, but their new record, Box of Secrets is just absolutely incredible! Some old favourites such as "ADHD" and "You Bring Me Down" have been reworked and re-mastered for the new record. At last, it is nice to hear a full-length album by the Brighton duo rather than just a handful of songs from random single releases; they finally have a release that feels complete! Music-wise, Box of Secrets has the same fast tempo and energizing quality as Be Your Own Pet and Arctic Monkeys while the shared vocals between the two are just perfect. In short, Box of Secrets is an overwhelmingly fantastic debut as all 11 tracks on the album are all pretty irresistible.

Say Something Say Anything [wicked-cool song]
I Wish I Was Someone Better [wicked-cool song]
This Is Not For You [wicked-cool song]
**all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

Box of Secrets comes out on April 14th, you can pre-order here
also, buy Blood Red Shoes’ new single Your Bring Me Down here

no age coming to toronto!!!!!!!!!

I am beyond excited to announce that No Age will be playing at Canadian Music Week this year. They are scheduled to play in Toronto on March 5, 10:30 pm at The Phoenix Concert Theatre!

from Get Hurt 12" EP, 2007
Switches [wicked-cool song]
Get Hurt [wicked-cool song]

from Weirdo Rippers, 2007
My Life's Alright Without You [super-wicked-cool song]
Neck Escaper [super-wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

buy Weirdo Ripper (the best record of 2007) here

more patrick covers

...Even more Patrick Wolf covers by Lightspeed Champion. In "Bluebells" and "Tristan", Hynes successfully stripped down two of the most complex and intensive tracks by P.Wolf.

Bluebells (Patrick Wolf cover)
Tristan (Patrick Wolf cover)
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

cover song(s) of the moment

Here's a couple of fine covers by Lightspeed Champion. Both songs came from the Acoustic Bonus Disc off of Lightspeed Champion's debut, Falling Off The Lavender Bridge.

Never Meant to Hurt You (Good Shoes cover) [wicked-cool song]
Souvenirs (Patrick Wolf cover)
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

i see a salty message written in the eaves

Check out Vampire Weekend's wonderful b-side from Mansard Roof Single below...

Ladies Of Cambridge [wicked-cool song]

buy Mansard Roof [Single] here

too funny...