you are on your way

A new untitled demo track is up on The Album Leaf’s MySpace.

Untitled Demo (MySpace rip)
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

sam amidon: all is well

I wanted write a post for All Is Well by Sam Amidon for a long time now (I have fallen in love with the album since February), but I find it quite hard to write about something that is so genuine and so beautiful... I am afraid that I will say the wrong thing and put people off from hearing it. Nevertheless, I will try my best to describe how I feel about Sam Amidon’s latest album.

All Is Well is a celebration of classic American folk blues. Sam Amidon’s voice and the melodies he created are absolutely gorgeous to listen to. Ironically, All Is Well maintains a mostly grief and tragic tone throughout: for instance, loneliness and lost love in "Sugar Baby"; longing for an old lover in "Saro"; and finally, jealousy and murder in "Wild Bill Jones" (only Amidon can make such psychotic lyrics sound delicate and pretty!) On the contrary, All Is Well does give listeners hope and joy in songs like "Wedding Dress", "Little Satchel", and "Prodigal Son". Amidon sings in a soft and fragile vocal style that is meditative and graceful; my eyes are usually closed so I can fully absorb the passion and beauties that the album conveys. All Is Well makes me sad, makes me happy, and it makes me dream.

Little Johnny Brown [wicked-cool song]
Saro [wicked-cool song]
Little Satchel [wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit



visit Sam Amidon's MySpace here
buy All Is Well here

the bridal shop: from sea

The Bridal Shop’s From Sea is an album filled with mellow electronic/shoegaze songs and soft indie-pop vocals. From start to finish, it embraces the same positive and carefree vibe as The Tough Alliance’ A New Chance. The Bridal Shop beautifully projected a scenic backdrop through From Sea that has the magical ability to make me feel calm and relaxed.

Toomas' Floor
Beyond Our Grasp
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

visit The Bridal Shop's MySpace here
buy From Sea here

festival: come, arrow, come!

Festival is Lindsay and Alexis Powell and their new record is called Come, Arrow, Come! The album's tribal and avant-garde style resemble Akron/Family and Wildbirds & Peacedrums, but the instrumentation is mostly quite minimal as the melodies and flows of each song are carried out in an almost a cappella fashion. There is really no need for extra sounds since the sisters’ magnificent voices intertwine with one another perfectly to produce stimulating textures.

Fair and True [wicked-cool song]
Zebulon
Bind Us All [wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

visit Festival’s MySpace here
buy Come, Arrow, Come! here

spiral beach: ball

Although not really sounding anything like Be Your Own Pet or The Go! Team, I can’t help but compare Toronto’s Spiral Beach to them because of the same electrifying and energetic vibes. Ball, Spiral Beach’s full-length debut is carried by the thrillingly youthful voices of Maddy Wilde and Airick Woodhead. The album is fun, wild, loud, destructive and danceable all at the same time! It is certainly refreshing from all the serious indie/folkie music out there.

Catch Spiral Beach at Hillside Festival in Guelph, Ontario this weekend!

Made Of Stone
Rocket Fuel
Casual † [wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

visit Spiral Beach's MySpace here
buy Ball here

always dripping honey from the edges of buildings

Atlas Sound — July 22, 2008 @ Mod Club


After the set, Bradford engaged in a candid discussion about indie gossips, Vincent Gallo, Vampire Weekend, My Bloody Valentine, and Björk ...it was a very entertaining (Bradford is hilarious!) Q&A-ish thing that lasted for a good hour!

He also gave us insights on his projects:
Microcastle is not coming out for so long because he wants it to come out on Halloween. He said there will be treats and surprises for those who wait.
The next Atlas Sound album is done and it will be called Logo (the god of logic), no release date yet.

new cold war kids!

Cold War Kids has posted a new song on their MySpace. "Something Is Not Right With Me" is taken from the band's sophomore album, Loyalty to Loyalty, out on September 23rd.

Something Is Not Right With Me (MySpace rip)
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

kay kay and his weathered underground: kay kay and his weathered underground

It is pretty much impossible to categorize Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground’s S/T album into one genre. The band’s debut features a fantastically rich mixture of styles and sounds. Consequently, this celebration of such heavily textured music gives it a carnivalesque feel. If I have to compare, I guess Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground sounds feels like Portugal. The Man and "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!"... or dare I say Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. This is one of the most ambitious and brilliant debut I have heard in a long time and anyone who loves music should give Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground a try!

Hey Momma' [wicked-cool song]
Simon Courage Flees The Coop [wicked-cool song]
Bowie The Desert Pea [wicked-cool song]
All Alone
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

visit Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground's MySpace here
buy Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground here (it is only available on vinyl and digitally at the moment)

omg! new miyazaki film trailer!

The trailer to the new Hayao Miyazaki film, Ponyo on the Cliff is out!

herman düne: 1-2-3/apple tree

Herman Düne’s latest EP, 1-2-3/Apple Tree, features similar anti-folk style and engaging storytelling as The Decemberists and indie pop vocal style like Belle & Sebastian and Jermey Jay. 1-2-3/Apple Tree is uplifting and it is certainly a delight to listen to during these hot summer days!

Your Name My Game
Pure Hearts
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

visit Herman Düne’s MySpace here
buy 1-2-3/Apple Tree here

teen creeps please don't leave me dead, dead this way

No Age — July 16, 2008 @ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern

noah and the whale: peaceful, the world lays me down

"2 Atoms In A Molecule", the first track from Noah And The Whale’s Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down, begins the album with the narrator’s dream of an inseparable love, ("last night I had a dream, we were inseparably entwined, like a piece of rope made out of two pieces of vine, held together, holding each other, with no one else in mind, like two atoms in a molecule, inseparably combined") but he later woke up to the hush reality of lost love and fail relationships ("...and if love is just a game, then how come it's no fun? If love is just a game, how come I've never won?") This opening song perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the album: Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down is indeed full of wonderfully charming and cheesy pop song! In addition, the 40-plus minutes album is accompanied by catchy acoustic rhythms with occasional strings, horns, xylophones, and the lovely vocal of Laura Marling. The only drawback from this nearly perfect record is that 6 out of the 11 songs are from the band’s self-titled EP, I just wished that there were more new ones... but really, I can’t really complaint since the songs from the EP are so freaking amazing! Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down is irresistibly addictive, it is definitely up there with Mystery Jets’ Twenty One as the catchiest album of 2008!

2 Atoms In A Molecule [wicked-cool song]
Second Lover
5 Years Time [super-wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

visit Noah And The Whale’s MySpace here
Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down comes out on August 11th, you can pre-order it here

my morning jacket: evil urges

When people first heard Evil Urges a while back, haters (mostly outraged My Morning Jacket fans) flooded blogs and messageboards with angry comments on how different Evil Urges sounded from other My Morning Jacket’s releases (really, it is only slightly different; in fact, it is stylistically quite similar to Z!) That was something I absolutely could not understand... I mean, why are people so against a band’s decision to evolve/experiment with new sounds? Nonetheless, I love Evil Urges and it is the band’s best work to date!

Highly Suspicious [wicked-cool song]
Sec Walkin' [wicked-cool song]
Two Halves [wicked-cool song]
Librarian [super-wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

visit My Morning Jacket's MySpace here
buy Evil Urges here

michael you would fall, and turn the white snow red as strawberries

Check out this very cool video for Fleet Foxes "White Winter Hymnal" made by Robin's brother:

monotonix is the greatest live band ever!

Monotonix — July 7 @ Sneaky Dee's
There's only one world to describe the show: INSANE!

Ami Shalev spent most of the night singing while crowd surfing!

The audience lifted guitarist Yonatan Gat later on.

Shortly after, the crowd raised drummer Ran Shimoni as well as his entire drum set high above everyone!

The three members of Monotonix played the rested of the show directly above the audience... I have never seen anything like this before!

Finally, the band took the chaos to the streets of Toronto!

high places: 03/07—09/07

High Places' 03/07—09/07 is a wonderful collection of avant-garde music. The album is characterized by a combination of ambient sound, irregular meters, drowned vocals, and catchy melodies. The style expressed on the album produces a fantastically airy and dreamy atmosphere. If you are a fan of Atlas Sound, you should like 03/07—09/07 ...a lot!

Head Spins (Extended Version) [wicked-cool song]
Banana Slugs/Cosmonaut [wicked-cool song]
Greeting the Light [wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

visit High Places' MySpace here
buy 03/07—09/07 here

cover song of the moment

Get Well Soon covered one of my favourite songs of all time on his latest album Rest Now, Weary Head! You Will Get Well Soon. Konstantin Gropper turned the electric Underworld classic into a soft, slow tempo lo-fi song.

Get Well Soon: Born Slippy (Underworld cover) [wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

cadence weapon: afterparty babies

Rollie Pemberton aka Cadence Weapon is a hip-hop artist from Edmonton. His second full-length, entitled Afterparty Babies, is one amazing record! Not only is Cadence Weapon a smooth lyricist, but the music is top-notch and incredibly diverse as well. You get a dance/electronica sound in "In Search of the Youth Crew"; Viktor Vaughn like beats in "True Story" and "The New Face of Fashion"; 2-Step/Garage style in "House Music"; and finally, the music in "Limited Edition OJ Slammer" sounds like something out of old-school 8-bit Atari games... so awesome! Afterparty Babies is everything you ever wanted in a hip-hop album; it is an instant classic!

In Search of the Youth Crew [wicked-cool song]
Limited Edition OJ Slammer [wicked-cool song]
House Music [wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

visit Cadence Weapon's MySpace here
buy Afterparty Babies here

Happy Canada Day!

If you are in Toronto, celebrate the day with Plants and Animals (6:00pm @ Brigantine Room) and Basia Bulat (8:00pm @ Sirius Stage) over at the Harbourfront centre.