the acorn: no ghost

Everything that I loved about The Acorn’s 2007 release, Glory Hope Mountain—the genuine and emotional lyrics; Rolf Klausener’s soft, pure and controlled voice; and the rhythmic melodies—is back in the band's latest album, No Ghost. Unlike Glory Hope Mountain, No Ghost is not a concept album and it does not revolve around one or two major theme(s). Thus, this allows the band to explore various styles to create a more diverse sounding album. Songs like "Restoration" and "On The Line" are still very Acorn sounding; but you get some really upbeat tracks like "Crossed Wires" and "Bobcat Goldwraith"; the former has a fast pace Dodos-like acoustic strumming and rhythms while the later has wicked cricket noises and horns! "No Ghost" is another louder/more upbeat track, it is like a My Morning Jacket, Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective hybrid. There is also "Slippery When Wet", a wonderful Iron & Wine-like song with beautiful strings. No Ghost is a fine follow-up to Glory Hope Mountain, it is everything a fan could ask for, familiar music with fresh additions and experimentations; it is another gorgeous album by The Acorn.

No Ghost [wicked-cool song]

visit The Acorn's MySpace here
buy No Ghost here

slowly, the light comes

Here's a beautiful video for your Monday morning:



This is the official music video for "Hægt, kemur ljósið", taken from Ólafur Arnalds' sophomore album, ...and they have escaped the weight of darknes.

harvey milk: a small turn of human kindness

A Small Turn of Human Kindness, Harvey Milk’s latest is definitely not an album for everyone. In many ways, this new record reminds me of Monoliths & Dimensions by Sunn O)))—they both have the moody doomsday vibe, and both albums feature incredible lengthy drone and crashing build-ups. The 7 songs on A Small Turn of Human Kindness are threaded together to sound like one epic piece of music, established by the roaring riffs in the opening track "*" and the aggressive vocal in the following song; this cohesiveness is surely the strength of the record! A Small Turn of Human Kindness by Harvey Milk is irresistibly loud and mesmerizingly atmospheric... it is a damn fine record!

I Know This Is All My Fault [wicked-cool song]

visit Harvey Milk's MySpace here

buy A Small Turn of Human Kindness here

i can't believe i lent my hand to help destroy a helpless man

Menomena have released a brand new song from their upcoming album, Mines, out on July 27, 2010. Get the track entitled "Five Little Rooms" and info on Mines over a the band’s website.

song of the moment

A gorgeous sounding track by LA songwriter Juliette Commagere, reminds me of Grouper.

song of the moment

Really liking a song called "Yellow Wings" by Brooklyn’s Keepaway. The song is taken from the Baby Style EP—out today—you can pick up a copy from Lefse Records. "Yellow Wings" has a very Animal Collective vibe, so if you like AC, make sure you download it below!

Keepaway: Yellow Wings [wicked-cool song]

i walked in on a plan to dissolve all of your wishes

The 2010 NXNE schedule is now online! The lineup so far this year looks absolutely amazing: the Yonge Dundas Square June 19th date includes The Soft Pack, Surfer Blood, and IGGY AND THE STOOGES! Not to mention that my new favourite band Avi Buffalo are playing twice: The Great Hall on the 18th and Lee's Palace on the 19th! I can't wait!!!!

song of the moment

Suckers are set to release their debut full-length Wild Smile through Frenchkiss on June 8th. After hearing "Black Sheep", I am pretty excited for this album!

Suckers: Black Sheep [wicked-cool song]

If you pre-order Wild Smile from the band’s website, you will immediately be able to download two exclusive acoustic tracks for the songs "Martha" and "Black Sheep". Also, listen to Suckers’ remix of "Wide Eyes" by Local Narives here.

olé! olé! olé! olé! olé!!!!!!

I am super excited/trilled that the Montréal Canadiens just beat the defending Stanley Cup champions the Pittsburgh Penguins to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals! (OMG!) Here’s a track taken from Bouncing Souls' 1999 classic Hopeless Romantic to celebrate this occasion!

Bouncing Souls: ¡Olé! [wicked-cool song]

visit Bouncing Souls' MySpace here

song of the moment

Check out "Finn Bikkjen!"—the awesomely catchy song/video by Norwegian electro-pop band Casiokids, just in time for your summertime picnics!

Casiokids: Finn Bikkjen!

foals: total life forever

Foals’ debut Antidotes was my 8th favourite album back in 2008, so as expected, I was pretty eager to hear Total Life Forever, the band’s follow-up/sophomore album. Thankfully, it lives up to my expectations; in fact, it is a more superior album in every aspect! The album is moodier with that familiar mellow and rhythm driven math rock sound—it is ultimately a more stylish version of Antidotes. In spite of this, it did take me more than a few listens to get into Total Life Forever while I was hooked on Antidotes pretty much right from the get-go.

Several differences, or improvements include the epic momentum build ups/crescendos in songs like "Blue Blood", "Black Gold", "Spanish Sahara", and "2 Trees"—each one starts with a gentle beginning, then more layers are slowly added as the song progresses until it transforms into a grand multi-layers conclusion—this format does not get exhausting; in fact, Foals managed to keep each one interesting and exceptionally breathtaking! Perhaps the biggest change in Total Life Forever is Yannis Philippakis’ vocal style. In Antidotes, rather than singing, Philippakis' vocal is mostly choppy, almost shouting like (which was a perfect fit to the shifting meter and tempo throughout Antidotes). However, he actually sings on the new album, and what a fine attempt— his vocal is smooth, calming and even elegant in a few occasions. If you read most of this post, I don’t have to tell you how much I am enjoying Total Life Forever. It is simply a great album... chillingly epic and absolutely fantastic all at once!





visit Foals' MySpace here
buy Total Life Forever here

happy mother's day!

Broken Social Scene—May 9, 2010 @ Criminal Records






see more photos at my flickr page

65daysofstatic: we were exploding anyway

It has been quite a while since I recommended/really enjoyed an instrumental album—I think Lawrence English’s A Colour For Autumn was probably the last instrumental album I really loved. Well, you guessed it, I am recommending one now: We Were Exploding Anyway, the forth and latest album by 65daysofstatic. You cannot listen to We Were Exploding Anyway under certain mood or at a certain time; for example, you don’t want to listen to it before going to bed as the album is insanely hyper, intense and explosive! Imagine the song "Born Slippy" by Underworld with killer guitar melodies or mid-90s Prodigy with even heavier crashing drum beats... and all that with similar intensity and playfulness of Atari Teenage Riot and Hadouken!. Tracks like "Dance Dance Dance", "Weak4", and "Tiger Girl" will definitely get you moving; We Were Exploding Anyway will surely give you an adrenaline rush, making it the perfect biking/running/workout album!

Make sure you visit 65daysofstatic's site here, you get download a handful of songs there for free!

visit 65daysofstatic's MySpace here
buy We Were Exploding Anyway here

1.2.3.4... who's punk what's the score?

Today is International Jawbreaker Appreciation Day... so Happy International Jawbreaker Appreciation Day!!! For those who are not familiar with/too young to appreciate the band, Jawbreaker is one of the greatest punk bands ever, and their album Dear You is one of my favourite/greatest albums of all time! 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, Unfun, Bivouac and Etc. are all beyond amazing too! Go here or here to complete you Jawbreaker collection

Also, check out this pretty cool article from Vanity Fair comparing the 1990 vinyl release of Unfun to the 2010 reissue.

avi buffalo's amazing new video!

I am completely in love with this band, their S/T debut, and now this video:

song of the moment

Foals released a brand new single, "This Orient", today as digital download and 2x7". The track is the second single off the band’s upcoming album, Total Life Forever, out on May 10th!