join the battle!

Finally, non-UK residents can buy Patrick Wolf Bandstocks through Tribe Wolf InterNational (TWIN)! Go invest now!

new gls!

Head over to Stereogum to download "Pulling On A Line", the new single off the forthcoming Great Lake Swimmers record, Lost Channels.

go out and love, love, love everyone

Looks like the mighty Akron/Family will team up with Toronto’s Born Ruffians for three very special nights in March!

March 24 @ Sneaky Dee's in Toronto, Canada
March 25 @ Motore in Montreal, Canada
March 26 @ Motore in Montreal, Canada

I saw Akron/Family four or five years ago with Final Fantasy, they are just so much fun live... lots of interaction with the audience and it remains as one of my favourite concerts to date. I have yet to Born Ruffians, but I heard they are very fun as well!

Akron/Family: Ed Is A Portal [wicked-cool song]
Akron/Family: Of All The Things [wicked-cool song]

Born Ruffians: Hummingbird [wicked-cool song]
Born Ruffians: Knife (Grizzly Bear cover)
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

emmy the great: first love

I have been hearing good things about Emma-Lee Moss, aka Emmy The Great for the past few months or so. I was told that her style is similar to acts such as Laura Marling and Johnny Flynn. So, being a fan of both and the UK folk/anti-folk scene, I decided to check out Emmy The Great’s soon to be released record, First Love. After spending much of my weekend listening to it, I have officially fallen in love with Emmy The Great! First Love is just full of incredible songs. "Absentee", "The Easter Parade", and "City Song" are just ambiguously gorgeous; "Dylan" has the thrilling up-tempo feel of Johnny Flynn; and she makes the experience of a fatal car accident in "MIA" beautiful. Not only does Emmy The Great writes fantastic songs, but her use of pop culture references make me adore the record even more! In "24", first she sings about my ultimate guilty pleasure: "you are watching a program for exactly an hour/all of these hours they will add up to a day/you will sit there till they're done but there are 24 to play", then she drops the name of one of my favourite poets: "first we were born then we ran slowly out of luck/you are still not Charles Bukowski and I am not Diane Cluck/and I would suck the life from you if there was any left to suck." Similarly, she cleverly references Leonard Cohen and "Hallelujah" in the title track. Believe all the hype you hear, Emmy The Great is an extraordinary songwriter and First Love is an amazing record!

Dylan [wicked-cool song]
MIA [wicked-cool song]
City Song [wicked-cool song]
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bonus:
The BPA feat. Emmy The Great: Seattle from The BPA's I Think We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat

visit Emmy The Great's MySpace here
First Love comes out on February 9th, you can pre-order it here

circlesquare: songs about dancing and drugs

"Hey You Guys", a five and a half minutes of minimalistic pop build-up really sets the tone for Songs About Dancing And Drugs—Circlesquare’s first full-length in five years. In the new record, Jeremy Shaw invites listeners to a dark, mysterious and dreamy world of ambient electronic music. The record is very structured, balanced and contained... the instruments, vocal and sound effects are precisely arranged as nothing goes out of control; yet, there is not a dull moment as all the songs are nothing short of being fascinating and engaging. Songs About Dancing And Drugs is a rare one. It is, to an extent, an electronic record, but not without some strong ambient sound and dubstep style.

Hey You Guys
Music For Satellites [wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

visit Circlesquare's MySpace here
Songs About Dancing And Drugs comes out on Tuesday (January 27), you can pre-order it here

a: he cheated; b: he's lucky; c: he's a genius; d: it is written

Sweet! The Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack has been nominated for three Academy Awards! A. R. Rahman for original score while "O... Saya" and "Jai Ho" are both up in the original song category. I absolutely love the music in the movie, I really hope A. R. Rahman wins for original score!

A. R. Rahman & M.I.A.: O... Saya [wicked-cool song]
A. R. Rahman ft. Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah & Mahalaxmi Iyer: Jai Ho
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

buy the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack here

The film is also nominated for best picture and best director, and it deserves both awards; Slumdog is Danny Boyle’s best film since Trainspotting!

On the other hand, I am quite disappointed that Revolutionary Road and The Dark Knight are not up in the best picture category. I am pretty surprise that Kate Winslet is not nominated for her incredible performance in Revolutionary Road and even more shock that it didn’t get an adapted screenplay nomination! WFT!?!? …I am very disappointed!

let's drive to the countryside, leave behind some green-eyed look-a-likes

Did you watch Fleet Foxes on SNL the other night? Well, it was pretty damn majestic! The band performed "Mykonos" and "Blue Ridge Mountains", but it looks like only "Mykonos" (and a bizarre rehearsal video) are available on YouTube so far... I will post "Blue Ridge Mountains" when it is up.

"Mykonos"


"Blue Ridge Mountains"


Rehearsal

grouper: dragging a dead deer up a hill

If I were to make my favourite albums of 2008 list now, I would include Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill by Grouper on it... and it would be pretty high up on the list too—probably somewhere in the top 15! Grouper is very lo-fi sounding: quiet ambient drone music and Liz Harris’ cloudy echoing vocal. Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill is one of the most comforting albums I have ever heard... imagine a dreamy misty fall night... I absolutely love to play this record while reading or drawing.

Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping [super-wicked-cool song]
Fishing Bird (Empty Gutted in the Evening Breeze)
I'm Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill [wicked-cool song]
***all files expire in 7 days or until bandwidth reaches its limit

visit Grouper's MySpace here
buy Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill here

cover song of the moment

Here is another crazy (and again, surprisingly good) cover by Ruby Isle, the victim this week is Bon Iver's "Skinny Love".

Ruby Isle: Skinny Love (Bon Iver Cover)

timber timbre: timber timbre

I have heard some fine records already in just the first two weeks of 2009, and I am happy to say that my first album recommendation of the year is from a Toronto based group called Timber Timbre. The band’s self-titled third album comes out today on Out of This Spark. Taylor Kirk’s soft and controlled voice is warm and welcoming; and when you combine that with engaging storytelling and tranquilly minimalist instrumentation, Timber Timbre is kind of perfect to listen to during the cold winter.

Speaking of the cold, for those who are not afraid to travel through the frozen streets of Toronto this Thursday (I heard it is suppose to feel like -20°!), Timber Timber will be doing a free in-store at Soundscape at 7 pm.

We'll Find Out
No Bold Villain
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visit Timber Timbre's MySpace here
buy Timber Timbre here