music and notes : : notes and music

Patty Griffin: Moses

2009-10-02T19:52:00.000-04:00

Dear Patty,

It's been years, I know.

I'd kind of forgotten about you for a while there, which seems almost inconceivable to me now, but it's been an eventful few years since we last hung out. I'll tell you about it over beers sometime.

Anyway. It's weird how I love you so much, when most country music brings me out in hives. I can't really explain why this is. I can't really explain anything when it comes to music, so it's confusing how I keep trying, but there we go.

The thing is.

We don't hang out that often. And, you know, I realise I neglect you a little bit, and for that I'm truly sorry. Because you're always there for me when it really counts.

When that perfect storm of sadness breaks over me, which it's apt to do from time to time, you're there. We hunker down on my shitty little craft made of twigs out there in the 50 foot waves and the howling winds, and we ride it out together. And then, when it's over and I'm cast, prone and exhausted and completely hollowed out, you make it all okay.

So, really, I just wanted to tell you: thanks. And I probably don't say it enough, but I think you're amazing, and I hope we see more of each other from now on.

x Kirsten

[Patty Griffin - MySpace]

WARPAINT: BILLIE HOLIDAY

2009-05-03T14:20:00.000-04:00

This song has been haunting me for days.

Delicate and ephemeral, it moved in one night, and took up residence as a ghost in my head.

Now snatches of it will float up from the murky dross of my conscious mind to confuse and beguile me. I'll stop, look up, lose track of what I'm doing while I try to follow it home and find out what it wants.

Who are you, I ask? What do you want?

I never really get a straight answer.

It's like that dream you wake up from and can't remember, but the mood of it stays with you all day? It's like that.

[WarpainT - MySpace]

Heavenly harmonies: Arsenal and The Republic Tigers

2009-04-03T12:21:00.003-04:00

Today is all about harmony.

The two songs I'm about to play you are, on the face of it, very different.

They have one important thing in common, however: splendiferous, heavenly melodies.

So, put on your headphones, close your eyes, and prepare to be transported.

Here's "Buildings and Mountains" from The Republic Tigers and "Estupendo" from Arsenal:

[Arsenal - MySpace] [Arsenal - official website] [The Republic Tigers - MySpace]

Lily Allen: F**king fantastic

2009-03-24T17:11:00.009-04:00

I must confess that up until now the career of Lily Allen has barely caused a blip on my musical radar.

I mean, I should preface that by saying that I do live under a rock when it comes to most major pop stars these days. I had heard word of Allen, yes -- but had pretty much written her off as a fake and a media whore.

Then I heard a snippet of her tune "The Fear" on the UK show Skins. Actually, I didn't even know it was her at the time, I just heard: "...I'm packing plastic, and that's what makes my life so fucking fantastic".

Intrigued, and with absolutely no idea who it was, I plugged the lyric into Google, and hey presto: Lily Allen.

Then, of course, I had to swing over to YouTube to have a listen to the track, and now I think I may have played it, hmmm, I don't know, maybe around 500 times? Today.

I f**king love this song.

It's the way she skewers our celebrity-obsessed culture in rhyming couplets (and a Brit accent), over a beat so goddamn bouncy and catchy you're hooked faster than someone can say crack.

It's a clever song -- funny, ironic, and bang on.

Guess it's fair to say my estimation of Allen has changed somewhat? Guess so.

Here she is then, with "The Fear":

[Lily Allen - MySpace] [Artist website]

Anika Moa: In Swings the Tide

2009-03-12T16:34:00.012-04:00

I fell madly in love with Anika Moa's latest album during the two weeks I spent back home recently.

It's a gorgeous, summery treat: a perfect accompaniment to a lovely (but oh so brief!) holiday with family and friends.

You know when you have the stereo on in the background, though, and you really only give half an ear to the music? It wasn't till I got home (having been gifted the CD by my brother's boyfriend -- such a nice man) that I took a closer listen to the album. And I am now, well and truly, without a doubt, under its spell.

The disc in its entirety is a beautiful thing.

But the last third of the album? That's really something else.

You know when you hear a song and it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up? Sends a frission right the way up your spine, and then down again?

The two songs that I'm about to play do exactly that to me. I am quite honestly -- and quite thoroughly -- floored by these songs.

Here then, and without further ado, are "Standing in this fire" and "Thinking about tomorrow":

[Anika Moa - MySpace] [Buy Anika Moa's music at Smoke CDs]

The Autumn Film: Because sharing is fun

2009-01-19T17:33:00.028-05:00

Another day, another new year.

Another one? So fast? I swear, every year I sound more and more like my aged grandparents. (Before they shuffled off this mortal coil. Bless 'em).

Another new year, and some of you, my digital friends, are in a state of flux, what with moves to London, and to slow blogging, (which I wholeheartedly applaud. And intend to emulate. The slow blogging, that is, not the move to London. Although I wholeheartedly approve of the move to London, too.)

Others are jumping back into the fray, some are joining it anew, while others are blissfully and happily living their lives totally outside the interwebs bubble.

To all of you, I raise a glass: À votre santé!

And from the depths of this particularly (it seems to me) brutally cold, dark winter, I have a couple of musical delights to tickle your new year fancy. Or fancy your new year tickle, as they say.

I'll start by mentioning New Zealand's own Ladyhawke, who I've written about already, but who deserves -- and shall receive -- another post all of her own. (Up soon!)

The band I want to talk about today, though, is the Autumn Film.

Here's how the Onion describes them:

"Like a post-collegiate Fiona Apple jamming with Snow Patrol, The Autumn Film serves up a piano-drenched sincerity topped off with a voice that’s wise and heartbroken beyond its years."

Which pretty much sums up their sound nicely.

What I love most about the Autumn Film, though, is that they're into connecting with their fans directly.

Part of a project started by these very smarts folks, the Autumn Film are making their music available free to download, because "free is the new radio".

In other words, they're wanting to get their music heard, and making it easy for fans to get excited about their music and come to their gigs and get other people excited about the band too.

It's working for me so far.

I would love to know if it's working out for them commercially. I certainly hope so. I think it's a smart, creative move, and as a fan, it's pushing all the right buttons.

So here we go, here's "Sunstruck". Make sure to go check out the rest of their stuff.

And tell your friends.

The Autumn Film - Sunstruck:

[The Autumn Film - Band website] [Backstage]

Éléphantine: Un attente d'un moment présent

2008-12-17T17:15:00.002-05:00

Montreal seems to have more than its fair share of angel-voiced men making dreamy, melodic indie pop (Patrick Watson, Alexandre Desilets, and Karkwa to name but a few).

You can go ahead and add Éléphantine to that list.

Like the aforementioned bands, Éléphantine are literate and assured, creating atmospheric, textured and emotionally intense songs.

So far they've put out just one EP, entitled Sous le règne des lampadaires. It's a slow burner, full of yearning and beautifully layered melodies.

If this is the entrée, I'm more than ready for the main! Luckily, the band are slated to release a full length album in the winter of 2009.

Here's a taste for now, then:

Éléphantine - "Un attente d'un moment présent"

[Éléphantine - MySpace] [Buy Éléphantine's music - Blue Tracks]

Guilty pleasures for a gloomy Monday

2008-12-14T20:50:00.021-05:00

(Clockwise from top left:) Sebastien Grainger, Tegan and Sara, Starfucker, Vive La Fête

When the whole world has turned into one giant, dirty, brown slushy what better way to kick off the week than with a playlist of guilty favourites?

Here they are, then, some old, some new, some borrowed, some blue:

Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains - "Ways to come home"

Sebastien Grainger was one half of the now disbanded Death From Above 1979. He's since struck out on his own and tours under the moniker Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains. I love the driving rhythm and the melodramatic vocals on this track, which comes from American Names EP. The song reminds me very much of Broken Social Scene, so now I think of it as having a quintessential Canadian sound. Which is rubbish, of course, because there is no "quintessential Canadian sound", but there you go.

Tegan and Sara - "You wouldn't like me"

More catchy than ~~herpes~~ (okay, yes, that's gross. So let's just say: very, very catchy). Listen to this a couple of times, crank it up, and then try and resist singing along loudly (while playing air guitar). I think it may actually be humanly impossible to hear this and not want to sing along. Go on, then, try it. I dare you.

Starfucker - "Rawnald Gregory Erikson The Second"

This song makes me very happy.

That is all.

Vive La Fête - "Noir Désir"

The chronicle of a messed up, twisted love affair from Belgian couple Danny Mommens and Els Pynoo, otherwise known as Vive La Fête.

Messy. Neurotic. Twisted.

Play it loud.

[Sebastien Granger and the Mountains - MySpace] [Tegan and Sara - MySpace] [Starfucker - MySpace] [Vive La Fête - MySpace]

Silence: Flocon

2008-12-09T21:30:00.016-05:00

Photo by Jodi Corbett

It's been snowing here for over 12 hours straight now.

A trip from downtown to home, which ordinarily takes around 20 minutes in the car, took us nearly two hours tonight.

It's beautiful out there, though. Quiet. Big, soft flakes suspended in yellow haloes around the street lights.

Here's a song, then, for watching the snow fall. Preferably from some place warm and snug.

[Silence - Jamendo]

James Bond: Another way to die

2008-12-07T12:53:00.019-05:00

I saw the new James Bond movie this weekend. And I can quite honestly say I don't remember a single thing about it.

Oh -- other than the theme music, that is.

Now, I don't usually make a habit of caring about the theme music for the latest James Bond flick.

But "Another Way to Die" had me at the get go.

From the very first opening bars I was prompted to sit up a little straighter in my seat. "Who’s this?" I thought. And, "What’s going on here?" The song has the requisite Bond sound: orchestral and menacing. But suddenly, right before your very ears, it's tackled head-on and wrestled to the ground by towering White Stripes power chords, all the while being wooed and severely compromised (but in the most delightful way) by hip hop vocal stylings.

It's all wrong. But somehow, so right -- a monstrous slab of genre-busting awesomeness.

Too bad the movie itself couldn't live up to that heady opening.

And it is a shame, because I loved Casino Royale (not having been much of a Bond fan before that). Daniel Craig is a very physical actor. Or, to put it another way: he is intensely physically present as an actor. He lends his Bond an explosive, feral quality that is really quite -- how shall I say? -- beguiling.

This latest Bond vehicle unfortunately manages to entirely squander his brilliance. The film has been edited to within an inch of its life, leaving us stranded in a morass of confusingly murky, choppy fight scenes, car chases and explosions. And, just to add insult to injury, there is nary an emotional payoff -- nor flashy gadget -- in sight. Quelle horreur.

[James Bond - Quantum of Solace official website] [Jack White and Alicia Keys - MySpace Video]

The Jezabels! Noah's Ark

2008-11-28T07:55:00.031-05:00

The Jezabels don't actually write their name with an exclamation point, but that's how I say their name in my head every time I think about them, because every I think about them, I get excited. The Jezabels!

Their music has that effect on me.

Hailing from down under (not the down under I'm from, but the other one -- I don't hold that against them, though), the Jezabels started out when band members Heather, Hayley, Nik and Sam met at Sydney University.

As far as I can make out, the band is not signed to a label yet. But it can't be that far away, though, surely? Since they are, quite simply and as Sia would say, magicpants.

I love the messy chaos of their music. In an odd way, they remind me of Sleater Kinney or Montreal's Land of Talk. At first it's like just so much noise (maybe even a little off-key?) but soon their songs needle their way under your skin like a tick, until you're destabilized and feverish with the need to listen to them over and over again.

There are all these separate elements in their music that shouldn't work, but do. There'll be a discordant piano refrain or a meandering baseline that you feel certain will tip the song over into irritating, empty noise doodling. But somehow all the parts coalesce into something not only cohesive, but packing a hefty emotional punch.

I don't know how they do this. But I like it. Very much.

[Jezabels - MySpace]

Rufus Wainwright: Tiergarten (Supermayer Remix)

2008-11-27T21:43:00.020-05:00

Beautiful tortured man, bold of gesture and blessed with an absurd amount of talent, who can resist Rufus Wainwright?

Because, let's face it, who else can get away with lyrics such as these:

I have suffered shipwreck against your dark brown eyes/I have run aground against your broken down smiles/Believe me when I tell you I have no place left to roam/But to go where the wild flowers grow and the stone gardens bloom....

And make us think, not of some lonely teenager writing bad poetry in his small cramped room smelling of smeg and socks (good lord, did I just write that?), but of Yeats or Shelley. It's not the overblown lyricism so much, as the yearning, weary, melancholy way he sings the words.

The group Supermayer have taken Wainwright's song "Tiegarten" (about his then boyfriend, and named for the public park in Berlin) and given us something shining and new. It's still quintessentially Rufus, with his magnificent theatricality intact, but they've transformed his original song into a glittering, forlornly hypnotic ode to love.

I first came across this version of the song thanks to the folks at Good weather for airstrikes. That blog is now defunct because they've decided to start a record label. Oh, reckless optimism. It's a wonderful thing.

So here's Rufus through the lens of Supermayer:

You can hear the original here.

[Rufus Wainwright - MySpace] [Rufus Wainwright - Official website] [Supermayer - MySpace]

ALFA ROCOCO: JE PENSE À TOI

2008-11-12T20:08:00.014-05:00

Here in these parts, things have taken a sharp turn for the froide.

L'hiver is breathing icily down our necks, but I have a trick to keep away those winter blues.

It's called Alfa Rococo.

Alfa Rococo have been making all kinds of waves here in Québec -- winning awards and generally charming the socks off folks left, right and centre.

They specialize in inordinately catchy, absurdly enjoyable pop confectionery.

So here's a taste -- I swear it'll make you long for the beach, flip flops and a cool beer on a hot summer day...

[Alfa Rococo - MySpace] [Alfa Rococo website]

ALEXANDRE DÉSILETS: L'ÉPHÉMÈRE

2008-11-05T21:01:00.018-05:00

Take flight through Montreal as a papillon...

A stunningly beautiful song, and equally mesmerizing video, from über talented Montrealer Alexandre Désilets:

You can see the 'making of' here. Well worth checking out. Love all the little Montreal details.

[Alexandre Désilets - MySpace]

PHILIP GLASS: MAD RUSH

2008-10-26T18:16:00.018-04:00

Autumn in Montreal is hallucinatory.

Colours burst and flare: all savage reds and giddy, velvet golds. Achingly blue skies pitch overhead; leaves tip and wheel drunkenly to the ground.

The air is so crisp it hollows out a permanent cavity in your diaphragm. You breathe in and breathe in, but it never feels quite enough and the world spins in glorious, dizzying colour around you, causing a vertiginous elation and a corresponding unspeakable desolation.

Which leads me to Philip Glass.

Philip Glass is autumn in Montreal. Or, at least, his piano solos are...

The most melancholy, sublime, perfect accompaniment to la saison d'automn.

[Philip Glass - Website]

ZERO: THE NEW NOIR DÉSIR? (Or: Hello 90s. Nice to see you again. It's almost like you never left...)

2008-10-05T20:50:00.018-04:00

You know that whole trend of modern bands mining past decades for their sound (and sometimes even their dress sense) and, as a byproduct, milking the nostalgia factor for all it's worth?

I'm down with that. I am. Milk away, I say.

It's working for me.

Even by saying, "I'm down with that," I'm probably marking myself as aged and decrepit (I'm over 30 for god's sake: utterly irrelevant), but whatever. Holler at your ... girl. And all that.

Because it seems like grunge is working its way back around again, and I'm all for it.

Here is where I need to segue seamlessly into the fact that Noir Désir are one of my all time favourite bands, even though I came to them a decade late, never saw a video until today (thanks YouTube), didn't understand their lyrics at first, and only heard of the tragic story concerning lead singer Bertrand Cantat and his then girlfriend Marie Trintignant fairly recently.

Noir Désir were huge in France in the 90s, but like I said, I caught up with them a decade late.

I guess you could characterise their sound as garage rock (with elements of grunge, or alternative rock), but their oeuvre has a passion, social awareness and immediacy that is rarely as present in the music of their stateside counterparts. (Think: Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots, et al. When I revisit their albums now, they still pack a visceral punch, but their incessant self-absorption sets my teeth on edge.)

In another stunning segue (or, if you prefer: non sequitur), this is where Zero come in.

Zero are -- according to their MySpace bio -- a Franco-German rock band, formed in Berlin back in 2001.

They have one demo EP, are now based in Paris and played their first live show in April 2008.

They're very green, and relatively unknown, but on the strength of their single "Les Suicidés", alone, I think they are more than worthy of donning the mantle of Lords (and Lady) of rock français, the coveted spot once occupied by Noir Désir.

Zero are picking up that mantle and running with it, like delirious, naughty children.

There are shades of a harder-edged, darker Karwka in their sound. And a definite whiff of Cobain, too.

Are they a decade too late?

Needless to say, I don't think so.

But then again, what do I know? I'm aged and decrepit.

You can download their tunes over at Jamendo. So get on over and check it out.

[Zero - MySpace] [Zero - Jamendo]

KRISTIN HERSH: BRIGHT YELLOW GUN EP

2008-09-29T20:21:00.028-04:00

It's a funny thing.

If you've ever had anyone close to you die, you may have noticed that in the first year or two after their death it's the anniversaries that can really lay you low. (Their birthday, your birthday, etc.)

But after a few years, (at least, this is what I've found) anniversaries no longer hold quite the same sway over you -- their meaning or significance has ... perhaps faded ever so slightly with time? Your feelings haven't faded, it's just that they'll overtake you at seemingly quite random, surprising moments.

Sometimes there might be a trigger. Like an old song buried deep in a now rarely used playlist.

I have this one song -- it's a very personal, very old favourite. I don't know if anybody else in the whole wide world knows this song, except the extraordinary being who created it, (and perhaps a few of her especially intense fans.)

I've always found this song exquisitely sad. And profoundly hopeful. And very, very, beautiful. (A bit like grief, I suppose: Sorrow and hope (and beauty) intricately intertwined.)

Here we are, then, (and thank you Ms. Hersh):

AMANDA PALMER: ASTRONAUT (A Short History of Nearly Nothing)

2008-09-29T11:08:00.007-04:00

F*cking awesome.

That is all.

[Amanda Palmer - MySpace] [Dresden Dolls - MySpace] [Who Killed Amanda Palmer - Amazon]

ETYL: J'ME FAIS MAL

2008-09-26T15:14:00.006-04:00

Hailing from Paris, France, Etyl is (to all intents and purposes) chanteuse Eglantine Hermand.

Hermand has two albums under her belt so far -- La Tortue from 2005 and Les Souris, which was released in March of this year. (And which, unfortunately, stinky old iTunes Canada does not carry.)

Ranging in influence from pop, to electronic, to jazz, Ms. Hermand has a thoroughly distinctive voice and style and I, for one, am hooked.

I guess maybe I'll have to go hunt for her album the old fashioned way? Like in a store? Where they sell you a little box with a shiny disc inside? Crikey...

You can always go and check out her MySpace page, and I would, if I were you. It's well worth it.

Meantime, here's "J'me Fais Mal" from Les Souris:

[Etyl - MySpace]

MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS - TOMBSTONE (Popular Computer Remix)

2008-09-24T20:53:00.014-04:00

Midnight Juggernauts started out as a couple of blokes from Melbourne, Australia.

They first made a blip on my musical radar with their awestastic remix of Dragonette's "I get around".

Then they went and put out a gleefully bombastic blast of awesomeness called Dystopia. And now they tour with the likes of Justice, Crystal Castles, Klaxons, Holy Fuck, etc, etc.

Anyway.

They have that dirty, woozy, spiraling sound* that always makes me feel slightly drunk and stupidly ecstatic. (Or ecstatically stupid?)

Either way, it's good times. Here's "Tombstone" (the Popular Computer Remix):

*First honed to perfection by Vitalic (<-- And you follow that link at your own peril. You have been warned.)

[Midnight Juggernauts - MySpace] [Band website]

BAJOFONDO: MAR DULCE

2008-09-16T17:05:00.010-04:00

Photo by Luis Olazábal

So from buchata to tango we go...

May I introduce Bajofondo, a music collective from -- respectively -- Argentina, Uruguay and North America.

They've been compared to the Gotan Project (which, in my humble opinion, is a marvellous compliment) and, indeed, Bajofondo's modus operandi is their deep and abiding love of tango.

They take this cherished musical genre from Argentina and Uruguay and perform a kind of cross-pollination -- fusing elements of electronica, house music and hip hop with the more traditional forms and instruments of tango.

The result is a most heady and savoury brew.

Such is their cachet, in fact, that all kinds of indie royalty (including Elvis Costello) signed on to their recent album Mar Dulce.

Two of my favourite tracks from the album are "Pa' Bailar" (featuring Ryōta Komatsu), and the hip hop-inflected and incredibly catchy "El Andén", with Mala Rodríguez on guest vocals:

[Bajofondo - MySpace] [Ryōta Komatsu - Website] [Mala Rodríguez - MySpace]

LUIS VARGAS - TRANQUILA

2008-09-06T17:53:00.009-04:00

In keeping with our recent vacation, I've decided to haul out an old, old favourite of mine.

And no matter how many times I hear it, it has a most curious and embarrassing effect on me: I am unable to restrain myself from singing along loudly, passionately and wholeheartedly -- in tortured, mangled Spanish.

Dubious, yes. But an unabashed pleasure nevertheless.

It's a laid back summer-with-the-car-windows-rolled-all-the-way-down,
radio-turned-all-the-way-up, sing-along-at-the-top-of-your-voice kind of song.

And while, technically, it's from the wrong country (the singer is from the Dominican Republic), it's a sound we heard again and again while in Mexico.

So, here it is -- "Tranquila" by Luis Vargas:

[More on Luis Vargas] [Putumayo - Republica Dominicana]

AZZIDO DA BASS: LONELY BY YOUR SIDE (FEAT. JOHNNY BLAKE)

2008-08-07T15:42:00.010-04:00

I've played this song about -- oh I don't know -- five thousand billion gazillion times now? And it still has the ability to make my extremities tingle.

That's right: Extremities.

Tingling.

I know that sounds sort of rude, but have you heard this song? If you've heard this song, then you'll know exactly what I mean.

Yes, it's kind of dorky. Yes, it's all gangling, awkward angles and blatant 80s influences.

But it's sexy -- as -- hell.

Listen to the way the song appears to fade out around the 3:04 mark ... and then the way it kicks back in with that bass line?

Go on, just try and tell me that it doesn't bring on all kinds of tingling of the extremities.

You can try. I might believe you. Thousands wouldn't.

[Azzido Da Bass - MySpace]

GET WELL SOON: YOU, AURORA, YOU, SEASIDE

2008-07-18T15:58:00.009-04:00

When I first heard this song, I thought I was listening to Beirut.

Then I thought, oh no, wait, it's Radiohead.

Then I thought, holy crap, it's Vast. And: Holy crap, the handclaps!

I love this song, it's my new favourite ever, ever. (For today, obviously. Shallow and fickle as I be).

I love the melodrama and the angst of it, and -- I can't believe I'm going to write this -- the sweeping trumpet. (There, I wrote it.) But I do. I love it all.

And in case you're wondering, you are, in fact, listening to Get Well Soon, the ~~music project~~ brainchild of 25 year old composer and multi-instrumentalist, Konstantin Gropper.

He's a marvel. Watch this space.

[Get Well Soon - MySpace]

BEIRUT DISCO

2008-06-10T18:29:00.010-04:00

At only 22 years of age, the prodigious (and disturbingly talented) Zach Condon has already released two albums.

Better known to the world at large as Beirut, Condon's music is an enchanting blend of folk-pop, heavily influenced by Eastern European folk and balkan gypsy music. Despite his youth, and the fact that he grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, his music has an unmistakable old country feel, and a maturity that belies his tender years.

His music is boisterous and romantic, the kind of thing you might imagine yourself listening to in the Mediterranean somewhere, late at night, under the stars, seated round a large table with a gaggle of strangers made fast friends through a day of drinking and revelry.

Suffice it to say, it's not the kind of thing you would expect to hear in a club.

Until now.

DJs Fredo & Thang, from the Gameplayer label, have released a mash-up called "Beirut Disco".

Dub inflected beats and snatches of spoken french are woven through swathes of organ and Beirut's slightly nasal vocals to create some kind of gypsy folk electronica hybrid.

It's Beirut gone urban.

And whether in a club, or sitting on a terrace drinking a beer, Beirut Disco is the perfect accompaniment to the heat and bluster of summer.

BALTIC FLEET: 3 DOLLAR DRESS

2008-06-06T17:10:00.004-04:00

What starts out like Elastica before morphing into Interpol by way of Joy Division?

It's not a trick question, and okay, I'm doing those annoying reductive comparisons again, but really, Baltic Fleet have to be heard to be believed.

And trust me, I'm not slighting the band in the least. Anything that starts out like Elastica before morphing into Interpol by way of Joy Division has me from the get-go.

When I say 'the band' I really mean Paul Fleming, keyboard player for Echo and The Bunnymen. Baltic Fleet is his baby.

He apparently wrote the album when he was on tour with the Bunnymen, trying to capture, in music, what inspired him in each city around the world.

While Baltic Fleet is a new discovery for me, a quick listen to the myspace page suggests to me that the band (ie, Fleming) is going to be huge.

He certainly deserves to be.

One of my favourite songs (out of an already incredibly strong line up) is "3 Dollar Dress".

It's hypnotic and savage -- a driving slice of indie rock heaven.

And what's more, it starts out like Elastica, before morphing into Interpol, by way of Joy Division...

Here's "3 Dollar Dress":

[Baltic Fleet - MySpace] [blow up records]

OMG! SHOEZ...

2008-06-05T19:06:00.011-04:00

I love Liam and everything he does. (And ah-hem [cough] may I just say? What a cutie.)

So, in celebration of Liam and the more than 16 million views Kelly and "OMG Shoes" has had on YouTube: Let's play it again!

And plus Weezer are pwning all your pork and beans with mustachios and YouTube stars:

OMG. Shoez, betch!

PAS CHIC CHIC: HAYDÉE MORCELÉE

2008-05-28T15:20:00.002-04:00

Montreal band Pas Chic Chic has been getting some rapturous press of late, both locally and nationally.

They're often been compared to Arcade Fire, and even though their sound is quite different, they more than merit the comparison because of their energy and their magpie ability to steal from all kinds of music genres to create something completely unique and exciting.

Front man Roger Tellier-Craig talks about his early inspiration for the band:

I wanted to do a band like this for a very long time. When I was around 18 years old and barely playing an instrument, I first heard Serge Gainsbourg. I had been listening to a lot of Anglophone music before that, stuff like My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, the Velvet Underground and Brian Eno and I have to admit that at the time I thought all francophone music was shit ... Stereolab first showed me you could sing in French and make interesting music, but when I heard Gainsbourg I realized that there was a history of French music I had never heard of through radio or TV... [more]

Pas Chic Chic is certainly creating a buzz about town. I just hope audiences outside of Montreal, and Canada, will get to hear this extraordinary band.

Here's "Haydée Morcelée" from their latest album Au Contraire:

[Pas Chic Chic - MySpace] [Band website] [eMusic]

CARQUOIS: nm. quiver. Prononc. [kaʀkwa]

2008-05-26T17:50:00.003-04:00

KARKWA HAS A NEW ALBUM OUT!

Oops, was I shouting? I'm feeling somewhat discombobulated. Where the hell have I been? Karkwa has a new album out.

I have this terrible habit with music -- when I love a band, I will thrash their music until I categorically cannot listen to them ever again. (Or not until they've put out new material, at least. And yes, I do realise that this is some kind of failing on my part.)

I have had Karkwa's album, Les tremblements s’immobilisent, on fairly constant iPod rotation for the past year, however, and it has withstood such treatment remarkably well.

I love Les tremblements. It's so fluid and accomplished and intricate, full of dark, moving, complex melodies. It still has the power to give me a rush of adrenaline and to leave me transfixed and elated.

If their latest is even half as good, I'll be a happy camper.

I am rushing out now to buy the new(ish) album, but I leave you with "L'épaule froide" and "La fuite":

[Karkwa - MySpace] [Band website]

MONDAY MELTDOWN: DANGER 11h30 (DaTA REMIX)

2008-05-26T17:09:00.011-04:00

Who is Danger? The newest protégé on the so-called Nu-Disco, or French Touch, scene? (Techtonik anyone?)

And who is DatA? Who the hell knows? That's what MySpace is for!

En tout cas, and whatever the label, I am a sucker for that sound.

So sue me.

[Danger - MySpace] [DatA - MySpace]

SIA: BEAUTIFUL CALM DRIVING

2008-05-23T13:10:00.011-04:00

I first heard Aussie singer Sia Furler on the haunting Zero 7 tune Distractions.

That song still has the power to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

None of her solo work has had quite the same impact on me, but I've found myself following her career over the years, simply because I find her voice so unique and gorgeous.

Plus she makes it all look absolutely effortless.

Here she is for a live performance on the KCRW radio show with Nic Harcourt, singing "The Girl you Lost to Cocaine" (with the added bonus of some unusual chair dancing):

The tune is from her latest album Some People Have Real Problems, (which unfortunately, and quite possibly, has the worst cover art of all time.)

In person she seems unpretentious, bubbly and thoroughly charming.

Here's another personal favourite from her latest album, the Zero 7-esque "Beautiful Calm Driving":

[Sia - MySpace] [Artist website]

INDOCHINE: ADORA

2008-05-22T13:21:00.015-04:00

Back in the day, and stuck as we were (are?) at the arse end of the world, Kiwi listening tastes were very much dictated by what was going on in the UK, America and Australia.

Very little from Europe filtered down to us.

Consequently I was introduced to the myriad joys of bands like Rita Mitsouko, Plastic Bertrand and Indochine rather late in life.

I certainly made up for lost time, and consumed these icons of trashy pop greatness like a girl starving. (I am pretty much a sucker for anything sounding remotely 80s.)

It's only quite recently I became aware that, for Indochine at least, there was life beyond the eighties.

Indochine are the ultimate purveyors of driving melodic pop: their music is like candy.

It gives you a massive sugar rush, spiking you high into the stratosphere. And although it's true that too much in one sitting has the potential to leave you with a tension headache, taken in small doses, Indochine are almost guaranteed to put a smile on your dial.

Here's "Adora" from Alice et June:

[Indochine - MySpace] [Amazon]

MONDAY MELTDOWN: LADYHAWKE - PARIS IS BURNING (GOPHER REMIX)

2008-05-19T11:26:00.012-04:00

When I say Ladyhawke, I'm talking about Kiwi singer Pip Browne, not the execrable 80s movie, and not the band from Vancouver.

Sharon O'Neill lookalike (if you're a kiwi kid of the 80s you'll know who I'm talking about), Ladyhawke wears her influences firmly on her sleeve: Think Stevie Nicks, with a healthy dose of Chrissie Hynde attitude, and a youthful, vulnerable quality vis-à-vis Kim Wilde, circa "Kids in America".

Her track "Paris is burning" has been given the Alex Gopher treatment, and what a thing of beauty it is.

Gopher's mash-up of "Paris is Burning" has a definite 80s aesthetic, which is almost certainly why I find it irresistible. I love the cycling, sinuous synth line, the handclaps, and the LCD Soundsystem-inspired cowbell in the background.

The song teeters on the edge of all-out cheesiness, but this should be true for any good club tune worth its salt.

All told, "Paris is Burning" is a delicious, thoroughly intoxicating pop confection.

Check it out:

[Ladyhawk - MySpace]

SÉBASTIEN TELLIER: L'AMOUR ET LA VIOLENCE

2008-05-18T17:27:00.006-04:00

"L'amour et la violence" is the final track off the album Sexuality by french composer Sébastien Tellier.

The album was produced by Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, and there are definitely traces of Punk all over this album. But Tellier, a multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter, is extraordinarily talented, and "L'amour et la violence" is a beautiful meditation on love, life and regret.

It's not so much in the lyrics of the song, but in the mood it creates.

So melancholy, so sweetly tragic, and oh, so very french....

[Sebastien Tellier - MySpace] [Artist website]

FAIRTILIZER: AMPLIFIED WORD OF MOUTH

2008-05-17T12:17:00.006-04:00

With the advent of the internets -- that series of tubes -- there's been a breadthless proliferation of every kind of site, blog, vlog you can imagine, covering every possible, conceivable subject under the sun.

And with this massive overload of information, we're now seeing a corresponding mushrooming of sites that try to collate and organize all this information into some semblance of order.

Google, of course, is the largest and most well-known of these "collators". Yet as effective as it is, even a Google search can feel like you're dipping haphazardly into the pages of the I Ching.

For music lovers the possibilities are endless. The myriad avenues for finding new music are quite wondrous, if not downright daunting.

Long gone are the days when the music you heard was dictated by those who controlled radio and TV. (The interwebs have put paid to that kind of hegemony, and good riddance, I say.)

There's a veritable plethora of music sites, MP3 sites and music blogs out there now (including this one, lost and spinning in cyberspace).

Along with this explosion of noise are the sites that try to shape and order the chaos: Hype, Deezer, Elbows, 3hive, Fingertips, to name but a few (of the best). Then there are the ones that bring in the social networking aspect: iLike, Last fm, etc.

My absolute favourite, by far, of all these sites, however, is Fairtilizer.

Don't let the name put you off -- Fairtilizer is a music lover's paradise.

Truly international, with music from every possible genre, Fairtilizer works on the notion that, by "word of mouth", good songs will naturally out. Listeners can vote for the tunes they like, create playlists or listen to other people's playlists. If you vote for a song, it pushes that song higher in the charts. You can see what songs are charting the highest for that day, week, or month.

There are a few things that are less than perfect with the site: You can't search by artist, for example, which seems a bit odd. And the search function itself appears random ~~(if not completely broken)~~.

To me, however, these things only make the site more endearing. It's like finding a vast cave of treasures, where each and every gem you uncover is all the more thrilling because of the surprise of it. You can spend countless hours there, and know that you've barely scratched the surface.

When I joined Fairtilizer, it was still in beta, so I had to be invited by a friend. I'm not sure if that's still the case. [If you're reading this, though, and you think you'd like to take a squiz, then drop me a line and/or leave me a comment (with your email address), and I'll send you an invite.]

If you love finding new sounds, Fairtilizer is heaven.

I'll leave you with "Cockney Thug" from Rusko. Because who can resist a tune where the chorus consists of a dubstep loop around the word 'f-ck'? Who indeed...

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE: FRIGHTENING LIVES

2008-05-15T14:09:00.014-04:00

Canadian rock collective, experimental outfit and critical darlings, Broken Social Scene, have always been just a little bit too squirrelly for me.

Having said that, though, there are a couple of their tunes that take pride of place on my all-time-most-favourite-songs-ever-ever-list.

When they get it right, Broken Social Scene come close to transcendental.

A song that might begin with an unusual rhythm and complicated time signatures will suddenly open out into a sprawling, mesmerizing soundscape transporting the listener far, far from the madding crowd.

And who could ask for more than that, really?

Here's "Frightening Lives" and "F--ked Up Kid" from the album Spirit if..., (which is, in fact, the first in the Broken Social Scene Presents series, which aims to showcase the solo efforts of different BSS members -- in this case, founder Kevin Drew).

[Broken Social Scene - MySpace] [Amazon]

MONDAY MELTDOWN: CRYSTAL CASTLES + dEUS

2008-05-12T14:33:00.040-04:00

Sometimes the iPod's shuffle feature throws up the most weird and wonderful juxtapositions.

How about Crystal Castles' "Courtship Dating" followed by dEUS' "Suds and Soda"?

Pure brilliance.

Toronto's Crystal Castles have been getting a lot of ecstatic press lately, and deservedly so (in my most humble opinion).

I've seen lots of reviews by blokes raving about how the Atari sound takes them right back to their game-boy-geek adolescence. It's a "I-
guess-you-had-to be-there" kind of thing, and since I wasn't, I don't get it. But I take their word for it.

For me, Crystal Castles suggest some kind of f*cked up, magnificent mélange of Sleater Kinney, Le Tigre and Soulwax.

They're their own trip, though, no question. So if you haven't yet, you should leap on the ride!

As for dEUS, they're old favourites. And somehow CCs' "Courtship Dating", with its shouted, call and response chorus segues perfectly into the see-sawing intro and shouted, disjointed verses of "Suds and Soda".

Go figure.

[Crystal Castles - MySpace] [dEUS - Band website]

Update: Seems CC are in a bit of hot water of late, for liberally pilfering samples from a community they'd previously denied any knowledge of. (Thanks to my anonymous commenter for the tip.) There's a good breakdown over at Create Digital Music of the controversy, along with an interesting discussion and examples of the offending songs.

FUCK BUTTONS: SWEET LOVE FOR PLANET EARTH

2008-05-08T15:48:00.009-04:00

People go crazy for summer here in Montreal.

Windows are thrown open, pale, sickly faces are lifted to the sun, and clothes are removed in a most reckless and arbitrary manner.

We creep out from our slovenly, smelly little nests and slowly unfurl in the warmth.

People are happy. They smile at strangers in the street. Everyone is all hail-fellow-well-met. The world is full of endless opportunity.

At the beginning of every summer, I join the rest of Montreal in this collective, dizzy exhalation of joy.

Sadly, it lasts barely a moment.

My summer bubble of amnesia bursts abruptly, and I remember -- with clenched fists and an ever present snarl -- why summer in Montreal is an awful time for grumpy old misanthropes (like me).

Summer means construction.

It means every man and his dog decides they have to fix their rotting balconies and sinking driveways and collapsing roofs.

And god forbid that construction crews start at 9 a.m. like every other civilized profession.

No. Construction crews start their day at 4-fucking-a.m.

Alright, I concede: that may not be strictly true. But when you're fast asleep at 7 a.m. and woken by what sounds like a truck backing up in your living room, pipes dropping from several stories into your bedroom, a band saw in your kitchen, and men yelling at each other in your bathroom, it feels like 4-fucking-a.m.

Disorientated and disgruntled after this less than auspicious wakeup call, you weave off to work on the bicycle you pulled out of storage at the beginning of spring.

You've decided it'd be a great idea to risk life and limb by entering the insane and unpredictable world of Montreal's roads, where, daily, pedestrians, cyclists and drivers try to kill one another through various staggering displays of inattention.

(The season has barely begun, and I, for one, have already kissed the asphalt. A jay-walking pedestrian stepped blindly off the pavement, I slammed on the breaks -- and flew right up and over the handlebars. Quite spectacular, really. The bruises are only just starting to fade.)

Having braved the roads once again at the end of your work day, you stagger into your apartment and collapse on the couch. You sip your lemonade and enjoy the breeze and think how nice it is to have escaped the madness outside.

You're startled from your reverie by a blood-curdling scream.

It's a child screeching, full-throated, at the top of her lungs. My god, is she being garroted? Is someone trying to remove her eyeballs with a fork?

You leap from the sofa and bolt onto your balcony, looking around wildly for the source of the noise, so you can run and help.

Down on the street below you see some neighbourhood children. They are playing on the grass. They are being watched over by a guardian. The screaming-banshee-child is one of their number. She lets one loose every minute of so.

You can only stare in abject horror and wonder: if you'd made that kind of noise when you were a child, your mother would've garroted you.

While you're gazing at this perplexing scene, a neighbour from the opposite apartment block comes out onto his balcony. (You could probably spit on his shoes, your balconies are that close together.)

As you glance over, you see him whip out some kind of mouth organ piano thing.

He begins to play. Tunelessly, as far as you can make out.

Now you're staring in open-mouthed consternation at your neighbour.

Number one, he's a grown man, why is he playing this fucking toy? Number two, what makes him so certain that everyone within a two mile radius wants to hear him play his fucking toy?

Right about now your nerves are at snapping point.

You stomp inside.

Once you threw open your windows to feel the warm, refreshing breeze.

Now all you want to do is slam them shut on this mayhem.

Which is not an option, of course, since in no time at all you would be sweltering in a hellish oven, consumed by indignation and ire.

Ah summer.

What power you have to make us suffer and like it.*

If I could set the experience of a Montreal summer to music, it would have to be Fuck Buttons' "Sweet Love for Planet Earth".

Oh, sweet, sweet irony.

[Fuck Buttons - MySpace] [eMusic]

*Russell Baker

MONDAY MELTDOWN: THE DO VS. HEYDAY

2008-05-05T15:35:00.013-04:00

Discovery of the day: The dø vs. Heyday.

The who?

Anyway. Big sound. Fuzzy, galloping bass, anguished vocals -- it's like the Knife collided with Röyksopp in a dark alley way, got carnal, and had a love child (long lost twin, rumour has it, of Mika).

Dance music this fun should be a crime.

[the dø - MySpace] [Amazon] [Heyday - MySpace]

CAT POWER: CROSS BONES STYLE

2008-04-28T22:31:00.022-04:00

Cross Bones Style was the first song I ever heard from Cat Power (aka Charlyn "Chan" Marshall).

I came across it on Matador Records' 10th Anniversary Anthology, Everything is Nice.

This best-of disc was f**king amazing in and of itself -- you couldn’t throw a stone (or swing a cat) without hitting one awesome act after another.

Yet, even nestled as it was amongst songs from Pavement, Bardo Pond, Sleater-Kinney, Mogwai (to name but a few), "Cross Bones Style" -- with its odd staccato drum beat and elegiac, keening quality -- stood out by a mile.

Nearly a full decade later it still feels truly fresh and original to me. Outside of time, somehow.

Listen to that voice.

It sounds as though it's been cured in whiskey and wine and tobacco. In sorrow and heartache and too much knowledge of too many things in too short a time.

All these years, I never knew what Chan Marshall looked like. I’m not sure how that’s possible in this age of the interwebs, but it’s true. Judging from her voice, I’d always imagined her to be older: a kind of grandmother of rock, à la Patti Smith. (To clarify, it's not that I thought she sounded old, per se. But more that her voice had a kind of lived in quality. It seemed to speak of experience and a hard-earned wisdom.)

Imagine my shock, then, when I saw her video recently for "Cross Bones Style":

How do you reconcile that face with that voice?

It's paradoxical and confusing and I guess somehow perfect for an artist who has always managed to surprise, bewilder and charm us.

Her voice is as ageless as her art.

(And I added "Nude as the News". Just because.)

[Cat Power - MySpace]

CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: IF

2008-04-22T22:24:00.014-04:00

I chanced across the following video recently thanks to (of all people) that mad old bird Camille Paglia.

It's a duet between Charlotte Gainsbourg and Étienne Daho, live, on French TV.

It looks like it's been lifted directly from 1972, is cheesy as hell, and I think it's magic-pants. Their performances are so relaxed and unaffected -- light-years away from the absurd bread and circus acts deemed "music entertainment" by our southern neighbours.

I love the word-play in this song, with the constant repetition of the suffix "if", and the way Gainsbourg and Daho's voices perfectly compliment one another.

And Gainsbourg, in this video, is ... dare I say it: Hot.

There I said it.

She is utterly understated and unpretentious and authentic, yet she is smokin', and somehow a thousand times more sensual than, say, this.

Watch:

To paraphrase a good friend: "Unlike North America, Europeans can still make pop that isn't complete shit."

Amen.

This post inspired by the effervescent and incorrigible Dorothy Snarker and her Tank Top Tuesday. Merci Ms. Snarker.

CARS & TRAINS: CONSUMER CONFIDENCE

2008-04-22T19:21:00.006-04:00

Cars & trains is the electronic music project of Oregon-based Tom Filepp.

Think, if you will, Andrew Bird (via his live Fingerlings recordings) mashed with Four Tet.

I'm a great one for reductive comparisons, but suffice it to say, Cars & Trains is a glorious, intricate mess of contradictions.

The sound is at once folky and organic, but with a heavy glitch-beat aesthetic. It manages to feel both nostalgic and pastoral, while somehow encapsulating the loneliness, agitation and alienation of urban environments.

That may seem ambitious (and perhaps even improbable) but Filepp pulls it off.

His is a highly distinctive, original voice. Expect great things.

Here's "That reoccurring dream where I'm always..."

[Cars & Trains - MySpace] [Become a fan on Facebook]

You can download a number of free Cars & Trains tracks from the Circle into Square website.

BOBBY MCFERRIN: CIRCLESONGS SIX

2008-04-14T21:27:00.010-04:00

What's the first thing that comes to mind if someone says the name Bobby McFerrin to you?

If you're anything like me, you probably find yourself thinking, "Oh, that guy."

The one who gifted the world with THE MOST ANNOYING SONG OF ALL TIME.

You know the song I mean. The one that must not be named.

A few years' back, when I was living in Thailand, I was out and about at the giant Tower Records downtown (remember Tower Records?), and on pure impulse I bought a world music disc -- one of those best-of jobbies. You know, as you do.

And the last song on the disc was a track called "Circlesongs Six".

Rhythmic, soaring, utterly hypnotic -- I fell madly in love with it.

Guess who it was?

Right.

Bobby McFerrin.

The album, Circlesongs, from which the song takes its title and joins a cycle of eight, is a recording of spontaneous vocal improvisations sung by twelve singers and McFerrin.

Three basses, three tenors, three altos and three sopranos create the vocal textures around which McFerrin weaves his solos. He eschews words, in favour of repetitious syllables of sound. No instruments. Voice and vocal percussion only.

I've long since lost the CD.

Hadn't thought about that song in years. Something triggered my memory of it recently, (though I can't think what it was now. There's irony for you.)

Anyway, I had to hear it again, so I pur-chased it.

Here's "Circlesongs Six":

L'INDICE: DÉMO

2008-04-12T23:11:00.012-04:00

Sometimes you randomly stumble across an artist who makes you sit up and pay attention, tout de suite-like.

You find them, sans hype, sans information, and they blow your mind so thoroughly you immediately want to run out and tell everyone you know.

L'indice is just such a discovery for me.

All I know about this bloke is that his name is Vincent Blain, he's based in Montreal and has worked in the past with artists like Navet Confit, Lynda Lemay and Alexandre Champigny.

He's also up as a semi-finalist for this year's edition of Francovertes (for which I wish him all the merde).

I don't know how to describe his music. Sonorous electronica? Extraordinarily accomplished?

Well, anyway -- listen, you can decide -- here's "Petite épopée" and "Deux sang" from Démo:

[L'indice - MySpace]

PASCALE PICARD: ANNOYING

2008-04-12T15:01:00.045-04:00

Please let me clarify: Pascale Picard is not annoying.

Far from it.

I would, in fact, be more likely to use adjectives like: "Charming". "Talented". "Hot" could be another one. (Well, what? I'm just saying.)

"Annoying" is, of course, the title of one of Picard's songs from her debut album Me, Myself and Us.

Picard is one of the rising stars of the Quebec music scene (her album went platinum mere months after its release), and although her sound verges on being a little too mainstream for my personal taste, I believe she has enormous talent and appeal. I hope and she and her band manage to crack the wider North American (and European) markets.

Her biggest single is probably the lovely "Gate 22", and watching the video, I couldn't shake the feeling that she looks like a cross between Anika Moa and the Quin Sisters. (Her music is much closer in style to Anika Moa, than Tegan and Sara, though.)

Click on the images above to watch videos "Falling in Love Again" from Moa (made, it seems, before she was out and proud) and "The Con" from T&S.

The tune "Annoying" has a harder, rockier edge than the majority of the tracks on Me, Myself and Us. The cascading guitars and out-and-out vitriol make it, by far, my favourite track on the album.

[Pascale Picard - MySpace] [The Pascale Picard Band website]

MUSICIANS ARE DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES

2008-04-09T21:36:00.029-04:00

In this video of Liam Finn performing live at Spaceland in LA, he starts out sounding exactly like his dad.

No joke. If I didn't know it was Liam, I'd think I was listening to Neil.

But then he kicks in with the reverb and the feedback, and the bass becomes like this undulating hyrda-headed monster, and we have this nail-biting (deliciously) coruscating fuzz guitar, and next thing he's pounding on the drums like a mad man.

I can't believe this crazy-arse noise is being made by just one bloke.

It's, like, the most exciting thing I've seen in ages.

And I'm not biased just because I'm a kiwi. (Honest.)

This guy is seriously kind of phenomenal.

I guess he'll always have the legacy of his dad hanging over him. But he seems to be well and truly his own man.

And an extrememly talented one at that. Watch:

And while we're on the subject of phenomenal talent, here's another:

I've been listening to Kaki King's latest album a lot recently.

I knew she was a consummate musician, but I didn't realize just quite how frakking amazing she was.

And I didn't know she became famous [fame. noun. 1. public estimation. 2. popular acclaim] because Dave Grohl saw this video of her playing live right here in montreal.

And then here she is playing "Gay Sons of Lesbian Mothers" (which has to be one of the best song titles of all time), again, constructing the song as she goes along:

Unreal.

This entire post was inspired by one of Montreal's finest: Midnight Poutine. A new discovery. Where've you been all my life?

DAMIEN ROBITAILLE: L'HOMME QUI ME RESSEMBLE

2008-04-07T22:09:00.018-04:00

The songs of Franco-Ontarian Damien Robitaille are intelligent, exuberant, disarming little pop gems.

And once lodged in your head, they will haunt you relentlessly.

You'll wake up in the morning only to realize your brain has been singing "Je tombe" all night long. And you'll continue to sing it all through the following day. And night. And day.

Well, you get the picture.

And despite the fact that my french is pretty horrible, even I can hear that he has a way with words. His lyrics are fresh, clever and often very funny.

My favourite tune from his latest album (L'homme qui me ressemble), is "Mètre de mon être".

In the song he literally measures out the parameters of his existence. He starts with his head, (which measures 25 cm²), and expands out from there -- to his bedroom, city, planet -- until he ends with his imagination, which measures infinity (or une éternité).

The circular lyrics looping through the verse and chorus are so simple, and perfect, and gorgeous.

I love this guy.

Here's "Mètre de mon être" and "Je tombe":

[Damien Robitaille - MySpace]

GHINZU: BLOW

2008-04-06T22:46:00.010-04:00

Formed in Belgium in 1999, Ghinzu are a bit like Muse, but without the overblown theatrics.

Not that they're not prone to a little drama. Their best songs are slow burners, beginning with dark, melodic piano lines woven into tense, driving rhythms that culminate in propulsive, muscular (very satisfying) crescendos of noise.

There is something vaguely reminiscent of Noir Désir in their sound, as well, although their English is not quite so heavily (or hilariously) accented.

Here's the eponymous track off their album Blow:

[Ghinzu - MySpace]

ELSIANE: VAPOROUS

2007-09-25T22:21:00.008-04:00

Elsiane is the brainchild of Montréalers Elsieanne Caplette (vocals and keyboards) and Stephane Sotto (drums).

You might be tempted, at first, to write Elsiane off as a kind of trip-hop, downtempo throwback.

But their debut album, Hybrid, is a hugely impressive and polished affair, with a sound that is at once textured, lush and atmospheric.

Singer Elsieanne Caplette has a very distinctive voice -- and, I'm hazarding a guess -- it's one that you either love or hate.

Think: Emiliana Torrini, Angela McCluskey from Telepopmusik, or Karin Dreijer Andersson from The Knife.

If you like any of the above, however, I think you'll love this.

Here's "Vaporous" from Hybrid:

[Elsiane - MySpace]

TRICOT MACHINE: L'OURS

2007-09-23T17:10:00.003-04:00

Unique and utterly beguiling, Tricot Machine are partners (and partners in crime) Catherine Leduc and Matthieu Beaumont.

Originally from Mauricie, the two are now based in Montréal. They released their eponymous album in March of this year.

And it's a stunner.

Featuring gentle and (deceptively) simple arrangements of piano and vocals, the album has a warmth and intimacy that's hard to resist.

Check out the video, Introduction to Tricot Machine. (Very cute.)

And here's another single from the album:

Tricot Machine: "L'ours"

[Tricot Machine - MySpace]

NAVET CONFIT: SAMSAM

2007-09-23T15:28:00.005-04:00

The Universe -- bless her in all her infinite glory -- has bestowed upon me an embarrassment of musical riches in the past little while.

An embarrassment, I tell you.

I am swimming in musical deliciousness right now. And most of those delights are from right here in Montréal.

So let's start the musical odyssey with a band called Navet Confit.

Navet Confit is, in fact, one Jean-Philippe Fréchette.

Monsieur Fréchette is based in Montréal and has just released his latest album, LP2².

He writes in the bio of his website, that his inspirations for the album included hair, shoes, shops, films and modes of transport.

That's right. The really important things in life.

So here's the track "Samsam". Hope you enjoy.

[Navet Confit - MySpace]

POLYPHONIC SPREE: THE RELIGION OF HAPPINESS

2007-09-19T11:40:00.003-04:00

Okay, so they look like a cult.

And they're almost always sickeningly happy (except in their photos).

And -- okay -- a dozen or so songs of "love-is-all-you-need" can wear a little thin.

I agree.

But my god, it's choral symphonic rock. What's not to love?

Polyphonic Spree founder, lead singer (and ‘musical director’) Tim DeLaughter said he was inspired by seventies bands like the Electric Light Orchestra. Who didn't love the Electric Light Orchestra when they were young? Who? Tell me that.

And when the Spree get it right, they give me the shivers. Honest. I get goose bumps, it’s so good.

They could almost inspire me to religious ecstasy. Or conversion. Or something.

Except for the fact that I’m cynical, mercurial and resolutely atheist.

Oh well. Never mind.

Here’s "Light To Follow":

[Polyphonic Spree - MySpace]

STARS: THE MELANCHOLY OF ROMANCE

2007-09-16T10:46:00.003-04:00

Montréal-based band the Stars make music to be romanced by.

If you like your romance tinged with bittersweet, that is.

The Stars are all about dreamy, gorgeous pop. When they're at their best, their sweeping melodies perfectly capture the incredible exhilaration of attraction -- of wanting someone, of loving someone -- and all the excitement it entails.

Lying at the very heart of their compositions, however, is the flip side of that elation: the fear, the self-doubt, the towering potential for heartbreak.

Their deceptively sweet, simple songs mask the workings of a razor sharp intelligence, underscored by a gentle melancholy.

What their songs seem to be saying, over and over, even as they're soaring you to the heavens, is that in every hello, lies the seed of goodbye.

[Stars - MySpace]

SALMONELLA DUB: THE LAST GASPS OF SUMMER...

2007-09-07T16:53:00.001-04:00

Nothing says summer and beers and BBQ like a little kiwi dub.

Dub is huge in the motherland.

I've never really understood why, exactly.

It could be the fact that it accessorizes really well with outdoor concerts, a beer or three, and a lot of weed.

Here in the North our own shimmering chimera of a summer season is disappearing -- fast -- so let's see her out in style with a couple of tunes from two of New Zealand's best:

Salmonella Dub - "Push On Thru" + Sola Rosa - "Sleepwalker"

[Sola Rosa - MySpace]

JUSTICE: CROSS

2007-09-07T10:45:00.023-04:00

According to Wikipedia (I know, I know, can we really trust Wikipedia? And yes, this is thorough-going laziness) -- but anyway -- according to Wikipedia Justice are a French electro house duo consisting of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay.

They've been on the scene since 2003, but released their debut album in June this year.

Think: a harder-edged Daft Punk, with the irreverence and playfulness of LCD Sound-system.

I don’t want to reduce the band to subjective comparisons, however, because it’s entirely its own beast.

A lean, hungry, very clever little beastie. Here’s Let There Be Light and Phantom Part II:

[Justice - MySpace]

EAGLE*SEAGULL: TRAGEDY NEVER SOUNDED SO GOOD

2007-08-14T14:33:00.006-04:00

I’m so late to this party, it’s beyond embarrassing.

I don’t know where I was for the release of this album -- maybe in a cave somewhere in Timbuktu? Maybe I was kidnapped and held captive for all of 2006, in the jungles of the Amazon, only to be rescued by the CIA, who then erased all my memories, and implanted new, false ones.

Because how else do I explain the fact that I managed to miss this?

I’m talking, of course, about Eagle Seagull’s eponymous debut.

On first listen, I got very, very, very excited. I thought, “Oh my god, it sounds like some mangled, mongrel marriage between The Cure and Supertramp. Which should sound awful. But it doesn’t. Oh no -- no, it sounds so, so good.”

And then my brain fizzed. And there was a party in my head.

Sometimes it’s fun to be out of the loop. You come to things late, and then the wait for the next "whatever" is not so long. There are already new songs on Eagle Seagull’s MySpace, for example. And their second album is rumoured to be out early 2008.

Lookit: Only about a hundred more sleeps to go!

Eagle Seagull - Photograph

BLOC PARTY - HELICOPTER (WHITEY VERSION)

2007-08-09T13:55:00.003-04:00

Bloc Party’s debut album Silent Alarm

Perhaps lesser known, however, is the remix version of the same album, where such electro-luminaries as Ladytron, M83, and Four Tet have a bash at reconfiguring the Bloc’s tunes for ‘em.
made a huge splash when it came on the scene a couple of year’s back.

Now, admittedly, it’s going to be pretty damn hard to improve on the original versions. And I’m not completely convinced that the album works.

But I sure am digging the Whitey version of "Helicopter". Maybe for no other reason than I dig everything that man does:

Bloc Party - "Helicopter" (Whitey version)

[Bloc Party – MySpace] [Whitey – MySpace]

KLEE: MEIN GEHEIMNIS

2007-08-07T16:04:00.002-04:00

More gorgeous, catchy-as-hell summer pop.

This time from Germany.

"Mein Geheimnis" is from Klee’s 2005 album, Jelangerjelieber.

I confess, I have no idea what lead singer Suzie Kerstgens is singing about. But when it sounds this good, who cares really?

Fair warning: One listen and you will have this song stuck in your head for days.

Must. Be. Played. Loud.

[Klee - MySpace]

APPLES IN STEREO

2007-08-06T16:53:00.004-04:00

Because I was late jumping on ye olde bandwagon, but I am making up for lost time.

And because it's summer, and these guys are more catchy than a case of herpes.

Unlike a case of herpes, however, they will leave you feeling happy, joyful, and young again.

Oh. To be young again...

[Apples in Stereo - MySpace]

YEAH YEAH YEAHS: IS IS

2007-08-01T14:56:00.002-04:00

They’re storming the gates!

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have just released their latest EP, and it’s glorious.

Clocking in at around 20 minutes, this is a lean, mean, muscled explosion of noise. Every track is a blast of coruscating buzz-saw rock.

This is a band at the height of their game. They never put a foot wrong.

Needless to say I am fairly gagging for the album.

(And is it just me, or do these guys have a definite thang for word repetition?)

Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs - "Kiss Kiss"

[Yeah Yeah Yeahs - MySpace]

DEADBOY AND THE ELEPHANTMEN

2007-07-30T16:29:00.002-04:00

Deadboy and the Elephantmen is, essentially, a bloke named Dax Riggs.

In early 2006, he and (then) bandmate Tessie Brunet put out the album We Are Night Sky.

It's an impressive album -- hard-edged swamp rock, but of the highly expressive, cerebral variety.

Rigg's gravelly voice is a raw, fragile thing of beauty, often swinging from a low growl to a howl in a heartbeat. He’s been variously compared to Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie, by way of the banks of the Mississippi Delta.

Brunet left the band in late 2006 and Riggs is releasing his solo debut on August 21.

In the meantime, here’s "Dressed in Smoke", from We Are Night Sky:

[deadboy and the Elephantmen - MySpace]

UNKLE: WAR STORIES

2007-07-26T16:04:00.004-04:00

The first impression of War Stories, the third release from UK outfit Unkle, is one of awesome power: a towering juggernaut of sonic beautastic-ness.

Wily and hard-bitten in places, lush and orchestral in others, War Stories strains and snaps at its leash like a feral, wholly unpredictable beast.

Repeated listens, however, begin to reveal a crack or two in the savagery. The album seems less bite, more whimper. Somehow, someway, the whole is not quite equal to its parts.

But, oh, the parts.

The first single, "Burn My Shadow", is like a warped, cracked-out version of Revolution (from the Cult’s Love LP, circa 1985). Ian Astbury is amazing here, managing to sound both menacing and plaintive at the same time. It’s a treat to hear Astbury in such fine form, and he shows up not once, but twice, gracing the albums’ final track as well.

Unkle has had no shortage of big-name guests in the past: Thom Yorke and Ian Brown, to name but two. And their latest line-up is an intriguing mix of some of rock’s more interesting vocalists, including Gavin Clarke, Liela Moss from The Duke Spirit, Josh Homme and, of course, Astbury.

Not all guest tracks work – Gavin Clarke’s "Keys To The Kingdom" is one of the weaker songs on the album. It’s Astbury who is the standout here, no question. His deep, mellifluous voice perfectly suits Unkle’s dark, volatile grooves.

When it works, it works: War Stories' highs are spectacularly high. Certain parts verge on tired retreads of Unkle's older work, however, and this is, ultimately, what makes the album a flawed one.

Unkle - Burn My Shadow:

[Unkle - MySpace]

RANDOM TRACK II: FELIX DA HOUSECAT DOES HERNANDEZ

2007-07-26T12:18:00.003-04:00

I don’t know if it’s a Southern Hemisphere thing (a New Zealand thing?) but I’d never heard the song "Born To Be Alive" by Patrick Hernandez.

Never heard it. Never in my life.

Everybody knows it here, though.

It’s a disco great, it seems. In the pantheon of really-cheesy-tunes-you-dance- to-with-glee-and-abandon-when-you’re-falling-down-drunk, it rates right up there.

Not having had a history with the tune, I can’t really get into it.

But I am loving the remix of the remix: Felix da Housecat remixes The Disco Boys remixing the Hernandez original...

(If you keep listening, you’ll get the Extended Dance Mix of the original. Clap your hands and say yeah!)

RANDOM TRACK I: SUPERMODE DOES BRONSKI BEAT

2007-07-24T16:10:00.002-04:00

Anyone remember Bronski Beat?

Three UK lads who took the world by storm in the early 80s with a string of dance hits that went on to became huge gay anthems?

Remember wee Jimmy Somerville, with a face like a potato (a very cute potato), and a voice like an angel?

I had their album Age of Consent on vinyl, back in the day. I think I may have even worn a hole in it.

I'd all but forgotten about these lads, when I came across the remix "Tell Me Why" by Supermode.

Supermode are a Scandinavian group, apparently, who also like to be known as the "Swedish House Mafia". Go figure.

The song is a remix of two Bronski Beat songs, with music sampled from "Smalltown Boy", and lyrics taken from both "Smalltown Boy" and "Why".

It's magic. Listen:

DIGITALISM: IDEALISM

2007-07-23T21:22:00.003-04:00

Allaying my vague disappointment with the new releases from The Chemical Brothers and Unkle -- both of which have some outstanding tracks, but which are, overall, a bit inconsistent -- Idealism, from German duo Digitalism, is killer.

It’s a driving, angular, thumping, damn fine example of electro-kraut-dance-punk-rock.

And while the single Zdarlight has been a favourite of mine for ages now, I’ve been delighted to find that the album more than lives up to the single’s early promise.

Here’s Zdarlight and I Want I Want:

EDITORS: AN END HAS A START

2007-07-17T20:17:00.002-04:00

Darlings of the British music press, the Editors, have released their sophomore effort, An End Has A Start.

It's a strong album, no mistake.

Why do I always end up feeling like I'm listening to a cheap imitation of Interpol, though?

It's all flab and no muscle. Bombast and no discipline.

It's a bit like finding a knock-off of your favourite perfume on Khao San Rd. It does the trick, but leaves you pining for the real thing.

It may just be me, though.

Check out this particularly effusive review from Playlouder:

This album is fucking brilliant – it made me want to cut my hair, paint the ceiling, fuck the postman and burn the disco down. So I did. Then I curled up in a corner, cried, and shat myself.

I might be lukewarm about The Editors, but I think that may be the best endorsement for an album I've read, hands down, ever.

METRIC

2007-07-17T16:47:00.003-04:00

Oh how I love thee.

But when, oh when will you put out a new album?

You have reduced me to listening to old songs. Specifically: ones spliced and diced by MSTRKRT.

And yet.

Somehow my love for you remains strong.

CROWDED HOUSE: TIME ON EARTH

2007-07-16T13:56:00.002-04:00

Neil Finn can do a wicked line in plaintive longing.

I don’t know if it’s his penchant for minor chords or what, but he’s the only male songwriter I know of who can, with a simple, delicate melody, get to the very marrow of love (in all its many forms). His best songs explore the complexities and paradoxical nature of love -- how it is so often a strange commingling of joy and heartbreak.

I have to admit that, as a rule, Crowded House are not to my taste. They’re a bit too -- dare I say it?? -- mainstream. (There, I said it). On every Crowded House album, though, there is at least one slow-burning Finn classic -- a nebulous paean to love -- that floors you with its simplicity and intensity.

Silent House, from Crowded House’s latest, Time on Earth, is one of those songs. It’s a beautiful, moving meditation on the bittersweet experience of watching a loved one recede into the twilight of old age.

NICE

2007-07-11T18:58:00.004-04:00

Not that I need validation or anything -- no, not at all, who, me? -- but Filter Magazine has just listed Tegan and Sara's Back in Your Head in their Top 5 picks.*

People of taste, that lot.

And it's not like I'm gonna rename this blog the Tegan and Sara blog any time soon, but les filles will invariably show up here a rather a lot.

As is only right, fair, and just.

Also: they've released their singles The Con and Back In Your Head on iTunes. (What are you waiting for? Get on over there!)

Update: More denizens from the Land of Discerning Taste: I see Salon has just made Back In Your Head their song of the day. (Note: You'll probably need a day pass to access the site.)

*Hat Tip to i guess i'm floating

POLARIS SHORT LIST

2007-07-11T16:16:00.000-04:00

Look at the finalists for this year’s second annual Polaris Music Prize, which honours the year's best full-length Canadian album:

+ Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
+ The Besnard Lakes, The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse
+ The Dears, Gang of Losers
+ Julie Doiron, Woke Myself Up
+ Feist, The Reminder
+ Junior Boys, So This Is Goodbye
+ Miracle Fortress, Five Roses
+ Joel Plaskett Emergency, Ashtray Rock
+ Chad VanGaalen, Skelliconnection
+ Patrick Watson, Close to Paradise

Canada, oh Canada.

You are blessed.

May I point out, too, that half of these acts hail from Montréal (Arcade Fire, The Besnard Lakes, The Dears, Miracle Fortress and Patrick Watson)?

The award, which is based on the UK Mercury Prize, is worth $20,000 and will be awarded at a gala in Toronto on Sept. 24th.

More here.

THE FALL GOES ALL ELECTRONIC ON YOUR ASS

2007-07-11T14:11:00.004-04:00

What do you get when you combine The Fall's Mark E. Smith, Mouse On Mars' Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner?

Why, Von Südenfed, of course. And a mongrel melange of staccato, indie electronica called Tromatic Reflexxions.

Personally, I find Reflexxions in its entirety virtually unlistenable (but that's just me). This song, though, is a thing of stonking, kick-ass, sonic beauty:

OVER TO NEW ZEALAND NOW: FUR PATROL

2007-07-05T15:00:00.002-04:00

This band has been threatening greatness for quite some time, and by all accounts their new album Collider is delivering on that promise.

(I've yet to order my copy, but have been enjoying the EP for a while now.)

I can't help feeling that if Fur Patrol were up here in the North, there would be a lot more of a fuss made of them. Especially with front woman Julia Deans, who is not only hot as hell, but who writes intelligent, melodic rock with more hooks than a fisherman's tackle. (Heh. I said fisherman).

So here's one from their Long Distance Runner EP, for your perusal and enjoyment:

MONTRÉAL II

2007-07-04T10:35:00.001-04:00

And here's a couple from the Québécois contingent...

Marc Déry

J'm'endors pas

Daniel Bélanger

Fermeture Définitive

MONTRÉAL, BABY

2007-07-03T16:53:00.003-04:00

Montréal is fairly bursting at the seams with incredible bands -- bursting I tell you! Incredible! There are so many, in fact, that I often joke there must be something in the water.

I could go on to list a few, but I won't, because the "Montréal Music Scene" has been more than done to death already.

I'll limit myself, therefore, to a couple of my current faves, who are little known now perhaps, but sure to be huge!

Miracle Fortress: Five Roses

The perfect summer accompaniment. Beatlesque, with a hint of Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys and a pinch of 80s shoegazer swirl, rock auteur Graham Van Pelt's debut album Five Roses is a hugely intelligent and beguiling affair. One track doesn't do it justice, though. Hunt down the album. Make it your own. Your brain, and your heart, will thank you for it.

Miracle Fortress: This Thing About You

The Fudge

If legend is to be believed, these lads have been 10 years in the making, (or at least their band has been). They've yet to sign a record deal and become millionaires, but I'm sure if they could just get their single The Word on the radio, the wealth and adulation they so rightly deserve would be theirs. Early Pixies by way of some kind of mutant swampy bluesy punk rock. Or something. You decide.

The Fudge: The Word

[And a big thanks to my pal Karen for putting me onto Miracle Fortress in the first place...]

AND FOR BREAKFAST

2007-07-03T11:09:00.000-04:00

We have a dark and dirty slice of industrial techno...

TO BUILD A HOME

2007-07-02T17:04:00.006-04:00

Preternaturally talented Montrealer Patrick Watson guest vocals on a number of tracks on the latest release from The Cinematic Orchestra, Ma Fleur.

Ma Fleur is a moving, thoroughly gorgeous, and, well, cinematic experience.

And Watson's pipes -- being as they are, directly from heaven -- lend themselves very nicely to the project.

Watson has oft been compared to Jeff Buckley, but he sounds somehow more vulnerable, more tremulous -- I found myself thinking of Antony and the Johnsons, as well as Buckley, the first time I heard him sing.

Here he is, on the wonderful opening track of Ma Fleur:

To Build A Home

YOU'VE GOT TROUBLE

2007-07-01T18:47:00.005-04:00

Tegan and Sara's new album -- called The Con, and not officially due out till July 24 -- was unceremoniously and messily leaked all over the internet nearly two months early.

(To veer off on a tangent for just a moment: I've never really understood how these leaks work -- is it someone from the inner circle? Is it a sound person? Is it a sales rep from the record label? Who else would have access to a newly minted album? Do Tegan and Sara all of a sudden look askance at their sound engineer, with hatred and suspicion in their eyes?)

This was Sara Quin's actual response to the album leak, posted on their MySpace page:

...we are sad that the album has already leaked. but there isn't much you can do these days to stop it! so, looking on the bright side, there's no excuse for anyone to not sing along to the new songs at the shows coming up.

...i hope that you will still pick up our album when it comes out. or buy it on itunes. OR do none of that, but still know every word to every song and clap above your head, even if you have to put your smoothie or beer or water on the sticky ground. (You can read the full post here).

And I loved her postscript:

i have downloaded leaked albums before. so i am not trying to seem like a creepy school teacher slapping your ears with a ruler. i swear.

Gracious, witty, insouciant -- and that's just the blog posts. Imagine how disarming they might be in person?

I rate this band. I really do. In fact, I probably have a 3,000 word post about Tegan and Sara floating around in me somewhere. But (lucky for you) now is not the time, nor the place.

Suffice it to say, I've heard the new album. (I've already written about how music addiction will drive one to occasional acts of criminal behaviour.)

I've heard it, and I loved it.

It's a grower, and those are, by far, my favourite kind of albums.

I'm not going to write anymore about it until the album proper comes out (at which time I'll buy the CD and the DVD), but the twins have already put up a teaser for their avid and restless fans.

And here's a couple of lesser-knowns from the vaults, because, well, why not?

1. We Didn't Do It
2. Trouble
3. Walking With a Ghost (Morgan Page Bootleg Remix)

STOP ME

2007-06-30T14:40:00.001-04:00

...if you've heard this one before.

I'm not sure this album works in it's entirety, but I am enamored of the remake of The Smith's song Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Somehow Daniel Merriweather's R&B and soul-tinged vocals work. (R&B and The Smiths? Quoi...? But, really, it works.)

And I love the way the song segues into the Supreme's You keep me hangin' on.

Pure genius.

I found myself laughing out loud the first time I heard this song. Surprised and delighted, I fell immediately and irrevocably in love with it.

Here are the two songs side by side: