AWmusic

Atlas Sound aka Bradford Cox of Deerhunter’s solo project has been around for some time. I never bothered to listen to Deerhunter or Atlas Sound until last year actually, where Nancy was telling me she preferred Bradford Cox’s material. Still, I missed out on a large chunk having only checked out Microcastle which I do admit was pretty impressive.

Anyway after hearing a collaboration with Panda Bear aka Noah Lennox or Animal Collective, I was pretty psyched up about the album Logos. Released on October 19th, I’ve had a few weeks to absorb the album and it’s a great one. It seems like bloggers and critics are all digging it, so at least I’m not an outsider on this one.

There is something great about this album, it feels good from the start adding in a variety of sounds that has some sort of perfect chemistry. The sounds continually fool me into thinking there’s something going on in my room. This includes like the buzzing or random noises that I think are other stuff. There’s something about the way the album is mixed and blended that some noises/vibrations make you unsure of where they come from. The music is wonderful background music – for the unparanoid but nonetheless there’s something intangible here that I hope you hear that I seem to be experiencing.

Top to bottom, I love the album. It just struck me that the album is a decent 43 minutes, and it always seems like I’ve sped past all the tracks and starting over again. I find myself wanting to listen more and more. I tend to notice the subtle things on secondary listens but because there’s just so much to consume, I tend to forget. Nonetheless it’s still enjoyable like each song is the first listen.

My favourites are Sheila and Criminals. Each song has beauty and some major creativity that shouldn’t be ignored. That includes Quick Canals featuring Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier which is the album’s longest track.

It’s easily a shoe-in for one of the top albums of the year for me.

Rating: 5 out of 5
It’s a perfect mix of light-feeling pop with experimental noises and sounds. It’s wholly creative with a layer of simplistic-ness wrapped around it.

Criminals by Atlas Sound
Sheila by Atlas Sound

Quick Canal (with Laetitia Sadier) by Atlas Sound music video after the jump:
Click Here To Read The Rest »

The Listening is the debut album for one of Canada’s budding young artists, Lights. Valerie Poxleitner as she is formally named is no new face to the media. Her songs have caught the attention of the masses, and her singles are constant chart toppers. I became familiar with Lights after hearing her self-titled EP, and was instantly hooked. Her knack for catchy music and originally themed tracks were something to be admired. I was especially impressed with her ability to sequence her own melodies, which I find to be the secret behind her success.

The Listening is comprised of twelve tracks, and a couple of bonuses, note that four of the tracks have already been released through her EP. Probably the biggest gripe I had with the album, was the recycling of music, otherwise I thought it was great and very fluid. The best aspect of Lights is her eccentric style, which happens to be present in every song and fittingly so. Her dream-like gimmick, gives off a sense of euphoria and care-freeness that doesn’t come across as pretentious. Instead her relaxed attitude speaks for itself, in an album that definitely has both talent and natural instinct.

Saviour is the first track, and one of her current singles from The Listening. It has her distinguished melody, which is often played simply but sounds emotional and extravagant. It’s the perfect compliment to her soft and subtle vocals, which while may not be extremely talented, work well within the confines of her range. Her sweet voice is the second most important element, next to her hypnotic melodies, that truly work to grab the attention of listeners. However, as with most music, their individual efforts are not enough, and the combination of dreamy vocals and entrancing melodies further solidifies her originality and artistic prowess. Besides her space-like style, her originality is also portrayed through her themes and lyrics. Saviour is a romantic track with clever metaphors and not the typical kind of happy-go-lucky song. Instead listeners are treated to the hopeful, passionate kind of feelings that are hardly seen when it comes to love songs.

I already covered tracks like Drive My Soul, Ice, and February Air in my review of Lights’ EP, which all happen to share the same elated approach. The new tracks on this album also express the same style, but some are more upbeat while others are more hopeful and sombre. Two of my favourite tracks, happen to be one after the other; Face Up and Lions! Face Up is a very mellow song that has a positive message and a hopeful sound. The lyrics combined with the overall attitude of the song makes this track very noteworthy and worthwhile. Similarly Lions! has a great message, and utilises clever lyrics. Lions! is a surreal track with an overall beautiful touch, and if it doesn’t hit home, then I’m not sure what will. I think the innocence and great attitude of Lights is what got to me the most, and that is a combination of her sound, words and ideology.

The Listening is a great album, with great themes, and a consistent style. With the album alone I can tell exactly what Lights is all about and this allows me to further appreciate her music. While she may not be the most talented artist out there, she is certainly one of the most genuine, and that is a likeable quality. Pleasant music from an even nicer person, if there’s one thing Lights preserves, it’s innocence and a kind soul.

Check out her Myspace for more info.

Lights – Saviour

Lights – Lions!

We haven’t done a contest/giveaway in a looooooong time and while we at AWmusic.ca have had a rough week (Monday we had our site temporarily shut down) and I’ve gotten a case of bronchitis or something that’s left me very sick. We’ve got a nice giveaway for the 2009 Steamwhistle Presents You Say Party We Say Die!, Think About Life, Little Girls and DJ Vaneska brought to you by The Musebox.

This is a concert to see some great Canadian bands at the Phoenix on November 20th. Montreal’s Think About Life recently got a Best New Music tag for their track Havin’ My Baby, while both You Say Party We Say Die and Little Girls are coming off recently released albums (which I need to check out but I’m behind as always).

Anyway to catch a great night of Canadian bands all you need to do is:
1. Enter a comment below.
2. Include a valid e-mail address
3. Be 19+ (won’t gain entry otherwise)
4. Respond to an email when you’re selected as winner

Winner receives a guestlist entry for themselves and a person of their choice.

Good luck! Winner will be chosen by random draw.

Johanna by Think About Life
Growing by Little Girls
Laura Palmer’s Prom by You Say Party We Say Die!

Lights up and six men dressed like Don Draper on a casual Sunday afternoon, minus the kick ass cardigan, launch into a frenzied set packed with energy, fury and rocking out with ones cock out. Central to this band of crazed young rockers is one Max Bemis, rock star, triple threat, recovering addict and brand new poster boy for living with bi-polar.

As the set grows and swells, Bemis, lead singer of Say Anything, becomes more disheveled, looking less like Don Draper with each passing moment of frenzied musical bliss, until he stands, catching his breathe, sweat dripping from his wife beater in front of a crowd of worshipers. Classic cuts like, Alive With The Glory of Love, Wow, I can get Sexual Too, Yellow Cat (Slash) Red Cat, Woo and Baby Girl I’m A Blur, which is an apt description of Say Anything live, have whipped the crowd into a frenzy that would put most riots to shame.

The first encore finds master Bemis, alone on stage, guitar slung around his neck for the first time of the night. The crowd convinces him to play A Walk Through Hell, and a tender moment as Max and the crowd perform an inspirational duet, singing every lyric together follows.

After the dust of the first encore settles, the band rejoins Max on stage and launch into Crushed, Spores and the incredibly scathing and genius of Admit It. With the encore done, so clearly is Bemis, and when he exits the stage, he is gone, done with this show that he just poured everything into.

There live show is not the only time that Bemis bares his soul and puts it out there for the whole world to judge. He does it every night on stage, and has once again pressed it into a disc for mass consumption.

While 2004’s Say Anything……Is A Real Boy first offered a glimpse into the psyche of the talented and troubled lead singer, and 2007’s varied double offering, Say Anything……In Defense Of The Genre, delved deeper into the darkest parts of Bemis’s mind and the most troubling times in his life, the just released Say Anything turns much of the focus outward onto the rest of the world. The subjects touched on Say Anything attack a world filled with power hungry, irresponsible people and painful love triangles while also taking on the subject of the demise of one of Bemis’s own relationships that dotted Defense and his new Marriage to Sherri Dupree of Eisley.

Nothing compares to hearing a song live for the first time. As Bemis spit the lyrics to Hate Everyone to a crowd filled with many who hadn’t heard the track yet, the venom and clarity with which Bemis alternated between the delicate hate of the verses and the bouncy chorus where over and over again, Bemis informs us, “I hate Everyone”, awakened the crowd to one of the Say Anything’s best new tracks.

Bemis taps into this anger again later on, on the track Young, Dumb and Stung, but points that anger in a more positive direction, aiming it at the people throughout your life who try and tear you down and make you doubt who you are. The lyrics “Don’t care what you think, you think I care.” Define a song where he rails against a childhood friend that turned his back on him and everyone else who would doubt who he is.

The circus feel to the opening of Mara and Me is classic Say Anything, and the song itself lives up to this feeling through the first few moments as Bemis talks about babies with guns and the Kings of Leon, before the music stops and he plainly speaks the words “Wait a second- I can’t write the same damn song over and over again.” From there the song goes schizophrenic with Jeff and Jake Turner helping out with vocals, and creating one of the stand out tracks on Say Anything.

Say Anything was said to be self titled to represent a starting over point for the band or a re-definition of who and where they are now, and the album manages to come through on this promise, as it introduces a band that is more confident in who they are and what they’re doing. The songs show Bemis’s ability to look outside of himself and still write awesome songs that walk the blurred lines between classic rock, pop punk and post everything. This Say Anything album is a walk through Bemis’s re-built life the way that …..In Defense Of The Genre was a walk through the ruins of his previous one.

Say Anything – Hate Everyone
Say Anything – Mara And Me
Say Anything – Young Dumb And Stung

Rock and roll has carried its own fair share of clichés and phases throughout the years. Bands come and go while others attempt to regain what they once had. Such is the case with Pearl Jam’s new album ‘Backspacer’. The eleven track release makes every attempt at maintaining the fundamentals of rock, all the while taking the time to reevaluate and asses past successes of Pearl Jam. In the end, the album is a solid take with some of the most energized sounds I’ve heard from the band in years.

Reborn and revitalized, Backspacer is Pearl Jam’s first studio album released free of a major record label. Available physically exclusively through target, pearljam.com, and in digital format, the album feels very quick and spontaneous throughout. The music remains complex with the band avoiding an attempt at recreating their early 90s grunge sound. Gone are the lyrics of overcoming hardships and anger release. Apparent now is the positive reflection of a life and career through Vedder’s eyes. Tracks like ‘Gonna See My Friend’ and ‘The Fixer’ really demonstrate this view while additionally proving that energy doesn’t diminish with age.

There are some grimmer portions in the music but even then, they return to form with an optimistic mature take. For the first time in a long time the transition PJ is experiencing is one for the better. For a band that has its best years behind, it sounds like they feel perfectly content where they are today and that’s a great thing. The brooding anger of previous albums has dissipated bringing a new energized sound that’s complex clean and fun.

MP3:

Pearl Jam – The Fixer

Pearl Jam – Amongst The Waves

Buy at:

pearljam.com / iTunes

More info:

pearljam.com / Myspace

Bagheera is a trio consisting of Tom Cowcher, Sam Twidale and Jacob Silkin and are a product of the always active Liverpool music scene. This is a young, as yet unsigned, band with only the self-produced Hollow Home EP under their belts but they have been getting a fair amount of positive attention from fellow bloggers and the BBC Radio 6’s Tom Robinson. They haven’t been courting labels as of yet, hoping to build their repertoire before approaching them. Smart thing to do since they are all still students at the University of Liverpool.

The first thing you will note about the four song Hollow Home EP is the Beach Boy-like harmonies (all the guys sing) on the first song. This is coupled with a Grizzly Bear-like sensibility that takes these songs into the realm of soaring melodies that are layered with multiple loops and samples and are accompanied by richly textured vocals. These guys sound like they have a lot more experience than they do. The sound is complex without being crowded, and is both fresh and classic at the same time. I loved the aggressive drumming on the first song, Horizons Lined With Scars, however the vocals left me a bit confused and underwhelmed. The intro has a gorgeous guitar line that loses it’s impact when the undynamic vocals take over. I wish this was an instrumental. And that is the problem I have with these songs, the vocals let the music down. I couldn’t decide if it was because, to me, they sounded slightly flat.

Circadian Clock has a similar Beach Boy harmony and another gorgeous (this time acoustic) guitar line, very reminiscent of a flamenco style. The choral-like harmonies are the best thing in this song, they really are wonderful but again there is something slightly off, whether it’s the recording itself or the way it was mixed I’m not sure. I again felt underwhelmed, like this song wanted to be so much more but was stifled before it reached its full potential. In fact, you could say that about this whole EP. You can’t fault the musicianship, they are a talented trio, the guitar is bright with nice tone and attack, the drums sometimes fail the song such as in Skeleton Leaf where at times they are almost non-existent but on Horizons Line With Scars they make the song, and the vocal harmonies are really well executed. Still, I just couldn’t get into this group of songs. The last song Old Machine is another complex arrangement of loops and overdubs. And that could be the problem for me, I just can’t imagine sitting and listening to eight songs of harmonies and atmospheric overdubs. Just not my kind of music, I guess.

The guys from Bagheera are still in school but are working on perfecting a live show and recording new material for a second EP. Once they graduate they will be concentrating on the band full time and perfecting their repertoire. This band has a lot of promise, to be sure, and hopefully with a lot more experience under their belts the songs will be much more fully realized, right now they just fall short of being truly great tunes. By the way, don’t let the label “folk” music scare you, these aren’t really folk tunes, at least not in the strictest sense, but as with all genre’s of music folk has fallen into a kind of miscellaneous category where things get grouped that don’t quite fall into the other genre’s. If it has an acoustic guitar then it must be folk. Uh uh. If I were forced to group this into one category I would put it into atmospheric alternative. Which is another miscellaneous category all of it’s own. Let’s just say that this EP defies categorization and leave it at that, ok?

You can listen to these songs on the bands MySpace page and if you contact them they will send you a free copy of this EP. You can also find Bagheera on Facebook.

Bagheera – Horizons Lined With Scars
Bagheera – Skeleton Leaf

Another year in the bank and another collection of Matt Pollesel’s compilation of the Hottest Canadian Bands of 2009 on Iheartmusic.net. If you didn’t know Matt does this yearly from a selection of bloggers, websites – basically a whole collaboration – props to Matt for all the hard work and getting a lot of our lazy butts to write lists (one being me).

Before I give you my submitted list, I try to stay objective on this list. It doesn’t reflect my personal tastes per se. I did include a band I love too much (The Rest) and an artist I think people will miss (CFCF – he’ll be huge maybe not among bloggers but definitely on the internet).

10. Fucked Up
A Polaris Prize win should help increase the profile of this hardcore band. The truth is that while the Polaris Prize was a massive victory for the band, they had a really good 2008 and winning the prize probably reflects that.

Son The Father by Fucked Up
(Number 2 on the actual list)

9. Diamond Rings
I know only one song by Diamond Rings and it’s a good one. It also helps that video has gotten quite a bit of attention *cough* Pitchfork *cough*.

All Yr Songs by Diamond Rings

(Number 20 on the actual list)

8. CFCF
If this list was done in November or December, I really believe CFCF would be much higher with his album having been released on October 26. He may be known for his remixes of Crystal Castles and Health but I’m going out on a limb that he’s going to be well known a month or two from now (got to try to be timeless).

Triceratops (CFCF Remix) by Health
(Unranked)

7. Handsome Furs
Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry released another solid album in my opinion and should be up here. While comparisons to bandmate Spencer Krug likely downplay their contribution to Canadian, it’s hard to ignore the positive reviews that Face Control has received.

Nyet Spasiba by Handsome Furs
(Number 3 on the actual list)

6. Bruce Peninsula
Bruce Peninsula’s A Mountain Is A Mouth is an odd affair but equally amazing. I’m glad that so many have recognize how awesome they are.

Steamroller by Bruce Peninsula
(Number 8 on the actual list)

5. Destroyer
Bay of Pigs for song of the year? It’d be hard to argue against a near 14 minute track.

Bay Of Pigs by Destroyer (warning: HUGE FILE)
(Unranked on the list?)

4. Japandroids
Japandroids’ Post Nothing may have seemed like a cocky name for an album title but they definitely followed through. They absolutely killed in regards to press, receiving great critical acclaim.

I Quit Girls by Japandroids
(Number 4 on the actual list)

3. The Rest
I’ve been on The Rest’s bandwagon for the whole year as their album; Everyone All At Once blew me away and is one of my favourite albums of 2009. While they haven’t struck it big in terms of the press they’ve received, bloggers from all over the world have praised this album.

With Every Heartbeat by The Rest (Robyn Cover)
(Unranked)

2. Sunset Rubdown
Sunset Rubdown is follow up Random Spirit Lover with Dragonslayer an album that was much more accessible yet still of a very high quality. (And they are one of my favorite bands hands down).

Apollo and The Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh by Sunset Rubdown

(Number 18 on the actual list)

1. Rural Alberta Advantage
Stephen Harper tried to score cool points with us by having them on his iPod. As much as I still wouldn’t vote for the conservatives, that’s pretty damn cool for the RAA. The RAA weren’t eligible to even be nominated for the Polaris Music Prize but if they had, I’m pretty certain they would’ve been a top contender.

(Number 1 on the actual list)
Ballad of the RAA by The Rural Alberta Advantage

My honorable mention: Julie Doiron, Faunts and Said The Whale and more… (I probably would’ve fiddled with it a bit more had I given myself for a chance to think about it).

“Your faith has got to be greater than your fear.”

Do NOT watch videos of Julian Casablancas on Conan O’Brien. “11th Dimension” came out a month or two ago, but after watching the live performance, I realized the need to share is much greater than previously thought. On Conan, Julian Casablancas’ performance was either, not up to par, or not what I expected. However, I didn’t feel like my expectations were too high for the front man of The Strokes. Bottom line, just listen to the song.

Now going solo, Julian Casablancas
delivers his first single wonderfully for our ears. Although his visit to Conan was not in the least bit interesting, the play count of the song on my iTunes would beg to differ. Such a snappy synthetic sound the song begins with, continuing with Casablancas’ voice relaying us information about his life on the frozen surface of a fireball. I couldn’t tell you what this song means, except that is has meaning. Lines about faith and forgiveness tell the listener exactly how to live their life, with such persuasion and passion. Only such a voice could convince you to “forgive them, even if they are not sorry.” He teaches even about faith, and fear, in the most impressive yet uplifting voice. Lyrically the song may sound like a description of a ballad maybe, but “11th Dimension” in fact is quite the danceable song if anything. Such a strong and catchy background instrumental maintains the attention caught, while Casablancas’ voice and lyrics creates the deeper meaning to the song.
The full album, “Phrazes for the Young,” is due to be released on the second of November.

Julian Casablancas – 11th Dimension
The Strokes – Reptilia

Elin Palmer is a Swedish singer songwriter who’s previous work includes playing time with the Lee Lewis Harlots. She’s played with Busia Bulat, M. Ward and The Fray in the past. She’s a seasoned musician who’s been around the block so to speak.

I was interested in her work after hearing a handful of tracks on her album, Postcards. Elin Palmer has a nice voice siding with great classical influenced folk. It’s nice to here all these instruments including the Nyckelharpa. It gives the music as interesting taste. With two tracks sung in her native language, she uses her heritage to further emphasize how great of a singer she is. It’s hard to say how good she is lyrically, I’m not sold that it’s the greatest in the world but it definitely doesn’t bother me,

The album from top to bottom is very sound with many weak spots. I think that’s where it ultimately fails to achieve great success is that it’s too sound. While the songs aren’t similar I just can’t seem to pick up sections where this album has its moments. It’s good music, tons of great classical influenced stuff but I can’t help but be a little more bored then I should be. It’s definitely safe music and while there’s nothing wrong with that, I feel like Elin Palmer’s Postcard doesn’t captivate me like I feel like Elin Palmer should.

For now, I’ll keep my eyes on Elin Palmer. She definitely has some good qualities that can’t be ignored and she should just keep moving forward. Perhaps more risks and more of a personality might do wonders but then again what do I know?

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Still an above average album with talent shining more then anything.

Postcard by Elin Palmer
Balloons by Elin Palmer