Malmo, Sweden's Fredrik has just released their full lenth Trilogi, comprised of 3 EPs entitled Holm, Ava and Ner, signifying the "Frozen Forest Island," "Water Through Sound" and the "Inside Underground." According to a press release, "together they represent a trilogy of contemporized viewpoints of the Lovecraftian dream passage - orientation at great cost and understanding at the risk of sanity."
A mix of folk elements and electronica, it creates a trippy, baroque soundscape that's dark and mysterious. First single "Locked in the basement" has soothing melodies, interjected with striking electronic beats; it's like a lullaby, but it won't let you put your guard down. It's like being in a cabin in the woods at night, listening to the sound of the wind and the crickets. You know you're safe and sound, but the vast, inky expanse of night conjures up danger, mystery and intrigue.
In physics, thermodynamic free energy is the energy in a physical system that can be converted to do work. Philadelphia's Free Energy doesn't take a lot of work to enjoy. In fact, it's joyous power-pop that's like a ray of sunshine that annilihates the wintry November clouds, leaving behind a rainbow that shoots Skittles everywhere. Sing along the BIG choruses and the nah-nah-nahs from the standout track "Dream City" from their debut Stuck on Nuthin', and feel all your troubles melt away. Free Energy - Dream City (mp3) (buy) Free Energy - Something in Common (mp3) (buy)
This is the third official installment of the Impressionable Youth Tardy Series. Sometimes (a lot of the times) great music ends up getting lost in our inbox. If we eventually find it and like it, you'll see it here. It's old news, but it's good news. Sorry we were tardy!
The Album: Horses Can't Dance 7" and We Have Feelings Too EP
Date Received: July 31, 2009
Why You Should Give It A Listen If You Haven't Already: I remember reading a press release or article about the Mickey Gang that stated these young Brazilian lads made "Julian Casablancas and co look positively old aged." I scoffed at the comment but it's a little bit true. I'm only in my twenties and it makes me feel a little bit old. It's high energy, breezy neon coloured synth-pop with just a hint of dirtiness that could only be made by carefree youth. It's what the Teenagers would sound like if they were teenagers.
You know those rare occasions when two favourite things dovetail together and combine their awesomeness into something greater than the sum of their parts? Well this video is one of those times.
If you are a fan of the television show "How I Met Your Mother" or you've seen "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", then you know that Jason Segel is a man of many musical talents. Here he showcases not only his musical talent as he joins Swell Season (see the Sept. 15/09 post on them) on stage as he tries to charm the ladies.
Montreal's Flotilla sounds rich. Not rich in a mo-money-mo-problems way. But rich in the way people speak about Belgium Chocolates or leather armchairs or engineered hardwood flooring. This is a whole new level of sophistication. Wine-swirling, candle-lighting, cheese-eating sophistication. You might as well invite some architects, archeologists, artists, writers and Frasier Crane over for a soiree and use this as your playlist.
I'm not saying that it's music for snobs. Far from it. It's definitely polished. It's also got distinctively pretty sound with elements of jazz, cabaret, folk, electronica and rock, held together with classical compositions and enheightened with Veronica Charnley's ethereal voice. It has an air of art school quirkiness to it, cultured but different.
It's an interesting mix and not something you come across everyday. It's also no wonder "Flotilla's One Hundred Words For Water stands out as one of the most original and engaging albums released by a new Canadian group recently" by Exclaim! magazine. Flotilla - A Thousand Jacobs (mp3) (buy) Flotilla - Clouds (mp3) (buy)
1. You drag your as-yet-non-converted-rock friends to see this as their first rock show. 2. Get so swept up in the music you forget what the band looks like the next day. 3. Wish they would end it just a tiny bit earlier so that you can make the encore and not miss the last subway home. 4. Miss the subway home anyways cause it's just too good.
Their live CD and DVD, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Live is out now and a fifth studio release will be out in the spring. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Spread Your Love (live) (mp3) (buy) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll (Punk Song) (live) (mp3) (buy)
This is the second official installment of the Impressionable Youth Tardy Series. Sometimes (a lot of the times) great music ends up getting lost in our inbox. If we eventually find it and like it, you'll see it here. It's old news, but it's good news. Sorry we were tardy!
Why You Should Give It A Listen If You Haven't Already:
1. One man band Magnus Sätterström is from Sweden, which has an extremely high good music/population ratio. 2. Signed by Labrador. 3. The band is named after a 1994 PC game. 4. The songs are about apparently about anger, but I don't know if I believe that when there are xylophones, piano plinks and pop-synthesizers involved.
I'm loving street music blogs. It's always nice to hear a nice ditty when you walk by on your way to work or the subway or whatever and it would be a real treat to see some of your favourite artists play in this manner. There are lots of local indie street level video blogs popping up all over the world, set in strange locations other than studios. There's Black Cab Sessions based in Britian, Blogotheque in France, Amsterdam Acoustics in the Netherlands and many others.
One of my newer discoveries is: They Shoot Music, Don't They. This "a Viennese video/geoblog featuring artists that can be vaguely described by the blurred out term indie." They're an English-speaking blog based in Vienna, Austria and currently "shooting" sessions in Berlin, Germany as well. You can go here on their website to see a map of all the locations that they've filmed at, as well as some information on the surrounding scenery. They also note the geographic location and historical landmarks where each session takes place. So you can get a little educational tour of the Vienna and Berlin as well as finding out about new music. It's like two for the price of one!
Check out some of their Berlin Sessions below:
The Rifles in front of Flughafen Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany.
7 dapper young men (6 parts American, 1 part British)
6 nice jackets
5 pairs of Chuck Taylors
4 pairs of Jarvis Cocker glasses
1 swanky hat
Dammit, I'm already sold but you just keep selling! I've latched onto The Idyllists as one of my favourites for 2009, and I swear it's not just for aesthetic reasons. It's for their wonderfully ear-pleasing blend of new and old-timey britpop, even though they're based in LA.
The Idyllists released their debut The Long Hours Between Sunset & Morning earlier this year and it's eleven tracks about love. No kidding, I think they use "love", "loving", "lover" or another variation of the word at least once in every track. Even so, I wouldn't have it any other way. It's really all those details in youthful love sickness and longing that make this album as good as it is.
On their press release, they're described as the sound of Morrissey having a drink with Elvis and Johnny Cash at a Buddy Holly show. But all name dropping aside, the Idyllists are instantly charming and smile-inducing, even if they do tend to remind you of the one that got away. You're Gonna Break My Heart Someday opens the album, and is really a perfect introductory song to the band and what they're all about. They're the culmination of bright acoustic guitars, jaunty keyboards and pianos and group harmonies. They're infectious hand-clapping and catchy pop choruses topped with puppy-dog-eyed vocals. The bittersweet track I Think It's Going To Rain solidifies my belief that a lot of the best songs in the world are about rain and tracks like The Long Way make me actually miss the feeling of being lovesick. Yes again, this is an album of love songs. So it's something incredibly hard-hitting when the final track on the album, A Different Affair, keeps insisting that there's nothing in a love song that I could say or do. The power of persuasion never worked on you.
The Long Hours Between Sunset & Morning is a short and sweet. It totals to just about forty minutes, and most tracks are under three minutes long which leaves us wanting more. Luckily, the boys waste no time because according to their facebook page, they're finishing up the sophomore album already. Fantastic! I can hardly contain myself. I hope I'm correct to assume that Sweet Loretta will be on that track list.
Happy days lie ahead, readers.
Oh, and for anyone that might be interested, I've done a proper tally now. Ten out of the eleven tracks on the The Long Hours Between Sunset & Morning use "love" or another variation of the word in the lyrics. But don't go thinking that the one outlier song isn't about love. Because it totally is.
This is the first official installment of the Impressionable Youth Tardy Series. Sometimes (a lot of the times) great music ends up getting lost in our inbox. If we eventually find it and like it, you'll see it here. It's old news, but it's good news. Sorry we were tardy!
A friend of mine's first reaction to seeing Brent Jackson (center) was "Omigod, Jesus!"
Why You Should Give It A Listen If You Haven't Already:
Since the release of their debut self-titled, The Junction has become a pretty prominent staple of the Canadian music scene. In fact, they're one of the first names I think of at the mention of Canadian indie. They've dropped their major label and started their own prior to their summer 2009 release of Another Link In the Chain. They've really hit their stride with this sophomore, as it's got a much more cohesive, definitive and larger sound. Despite the ever-present but subtle hint of darker undertones, it has some incredibly infectious guitars and vocals. There's even some room on there for hand-claps, jazzy pianos and horns, and sing-along ba-ba-ba-da-das.
Although Another Link in the Chain was released earlier this year, The Junction is having their vinyl release party this Friday (November 13th) at the Horseshoe Tavern with Young Galaxy and the Paper Lions. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Sweet deal indeed!
One minute you're designing swimtrunks for your girlfriend's swimwear business. And then next you're in a movie with Norah Jones (Wah Do Dem) and getting major label attention with a blend of reggae, britpop and ska. WTF?
Well, that's what happened to Sean Bones. According to Bones, his debut solo record is "music that might cause people to scratch their heads a bit, only to realize that scratching their heads would make a good dance move." True, it could be the next big dance move.
From now until the end of November, the Hard Lessons are giving away their new album, Arms Forest for free on their official site in exchange for signing up on their mailing list!
"I just like the metaphor of an Arms Forest," explains Augie Visocchi of the band. "The forest in literature is the forbidden place. Its dark and evil, but there is also freedom there. An ability to do whatever you want. That is the freedom we seek in our band."
You can clearly heard that freedom in the songs. Like we've stated before, this is a band that has multiple personalities. Once track could be country-tinged pop and the next could be a straight out kick-you-in-the-groin rock track before leading into sing-a-long power pop tunes or vaudevillian piano on the next.
Enjoy a tiny sampling below and head over to the official site to hear the full range!
Reed KD is following a dream. It takes guts to do so. And I can't word it better than what's he's got on his official press release about the track "Space Vacuums" off of his latest When the Comet Comes:
" 'Space Vacuums' was written at a crossroads in Reed's life that most can identify with: the pressure of growing older, finding a job and settling down. Reed took a different path. He quit his job, bought a van, started his own record label and set off across the country. He says, "There's no mystery on where my priorities landed me. 'Space Vacuums' is a haven for dreamers and idealists."
Have you ever heard of the theory that if you want to branch out and/or change who you are, it's easier in a new surrounding? For example, if you suddenly decided to start wearing red lipstick or a mohawk, when you've never done so in the past and all your friends have known you as the t-shirt and jeans person, they'd question you a little bit. But in a new setting, like a new school or city, you can change some superficial qualities about yourself without question.
We all try to be accepting, but maybe it's human nature that we don't like change.
When someone from distinctive well known band branches out with side projects/solo work/new bands, it's hard to judge the new work in isolation. There's always some part of us that will compare the new stuff with the nostalgic/well-loved/popular older sound.
For example, while I know that the Dead Weather is a supergroup with members from the Kills, Stone Temple Pilots and the White Stripes. Jack White (of the White Stripes) is probably the most famous of the group, so it's a bit hard for myself and perhaps lots of other people who refer to them as "Jack White's new band." I promise to stop doing it and the music obviously sounds much different.
The Wooden Birds. Main man Andrew Kenny is best known as the singer and songwriter for the American Analog Set. Everyobody mentions this. But I have something to confess. You indie snobs can roll your eyes now, but I don't know anything about the American Analog Set. I can tell you that the Wooden Birds have an effectively simple acoustic folk sound. Like a lazy Sunday lounging at home with nothing to do but relaxing and enjoying the sun. Wooden Birds - False Alarm (mp3) (buy) Wooden Birds - Sugar (mp3) (buy)
Likewise, I don't know too much about the Brian Jonestown Massacre either. I know that they're sometimes referred to as a more hardcore Dandy Warhols. But anyways, Matthew Tows (of BJM and others) has been splitting his time between BJM and the Lovetones since about 2003. Knowing a few songs but not being too familiar with the reference of BJM, I can say that the Lovetones probably sounds very different from his other work. It's' still psychedic with lush shoegaze sensibilities, but with a shot of classic pop rock melodies and hooks.
I came upon this eBay auction last night and thought it was really neat! The Kidney Foundation of Canada has collected a bunch of paintings done by some minor and major Canadian celebrities. Some are real masterpieces, and some look like the drawings on your fridge that your kids did. In either case, this is your chance to get your hands on a one of a kind painting done by some of your most beloved Canadian musicians, TV hosts, athletes and actors. All of the proceeds from these auctions will go toward kidney research and to improving the lives of people with kidney disease. The Brush of Hope eBay site has 101 paintings for sale this year. Here's a small sample of what they've got.
It's a great cause and you'll be walking away with both the warm fuzzies, and a one of a kind piece of artwork, possibly by a Canadian that you've grown to know and love through music or TV. To find out more about the Kidney Foundation of Canada, visit their site here. To see the full collection of paintings up for auction on eBay, click here. The auction will end Saturday Nov. 15th.
I don't know about you guys, but I kind of really want this classic by Alan Thicke.
You know what I enjoy getting in my inbox, in addition to good music? A nice accompanying email. Sometimes all it takes to make my day is to get a nice and casual, unassuming email from a band instead of from their publicity company. Seeing a simple hand-typed email was refreshing, even if it was only two sentences long. Edmonton's Chasing Jones has already made a good first impression on me.
They've released this nifty track, Anniversary, as their new single. It's a clean-cut, pop-rock, head-bopping tune about young love and heartbreak in the most optimistic way. Kudos to the band for reminding us that independent music does not equate to using or faking crap recording and production value just for the sake of sounding "indie". I'm glad that Chasing Jones gets that, because it seems a lot of us are forgetting these days. Anniversary is very nicely polished and it'll easily sit well with TV and radio stations for mass airplay. Remember, music fans: that's not a bad thing! Take it. Play it. Enjoy it. Look forward to more. We'll definitely be hearing a lot more from these guys in the near future. They've got a release scheduled for February and a showcase already set up for them at Canadian Music Week in March.
I'm so excited to introduce you to Amsterdam Acoustics! Much like other indie music street performance blogs out there, Amsterdam Acoustics records musicians playing their stuff acoustically in some kind of random location in their namesake city. I'm super extra excited about this one! Other than the clear video and sound quality shot mostly in picturesque outdoors, there's another distinguishing feature: they pick awesome acts to perform, rather than just who's popular or just having a massive site full of mediocre acts. On their website, I found obscure talent that I already adore and think deserve some more exposure. I also found a ton of great new stuff.
We all know that finding new music is about sifting through the crap to get to the good stuff. And here, I found many gems. Clearly whoever runs Amsterdam Acoustics knows there is a big difference between indie music and GREAT indie music. I'm so glad they chose the latter to feature on their site.
There was a time when I was obsessed with visiting Glasgow. I'm not sure why. There's just something so appealing about a place that once dotted with castles, becoming a dangerous working town during the industrial revolution and became a hub of art at the turn of the nineteen century, co-pioneering the Art Nouveau movement. It's now got a happenin' music scene and it seems like a bustling artsy city that flies under the global radar.
The Cinematics are from Glasgow. They've got a UK new wave/dance rock kind of sound that's so in nowadays, but there's a kind of echo-ey sentimentalism in the sound that sets it apart and makes me think of all the reasons I wanted to see those old buildings and romantic gray skies in the first place.
The Wooden Sky. Toronto. Lee's Palace. Lucky Friday November the 13th. Get on the guest list.
Email us at impressionableyouth@gmail.com by noon on Wednesday November the 11th with "Wooden Sky" in the subject line for a chance at a guest list spot for yourself and a friend. And we'll even throw in a copy of their sophomore album, If I Don't Come Home You'll Know I'm Gone. Please include the best way to contact you. The winner will be announced at the close of the contest.
[The Contest is now closed. Big congratulations to the winner, Amy! Have fun at the show and enjoy your new CD!]
If you haven't been keeping track of The Wooden Sky recently, here's a brief one-minute run down of their most recent activity:
Their album has become very well-received. They've finished their cross-country tour of bedrooms and backstreets. Something dawned on them and they asked themselves, "W-T-F, why are we playing bedrooms and backstreets when we could be touring with Polaris Prize nominee Elliot Brood" Thye went on tour with Elliot Brood. They played CMJ in New York. They realized that the Bedrooms and Backstreets Tour was actually pretty kick-ass so they turned it into a documentary. Watch it here. They've just gotten nominated for a CBC Radio 3 Bucky award for Best Vocals. Place your vote here. They're playing Lee's Palace on November 13th with Hooded Fang and Brian Borcherdt and want you to be there so you should totally email impressionableyouth@gmail.com by noon on the 10th of this month to win two guest list spots and a copy of the album.
And as if you need further convincing...
The fourth and final part of A Documentary in Pieces will be released on the 11th.
We avoided a big fire at the house today thanks to the local Fire & Emergency services. A wire melted down in the furnace. We're fine, everything's fine now. Got no heat and no hot water until tomorrow, we smell like burnt rubber, but that's fine 'cause we're fine, we're fine, and everything's fine now.
You Say Party! We Say Die! are hitting up the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto on November 20th in support of their most recent release, XXXX. Joining these British Columbia indie darlings will be DJ Vaneska, Montreal's Think About Life and Toronto's own Little Girls. Expect fun, and dancing. Lots, and lots of dancing!
Oh, and by the way. One of you charming readers are getting a pair of tickets to the show. Yeah, baby. All you gotta do is be 19+ and email impressionableyouth@gmail.com with "You Say Party, We Say CONTEST" in the subject line by noon (EST) on lucky Friday November the 13th. Include your full name and the best way to reach you, by phone or email, and we will contact you that evening should you win. If you're superstitious, try not to walk beneath ladders, spill salt or cross a black cat that day. Good luck!
Totally gonna be seeing the Arkells in Toronto at Lee's Palace on November the 27th. Who's with me? They released their full-length debut, Jackson Square, almost exactly one year ago and it is well worth a listen. At first, I didn't want to like them because the big hit Oh, the Boss is Coming! was played and overplayed a bit too much on Canadian radio, but a friend of mine let me borrow a copy of the album, swearing that it was the best thing she had heard in ages. I definitely warmed up to this Hamilton five piece, enough to catch one of their sets at Toronto's Busking for Change event. That's when I was completely won over. They are such amicable boys!
November the 27th at Lee's Palace. Mark it on your calender. It's gonna be an epic night, especially with both the Novaks and Sweet Thing opening.
Arkells and Temptations. The resemblance is uncanny.
The following are all-ages unless otherwise specified. This list is SUBJECT TO CHANGE. I'll try my best to keep this up-to-date but ALWAYS double check official sources before you go.
I hope that sharing a few of your songs is alright by you. If not, please let me know as I will immediately remove your material upon request. We're still good though, right?
Greetings few, but well-loved readers. Please enjoy your stay but remember, the mp3s are for sampling and will only be available for a short time. If you find something you like, support the artist. Buying the record and going to shows makes everyone happy.
Music submission? Important feedback? Questions or comments? Complaint? We're more than happy to hear it: impressionableyouth@gmail.com
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