Don't Regret a Thing

What's the dealio? Why did it take me so long to get hooked on King Khan's music? Was I living under a rock?

He's released three albums over the course of the last year through various projects and several tours. And now King Khan and the Shrines are back playing their loud psychedelic rockabilly soul explosion in North America in the spring. And if you were living a rock too, crawl out, stretch towards towards the sun and check out the shows below if you live the in following cities:

03-27 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
03-29 Carrboro, NC - Cats Cradle
03-30 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
03-31 Chattanooga, TN - JJ's Bohemia
04-01 Nashville, TN - Exit/In
04-02 Memphis TN - Hi-Tone Cafe
04-03 Birmingham AL - Bottletree
04-05 Austin, TX - Emos
04-06 Dallas, TX - Sons of Hermann
04-08 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
04-09 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
04-10 Boise ID - Neurolux
04-11 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
04-12 Vancouver, BC - Venue
04-13 Seattle, WA - Neumos
04-15 San Francisco, CA - Bimbos 365 Club
04-18 Indio, CA - Coachella

King Khan and the Shrines - Land of the Freak (mp3) (buy)

I've Been Thinking

Those of us who aren't actors have the inability to emote, to express ourselves in such a way as to convey something more exaggerated than the everyday human emotions of joy, anger, sadness and so on.


Peasant, aka Damien DeRose, to my knowledge is not an actor. According to his bio, "when Damien DeRose turned eighteen, he dropped out of school, packed up his guitar, and bought a sailboat in California with a friend. The plan was to sail down the coast, live life the simple way, and let the wind dictate the pace. However, as life would have it, DeRose’s journey took a different course and while the ship may not have left the harbor, he would find himself on a new journey writing and traveling across the U.S and Europe".

Since then, he's released the On the Ground, and has appeared on Daytrotter, WOXY, and Amsterdam Acoustics amongst others. Based in folk, his simple song structures and instrumentation allows for his transendent voice to shine through. He's got a voice that just expresses so much emotion without any effort. There are no vocal gymnastics or production tricks to help him with this, he's just blessed with a voice that embodies the complexity of the human spirit.

His next LP, Shady Retreat is out March 2, 2010 in North America and April 5th in Europe. There will also be a tour in the spring to support the release and judging by some of his recordings, I think this is one of those cases where you just have to hear it live.

Peasant - Hard Times (mp3) (buy)

Peasant - Well, Alright (mp3) (buy)

[Edit:] Peasant fans in Toronto will be able to catch him on Feb. 25th at Rancho Relaxo, and Feb. 26th (with Kurt Vile and Fucked Up) at the Opera House. Oh, happy days!

Galapaghost

Exactly one month ago we received a few tracks off Galapaghost's EP, Our Lost Generation. It's really a shame that I didn't listen to them earlier, but I guess finding them in my inbox now is just as well. They're keeping me good company in my love-hate relationship with the winter blues.


Our Lost Generation was written, recorded and produced by Casey Chandler. He calls his music the fusion of ukulele and indie pop, "ukel-indie rock" if you will. You know what? I think that's one of my favourite genres of music. The EP sways between summer lullabies and sweet contemplative ballads. It's perfect for a cloudy Sunday afternoon like today, where all you really want to do is curl up in bed with a decent book and some relaxing tunes.

Galapaghost - Lost Generation (mp3) (amazon) (iTunes) (mySpace)
Galapaghost - Smile (mp3) (amazon) (iTunes) (mySpace)

You can stream the entire 6-track EP on his mySpace page. Currently Casey is putting together a band to further the Galapaghost project that, as you can hear has already seen a very promising beginning.

The Pinecones - Sage

I think one of them knows something that the others don't.

The Pinecones, formerly Brent Randall & His Pinecones, have a new album. The 15-track record entitled "Sage" pays homage to tea parties, gentlemanly gentlemen and shoemakers. It's the result of a collaboration between Randall, Brian O'Reilly, (Meligrove Band, Their Majesties), Paul Linklater (Bindiband), and Joel Goguen (Laura Peek & The Winning Hearts). Each member wrote and sang their own songs, and it all comes together in this amazingly cohesive and charming piece that sounds like it came from a better time.

After however long of listening to songs and albums with an obviously insane amount production and polish, Sage was a nice breath of fresh air. The Pinecones embrace a DIY, lo-fi sound that completely compliments their songwriting styles. The opening track and also the title track, Sage, will immediately locate you in a time that isn't quite past, and isn't quite present, but some bizarre amalgamation that takes from the best of the two. In this case I suppose it would be the stylistic psychedelic whimsy of the 60s, and the modern appreciation for the understated. Whenever it is, it sounds like a time when complementary colours pallets are encouraged, tambourines are meant to be in the foreground, snapping is on par with clapping, and structured facial hair is THE thing. Past, present, both? For a much better sense of what kind of atmosphere that The Pinecones manage to create, better than my rambles of past and present can describe, listen to the subtle drama on I Think You're Blind (Starlit One) or to the fun and bouncy piano track, Mr. Shoemaker Man, literally about how amazing being a shoemaker would be. Also, read a little track by track writeup that the band did over on mySpace.

The Pinecones - Sage (mp3) (amazon) (available on iTunes Feb. 9th)

You can catch The Pinecones in Toronto on Feb. 5th at the Magpie, or on March 5th at The Garrison. They recently moved into the city from their hometown of Halifax, so let's give them a nice welcome, shall we?

Black Magic

I will never get tired of post-punk, fuzzed out, reverb heavy synth rock with whiffs of dazed romanticism. It'll never happen. If it does, it'll either mean that:

a) my hearing is completely gone or
b) my heart is actually made of stone or
c) why would I even discuss this? It'll never happen.


Enter the Magic Wands. Their Magic, Love and Dreams EP is appropriately titled, a dreamy landscape of drum machines, echo-ey vocals and shoegaze weirdness. It's the perfect example of the type of sound I'm talking about. It's like a continuation of groups ranging from Blondie to OMD to the Jesus and Mary Chain to Cocteau Twins to the Raveonettes to the Handsome Furs. Their full length EP is out in June and I'm hoping they keep the tradition alive.

Magic Wands - Black Magic (mp3) (buy)

Video Updates!

It's been a really good week for new music videos, folks! Here's five of them that have caught my attention:

Dinosaur Bones - Ice Hotels



For a band that has thus far only released a 4-track EP, Dinosaur Bones have been doing pretty well for themselves. They've already made quite a splash on the Toronto-indie scene, playing with various shows and festivals. On February 2nd they're releasing a 7-inch vinyl featuring the new track, Ice Hotels and Royalty. These two tracks really do sum up the kind of great music that's been coming out of our city recently. Of course, this is all just the teaser for their upcoming debut full-length that they've recorded with Jon Drew, the man behind such beloved Canadian acts as Tokyo Police Club, the Arkells and Fucked Up. You can preorder the limited edition white vinyl (classy!) over at Hi-Scores Recording Library now. In February, Dinosaur Bones will also be doing a quick romp around the States before bringing the tour back home for Canadian Music Week.


Hollerado - Juliette



I love Hollerado. I really do. They are synonymous with "fun". Their record, Record in a Bag, will be available for purchasing on Feb. 9th. Each will be hand packaged by the band in a ziplock, and it will include the CD, a card for bonus track downloads, stickers, and possibly a prize card for various goodies. Goodies may include free admission to Hollerado shows or guitars. I'm so fuckin' serious.


Hawksley Workman - We Dance To Yesterday



Here's a video that made me go WTF a couple of times. Hawksley plays a mullet-topped Japanese game show character in this video... I really never know what to expect from this guy. I've been hearing very good things about his album, Meat, which was released this last Tuesday. I'm going to have to pick it up sometime soon.


Raveonettes - Boys Who Rape



This is a DIY style video for one of the oddest tracks on their latest record, In and Out of Control. Match a saccharine sweet tune and voice to lyrics about the rage felt toward men who take advantage of women, and you get this song.


OK Go - This Too Shall Pass

Surely you've all seen their video for A Million Ways, Here It Goes Again, and WTF already. OK Go has announced that they're planning on doing a video for each track on their new album, released earlier this month. I look forward to it. Without doubt they are the kings of the one-take video.

Sambassadeur

This is the fourth 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 Band: Sambassadeur

The Album: European

Date Received: Got a notice in Nov. 2009 that the band were working on a new album. We're so tardy, we're actually early by default this time! The band is finished their recording and will be releasing European on Feb. 23, 2010.

Why You Should Give It A Listen If You Haven't Already:
It's orchestral. It's earthy 70's folk. It's Swedish twee-pop and it's light, airy and sunny. It makes me picture a picnic with a significant other, a gingham sheet and wicker basket and fluffy clouds overhead. It's dreamy and seemingly devoid of modern cynicism and every once in a while, you need that.

Sambassadeur - Days (mp3) (buy)

Sambassadeur - Stranded (mp3) (buy)

Oh no, Oh No Forest Fires!

[EDIT:] I've decided to re-post this feature on account of some important updates.

Photo by Kyle Hutton

Toronto's favourite indie-math-rock-guitar-spazz band, Oh No Forest Fires, has announced their final show. Ever. Mark Saturday Jan. 23rd on your calender, and head to the Horseshoe Tavern for one final epic hurrah to raise money for relief in Haiti.

In front man Rajiv Thavanathan's own words:

"All four of us are adults. Well, maybe not entirely full-time adults, but at least some of us are closer to adults than others, sort of maybe almost. And life has started adding responsibilities and commitments that weren’t there before. They are quite varied in nature, and that makes me happy- it is a reflection of the fact that all four of us are extremely different people. For some of us these responsicommitibilityments means starting a career in a very demanding and time-consuming industry. It also means finishing school. It also means quitting a job that you’ve been doing for years to try and figure yourself out a bit. It also means exploring how to be creative in a post-Napster/file-sharing/record-it-yourself-at-home kind of world. It also means trying to go back to a school that was never actually attended before, but I thought about it and now I’m actually applying in a way that I was expected to back in 2004 and maybe/probably/almost definitely having to move out of this wonderful city that I love because of it."

Read the full explanation-apology-thank-you-love note at Oh No Forest Fire's mySpace page.

It's sad, but understandable. Oh No Forest Fires have been around since before I got really into the local music scene (which actually wasn't that long ago, now that I think about it). They were one of the first small Toronto bands that I latched onto as a music fan, so it's kind of difficult to imagine the city without them. They're one of those bands with crazy energy, and walking into a venue that they were playing at, you knew it was guaranteed good time. They're also going to be releasing a new album as a final goodbye gift to their fans before the end. It's going to be called Wants To Try Something, it's going to be 22-26 minutes long, and it's going to be free. They've already put out the first track through their mySpace.

Oh No Forest Fires - Spontaneous Changes In Isolated Systems (Bobby's Song) (mp3)

And check out an acoustic version of the song performed for The Uncharted Territory on Ryerson University's internet station, SPIRITlive.net:



Remember, the final Oh No Forest Fires show is happening at the Horseshoe Tavern this Saturday, January the 23rd. Tickets are $7 at the door, and they'll be joined onstage by Arietta, Songs From a Room and The Darcys. All proceeds from the night will be donated to the Haiti Emergency Fund through Partners In Health.

Click here to RSVP on the Facebook event page.

Leif Vollebekk - Inland

Photo by: Caroline Desilets

Leif Vollebekk's debut album Inland is being re-released through Nevado Records this week on Jan. 19th, which is just as well because it seems that not enough of us, myself included, paid the deserved attention to him the first time around.

Folk singer-songwriters have the difficult task of standing out from all of the other folk singer-songwriters in existence. Everyone and their mom is a singer-songwriter so it takes a little extra special something to get noticed among the sea of bed-head hair styles, beat-up guitars and soulful facial expressions. And while I'm sure that Leif already has, and can pull off all those mentioned above exceptionally well, there is a certain quality to his music that goes above and beyond the generic expectations.

Inland is a collection of songs arranged and performed with a simple and understated sort of elegance. On top of providing a unique voice to his songs, Leif integrates guitars, pianos, violins and a very powerful harmonica to create warm, contemplative soundscapes, all without compromising modesty or honesty. It never becomes overcrowded, or overcomplicated with instrumentation or themes that try to sound larger than life, a fault that emerging artists too often get caught up in. There is heartache in this album, but it's not glorified into something unrecognizable. Its presence is undeniable and familiar, just like you and I know it to be. This kind of gentle familiarity, particularly in tracks like In the Midst of Blue and Green and Don't Go to Klaksvik remind us that, yes, heartbreak is out there, but it's bearable. Even poetic and beautiful if you let it be.

Leif Vollebekk - Don't Go To Klaksvik (mp3) (amazon) (iTunes)

The re-release of Inland on iTunes, available on Jan. 19th, will include a new live recording of Don't Go to Klaksvik and a previously unreleased track called Te og Kaffi.

Leif Vollebekk will be in Toronto on Jan. 22nd to celebrate the CD release at the Cameron House. Although I haven't seen his live show yet, I will say that every show I've been to with a brass section and a stand-up bass has been very enjoyable. Leif's band includes both. So I guess I'll see you there, right?

Burn Bright

San Francisco's City Light's sophomore effort, Burned Out Bright is out January 26.

The duo of rap producer Nick Andre and indie Postal Service-esque Matt Shaw, bring together their backgrounds in a collaborative effort with various artists with a variety of histories, sounds and influences. It's indie-pop, it's electronic and it's rock. It also happens to be very accessible. The kind of thing you'll hear on mainstream music stations soon.

City Light - Apologies (mp3) (buy)

City Light - Let's Not Speak (mp3) (buy)

Can't Stop the Fire

I think there are two types of bar bands:

1. Those consisting of local indie kids who exude mad bubbly energy jumping up and down on the stage, inviting the audience to do the same. These are the bands who you drag your friends to see and drink and dance the night away.
2. Then there are those who are more refined. Where the music is arcane and complex (or pretentious) and it requires thinking and admiring from afar.

Most bands are a mix of these two types. Some lean towards the first group (ie. Weezer) and some lean towards the second (ie. Radiohead), but there's always some interchangeability.

The Balconies lean towards the first group. With boy-girl vocals, strong riffs and lots of sing-along choruses, their energetic guitar pop already makes me want to dance like the token drunk girl at their next show.

The Balconies - Smells like Secrets (mp3) (iTunes)

Go see them live:

Jan. 28 @ Clark Hall Pub, KINGSTON
Jan. 30 @ L'Absynthe, MONTREAL (w. The Darcys)
Feb. 3 @ Tantramarsh Pub Mount Allison, SACKVILLE (w. The Darcys, By Divine Right)
Feb. 6 @ Seahorse Tavern, HALIFAX
Feb. 26 @ Blacksheep Inn, OTTAWA (w. The Golden Dogs)

Pretty Girls and Lasers

(Pretty) Girls and Lasers.

Now what first grabbed my attention is their name. What is not to love about pretty girls or lasers? It's such an awesome title! It may be a little bit hard to live up to the expectations since they aren't girls or lasers but... they make this up with their electro-indie remixes.

These guys are New York DJs who spread the indie sound in small clubs around NYC. I love this idea, because I hate going dancing in places that play crap music. These guys create a bridge between indie rock and dance music for the alternative masses and judging by the 10 minute and hour long mixes up on their official site, it sounds like a fun night out.

When you're a fan of indie rock, there are only a few places in the city, even in our indiephilic city of Toronto, where you can access this kind of scene.

If you're in New York, check these guys out. Their next show is tonight:

What: Primary Colors with (Pretty) Girls & Lasers
Cost: Free with RSVP at www.prettygirlsandlasers.com
When: Wednesday, January 6th – 9:30pm ‘till the end of the night.
Where: Arlo & Esme – 42 East 1st Street (between 1st & 2nd Avenues)
Why: Great music, a great crowd, and $5 Vodka drinks all night

(Pretty) Girls and Lasers - Taste of Lasers #3 10 Minute Mini-Mix (mp3) (download from official site)

And as a special incentive, they debuting their remix of Regina Spektor's "Folding Chair" and giving a copy to those in attendance. Here's the original (not yet remixed) for your perusal:

Regina Spektor - Folding Chair (mp3) (buy)