The incredibly dreamy Toronto crooner/rocker Peter Elkas is set to release his third solo album on February 22 named Repeat Offender (New Scotland Records). If you head over to Exclaim!, they've got the lead single "Cool Thing to Do" for free download.
The album cover above alludes to Elkas' day job as a dog walker-- seriously, can this story get any better? Watch an R3TV episode featuring Peter and his dogs below.
Repeat Offender track list:
1. "Anticipation"
2. "Cruel Thing to Do"
3. "Blue Of You"
4. "Tiny Valentine"
5. "Misery"
6. "Melody"
7. "Repeat Offender"
8. "Hummingbirds"
9. "Atlas"
10. "Cool Thing to Do"
Vancouver's Mother Mother announced that their third full length album, EUREKA (Last Gang Records) will hit stores March 15, 2011 worldwide. Tour dates to follow and will be announced soon. In the meantime, here is the track listing for EUREKA:
1) Chasing It Down
2) The Stand - streaming now at exclaim.ca!
3) Baby Don't Dance
4) Original Spin
5) Born In A Flash
6) Simply Simple
7) Problems
8) Aspiring Fires
9) Getaway
10) Far In Time
11) Oleander
12) Calm Me Down
Here's Mother Mother performing one of those new tracks "Simply Simple" on CBC Radio Q during the Olympics in February:
Before there was Broken Social Scene, there was K.C. Accidental. The lo-fi bedroom recordings of BSS’s founder/vocalist/guitarist Kevin Drew and multi-instrumentalist/studio mastermind Charles Spearin, K.C. Accidental – a mostly post-rock instrumental project –laid the foundation for the Toronto collective’s sprawling expanse in the form of two self-released albums made at the end of the 90s: Captured Anthems For An Empty Bathtub and Anthems For The Could’ve Bin Pills.
Because they were self-released, traded amongst friends and hidden in the pockets of Toronto’s independent record stores, these two albums have been out of print for five years and have never been available outside of Canada. This fall, Arts & Crafts will be reissuing these seminal recordings in one package on October 26th in 2-LP, 2-CD and digital formats. Fan club members can pre-order the album right now and on Oct 26th you will also receive a bonus unreleased digital track.
Track Listing:
captured anthems for an empty bathtub // anthems for the could've bin pills
1. nancy and the girdle boy
2. something for chicago
3. anorexic he-man
4. save the last breath for me
5. kev's message for charlie
6. tired hands
7. instrumental died in the bathtub and took the daydreams with it
8. residential love song
9. silverfish eyelashes
10. ruined in 84
11. them (pop song #3333)
12. is and of the
Hawksley Workman will release Milk, the follow-up to his Polaris long-listed Meat, on August 10 2010. The album, which thematically is linked with lust of all sorts, features collaborations with Tosha Dash (Candy Coated Killahz), Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest) and Shad, who makes a cameo appearance on the track "Some People."
Hawksley Workman - "Not Your Parents' Music":
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The Mountains and the Trees, born Jon Janes, will be gracing us Vancouverites with his presence this Thursday. Below are his upcoming tour dates as he heads out west and back, and then flies across the pond for some European dates. His debut full length, I Made This For You, will drop August 10 2010.
22 July - Vancouver, BC @ Little Mountain Gallery with The Wilderness of Manitoba
24 July - Mission, BC (House Show) with The Wilderness of Manitoba
27 July - Edmonton, AB @ Haven Social Club with The Wilderness of Manitoba
29 July - Bruno, SK @ All Citizens Shop with The Wilderness of Manitoba
30 July - Saskatoon, SK @ Caffe Sola with The Wilderness Of Manitoba
31 July - Winnipeg, MB @ West End Cultural Center with The Wilderness Of Manitoba
1 Aug - Gimli, MB @ Islendingadagruinn
5 Aug - Ottawa, ON - Blackbox Concert Series @ Cube Gallery with Daniel Romano
11 Aug - Windsor, ON @ Phog Lounge with The Wilderness Of Manitoba
12 Aug - Toronto, ON - Summerworks @ Lower Ossington Theatre
14 Aug - Saint John, NB @ Fundy Fog Festival
18-22 Aug - Woody Point NL @ Writers at Woody Point
9 Sept - London, ON @ Borderline with Elliot Brood + Ladyhawk
11, 12 Sept - North Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Festival
24 Sept - Hamburg, Germany @ Reeperbahn Festival
25 Sept - Leipzig, Germany @ Paris Syndrom
28 Sept - Reutlingen, Germany @ Better2Gether
----- K-Oswill be releasing an album named Anchorman Mixtape August 6, 2010 online and in what he dubs the "Motown Model" approach, which includes several physical singles over a span of time. These tracks will be posted in full here for a limited time.
The first singles released will include "Faith," a collaboration with Drake, and "BlackWater," a collaboration with Sebastien Grainger. "BlackWater" will also appear on Playlist for the Planet, a music project sponsored by the David Suzuki Foundation as part of its 20th Anniversary celebrations.
Track list:
Start Me UP
SheClipse
Faith (featuring Drake)
Big City
BlackWater (featuring Sebastien Grainger)
Holy Cow
The Lonely Ones
Beauty Is A Loaded Gun
I Wish I Could Believe
Dance In Your Car
Here's K-Os' latest video for "Zambony" from his current album Yes!.
----- Mishka, raggae/surf-rocker hailing from the Caribbean islands, will be playing a show at Vancouver's Venue night club on August 12, 2010.
Siskiyou is the music of Colin Huebert in collaboration with Erik Arnesen. Huebert was the drummer for the Great Lake Swimmers up to 2007, and Arnesen is the current guitarist for the Swimmers. Their self-titled album will be released on September 7 2010 by Constellation Records. Huebert, according to the press release, captured recordings of the album "inside stairwells, bathrooms, hotel rooms, and on beaches and rooftops in the greater Vancouver area."
You can preorder the album from their website, and while you're there, listen to a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "El Condor Pasa." A free download of the track "This Land" below, for the slim price of your email address:
Siskiyou Track Listing:
1. "Funeral Song"
2. "Everything I Have"
3. "Hold It In"
4. "Pull It Away"
5. "It's All Going to End"
6. "Useless Anymore"
7. "This Land"
8. "Never Ever Ever Ever Again"
9. "Inside of the Ocean"
10. "We All Fall Down"
11. "Big Sur"
12. "Brevity and Insult"
Black Mountain's third full-length album Wilderness Heart is due out on September 14, 2010. The album cover reminds me way too much of this straight-to-dvd cinematic gem, which by the way, is amazing and awful at the same time. Knowing the Vancouver-based psychedelic rock band though, the album should be considerably more amazing than awful.
Track Listing:
The Hair Song
Old Fangs
Radiant Hearts
Rollercoaster
Let Spirits Ride
Buried By The Blues
The Way To Gone
Wilderness Heart
The Space of Your Mind
Sadie
Video for "Old Fangs" is directed by Mike Bruce, produced by Zoe Bower and Russell Sanzgiri.
Upcoming Canadian tour dates:
06/23/10
Kamloops, BC - Pogue Mahonew/ Lord Beginner
06/24/10
Calgary, AB - Republikw/ Lord Beginner
06/25/10
Edmonton, AB - Starlite Roomw/ Lord Beginner
06/26/10
Saskatoon, SK - Amigo'sw/ Lord Beginner
06/27/10
Regina, SK - The Exchangew/ Lord Beginner, Orbital Express
06/28/10
Winnipeg, MB - The Garrick Centrew/ Lord Beginner, Sleepy Sun
Must you know the song names prior to your purchase of Arcade Fire's third full-length album? Probably not, but here they are anyways.
Pre-order the album here and get the 2 already released tracks "The Suburbs" and "Month of May" immediately.
01 The Suburbs
02 Ready to Start
03 Modern Man
04 Rococo
05 Empty Room
06 City With No Children
07 Half Light I
08 Half Light II (No Celebration)
09 Suburban War
10 Month of May
11 Wasted Hours
12 Deep Blue
13 We Used to Wait
14 Sprawl I (Flatland)
15 Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
16 The Suburbs (continued)
Montreal's Wolf Parade have announced their third full-length album, Expo 86, set to drop June 29 via Sub Pop. Pitchfork recently interviewed co-frontmen Dan Boeckner (also of Handsome Furs) and Spencer Krug (also of Sunset Rubdown) separately regarding the inspiration for the newest album.
Click here to check out the latest interview and grab two free songs from the new album, named "Ghost Pressure" and "What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had to Go This Way)."
Tracklist for Expo 86:
01 Cloud Shadow on the Mountain
02 Palm Road
03 What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had to Go This Way)
04 Little Golden Age
05 In the Direction of the Moon
06 Ghost Pressure
07 Pobody's Nerfect
08 Two Men in New Tuxedos
09 Oh You, Old Thing
10 Yulia
11 Cave-o-Sapien
Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights was written during the recording of Forgiveness Rock Record in Chicago. During downtime band members would head into Soma's second smaller studio to test out new ideas and overdubs while John McEntire worked in the main room. Here they created lovely little soundscapes, one of which ended up being the closing song on Forgiveness Rock Record, ‘Me & My Hand’, and the rest became the beginnings of Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights.
A digital download of Lo-Fi will be included free for all pre-orders of Forgiveness Rock Record purchased before May 4th. A unique PIN code will be sent to all pre-order customers on May 3rd to download the digital EP one day early.
Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights is exclusively available as a digital download with pre-order of Forgiveness Rock Record at GalleryAC, or with purchase of the CD / vinyl at participating HMV and independent record stores (Canada) and selected CIMS / AIMS independent record stores (USA).
1 - New Instructions
2 - Sudden Foot Loss
3 - Shabba Lights
4 - Song For Dee
5 - Eling's Haus
6 - Professor Sambo
7 - Never Felt Alive
8 - Paperweight Room
9 - Turbo Mouse
10- Far Out
"I know that some bands write their songs, rehearse them and then record them. Not Broken Social Scene. In recording Forgiveness Rock Record we did it our usual way: swimming in chaos and making it up as we go along. We started by loosely sketching out 30 songs in my garage, driving to Chicago, recording 20 of those, and then writing 20 more. The point was to never stop working. Whenever we got exhausted or overwhelmed we would take a breath, pick up our instruments and jam purely ‘for spirit purposes’. It was musical-therapy of sorts. Part of what kept the ideas flowing was Soma’s smaller, second studio where we could test out new ideas and experiment with overdubs. While John worked in the main room, this B-Room quickly became our musical kitchen where we cooked up soups of sound without the pressures time and money.
One evening, as a kind of exercise in spontaneity, Kevin, Brendan and I each took turns writing and recording minute-long “songs” with minimal overdubs just to see what would happen. We kept saying to John “we’re making you an EP!” It was a sort of first-thought-best-thought approach to music making. Within a few hours we had six lovely little soundscapes, one of which ended up being the closing song on Forgiveness Rock Record, ‘Me & My Hand’, and the rest became the beginnings of Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights.
As we continued to work on Forgiveness the B-room became more and more important as both a musical and social outlet - there are a lot of us in Broken Social Scene and it’s hard for us to sit on our hands – so naturally Ohad, Sam and Sebastian each recorded a song in the same spontaneous way. ‘Song For Dee’, the only traditional “song” on Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights, Brendan, Kevin and I recorded when we found out that our good friend Wayne’s dog died and we wanted to cheer him up.
All of the songs on Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights were recorded in Soma’s B-Room while Forgiveness Rock Record was being made. What these songs have in common is that they were all written in a spirit of playfulness and fearlessness where we could throw our discrimination to the wind and let the judges and critics take the night off. This tiny B-Room sanctuary fomented a very positive frame of mind, ultimately leading to one of the most enjoyable album-making experiences we’ve ever had. We hope you enjoy listening to these songs as much as we enjoyed recording them."
- Charles Spearin
Listen to the entire album of Forgiveness Rock Record streaming on NPR here. The album is due out May 4, 2010.
Rah Rah, Regina, Saskatchewan’s pop-rock collective announce, their new sophomore album, Breaking Hearts (Young Soul Records) will be released on June 1, 2010. It follows the widespread industry praise for 2008’s debut album, Going Steady and reinforces the increasing visibility that has accompanied Rah Rah’s relentless tour schedule. Rah Rah were crowned “Best New Canadian Band” and “Best New Alternative Band” by iTunes in 2009.
Breaking Hearts was recorded and mixed in Montreal by Kees Dekker (Plants & Animals). A companion EP to the full–length will also follow later this year. But don’t let their fresh faces, confetti cannons and constant sugar highs fool you, Rah Rah are old souls. This young, seven-member ensemble artfully bridge sincerity with the absurd. Despite lyrics that touch on underwater sea creatures, stockbrokers, Saskatchewan (and now Montreal) and impressionist painters - their songs are built to break your heart.
From the instantly ear-catching album opener "Arrows," to the piano intro of "Lightning" - which opens up into a chorus of female vocals, to the quirky "What About Love," Breaking Hearts is diverse, direct, duet-filled and the bands best work. It is also the recorded introduction of newest band member and guitarist Leif Thorseth to the band. His addition to the group, according to lead vocalist Marshall Burns “has really influenced the writing to be more collaborative and provided more sweet guitar interplays!”
Erin Passmore, drummer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist in Rah Rah, offers the following about the new record; "You still have Marshall's recognizable voice and lyrics, all the quirkiness and instrumentation, but it sounds more mature, more complete. I really think this record displays better what we are as a group of artists.”
Rah Rah will tour Breaking Hearts this summer. Full dates will be announced shortly.
BREAKING HEARTS TRACKLISTING:
1. Arrows
2. Ghosts
3. Henry
4. Beaches
5.Communist Man
6. Salty Cities
7. Hurt You Bad
8. Joey
9. What About Love?
10. Lightning
11. Waltz
12. Breaking Hearts
13. Parkade
Check out a video from good friend Christine McAvoy of the making of Breaking Hearts...
