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Random Spirit Lovers only appear at Sunset.

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July 27, 2007 in montreal, fuzz, jangle-pop, indie psych rock and tunes. 1 Comment

Do the individual members of Wolf Parade ever sleep? Whether they are working together, or in their multitude of splinter cells (such as Dan’s Handsome Furs or Swan Lake or old Frog Eyes or…), you have to give it to them - these guys certainly live to make music. And this fact is reinforced when, while most of us patiently await the Parade’s next full-length, lead singer & keyboardist Spencer Krug decides to slip a whole new Sunset Rubdown LP under the door.

And their sound has never sounded more full. While I preferred the hauntingly sparse self-titled EP over last year’s Shut Up I am Dreaming full-length, I can understand why the band refuses to revisit that hallowed ground.

In any case, the latest outing finds Spencer back alongside Camilla Wynn Ingr (on keys, glockenspiel, vocals & percussion), Michael Doerksen (guitar & drums) and Jordan Robson-Cramer (on drums, keys & guitar). Who says a little overlap ever hurt anyone?

Musically, I would almost say that this is the most diverse outing out of any of the Wolf Parade side-projects. From “The Taming of the Hands that Came Back to Life” and its bombastic distorted keys and lalalas that culminates, as it should, in a heady feedback to the soft, acoustic & accordion (I presume) based “Magic vs. Midas” to the echo-laden “Setting vs. Rising”, the diversity and talent of the band has never been so well documented.

Spencer’s voice can make any story sound heart-breaking and this latest outing still shows him completely up on his game. At times, the music reminds me of the Decemberists without all the pomp. This is definitely a release to get excited about and a delectable morsel to help tide the wait for the next full-out Parade.

Random Spirit Lovers…
01. The Mending of the Gown
02. Magic vs. Midas
03. Up on Your Leopard, Upon the End of Your Feral Days
04. The Courtesan Has Sung
05. Winged/Wicked Things
06. Colt Stands Up, Grows Horns
07. Stallion
08. For the Pier (and Dead Shimmering)
09. The Taming of the Hands That Came Back to Life
10. Setting vs. Rising
11. Trumpet, Trumpet, Toot! Toot!
12 Child-Heart Losers

have random spirit loves: (removed by request)
Sunset Rubdown - The Mending of the Gown.
Sunset Rubdown - The Taming of the Hands that Came Back to Life.

Random Spirit Lover will be released on October 9th from the unstoppable Jagjaguwar Records. In the meantime, check out Jagjaguwar’s shop - they have some classy stuff. Plus, you can check out Wolf Parade during their four night stint at the Sala Rossa in August.

Liars’ Big Chill.

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matt.

June 12, 2007 in psychedelia, drums not dead, fuzz, jangle-pop, indie psych rock and tunes. 0 Comments

Red Liar.

In the interviews leading up to the release of Liars‘ self-titled new LP, the band was quick to point out that, as compared to last years incredibly dense Drums Not Dead, the new album would be “chill“.

Now, I don’t know if the definition of chill is somewhat different over there in Germany than here in Canada, but damn. What we’ve got is awesome metal distorted guitars, heavy drums and enough psychedelica to drown an entire continent of witches. It’s like revisiting industrial goth, removing the make-up & pretension and adding just enough neuroticism & paranoia to completely defy any expectations you might have had going into the record.

You’ve got songs like “Freak Out”, which, with its jangly guitars, loose drums and deadpan vocal track, is a total throw back to classic Bauhaus. “Plaster Casts of Everything” (which was given an exclusive preview over at p-fork) is the best alternative rock song the genre has produced this year. For shame, Smashing Pumpkins. Or how about how the finale, “Protection”, with it’s 80s synths and almost mechanical drumbeat, could almost pass as a classic Bowie track? It is like the band is sampling all the best parts of music history, filtering out the cheese factor & supplying us with the crème.

And so, here again, we are left with Liars pushing their sound direction forward, making it simultaneously denser (some tracks, like “Leather Prowler” are easily as layered as anything on Drums Not Dead) and lighter. I don’t know if their sense of melody has ever shone so brightly. This dust makes that mud, indeed.

blowin’ yer house down:
01 Plaster Casts of Everything
02 Houseclouds
03 Leather Prowler
04 Sailing to Byzantium
05 What Would They Know
06 Cycle Time
07 Freak Out
08 Pure Unevil
09 Clear Island
10 The Dumb in the Rain
11 Protection

mp3: (removed by request)
Liars - Freak Out.
Liars - Houseclouds.

(Liars‘ Liars is due out August 28th on Mute Records. In the meantime, check out their ~~myspace page~~ & official site!)

Oh, the Fog… It Dithers.

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matt.

June 10, 2007 in electropop, fuzz, indie psych rock, blip bloop and tunes. 0 Comments

Fog is an interesting beast. It’s all, “I’m gonna roll up into yer shit and there ain’t nothin’ you can do about it”. And, it’s true. All these fools might be all you can’t stop the rain, but they don’t know nothing. You can stop the rain: it’s called an umbrella, stupid. Now, tell me… just how do you stop the fog? That one is a goddamn conundrum. It just can’t be done.

But, then again, why would you want to? Fog is hot. Fog is atmospheric. That’s really what it all comes down to. You might have lived on the same property for the last decade, but roll in some fog… and it suddenly feels like a totally different place. And so, I say… bring on the fog.

And, thankfully, Andrew Broder & co., aka FOG, heard this plea & have delivered up a new LP, formally referred to as, Ditherer. Now, like dithering itself (which involves using instability or tremors to make things more accurate… it’s like Western zen), the record is complex. We’ve got Fog rockin’ out on tracks like ‘What Gives’, we’ve got Fog doing a Johnny Cash meets the Beatles meets wtf on “You Did What You Thought”, we’ve got Fog puttin’ on their electro-IDM-pop shoes on the title track. If Andrew’s voice didn’t appear on each track, the LP could easily be misdiagnosed as being a mix.

The record also features an abundance of guests. Check this list out: Why?, Low, Andrew Bird, Dosh, pedestrian, Phil Elverum, Jeremy Ylvisaker & Mike Lewis. Good people.

If you have never heard the band, feel free to check out their “electronic surrealist press kit” below (directed by Chuck Statler, the man responsible for the awesomeness that is this) and some mp3’s from the new album, at the bottom of the page. As Andrew states in the press video, “there are people in the world who like weird noises, there are people who like pop songs, we like both.” Here at the TC, we can only nod our heads in agreement.

Silent Hill 2 stylez:
1. We Will Have Vanished
2. Inflatable Ape Pt. 3
3. I Have Been Wronged
4. Hallelujah Daddy
5. What Gives?
6. You Did What You Thought
7. The Last I Knew Of You
8. Ditherer
9. Your Beef Is Mine
10. On The Gallows
11. What’s Up Freaks?

mp3: (removed by request)
Fog - Ditherer.
Fog - Inflatable Ape, Pt. 3.

(Ditherer will be released in August on Lex Records. Til then, why don’t you go visit Fog’s home on the interwebs? It’s cozy.)

Swedish Joy (Life on Earth!/Dungen)

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matt.

June 2, 2007 in psychedelia, indie psych rock and tunes. 0 Comments

This album may have dropped a while back (early May, to be exact) but, as far as I’m concerned, it has been criminally neglected across these virtual tubes. In fact, it is almost impossible to find anyone really talking about the album. So, let us put an end to that, shall we?

The record in question is Look There Is! by the band, Life on Earth (who hereby get 3 bonus karma points & a free spin on the great wheel for being almost insultingly new-age). If the title is slightly groan-worthy, consulting the press release is even worse. If you are at all put off by hippy overtones & peace/love/happiness ramblings that lack any semblance of proper grammar or a point, I implore you to not click that link. You’ve been warned.

All of this is forgivable though, when we actually discuss the record in question. As it turns out, Life on Earth! is a project spearheaded by the talented Mattias Gustavsson, who y’all should know from the awesome Swedish psychedelic resurgence band Dungen. Akin to modern folk & hip-hop releases stateside, the Swedish scene is all about gettin’ a little help from yer friends and Look There Is! is no exception. The LP features a slew of Mattias’ acquaintances, including folks from Dungen, The Works, Town & Country and Mia Doi Todd. All of whom are cool in my books.

The concept for the album was to, and I quote, “make music that celebrates the incredible and absolutely wonderful phenomenon of life on Earth, hoping to spread some joy to any possible listeners”. Now, no-one can say that isn’t a noble endeavor but jeez. I think I might have preferred not knowing Mattias’ intention. Yet, pushing the sickly sweet naivety aside, I am content with his jams - insofar that he is able to truly channel T.Rex and a sense of psychedelica that has been lost in the West since the early 70s. Enjoy.

mp3:
Life on Earth - Sell Your Soul to Me.
Life on Earth - Bubble of Magic.

Look There Is! was released by Subliminal Sounds on May 3rd and can be bought through Klicktrack Music or… Amazon. You can also check dude’s myspace page, over here.

Liar Liar: Repetition is Key.

Published by

matt.

May 24, 2007 in indie psych rock and tunes. 0 Comments

liars!

A little history lesson. There is this band called Liars, see, and they’ve been around since 2001 when they put out this mega-NYC-dancepunk bomb of an LP called, They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top (which, coincidentally, is still one of my favourite albums of all time). It was full of crazy stop-start rhythms & general awesomeness. If you haven’t heard it yet - I cannot recommend you to go find yourself a copy highly enough.

And here we are, a few years later and the band has released a few albums in the interim. Many of you (purposely or not) probably heard Drums Not Dead at some point last year - as it was a huge record. Lauded on by critics, talked about all over the net… Drums was a heavy pot of witch-infested psychedelica that was barely hinted at by their previous releases (I guess moving from NYC to Berlin might have that effect on people). Personally, I’m not into their later releases as much as the early ones… but many would disagree. I digress.

As of today, Liars have renounced the verbosity that accompanied their past through the announcement that their new LP would be simply called… “Liars“.

We here at Pout HQ are totally psych’d for this release, which should hit stores “sometime in the near future” on CD, vinyl & in a digital format. In the meantime, check out their store and listen to this (awkward) new track by the band, which can be found for FREE on the Adult Swim released compilation, Warm & Scratchy and one of my favourites from They Threw Us All in a Trench…

tracklisting:
01 Plaster Casts of Everything
02 Houseclouds
03 Leather Prowler
04 Sailing to Byzantium
05 What Would They Know
05 Cycle Time
06 Freak Out
07 Pure Unevil
08 Clear Island
09 The Dumb in the Rain
10 Protection

mp3:
Liars - Sunset Rodeo (circa 2007).
Liars - Mr. Your on Fire Mr. (circa 2001).

Minus Story: Ion Trusses & Telsa Coils

Published by

tyler

May 22, 2007 in indie psych rock and tunes. 0 Comments

[minus story image]

Honing their gaze on the modern-day world of physics in which we live, Minus Story have dubbed their latest album “My Ion Truss,” as though to lend more credence to the many worldviews people have casually built around quarks and ions.

I’ve had the album on the round robin on-again, off-again since it leaked. It has weight; a tangible Indie Rock weight you don’t find nearly as much these days. Not to sound like a war-torn music fogey, but I’d almost be tempted to say “since Neutral Milk Hotel,” as cruel and unjust as that may be.

These guys have strengthened their craft since the early pioneering days of The Captain is Dead… when they were all but a wash (not a wall) of sound. They’ve seemed to accrue a polish in the mix, without obstructing the fuzz texture of the sound. No doubt they can chock that up to the fact that this is their first real studio album with a man at the helm. A man who has produced other such giants as Explosions in the Sky and The Polyphonic Spree.

While it is glossy, one thing I do miss just a little are their quirky instrumentals. It seems they’ve left some of that behind, was it really so sophomoric to use the poor-man’s harmonica to belt out a melodic lead-in (ala Suffer By Yourself)? At least they didn’t compromise their energy or philosophies in the process. They’re still stuck on that whole Heaven and Hell mantra, and it still has kick.

My Ion Truss is coming out, as always, from Jagjaguwar, on June 19th. Mark your calendars.

MP3:

Minus Story - In Line / Aaron - (from My Ion Truss)
Minus Story - [untitled] - (from Heaven and Hell)