May 31, 2012

Classic - Arctic Monkeys on SNL

Here's a great, classic performance by Arctic Monkeys on SNL. What a great young band they were. The track is "A Certain Romance" from their 2006 début Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

"That man just yawned!"


Arctic Monkeys - A Certain Romance live on SNL by insomniac_pt

May 30, 2012

Cold Cave - Villains Of The Moon

I was just surfing around and found this song by Cold Cave.  I remember seeing an album of their's on emusic several years ago.  I'll have to seek out some more of their stuff.

May 29, 2012

New Jamie N Commons

I posted a few months ago about Jamie N Commons. Classic sound with gritty soulful vocals. This is his latest, "Devil in Me".

May 28, 2012

New Passion Pit coming this summer

Passion Pit are coming out with a new album this summer. Here's the first track for your sampling pleasure. The album, called Gossamer, is out July 24.



If you're new to Passion Pit, here's "The Reeling".

May 27, 2012

Pure

Last month, Todd Simko from Pure passed away. A friend introduced me to Pure when their Purefunalia album came out in 1992. I became an instant fan. I enjoyed lots of their tunes, but sadly, there aren't many available to post here.  I'll have to stick to the most popular - the great tune "Blast".

May 26, 2012

May 25, 2012

New Ladyhawke album called Anxiety on its way

Ladyhawke put out a great 80s influenced, self-titled album back in 2008. She's got new material coming out, as evidenced by this track "Anxiety" premièred on NME and some more from Soundcloud.  The album, Anxiety, is out May 28.



And in case you've never heard it, here's "My Delierium" from her 2008 début.

May 24, 2012

Ultraista with Smalltalk

As I'm sure you've heard by now, Nigel Godrich, producer of the little-known band Radiohead, has his own band. It's called Ultraista and here's the video for the track "Smalltalk".

May 23, 2012

Bob Mould posts Copper Blue live tracks

Bob Mould has posted the first three tracks from the first 20th anniversary performance of Copper Blue in its entirety.  Get them now!  Awesome!



And if that weren't enough, Merge Records is reissuing the entire Sugar catalog on July 24.

May 22, 2012

New Album by Supergrass' Gaz Coombes

Gaz Coombes, frontman of now-defunct Supergrass, has a new album called Here Come the Bombs. It came out yesterday in the UK and maybe today in North America.

You can check it out here:



And if you're not familiar with Supergrass, here's probably their most popular song, "Alright".



and "Sun Hits the Sky".

May 21, 2012

It's a beautiful day outside

It's not exactly the first day of spring, but it's a beautiful Victoria Day weekend, and "it's a beautiful day outside - the sun's full in the sky". Here's The Gandharvas with "First Day of Spring".



Get out there and enjoy it!

May 20, 2012

Peace

I really should keep better track of where I hear about these bands. Sometimes it's from other blogs, sometimes it's from TV, sometimes it's from other band web sites, sometimes it's from magazine or other web sites, sometimes it's from "similar bands" on last.fm or allmusic, sometimes it's a rabbit hole of surfing around youtube.

At some point in my exploration, I happened upon Birmingham four-piece Peace. Here's their video for "Follow Baby" and a track called "Bblood". Cool sounding band.



May 19, 2012

New Band of Skulls videos

Band of Skulls have put out a couple more videos from their most recent release Sweet Sour.

"Bruises"



and "Sweet Sour".  Love that "kicking the amp with spring reverb" sound at the beginning.



Here's video of them on Letterman with a Dave-pleasing rendition of "Sweet Sour".



And finally, here's a documentary on Band of Skulls.

May 18, 2012

Darlings of Chelsea

A friend recommended Darlings of Chelsea to me. Cool, powerful, rock. They're such a breath of fresh air that I'll forgive them for having their web site play music for me without asking.

"New Addiction"


"Devil is a Woman".  I personally always thought she would be.


Their latest album is Panic is Worse than the Emergency.  You can listen to it here.


Do you think they know/care that they share a name with a furniture company?




May 17, 2012

Another new Regina Spektor song

Here's a lovely track from Regina Spektor's forthcoming album What We Saw From The Cheap Seats. It'll be available May 29.

All you have to do is trust me and click here, right here, don't worry it will be fine. Just click here.

In case you missed it, I posted her video for "All The Rowboats" here. Not there, but here.

May 16, 2012

New Wintersleep

Wintersleep have a new album coming out June 12.  It's called Hello Hum and they've put out two new songs for our sampling pleasure. So sample away. You can even download "Resuscitate".



Sounds good!

Here are a couple of other Wintersleep tracks, both from their debut, Welcome to the Night Sky.

"Weighty Ghost"



And "Archaeologists".

May 15, 2012

Kontroversey

When I was in high school, I wanted to form a band and call it Big Tonka Trucks. A friend said, "You can't do that because Tonka is a trademark." I knew enough at the time that the controversy and press would be beneficial even if I eventually had to drop Tonka from the name.

May 14, 2012

About As Helpful As You Can Be Without Being Any Help At All

This new Dan Mangan video is for the excellently-titled "About As Helpful As You Can Be Without Being Any Help At All" from Oh Fortune.

May 13, 2012

Crocodiles with Sunday

This is Crocodiles' fun, cool song called "Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9)". It's from their forthcoming album Endless Flowers, which is out June 4 or 5 depending on which side of the ocean you live on.



And here's the album teaser if you're jonesing for more.



And you can listen to the title track here.

May 12, 2012

Parakeet - Yuck's bassist's duo

A while back, I posted the new Yuck song "Chew". Around the same time as I wrote that post, I discovered this video by Parakeet, Yuck's bassist's project.  Here's the video for the track "Tomorrow".



You can download the song here, where I stole the photo.

May 11, 2012

May 10, 2012

Giant Baby invades Cameron House

I caught an enthusiastic set by The Giant Baby at The Cameron House for the release of their third album Star. This was my first time seeing this band and they rocked their way through a marathon three set show that showed off each band member's talents and their penchant for classic, guitar-driven rock.


The songs deliver soaring vocals that at times could be compared to Bono or Luke Pritchard from The Kooks, the guitars alternately crunch and scream, with some delay-laden effects that are reminiscent of The Edge. Their no nonsense song writing and overall approach bring back classic rock of the 70s and Canadian rock giants like The Tragically Hip with whiffs of Gordon Lightfoot. They have a back-to-basics, anti-hipsterism vibe that puts them into a "being cool by not being cool" category.


I'll let the music speak for itself at this point.  Here are a few tracks from Star.

"Want You To Myself"


"Pray for Rain"


"She's the Bomb"


"California"


"Even though You're Safe"


They played some other stand-out songs that I can only assume are on their earlier releases. You can hear some over at cbc music.

The crappy live photo in this post is an original pic by me. The other one was provided by the band.

May 9, 2012

Great slice of soul from Alabama Shakes

Here's Alabama Shakes with an instant classic soul number called "Hold On". I imagine they would shine in a live setting. Sorry I missed them in their recent Toronto stop at Lee's Palace.

Here's the official video



And their appearance on Letterman.



The album, Boys & Girls, is out now.

May 8, 2012

And now, a video for that Maxïmo Park song I posted a few days ago

I seem to be doing a "Garbage" and posting lots of stuff from the new Maxïmo Park album The National Health, which is coming out June 11. In case you missed it, there was the initial announcement and first teaser track, then there was the first single, "Hips and Lips", now there's the video for the first single.

Check it out. It brings fan video to a new level. Cool.

May 7, 2012

Walk the Moon

Walk the Moon are another discovery of my miscellaneous web wanderings. Their big-label, self-titled début is out June 19. Here are a couple of tunes.

An acoustic version of "Next in Line" from Jimmy Fallon.



"Anna Sun" This is an awesome song that I have a feeling will end up on by "Best of 2012" list.



And "Lisa Baby"

May 6, 2012

The Joy Formidable Live for YouTube

I recently posted about the live excellence of The Joy Formidable. They proved it for an audience at the YouTube Studios. Check it out here:

May 5, 2012

Ican Ican't - I hope you like cats

A while back, I received a nice email from Dermot O'Leary, an Irish singer-songwriter who performs under the name Ican Ican't. His songs feature easy-going melodies and guitar playing, they sound familiar without recalling any other artist in particular. These songs are perfect for summer nights, campfires and coffee houses. And he seems to like cats, which is fine. I like cats, too.

"I Don't Care What You Think Of Me"


"Good Days Bad Days"


If you like what you hear, you can grab the album at Bandcamp.

May 4, 2012

RIP Adam Yauch


Adam Yauch, aka MCA, of the Beastie Boys has passed away at the age of 47. Thanks to Adam for fighting for our right to party, for the music and the activism. Rest in peace.

"Sabotage" was always one of my favourite songs to rock out to at The Phoenix in my younger days.


"So What'cha Want"


"Sure Shot"

May 3, 2012

Ron Hawkins on CBC

Ron Hawkins recently performed with the Do Good Assassins on CBC Radio 2.

They performed a brand new tune called "Propellers"



"Dead Man" from 10 Kinds of Lonely


"Corner Room" from Straightjacket Love

May 2, 2012

New Gaslight Anthem track!

Gaslight Anthem have just let us hear "45" a new song from their forthcoming album Handwritten, which is out on the 24th of July. Check it out below - it's a fantastic song that I just keep playing over and over.

May 1, 2012

New Metric Song!

Metric have a new album called Synthetica coming out on June 12. They've just put up a new song called "Youth Without Youth" and accompanying commentary for our listening and dancing pleasure.



Sounds great! Really looking forward to this release.