July 31, 2013

New song from The Naked And Famous: Hearts Like Ours

The Naked and Famous rocked our world with such alt-indie-pop hits as "Punching In A Dream" and "Young Blood" from their 2011 début Passive Me, Aggressive You. Their second album In Rolling Waves is being released September 16, and they've offered up this beautiful, hooky tune "Hearts Like Ours" to enjoy.


Do you think those are the same cyclists that were in Bat for Lashes' "What's a Girl to Do?" clip?

July 30, 2013

New Balconies track The Slo

It's loud, then it's quiet, then it's loud again. It's the always dynamic Balconies with a new tune from their forthcoming October release Fast Motions called "The Slo". Crank it.

July 29, 2013

New Annie

Annie, pop singer from Norway, has been teasing out tracks from her forthcoming A&R EP blah for several months now. It's the first new stuff we've heard from her since 2009's Don't Stop, so there's been some excitement here. This post collects the tunes we've heard so far.

"Tube Stops and Lonely Hearts", which seems like it won't be on the new release.

"Back Together" stream

"Hold On", which was co-written with Little Boots.


"Invisible" stream

"Ralph Macchio" stream

The A&R EP comes out July 29 (today!). Look for subsequent EPs soon!

July 27, 2013

Five by Five: Five by Black

Black is about as rock and roll as a colour can be. Remember This is Spinal Tap when Nigel Tufnel describes their all-black album cover, "It's like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black."

Here are five awesome bands who dig on the "black".

The Black Keys. Blues innovators. Hard to find a song I haven't already featured on the site, so I'm going all the way back to 2008's Attack and Release for "Strange Times".


Black Mountain. Classic rockers from BC. Since I've featured "Old Fangs" and "The Hair Song" on the site before, here's the title track from Wilderness Heart.


Nine Black Alps. Pure alternative rock from Manchester. This is the great tune "My One And Only" from their latest album, 2012's Sirens.


Black Sabbath. Original horror rockers. I'm not going to feature their new album, 13. I'm going back to the first track from the classic 1970 album Paranoid. This is "War Pigs".


The Black Crowes. Classic American rock/blues act. Here's "Twice As Hard" from their début, Shake Your Money Maker.

July 26, 2013

Great tunes from Speedy Ortiz

Speedy Ortiz are an indie rock band from the US of A. They play loud guitar driven music with female vocals. The guitars veer towards chaos but their drummer holds everything together. Their début album, Major Arcana, is out now.

"Tiger Tank"

"Ka-Prow!"

July 25, 2013

Two new Divine Fits tunes

Last year, Divine Fits put out the excellently alt-rockin' album A Thing Called Divine Fits. They performed two new tunes on Conan back at the beginning of June. They've now released these clips for the two new tunes.

Great sounding guitar rock tunes!

"Chained to Love"

"Ain't That The Way"

And here's a clip of them doing a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart" from this past winter.

July 24, 2013

Wow! Deap Vally

Oh yeah, it's Deap Vally. Wow. These 2 make a lot of noise.

Little bit of White Stripes with a dash of Black Keys and a shit load of attitude. I like it!

"Gonna Make My Own Money"

"End of the World"

"Lies"

"Baby I Call Hell"

Their début album, Sistrionix, is out now.

July 23, 2013

Lots of great stuff from J. Mascis / Dinosaur Jr.

I think it's really cool that J. Mascis/Dinosaur Jr. gets tons of respect. I think he's a great singer, song writer and guitarist and I've been enjoying his heavy music with a pop sensibility, as well as his face melting guitar playing, since the late 80s.

Here's the latest tune from Dinosaur Jr. It's an acoustic cover of the classic Mazzy Star tune "Fade into Me". Beautiful. It comes with Keep's official Dinosaur Jr. shoe, if you're into that sort of thing.


J. Mascis has also teamed up with Skullcandy headphones and you can get a couple of great tunes through the link over on Stereogum. Here's "The Only Other Way".


This clip that shows how Dinosaur Jr can take you away. Kinda like Calgon. Only different. And louder. It's for the song "Pierce The Morning Rain" from 2012's I Bet On Sky.


There are a bunch of cool fan videos over at Stereogum of J. Mascis with legendary folks like Johnny Marr, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo, Frank Black, Kevin Drew, Tommy Stinson, and Fred Armisen. Tunes include "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" with Johnny Marr (of course) and "The Wagon" with Kevin Drew, who you know is a big J. Mascis fan since the tune "Backed Out On The..." from his 2007 solo album Spirit If... featured J. and since the BSS tune "Cause=Time" sounds like it could be a Dinosaur Jr. track.

July 22, 2013

New song from 7 Seconds

7 Seconds is a punk band that's been around since 1980. I'm certainly no expert on their discography, having only their 1986 release New Wind in my library. It's a great album of what I'd describe more as power pop than punk, but that's just me. It's an amazing collection of tunes that I featured a track from in this post.

They've just released a new track, called "My Aim is You", that is much more of a punk song, still with a great sense of melody.

July 21, 2013

New Yuck track called Rebirth

How apt is it that the first track released after the departure of Yuck's singer is called "Rebirth"? Pretty apt if you ask me. It's a cool sounding track. This looks like it will be one of the more beneficial band splits. We get two great bands, Yuck and Hebronix.


Click this link to get the track for free.

July 20, 2013

Five by Five: A fistful of brilliance

Aren't there just some songs that you would give 100 stars to, if you could? They make your heart swell when you hear them, they make you grin uncontrollably, they bring amazing memories, they give you shivers. That is the magic of music.

Stars "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead" brings a tear to my eye. I still remember the first time I heard this song. I was captivated from the first note. Amazing! So what if I've posted it before. "Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it, and my heart is just going to cave in."*


Hüsker Dü "I Apologize" I can barely believe that I've never posted this song before. Just incredible.


OMD "If You Leave" I got a vinyl 45 of this song when I went to the première of Pretty In Pink. Yeah, you got somethin' to say about that?!?


Oasis "Morning Glory" is just an outstanding song. And so much fun to play live. From the school of "play the song, then play it again" song writing. Classic.


"Crank" by Catherine Wheel. Just because it's awesome. Someday I'll probably post a Rob Dickinson solo acoustic version.


*Quote from American Beauty

July 18, 2013

New Kings of Leon track Super Soaker

Kings of Leon have a new album called Mechanical Bull coming out September 24. Here's the preview track "Super Soaker".

July 17, 2013

Beautiful video for a beautiful song: The Joy Formidable's Silent Treatment

One of my absolute favourite bands, The Joy Formidable, have just released a new EP, Silent Treatment. It features the absolutely beautiful song from Wolf's Law, "Silent Treatment", a William Orbit remix of "Silent Treatment" (which is what we're hearing in the video), a live version of "Tendons", and the previously unreleased track "All This Promise".

I'm not completely sold on the remix, but it's growing on me. I love the song and the video.

July 16, 2013

New Regina Spektor

Regina Spektor has put out some amazing songs. I love tunes like "Fidelity" and "Better" from 2006's Begin to Hope and more recent tunes like "Small Town Moon" and "All the Rowboats" from last year's What We Saw from the Cheap Seats.

Regina's latest tune comes from the new Netflix Original Series Orange Is The New Black. It's called "You've Got Time" and it rocks.

July 15, 2013

New Pearl Jam track Mind Your Manners!

Yes, it's true. A fresh jar of Pearl Jam. I've loved Pearl Jam since Ten was released and I played "Even Flow" on my college radio show. I was lucky enough to see Pearl Jam live at Lollapalooza 2.

The new album will be called Lightning Bolt and is out October 15. The teaser track is "Mind Your Manners". It rocks hard and sounds like it would have fit well on Vitalogy. Kewl!

July 13, 2013

Five by Five: from pop to alternative

In 2004, Jem put out an album called Finally Woken. That's exactly how it felt to listen to these perfectly formed pop songs, with the icing of Jem's vocals on top. Check out "24".


It was back in 2006 when I first heard The SoundsDying To Say This To You is an incredibly strong pop album. One that they probably can't be faulted for not being able to top. This tune is "Tony the Beat". It's only the beginning.


I've never posted this old favourite from The Shins. It's "Kissing the Lipless" from 2003's Chutes Too Narrow.


Let's go back to the 90's. 1993 to be exact. Belly featured Tanya Donelly and Fred Abong of Throwing Muses. Their début album Star was packed with great tunes. "Feed the Tree" was the most popular.


I've posted songs by The Posies before, but never this one. It's "Definite Door" from one of the best albums of all time, in my humble opinion, Frosting on the Beater.

July 12, 2013

Great vibes from Lorde

Having been to TURF last weekend, and posting about it all week, I've been in a rock/roots headspace for a little bit. Time to change gears.

Lorde is a 16 year old from New Zealand. Listen to her music and I'm sure you'll agree that she doesn't sound like many people's preconceived notions of the music a teenager would produce. It's electronic, but with a welcome depth of emotion and maturity. And those melodies. Sounds like she's quite down-to-earth and level-headed too.

"Tennis Court"

"Royals"

Here début full-length is due out in September.

July 11, 2013

TURF: The Hold Steady

The Toronto Urban Roots Festival, or TURF for short, is a 4-day music festival in downtown Toronto. For its first year, they had a really good line up of artists including She & Him, Camera Obscura, Arkells, Fitz and the Tantrums, Hannah Georgas, The Felice Brothers, Skydiggers, The Wooden Sky, The Sadies, Yo La Tengo, Whitehorse, Cat Empire, Neko Case and Belle & Sebastian to name a few. There was also a club portion with live performances at The Horseshoe and Lee's Palace each night.

I only attended Day 3 and saw Dawes, Matt Mays, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, The Lowest of the Low, The Hold Steady and Flogging Molly. I found it to be an amazing experience. The festival was well organized, easy to get around and had a good variety of food and drink options including great food trucks, plentiful beer gardens and free water. There was a kids area, too. The VIP option was well worth the upgrade. I think I would attend more festivals if they were all this well run and had such well organized VIP options. I do wonder how close to capacity they were, and whether the manageable crowd levels were by design or not. Hopefully, TURF was profitable and will become an annual tradition on the Toronto concert calendar.
I've been looking forward to seeing The Hold Steady for a long, long time. I first heard of them through a long-deceased and much missed TV program on MuchMusic called The New Music. I immediately picked up 2005's Separation Sunday. I liked what I heard. Lots of loud guitars in a straight-up rock style with unique storytelling delivered in a ranting style over top. What's not to like?

I eventually reached back in their catalog to Almost Killed Me and all the way forward to today, as I eagerly anticipate each new release. I also discovered Craig Finn's previous band Lifter Puller.

So here I was, on a beautiful day in Toronto, and The Hold Steady hit the stage. And they hit hard. Their setlist was a great cross-section from their discography, featuring favourites and deeper cuts. They were everything I could have hoped for.

Being right up front can be a mixed bag sound-wise. You get a lot of sound directly from the stage and the vocals can be a bit buried. As a guitar player I have to say that the sound from the stage during The Hold Steady was incredible. I thought that the Vox driven sounds that Tad Kubler was pushing were amazing. Then I went to the other side of the stage and had my hair blown back by Steve Selvidge's Marshall/Orange rig. All told, some of the best guitar tones in rock today.

I don't want to get anyone in trouble, or report hearsay, but I swear that Craig Finn said that they were playing a new song from their new album that would be coming out in a few weeks. I haven't been able to find any corroborating evidence, so I'm content to think that I hallucinated it. They definitely treated us to a couple of new tunes. I'm sure I'm not alone in looking forward to the new release.

At one point between songs, as audience members shouted favourite song titles at the band, Finn remarked that if he let people shout song titles for long enough, they would eventually be right, in his experience. Love his sense of humour. Second only to how photogenic he is.
Now for the music. Here's a sampling from across The Hold Steady's career thus far.

Almost Killed Me
"The Swish"

Separation Sunday
"Banging Camp"

"Your Little Hood Rat Friend"

Boys And Girls In America
"Stuck Between Stations"

"Chips Ahoy"

"Southtown Girls"

Stay Positive
"Sequestered in Memphis"

"Constructive Summer"

"Stay Positive" This was their closer - with Frank Turner

Heaven is Whenever
"Rock Problems"

The pictures in this post are mine.

July 10, 2013

TURF: The Lowest of the Low

The Toronto Urban Roots Festival, or TURF for short, is a 4-day music festival in downtown Toronto. For its first year, they had a really good line up of artists including She & Him, Camera Obscura, Arkells, Fitz and the Tantrums, Hannah Georgas, The Felice Brothers, Skydiggers, The Wooden Sky, The Sadies, Yo La Tengo, Whitehorse, Cat Empire, Neko Case and Belle & Sebastian to name a few. There was also a club portion with live performances at The Horseshoe and Lee's Palace each night.

I only attended Day 3 and saw Dawes, Matt Mays, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, The Lowest of the Low, The Hold Steady and Flogging Molly. I found it to be an amazing experience. The festival was well organized, easy to get around and had a good variety of food and drink options including great food trucks, plentiful beer gardens and free water. There was a kids area, too. The VIP option was well worth the upgrade. I think I would attend more festivals if they were all this well run and had such well organized VIP options. I do wonder how close to capacity they were, and whether the manageable crowd levels were by design or not. Hopefully, TURF was profitable and will become an annual tradition on the Toronto concert calendar.
I've written about The Lowest of the Low and their singer Ron Hawkins many times before on this blog. I've been open about my feeling that Ron is one of Canada's all time great songwriters. I've been a fan of The Low since before their indie début Shakespeare, My Butt was released in 1991.

I always enjoy seeing The Low live and this show was no exception. It's also great to see them on a bill such as this, where they can be appreciated by old fans like myself, and hopefully be introduced to new fans, too.

They played a solid set from across their career, hitting up what has to be one of the best albums ever, Shakespeare, My Butt as well as the 1994 follow up Hallucigenia and 2004's reunion album Sordid Fiction.
Check out a few Lowest of the Low gems.

"Rosy and Grey" If you think this song sounds familiar, you might have heard Weddings, Parties, Anything's cover.

"Eternal Fatalist" This one's old. Probably the original video for this tune. It sounds like it pre-dates Shakespeare, My Butt.

"Bleed a Little While Tonight"

"The Hand of Magdalena" from the Mike Bullard Show.

"Gamble" from their 1994 release Hallucigenia.

"The Last Recidivist" from 2004's Sordid Fiction.


If you like what you hear, and you don't already know The Low, and if you do, YouTube has tons of fan filmed live videos. Check 'em out!
The photos in this post are mine.

July 9, 2013

TURF: Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls

The Toronto Urban Roots Festival, or TURF for short, is a 4-day music festival in downtown Toronto. For its first year, they had a really good line up of artists including She & Him, Camera Obscura, Arkells, Fitz and the Tantrums, Hannah Georgas, The Felice Brothers, Skydiggers, The Wooden Sky, The Sadies, Yo La Tengo, Whitehorse, Cat Empire, Neko Case and Belle & Sebastian to name a few. There was also a club portion with live performances at The Horseshoe and Lee's Palace each night.

I only attended Day 3 and saw Dawes, Matt Mays, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, The Lowest of the Low, The Hold Steady and Flogging Molly. I found it to be an amazing experience. The festival was well organized, easy to get around and had a good variety of food and drink options including great food trucks, plentiful beer gardens and free water. There was a kids area, too. The VIP option was well worth the upgrade. I think I would attend more festivals if they were all this well run and had such well organized VIP options. I do wonder how close to capacity they were, and whether the manageable crowd levels were by design or not. Hopefully, TURF was profitable and will become an annual tradition on the Toronto concert calendar.
I guess I'm kind of a latecomer to Frank Turner. I discovered him after the release of 2011's England Keep My Bones. I subsequently missed his show in Toronto. This made TURF my opportunity to see Frank live. He also played Sunday night at Lee's Palace.

Since I first heard his music, I've loved his impassioned, energetic delivery of oft-times confessional, story-telling songs. I always figured that he'd be amazing to see live, and let me tell you, I was not disappointed.

He opened the show with "Four Simple Words" from his latest Tape Deck Heart. He kept the energy level near frantic for most of the show, indulging his inner "corporate whore" by shilling his new music, while reaching back in his catalog. I don't think anyone in the crowd was in any way disappointed by the show. He's got a way with a song and keeps the audience involved, even to the point of danger.

He made lots of friends by covering local legends The Weakerthans' "Plea From A Cat Named Virtute".

Upon popular request, Frank came back for one more song, a great cover of "Thunder Road" by Bruce Springsteen.

Truly glad I was able to see Frank live.

We saw Frank again when he came out to pump his fists and sing along with one of his favourite bands, The Hold Steady, before joining them on stage for their finale. Pretty damn cool.
Here's a smattering of great Frank Turner music.

Tape Deck Heart
"Four Simple Words"

"The Way I Tend To Be"

"Losing Days"

"Plain Sailing Weather"

"Recovery"

England Keep My Bones
"Glory Hallelujah" Yes, this was just as powerful live as you would imagine. Glory be to the rational.

"Wessex Boy"

"I Still Believe"

Sleep Is For The Week
"Wisdom Teeth" Was this the tune he said he'd probably never played in Canada?

Love Ire & Song
Amazing crowd participation main set closer "Photosynthesis".

Cover
"Thunder Road"

The pictures in this post are mine.

July 8, 2013

TURF: Matt Mays

The Toronto Urban Roots Festival, or TURF for short, is a 4-day music festival in downtown Toronto. For its first year, they had a really good line up of artists including She & Him, Camera Obscura, Arkells, Fitz and the Tantrums, Hannah Georgas, The Felice Brothers, Skydiggers, The Wooden Sky, The Sadies, Yo La Tengo, Whitehorse, Cat Empire, Neko Case and Belle & Sebastian to name a few. There was also a club portion with live performances at The Horseshoe and Lee's Palace each night.

I only attended Day 3 and saw Dawes, Matt Mays, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, The Lowest of the Low, The Hold Steady and Flogging Molly. I found it to be an amazing experience. The festival was well organized, easy to get around and had a good variety of food and drink options including great food trucks, plentiful beer gardens and free water. There was a kids area, too. The VIP option was well worth the upgrade. I think I would attend more festivals if they were all this well run and had such well organized VIP options. I do wonder how close to capacity they were, and whether the manageable crowd levels were by design or not. Hopefully, TURF was profitable and will become an annual tradition on the Toronto concert calendar.
I had seen Matt Mays' name around quite a bit, but never listened to his music until I was checking out the TURF line-up. He plays great, soulful rock music that was a perfect complement to the third day of TURF. Mays is from down east; Nova Scotia to be exact. He and his band put on an energetic set that surely saw me added to his list of fans.

Check out a couple of great tunes from his latest release Coyote.

"Indio"

"Take it on Faith"

The pictures in this post are mine.

July 7, 2013

TURF: Dawes

The Toronto Urban Roots Festival, or TURF for short, is a 4-day music festival in downtown Toronto. For its first year, they had a really good line up of artists including She & Him, Camera Obscura, Arkells, Fitz and the Tantrums, Hannah Georgas, The Felice Brothers, Skydiggers, The Wooden Sky, The Sadies, Yo La Tengo, Whitehorse, Cat Empire, Neko Case and Belle & Sebastian to name a few. There was also a club portion with live performances at The Horseshoe and Lee's Palace each night.

I only attended Day 3 and saw Dawes, Matt Mays, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, The Lowest of the Low, The Hold Steady and Flogging Molly. I found it to be an amazing experience. The festival was well organized, easy to get around and had a good variety of food and drink options including great food trucks, plentiful beer gardens and free water. There was a kids area, too. The VIP option was well worth the upgrade. I think I would attend more festivals if they were all this well run and had such well organized VIP options. I do wonder how close to capacity they were, and whether the manageable crowd levels were by design or not. Hopefully, TURF was profitable and will become an annual tradition on the Toronto concert calendar.
LA band Dawes had a comfy afternoon set. I wasn't familiar with their music before I decided to attend the Saturday show and I came away a fan of their straight-up rock with a classic 70s vibe. Perfect music for a hot and sunny day.

Here are a bunch of tunes:

"From a Window Seat" from their latest release Stories Don't End.

"Most People" from a performance on Letterman in late June.

"Time Spent in Los Angeles" from their 2011 album Nothing Is Wrong.

"When My Time Comes" from their 2009 début album North Hills.

The pictures in this post are mine. I'm gettin' better, aren't I?

July 6, 2013

Five by Five: Classic Alternative

Here's a smattering of musical wonders, five-star songs from my library. It's a classic alternative set from years gone by. Hope you enjoy it.

7 Seconds from 1986's New Wind with "Put These Words To Music"


The Monks with "Johnny B Rotten" from their 1979 album Bad Habits.


The Clash with "Train in Vain" from the classic 1979 release London Calling.


Hüsker Dü with "Makes No Sense At All" from 1985's Flip Your Wig.


The Police from their second album, 1979's Regatta De Blanc with "It's Alright for You".

July 5, 2013

Arts & Crafts' 10th Anniversary: 10 bands - 10 years

Arts & Crafts, an awesome Canadian indie label, recently celebrated their tenth anniversary. To honour them, here are 10 songs from 10 bands who were, or still are, on Arts & Crafts.

Broken Social Scene with "Almost Crimes" from their 2003 release You Forgot It In People.


Feist with "Mushaboom" from 2006's Open Season.


Dan Mangan with "Road Regrets" from 2009's Nice, Nice, Very Nice.


Chikita Violenta with "Tired" from their 2011 release TRE3S.


Los Campesinos amazing tune "You! Me! Dancing!" appeared on their 2007 EP Sticking Fingers Into Sockets and their 2008 album Hold On Now, Youngster.


Zeus with "Are You Gonna Waste My Time?" from 2012's Busting Visions.


Cold Specks with "Winter Solstice" from her 2012 release I Predict A Graceful Expulsion.


Stars are Arts & Crafts alumni. Here's "Elevator Love Letter" from 2003's Heart.


Phoenix used to be on Arts & Crafts. This is "Consolidation Prizes" from back in 2006 and the album It's Never Been Like That.


Alum Young Galaxy from their 2007 eponymous début with "Outside the City".


This is just some of the beauty that Arts & Crafts has helped share with the world. Visit their site and their bands' sites to check out more.

Thanks for all the great music, Arts & Crafts!

July 4, 2013

Johnny Marr does The Smiths on Jools

I posted before about Johnny Marr's very solid album The Messenger. Here he is on Later with Jools Holland doing a great job with a couple of Smiths classics.

"Big Mouth Strikes Again"

"How Soon Is Now"

July 3, 2013

Seizure inducing video from Nine Inch Nails

So that Trent Reznor, he's pretty reliable. He said there will be new Nine Inch Nails music and he's got Hesitation Marks coming out on September 3. He let us preview (prelisten?) the track "Came Back Haunted" a little while back. He's even going on tour again. Now he's released a video for "Came Back Haunted" that was directed by David Lynch.

Check it out below. There's an epilepsy association warning because it could trigger seizures. Yikes!


Next time, I'd suggest that they turn on that "image stabilization" feature. The pictures will be clearer that way.

July 2, 2013

Fun song by The Mowgli's

Here's a fun, fun song from a band called The Mowgli's. Apparently, they're playing The Mod Club tonight. Well, what are you waiting for? Get going!


Their album Waiting for the Dawn is out now.

July 1, 2013

New video from Stars and Happy Canada Day

Stars have released a video for "Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It" from their most recent album, The North. It's a fun clip for a fantastic song. Check it out, and tell me you don't wish you were dancing around with a goofy grin on your face like the folks in the video.



Happy Canada Day!