29 April 2007
The Choir Practice
“Like an infectious musical sewing circle,” goes the press release,
“The Choir Practice grew and grew, secretly creating rich harmonies and conventional pop arrangements with a transparent choral delivery…”
Imagine the vocalists for every indie band you ever loved deciding to come together and create a chorus of voices to accompany some very sparse and minimal indie pop songs in the vein of the Langley Schools Music Project and 60’s psych-folkies The Free Design, and you’d have The Choir Practice. Coco Culbertson (from The Gay, and A.C. Newman Band) is the choirmaster behind this impressive 14 member band whose debut gig was opening for Antony and the Johnstons. Many of the members come from established acts in and around the Vancouver area; other members day jobs include being a fashion designer, radio personality, filmmaker, and a florist.
The Choir Practice release their self-titled debut on Mint Records May 15 (in Canada) and June 12 (U.S. and international). Those who may be fans of The Polyphonic Spree, or just those who are looking for something a little bit different than your ordinary pop band should definitely give The Choir Practice a listen.
The Choir Practice, “Red Fox”
The Choir Practice, “Failsafe”
+The Choir Practice
+Myspace
+more mp3s
+Mint Records
28 April 2007
4 for the weekend, vol.6
This week’s foursome come from some acts
who’ve been knockin’ on the QBiM door lately.
The Honored Guests are from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and bring a sense of experimentation and adventure to a multi-sensory sound style that makes you want to stetch out your hand and run your fingers through their melodies. I don’t think I’ve even begun to scratch the surface to The Honored Guests music yet–each listen brings with it something unexpected and new that wasn’t there the last time I listened. They’ve released their latest,
Tastes Change, on
Breakfast Mascot Music; if you’re smart (and I know you are) you’ll get it now and be ahead of the hype.
The Honored Guests, “Summer Snow”
+The Honored Guests
+official
+Myspace
+more mp3s
+buy Tastes Change here
The Setups hail from Chicago, and have a fight on their hands. Like walking into the winds of the windy city, The Setups are battling for attention and recognition amongst many the Fall Out Boy-wannabes of the local music scene. That’s not as easy as it sounds, but The Setups are putting up one hell of a fight, and by the sound of the early demos available via their Myspace site, they’ll be able to do some damage. Theirs is an earnest, almost innocent sound that’s kind of refreshing after having listened to an endless stream of artists that sound alike. If you like what you hear, drop them a line; I’m sure they’d appreciate the support.
The Setups, “Somewhere In My Mind”
+The Setups
+Myspace
+more mp3s
Jade McNelis is originally from Tallahassee, Florida but moved to Montreal about a year ago to kick her recording career into high gear. She’s wasted no time doing as the Montrealers do, enlisting the likes of Murray Lightburn and Patrick Krief of
The Dears, Chris Seligman and Evan Cranley of
Stars, Brad and Andrew Barr of
The Slip and Gregory Paquet (ex-
The Stills) to help her out on her 6-song, debut EP. “Life In Grey” may be a short number, but there’s more than enough ideas packed into it for you to enjoy.
Jade McNelis, “Life In Grey”
+Jade McNelis
+label site (Good Fences)
+Myspace
+more mp3s
I was more than a little perplexed by my initial exposure to
The Zetland Players. They’re what I imagine Franz Ferdinand would sound like if they wore suspenders and overalls rather than skinny ties and wedge haircuts. There are lots of band’s who try to reimagined well-established musical genres, but most of them just end up butchering the sound or looking like a complete bunch of morons. The Zetland Players may not have started out intending to make neo-folk, but somewhere along the way they discovered how to make a traditional sounding record that is anything but traditional. And it sounds like they’re having a blast doing it.
The Zetland Players, “1 in 7″
+The Zetland Players
+official
+Myspace
+more mp3s
26 April 2007
I started something that Blogger wouldn’t let me finish
Last night I was working on a pretty good post about an article in the most recent issue of
Q magazine about the last days of
The Smiths, and their rumoured induction into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2008. I focused quite a bit on what I believe is–and according to the article, Morrissey and Johnny Marr both agree with me on this–the definitive Smiths album,
Strangeways, Here We Come. I made some great observations about how, if you listen to the album divorced of all the history we already know, you’ll hear the sound of a band on the verge of reinvention, ready to move into the next phase of their career. They were about to leave jangle-pop behind and widen the scope of their sound through more lush orchestrations. The proof is in the pudding on tracks that I had linked to for downloading, all you had to do was click and listen.
But then Blogger freakin’ crapped out on me and just as the post was ready to go, it disappeared into the void of nonexistence–much the same way the band fell into the dark hole that was slowing consuming them, sprialing towards an end that was simultaneously the last thing anybody wanted and the only recourse any of them had. Poignant, isn’t it?
So this may be no where as elegant, and may not include links to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and articles on legal action being taken by ‘the other two” on Morrissey and Marr, or be as eloquent as my original post, but here’s the tracks I wanted to post:
The Smiths, “A Rush And A Push And the Land Is Ours”
The Smiths, “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me”
The Smiths, “Paint A Vulgar Picture”
and for good measure, I threw in:
Mark Ronson, “Stop Me”, his recent cover of:
The Smiths, “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before”
The long and the short of it? Check out the Q article, it’s really quite good, and…
The Smiths Are Dead. Long Live The Smiths.
25 April 2007
"Icky Thump" by The White Stripes
The White Stripes‘ new track, “Icky Thump” will be available after midnight tonight (that’s 12:00 AM Thursday, April 26th) on iTunes.
As soon as a link becomes available, we’ll post it here.
‘Til then, get your ‘Purchase’ clicking fingers ready.
Buy “Icky Thump” at iTunes
EDIT: Shameless Complacency has a radio rip of the track here.
25 April 2007
Young Galaxy comes in for a landing
All the way back on January 2nd of this year, I posted about
Young Galaxy, the new project of one-time Stars affiliate Stephen Ramsay and Catherine McCrandles. At that time they had released an internet only EP,
Swing Your Heartache, and set out on tour with The Dears after announcing that they had signed with
Arts & Crafts. This week sees the release of their debut, self-titled album, so I thought it would be worth revisiting what has grown to be one of my favourite songs of the year (and one of the coolest titles), “The Sun’s Coming Up And My Plane Is Going Down”. It’s a slowburner of a track, so give it time to start–you’ll be pleasantly pleased that you did. I’ve also included their new single, “Outside The City” for your enjoyment.
Young Galaxy, “The Sun’s Coming Up And My Plane Is Going Down”
Young Galaxy, “Outside The City”
+Young Galaxy
+official label site
+Myspace
+more mp3s
+buy Young Galaxy at Insound
