Season’s greetings from QBiM!

Good Morning Recordings

Oddly captivating and compelling, you won’t find a thing wrong with Morning Recordings‘ new album, The Welcome Kinetic. It’s truly a sound collage in the same way that the sound of your radio alarm clock melds with the musical symphony you’re conducting in your dreams, which then blends in with the beat of percolating coffee in the kitchen and the percussion of the garbage collection happening outside your bedroom window. The sounds rouse you from your slumber, and as you rub the sleep from your waking eyes, you smile and are content, for not only is the sound of your dreams still playing in your head, but your morning wood is a welcome kinetic, harder than it’s been in ages. It is morning and you are alive.

Morning Recordings “The Welcome Kinetic”
~ from the album The Welcome Kinetic, 2007 (Loose Thread)

From around the globe…

Manchester Orchestra and Annuals are playing together in my neck of the woods soon: November 2nd they’re in Montreal at Le Gymnase, the 3rd they’ll be in Toronto at the Mod Club, and then it’s on to Detroit on the 5th at Shelter, and the 6th in the Windy City playing at Subterranean. Those crazy kooks have even gone and covered each other’s songs:

Manchester Orchestra “Brother” (Annuals cover)

Annuals “Where Have You Been?” (Manchester Orchestra cover)

Keep the b-sides coming

I don’t get to hear b-sides as often as I used to, probably because I rarely buy singles anymore; nowadays I have to go out of my way to track down and source those bonus tracks in order to be a true completist record collector. So exactly how I stumbled across this lovely Arcade Fire b-side to “No Cars Go” I’m not sure, but I’m so so so glad I did. It’s worthy of sitting alongside their finest album tracks.

Arcade Fire “Surf City Eastern Bloc”
~ from the single “No Cars Go”, 2007 (Merge)

In other news…

The Weakerthans take a bus tour of Winnipeg in the video for “Civil Twilight”. Won’t you take a ride with them?

If you’re in Hamilton, Ontario on November 8th, you can catch Nathan Lawr and the Minotaurs at Casbah for their CD release party. I featured them back in September, but if you missed it, go check out their music at Myspace.

Keep your eyes peeled and your ears open, as I (think I) will be one of the bloggers on this week’s Blog Fresh Radio podcast. Bill and I chatted about Stationary Hund, whom I featured very recently.

4PLAY vol.29

I could be dreaming

Earlier this year, Matt over at Skatterbrain turned me onto Swedish pop purveyors Club 8. When Matt waxes poetically about pop, I listen. Club 8 sets itself apart from all the other recent imports from their homeland by striking out with a decidedly mellower, groovier, folksier sound. Much like label mate Pelle Carlberg, Club 8 take their influences and transcend them.

“Jesus, Walk With Me” features the haunting vocals of Karolina Komstedt alongside gentle guitar plucking of Johan Angergård, and will feature highly on your “Most Played List” for months to come.

Club 8 “Jesus, Walk With Me”
~ from the album The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Dreaming, 2007 (Labrador)