4 for the weekend vol. 31: The return (with contest!)

It’s been awhile (since November, actually) but with the glut of decent music coming into the QBiM office lately, I thought it was high time to resurrect this weekly weekend feature. And to make this kick-start even sweeter, here’s your chance to win a copy of each of this week’s featured CDs! All you have to do is: a) join the Quick Before It Melts Facebook group; b) write a message on the wall saying you want the four free CDs; and c) sit back and wait. Easy enough? Thought so. Don’t worry if you don’t win this one, there’ll be plenty more chances to win some cool swag all next month!

You want the candy

I’ve never been greatly impressed by The Raveonettes in the past, but I have to say that I’ve been taken with “Aly, Walk With Me” from their latest album, Lust Lust Lust enough to give the, erm, lustful duo another chance to get down and dirty with me.

It’s swaggering opening and chant-like vocals make “Aly…” a mesmerizing affair. The spaghetti-western instrumentation and cinematic-scope of the locales (walking in the summer, walking in dreams, walking in New York, and Portland, is it?) adds the making of a sultry love affair. It’s almost Portishead-like, if Portishead were backed by a fuzzed out guitar band who’d been listening to Darklands or Psychocandy. I think it’s fair to say you’ll either love it or you’ll hate it. And if you hate it, perhaps you’ll like Ruby Isle’s cover of the track more.

Get your head around it

There’s something sweetly endearing and simultaneously unsettling about Headlights. The sweet comes by way of Erin Fien’s sugary vocals coupled with an effortless songwriting style that seems to flow as if they’re channeling the classic songwriters of the past. The unsettling part comes from the fragility and delicateness of their work. You’re afraid that if you listen too hard, listen too closely, you might tarnish some of their magic. No worries, the music of their second album, Some Racing, Some Stopping, is strong enough to endure the loudest car stereo system and closest scrutiny and still come out sounding unscathed. Headlights wall-of-sound inspired vibe is strong enough to resist any head-on collision.

If it wasn’t for a previous engagement, I’d be heading over the border to Buffalo to catch them at Mohawk Place on Saturday, March 1. Those on my side of the Niagara River may choose to catch them at Toronto’s legendary El Mocambo the following day (Sunday, March 2). Those who prefer a performance in the comfort of their own home will mostly likely right-click on the link below:

Introducing Laura Barrett

There are probably a thousand different witty ways one can describe Toronto musician Laura Barrett’s music, but I’m sure that they’ll only serve to diminish the power of her compositions, so I’m cutting to the chase: Laura Barrett plays the kalimba, an African thumb piano, and uses it to stunning effect as she weaves tales laced with sci-fi references, modern technology and child-like innocence and wonder. If you think Vampire Weekend is genre-bending, then you have to listen to Laura.

She’s known as a member of The Hidden Cameras, but Barrett is steadily growing a reputation as an intriguing live act–just her voice and thumbs plucking away at her instrument–whose covered Weird Al Yankovic’s “Smells Like Nirvana” (this is the part where geeks and nerds the world over fall in love with her). She’s making her way around Southern Ontario in the next few weeks before heading to Austin for SXSW. Check her out if you’re planning on being there.

Laura’s debut EP, earth Sciences, is out today on Toronto’s Paper Bag Records, and should be available at all your fine record retailers (virtual or physical).

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From the news of the internet world comes word that Amie Street is releasing the entire catalogs of Beggars Group (XL, Rough Trade, 4AD), Matador Records and Polyvinyl Records digitally, giving fans a chance to set the price per song. Each song starts out free, and then raises in price based on popularity to a nice round $0.98. All songs are DRM-free mp3s. Too bad so many of them are listed as US Only. Does anyone buy from Amie Street regularly? Let me know and I’ll consider adding links.

The race for radio supremacy

In a recent profile in Q magazine, Yannis Philippakis, singer/guitarist in Foals, described the recording of the band’s debut album, Antidotes: “There were constant threats of knifings and a lot of weed being smoked.” That the knifings were being threatened by the album’s producer, Dave Sitek (guitarist with TV On The Radio), should be cause for concern, but it appears every one made it out unscathed. The only really signs of traumatic shock comes via the band’s high-octane post-punk performance on the 11 songs that make up the album. It comes out on April 8 by way of Sub Pop in North America.