Tuesday 15 June 2010



The buzz in my flesh

Lately it feels like all the music I’ve really been enjoying is coming out of Breakglass and Hotel2Tango studios in Montreal (Besnard Lakes, Wolf Parade); one album recorded there last year that has fallen off the QBiM radar is getting a second kick at the can, as it were, thanks to a new EP:  Young Galaxy are releasing the YG No Art EP as a sort of wrap up to the highly successful run they’ve had with their second album, Invisible Republic.  The EP features a number of new remixes from sessions recorded for Invisible Republic and precedes the band’s upcoming tour dates with fellow Montrealers The Besnard Lakes.

While I’ve been championing The Besnard Lakes for this year’s Polaris Prize, my friend Matthew over at i(heart)music has sided with Young Galaxy, arguing that the latter does what the former does, only 100 times better.  It’s made for some interesting comparions and exchanges between us, but like all good bloggers we can agree to disagree on some of the finer points, but I will concede this to him:  what Young Galaxy are doing is well worth hearing.  New track “The Buzz in My Flesh” has a distinctly Cocteau Twins circa Heaven or Las Vegas sounding vibe happening, and is definitely one of my favourite moments on this EP.  It is apparently the first track Stephen Ramsay and Catherine McCandless ever wrote together, dating back from 2004.  That’s pretty auspicious beginnings if you ask me.  “Invisible Republic” made not have made the cut on the record to which it lends it’s name, but it would have been a welcome addition to that disc. Fans of Invisible Republic‘s stand-out song “Destroyer” might find the 80s new wave influenced Distortions remix of that track an interesting comparison to the original.  “Suzanne” is their eccentric take on the classic Leonard Cohen song, recorded during an “absinthe-fueled all night session” at Breakglass one wintry night.

The band have recently completed tracking the songs that will be on their third record, scheduled for a release later this year.  In the meantime, the EP is available digitally at all your fine online retailers.

MP3: Young Galaxy “Queen Drum (Graham Lessard remix)”
Myspace: Young Galaxy
Facebook: Young Galaxy





by J. Di Gioia | Comments Off

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