Remix Sunday: Taken by Trees vs Animal Collective and Guns N' Roses

It's a rare breed of musician who can cover an Animal Collective track without creating an ungodly mess, but Swedish outfit Taken By Trees (the solo project of Victoria Bergsman) have managed it with aplomb. 'My Boys' is a gently reworked version of one of 2009's best tracks, 'My Girls', that begs repeated listing. The song appears on Taken By Trees' excellent sophomore album East of Eden which also features backing vocal's from Animal Collective founding member Panda Bear. See the connection there? There's an official music video that features Victoria walking on a tightrope. That's pretty much it.

Taken By Trees seem to have a particular flair for covers. Last year's treatment of the Guns N' Roses standard 'Sweet Child O' Mine' was similarly fantastic. Here's a video of a live performance:

Taken By Trees will be at The Garage on December 14th.

Taken By Trees - My Boys

Taken By Trees - Sweet Child O' Mine

Friday Five

Trying to maintain some order, here are five dope tracks that are on high rotation at the moment.

North America South America (aka N.A.S.A.) are just two guys: a DJ and a skateboarder but they have tonnes of great hook-ups. Like how the one guy is Spike Jonze's brother. And how they have some of the most insane guest features on their forthcoming debut, The Spirit of Apollo.

N.A.S.A. feat. Kanye West, Lykke Li and Santogold - Gifted

It's way to early to call any new album 'Record of the Year', but I'll be damned if this isn't one of Animal Collective's best songs to date.

Animal Collective - My Girls

Baltimore's mad scientist of batshit electronic music, Dan Deacon, has his second full-length set to drop in March. "Get Older" the closer to his forthcoming Bromst, takes it's time to build up to his recognizable layered beats. You might even call it an epic soundscape.

Dan Deacon - Get Older

I don't have cable television, so I miss out on what's being killed over and over again through commericals and Top 40 nonsense. Then I went home at Christmas to find everyone and their mother keeping this one on steady rotation.

Passion Pit - Sleepy Head

Handsome Furs, the husband-wife duo of Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry, return with their sophomore disc, Face Control, in March. This first track reminds me of Apologies...-era Wolf Parade but without so much going on.

Handsome Furs - I'm Confused

Stay fly.

Inbox Wednesday: Delorean

While scoping the far reaches of the BTA email, I came across these guys from Spain who go by the name of my favourite time traveling car. Delorean remixed The Mystery Jets' "Half in Love With Elizabeth" and have turned it into a piano-banging, uplifting house anthem. The vocal loop even gives them shades of Animal Collective at their brightest sounding.

However, I did manage to find another Delorean remix that they did for The Teenagers earlier this year. These guys also have a pretty cool Spanish blog called Desparrame, which an online translator tells me means 'it scatters' and it is definately a scattering of random stuff from the internet.

The Mystery Jets - Half in Love With Elizabeth (Delorean remix)

The Teenagers - No Love (Delorean remix)

Enjoy.

Festival Season - Contest: Roger's Picnic, July 20th - Toronto

It's always been a dream of mine to curate a music festival. Though I haven't yet had the chance, I can't help but think that REMG and Embrace Productions created this year's Roger's Picnic with me in mind. And now, to make matters even better, Embrace is coughing up a pair of passes to the one-day festival to one lucky faithful BTA reader.

Admittedly, I've never been a City & Colour fan, who is the listed headliner in 2008. However, I can look past such things when the rest of the lineup boasts such glory as Cat Power, Chromeo, Tokyo Police Club, Dizzee Rascal, Animal Collective, and others. Despite these draws, the two bands I'm most looking forward to are Vampire Weekend and Born Ruffians, both of whom I wallowed in sorrow when I couldn't snag tickets to their Toronto shows earlier this year.

Vampire Weekend's only Toronto stop to-date was at a packed Horseshoe Tavern; because I couldn't get tickets, I held a wallowing party at my apartment while the show was going on across town for anyone else who was in the same boat as I. It was a bittersweet evening to say the least.

Likewise, Born Ruffians, whose debut LP Red, Yellow, and Blue is taking rank on the "top played" in my iTunes over the past few months, sold out Lee's Palace before I could grab a ticket. To rub it in, the reviews from the show were ridiculously positive.

Needless to say, I shant be missing this valuable opportunity to correct two of my biggest mistakes of 2008 in one shot at Fort York on July 20th. If you, too, want to be checking out all the action, send us an email with the subject line "Roger and Me are going on a Picnic". Do so before Noon on July 18th, as that's when the winner will be chosen.

Vampire Weekend - The Kids Don't Stand a Chance
Born Ruffians - Little Garcon
Cat Power - Theme From New York, New York

- bbbykmbrly.

Stellar lineup for Rogers Picnic in July

Tokyo Police Club, Cat Power, Dizzee Rascal, Vampire Weekend, City and Colour, Born Ruffians, Animal Collective, The Carps, and Chromeo all for under $50? Ummm, yes please.

The Rogers Picnic takes place in Toronto on July 20th and surprisingly, tickets are still available. Alternatively, if you're broke (or just really cheap) Exclaim! are giving away a pair of tickets here.

Born Ruffians - Hummingbird
Vampire Weekend - I Stand Corrected
Tokyo Police Club - Juno

- a.m.p.m.

Banshee Beats

Objective fact: Animal Collective are great. Last year's Strawberry Jam, without question, was one of my favourite albums of the year. It seems like a lot of people have touched this already, but Animal Collective have a 4-song EP, Water Curses, dropping in a couple weeks. But you know it's already available for aural consumption. The title track is bright and bouncy, and you sort of hear what Avey Tare is singing. The perfect spring soundtrack after that shitty winter we apparently had in eastern Canada (I was too busy gallivanting around warmer international destinations).

Animal Collective - Water Curses


Another not-so-new band I was recently put onto is The Dodos.

They remind me of a more coherent Animal Collective, and carry an impressive amount of depth considering their set up is essentially acoustic guitar and drums. Meric Long's guitar playing swells through different moods, ranging from breezy folk-pop to more dark psychedelic tones. They have a new album out, Visiter, and it's awesome. "Jodi" is epic stuff, while "Red and Purple" is just really catchy.

The Dodos - Jodi

The Dodos - Red and Purple

-A.W.

Peacebone

My recent favourite song from Animal Collective's Strawberry Jam now has a new creep-tacular video. What else would you expect from the Collective, really?



Strawberry Jam is due out Sept 10/11 depending on where you live, and has already been creating all kinds of buzz since it was leaked online back on the 4th of July. Personally, I loved Tung Songs and have no reservations in giving Jam a preliminary two thumbs up.

The band is currently on a massive North American tour, and according to their Myspace page will be stopping in "Ottowa" on September 7th and Toronto the following day. If any of you end up catching the Ottawa show at the Bronson Centre, I'd be interested to hear how it played out.

- a.m.p.m.

Animal Collective - Peacebone