Friday Five: Sing-along songs

Here's a selection of tracks that I've been singing along to for the past few days.

Vampire Weekend's first LP was so good that I still haven't grown sick of it. In an attempt to appease their growing fan base, here's the first single. Look for the new album Contra January 11, 2010 in the U.K. and a day after in the U.S. Let's hope for a leak of the album soon.

Vampire Weekend - Horchata

Karen O has taken the world by storm this year; referenced as fashionista and cultural icon, she's definitely made her mark in 2009. Under the moniker of Karen O and the Kids The release of the soundtrack to Where the Wild Things Are is sure to solidify her impact. The album, comprised of acoustic tracks, could stand alone as a Karen O project. I really like it as a concept and I'm excited to see the release of the film.

Karen O and the Kids - All is Love

Thanks to G.R.O.'s recommendation, The Drums have been playing non-stop on my Zune since his visit to the Dominion of Canada. Their surf-pop style really resonates with search for simple tunes of late; the tracks are infectious and uplifting. This track is from their Let's Go Surfing EP.

The Drums - Saddest Summer

Released in March, Dan Mangan's Nice, Nice, Very Nice is a great collection of tracks. It's dark, surreal, and real all at once. Give the track a listen and you'll see.

Dan Mangan - Robots

The Hidden Cameras have such a unique sound and it comes through really nicely on this track from their new album Origin: Orphan.

The Hidden Cameras - In the NA

Friday Five

There's plenty of new music to cover, so let's get right to it:

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll
Could this be my favourite Yeah Yeah Yeahs song yet? Yup, it sure is. The New York City band will release their third album, It's Blitz!, on April 13th. The album's first official single 'Zero' can be heard on their MySpace page.

The Thermals - Now We Can See
I properly fell in love with The Thermals following their 2006 release The Body, The Blood, The Machine so when they recently revealed that their fourth album will be available on April 7th I became feverishly excited. Now We Can See will be the band's first release with Sub Pop and the title track is no disappointment. Sure, it's a bit more pop music than their previous fare but it's still got those trademark scathing lyrics and ludicrously catchy guitar parts.

Beirut - No Dice
Beirut goes electronic? Strangely enough, it works. Those familiar with Gulag Orkestar or The Flying Cup Club will be in for a pleasant surprise. This track is taken from a set of double EPs released last month; March of the Zapotec is straight-up Beirut, but Holland is pure electro bliss.

A.C. Newman - Like A Hitman, Like A Dancer
When not acting as captain of supergroup The New Pornographers Carl Newman records some pretty solid indie rock as A.C. Newman. His second album Get Guilty hit shelves last month and has been well received; this track in particular brings to mind The New Pornographers circa Twin Cinema.

Blackout Beach - Astoria, Menthol Lite, Hilltop, Wave of Evil, 1982
Like his pals from Wolf Parade, Carey Mercer of Frog Eyes and Swan Lake fame has a penchant for multiple musical projects. Mercer released Skin of Evil, the second album under his Blackout Beach moniker, last month and although it's not all to my taste this track currently has me hooked, perhaps due to its weirdness.

Mixed Tapes: Best of 07

You can download the individual tracks or download the zip file provided below.

The Snob Machine Presents: The Best of '07
Hello! - Junior Senior
Hip Hop A Lula - Junior Senior
The Year Before the Year 2000 - Les Savy Fav
Someone Great - LCD Soundsystem
Labyrinthian Pomp - Of Montreal
Ddiamondd - Battles
$20 - M.I.A
Driving Me Wild - Common feat. Lily Allen
D.A.N.C.E (Mstrkrft Remix) - Justice
Kiss Kiss - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
McFearless - Kings of Leon
Mistaken For Strangers - The National
Don't Make Me A Target - Spoon
Wet and Rusting - Menomena
All I Need - Radiohead
Northern Whale - The Good, the Bad, and the Queen
We've Got Everything - Modest Mouse
Hunting for Witches - Bloc Party
Box - Tokyo Police Club
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa - Vampire Weekend
My Body is a Cage - The Arcade Fire

DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE COMPILATION HERE.

Cheers,
MF Blaz

Fine & Dandi

My roommate buys a lot of music. He likes to buy in bulk – often dropping over $300 in one afternoon at the local record store. What this equates to is a lot of new music laying around for me to check out. Recently, I arrived home to find a bag of newly purchased vinyl from Rotate This, mostly EPs and 12” singles of artists I’d never heard of. One of these EPs was by Dandi Wind, called break the bone and suck the marrow from it.

Intrigued by both the title and the artwork (jet black, with a pencil sketch of a tattooed yet innocent young woman on the front, and the bust of a dark, brooding man on the back), I tossed it on for a go-round on the old pioneer.

What I heard was a frantic (at times frightened) but awkwardly catchy effort from a pair of underground Canadian musicians/artists that deserve to be spoken about a whole lot more often. The sound is not unlike the distorted synth from the dancier, more accessible Blood Brothers tracks crossed with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at their art-punk finest. In fact, Vancouver-turned Montreal lead vocalist Dandilion Wind Opaine churns out pitches and shrieks reminiscent of the enigmatic Karen O at her best.

Through a bit more research on their website, I was informed that this EP, released in 2005, is the one of the earliest of a number of releases by the band. Their catalogue includes one full-length (and one to be released in 08), as well as five (completely sold out) EPs released in the past two-plus years, seemingly all released on different labels.

break the bone... itself contains four tracks: two original edits (Balloon Factory and Mississippi Mud Pie), the Manderson remix of Mafu Cage, and hyperactive cover of the 80’s staple Safety Dance, sounding like if Men without Hats had contracted rabies.

The stand-out track seems to be Balloon Factory, though the entire four-track effort has me interested enough to find more. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a ton of access (from what I can find) to their music online apart from what they’ve posted on Myspace (only available streaming), as well as clips from their earlier releases on their website and the occasional insane live footage. But, if their latest EP selling out completely in one week earlier this month serves as an indication, this band may be on the verge of being the talk of more than just the odd blog post.

Dandi Wind - Balloon Factory

Dandi Wind - Safety Dance (Men without Hats cover)

- bbbykmbrly.

A Date with the Night - and the YYY's

So the Yeah Yeah Yeahs came to Toronto last week, performing at an exclusive party put on by Vice Magazine and CKIN2U. 3000+ people requested guest list spots. Only a fraction of these people actually fit into Berkeley Church, with the solid majority going home YYY-less after waiting in the mile-long line for hours.

I, on the other hand, had more than my fair share of "Karen, Nick, and Brian" time. I got to be their temporary friend all day long.

Through partial luck, but mostly just a good friend with good contacts, I was hired for the day to be the band's hospitality dude - making sure they are well-fed, on time, and drunk. And though it was a tough job, I feel I executed aptly. By midway through the day, they even knew my name.

In between running across the city for whole white young uncut coconuts, driving the band wherever desired, and facilitating rock icon sing-a-longs to the Stones' Sticky Fingers, I somehow managed to catch one of the most raucous and sweaty live performances in the history of the world.

The very second the enigmatic Karen O stepped on stage, the electricity in the old church was unlike anything truly describable. I'd seen the band at V-Fest in Baltimore back in August, where they totally stole the show on Day 2, but this was just... different. The most energetic, honest, and riotous performance I can manage to remember.

And then I got drunk with Karen and the rest of the team. And ate their pizza.

I could probably go on forever about how unbelievable these folks are as musicians as well as people. But instead, check below for some youtube-age from the show, which doesn't come close to doing justice to the show. For those who weren't there - you can at least take solace in the fact that your brain didn't simultaneously explode with the rest of us during Honeybear.

Also - Chromewaves took some rad photos.







Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Kiss Kiss
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Bang
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Y Control (Faint Remix)

- bbbykmbrly.