What About Us?

The Montreal-based duo Handsome Furs formed in 2005 around the talents of Vancouver transplants Dan Boeckner (frontman of Wolf Parade) and Alexei Perry. The husband-and-wife team released the atmospheric Plague Park in 2007, utilizing drum machines and world-weary melodies to distinguish the band's debut from Wolf Parade's own output. Plague Park earned accolades for its electronic twist on indie rock, with Rolling Stone likening the band to "a dingy version of the Cure rocking some hipster dive bar," and the growing buzz prompted Handsome Furs' return to the studio in late 2007. The inspired duo recorded Face Control drawing upon its recent Eastern European tour for lyrical cues. I got a kick of placing Vladimir Putin on the back cover and a snarling, frothing at the mouth doberman pinscher on the front.

On Sound Kapital, they return with a naked lady with tattoos on her naughty parts. I don't know what this has to do with the album, but it's deviously attention-getting. This album differs from the previous one in that they drop some of the more obvious 80s sounding synths and the songs are more varied. It's also cohesive from start to finish and a real head-bopper. It's fun and the perfect soundtrack to the start of summer!

Take a listen to What About Us, a deep cut that catches my ear here.


Buy your copy of Sound Kapital here.

Corprophagist (A Bath Perhaps)

It's Thee Oh Sees! If you haven't checked them out yet, now is the time! These San Francisco dudes rock my socks off! Their sound is retro, a garage-psyche-rock vibe with plenty of feedback, but they do it right. I think they succeed in replicating that sound and that they are authentically driven towards it, not being trendy. However, while the average Oh Sees album is a heavy exercise in psychedelic murk, Castlemania sounds surprisingly light and pop-oriented, if only by this band's standards. This album sounds less sinister and more playful than the bulk of their previous output, and if a lot of this is still going to seem chaotic and off-putting to anyone not flying a similar freak flag, it's an easier way in to Thee Oh Sees' curious musical world than any of their albums to date.

Choosing just one song as an entry point is quite difficult with them, so here's
Corprophagist (A Bath Perhaps), featuring a sample of church bells.


Get your own copy of Castlemania here.

Kick the Can

My favorite duo from Hamilton, Ontario is back with It's All True, their fourth studio album (excluding Body Language, which is their compilation of various dance songs).
For all the sonic shimmer, not much exposure is needed to realize that the album concerns an embittering relationship. A strong indication comes 40 seconds into the opening "Itchy Fingers," the point when Greenspan delivers "I'd rather crush you with a paper folded, just to see you die" with belligerent ebullience. As ever, the duo’s sound is remarkably amorphous, combining 1980s synth-pop with R&B touches, multiple basslines, and truncated rave riffs. Jeremy Greenspan's vocals are amongst my favorite on the genre, as his intonation at times is reminiscent of Cabaret Voltaire, to a hushed bedroom whisper, simultaneously vulnerable and affirmative.

It's All True sounds like the album the Junior Boys have been moving toward their whole career. It's got the same low-key mixtape-from-a-lover charm as Last Exit, but sacrifices none of the appealing slickness of their last few albums. They are hitting their stride, along with the large helpings of dancefloor joy, some of the album's most immediately arresting moments are its sparsest and most fragile. Take the second song, "Playtime", a slow number seemingly about love lost and hurt. The emotional resonance is not the pitying kind that comes across from some folk singers, rather, I feel staid, contemplative, and soothed by the synths. If you have been following their career, this album will not be of a great surprise, but you will see that they are a duo that has perfected their sound and hopefully will continue in this direction for a long time to come!

As usual, I present you one of the deep cuts, dear readers. Listen to "Kick the Can", a Kraut-rock inspired gem here.


Buy your copy of It's All True here.

Rolls Bayce

Battles is comprised of drummer John Stanier of Helmet and Tomahawk, guitarist/keyboardist Ian Williams of Don Caballero and Storm & Stress, and guitarist David Konopka of Lynx (Tyondai Braxton, son of avant garde composer Anthony Braxton, left the group in 2010 to pursue his solo projects). Even without Braxton, they still provide their post-rock playfulness and charm. Instead, they have opted to bring in some guest vocalists such as Gary Numan (!), Matias Aguayo, Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino, and the Boredoms' Yamantaka Eye. Not bad, eh? The result is pop from another planet, unfettered by conventional structures but still remarkably immediate and catchy.

The instrumental songs bear the strength of Mirrored's staccato drumming yet bringing in island-inspired steel drums, but not so much that we are singing "irie mon"! There's a true sense of joyfulness in the playing. Drummer John Stanier says, "I don't think challenging, new music has to be super serious all the time. That's really boring to me and pushing boundaries should not be boring." True, I don't think there's a dull moment to this album.

Take a listen to this short ditty, "Rolls Bayce".


Buy your copy of Battles Gloss Drop here.

Feed Your Demons

It must be an emerging trend--making soundtracks to non-existent films, or those in the listener's minds. While 1972's Blacula was a legitimate yet campy franchise, this Blakula is actually the duo, The Diaphanoids, who tend to make concept albums.
On Permanent Midnight, they imagine what would happen if Blacula defrosted in 1977, posed for Robert Mapplethorpe, went dancing at Studio 54, wrote poems with William Burroughs, shared spray cans and brushes with Jean Michel Basquiat, jammed with Miles Davis and the Velvet Underground, starred in David Lynch's movies, got addicted to heavy drugs and alcohol, experimented with sexual partners, lived in baroque palaces and shooting galleries, and became more human than human then got crushed by the city sickness.

The music is both unique and at the same time 'classic'. Musical touchstones range from funk, 70s disco, psychedelia, avant-garde, no-wave vibe, cinematic atmospheric sounds, nightclub sleazy jazz to slow-mo bluesy grooves. Every track on the album has been played by real musicians, orchestral ensembles and choirs. I think it's a fun album, seamless progression, a great energy and it makes you shake your butt and tap your toes.

Get your groove on with "Feed Your Demons" here.


Buy a copy of Blakula's Permanent Midnight here.