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first-aid-kit-lions-roar

The internet is pretty cool.  You can be a Swedish teenager growing up in a suburb of Stockholm… and you can make classic Americana tunes.  And those songs can spread around the world to the people that love it.

First Aid Kit are sisters who first rose into public conscience with their cover of a Fleet Foxes song.  Reading Paste’s Top 20 New Artists… they’re on the list.  They also show up on Paste’s Top 50 records of the year.

Gosh darn their song “Emmylou” is so pretty.

Go with yourself…and buy a coupon book!

W138

A trio of band mining the sounds of an alternative 80s.  We begin with LA’s The New Division.  Terms like “cult favourites” and “new wave” get thrown around when reading the hype.

From LA we travel to Austin, Texas. The group is called Milezo & The Noize.  Miles describes the sound as Dream Pop or shoe gaze.

The journey completes itself in Brooklyn.  The band is called Hints.  They draw parallels to The Church or Echo & The Bunnymen… and yup, I get that.

Go with yourself…. and buy a coupon book!

UBT
Mining the past for a modern rock hit is very much in vogue currently.  On the radio we hear lots of bands going down the blues road.  70s rock & roll…. occasionally a classic Motown or R&B style.  Montreal’s UBT (once called Uncle Bad Touch…. I wonder why they changed their name?) take on a 60s sound.

When I rolled into the radio station today, Dylan was having a listen to the band.

The trio does an interesting cover of the 1978 Black Sabbath single “Never Say Die.”  The song is famous for being the last single that Ozzy Osbourne was part of in Sabbath before embarking on his solo career.

I also like the first song on their ep It Takes Money to Drink Money.

Go with yourself.

Madelyn
My daughter Madelyn goes to preschool…and to help raise some money we’re selling coupon books.  So much savings!  And just $25.  If you are into saving money as much as I am… throw me an email at jeremy@thezone.fm and we can sort out how you too can get your very own coupon book, and join the legions of people who are already saving.

Working in radio… I understand the power of a well produced audio commercial to move some units.  I asked Zach on the creative team to produce the commercial and he was so kind to make some time.  Thank you Zach!  You’ll also hear Caleb and Chelsea from Creative on the commercial.

Go with yourself.

Roaming Storms

Band Interests

Swimming pools.

Hmmmm…. OK Calgary, Alberta…I listen to Roaming Storms.  Trolling the intertron for information on The Dudes… I came across an article in the Calgary newspaper talking about a CD release party involving another project featuring Dan Vacon.

Roaming Storms create a very DIY, raw sounding, rock & roll.  Some of the songs sound almost classic punk-ish.  My faveourite song is one that has that punk aesthetic.

Go with yourself.

Japandroids
Things I’m excited for:

01) JAPANDROIDS, December 22nd, Rickshaw Theatre

02) Everything else….

***

Japandroids are about to return to Beautiful British Columbia after a solid year of touring.  This last leg home is a series of sold out shows that culminates in Vancouver just before Christmas.

Spin Magazine recently called Celebration Rock the 3rd best album of the year and crowned the duo, “Band of the Year.”

The next single that will hopefully grab the attention of modern rockers is going to be side one, track one,  “The Night of Wine and Roses.”

If you’re hitting the show on the 22nd… save me a high five.

Go with yourself.

Towers and Trees

If you’re in a band from Vancouver Island and you don’t have trees on the album cover, you’re doing it wrong.

Towers and Trees make a sound that fans of The Lumineers or The Archers might be able to get behind.  Adrian Chalifour is the principle of the project.  He brought together a collection of some his favourite Victorian musicians for a pretty, fun, well produced, DIY style EP called Broken Record.

A couple songs that caught my ear are:

Your chance to see Towers and Trees will be on a Wednesday, Decembver 12th at…some venue I’ve never heard of…sounds sketchy.  Hit the Facebook page for details. They are collecting food for the Food Bank, so bring some grub to give.

Go with yourself.

Jon Middleton
Tag this one as Canadian Chill Folk or West Coast Chill Roots…. solo ep from Jon Middleton (Jon & Roy).  Jon’s solo stuff is very pretty and light.  If you took the foot off the gas even further from a typical Jon & Roy song you’d get a pretty good understanding of the ep called … I think its just called EP.

The music is very calm, relaxing and meditative.  If you live in the Rainy Forest Kingdom, or maybe just feel like sometimes you’d like to transport yourself to the world of storms, waves and trees, this is the record to do it.

I like a lot of songs on the EP from this Victorian singer-guitarist…but I like Jon best when he’s singing about nature, reflection, and reconciling that with modern urban living.

The Jon & Roy Holiday special is comingDecember 14th at the Alix Goolden.

Yay! Post 1,000! Thank you for reading.

Go with yourself.

Australasia
For fans of melodic metal or post-metal…one blog called it melodic death metal.  Check out Italy’s geographically named Australasia.  My friend Dan says, “sounds like a heavier Explosions in the Sky.”  I am hearing that, hearing some Isis and some This Will Destroy You.  Those big, epic, dense sounds.  Its heavy, but also atmospheric. They also include some synths, electronic beats, and you’re never far from a sample.  The ep Sin4TR4 is generally very good.  My main critique is that the songs are pretty short for the style of rock.  Maybe I’m just conditioned to enjoy this type of music as a 7 minute jam instead of 3?  That said, my favourite song was one of their longer cuts, “Spine.”

From the band’s bio:

AUSTRALASIA is a childhood spent listening to Ennio Morricone’s
soundtracks; a youth on the sharp edge of the underground,
extreme metal scene; a whole life sunk into the Post-rock molten wax
with a strong fascination for the sound of vintage synthesizers.
 
This is the place where unusual soundscapes come to life:
ethereal guitars mix with blast beat drums and black metal riffing,
giving birth to strange and fast-flowing tunes.
 
Here subterranean streams alternate with tidal waves,
turning into cinematic pictures that can last just the blink of an eye.
 
A path distant from the typical instrumental music clichés.

Go with yourself.

Listen to Camera2

camera2
I got an email today from Aric sending my attention to his new project Camera2.  He told me some story about visiting Victoria as a kid many moons ago (thank you for visiting).  The Brooklyn band features an assortment of veterans from other groups.  The bio reads:

Brooklyn foursome Camera2 is made up of producer-songwriter-vocalist – Andy Chase (Tahiti 80/Juliana Hatfield/Smashing Pumpkins), guitarist – Michael Jurin (Stellastarr*), bassist – Aric Gillis (Teenage Kick) and drummer – Mike Williams (Teddybears). The band came together in mid-2012 and soon after completed an album Andy wrote and produced in his home studio with co-production by Blondfire’s Bruce Driscoll. Camera2 is a decidedly new direction and a departure from the sounds of the previous projects for all the members who have now stepped into a harder hitting, darker, upbeat and more electronically driven indie-universe.

Resume checks out…. lets have a listen to the first feature song, “Just About Made It.”

Go with youself.