Ty Segall’s self-titled record is coming out on the same days as Japandroids AND Cloud Nothings. Neat. Here’s a fuzzy ripper called “Break A Guitar.”
Cloud Nothings are the best. Life Without Sound is out…also on the 27th. They perform at The Biltmore in Vancouver on February 16th (I got me tickets!) and they shared another song.
Arcade Fire have shared their first new recording since 2013’s Reflektor.
The song is called “I Give You Power” and features Mavis Staples.
It has been reported that the Arcade Fire have wrapped up the recording of a new record that is expected sometime this year. What is not known is if this song will be part of that album.
Uhhhh this artist sent me a handwritten thank you card for upping her song on my blog. Step up your game every other band! @Borg_Queenpic.twitter.com/nmP7T3zDEZ
Took the family on a little trip to Wash Mountington (that turned into an overnight… long story). The three hour drive form Victoria to the mountain means lots of opportunity to front to back a few records. The above picture is some of the picks. One song that really stood out for me and my wife Coral was the Arcade Fire’s “Joan of Arc.” I never really picked up on the female vocal on the track till Coral pointed it out, but now I can’t stop hearing it. The song is pretty much blasting on repeat in my brain.
It’s remix time and a I got a couple beauties for you.
Unlike Pluto remix Lorde’s “Glory & Gore.”
Something local… Victoria production team Mid/Side Hustler go for a deep house treatment on Arcade Fire’s “Reflektor.”
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Sorry one more… I think I posted this before but I have it on while reading the internet and I loves it.
Also… how about that Hobbit Movie? Pretty good… the Justin Bieber song that came on during the credits threw me for a loop, but when the bros behind me started booing (or maybe they were booing the cliffhanger ending?) I giggled.
Turns out it wasn’t Justin Bieber, it was Ed Sheeran.
I go through little phases where I love and then love less… the Arcade Fire‘s The Suburbs record. Right now, it is back to friends on. Friends way on.
Sometimes it just takes a lyric to get me to get interested in a song and I heard it listening to the Arcade Fire’s title track the other day on the radio.
“So can you understand?
Why I want a daughter while I am still young
I wanna hold her hand
and show her some beauty
before this damage is done.”
Wow right?
Listening to that song the other day while driving gave me goose bumps. And its funny because I have listened to not only the record, but that song in particular… infinity times… but just the other day those lines jumped out of my speakers and into my head.
I love the entire concept of this album as a “letter from the the suburbs.” Having spent my formative years trolling the streets of Coquitlam (a suburb of Vancouver) so many themes of the record hold elemental truths for me. Like the ideas of the song “The Suburbs (continued).
“If I could have it back
All the time that we wasted
I’d only waste it again
If I could have it back
You know I’d love to waste it again
Waste it again and again and again
I’ve got to ask
Sometimes I can’t believe it
I’m moving past the feeling again
Sometimes I can’t believe it
I’m moving past the feeling again
Sometimes I can’t believe it…”
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Some interesting and exciting news today. An artist had to cancel at this year’s Rifflandia Festival and so DJ Boitano and myself were asked to DJ.
We’ll be operating as “Zone DJs Jeremy & Boitano” and you can find us Friday, September 23rd on The Phillips Brewery Stage. I do believe the idea for the set will be modern rock remixes.
We just got added today so that means our set is in a week and half! We’ll be preparing a setlist this week and we’re both pretty jazzed. It should be a great party and I hope that if you’re reading this blog, then that means you’ll care enough to make the time to join us.
The third studio record from Band of Horses didn’t get the mad crush of love that their previous two records received but I ended up playing at home and during my lounge sets. I will always love the song “Laredo” and so much of what I perceive to be a Old Western?Mexico/Desert vibe.
Band of Horses – “Laredo”
09) Vampire Weekend – Contra
We’ll need to stretch our memory back to one of the first big hyped releases of the year for this LP. Vampire Weekend’s anticipated follow-up Contra is number nine on my list.
VW never had huge traction on the radio with their quirky blend of world beats filtered through privileged Brooklyn/Hipster/Ivy Leaguers. I loved Vampire Weekends first album but I enjoyed this one so much more.
A monster number 1 record and grammy nominated album from the Arcade Fire. When this disc came out, we had it on pretty steady at the Veneto and the single “Ready to Start” enjoyed a residency at number one on The Zone’s Modern Rock Countdown. There was a lot I loved about this record. Mostly the nostalgic story lines of growing up in the suburbs, because hey, I grew up in the suburbs. For a feature song, I will chose one of Simon’s faves off the record.
Arcade Fire – “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”
06) Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
Another record that didn’t receive wide-spread praise or seem to do a whole lot onto further push FR onto the mainstream conciseness.
Being a heavy user of their previous music, I was hungry for a new disc. I was downloading anything that leaked or squeeked out leading up to this record so maybe I was little too primed, but they are one of my fave bands period, this disc got jammed out. It might not have changed my world like the first time I heard Frightened Rabbit, but it is still a great record of melodramatic rock and roll.
My favourite cut was the first single and it remains so today.
Frightened Rabbit – “Swim Until You Can’t See Land”
06) Broken Bells – Broken Bells
The dude from the Shins, that dude named Danger Mouse… joined forces like the Dinobots to create one sexy masterpiece. I don’t even want to speculate how many babies were conceived this because of this record.
Lots doesn’t seem like an adequate word.
Listening to a randomized playlist on my iTunes one time, this song came up and it has become on my favourites off the record. maybe sounds a little more Shins and little less Danger Mouse, but that’s cool. I believe this song made it on Coral and my one year anniversary mixtape.
Broken Bells – “October”
05) Jimmy Eat World – Invented
Another band that does no wrong by me. Since I’ve been with Coral, JEW has held a special place in my heart and they earn that chance to make a record and I immediately go out and buy it.
I like their 7th studio record because I found it enjoyable outta the box much sooner than it too me to get into their previous Chase This Light.
Chase would grow on me but I liked how there were more than a couple song son this disc that I liked right away one listen in. And others that I would grow to love with repeated listens.
My feature cut is a romantic song (but hey, aren’t all JEW songs sappy?) that I believe also made it on the 1 Year Anniversary mixtape.
Jimmy Eat World – “Littlething”
04) Four Tet – There is Love In You
No record had a bigger influence on me from outside my normal perspective than this electronic disc from the UK’s Kieran Hebden… aka Four Tet.
Around this time last year I bought my DJ rig and by January I was experimenting with DJing simple beats. Right around the time this record came out.
A very modern, simple, and relaxing record to put on to soundtrack my days events. Coral bought this record on vinyl and when I do fire up the record player, The is Love In You is a go to.
Its four sides so I almost go right to side D track one so I can hear the most wonderful song on the record.
Four Tet – “She Just Likes to Fight”
I could listen to that song forever on repeat and never go fully insane. Shit, I might get smarter.
03) The Black Keys – Brothers
I was late to The Black Keys party, but when I finally got the invite, I dived in hard.
The whole swampy bluesy core styled rock music happening right now seems to originating from Akron, Ohio.
To pick a single feature is impossible. Pol likes “Howling For You” and Allie likes “Everlasting Light”
I’m gunna go with the more blue-collar dirge.
The Black Keys – “Too Afraid to Love You”
02) Middle Class Rut – No Name No Color
Rock and Roll has returned. For me, the Renaissance was felt with Japandroids. But there are only so many fuzzy retro rocker songs to hear. The Black Keys kept me marching to the beat locked in. Then Dave Sawchuk lighted up Sacramento’s Middle Class Rut during our weekly music meeting… and became evangelical.
Rarely do I hear a song that captures my imagination so completely and immediately. I felt like a little kid with excitement to hear “New Low.” Downloaded it and then the record. And since then, it has become such a huge record in my life.
It is a bit of a grinder and lyrically it can be depressing. but I do find something uplifting to their tales of the working man’s lows. My ultimate fave is the lead off cut from their record. Sometimes I go for drives in the Cruze just so I can play this song at maximum volume.
Middle Class Rut – “Busy Being Born”
01) The National – High Violet
We all have favourite bands and The National is my favourite.
The day this record came out and they had a vinyl copy down at Ditch I went to get it. I remember that day. I rode my bike and it was really nice out. Then I went to Canoe Club to meet with Don about some music stuff. While waiting for him I was chatting with the waitress… she had never heard of The National. WTF?
So I cracked open the record and gave her the free download MP3 card so she could check it out. I hope she did.
The first single “Bloodbuzz Ohio” to me is masterpiece song. But after repeated plays of this album I do have a few key cuts. A song that always stuck out for me has a weird military theme.
The National – “Lemonworld”
Thank you for reading my Top 10 and checking out some new music.
A little update on my quest to find a record player turntable DIY kit. Rega does not do (but you can buy their fine turntables at Atlas on Yates Street). Scheu does do kits… I have an email in right now with their Canadian distributor to find what it is, and what it costs.
If my DIY turntable never pans out, then I’ll save my pennies to buy a Rega from Atlas for sure.
What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where the act with the number three album is unknown to almost everybody in the country?
One in which music has been Balkanized, where we’ve got endless scenes and almost no mainstream.
I’d love to tell you I love this album, but I don’t. I far prefer Broken Bells.
And while I’m at it, I’ll say that Grizzly Bear doesn’t float my boat either.
And my ultimate point is I’m now ignoring everything from Brooklyn. It’s not the new Seattle, certainly not the new San Francisco. The magazines and blogs need something to write about, and when they trumpet substandard stuff it ends up baffling the audience, makes them play video games or watch TV or listen to the same damn classic tunes over and over again.”
Ugh Bob, 50,671 people like love The National. Its not their fault you’ve never heard of them, its not their fault the rest of popular music sucks or didn’t release a record last week. Calm down.
You can’t dive into their 5th LP, listen half assed to a couple cuts and then “get it.”
Like any art, some of it speaks to you and some of it doesn’t. Having been a passionate fan for some time, there is something to the sound that attracts me and keeps me coming back. I read Bob constantly talking about how bands need to do exactly what The National have done… create real fans. They did with me.
I don’t really care that people like or dislike the same bands I do (The National have their share of critics)… but I think my frustration stems from the fact I read this guy’s emails everyday when I roll into the Zone, and all he does is spout off about the need for hard working, authentic bands… one has a small glimmer of success and he hacks on them.
Ok, I’ll stop crying. I generally like Bob’s curmudgeon-y emails even if I disagree with one part of one post.
I was reading Regine Chassange’s (the chick from the Arcade Fire) essay in the UK paper the Guardian. Powerful stuff from the Arcade Fire’s co-front woman. She made mention of how Haiti has been fisted by European powers since inception. Got me thinking about a blog post a did a while back about reading of Haiti’s storied past.
Lately it seems that every time I crack the mic here at the Zone, I am jibber jabbering about another rock star fight. Let’s see what is playing out as I type.
The Morning After 