Sunday, August 29, 2010

***MonthlyIndieMixtape #16***



Ahh, sixteen. I remember when I was sixteen. Half a lifetime ago and yet I still recall all the good things about being young and free. It was around this time that I really started to get right into music. I started to collect CD's until they were a sea of plastic cases on my bedroom floor, no CD being in it's right case. It was a magical time and though my collection has grown and become more 'organised', I still have that same feeling in my chest about music. It is what keeps my heart pumping day after day, waiting for that perfect song to come along. You never know, for you, maybe it is in this months mixtape. I hope you find it.


Tracklisting:

Alain Johannes - Endless Eyes
Amen Dunes - Murder Dull Mind
Azure Ray - Make Your Heart
Basement Birds - Skin Of The Sky
Bigger Fish Than Guns - Texas T
Bike - Welcome To My World
Black Mountain - The Hair Song
The Burns Unit - Since We've Fallen Out
Catherine Feeny - You'd Better Run
Charles Burst - The Famous Patient
The Cheek - Hung Up (Live)
The Clientele - Minotaur
The Coral - Walking In The Winter
The Cribs - Housewife
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - Nothing But Our Love
Dominant Legs - Clawing Out At The Walls
Drunken Barn Dance - A Winter's Tale
The Farewell Circuit - I Am A Ghost
The Features - The Drawing Board
Frank (Just Frank) - Crisis
Frontier Ruckus - Ontario
Hanoi James - I Dig You
Harper Blynn - Loneliest Generation
Hurray For The Riff Raff - Slow Walk
J. Tillman - Diamondback
Joe Purdy - On The Wind
Jukebox The Ghost - Schizophrenia
Karaocake - Medication
Klaxons - Echoes
Les Savy Fav - High And Unhinged
Lille - Straw
Mark Scholtez - We Could Get Lost
Northern Light - Say My Name
Now You See Them - It's Worth It
The Parlotones - Should We Fight Back
The Postelles - Can't Stand Still
The R.G. Morrison - Beckett
Rancho Relaxo - Road Raged The Fuck Out
The Reign Of Kindo - Thrill Of The Fall
RickoLus - Photographs
Seagull - Water
Sharaya Mikael - Wrong Again
Shirley Manson - Pretty Horses
Social Studies - Run With Fever
Soda Fountain Rag - You Are Not Invited To My Wedding
The Soldier Thread - Erin
Spirit Night - Brains
Stornoway - Zorbing
The Superimposers - Where Do You Go?
Them Bird Things - Underground
The Thermals - Never Listen To Me
This Beautiful Mess - Clean
Tweak Bird - The Future
Wavves - Post Acid
White Arrows - 8050 (Too Fast, Too Slow)
Wild Beasts - We've Still Got The Taste Dancing On Our Tongues
Winter Gloves - Plastic Slides
The Yards - Get Off My Back
Young The Giant - My Body
Zola Jesus - I Can't Stand


Pretty impressive line up this month. Lots of different genres to choose from. So if you don't find something you like this month, hit us up next month for sure! There is always new stuff for you to wrap your listening gear around.

Get listening.

My links are your links:
MonthlyIndieMixtape #16 - Part 1.
MonthlyIndieMixtape #16 - Part 2.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Video Of The Week.

Stornoway - Zorbing.

If you like Band Of Horses, Mumford & Sons or anything that makes you move then you will no doubt like this band. Straight from Oxford, Great Britain, this band has the sounds that you've been looking for..............

Thursday, August 19, 2010

"The Electric 10!" With Loon Choir



This week I hit up Ottawa band Loon Choir for the Electric 10 and boy did they have some words for me!! What a fantastic read this is!!


1. So come on, who are you and what the devil do you do in this thing you call a 'band'?

Derek - Nikki Yates plays keys and guitar and sings. Dan Larmour plays guitar and sings back up. Brad Sheffield plays synth and guitar, and writes songs as well. Jamie LeClair plays bass. Khary Byron plays drums. I am Derek Atkinson and I play guitar and I sing and write most of our songs. Collectively, we all have a say in how the band operates, the songs are written and the direction we are going in.

2. Where and when did you guys first get together?

Derek - Brad and I have been in basement/garage bands for about the last 10 years. Nikki, Brad and I started a fun little folk-electronic band in 2008 called Capital Hearts. In late 2008, Brad was practicing with a group including Jamie and Khary. Nikki and I joined and the former front guy left (must have been something we said). The group evolved into a six-piece when I replied to an ad that Dan posted on an Ottawa music forum looking to start or join a band. He fit in perfectly and the team was established. We started playing regular shows by that spring and were fortunate to open early on for bands like Ohbijou, The Lovely Feathers, Rubik and others.

3. What is it about your music that makes it stand out from the rest of the crowd?

Derek - While it is certainly difficult to stand out in a pack of so many great bands out there right now (and in our own back yards), we like to think that our music and lyrics offer something new and different. I consider my lyrics to be challenging of capitalist and pseudo-democratic systems while also reflecting on the mysteries and grace of nature and interpersonal relationships. The themes of ‘disconnection’ (from nature and each other) on one hand, and connection (unity, peace) have been fairly ongoing themes in my words which definitely strays from the less confrontational though popular themes in the lyrics of popular music of heart break, lust and material gratification.

4. What song or songs are you most proud of?

Nik - I think the song I'm most proud of on the album is Summerland because of the softer approach we took during the recording process. It's a complete 180 when you compare it to how we play it live, and I think that really speaks a lot about our versatility as both a band and individual musicians. I'm proud of the overall album though because I think we've melded together a lot of unique sounds and styles that aren't necessarily always categorized within the same genres. The outcome has resulted in 9 completely different tracks... to me it keeps our music interesting, and exciting.

5. Which bands have influenced your own personal style?

Nik - As the only female member in the band I personally gravitate toward other female musicians for inspiration and influence. Neko Case has had a huge influence on me,
along with Leslie Feist, Emily Haines, and Tracyanne Campbell. As a whole, I think we collectively draw from larger bands out there such as Broken Social Scene, and Arcade Fire as a means of continuously challenging ourselves, to keep expanding our sound and using our collective creativity to its fullest potential.

6. How is being a musician different than everyday life?

Nik - I know for me, not only being a musician but 1 of 6 within a band is different from everyday life because I'm just a part of that whole. Whereas in real life we tend to go about things ourselves and decide what is best individually, in the band we're forced to consider all the angles, as well as everyone's perspective... the philosopher Emile Durkheim refers to a feeling that he calls "collective effervescence"... and it’s the idea of something sacred being produced by a group of people all coming together to believe in the same thing... and I think as musicians, we encounter this feeling more so than in everyday life through the process of creating music with others, and it really offers a sense of togetherness and peacefulness that isn't always present elsewhere.

7. Who do you think is the worst band member at practice?

Derek – I think Dan is the worst member at practice. He’s always trying to touch my thighs and making funny noises. Ha. Just kidding. Our little democratic republic is so top notch that when it comes to communicating our ideas and being productive there’s really no hierarchy of ‘suck’ here. But, ya, Dan.

8. Other than the people you play with now, if you could get any musician, dead or alive, who would you entrust to be in your “Dream Band”?

Derek – Thom Yorke, Kevin Drew, Hank Williams, Jónsi Birgisson and Chet Baker would be a pretty cool dream band. We’d probably suck though if I had anything to do with it and getting along with that many personalities might be a difficult task too. And I would probably have to play bass I guess, and that wouldn’t be that cool either. Oh, drums: Art Blakey!

9. Which musician could you spend a year with on a deserted island, know that what they could teach you would excel your music career tenfold?

Derek – I would love to learn trumpet more, and to sing better so Chet Baker would be pretty rad to hang with and learn from. He liked to party (too much) so we would likely get along. His voice was so silky and trumpet so flawless! In terms of living musicians though, while I don’t think he would like me, and maybe I wouldn’t like him, his voice and capacity for epic song writing is so huge that I would have to say Thom Yorke.

10. Other than this interview, what is the stupidest thing you have ever agreed to do?

Derek – Obviously avoiding getting into anything too personal, as there is definitely a lot worse things I have agreed to do, after thinking for about 30 seconds about this, I’ll give you a small (and sketchy) window into my life. I once agreed in Belize to go to a crack dealer’s house (ps - I don’t use or condone the use of crack). My anxiety/paranoia was going ballistic (and with good cause too). There were large ‘body guards’ there, it was really dark inside and nobody was talking much (besides the brief introductions and questions the guys had of the infamous cannabis that comes from British Columbia). I told them what they wanted to hear. In the end, I left unharmed and enjoyed watching Dumb and Dumber in a completely different setting, but felt really uncomfortable and was glad to get back to the beach and play some barefoot basketball with my friend Dege.


How about that hey? They definitely had me captivated! And speaking of captivated, check out the gang's music! It's much better reading this with their tunes playing along. So go on, try it out for yourself. You won't be disappointed!

Check them out here:


Loon Choir Official Page.

Loon Choir MySpace Page.

Loon Choir On Facebook.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

"8mm - Love And The Apocalypse" Review




First up, if you have don't have a copy of this album then I suggest you get your hands on one as soon as you can. 8mm sure produce the goods on their recently released 'Love And The Apocalypse'. Sultry, swooning pianos attack softly summoned beats on every track here and quite rightly, it works. Throw in the graceful melodic tones of Juliette Beavan and you have a crisp, comfortable lazy Sunday afternoon on the front porch sipping Long Island Iced Tea's whilst being stolen by the moment. Every track on here has an epic moment of it's own accord, slowly building up the emotional attachment for the listener. Personal favourite track, 'Life Is Good', just goes to show how the Husband and Wife team of Sean and Juliette pull together to bring out the best in each other. This is a great album and worth the 19 minutes playtime. Hey, short and sweet and hard to beat. That just means you get to listen to it over and over again.









Life is Good by 8mm

Saturday, August 7, 2010

"The Electric 10!" With Beyond This Point Are Monsters


Hi Guys!

This weeks Electric 10 comes from a very electric band that I have only recently found out about and let me tell you, they are quite the addictive sound! Check out what Ali had to say about this and that right here!


1. So come on, who are you and what the devil do you do in this thing you call a 'band'?
My name is Ali and I play bass in this Beyond This Point Are Monsters. We're not a 'band', we're a conundrum to ourselves, a miss-shapen stream of consciousness. A mess.

2. Where and when did you guys first get together?
Rob, Robin & Bazz started the band many years ago whilst they were still in college. The band has gone through a few line-up changes since then, but the current line-up was confirmed when Luke joined as third guitarist four years ago and I replaced the last bass player two years ago. I think this is as solid a line-up as we've ever had.

3. What is it about your music that makes it stand out from the rest of the crowd?
Erm...in reality probably nothing, we're extremely proud of the music we play, but conscious enough to know that we're not reinventing the proverbial wheel. If anything we avoid the traditional song structure of verse/chorus/verse, we almost never repeat part of a song twice, each idea leads into another like Joyce's stream of consciousness. I'd like to think this makes us a little bit more interesting to watch/listen to than your standard slow building instrumental post rock outfit. But maybe that's just me...some people like music that's five ways to play the same riff.

4. What song or songs are you most proud of?
Personally I love all the new tracks we've written since I've joined the band, we have to be to be honest, each track takes about 5-6 months to write and if we're not totally happy with a track then it won't leave the practice room. We're all perfectionist in one way or another and this makes writing a tiring and frustrating process but in the end when a track is done we know its the best it can be. Meggie Miyagi, which is on our split release with fellow Derbian's Alright The Captain, is the only new track we've released so far but its good example of what we're about now.

5. Which bands have influenced your own personal style?
Each band member has wildly different musical tastes to be honest so I can't speak for the group but personally I take a lot of influence (i.e. steal bass lines) from Hip-Hop bands such as Dalek and Subtle. When it comes to bass playing I detest the sort of fretboard wankery people such as (to give an example) Flea are guilty of, bass should be a simple, solid backing to music, not the main focus.

6. How is being a musician different than everyday life?
I guess it's main difference is simply that its not everyday life. Plus you can start drinking at midday on tour...

7. Who do you think is the worst band member at practice?
The one who starts playing Smells Like Teen Spirit everytime he gets bored. I'm mentioning no names...

8. Other than the people you play with now, if you could get any musician, dead or alive, who would you entrust to be in your “Dream Band”?
If I could get Tom Waits, Ornette Coleman and Frederick 'Toots' Hibbert in a room together we'd change the world...

9. Which musician could you spend a year with on a deserted island, knowing that what they could teach you would excel your music career tenfold?
Charlie Haden, who was Ornette Coleman's bassist, I think a year would be long enough for him to teach me how to play double bass.

10. Other than this interview, what is the stupidest thing you have ever agreed to do?
We did an acoustic set once of stuff off of Family Tree (our debut album), that was a pretty bad idea, we're just too rock 'n' roll for it...


These guys are amazing musicians and require your listening ears! Check out their Facebook page and of course, their MySpace page for some more information! Oh, and if you see them out and about at a show or on the street, say Hi to them! I'm sure they don't bite too hard!

Facebook Page!

MySpace Page!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Video Of The Week.

Harper Blynn are AWESOME!!! Like a modern day Beatles, these guys put a show on thru both their music and their videos!

I'm loving it!! Check it out!

Harper Blynn - Loneliest Generation

Monday, August 2, 2010

***MonthlyIndieMixtape #15***



August is upon us! Wow, that's gone fast! This month is a good month for The Doc. It's his birthday on the 21st! He is getting older and a lot more wiser that's for sure! Haha!

Well folks, here is the latest instalment for your ears to feast on. Found some really tasty ear treats for you this month. A few bands you will already know and a few you won't, but you will love them nonetheless.

Check out the good stuff right here! It's gonna be a good month for MonthlyIndieMixtapes!


Tracklisting:

Adelaide's Cape - Anchored Down
All Saints Day - It'll Come Around
Arcade Fire - Ready To Start
Athlete - The Getaway (US Radio Mix)
Best Coast - Goodbye
Beyond This Point Are Monsters - Rotator
Birds Of Tokyo - Plans
Blackbird Blackbird - Hawaii
Boy & The Echo Choir - Into The Light
Buttons The Intergalactic Sleepdog - Eve & Adam
Cats And Cats And Cats - Big Blue
Colour Revolt - Heartbeat
Dan Kelly - Hold On, I'm Coming On
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - The Man Who Played God
Darren Hanlon - All These Things
The Dead Brothers - Death Blues
Devotionals - Morning Due
Dirty Little Rabbits - Simon
Donna Regina - The Decline Of Female Happiness
Frankie Rose And The Outs - Must Be Nice
Futurebirds - Sam Jones
Gem Club - Animals
Grass Widow - Give Me Shapes
Hellsongs - Walk
Holly Miranda - Nobody Sees Me Like You Do
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - To Hell & Back Again
Jaill - On The Beat
John & Jehn - And We Run
Kate Maki - In Comes The Light
Kevin Devine - Breathe, Breathe Deep ("Hand Of God" RMX By Plosive)
Liz Phair - My My
Male Bonding - Franklin
Martina Topley-Bird - Phoenix
Miniature Tigers - Tropical Birds
Moonhearts - Shine
Natureboy - Pariah
No Kids - I Want To Be Around
One Happy Island - Faster, Sunshine
Owen Pallett - Lewis Takes Off His Shirt
Panda Bear - Tomboy
The Roadside Graves - Everything
Rogue Valley - The Warming Moon
Secret Colours - Love
The Silver Seas - What's The Drawback?
The Sister Ruby Band - Sweet Georgia
Small Sur - Weeds
Smoosh - The Line
Sonny & The Sunsets - The Hypnotist
Spooky Folk - Bible Belt
Sun Kil Moon - Alesund
Sunglasses - Stand Fast
Tamaryn - The Waves
Tango In The Attic - Whiskey In The Wind
Tears Run Rings - Forever
Tired Pony - Point Me At Lost Islands
Tracy Bonham - Big Red Heart
The Vaselines - Overweight But Over You
The Walkmen - Blue As Your Blood
The Wilderness Of Manitoba - St. Petersburg
8mm - Life Is Good


Yes folks, life is good! Especially with musicians that surprise us daily with new music! Nothing is better than music!!

Linkettes:

MonthlyIndieMixtapes #15 - Part 1.
MonthlyIndieMixtapes #15 - Part 2.