“See the Light” by Whitehorse

Not only did we get a new single from Whitehorse last week, but a new album has been announced as well!

The folk rock couple of Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet released their latest single “See the Light” a gorgeous song which harkens back to the early days of the band’s romanticism, ‘with a perspective only afforded by over two decades of musical and matrimonial partnership.’

The album was inspired by Melissa holding a photo of a 19th century farmhouse and saying “Let’s make a record that sounds like this place” and will be a family affair, with their son Little Jimi playing Wurlitzer and Hammond organ on the album, and daughter Chloë Doucet opening for them on tour!

The new album All I Want Is All of It is out May 8th, and they’ll be on tour this spring (no Vancouver date yet, but crossing my fingers for one soon!)

Kirk

“Hey Amanda” by Broken Social Scene

Broken Social Scene recently announced their first new album in over 10 years was set to be released on May 8th.
Remember The Humans will see the regular players as well as additions throughout Hannah Georgas, Lisa Lobsinger, and Feist and more.

The second single “Hey Amanda” is a groovy track (I’m partial to the horns!) that they describe as an “anthemic expression of youthful rebellion through melodic refrains, memorable lyricism, and the brash, beautiful punctuation of the sprawling group's many voices” and that “this is a song about being yourself, and how people will always question that.”

The massive tour they announced with Stars and Metric still only has one Canadian date in Toronto, but crossing our fingers we’ll be added on soon!

Christine

“Ride” (feat. GROUPLOVE) by Arkells

This past week Arkells released their fourth track from their upcoming album Between Us and this one comes with a collaboration with GROUPLOVE!

Of the song “Ride” lead singer Max Kerman says: “On its face, the song is about riding a bike in the city. That unbridled feeling of pedalling along to the song in your head. But beneath the surface, the bike's a metaphor. When life tries to bribe you with a litany of material things, can a simple, utilitarian object like a bicycle be all you need?”

It certainly makes me dream of summer bike weather, which should be here by the time the band is in town to play their three sold out shows at the Penthouse, Hollywood Theatre, and Commodore Ballroom in May!

Christine

“Beaten To Write” by Total Fucking Darkness

Every time Total Fucking Darkness releases a new song, I just want to copy the press release verbatim, because nothing I can say will match their energy.

The trio of Torquil Campbell, Stephen Ramsay, and Tom McFall have promised to usher us back into the Void with the pulsing bass and earworm chorus of their new single, stating “Oh! You didn't think you were leaving, were you? Whether you thought you wanted it or not, you're getting, ‘Beaten To Write’.”

It’s a beautiful day out for once. You decide to treat yourself to ice cream even though you never allow yourself the indulgence because, after all, at this stage of your life it’s “a moment on the lips, and a lifetime on the hips,” but you decide to do it anyway because you went to the fucking gym this morning, after all. So there you are, feet hurting, you left the gym two hours ago and you’re still sweating and you’re asking for two scoops of pralines and cream, and you pay fucking ELEVEN dollars for it but you think “I don’t care today, it’s beautiful out and something’s got to change eventually, this bad luck can’t go on forever” and then suddenly SPLAT… the sound of your ice cream hitting the ground because you just got a low balance notification from your bank and your phone got caught in your jacket pocket as you were taking it out to check it, and it knocked the fucking ice cream out of its cone.

Fuck yeah. Beaten to write.

What surrounds the stars in the sky? Total fucking darkness.
Where can you have the most fun? In Total fucking darkness.
Who’s yer new favourite dance act? Total fucking darkness.

You may now pass.

Kirk TFD

“The Otherside” by Rise Carmine

Rise Carmine is the moniker of Toronto based, multi-instrumentalist Liam Colbert, and last week he released his latest single, “The Otherside”

The song is a trippy psyche-rock jam, with Liam explaining, “We understand and experience the world in moments, beats on a grid. All we can ever experience is right now. Even past memories or future plans are fabrications that we rehash or conjure up in the very immediate ‘now’. I can’t help but see my life in terms of periods of time (years, months, minutes, seconds) that are slowly (or quickly) ticking by. This song is about yearning to see, feel and hear what exists in the in-between, and in turn, hopefully escape the the cage of time and the very human experience of watching life tick by.”

The release comes with an incredible, seven minute one-take video, that combines “The Otherside” with another new track “Second Love”, and features a dance choreographed by Tavia Christina, danced by her and Christian Lavigne.

Have a watch below!

Kirk