Territory

What's that? You want some more streaming goodness? Well, okay!
The new album from Two Hours Traffic, entitled Territory, is due out Sept 8, but if you can't wait that long, the band has put every track streaming on their website!

Check it out here -- down a little on the right.

Territory is the follow up to the polaris prize nominated Little Jabs and is produced by the same person, who you may have heard of... Joel Plaskett!

I have yet to listen for myself... still debating on just waiting for the physical release, or breaking down and listening now, but if the first single is any indication, it's going to be a hell of an album.


Download Territory

Last Parade

It should be no surprise to anyone that knows me when I say Matthew Good is my favourite musician. This morning on his website, he has started streaming the first single from the upcoming album.
I instantly fell in love with it, but I admit I may have somewhat of a teeny bias, so check it out for yourself.
Listen to Last Parade, the new single from Matthew Good's upcoming album, Vancouver out October 6.

songs of the indeterminate time period.

Hey look! It's another instalment of my song(s) of the week month "whenever I feel like it" segment!
Here are a few songs; ones that are new, newish, or new-to-me for your listening pleasure. I'll also try to include at least some diversity in the selected songs.


Folk legend M. Ward. Uber-musician/producer Mike Mogis. My Morning Jacket's Jim James. And... Conner Oberst from Bright Eyes (three out of four ain't bad). When their powers combined, they form the Monsters of Folk. It's hard to judge by the first single, but my immediate reaction is that it's not quite the sum of it's parts (perhaps the Oberst Factor), but it has the potential to be awesome. We shall see come September 22nd.

Download Say Please by Monsters of Folk
artists website where you may listen to more and exchange monies for music


It's only been two years since the self titled debut from Young Galaxy, but for some reason it feels like much longer. It also feels like the band dropped of the face of the earth. Well, they've finally released the info for the album, Invisible Republic, due out on the 25th of August. It starts as a pretty standard YG track with spacey riffs, twitchy synth and haunting vocals, but then the last minute or so just goes nuts and is completely infectious. This song along launches the album to near the top of my most anticipated for the rest of the year.

Download Long Live The Fallen World by Young Galaxy
artists website where you may listen to more and exchange monies for music


Flemish Eye sums it up much better than I can:
A warped and mutated blend of the futuristic and the organic, Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz is the debut album from Black Mold – the electronic alter-ego of songwriter Chad VanGaalen.
The more I listen to this, the more it makes sense. VanGaalen has always had hints of electronica to his albums, and now he gets to let loose with his homemade instruments and show even more of his brilliance. It's hard to call it experimental,since you get the sense that he knows exactly what he's doing.

Download Tetra Pack Heads by Black Mold
artists website where you may listen to more and exchange monies for music

Throw Me To The Rats

The Tom Fun Orchestra is an awesome band, and I have been waiting eagerly for a follow up to their '07 debut album, You Will Land With A Thud. So I was mildly disappointed when they released a new video from the old album. That is, until I watched it and saw just how awesome the video is. How awesome is it? Four words: live action puppet theatre!

Tom Fun Orchestra - Throw Me To The Rats

songs of the indeterminate time period.

I wanted to start doing some sort of song(s) of the week month "whenever I feel like it" segment, so why not start today?
I'll post a few songs, probably ones that are new, newish, or new-to-me for your listening pleasure. I'll also try to include at least some diversity in the selected songs.

I missed the new Elliott BROOD album, Mountain Medows, when it came out last year, but based on recommendations and the Polaris Short List, I decided to check it out. I really liked what I heard, but the stand out track -- upon first listen at least -- was the instrumental song Chuckwagon.

Download Chuckwagon by Elliott BROOD
artists website where you may listen to more and exchange monies for music

Record of the Week Club is a really nifty idea. Their website can probably describe it better than I, so

[It] is a weekly recording session featuring musicians from diverse musical backgrounds. Never knowing who their co-creators will be — an incognito and disparate group of musicians meet at MCM Studios in Winnipeg, Canada every Wednesday evening. Over the course of one evening they are charged with the task of getting to know each other, arranging, rehearsing and recording a piece under the guidance of Mike Petkau. The song is immediately mixed and uploaded and made available for download that same night.

This song features Inuit throat singer Nikki Komaksiutiksak, electronic artist Blunderspublik and John K. Samson of The Weakerthans.

Download Keewatin Arctic by Record of the Week Club
artists website where you may listen to more and exchange monies for music

I am sure the fine fellows in Black Hat Bridage, a fairly new band out of Toronto, are already sick of being compared to Wolf Parade. So let's put a stop to that. Although I have not yet obtained their newest EP, Fathers, I have sampled a few songs from their website and myspace, and I have to say, Castlevania is one of the best songs I've heard this year. It could have easily been gimmicky, given that the song would be right at home in any great 8-bit game, but do they ever pull it off in a haunting and powerful way.

Download Castlevania by Black Hat Brigade
artists website where you may listen to more and exchange monies for music

Without Friends I'd Die

My current obsession -- as you may be able to tell from my weekly Last.fm charts there on the sidebar -- is the new album from The Ghost Is Dancing, entitled Battles On. I will have a full album review... eventually, but for now I would like to share this video. For the last song on the album, Without Friends, it is a simple, yet infinitely charming video. And I'm a sucker for things done all in one take.

The Ghost is Dancing - Without Friends.

Free Buck 65!

That's right, Buck 65 is giving away his latest project for free!
His new albums, Dirtbike 1-2-3, which is 70 songs across three albums, are yours for the grabbing right here
But don't listen to me, see what Mr Rich Terfry has to say about it himself:

I set out a task for myself, to put together three huge albums worth of music in three months - what I've been calling the 'Dirtbike' project. I managed to write and record approximately 70 songs. The three "albums" are each around an hour in length.

I think of Dirtbike 1-3 as a woodshed demo project. But I've wanted to share this work with anyone who was interested in hearing it. They've floated around a bit here and there, but now I would like to share them directly with you.

These 'albums' aren't for sale and never will be. Never-ever. It was just really important for me at this point in my career to act creatively without any consideration for money or press or anything other than art. I guess it could be said that this is just something I had to do for myself.

Finally, these recordings were made at home with crappy gear and were mixed in headphones that are 15 years old and were never very good in the first place. So they are pretty lo-fi. So for the few of you who will hear them, they're best heard in headphones.

Love,
Buck

Head on over to the website, http://www.buck65.net/dirtbike/ to check it out.
And, if you are unfamiliar with Buck 65, here are a couple videos for your auditory pleasure.
First, Wicked and Weird off his 04 album This Right Here is Buck 65


And next from 07's Situation is a live studio performance of Way Back When


I've not yet listened to it - I am in the middle of downloading it - but I just thought I would share. Hopefully a review/impressions will come.... eventually.

have the time of your life til you're dead.

It was way back ought-four. November the tenth at the Commodore, opening for The Trews, when I first heard Matt Mays and his backing band El Torpedo. I have been a fan ever since.
Alas, it seems today El Torpedo is no more. After two members recently departed the band, one being drummer & producer Tim Jim Baker, Mays has decided to let the name El Torpedo go.
It is a sad, sad day in Canadian music indeed.
True, Matt Mays will continue making music. He has solo albums as well as with El Torpedo, and the new(ish) backing band will, no doubt, be pretty swell... but it's still sad to see any band dissolve, especially when a core member like Baker leaves.

In their honour, here is the title track to their release last year, Terminal Romance. It is almost definitely my favourite song of theirs.


Download Terminal Romance