Rah Rah has released their second single, "Chip Off The Heart", of their upcoming album Vessels and with it comes a new video. The visuals in the video (embedded below) are stunning, as is the upbeat and cosmic vibe of the song. I can't wait to hear this one live!
This is why you should always ask your friends what they're listening to, especially if they happen to live in another country. It started with a conversation at a wine festival with a new Australian friend (whose family makes excellent wine by the way) about music and genres. We ended up making playlists for each other and the Australian band City Calm Down was in the one given to me. Their song "Pleasure and Consequence" hit me right away, and I can't stop listening to it (or telling people to listen to it). They've been in studio for a while now, working on their new album "In A Restless House" which will debut in September. They've recently released a single called "Rabbit Run" which I'm totally digging, and wanted to share. I've also posted Pleasure and Consequence because seriously...listen to it. Can't wait for this album to come out. (Please tour here guys.)
Christine's Picks: "Hard Road" by Sam Roberts Band We picked "New Beginnings" for this playlist, for obvious reasons, and while I wanted my picks to be meaningful, I also wanted to keep it upbeat. Sam Roberts is definitely one of the few bands that I've listened to since I first started exploring Canadian music many, many, moons ago, and 12 years after it was released "Hard Road" seemed pretty perfect. All the lyrics were appropriate for this theme, but I think my favourite is: "Stay true to your friends, 'cause they'll save you in the end".
"Got To Lose" by Hollerado "You got to lose love if you want to find love." Hollerado gets it. You can apply this idea to so many things.
"Get Your Shit Together" by The Wet Secrets Their bandcamp page says to: "Listen to this thrice when experiencing technical difficulties with the people of Earth." How apropos. I'm using "Get Your Shit Together" as my mantra as of late, and this song is definitely the anthem for it. Plus it helps when you picture a band in marching band attire shouting this at you. So many ideas to work on and...new beginnings...that I need to organize my life, make some lists, get my shit together and MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Jess's Picks: "Welcome" by Hey Rosetta! Forget going out with a bang, I want to come in with a bang. In any cases where bangs are necessary, Hey Rosetta! should...
Mark my words, that's a question that is going to be on people's minds this summer. So far, we have a single image, two people with their faces blanked out, and this song, "Heaven + High Water". It's an interesting electronic-ish song with more than a couple twists and turns in its three and a half minutes.
Aidan Knight has just released a new song from his upcoming (3rd) LP that will be arriving later this year. It's a beautiful song and apparently Aidan took some flak for it being too sunny:
to everyone worrying that The Arp is "too sunny": 1 it is NICE outside, wow + 2 i got them true tear jerkers coming soon.
Saturday Night is getting major airplay and as a result has been going around in our heads for weeks. Add to the fact that they just released an AMAZING video for the song, and you know why it's our Song Of The Day.
Yup, it's another "songs of the indeterminate time period", with a trio of new and nifty songs you should check out.
We Are The City - Morning Song by killbeat music
Oh man! I have seen this song live so many times, and I am glad it finally exists in physical (or digital) form. From We Are The City's upcoming 7", it's "Morning Song". It'll be paired with "Mourning Song" (see what they did there?) and the 7" will be released in September on Adventure Boys Club.
Go To Me - Jordan Klassen by JordanKlassen
While I have heard the name Jordan Klassen fairly frequently, I have to admit I hadn't heard much (or any) of his music. Until the other day with the release of his new single "Go To Me". It starts soft and builds to a grand, and pretty damn catchy climax. It's from Repentance, due out in November.
Since I first caught his disease six years ago, I've had a soft spot for Aussie pop-rocker Ben Lee. His newest album, Deeper Into Dream (his eighth solo album!) was produced at his home studio and the first single, "Get Used To It" is pretty much as poppy as you would expect it to be, but like a lot of Lee's music, the lyrics might not quite as upbeat as the music.
I have spontaneously decided I am going to post more previews of things I am digging. We'll see it I stick with it, or if the next one comes in another nine months. So here is the... let's call it "long awaited"... next instalment of my songs of the weekmonth "whenever I feel like it" segment
Going to be honest, I hadn't heard much of Sidney York before I stumbled upon "Dick & Jane". The song is insanely catchy -- I bet you'll find yourself whistling along at random points during your day -- and the video, which features cameos by members of Beekeeper and Mother Mother, is really cool and fun (and unless I'm mistaken, all done in one take!). It's off her [awesomely titled] album Apocalyptic Radio Cynic which is due out May 24th.
The first time I saw 41st & Home, I admit, my reaction was a little... "meh". But in the year since then, I've seen them more and more, and they have definitely grown as a band in that time -- I can only assume their inclusion in the Peak Performance Project helped.
Just today they released a video done by the fine folks at Amazing Factory of a new song "Gorbachev" from their upcoming, untitled, un-release-dated EP, which I am definitely looking forward to.
One of my favourite albums of 2009 was from The Ghost Is Dancing, a band and album that I thought was criminally under-looked. Well, they ceased to be, and Jim DeLuca -- one of the singer/songwriters -- has formed The Natural Shocks. The first single off their upcoming album Complete With Comfortable Lighting (available June 9th) is "Heavier Than Heavy", and it is an infectious power-pop song that will be stuck in your head for days.