Today's Swell Tune: Closer

• Band: Chic Gamine
• Album: Closer 
• From: Winnipeg, Manitoba/ Montreal, Quebec Canada
• Sound: Somewhere, Berry Gordy is getting a boner; soul, pop, R&B.
• Website: chicgamine.com
• Social: facebook, twitter, YouTube
• Buy It: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/chicgamine3

Today's Swell Tune: Reset/Restore

• Band: We Were Not the Savages
• EP: We Were Not the Savages
• From: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• Sound: Everyone uses synth in their rock now, but this one actually uses it for good; rock, synth-punk (is that a thing?)
• Buy it: bandcamp (name your price)
• Facebook: facebook

Today's Swell Tune: Better Things

• Band: Young Rival
• Album: Stay Young
• From: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
• Sound: The Animals. But louder. And Johnny Cash is in the room, for some (awesome) reason.
• Website: http://www.youngrival.com/
• Facebook: facebook

Saturday Night Remix: Mirrorage

Glasser- Mirrorage 

into:

Glasser - Mirrorage (SUUNS Remix) 

Friday's Forgotten Song: Earth, Sky & C.

I Mother Earth

Album: Scenery and Fish

1996

Today's Swell Tune: Up Past the Nursery

Suuns - Up Past The Nursery

• Band: SUUNS
• Album: Zeroes QC
• From: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• Sound: A barely contained nervous breakdown; experimental indie rock
• Social: facebook, myspace, tumblr, twitter
• Download Free: from Bandcamp

Today's Swell Tune: Creep Me Out

• Band: Ruby Coast
• Album: Whatever This Is (download it free from their website)
• From: Aurora, Ontario, Canada
• Sound: Like Vampire Weekend has been listening to a lot of The Jam; rock
• Website: rubycoast.bandcamp.com
• Social: facebook, twitter

Boss Stuff on the Interwebs: Wednesday Links 16/03/11

• Your musical education continues with Neon Filler's list of the top 100 indie/alternative albums of all time. This week: 60-51 (including Bon Iver and my favourite Modest Mouse album). 

• Fellow Canucks be proud: Spinner looks at the invasion of Canadian music at SXSW including Broken Social Scene, Feist, and The New Pornographers. But it's "aboat" not "aboot", Stuart.

• The National has a new song Think You Can Wait, and it confirms my long-held belief that Matt Berninger just wants everyone to cry and moodily drink whisky all the time. Hear it at Stereogum.

• My former flatmate's favourite musician was Joanna Newsom, and--swear to God-- she once casually uttered the phrase "I find dirt really interesting."  So the suggestion that she may have once "considered befriending a squirrel" seems pretty dead on. Flavorwire will hilariously stereotype you, too, by your favourite indie band. 

• Dance-punk/  noise rock duo Death From Above 1979 has reunited, is rehearsing for Coachella, and is testing out a badass bass-cam video. As cool as that sounds, Dominic at This Moving Picture manages to make it sound even cooler.

• On the opposite end of the spectrum is Sunnybrook a band who describes their sound as "your running through a field of dandelions laughing uncontrollably". Sunnybrook you need to come to my parties. And bring whatever it is that made you write that. (Universal Yellow Keys)

• I've had a complicated, shitty week, so I genuinely appreciate Young Minds' Change of Pace (no pun intended). It's a catchy lo-fi track that will make the world feel simple and upbeat for two and  a half minutes. Thanks to guerolitomusic for the tranquilizer.

If the Liquor Commission Had Been in Paris, We Might Have Seen Local Natives Instead

This past summer, I took time off to go back home for a few months. With no job to get up for and a pretty decent savings account, life became surreal. I lounged and read for entire afternoons, took long, pointless walks, became a frequent house guest of others, and had little to no reason to behave responsibly. The latter two were especially well-combined when I spent weeks at Big Bird's flat, where he and I would have what came to be known as "WASP days." These started, of course, with mimosas as soon as we got up (which is a lot less horrifying when you consider that we could not be bothered to wake before noon). So off in the "morning" to the liquor commission, outside of which--day or night--a maniacally grinning, tattered man (best visually compared to a glue-huffing Disney hobo) busked with his guitar, playing "Ring of Fire."  Every time. (In fairness, he'd occasionally play other songs, but since his guitar was always tuned to the key of "Well-Respected Man", whatever else he played sounded like a Kinks cover of whatever it was. So it's difficult to know what those were exactly. But I assure you, "Ring of Fire" was a hearty staple.)  In addition to this talent, he also succeeded in being a raging pervert, making me relieved to have Big Bird at my side, while simultaneously adding an authentic "dodging commoners" element to the waspification of it all. 


After the LC had closed, when our WASP levels were elevated to "pick at dinner and argue about which of us is sleeping with the nanny", that well-rejected man would wander up and down the strip, past the bars and patios, singing all the while. And there, in this middle-sized city, in this middle-sized province, in the middle of the continent, he was putting on the only local Take Away Show to be had.  In this case, the beggars were the choosers, and they chose an awful lot of Johnny Cash.


Now if we'd spent the time somewhere more glamourous--like, say, Paris--Big Bird and I might have made out a little better. We could've looked up from a make-believe "BCBG day" to see Local Natives strolling the street instead. A huge step up, on every level,* and somewhere out there are Parisians much luckier than us. La Blogotheque has the video of a Paris street performance of Who Knows Who Cares and it sounds amazing, so enjoy as one of the best bands to come out of the last year (and arguably my favourite) demonstrates for the localest hobo how a Take Away Show is really done. 


Though in all fairness, I don't know how well they do Ring of Fire.

Local Natives | Who Knows Who Cares | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.






*Though the fantastic irony that the Liquor Commission man is, in fact, one of the local Natives in my neighbourhood has not been lost on me.

Saturday Night Remix: Hot Mess

Chromeo - Hot Mess Featuring Elly Jackson by Chromeo

into:

Chromeo featuring Elly Jackson - Hot Mess (Duck Sauce Remix) by Chromeo

Friday's Forgotten Song: Canada

Canada (The Field Mice) by MrShuffleupagus

The Field Mice

Album: Skywriting (EP)

Year: 1990

Today's Swell Tune: The Stand

The Stand by Mother Mother

• Band: Mother Mother
• Album: Eureka (Out March 15)
• From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• Sound: That is some fucking fun, right there; indie new wave/ pop/rock
• Website: http://mothermothersite.com/
• Contact: facebook; myspace; twitter

Today's Swell Tune: YVR

Hot Hot Heat-YVR by ellebirdie

• Band: Hot Hot Heat
• Album: Future Breeds
• From: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• Sound: The way I want every night out to feel: post-punk, rock
• Website: http://www.hothotheat.com/

If I Used the Phrase "Band to Watch" I Would Use it Here: Wildlife

Referrals and listening, listening and referrals. If you don't like it, don't start a music blog. Because people will send you songs and you will have to listen to them. A lot.  


Honestly, most don't make it past ten seconds. Of those that do, most will still get turned off after about a minute. They're not usually bad. It's just that an overwhelming majority of them suffer from what I think of as a lack of balls. When a musician is afraid to commit, you can hear it in the music. I mean, if you're going to do it, for the love of god do it.  

Wildlife doesn't have that problem. Their Toronto-based indie rock is energetic, to-the-point, and not afraid of going in 100 percent. With a hint of punk edge, they drive though every song like they love what they're doing and they really, really mean it. They don't even seem to have the occasional "meh" number-- all the tracks make it past 10 second mark with ease. 


If I had to give you a "sounds like" I'd say maybe a less-groomed Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, or Hot Hot Heat. But believe me, in a few years, people might just be saying "sounds like Wildlife." These guys definitely have it in 'em.

You can get their debut album Strike Hard Young Diamond on bandcamp, where they've also been cool enough to give you three free tracks. Stalking can be done on myspace, facebook, or twitter.

Wildlife- "Stand In The Water" by 32feet

Wildlife - When I Get Home by auteurresearch

Today's Swell Tune: Clean

Clean (Olenka And The Autumn Lovers) by MrShuffleupagus

• Band: Olenka and the Autumn Lovers
• Album: and now we sing
• From: London, Ontario, Canada
• Sound: Like Ra Ra Riot channelling The Cranberries. Or vice versa.; indie rock
• Website: http://www.olenkalovers.com/

Friday's Forgotten Song: Drinking in L.A.

Bran Van 3000 - Drinking In LA by MarieCoco
(1997)

Today's Swell Tune: Decidedly

Decidedly (Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans ) by MrShuffleupagus

• Artist: Jim Bryson, The Weakerthans
• Album: The Falcon Lake Incident (Kelp Records)
• From: Ottawa and Winnipeg, Canada, respectively 
• Sounds: Maple-flavoured Wilco; alt-country, indie rock
• Websites: Bryson:http://www.jimbryson.org/  ; The Weakerthans: http://www.theweakerthans.org/

Today's Swell Tune: Up and Down

Up and Down (The Conduits) by MrShuffleupagus

• Artist: The Conduits
• Album: The Conduits (EP)
• From:  Toronto, Canada/ San Francisco, United States (they've never met in person)
• Sound: Like a number from "Regina Spektor and the Magical Music Box"; experimental pop
• Website: http://theconduits.bandcamp.com/album/the-conduits-ep
• Download: from bandcamp (name your price)

Today's Swell Tune: Heavenward Grand Prix

• Band: Japandroids
• Album: No Singles
• From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 
• Sound: Soundtrack for a "dramatic sweet revenge" montage; Signature heady clusterfuck of drum and guitar. 
• Website: http://japandroids.com/

Today's Swell Tune: Start Making Sense

Start Making Sense (Hot Panda) by Mr.Shuffleupagus

• Band: Hot Panda
• Album: How Come I'm Dead?
• From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• Sounds: A bit Strokes-ish, with an Arcade Fire-style switchup about four-fifths of the way through
• Site: http://www.hotpanda.ca/