Adorably jejune flickering lyrical inflexions of playing with "a dangerous flame again", darting woodwind to bring tears to the bloodshot eyes of Tim DeLaughter, the boisterous melodiousness of Born Ruffians, glib "nah nah nahs" genuinely worthy of Black Parade-era MCR, the odd Wombat-like "whoo", and ecclesiastical harmonies all contribute to, without ever clashing on Show Me, the first release from Team Me's  forthcoming long-player, To The Treetops! Out March 5th, the spring-heeled single that precedes the Oslo troupe's eagerly awaited debut full-length fizzes and pops effervescently throughout, prior to eventually exploding into the sort of sparkling denouement only ...

Honheehonhee , Shouts ( Self-released ) WHO Yelpy Montreal five-piece. DISCOGRAPHY Shouts ( Self-released , 2011) IN A NUTSHELL Honheehonhee may incorporate other bands' sounds into Shouts , but the end result is a product all their own. THE STORY I can definitely see why some people reference Fire">Arcade Fire when writing about Honheehonhee's debut EP, Shouts . I mean, they're from Montreal, and frontman Greg Halpin has echoes of Win Butler in his vocals. If I was feeling uncharitable towards the album -- or even just looking for an easy reference point as part of a quick review -- I'd probably say that the ...

Any number of great shows could qualify as solid picks this week (Ryan Adams, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, etc), but I had to narrow it down, so here are my concert recommendations for the week: The National w. Neko Case and Wye Oak, Air Canada Centre, Dec 8 Wow, how The National have taken off.  They've been great as I've seen them in increasingly large venues.  We'll see how they handle the cavernous ACC.  Oh yeah, Neko Case is no slouch either. Tokyo Police Club w. Born Ruffians and Said The Whale, The Phoenix, Dec 8 ...

Multi-instrumentalist Ahmed Gallab has had his hands on more indie rock bands than Mountain Dew. You may recognize him onstage in bands like of Montreal, Caribou, Born Ruffians, or currently as a fulltime member of Yeasayer, a band diligently working on an album of demented R&B; . His solo project Sinkane is all set to release its fourth album, Mars , and SPIN has the first taste, "Jeeper Creeper." Fans of Yeasayer certainly won't be disappointed in its Afrobeat-inflected rhythms, chilltastic wooshwave, and gallons upon gallons of reverb.

die letzten jahren hatte es gezeigt, ein besuch beim on3 festival in den studios des bayerischen funkhauses sollte kurz vor dem jahresende immer fest im terminplaner verankert sein. wenngleich vor allem die letzten beiden veranstaltungen meine persönlichen präferenzen weniger ansprachen, zog sich doch der überraschungseffekt quer durch die konzerterlebnisse. da konnte man in 2010 born ruffians oder crystal fighters und heuer moop mama oder team me gegen scout niblett, the felice brothers oder cat power halten. die wertigkeit entsteht nicht über den namen, den bekanntsheitsgrad, sondern einzig und allein über die gebotene performance. insofern ist es und war es je ...

Ever get the feeling that you need to yelp very loudly in the intro of your song, but don’t because it would sound like shit? Canadian indie band Born Ruffians had the same idea, only when they did it, it sounded awesome. The yelps really do add something to the track Barnacle Goose, a feeling [...]

Released less than a week ago, “Doomed Love Affair” is the new single by pop-blues/folk collective Ezra Furman and the Harpoons. First caught on to these guys through a friends with their song “Take off your Sunglasses”. Ezra sounds like a combination of less traveled Bob Dylan and Luke Lanlonde of Born Ruffians. They’ve released [...]

Victoria's Said The Whale are preparing for the March release of their new full length with the release this week of the New Brighton  EP. This delightful dose of melodic folk/pop should serve well in tiding fans over until the album appears. The four songs on the album are pretty much standard fare for Said The Whale.  The songs are catchy, peppy roots-tinged numbers, with a healthy heaping of Canadiana imagery. The standout is undoubtedly the lead single "Lines".  The title likely refers to the strings used to secure the song's killer hooks. The band never threaten ...

Jukebox the Ghost , somewhat fittingly, sound a lot like a haunted music player. Perhaps one that resides in the offices of a blog such as, say, Brooklyn Vegan, where it sits in a dusty corner, whirring to life at night, blaring a veritable treasure trove of CD-Rs and samplers from New York buzz bands from the year 2001 onwards. The jukebox is the keeper of a rich musical archive of the "scene", from the early cod-Strokes era right up modern-day to Vampire Weekend-knock-offs. (Bishop Allen went to great lengths to keep their recordings as far away as possible. By writing ...

BC indie pop/rock outfit Said The Whale release their new EP, New Brighton , on November 8th.  The first track from the record will be the catchy "Lines". They've also got a video for the song.  Check it out here: The new full length, Little Mountain , is scheduled to come out on March 6th. Said The Whale play The Phoenix in Toronto on December 8th & 9th with Tokyo Police Club and Born Ruffians .

Please please please dive head first into the insanely good Montreal rock of Each Other.  I can’t find to much info on these folks from up north, but they play intricate yet powerfully catchy guitar based rock and roll (similar in sound to Born Ruffians).  Check these two from their digital release Taking Trips: mp3: [...]

CBC Radio 3 Track of the Day. Guest Hosts, Aron D'alesio and John Smith of Young Rival: "We love this song. We love watching them play it night after night. It has a really nice build to it and we hope you enjoy it."

Sundays come round pretty fast don’t they? Like old skool magnetic tape spilling out of a cassette and needing a pencil to be rounded up and put back on track, I’ve got a bundle of album releases spilling out into the world of new music. I’m here with my trusty pencil to round them up for your listening pleasure. Too young to remember the old pencil trick for cassettes? Oh well, read on anyway, it’s all about new music from here on in… My album of the week goes to the debut release from Givers . The ...

And so another fortnight has passed, and what a fortnight it has been. The integration of Spotify into Facebook has only increased the already well equipped tool box of the digital-age stalker, and we’ve had to bid farewell to the great R.E.M. who have called it a day after creating 15 albums of pure gold (and occasionally absolutely guff). However the world keeps turning and with each turn comes a plethora of fantastic new music, as demonstrated by the rather well endowed 405 Soundcloud drop box. Enjoy the last throes of our Summer (in Autumn) with these ...

Tokyo Police Club return home to perform an intimate holiday show at The Phoenix in Toronto on December 8th, 2011. The Canadian quartet, who sold out the Kool Haus earlier this year, will be joined by special guests Born Ruffians and Said The Whale.