When thinking outside the box just isn't enough
It can be difficult trying to recall all of the details of a packed night in a post-POP haze, but Diamond Rings’ sparkly, energetic performance undeniably stood out from all the low-fi indie bands this year. With a festival as large and widespread as Pop Montreal, you can end up in a lot of overcrowded, […]
Just a few hours before Best Coast was scheduled to walk on stage at Le National last Friday night, lead singer Bethany Cosentino tweeted, “All remaining cities on this tour, you gotta sing extra hard cus my voice is trashed.” With a setlist full of songs that are made for sing-a-longs and a pack of excited fans pushing towards the stage, they had nothing to worry about…
When asked if I’d be interested in covering a band called Best Coast, I immediately remembered Bethany Cosentino, the 25 year old lead singer who loved to smoke weed, hang out with her cat, Snacks and her boyfriend, Nathan Williams of Wavves. I also had some faint memories from a couple summers ago of baking in the sun and listening to the fuzzy, lo-fi surf pop songs from their first album, Crazy for You. With lyrics about heartbreak and loneliness…
Montreal producer, CFCF aka Michael Silver, debuted his ambient electronic Night Bus II mix at Blizzarts alongside DJ JRC last Thursday. The set is a follow up to last year’s Do You Like Night Bus? mix, which had critics and bloggers excited about the possibility of an emerging genre called Night Bus. Forums were filling up with lengthy debates about whether…
Despite the downpour, Said The Whale fans braved the stormy weather last Tuesday night and nearly filled Club Lambi. The air thickened with moisture and chatter as the last of the damp-looking latecomers trickled in from St. Laurent. The band opened with the fitting “This City is a Mess” and had the crowd re-energized and singing every word by the end of the cathartic Canadian tune. The fact that we could all hear the words was a refreshing change from the wall of sound that a lot of bands seem to create when attempting to fill out a small space or overcompensate for a sparse audience…
Vancouver-based band, Said The Whale, is making the cross country trip to Montreal to play Club Lambi on September 13th with Rah Rah and Sarah Lowes. They’re making lots of stops in between, which is something the Juno award winners have become known for ever since they started playing their way across Canada in 2007. Since forming the band, singer and songwriters Tyler Bancroft and Ben Worcester have been open about…
Five shows into an extensive fall tour, The War on Drugs played a sold out show at Casa Del Popolo with Caveman and Porcelain Raft. Arriving just in time to see the haunting Porcelain Raft, a one man experimental electronic show, close and contrast with the primal, drum-heavy Caveman and the night was off to a great start. From the moment the warm electronic hum of The War on Drugs filled the room, the sound never seemed to stop. With dense backtracks blurring the divisions between songs…
“Got the feeling that I can’t move without sliding. I’m a thousand miles behind, with a hundred more to climb so it’s you I hope survives without fighting” are the heavy words setting the tone for The War on Drugs recently released Slave Ambient. Juxtaposed with layered melodic guitars and Adam Granduciel’s calm, reassuring voice, the opening song Best Night actually leaves you feeling uplifted. It could be their uncanny ability of combining melancholy lyrics with Dylan-like ballads that established their albums as being some of the best road trip music out there. A large part could also be attributed to their method of song building…
