Feist is reissuing here debut album from 1999, Monarch: Lay Your Jewelled Head Down. This is a good thing since the only way I could get my hypothetical hands on this album was by torrenting it from the interwebs. The album isn’t a groundbreaking debut, but it does have some catchy fun indie pop ditties. That is what Feist does best. And of course, it is cool to love your family.
The limited edition vinyl is available on her website.
Ivy Mairi @ The Bus Stop Theatre during Halifax Pop Explosion 2011.
After handing in those final exams and emailing take home exams that you don’t really feel like writing, going back to school is the last thing you want to do in the middle of May. Unless, going back to school means checking out a sweet show at the King’s College library.
Ivy Mairi (Bruce Peninsula) from Toronto is headlining the show. She was in Halifax twice last fall playing a heartwarming house show and another showcase at Halifax Pop Explosion. We loved her album “No Talker” and look forward to seeing those songs performed between books and busts. (I think the King’s library has busts of philosophers and thinkers, right?)
Also on the bill, EONS, aka Matt Cully of Bruce Peninsula and Halifax favourites Nick Everett & Everybody.
Show starts at 7:00 p.m. and cover is $7 at the University of King’s College Library.
Posted in concert preview
Tagged bruce peninsula, EONS, ivy mairi, nick everett, nick everett & everybody
Apollo Ghosts are a band that never have to worry about overstaying their welcome. Making their debut on the Sackville, N.B. based label You’ve Changed Records, the Vancouver band continue to do what they do best: short, quick ditties that are damn catchy and will leave your foot tapping.
The songs are all built around hooks that are repetitive, but when a song such as “American Joint” only runs for under two minutes, guitar solos and complicated licks aren’t needed.
Adrian Teacher displays his quirkiness throughout the album. Whether it be through playful lyrics and a call and response about being in love about the U.S.A. or the Talking Headsesqeu delivery of “Why Can’t I Be the Man on Stage?”.
Now when I said the album was quick and short, I lied. “So Much Better When You’re Gone” clocks in at just under four minutes, which for Apollo Ghost standards is like a marathon. But really for the album it is more like a little bathroom stop on the 15 track album. Not that the album really needs a pit stop. Despite the large number of tracks, none of them feel like filler thrown in to fill space. Their efficiency and quality is what makes Apollo Ghosts a band that keeps drawing you back record after record.
If you’ve ever seen the band live, you’ll know they don’t play a single note without putting emotion and a little extra umph into each note. This is evident on Landmark where you can almost picture a sweaty, wide-eyed Adrian Teacher singing about Newcastle while Amanda Panda sits at the drum kit with a smile.
Fans of Shotgun Jimmie, Baby Eagle and that whole Sackville, New Brunswick music scene will be pleased to see the town well represented in the linear notes. The Vancouver band thrive on both coasts, and really, all of Canada in between should take note. Apollo Ghosts are a friendly force to reckon with.
Metric have a new album, Synthetica coming out June 12. The first single, Youth Without Youth, is available for your listening pleasure on their soundcloud site. And yes, they will be making Beatles references again on this album.
Cousins, the two piece garage-rock group from Halifax, aren’t your typical band. Go to one of their shows and chances are you’ll see a merch table stacked with cassette tapes they recorded and made themselves. You might also find the band camping in a backyard and later playing a show in that same space. If you saw them play last year, don’t get too comfortable because they might have a different lineup in tow the next time around. Cousinsplay by their own rules.
On March 1, the band kicked off a 66-day tour that stops in 56 cities throughout the U.S. and Canada. They’re returning to SXSW, an annual festival in Austin, Texas, where thousands of bands from around the world take over the city. This time around, the band won’t be heading into uncharted territory. Last year at SXSW, they made some lasting connections.
“The friends we made last year on the road are way more valuable than I thought they would be. They’re such good assets for booking, having places to stay and keeping in touch with people,” says drummer and guitarist Aaron Mangle.
As festival virgins last year, Cousins didn’t realize just how big SXSW really was. Streets are closed off and the city is packed. “I’ve never been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but that’s what I sort of relate it to,” says drummer Leigh Dotey. They ended up going to calmer parts of the city to play unofficial laid-back shows. Mangle said, “The shows were more pleasant and not so hectic.” One of those unofficial shows ended up being in the backyard of a studio that was the band’s campground the previous night.
On this trip they’ll play a number of all-ages venues, artcentres and house shows. “We end up in a lot of basements,” said Dotey.
Cousins prefer playing house shows over bar shows since they get to meet people in a more meaningful way. Plus, the chances of the house show’s homeowner being in a band playing that night are pretty high too.
You never know what who will be playing what at a Cousins show, or who will be in the band.
The band formed in 2009. The first Cousins album Out On Town was recorded solely by Mangle. Afterwards, he toured with four people. The band was then reduced to Mangle and Pat Ryan. Dotey joined the band for the SXSW tour last year. For this year’s tour the band is just Mangle and Dotey. Cousins like switching up the lineup and keeping things fresh, both for the band and the audience.
Mangle said, “It’s sort of nice to have that feedback and dialogue because people get comfortable with the way something sounds. They see the band and want to see it again. Mixing it up is good for us for the challenge, and it’s good for people too. We don’t want people to get too comfortable.”
Cousins assemble the Singing/Drums cassette.
On Feb. 24, Mangle and Dotey sat down at the Khyber in Halifax and assembled the packaging for Singing/Drums, the band’s cassette tape available only on tour. Recorded on side A are three songs featuring vocals while side B is three drum-only songs. The tape was recorded in a couple days — a nice break after working for over a year on the full-length album The Palm At The End Of The Mind, released in March. The songs “are kind of scrappy, but really fun because we don’t usually write that way,” said Mangle.
Cousins love the archaic format of cassettes. “We listen to tapes in the van all the time. At home we make mixtapes all the time. It’s a format we still use. It’s sort of kitschy, but for me it’s really practical,” said Mangle.
The band orders blank tapes from Montreal and then record music onto them. A friend of the band has a duplicator used to create multiple copies of the recordings. Cousins do all the work: ordering, recording and packaging the tapes. Because the tapes are cheap to make, they’re cheap to sell. Cousins likes having something physical you can buy at a show and shove in your pocket. Mangle also likes the aesthetics of the cassette. “They don’t look stupid like CDs,” he said.
For Cousins, SXSW is just a pit stop on their extensive tour — they’ve got 39 shows left before they come home again.
This article first appeared in the April issue of Mixtape Magazine.
It’s been three years since Joel Plaskett released an album of new material. Still riding a wave of confidence from his last album, Plaskett followed his nose with an ambitious project: record and release one song a week over the course of 10 weeks. The end result? The album Scrappy Happiness.
Posted in joel plaskett
Tagged joel plaskett, joel plaskett emergency, scrappy happiness
We’re a little late to the party, posting this video long after it was first unleashed to the interwebs. Still, it is our duty at the Broken Speaker to keep you filled in on all things Hey Rosetta! This song was recorded in Dublin during their European tour. It will be interesting to see if the track pops up on their next record. (via Cock and Bull TV)
Buck 65 doing a zombie dance in Halifax, winter 2011. See, he is funny.
Rich Terfry aka Buck 65 aka a guy who does pretty much everything, plays Reflections tomorrow (Friday) night. He always brings a good combination of hilariousness and creativity to the stage as he raps and scratches. He’ll be joined by Colleen Brown and Jenn Grant. Buck 65 collaborated with Grant on a number of tracks on his latest release, 20 Odd Years.
For more preview of the show, check out articles in the Chronicle Herald and the Coast.
Tickets are $22.99 in advance at Sonic Concerts, $27.99 at the door. Bring two pieces of ID.
Jai Paul is a British songwriter/producer signed to XL Recordings.
EXETER is a Toronto producer who took the Jai Paul track Jasmine and edited it.
Listen, bob your head a little, go for a walk. Enjoy.
PEI band North Lakes are set to release their sophomore album Grand Prix next month. In the meantime, you can download and listen to the first single “Grab Me By The Lapel”.
North Lakes – Grab Me By The Lapel
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