Björk’s official website has posted the image below and is using it on ads for her upcoming American tour. The site doesn’t confirm that this is gonna be the album cover for her next album Volta, to be released on May 7, but Stereogum has claimed this. I read Stereogum way too much to contradict them, so…check out Björk’s new album cover below. What better way to kick off Ca Va Cool’s Björk excitement than with this awesome image.
Big news. I mean huge news, like gigantic news. Bloc Party will be releasing the b-sides and outtakes of their last release A Weekend in the City. This new album called The Weekend Isn’t Over and is filled with 11 more tracks. I managed to get a leak of the album, and it is freaking amazing. I enjoy it more than A Weekend in The City. They haven’t announced a release date yet, but I am seeing them live on Sunday and I really hope they play stuff from this album. It’s like a perfect blend between A Weekend in the City and Silent Alarm. Just enough rock, just enough awesome riffs, and just enough emotion. I won’t give a way too much of this new album, but once you listen to “England” on it, I am sure you will pee your pants a little.
Some good music takes a while to sink in, to fully “get” it. Then, every once in a while, something comes along which is instantly accessible, and you can’t take the headphones off. It happened last year with Writer’s Block by Peter Bjorn and John, Someone to Drive You Home by The Long Blondes, and Grown-Ups by The Lodger, and it’s happened again. I can’t express to you how much I love The Great Unwanted by Lucky Soul (Website / MySpace). Just like Peter et al, the blondes, and the lodging boys, Lucky Soul have an unabashed love of pop music. I guess that’s why I like it, I know just the feeling.
These five hipsters from Greenwhich, England have created 13 of the most majestic and epic songs of tragic love in recent memory. Looking like five boys from a well-dressed garage rock band plus one blonde from a 60s beach party movie, they take their cues from all the best 60s soul hitmakers. These kids did their homework; I hear everything from the tragic “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by The Supremes to triumphant returns like “But It’s Alright” by J.J. Jackson. This album is more than all right, and it definitely keeps me hanging on. If Phil Spector didn’t have so many problems right now (his murder trial began three days ago), I’m sure he would love to get a piece of Lucky Soul’s production, or at least be flattered by the homage paid in this album. To close, this is my favourite album thus far in 2007. The Great Unwanted is out April 3. Enjoi!
Modest Mouse (Website / MySpace) are releasing their 5th album today, which is colourfully titled We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. The first single is called “Dashboard” and can be listened to below. Strangely enough, Johnny Marr of The Smiths (third from the left in the band picture) has joined the band, which seems to me as strange a pair as Morrissey joining INXS.
So usually at this point I would show some video highlights of Modest Mouse’s career, but I’m not really that interested, so I’m gonna embed some Smiths videos instead. They’re one of the most important (and best) indie bands ever, so any excuse to post their music I will. If you’re interested, click on the (more…) link after the song to check out some of the The Smiths’ YouTube highlights.
But back to Modest Mouse, if you listen to the track you can hear some of Marr’s creative guitar work, so check it out because I think it’s a really neat song. I’m still waiting for John Squire to join a young band to unleash my Stone Roses tribute on the world.
Ca Va Cool has posted a lot about Feist, but what can I say, Leslie Feist’s upcoming album The Reminder is big news. I got a hold of it prematurely so I’m going to give it a thumbs up/thumbs down and share some previews.
I’ll start with the basics. What kind of expectations did I have for The Reminder by Feist? I’ve seen her live three times, and was never disappointed, but I always see her live show as an attempt to capture the perfection that was her last album, 2004’s Let It Die. I really think it’s perfect, so I just wanted this new album to recapture that magic. Her voice never waivers (unless intentionally), so the magic of a good Feist album is what music she has to work with. A good Feist album is like a good movie; the music can’t be too central in theme or style, it’s got to be sad one second and make you laugh the next. In the span of 11 songs, Let It Die made me want to dance, ride the swings in a park, then move to Paris. It was everywhere and Leslie Feist’s voice is just so versatile that she can pull it off without question.
My expectations were so huge for this next album that I am happily surprised how much I love The Reminder. The record is exactly what it should be, a follow-up that builds upon its eclectic predecessor. It’s too early to really analyze why I love it, but it’s got it all, even a pseudo-jam on Track 6, Sea Lion Woman (I never thought I would like a jam like this, but I do). So, I can’t tell you exactly why I love the album, but I’ll show you with my highlights: ”I Feel It All” and ”Past in Present”. The whole album is great, but these songs were an obvious pick for me. I hope you like it as much as I do. Ca Va très Cool.
We received a message in the post today from a man referring to himself as Ca Va Cool’s “most annoying reader”. He sure earned the title as he went on to say that “Arctic Monkeys are so 2 years ago, and Neon Bible is so 1 week ago”. His sarcastic tone was no surprise as this mysterious man is none other than my brother, always ready to correct. Not only did Ca Va Cool just post on the new Arctic Monkeys, but we are behind the times as we have not posted on Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible. We’re still in our formative years, give us a break, it’s coming. So yeah, in order to make up for this he has suggested some videos which are the cat’s meow. His list just didn’t cut it, so I threw in a few of my own to spice it up. They’re all embedded, so click on the link below to check them out.
The Arctic Monkeys (Website / Myspace) were the shit. Last January, they had the biggest pre-album buzz since The Strokes thanks to the NME, who always seem to pick a name out of a hat and get lucky. At the beginning of every year they champion a new British band to be the new shit. This isn’t the official title they give, but going on the third sentence of this review and already two mentions, I think it should be. They usually get it right, as some of my favourite bands were chosen to be oversaturated with music press: The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party. And yes, when the video for “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” came out, it showed that the Arctic Monkeys were rock solid. But this wasn’t just buzz, they went on to have the fastest selling album in the UK since Oasis with 2006’s Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not, despite the awful album title. It was a solid album.
It is with all this in mind that I tell you how disappointed I am with the new Arctic Monkeys single. Granted, there hasn’t been an official release of the single, I’ve just been listening to a rip of the radio session on Mark Riley’s BBC Radio show. You can check out that same version below. Unless the highly unlikely happens, and the actual released version is far different, I don’t see how I’m going to buy the second Monkeys’ album. On top of the fact that I am bitter towards the song because it is close to impossible to find a song called “Brianstorm” when you think it’s called “Brainstorm”, it genuinely does bite the big one. Any recognizable good trait of the band is drowned out by the terribly loud punk/metal drums. But even if you can listen past that, they’re trying to sing this dark song about the troubles of the main character Brian. Why? Is this supposed to be a misunderstood moody masterpiece? The reason they were great is they played straightforward, energetic, danceable, rocking, fun tunes. This is none of the above. Not only have they lost the fun, they don’t seem to be as clever, even shouting out “See you later innovator” as if it’s a really good line. It’s not.
No one will ever dance to this song. But having seen this type of thing before, the second LP entitled Favourite Worst Nightmare (second bad album title) to be released on April 23 is probably gonna be a hit, maybe even a North American breakthough album. Go figure.
Yep, I said it. Ohbijou (Website / Myspace) sucks. First time I heard of Ohbijou was when they were the opening band at the Virgin Musical Festival in Toronto last September and the first time I actually heard their music was when they opened for Bright Eyes at their latest show in Toronto. I decided to give Ohbijou’s sole album, Swift Feet For Troubling Times (2006), a shot to please my musical appetite. No, they failed miserably. Ohbijou is boring! Ok, why are they so bad? First of all, their 12 songs on the album all sound identical. And the lead singer of Ohbijou, Casey Mecija, strettttcchhhessssss all her words and makes a what-should-be minute song into 3 minutes and 30 seconds. If you need something to put you to sleep, then I think we found it. One other thing about Ohbijou, is Casey tries way to hard to sound like other female vocalists like Cat Power and Jenny Lewis. Good try Casey… good try. The uprising female indie scene needs more Emily Haines, Tracyanne Campbells, Jemina Abeggs, Kate Jacksons, and NOT Casey Mecijas.
I can’t explain to you the heightened state of emotion I was in when I heard about this up and coming compilation album, New Moon, by Elliott Smith. Unfortunately with the passing of Elliott on October 21st, 2003 at the age of 34 no one ever thought they would hear a sound like his again. But they would, and it would be him, singing ever gently from the depths of his burial grounds with a guitar in hand and that soft voice that could touch our souls before touching our ears.
Sweet Adeline, the official fanpages for Elliott Smith, wrote the following: (more…)
“We don’t believe in fashion. We do believe in style. We don’t believe in taste. We do believe in flavour. We don’t believe in rules. We do believe in science. We don’t eat every day. We do make music every day. We sing about love. We sing about hate. We Don’t Look for attention, But do we have yours? We don’t believe in commercialism. We do believe in Success. We don’t believe in sleeping. We do believe in dreams. We are the take.”
It’s not everyday an indie band comes and sweeps me off my feet, its just not that easy. Usually it takes more than just a clever EP to convince me the first few tracks weren’t just good luck on the bands part. We Are The Take (Website / Myspace), however, knocks me flat on the floor, picks my ass back up, does it again and then sweeps my feet right off the floor where I actually feel like I’m flying. No, I wasn’t taking any ridiculous drugs! Thanks though. The band itself is a drug to me, NO NEED FOR S.I.I (snorting, inhaling, ingesting). That’s the best kind! The clever lyric and sound make for great tunes. If The Beatles and Neil Young had a baby, which would be completely impossible (but let’s just pretend like its not), We Are The Take would be it. It’s that kick back and relax, close your eyes kind of jam. Perhaps I should wait for their other tracks and then go on to make the previous statement, but at this point its what I can gather. I’m hoping to catch a show one of these days, because they’re always performing in Toronto and I suggest the same to you, unless you aren’t into the drugs that you don’t need to take to feel good. That is completely up to you.
For their complete band schedule, the wheres and whens of it all, check out their Myspace!
