The Blue Van

From left: The Blue Van: Allan, Per, Soren and Steffen!

Don’t Leave Me Blue is my honest to goodness favorite song from The Blue Van! The vid is great too, I included it below! If you’re looking for great music that sounds like it jumped out of your dusty record player, shook itself off and started to play like new again after 50 years, the Blue Van is for you. A contemporary-vintage sound that comes from a combination of vintage instruments, recording apparatus and four Danes who live for the music of the 60’s makes TBV my favorite modern band! (in the sense that they’re still recording and touring!)

Said the Gramophone

This site is fab! The writing is splendid and  combined with the music clips and plenty of personality Said the Gramophone is pure genius. This is one site you’re going to need to see for yourselves so check it out, it’s in my blogroll on the left!

Sister Suvi

If Montoronto means anything to you, chances are that you are either a fan of or a part of the band Sister Suvi itself. I am not going to give you the long drawn-out review that perhaps you were hoping for, but I hope that possibly you will at least take away the next couple of chicken nuggets of info I am about to feed you. Numero uno, I don’t know who these people are, I only know their names (Patrick Gregoire, Merrill Garbus, and Nico Dann), and some of the music they play, but I love them. I have fallen in love with three strangers. Secondly, the first word that came to my mind as I listened to their songs was ‘endearing’, why exactly, I have yet to guess, but the complex melodies that virtually fall from their instruments are positively charming. It’s like being rained on by feathers while dancing in a mangrove forest in July. Or August. It’s like the epiphany you’ve been longing to have has finally occurred to you and you may now change the world. You might also be so simple as to liken it to a warm, pink, fuzzy feeling inside. This is turning out to be a longer narrative than I had anticipated. Well, give Sister Suvi a listen for yourself, and pay especial attention to the musicianship, while the vocals take time to adjust to, the instrumentation shall take you on a magical carpet ride immediately. No, seriously, hang on to your hats and your expensive hair pieces. I leave you with my quote of the day courtesy of Patrick Gregoire:

“Songwriting comes from a mysterious place,” Gregoire says. “Sometimes it’s in our darkest moments that we need a release or a companion and so songs often come out of those spaces. When I’m feeling swell, I don’t sit around brooding on the guitar, I go to the park and drink ice tea with my feet in the wading pool.”

Sounds like heaven on earth to me.

At Mount Zoomer Review

Keep in mind that I am not planning on being a writer, I just thought that as a big fan of wolf Parade I owed it to them and myself to post my reaction (no matter how insufficient and poorly worded) to their newly released album and I’m sorry I didn’t have it up earlier. (Also keep in mind that the best way to form your own opinion about the album is to listen to it yourself.)

Upon first listen the two tracks that stood out to me were Soldiers Grin and The Grey Estates. Both have an upbeat approach to the typically solemn and serious style I’ve noticed coming from Wolf Parade. Soldiers Grin still has the intensity that keeps you grounded in musical reality, but the synth and drums in the beginning inspire you get up off your sofa and take a walk on the wild side of life. Call it a Ritual is a ballady piece with greater focus on the repetitive absurdities that make life the way it is. Language City is another song with characteristic Wolf Parade appeal. It features Dan Boeckner’s wailing, lyrical style accompanied by the rising and falling of synth melodies, edgy guitar riffs and the driving bellow of Arlen Thompson’s drums. (correct me here if I’m wrong in assuming it was Arlen playing) The final 30 seconds or so are lighter than the rest, (cliche warning) a bit like a fresh breeze on a hot summer day. The sarcasm of Bang Your Drum when Spencer says “and if you’re with me on the other side, strike up the band, we have survived,” made me smile the first time I heard it. The song itself features more lyrics and storyline than any other WP song I’ve heard so far. Not only did I like the music, but I discovered some of my favorite WP song lyrics there as well. There was also a short but inspiring electric guitar solo I liked very much. California Dreamer is reminiscent of my former favorite band (I was 7 at the time) the A*teens. They did disco-esque songs and even re-did a bunch of ABBA tunes. This song is both dreamy and passionate and the finale makes me want to jump up and down, pumping my fist and screaming the final lines “do the young stay pretty, do the pretty stay quick, who knows if they’ll ever surrender, the city doesn’t belong to you anymore, california dreamer” (or something along those lines). My favorite @MZ song has to be The Grey Estates. It has a joyful melody, indicative of movement, and a carefree quality I’ve never before heard from WP. In essence, I love it. Fine Young Cannibals has reggae roots and a conscientiousness about it that makes me think about the islands. An Animal in Your Care is another beautiful ballad about human connection in love. It’s subtle melody and passion release your inner beast. Kissing the Beehive doesn’t feel as long as it’s 11 minutes.  It is a fantastical WP jam session that takes you on a roller coaster ride across a land of obscurity and hidden secrets. In conclusion I find At Mount Zoomer to be a wonderful addition to the Wolf Parade saga.