I’ve never been much of a Beach House fan – their previous two albums were a little bland, slow, and predictable for my taste. However, their most recent release, Teen Dream, is one of the best albums I’ve heard in a long, long time (and I can say that confidently). Each song from the record stands on its own, and lead singer Victoria Legrand has one of those mournful, scratchy voices that you’d associate with an African-American soul singer. I’m going to see them on April 11th at the Rickshaw Theatre, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to cry when I hear them play “Real Love”, which you can listen to & tear up yourself here:
Every month or so I’m going to try and post something that, hopefully, you have never seen or heard of before. Whether it’s a song, person, band, soundtrack, concert, youtube clip, or anything else music related that may have slipped under your radar. I realize that with such a diverse, musically literate audience, with eclectic tastes that this is going to be a difficult challenge, but I will try my best to introduce to you some juicy musical nuggets of gold, that at least most of you haven’t heard before. So without further ado, I present the first instalment of “Phat Toast’s Pick of the Month,” with my hands down, number one with a bullet, favourite new composer Bear McCrealy!
Besides having one of the coolest names on the planet, Bear McCrealy is a wickedly talented new composers making his rounds in the television, movie, and video game soundtrack scene. No matter what you think of the TV show Battlestar Galactica, (personally, I think it kicks “fracking” ass!!), It is arguably the best television soundtrack of all time. Boasting a whopping 4 official soundtracks (one for every season!) as well as a handful of other OST’s for the mini-series and specials. Bear McCrealy was largely credited for the entire catalogue of music and, in my opinion was a key element for the shows success. Bear Mcrealy is a soundtrack junkies wet dream, blending a wide variety of ethnic influences and pushing the boundaries of what we consider a television musical score to be.
Admittedly, the show isn’t for everyone, but the music defiantly is! So, heres two tasty little jams that are only further proof that Bear McCrealy is someone to keep your eye on. So here’s Bob Dylan’s “All along the Watchtower,” by Bear McCrealy. Rock guitar and Citar?? Ummmm… Yes please!!
Gobble Gobble are going to be something that people talk about. They’re going to be one of those bands that you will be told you need to see. I had the immense pleasure of stumbling upon them one night at the Lo Pub in Winnipeg, and I can easily say it was one of the most insane live shows I’ve ever experience. Watch the video below for a little more convincing. Their sound balances somewhere between Aphex Twin-esque skittered beats, and circuit-bent Barbie sing-a-long toy. Cecil’s voice, as demonstrated by their first record, is usually coated in a thick layer of distortion, but on these new tracks, it comes through nice and clear. This shows off the fact that not only can this guy sing, but he can write some of the most mind-bending lyrics you’ve ever heard. So don’t front, listen to these two new tracks on the band’s myspace, and prepare for an enlightenment.
In celebration of my transformation into a Ninja Turtle (my girl friend is a makeup artist), here’s a list of my favorite action cartoon theme songs. KAWABUNGA!!!!
Transformers – No idea who wrote this, but apparently some metal band played the tune for the 80’s cartoon movie….I base this on YouTube info, not fact.
Batman – Fuckin Classic….what else is there to say. I think Danny Elfman wrote this. Am I sure, no. Do I care……kinda, could someone verify this….please?
By the tenth or so second of listening this song, I already want to hit skip. Normally, I love Bloc Party. But this song overstays it’s welcome, and teaches you the meaning of the word: repetitive, and teaches you the meaning of the word: repetitive. M-Mercury’s in retrograde! What the hell does that even mean? Kele Okereke, you have done better than this.
This song is so annoyingly catchy, I decided to spare you, the reader, from having it’s electronic beat and unintelligible chanting of “roma roma ma gaga ooh la la!” forever imprisoned within your hippocampus. I decided to elevate the inimitable Christopher Walken to read out her lyrics for you instead. The song itself is what inspired this list, so give Gaga extra points or whatever.
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t mind Kings of Leon. I have the album, and I like a few songs off of it. But anyone who listens to any amount of radio will want to scratch their ears off with steel wool when this song crosses the airwaves. The normally full-bodied and distinct voice of Caleb Followill tries a little too hard on this song, entering Jonas Brother territory with its over-stated emotion and teenage camp. Did someone say overplayed?
I cannot stand a thing about this man. Never mind the fact that he stole Jamie Lidell’s album cover(!), but this runaway radio hit “You’re Beautiful” is a testament to the over-hyping Next Big Thingtm mentality of most major record labels. His voice is displeasing to my ears, his instrumentation simplistic (as opposed to simple, which is not inherently bad) and his lyrics atrocious. Yet, people love it. Why they love it is beyond me.
This upcoming workshop looks like a blast! I will be trying my best to attend, barring any unforeseen circumstances. For those of you new to Ableton Live, songwriting, the electronic music industry and live PA/production this could be the just the thing… Best of all, it’s only $50! You’d spend that much (or more) on a night out, why not invest it in your musical education?
I’m looking forward to honing my (admittedly rusty) AL skills as well as makin some new contacts in the Vancouver glitchhop/dubstep scene!
See you there!
- bex
A message from Ill Gates, “The Phat Conductor:”
Hey all you musicians + creative types… I’ll be doing a Music/Production workshop… It’s a presentation on my method of finishing large amounts of quality music quickly. I used to take 6 months to finish a tune I liked, and now I do a tune a day. I have taught many many people to do the same.
The workshop costs $50 for the whole shebang. If you’re broke (and i know a lot of musicians are) you can get in for FREE by bringing two other people who pay the full $50.
Here’s what you get for $50:
a) The presentation itself
b) A printout of the notes on everything covered
c) The Ill Gates Ableton Rack collection
d) Access to Ill Gates DJ templates (which are normally $50 alone)
The presentation and notes cover:
- How to actually finish lots of music in a reasonable amount of time
- Arranging and Songwriting
- Developing your own style, based on a personalized and effective Work Flow
- Sound Design
- Mixing
- Promotion
- Setting up Tours
- Getting your Music out
- DJing with Ableton Live
For RSVP/Presales go to the facebook event page for deets:
Some may claim that they would like The Shins more if they didn’t know it was The Shins, and some may pretend to not like Gnarls Barkley at all, yet while at the same time of their supposed claim you might find this so-called pretender dancing and even singing along with Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo’s music as “Crazy” is unleashed in the basement of the cool girl’s party. So if you fall into either one of these categories or don’t really know what I’m talking about in the first place then there’s no need to worry, because the new collaboration of Broken Bells and their self-titled album has finally arrived. This duo consists of The Shins’ front man James Mercer and Danger Mouse (a.k.a. Brian Burton). An album that can deliver the fun and sorrow filled tunes from The Shins and bring the intrinsic and eclectic fun from the one half of Gnarls Barkley.
It begins with their single “The High Road,” which creepily yet poetically gears the album toward the entrancing side of things, otherwise known as pop, but good pop music. It’s very catchy and after hearing the warbling twangs of Mercer’s voice rolling from one song to the next you can hear the Shin-sier side of things but almost with a cool funk to it, which means that Danger Mouse is doing his job. And he’s doing an excellent job. Brian, if I may call him Brian, does fantastic work with his multi-instrumental talents and skills as a producer. (Do producers do things still?)
As a whole the album works very well and can become quite addicting after a few listens. So now you don’t have to be ashamed of singing in the cool girl’s basement to the new product of Danger Mouse and you can tell you’re friends that you actually like Broken Bells for who they are. All is well and if you haven’t seen the session video for their first single “The High Road” posted earlier, do so now! Or in the meantime check out the creepy and mesmerizing music video for the single below:
Here We Go Magic’s debut record was on repeat for most of my last summer. The combination of sampled, distorted loops, and genuine folk songwriting made a perfect soundtrack for hazy summer afternoons at the beach, or falling asleep on my patio sofa. The band is set to release their next record, Pigeons, in June, and the first single is an absolute gem. The band’s debut record was written and recorded by band leader Luke Temple, and this song is already showcasing a more full, polished sound. In some cases this may be a bad thing, but with “Collector”, you can tell that the band’s talent is undeniable, and that their lo-fi sound wasn’t the only redeeming factor. So listen to this track with some headphones, you’ll thank me later.
Pigeons is out June 8, by way of Secretly Canadian.
Hello everyone, my name’s Colin Ablitt, and I’m a new blogger here on Steamroller. I am currently getting myself entrenched into the world of music; I am studying it + some theology at a local bible college. I’m also trying to set up a band with a good friend of mine from said college. We’re still in the writing stage right now, and we only have like, half a song, but we will be the next Coldplay. Watch out.
My love affair with music started in my early teens. Don’t ask me what bands I was into at that time. It’s rather embarrassing, as it often is for those of us looking back to those years. But I got my first electric guitar for my 13th birthday. That was the catalyst for me falling down the rabbit hole of music(an appropriate metaphor, yes?).
Since then, I have also fallen in love with songwriting. It became a great outlet for me, as I could freely express myself through melody and lyric. As I wrote more, each song became even better than the last. I might put up some how-to’s, or simply some Chicken Soup for the Songwriter’s Soul. We’ll see.
Now that I have introduced myself, let me introduce you to someone else. His name is Jeremy Larson, and he hails from Springfield, Michigan. He plays piano-heavy pop music with classical influences, or classical music with pop sensibilities. Take your pick. Either way, he’s awesome, and a brilliant songwriter.
Here’s him with an excellent loop-heavy performance of his song, “Today.”
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