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Showing posts with label black hat brigade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label black hat brigade. Show all posts
Each week on the 3am Mixtapes podcast, I will share with you the Top Six Songs of a certain subject. The topics can be as general as best songs for Spring. Some might be a little more... specific. Top Six Songs About Video Games.
This week, I combine two of my loves in life with the Top Six Songs That Should Be In A Video Game!
In case you missed it, part one is here! It's only a little late, but I finally got caught up on my backlog of albums from 2009 I wanted to review. I think I did just about every new album I picked up during 09 -- which was over 50! -- so now I might as well post my favourite twenty albums. And yes, that is "favourite", not "best", so while something may be technically "better", these were the ones I liked the most. Also, they are in order of release date, as I am terrible at numbering things. Were I a more organized person, I would have sat down this long weekend and listened to all 20 albums and come up with something new and exciting to say for each, but with my laziness school term coming to a close, I just didn't have the time, sadly. But I have included links to all the previous reviews I did on the albums, which are still as valid now as they were then.
Wolf Parade. It seems that everyone that talks about the new Black Hat Brigade album is legally required to make one reference to that band, so that is the first and last time I will mention that name. The comparison is not completely out there, since there are indeed some similarities, especially in some of the vocal stylings... but BHB is more than a ripoff band. Much more. "Fathers" is billed as an EP, and while it is only seven songs -- eight, if you could the separate-track reprise of the last song, Vera -- it clocks in at about 32 minutes; almost as long as some other full length releases I have picked up recently. And those 32 minutes are packed with some of the best and most unique music I have heard so far this year.
From the opening track, the anthemic Kitchen Party, you get a sense of the awesomeness to come, and then the first single, Zombie City Shakes, just blows the listener away. Catchy as hell, with a spooky theremin (or theremin-sounding device) dropped in, this song alone is what prompted me to pick up the album. "Fathers" is a short piece, almost an interlude before the epic Signal Fire, which has a Maritime-y, evil-sea-shanty vibe and goes from calm to chaotic at the drop of a (high) hat. Castlevania is my favourite off the album and, as you might guess from the name, features some brilliant 8-bit-esque sounds that seem ripped straight from a haunted castle level in Super Mario with vocals added on. It's a song that easily could have sounded ridiculous, in the hands of a lesser band, but they not only pull it off, they make it superb. From this point, with Lost Boys, the album slows down a bit with the last two songs, showcasing the bands softer side and giving them even more depth. Finally, the captivating duelling vocals on Vera build the song to a climax and leads into the albums final track, Vera (reprise), which is soft and piano based, and turns out to be a perfect epilogue for the whole album.
Behind the incredibly catchy -- and insanely dancible -- melodies and hooks, however, are dark (and sometimes even gruesome) lyrics. The songs are deep and layered, both musically and lyrically, and finds the perfect balance and shows you don't have to be simplistic to be catchy, or pretentious to be complex. There is more substance to this 32 minute EP than albums I have heard from albums twice as long. Forget calling this my favourite EP of the year, there is a very good chance of it being one of my favourite albums overall.
Here's something I haven't done in a while, a Random Top 6 list! Here's the deal: every week whenever I feel like it, I will choose a random category and choose the top 6 songs fitting that criteria. Today, inspired by the recent wave of hellfire that has descended upon Vancouver and made it too hot to think of a metaphor for how hot it is, I have picked the Top Six Fiery Songs! So, in no particular order, I give you:
Honourable mention: Babe, I'm On Fire by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Which is about 17 mintues long, so I didn't want to upload it... so here is the video!
I wanted to start doing some sort of song(s) of the weekmonth "whenever I feel like it" segment, so why not start today? I'll post a few songs, probably ones that are new, newish, or new-to-me for your listening pleasure. I'll also try to include at least some diversity in the selected songs.
I missed the new Elliott BROOD album, Mountain Medows, when it came out last year, but based on recommendations and the Polaris Short List, I decided to check it out. I really liked what I heard, but the stand out track -- upon first listen at least -- was the instrumental song Chuckwagon.
Record of the Week Club is a really nifty idea. Their website can probably describe it better than I, so
[It] is a weekly recording session featuring musicians from diverse musical backgrounds. Never knowing who their co-creators will be — an incognito and disparate group of musicians meet at MCM Studios in Winnipeg, Canada every Wednesday evening. Over the course of one evening they are charged with the task of getting to know each other, arranging, rehearsing and recording a piece under the guidance of Mike Petkau. The song is immediately mixed and uploaded and made available for download that same night.
This song features Inuit throat singer Nikki Komaksiutiksak, electronic artist Blunderspublik and John K. Samson of The Weakerthans.
I am sure the fine fellows in Black Hat Bridage, a fairly new band out of Toronto, are already sick of being compared to Wolf Parade. So let's put a stop to that. Although I have not yet obtained their newest EP, Fathers, I have sampled a few songs from their website and myspace, and I have to say, Castlevania is one of the best songs I've heard this year. It could have easily been gimmicky, given that the song would be right at home in any great 8-bit game, but do they ever pull it off in a haunting and powerful way.
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