Columboid- We Were One

We Were One, the debut album from Columboid, a band that started out only as a mere dream with an intriguing name. Eventually the cards soon fell into place and the music slowly began to pour out. We Were One mixes the dark and highly focused elements of progressive rock and minimalist post-punk that flow together on so many different levels while even branching out and experimenting with different sounds.

The early days of Columboid began the moments after founding members Neil Benjamin and Ryan Hamilton stepped into a queens basement, picked up their instruments and began to play what they produced would be the song “Statehoarders” a three minute and forty-two second work that sounds like a nightmarish trip on acid, that is almost over the top and highly exaggerated. “The Contradiction” can be described as a mix between
Sonic Youth distortion effects of keys, with Joy Division bass lines. Vocally both Benjamin and Hamilton share a flavorful mix between Nick Cave and Ian Curtis.
“Jacklord” one of the most easily accessible tracks on the album in that it has a heavily Roy Orbison influenced song that touches almost on the surreal at some parts.

Bon Iver "I Can't Make You Love Me"

Not even a week after releasing "Calgary" Bon Iver hit the late night circuit with an appearance on Jimmy Fallon, performing the singles b-side, the 1991 Bonnie Raitt hit "I Can't Make You Love Me." While it was a bit different from what late night is normally used to, it still managed to captivate not only the audience but viewers as well.

New City and Colour Track

After about three years since his last studio release; Dallas Green aka City and Colour, is getting ready for his third studio release Little Hell. You can stream Northern Wind a track from the album, which comes out June 7th via Vagrant Records.




City and Colour - Northern Wind by Vagrant Records

The Antlers- Burst Apart

Last summer I was going through a pretty difficult break – up, the one thing that got me through it was The Antlers’ 2009 release Hospice, an album that had broke the mold of albums released in the summer of 2009 for it’s bleak outlook but also for its intriguing concept of a failed relationship told between a dying patient and his nurse. What frontman Peter Silberman did with that album was push the button on a remote full of emotions providing allusions to cancer, death, and all that other depressing stuff that makes you feel utterly hopeless.

Fast forward to 2011 and the antler’s have now become bitten by the electronic big of music for Burst Apart, something that is all but commonly known as being difficult for a “follow-up album” and becomes one that is equally as devastating if not more. The albums single Parenthesis was bland when it was first released and anyone who was unfamiliar with The Antlers would have found it to be strikingly similar to Radiohead’s “Climbing up The walls,” the overall sound and textures of electronic percussion and pebble rippled piano chords, are directly from Radiohead’s playbook. Yet the aggression and despair in Silberman’s falsetto along with the distortion of guitars act as a way of allowing the band to sound unique, one could say Burst Apart acts a balancer to Hospice: where you had a sound that contained “swaths of white noise” with painful cries of yearning, Burst Apart on the other hand plays a more down tempo role that provides a sense of unbearable emotional disturbance.

The albums opener I Don’t Want to Love, channels the essence of a broken heart, and the endless torment that goes along with it that only cheap alcohol can seem to mend. Looking past Burst Apart’s barren ambience. There are instances of pop music peppered through out, more particularly the tracks Every Night My Teeth are Falling Out; Silberman’s vocals are one part falsetto one part crooning that flows like good gin, and on Parentheses, which once again sounds similar to that of Radiohead. The albums closer and the most damaging song on the album Putting the Dog to Sleep drifts back to what The Antlers are known for and that is writing heartbreaking songs in lucid dream like states. The hits from the snare, and the abrupt shots of guitar strumming build onto the intensity of the sorrow and almost act as someone fighting to hold back hysterical tears.

jj- No One Can Touch Us Tonight b/w Ice

The Swedish duo jj have just dropped a new single No One Can Touch Us Tonight b/w Ice completely out of nowhere which honestly isn’t much of a surprise to anyone. It’s available for digital download, with a very limited vinyl pressing in which only 10 are being made. Each pressing will come with a handcrafted cover designed by the duo along with Malin Bernalt. You can stream both songs below, or head on over to secretly yours to download it for free.

New Bon Iver Single- Calgary

Justin Vernon has just dropped the first single, Calgary from the upcoming self-titled Bon Iver album, the highly anticipated and long awaited - follow - up to 2007's For Emma, Forever Ago which arrives June 21 via Jagjaguwar. After listening to it a few times, it sounds like the album may have a more minimalist electronic sound which is pretty sick. To listen to it or get you hands on it click the link below enter your email address and download it for free.

Download Calgary here