Proving the bizarre power of the Twitterverse, a joke Charlatans singer Tim Burgess had made online about launching his own cereal has led to a real partnership between the Britpop vet and breakfast food titans Kellogg's. If that nugget of information weren't enough to blow your mind, the morning-time meal is called Totes Amazeballs. An interview with NME had Burgess explaining that the odd team-up is indeed for real, and he seems just as surprised that things came together as we are. "They [Kellogg's] picked up what I'd said. It was just something that was funny and it just...Read More
New York dance rock unit Turing Machine have called the end to an eight-year dry spell by announcing their next album, What Is the Meaning of What. It's their first record since 2004's Zwei, and it comes out May 8 on Temporary Residence Ltd. According to a press release, recording sessions for What Is the Meaning of What began in 2008, but the project was put on hold after the tragic passing of drummer Jerry Fuchs, who fell down an elevator shaft in 2009. Remaining members Justin Chearno (guitar) and Scott DeSimon (bass) eventually revisited the material and spent much...Read More
The February 28 release date of Rose Cousins' latest album, We Have Made a Spark, is coming up fast, but that's not all fans have to look forward to. As a companion piece to her record, the Halifax songwriter is also treating her followers to a mini-documentary entitled If I Should Fall Behind. The film captures Cousins' experience recording the album with a close-knit group of Boston musicians. She wrote many of the songs off of We Have Made a Spark during songwriting sessions with this group, so, as she explains in the film, she felt it was natural that she record...Read More
Remember how the city of Kingston, ON was seeking to honour its most beloved music export by naming a landmark after the Tragically Hip? Well, the Kingston City Council has voted to change the name of a block of Barrack Street to Tragically Hip Way. The Toronto Star points out that the decision barely passed with a 7-6 vote, and some suggested that Barrack Street should not be renamed due to its historical military significance. In the end, the councillors agreed to rename a portion of the street next to the K-Rock Centre, a stadium where the band have played. Apparently,...Read More
Metric have been talking about their upcoming album since last summer, and the celebrated Toronto band have finally detailed their latest full-length. Entitled Synthetica, this follow-up to 2009's wildly successful Fantasies is due to arrive on June 12 via the band's own Metric Music International. Produced by guitarist Jimmy Shaw and mixed by returning collaborator John O'Mahony, the album was recorded at Toronto's Giant Studios and New York's iconic Electric Lady Studios. A press release describes the album as an "enthralling balance of futuristic and organic sound."...Read More
Back in November, long-running post-hardcore act Thrice announced that they would be heading out on a spring trip before going on an indefinite hiatus, and the band have now come through with the tour schedule. The group start their farewell-for-now tour on May 4 in San Diego and will make their way around the U.S. and Canada until the middle of June. The two scheduled stops on our side of the border take place at Montreal's Metropolis on May 29, and the next night at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre. Joining Thrice on all dates will be prog-minded DC instrumental outfit Animals as...Read More
Now that Mark Lanegan is returning to working with his eponymous Mark Lanegan Band, the former Screaming Trees leader will be promoting the newly released Blues Funeral during the next few months with a world tour. And yes, folks, he will be bringing the tour to North America. From this month until early April, Lanegan and his band will embark on a previously revealed European tour before heading to Latin America and then Australia. But after that, he'll be back on these shores for a run of North American gigs that includes a stop in Toronto on May 15, as well as several new U.S....Read More
Over the past few years, when he hasn't been recording and touring as a member of Band of Horses, multi-instrumentalist Ryan Monroe has been working on solo material. On May 22, he will release his long-in-the-works debut LP, A Painting of a Painting on Fire. The album reportedly began with more than 100 separate songs and ideas, and this was eventually pared down to an economical 11 tracks. The full-length was recorded at Silverlake, CA's Redstar Recording with producer Chris Testa (Paul Simon, the Dixie Chicks, Jimmy Eat World). Monroe played every instrument during the...Read More
Ramones frontman Joey Ramone never released a solo LP during his lifetime, but the lanky punk legend is set to receive his second posthumous collection since his death in 2001. Following 2002's Don't Worry About Me, the new 17-song demos collection is called Ya Know?, and it will be out May 15. Rolling Stone reveals that the album is composed of songs intended for the Ramones, plus ones penned after the group's 1996 breakup. The recordings were completed by producers including Ed Stasium and Jean Beauvoir, and guest musicians like Joan Jett, drummer Richie Ramone,...Read More
Early aughts post-hardcore outfit At the Drive-In may have announced a couple of reunion shows this year, but the band have dismissed the possibility of delivering any new material in the near future. An interview with guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has the six-stringer explaining that their upcoming performances at the Coachella Music Festival are meant to just run through a few familiar songs. "Will there be a new album? No, no, no. At the Drive-In is more of a nostalgia thing -- it's songs we wrote when we were all in our 20s and we're doing a couple of shows," he told...Read More
Montreal-based folk act the Barr Brothers have been hard at work touring since releasing their self-titled, Exclaim!-approved LP last fall, and the group have just announced another spell of dates between now and the summer. The band have a few shows lined up in the immediate future, with a show taking place in their hometown today (February 22), and a couple of Ontario-area gigs to go down before a stop at this year's South by Southwest. A trip down the West Coast this April, meanwhile, will have the act stopping by Vancouver's St. James Community Hall, and there are several U.S. dates...Read More
Next month, audiences across Canada will get a taste of some folk-tinged pop rock from the West Coast when Vancouver peers Portage & Main and Redbird link up for a tour. The outing launches with a hometown show on March 9 at the Media Club. After that, the bands will head across to the Prairies to Ontario and Quebec. They'll go as far east as Montreal before heading back west. The Facebook page promoting the trip also promises "more dates TBA." In addition to the collaborative gigs, each band will play a separate show during Canadian Music Week in Toronto. Redbird will swing by the...Read More
Christopher Reimer, guitarist for Calgary noise pop favourites Women and a former member of experimental outfit Azeda Booth, passed away in his sleep today (February 21). The sad news of the musician's death comes via the Calgary Herald, but it's as yet unknown how the young musician died. He was 26. Reimer started playing guitar and keyboards in Azeda Booth in 2006 and formed Women in 2007 with fellow Azeda member Mike Wallace and brothers Patrick and Matthew Flegel. Shortly after the troupe issued their self-titled debut, which blended elements ranging from indie to Krautrock to...Read More
This Tuesday, let Exclaim! guide you through the week's new music releases, including approved picks from Grimes, Lambchop, the Menzingers and more. For full reviews of the following highlights, check out our Recently Reviewed section.
First up, Montreal songstress Grimes (aka Claire Boucher) lives up to the hype with her third full-length Visions, while Nashville's Lambchop return with their new album Mr. M, a moving dedication to the late Vic Chesnutt.
Also Exclaim!-approved this week, Jim White bares his soul on Where it Hits You, Pennsylvania punk outfit the Menzingers exceed expectations with On the Impossible Past and the Sidekicks balance upbeat ragers with thoughtful slow-burners on their latest release Awkward Breeds.
Next, Dirty Three are back with Interstellar after a seven-year hiatus, while Frankie Rose (Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts) delivers her latest solo effort, Interstellar. Finally, Vancouver-based singer-songwriter/poet Rodney DeCroo returns with Allegheny, a collection of narrated, self-described "poem songs."
Sean Carey has been plenty busy backing up his boy Justin Vernon's Bon Iver project the last little while, touring like mad behind the troupe's 2011 self-titled, Grammy-winning album, but that doesn't mean he's put his similarly softened solo career on hold. Performing under the nom de plume S. Carey, the musician has revealed his next outing will be the Hoyas EP. The follow-up to 2010's All We Grow, the four-song effort, which is said to blend classic and electronic influences, will be delivered by Jagjaguwar on May 8. A press release for the mini-platter explains that the...Read More
K'naan kicked off his 2012 with the release of the More Beautiful Than Silence EP, but the five-song outing was just a teaser to the rapper's real raison d'etre this year: his upcoming full-length Country, God or the Girl. A press release explains that the proper follow-up to 2009's Troubadour, which featured the global smash "Wavin' Flag," hits retailers on May 1 via A&M/Octone. The album is said to still raise world concerns, but the effort is also explained by K'naan as an attempt to take a turn for the personal. A statement from the rapper defines much of...Read More
Iconic California punk imprint Epitaph Records added some Canadian content to its roster when it was revealed late last year that the label had signed Montreal's dubstep-inspired metal unit Skip the Foreplay, and the act have now announced their first Epitaph full-length, Nightlife. A press release explains that the LP will arrive on May 1 and deliver "high-energy mayhem." Touted by Epitaph as "a unique and exhilarating new genre of music," the new album laces the "heaviness of metal, earth-shaking hardcore breakdowns and the massive irresistible beats of electronic dance music." ...Read More
Crocodiles have put out two LPs, plus an EP, since 2009, and it looks as if the San Diego fuzz-lovers aren't planning on slowing down anytime soon, since they just announced plans to release their third full-length this year. Entitled Endless Flowers, it's scheduled to come out in Europe on June 4 through Germany's Souterrain Transmissions. While we still don't know much about the album (and the North American release details are still up in the air), you can get a taste the band's new material in the form of the single "Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9)," which is streaming at the...Read More
English rock outfit Mystery Jets will continue their quirky journey later this spring when they deliver their next LP, Radlands. Marking the follow-up to their 2010 effort Serotonin, the disc arrives April 30 in the UK via Rough Trade. While the band's first three LPs were recorded in London, a press release explains that Mystery Jets decided to spice up their lives and flew out to Austin to lay down the majority of the 11-song affair in "a big old wooden house on the banks of the Colorado river." They did, however, finish up the record with producer Dan Carey (Chairlift) in...Read More
A recent update on Third Man Records' website revealed that Jack White has already sold over 10,000 copies of his recent seven-inch single, "Love Interruption." This clearly means that plenty of folks are excited about the garage rock icon's debut solo LP, Blunderbuss, which just got a tracklist and album cover. The album, which is due out April 24 via Third Man/Columbia/XL, will contain 13 songs. Check out the tracklist below, and take note of some curious song titles like "Sixteen Saltines" and "Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy." Above, you can see the record's rather...Read More
POP & ROCK: Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror
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