DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Amirali In TimeFor debut album In Time, Iranian-Canadian producer Amirali draws on influences as diverse as synth-pop, house, downtempo and ambient. Take the first three tracks as an example: "The Harmonious Song" evokes Radiohead, whereas "Missing" sounds more like a Leila production and "Just An...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Ukkonen The Isolated Rhythms Of...Following his two EPs on London, UK electronic label Uncharted Audio, The Isolated Rhythms Of... marks the debut album from this mysterious Finnish outsider. Stylistically it's hard to put your finger on what it is Ukkonen is aiming for with this release, skittering as it does across several...
INTERVIEWS: CFCF Building ExercisesMontreal's Michael Silver, otherwise known as CFCF, isn't one for standing still musically, constantly drawing on different genres and bringing an eclectic array of influences into his sound. His debut, Continent, was an album of downtempo electronica incorporating synth wave, disco and...
SPARK: Translator EDMWhat is it? An abbreviation of Electronic Dance Music used as an umbrella term incorporating techno, house, dubstep and all electronic club music. Sometimes specifically used to describe the new wave of arena-filling producers like deadmau5 (pictured) and Kaskade. It's electronic? You can dance...
NEWS: CFCF Explains the Motivations Behind 'Exercises,' Talks Future ProjectsToday (April 24), Montreal's CFCF is celebrating the release of his latest EP Exercises, a record that is more influenced by the modern classical minimalism of Philip Glass and the ambient work of Brian Eno than the more upbeat synth wave and beat-driven electronica of his debut album...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Battles Dross GlopGiven that Battles are signed to Warp and have considerable credibility in the electronic world, it was inevitable that the dance-math fusioneers would release a remix album. In a similar fashion to Radiohead's TKOL RMX series, these remixes were released as limited edition twelve-inches and...
POP & ROCK REVIEWS: Choir of Young Believers Rhine GoldDenmark's Choir Of Young Believers are musical magpies, heaping numerous familiar melodies and '80s pop references over top of a gorgeous palette of moody orchestration. Whether it's a deliberate pastiche or musical cryptomnesia, it ultimately doesn't matter. "The Third Time," the opener on...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Overcast Sound CommuteSince the summer of 2010, Toronto, ON-based net label basic_sounds has been releasing high quality electronic offerings at the beginning of every month from up-and-coming artists, as well as fairly established names in the electronic community, such as Dntel. Commute, a two-track release...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: VCMG SsssVince Clarke and Martin L. Gore (both original members of Depeche Mode) come together on Ssss for the first time in the three decades ― when Clarke left the British synth-pop band to go onto his other pioneering pop projects: Yaz(oo) and Erasure. The result isn't what you would have...
INTERVIEWS: Mux Mool Childlike WonderFilling the stylistic gap between Ghostly International label-mate Gold Panda and Machinedrum, Mux Mool (aka Brian Lindgren) brings us Planet High School, his second full-length of beat-driven electronica. In the two years since his debut album, the Minnesota-born, Brooklyn-based Lindgren...
INTERVIEWS: EmptysetMedium is the third release from Bristol, UK-based Emptyset (aka James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas) and is the first recorded live. Spanning just five tracks and a mere 21 minutes, it was recorded on location in a remote mansion in rural Gloucestershire, UK. The project, supported by the...
CMW REVIEWS: Nicolas Jaar Revival, Toronto ON March 24After over four hours of waiting on two packed floors that felt more like a series of holding pens than a club, Nicolas Jaar took the stage with his two band members, placing themselves at a setup of electric guitar and a bank of synths with Jaar in front of a laptop and keyboards. After some brief...
FOLK & COUNTRY REVIEWS: Mairi Morrison & Alasdair Roberts UrstanAlasdair Roberts has spent the best part of the last ten years dedicated to reviving traditional Scottish folk tunes, as well as writing some great original music in that vein. On Urstan, Roberts collaborates with singer Mairi Morrison, backed by a host of Glasgow-based musicians, for an...
CMW REVIEWS: Martha Wainwright El Mocambo, Toronto ON March 22Martha Wainwright walked alone onto the El Mocambo stage with her guitar slung around her neck and launched straight into her first track, after which she announced she would be playing "all new songs tonight, if that's all right." The second track felt quite disjointed with its bare chords and...
CMW REVIEWS: Ariane Moffatt El Mocambo, Toronto ON March 22Already a platinum-selling artist in French-speaking Canada, Québécoise pop artist Ariane Moffatt is only now crossing over to the Anglophone market. Having just played a bunch of SXSW showcases, she joined CMW with a keyboard-heavy five-piece -- even the bassist had an extra keyboard...
DANCE & ELECTRONIC REVIEWS: Emptyset MediumMedium is the third release from Bristol, UK-based Emptyset (aka James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas) and is the first recorded live. Spanning just five tracks and a mere 21 minutes, it was recorded on location in a remote mansion in rural Gloucestershire, UK. Much like To Rococo Rot's Kölner...
SXSW REVIEWS: Humans Maggie Mae's, Austin TX March 17Vancouver dance pop duo Humans' energy is infectious. Standing in front of a bank of synths and effects units, they started grooving immediately, and the crowd quickly followed suit. The second track had the flavour of a native Canadian chant with its refrain of "Let me go." Mixing...
SXSW REVIEWS: Blondes Barcelona, Austin TX March 17The venue for the XLR8R party at SXSW was a basement bar kitted out just with a DJ booth with decks -- but admittedly some killer bassy speakers -- so Blondes had to set up on a fold-up table in front of the booth for their live set with keyboard, microKORG, MPCs and huge array of pedals and...
SXSW REVIEWS: Deerhoof 1100 Warehouse, Austin TX March 17Deerhoof started out their set with reasonably straight-forward rock riffing that could have almost been AC/DC, but it only took a couple of songs for the chaotic, noisy style they are known for to come through. Greg Saunier's biscuit-tin-falling-down-a-staircase drum style was in full effect, and...
SXSW REVIEWS: ZZZ's Elysium, Austin TX March 16It took all of about 30 seconds for ZZZ's to win over the crowd for the penultimate band of Japan night at SXSW. Made up of three women -- sporting leather and lots of mascara -- they played a stripped-down brand of punk with some funky basslines, driving drumbeats, angular post-rock guitar...
For debut album In Time, Iranian-Canadian producer Amirali draws on influences as diverse as synth-pop, house, downtempo and ambient. Take the first three tracks as an example: "The Harmonious Song" evokes Radiohead, whereas "Missing" sounds more like a Leila production and "Just An...
Following his two EPs on London, UK electronic label Uncharted Audio, The Isolated Rhythms Of... marks the debut album from this mysterious Finnish outsider. Stylistically it's hard to put your finger on what it is Ukkonen is aiming for with this release, skittering as it does across several...
Montreal's Michael Silver, otherwise known as CFCF, isn't one for standing still musically, constantly drawing on different genres and bringing an eclectic array of influences into his sound. His debut, Continent, was an album of downtempo electronica incorporating synth wave, disco and...
What is it? An abbreviation of Electronic Dance Music used as an umbrella term incorporating techno, house, dubstep and all electronic club music. Sometimes specifically used to describe the new wave of arena-filling producers like deadmau5 (pictured) and Kaskade. It's electronic? You can dance...
Today (April 24), Montreal's CFCF is celebrating the release of his latest EP Exercises, a record that is more influenced by the modern classical minimalism of Philip Glass and the ambient work of Brian Eno than the more upbeat synth wave and beat-driven electronica of his debut album...
Given that Battles are signed to Warp and have considerable credibility in the electronic world, it was inevitable that the dance-math fusioneers would release a remix album. In a similar fashion to Radiohead's TKOL RMX series, these remixes were released as limited edition twelve-inches and...
Denmark's Choir Of Young Believers are musical magpies, heaping numerous familiar melodies and '80s pop references over top of a gorgeous palette of moody orchestration. Whether it's a deliberate pastiche or musical cryptomnesia, it ultimately doesn't matter. "The Third Time," the opener on...
Since the summer of 2010, Toronto, ON-based net label basic_sounds has been releasing high quality electronic offerings at the beginning of every month from up-and-coming artists, as well as fairly established names in the electronic community, such as Dntel. Commute, a two-track release...
Vince Clarke and Martin L. Gore (both original members of Depeche Mode) come together on Ssss for the first time in the three decades ― when Clarke left the British synth-pop band to go onto his other pioneering pop projects: Yaz(oo) and Erasure. The result isn't what you would have...
Filling the stylistic gap between Ghostly International label-mate Gold Panda and Machinedrum, Mux Mool (aka Brian Lindgren) brings us Planet High School, his second full-length of beat-driven electronica. In the two years since his debut album, the Minnesota-born, Brooklyn-based Lindgren...
Medium is the third release from Bristol, UK-based Emptyset (aka James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas) and is the first recorded live. Spanning just five tracks and a mere 21 minutes, it was recorded on location in a remote mansion in rural Gloucestershire, UK. The project, supported by the...
After over four hours of waiting on two packed floors that felt more like a series of holding pens than a club, Nicolas Jaar took the stage with his two band members, placing themselves at a setup of electric guitar and a bank of synths with Jaar in front of a laptop and keyboards. After some brief...
Alasdair Roberts has spent the best part of the last ten years dedicated to reviving traditional Scottish folk tunes, as well as writing some great original music in that vein. On Urstan, Roberts collaborates with singer Mairi Morrison, backed by a host of Glasgow-based musicians, for an...
Martha Wainwright walked alone onto the El Mocambo stage with her guitar slung around her neck and launched straight into her first track, after which she announced she would be playing "all new songs tonight, if that's all right." The second track felt quite disjointed with its bare chords and...
Already a platinum-selling artist in French-speaking Canada, Québécoise pop artist Ariane Moffatt is only now crossing over to the Anglophone market. Having just played a bunch of SXSW showcases, she joined CMW with a keyboard-heavy five-piece -- even the bassist had an extra keyboard...
Vancouver dance pop duo Humans' energy is infectious. Standing in front of a bank of synths and effects units, they started grooving immediately, and the crowd quickly followed suit. The second track had the flavour of a native Canadian chant with its refrain of "Let me go." Mixing...
The venue for the XLR8R party at SXSW was a basement bar kitted out just with a DJ booth with decks -- but admittedly some killer bassy speakers -- so Blondes had to set up on a fold-up table in front of the booth for their live set with keyboard, microKORG, MPCs and huge array of pedals and...
Deerhoof started out their set with reasonably straight-forward rock riffing that could have almost been AC/DC, but it only took a couple of songs for the chaotic, noisy style they are known for to come through. Greg Saunier's biscuit-tin-falling-down-a-staircase drum style was in full effect, and...
It took all of about 30 seconds for ZZZ's to win over the crowd for the penultimate band of Japan night at SXSW. Made up of three women -- sporting leather and lots of mascara -- they played a stripped-down brand of punk with some funky basslines, driving drumbeats, angular post-rock guitar...
