Broken Social Scene Augment Full Length With EP

The new full length from Broken Social Scene, Forgiveness Rock Record, is set for imminent release on May 4th, and this week began streaming online. On top of that, the band has a spring tour mapped out in support of the album. However, not to be outdone by their own hype, the band has kicked it up a notch further: This morning the band announced an EP that is set to accompany their latest release.

Entitled Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights, the ten track record will be comprised of songs culled from the SOMA studios "B-Room" during the recording of Forgiveness Rock Record. Apparently (according to band member Charles Spearin), the B-Room provided a facility for musical catharsis and creation during the recording sessions. In a press release from the band, he had this to say:

"I know that some bands write their songs, rehearse them and then record them. Not Broken Social Scene. In recording Forgiveness Rock Record we did it our usual way: swimming in chaos and making it up as we go along. We started by loosely sketching out 30 songs in my garage, driving to Chicago, recording 20 of those, and then writing 20 more. The point was to never stop working. Whenever we got exhausted or overwhelmed we would take a breath, pick up our instruments and jam purely ‘for spirit purposes’. It was musical-therapy of sorts. Part of what kept the ideas flowing was Soma’s smaller, second studio where we could test out new ideas and experiment with overdubs. While John worked in the main room, this B-Room quickly became our musical kitchen where we cooked up soups of sound without the pressures time and money.

One evening, as a kind of exercise in spontaneity, Kevin, Brendan and I each took turns writing and recording minute-long “songs” with minimal overdubs just to see what would happen. We kept saying to John “we’re making you an EP!” It was a sort of first-thought-best-thought approach to music making. Within a few hours we had six lovely little soundscapes, one of which ended up being the closing song on Forgiveness Rock Record, ‘Me & My Hand’, and the rest became the beginnings of Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights.

As we continued to work on Forgiveness the B-room became more and more important as both a musical and social outlet - there are a lot of us in Broken Social Scene and it’s hard for us to sit on our hands – so naturally Ohad, Sam and Sebastian each recorded a song in the same spontaneous way. ‘Song For Dee’, the only traditional “song” on Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights, Brendan, Kevin and I recorded when we found out that our good friend Wayne’s dog died and we wanted to cheer him up.

All of the songs on Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights were recorded in Soma’s B-Room while Forgiveness Rock Record was being made. What these songs have in common is that they were all written in a spirit of playfulness and fearlessness where we could throw our discrimination to the wind and let the judges and critics take the night off. This tiny B-Room sanctuary fomented a very positive frame of mind, ultimately leading to one of the most enjoyable album-making experiences we’ve ever had. We hope you enjoy listening to these songs as much as we enjoyed recording them. "

Needless to say, we're pretty damned excited to hear the news that we'll be getting what essentially an entire bonus Broken Social Scene record this spring. That being said, the EP is apparently a limited time offering associated with the inital release of the record, so pay attention if you want to get your hands on a physical copy.

In other news, the Broken Social Scene family will be appearing on Letterman tomorrow night to perform "Forced To Love". Yes, we'll be watching.

Forgiveness Rock Record drops on May 4th.

mp3: Broken Social Scene - Forced To Love

Grand Lake: Louise

It's no secret that we here at HAD are huge fans of Grand Lake, so it goes without question that we were pretty excited when we got word that the band had a new four track EP in the works. Little did we realize that the EP wouldn't just meet our (already high) expectations, but by far surpass them. The band is clearly in a sweet spot creatively, and has been growing artistically with each release. The Louise EP is no exception. The record is the band's tightest, most creative, and an unquestionably realization of the potential that's been resting beneath the surface.

The first, and most notable, change on the EP is the rhythmic intricacies. The band has employed far more electronic blips and bubbles than ever before, and done so with perfection. However, even more than that, the drumming has become notably more locked in with the bass, and the guitar has taken on a role not only as lead instrument, but also a textural tool for the other instruments to play off of. It's extremely interesting to hear as each instrument in the trio will at times take the lead spot, while the others find a niche to fill in the support role. The arrangement creates a feeling less of rock typicality, and instead creates a vibe (usually restricted to jazz) of every player being completely crucial the collective.

In addition to the instrumental growth, there can be no question that lead singer Caleb Nichols' vocals are in newly minted top form on the record. Nichols' has always had a killer set of pipes, but on Louise they're taken to the next level. He manages a careening sound that manages to be screamy, pitch-perfect, and delightfully melodic, all at the same time. The vocals have also become more impassioned, and brought up higher in the mix, giving the band more of a persona than could be felt on previous records. It's a clear (and welcome) link to the singer's impassioned live performances.

As for the material on the EP, it's incredibly choice as well: the first side of the EP is two originals by the band, while the second side contains two covers. The originals, "Louise" and "Black Cloud", are in our humble opinion some of the best the band has delivered to date. "Louise" is a choppy, texturized rant that juxtaposes Nichols' soaring vocals with Jameson Swagnon's crunched out guitar, all over a lilting beat. By contrast, "Black Cloud" is built upon a pulsing riff that recalls Wilco's "Spiders" and shows the band delving into some of their most experimental work to date.

The covers play equally as well as the original material, probably because the band owns them completely. The first (for which there's a video below) is Silver Jews' "Slow Education". The Jews always seems like a tough band to cover, largely due to their distinctive vocals, but Nichols manages to completely own it. Much like Elvis Costello's earnest translation of Nick Lowe's wry "What's So Funny About Peace, Love, And Understanding", Nichols tilts Berman's droll delivery completely on its head, with a straight ahead vocal that absolutely slays. You must hear it to believe it.

The final track on the record is one of Nichols' former band Port O'Brien, with the tune "Pigeonhold". The band does a fuzzed out take on the original, and unsurprisingly, it works. The tune's plodding beat and crunchy textures serve to nicely round out the rest of the EP's more intricate moments. "Pigeonhold" is one of our favorite Port O'Brien tunes, and given that they've apparently decided to leave it alone for the time being, we're glad to see Grand Lake pick up the torch.

In something of a record industry norm reversal, Grand Lake made the interesting decision of delivering their first full length, and then following with two EP's. What's more, the band has reduced in size since it was formed, and become more experimental in sound to boot. The result has been a sound that has grown, changed, and yielded surprising results with each new release. If you haven't heard Grand Lake yet, we recommend you get on board, because this is some of the most exciting new material out there. As for us, we can't wait to see where this goes next.



Grand Lake will be playing the "Christmas Miracle" at The Uptown in Oakland on December 18th

mp3: Grand Lake - Black Cloud

New Spoon EP, Got Nuffin, Due On Tuesday

Well, apparently your year won't be quite a Spoon-less as once thought: The band has taken the fruits of some of their recent studio sessions and decided to release a surprise EP via their label, Merge. The disc will be a three track EP featuring all new songs, and was apparently available to preview on Amazon (though no longer) this morning. Never you worry your little head about it, however, as the record (cover art above) is set to drop this coming Tuesday.

The title track, "Got Nuffin" has been a live staple for the band for a while now, so we're not at all surprised to see it on the lineup. The other two tracks are brand new, and entitled "Tweakers" and "Stroke Their Brains". And to that we say: new Spoon is good Spoon - no exceptions! That being said, we would have loved to have seen some of the band's recent live covers on the disc ("It's Gonna Take An Airplane", "Peace Like A River", etc.), but really there are no complaints here. It's new Spoon!

Unfortunately, we couldn't dig up a copy of the tune for you (Boo! It's awesome! Promise!) So we decided to compensate by offering up two killer tracks from the bands live ouvre. One is a cover of the Smiths' song "Panic", while the other is the band playing "Mountain To Sound" featuring Deerhunter's Bradford Cox. Both are extremely awesome. Happy Friday!

mp3: Spoon - Mountain To Sound (feat. Bradford Cox)
mp3: Spoon - Panic (Smiths cover)

Thanks to Stereogum for the tip.

David Byrne Releases Live EP For Amnesty International

Picture from the HAD Archive

It's still a little over a month until David Byrne graces the Bay Area with some shows, and we can't wait. Thankfully, Byrne has released a little something to tide us over in the meantime.

In conjunction with Amnesty International, Byrne has put together a 4 track live EP, culled from this tour for Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. Entitled Everything That Happens Will Happen On This Tour, the EP consists of live versions of "Strange Overtones", "Help Me Somebody", "One Fine Day", and "I Feel My Stuff".

While it's not exactly the same as catching a live show, we have to say the EP does a pretty damn good job at capturing the fantastic feel of these live tunes. Pile on the fact that it's a benefit for charity, and that you can "try before you buy", and it's pretty much a no brainer. You can stream and order the EP here.

Stream: David Byrne - Everything That Happens Will Happen On This Tour

Atlas Sound Drops New Virtual Single, Deerhunter EP Due In May

Despite the fact that we're still digesting the deluge of free Atlas Sound and Deerhunter material from the past few months, it seems that the notoriously prolific Bradford Cox has seen fit to drop even more musical goodness on the interwebs in the coming weeks.

To start, Cox has continued the Atlas Sound "Virtual Single" series, releasing the latest entry, Time Warp, via the band's blog. The single consists of two decidedly acoustic numbers, one with vocals and the other without, that manage to be just finished enough to transcend any sort of "demo" feel. The title track (which is actually the b-side) offers up a slightly erratic percussion line that serves as a nice contrast to the almost-reggae offbeat guitar. The a-side, entitled "Springtime Instrumental", is an upbeat number that won us over with its easy going accessiblity - it has massive repeat listen appeal.

On top of churning out Atlas Sound goodness, Cox has also been hard at work with his other endeavor, Deerhunter. The band is set to release an EP, entitled Rainwater Cassette Exchange, on May 18th. While we don't have the whole record in hand yet, we do have the title track (below), and we can tell you it's right in line with what the band was doing on Microcastle. It's extremely reminiscent of that record's "Little Kids", although clocking in at just two and a half minutes, it never really quite goes as audio-crazy as that track.

We have to admit, with all this material, it can be difficult to keep up with Bradford Cox and his muse. That being said, if you're a fan (which we most certainly are), then it's looking to be a very good spring.

Rainwater Cassette Exchange drops on May 18th

mp3: Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange
mp3: Atlas Sound - Time Warp (Media Fire, click through)

The New Hot Chip EP Is Very Good

We'll be frank with you: after listening to Made In The Dark a number of times, we never really felt like Hot Chip was "our thing". It's not that they're even remotely bad, or that there's anything wrong with their tunage, it just had a vibe that was a little too synth-cutesy for our tastes. Well, lately, that's starting to change.

First, we heard their Vampire Weekend cover with Peter Gabriel, and now they've released an EP collaborating with Robert Wyatt and Geese. The disc dropped yesterday, and is an "indie record shop exclusive", whatever that means. Regardless, even if it takes a little extra effort, we really recommend that you pick it up.

The untitled EP reworks four of the band's album tracks, and in our opinion does them quite a bit of justice. Gone are the persistent synths and canned beats, replaced by more abstract, atmospheric instrumentation and percussion. Strings, jaw's harp, and Robert Wyatt's deep, resonant vocals all serve to give the tracks a completely new dimension. What's more, Geese's remixing duties turn "One Pure Thought" from a rock song into an exercise in percussive drones.

We'll say it again: we certainly are not in love with Hot Chip's Made In The Dark. But, if this is the direction they're headed, we have to say we're firmly on board. These tracks not only stand up for themselves, but show a band that isn't satisfied to rest on their laurels and milk a single sound. Well played, boys.

mp3: Hot Chip Feat. Robert Wyatt - Made In The Dark