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April 12th, 2012

New Canadiana :: Various Artists – Khyber Compilation II

Various Artists - Khyber Compilation II
Halifax’s most endearing/enduring art space, the Khyber, has once again been feted with a compilation of tape tunes from local artists and musicians, most of whom have played/jammed/come of age under the archways, the ballroom, the turret. As with last year’s comp, this is a love letter to something fragile and beautiful and important – moreover, it’s massive (27 songs!), thoughtfully curated and brilliant. There are so many meaty, gorgeous gems here – Monomyth‘s “Anytime” is soaring sweetgaze, while scene vets Scribbler reach achingly fuzzed-out heights with “No Curtains.” The winsome youngsters of ISBN donate a slice of grainy, brainy twang-pop and there are similarly tasty outings from the now-defunct Long Long Long and its ashes, Each Other, risen in Montreal to smile and destroy. There’s a ripper Dog Day track too, and a song from local supergroup Green and Darnelle that nods at the city’s 90′s ghosts and then gnashes them to shreds. Look, I could go on for fucking pages about this tape, I really could, but in the end, I’ll leave with some words from a particular standout, the haunting lament “Wind Came Through” by Former Roommates (who, I think, actually are former roommates): The Khyber needs your love, always, and these songs do too. Listen and linger: this is a sound of a scene piled with riches.

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ISBN – Cold Street

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Each Other – Fellow Flowed

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Green Darnelle – Farewell to Fuzz

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Monomyth – Anytime

April 3rd, 2012

New Canadiana :: Hey Mother Death – Hey Mother Death EP

Hey Mother Death - Hey Mother Death EP
Down at the candlelit cabaret, Hey Mother Death are swaying onstage in spontaneous reverie. On their lavishly packaged debut cassette, this Granelli schooled duo hovers through an unclassifiable sound-cloud of spoken word, sleaze-guitar and haunted Hohner spectres. The aura of Isabella looms large. 50 copies. G.R.I.P.

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Hey Mother Death – You Left Me

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Hey Mother Death – Desert of Trees and Water

March 5th, 2012

New Canadiana :: Dog Day – Deformer

Dog Day - Deformer
Adding salience, excitement and nuance to pop is like having a couple-based band that isn’t nauseating; it’s a tough thing to do, and if you ever need some tips on how to do it, look no further than Dog Day. On Deformer, interesting melodies are always on the cusp of sweetness, but they never go full-on, instead they take the infectious side of college rock and marry it to interesting textures and unexpected directions, then propel it with earnest energy. Not that you need to feel guilty about listening to pop music, but this has enough substance, roughness and ingenuity that you don’t have to justify it to anyone.

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Dog Day – Scratches

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Dog Day – Part Girl

February 10th, 2012

New Canadiana :: Bad Vibrations – Black Train

Bad Vibrations - Black Train
From the bowels of Haligonian earth comes, at last, a full-length offering of ruminations and rumble-punk from these three ramblers. Instant hits like “My Way” cut like a knife through an overall atmosphere of groovy murk, while “Muddy Waters” takes you to the rippling bong-water depths of classic grunge. Black Train hearkens back to moments of Moncton miasma while conjuring up an atmosphere of heavy, bleary bliss and magic all its own. My favorite album of 2011 can now become yours. Take a ride on this long strange trip.

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Bad Vibrations – My Way

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Bad Vibrations – Muddy Waters

February 9th, 2012

New Canadiana :: Lantern – I Don’t Know b/w Out of Our Heads

Lantern - I Don’t Know b/w Out of Our Heads
Cheaper than a leather jacket but equally effective at scaring your parents, Lantern’s new single takes them to new levels of speaker-blowing oblivion. “I Don’t Know” resurfaces from this summer’s tape on Night People, jabbed with adrenaline by drummer Sophie White’s Maclise-via-hambone beat. But B-side “Out of Our Heads” is the true highlight—nearly five minutes of relentless bass-as-extra-tom-tom, high pitched smears of sneers, and a final solo of celestial murk. For Cuban heels only.

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Lantern – I Don’t Know

January 9th, 2012

Premiere :: Lowlife (trailer)

We’re proud to ring in 2012 with straynge tidings lurking in the Nova Scotian sticks. The warped minds behind Dog Day / YORODEO and DIVORCE / Obey Convention have been toiling in the muck for the last two years to create a full-length mudsploitation flick that will finally see the light of day in 2012. Lowlife is a shiver-inducing, psychotropic surrealist drama filmed in stark b&w, and featuring a range of heavies from the Halifax music / art subterrain. Befittingly, the soundtrack is a phantasmagoric blend of self-described “squelch and screech from a bunch of our favourite experimenters”, Seth’s improvised tuba-drone and lusty narration from his German father-in-law, Ogi. Weird Canada is honoured and overjoyed to present the trailer’s world premiere.

For a full Q&A with Seth Smith and Darcy Spidle, please click here.

December 8th, 2011

New Canadiana :: Each Other – Taking Trips

This one’s a total “no duh.” The latest subsidiary of the Long, Long, Long hit factory sheds a few layers of skronk while firing jangular hooks down the assembly line. Space echoes shimmer in an ocean of detached emotion while the tag-team harmonies sound positively fab. Drifting from the Maritimes to Montreal, our heroes have picked up a ringer to man the traps and cast this brilliant kahuna into the wild. A+++.

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Each Other – Looking Lapsed

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Each Other – Odd Body of Water

November 28th, 2011

New Canadiana :: Quaker Parents – No Crime When Covered In Grime

Tape number three from the brothers Grundy feels like a lyric poem that was torn into shards and taped back together again, peaking with “When You Can’t Beat the Dream,” a song that stutters and starts and spits, talking pretty about the edges of consciousness and old rays of light. This band excels at describing the intangible; each song’s mathy meat gives the delicate lyrics weight and heft. Quaker Parents are part of a Halifax vanguard making healthy music that’s good for the brain and body and soul, cleverly disguised with blink-and-you-miss-them hooks. These are songs you can hold onto and listen to over and over again, until you get older, until you smile at last in understanding.

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Quaker Parents – Get In

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Quaker Parents – When You Can’t Beat The Dream

November 11th, 2011

New Canadiana :: Crosss – Bones Brigade b/w Mountain King

Craft Singles chief exec Andy March puts his best flower power foot forward on this scorched denim vest jambone. Anglofied undulations linger in the myst of heart-shaped hooks and the algebraic pterodactyl armed stick work of a Haligonian stalwart, which is all just an ostentatious way of saying that these songs totally rock.

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Crosss – Bones Brigade

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Crosss – Mountain King

October 12th, 2011

New Canadiana :: Quaker Parents // Dream Friends – Tap Turns Off // Dream Girls

This EP is a one-two Haligonian punch that will split (pun intended) your lip and leave you sucking its tangy aftertaste till you flip the tape to get another faceful. Quaker Parents bring a dose of helium-inflated ’faxpop that hops and reverses quicker than a Dukes of Hazzard car chase. Haphazardly tossing off bons mots and melodic firecrackers, the Parents bask forever in a summer of magical thinking. Dream Friends crank the grunge dial up a notch but match their tapemates’ cultural literacy and easy hookery lick for finger-lickin’ lick. True to their name, these aural explorers hack at flora of overgrown dreamscapes with serrated blades, dodging overhanging fronds and staring straight into the unreal haze. Grip and ponder: where would we be without parents and friends?

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Dream Friends – Aging Sportstar

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Quaker Parents – Teeshirt

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