Les Oiseaux Exotiques

LOVE IT ON TUESDAY: GRIZZLY BEAR

2009-05-26T13:11:00.005-04:00

I interviewed Danish band Efterklang about a month ago. Between many interesting things, we talked about Grizzly Bear, cause Efterklang’s label, Rumraket, was responsible for the European release of their debut album in 2004. Efterklang must think it’s very weird that the band they signed as unknowns 5 years ago are now a thousand times more famous than they themselves are. It took 5 years - 3 LPs and 1 EP - for Grizzly Bear to fully develop their sound, but now they got it perfectly and, seriously, listening to Two Weeks, the first single of their new LP Veckatimest, is a shivering experience. Efterklang must seriously try to figure out what they did wrong.

The thing is that Efterklang craft excellent songs too, but their sound is not original enough. I don’t mean to say that a song is better if it’s original. I think that when you listen to a certain song, if it’s good, it’s good, and that’s all it needs. But from the strict point of view of popular success, originality comes as a very important thing. Cause if two bands sound the same, the best of the two will sell everything and the other will sell almost nothing. Efterklang are excellent, but Sigur Ros are better, so they’re the ones who sell a lot. Grizzly Bear are also excellent, and why are they fucking big now? Cause, like Sigur Ros, they’re the best at what they do… and with Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear are actually the best in general.

To be honest, there ain’t a single song that’s not at least good on Vecka – I’m getting familiar with it already. I’ll just shoot the utterly perfect ones, cause otherwise it would be too long. There’s the folky and intense opener Southern Point, the immediately catchy Two Weeks, the cool and relax Cheerleader, the Pitchfork-gave-me-a-perfect-note-on-best-new-tracks While You Wait For The Others and the most perfect closer ever Foreground. But even if it's got some higher points, that's the kind of album that you listen from start to end, again and again and again. I used to think Merriweather Post Pavilion was well in advance in the run for best album of the year, but I have now to say that Veckatimest caught it back.

MIX IT ON THURSDAY: PRIVATE MIX

2009-05-21T02:54:00.010-04:00

Last thursday was the first MIX IT ON THURSDAY post, today is the second one. This week, I have another 10 minutes mix for you with all recent songs, except Private Eyes by Hall & Oates which is like the song that ties all the others together. You'll see that I've got tired of electro bangers: these are all relatively relax - but still dancy - songs. Personally, I think this mix is better than last week's, but you would probably know better: please let me know your appreciation in the comments section.

Download: MIX IT ON THURSDAY - Private Mix

Hall & Oates - Private Eyes

Das Glow - I Wanna Wake Up With You

Passion Pit - The Reeling (Calvin Harris Remix)

Phoenix - Lisztomania (Alex Metric Remix)

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks (Fred Falke Extended Remix)

LOVE IT ON TUESDAY: PASSION PIT

2009-05-19T00:11:00.012-04:00

Download: Passion Pit - Little Secrets Buy it on

For those who don’t follow the musical actuality, I can tell you Passion Pit is considered by many the most exciting new band of the year. With their EP Chunk Of Change, they brought to the world the music all the hipsters were waiting for, a melodic and exciting indie rock that also sounds like soft electro. One of the best examples of this is their amazing single Sleepyhead, that got hundreds of remixes and that is already considered an indie classic. You won’t be surprised that their debut LP Manners, released today, is one of the most anticipated album of the year.

Unfortunately, what was meant to happen happened: their new album is a bit of a disappointment. What is sad about this is that it’s not a question of work or talent, but more like a question of timing. Let me explain myself with the example of Justice. They got known gradually with We Are Your Friends in 2006 and when they were already in the spotlight, they hit the homerun with D.A.N.C.E. almost exactly year later. People were not only amazed, but surprised too, and when they heard the whole album, it was too much, they jizzed in their pants.

Passion Pit had to make something better than Sleepyhead, and though they nearly succeeded with The Reeling and especially Little Secrets, they fell short. And the album? There are as many good tracks on this 11-tracks LP as on their 6-tracks EP (meaning 6). It's kinda ridiculous cause if I would hear this sound for the first time, I’d probably write something like: ‘Wow this band is very promising, I will check them out in the future’. But that didn't happen and now I'm disappointed. So please do me a favour if you're unfamiliar with the band: listen to Manners first and then to Chunk Of Change. The order will be restored.

MIX IT ON THURSDAY: SPACEWALK MIX

2009-05-14T03:36:00.010-04:00

Here’s a short mix I made for you guys, with mostly songs that got out very recently.

Download: MIX IT ON THURSDAY - Spacewalk Mix

Deadmau5 & Kaskade – I Remember

Lykke Li – Little Bit (Gigamesh Remix)
N.A.S.A – Gifted (Steve Aoki Remix)
Peaches – Show Stopper
The Horrors – Scarlett Field

LOVE IT ON TUESDAY: MAXÏMO PARK

2009-05-12T00:08:00.004-04:00

When the best album of the week is a Maxïmo Park album, you know it’s not a great week for music. Well, last week’s best album was by a band in a similar situation, that used to be every other English band too, but succeeded to change its fate with a great second album. However, unlike The Horrors, Maxïmo Park wasn't that successful with Quicken The Heart. The album is fun to listen and all, but it’s pretty far from sounding like an honest work of art.

It doesn’t suprise me at all, cause I’ve seen Maxïmo Park live two years ago at Osheaga and it was as boring as a metro ride. The singer was funny cause he was stoned, but musically, the performance sucked. It’s probably more a question of commitment in music than a question of talent though, cause these guys made pretty good songs like Graffiti and Apply Some Pressure in the past. I don't know, maybe they should just stop smoking weed.

There are still some cool tracks on Quicken The Heart, like the opening track Wraithlike, that’s got a nice 7/4 verse and a catchy chorus, and The Kids Are Sick Again that is a pretty catchy song even though it's a bit weak for a first single. But the best song is definitely the closer I Haven’t Seen Her In Ages, that is excellent as a British post-punk pastiche. Unfortunately for Maxïmo Park, there are loads of real British post-punk bands to listen to before them.

Download Maxïmo Park - I Haven't Seen Her In Ages Buy it on

LOVE IT ON TUESDAY: THE HORRORS

2009-05-05T00:16:00.015-04:00

I always kinda like The Horrors. A few years ago, a friend of mine showed me their debut single Sheena Is A Parasite, he asked me what I thought about it and I recall saying ‘Do you even call that a song?’ Sheena is pure intensity, it’s in fact nothing else than intensity and I think it's exactly what the band wanted it to be. I finally liked it, but there were at the time so many cool UK bands doing this kind of half-experimental/half-pop music that the Horrors kinda hibernated in my subconscious for a while. I wasn’t even aware until recently of their debut called Strange House released in March 2007.

A month ago, I heard their new single Sea Within a Sea that is such a serene piece of music that I wondered for a minute if it wasn’t wrongly attributed to them. But the song lasted and lasted until the 8:00 mark, and since Sheena was less than two minutes - which is unconventionally short -, it makes sense that their new single would be eight minutes – which is unconventionally long. The difference is that while Sheena was just unconventional, Sea is also genius. I want to apologize to these guys for thinking they were just every other English band. Listening to their new album called Primary Colours, I seriously feel like listening to Joy Division, Stone Roses and Buzzcocks altogether. But I don't feel like listening to a tribute: it's fresh, it's intelligent and it’s got everything I'm looking for in music.

The first track Mirror’s Image starts with more than a minute of quiet synthesizers. After a quick pass by a drummer who sounds like he was tired of waiting, the whole band kicks in and doesn't stop being good until the last track. The second half especially stands out as one of the best second halves I’ve heard in many years. Starting with the Joy Divisionesque Scarlett Field, going on with the long and calm I Only Think Of You, the weird and noisy I Can’t Control Myself and the happy nostalgic title track, it ends with the epic first single, Sea Within A Sea, that itself ends in the most beautiful way. I hope Pitchfork’s gonna rate it good, cause otherwise, I think I’ll e-mail to complain.

Download: The Horrors - Mirror's Image Buy it on

Edmonton?

2009-04-30T00:23:00.008-04:00

I was talking to a friend of mine who’s a sound engineer a few hours ago. During the conversation, I happened to ask him what were the weirdest artists he had worked with and one of his answers was the Edmonton-based dance rock band Shout Out Out Out. He didn’t know they were playing tonight at La Sala Rossa, but I guess he would probably prefer to enjoy their weirdness while seeing them live than to endure it while working for them. These guys released their second album called Reintegration Time last month. It's fucked up!

With Smalltown DJs and The Cansecos at Sala Rossa tonight, 15$

Download Bad Choices Buy it on

LOVE IT ON TUESDAY: BOB DYLAN

2009-04-28T21:50:00.010-04:00

Bob Dylan is old. I don’t know his exact age, but, since his first album, he’s lived more than twice what I’ve lived since I’m born. His career was so long that it would nearly be impossible review it honestly. Let’s just say that he was a genius in the 60s and for the most part of the 70s, that he turned pretty bad in the 80s and the 90s and that, with Love and Theft in 2001 and Modern Times in 2006, critics made things appear like Bob Dylan was a genius again. He sure did better than during the two last decades, but he’s still far from being the musician he once was.

The truth is that Bob Dylan has some of the most talented musicians in the world around him, and this is enough to fool the average music critic. But it’s far from enough to fool the amateur who listens to music with his heart. I’m even tempted to say that Bob Dylan’s new album Together Through Life sucks, arguing that it’s full of well-executed songs with no soul. That’s what I would say if it was the work of a young new band. I would be wrong to say that though, cause we’re talking about Bob Dylan here: like Jesus, we gotta respect him, even if he’s just a has-been.

Of course I’m writing too fast, cause some songs on Together, like the broken-hearted Life Is Hard, the cool I Feel A Change Comin’ On and my own favorite, the bluesy It’s All Good, are actually honest pieces of music made by a real old man. But overall, I mean… The genius of Bob Dylan was to always challenge our expectations, in order to never become a cliché. With Together, not only is he not surprising us anymore, but he’s become the caricature of the old man he is. Come on Bob, take back your acoustic guitar and your harmonica, I know you can do it.

Buy It's All Good on

I LOVE SWEDEN

2009-04-27T00:09:00.021-04:00

You all know that I love Sweden, and I love it even more when it comes to Montreal. It’s true that Peter Bjorn and John's last album is very unequal, but with the low points come some very high points, like Just The Past and I Want You! - that still have a Writer’s Block feeling to them -, and Nothing to Worry About and Lay It Down - that are dirtier, but still ultra-catchy pop. However, I would bet most of songs they're gonna play tonight will come from Writer's Block, so even those who are not fond of Living Thing will find something to enjoy. Don't shout it out loud though, cause they showed up not being as nice as we first thought.

With the cool Brooklyn band Charlift at Le National tonight, 8 PM, 23$ + fees, Buy your ticket on admission

Download Peter Bjorn and John - Just The Past Buy it on

Les Oiseaux Exotiques Interviews... Starfucker

2009-04-25T00:34:00.012-04:00

Starfucker was playing at Il Motore last Sunday. I had my last exam the next morning, but I knew I’d regret it if I missed their show... and I had scheduled an interview with them so I would have been stupid not to go.

They played one of the best show I had seen in a long time. It was a scandal that there were so few people though, but Simian Mobile Disco and Bell Orchestre were playing at the same time, so it was just a bad time I guess.

They released a self-titled album last November, and it’s so great that I decided to officially give it a 10. If you all buy it, they promised they’re gonna come back to Montreal to play a house party where you’ll all be invited. What are you waiting for? It's right here:

... and their mini-album Jupiter will be out on May 5.

Thanks to Catherine for the great camera work, to Eve for the cool pictures and to my sister for having nice friends such as them… and for chronometring the interview.

LOVE IT ON TUESDAY: DEPECHE MODE

2009-04-23T22:38:00.005-04:00

As you already know, at Les Oiseaux Exotiques, we’re always trying to offer a more interesting product. Did I say that word? I think I did. So here’s the point: on every Tuesday, there are like hundreds of albums coming out in the US and Canada. To help you sort out which one you should hear, we’ll start a new tradition here on Tuesday, which will consist of writing a full review of what other blogs call the album of the week. You’ll be able to easily find the reviews of the past weeks under the label LOVE IT ON TUESDAY, cause that’s exactly what’s gonna happen: you’ll love it on Tuesday.

Kraftwerk were playing with machines way before them, but Depeche Mode could be said to be the first band to make electro-pop - compared to the electro-prog of Kraftwerk - without making crappy disco. Now you’ll tell me that Just Can’t Get Enough is pretty close to being disco. True, but think about their later stuff, like Personal Jesus, Enjoy The Silence and Black Celebration: it's definitely pop, but it's too bad ass to be disco. And believe me, these electro dudes that fill our Top 25 Most Plays, like Boys Noize, Crystal Castles and even Justice sometimes, all owe a lot to these guys.

To be honest, you won’t be able to find anything comparable to Personal Jesus on Sounds of the Universe, but you’ll be fucking surprised how these guys totally own most of nowadays’ bands even after 29 years of existence. First, they managed to sound like 2009 rather than like 1984 and second, they haven’t lost their touch in making scary dance music. Wrong, the first single, will not only scare the shit out of you, but would also make you dance like hell if played very late in a club. There’s also Fragile Tension, probably the best song of the album with the distinctive guitar sound, In Sympathy, that could be a Crystal Castles song if it wasn’t for the voice, and the closer Corrupt, that sounds like 2099, a minute before the earth explodes.

Of course, this album also gets his share of cheesiness, with Peace, Perfect and Jezebel, but these three songs are cheesy in a good way you know, like in a funny gentle way. And they're just weak compared to rest, that's just catchy without being cheesy. When old bands try to reproduce the past – U2 can tell you about it – the result is usually pretty bad, but Depeche Mode did not seem interested to make a Personal Jesus # 2, and they got something interesting with Sounds of the Universe. There may be no instant classic on it, but we can definitely put it on top of our old band's best album of the year list.

Jesus Please Help Us

2009-04-19T00:02:00.029-04:00

The Bruins just blew the Habs away last night. If they win two more, we can say goodbye to our rich lazy bastards who will be on a plane to their respective homes in Russia, Finland or anywhere far from Montreal. That's why we must be happy that there are still many people who actually care about their fans and that some of them are in town tonight. The veteran producers Simian Mobile Disco will be practicing their magic at Metropolis. Our own Bell Orchestre – the string section of Arcade Fire - will reproduce the weird sound of their new record at La Tulipe. But the ‘aubaine’ of the night is definitely Starfucker, who will be rocking Il Motore for the ridiculous sum of 10$. Apparently, they’re pretty amazing live and I’m looking forward to see them. By the way, I’m really sorry that I missed three days of posting and I hope you’ll accept these three excellent tracks as an excuse.

Download Simian Mobile Disco - Sleep Deprivation Buy it on

Download Bell Orchestre - Throw It On A Fire Buy it on

Download Starfucker - Isabella of Castile Buy it on

GO HABS GO!

2009-04-16T14:47:00.022-04:00

Last year, it was absolute craziness. The chances you would see a car with a Habs flag were around one on two. Do you remember the riot when we won the seventh game against the Bruins? Crazy! Tonight, we're playing our first playoff game against the Bruins (again) and nobody really cares. We may as well say fuck off and watch the free concert Metric are giving in front of the Apple Store tonight from 8 PM to 9 PM. They're probably gonna play the songs from the album they released last week. I haven’t heard it entirely, but judging by Help I'm Alive - the first single -, it’s probably not very good. I mean, the intro is ok what’s that chorus? My favorite Brazilian producers The Twelves still managed to make it more than listenable, exactly like Justice did two weeks ago with 'Get On Your Boots'. Here’s my prediction for tonight by the way: Habs: 3, Bruins: 2.

Download: Metric - Help I'm Alive (The Twelves Remix)

Best New Band Since Mozart!

2009-04-14T00:03:00.021-04:00

Almost all the good band names have already been taken : Velvet Underground, Joy Division, Sonic Youth… That’s why nowadays some bands have to choose a name that's still available just because nobody wanted it, like Suckers. They're from Brooklyn, they're friends with Yeasayer and they're fucking cool. I got to know them because Pitchfork put one of their songs called It Gets Your Body Movin' in their best new music list. It’s actually one the best - if not the best - song I’ve heard this year so far. It’s not the kind of song I usually like : really slow, really progressive, really indie. But what is disguised behind this experimental mask is a really good pop song. And guess what : if you're in the US, you can now buy it on iTunes, along with all the excellent songs of their first EP. You should buy it. They’re the next big thing.

Download : It Gets Your Body Movin' Buy it on:

Gentille Musique

2009-04-13T15:46:00.021-04:00

Camera Obscura doesn’t want to start a revolution. The only thing they want is making music that will make people happy. Does that suck? Yes. Are they good at it? Yes. Today, they released the first single of their new album that will be out next week. It's still a kind of mix of The Concretes and Belle & Sebastian, like the only old song I could name from them, Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken. I’m pretty sure the members of the new indie pop sensation, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, are big fans of them.

Download: Camera Obscura - French Navy Buy it on:

No Free Song Day

2009-04-11T04:40:00.024-04:00

The first time I saw Milk, I was in New York and I had to pay 13$ US to get in the theatre. Yeah, I know, that’s a rip off. Anyway, I just watched it again yesterday and seriously, go see this movie if you haven’t seen it. Gus van Sant really did a great job controlling our emotions and Sean Penn made sure he looked like the gayest of all men. I checked to be sure and he’s totally straight. He’s even dated Madonna for a while and she dedicated True Blue to him. Anyway, good job guys : if I was gay, I’d be really proud to see that such a good movie had been made for me.

It’s funny you know, having written this, I realize that I was really trying to write in a way that wouldn't let anyone think that I could be gay. I guess, for me, being gay is still kinda taboo, and I emphasize on the kinda, cause when I'm trying to be conscious about it, I can see that I’m just being stupid. But we’ve grown up in a society where it’s so taboo: I guess it’s just a reflex that’s embedded really deep in ourselves. Movies being one of the best ways to modify attitudes in depth, Milk can be seen as a true achievement for the gay community and for the world in general. Next step for me: Brokeback Mountain.

I’m diverging, ain’t I? Don’t be scared, I haven’t decided to make this a gay movie blog yet. The main thing I wanted to tell you is that two of the best Canadian electro acts, Thunderheist and MSTRKRFT, are in town tonight. If you got money to spend, you could even catch a bit of each, cause Metropolis and Club Soda are really close to each other. If you don’t have money, which is probably the case, I would suggest Thunderheist cause it’s only 15$ and their last album is way better than MSTRKRFT’s last album. The real choice will go to your bank account I guess.

... And The Grand Prix Goes To...

2009-04-09T00:32:00.019-04:00

Everything else being equal, if you’re from the UK, it’s probably much easier to make it in music than if you’re from anywhere else. If, in top of that, you’re from a small town in the middle of England called Castle Donington, it’s not even a challenge anymore. This town, except being famous for its race track that will be home of the Formula One British Grand Prix next year, is also the home of the Download Festival, three days of more or less heavy metal music in the middle of June. It’s pretty good for a town of 7000 people, isn’t?

Late of the Pier is the band that comes from Castle Donington and they’re playing at Les Saints tonight. These guys were first known to me for Broken, an excellent song that appeared in a cool Fairy Lights mix on Kitsune Maison 5 in February last year. I haven’t heard their debut album that they released later in August, but from the songs that I’ve heard that are on it, such as The Bears are Coming, Space and the Woods, Focker and Heartbeat, I’m pretty sure it’s not bad.

Their music can be called, like so many bands, indie electronic, but they're different in that they also like to experiment with sounds and rythms, like they did with the African percussion in The Bears Are Coming or with the few 7/8 bars in the bridge of Broken. It's always good when bands experiment, as long as we can still call it music. With Late of the Pier, not only you can still call it music, but you’ll even be able to dance, if not to trash, on it. That’s probably what I’m gonna do tonight. See you there.

Download: Late of the Pier - Broken (Fairy Lights Mix)

'En avril, ne te découvre pas d'un fil'

2009-04-07T15:44:00.022-04:00

Yep, it's snowing again in Montreal. I don't mind that much about the snow, but the cold wind is a real pain in the ass. It's still not enough to stop all these albums to be released though. Among those I was interested in, there was the new Metric – overhyped -, the new Crystal Antlers – their EP was better -, the new Black Dice – too experimental – and the new Thieves Like Us – nothing really new here. There was also the new Neil Young, which came close to being my choice for today. But I thought, ‘Something that would have been good 40 years ago isn’t necessarily good now, right?’

I’ll rather talk about the new Doves. These guys from Manchester released their fourth album today. It's entitled Kingdom of Rust, after the name of the first single. We know this band for their very good singles There Goes The Fear from 2002 and especially Black and White Town from their last album, Some Cities, released in 2005. If you like bands like Oasis and The Verve, you will love this. If you don’t like these bands that much, like myself, you won’t love it, but you will probably still appreciate it. So I guess it’s good. Here's the album's lead track.

Download: Doves – Jetstream Buy it on:

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

2009-04-05T06:13:00.021-04:00

Tonight was supposed to be a crazy party night, but for some reasons, I ended up watching In Bruges in the basement of a friend. It's not a bad movie: it's funny, the girl's hot and there are some unexpected events. Then, I got in the night bus and it was full of stupid 'Français de France' singing 'Fernande' really loud. When they got out, they said 'Merci Madames et Messieurs. Au Revoir.' and some people in the bus said 'Merci'. Bravo! Now, they'll think we like it and they'll do it again.

So here I am at 5:30 AM writing on this blog cause I want to talk to you about a cool new band from Montreal called Hexes & Ohs. They are playing a benefit concert for the Leukemia Foundation tonight at Foufounes Électriques. I thought they merited some free publicity, so I interviewed lead singer Edmund last Thursday. We talked about many things, although it's kinda hard for me to summarize it, because I'm getting really tired now. You can read it all HERE.

Download : Hexes and Ohs - Head Over Heels (Tears for Fears Cover)

Interview with Edmund from Hexes & Ohs

2009-04-05T06:06:00.015-04:00

N : Are you guys big Tic Tac To players?
E : (laughs) I guess so but it never really lasts more than 40 seconds.
N : So it's not the reason for the name?
E : No, it comes from… well, there’s many things with X and O. It could be like hugs and kisses you know… but it comes from a song by a band called On!Air!Library! that’s called Ex’s and Oh’s so it kinda seems to suggest that it’s about relationship, like ex-girlfriend, ex-boyfriend, so I found that a clever play on word. But then we wanted to make it a little bit different, so we made it Hexes.
N: Hexes ans Ohs is not your first band with your girlfriend Heidi. You were in a band called Jolly Bean before and then Vertical Mosaic. It took you quite a long time for you to get started. Do you think things will get easier now?
E: Yeah, I mean Jolly Bean was 4 people and Vertical Mosaic were 3 people and it seems to get easier when there’s less people (laughs). You know Heidi and I are a couple. We live together and do a lot of things together. It just seems a lot more natural…
N: But do you think more people attend your shows and buy your records?
E: Because of it…
N: I don’t know, maybe you evolved in the songwriting.
E: Yeah I think we’re just a much better band. It’s different so it’s hard to compare it. A large part of it is that we’re more clear on what we wanted to do. We became better at it. We understand how to market ourselves a bit more. Lots of things like that. And with the experience from playing shows, we’re just better live than we used to be. It’s the overall experience. But I think we’re just more tuned in into what works for us.
N: And did you expect all these good responses?
E: When we did the first album in 2005, we really didn’t expect anything. We were just making something that we liked. A label wanted to put it out so we were just like ‘Ok let’s try it out and see’. The responses were lot better than we expected. So yeah, we’re kicking a lot more seriously than we would have assumed 3-4 years ago. The responses are better than expected for sure.
N: When we listen to your music, we feel a kind of teenager nostalgia. Given the fact that you’re 29 and that you’re not using msn, you’re definitely not teenagers anymore. Do you think music a way for you to get back to that period of your life?
E: Maybe a little bit, because definitely, when we play music and we kinda jam and rock out and stuff, it definitely feels like it cause that we’ve been doing it for so long. You know it brings us back to playing in my parent’s basement and just playing music for fun and not really having any goals. In a way, that comes across still in the music. I think the other things is just we have young-sounding voices so no matter what we do, even if the song itself is very serious, it kinda comes across that way. Cause we did a cover of a Tears for Fears song and the song itself is very serious, but we just sang it and it became really kinda young and fun (laughs).
N: Will you try to make more serious music in the future or you still like that kind of light music?
E: I think it’s nice to try different things. For a long time, we made really sad music. With our last band Vertical Mosaic, it was very slow, post-rock, we tried really hard to sound sad and dark. With this band, we really wanted to do something different. But now that we’ve done it, we’re definitely open to do things that are a little bit darker. We’re always open to do different things.
N: This band is so electro-pop that I was a bit surprised when I heared your other project You and Me, that’s more like traditional acoustic music. So, what’s your true musical identity?
E: I think I did a lot of different things growing up. Like I played a lot of different types of music. I think the main things that connect everything that I’m interested in is melody and pop basically. Cause You and Me is very pop. They’re folk but they’re still pop. I could easily take one of those songs and make it a Hexes and Oh song changing the presentation. I don’t really feel limited by style. Style is just style. It’s the songwriting that really counts for me. So I’m into good songwriting.
N: You guys always you fresh stuff happening like I see. After the release of your second album Bedroom Madness in September, you did a clip for H-H-Highschool, you toured Canada for two-weeks, you recorded a Tears For Fears cover, you did a clip for clip for Wildlife and obviously you played a couple of shows here and there. What is happening for you guys in the next few months?
E: We’re working on some remixes. Sloan and us are trading a remix. (laughs) That‘s gonna be interesting cause I don’t think Sloan’s ever had a remix done before. I’m doing one for them and Patrick from Sloan is doing one for us. He has a side project in electronic music. That’s gonna be interesting. Then we’re having a remix done by Montag. So far, that’s all we’re doing. We’re gonna get more remixes done and probably put out like a free download EP maybe. That’s what’s working on.
N: Alright, thanks a lot.

Modern Masters Give a Lesson to Old Ones

2009-04-04T04:09:00.011-04:00

I was eager to hear this. The remix doesn't do justice - uh! - to the original. It makes it good.

Download : U2 - Get On Your Boots (Justice Remix)

Good News For The Redhead Community

2009-04-04T03:06:00.019-04:00

A lot of singers sing pretty much the same. I think the reason is that there’s a kinda Celine Dion ideal that’s intoxicating the singing classes of the world. And the ones who don’t follow this ideal, such as our friend Bono who was featured on this blog yesterday for saying something I totally agree with, most of the times, it’s because they just never entered a singing class.

So when a singer shows up with an original voice that also sounds like a trained voice, he/she’s got lots of chances to make it to the top. Of course, the songwriting is equally important, but if you’re a pretty girl, it’s not very hard to find someone who’ll write good songs for you. And yeah, even if you’re not aware that in French, when you put a ‘la’ before, ‘redhead’ is ‘rousse’ - not ‘roux’ . Please write that down.

When their single Quicksand got released as the second track on Kitsune Maison 6 last november, things could only get started for La Roux. And they did : two weeks ago, their single ‘In It For The Kill’ got to #11 in the UK. I'm happy about that, cause these two songs are super good synth-pop songs. There’s a lot of bands who are pros at ripping off the 80s, but La Roux is in a class of its own, cause they actually sound like the 80s. She's playing tonight at Les Saints.

Download : La Roux – In It For The Kill (Radio Edit)

Pitchfork Is The Best Music Website

2009-04-03T01:47:00.011-04:00

Some people might be curious why I always give links to Pitchfork reviews. Well, Bono explains it very well on the interview he did with them last week. Check it from the 4:55 mark to the end. However, I think music blogs such as ours still have a little advantage that makes a huge difference in the end : we can be politically incorrect. Most of the time, we're polite because we’re always talking about bands we love. But we do have that possibility... Pitchfork critics are very clever, but they miss that sincerity sometimes. For example, the guy in the interview could just not have mentioned that Pitchfork gave 4.2/10 to No Line On The Horizon, while Les Oiseaux Exotiques wouldn't have hesitated to dis U2 in a face-to-face interview. Eh eh...

Who's handsome?

2009-04-03T00:08:00.014-04:00

Tonight at Il Motore. 15$. (sold out - merci au gâcheur de party)

Download : Handsome Furs – Officer of Hearts Buy it on :

Efter-fucking-klang

2009-04-01T13:25:00.031-04:00

Thanks to Rasmus Stolberg from Efterklang who was kind enough to give us a nearly 15-minutes long interview just before their totally amazing show that they gave yesterday night at Il Motore. We filmed the interview, but we didn't have much time to prepare and we were only able to bring a shitty camera, so instead of giving you shitty quality, I just rewrote the whole thing HERE.

For those who are too lazy to read, we talked about the influence of the Montreal music scene, the constant comparison with Sigur Ros, the unimportance of the lyrics, the signing of Grizzly Bear on their own label, the length of their creative process, the presence of extra-musicians on tour and the existence of a Danish music scene.

We also filmed a couple of videos, including this one of an amazing new song, whose working title is 'I Was Playing Drums'. I think they played it for the first time yesterday night and it will probably be recorded in studio later this year. It would make a great first single for their new album.

Download: Efterklang - Mirador (192 kbps) Buy it on

Interview with Rasmus from Efterklang

2009-04-01T13:11:00.029-04:00

N: Efterklang, how do you prononce that?
R : Ef-teur-klan-gne (laughs).
N: What does it mean?
R : It means ‘reverberation’, but it also means ‘remembrance’. ‘Efter’ is like ‘after’ and ‘klang’ is ‘a sound’.
N: Why did you choose that? Did you think it fitted the ambiance of your music?
R : I think we liked the word. We didn’t put that much though on it.
N : It’s rarely the case with band names (laughs). Your first record, Tripper, was compared with Montreal-based band Godspeed You Black Emperor and your second one, Parades, was compared with the also Montreal-based Arcade Fire. Do you think these two bands had an influence on your music?
R : Yeah, I think we’re influenced by a lot of different bands, contemporary bands, but also older stuff. For sure, Godspeed and Arcade Fire, both bands, are huge inspiration to us.
N : I’ve heard you worked with the Icelandic string quartets Amina, who also worked with Sigur Ros. Do you feel it helps your band to be compared with Sigur Ros so much or you feel a little bit in their shadow?
R : (hesitation) When we did our first album,Tripper, people compared it to Sigur Ros a lot and, I mean, at the beginning, I was just honored by it. We liked Sigur Ros, it’s a huge band, it’s a great band. So for us, the debut was very good and people said, ‘If you like Sigur Ros, you would also like this band’: that’s a compliment. We get compared to them, but we also get compared to a lot of other bands as well. I think it’s fine. I’m happy about it.
N : Talking about Sigur Ros, they said they wouldn’t feel authentic if they sang in English. Here in Montreal where we mostly speak French, it’s also a hot topic. What do you think about that?
R : I don’t write the lyrics in Efterklang. But first, it feels very natural to sing in English. It feels more natural than singing in Danish. A lot of it has to do with the fact that a lot of the music that we grew up listening to and that we like listening to is in English. Some are very good at writing lyrics it Danish and singing in Danish, but it’s kinda hard actually. It feels more natural for us to sing in English. It’s just the way the words are pronounced, the sounds that you can make. It works better for us. But the lyric side of our music is not that important. We like words and we like nice sentences, but we’re not trying to deliver a certain story or a certain message in the song, so the vocals has always for us been like an instrument compared to any other instruments. It’s part of the music we create. It’s not something on top of the music.
N : So what do you want to communicate with the music?
R : (hesitation) I think what we’re trying to do and what we like to do is sorta to… Our music is not really related to anything on earth. What we try to do is create feelings and create pictures and landscapes that are dreamy and maybe otherworldly. So the music should be like a trip to something unknown, something new, something strange. It should take you away from your daily life.
N : Well, it’s very successful that way. You founded your own label, which is called… wait a minute (checking my notes)… how is it called?
R : Rumraket.
N : I read that it’s related to Grizzly Bear.
R : Well, the first signing we did was Grizzly Bear. I released the Grizzly Bear record in Europe. I debuted the record in Europe. It was our first signing so that’s why it’s related to Grizzly Bear. Then, they got huge afterwards (laughs).
N : So you’re the one who made them known. They owe you something don’t they?
R : (laughs) No, I only put it out in some countries in Europe. They owe to themselves.
N : And what's the mission of the label?
R : The mission of the label, I mean, it changes all the time, but in the start, it was just (hesitation) feeling very good about sharing good music with other people. If we found music we really liked, we wanted to share it with the people. Then, it’s also very nice for us to have this sorta family, cause we have so many bands to work with and it creates this very family life feeling. That’s about it. And then also, Rumraket works as Efterklang’s home in Denmark. We put out our own music on Rumraket in Denmark.
N : … which is probably the place where you sell the most records.
R : We sell a lot of records there but Denmark is so small that it’s not really that many. But it makes it possible for us to record expansive records and invest and stuff, I mean, buy new instruments…
N : You’re active since 2001. So eight years and you only have two LPs. Why do you wait a lot between records?
R : (hesitation) Well, you know, we did two full albums but we also did two mini-albums which are thirty minutes each. The first album we did was in 2003. I mean, we take a lot of time recording. We don’t write songs that fast. It takes a long time for us to write a song and then, since Parades came out in October 2007, we have basically been on tour for a year and a half now. The way we make music, we don’t sit down with a guitar and then make a song, it happens in the studio. It’s a process that we have to be at home, we have to be in our studio, we have to be with all our instruments, in order to be able to create something.
N : The core members of the band are five of you and live you’re playing nine people…
R : … this tour we’re seven.
N : or seven, why is it important for you to invite extra-musicians on stage?
R : Well, we’re just four people actually. The fifth guy, he doesn’t go on tour with us. We just need extra people to play piano and violin and guitar for us (laughs), because we can only play drums and sing and bass and electronics, and then we need some more people to help us out with these.
N : So you really want to get the sound of the record live?
R : No, it’s not about getting the sound of the record. I think it would be pretty boring if we were just the four of us (laughs). We would have to do a lot of backtracks and we don’t really like backtracks. We prefer to create things live on stage as much as we can.
N : I think it could give a kind of minimal feeling, but obviously I have nothing to say about it (laughs).
R : The thing is that the four of us who have the band, we’re not trained musicians, we are self-thought. One thing about Efterklang is that we’re not skillful musicians. I think we are very good at composing stuff and getting ideas and finalizing stuff.
N : … like most bands actually (laughs).
R : Yeah maybe. So it’s very nice for us to have extra people and the people we bring in are very good instrumentalists and often they do many different instruments, which makes it possible for us to do very nice arrangements which we need to.
P : Is there a reason why you don’t include the other musicians in your band?
R : (hesitation) Well, the four of us, we’ve been together for a long time. Two of us have been together for seventeen years. Three of us have been together for eleven years. We feel a very strong connection to each other and we are often agreeing. When there’s something to figure out, we always think the same about almost everything. We never fight. Everybody has this clear idea about where we’re going and how we should do it. To bring people into that is hard and not really something we’re interested in doing. If it ain’t broke, you shouldn’t fix it right? (laughs) So that’s just why I guess. In that way, we kinda stick to that, but then on the other hand, we bring so many guest musicians and we’re working with so many people that we do sorta both things.
N : What can we expect from you guys in the future?
R : In the fall, we’ll release a live DVD, which was recorded last fall with a classical orchestra. We played our album Parades from start to finish with a 50-pieces classical orchestra. It was filmed and it was recorded and it will all be very nice (laughs). It will be out in the fall. Right now, we’re working on our new album. We haven’t recorded anything yet, but we have a lot of new songs. We’re gonna play some of them tonight. When we’ll get back from this tour and throughout the summer, we’ll record our third album.
N : Will it be a similar sound or you’ll still evolving?
R : It will be a different sound. I think it will still be very clear to people that this is still Efterklang, but we’re trying to do something new actually.
N : To conclude, here in Montreal, we have nearly no idea about the Danish music scene. You’re in a label so you probably know most of the music in Denmark. Can you name a couple of Danish bands that you think we should check out?
R : We only have one Danish band in our label, all the other bands are from outside. The one Danish band we have is called Slaraffenland. They’re very good. They’re inspired a lot by this Montreal scene as well. Then there’s a band that we used to be very influenced by is called Under Byen. I think they have a record on Paper Bag Records, which is a Canadian label. There’s a duo called Murder that I like. There’s a lot of good names actually. I think you should go on myspace and look up Danish bands and look at their friends.
N : ‘Tak’ and good luck for the show.

PBJ Are Back and This Time, They're Not Whistling

2009-03-31T16:49:00.013-04:00

Every time I hear 'Young Folks', my first thought is, 'That whistling really sounds like the flute riff in Kung Fu Fighting'. My second thought is, 'I want to marry that girl (Victoria Bergsman)'. My third though is, 'Gosh, I wish I had written that song'. Cause that song and the whole album are so good that I'm a bit surprised these guys come from Stockholm and not Gothenburg, the musical capital of Sweden.

Now, there's something I want to make clear: this band isn't a one-hit-wonder. I haven't heard their self-titled debut album or the instrumental ‘Seaside Rock’, but I've heard 'Falling Out' and it's also excellent. There's a song on it called 'It Beats Me Everytime' that takes a really big place in my musical subconscious and when you'll hear it, you'll know these guys really have talent.

That's why I was really exciting that Peter Bjorn and John released a new album today. Unfortunately, while Pitchfork was totally wrong yesterday, I have to agree with them this time: ‘Living Thing’ is not as good as it should be. They changed their style a lot and it seems that putting the focus on rhythm instead of melody doesn’t seem to fit them very well. At least, when you'll hear ‘Lay It Down’, which is one of my best new songs at the moment, you'll see that they totally put an X on the fact of being the cute whistlers from Sweden. We can only hope that 'Living Thing' is only a transitional album towards a better one in their new style.

Mediafire: Peter Bjorn and John - Lay It Down (320 kbps)

Cet album est excellent. T'as pigé, Harvey?

2009-03-30T11:15:00.010-04:00

I don’t know about you, but when a big name releases a new album, I always feel a bit scared to be disappointed. Sometimes I am disappointed, like it was the case with the last U2 or Rolling Stones, sometimes I am relieved because it’s not that bad, like it was the case with the last Bob Dylan or Paul McCartney, but I am rarely amazed. Exceptions include 'In Rainbows' by Radiohead, 'Third' by Portishead and the album PJ Harvey released today.

Pitchfork reviewed it severely, but they’re way off base. As for me, ‘A Woman A Man Walks By’ officially joins the run to the best album of the year with ‘Merriweather Post Pavillion’, ‘It’s Blitz’ and ‘Fever Ray’. The album is written in collaboration with a guy named John Parish. He’s kind of a nobody, but his contribution on this one is very important, in that he wrote the music while she wrote the lyrics. However, it’s probably a lot easier to make good music when you have someone like PJ Harvey as a performer, right?

The song you can download today is not for sensitive ears. It’s a real rocker that comes directly from the ashes of the 90s. For the most part, she's repeating the affirmation ‘I Will Not’. It’s not like she doesn’t want to do something or think something or feel something, it’s just a pure refusal of nothing… or maybe of everything. At the end, the volume of the instruments gets down dramatically, and a beautiful piano gets played over it. That's music how I like it.

Mediafire : PJ Harvey – Pig Will Not (192 kbps)

Drunk Americans in Montreal

2009-03-29T23:49:00.022-04:00

I wanted to see Passion Pit tonight, but they had to cancel their whole Canadian tour for health reasons. Ok ok, their show was scheduled on Wednesday, but for some reason, I had written down that it was tonight. A bit confused and still in the mood to see a show, I decided to go to Il Motore, our new venue here in Montreal, to see what was there. It was my first time there and I think it's a cool venue. It's really located out of nowhere - near metro Parc -, but their washrooms are really big and clean. Overall, it's good.

The main band playing was Takka Takka from New York City. The five of them had the same sweater with an animal face in the back of the hood. I don't know about that, but I really enjoyed their music. Not only do they focus on melodies and arrangements, but they also make sure that their songs are danceable. I talked to the singer before the show and he sounded like a nice guy. He said they were going to get drunk to celebrate the end of their tour with the Montreal-based Sister Suvi. While they're enduring headaches in the van back to NYC, I encourage you to listen to 'Everybody Say', the best song of their debut album.

Mediafire: Takka Takka - Everybody Say (192 kbps)

Photomontage In Tokyo

2009-03-27T00:30:00.018-04:00

I remember very clearly that, two years ago, during a period maybe as short as one week, I used to visit Tokyo Police Club's myspace around twenty times a day to listen to their new single 'Your English Is Good'. At the time, I thought that song was one of the best I had ever heard. But this love story didn't last very long and by the time of their debut album 'Elephant Shell' last year, I had already forgotten of their existence. It's sad because their 2006 EP 'A Lesson In Crime' was so good, with songs like 'Be Good' and 'Nature of the Experiment' and 'Cheer It On'.

But tonight, I'm gonna forget that I had forgotten them because they are playing with Ruby Coast at La Salla Rossa. It's a very cool venue and it's probably gonna be a very cool show as well. But it's sold out. If you still want to party, there's a Room 22 event at Club Coda with Mad Kids, formed by two ex-members of December Strikes First/Hello Dangerous, mixing some crazy music. Check that out!

Mediafire: Tokyo Police Club - Your English Is Good (240 kbps)

A Cruel And Brutal Fellow

2009-03-26T00:52:00.011-04:00

One of the nice things about having a blog is that you have to make some research on your subject, and sometimes, you learn very interesting related facts, such as the meaning of the word 'ruffian', of which I was totally ignorant a few minutes ago. The band I was researching is called Born Ruffians and my research didn't go much further than the name. I only know that they are a band from Ontario and that last year, they released a very good debut album called 'Red Yellow and Blue'. They make catchy songs, and even though they stay faithful to the basic instruments of rock'n'roll, they are very good to experiment with the way they use them. They play tonight with Akron/Family at Il Motore. I think Akron/Family is headlining, but in my opinion Born Ruffians are better. Here's one of my favorite songs from 'Red Yellow and Blue'.

Mediafire: Born Ruffians - Foxes Mate For Life (168 kbps)

POMO - is it?

2009-03-25T00:00:00.016-04:00

Have you ever heard of Radiohead? Uh uh… Before becoming experimental geniuses with Kid A, these guys were really good to take the rock clichés that bands like Nickelback uses all the time and arrange them in a way that makes them work, a little bit like Tarantino does with the clichés of cinema. A perfect example for this would be Fake Plastic Trees, a sentimental rock ballad Bon Jovi-style with violins and organs, but for a reason I can’t explain, when I listen to the song, I really feel something.

There’s a band from Montreal that also does that right. I wouldn’t say everything from them is good. I didn't go crazy on their bigger hits like ‘Montréal – 40’ or ‘Pâte Filo’ and I didn't go crazy on their new album 'Labyrinthes' neither. But when I finally got a hand on Trompe-l’oeil a few weeks ago, I discovered a song called ‘La Monogamie’ that made me go crazy. The song is already good from the beggining – especially the beautiful acoustic guitar riff – and until the half of the song, it's classic indie rock like we like it. Then, at 2:45, the outro begins, with a strummed acoustic guitar and the voice of Julien Mineau, it then evolves into a crescendo that's usually not my kind of thing and it finishes in a crazy chorale with drums and guitars and keyboards, and all this makes me feel something I can’t explain, a little bit like with Fake Plastic Trees. Ok, Malajube are no Radiohead. They’re not even close. But when I hear something like that, I feel proud to be a Québécois.

They are playing tonight at La Tulipe to promote their new album. The Montreal-based Hollerado is the band opening. I’ve seen them open for the Virgins a year ago and I can tell you they're cool. But... the show is sold-out. There’s still the possibility to pickpocket one at the door if you want to danse, danse, danse toute la nuit.

Mediafire: Malajube - La Monogamie (196 kbps)

How to get girls when you're ugly

2009-03-24T09:22:00.017-04:00

What is the cool thing to do when you have to play in a crappy venue in Montreal in front of 15 people who are just disappointed that Voxtrot had canceled their presence at the last minute? Simple, you tell bilingual musical jokes like, ‘You know what the guitarist from The Smiths (Johnny Marr) says when he’s bored of something? He says : ‘J’en ai marre’’ That's funny, isn't? The 14 people who were also there probably know about which band I'm talking cause the show was memorable. For the rest of you, I will satisfy your curiosity, I'm talking about The 1990s.

In addition to being a decade, they are a band from Glasgow, and their debut album was amazing. I don't know why they are still unknown here in America cause their songs are really catchy. I probably listened to ‘See You At The Lights’, ‘You Made Me Like It’ and ‘You’re Supposed To Be My Friend' more than a hundred times each. They are often compared to fellow Glaswegians Franz Ferdinand, the principal reason being that the ancient band of the singer Jack McKeown, The Yummy Fur, counted for a period Alex Kapranos and Paul Thomson, respectably singer and drummer of Franz Ferdinand.

And following Franz Ferdinand, who released their third album earlier this year, the 1990s released today the follow-up to Cookies, entitled ‘Kicks’. Second albums are always difficult, but this one, like the title say, kicks... lots of asses. Their sound is still as retro as before and that's for the best in my opinion. They even hired Bernard Butler, ex-guitarist of the really good Britpop band Suede, as producer to make sure they really sound like they were from the 1990s. But, what makes them superior to similar bands who are fond of remaking the musical history? Simple again, they don’t take themselves seriously, and that’s what makes songs like 'The Box' so enjoyable.

Mediafire: The 1990s - The Box (213 kbps)

'Smoke Mushrooms' in Norwegian

2009-03-23T00:26:00.021-04:00

The new Röyksopp is out today. That’s a pretty important release, but... wait a minute, ‘What the hell is Röyksopp?’ Well, they’re from Bergen in Norway who has seen the Bergen Wave around 2000. They have released in the past two critically and commercially approved albums: ‘Melody A.M.’in 2001 and ‘The Understanding’ in 2005. Their best known singles include ‘Eple’, ‘Remind Me’, ‘Only For This Moment’, ‘What Else Is There’ (featuring Karin Dreijer of The Knife) and the first single from ‘Junior’, ‘Happy Up Here’, which is the major blog sensation since the beggining of the year.

All this looks very good, but if you would ask the critic in me what I think about them, I would answer this: ‘Their style is somewhere between Euro-pop and IDM, and if they appeal to both connoisseurs and large public, good for them. They found a pretty good way to achieve this by disguising their electronic experiments in pop music, but what a real pop amateur like me wonders while listening to their first two albums is: where are the songs?’

I guess they evolved, cause there are actual songs on 'Junior' and pretty good ones too. To name a few: ‘The Girl and The Robot’ (featuring Robyn), 'Vision One’ (featuring Anneli Dreckner) and ‘You Don’t Have a Clue’ (featuring Anneli Dreckner again). This album is mostly good, sometimes great, and it’s probably their best effort so far. Waiting for the follow-up of ‘Junior’, ‘Senior’– I’m not joking -, that’s gonna be released later this year, take a listen to the rythmic use of bass guitar and the child-like voice of Lykke Li on the Air pastiche ‘Miss It So Much’.

Mediafire: Röyksopp - Miss It So Much (192 kbps)

Bruitz de Garçons

2009-03-21T00:23:00.020-04:00

Remember the Holy Fuck remix of 'Happy Up There' I posted here a couple of days ago? Well Boys Noize, our favorite German DJ/producer, did one too. Like Holy Fuck, he took all the dreamy side of the original away, but instead of the experimental dance rock approach, he chose the bad-ass German electro approach. Less original I agree, but much more appropriate for getting crazy tonight at Metropolis on the occasion of I Love Neon 10 Year Anniversary. Tickets still available through Paypal for 32$CAN. He's gonna play the songs of his coming album. Expect the best.

Mediafire: Röyksopp - Happy Up Here (Boys Noize Remix) [208 kbps]

The Chick From The Knife Releases Album

2009-03-20T13:31:00.007-04:00

Let’s be serious : Sweden is heaven on earth. I once asked a Swedish girl if it was true and she laughed at me. But I know, and we know, and she knows: Sweden IS heaven. They study for free in Upsala, they get rich in Stockholm and they make beautiful music in Gothenburg. Look at this list of artists or bands that come from there : Air France, The Embassy, The Honeydrips, Jens Lekman, The Knife, Love Is All, Sally Shapiro, Studio, The Tough Alliance. That’s quite empressing for a town named Gothenburg. Please check them out cause they're all excellent and their music seems to come directly from where they’re from : heaven...

... except The Knife. I don't know where their music comes from, but it's probably a really strange place. We all know them for their breakthrough single ‘Heartbeats’, but they also made two excellent albums: 'Deep Cuts' in 2003 and 'Silent Shout' in 2006, which are filled by excellent dark electro pop songs, like ‘Pass This On’ - don't start jerking off guys , it's a drag queen - ‘You Take My Breath Away’ and ‘Marble House’. When you listen to their music and see them with their bird masks, you imagine cold and weird descendants of Vikings, but they actually look like two very cool brother and sister. Sadly for us, they took a three year break in 2007, in order pursue their own solo projects: DJ Coolof for Olof and Fever Ray for Karin.

And here's the point of this post: Fever Ray released the physical version - it was available digitally since January - of her self-titled album yesterday. There are already two videos: one for the first single 'If I Had a Heart' and one for 'When I Grow Up'. The album is overall very dark and very ambient, but it's great from track 1 to track 10. I've uploaded for you the song that was playing all day on my iTunes and, as a bonus, a happy makeover of 'When I Grow Up' by fellow Gothenburger Dan Lissvik from Studio that you can listen to cheer up afterwards.

Mediafire: Fever Ray - Dry and Dusty (320 kbps) [removed after request]

Mediafire: Fever Ray - When I Grow Up (D. Lissvik remix) [192 kbps] [removed after request]

Bloc Party Should Never Enter A Recording Studio Again

2009-03-18T00:00:00.020-04:00

I saw Bloc Party live two years ago headlining Osheaga. Before that, I had heard their breakthrough album ‘Silent Alarm’ - the apparent inspiration for the Knife's 'Silent Shout' released a year later -, but my friends and I didn’t really understand why they were generating so much hype. After having realized that the group of people I was with had gone back home, I miraculously made my way between 50 000 people and succeeded to get just before the stage.

And I was happily surprised, because even if Bloc Party’s songs aren’t as catchy and well-produced as the songs of Interpol or Arctic Monkeys who were playing earlier that day, this band made sure that the amps were at 10 and that the metronome was above 160 BPM. In top of that, the singer was on fire, the crowd was responding very well and their show was finally one of the highlights of the day.

I don’t recommend you to buy the album they released late last year, but I do recommend you to go to their show tonight at Metropolis. There are still some tickets available and it will cost you 43$ with the fees and the taxes. I think it’s worth the money, cause you’ll probably remember this show for a long time. You may also be interested by the opening band, who was featured earlier this week on Les Oiseaux Exotiques. Below is a song from their new album that is probably gonna make your feet dance when they play it tonight.

Mediafire: Bloc Party - One Month Off (232 kbps)

Holy Fuck, I'm Happy Up Here When You Do That Stuff

2009-03-16T02:55:00.033-04:00

What a nice thing to take a song that was good before and make it good again! Some may say it's stealing, but hey, think practical, you wouldn't listen to the old song anyway. And that's true for anything in life. Cause people were doing stuff before and most of the times, their work could easily be modified to fit our times and be very useful again. Even if it's in our blood, we shouldn't try to do everything by ourselves.

Anyway, Röyksopp were wiser than most of us and they thought that one part of a Parliament song from 1976 called 'Do That Stuff' - pay attention at the 0:36 and 2:44 marks - could be an interesting idea to develop into a song. They released it today as the first single of their new album that is going to be out in exactly a week. It's called 'Happy Up Here', and even if it's less poetic than 'Eple' from Melody A.M., it's still a very good song.

Although released today, the song had already leaked two months ago and a few remixes have appeared since then, including a very good re-interpretation by Holy Fuck. They transformed the song completely and made another musical gem out of it, without the feel-good aspect. That's the version you will be able to download today on your favorite music blog.

Mediafire: Röyksopp - Happy Up Here (Holy Fuck Re-Interpretation) [192 kbps]

'Let's get married and have a band'

2009-03-13T00:48:00.005-04:00

Arcade Fire made people say that Montreal was the new Seattle. But even with all the good music these guys produced, the team of Les Oiseaux Exotiques - meaning me - would argue the best song this town has produce recently is by Wolf Parade and is called 'I'll Believe in Anything' - merci Jess. In top of that, this band's first album was a really good, almost perfect pop album.

But they have changed: Spencer Krug is turning more and more progressive while Dan Broeckner is turning more and more post-punk. As shown by their second album, that's hardly compatible. If I were them, I would just kill Wolf Parade before it gets more difficult. I guess they still have to earn their living with Wolf Parade so they can get as creative as they want with their respective side projects: Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs. But they should think about it, if they're interested in becoming Stone Roses-like legends.

Anyway, as for now, the side projects are doing really well, as proved again by the release on Tuesday of the second Handsome Furs album. I had some trouble choosing which song from it to upload. I first thought of a very nice track called '(White City)', but it's a bit short at 1:29, so I then thought of 'Thy Will Be Done', which really could have been produced by Martin Hannett, but then again, I don't know, so I finally set my choice on the track of the album that sounds the more like a Wolf Parade song, i.e. the closer 'Radio Kaliningrad'. Listen to that guitar riff, that's fucking beautiful.

Mediafire: Handsome Furs - Radio Kaliningrad (192 kbps)

That's D.I.Y.

2009-03-10T20:44:00.003-04:00

On Christmas Day, while you were at your grandparents' house, I was in Nicaragua and I had one of the weirdest experience of my life. Some friends had told me about a punk show that was going to happen in the most infamous bar of Leon, so I found a couple of people who were also interested, took the cab to a dangerous part of town, and arrived to a strange place called 'El Tunnel' with the dirtiest toilet in the world, much worst than the one in Trainspotting.

There were four locals bands, and, even if they were more emos than punks, they totally rocked the place. I don't remember a lot of things, because I was already drunk when I got there, and got even drunker because the beer there is so cheap, but when I saw this video of the Black Lips live in Tijuana, it brought me back some souvenirs of the crazy ambience that was there.

Talking about the Black Lips, these guys released an album late in February and the single 'Short Fuse' was released on Monday. It's a very good song, not as immediate as the very cool 'Veni Vidi Vici' or the very crazy 'O Katrina' from their breakthrough album 'Good Bad Not Evil', but once you get accustomed to their weird style that they call 'Flower Punk', it's very enjoyable. After having India set on fire in January, they are now touring USA until the beginning of May and I hope they're gonna come to Montreal just in time for my birthday.

Mediafire: The Black Lips - Short Fuse (192 kbps)

Us, Here, Now

2009-03-03T22:53:00.005-05:00

I really need to say one thing. Fuck! This day was absolutely unproductive. That's why I decided to create this blog. Actually, that's why I created it today, but I wanted to do this for a long time. I had even created the page a few months ago, but i got lazy after the first post. But now it's fucking official. Les oiseaux exotiques has started for good.

There's a few rules my subconscious will write just now: most of the posts will be about music because that's something i know a shit about; i will write at least one post every two days to keep it fresh; i will write mostly in english, because I feel like it; i will try to make it look good when i can convince some artistic friend to jump in the project; the motto of this blog will be: us, here, now.

I hope you guys will enjoy it.