photo by Nicola Acker

It's no surprise that the latest LP from Sub Poppers, Beach House has been hoisted on a pedestal by the online music community. Teen Dream is a record with almost no flaws; from feel to sequencing to the strides the band made without losing the soul of what made the project great to begin with, the Baltimore outfit delivered when the critical eye was locked in and poised to critique.

Every time I listen, I become fixated with 10 Mile Stereo, a track that starts with the potential of the open road, but one that slowly builds momentum with each slow turn of the engine. The energy of the track keeps building until you want to surge forward without fear or repercussion. The band plays to that unbridled emotion perfectly, letting you run wild until they ease off the gas and let the song, and the listener song coast to the finish.

Hearing that Josh from Little Girls wanted to put his spin on the track was obviously exciting. The cover fits perfectly into his trademark dark, muddy sounds that took a bedroom project from obscurity to Pitchfork (and our Best-of list), but still holds the core of the original close, with affection and respect. It's not as optimistic or invigorating - Josh's distorted vocals give the song a different feel than the purity and power of Victoria's voice - but the haunted, almost tormented feel makes it just as enjoyable.

MP3:: Little Girls - 10 Mile Stereo

MP3:: Beach House - 10 Mile Stereo
MYSPACE:: http://www.myspace.com/littlelittlegirls
LABEL:: http://paperbagrecords.com/

Labels: beach house, between the covers, Little Girls, Music, paper bag

I know a few things about Toronto duo Woodhands, the most important of which for you, the reader/consumer of excellent Canadian music, is that they have a new album coming out on Paper Bag Records on January 26th called Remorsecapade.

Now for some of those other things: I know they play brand of electro-influenced rock & roll that critics & fans alike have found pretty irresistible after one album, leading to high praise from folks like Rolling Stone, NME and Q Magazine. I know Paul Banwatt is a heck of a drummer and an even nicer guy (he couldn't have been nicer when we chatted with him during HPX 08. I assume Dan Werb is also a nice guy, but I don't know it to be a fact). I know I enjoyed this video about Woodhands first show, which was in an abandoned brick factory in Toronto with Holy Fuck and others. I also know they covered Eddy Grant's Electric Avenue, which is enough to win me over in and of itself.

One last thing I know: I'm looking forward to their new album. But for now you can help Paul & Dan greet our new robot overlords with their new video for CP24, and check out Pockets, another song from Remorsecapade.

VIDEO:: Woodhands - CP24

MP3:: Woodhands - Pockets
MYSPACE:: www.myspace.com/woodhands

Labels: Future Watch, paper bag, Toronto, Woodhands

Pleasant surprises are rare in this day & age, but I have to say, one of the nice things about having one of these nifty music blogs, is that you tend to get pleasantly surprised on a fairly regular basis. This is exactly what happened when I listened to CFCF's Continent for the first time a little while ago. I knew nothing about him, other than that he was a Montreal DJ, and I'd seen his name out there as a remixer, but I was caught a little bit off-guard by how much I liked his full-length debut.

CFCF is otherwise known as Michael Silver, and he's made a name for himself over the last couple years with remixes for the likes of Crystal Castles, Sally Shapiro, HEALTH and The Presets. But Continent is strictly a CFCF project, recorded by Silver in his home studio over the period of time between fall 2008 and this past summer. This somewhat lengthy period obviously allowed him time to tweak and layer sound after lovely sound into his songs - one of the things I like most about the album is that new sounds are constantly being dropped into the mix, but everything still sounds seamless and joyfully melodic.

You Hear Colours is a great example of just that, because it opens with a dark, almost ATCQ-like drum track, but layers of keys, horns, and even guitar are added over the tracks five plus minutes, but it all fits together really well.

The other thing that stands out about Continent for me is the 80's electro sound that runs through it, it just has those really warm, analog synth & drum sounds that I've been drawn to over the last year or so from folks like Eliot Lipp or Dam Funk. The first single from the album, Monolith, is an excellent poster boy for that 80's sound, as its stellar piano & synth lines make it sound like it could have subbed in for Animotion as the intro for Fashion Television (and I mean that as a compliment, as FT and Obsession are a classic bit of 80's Canadiana). But CFCF is far from a one-80's-trick pony, as Big Love sounds like something RJD2 could have done earlier this decade, the lush Letters Home has a lovely dialed-down house sound, and the stuttering Come Closer feels like it was birthed from some UK scene or another.

And as if all this wasn't enough, Silver has recorded an OMC cover for Paper Bag Record's awesome new (free!) covers compilation. I'd been meaning to post on CFCF for a while, but covering what is likely the Ack's favorite New Zealand one hit wonder moves you to the front of the queue. So, to get you up to speed with CFCF's work to date, I've posted a few songs below, but I strongly suggest you check out Continent, as I think it is the kind of album that most people wouldn't normally seek out, but is just a really great album that deserves to be heard.

Update: CFCF and Paper Bag made another track available for d/l today, Big Love, which is a Fleetwood Mac cover. Who knew? Anyway, I've added that song below.

MP3:: CFCF - Big Love

MP3:: CFCF - Monolith

MP3:: CFCF - How Bizarre (OMC cover)

MP3:: Sally Shapiro - Love In July (CFCF Remix)
MYSPACE:: www.myspace.com/cfcf

Labels: CFCF, Montreal, paper bag, Quick Hitters

Seeing as how this is merely an average Monday morning in November, I'm guessing many of you weren't overly psyched to greet the day. Well, let us turn that around quick fast: with a simple email to us you could win yourself 6 beautiful vinyl albums from Paper Bag Records. Yes friend, you read that correctly, not 1, not 2, and not even 3, but 6 lovely vinyl albums. And I do mean lovely (and somewhat rare):

All Paper Bag Records vinyl releases are produced in limited quantities on 180 gram vinyl, and feature unique silk screened covers and additional artwork. 300 copies - once they’re gone – they’re gone!





To recap, that's Josh Reichmann Oracle Band - Crazy Power, Little Girls - Concepts, Slim Twig - Contempt!, Winter Gloves - About a Girl, Woodhands - Heart Attack Rock Plaza - Central Are We Not Horses? and YSPWSD - XXXX. That's a whole lot of awesome right there. I mean, we've been fortunate to be able to run quite a few contests on the hill, but I think this one might just take the cake - so huge thanks to the kind folks at Paper Bag for letting us run it (and thanks to Darryl from StageFright for helping to hook it up).

So now, for the important info, how to win this rather excellent prize package. Simply drop us an email (herohill AT gmail DOT COM) with your name, details and the answer to this question: "Name the best thing you could hope to find in a mystery paper bag left on your doorstep" (we had to make you do a little work for a prize this good!). Feel free to leave the pertinent info in the comments as well. What are you waiting for, enter now!

Done! Congrats to Michael Elves and thanks to all who entered.

MP3:: Little Girls - Concepts

MP3:: You Say Party! We Say Die! - Laura Palmer's Prom

MP3:: Woodhands - Electric Ave

MP3:: Winter Gloves - Invisible (ease v Remix)
MYSPACE:: www.myspace.com/paperbagrecords

Labels: Contest, Little Girls, paper bag, Slim Twig, vinyl, Woodhands, YSPWSD

This Montreal quartet just released their debut EP - La saveur des fruits - and hot damn, Ce Soir is the type of song that stops you in your tracks. Before it even finishes you are already lunging for the back button and scouring the net for the ole back catalog. The melody moves deftly and confidently thanks to a nice electronic back beat but one mixed perfectly with organics to give the song a much needed human touch.

Luckily, the rest of the EP (while not as infectious) offers up well constructed, dark, subtle electronics and surprising depth. If La saveur des fruits is the first kick at the can for Monogrenade, the full-length should be something to behold.

Here the video for the first single to boot:

MP3:: Monogrenade - Ce Soir
MYSPACE:: http://www.myspace.com/monogrenade
BUY:: Shop @ Paper Bag records

Labels: Canada, monogrenade, Music, paper bag