Sweet Sweet Concorde - Life In the Canopy

Sweet Sweet Concorde are another great band from Sweden, another terrific release from Series Two Records and another slice of catchy hook filled indie pop. Composed of only one member named Anders, Life In The Canopy is a lovely collection of fun songs which he recorded all on his own in an apparently short period of time. All of the usual comparisons are evident (Belle and Sebastian, Loney Dear, Erlend Øye, etc) but there also seems to be a mild hint of mid 60's psychedelia if you listen close enough. This adds a touch of warm 'summer of love' sweetness to his already summery sounds. Among the album's highlights is Time To Die which is a sugary combination of subtle keys, cool rhythms and singalong doot-doot's. Carrot Cake is the obvious pop hit, a funny song that suggests that baking a cake may just be the ultimate romantic gesture. (Like what Pedro did in Napoleon Dynamite.) Superman Song is another hooky delight that is equal parts Teenage Fanclub and Chad and Jeremy. And the album closes with Armadillo Man, an upbeat number that reminds me of something that you would hear performed by a musical collective, even though once again, this is the work of only one man.

If your collection is in need of a little bit more accessible lo-fi pop music, and really, when can you ever have too much of that, then I highly suggest picking up Sweet Sweet Concorde's Life In The Canopy. It can be purchased for $10 USD (postage included) over at Series Two Records Online Store.

Download: Time To Die mp3

Download: Carrot Cake mp3

Video: The Picnic on youtube
Myspace: Sweet Sweet Concorde

Other stuff:
(London, ON:) Burgeoning Metropolis posted an excellent e-mail discussion with Black Hat Brigade. They'll be playing Lee's Palace on April 23rd. [Myspace: Black Hat Brigade]

I recently came across an amazing psych-rock band out of Montreal called The Sound Of Sea Animals who seem stellar. They're playing their first show in Toronto at The Legion (201 Niagara St) on April 18th, with Dinosaur Bones and Broken Bricks. Check out this live video of theirs. [Myspace: The Sound Of Sea Animals]

The Von Pip Musical Express has an interview with Emily Haines from Metric. Metric is playing a free in-store at HMV (333 Yonge St) today and then they play The Mod Club on April 14th. [Myspace: Metric]

Now Magazine has a feature and some interview clips of Olenka Krakus from Olenka and the Autumn Lovers. She is opening for Megan Hamilton tonight at The Rivoli and then she plays Wavelength at Sneaky Dee's on Sunday April 12th. [Myspace: Olenka and the Autumn Lovers]

And the fluff story of the week has to be Billy Bob Thornton's celebrity 'tude moment on Jian Ghomeshi's CBC Radio show Q yesterday. Yes, Billy Bob was rather perterbed at the fact that Jian had the nerve to mention his acting career, and decided to go all Joaquin Phoenix during the interview. Listening to the interview is fun, but watching it is 13 minutes of your life that you'll cherish forever. The video is being streamed on EW.com and The National Post. Now Magazine also has an article about the incident. Billy Bob is playing Massey Hall with his band The Boxmasters tonight, opening for Willie Nelson. [Myspace: The Boxmasters; Willie Nelson]

The Space Between Things - Songs About You EP

I've been following the evolution of local lo-fi phenom The Space Between Things (aka Chris Hobson) for over a year now, and it's frightening the amount of prolific output that has been created by this musical workaholic in that relatively short time. Other than the odd song being featured on a compilation or soundtrack however, the amount of stuff actually being exposed to more than a fleeting myspace appearance has been ridiculously low. The reason for this can only be attributed to Hobson's borderline obsessive nature in making sure that the music that is provided to the public meets his high standards of excellence. Thankfully the wait is finally over, now that this one man psych experience has made the Songs About You EP available to the masses. Upon hearing the release, it's become obvious to these ears that the result is well worth the effort put into it.

Perfecting a psychedelic lo-fi sound that is free of gimmick and pretentiousness is no easy task. Too many times have I come across an album that is made to sound like a basement recording, only to be irritated by the fact that the buzz and hiss involved is creating too much of a distraction to be endearing for long periods of time. Although Songs About You definitely has an earthy feel to it, the pristine production means that the sounds and effects are there to enhance the experience, not detract from it. Taking a cue from the early days of studio wizardry, this collection is a psychotropic journey unto itself; an amalgamation of highs and lows that enable the EP's 4 tracks to meld together into one satisfying piece of music, even without a literal segue. In fact, "the space between things" is a highly accurate moniker since it is the atmospheres and the white noises in between the melodies that are used to paint such a sonically menacing landscape. Even Hobson's singing is presented in an indistinct hush that makes it just one ingredient in the overall picture, as opposed to being the main ingredient.

The most obvious point of comparison can be found in the work of Rick White, most noticeably with Elevator, although Eric's Trip parallelism would be justified also. Fans of Guided By Voices and Sebadoh are also likely to find something interesting here. The Space Between Things has a couple more releases planned for this year, but for now, the entire Songs About You EP is available for free here.

Above photo from myspace.

Listen: Love's On The Run

Myspace: The Space Between Things

Other stuff:

The Waking Eyes' Rusty Matyas has apparently joined The Weakerthans. This is according to an article in Chart Magazine. The Waking Eyes are opening for The Weakerthans and The Constantines at The Phoenix on March 31st - April 2nd. [Myspace: The Weakerthans, The Constantines, Waking Eyes]

Metric's Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw express some thoughts on the recent online leak of their upcoming new release Fantasies, as well as some other comments on the album over at Clash Magazine. [Myspace: Metric]

Torquil Campbell of Stars and Memphis has started yet another new band called Dead Child Star, which also features Apostle of Hustle's Julian Harris Brown. Info on this new project is on Pitchfork. [Myspace: Dead Child Star]

Dinosaur Jr. has a new album entitled Farm that will be released on Jagjaguwar on June 23rd. Stereogum has some of the details. [Myspace: Dinosaur Jr.]

One of the strangest new releases I've heard about would be Iggy Pop's upcoming foray into french pop jazz entitled Préliminaires, set for release on June 2nd. If you're as confused as I am about this, hopefully Iggy will be answering some of your questions on an interactive online press conference over at the Iggy Pop Préliminaires Official Website being held tomorrow (Thursday March 26th) at 11am CET (6am EDT). [Myspace: Iggy Pop]

Deerhoof has an artsy new video for their equally artsy new song Eaguru Guru from their latest album Offend Maggie. It's up on Pitchfork. [Myspace: Deerhoof]

And finally, it's been a couple of years and I've been really craving some live Jay Farrar like nobody's business. Well, Son Volt has a new album slated for release in May, and it looks like a full tour cycle will follow the release of the new album. OK, that's not much in the form of new news on the Farrar front, but I'm just making it clear that I've been checking up regularly. [Myspace: Jay Farrar; Son Volt]