music and notes : : notes and music

(Clockwise from top left:) Sebastien Grainger, Tegan and Sara, Starfucker, Vive La Fête


When the whole world has turned into one giant, dirty, brown slushy what better way to kick off the week than with a playlist of guilty favourites?

Here they are, then, some old, some new, some borrowed, some blue:

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Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains - "Ways to come home"

Sebastien Grainger was one half of the now disbanded Death From Above 1979. He's since struck out on his own and tours under the moniker Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains. I love the driving rhythm and the melodramatic vocals on this track, which comes from American Names EP. The song reminds me very much of Broken Social Scene, so now I think of it as having a quintessential Canadian sound. Which is rubbish, of course, because there is no "quintessential Canadian sound", but there you go.

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Tegan and Sara - "You wouldn't like me"

More catchy than herpes (okay, yes, that's gross. So let's just say: very, very catchy). Listen to this a couple of times, crank it up, and then try and resist singing along loudly (while playing air guitar). I think it may actually be humanly impossible to hear this and not want to sing along. Go on, then, try it. I dare you.

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Starfucker - "Rawnald Gregory Erikson The Second"

This song makes me very happy.

That is all.

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Vive La Fête - "Noir Désir"

The chronicle of a messed up, twisted love affair from Belgian couple Danny Mommens and Els Pynoo, otherwise known as Vive La Fête.

Messy. Neurotic. Twisted.

Play it loud.

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[Sebastien Granger and the Mountains - MySpace] [Tegan and Sara - MySpace] [Starfucker - MySpace] [Vive La Fête - MySpace]

Labels: Electronica, Indie, Pop, Sebastien Granger, Starfucker, Tegan and Sara, Vive La Fete

Not that I need validation or anything -- no, not at all, who, me? -- but Filter Magazine has just listed Tegan and Sara's Back in Your Head in their Top 5 picks.*

People of taste, that lot.

And it's not like I'm gonna rename this blog the Tegan and Sara blog any time soon, but les filles will invariably show up here a rather a lot.

As is only right, fair, and just.

Also: they've released their singles The Con and Back In Your Head on iTunes. (What are you waiting for? Get on over there!)

Update: More denizens from the Land of Discerning Taste: I see Salon has just made Back In Your Head their song of the day. (Note: You'll probably need a day pass to access the site.)


*Hat Tip to i guess i'm floating

Labels: Canada, Filter, Tegan and Sara

Tegan and Sara's new album -- called The Con, and not officially due out till July 24 -- was unceremoniously and messily leaked all over the internet nearly two months early.

This was Sara Quin's actual response to the album leak, posted on their MySpace page:

...we are sad that the album has already leaked. but there isn't much you can do these days to stop it! so, looking on the bright side, there's no excuse for anyone to not sing along to the new songs at the shows coming up.

...i hope that you will still pick up our album when it comes out. or buy it on itunes. OR do none of that, but still know every word to every song and clap above your head, even if you have to put your smoothie or beer or water on the sticky ground. (You can read the full post here).

And I loved her postscript:

i have downloaded leaked albums before. so i am not trying to seem like a creepy school teacher slapping your ears with a ruler. i swear.

Gracious, witty, insouciant -- and that's just the blog posts. Imagine how disarming they might be in person?

I rate this band. I really do. In fact, I probably have a 3,000 word post about Tegan and Sara floating around in me somewhere. But (lucky for you) now is not the time, nor the place.

Suffice it to say, I've heard the new album. (I've already written about how music addiction will drive one to occasional acts of criminal behaviour.)

I've heard it, and I loved it.

It's a grower, and those are, by far, my favourite kind of albums.

I'm not going to write anymore about it until the album proper comes out (at which time I'll buy the CD and the DVD), but the twins have already put up a teaser for their avid and restless fans.

And here's a couple of lesser-knowns from the vaults, because, well, why not?

1. We Didn't Do It
2. Trouble
3. Walking With a Ghost (Morgan Page Bootleg Remix)

Labels: Canada, Indie, Pop, Tegan and Sara