Posts Tagged ‘apostle of hustle’

The Singing Lamb Tuesday Twelve: Vol. I

September 8th, 2009 | By: Guest Contributor

Shad

Shad

Welcome to the first edition of what I hope to make a regular weekly feature on the Lamb; the Tuesday Twelve, twelve new songs that you need to hear immediately, with no adherence to genres (this week we have everything from dancehall reggae to Canadian hip-hop to scuzzy blues rock), themes, or nationalities of the artists/bands.  What I’ll be doing is searching through the blogosphere (yes, that does include Pitchfork and Hype Machine), podcasts, magazines, radio stations, my own personal iTunes, to bring you the coolest new tracks that’ll make you want to sing, make you want to dance, make you want to cry (maybe even all three at the same time).  As always, feel free to comment if you liked (or disliked) a track I recommended, and tell me about the songs that you think I should hear.  Enjoy!

Ghostface Killah & MF DOOM – “Chinatown Wars (Oh No Remix)”

This just in: Wu-Tang still ain’t nothing to fuck with. On this track – written as the theme song for the latest in the Grand Theft Auto video game series – Ghost (who from the likes of this track, and his recent appearance on MSTRKRFT’s “Word Up”, is having a timely career revival) spits battle raps like a true veteran, over a bubbling beat cooked up by Oh No and fake blood-in-the-streets news broadcasts. MF DOOM is no slouch on this track either, as he raps about twisting some unfortunate soul’s limbs “like pilates” – nice to see that the man who has a affinity for hiding behind a mask can rhyme about more than food and NSFW Adult Swim cartoons.  If you’re maintaining any beefs with anyone at the moment, you need this song on your iPod.

Shad feat. Dallas Green and TLO – “…in the Black of Night (Freestyle)”

See folks, this is what happens when you gather a bunch of awesome artists, throw them in tour buses, and get them to play all across North America during the summer:  you get awesome collaborations like this one between Calgary rapper Shad, Alexisonfire crooner Dallas Green, and his DJ TLO.  Recorded during a late night on the punk rock carnival that is the Vans Warped Tour, Shad spits some clever rhymes about touring, recording and of course, Wu-Tang.  Show of hands, who would like to see guest rappers on the next Alexis album?  That’s what I thought.  Credit to EXCLAIM! for this one.

The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Don’t Haunt This Place”

It seems that every other week, we are hearing about the next big indie rock band that hail from Toronto.  Here’s the truth: a lot of the hype about these new bands is bullshit.  Not to dump on the city’s incredibly rich and diverse music scene, but many of these indie rock bands are just boring, generic imitations of better bands before them.  Fortunately for us, The Rural Alberta Advantage (also known by the space-saving acronym, The RAA), aren’t one of those bands.  Consisting of  lead singer and guitarist Nil Endenloff, keyboardist and backup singer Amy Cole, and drummer Paul Banwatt (you know him as the drummer from Woodhands), the band has seen their stock steadily rising, which has so far culminated in being signed to indie powerhouse label Saddle Creek, re-releasing their stellar debut folk-rock album Hometowns, and a (by all accounts) huge recent hometown show at the Horseshoe this past July.  Expect big things from this trio in the near future.

Joel Plaskett – “Through & Through & Through”

Returning home for the first time in eight months, only to find that I had become a stranger in the eyes who people who I had once considered friends. Working in the kitchens of a summer camp that was plunged into swine flu paranoia, after several campers showed signs and were quickly quarantined.  The godawful summer weather that Nova Scotia experienced throughout all of July, which is only now beginning to look up in August.  Yet, for all the terrible (and terribly boring) stuff that I’ve gone through the past two months, the song that will always remind me of summer ’09 is this breezy, upbeat tune from Nova Scotian guitar troubadour Plaskett.  And if there’s a pop song this summer that had better (or more Nova Scotian for that matter) lyrics than, “You be April Stevens, I’ll be April Wine /You be Israel, I will be Palestine”, than I’ve yet to hear it. Could Plaskett’s recent ambitious triple-album, Three, finally be enough for voters to give him his first – and very deserved – Polaris Prize?  Only time will tell…

Apostle Of Hustle – “Eazy Speaks”

Recently Apostle Of Hustle’s frontman Andrew Whiteman told CBC Radio 3 that this song – named after the infamous rapper Eazy E – was inspired by a rock spray-painted with the words “Eazy speaks” that the band saw in rural Quebec while on route to a show in Prince Edward Island.   Myself, I think its a fantastic thought:  what if dead musicians could give us advice from beyond the grave?  Michael Jackson would then be able to inform us of the pitfalls of facial reconstruction surgery (sorry, too soon?), Elvis would tell us to stay away from Vegas and over-eating in general, and Kurt Cobain would advise us to never, ever, <i>ever</i> trust anyone named Courtney Love.  In this case, it would seem that Eazy told Apostle Of Hustle to “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” and write a catchy, riff-filled number like this one.

Major Lazer feat. T.O.K. and Ms. Thing – “Bruk Out”

Bawdy sex raps!  Pitch-tweaked vocals! Off-the-wall futuristic Jamaican dancehall reggae!  It can only mean one thing: globetrotting DJ extraordinaire Diplo and his fellow co-conspirator, the producer Switch, are back with a whole new bag of tricks.  I’ve recommended Major Lazer – Diplo and Switch’s latest project featuring a slew of guest vocalists that you’ve never heard of (and some that you have) – to you before, but if you haven’t picked up their album Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do, you should make that a priority.  Just in time for summer house parties, comes the duo’s blunt-smoking, skirt-chasing (sample line from this song: “I met Jill/She was a stripper/She said she wanted to undo my zipper”) love letter to Kingston’s dancehall and reggae scene.  Plus, you know you’ve made it when GQ magazine features you and recommends Red Bull and vodka as the “appropriate companion drug”.  This is some next-level shit right here folks.

Grizzly Bear vs. Lil Wayne – “2 Weeks ’til Prom (The Soundmen Mashup)”

Strangest mashup album ever?  New York City outfit The Soundmen recently released a three-song EP, which mashes songs from indie rock darlings-of-the-moment Grizzly Bear and the always bizarre, but usually entertaining Lil Wayne.  The title of this album? Vecktaflyest.  Perfect.  Listen to this one for yourself and decide whether its a trainwreck or not, but anything that manages to pair “Two Weeks” and “Prom Queen” together is worth a listen at least once in my books.  Download the album and read more over at Paste here.

Wale feat. Peter, Bjorn & John – “Nothing To Worry About”

Everything about this track screams “official hipster summer anthem”.  The newest single from Sweden’s biggest pop music export since ABBA, the whistling, Grey’s Anatomy-endorsed trio Peter, Bjorn and John?  Check.  Behind raps from Washington, D.C.’s next-great-hope, Wale, who so far in his career, has free-styled over Justice, managed to find a use for Lady Gaga’s sex-cyborg “singing”, and released an excellent Seinfield-themed mixtape? Check.  On a hot new mixtape called Back To The Future, produced and mixed by 9th Wonder and Nick Catchdubs, available online for the very agreeable price of free?  Check.  For all the hype surrounding Wale, there’s no denying the man has serious skills on the microphone.  We’re still waiting for his hotly-anticipated debut full-length, Attention: Deficit, which is scheduled to be out September 22nd, but this ought to be enough to tide us over until then.

Jay-Z feat. Rihanna & Kanye West – “Run This Town”

Is there anybody worse in the musical world than Mr. Shawn Carter, aka Jay-Z, when it comes to this “retiring” business?  The man’s put out two albums (the critically-maligned Kingdom Come and the much better American Gangster) after he said he was leaving the game for good, and on the not-so-subtle release date of September 11th, we can expect the third. The Blueprint III has rumoured to have been in the works for quite some time, and now some of the new songs are starting to leak, much to the delight of serious fans who consider this album to be akin to the rap equivalent of the Holy Grail.  This one has Jay rhyming like he’s just getting into his prime, a nice poppy hook from Rihanna (the role she was born to play), and some hot lines from Kanye, who also produced the album.  This album’s going to be a monster.

K-OS feat. Emily Haines & Murray Lightburn – “Uptown Girl”

Replace Jay-Z with a soulful K-OS doing his best Michael Jackson impression, Metric’s mistress Emily Haines filling in for Rihanna, and The Dears’ frontman Murray Lightburn providing Kanye-worthy backup vocals (okay, that one’s a bit of a stretch), and you basically have the Canadian version of “Run This Town”.  While this is the second single from K-OS’ latest record, Yes!, it serves as an excellent showcase for all three artists on the track, who are arguably at the peaks of their careers. Lightburn and The Dears just put out their well-received fourth album, Missiles.  Haines and her boy in Metric also have a hot new album, and have been playing summer festivals here there and everywhere, not to mention an upcoming show at Toronto’s legendary Massey Hall in October.  As for K-OS, he’s been playing packed shows from coast-to-coast and this new album should solidify his reputation as one of the country’s best rappers.

Arctic Monkeys – “Crying Lightning”

They got us to put on our dancing shoes, taught us that “D Is For Dangerous”, and still think you look pretty damn good on the dancefloor.  Yes kids, that’s right: everyone’s favourite Sheffield garage-rockers, the Arctic Monkeys, are back and once again preparing for world domination…I mean, a world tour.  This one is in support of their upcoming third album, entitled Humbug, which is being produced by Queens of the Stone Age head honcho Josh Homme, and is scheduled to be in stores on August 25th.  You can listen to the new single, “Crying Lightning”, over at the Monkeys’ MySpace here.  The Toronto stop on the tour is September 28th at the Sound Academy and if you don’t have a ticket, well…tough luck.

The Dead Weather – “Treat Me Like Your Mother (Diplo Remix)”

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few months, you probably know already that this is Jack White’s new band.  And if you know anything about me, or the type of music I usually listen to (you’ve read this far, haven’t you?), than you know its impossible for me to remain unbiased about The Dead Weather.  I’ve been a fan of Jack, and a true believer that anything he touches turns to gold, ever since my father brought home The White Stripes’ White Blood Cells several years ago.   As frontman for the Stripes (and of course, later The Raconteurs), he’s a true Guitar Hero, and is hopefully destined to go down in musical history as the Robert Plant or Bob Dylan of our generation.  And can you blame White for getting Alison Mosshart to play a Nico-esque muse to his Andy Warhol?  As the female half of The Kills, Mosshart is gorgeous, and has the pipes to match her looks.  Throw in Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age and a Raconteur (Jack Lawrence), and you have yourself one hell of a band.  Download Diplo’s remix of Horehound’s first single for free over at RCD LBL.com.

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[NXNE] This Book is Broken Book Launch @ Courthouse

June 27th, 2009 | By: Melody Lau

Broken Social Scene @ Courthouse (Photo Credit: Matthew Braga)

Broken Social Scene @ Courthouse (Photo Credit: Matthew Braga)

When you have an event name like the “This Book is Broken Book Launch” who else would you expect the special guests to be? It sure ain’t the Arcade Fire. Needless to say, everyone had their good guesses prior to the show (Feist, Stars, Metric, and any Arts & Crafts affiliated bands) but the only logical guess had to be the night’s celebrated stars themselves, Broken Social Scene.

As soon as one walked in, photos were plastered across the two screens on the left and right sides of the walls of the venue and it was quite hard to miss the signs and hints – especially if you turn around and then proceed to see Broken Social Scene’s lead singer Kevin Drew and drummer Justin Peroff mingling with folks on the side of the stage.

The night began with A&C and BSS alumni Jason Collett. Collett’s set was a quite full of new tunes from his upcoming album, coming this fall, fleshed out with a couple of older songs (“Brownie Hawkeye”, “Charlyn, Angel of Kensington”). As per usual, Collett played a solid set of folksy Dylan-rock tunes, more suited for a sunny afternoon on your porch with a beer in hand as opposed to a disco balled nightclub. That was my main peeve of the night – Jason Collett in a jazz lounge? May as well stick Celine Dion at the Velvet Underground. Albeit, regardless of venue, Collett is fantastic live and his raspy voice sinks into your ears ever so smoothly when he sings, but the dynamics were just slightly skewed. For those who want to catch a real Jason Collett vibe at a show, you should’ve caught his residency at the Dakota Tavern last year. I’m sure we’ll get more opportunities though, come October when his album drops. Oh, and how can I forget – this man can dance.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/jasoncollettofficial

Next up were two of Arts & Crafts’ newest members, The Happiness Project (Charles Spearin) and Years (Ohad Benchetrit). Intertwining their sets together, both bands had their share of sound and equipment fumbles. At one point, during Years’ set, Broken Social Scene frontman Kevin Drew leapt onstage to entertain the audience and express his love for Benchetrit while problems were being sorted out. Once technical roadblocks were cleared up though, both sets continued on quite smoothly. Suffering from the same symptoms of previous act, Jason Collett, both Years and The Happiness Project also felt out of place at the swanky Courthouse. Having seen The Happiness Project play in March at the atmospherically intimate Music Gallery, it wasn’t the same seeing Charles Spearin, violinist Julie Penner and company playing in the Courthouse’s environment. Performance-wise though, both acts played very endearing sets of material from their recent releases and the audience seemed to be equally mesmerized by their simplistic, soft sounds. Definitely two acts that prove to be captivating both live and on record.

MySpace (The Happiness Project): http://www.myspace.com/charlesspearin
Website (Years): http://www.yearsmusic.ca/

At this point, it hit me – none of these bands are suited for a venue like the Courthouse. But it’s a book launch. It’s Broken Social Scene. It’s a fucking small stage. How rare is that? Suck it up and enjoy it.

Apostle of Hustle were the second last act of the night, before the “special guests” and it was about time they picked up the tempo. Lead singer, Andrew Whiteman is quite possibly one of the best performers out there today; this man knows how to grab your attention by the proverbial horns and make you watch him as he sings, dances and jumps around onstage. This band has yet to disappoint me live. Reinterpretations of songs such as “National Anthem of Nowhere” and “Cheap Like Sebastien” keep their live shows fresh and interesting; and combined with exciting new tracks from their latest release, Eats Darkness, one can’t help but dance and sway along to their folksy, Latin toe-tapping melodies. Even Whiteman’s bandmates in Broken Social Scene were dancing along on the side; it’s that infectious. Pick up a record, buy a concert ticket, do anything you can do get a taste of Apostle of Hustle if you haven’t yet. It’ll be worth it. And this is coming from an unemployed, broke student.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/apostleofhustle

Alas, it’s midnight. Author of This Book is Broken and singer of the Two Koreas, Stuart Berman, walks onstage to introduce the last band of the night, and by the sight of Kevin Drew, Andrew Whiteman, Justin Peroff, Evan Cranley and many more waiting on the side, it’s kind of hard to not guess by then. And if you couldn’t guess by seeing that line of musicians, you weren’t at the right show. The moment they stepped onstage, the crowd roared; the loudest applause of the night. There was one last surprise in store for the crowd though, as Leslie Feist (who had stated months ago in an interview that she was never going to play with BSS again) skipped onstage after the first song to sing along to “7/4 Shoreline”. By then, chaos ensued, dancing erupted and smiles were permanently painted on everyone’s face. The band played a total of five new songs, one of which Feist did guest on. The new material more or less reflected the typical Broken Social Scene mould, with a slightly refreshed tinge to it. One particular track though – not sure of the title – felt particularly out of place and it is clear from listening to it that the band still needs lots of work on the new record. It was mostly impressive, but seeing as how it was their first time previewing these tracks, they are extremely tentative and the band doesn’t look completely comfortable with them yet. It’ll be interesting to see these tracks progress as they play more shows this summer. The rest of the set, which consisted of rarely played classics (“New Country”, “Almost Crimes”) was spectacular and everyone in the band and in the audience breathed a sigh of relief and excitement to break open a chest of older tunes. Broken Social Scene will always be an incredible experience live and that you’ll remember for weeks, if not months, afterwards. Was this Broken Social Scene at its best? Probably not. But it was pretty darn close. Perfect way to end this book launch? With a one-song performance by the Two Koreas, featuring Kevin Drew and Justin Peroff, who learned the song on the spot. Fuck yes.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/brokensocialscene

Missed Broken Social Scene at NXNE? Catch them for free at Harbourfront Centre on July 11th!

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Wayne Petti @ Music Gallery – May 29, 2009

June 17th, 2009 | By: Jeff Jewiss

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Apostle of Hustle @ Music Gallery – May 29th, 2009

June 16th, 2009 | By: Jeff Jewiss

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News Update!

June 11th, 2009 | By: Melody Lau

Ghost Bees

Ghost Bees

Disappointed by the slew of Toronto Island shows that have been cancelled this summer? Well, there’s always the 3rd Annual Poor Pilgrim Island Show! Taking place on June 28th, with performances from The Silt, Castlemusic, Nifty, Isla Craig, Bruce Trail, Transcendental, Ghost Bees, $100 and many more, this show is definitely worth taking a ferry to. Yes, I understand it’s no Virgin Festival or Broken Social Scene lovefest, but it’s got a kickass line up and how can you say no to a “Musical Scavenger Hunt”? That title literally put together the two best things in life – music and scavenger hunts. For more information, click here!

Miike Snow will be opening for Lykke Li at the Sound Academy on August 9th.

ZS, Child Bite, Feuermusik, and Talk Normal will be at the Boat on June 28th. Tickets will be $8.00 at the door!

The beloved Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine will be at the Phoenix on July 26th.

If you miss out on Health next week at NXNE, don’t panic. The LA band will return on September 19th for a record release show at Wrongbar with Pictureplane and guests.

Speaking of NXNE – too poor to attend this year? Not old enough to go to 99% of the shows? Head over to Criminal Records! The following shows will be going down:

June 16th – Apostle of Hustle (7:00 pm)
June 19th – Said the Whale (6:00 pm) and The Daredevil Christopher Wright (7:00 pm)
July 1st – Black Joe & The Honeybears (time TBA)

Two more in-stores will be announced soon! Apostle of Hustle will also be at MTV Live on Wednesday June 17th (right before their set at the Courthouse, as part of Broken Social Scene’s Book Launch Party). Said the Whale will be releasing a limited-edition 7″ this fall that will feature their latest single, “The Magician (Camilo)” along with other tracks: “Strong Swimmers”, “Love is Art” and “Upset Her” – watch for that and definitely check them out at Criminal Records!

Little Boots will be in town on September 14th for a gig at Wrongbar. Tickets will be on sale this Friday and it will be 19+. I was originally thrown off by a bad (live) review of Little Boots that I had read on Pitchfork a while ago but I am going to see her for the following reasons: a) I’ve really grown to love her music and b) I read it off Pitchfork. Pitchfork reviews are like weather forecasts in Toronto lately – always shitty and sometimes off; you’d have to go and see for yourself. Then again, maybe I just don’t check the forecast often enough. Either way, I’m seeing her.

The Fiery Furnaces have a new song out called “The End is Near”. Click here to listen/download.

Yes, Le Tigre are indeed “still a band” according to lead singer Kathleen Hanna in a recent MySpace blog post. And yes, they are working with Christina Aguilera. What’s wrong with that? Read more about this collaboration and the state of Le Tigre here.

Venice is Sinking still don’t have any Toronto dates lined up yet, as it was explained in a recent interview with The Singing Lamb, but if you happen to be in the States this summer, here are some of their current tour dates!

06/18/09 – Atlanta, GA
06/19/09 – Decatur, GA
06/27/09 – Athens, GA
07/08/09 – Charlotte, NC
07/09/09 – New York, NY
07/10/09 – New York, NY
07/11/09 – Chapel Hill, NC
07/12/09 – Columbia, SC
07/18/09 – Savannah, GA
07/24/09 – Athens, GA
07/30/09 – Lexington, KY
07/31/09 – Champaign, IL
08/01/09 – Daytrotter Session
08/01/09 – St. Louis, MO
08/07/09 – Orlando, FL
08/08/09 – Tampa, FL (Ybor City)

And last but not least, June 7th is officially Julie Doiron Day in Bruno, Saskatchewan. I suggest we all celebrate though. Come June 7th, 2010, I expect to see everyone busting out their Julie Doiron or Eric’s Trip albums and dancing along to her sweet tunes. Read more and watch a video clip of the news here.

PSST: No Age will be the ‘surprise’ guests at the Whippersnapper on June 18th, as part of NXNE. If anyone asks, I didn’t tell you.

Happy listening!

Musically,
Melody

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Let’s Chat: Apostle of Hustle

June 1st, 2009 | By: Melody Lau

Apostle of Hustle

Apostle of Hustle

The Singing Lamb: You’re new album Eats Darkness was originally intended to be an EP. How did it come about to be a full length?

Andrew Whiteman: When I was close to finishing, I gave it to my A&R guy and he really liked it and wanted it to be more.

Kevin Drew?

Yeah.

Does he have a lot of input on your music normally?

No, but he does like to see what’s going on once in a while.

How do you feel that Eats Darkness is different or built upon your past two records?

I don’t know about built upon; it’s a little early for ‘built upon’. I suppose the record is different; it’s a tighter concept because it kind of became a concept as it was becoming born so it’s tighter and a little shorter. It’s more concentrated though, I guess.

Do you feel like by now, you’re band has found your sound?

We’re getting there. We’re all lifelong musicians and we’re all pretty restless people so I think we’re starting to come into this record with our sound. Maybe when we’re old geezers, we’ll get there.

For this current tour, you held a contest to find opening bands. How did the idea come about?

I don’t really feel close to many bands, stylistically and it’s hard to pair up. Also when you do find someone you like, they may not like you or maybe the schedules just don’t work; there are all these reasons. So rather than having that headache over and over again, it just made more sense to reach out to people that actually listen to our music and like it. That way you start finding out about bands that you had no idea about and that’s really interesting to see what 19-year-old kids are up to that happen to listen to our band and want to open for us. We’ve found some crazy music by listening to what people send in and it was really good.

Who’s opening tonight?

Wayne Petti, who’s in the treasured Canadian band, Cuff The Duke is opening for us!

How do you think his music complements your music?

I’d say Wayne’s solo music has got a lonely-guy vibe to it doesn’t it. It’s going to be amazing to hear him in a church tonight because he’s got a hell of a whistle!

I’ve seen him play here!

Oh, you have?

Yeah, he was really good!

Yeah, so he can definitely set up a lonely traveler kind of mood. It’s very emotional.

What do you think about the internet and MySpace nowadays and what that has done to music?

I try and be positive about it. I was thinking that maybe the digital, allowing everyone to make music in their bedroom would maybe make it so that music was more of a thing of our lives, like just a natural part of our lives. Like it is in many other countries where everyone’s uncle can play or everyone pretty much can play something or sing and participate in the music somehow – more of a family thing, more of a community thing, more of a cultural thing. And maybe more people would do that but it hasn’t done that yet; it might do that but it needs to create miniature celebrity kingdoms. Many more than like in the 70s, when Zeppelin or Olivia Newton John or whatever – those super giant celebrity kingdoms. Now there’s a lot more and a lot smaller ones.

You recently moved to Montreal. Why?

Well you know; I know every inch of Toronto; it’s time to go! I would’ve left years ago if I wasn’t so busy leaving all the time and coming back.

How do you feel there? Are you slowly getting acquainted with everything there?

I feel great! I just bought a bike so I’m reaching out. I spent the winter tramping around the block so when I get back there in a couple of days, I’m going to go for a spin!

Do you miss it here in Toronto?

The only I miss about Toronto so far is Kensington Market, really. Not that there aren’t other places but they sure know how to fuck up a good thing. There’s lovely people and a lot of great art and things going on. It’s not a single-handed bulldozed over everything I love about Toronto; there’s a lot of people doing very inspiring things but I don’t really see – well I don’t see it anywhere else either – but I certainly don’t see a lot of progressive chances being taken here. You know what I mean? In terms of urban planning, we’re lucky enough to have someone like Jane Jacobs live in this city as she did and we don’t take her advice so what the fuck. Although bike lane on Jarvis! That’s good; was great to read that a few days ago. Small steps I guess, right?

Right! I’ve also heard that you haven’t read the new Broken Social Scene book yet.

Nope.

Why not?

Well I’m not interested, am I?

Were you part of it? Were you interviewed?

Didn’t you read it?

Not yet!

Ha! Look, yeah for sure I was interviewed. I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’m not interested in it; I wasn’t from the beginning. But I put my two cents in – “Guess what guys, this is a stupid idea, don’t do it,” – but I guess I got outvoted. Also Stuart Berman’s a good friend of mine and I find when I read his record reviews and listen to his band, and I’ve gone to see his band a few times, I really like Stuart’s aesthetic. I don’t think it’s a bad book, I guess. I think it’s a really myopic thing to do. You can get super cynical and think “Who’s making money off this book?” The band isn’t making money, perhaps there’s a charity involved; I don’t even know that degree of what’s happening. Someone’s making money off selling this, you know what I mean? What’s with the backslapping? What’s with the celebritization? Jesus Christ.

You’d never do that with Apostle of Hustle, would you?

No, for Christ’s sake! You can go back 100 years and find some sheet music of the most popular songs 100 years ago. You know what? You wouldn’t know any of those people or anything of those tunes and those people were like the hitmeisters, they were the hipsters and the scenesters of the day! Could anyone around remember a song from 100 years ago? Probably not; so get some perspective people. We’re just workers.

How does it feel to record and play with Broken Social Scene again? Was it the same as before?

No no! It’ll never be the same. Which is, in one sense too bad because you really don’t get that long of whatever…for the lack of a better word, an innocent moment. So no, its not the same as before, it’s very different. Some things are the same. There’s still Charlie’s incredibly bassy hook lines and Kevin and his falsetto – that’s pretty much all that’s the same. Brendan’s playing a lot of guitar, we’ve got Sammy around; Peroff’s probably about 15-20 BPMs lower than he was! The beats he’s choosing aren’t quite as “mmmm!” *snaps his fingers* as six or seven years ago but other than that, it’s the same. We just started so I don’t know who the cast of characters will be in this particular movie but there will be one.

Awesome; well I look forward to hearing it! Finally, if you were a singing animal, what would you be?

Right, because you’re the singing lamb! Do all animals sing?

No, but you can make one up or be hypothetical with your answer!

I guess I’d be the matriarch of an elephant pod.

Why?

Because I read a great book by a Canadian called The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy. It’s a really great story about elephants and I didn’t know this but elephants communicate by sending vibrational signals, sonic vibrations through the ground and they can feel. So I want to be that!

For more Apostle of Hustle,
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/apostleofhustle
Website: http://www.arts-crafts.ca/apostleofhustle/

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News Update!

May 26th, 2009 | By: Melody Lau

One Hundred Dollars

One Hundred Dollars

I apologize for the lack of updates lately; I’ll try my best to keep you guys up-to-date more often! In fact, if someone could find me a job [desperate plea alert], I promise I’ll update the site every day! It’s a challenge, Lamb readers, but if you can do it, I’ll owe you big time. [Okay; enough begging] But for more Lamb news every day, make sure to follow me on Twitter! Some updates are random and useless (e.g. “My legs apparently don’t work today; I tripped three times on the street. One woman gave me the deepest look of concern.”) but many of them are actually music-related (e.g. “Rock Plaza Central @ Sonic Boom tonight (7 pm) – see you there! Oh, and Dog Dag tomorrow @ Soundscapes (6 pm); crazy!”)!

Also, congrats to Jordan W. for winning a pair of tickets to Slim Twig and a copy of Contempt! Thanks to everyone who entered! There are still two contests running, so don’t forget to enter those!

Here’s some news!

The aforementioned St. Vincent show at Lee’s Palace is going to be at the Horseshoe now. So mark that down – Horseshoe, not Lee’s! Which also means you better buy your tickets before they sell out. You can stream St. Vincent’s recent show in Washington, D.C. now on NPR.

One Hundred Dollars will be playing “their only full band show in Toronto for the summer” on June 12th. Opening for them will be Deep Dark Woods and Jason Benoit; definitely not a show you’ll want to miss out on! Tickets go on sale this Friday for $8.00. This show is 19+.

1990s recently canceled their June 3rd date at the Horseshoe, along with several other tour stops due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

The Witchies will be opening for Sunset Rubdown at Lee’s on July 10th. Tickets are on sale now for $13.00. This show is 19+.

In addition to opening for Camera Obscura at Lee’s in June, Anni Rossi will also open for Micachu at El Mocambo on July 14th. Tickets are on sale now for $12.00. This show is 19+.

Other Show Announcements:
The Lemonheads @ Lee’s (July 4th, $20.00, 19+)
Peter Murphy @ Opera House (July 11th)
The Charlatans, Hatcham Social @ The Mod Club (September 23rd)
Electric Prunes, Love, Sky Saxon @ Lee’s (August 14th, $25.00, 19+)
Company of Thieves, Blackie Jackett Jr. @ Drake (June 2nd, $10.00, 19+)
Man Man @ Lee’s (July 13th, $15.50, 19+)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have a new video out for “Heads Will Roll” (from their latest release, It’s Blitz!). Watch here.

Regina Spektor has not one, but two new videos out! Watch “Laughing With” here and “Dance Anthem of the 80s” here!

Apostle of Hustle’s Andrew Whiteman was recently on Exclaim! TV’s Garageland. Watch here. Also, don’t miss them at the Music Gallery this Friday; tickets are still on sale for $22.00. This show is all-ages.

And last but not least, the Polaris Prize long list will be announced on June 15th this year, followed by the short list on July 7th. The Polaris Prize, just as a reminder, is an annual prize that is given out to the album, that’s decided upon by a jury, who is believed to have been the “best album of the year”. Along with the title, the winner also receives $20,000 and some bragging rights. Eligible candidates must’ve put out a record between June 1, 2008 to May 31, 2009. Past winners included Final Fantasy – He Poos Clouds (2006), Patrick Watson – Closer Than Paradise (2007) and Caribou – Andorra (2008). The winner this year will be announced at a gala celebration in Toronto on September 21st, 2009. Who do YOU think should be nominated?

Happy listening!

Musically,
Melody

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News Update!

May 13th, 2009 | By: Melody Lau

Amy Millan

Amy Millan

As we all know, free things are up there on the list of miraculous gifts from God. In this case, God is Harbourfront. This summer’s World Routes Festival line-up was recently announced and performers includeFaduma Nkrumah, The Constantines, Chad Vangaalen (Canada Day), King Sunny Ade, Femi Kuti, Hiplife(July 3-5), Holy Fuck, Winter Gloves (July 10-12), Jenn Grant, Gentleman Reg, Amy Millan (July 24-26) and many more. For the full list, click here. ‘For the Records’ also reports that Julie Fader and dd/mm/yyyy will be part of the festivities. And yes, all these shows are FREE. Thank you, kind folks of Habourfront, for understanding out financial crunches.

Bell Orchestre will also be playing a free show at Harbourfront, but as part of Luminato, on June 13.

For those dying of anticipation for this year’s Edgefest, there will be an Edgefest preview show at Velvet Underground on Saturday May 30th featuring Still Life Still, Dinosaur Bones and La Casa Muerte. This is going to be an all-ages show and tickets are on sale now for $10.00!

Apostle of Hustle’s new album Eats Darkness (due out May 19th) can be streamed on their MySpace now. They will have their CD release show at the Music Gallery on May 29th and they’ll also be part of this year’s Olympic Island Fest on July 11th (featuring Broken Social Scene, Beach House, Explosions in the Sky, and more).

Lykke Li will be returning to Toronto on August 9th, for a show at the Sound Academy.

Ohbijou have finally announced a new date for their CD release show, which was postponed earlier last month. They will be at the Opera House on June 25th; tickets purchased for the April 18th show will be honoured for this show.

Bob Dylan has a new video out for “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” (from his latest release, Together Through Life). Watch here.

The Josh Reichmann Oracle Band covers Bat For Lashes’ “Daniel”. Click here to listen.

According to Chart, Islands have finished recording a new album, titled Vapours, and it will be released sometime in September. The Montreal band will be in town on June 27th for a free show as part of Pride Week.

The Shins recently played a new song entitled “Double Bubble” in Los Angeles. Watch and listen here.

Glasser has a new video out for “Apply”. Watch here.

Love is All also has a new video out for “Last Choice”. Watch here.

Happy listening!

Musically,
Melody

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Don’t Worry, Be Happy

April 17th, 2009 | By: Guest Contributor

Mastodon

Mastodon

This post was originally written for April 17th, 2009

Sunshine and temperatures in the mid-teens? Could it be spring at last? Here’s some news!

After recent, massive lineup announcements for festivals including Osheaga, Over The Top and Olympic Island, there has been a lot of rumors as to who might appear at the 15th annual North by Northeast Music & Film Festival Conference (NXNE), which takes place June 17-21. Thanks to this little story from NOW, we know several acts confirmed, including Black Lips, Fake Blood, HEALTH, King Khan & BBQ Show, No Age andMatt & Kim. The Singing Lamb can also confirm that Halifax’s Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees and Calgary’sWoodpigeon. We of course will be covering the festival, and look for some special announcements from us in the upcoming weeks about NXNE and other events this summer.

For those of you with tickets to the sold-out The National show on May 21st at the Kool Haus – only 35 days! – opening for the band will be Brooklyn’s Colin Stetson. An avant-garde multi-instrumentalist – but most notably as a baritone saxophonist, I discovered today that Stetson has a remarkable musical resume, which includes touring alongside Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre and recording with the likes of Tom Waits and TV On The Radio. He recently released a mostly experimental jazz album, entitled New History Warfare Vol. 1, that you can listen to songs from on Stetson’s website or his MySpace.

Atlanta heavy metal band Mastodon know a thing or two about concept albums, and their fourth full-length Crack The Skye, tackles “art aesthetics of Tsarist Russia, astral travel, out of body experiences and Stephen Hawking’s theories on wormholes”. A combination of metal riffs, prog rock, average song lengths over five minutes and the crushing vocals of Troy Sanders and Brent Hinds, this album will knock you flat on your ass and not stop to apologize. Alas, I hadn’t noticed that these guys are going to be at The Opera House on May 5th and the show is now sold-out, but this album is still one of the best I’ve heard this year.

If you want to catch Apostle of Hustle in a more intimate venue, the band will be playing an all-ages show at The Music Gallery on May 29th. This of course will all be a warmup for the band’s July appearance at the Olympic Island Festival. The band’s third full-length album Eats Darkness is scheduled to drop May 19th.

Scottish garage-poppers 1990s will be at The Horseshoe Tavern on June 3rd. Check out the band here where you can listen to songs off their upcoming sophomore album, Kicks.

The Decemberists are coming to Toronto! Oregon’s favourite orchestral folk-rockers will be coming to the Kool Haus on August 3rd in support of their new album The Hazards of Love. Opening for The Decemberists will be Cincinnati’s Heartless Bastards – tickets are on-sale now, but don’t expect them to last that long. Colin Meloy and his merry gang of men and women will also be on The Colbert Report April 27th.

Is there anything that Justin Timberlake can’t do? Front one of the biggest boy bands of the 90s? Check. Have a respected solo career? Check. Date pre-crazy Britney? Been there, done that. Climb Mount Kilimanjaro? Check…wait, what? JT will be joining rapper Lupe Fiasco and singer Kenna in this trek up Africa’s highest mountain, in order to raise awareness for the world water shortage. Read the full story here.

By way of apology for missing the 15th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s tragic death, here is Winter Gloves covering Nirvana’s iconic “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. Rest in peace Kurt, you will never be forgotten.

Before I return to (not) studying for my two exams next week, I thought I leave you with “8 Songs Not to Shag To” – I’d advise checking it out before you plan your next sexual escapades (thanks to Radio Exile for this one).

Cheers,
Max

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News Update!

March 16th, 2009 | By: Melody Lau

The Bicycles

The Bicycles

Hello!

Hope you all had a fantastic two weeks without the Singing Lamb. Do not fear though, I am back now and new posts will be up! Canadian Music Week was eventful to say the least. Stay tuned for a little review of my two days of action (as I skipped out on Wednesday and Friday) later tonight/tomorrow morning.

I’m not going to run through every piece of news that I missed while on lamb-cation, but here are a few important things to take note of!

Album news:
- Bob Dylan has announced that his new album, Together Through Life, will be out on April 28th. For more info and a sweet photo of the album cover, go here

- Just like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs shortly after the leak of their album, Metric has also pushed up the release date of their upcoming record, Fantasies to March 31st. If you pre-order the album on the band’s website now, you can get a limited edition package with bonus tracks and free posters.

- Regina Spektor has announced a new album entitled Far. A release date and tracklisting has yet to be announced but read more about it in this interview!

- Arts & Crafts have been busy lately with the signing of Years (Broken Social Scene’s Ohad Benchetrit), Zeusand Still Life Still (the latter two of which the Lamb has mentioned already). Years will release its self-titled album on May 5th, Still Life Still’s debut EP is scheduled to be released in June, followed by a full length in August, and last but not least Zeus will have an EP out this spring. To add on to this, long time A&C memberApostle of Hustle has announced a new album entitled Eats Darkness that’ll be released on May 19th. For the tracklisting and mp3 of the new track “Perfect Fit”, go here!

Show announcements:
- The Rosebuds @ Lee’s Palace on April 13th. Tickets are $10.00.
- Ponytail @ DeLeon White Gallery on April 27th.
- A Camp @ Mod Club on June 1st. Tickets are $15.00.
- Beirut, The Dodos @ Phoenix on July 9th. Tickets are $25.00.
- John Doe & The Sadies @ Horseshoe on April 30th. Tickets are $17.50.
- Bowerbirds @ Drake Hotel on May 2nd. Tickets are $11.00.
- MUTEK, Guillaume & the Coutu-Dumonts, The Mole and Pier Bucci @ the Drake Hotel on April 9th.
- The Famines @ Rancho Relaxo on May 15th.
- Cut Throat Britva will be playing a free show at the Horseshoe on March 24th.
- Chester French and Hollywood Holt will open for Lady Sovereign at Lee’s Palace on May 1st.
- Peter Bjorn and John will open for Depeche Mode at the Molson Amphitheatre on July 24th.
- Here We Go Magic will open for Grizzly Bear at the Phoenix on June 5th.

There is some sad news to end this post though. If you didn’t catch The Bicycles at the Horseshoe (as part of Chartattack’s CMW showcase), you may have missed out on their last show…ever. According to a press release on March 11th, the Toronto band will begin an “indefinite hiatus” after that show. They will continue to work on music videos, and film and TV projects, but the band has no plans for the future at the moment. Drummer Dana Snell can still be seen playing for Gentleman Reg, as can guitarist Andrew Scott with Sebastien Grainger’s band and Andy Lloyd on tour with The Born Ruffians. The band will be missed by the Singing Lamb and this blog post is dedicated to you. Best of luck in the future!

Happy listening!

Musically,
Melody

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