Woah, awesome.

David Bazan of former bands Pedro the Lion and The Headphones has put up more than a handful of solo Pedro, Headphones, and MORE solo stuff on his site. These are all live electrical versions that were recently recorded.
BE SURE to check it out if you haven’t already fallen madly in love with Pedro the Lion, because it is a wonderful little love affair to be in.

Or, listen here
Enjoy!

Pedro the Lion’s Myspace
David Bazan’s Myspace
The Headphones’ Myspace
Bazan’s official site

The Antlers – Hospice ; real men know how to howl

What do the singers of Bon Iver and The Antlers have in common?
That low, scratchy growl of a voice, of course!

One day, while the wolf and the sheep were hard at work discussing the best albums of 2009, the obvious choice for #1 was Brand New’s Daisy. Brand New is our ULTIMATE band. We could probably share some crazy stories about things we’ve done for this band, but maybe another day. It’s pretty much Brand New over everything else in life for us. At least, that is how it is on most days. Not on this day though, because the wolf said to the sheep, “I hate to break it to you, but my favourite album of the year was by The Antlers.” Jaws dropped and so did the (chat)room temperature. The sheep was enraged. The wolf was scared with its claws ready to defend as the sheep wanted to pounce.

Clearly, 2009 tested our musical tastes and dedication to our favourite band. Even thought my love for Brand New will float on and on, I find that I am less.. well, obsessive, about them due to the new sphere of music that I have opened myself up to. Upon hearing His Old Branches a 2009 EP released by what can be considered our breath of fresh air band – The Republic of Wolves (You’ve got to hear this band!), the sheep exclaim— I mean, bah-ed loudly, : “I AM SO OVER BRAND NEW RIGHT NOW”. The point is, there comes a time for every music lover when you begin to explore the world of music beyond your safety point (ie Brand New, which held me over for years). You begin to explore new music and sounds and the feelings these new artists invoke. 2009 marked this for me. I’m not sure if it is because I moved away to university and became more independent in life overall (a milestone, really) and therefore was more brave to try new things, or simply because the same old tunes weren’t cutting it for me. Either way, my life has been blessed with new sounds to enjoy, and I will be grateful for this beyond the day when my children pick up the same CDs I bought this year and fall in love with them the same way I did.

Among these CDs, there will be a copy of Hospice. This was an album that I had to get used to with every listen. Thankfully, each listen did not feel like a chore (such as trying to like the new Taking Back Sunday albums back in the day…..). I was trying something new, now forcing myself to like something I was already dedicated to. I was intrigued by the new art. The thing that interested me the most about Hospice is that it is a concept album and tells a story chronologically with each song. I was introduced to the song Two in a mixtape I received from a certain big-toothed individual who runs this blog. There were 17 songs on that mixtape and this was the only one I listened to for days (sorry wolf). I hate to say this, but it was beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful! So much beauty in 6 minutes that it could make you cry. I had a hard time getting into the rest of the album because the bar was set so high due to my repetitive listens of Two (iTunes play count: 62)

As for me, I am beyond excited to see The Antlers this February as they make a stop in Toronto with The Editors (The Editors on Myspace). As for the Wolf, she has been lucky enough to see them already, and could only describe it as the most beautiful show she’d ever been to. Now, please note that, even though we use the world “beautiful” a LOT on this blog, does not mean that we use it lightly. We use it because it is the perfect word, and we mean it every time.

I can wrap up all this personal junk with saying that The Antlers have been a big deal for me because they are a new sound for me. They have been a band that allowed me to expand and test my boundaries of what i allow my ears to hear. In my life, that is a pretty big deal.

Finally, time for the goodies:

The Antlers – Shiva – A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

The Antlers – Two / Epilogue – A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

The Antlers also stopped by Daytrotter:

You said you hated my tone
It made you feel so alone
So you told me I had to be leaving
But something kept me standing by that hospital bed
I should have quit but instead I took care of you

Kettering

These can be downloaded right off the site righthere. Enjoy! Listen! Expand your horizons! And then listen again!

Keep checking back for a review of Hospice hopefully!

PS: Thank you to our new subscribers! It means a lot to us 🙂

Thrice on Daytrotter; our two-hit-wonder?

Thrice.
Alright, to be blunt, they are not a band that we would usually pay attention to because they are just not our style. But, when we heard that they were “trying something new” with their latest album, Beggars, we decided to try it out because we were curious and bored and… well, why the hell not? After a few listens, it was easy to dismiss the album as a whole. More specifically, we did not fall in love with it as a unified work. However, we must admit, there are two songs in particular that won our hearts over. Beggars and Circles (which even had the honor of making it into our seasonal fall playlist! That’s how much we love this song) have been two songs that we always go back to. Let’s see. iTunes play count for:
All the World is Mad: 5.
In Exile and Wood and Wire: 3.
Circles: … a solid 40.
You see what I’m saying?
I guess we all have albums or artists like this.

When it comes to their pre-Beggars work… Let’s just say that we tried it out, and it did not go so well. More specifically, every song we tried ended about 20 seconds into it. I guess it’s just too heavy to handle.
But we simply can’t help ourselves with these two songs. The soothingly slow melody picks up gracefully and is backed by thoughtful lyrics. Our fingers are crossed that their next album will have this exact sound, for 45 minutes straight. Maybe then we can become real fans, but only time will tell…

Anyways, the point of all of this is to let you all know that Thrice is featured on Daytrotter this week, which can be found over here. And, yes, you guessed it, our two favourite songs happened to be the ones Thrice (or Daytrotter.. or the music Gods… we’re not exactly sure how it works) chose to include in their session! Obviously, the music Gods love the wolf and the sheep. Naturally.

So, should we feel bad that we only love two songs by this band? And who else thinks that Circles sounds a little bit like Radiohead?

True progress means
Matching the world to the vision in our heads,
We always change the vision instead

Circles

Have a listen over here and then head over to the Daytrotter site and download them for free!

Can you safe guard your breath in the night while you sleep
Keep your heart beating steady or sure?
As you lie in your bed does the thought haunt your head
That you’re really rather small?

Beggars

http://www.myspace.com/thrice

– the wolf & the sheep

PS:

Dear Thrice fans,
please don’t send the sheep to the slaughterhouse!