Posts tagged with broken social scene
07/19/2010
What a weekend. Despite the steamy temps, this was perhaps my favorite of the three Pitchfork Fests I’ve attended. But I figured instead of writing about it, I’d just show you what i saw. Check out about a million pictures from days 1 and 2 after the jump. Later this week, we’ll also be bringing you about a million pictures from day 3 as well as a few interviews we got at the fest as well with some of our favorite bands.
03/23/2010
Today marks the release of the first official single from the upcoming Broken Social Scene album “Forgiveness Rock Record”. And as part of that, we are lucky enough to hear two new tracks from the album, “All is All” and “Forced to Love”. I’m definitely digging “All is All” a bit more. I think this might be the most electronic we’ve ever heard out of BSS. Although “Forced to Love” does sound a little more like vintage BSS.
I’m having a hard time figuring out which of BSS’s multiple female vocalists is featured in “All is All”. I know it’s not Feist, I’m pretty sure it’s not Emily Haines. Is it Amy Millan? I think it must be. But I don’t know. Anyway, stream both tracks below, also available to stream on their official site.
buy the single on 
02/22/2010
I’d heard that Broken Social Scene was coming out with a new album this year, but I was surprised when I saw last Friday that they had already released the first single to the masses. I first saw them live back in the fall of either 2007 or 2008, I can’t remember. But what I do remember was a pretty epic performance, clocking in at about 3 hours, and which included 10+ members on stage at any given moment. They even invited the whole audience on stage at one point to dance and sing along, despite the reluctance by the security.
The new album, titled “Forgiveness Rock Record”, is officially released on May 4, but you can get this track from the album, “World Sick”, as a free download from their website above. After staying out of the spotlight for a few years, it makes perfect sense that BSS would re-enter our collective musical consciousness with a nearly seven minute jam full of the big and bright sounds that we loved so much. I don’t know about you, but I think this song really screams, “We’re back!” And I can say that we are all pretty glad to see you return.
The big question now is which of the many former members will appear on the album, and perhaps more importantly, which will be a part of the collective’s larger than life live show?
09/18/2009
another friday, another pretty cool remix to brighten your day. i have to thank elyse (aka peeflyse, aka auntalyse) for playing this track at a recent sideyard phone book bonfire. as one of the millions of members of broken social scene, feist has made a pretty huge name for herself as a solo artist. and diplo seems to be everywhere these days, with his major lazer project catching quite a buzz this summer. as i mentioned before, diplo was pretty awesome at lollapalooza, and i just read on wikipedia that diplo used to be a school teacher. so i guess theres still hope for me to quit my 9-5 job and become a famous musician and/or dj.
i happen to like feist, depending on the mood im in, but “i feel it all” is one of the songs that i always like because its so upbeat and happy sounding. and the video is kind of cool with choreographed fireworks that go along with the music. and diplo is pretty good at remixes a lot of the time, so right off the bat theres a pretty good shot that this unlikely pairing will bring happy results. i think i like the way that diplo takes the little things in the original song, like feist doing an ad-hoc “ha” and turning it into a major part of the remix. a pretty cool take on a great song.
08/05/2009
todays song is a nice little instrumental track from canadian group do make say think. as the legend goes, they got their name because they first began rehearsing in some sort of elementary school classroom that had those four words painted on the walls, and so they took them as their name. pretty neato. im also pretty sure that at least a few members from this group are also members of or were at one time members of canadian super-collective broken social scene. since there are about 100 members of broken social scene, the odds are pretty good that a few of them are in do make say think as well. or i could just be making that association because they are both canadian and have tons of members and i saw do make say think opening up for broken social scene once.
the track today is from their album “winter hymn country hymn secret hymn” and is entitled “auberge le mouton noir” , which translates into “inn the night sheep”. which maybe actually translates into “the night sheeps inn” or something like that? any french scholars out there that would like to correct me since its been approximately 7 years since my last french class? luckily there are no lyrics to use as clues so theres really no way of proving that im right or wrong. i dont know why i like this 7 minute instrumental so much. whats with the 7 theme? but i think what i like the most is the recurring theme throughout the song. you know, the “bahhhhh bah bahhhh bah bahhhhhhhh”. im sure you know exactly what i mean. for some reason it makes me think of one of those huge sailboats that explorers explored on, with someone in the front of the ship overlooking the sea and wearing the puffy shirt from seinfeld. what does it make you think of?
before we get into todays tribute to MJ song, i just want to talk about how excited i am to see the handsome furs tonight at the detroit cityfest. formerly known as the tastefest, this event takes place every year centered around the 4th of july in detroits new center area and combines tons of delicious restaurants with tons of music stages. the best part is, all the music is free, and they usually draw some pretty big names. in the past, ive seen broken social scene and common. i think the year in between, spoon was playing and the new pornographers played another year as well but i missed them both. it should be wicked awesome.
ok, on to the second and final part of our tribute to the late and great king of pop. seriously, those leg moves where he lifts his leg and moves his foot from side to side are crazy to me. todays track is courtesy of the hood internet and was just released this past friday and you can download it on their webpage. the hood internet is comprised of abx (aaron brink) and stv slv (steve reidell) and they specialize in awesome remixes of hip hop and indie rock. i am a huge fan of mashups and have a great appreciation for them because they not only give you a fresh look at some of your favorite songs, but i feel as though its extremely difficult to make them work.
todays mashup is of billie jean and “wildcat” by ratatat, a favorite instrumental group of mine. and by group, i mean its made up of two guys from new york, evan mast and mike stroud. i saw these guys live a few months back and it was killer. now heres the beauty of mashups. if you would have told me about this, i would have thought about the two songs and would not have been able to imagine them actually working in harmony, but after listening to the song, it really works much much better than i thought it would. and thats why i would not be good at creating mashups. rest in peace mike.
the hood internet – billie “wildcat” jean
06/15/2009
im going to write this post based on how im expecting this day to go. then we can play a fun game and compare my predictions with how i actually feel and see how close i was. ready? go. i feel funny. whats happening to me? i cant see aaaaanything. is this real life? ive barely slept the past 4 nights, ive eaten nothing but garbage, i havent showered in what feels like weeks, and i have to sit in a packed minivan for the next 10 hours. but boy was it worth it! lets just say im very happy that i took tomorrow off work for my recovery day because im definitely going to need it. i may need the rest of today just to take the best shower ever since im maybe the dirtiest ive ever been right now.
while im counting down the minutes until said minivan ride is over and said shower is scheduled to begin, i thought id share with you a track by canadian rock group metric, led by the tantalizing emily haines, whos also a former member of canadian collective broken social scene. when i first started listening to broken social scene, i thought it was strange that there were upwards of 10 members at any given moment in the group but didnt think much of it. then i slowly began to realize how many of the members had other successful projects of their own. but i guess i dont know if these peoples groups were famous because of broken social scene or vice versa.
this song is the opening track of metrics latest album fantasies and is really one of the first songs to be considered for posting in the early infancy of this site (nearly 4 weeks ago. holy cow!). i think the reason i dig it so much is because it has so many distinct themes. theres the theme of the verses, the “beating like a hammer” theme and the chorus theme. and they alternate between major and minor, which makes it even more interesting. i think down the road i will have to post the excessively good twelves remix of this song, which i think ive talked about before, but want to let the album version soak into your brains first so you can fully appreciate the magic.
metric – help im alive
buy this track on itunes
buy this track on amazon
