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Here’s a sweet new tune from folk songwriter Dan Mangan called “Oh Fortune” that we’ve been enjoying today. The song is set to appear on a new album of the same name due out September 27th on Arts & Crafts. For now we can only offer you a stream of the song, but an MP3 can be found over on the Dan Mangan site. The guys really is an incredible songwriter.
Typically we think of Arts & Crafts as the label of Canada, but it seems that they’re really into NAFTA, as they’ve just picked up Mexican band Chikita Violenta. In preparation for a crazy January, A&C has added Chikita’s release of TRE3S to the slot for January 25th. Listening to this first single, it definitely has the feel of early Broken Social Scene, with spastic vocal bursts working diligently over spliced guitar lines and crazy hooks. We’re super excited about this release, and we hope that once you hear them, you’ll follow our lead with the band. You can check the band’s SITE for a 2 song mini-single, one which is kicking off the jams below.
Download: Chikita Violenta – Tired [MP3]
From now until midnight on Saturday you can download the entire self-titled album from Timber Timbre for free. This critically acclaimed 3rd album from the band is made available by Canadian super label Arts & Crafts. Check it out here. It’s perfect for a rainy day.
Download: Timber Timbre – Demon Host [MP3]
Rating: 
Having clocked in years with Canadian indie mainstays Stars and Broken Social Scene Toronto native Amy Millan struck out on her own in 2006 to release her debut album Honey from the Tombs to mostly favorable reviews, receiving comparisons to Emmylou Harris or Lucinda Williams.
Arts and Crafts Records will be releasing Amy Millan’s sophomore release, Masters of the Burial, and I must admit, coming into this review the only exposure I had had with Amy Millan was her work with the aforementioned bands. Being a fan of Broken Social Scene and the solo outings of Brendan Canning, Kevin Drew, and Leslie Feist I was excited about the prospect of jangly, slightly quirky indie-pop album. Boy, was I in for a surprise.
Masters of the Burial is a very mature record. The majority of the eleven tracks could easily be seen as middle of the road adult contemporary, but in the best way possible. This album is very easy to listen to, relying on softly brushed drums, well placed mandolins and, of course, Millan’s beautiful voice. On tracks like ‘Bruised Ghosts’, ‘Towers’, and the album closer ‘Bound’ it is evident that Millan could easily hold her own with the Allison Krauss’ and the Norah Jones’ of the world, just ask your parents or Brenda in the accounting department if you don’t believe me. When Millan breaks away from the country-tinged folk trappings on tracks like ‘Bury This’, the percussion heavy ‘Day to Day’, and the beautifully haunting ‘Lost Compass’, she truly shines, easily evoking feelings of loss and regret. Plus there is a cover of Death Cab for Cutie’s ‘I Will Follow You Into the Dark’, if you are into that kind of thing. Like my mama always says “A cover is as a cover does…” (my mama never says that).
While this record won’t be on my end of the year lists, I have nothing but respect for it. It is comforting, and I know it has an audience out there that will love it. I just fear that, with it’s ties to indie rock, it will be shot down before it even has it’s chance to shine.
The free record label samplers continue this week with one from the Canadian super label Arts & Crafts. This 15 song sampler is available for download from Amazon and features all the big names from the label like The Stills, Amy Millan, The Constantines and more. Here’s one of our faves from new artist Zeus called “Fever of the Time”.
Download: Zeus – Fever of the Time [MP3]
Canadian indie band Most Serene Republic are ready to throw some new music your way after the success of their 2007 album Population. This new album will be called …And The Ever Expanding Universe which features first single “Heavens to Purgatory” available for download/stream below. You can pick this one up July 14th on Arts & Crafts.
Download: Most Serene Republic – Heavens to Purgatory [MP3]
Rating:
Dear Arts and Crafts (and Broken Social Scene),
You really had me fooled. From the minute you threw You Forgot It In People at me, I was hooked; I pledged allegiance to your label and its output. I trusted you; I considered you a friend.
You kept dishing it out, and even the first song on this record, “Something for All of Us” had me thirsty. It was murky, with driving percussion that just sounded like I needed it. You knew I would just listen to the first song and buy it. I now call you out, tricksters!
There was magic, albeit momentary, then it disappeared. Immediately Brendan jumps into a song that eliminates the magic. It’s really slow, which isn’t a fault, but a majority of the song sounds like he just re-recorded the end of a Broken Social Scene song as the band faded away.
I thought that “Hit the Wall,” with the pace of the song alone would bring it back to the goodness, but there just doesn’t seem to be a focus in this song. I just couldn’t get that feeling back. So you thought you’d let him get away with a soft acoustic song, “Snowballs and Icicles.” It was good, but then it ended – how is one of the better songs on this album the shortest?
So you try and get groovier with the next couple of numbers, but this is when I caught your ploy. You’ve been covering Canning‘s voice over this whole album. Sure, he doesn’t have the greatest range, but it sounds as if you disguised it, hidden behind a mask of harmonies, staying low in the mix.
I got lost in the next couple of songs, spending more time trying to make myself like this than anything else. Even after those two songs, “Possible Grenade” showed me promise, then it just floated way off into nowhere. That’s exactly what happened with the rest of the album, and in time, I am sure the whole album will float off into the back of my collection
I know that Broken Social Scene is a collective of sorts, but I don’t know where Canning fits in. I suppose his ideas are fleshed out by the rest of the band; or else he just completely went far off his usual course here. You unleashed him Arts and Crafts. You let him put out an entire album that meanders in and out of listenability, often within the same song. I hold you responsible for this. I don’t want my money back; I enjoy the majority of your output, but I would like the four straight hours I spent listening to this album back. You owe me. Or else we are not friends.
[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/under-the-stairs.mp3]Download: under-the-stairs.mp3
