“When musicians start attracting attention at a ridiculously young age it usually produces one of two responses: cynicism – that the only reason they’re getting press is because of their age – or jealousy that you’ve been surpassed in ability and success by someone who can still be made to do P.E. in their pants. In fact, can they even still make you do P.E. in your pants? That lack of that sort of knowledge can make you suddenly feel very old, and the existence of Canadian post-punk four-piece Faux Fur is liable to make you feel even older.
Actually, that’s not strictly true. The energetic tension of their music is so invigorating that a few minutes in its company can take years off even the most jaded listener. Even better, that sprightly spirit is matched by concise yet exploratory songwriting and accomplished musicianship. No, what makes you feel old is when you learn that the band’s singer was just 14 when they started. In 2010. And that’s just not on.
Frontman Jean-Sebastian Audet is the name of that most precocious of these young prodigies. Already a mainstay of Calgary’s music scene at the tender age of 18, over the last few years he’s amassed an archive of some 350 songs across projects that span genres from wonky pop (You Are Minez) to hip-hop (Zouk Fuck). He’s been known to play shows where he’ll be in every band on the bill, although unless performing under a new name he’s generally restricted to all ages gigs. And even if, by his own admission, “probably only 30 or 40 of the songs [in his catalogue] are good”, on the best material his talent shines through like an incandescent fist covered in LEDs slamming you right between the eyes.
Faux Fur are probably the most fully realised of Audet’s various projects, helped by the presence of Michael Halls, Raff McMahan and Andrew Flegel. If you recognise the latter’s surname, it’s because he’s the younger brother of Patrick and Matthew Flegel of Women, who were the giants of the Calgary scene before guitarist Chris Reimer unexpectedly passed away in his sleep last year.
It was Reimer who recommended the youngest Flegel to Faux Fur, but it’s not the only thing that Women fans might find familiar. Tracks like ‘Rough Palms’ are almost uncanny, with distant, smothered vocals floating over those same trebly guitar lines that flicker like a zoetrope animation. Their debut album proper features the traces of various other bands too. ‘Rosemary’ is like a White Denim track played in the smeared, slacker style of Sic Alps, ‘Worn’ sees Grizzly Bear being put under anaesthetic, and ‘I Saw You Standing’ aims for the same early CBGBs, Television meets Talking Heads style that the Stokes used to successfully mine, only more ramshackle and with less posing.
This is not to say that they sound derivative. In the two minutes of ‘Reeling Phrase’, the briefest song on an album of brief songs, they manage to wend their way through a wealth of tones amid the minimalism and repetition: soft, rough, subtle, powerful, rattling, wheezing, pounding and soporific. Similarly, ‘Burnt’ shifts from a cute guitar lullaby to a jerky march, while ‘Fold Paper’ kicks off like a Pere Ubu album track sped up to 45rpm, before guitars start chiming like tightly wound music boxes. It’s probably the high point on an album that only falters when the pace drops a little too much on ‘Discolouration’.”
Faux Fur is released on tape cassette and digital download via Faux Discx on April 28, 2014.
Lumière is proud to release Like Father, Like Son on DVD on 29th April 2014.
This newest masterpiece by KORE-EDA HIROKAZU ('Nobody Knows', 'After Life' and 'Still Walking') won the Prix du Jury Filmfestival at Cannes 2013 and it was also one of the favourites at the Filmfestival ofGhent.
Starring: FUKUYAMA MASAHARU, ONO MACHIKO, MAKI YOKO and LILY FRANKY.
Synopsis:
Ryota Nonomiya is a successful businessman driven by money. When he learns that his biological son was switched with another child after birth, he must make a life-changing decision and choose his true son or the boy he raised as his own.
Technical specifications:
Japan, 2013 - Length: 121 min. - Language: Japanese
Subtitles: Dutch and French
Format: 16:9 - Colour - Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
This summer, Xeno & Oaklander bring their minimal electronic sounds to Ghostly International with new album Par Avion, their first for the label, June 24th. The album's title is a reference to postcards — it translates as "by plane", and was used to mark airmail sent from exotic places. The songs are postcards of love for a cold age — shimmering moments from the present, romantic messages from the past, and love mementos for the future. Together, they make up an album of contrasts — the songs move from upbeat to downbeat, slow to fast, light to dark.
Par Avion's rich diversity of sounds comes at least in part from the fact that it's an album-long ode to synesthesia. As singer Liz Wendelbo explains, “Sound makes me think of a scent, which makes me think of an image, which makes me think of a certain kind of light.” The sensory experiences are palpable: "Jasmine" calls to mind the intoxicating scent of jasmine flowers that bloom at night, "Nuage D'Ivoire" sweats under a tropical sky full of clouds that hold the key to the past and the future, "Sheen" glistens with reflections dancing in the water and with inner visions of romance, where light and dark meet in the pupil of the eye.
Adding to the sense of exoticism, Wendelbo's whispery vocals are sung in both French and English, calling to mind Jane Birkin and Françoise Hardy. Again, there's a contrast between dark and light — the alluring, tropical warmth of Wendelbo's vocals is juxtaposed against duo's signature icy cold, ultra-modern synth sounds. Those sounds have a new component for Par Avion — synth wizard Sean McBride uses an analogue Serge modular synth to create washes of sound that recall '90s shoegaze. The result is an album that stimulates and fascinates throughout, a rich feast for all the senses, a world to get lost in again and again.
Par Avion will be released in LP, CD, and digital formats. A special edition vinyl version, limited to 350 hand-numbered copies, will include flesh colored vinyl and a rose-scented art perfume insert, allowing further personal exploration of synesthesia.
The Berlin-based producer and sound designer Rico F. Piller (P24) and Mario Bouvain (The Voice) known from the well-known band Never Endless have a new Vainerz release ready.
With their EP "Love run", the two electronic wizards Mario & Rico complete a logical further development. Pop, electro, drum loops, melody, order, confusion, silence, noise, feel, strength and much more.
With seven tracks "Love run" is actually more of a mini album than an EP!
It also contains the previously unreleased song "Girls" stands.. Very atmospheric, absolutely varied, it includes electro pop, future pop, drum 'n' bass, classic EBM elements and many other varieties of electronic music. Nevertheless, nothing sounds put-on, but very relaxed. And it is also danceable...
You can pre-listen 'Love Runs' on Soundcloud
Below you can enjoy 'You Create It' a track from their previous album 'Silence' (2012).
Limited edition, 200 Copies!
Deluxe CD in ecoWallet with 8-page lyric poster • $14
Stream a few tracks & digital download at Projekt's Bandcamp page • $10
Ethereal, hypnotic, dizzying, gripping, lush, oceanic, driving, cinematic, haunting… these are good words to describe A Waking Ghost Inside, the debut release from San Francisco-based Mercury’s Antennae. Comprised of vocalist Dru Allen (This Ascension, Mirabilis) and multi-instrumentalist Erick R. Scheid (Translucia), the band’s sound is distinctly reminiscent of ‘90s-era Projekt acts. Ranging from the heavy moodiness and guitar drone of Lycia to the unadorned acoustic beauty of Love Spirals Downwards to the passionate rock of This Ascension, the duo also draws on ambient and tribal influences, contemporary electronica, the sweet melodic pop of 4AD, and the blissful guitar noise of bands like Curve.
Guitarist/instrumentalist Scheid co-founded the band Translucia in 1994. After appearing on the Cocteau Twins tribute Half Gifts on the now defunct Dewdrops label, Translucia were signed to Toronto’s Plan 11 label, which released two albums. Allen has studied and performed rock, heavenly voices, classical and world music for over 25 years. Best known for fronting the darkwave act This Ascension she is also one-half of the neo-classical, heavenly voices band Mirabilis.
Read full text at the Projekt site.
Fans of darkwave, heavenly voices and spacious atmospheres will find themselves at home within these 77 minutes: it’s an alchemy of harmonic, swirling guitars, lush, glimmering instrumentation, and Dru’s dream-felt and sirenic vocals. A Waking Ghost Inside is released to coincide with Mercury’s Antennae’s first ever West Coast tour.
