Ron Henry

Post rock instrumental bands have a special place in my library, right next to Brian Eno and far, far away from M.O.P. Los Angeles based El Ten Eleven came to my attention a while ago through a friend and then again in the soundtrack to the movie Helvetica. Yes, it is a documentary about the font. Much to my disappointment the band is currently on a US only tour. I decided to begrudgingly post the tour dates anyways, enjoy.

El Ten Eleven – My Only Swerving

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24 Oct 2009 Bootleg Theater Los Angeles, California
30 Oct 2009 Trunk Space Phoenix, Arizona
31 Oct 2009 Plush Tucson, Arizona
2 Nov 2009 Atomic Cantina Albuquerque, New Mexico
3 Nov 2009 Hi Dive Denver, Colorado
4 Nov 2009 Record Bar Kansas City, Missouri
5 Nov 2009 Mojo’s Columbia, Missouri
6 Nov 2009 Memorial Union Terrace Madison, Wisconsin
7 Nov 2009 Rock Island Brewing Co. Rock Island, Illinois
8 Nov 2009 Schuba’s Chicago, Illinois
10 Nov 2009 Billiken Club St. Louis, Missouri
12 Nov 2009 Founders Brewing Grand Rapids, Michigan
14 Nov 2009 Bug Jar Rochester, New York
15 Nov 2009 Mohawk Place Buffalo, New York
17 Nov 2009 IOTA Arlington, Washington DC
18 Nov 2009 The Khyber Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
21 Nov 2009 The Space Portland, Maine
27 Nov 2009 Brillobox Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
28 Nov 2009 Beachland Tavern Cleveland, Ohio
2 Dec 2009 Drunken Unicorn Atlanta, Georgia
3 Dec 2009 Will’s Pub Orlando, Florida
4 Dec 2009 Orpheum Tampa, Florida
5 Dec 2009 The Engine Room Tallahassee, Florida
9 Dec 2009 The Mink Houston, Texas
11 Dec 2009 Double Wide Dallas, Texas
18 Dec 2009 Thee Parkside San Francisco, California

I didn’t get a chance to attend this year’s Osheaga festival in Montreal, but if I had I would have seen Miike Snow perform and probably wrote this post much earlier. Better late then never though, so I gave the album a listen.

The group consists of three Swedes, starting with vocalist/songwriter Andrew Wyatt along with production team Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg also known as Bloodshy & Avant. Bloodshy & Avant have a historically pop driven pedigree, having produced many songs for Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue and Jennifer Lopez. Most notably they won a 2005 Grammy award for the Britney Spears track Toxic under the category “Best Dance Recording”.

It’s obvious they had a lot of fun making the songs and the use of falsetto is ubiquitous throughout. Sometimes it can be over the top but the production is great and these two songs are my favourites.

Miike Snow – Animal

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Miike Snow – Silvia

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Just a heads up that Gonzales will be performing this Saturday in Montreal at Excentris. For those who were at his last show at La Tulipe, it’s not a surprise that he’s playing a movie theater. For those who need a glimpse of the theatrics of a Gonzales show, check this ridiculous video of Feist and Gonzales doing a rap at Trash in London.

Get tickets here.

Yet another Kings of Convenience single has been going around the Internet in the last weeks before the release of their new album Declaration of Dependence. They have begun touring in Europe but no Canadian tour dates have been posted yet, although their postcard to the fans promised there would be. The album will be officially released October 20th, 2009 and a full track list can be found below.
Kings of Convenience – Boat Behind

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01 24-25
02 Mrs. Cold
03 Me in You
04 Boat Behind
05 Rule My World
06 My Ship Isn’t Pretty
07 Renegade
08 Power of Not Knowing
09 Peacetime Resistance
10 Freedom and Its Owner
11 Scars on Land
12 Second to Numb
13 Riot on an Empty Street

It’s not often I post a song here because it’s funny, but this is one of those times. Some young lady currently running around playing shows in California under the name Soko produced this humorous tale of a girl who’s love interest got stolen by “that bleach-blonde girl”. I haven’t heard the rest of the album so don’t take my word on that.

Soko – I’ll Kill Her

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A week’s worth of listening to Kid Cudi’s new album Man on the Moon: The End of Day has been good to me. I’m not sure whether to call it hip hop or pop music and I expect the truth lies someplace in between. The mark of a great lasting album for me is oftentimes when I can’t remember any of the names of the songs. What I mean is that A) all the songs are really great B) it listens like an album not like 3 singles with filler material. The End of Day is like this. I had a lot of trouble choosing a few songs to post because they really need the full body of work to be appreciate. Up Up & Away I included specifically because it sounds more like a pop song than anything else. But it’s really catchy and I don’t feel too guilty enjoying it. There are also two songs featuring Ratatat, which standout with great production and instrumentals.

Kid Cudi – Alive [feat. Ratatat] (zshare)

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Kid Cudi – Up Up & Away (zshare)

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After her work on a Darwin Inspired Opera with the other half of The Knife, Karin Dreijer Andersson released a solo album last December under the name Fever Ray. Her vocals will be very familiar to anyone who gets down with The Knife. The instrumentals are comprised of atmospheric electronic beats that are as eerie as they are erratic and play in the same sandbox as The Knife. Fever Ray plays on Oct 1st at Metropolis for Pop Montreal festival and tickets are a whopping 30$ + fees!

Many Fever Ray songs have fully realized videos like this one and I expect the show to likely include some visual components as well. Costumes will likely be in effect.

Fever Ray – Triangle Walks (zshare)

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Fever Ray – Seven [CSS Remix] (zshare)

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