Webcuts Music

Canadian folk-sters Dark Mean deliver a “must-listen album with staying power, and one of the year’s best” on their self-released debut.

Concept albums, rock operas, the artistic chasm of failure widens as Fucked Up take the challenge and make the album of their career.

Introducing KIDCITY. Two people, One word, uppercase for menacing effect. But really, aren’t they just too cute for words? Which is apt, seeing as the music that these two Canadian 21-year-olds make is more like haunted voices leaking from an overloaded digital landscape. “Somewhere between Enya and Dr. Dre”, someone said. Sure, why not. It might be simple enough to place them within the geographical radius of another glitchy electronic duo, Crystal Castles, but Kelly Ann’s vocals soothe, rather than antagonise, as the cracked beats and blistered frequencies dial up the intensity. Significantly impressed, we had no choice but to ask ‘Who the hell are… KIDCITY?”

Electro-dance-goth-opera by way of Canada, Austra’s debut album Feel It Break is akin to a good night out in loud, dark room. Kinda fun, but where’s the door?

How strange to be more than fifteen years into a career and to finally achieve growing, and now glowing, recognition for the music you make. Bands today, the inverse applies, they learn to walk before they can crawl, record a debut they’ll never repeat and disappear as if they never existed. Real artists will maintain and nurture their craft regardless of an audience, which more or less, is the story of Dan Bejar. Better known as the wild-card songwriter in Canadian power-pop supergroup The New Pornographers, Bejar’s work as Destroyer is like mainlining into Bejar’s psyche, which prior to you only got the briefest taste of.

Like a lucky dip of all the great hooks and melodies in the history of song, the Canadian pop/rock quartet Sloan have been consistently, effortlessly, wonderfully, making music together since 1991. Over the years, Webcuts have been great patrons (who could forget our roadtrip through the US in 2000 following them supporting legendary Ohio rock n’ roll alcoholics Guided by Voices? Not us) and have enjoyed our encounters, be it Sydney, London or New York. Mind you, a gig in the UK right now would be a sight for sore eyes considering they last played here in January of 2006 (please, somebody have a word). Currently touring the US in support of their 10th album, the 8.5/10 awarded The Double Cross, they recently dropped into the AV Club studios to pick out a cover from a dwindling list to choose from and decided on Gary Numan’s 1979 hit “Cars”. Suffice to say, we dig it. Go Canada.

Lyrically and musically, simply one of the best records you’ll hear all year. Dan Bejar — Genius. Kaputt — Divine.

Infectious Canadian electro-opera outfit Austra released their latest single “Lose It” in the UK last week, and have made this rather bizarre video to accompany it. One of the stand-out tracks played on their recent UK tour, (especially that galloping Kate Bush cat-call chorus…) it’s the second track taken from the Toronto band’s forthcoming debut album, Feel It Break, following the dark dancefloor incantation of “Beat And The Pulse”. I don’t quite get this video clip. Is it some weird bandmates-as-art installation piece or something more? Is there meaning attached to the bloody noses and half-submerged people in the carpet? At least there’s a sub-conscious distancing of the ‘goth’ tag and the nsfw nudity present in their last clip. The single is backed with a “quietly euphoric, surprising reworking” of Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock” on 7″, with Austra’s debut album Feel It Break being released this week through Domino Records.

The best band to come out of Canada, ever, celebrate their 20th anniversary with The Double Cross. It’s a Roman numeral thing, y’dig?

Arcade Fire are to release a deluxe CD/DVD version of its Album of the Year Grammy Award-winning third album The Suburbs on August 2. The expanded CD version of The Suburbs sees the original album augmented by a longer version of the track “Wasted Hours (A Life That We Can Live)” as well as the previously unreleased “Culture War” and “Speaking In Tongues,” the latter of which features David Byrne on vocals. Highlights of the DVD include the half-hour short film Scenes From The Suburbs, directed by Spike Jonze, a companion documentary, and the music video for the track “The Suburbs.”