It’s a holiday, but that that doesn’t mean we can’t step away from the dinner table for a little indulgence in some fresh tunes. Consider this week’s Five Songs You Must Hear list and after-dinner mint.
1. Don Leisure, Maen Lila
Tyrchu Sain (Sain Records)
Recommended If You Like: Award Winners
Leisure (real name: Aly Jamal) recently won the Welsh Music Prize for this album, picking up the £10,000 prize. The entire record was made from forgotten recordings stored at his label. He auditioned kilometres and kilometres of tape featuring trance, indie rock, strange folk, and desert blues. Everything was sung in Welsh and recorded in a barn owned by the drummer’s parents. The result is some brilliant creative destruction and reconstruction.
2. EMF, Bela Lugosi’s Dead
Single (Independent)
RIYL: Goth covers, obviously.
THAT EMF? The one-hit-wonder with the huge hit “Unbelievable” in 1991? Yep. With Halloween coming up, they were asked to do a cover of this Bauhaus classic, and they were happy to oblige. Bauhaus approves, by the way. Add this to this year’s scary playlist. Meanwhile, EMF promises a lot more original music in the months ahead.
3. The Infamists, Stab Stab Bang Bang
Single (Independent)
RIYL: Texas rock
Coming out of Dallas, this is an old-fashioned power trio that has one foot in the 70s (note the talkbox) and another somewhere in the 21st century. Imagine Black Sabbath with a slight southern twang.
4. Alien Boys, Down By the Water
Single (Single)
RIYL: Canadian riot grrrl punk
Alien Boys (it’s an all-female band, but the name is a reference to The Wipers) are from Vancouver who thought they could give a new twist to this 1995 single by PJ Harvey. They’re extremely DIY and spend plenty of time raising funds for social causes they believe in. It’s another example how some of the very best rock in Canada right now is coming from women. Pay attention.
5. Austra, Siren Song
Single (Independent)
RIYL: Classical Greek tales
Austra (Kate Stelmanis of Toronto) has been working in the electronic space for more than 15 years now and has received some nice international attention along the way. This track, a reimagining of the Greek story of Orpheus, is described as “somewhere at the intersection of ABBA, ‘Ray Of Light’, ‘The X-Files’ and Greek mythology. Cosmic, Kate Bush-y stuff.
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