Off the Dial

So a couple of weeks ago, Kanye West and Taylor Swift bookended the MTV Video Music Awards with performances a year after West hijacked Swift’s acceptance speech and rendered himself, in the words of President Obama, an ass. West yelled/tweeted his apology (and as a side note, please celebrities, STOP USING CAPSLOCK, YOU IDJITS!), appeared on Leno’s inaugural 10pm failure only to be verbally bitch slapped (probably one of the only funny things Leno has done in two decades and it wasn’t even supposed to be!) and essentially layed low for the next 12 months.

Well, he wasn’t just staying out of harms way, avoiding the virtual rotten food being tossed at him for his assinine behavior. He was actually keeping busy recording his next album, Dark Twisted Fantasy. Now, I haven’t heard much from the album (in fact, I’ve only heard the below track) but if this is any indication, it should be much MUCH better 808s & Heartbreak, the autotune mangled mess he released in 2008.

So my question is, is it too soon to be lauding Kanye for something? I mean, he and Taylor made nice at this years awards. And if it IS too soon, then I’ll rely on the fact that the song feature the always awesome, always cool, Mos Def.

Dark Twisted Fantasy is due out on November 16th.

Calgary’s very own Women have been hard at work with their throw-back sound and excellent shows. It wasn’t that long ago that you’d find them playing gigs around this city to adoring fans.

Now it appears they’re branching out and making a name for themselves outside the cozy confines of our fair city. Today the track “Eyesore” from their new album Public Strain (due out later this year and produced by Chad VanGaalen) appeared on RCRDLBL.com as a free download. The sophomore effort will be released, as was their debut, on label Flemish Eye in Canada and JagJaguwar in the U.S. on September 28th.

You can click below to play the track and you can also find the download link within the player. Enjoy!

The reach of Broken Social Scene is far reaching; So-called spin-off bands of the Toronto super-group (yes, I know…BSS refuses that label but this is my site…HA!) include Apostle of Hustle, Do Make Say Think, Valley of the Giants, Junior Blue and of course, the beloved Stars.

With Stars, all but Pat McGee are active members of BSS (the others being Torquil Campbell, Amy Millan, Evan Cranley and Chris Seligman) but just because of the strong tie to the mother-group doesn’t mean these guys are exactly second fiddle. Stars have a strong following and an equally strong catalogue. With their fifth full-length studio album the Five Ghosts, released earlier this week, the group returns to the delight of fans.

With this track, you get an upbeat electronic assault that is just pure fun. Check it out and even give it a free download, courtesy RCRDLBL.com!

Victoria’s Hot Hot Heat rocketed up to relative fame in 2002 with their infectious and catchy dance-punk sound. People loved it and with good reason! That year marked the release of their EP Knock Knock Knock and followed by the full-length album Make Up the Breakdown, produced by Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden), which spawned hits “Bandages” and “Talk to Me, Dance With Me”. Things were looking up for the group.

By the time 2005 rolled around, the group had seen the departure of guitarist Dante DeCaro, signed a major label deal with Warner Bros and released Elevator with modest success. It still afforded them supporting gigs on the Foo Fighters/Weezer ‘Foozer Tour’ and an opening slot on the Killers‘ Red Rock Amphitheatre performance in 2007. Later that year, they released Happiness Ltd. and toured with Snow Patrol.

Now after laying low and writing/recording, Hot Hot Heat are poised to release their new album Future Breeds, produced by Ryan Dahle (of Limblifter, Age of Electric) and featuring new bassist Parker Bossley (of Fake Shark – Real Zombie!). The album hits stores on June 1st, 2010 through Dine Alone Records.

Check out “Zero Results” below and make sure to download your free mp3 copy courtesy RCRDLBL.com;

This week, the Dead Weather released their second album titled Sea of Cowards.

Back in April, the band (fronted by Alison Mosshart and featuring Jack White, Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence) revealed “Die By the Drop” as the lead single and issued a cool video to go along with it.

On April 30th, the Dead Weather streamed the album via continuous vinyl playback for 24 hours followed by digital streaming through various online sites. Early reviews are pretty favourable.

Listen to “Die by the Drop” here and feel free to download the track for free courtesy of RCRDLBL.com!

So last night I got a somewhat cryptic email from Interpol. It read;

Hello everyone.

We’re stirring.
Please take a moment to visit our website:  www.interpolnyc.com
We want to show you something.
And make sure you come back soon.
We will be posting important information and dates in the coming weeks.

Thank you.
Interpol

When you visit the site you see this but when clicked, it doesn’t really offer much;



It’s been a while since I’ve written about Canada’s often over-looked trio Danko Jones but now that they’ve got a new album coming out and are touring around the continent, I thought it prudent to give these three hard-rockin’ boys some long overdue coverage.

The Toronto group have been busy since releasing 2008′s Never Too Loud, what with performing with Motorhead and opening for Guns N’ Roses when they came through Canada last fall, but they’re all done with their next release, Below the Belt, which is officially available on May 18th.

They just finished touring with Clutch and have a bunch of Canadian dates scheduled next month, including a show here in Calgary the day after Below the Belt is released, and their May 21st Vancouver show at the Venue which just sold out. After that, they’ll be hopping all over Europe (as they often do) during the summer to play a number of festivals and shows.

Danko Jones have a lot of big-name fans including Jack White and the Raconteurs (who’ve covered their track, “Samuel Sin”), so when they filmed the video for today’s Song of the Day in Los Angeles recently, I’m sure they were thrilled to have guests Elijah Wood, Selma Blair, Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead) and Mike Watt (Minutemen, Stooges) drop in for the video shoot (check out some behind the scenes footage here and here).

Visit the Danko Jones web site to download a free copy of the below track, “Full of Regret”;

It’s been said before and the more We Were Promised Jetpacks gains notoriety, I’m sure it’ll be said several times more; their name rules!

But there’s more to this band than just an über-cool moniker. The Scottish quartet formed in Edinburgh seven years ago and lately, have been experiencing some much deserved attention. Last year they released their first full-length album, These Four Walls, on Fat Cat Records. The label signed WWPJ after finding them on MySpace as friends of  2008 tour-mates  Frightened Rabbit. They gave their music a listen and now the two are also label-mates.

WWPJ are currently touring the U.S. with Bad Veins and have six scheduled shows at this year’s SXSW showcase in Austin, TX. Their next release, an EP titled the Last Place You’ll Look is available at their shows and will be formally released on April 12th.

Today’s Song of the Day comes once again, courtesy of RCRDLBL.com. The track is called “Repulsion” from Portland, Oregon’s Quasi and their new album American Gong.

Quasi are from a new group. They’ve been around since 1993, formed by ex-husband/wife Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss. It wasn’t until 2006 that they added a third member, bassist Joanna Bolme to the mix making them a trio (in case your math is terrible).

American Gong, released through Kill Rock Stars on February 23rd, is their eighth album and Quasi are currently on tour through the U.S. with two Canadian stops scheduled on April 18th (Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto) and April 19th (Il Motore, Montreal). You can hear more of their music on their MySpace page and you can download this track by clicking below or going here.

Since things have been rather dormant around here lately, I’ve decided to launch a new feature called Song of the Day. Much like Video of the Day, we won’t necessarily feature it every single day but you’ll find tracks often.

The first “official” Song of the Day actually comes from the RCRDLBL web site (and we’ll likely feature lots of tracks as these guys offer daily free downloads, many of which are excellent) featuring Victoria, BC’s Frog Eyes and an epic track titled “A Flower in a Glove”. The song is from their forth-coming new release, Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph which is available on April 26th, 2010.

For a free download of the track, visit the RCRDLBL site or click below to listen/download.