Hopefully 2005 will be Global Symphonic's year - the West Coast label (jointly run by Carlos and Sean, in Victoria and Vancouver respectively) has been putting out a steady stream of quality releases by leftfield and pop-skewed artists for a number of years now, and despite a number of critically-heralded groups calling that label home (Frog Eyes, The Organ, 80's skate n' thrash revivalists S.T.R.E.E.T.S., Radio Berlin and A Luna Red) and their accompanying string of releases, they've been unable to break it as a cult label along the same lines as other West Coast projects like GSL or Dim Mak. It might be because the groups have less of the reek of novelty act or a major band association (Omar from the Mars Volta is now a co-owner of GSL), or because American distribution is a tough nut to crack, regardless it's a shame, and I imagine a series of stellar releases in the next coming months might raise the label's profile, including the Primes/Bakelite split 12", and the Book of Lists album...
All that being a pre-amble though, the release that will undoubtedly receive the most attention at first, and rightfully so, is the Sunset Rubdown album... Spencer Krug, vocalist and keyboardist of Montreal's Wolf Parade and currently in Europe supporting the Destroyer/Frog Eyes tour, recorded 12 tracks last year of Eno-esque vibrations, drones and well-crafted songs and released it in a pretty damn limited package of 3 mini-CDs. (I, and many others, managed to catch him opening up for Wolf Parade at last year's show in Spencer's loft) Global Symphonic will put this out later this year - I'm not quite sure if its going to utilize the same packaging, we'll see. Below you'll find the first track, propelled by that same overdriven Yamaha keyboard, and peppered with sparse percussion, ending with a key-shifting chorus and arpeggio.
6 comments:
Thanks for the invite. I did come by and visit. Nice blog.
Terry Finley
http://clearcutbiblestudies.blogspot.com/
Nice post- I've been trying to track down some info on Sunset Rubdown since I saw that announcement on Global Symphonic about the LP. Glad to see there are some other people out there who are as semi-obsessed with all things Wolf Parade as I am.
P.S. I just listened to the SR track, and it sounds like this is the I'll Believe in Anything, You'll Believe in Anything song that Wolf Parade played during the CBC sessions.
'Tis the same one indeed - I might post another track, but I didn't know whether Spencer wanted a tonne of stuff spread up everywhere, so I played it safe...
That's understandable- I'm definitely looking forward to hearing this Sunset album though- Spencer has such a distinctive and awesome voice. Thanks for posting that track.
this sunset rubdown track is absolutely beautiful. thanks so much.
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