Apr 02, 2008 By Frank Valish Plants and Animals

The three members of Montréal’s Plants and Animals might be Music Studies graduates, but theirs is not the sound of intellectual snobs. Graduating from Montréal’s Concordia University in the early part of the century with degrees in electro-acoustic music, Warren Spicer, Matthew Woodley, and Nicolas Basque have, with their sophomore album, Parc Avenue, hit upon a sound that is at once smooth, complex, and organic, with touches of ’70s rock and soul and an expansive musical palette that includes everything from flutes to violin and choirs of voice. More

Apr 02, 2008 By Matt Fink Jim Noir

Despite his fairly flamboyant appearance and press statements—such as wearing dapper bowler hats and claiming to have recorded his newest album at Abbey Road—Jim Noir is almost painfully shy in conversation. Sipping tea and ending every few sentences with an obligatory “I don’t know…yeah,” he’s soft-spoken and articulate, the kind of man who you would figure prefers to write and record his albums in the privacy of his bedroom. “I’m not a very big talker,” he admits. More

Apr 02, 2008 By John Motley Spring 2008 - Flight of the Conchords

“When the band first started, we were both really excited by the concept of ‘noise’ music as a confrontational tool,” recalls Benjamin John Power, who, along with Andrew Hung, formed Bristol, England’s Fuck Buttons in 2004. “Over time, the sound has developed into something more embracing. It wasn’t a conscious decision on our part to head in this direction. It kind of happened along the way and just seemed right. We still have the same sonic sensibilities as when we first started, but we now tend to try and focus on the more positive side of things when experimenting with sound.” More

Apr 02, 2008 By Matt Fink El Guincho

Part musician, part ethnomusicologist, Pablo Díaz-Reixa isn’t your average sample-obsessed laptop artist. Growing up in the Canary Islands, an African archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean where the language is Spanish and the music is joyful, he noticed an apparent contradiction. Why were songs that were often recounting tales of devastation and oppression so happy? More

Apr 02, 2008 By Chris Drabick The Dodos

Meric Long and Logan Kroeber are The Dodos. If you didn’t know this heading into a listen of their excellent second record, Visiter, you might be shocked. Vocalist/guitarist Long and drummer Kroeber kick a pretty large sound for just two guys, with Long’s deadpan, folksy vocals juxtaposed with a highly rhythmic base. More