The Toxic Avenger - Alien Summer (featuring Annie) [electro]

Here's a smooth track by The Toxic Avenger, a French electronica artist, with Norwegian artist Annie on vocals. This artist first got into the music scene at the early age of 12 as part of a Parisian rock band. Angst (2011) is The Toxic Avenger's first LP release.

Datsik & Kill The Noise - Lightspeed (UMF Mix) [electrohouse]

So, it seems a lot of the past few entries have been folk or folk-related stuff. Although I clearly have no aversion to that genre, let's switch it up a little.

Datsik and Kill The Noise are electronica artists from British Columbia and Chicago, respectively. Datsik's been active since around 2008 whereas Kill The Noise's been around a little longer from 2003. This is "Lightspeed", which has still yet to be released to the chagrin of many fans. That's also why this is the version from UMF Radio (whatever that is). No other good quality versions around it seems.

Hola a todo el mundo - Amor Fati [folk]

Hola a todo el mundo, Spanish for "Hello Everybody" and apparently a reference to a poem by Walt Whitman, is a folk band from Madrid, Spain. This is "Amor Fati" from their eponymous release from 2010. The title of the song is actually in Latin meaning "fate's love" and, to add another layer of lingual complexity, the song is in English, which of course benefits me greatly, though the music alone is certainly enough to keep even my wayward attention.

FYI, the song begins with an instrumental intro; the vocals kick in at the 2-minute mark.

James Yuill - No Surprise [folktronica]

James Yuill is an English folktronica artist from London. This is from his 2008 album Turning Down Water For Air. A bit of a blanker entry but I've nothing to add. Toodaloo!

Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal [folk]

So, I've actually been sitting on this song for a while. I was planning on making an entry with this following the first significant snowfall, which I presumed would've been sometime in December. Of course the weather had other ideas and decided to extend fall into January. But fear not my cold-blooded brethren for we have finally escaped our seasonal limbo, at least that's what the white stuff on the ground makes it seem.

This is "White Winter Hymnal" by (the?) Fleet Foxes. This is from their eponymous first album Fleet Foxes (2008).

Hello again! Or, Trembling Blue Stars - Tropic Of Capricorn [dream poppy rock]

Oops, guess I haven't updated much lately. Truthfully, I don't try to hunt down new tunes as doggedly as I did when I started this blog. It seems I've been content enough just mulling through the bunch of albums that I got over Christmas (M83, Asobi Seksu, and Florence + The Machine, to name a few).

I like buying albums. Not only do you get something physical, but there's incentive for you to take the time to listen to every song. It's one thing to browse casually through songs and albums to find something that has the attributes that you already like and quite another to develop an appreciation for something that you initially find utterly baffling. Ok, fine, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit and maybe I'm thinking of something else entirely.

Anyway, here's a song from an album I've been sitting on. I finally got around to giving it a more in-depth listen. This is "Tropic Of Capricorn" by Trembling Blue Stars from their two-disc album Fast Trains and Telegraph Wires (2010). I'm not sure if they're active anymore as I vaguely recall reading that this was supposed to be their last album (excluding the EP they released in 2011).

According to wiki, this band began as a side-project for the lead Robert Wratten "to come to grips with his relationship and subsequent break-up with Annemari Davies", someone with whom Robert had worked with in a couple of other bands. Interestingly, Annemari Davies was a frequent guest singer for Trembling Blue Stars. I guess that means it ended amicably.

M83 - "Intro" (Feat. Zola Jesus) and "Soon, My Friend" [electronic]

It's a new year and what would be a better way to start off than listening to a fresh new album? Well, I guess there'd be any number of things but it's still a good way nonetheless.

M83 is an electronic/shoegaze act from France. I really liked their Before the Dawn Heals Us album from 2005 but none of their stuff afterwards really made a huge impression on me. That surely changed after I heard a bunch of songs off their latest album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming released late 2011.

They actually performed in Toronto in November but I was, alas, unable to attend as their show sold out really quickly. Anyway, I finally got my hands on a copy of the album and am currently enjoying it extensively. Here's the first ("Intro", featuring Zola Jesus) and last song ("Soon, My Friend") from the first CD (out of two) of that album.

"Intro", featuring Zola Jesus

"Soon, My Friend"