As the year draws to a close, we picked our favourite Albums of 2016.
Venetian Snares releases ‘Xmas Song’
With Christmas just around the corner, Venetian Snares, the moniker of Winnipeg native Aaron Funk, has just unveiled a beautifully fitting song for the holiday. Take a listen to it below and head over to his bandcamp to stream/download it.
Brasstronaut share video for ‘Hawk’ off upcoming eponymous album
Edo Van Breeman, Tariq Hussain, Bryan Davie, Brennan Saul, John Walsh and Sam Davidson, who make up Vancouver based outfit Brasstronaut, are gearing up to release their third full-length album. Due out in February, the self-titled record is described as “diverse, daring and unstoppably catchy”, and also as their most collaborative effort. “Not that we weren’t collaborating before, but this time, it just felt more like everyone was in on the ideas from the ground up,” explained Tariq. “The agreement we made prior to starting the record was that everyone should bring in two song ‘seeds’ – in other words, two rough song sketches.”
Brasstronaut arrives on February 24th via Hybridity Records in North America and via Tin Angel Records in Europe. Ahead of it we can already hear the infectious and buoyant ‘Hawk’ and it comes with an accompanying 8mm video, originally shot by Edo’s mum Maud Van Breemen in 1977.
Holy Fuck share video for ‘Neon Dad’
Canadian quartet Holy Fuck released Congrats, their first album in six years, back in May and we’ve been seriously hooked on it. The album track ‘Neon Dad’ has been recently paired with a video inspired by the tale of David and Goliath. Clocking in at nearly 13 minutes, the video also includes snippets from ‘House of Mirrors’, also taken from Congrats. Speaking to Noisey, Holy Fuck’s Brian Borcherdt explains how the track came about:
“Neon Dad was written mostly during a rehearsal in Sydney Australia during Laneway festival 2011. It was a rare moment where we went for something mid tempo and melodic. Was it a pop song? a future B-side? It pushed the boundaries of our comfort zone. So we pushed back against it, juxtaposing our noisier aesthetic with something uplifting and cathartic. The end result wouldn’t have been possible without the collaboration of a few of our friends. It was recorded with Loel Campbell on drums, during a live session at the Banff Centre for the Arts with Shawn Everett engineering. Carmen Elle of the band Diana layered in some perfectly icy vocals, recorded in our basement studio in Toronto. Finally Dave Newfeld gave us this mix, turning this song inside out and exposing it’s psychedelic guts. It still scares us but we like it.”
The video for ‘Neon Dad’ was written, directed and edited by Scott Cudmore and you can watch it below.
Congrats is out now via Innovative Leisure and Last Gang.
Watch Tanya Tagaq’s new video for ‘Sulfur’
Tanya Tagaq has recently released her album Retribution, a tremendous record that portrays and protests environmental and human rights violations and abuse. Fresh off the back of the album’s release, the mesmerizing Inuit artist has shared a fittingly powerful and striking video for the song ‘Sulfur’. Watch it now if you haven’t yet.
Retribution is out now via Six Shooter.
Shobaleader One announce new album and tour dates
Shobaleader One, the project of Tom Jenkinson aka Squarepusher alongside Arg Nution, Strobe Nazard and Company Lazer, have teased a new album slated for an early 2017 release. More details are yet to be confirmed but they have shared an album trailer, funky as hell. Check it out now.
In other related news, Shobaleader One have announced a string of European shows as well as three US dates. Check all their stops below.
December
9th – KINO ŠIŠKA, Ljubljana Slovenia
10th – Porgy & Bess, Vienna Austria
14th – Le Poisson Rouge, New York US
16th – Echoplex, Los Angeles US
17th – The Independent, San Francisco US
March 2017
22nd – Music Hall Ramsgate, Ramsgate UK
23rd – Village Underground, London UK
24th – Concorde 2, Brighton UK
25th – New Morning, Paris France
26th – Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld, Cologne Germany
27th – Strom Munich, Munich Germany
29th – MeetFactory, Prague Czech Rep
30th – Berghain, Berlin Germany
April 2017
1st – Gateshead International Jazz Festival, Gateshead UK
9th – Ancienne Belgique, Brussels Belgium
