Timber Timbre

I picked the latest album from this group from another blog and loved what I heard. Admittedly, the use of "group" to describe Timber Timbre is liberal, as it is completely centered around the only consistent member, Talyor Kirk. In a strange way I feel I'm scooping this from our friend Warren inasmuch that like Warren it is a musician that grew up in Ontario and gravitated towards the wonderful city of Toronto. Then again he scooped the White Stripes and did a fantastic job at it. Anyhow, to the matter at hand, Timber Timbre produces some of the best folk music I've heard in quite some time, even blowing some of the more recent folk posts on this blog out of the water. While all three of the albums are worthy of some listens, the self-titled album is my favorite by far. Songs like "Demon Host" and "Magic Arrow" make up a regular part of my morning routine for the time being. Highly recommended to all fans of skillful crafted songwriting.

To be had here:




Cedar Shakes (2006) [192 kbps]













Medicinals (2007) [224 VBR kbps]












Timber Timbre (2009) [192 VBR kbps]

Foxes in Fiction - Swung from The Branches (2010)

Hey guys, I wanna thank Antarktikos for for letting me onboard with this blog and for his praise for my posts so far. I've really been enjoying sharing stuff that I like with all you, and I hope you guys have too. I hope still doing alright after your accident.

I was initially kind of hesitant to post this here due my self-conscious thoughts and fear of coming off as _____, but then I realized that I feel that way about everything in life, and if anyone's going to represent something I've created and put my heart into it may as well be me. I feel like this fits into the flow of a lot of music that's been posted here up until this point. Perhaps?

Taken from my blog:

"The whole thing was recorded for a kind of cassette A Side / B Side format so there is a pretty obvious division in style between the two. The first flows kind of as one long dreamlike hallucination song that segways pretty easily into each track, and is meant to inspire some pretty specific moods, while the second side more lucid pop songs. A big inspiration in making a lot of these songs was short-tracked hip hop albums like J Dillas' 'Donuts'. I don't know how obvious this is. It wasn't even really supposed to have an 'album' feel but it just sort of turned out that way, even two albums?, though I'm hoping it kind of has something for everyone.

Most of these songs are tracks that arose from restlessness, breaks between classes, insomnia and 5 AM isolation while in my in my apartment in Toronto. A couple of them are reworkings of old tracks that...I felt would be fitting on this release."

The music itself starts off largely ambient on Side A, and moves into a kind of nervous electronic-based collection of pop songs on Side B. A lot of the songs come from a pretty personal place and deal with a lot of things having gone through my life in the past 2 years, namely melancholia, panic attacks, and the death of my little brother in April of 2008 and the emotional reactions that followed this event. Oddly enough, in the song "8 / 29/ 91", the sample of Charles Bukowski that I used is begun with him reading a date:"8, 28, 91", the exact date of my brothers birth. I did not realize this until two months after I used it in the song.

I hope you guys like it, feel free to leave feedback.

DOWNLOAD: Foxes in Fiction - Swung from The Branches

P.S. I made a video for one of the songs as project at in one of my first year OCAD projects, if you want to taste test: Jimi Bleachball

Chris Rehm - Salivary Stones (2010)

First thing I wanna say is Warren has been doing a top-notch job in my failure to devote proper attention to the blog. This is been a side effect of a recent car accident that has dramatically upset me to the point where music listening was not very much on the top of my agenda. However, one must soldier on and so I've decided to start with something easy to share. Chris Rehm sent me this stuff after is discovered this little nook on the internet here and liked it I suppose. It is his drone/noise/psychedelic musical efforts. The results are in the vein of Wet Hair and Super Minerals. I'd not place too much weight on my comparisons and just download the man's generously donated free album.

To be had here:
Chris Rehm - Salivary Stones [192 kbps]

Broadcast - Haha Sound (2003)

I had the pleasure of seeing Broadcast perform as duo with Atlas Sound opening at Lees Palace in Toronto last November, and I have to say, as difficult as the first half of it was, I loved every minute of it. Cryptic projections, noisey no-nonsense low frequencies that put my body into a microvibrational state and physically shook the air inside my lungs. After the first half, they played a more traditional pop song set with a good deal of songs off this album: a record arranged more as a full-piece rock band with experimental and electronic tendencies, rather than the more avant-garde work the duo are creating these days...

This album displays some amazing songwriting and production (you can hear the tape) with obvious influence from krautrock experimentalists, 60s sunshine psychedelia and folk music. Even though here they deviate away from elements that initially drew the likeness, it's easy to see how they were once often compared to Stereolab.

Other than that it's kind of hard to describe the air of of this album. There's something unfalteringly beautiful and dark about it that you have to hear for yourself; it's always this kind of stuff that I have the most amount of difficulty in describing what it means to me.

DOWNLOAD: Broadcast - Haha Sound

Stereolab - Switched On (1992)

There's a little record store around the corner from where I live that I'd been meanings to go check out for the longest time but haven't due to the fact that my turntable is currently broken. Just for kicks, my friend Alex and I finally went to browse the little shop earlier today and to my surprise they had a little section of relatively cheap CDs. This was the first one that really grabbed my attention. I was unfamiliar with anything that came out really early in Stereolabs career (my favourite album of theirs is probably Dots and Loops) this came a really pleasant and unfamiliar listen. Apparently this is a compilation album of their first releases. Lots of motoriks, amazing synthesizer tones and simple but attractive hooks, a real sonic treat.

"Switched On (also known as Switched On Stereolab or Switched On Volume 1) is a compilation of Stereolab's first three releases, and was originally released in 1992. The album's name is in tribute to Switched-On Bach and other similar titles from the late 1960s to 1970s that feature Moog synthesizers as the primary instrument.[1] Switched On was later licensed to Slumberland Records for a US release, and Rough Trade Germany, for that country, both in 1992."


DOWNLOAD: Stereolab - Switched On

The King Khan and BBQ Show - Invisible Girl (2009)

More garage rock, although of another sort. While some garage rock is more punk influenced and raw, others kept the pop, blues and soul influences of earlier era closer. Flamboyancy is a prized quality in the performers of garage rock in general, and King Khan and BBQ surely have it in spades. Considerably more mellow than something like the Stripes or Ty Segall shared recently, it reminds me of something Jon Spencer would be involved in. A raunchiness akin to Pussy Galore but style closer to Heavy Trash, if you're familiar with Spencer's work. The King Khan and BBQ Show is a combination of two Montreal-based gentlemen that have has some previous experience in bands of the genre. Their experience and rhythm shines throughout. One of the better features is the amazing crooning on tracks like "I'll Be Loving You" and "Tryin" that leave me memorized. However, as with all garage rock it is something that enters one's listening orbit only to exit in due time, but like comets and planets it returns regularly.

To be had here:
The King Khan and BBQ Show - Invisible Girl [192 VBR kbps]

Ty Segall - Ty Segall (2008)

First of all, I apologize for my failure to be on top of the posting. There was a series of car accidents with my in the middle resulting in some rather annoyingly painful injuries to my person. Luckily, nothing to serious, however that car drove its last that night. On with the post, I see my co-poster Warren smartly put up the White Stripes first album, which I vividly recall as my introduction into good modern music back in middle school. As the years have gone on I find that it is my favorite album of theirs, likely due largely to nostalgia. My love for garage rock has never waned over the years, though it has become more refined and sophisticated, at least I tell myself this. Here enters Ty Segall, who is very much my current favorite in the genre. In my opinion they've blown Thee Oh Sees and the other attempts to revamp garage rock revivalism out of the water. This shit is gold. It has everything I remember listen to as I failed middle school journalism class. Fuzzed out guitars, pounding drums to push it all along, and singing that out have to listen to at least a half a dozen times to understand a fucking word of. Despite coming from one of the places I least connect with garage rock in my mind, Orange County, these fellas have made something even old John Sinclair could be proud of. I know they've got a newer album out, but I haven't gotten it at a bit rate I like yet, so hold your horses and enjoy what I got.

To be had here:
Ty Segall - Ty Segall [192 kbps]

The White Stripes - The White Stripes (1999)

After De Stijl, this is my favourite White Stripes album. Had a massive influence on me and my taste in music while growing up. For some reason the strongest memory I have of this album is loading the CD (remember those?) into my Xbox and playing it over the car radio in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Explosive, propulsive raw garage rock. An essential listen, in my books.
I'm passing out and exhausted from school and practicing for a show I have coming up this Friday so I'm just gonna Wikipedia it from here, all apologies:

"Jack White's voice is a singular, evocative combination of punk, metal, blues, and backwoods while his guitar work is grand and banging with just enough lyrical touches of slide and subtle solo work... Meg White balances out the fretwork and the fretting with methodical, spare, and booming cymbal, bass drum, and snare... All D.I.Y. punk-country-blues-metal singer/songwriting duos should sound this good."

DOWNLOAD: The White Stripes - The White Stripes