THE RECOMMENDER – PARLOVR

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We want to touch on why we listen to music on this post today, because upon discovering Parlovr (pronounced Parlour) we were distinctly reminded of this consideration.  We guess that everyone has varying reasons for listening to music and all of them are valid, as the experience is always for the ear of the beholder, but we believe there’s some underlying commonalities.  Ever since Neanderthal Man first hit a beat with a dinosaur bone onto the taut hind of a Sabertooth Tiger we’ve enjoyed rhythm and melody.  There’s always something tribal involved, isn’t there?  Something that penetrates deeper within you, often creating a sort of involuntary reaction, or dancing as some people call it.  OK, so the likes of Aqua and Fergie might not get your neurons firing, but Parlovr head straight for your cerebral cortex and jerk around masterfully.  They sit in your soul and set about stirring a little thunder and lightning inside you.  It’s almost a religious reaction, as you find yourself utterly wrapped up in it, losing yourself for three or four minutes.  This is what all the REALLY good music does, right?  It’s on this particular point that the similarities to fellow Canadians, Arcade Fire, surface.  Big, cacophonous drums, that sound recorded in a room far too large, alongside loose guitar strings, with lyrics of ambition, hope and love that are externalised through vocals that break into the occasional shout.  “I held the hand of an angel, many nights ago“, is hailed out as the track Pen To The Paper rattles along to a confident climax.  We almost want to throw our heads back and our arms aloft, as we sing along.  There’s bits of Pixies, Modest Mouse and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah found here, suggesting that North Americans really do create this kind of euphoric music better than anyone else.  Montreal’s Parlovr release their self-titled debut, on Dine Alone Records, on July 5th in the UK.  We found it a confident, consistent, epic album that dips to a lo-fi pulse, before rising to throbbing peaks on an enjoyable, energetic, melodic rollercoaster.  Discover Parlovr and we think that you’ll indirectly re-discover one or two of the reasons why you adore listening to music.   (MB)

Find them here:         Myspace

Hear them here:        PARLOVR – ALL THE WORLD IS ALL THAT IS THE CASE

Hear them here:        PARLOVR – PEN TO THE PAPER

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THE RECOMMENDER – NUMBER 100 – FELIX AND VOLCANO!

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We think we can confidently state that most of the emails music bloggers receive are utter rubbish.  We’ve often considered the easy way out – to cull them all in big batches.  On many occasions our fingers have hovered over the delete button, but what stops us is that one faith-restoring email out of a hundred, with a bounty contained within it, that reminds you precisely why you got into blogging in the first place.  In truth, emails aren’t actually a music bloggers best source for discovering music, it’s actually by busily interacting online, or by reading other blogs/sites, and obviously by being active in the real world.  Like any other business, referrals are much more successful.  However, there we were, panning for email gold, and up came Felix And Volcano.  To our pleasure they didn’t roll into the usual PR fluff about how amazing they are – they did what we always prefer bands to do – namely to just give us one line and a link to listen to an mp3.  Upon clicking through to their Bandcamp and listening to their track, Shaadows, our faith in the process was immediately reinforced.  This track’s rather simplified breakbeat start is swiftly overlaid with a keyboard refrain not out of place in an ice hockey match, but the playfulness is quickly matured, as Sam Ueda’s vocals begin.  His spoken words, reminiscent of James Murphy or Lou Reed, engage you before they raise the pitch to a sublime treble.  The song then wanders down a path previously trodden by the likes of TV On The Radio, or Beck at his most sexually experimental.  It’s a minimalist piece of tidy electronic pop, before it bravely shifts gear and climaxes at an entirely different pace.  Sam from the band informed us that Aian Constantineau, who plays the keys and beats, used vintage equipment for this recording, choosing the Casio DG-20 Digital Guitar.  He also pointed out that this is a tool of choice for the Flight Of The Conchords team, with whom they share a sense of youthful abandonment.  That’s no surprise, considering this two piece met at the University Of New Hampshire and are still only 19 years old.  Having started in 2008 and previously released only a first draft EP, they’ve now put out a more polished EP, Grow Rich, this May.  Fans of Naive New Beaters, Yes Giantess, or My Awesome Mixtape will smile along to this.  Emails aside, perhaps you too will find them just as re-assuring as we did.     (MB)

Find them here:        Myspace

Hear them here:        FELIX AND VOLCANO! – SHAADOWS

Hear them here:        FELIX AND VOLCANO! – FRDM

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