Party on my block and in my headphones

Also getting some rotation on my iPod lately is the new (soon-to-be released in North America I think) Bloc Party disc, Silent Alarm. The singles "Little Thoughts" (though from an earlier EP, I grouped it with the latest stuff), "Banquet" and "Like Eating Glass" are particular standouts. A very punchy, tight, frentic guitar sound to these guys.

Hunting Wolf (cont’d)

Originally, “Dear Sons and Daughters...” was my favourite Wolf Parade tune, but that was because I had not heard any others. But some of the recent ones I’ve picked up I like just as much or even better. They are:

· I’ll Believe in Anything, You’ll Believe in Anything (live on CBC Radio 3)
· Grounds For Divorce
· Shine a Light (live on CBC Radio 3)
· Dinner Bells
· National Peoples Scare
· Killing Armies

They do 6 songs on that CBC Radio 3 show, and I wish I was technologically advanced enough to "rip" the others into MP3 format, sigh. Hopefully someone will and they will surface in cyberspace soon.

Here's a link to the band's website: http://wolfparade.cjb.net/

Hunting Wolf

As noted in an earlier ‘Best of 2004’ post, one of my favourite songs of recent times is Wolf Parade’s “Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts”. I had downloaded it from one of the music/MP3 blogs I regularly read and it was immediately catchy – the finger snaps, the hooky synth lines, the vocals. I’d crank that song in the car often. So, being intrigued, I did what any ardent music fan would, I surfed the net trying to find out more about them and ideally locate some discography (and hopefully some more of their music). For the former, my interest was further piqued, as I found out that one of the members had played in the Arcade Fire, and that Win was a big fan. A good sign when a band I really dig is touting another. On the latter, finding some additional tunes by Wolf Parade proved to be problematic. I found out that they had released 2 EPs, available through a Montreal record shop and its website, Cheap Thrills. Now, being a music downloader and not having purchased any kind of CDs for years, I was willing to dole out the bucks to get the EPs by mail order. To my dismay, when I surfed over there, I discovered that they were sold out. Boo-urns. I turned to my trusty friend, Kazaa. Repeated searches would come up empty over the next while. Finally a glimmer of hope – someone was sharing the files! I clicked to DL them, and of course (for anyone who’s familiar with Kazaa) I got the ‘more sources needed’ message – ahh the joys of peer-to-peer filesharing through a server. This necessitated leaving Kazaa open at all times in the vain hope of catching the elusive tunes. Simultaneously, I scoured the blog-o-sphere for any MP3s. I managed to nab a couple and am grateful to the bloggers out there, not only for being such big fans of the bad, but for keeping the MP3s and links live. One recent morning, lo and behold, my downloads were completed!

All this to say that tracking down Wolf Parade music has been difficult and I am thrilled to be able to listen more of it. My exposure to more of their material has only served to whet my appetite and I am super-stoked in anticipation of the release of a full-length CD on Sub Pop later this year (I’ve heard differing rumours about when to expect it…summer…fall…). Whatever the case, I’m hyped because the songs from the EPs are great and I hope they keep a bulk of them and bust out a couple of new ones.