Post by blade on May 24, 2011 12:52:07 GMT
I discovered this Canadian band a few months ago and have been listening virtually non-stop since. They are hard to compare to anybody else I've ever heard. Have a listen and you'll see what I mean. Their music has been described thus: "chilling, meticulously crafted pop music. Layering angelic four-part vocal harmonies over swirling synths, twinkling pianos, tropical guitars and stuttering, sophisticated rhythms, their arrangements are lush and obsessively detailed. The eye of this storm is frontwoman Raphaelle Standell Preston, imbuing Braids’ songs with Bjorkian banshee shrieks, unexpected ululations and pigtailed curlicues."
Listen to them here:
www.myspace.com/braidsmusic
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwPZmcgUBJM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RnfroBOgO0
www.youtube.com/watch?v=adhxSEjnBjA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYQP2g5uxiE
The tracks are all 5-8 minutes long and are from their debut album Native Speaker, but they released an EP Set Pieces (download only) in 2008.
Here are a couple of reviews of Native Speaker:
From: hangout.altsounds.com/reviews/128155-braids-native-speaker-album.html
One listen to the début album by Braids is just not going to do it. This is one of those albums where it should have a sticker on the front requiring a “two listen minimum upon opening”. Native Speaker is one of the most unique releases that I have heard in a long time. Braids, who hail from Calgary, came together as four best friends in high school and began their musical collaboration shortly after. Their début EP, Set Pieces was released in 2008 and this new release has only been out for a short period of time, but has garnered rave reviews from everyone including Rolling Stone, The New York Times and Spin.
How exactly can I describe what I heard in written form? The sound is both complex and simplistic at the same time. There is a great deal of experimentation and layering of sounds that is very refreshing and it is the ultimate “let the top down on a sunny day and drive with nowhere in mind” soundtrack. Lead singer Raphaelle Standell-Preston has a vocal style that is unique in today’s market, yet it has already started to draw comparisons to Bjork from her early Sugarcubes days and Kate Bush. She has a sense of innocence to her vocal stylings, but when listening closely to her lyrics you can tell that those devil horns pop out every now and then.
The songs are somewhat “epic” in length with the average song length being six minutes and with none clocking in under the four minute mark. “Glass Deers,” at almost eight minutes in length is a slow song that builds and builds with endless layers of synth arrangements. “Lemonade” is a more upbeat and somewhat catchy song that just keeps drawing you into it deeper and deeper - it’s almost like subliminal mind control to where you can’t turn it off. But wait! Don’t let that scare any of you off - that is actually a positive thing.
I can see why Native Speaker has caught the ears of an industry full of “flavors of the week” and all the rave reviews - including this one - are indeed warranted. Braids may be young, but what they bring to the table is both wise and seasoned well beyond their years. Check them out before they blow up so that you can tell all your friends “I told you so”!
From: www.thelineofbestfit.com/2011/02/braids-native-speaker/
In an age where albums are often recorded in a matter of days or weeks, then promptly uploaded and released into the digital wilds just as quickly, it is refreshing to see a band give themselves the time to develop and craft their releases. TLOBF’s first introduction to Braids came via the track ‘Lemonade’, which featured on the first of our Oh! Canada compilations back in June of 2009, peaking the interest of many with it’s insistent looping motif and multitude of instrumental layers all building and exploding around Raphelle Standell-Preston’s near mantra-like delivery of the songs key hook.
It is a slightly reworked version of ‘Lemonade’ that kicks off the band’s debut album Native Speaker, and the track continues to draw in the listener, the new version a perfect example of the band taking the time to hone their creations. The ideas explored within Lemonade are extrapolated elsewhere in the album, with certain sections and passages echoing what has gone before, and expanding on it, looping ideas back on the listener, much as the band do within the individual songs themselves.
The epic ‘Glass Deer’ begins quietly, looped backwards guitars and passages propping each other up and introducing drones before giving way to a gentle lullaby like guitar and cooing multi-part vocals. So far so heavenly. As she does frequently throughout the record, Standell-Preston uses her voice as a percussive instrument here, repeating the phrase “all ****ed-up-de-c-up,de c-up, de c-up” as the rhythm sections minimal drumming, suitably low in the mix, propels the band forward. Although all of Braids four members provide vocals, much of Native Speaker is built around Standell-Preston’s vocal delivery. From gentle coo, to spirited yelp, hers is the integral instrument in all of the bands intricately layered compositions.
While there is a feeling of gentle euphoria at work throughout Native Speaker, the imposing bass thumps of ‘Lammicken’ crackle with electricity as Standell-Preston intones the sinister and slightly disturbing mantra “I can’t stop it”. Set against this dark episode, ‘Same Mum’ positively explodes into life, its delicately swinging guitar lines repeating sing-song passages at each other, chiming and twinkling around the echoing vocals enthusiastically.
Native Speaker is a captivating record whose multi-layered approach seems to reveal more with each listen, a testament to being allowed the time to craft a record.
*************
I went to see Braids at the Cockpit 3 in Leeds last night, which is probably the smallest gig venue I've ever been to! There were a lot of people there and I thought, bloody hell, word has got round, but most were there to see The Hoosiers in the other room. There were about fifty to watch Braids.
I was intrigued to see how they could reproduce live what they do on record, but it seemed easy enough for them! They were on for an hour, with no breaks between songs (if you can really call them songs), so it was one continuous maelstrom of sounds. It was just as fascinating to watch them as listen to them as they kept twiddling with knobs and pressing foot pedals, and coming out with all sorts of vocal sounds, used more as another instrument than something to sing words with. I was transfixed.
I had a word with their manager (Alex) before and after the gig and he told me that they had a bit of support from the record company and even got a grant from the Canadian government (!), I guess to help get Canadian music known to a wider audience, but he also said they will "lose a bunch of money" on the tour. He said he'd recorded a CD with singer Raphaelle Standell-Preston (who is also his girlfriend) under the name Blue Hawaii. I have still to check them out.
Listen to them here:
www.myspace.com/braidsmusic
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwPZmcgUBJM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RnfroBOgO0
www.youtube.com/watch?v=adhxSEjnBjA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYQP2g5uxiE
The tracks are all 5-8 minutes long and are from their debut album Native Speaker, but they released an EP Set Pieces (download only) in 2008.
Here are a couple of reviews of Native Speaker:
From: hangout.altsounds.com/reviews/128155-braids-native-speaker-album.html
One listen to the début album by Braids is just not going to do it. This is one of those albums where it should have a sticker on the front requiring a “two listen minimum upon opening”. Native Speaker is one of the most unique releases that I have heard in a long time. Braids, who hail from Calgary, came together as four best friends in high school and began their musical collaboration shortly after. Their début EP, Set Pieces was released in 2008 and this new release has only been out for a short period of time, but has garnered rave reviews from everyone including Rolling Stone, The New York Times and Spin.
How exactly can I describe what I heard in written form? The sound is both complex and simplistic at the same time. There is a great deal of experimentation and layering of sounds that is very refreshing and it is the ultimate “let the top down on a sunny day and drive with nowhere in mind” soundtrack. Lead singer Raphaelle Standell-Preston has a vocal style that is unique in today’s market, yet it has already started to draw comparisons to Bjork from her early Sugarcubes days and Kate Bush. She has a sense of innocence to her vocal stylings, but when listening closely to her lyrics you can tell that those devil horns pop out every now and then.
The songs are somewhat “epic” in length with the average song length being six minutes and with none clocking in under the four minute mark. “Glass Deers,” at almost eight minutes in length is a slow song that builds and builds with endless layers of synth arrangements. “Lemonade” is a more upbeat and somewhat catchy song that just keeps drawing you into it deeper and deeper - it’s almost like subliminal mind control to where you can’t turn it off. But wait! Don’t let that scare any of you off - that is actually a positive thing.
I can see why Native Speaker has caught the ears of an industry full of “flavors of the week” and all the rave reviews - including this one - are indeed warranted. Braids may be young, but what they bring to the table is both wise and seasoned well beyond their years. Check them out before they blow up so that you can tell all your friends “I told you so”!
From: www.thelineofbestfit.com/2011/02/braids-native-speaker/
In an age where albums are often recorded in a matter of days or weeks, then promptly uploaded and released into the digital wilds just as quickly, it is refreshing to see a band give themselves the time to develop and craft their releases. TLOBF’s first introduction to Braids came via the track ‘Lemonade’, which featured on the first of our Oh! Canada compilations back in June of 2009, peaking the interest of many with it’s insistent looping motif and multitude of instrumental layers all building and exploding around Raphelle Standell-Preston’s near mantra-like delivery of the songs key hook.
It is a slightly reworked version of ‘Lemonade’ that kicks off the band’s debut album Native Speaker, and the track continues to draw in the listener, the new version a perfect example of the band taking the time to hone their creations. The ideas explored within Lemonade are extrapolated elsewhere in the album, with certain sections and passages echoing what has gone before, and expanding on it, looping ideas back on the listener, much as the band do within the individual songs themselves.
The epic ‘Glass Deer’ begins quietly, looped backwards guitars and passages propping each other up and introducing drones before giving way to a gentle lullaby like guitar and cooing multi-part vocals. So far so heavenly. As she does frequently throughout the record, Standell-Preston uses her voice as a percussive instrument here, repeating the phrase “all ****ed-up-de-c-up,de c-up, de c-up” as the rhythm sections minimal drumming, suitably low in the mix, propels the band forward. Although all of Braids four members provide vocals, much of Native Speaker is built around Standell-Preston’s vocal delivery. From gentle coo, to spirited yelp, hers is the integral instrument in all of the bands intricately layered compositions.
While there is a feeling of gentle euphoria at work throughout Native Speaker, the imposing bass thumps of ‘Lammicken’ crackle with electricity as Standell-Preston intones the sinister and slightly disturbing mantra “I can’t stop it”. Set against this dark episode, ‘Same Mum’ positively explodes into life, its delicately swinging guitar lines repeating sing-song passages at each other, chiming and twinkling around the echoing vocals enthusiastically.
Native Speaker is a captivating record whose multi-layered approach seems to reveal more with each listen, a testament to being allowed the time to craft a record.
*************
I went to see Braids at the Cockpit 3 in Leeds last night, which is probably the smallest gig venue I've ever been to! There were a lot of people there and I thought, bloody hell, word has got round, but most were there to see The Hoosiers in the other room. There were about fifty to watch Braids.
I was intrigued to see how they could reproduce live what they do on record, but it seemed easy enough for them! They were on for an hour, with no breaks between songs (if you can really call them songs), so it was one continuous maelstrom of sounds. It was just as fascinating to watch them as listen to them as they kept twiddling with knobs and pressing foot pedals, and coming out with all sorts of vocal sounds, used more as another instrument than something to sing words with. I was transfixed.
I had a word with their manager (Alex) before and after the gig and he told me that they had a bit of support from the record company and even got a grant from the Canadian government (!), I guess to help get Canadian music known to a wider audience, but he also said they will "lose a bunch of money" on the tour. He said he'd recorded a CD with singer Raphaelle Standell-Preston (who is also his girlfriend) under the name Blue Hawaii. I have still to check them out.