Music

Who says session musicians can’t play with the big boys? Maxus, formed by Los Angeles-based studio wizards Michael Landau and Robbie Buchanan, tossed their own hat into the rock ring with the release of an eponymous 1981 album. The single “Nobody’s Business” is a smooth pop rocker about a steamy affair played out over the phone. Pianist and lead vocalist Jay Bruska croons about dialing up his hot lover even as his existing partner sleeps next to him.

The enigmatic TOBACCO is set to release Ripe And Majestic, an album of B sides and rarities, on August 25th and in lieu of that dropping has shared the electro damaged lead single “Slaughtered By The Amway Guy”. Not much is known about the producer and member of Black Moth Super Rainbow, but in all honesty not much is really needed to know. Thomas Fec has been putting out some wonderfully misshapen electronic music since 2008.

Laetitia Sadier is mostly known for being the voice of the amazing Stereolab but she is also no stranger to collaborating with a ton of interesting artists ranging from The High Llamas to Tyler The Creator. Her latest project, Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble, is about to hit North America in support of their Drag City release Finding Me Finding You and in celebration of this have dropped the video for the wistful and melancholic track “Sacred Project”.

Toronto’s METZ make music that has often left them to be compared to the Seattle scene’s 90’s era of grunge bands but as they have proven since the release of their sophomore album II, the band is much more interested in crafting songs that are not only sonically punishing but that can also push this form of punk rock or post hardcore, or whatever you want to call it, onto a more artistic terrain. Today with the release of their brand new single, “Cellophane”, METZ show that their music can be both aggressive and interesting.

Since his beginnings in Bristol as a collaborator of Massive Attack and his breakthrough 1995 album Maxinquaye, trip hop legend Tricky has been keeping busy for the last couple decades. In June he released the track “The Only Way”, a lush orchestrated nod to his early days, and today he drops a new mix of that same song, the slow burning “The Only Way Stripped Down Tricky Mix”.

The year is 2003. Charles Manson, leader of the notorious Manson Family (more of a blood-thirsty cult than traditional nuclear family, in case you were wondering), is rotting away in a California State Prison, proudly sporting a Swastika tattoo on his forehead and trying to put his best foot forward, his dreams of launching the apocalyptic race war known as Helter Skelter, in twisted homage to the Beatles’ tune of the same name, forever dashed by the long arm of the law.

Berlin based artist Sally Dige may be known to Vancouver audiences as a member of Petroluem By-Product, a band where Dige honed her talents as a musician, singer-songwriter and audio-visual multi disciplinarian, but this week the former Vancouverite releases the first single, “Holding On”, off of the upcoming album of the same name. Using only a single synth and her voice, Dige has crafted quite the dance floor ready gem. Digging deeper into the track is where the real emotion is felt.