library voices - summer of lust (4/5)

As Canadians, we long for the summer. We fight through the coldest of nights and the bleakest of days; we huddle crouched in front of fire places touching each other in those small inches of exposed skin. And then summer comes and we rejoice! We strip down to our sexiest, skimpiest, most brazen attitudes and we worship wherever possible: patios, street corners, and mosquito packed folk fests across the true north, strong and free. And fret not, Radio3 lovers, Library Voices have created an album for just those moments – and when the winter returns, inevitable from its summer hibernation, Summer of Lust will remain steadfast, keeping us warm.

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the kills - blood pressures (4/5)

lose your eyes and imagine: it’s a muggy, oppressively hot Tuesday night in the middle of the summer. A friend calls to invite you to a club you’ve never heard of to see some band from England. You aren’t one to say no so you don’t. The club is on a side street in a pseudo-industrial area and looks like it shouldn’t legally be allowed to hold more than 40 people. You get inside and join 150 people cramped and sweating in a grimy, basement club. Somehow you find your shins pressed up against a barely raised stage packed with equipment. You’re curious, excited and admittedly a little terrified. You’re trying not to imagine what would happen if there was a fire… After what feels like hours a palpable hush falls over the crowd and two people step on stage. Both are clad in impossibly tight dark jeans and black leather boots and jackets-within seconds the room takes on a serpentine rhythm and you breathe and sway and jump until well past exhaustion and well past an acceptable hour for a Tuesday night.

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handsome firs - sound kapitol (3.5/5)

Back in the day – “the day” being the latter part of the last century and the earliest days of this one – record stores had a little section called “IDM” (intelligent dance music). Yes, really. Somehow genre geeks found a measurable difference between smart and stupid dance music. Now, if we’re being honest with ourselves we would admit that not once did any of us get sweaty in a club dancing dancing to múm or Sigur Ros. In this new decade we find ourselves at a precipice of a new era of IDM – IDM you can actually dance to. Among this new crop of fun, smart and deeply danceable bands are Handsome Furs. And Sound Kapital, their third release, has cemented them as a leader in exhuberant, intelligent, scrappy pop music.

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sloan - the double cross (4/5)

Nostalgia is a powerful motivator for both audience and creator, and after 20 years as a band it’s fair to say that Sloan’s The Double Cross is not without a certain amount of it. A little angel and devil on your shoulders, nostalgia is those two friends from high school: the bad influence daring you to hate The Double Cross; and the one your parents wanted you to be friends with, reminding of you why you love them so much.

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