D.I.D - Hotel

GROUNDERS' new album will be available May 12.

“Where do you go? Waiting around, where do you go from here?” wonders the chorus of “Secret Friend,” the first single from GROUNDERS’ debut self-titled LP. 

With a dreamy, reverb-drenched intro, the song drifts alongside layers of wobbly arpeggiated synth lines and space-age guitar melodies. It’s the opening track, and it’s also a fitting intro to GROUNDERS. It shimmers and gleams, but there’s a scrappy, stripped-back undertone that chips away at any polish. For every catchy hook and lush arrangement throughout the album there’s a woozy counterpoint that keeps things slightly off-kilter. 

Where do you go from here? Into the weird and wonderful pop world of GROUNDERS.  

This spring, the Toronto-based band – Andrew Davis (vocals and guitar), Daniel Busheikin (keyboards), Mike Searle (Bass) and Evan Lewis (guitar) – will release their first full-length album, a collection of dense and intricate pop music under the gauzy veil of krautrock and psychedelia.   In the time between releasing the Wreck of a Smile EP in 2013 and laying demos for their debut album, GROUNDERS rediscovered their love for classic pop music, an appreciation that had waned over the years as they became obsessed with circumventing the conventional. They listened to pop staples like David Bowie and Devo, and revisited old favourites like Velvet Underground, Neu and the Zombies. When GROUNDERS finally came up for air, they had a newfound love for pop and a glut of ideas for a debut LP.  

Meanwhile, Meditation for Dummies and David Lynch’s self-help guide Catching the Big Fish, on transcendental meditation and the creative process, were passed around the van while touring through North America. As Davis’s interest in meditation increased, his lyrics began to reflect his search for serenity and inner peace. 

The album came to life in two distinct spaces: Davis’s bedroom in Toronto’s sleepy High Park neighbourhood; and a spacious two-car garage packed with vintage gear from various pawn shops and second-hand stores across the country. 

After recruiting DIANA’s Kieran Adams to handle drums, the band headed into the studio with longtime pal Marcel Ramagnano (Born Ruffians, Absolutely Free) to record. Months of tracking, tinkering and layering later, GROUNDERS enlisted the incomparable David Newfeld (Broken Social Scene, Holy Fuck) to give each song the bombastic, fried analog treatment he’s become known for.   

First single "Secret Friend" sounds like a bleached and sunbaked Zombies; “Vyvanse,” which yes, is named after the ADHD drug, contains a lilting guitar riff that’ll break your heart; “Pull It Over Me” careens into the dreamy ether courtesy of a wistful cyclical guitar that’s the epitome of a lazy summer’s day; “No Ringer” is a wobbly Silver Apples trance doused in a saxophone freak-out; "Fool's Banquet" sparkles like early Broadcast flooded by constant glistening waves of pleasure.  After cross-country tours, an acclaimed debut EP and a David Lynch-inspired spiritual journey, GROUNDERS have finally come of age.


GROUNDERS - Secret Friend

The second single off The Muscadettes "Side A" EP available 4/21/2015

Pre-order "Side A" on iTunes bit.ly/1DbBNHn

iTunes

The Muscadettes - Pearl And Oyster

Debut single by Zurich from forthcoming EP 'Small Wars'.

ZURICH - Alone

An observation about how tourism is related to the deregulation of cannabis.

The Rock One

We'd Need Weed

In a house of lace and polished wood
They did exactly what they thought they should
"Keep it inside, don't make a scene"
Living a life that’s painted clean
But in the hallway, a child stands still
A mind that moves against its will
And every "glitch" and every "tic"
Makes the air in the kitchen heavy and thick.

They see a doctor, they hear a name
But all they feel is a burning shame
To them, a diagnosis is a jagged stone
Thrust at the seeds that they have sown
"Where did we fail? What did we do wrong?"
They sing their guilt like a bitter song
So they wrap their silence in a velvet glove
And call it "protection," and call it "love."

But you can't heal a wound you refuse to see
You can't set a spirit you’ve shackled free
It’s love without a heartbeat, love without a face
Holding the child in a cold embrace
They’re guarding the secret, they’re hiding the scars
To keep their own reflection from falling apart
Losing the child to save the name
Caught in the mirror of their own shame.

"She’s just timid," or "He’s just shy"
They feed the truth a beautiful lie
Because if the child is "broken" or "different" by birth
It devalues their own parental worth
They provide the bed, they provide the food
But they starve the soul in a quiet feud
They love the version they wanted to create
While the real human being is left to wait.

Generations of ghosts in a silent row
Afraid of the things they don't want to know
If they admit the wiring is real
They’d have to admit all the pain they feel
So they keep the "mask" firmly in place
And look at their child with a stranger's face.
(Chorus)
No, you can't heal a wound you refuse to see
You can't set a spirit you’ve shackled free
It’s love without a heartbeat, love without a face
Holding the child in a cold embrace
They’re guarding the secret, they’re hiding the scars
To keep their own reflection from falling apart
Losing the child to save the name
Caught in the mirror of their own shame.

The timid girl is still behind the knee
Invisible to those who refuse to see
It’s not a failing, it’s not a sin
Just a different light from deep within
Break the mirror...
Let the child begin.

BOOMERS PRIDE - Episode Three

BOOMERS PRIDE - Episode Three

Admit / Resist

"Anyone Else" off of 'Big Sparks' by Few Bits, out 2016 on PIAS

Anyone Else

Drive by Tourists.

Official release date: Friday 4th November 2016

Audio produced by https://soundcloud.com/jamesbragg

Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmJG_6-spp8

Spotify: http://spoti.fi/2evQKCo
Apple Music / iTunes: http://bit.ly/2elTCOE
Deezer: http://bit.ly/2evWPP8

***
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D.I.D - Hotel

DIDnotts

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