Thank You!

Soundscapes will be closing permanently on September 30th, 2021.

Open every day between Spetember 22nd-30th

We'd like to thank all of our loyal customers over the years, you have made it all worthwhile! The last 20 years have seen a golden age in access to the world's recorded music history both in physical media and online. We were happy to be a part of sharing our knowledge of some of that great music with you. We hope you enjoyed most of what we sold & recommended to you over the years and hope you will continue to seek out the music that matters.

In the meantime we'll be selling our remaining inventory, including thousands of play copies, many of which are rare and/or out-of-print, never to be seen again. Over the next few weeks the discounts will increase and the price of play copies will decrease. Here are the details:

New CDs, LPs, DVDs, Blu-ray, Books 60% off 15% off

Rare & out-of-print new CDs 60% off 50% off

Rare/Premium/Out-of-print play copies $4.99 $14.99

Other play copies $2.99 $8.99

Magazine back issues $1 $2/each or 10 for $5 $15

Adjusted Hours & Ticket Refunds

We will be resuming our closing sale beginning Friday, June 11. Our hours will be as follows:

Wednesday-Saturday 12pm-7pm
Sunday 11am-6pm

Open every day between September 22nd-30th

We will no longer be providing ticket refunds for tickets purchased from the shop, however, you will be able to obtain refunds directly from the promoters of the shows. Please refer to the top of your ticket to determine the promoter. Here is the contact info for the promoters:

Collective Concerts/Horseshoe Tavern Presents/Lee's Palace Presents: shows@collectiveconcerts.com
Embrace Presents: info@embracepresents.com
MRG Concerts: ticketing@themrggroup.com
Live Nation: infotoronto@livenation.com
Venus Fest: venusfesttoronto@gmail.com

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for your understanding.

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Last Month's Top Sellers

1. TAME IMPALA - The Slow Rush
2. SARAH HARMER - Are We Gone
3. YOLA - Walk Through Fire
4. DESTROYER - Have We Met
5. DRIVE BY TRUCKERS - Unravelling

Click here for full list.

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Saturday
Nov142009

THE FLAMING LIPS - Embryonic

It was a decade ago that The Soft Bulletin pushed The Flaming Lips from alt-rock one-hit wonders (at least in terms of the general public's view) to full-on contender status. Although things did not really coalesce until 2002's Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots and its hit single "Do You Realize", Bulletin matched their trademark sense of bizarre spectacle with newly Herculean production and sweeping melodic gestures. And so the group that once famously festooned venues entirely in such lo-fi props as christmas lights and bubble machines finally gained the clout to turn their live show into a three-ring festival circus. At first, it was truly inspiring to behold—the sight of leader Wayne Coyne climbing over top of the crowd in a giant, clear ball was too insane and joyous to not love completely. But after some seven years of seeing them open every concert with "Race For The Prize"—and an equal amount of time without anything resembling a great record—it felt like the spectacle had consumed the music. What was once one of the most unpredictable and challenging bands in indie rock had become a Cirque du Soleil for hipsters. Thankfully, Embryonic takes the rule book that this band has constructed in recent years and it pretty much sends it to hell. No singles, not anything even approaching a pop song. Instead, a dark cloud of paranoia and groove dominates the album.

As stated by many already, it is indeed a unified recording—all 18 tracks are dedicated to a single message and approach. As a result, The Flaming Lips have truly made an album worth talking about again. Even better, they've done so without simply repeating the tricks that made their albums such a thrill in the '90s. Instead, they've successfully applied the considerable cinematic power of their live show to a purely audio experience—the entire record is not songs so much as colours, textures and resonant tremors. It's their craziest trip of a disc since the 4-CD experiment Zaireeka, and one that you'll find yourself listening to a lot more—and a lot more easily, too.

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