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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Tuesday
Aug242010

AUTOLUX - Transit Transit

Autolux are a strange case. On one hand, their aesthetic is the same sort of slick, perfectly manicured product as so many desperate-for-success major label also-rans. The fact that they're from Los Angeles—mecca for the overambitious and undertalented—only seems to seal the deal. But as meticulously crafted as their tunes may be, the group differs from the aforementioned pack by offering no easy answers. The result is that the trio's latest, Transit Transit, is finding itself being derided as elegant, but directionless; beautiful, but turgid; tidy, but, well, too tidy. You know: It all sounds nice—too bad they can’t write a hook.

I'm here to say that's all bunk. This band is in pursuit of a lot of things on Transit Transit, but if they wanted a tacklebox full of earcatchers, they’d write them. Autolux are a hell of a lot closer to, say, the Dirty Three re-imagined as a pop band from the future. And lest that seem like an overreaching, ignorant and/or unhelpful comparison, allow me to elaborate. The two keys to the music of the Dirty Three are patience—you’ve gotta stick with it in order for things to fully express themselves—and a slightly unconventional approach to each musician's role. And as different as the two bands’ overall styles are, the same applies to Autolux.

Guitarist Greg Edwards’ playing rarely chooses to stabilize or dictate, instead drifting in and out courtesy of sinewy lines and fuzzy punctuations. Bassist/singer Eugene Goreshter handles his two duties so casually, it seemingly borders on indifference—a decision that threatens to set each of these ten tracks on an irreversible drift. But instead, his approach keeps the songs beautifully away from the overstated vocals or hamfistedly obvious basslines of most pop-rock acts. Verse/chorus tunes stay liquid and pleasingly amorphous.

And then there’s the drummer, Carla Azar. One of my best friends and I both play the drums, and Azar possesses the most beguiling style either of us have heard in many years. Her accent placement and decision-making is mesmerizing, pulling out key bricks from the foundation, delighting in the tumble, and then pushing herself to rebuild it all over again in a newly refined structure.

Put all of this together, and you get a band successfully attaining the least rewarding of goals—a brand of pop/rock that is neither arty enough for critics, nor immediate enough for the average fan. It’s a near-suicidal limbo in which to place oneself, but I for one am very glad they feel compelled to do so.

Reader Comments (1)

the record is pretty unwhelming

after a 6 year wait, I was expecting more.

August 26, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAnagrama

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