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.

Twitter
Other Music
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.

Search
« JULIANNA BARWICK - The Magic Place | Main | KEREN ANN - 101 »
Tuesday
Mar292011

THE DODOS - No Color

Apparently, a lot of people found The Dodos' previous effort, 2009's Time To Die, a bit of a letdown. Even though I wasn't one of them, No Color is without a doubt an improvement over that record. Loose and surprisingly noisy and heavy when so inclined, it's an awfully thrilling album that astutely seizes a moment. For at this point, The Dodos need to solidify their claim to our ears. So fast is the pace of modern pop culture that the praise heaped upon their 2008 breakthrough, Visiter, feels a lifetime away. With new flavours of the month arriving like swarms of aphids, what's a little indie duo to do? You make an album that is catchy and brawny throughout, even when it meanders into extended instrumental passages or folksy finger-picking.

It helps hugely that not only are The Dodos excellent players, but they also have highly distinct voices on their instruments. It's an immense compliment to the talents of guitarist Meric Long and drummer Logan Kroeber that despite playing the two most normal positions in rock, the combined effect rarely sounds like that of any other band. Even the decision to include the mighty Neko Case throughout the record does not derail the band's unique personality. Instead, she finds a perfectly supportive role on tracks like "Don't Try to Hide It"—present, but never in the flashy, scene-stealing way she's so often claimed with the New Pornographers, blending in beautifully.

Which is great news, because after the somewhat-failed experiment of adding a third member during the Time To Die period (vibraphonist Keaton Snyder, who does make contributions to No Color but is no longer a full member), Long and Kroeber now seem to have a full understanding of what makes them so special. They're locked into a syncopated brand of punky, folky pop that is not easily replicated. Hearing the pair blast through the seriously schizo fuzzed-out coda of "Going Under" is to be left without any doubt of their powers. As an album that is both full of energy and highly ruminative, No Color stomps all over the idea that Time To Die’s title was meant literally as any kind of band-ending mandate. Long may they play.

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
All HTML will be escaped. Hyperlinks will be created for URLs automatically.