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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Sunday
May222011

JENNIFER CASTLE - Castlemusic

I don't want to fall into the trap of suggesting that the best music is unforced and natural in its execution. From Bowie and Madonna to Of Montreal and Kanye (and at many points in between), great numbers of artists have made compelling, engaging and even honest music as a direct result of forced reinventions and unnatural posturing. But all that aside, you’ve gotta give it up for the people who can just address a microphone directly and capture your imagination and ears completely. Especially when their end product is arguably just as mysterious as those of chronic shape-shifting performers.

Jennifer Castle is that type of artist. On her first foray out from under the Castlemusic moniker (which instead becomes an album title—no need to reinvent oneself entirely!), Castle delivers nine songs woven with a timeless, ageless skill. They are tunes of great emotional heft and spiritual weight that still float by like translucent pillows of sound. Part of the appeal of Castle’s music is how she’s able to infuse some rather traditional folk instrumentation with touches of psychedelic wandering, and even menace. On "Neverride", a gentle drifting acoustic stroll is dragged strangely off-path by an intoxicating high warble. Elsewhere, like on the mystic sleepwalk of "Powers" or the mellotron séance of "Misguided", she channels a personality both threatening and benign—it’s remarkable how the same songs can sound equally creepy and gorgeous depending on the moment of listening.

The same can really be said of the whole album. Even on its most energized tune—the shuddering tremolo blues of "Poor As Him"—Castle’s music sits like a static-laden channel-between-channels on your TV dial. Despite having so much in it that you recognize—the flutes, the slide guitar, the percussion—the whole of her songs often feel like they don’t quite exist in an assigned space. And yet, they remain wholly natural and honest. In that way, perhaps the naming of her album wasn’t just a last-minute brain cramp, after all. Castlemusic claims for its namesake a personalized plot of musical territory—both immediately familiar and full of new discoveries. 

(Jennifer Castle will be performing live in our shop on Tue. May 24 at 7pm.)

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