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

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Thursday
Jun022011

GRUFF RHYS - Hotel Shampoo

In his band of Welsh weirdos, Super Furry Animals, Gruff Rhys regularly leads the charge through a vast smorgasbord of psych, rock, electro and pop music—all seasoned with liberal dashes of metal, Latin, calypso and whatever else is lying around. Like the Creole dish gumbo, beyond the basic structure, the remaining contents in the pot are an equal case of whim and what's within arm's reach. His solo efforts, however—while still generally off-kilter—have tended to have a more narrow focus. Whether the all-Welsh song sketches of 2005's Yr Atal Genhedlaeth, or the acoustically powered folkpop of 2007's Candylion, these albums are more sharply defined. At least for someone as restless as Rhys.

Hotel Shampoo bridges the gap somewhat between these two worlds, and is easily the most SFA-ish solo effort by the man. If it lacks the guitar muscle or dance-club thud of his day job, it still boasts a tempting array of flavours. In keeping with being a solo release, it also manages to convey them in a fashion less schizo than a full-band effort. So even though we get the lush and lugubrious "Honey All Over", the briskly frank "Conservation Conversation", the sing-song "Sophie Softly", and the gorgeous horn-driven ballad "Take A Sentence", everything speaks fluently from tune to tune. Rhys' gorgeous tenor anchors the record in this respect, guiding the proceedings with a relaxed, casual hand while never dipping into the crazed scream of which he's more than capable. It's just not the right time, y'know?

After some twenty years at this, Rhys is well-skilled at making an album that is equally breezy and rich, consistent and varied. He's a highly underrated popsmith, and Hotel Shampoo is yet another beautiful day at the office.

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