Gossamer Albatross - "The Ground Will Take Us Down". Maybe this song is about dying, maybe it's about gettin' down. It's probably both. And while "the flesh from your thighs" sound like words Jeff Mangum would sing, Gossamer Albatross hide more jubilance in their rattle & strum. Neutral Milk Hotel have Death's hand on their shoulder, Death's lips at their ear; Lewis Gordon's just got his lover's hand, his lover's lips, the perfume of flowers everywhere. I love even more the way they've deployed their cello & two violins: not to make things pretty, placid, but to provide a hungry drone, the scrape of skin on skin, dirt in fingernails.

[MySpace 1 2 / buy]

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Elsewhere:

I'm awed by the nerve of Chryde at the Blogotheque, charming a magical evening moment out of Bloc Party. Vincent Moon is missed behind the camera but there's something inarguable about a song sung under stars, everyone with toes crossed, wanting to be transported.

And a fellow called Cody has put together a terrific free compilation of many of Montreal's greatest emerging bands. Can't-miss for anyone who wants their finger to this city's pulse. And with great artwork from Tyler Rauman.

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