Five Star Songs: School Of Seven Bells- Sempiternal/Amaranth

I meant to write something regarding dream pop band School Of Seven Bells and death of Benjamin Curtis from cancer last week, but I was too busy to get around to it. Cancer is a mean motherfucker, especially when it strikes down a young and talented person no matter what he does for a living.

Even though I am of fan of Secret Machines, I didn't really fall in love with Curtis' work until he started School of Seven Bells with Brazilian by way of Brooklyn singer Alejandra Deheza, along with her sister Claudia. ( I also didn't know he was a drummer for 90's alt rock band Tripping Daisy until after he died). Curtis passed away at the age of 35, but he was a seasoned veteran of the music industry admired by many artists including Paul Banks or Interpol, Robin Guthrie of The Cocteau Twins and even U2's The Edge.

Unfortunately, I never got to see School of Seven Bells when they came to Toronto to play live, something that I will regret for the rest of my life. Thank goodness there is YouTube to keep alive a genius like Curtis' amazing work. Watch below a concert from 2012 that the band recorded in Berlin and make sure you stick around for the encore to watch the band play an epic shoegaze version of "Sempiternal/Amaranth".

New Music: Depeche Mode- Soothe My Soul + Other Recent Releases and News

Depeche Mode have just released a second single from their upcoming LP Delta Machine. The busy band have been making the rounds of TV talk shows, played SXSW the other day, and now have  put out "Soothe My Soul", the second track to be previewed from their new album. The song reminds of their glory days when they regularly played to a 100,000 people in big stadiums- kinda electro arena rock: Listen below:

Delta Machine is out March 26th

Stream: Depeche Mode- Soothe My Soul



It was a little bit of a slow week for new music buzz. Maybe everybody is too busy having a good time down at SXSW. However, there was some interesting stuff that came out:

Hot on the heels of the new heels of the new Wire track comes fellow post punk pioneers Gang Of Four and their new song "Broken Talk". They are planning a new EP which will be released some time this spring and this song is the first preview of it. Listen to the song over at Soundcloud:

Gang Of Four- Broken Talk


I love Foals, but hate the fact that I have to wait until Record Store Day to buy the vinyl release of their new album Holy Fire. In the mean time, I can bide my time by watching their creative videos. Here's a new one for the Holy Fire track "Late Night". Watch the NSFW clip that features explicit sex, suicide, child birth and a just a little bit of blood.

Video: Foals- Late Night

The clip for the new Strokes single, "All The Time" is a reminder of how great this band used to be...and in some ways still are. Go down down memory lane with the band and watch the video that features edited clips of live performances from the past ten years.

The Strokes new LP Comedown Machine will be out March 26th.

Video: The Strokes- All The Time 


This is a great promotion!!! Suede are set to release their brand new album next week and to promote the LP they are giving away a live version of their classic track "Film Star". The song was originally recorded at a charity gig for XFM. Grab the song below:

Suede will release Bloodsports on March 19th





I guess School Of Seven Bells singer Benjamin Curtis is having an obvious tough time battling cancer right now. So tough that the band have set up a website to help pay for his treatment. Fellow musician Teen Daze is also pitching in and has a brand new song on Bandcamp in honour of Curtis. All proceeds from the sale of the song will be donated to Curtis to help with his recovery.

Jack White Collaborates With A Butthole Surfer + Other Great New Music From This Past Week

The busiest man in rock & roll, Jack White, continues to find interesting recording partners for his Third Man Blue Series singles. This time he has recorded with former 90's psychedelic rock singer Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers fame. The pair have teamed up to record two original songs, "You Don't Have to Be Smart and "Horse Named George", plus a cover of the hardcore punk band Adrenalin O.D.'s "Paul's Not Home". Listen to fun track below:

The single will be released on Valentine's Day, February 14th, via Third Man Records.

A lot of other great music releases from the week including three great Swedish synth pop tracks and a couple of good shoegazing tunes:

Frightened Rabbit released a music video starring a Jesus look-alike dude for a new track titled "Today's Cross". The song is a B Side to the single "The Woodpile".

Frightened Rabbit- Today's Cross

San Francisco dream pop/shoegaze band Young Prisms debuted a music video for their song "Runner". The song is from their excellent  2012 album, In Between.

Young Prisms- Runner

Toronto shoegaze collective Beliefs have also released a music video for their new song "Violets". The track is taken from the band's upcoming eponymous debut LP.

Beliefs- Violets

Another great song from shoegazing singer/songwriter Rachel Zeffira. Stream her newest "The Deserters" below and watch out for her new album, also titled The Deserters, out March 12th.




Young Dreams have shared a track off of their new LP, Between Places, which is out March 5th. Listen to "First Days of Something":




Swedish producer Lust For Youth has shared a magical new synth pop single titled "Chasing The Light".




The Swedish band Shout Out Louds have shared another new track from their new LP, Optica, which will be out on February 27th. Listen to "Illusions"




Mike Diaz, aka MillionYoung, has shared the title track off of his upcoming new LP, which is out February 12th. Download "Variable" below:




Finally, disheartening news today about School of Seven Bells' Benjamin Curtis. He has been diagnosed with T-cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma cancer. The news was posted by SVIIB's Alejandra Deheza on the band's Facebook page earlier today. You can read it here. Get well soon Benjamin!!!

School of Seven Bells- Put Your Sad Down

New Music: School of Seven Bells- Secret Days

This came as a complete surprise. On the heels of their really good album Ghostory, electronic dream pop band School of Seven Bells are releasing a new EP titled Put Your Sad Down.

Secret Days is the first single from the EP which will come out next week. Really loving the beat on this song which has a bit of an industrial feel to it, while lead singer Alejandra Deheza's multi layered harmonic voice has never sounded better. The looseness of the track fits perfectly with the theme of the song which has Deheza reminiscing about youthful adventures from the past.  Download the song below:

Put Your Sad Down will be available November 13th via Vagrant.