Selective Listening | The Press

One hundred thousand tracks are uploaded to listening platforms every day. Our journalists draw your attention to the songs and albums that are getting them excited.

The Hard QuartetThe Hard Quartet

Behind the scenes of the festivals where their respective groups were received, Stephen Malkmus (of Pavement) and Matt Sweeney (of Chavez, but also host of the essential web series Guitar Moves) had long vowed to one day cross swords with their six strings. The kind of beautiful promise that usually no one keeps, a sad rule of life that is contradicted by the release of the excellent first album from the supergroup The Hard Quartet. Steeped in an arch-1990s indolence, in a love that won’t die for sizzling riffs and in a kind of nonchalant melancholy of which only Malkmus knows the alchemy, this splendidly lanky rock is the very proof that it is possible to grow old by staying young and crazy, without making a fool of yourself.

Dominic Tardif, The Press

No Title as of 13 February 2024 28 340 Deadde Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Formed 30 years ago, post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor is releasing this ninth album with a title referring to the war in the Gaza Strip and the number of Palestinians who have died in the conflict since October 2023. An unequivocal position, a major album which brings together some of GY’s best recent pieces !BE. Exactly three decades after its debut, the Montreal collective manages to breathe new life into its offering, thanks to uncompromising orchestration, complex textures, anticipatory evolution, just intense enough saturation, sometimes aided by distinct sound references to war. With astonishing musical skill, we hear desolation (and even a certain discomfort), but also, on occasion, a glimpse of hope.

Marissa Groguhe, The Press

Tell me tell me tell meLou-Adriane Cassidy

Three years after his excellent album Lou-Adriane Cassidy says: good eveningthe unclassifiable singer-songwriter is back with a song that goes where we least expected it. Tell me tell me tell me is an ambitious piece that is both intimate and epic, with sumptuous string arrangements and moving pop flights. The singer’s voice is as deep and moving as ever – we could hear her singing a restaurant menu -, and the power of this album – coming in January, entitled Diary of a Werewolf – can already be heard. Given the scale of the project, Lou-Adriane Cassidy announces that she will only give two concerts, one in Quebec and one in Montreal, in February. A free artist, who does nothing like the others.

Chain of LightNusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Miracle on planet world. Unreleased recordings of late Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan resurface, 34 years later. Incredible, but true: the tapes had been put away and forgotten in the archives of the Real World label in 1990, on the sidelines of the sessions for the album Mustt Mustt. For those who know the great qawwali singer who died in 1997, this discovery is an event. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was not only a great singer of qawwali (Sufi devotional songs), but perhaps the greatest singer of his time. This new album, very stripped down, is far from aesthetic multisegment of Mustt Mustt (which also explains its setting aside at the time). It’s pure Nusrat, groove and trance included. Tablas, harmoniums, hand claps. And that voice…

Jean-Christophe Laurence, The Press

Hold Me Down, Shay Lia et Kah-Lo

At the Kaytranada show last Saturday, I was hoping for a surprise appearance from Shay Lia to perform Leave Me Aloneone of my favorite pieces from 99,9 %first album from the world-famous Quebec DJ and musician. The day before, the Montrealer born in France and raised in Djibouti had launched a new song entitled Hold Me Downwith the participation of Kah-Lo. The latter is a Nigerian singer known for her collaborations with Ritton and Sofi Tukker. Produced by The Wayvs and Lydia Kitto, Hold Me Down has an infectious beat rooted in R&B house. Both artists deliver verses sexy et sensuels : « I feel your stare, love the way I’m moving / And I know you got it ’cause I can feel the heat ». L’automne sera ainsi un peu plus chaud.

Pascal LeBlanc, The Press