Photo by Alexandra Serio ISLANDS played a great show at NYC's Bowery Ballroom this past Thursday replete with rhinestone-studded wardrobe and the cheeky showmanship that we have come to expect from Nick Thorburn. The former Unicorns front man strut around stage in a make-shift striptease of sorts disrobing systematically from an outfit that looked like the bastard love child of Elvis and Ziggy Stardust....
Aloha! What it is everyone? What it is. My Album of the Week is Vapours by Guelph/NYC/Los Angeles-based super band, Islands ! As you may know already, I'm a fan of Nick Thorburn 's constantly changing vision for Islands. He's been the one constant in a band that has had a different line-up for every album since its inception. After the prog-rock grandeur of their last record, Arm's Way , it seemed...
Image from The Mohawk\’s website Islands, Jemina Pearl, & Toro Y Moi Tuesday, October 27 The Mohawk ( 912 Red River ) 8 p.m. | Outside | $12 [ info ] | [ tickets ] Halloween is just around the corner and it’s natural to gravitate towards all things dreary and sinister leading up to October 31st. Especially in light of the gloomy weather in Central Texas lately. But if you’re...
Islands dials back the excess just like you like it, you damn hipster rube. Islands have a problem. It's you. And it’s me. Vapours is their sugar-coated, poison response to their detractors. The prog-rockish Arm's Way alienated listeners looking for the band to replicate the Graceland-tinged, pre-Vampire Weekend, genre-hopping of their debut, Return to the Sea. The Arm's Way Era can now be viewed...
At some point after Islands released its debut album Return to the Sea in 2006, the band stopped sounding, well, fun. The shift in Islands' musical course is an easy one to chart: It happened after drum-man Jamie Thompson abruptly left later that year, announcing his decision to le...
Freak by Jamie Thompson … This project was a collaboration between Abi Green , Rex McWhirter and myself. The brief was to create a cover for the Yo Majesty Halloween single ‘Freak.’ For the release deadline we began to explore seconds products and factory misshapes that were intended to be mass produced in perfect proportions. This was refined to looking at balloon animals and how...
The last album from Montreal odd-pop ensemble Islands was a resoundingly unwelcome departure. Arm’s Way substituted proggy self-importance for the group’s winning musical playfulness, which served only to deepen the labyrinthine spiral begun by Nick Thorburn’s already metaphor-rich and death-obsessed lyrics. The contrast that made that atypical singing voice sing—and kept those...
"No You Don't" from the album Vapours 2009 iTunes Vapours , the title of Islands' third full-length album, materialized after a particularly boisterous show last year in Switzerland. After his opening set, Los Angeles rapper Subtitle watched the Montreal indie-pop band put on a dazzling performance. "After the show he said we were so good that there were vapors coming off the crowd,"...
Good morning everyone and welcome to another stirring edition of the Breakfast Club . On today's show, I'm staying right here in Guelph, Ontario and heading to a local vegetarian restaurant called the Cornerstone . Why? Well, because the critically acclaimed and newly configured band Islands have been practicing in town to prepare for their mammoth fall tour in support of their hot new record, Vapours...
Islands Vapours (Anti-) Releasing: 22 September The Montreal indie band returns this fall with their third full-length album. Jamie Thompson rejoins former bandmate Nick Diamonds on Vapours. SONG...
In addition to giving us a listen of lead MP3 " No You Don't " and revealing that steamy album art, today Nick Diamonds' reconfigured Islands offer a glance at the song titles that will constitute their forthcoming Vapours LP. The followup to last year's Arm's Way is out in September and sees the outfit welcome back original member Jamie Thompson on drum machines and sequencers on a twelve-song,...
At the end of September, Nick Diamonds & his shape-shifting Islands are following up 2007's Arm's Way with their third studio album, Vapours . The 12-song collection includes the drum machines and sequencers of Jamie Thompson, who left the band after the 2006 debut, Return To The Sea . As a result of the shift in the arrangements (or vice versa), the songs are less epic and more insular than last...
The members of Islands, and especially newly returned drummer Jamie Thompson, have always been staunch opponents of the common cold. Everyone knows that. So, accordingly, the members have concocted a new musical statement that attempts to lessen the effects of the pesky virus. On September 22, just when cold season is beginning to kick into high gear, ANTI- will release the band's third album, Vapours,...
Montreal, QC sextet Islands have announced initial details about their third album. The record is titled Vapours and is due out September 22, 2009 , and will follow up Arm's Way which was released in 2008. Vapours will also mark the return of drummer Jamie Thompson to the fold, who had left the band in 2006 shortly after the release of their debut Return to the Sea .
Glory be and Hallelujah! The indie Gods have heard our prayers and bestowed upon us a third full length Islands record to be released on September 22nd on Anti- Records. Islands, who serve as a strong reminder of indie-pop staple The Unicorns, are calling their new release Vapours , and produced it with the help of Chris Coady, who also lists the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on his recording resume. Joining former...
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