New Wolf Parade - "Call It A Ritual" (Stereogum Premiere)
Wolf Parade are finally back. After Apologies To The Queen Mary took the indie-rock world by storm in 2005, the core members' various "side projects" (Handsome Furs, Frog Eyes, Swan Lake, and especially Sunset Rubdown, etc.) seemed to take the fore, but at long last, the Montreal crew is releasing nine new songs on a still untitled sophomore epic.
The collection, recorded and engineered by drummer Arlen Thompson, feels more cohesive, less Dan said/Spencer said than Apologies. You needn't look any further than catchy keyboard descending opener "Soldier's Grin" to hear the the mind-meld in action. Also, the Dan-fronted songs are the best of his career (Keep the awesome "Language City" and "The Grey Estates" in mind for future loving). On top of the songwriting chops, the record's vast: For instance, the 11-minute, Jonathan Carroll-referencing duet "Kissing the Beehive" is a spiraling, operatic epic that talks about holy grails, unleashing lines like "you held your cup in the air and you called it a guitar" before twisting into extended instrumental passages. All this said, the album's already an '08 favorite, though to check our enthusiasm, we've only been spinning it for a week or so. Today we're offering a taste, a dusky Krug-fronted rollick "Call It A Ritual."
Note the cascading guitar shred, the way the voices float together toward the end.
Wolf Parade - "Call It A Ritual" (MP3)
Here's the tracklist to give you an idea of where "Call It A Ritual" fits into the mix:
01 "Soldier's Grin"
02 "Call It A Ritual"
03 "Language City"
04 "Bang Your Drum"
05 "California Dreamer"
06 "The Grey Estates"
07 "Fine Young Cannibals"
08 "An Animal In Your Care"
09 "Kissing The Beehive"
Wolf Parade's untitled second album is out 6/17 on Sub Pop. Yeah, it was rumored to be called "Kissing The Beehive," but as of today, it's still TBD. We'll pass along the title the second we get it.
Posted at 9:20 AM in MP3
Tags: Wolf Parade
ILU WOLF PARADE
so excited for this album
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great stuff, new album will be amazing of course
that write up looks like it was written by there label though, a little too formal maybe, come on stereogum
Score = -1
The piano in this is dope; almost Spoon-ish but I'm a bit surprised Sub Pop and Wolf Parade chose to release this over more obvious singles like "California Dreamer," "Language City" and... trusting Stereogum, "The Grey Estates."
Still, I'll take Wolf Parade wherever I can get ém...
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That piano is dope-- almost spoon-ish... Can't really believe I wrote that (twice?)
Still, I'm kind of surprised they decided to release this over more obvious single choices such as:
California Dreamer
Language City
The Grey Estates (if Stereogum is on point)
Score = -2
Shit yeah!
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Krug been eating// /
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I dunno, this song does nothing for me. just sorta meaders on by
Score = -3
I think it'll be a grower
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don't call frog eyes a side-project! i know you love 'em over on this site, so show some respect :)
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Glad to hear new Wolf Parade. It sounds very good!
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Nice song. Probably will fit in well with whatever song comes before and after it on the album. I can't wait for this album.
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This has elements of my bloody valentine but for the most part is pure Wolf Parade. Love the wall of sound, love the crazy echoes... Love the shredding guitars... Doesn't this take you back to a time when you were younger and acts like Sonic Youth were still headlining festivals?
Those in high school at the moment can pretend they didn't read that but this track is pretty wild the more I listen to it.
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thanks so much sg!!! can't wait to hear this record.
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man, I can't wait for this record. Their other projects didn't interest me as much, for whatever reason, though I thought the Handsome Furs record was pretty good. Apologies to the Queen Mary is just a great rock and roll record. Really looking forward to this new one.
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I just want this to leak already. I want a proper version of Language City.
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This song sounds so Sunset Rubdown.
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No wonder they're snitching titles from Jonathan Carroll; he's one of the best writers around today. His daily blog on his website is amazing. www.jonathancarroll.com
Score = -3
No wonder they're snitching their title from a Jonathan Carroll novel-- he's one off the best writers around today. The daily blog he keeps on his website is fantastic:
www.jonathancarroll.com
Score = -3
I think since SR has put out two albums since Apologies, people are going to say that about every Krug song. I personally think this sounds much more structured than most Sunset Rubdown songs; just maybe has more piano than most of Krug's previous Wolf Parade ones.
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I was very surprised by my appreciation of Wolf Parade. They seemed to lean too close to the norms of mainstream music to me at first. I then heard/watched the video for "I'm Not In Love With the Modern World" and was touched so that I bought their last album even with my misgivings. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually liked their unique take on a genre that I felt had been done to death.
After a time I noticed on Last.FM that I had listened to Wolf Parade enough to raise them to a very high spot on my musician chart. I had some fear of my own inability to decide what genres I liked and disliked. But I knew that this band had what it takes to make music I love, so I just soldiered on listening to 'Apologies...' many time over before finally letting it fall from my current playlist.
This new track reestablishes my interest in the band. I hope that the new album hits me like the last one has, in the heart...
Sincerely,
Brother Rabbit
Broadening-Horizons.com
Score = 0
I was very surprised by my appreciation of Wolf Parade. They seemed to lean too close to the norms of mainstream music to me at first. I then heard/watched the video for "I'm Not In Love With the Modern World" and was touched so that I bought their last album even with my misgivings. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually liked their unique take on a genre that I felt had been done to death.
After a time I noticed on Last.FM that I had listened to Wolf Parade enough to raise them to a very high spot on my musician chart. I had some fear of my own inability to decide what genres I liked and disliked. But I knew that this band had what it takes to make music I love, so I just soldiered on listening to 'Apologies...' many time over before finally letting it fall from my current playlist.
This new track reestablishes my interest in the band. I hope that the new album hits me like the last one has, in the heart...
Sincerely,
Brother Rabbit
Broadening-Horizons.com
Score = 0
Soldier's Grin is one of best songs of 08.
what you know can only mean one thing
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Apologies to the Queen Mary has been - for me - one of the longest lasting albums of recent years. I originally thought of Wolf Parade as passing thing but now I think this band has really established itself. Really looking forward to seeing them in Montreal... sometime...
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