Try, if only for a moment, to envision a scenario in which you could still be completely surprised by a rock band. It’s not easy. In fact, it’s increasingly rare. A couple of years ago, A Place to Bury Strangers were in search of a new drummer. Lia Simone Braswell, an L.A. native, had recently moved to New York, and was playing drums in shows around Brooklyn “just to keep her chops up.” As it turned out, APTBS bassist Dion Lunadon caught one of those shows and, after seeing her play, was moved to ask her if she’d want to come to a band practice sometime. “I told some of my friends about it before I met up with them,” Braswell says, of the rehearsal that would soon lead to her joining the band. “They told me, ‘You’re just gonna have to keep up as much as you possibly can.’” “To be fair, she had also never seen us live,” Lunadon adds. “She didn’t necessarily know what she was getting into.” What she was getting into: For well over a decade now, A Place to Bury Strangers—Lunadon, founding guitarist/singer Oliver Ackermann, and, officially, Braswell—have become well known for their unwavering commitment to unpredictable, often bewildering live shows, and total, some might say dangerous volume. They don’t write setlists. They frequently write new songs mid-set. They deliberately provoke and sabotage sound people in a variety of cruel yet innovative ways. They can and will always surprise you. “When something goes wrong on-stage, a lot of bands will crumble under the pressure,” says Ackermann. “We like the idea of embracing the moment when things go wrong and turning it into the best thing about the show.” This April marks the release of Pinned, their fifth full-length and an album that finds them converting difficult moments into some of their most urgent work to date. It’s their first since the 2016 election, and their first since the 2014 closing of Death By Audio, the beloved Brooklyn DIY space where Ackerman lived, worked, and created with complete freedom. “After DBA closed, I moved to an apartment in Clinton Hill,” he says. “I couldn’t make too much noise, couldn’t disturb my neighbours. I would just sit there and write with a drum machine. It had to be about writing a good song and not about being super, sonically loud.”

Canadian singer-songwriter Michael Rault is pleased to announce his new album and Wick Records debut (a Daptone Records subsidiary), It's A New Day Tonight, out May 18th. The Edmonton-born, Montreal-based singer-songwriter-producer began working on its songs in earnest after winding down the tour supporting his 2015 full-length Living Daylight, but getting to the point of having an album was a process. "Musically it came out of a period of dissatisfaction, creatively and personally, as I found myself pushing against the limitations of my abilities and approaches to making music." But those delays eventually paid off. As he was working on Tonight's songwriting, Rault kept entering the orbit of Wayne Gordon, producer and head engineer at Brooklyn's legendary Daptone studio. Sending Gordon early sketches of some songs led to Rault heading to Daptone for what was initially going to be a two-week recording stint. Midway through that Gordon approached him about signing to the Daptone Records label's fledgling rock spinoff, Wick—and becoming the first Canadian member of the Daptone family. Signing with Wick also led to Rault finishing the record at Daptone and bringing Gordon on as co-producer. It's A New Day Tonight has the loose-limbed feel of a lost album by '70s bands that bridged the gap between folk rock's open-hearted strumming and power pop's crisp, melody-forward confections—Wings, Badfinger, Big Star, 10cc—yet possesses an energy shot through with 21st-century optimism. The album's title (and title track) comes from the most Canadian of overheard sources: a pregame interview with a hockey player coming off a rocky night. "He said, 'It's a new day tonight, we've got to put the past behind us.' At first, I thought it was an awkward phrase," says Rault. "But I quickly thought: 'Awkward turn of phrase... or a good album title?' [The title track] is almost completely describing a very positive nightlife experience, but the opening line implies that this evening is coming as a major relief after spending the majority of the day depressed." It's this idea of new hope born from a period of hardship that drives the record. Hope springs eternal when day is over it's a new day tonight.

Modern post-punk from Vancouver