On November 26th, Toronto-dwellers and passers-by get to see The Phonemes, Michelle McAdorey and Betty Burke perform for FREE as part of our monthly night at the Gladstone. The show starts at 10PM. Stay tuned for more announcement about this Blocks concert series in 2010!
FUCKED UP WON THE POLARIS PRIZE! WHAT THE SHIT! They totally can’t even say the band’s name on the CBC until after 11! This makes 2 blocks involved bands that have won that thing! We have a surprisingly great track record! Wow! Congrats guys!
Order Nadja’s The Bungled and the Botched HERE.
Holy shit. The show is tonight. I have to makes signs for the merch table.
Picastro’s Become Secret is here. Masterpiece? Fuck yeah, I’ll say it. Masterpiece.
Nadja soon! KIDS ON TV remix albums on iTunes soon!
Toronto’s little workers co-op that could has been listed at #11 on NME’s Future 50 list.
See the full list here:
http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=10&p=6901&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#more6901
Sure, there could be arguments made about the validity of lists like these and such, but on the other hand, it’s just nice for the hard work (and endless paper cuts) of dozens of dedicated people be recognized.
Thank you, entire world!
The board of directors
One of the magic features we possess at blocks it the ability to time travel. So when Building Blocks single #2 was released, we travelled forward in time to post about it on our website. Then, we travelled back in time, taking care not to meet ourselves travelling forward in time along the way. Then, we sat back, and waited until past us would write this post in our future. Which was OUR PAST.
Single #2 features PDF format, combining the lovely and gritty sound of 8bit video game devices with fanciful musings on the meaning of android love and whales with beards that live in trees, and a pretty damn fine re-imagining of a Beach Boys classic.
Join the FB group to acquire access to this mysterious gemstone!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=68338179837&ref=ts
Want to hear the Nadja album we’re putting out in September? Aidan has it streaming here:
http://www.last.fm/music/Nadja/The%2BBungled%2B%2526%2BThe%2BBotched
Jesus Christ on a popsicle stick, it’s good.
Also, we just released the Emma McKenna digital single via the Building Blocks group. As always, check out how to get these free tracks here on our Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=68338179837&ref=ts
One of the joys of Blocks’ musical diversity is my daily exposure to the two dominant sounds of my 70s trailer childhood: country and disco. Sure there may be no Blocks members sporting ex-con uncle polyester, but “country” isn’t dependent on Nudie suits, late child support payments, or hair big enough you could hide all of Tennessee in. Well, sometimes it is, but for me to explain hick ontology would take far too long. Until then, Building Blocks Digital singles Club presents…The Pining.
These gals are what the Carter Sisters would have been like if they had gotten in a fight with Mother Maybelle, then hocked her autoharp, and moved to Kensington Market. Listen to “Life Ain’t Fair” or its folksier b-side, “She’s Gone” and you’ll hear the best Canadian country since they stopped making 8-tracks.
Join the FB group to get the password :
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=68338179837&ref=ts
The Torrent is not named after a download protocol. Mike Barry plays guitar and sings, and Cameron Groves sings, plays violin and deals with the machines. Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star said, and I quote, “[Leonora Moreno]is a sexy/nasty slab of droning electro-pop sleaze, and my new favourite thing. Imagine Beat Happening, A Place to Bury Strangers and the Neon Judgement doing lots of drugs together in a Hamburg fetish bar and you’ll get the gist of this dour gem. Acidic monotone vocals, battering drum-machine beats and a whole lotta art-house style caught in a radioactive glow of sawing violin and over-cranked guitar. “
We’re distro-ing this release to record stores. For mail order and digital, see the band’s site at: http://thetorrent.net
1. Buying Blocks
The best way to buy Blocks is through our mailorder at The Blue House. The Blocks will make the most money that way. However, if you like the endorphin rush of going to a record store and getting the nod of approval from a clerk for buying something so cool here’s how…
In Canada, Blocks gets put into a lot of local record stores courtesy of FAB Distro. Where there are stands of water-soaked weeklies and ironic facial hair, there we be. In Toronto our local faves are Soundscapes and Rotate This. You can’t believe how much these two joints and their customers have helped Blocks. Outside of Canada, we’re developing relationships with smaller distros and directly with record stores. Here’s a quick rundown.
In New York: Just got word that Other Music will be taking a big order from us. If you’re in NYC and looking for Blocks stuff, check it out and if they don’t have something of ours, ask for it!
In Europe: A little bit of intrigue to sort through as a few artists have there own thing going on. Most of Kids On TV’s releases are available through Chicks On Speed Records. Brian Joseph Davis is carried by RER Megacorp. And some Final Fantasy and Hank albums have been released there by Tomlab. Jez is working on a few stores. We’ll keep you up to date.
Japan: We’re almost there!
2. The Free Music Archive
WFMU’s Free Music Archive just launched and Blocks has been given guest keys to post music. Why the FMA is so important is a little too complex to go into here (suffice it to say, it saves the asses of many internet radio stations and pod casters in the States) but we’re starting to upload tracks, some albums and live shows. It’s slow going now but check back every now and then for tracks by Blocks artists and other Torontonians.