Someone tell me about Austra

Dunno if this act warrants a thread of their own, but I don't really know where else to ask. Domino are re-releasing their debut single this week and it's pretty good. Kinda like the Knife, kinda like Zola Jesus. The music's nowhere near as refined as someone like Glasser, but there's a similarity in its dreamlike, hypnotic feel. Excellent singer too.

Can anyone tell me more about them? Don't even know if this is a band or a solo project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emHAfLWqbnA

The lead singer, Katie Stelmanis, was a solo act, and put out an album in 2008 on Blocks Recording Club called "Join Us". It is mostly MIDI velocity-on-100%-piano and her strong, strong voice.
She formed a band and started making electronic music. The album was mixed and tweaked by Damian Taylor.
I have only heard the album in half-mixed versions but it sounds great. They are an excellent live band.

Katie's pretty beloved in the Toronto-Montreal axis, though her gothy solo histrionics used to sometimes rub me the wrong way. But I was really smitten with the Austra single, and that kinda gothiness is suddenly v much in vogue. Everyone I know who has heard the Austra LP says it's terrific.

i looooooooove katie stelmanis' voice and i think i started a thread about it at some point but i don't remember

so glad she has a new project and people are paying attention to it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJi26Eo6hgc&feature=fvsr

Well, I just saw this band play tonight
They have expanded to a six piece, they've added two backup singers.
It was great, go see them

Saw them play in an artificial cave last week, it was fantastic. (I believe the new backup singers are the twins from Tasseomancy.) And a new track was just released:

http://soundcloud.com/dominorecordco/austra-lose-it

I'm quite enjoying what I've heard of her new album so far. At first I thought it sounded like a very transparent imitation of the Knife, but there's more going on here than a plain ripoff. For a start her vocals are really effective, and the songwriting's really strong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYL9NT_kucU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGnm-IImq7U&feature=related

Thoughts?

woops - i was gonna post that in a new thread and then realised this one was already started.

vocals remind me a bit too much of florence welch at times but like 'em anyway

Thank you for ruining :-(

actually you haven't ruined it, cos I listened again at lunch and I'm convinced it's, perhaps not awesome, but very good regardless.

I know this is the third time this song is posted but I think the video is worth watching (kinda NSFW, btw)
http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/15399-beat-and-the-pulse-nsfw/

new album streaming on NPR

Rather digging this

Found via a Quietus review made me want to punch the reviewer but listen to the artist.

2011 really is the year of dark, slighty gothy synth music with arty female vocalists. This makes me happier than I can adequately express.

Kinda wish there were a rolling thread for this phenomenon so ppl could just tell me who to keep an eye on, but it's not really a genre so much an aesthetic, I guess.

I'm just delighted someone decided that this would be the year for it.

Ah screw the rolling threads. As an eclectic dilletante I never feel like I belong in any of them.

In other news: I do like this record.

Think I posted about them on the rolling GOTH thread, dunno if that was appropriate or not.

Don't think I can bring myself to read the rolling GOTH thread even though I think that things like this (also Esben and the Witch) and lots of things I've been liking this year would probably be discussed there.

Oh Canada, would you get with Spotify properly, because I want to listen to more of this. (Or is the album not properly out yet?)

(Ha ha, I peaked my head in the rolling GOTH thread and EATW were the first band mentioned. But I just *can't*... it's like my local caff being invaded by hipsters in Dresden Dolls t-shirts, I just tut and feel old.)

Album was out on the 16th, but Domino are slow to put new albums up on Spotify (the new Wild Beasts isn't up yet either).

try grooveshark -- and also everyone should listen to the katie stelmanis record too (join us). it's on there too. sorry i am such a stan for this site but it really fills the gaps! sometimes.

I saw Austra play on Saturday--it was pretty good! The club and crowd weren't as Goth as I was sort of hoping they'd be though. Trust opened, and they were very young, so cuet.

Right! Does this mean they've "made it"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6sXkdUBGao&feature=share

That's a fantastic clip. If I were the composer I would totally melt upon hearing this.

Bought the album today! Waiting to play it until it's dark :)

This Spodify thing is starting to really annoy me. Like, Domino have put their streamable radio show on Spodify right now, but they can't even get the album up there.

I'm such a spoiled brat, aren't I? I will no longer buy a record I have not heard first.

Waiting to play it until it's dark :)

i swear the summer weather recently is the main reason i haven't been able to find a way into the austra or planningtorock albums. my inability to separate music listening from weather is getting worse and worse.

I work in a dank, dark, over-air conditioned basement. This is probably why I've been eating up this kinda music with a spoon lately.

I still can't work out why this manages to sound like a conglomeration of acts who sounded exactly like this circa 2006-2009, and yet still sounds really fresh. I think it's mostly down to quality of production, songwriting and vocal delivery rather than stylistic innovation.

Yeah I like the Planningtorock album a lot IN THEORY but I just don't want to listen to it at this time of year.

Since the PTR thread has become the de facto Knife thread, wouldn't it be funny if the Austra thread became the de facto PTR thread?

I'm listening to their radio show and I like all the stuff they are playing, but they have just done a massive o_0 in claiming that there is no ice skating in the UK. Which is clearly nonsense given I live next door to THIS:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/masonicboomk8/5429433924/in/photostream

Stupid Canadians.

OK, they have just crossed the line from "cool old synthy stuff" to "cheesey Cancon synthpop with egregious overuse of the DX-7 gonk-gonk-gonk-laphone sound" which makes me think if they go more to this side I won't like it at all.

It's weird. Some artists, when they talk about their "influences" it ends up having a really negative effect on my opinion of them. I lose a little bit of respect for people when they start talking about "wow, what a great sax solo" and "stuff from the 80s" when, oddly, I don't necessarily have a problem with what they've done with those influences from the little I've heard of their stuff. But at the same time, it makes me nervous about wanting to hear more in case it ends up sounding like stuff I hate.

I got a press release email about Room 205, an apparently shuttered decrepit LA hotel with one room set up for bands to come in and record. The band that was being hyped, punk supergroup Off!, was unimportant but I did head to the website. It was there that I saw this video clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS7XDmgca_k

What a fantastic song, haunting and beautiful and enchanting.

I picked up the CD and the album is phenomenal. Some of it sounds retro but really isn't, and I think that the vocals mesh perfectly with the minimalist synth throb.

I see the band will be playing Philly soon. I look forward to seeing them live.

There's something really dull about this record, like they're clearly influenced by a lot of great bands but their music is so devoid of personality.

You are utterly and completely wrong, DC.

OK, they have just crossed the line from "cool old synthy stuff" to "cheesey Cancon synthpop with egregious overuse of the DX-7 gonk-gonk-gonk-laphone sound"

Uh oh, sounds like you don't like Martha and the Muffins.

Ha ha, OK, I wrote that while I was listening to their "influences" mixtape, which was all that was on Spodify at the time. And I recall that it was *terrible* - I would have been happy to hear Martha and the Muffins, it was like Glass Tiger levels of badness.

But then the album finally turned up and it was GR8, moody art school girls with too many Siouxsie b-sides singing really intense art-pop songs about THE NOISE OH GOD THE NOISE and I am back into "eat this up with a spoon" territory and I do not understand that "devoid of personality" quote above because, like, you can say that you do not *like* the personality of intense art school girls with too many Siouxsie b-sides, but you can't say that the music lacks personality.

Ah so! It was probably Gowan or something.

Very nicely splits the distance between the Knife and Zola Jesus in sound and quality. The album is in my top 5 so far this year.

< noticing the very first post, chagrined >

I do not understand that "devoid of personality" quote above because, like, you can say that you do not *like* the personality of intense art school girls with too many Siouxsie b-sides, but you can't say that the music lacks personality

But that's the thing, it does sound like intense art school girls with too many Siouxsie b-sides but the intensity isn't transferring to the music to me. But that's not "personality" any more than indie bands studiedly recreating the Velvet Underground or Springsteen is. The music feels like a genre exercise, I can't hear anything of the singer in there, whereas if I listen to Fever Ray or Planningtorock the voice is just front central and completely captivating. This feels more like Zola Jesus to me - nice voice, good aesthetic, but it's just... there. There's no real point of distinction, and the production choices don't help.

Man, that version of "Darken Her Horse" above is so good. It takes them three-and-a-half minutes to get to the chorus.

I know what you mean Matt and I agree w/you. The nondescript nature of Austra is part of what appeals to me. Synth presets and ambiguous intentions contribute to an emotional detachment that I like. It's interesting that you compare them unfavourably to PTR, b/c I feel there are huge similarities between Austra's album and the "Have It All" record, where PTR sings about nothing more than "leaving Bolton", "setting up shop in Berlin", "wandering around Berlin making plans to... rock"; using General MIDI sounds, etc.

Lack of personality compared to *who* precisely? Lana del cardboard Ray and Sarabeth wishy-washy Tucek?

It doesn't really come across as detachment to me, it's more this kind of angry, defiant, almost defensive blankness. She doesn't offer you any way in, she makes no effort to appeal to or play nice-nice with listeners. That doesn't mean there's nothing to her, in fact, to me (maybe it's projection, because that kind of defensive wall of "stay away" feels very familiar to me) that remoteness and intraversion feels much more reassuring than singers who hit you with the force of their showy, extrovery personality to try to make you like them.

Hah, I'd never describe either of those two singers as brimming with personality either. I think if this album really did feel like angrier, more defiant and defensive blankness it might be more interesting. I dunno though, it just feels like a furrow that's been ploughed to death and Austra aren't bringing enough unique or interesting to the table. I can see why people would like it but the whole sound of the thing just feels really off-the-shelf.

I've never even heard Austra but feel it's worth noting that Matt DC is always right.

Usually DC and I have pretty close tastes, but he's not infallible, and he's wrong on this one.

I mean, getting to the point where "it's just not unqiue enough..." is the response, you know, it's fine if you don't like it. Really, it is. But stop trying to make these justifications as to you don't like it because it's somehow bad or wrong.

I like this kind of thing, I don't think it's anywhere near as overdone as he's trying to suggest it is. I don't pretend it's original or new, but it happens to do a particular thing, that I like a very great deal, in a good and gratifying way.

I'm in a pretty pissed-off bad mood now, on account of that other thread, but to be honest, it's not worth fighting over, it's just "I like this thing" vs "I don't like this thing." Don't want this to turn into Laura Marling thread part 2.

What other thread?

PS I love this album.

i had never heard a track before, then i caught them live in seattle and i was super impressed...
i get the feeling from both the live show and the comments i've seen in interviews/ articles that this and is vocal-driven, and that the synths/drums/accompaniments are kind of afterthoughts...

i'm not saying that's a good or a bad thing...
just sayin, b/c i got that feeling about it being vocal-driven from the start, the boring, emotionless synths never really bothered me..

I was thinking about the debate above...

I also think that Austra does not lack personality.

But as well, I think that Austra does lack emotions, or at least proffers emotional detatchment in their music.

Emotional detatchment is a personality, I think.

All that said, I wonder why they are vacant in that respect with a singer with such great range who is such a huge part of the music. Is it merely an updated take on the "synthesizers lack emotions" cannard?

Oddly enough, I can see that in Austra's case (even if not in all cases). There is an antiseptic quality to the very electronic keys and beats. I happen to not only find it endearing (mainly because it is contrasted with the very human vocals that are very often harmonized with) but it makes me ever *more* excited to see them live because I think that the human element will be forced to shine, and based on the YouTube clips I have seen, that has the potential to make them ever better in concert.

Which isn't something you can say about a majority of electronic-exclusive artists, I don't think.

Been thinking about this some more over the past few weeks and it's the production I'm reacting against rather than the voice. The synths do sound and feel really generic and characterless and that drags the whole thing down for me.

For me, this has some very pleasant harmonic work and the synth/voice intermeshing can sound glorious at times. But I don't find myself going back to it. It does work slightly different to the Knife, but for me it's a little more staid, a bit less full-on than them. I can't say I'm too into the minimal synth/coldwave revival - it's just a bit too minimal and cold for me! But Austra, while still being a bit dark and gothy, have enough warmth for me. I just never really feel like going back to them for some reason. Maybe I'm just a bit tired of this sound - it would certainly have been more welcome circa 2006.

"for me"

By the way, I decided to check out the groups that Austra are lumped in with on the YouTubes since I never heard of any of them (this kind of music is outside of my... I hate to use the term comfort zone, but I cannot think of anything better).

Lola Jesus bored the shit out of me.

I liked The Knife but find the vids I watched to be far more upbeat and less ethereal and they didn't have the immediacy of Austra. They've evidently been around a lot longer, might be an influence, but I don't feel the desire to buy one of their CDs.

upbeat?
Did you check out Fever Ray?

No, I did not. I just did now and I like it a lot more but still don't think it sounds sonically that much like Austra, possibly because of the different vocal effects and eerie feel.

To speak in analogy, Austra is Depeche Mode whereas Fever Ray is Landscape (more accurately, this Landscape song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLvnYwvJMKE

the only thing I know of the band.)

haha - yeah funny I'm also hearing a lot of DM in Austra

It's weird because Karin and the Austra singer have very different voices, but there's a very obvious Karin Dreijer Andersson way of phrasing that didn't seem to exist before, and I definitely hear that in Austra.

i said it upthread, but you guys really need to listen to katie stelmanis's (aka "austra singer") solo album. it's really good!!
i guess i'll post another video, this time a live one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5u-IAT7Ffw&playnext=1&list=PL875899B10E42092C

^ Thom Gill on guitar and vox! <3

I have "Join Us" on my Amazon wish list if anyone wants to help a brother out. Otherwise, I shall wait until I get to it myself... :)

you can listen to it on grooveshark if you want
http://grooveshark.com/#/album/Join+Us/1457509

happy birthday

katie stelmanis is apparently singing a number of tracks on the new death in vegas album. presumably this will make it much better than the last DIV album, of which I believe I was the only purtchaser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaMelIUILdc

great song btw

new album in june:
http://www.dominorecordco.com/uk/news/06-03-13/austra-olympia

that bit just after two minutes where the beats kick in followed by the woodwinds is just *ravishing*

Great song! It's a lot more robust sounding than the minimalism on the debut, with a lot more ornate composition and instrumentation (especially percussively which is a word I might have just made up) - damn near funky! - but still with that amazing voice being the light worth running towards.

Can't wait for the album and I might even be able to be talked into seeing them in Brooklyn in June right after the album comes out.

Now streaming on NPR.

Lovelove the second song, "Forgive Me".

Fuck me, this vocalist is annoying.

she's such a dead ringer for karin dreijer andersson that i simply can't put the knife comparisons out of my mind - but the new one is growing on me unexpectedly, i think they're def moving out of mere knife-like territory.

(or you could just say they're the knife in 2013 for people who miss the old knife)

That's interesting, I hear no Knife in Austra, either in the production or the singing! lots of Zola Jesus though

In comparison, Planningtorock sounds so similar to Knife, vocally, that I just think of them as the same project

I haven't been wowed with the bits I've heard of the new record but I haven't heard it in the right context (coming on unexpectedly through a PA with a cocktail in)

I can kinda see what lex means, I can hear a little bit of Karin in there... but I find Karin's voice far, far more pleasant to listen to.

this album is really good!

she reminds me way more of Zola Jesus than Karin. more hooks than ZJ though, this is good.

Just started Future Politics and "We Are Alive" is full-on STUNNING.

Found this single from 2017, which I missed whenever it came out. She's back in black latex here. The gothy dance stuff I prefer to the ballads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJETT0g2bzw

the new single "Risk It" is, imo, fantastic, though not at all gothy which is bound to disappoint quite a few