Thank You!

Soundscapes will be closing permanently on September 30th, 2021.

Open every day between Spetember 22nd-30th

We'd like to thank all of our loyal customers over the years, you have made it all worthwhile! The last 20 years have seen a golden age in access to the world's recorded music history both in physical media and online. We were happy to be a part of sharing our knowledge of some of that great music with you. We hope you enjoyed most of what we sold & recommended to you over the years and hope you will continue to seek out the music that matters.

In the meantime we'll be selling our remaining inventory, including thousands of play copies, many of which are rare and/or out-of-print, never to be seen again. Over the next few weeks the discounts will increase and the price of play copies will decrease. Here are the details:

New CDs, LPs, DVDs, Blu-ray, Books 60% off 15% off

Rare & out-of-print new CDs 60% off 50% off

Rare/Premium/Out-of-print play copies $4.99 $14.99

Other play copies $2.99 $8.99

Magazine back issues $1 $2/each or 10 for $5 $15

Adjusted Hours & Ticket Refunds

We will be resuming our closing sale beginning Friday, June 11. Our hours will be as follows:

Wednesday-Saturday 12pm-7pm
Sunday 11am-6pm

Open every day between September 22nd-30th

We will no longer be providing ticket refunds for tickets purchased from the shop, however, you will be able to obtain refunds directly from the promoters of the shows. Please refer to the top of your ticket to determine the promoter. Here is the contact info for the promoters:

Collective Concerts/Horseshoe Tavern Presents/Lee's Palace Presents: shows@collectiveconcerts.com
Embrace Presents: info@embracepresents.com
MRG Concerts: ticketing@themrggroup.com
Live Nation: infotoronto@livenation.com
Venus Fest: venusfesttoronto@gmail.com

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for your understanding.

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1. TAME IMPALA - The Slow Rush
2. SARAH HARMER - Are We Gone
3. YOLA - Walk Through Fire
4. DESTROYER - Have We Met
5. DRIVE BY TRUCKERS - Unravelling

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FEATURED RELEASES

Entries in Electronic (142)

Saturday
Feb212009

MOUNTAINS - Choral

The experience of listening to Brooklyn duo Mountains isn't all that unlike burying yourself in a book while riding the subway, only to discover you've overshot by two stops. The pieces develop at such a glacial pace that you hardly realize anything is changing, until suddenly you are faced with an entirely new environment--the opening title track spends nearly 12 minutes exploring a reedy drone before it identifies itself merely as an introduction to the acoustic guitar picking that carries us into the rest of the album. This continues on throughout--strumming guitars somehow become the white noise of a rain storm, and time passes without notice. Not recommended for operators of heavy machinery.

Wednesday
Jan282009

ACTRESS - Hazyville

Despite few CD releases in their catalogue so far, having initially focused more on 12" singles such as their Grim Dubs (as per the prevailing culture), Werk Discs have already developed a reputation for forward-thinking releases on the outskirts of grime, dubstep, and post-Dilla blap/'lazer bass'/wonky beats. Werk co-founder Darren J. Cunningham's first full-length as Actress (following 2004's No Tricks EP) is hazy indeed, dusted tech-house somewhere between Theo Parrish, Autechre, and young contemporaries like Rustie, Hudson Mohawke and labelmate Lukid (hawking his own fine new disc, Foma).

Wednesday
Dec102008

ALEXIS TAYLOR - Rubbed Out

With label founders John Coxon and Ashley Wales initially working together as Spring Heel Jack, a project first tied to IDM, post-rock and drum'n'bass which later took in ever-more nebulous influence from free-improv and jazz, Treader's mark has always been indefinable. Many of its standout releases have been by top-tier names branching out and stretching their scope, from Matthew Shipp and Evan Parker to J Spaceman's blissed-out, clanging Guitar Loops, and here Hot Chip frontman Alexis Taylor fits together such at-odds elements as analog-synth aleatory and church-hymn melody, with standoffish opener "Fireworks" popping up as mid-album sentimental blip "O Lord". Keyboard-based ditties like "Plastic Man" are interspersed with no-frills soul and calypso-coloured guitar shambles "Baby" and "Girl" (and McCartney cover "Coming Up" fits like a glove), adding up to an end-of-year charmer that's maybe the strongest (and certainly the most surprising) album yet from the Hot Chip camp.

Tuesday
Dec092008

METRO AREA - Fabric 43

Dance-world police have apprehended two suspects, Metro Area's Morgan "MG" Geist and Darshan "DJ" Jesrani, charged with crimes against taste stemming from their alias Babla's Disco Sensation and its "Ghar Aya Mera Pardesi" intro to this very Fabric mix. Hammier than A Night At The Roxbury though the offending track may be, I think all charges should be dropped; it is reassuring to know that these perceived hardliners can poke fun at themselves and their production process, and if its goofiness does spoil the pot for you, there's always the skip (or delete) function. On the business end of this mix, the other hour and six minutes makes for maybe the most consistent retro set of its kind since fellow New Yorkers James Murphy & Pat Mahoney handed in Fabriclive 36, speeding up the tempo a tad with more of a mid-'80s synth-boogie bent, and many 12" dubs you'd be hard-pressed to find collected elsewhere.

Wednesday
Nov262008

FM3 - Buddha Machine II

Yes, Beijing's Christian Virant and Zhang Jian (visitors to Soundscapes in October '06 for one pensive instore) have upgraded their loop boxes just in time for the holiday rush, but the Buddha Machine stays as lo-fi as ever, with the one big change to the device (aside from getting nine completely brand-new loops to lull yourself with) being the addition of a pitch-shift wheel, letting one speed up or slow down the repetitions, especially handy for those out there who improvise with these as an instrument, using the headphone jack as a line out to amplify and effect the signal. Three new colours (and a much more austere kraft-cardboard box) distinguish version 2.0--grey, burgundy, and brown. A unique gift idea, no matter the season!

Tuesday
Nov252008

JUSTICE - A Cross The Universe (DVD/CD)

A techno rock'n'roll road movie less Spinal Tap than Leningrad Cowboys Go America in terms of the silent treatment our idols Xavier & Gaspard give to the camera (and the deadpan absurdity that results), the boys' blank slates grant their touring companions that do speak up all the more star power, especially the coexisting opposites of the serene bus driver, trying to break the world record for hitting the lowest note while bellowing along to country radio, and gun-crazy loose-cannon manager Bouchon, reading up on state differences in firearm legislation. Bonus Live In San Francisco CD gives you the cross-/strobe-/leather-free side of the story (buzzsaw beats included).

Thursday
Nov132008

CARL CRAIG & MORITZ VON OSWALD - Recomposed: Music By Maurice Ravel & Modest Mussorgsky

Patient, precise, full-frequency-conscious and detail-oriented like the respective production work of both men (Craig and von Oswald, that is!), the "Intro" to these reworkings of von Karajan-conducted multitracks is an ambient, New Age-y treatment of/substitute for an orchestra tune-up, followed by a marching snare sample and staccato horns sending the listener from "Movement I" to "Movement II"'s tension-building quickening and modulations of the pulse. The first generic inklings of tech-house then leak in (filter sweeps, double-time hi-hat), easing us into that inevitable 4/4 kick. Softening focus for the last half-hour, fans of recent longform electronic excursions from Villalobos to 45:33 can bask in these rarefied concert-hall cut-ups.

Sunday
Oct192008

EL GUINCHO - Alegranza!

With shockwaves still radiating out from that initial blast deep in the Canary Islands, Alegranza! has already seen release over the last year in Spain through Discoteca Oceano, then Australia and New Zealand via Mistletone Records, first reaching these shores in March as a sadly pricey import. Having spent the better part of '08 clearing samples, XL (more specifically, upstart indie-dance imprint Young Turks, whose only full-length issued as yet was Holy Fuck's last LP) now affordably looses El Guincho's solo street-party exotica upon the world at large, its tropical loops tolling ad infinitum to either endure or revel in. Hear him live at the El Mo Thu. Nov 27.

Thursday
Oct162008

JUANA MOLINA - Un Dia

Un Dia's title track has the pedal-twiddling Argentine locking background coos into a groove that later compels her to wail overtop like a polite cross between Gal Costa and OOIOO. Said politesse allows Molina to execute even her kookiest rhythmic ideas without alienating listeners, unlike Yoshimi's aforementioned lot. Claps in threes on the second half of "Lo Dejamos" combine with dryly-picked guitar to provide an avant-lite estro-alternative to Bird Show's astral travels. Like Jose Gonzalez (also of Argentinian heritage), Molina's modern folk is one of the more scenic middles of the road around.

Tuesday
Sep232008

HIGH PLACES - S/T

Arriving just two months after their previously eMusic-only 03/07-09/07 collection was reissued in physical slipcase form by Thrill Jockey, the joyously regressive duo are back with this proper self-titled debut, making home-recorded digital skip-rope boombap bearing clunky clinks and tinny tropical shakes that could sidle up against El Guincho, Lucky Dragons, or 'Other' musicmaking Brooklynites like Animal Collective and Gang Gang Dance, as well as Heather Lewis' batch of Beat Happening songs in terms of the tweeness of singer Mary Pearson's delivery and subject matter.

Sunday
Sep142008

BIRD SHOW - Untitled / RAGLANI - Of Sirens Born

    

From where we're sitting (lotus-legged, naturally), Kranky has been on a roll these past few years, signing many notable new (or newish) acts that are often solo projects or duos, yet feel fully-formed: Valet, White Rainbow, Atlas Sound, Lichens, Benoit Pioulard, Andrew Pekler, Cloudland Canyon...Although there are many elder bands on the Chicago-based label's roster of this general, ineffable ilk (Charalambides, Windy & Carl, Stars Of The Lid, Keith Fullerton Whitman, etc.), the A&R pace certainly seemed to pick up right around the time they took on Bird Show's first record, Green Inferno, back in 2005.

Then working with fellow Town And Country player Liz Payne only to go it alone for '06's Lightning Ghost, multi-instrumentalist Ben Vida is joined on this untitled effort by four other players: Rob "Lichens" Lowe and Ben's brother Adam, the three of whom are also 3/4 of US Maple successor of sorts Singer; improv percussionist Michael Zerang; and Greg Davis, who has toured as part of a collaborative trio with Vida and Whitman. Pan-African, Middle Eastern, South Asian and South American soundways intermingle in a rhythmic haze that's maybe more confident in how it'll cohere and congeal than the last two albums, as this more social setup allows for simultaneous recording and fewer overdubs. The fourth-world spirits of Riley, Hassell, and Codona run through this music, and a true fusion connection is here for the making.

Joseph Raglani, for his part, presents a mighty fine floater with Of Sirens Born, mainly synthesized and seemingly rooted in old-school analogue academic experimental electronics, but with enough warmth and gumption to want to lump it in with the punkier noiseniks and ambient outcasts. Makes for terrific namesake theme music whenever it graces the store's PA!
Sunday
Aug312008

DOMINIQUE LEONE - S/T / LINDSTROM - Where You Go I Go Too

Caution and coolness refreshingly thrown to the wind, Dominique Leone's willingness to set his Rundgren-like pipes within countless styles and electronic treatments recalls, locally, our own Matt "Nifty" Smith, and may be heard by many as possessing a similar magpie pop spirit to those recently-reviewed Fiery Furnaces. Leone's the first signing to Hans-Peter Lindstrom's Stromland imprint, and though Lindstrom himself's the one getting all the accolades so far for Where You Go's lengthy laidback/hi-NRG early-'80s Moroder moves (most accomplished on last tramp "The Long Way Home"), the ex-Pitchfork staffer in his stable's the real wizard/true star.

Friday
Aug012008

NICO MUHLY - Mothertongue

Nico Muhly's day job as assistant to Philip Glass is a particularly pertinent backstory when confronted with the Einstein-ian barrage of rich low-end and flutttering operatic chatter (with mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer instructed to incorporate as many past street addresses lived at into said overdubs) on Mothertongue's first, eponymous piece. Harpischord, celeste and trombones back Helgi Hrafn Jonsson's recitations riffing on various early-1600s texts for the duration of "Wonders", but nu-folk wunderkind Sam Amidon threatens to steal the show with "The Only Tune"'s cheery telling of a murder ballad involving two sisters, slowly drawn out additively.

Sunday
Jul272008

SANTOGOLD - Top Ranking: A Diplo Dub

Right about now...you are about to be possessed...by the sounds of...MC Santi White...and DJ Wesley Pentz. These sounds...may include...high levels of...electro crunk...booty/B-more bass...dutty dancehall...southern slanging...autotuned chorus hooks...and other...contemporary...and timely...party versions. No baile funk...this time...but enough...new-wavey slight lefts...to walk on the moon with...or at least...to Mesopotamia. Only the finest...and most fashionable...shall gain entry...but don't let that...put you off. Just wait until...Mark Ronson...puts his...signature trumpets in. Exclusive!

Tuesday
Jul082008

RATATAT - LP3

ratatat-lp3.jpg

For this third album for XL, Ratatat widen their scope so that all kinds of keyboards (even chopped-up autoharp, as on "Falcon Jab" and "Black Heroes") elbow for room among the video-game guitars that have thus far been their signature. Middle-eastern percussion (an Iranian drum, the zarb) in "Mi Viejo", "Mumtaz Khan" and "Gipsy Threat" avoids sounding tacked-on, and overall, LP3's expanse (attributable in part to their decamping upstate to the Catskills for its recording, perhaps?) could allow the New York duo to now appeal as much to fans of Air and Studio as Crystal Castles and Ed Banger hangers-on.  
Saturday
Jun142008

THE NOTWIST - The Devil, You + Me

notwist-the%20devil.jpg

More guitar-driven for the most part than 2002's Neon Golden, these Germans led by the stilted sincerity of singer Markus Acher regroup after spending more than five years concerned with the handful of other projects they collectively juggle, among them Tied + Tickled Trio, Lali Puna, Console and 13 & God (with anticon. crew Themselves). Not only should old fans of the band waiting for new material get their melancholic pop fix from The Devil, but there's also a good chance that admirers of newer acts that take a similarly wistful joy in the forlorn, from Hot Chip to Peter, Bjorn and John, will share the sentiment.
Saturday
Jun142008

STUDIO - Yearbook 2

studio-yearbook%202.jpgIn the wake of last year's West Coast collection, Studio's Dan Lisvik and Rasmus Hagg subsequently wowed the cosmically-conscious of the dance music world with these 12" remixes, using the glistening guitars and tropical throb of their own productions as a template for some serious supplementary income (wonder how much Kylie's people pay?), even divvying up the jobs on occasion for maximum efficiency in true Swedish fashion. Head right to the heart of this disc for their revamp of Rubies' "Room Without A Key", setting the ladies' cool coos against odd-timed (6+8?) kinda-cod-reggae bass slink.

Thursday
Jun052008

QUIET VILLAGE - Silent Movie

quiet%20village-silent%20movie.jpgClearing samples and changing labels (from Virgin to !K7) may have pushed back this first CD release by DJ/producer duo Matt Edwards (Radio Slave/Rekid) and Joel Martin for over a year, but it's a testament to their reputation as leftfield dance tastemakers that Silent Movie stays timely, with most spotters still catching up to their cosmic playlisting. More selections than creations, this collection of tweaked-out finds (Alan Parsons, meet Andreas Vollenweider!) may represent the nadir of re-edit culture for some, but it evens the playing field for those who missed out on the pricey preceding 12"s.

Sunday
Jun012008

TAPE - Luminarium

tape-luminarium.jpg

Like all proper instances of zeitgeist it's doubtlessly happenstance, but still it's timely to find Tape's newest released just one month after Portishead's, as these Swedes' airy instrumentals, long comparable to Gastr del Sol's use of guitars, keyboards and slight electronic treatments, also now share much of Third's paranoid-but-pastoral mood. Skip straight to "Fingers"' reedy organ, speedily stumbling over a lower-register three-chord cycle and soon to be joined in its race by brushed snare and snaking Tortoise-like vibes and electric guitar. Relaxing yet unsettling art-pop, and their least obtuse set yet.
Tuesday
May062008

FOUR TET - Ringer

fourtet-ringer.jpg

A 32-minute mini-album that sees Kieran Hebden stretch out and flex some tech-house muscle, our man Four Tet sets his jazzier inclinations to the side (for the most part--his trusty swinging cymbal work does crop up for a spell near the end of "Ringer" proper, while "Wing Body Wing" shakes off some drum rolls under the four-on-the-floor), possibly setting his sights on the revered likes of Carl Craig, and holding his own in that big-room arena admirably. File next to Autechre's Quaristice as more revitalizing '08 IDM on the artist's own terms. Break out your glowsticks, and catch that shuttle bus!
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