Colin: Tune-master extrordinaire

Had to post about Colin's latest audio projects. Nowadays, it seems my good friend is recording some of the best bands around, not just locally, but internationally, too. He's recently finished two albums I am particularly excited about.

I've been listening to the Cave Singers since it was completed a few months now. They hail from Seattle and are masters of channeling that great rootsy hillybilly sound that many artists have done over the last decade (Will Oldham is the first that comes to mind). This was recorded at the hive with little fanfare or prospects of being released. Then they got signed to Matador and you know the rest. This is hot indie-folk that will gain a audience. I am not sure how big but they will be devoted.

Hear a Cave Singers track from the matador website - Seed of Night

Then there are the Ten Kens. They are the best band I've ever heard to come out of Toronto. Yes, I am including Broken Social Scene, Triumph and Rush.

Colin is starting to become a very in-demand producer and over the last few years he has traveled to other studios to record bands. This is the case with the Ten Kens, in which he chose to go to Montreal and lay down tracks at Break Glass studios (Wolf Parade, Besnard Lakes, Sunset Rubdown). The result is an album soaked in natural reverb, the stuff us audio fanatics dream about. The main recording room at the studio is just amazing sounding. Colin has, in my opinion, recorded some of the best drum sounds of his career (or anyone's for that matter). These are un-mastered tracks I am listening to as well so that makes what he's done even more astonishing.

Not to overshadow the band themselves, who are very original and extremely listenable at the same time but Colin likens their sound to Nirvana though I don't really hear it as much. They do have that Canadian indie sound (Victoria-via-Montreal) that is winning over the world and thanks to them being on Fat Cat I'm sure that's just what they will do. David Lynch sountracks, Noir-Country, and Late-80's College rock: these are all conjured up when you listen to their tracks. You can go to their myspace page to hear their songs until their record comes out in a few months.