Canadian “supergroup”, if you will, comprised of the leaders behind the Handsome Furs and Sunset Rubdown. Indie rock / synth rock / art-electro along the lines of the Arcade Fire or the New Pornographers. Super produced, but not predictable enough to dance to on the first listen. I got into Wolf Parade by way of Plague Park (Handsome Furs), but ‘zoo kids might be better acquainted with them via last year’s chart topper Dragonslayer (Sunset Rubdown), so knock knock knock.

It’s not like these guys don’t sound like anybody else, but I have a hard time describing Wolf Parade as an outfit. I think because it’s less what the music sounds like and more what it makes me think about, if you follow me. Put simply, this shit has Greek Myth written all over it. Wordy and image-laden lyrics that don’t make sense, confrontationally epic / oceanic / sonic electro-informed minor melodies, vox and music “bottle rocket” combos that always seem just on the verge of out-of-control. Melancholy and insistent indie rock that covers a lot of emotional and narrative ground. Can at times err on the side of overblown, but I suppose that comes with the territory. Something about this stuff just calls up the fantastical for me. Winged gods and zombies and New Zealand, that sort of thing.

I’ve noted which dude wrote which tracks. Such things interest me, anyway. Spencer Krug (that’s KROOG) = Sunset Rubdown, Dan Boeckner (that’s BECK-ner) = Handsome Furs.

try: 1, 6, 4, 11
FCC: 3 (a crying shame -- this is the best bleeding track on the record)

*1. [krug] this song seems to start in the middle of itself -- frantic spoken word over drums. regroups BRILLIANTLY for a 100% in character chorus. very yo-ho-ho. very fast and drum-driven. “you will never be born as a scorpion.” expansive bridge: slows down, minimal spoken lyrics, massive guitar wails.
2. [boeckner] laggy beat, messy drums. has a windswept anthemic feel. very “sing! captain”. very handsome furs.
3. FCC “shit” at 1:17. [krug] super slinkster alarmer. cool and dangerous. slidy guitar and major upstrum hiccup action. twining electric guitar lines. whistle-esque “ooh”s. i am this close to burning a radio edit of this track, it’s that good.
*4. [boeckner] warble fuzz guitar. warm synth. trilly guitar riff. the melody has a lot of familiar elements to it -- there’s something summery and classic rock about it. i like it.
5. [krug] draggy, slow blow-out synth beat, delayed hi-pitched keys, piercing and aggressive vocals. slows to a cymbal-tap lilt (lots of soaring electric licks) in the chorus. “i’m a disaster.” deliberate and wailing.
*6. [boeckner] almost police-y doom synth. smoky, circular air raid sound. nice delayed tinny keys (cough sting): “shake me up shake me up.”
7. [boeckner] fast guitar rock. moves into unrelenting timekeeper bass under choppy chord-based wood vibes. guitar solo! curious as hell: manages to reference “you just haven’t earned it yet, baby”. um?
8. [krug] cymbal bashout start. clangy. zooming hi-note guitar work. a tangle of chord changes.
9. [krug] oh, the effects. underwater warbling, jagged guitars that sound like error tones, and sky-high synth. oddly mellow chord changes. vocals in around :50. on the chill side, actually.
10. [boeckner] starts with space warble ambience. march-ahead military drums and fanfare guitar. thematically, the narrative riffs on space oddity (bowie).
*11. [krug] uptempo rollicker. guitar rock with loads of “oh”s and “oh oh oh”s and “oh oh oh oh oh”s. splendid guitar hero runs. (“i had a vision of a gorilla, and he was a killer!” really now.)