Plants and Animals

Plants and Animals road warriors hit home with big Toronto, Montreal shows this week

Plants and Animals close out the first long leg of their North American tour in support of La La Land this week, with big shows in Toronto and Montreal. They'll also be on MTV live this evening at the Masonic Temple in advance of their show at the Opera House tomorrow night. Tickets for the Opera House are available here. On Friday night they make their Montreal Jazz Fest debut at Metropolis, with the Besnard Lakes supporting. Tickets for that show are available here. Fear not, however, other folks around the globe will have ample opportunity to catch Plants and Animals this summer, as they're set to play a number of other festivals starting July, including dates in Ottawa, Chicago and Seattle, the UK and Germany. They've also just announced a big show in NYC in the fall at Terminal 5 with Frightened Rabbit. Check the shows section for more details.

La La Land All Music Guide Review

"La La Land takes its name from what the band has described as a "vortex of confusion," but the dizzying effect that the album's disparate stylistic strains might incur is an altogether charming one ... For a trio that remains consistently unpretentious and accessible, Plants and Animals seem to have sucked up a fair amount of art rock influences somewhere along the way; [but] If there's a connecting thread running through the album, it's the chunky, insistent guitar riffs that pop up repeatedly ... Whatever you call it, that predilection for juicy hooks is a major part of what keeps this mercurial bunch solidly grounded."

Said the Gramophone on "Jeans Jeans Jeans"

"There are wolves out, he thought, squinting into the savannah. He was mistaken. No canis lupus had stalked this land since the suburbs materialized, half a century before. This was a land of dogs."

La La Land Relix Review

“American Idol,” sounds like a missing piece of Exile on Main Street... explores a wide array of styles, constructing dreamy melodies and sticking indie jams, making for a throwback style that radiates modernity."

Blogotheque - The Mama Papa recording sessions

Blogotheque has posted a unique Take-Away show today that features Plants and Animals recording "The Mama Papa" in France. They shot this at the same time as the series that ran in June 2009 featuring songs from Parc Avenue. You get to see the band in the recording process. Ultimately the band would actually re-record The Mama Papa with a different arranegment, but the take you see here is include on the iTunes release of the album as an extra: "The Mama Papa (Paris Basement Mix)". It rocks.

La La Land - Paste review - 85

"The record is alive with a lush, symphonic sensuousness that recalls Of Montreal; it’s as layered and ornate as an origami crane, but as organic and effortless as the real feathered thing. While the songs are shorter and punchier than the seven-minute marathons of Parc Avenue ... they’re complicated and gorgeous and feel as innate as desire itself." 85/100

Montreal Gazette feature

"Plants and Animals keep much of their precious free-spiritedness on La La Land, but fuse it with more hooks, ... It is there - somewhere between rock's wistful late-'60s, early-'70s heyday, '80s excess and '00s irony - that Plants and Animals stake out their place."

La La Land Globe and Mail review

"Psychedelic, amplified and momentous, songs are multifaceted, with a sense of Radiohead importance, Arcade Fire intensity and très cool dirty-basement rock and roll ('American Idol 'gets my vote as the missing link between Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street)."

La La Land landed! Tour starts tonight with live online stream.

If you've visited the Secret City site at all in the past month or so, you know how excited we are about today and the release of Plants and Animals' La La Land. Well that's today. The album is available on CD and LP format in stores across North America, or directly from us. And of course it's also available at fine digital stores. The iTunes version in Canada and the USA also features a pretty slamming alternate version of "The Mama Papa". The band starts their massive North American tour tonight in Toronto with a free show at the Horseshoe. They're hitting a ton of cities across the continent, but regardless of where you are you can tune in tonight at 10:30pm for a live stream of the the show courtresy of LiveStream. We'll be embedding the show here, on plantsandanimals.ca, and you'll be allow to integrate it with Twitter and Facebook as well. Here are just a few things people are saying about La La Land: "Psychedelic, amplified and momentous, songs are multifaceted, with a sense of Radiohead importance, Arcade Fire intensity and très cool dirty-basement rock and roll ("American Idol" gets my vote as the missing link between Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street)." - The Globe and Mail "utterly thrilling while still retaining all the muted joy and gentle perfection of Parc Avenue ... an album for the ages and Plants and Animals' ultimate piece of work thus far" - Under the Radar "rife with chiming bells, ebullient trumpet blasts, and whistled outros. It's a bewitching record — a mix of soft-rock luster, classic-rock grit, and indie-rock dexterity — a sort of AM Gold for the dark-hearted." - eMusic ""By the time the amps stop ringing, you feel you've travelled through a cohesive, front-to-back, old-fashioned album, one that you probably wouldn't be surprised to learn still got plenty of spins decades down the line." - Blurt

eMusic Review

"rife with chiming bells, ebullient trumpet blasts, and whistled outros. It's a bewitching record — a mix of soft-rock luster, classic-rock grit, and indie-rock dexterity — a sort of AM Gold for the dark-hearted."

La La Land is out tomorrow, entire album now streaming

We always take it as a good sign when what one person has to say about a record's sound completely contradicts what someone else says. Some seem to think Plants and Animals' new album, La La Land is a more laid back affair and others seem to think it's more aggressive. It's fitting then to be completing the staggered album-reveal today with the last two songs on the record, "Future from the 80s" and "Jeans Jeans Jeans," two tracks that probably represent the furthest the band goes in either direction on La La Land. And props to The Globe and Mail who counter the album's multi-faceted nature with an "inspired hallucation" in this great review. Do yourself a favour and pick up a copy tomorrow to make up your own mind.

Blurt Review

"By the time the amps stop ringing, you feel you've travelled through a cohesive, front-to-back, old-fashioned album, one that you probably wouldn't be surprised to learn still got plenty of spins decades down the line."

Now Magazine Review - 4 stars

"As laid-back and assured as anything they’ve released to date."

3/13/10 Brooklyn review - EarFarm

"And though this may have been your last chance to catch them “in a tiny box” (as Warren described the room at the beginning of their set), rest assured their three-man wrecking crew has sound to spare in demolishing Bowery Ballroom come June."

"Tom Cruz" is KEXP's song of the day

"an angular mixture of post-rock and pop fuzz ... an intelligently eclectic funsplotion"

La La Land reveal: Side 2! Album out next week.

Plants and Animals' La La Land is out one week from today, so we figured it was a fitting date to roll out another chunk of the ongoing album reveal. We've put up three new tracks today, considering the fact that anyone who's paying attention has probably already heard "The Mama Papa," the first single and the lead-off track for Side B of the album. The two tracks that follow came from the band's sessions in France. “Fake It” is the first song the band recorded there, and the drummer’s favourite. It’s not hard to see why. This is one you need to hear on the turn-table, loud. "Celebration" was originally supposed to close the album. Another La Frette offering, it was written almost on the spot with a simple chord progression Warren came up with sitting in the garden outside the studio. “We worked quickly on a structure with Warren playing some soul guitar,” Nic says, “with me on the B3 and Woody on drums. We brought the tape back to Montreal and added a world a fuzz guitars and some horns. Our first plan was to end it with the pretty birds from La Frette singing at the end but instead we crashed a jet on another planet.”

Long Island Press review

"La La Land is rich with sonic layers and musical curiosity; it’s beautiful, bountiful, celebratory, mournful, weird and catchy as a fever....There is great tenderness here; the music has deep roots, and vivid colors, and overwhelming grace"

Reviler Review (89 / 100)

"Like a lot of my favorite music, La La Land creates something interesting and unique out of a formula that can easily be trite and predictable in lesser hands... I could go on and on about this album (and Parc Avenue…seriously, if you haven’t heard it go out and get it) and how great it is. I am hoping La La Land will be Plants and Animals version of The National’s Boxer, which brought them worldwide recognition after their excellent if under appreciated Alligator album. The songs are so well developed and engaging that I have every reason to believe that the band will finally get their due recognition."

La La Land revealed: Side A complete with "Kon Tiki" and "Game Shows"

If “Undone Melody” is the album’s emotional centerpiece, “Kon Tiki” is its sexy soul. Inspired by a cheesy California hotel Plants and Animals found themselves in on tour, you can pretty much smell the sunset on this one. “’Kon Tiki’ is making it to the coast,” Woody says. “We did the North American circle a few times and California always felt like the pinnacle, the instinctive arrival point. One night we found a nice hotel to chill-out in called the Kon Tiki. We followed the trade winds across America and ended up in a trashy coastal dance bar. Continental zenith.” “Game Shows” is another epic builder that starts soft, builds quickly and then takes a curious twist before a classic rock outro effectively closes side one of the album. It's also one of the album's most touching, a love song that features one of Warren's best intimate vocal performances to-date. Brad Barr stopped by the studio the day they were tracking this one and guests on piano. As always, the continuing unfolding album stream is here. We're accepting Mail-order Pre-orders as of now for both CD and LP versions of the album, the latter of which includes a free 320kbps mp3 download of the record. And for those of you always on the lookout for bonus material, you can Pre-Order La La Land on iTunes now, and get access to some exclusive extras from the recording sessions.

The Uniter Review

"the album you've been waiting long and hard for ... intoxicating and inventive" 4 out of 5 stars.

Today's La La Land reveal: "Undone Melody"

Today we roll ahead with another installment of the staggered album reveal of La La Land. And no, if you're just catching up now, this isn't an April Fools joke. “Undone Melody” might be the best track on the record, if not also its emotional centerpiece. One of the only songs to have been fleshed-out and played on tour before the band went to record (they debuted it in Montreal in late 2008), fans of previous P&A songs like “Faerie Dance” and “Lola Who?” will see the logical progression here. At six minutes it’s not the longest song they’ve ever recorded, but it certainly stands up as one of their most epic and immediately engaging. Don't be fooled by the gentle entry; this one gets heavy. Enjoy.

Plants and Animals in La La Land - Episode 8: Fake It

Plants and Animals to reveal La La Land piece-by-piece starting today

We couldn't wait any longer. And we also couldn't choose just one more song from La La Land to share with the world. So we decided to stream the whole thing. But not all in one shot. Starting today we'll be revealing La La Land piece-by-piece leading up to its official release on April 20th. So in addition to the lead-off track "Tom Cruz" that we dropped back in January, we're now also streaming "Swinging Bells" and "American Idol," tracks 2 and 3 on the La La Land page. There are a few reasons behind this. Mainly we've been digging deep into this record for a few months now, and it's still getting multiple daily rotations in the office. Everyone seems to have a different favourite track, but more importantly there's no wasted space on this record. And while everyone is free to listen to a record that they buy any which way they like, or burn a hole in a single, we wanted to do justice to this front-to-back album by giving each piece of it a moment in limelight, in sequence. So today we've got "Swinging Bells" and "American Idol" on the table, two of the album's shorter offerings, partially due to the fact that were originally one complete song. “Swinging Bells” starts off with Plants and Animals at their most eerie and off-kilter, with delicate dabs of rickety 70s piano, but quickly builds to a rousing “la la la” peak that seems to introduce the record in earnest. The “la la las” that in part inspired the album name eventually land in “American Idol,” the upbeat sequel that, according to Nic Basque, “brought to life one of our musical dreams: to record a rock sax solo.” But there’s no irony here. With the help of sax all-star Colin Stetson (Arcade Fire), and some crazy Huey Lewis style arrangements from Warren and Nic, the song more than lives up to its over-the-top title. But hey, for those of you that prefer to digest things via weirdo minute-or-less Youtube clips, the band has prepared a series of episodes starring their friend Joe Cobden, and a pickle. We'll have the next offering up on Thursday! Enjoy.

Plants and Animals in La La Land - Episode 5: Kon Tiki

Globe & Mail on "Swinging Bells"

"stately, surprising track from their beautiful new album."

Under the Radar Review

"an album for the ages and Plants and Animals ultimate piece of work thus far"

Chromewaves on Plants and Animals in Toronto

"... their performance on this evening quite nearly tore my face off..."

Spinner SXSW preview / interview with P&A

"What are your musical influences?" Lions, tigers and Charlie Watts.

Hero Hill on "Tom Cruz"

"... one of the heaviest, most muscular riffs they've ever recorded to tape ... As far as excitement levels and expectations, Tom Cruz certainly puts critics and fans on notice."

Plants and Animals announce US tour, new single/video

Plants and Animals have just announced their most exhaustive North American tour to-date, with the addition of over 20 US dates (and packed SXSW schedule) to their already announced Canadian itinerary. They'll be heading down to Brooklyn next week for a sneak-peak, opening for Broken Bells on March 10th, before their CMW appearances in Toronto. You can see the full list of shows here. The band has also released a new video for another song from La La Land, entitled The Mama Papa. Directed by Sinbad Richardson, inspired by Frederico Fellini, and starring P&A, and Joe Cobden.

Plants and Animals announce Canadian Tour in support of La La Land

More news today in Plants and Animals land, as the band has announced Canadian dates in support of their forthcoming album, La La Land, which we announced back in January. The tour starts April 21st in Quebec City, and wraps May 5th out in Vancouver. Tickets for the tour go on sale this Friday, February 5 at 10:00 a.m. (dates are listed below, with more details in the shows section). The band will also be showcasing the new material during a series of performances in March at both CMW in Toronto and at SXSW in Austin, Texas. For fans outside Canada, fear not, there's lots more where this came from; stay tuned. La La Land live:

Plants and Animals announce new album, La La Land

Very exciting day here at Secret City, as we're pleased to announced the release of Plants and Animals second full-length record, La La Land, due out in North America on April 20th. And if you're already familiar with their debut, Parc Avenue, you know why this is a big deal. And let us be the first to say this album is bigger, smoother, tougher and tighter than the last one. The La La Land album page has a whole lot more to say, but more importantly, also has the first sneak listen—a little warm-up number called "Tom Cruz" to get you through the cold months until the rest of it drops...

Plants and Animals on Blogothèque's Concerts à Emporter

Plants and Animals are featured on Blogothèque today, with three fabulous Concerts à Emporter sending off songs from Parc Avenue and the with/avec EP. These were recorded at the magical La Frette studio just outside Paris back in May while the band was recording their new album. The record is almost wrapped. And they'll be back in Europe in October for a bunch of dates we'll be announcing soon. In the meantime, check out the great Take Away shows... And if you're in Ontario or Quebec, Peterborough and Wakefield are host to two pretty intimate shows this Labour Day weekend. These will likely be the last Canadian dates for sometime!

Plants and Animals nominated for two JUNO Awards

Plants and Animals have been nominated for two JUNO awards. One for Alternative Album of the Year (for Parc Avenue), and the other for New Group of the Year. The awards will take place March 29 in Vancouver. Go P&A!

Stranger Dance - Top Albums of 2008

"Parc Avenue is an exuberant collection of songs that hold up as an album — a novelty in 2008 — with a cohesive feel, gracefully stretched across a wide range of moods. ... Ultimately, the album exudes warmth and passion, and begs for repeated listens."

Radio Free Canuckistan Polaris preview

"the end result crafts a unique sound that not only stakes its place in a continuum the began with Neil Young and The Band, but forges their own sound and places Plants and Animals heads and shoulders above any other ensemble likely to be tagged a 'jam band.'"

Plants and Animals fall tour underway

After a packed sold-out kickstart last week at the Horseshoe in Toronto (check out a quick review and some great pics here), Plants and Animals fall tour begins in earnest tonight in Wakefield. To celebrate, Parc Avenue is going for cheap at the iTunes store as Album of the Week. If you don't have it already, pick it up! The band will be making a short stop in Toronto over the weekend for Monday's Polaris Prize gala. Secret City wants to wish them the best of luck, and is sorry that they've had to answer so many questions about the young label's history with the even younger prize. Such is the territory!

Toronto show, photos by Pete Nema

"Last Thursday night with Plants and Animals and Ruby Coast was one of the best shows I've been to this year so far."

Plants and Animals on Pitchfork.TV

When Plants and Animals were down in New York earlier this summer for a show at the Mercury Lounge, they spent an afternoon on a rooftop in Manhattan playin' some tunes. If you haven't checked out Pitchfork.Tv's rad show "Don't Look Down," now's your chance ... P&A are the featured band today, with live performances of Faerie Dance, Bye Bye, New Kind of Love and Lola Who?

Plants and Animals announce North American fall dates

Folks dig the P&A. It's been a big year for the trio, and the last quarter of it isn't about to get quieter. The band caps off their summer tour this weekend with a couple Quebec shows. The first in Quebec City on Friday, and then at the FME festvial in Rouyn-Noranda on Saturday. And then the fall tour starts a couple weeks later and doesn't let up until Halloween. September will see them in Toronto a whole bunch, starting with a big show at the Horseshoe Tavern on the 18th, as well as the big Polaris Gala on the 29th, when the prize (which they're up for) will be handed out. After a few other Ontario stops, the band will hit the road with Born Ruffians for a massive tour that will take them out to Vancouver, down to LA, across to Texas and back up to New York. Check the show dates for the nitty-gritty.

Plants and Animals to play free show at the Montreal Apple store

Plants and Animals are home for an extended rest after a busy summer of touring, and an even busier fall lined-up (more on that soon...). Before they kick up their feet, though, they'll be busting out one more summer set, this time indoors, at the newly opened Montreal Apple Store. The show is tomorrow (August 19th) at 8:00pm, and is entirely free; first come, first in.

Plants and Animals to open for Gnarls Barkley, the National

Crazy times for Plants and Animals. As momentum continues to swell for Parc Avenue and word of the band's all-out awesomeness with it, bigger and wilder things seem to be coming out of nowhere. The band has just added a last minute gig for this Friday in Columbus, Ohio, where they'll be opening for Gnarls Barkley. The label is currently encouraging them to prepare a Goodie Mob cover. They keep with the grand-company theme through the weekend with their home-town Osheaga appearance on Sunday (before Cat Power and Iggy & the Stooges), and their Central Park gig with the National on August 4th.

Parc Avenue on Pitchfork's Most Overlooked Records of 2008

"ust when we all thought we were sick of indie rock from Montreal (which is pretty odd and unfair in the first place, it's not like the energy in the town builds or falls based solely on the Butler/Boeckner/Krug axis), comes Plants and Animals..."

Parc Avenue short listed for Polaris Prize

Parc Avenue makes Polaris Prize short list

Plants and Animals' much-loved Parc Avenue has made this year's short list for Canada's prestigious Polaris Music Prize. It's the second year in a row Secret City has been represented on the list, after both Miracle Fortress and Patrick Watson (who went on to win the award) showed up on it last year. As always, the list is full of great albums, and we encourage music lovers everywhere to go and check out all of them. If for some reason you haven't heard Parc Avenue in its entirety yet, maybe now's a good time to do so? The band is playing summer festivals throughout its native land through the rest of the summer, with one extra stop in New York at Central Park's summerstage, where they'll be playing with the National and Yeasayer.

Plants and Animals hit the West coast

Fresh off their first European jaunt, Plants and Animals are set to make another round of great first live impressions, this time on the U.S. west coast. The short tour starts next Monday in Seattle, where they'll also be appearing live on KEXP (12 noon Pacific time), performing a few songs and chatting with Cheryl Waters. Do to fan-driven demand, they've also added a show in Phoenix at the tail-end of the tour. They'll be back in Canada in time for Canada Day on July 1st for a gig at Habourfront in Toronto.

PopMatters Review - 9/10

"The Montreal scene has itself a new champion."

Plants and Animals to play Central Park with the National, Yeasayer

Concert in the park! Plants and Animals are adding at least one more fun outdoor show to their summer festival itinerary this summer, and it's a fun one. On August 4th they'll be in some very good company at Central Park's Summerstage, where they'll get things rolling for a night of music that will also feature The National and Yeasayer.

Plants and Animals on the Canadian summer festival circuit

Plants and Animals will be playing on a bunch of big, sunny, outdoor stages across Canada this summer. The quintessential summer festival band? You'll be able to decide for yourself as they hit summer faves like Hillside, Ottawa Blues, Wolfe Island, Salmon Arm, and play some home-province stages at Osheaga, in Quebec City, and at FME Abitibi. They'll also be making the trek all the way up to Yellowknife to get some fresh air at the Folk on the Rocks Festival. More to come, too! The band does part one of their summer U.S. tour starting next week in Philadelphia. All details can be found in the shows section.

Plants and Animals to play a bunch more US dates

Plants and Animals will be hitting both coasts of the USA as the summer months creep in, starting with a string of dates in the North East in May. In June they'll be off to the West Coast for their first ever shows out there, including stops in Seattle, Portland, San Fran and LA.

Parc Avenue out in the USA next week...band head West through Canada

People everywhere seem to love Parc Avenue, and on March 25th, people in the USA can go to stores and buy copies of it. Meanwhile the band is headed West for a string of more Canadian shows that will take them out to Vancouver and back. The album is also avaible across North America on iTunes and eMusic. A really nice gatefold 2LP is coming, too, but we're taking our time with that one and getting it right, because this album deserves it. Check back soon or sign up for our newsletter for official updates on the catalog and release-territories. If you haven't already checked out Plants and Animals (or Secret City), by all means do so now, and feel free to start with Parc Avenue...it's a whale of a record.

Pitchfork Review - 8.0 Recommended

"Like a distant Canadian cousin of Blitzen Trapper, this Montreal three-piece spins shaggy songs into expansive, genre-bending symphonies."

Plants and Animals SXSW schedule...

After rocking CMW (and CBC's Q; grab the podcast here!) last weekend in Toronto, Plants and Animals are on their way down to Austin, Texas where they'll make at least three appearances at SXSW. They are thus: March 14th Homeslice Pizza (Party) @ 12:45pm (afternoon) 1415 South Congress March14th Maggie May's (M for Montreal - Official Showcase) @ 11pm 323 East 6th Street March 15th Urban Outfitters (Party) @ 3pm 2406 Guadalupe St. (behind the UO) Come check them out if you're in town....

Plants and Animals at CMW, SXSW

Fresh off Parc Avenue's first week in Canadian stores, Plants and Animals will be hitting up Canadian Music Week in Toronto on Thursday (March 6th) at the Horseshoe Tavern, and will follow that up with an appearance at SXSW in Austin next week. See the shows section for details.. Parc Avenue has burst out of the gates here and has a lot of folks saying awfully nice things about it. The album will be out in the U.S. on March 25th.

Get ready for the next big one - Montreal Gazette

"Mark Tuesday on your calendar. On that date, Plants and Animals will release Parc Avenue, an album with a spirit of adventure that will add the band to Montreal's growing legion of visionary rock groups..."