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Hand Drawn Dracula



Last Updated: 12/10/2009

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Status: Single
City: Toronto
Country: CA
Signup Date: 4/28/2008

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Monday, June 01, 2009 

Category: Music


Contrived's "Keepsake" was i-tunes "Single of the Week" for the week beginning November 25th 2008. The single reached #19 on iTunes Best of 2008: Alternative Songs (Canadian), while "blank, blank, blank" made iTunes Best of 2008: Alternative Albums and the Best of 2008: Albums You Haven't Heard.

"What do you do when you're not invited to the big party? Throw your own and invite the coolest kid in school. At least that's what the folks in the Nova Scotia-based Dependent Music collective have done with their latest creation. Though heroes in their home province, the collective's flagship groups (Holy Fuck and Wintersleep) were largely ignored by the rest of the country until last year ... Contrived find a middle ground between Holy Fuck's instrumental chaos and the pop sensibility Wintersleep displayed on Welcome to the Night Sky. Muscular, overdriven hooks sit next to chiming verses while high pitched vocals float overhead - Blank, Blank, Blank becomes more satisfying with each listen." - exclaim magazine

"Complete musical freedom is a rare thing, and Contrived certainly takes full advantage of their unique position to deliver a record that stacks up nicely against the songs you already know and love." - Herohill.com

"Contrived are a musical force to be reckoned with. With their third album, 'Blank, Blank, Blank', they deliver a full-force knockout that is as sprawling and majestic as it is melodic and addictive."
- IndiePassion.com

Reviews::
Contrived - Blank, Blank, Blank - exclaim! (link)
Contrived - Blank, Blank, Blank - herohill (link)
Contrived - Blank, Blank, Blank - the coast (link)
Contrived - Blank, Blank, Blank - montreal mirror (link)
Contrived - Blank, Blank, Blank - bande à parte (link)
Contrived - Blank, Blank, Blank - spill magazine (link)
Contrived - Blank, Blank, Blank - Futuréale (link)
Contrived - Blank, Blank, Blank - IndieMusicFilter (link)
Contrived - Call & Response - blogTO (link)
On the Record w/ Contrived - venuszine (link)


Best of 2008
::
iTunes Best Alternative Album 2008 : Contrived
iTunes Best Albums You Haven't Heard : Contrived "Blank Blank Blank"
iTunes Best Canadian Alternative Song : #19 Contrived's "Keepsake"
Herohill's Best-of 2008 Top 20 Canadian LPs : #8 Contrived's "Blank Blank Blank"


Friday, September 26, 2008 

Category: Music



'...Treasure of a record, the anti-thesis of Holy Fuck’s instrumental freak-outs. The most intimate of his personal recordings yet - Not so much haunting as haunted, these seven songs demand you lean in closer.' 4/5 - eye Magazine

'...Strummed and sung in a Hayden-like hush that creates tension through staying restrained, a private, heart-on-sleeve candor that needs the security blanket only headphones can provide to quell the self-consciousness of listening in the presence of others.' - Soundscapes

'...The simplest emotions hit the hardest, and Brian is able to deliver those emotions with only a few well placed strums and fret board squeaks. For such a stripped down effort, I find it remarkably easy to lose myself in dark beauty of Coyotes.' - Herohill.com

'... probably my #1 album this year... Coyotes - is bleak,intimate, stark... quiet and oddly charismatic with Borcherdt’swhispering and at times cracking vocals making this a soon to beclassic in my books.' - slowcoustic.com

'a hauntingly stunning singing voice that requires little more than a few strings accompanying it to produce wonderful sounds that you want to hear over and over again... STUNNING' - muchmusic.com

'... folk songs that are visceral on a whole other level - as if Elliott Smith regained his voice via Neil Young’s Dead Man. ' - exclaim!


Reviews::
Brian Borcherdt Coyotes 4/5 - eye magazine (link)
Brian Borcherdt Coyotes - exclaim! (link)
Brian Borcherdt Coyotes - soundscapes (link)
Brian Borcherdt Coyotes - herohill.com (link)
Brian Borcherdt Coyotes - montrealmirror.com (link)
New Sounds: Brian Borcherdt - vueweekly.com (link)
Earworm of the Week: Brian Borcherdt Coyotes - muchmusic.com (link)
Best New Music: Brian Borcherdt Coyotes - slowcoustic.com (link)


Articles::
Brian Borcherdt: CONVERSATIONS - exclaim! (link)
Brian Borcherdt: Alone in the Wildermness - beat route (link)



Sunday, September 14, 2008 


Hand Drawn Dracula, Pop Montreal presents:
Shugo Tokumaru + Off the International Radar + Brian Borcherdt + Julie Fader + Contrived


Oct 3, 20:00 @ O Patro Vys.
10$/12$. Tickets @ Atom Heart Records, Cheap Thrills, etix, L'Oblique, Phonopolis .

Hand Drawn Dracula Showcase! If you decide to walk into O Patro Vys on October 3, you will hear the sounds of japanese psych-pop artist Shugo Tokumaru, the sonic landscaping of Off the International Radar, Brian Borcherdt's folk project, Julie Fader's sensitive and beautiful pop songs and Contrived, a new project featuring members of Wintersleep and Holy Fuck.

Entrez dans la salle O Patro Vys le 3 Octobre prochain et vous entendrez les sonorités enfantines de la psych-pop du japonais Shugo Tokumaru, les installations sonores de Off the International Radar, le projet folk de Brian Borcherdt, les jolies et émotives chansons pop de Julie Fader et Contrived, un nouveau groupe qui rassemble certains membres de Wintersleep et d'Holy Fuck.



www.handdrawndracula.com