Support Indie on iTunes with Immaculate Machine

So I’m on iTunes today, and I was pretty pleased to see that their free single of the week was off the new album by Canadian indie outfit Immaculate Machine. To be fair, I hadn’t heard any of the band’s work before this, but they did have the power of association on their side: their vocalist, Kathryn Calder, is the niece of Carl Newman of The New Pornographers and has recently become a member of that group, contributing to albums and filling in ably for Neko Case when she is unable to tour with the band (and anybody who’s heard Neko Case sing knows that this is no small achievement). In any case, I download the track, and I’m pleased with it… slightly poppier than Uncle Carl’s band, but with that same undeniable catchiness that puts a smile on your face and makes you feel like dancing around your living room.

Then I read the reviews. With an average of 2.5 stars out of 5, they’re mostly pretty disdainful of what I thought was a pretty good song, deriding it as “not rock”, “annoying”, “music for five year olds”, and “so… 80s”. It bummed me out on a number of levels. First, at the risk of sounding like a snob, its disheartening to see what happens when something out of the mainstream is foisted upon the general public. Sure, its not the usual soft-rock ‘as heard on Grey’s Anatomy*’ here today gone tomorrow type fare that plays on most radio stations today (if not all in some markets as freeform and eclectic formats are crowded off the air), but do we really lack the attention spans and tolerance to give something new a shot? On another level though, I just plain felt bad for the band. They’re trying to break into the American market, they get offered this plum deal by Apple that will distribute their single for free and sell their album on iTunes a week before its release for two bucks cheaper than standard rate, see it as their big chance… and get shot down over and over again. I know its part of the music business and all, but these folks deserve a little love, don’t they?

I guess that’s for you to decide. Check out “Jarhand” on iTunes if you are so inclined—it won’t cost you a cent, after all—and if you like it, which I think you will, drop them a line of encouragement in the reviews (I’m not usually one to write online reviews, but I even made an exception here). Or better yet, buy the album.

Immaculate Machine—Jarhand (iTunes free single link)

As a bonus, I’m putting up another Immaculate Machine track I found linked on Pitchfork from the new album that was equally as enjoyable.

Immaculate Machine—Dear Confessor

*just as a point of clarification... the people behind the music at Grey's have done some fine work and gotten exposure to many acts (hell, maybe even this one someday soon)... but a lot of what sticks with the public seems ridiculously bland to me.