- No Joy
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No Joy 
Background information Origin Montreal, Canada Genres Shoegaze, Alternative Years active 2009–present Labels Mexican Summer
Sexbeat
Associated Electronic RecordingsWebsite Official MySpace
Official Facebook PageNo Joy are a Canadian alternative/shoegaze band formed in late 2009 by Jasamine White-Gluz and Laura Lloyd. Jasamine was living in Los Angeles while Laura was living in Montreal. Via e-mail they started collaborating which eventually led to Jasamine's return to Montreal and their first show with Grant Hart (Hüsker Dü) on 15 December 2009. The band continued to play locally, including a show with up-and-coming indie band Best Coast, where lead singer Bethany Cosentino took a liking to the band and tweeted “Dude, No Joy is the best band ever. Two hot blonde girls just shredding away. Sooooo amazing.” [1]
The band soon after signed to Mexican Summer Records and released their first 7" "No Summer" b/w "No Joy". The release of this 7" brought No Joy to book their own national U.S. tour, bringing along La Sera (a Vivian Girls side project) for a 3 week stint of mostly west coast shows. Around this time, London based label Sexbeat re-released the debut 7" for a UK/European release. No Joy toured later that fall with Mexican Summer labelmates, Dungen.
The 7" sold out quickly, and 6 months later on 16 Novemer 2010, No Joy released their debut LP, Ghost Blonde to wide critical acclaim; "The guitars, loud enough to obliterate everything within 50 yards, create a balmy atmosphere where lacerating riffs and blurry strumming shares face time with ear-piercing feedback" (Pitchfork Media).[2] The band shares a strong DIY mentality when it comes to producing and recording their music, stating in an interview with The Stool Pigeon: "You can record anything for free now. If you’ve got a laptop or a friend’s laptop, do it yourself," [3] however they left the mixing side of the project up to The Raveonettes' Sune Rose Wagner. On working with Sune, White says "We were recording in our space and it was sounding like shit, so we had the idea of someone helping to clean it up a little bit, but everybody in Montreal was asking for way too much money. And we’ve both always liked the way Raveonettes’ records sound. We exchanged emails a few times and we had the exact same music tastes, so it just went from there" [3]. The final package "convincingly captures the gloriously fuzzy, effects-covered sound of the shoegaze era, but escapes being mere copycats by adding a wonderfully spooky atmosphere and by writing hooky, easy to swallow melodies", a 4.5 star review from AllMusic.[4]
The praise for Ghost Blonde, and their notoriously loud and hypnotizing live act, garnered attention notable publications such as The New York Times, Pitchfork Media, Brooklyn Vegan, and The Guardian[5] amongst others. In early 2011 No Joy released the single "Hawaii" on a UK 7" with a B side consisting of a remix of the song "Indigo Child" done by Stereolab's Tim Gane.
No Joy toured the U.K. in early 2011 with Florida band Surfer Blood, their first stint overseas, and returned back to the U.K. a month later to start a tour that would bring them across Europe while touching base at Barcelona's prestigious San Miguel Primavera Sound. On this tour the band played a celebrated London show with post-punk veterans Wire. Immediate upon return from their European tour, the band flew directly to SXSW where they played an impressive 9 shows showcasing for publications such as Pitchfork Media, The AV Club, Gorilla vs. Bear, and others.
The rest of 2011 saw more North American touring for No Joy, supporting Vivian Girls, and a co-headline with Marnie Stern. As of now the band are taking a break to focus on their next LP.
Discography
No Summer 7" (Mexican Summer Records)
a. "No Summer" - 4:11
b. "No Joy" - 4:32No Summer 7" (Sexbeat Records)
a. "No Summer"
b. "No Joy"Ghost Blonde LP (Mexican Summer Records)
1. "Mediumship" - 3:27
2. "Heedless" - 3:21
3. "Maggie Says I Love You" 3:35
4. "You Girls Smoke Cigarettes?" - 2:19
5. "Pacific Pride" - 3:39
6. "Hawaii" - 4:05
7. "Indigo Child" - 5:10
8. "Still" - 3:42
9. "Untitled" - 1:32
10. "Ghost Blonde" - 6:29Hawaii 7" (Mexican Summer Records UK release only)
a. "Hawaii"
b. "Indigo Child (Stereolab remix"No Joy / Marnie Stern split tour 7"
No Joy - "He Cried" (Shangri-Las cover)
Marnie Stern - "Your Kids Are Going To Love This"References
- ^ Carpenter, Lorraine. "White noise". Montreal Mirror. http://www.montrealmirror.com/wp/2010/11/25/white-noise/. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
- ^ Dougas, Martin. "No Joy: Ghost Blonde". Pitchfork. http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14929-ghost-blonde/. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
- ^ a b Bassett, Jordan. "Interview: No Joy". The Stool Pigeon. http://www.thestoolpigeon.co.uk/features/interview-no-joy.html. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
- ^ "Ghost Blonde - No Joy". AllMusic. http://allmusic.com/album/ghost-blonde-r2057685/review. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
- ^ Lester, Paul. "No Joy (No 1,011)". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/apr/26/new-band-no-joy. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
Categories:- Musical groups from Montreal
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