After a successful cross-Canada tour and tour of the US with stops in Chicago, SXSW in Texas, NYc and LA, Kelowna’s Yukon Blonde (formerly Alphababy – i’ve been blogging about them since 2005) are back home!
Featured by The Vancouver Sun, Billboard, The National Post’s Ampersand and CBC Arts as a band to watch in 2010, the anticipation for the February 9th release of Yukon Blonde’s self titled debut full length ran high. The build up was well warranted and in already typical Yukon Blonde fashion the band hit the road right after the album was released. With stops in Chicago, New York and Boston already under their belts since the album dropped and a show at CMW last weekend in Toronto that earned them the top marks of 96% for the whole festival on Chartattack’s CMW Report Card, they are now ripping it up at SXSW. After that they make their way back to B.C. via the California and Oregon coast to what will surely be a triumphant return to B.C. After that of course, it is back in the van for a Canadian tour with Halifax’s In-Flight Safety.
Watch “Wind Blows” : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKUWpnQVZ0Y
See Yukon Blonde in Kelowna: April 10 @ The Habitat with In-Flight Safety
“It’s a wonderful mix of guitar-led intrigue, where Paul McCartney meets Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young – somehow without becoming a retro act.” Billboard
“It’s rare and exciting to witness a group with such strong songwriting ability and instrumental talent as Yukon Blonde. The band’s ability to build acoustic soundscapes that are viscerally encapsulating and infusing is masterful, and influences exude from the songs so instinctively and freely fused that it seems a natural course of musical evolution. Yukon Blonde harnesses an organic, earthen energy and writes a warm, smooth and powerful aural experience, an album that is triumphant in its sound and vast in its scope.
***** Vue Magazine
“ The hat trick of hooks that is Trivial Fires, Brides Song and Babies Don’t Like Blue Anymore can stack up against any fourteen minutes of Canadian music you will hear this year, but the unexpected highs are just as important to the success of the band. The surging power of the anthemic Loyal Man moves you from the breezy, sun filled days you expect and makes you think anything is possible. When it comes to Yukon Blonde, I’m starting to think that it just might be.” Herohill
“Granted, musicians have been mining ’60s psychedelic pop with increasing frequency. This B.C. quartet, however, recognize the timelessness of those original sunny trailblazers came not in an aesthetic but in crisp melodies. Whether it’s the folkish, all-together harmonizing on “Wind Blows” or a bouncier cut like the soaring closer, Yukon Blonde’s eponymous debut is elegant yet straightforward.” Montreal Mirror
“An infectious and ambitious first album, Yukon Blonde takes the genre to the next level with airy mystique and grand choruses. Guitar hooks in tracks like Kumiko Song and Ghosts on Film don’t stray far from the indie rock norm, but are guaranteed to be in stuck your head for days. Yukon Blonde should be compulsory listening for Canadian indie lovers” The Uniter
Yukon Blonde Tour Dates
04/01/10 Los Angeles, CA @ The Mint
04/02/10 San Francisco, CA @ Hotel Utah
04/03/10 Eugene, OR @ Muse Lounge
04/04/10 Portland, OR @ Backspace
04/06/10 Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore with In-Flight Safety
04/07/10 Victoria, BC @ Lucky Bar with In-Flight Safety
04/09/10 Courtenay, BC @ Avalanche Bar with In-Flight Safety
04/10/10 Kelowna, BC @ The Habitat with In-Flight Safety
04/12/10 Canmore, AB @ Communitea with In-Flight Safety
04/14/10 Grande Prairie, AB @ Better Than Fred’s with In-Flight Safety
04/15/10 Edmonton, AB @ New Haven Social Club with In-Flight Safety
04/16/10 Calgary, AB @ The SAIT with In-Flight Safety
04/17/10 Regina, SK @ The Exchange with In-Flight Safety
04/20/10 Winnipeg, MB @ Lo Pub with In-Flight Safety
04/21/10 Thunder Bay, ON @ Jacks with In-Flight Safety
Kelowna Live Music Blog 