Braids (band)
Encyclopedia
Braids is an art rock
band from Calgary
, Alberta
and presently based in Montreal
, Quebec
. Braids consists of Raphaelle Standell-Preston, Katie Lee, Austin Tufts and Taylor Smith. The band members met at a young age and began collaborating in high school. Their debut album Native Speaker was released on January 18, 2011 in Canada and the United States to generally positive reviews. On June 16, 2011, the album was named as a longlisted nominee (one of 40) for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize
. On July 6, the album was named as a shortlisted (one of 10) nominee for the 2011 award.
, Alberta
where the band members were students at Western Canada High School
. Raphaelle Standell-Preston recounts that it was a conversation over a blueberry muffin in the school's cafeteria that prompted the group's formation. Rehearsing in Taylor Smith's parent's garage, the band had early success backing lead vocalist Standell-Preston in a songwriting contest hosted by the Calgary Folk Music Festival
. Their success in this event led to an invitation to play at the inaugural Sled Island Music Festival. Following their performance at Sled Island, the band continued to collaborate and opted to postpone attending university to play music.
After a year of intensive rehearsal, the band recorded their first EP,Set Pieces, at CJSW under the name The Neighbourhood Council. Following their EP debut, the band returned to Sled Island to play an opening set for Deerhunter
. Their performance was highly regarded by the audience, who gave the group a standing ovation after Deerhunter's Bradford Cox rose from his seat at the end of the group's set and requested that the band play an encore
. This performance at Sled Island and their Set Pieces gave the band a wider circle of attention, including a notable mention from the music blog Stereogum
.
, Quebec
where Lee, Smith and Tufts would attend classes at McGill University
. In Montreal, the band rehearsed new material for an album and changed their name from the Neighbourhood Council to Braids. The band continued to develop material and their particular sound. Work from this period was debuted on a series of short tours, including a brief reunion with Deerhunter
. With the structure of the group's music largely established, the band began to record and self-produce their debut album,Native Speaker, in July 2009. With only the drum tracks laid out for their debut album, the band embarked on their first major tour across Canada a month later.
Work resumed on Native Speaker when the group returned to Montreal in September 2009. The band completed recording the album during the winter of 2010. During this period, Braids was invited to play a set at Pop Montreal
and recorded a video with Vincent Moon
for a series on Montreal bands. Later in 2010, Braids toured in support of Holly Miranda
in Canada and the United States. After negotiating with labels in the United States and Canada, Braids announced Chad Vangaalen
's label Flemish Eye
would distribute Native Speaker in Canada and Kanine Records
would release the album in the United States, with the release date set for January 18, 2011.
Native Speaker has received mostly praise from critics, with the group's percussive sound likened to Feels-era Animal Collective
and remarkable for its innovative melodies and Standell-Preston's "dynamic" vocals. The Globe and Mail
's Robert Everett-Green gave the album four out of a possible five stars, declaring he could not stop listening to the record and compared the importance of the group's debut to early Broken Social Scene
and Arcade Fire. The group also garnered positive reviews from The New York Times' Jon Pareles, remaking the music is as "mesmerizing and vertiginous as desire can be" while The Guardian
s Paul Lester remarked the band's "experimental dream pop delivered through a shoegaze haze" warrants comparisons to "very important bands". Reviews from Spin Magazine, Pitchfork Media
and Rolling Stone
were also positive, with the publications rating the record 8/10 stars, 7.9/10 and 3.5/5 respectively. On November 17, 2010 Pitchfork Media
announced that Braids will tour the United States and Canada in 2011 with Baths.
On June 16, the album was named as a longlisted nominee (one of 40) for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize
. On July 6, the album was named as a shortlisted (one of 10) nominee for the 2011 award. The Polaris Music Prize
is an award presented on an annual basis to the creators of a full-length Canadian album - based solely on artistic merit without regard to genre or records sales.
Art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
band from Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
and presently based in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. Braids consists of Raphaelle Standell-Preston, Katie Lee, Austin Tufts and Taylor Smith. The band members met at a young age and began collaborating in high school. Their debut album Native Speaker was released on January 18, 2011 in Canada and the United States to generally positive reviews. On June 16, 2011, the album was named as a longlisted nominee (one of 40) for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize
2011 Polaris Music Prize
The 2011 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 19, 2011. The winner was Arcade Fire, for the album The Suburbs.For the 2011 award, the prize was increased to $30,000 for the winning musician.-Shortlist:...
. On July 6, the album was named as a shortlisted (one of 10) nominee for the 2011 award.
Formation and Set Pieces (2006–2008)
Braids grew out of friendships in CalgaryCalgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
where the band members were students at Western Canada High School
Western Canada High School
Western Canada High School is a public senior high school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It has classes for grades 10 through 12. Western is located in the 17th Avenue business district of the Lower Mount Royal community, and is the most centrally located public high school in Calgary.-History:The...
. Raphaelle Standell-Preston recounts that it was a conversation over a blueberry muffin in the school's cafeteria that prompted the group's formation. Rehearsing in Taylor Smith's parent's garage, the band had early success backing lead vocalist Standell-Preston in a songwriting contest hosted by the Calgary Folk Music Festival
Calgary Folk Music Festival
The Calgary Folk Music Festival is held in late July each year at Prince's Island Park, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. While known for attracting both established and up-and-coming folk music, the festival features a wide variety of artists including hip-hop, alternative, blues, and world acts...
. Their success in this event led to an invitation to play at the inaugural Sled Island Music Festival. Following their performance at Sled Island, the band continued to collaborate and opted to postpone attending university to play music.
After a year of intensive rehearsal, the band recorded their first EP,Set Pieces, at CJSW under the name The Neighbourhood Council. Following their EP debut, the band returned to Sled Island to play an opening set for Deerhunter
Deerhunter
Deerhunter is an American four-piece indie rock group originating from Atlanta, Georgia. The band, consisting of Bradford Cox, Moses Archuleta, Josh Fauver, and Lockett Pundt, have described themselves as "ambient punk," though they incorporate a wide range of genres, including noise rock, art...
. Their performance was highly regarded by the audience, who gave the group a standing ovation after Deerhunter's Bradford Cox rose from his seat at the end of the group's set and requested that the band play an encore
Encore (concert)
An encore is an additional performance added to the end of a concert, from the French "encore", which means "again", "some more"; multiple encores are not uncommon. Encores originated spontaneously, when audiences would continue to applaud and demand additional performance from the artist after the...
. This performance at Sled Island and their Set Pieces gave the band a wider circle of attention, including a notable mention from the music blog Stereogum
Stereogum
Stereogum was one of the first MP3 blogs. It was created by Scott Lapatine in January 2002 with a focus on independent and alternative music news, downloads, videos, and gossip. Stereogum has received several awards and citations, including the 2008 Plug Award for best music blog, Blender's...
.
Relocation and Native Speaker (2008 - present)
In September 2008, the band relocated to MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
where Lee, Smith and Tufts would attend classes at McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
. In Montreal, the band rehearsed new material for an album and changed their name from the Neighbourhood Council to Braids. The band continued to develop material and their particular sound. Work from this period was debuted on a series of short tours, including a brief reunion with Deerhunter
Deerhunter
Deerhunter is an American four-piece indie rock group originating from Atlanta, Georgia. The band, consisting of Bradford Cox, Moses Archuleta, Josh Fauver, and Lockett Pundt, have described themselves as "ambient punk," though they incorporate a wide range of genres, including noise rock, art...
. With the structure of the group's music largely established, the band began to record and self-produce their debut album,Native Speaker, in July 2009. With only the drum tracks laid out for their debut album, the band embarked on their first major tour across Canada a month later.
Work resumed on Native Speaker when the group returned to Montreal in September 2009. The band completed recording the album during the winter of 2010. During this period, Braids was invited to play a set at Pop Montreal
Pop Montreal
Pop Montreal is an annual music festival occurring in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in the early fall, usually at the end of September or the beginning of October. More than 400 acts are scheduled to play in more than 50 venues across the city, mostly located in the Mile End area...
and recorded a video with Vincent Moon
Vincent Moon
Vincent Moon is an independent filmmaker from Paris mainly known for his field work music videos of indie rock related musicians as well as some notable mainstream artists like Tom Jones, R.E.M. or Arcade Fire. Besides making music videos he also makes experimental films and documentaries...
for a series on Montreal bands. Later in 2010, Braids toured in support of Holly Miranda
Holly Miranda
Holly Miranda is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Besides being trained in piano, Holly is a self-taught guitar and trumpet player. In 2001, she recorded "High Above The City", a 20-track solo album available only at shows. In the fall of 2003, Holly met and teamed up with Alex Lipsen,...
in Canada and the United States. After negotiating with labels in the United States and Canada, Braids announced Chad Vangaalen
Chad VanGaalen
Chad VanGaalen is a Canadian musician and artist from Calgary, Alberta.-Infiniheart:Following a few scattered independent releases, done mostly on homemade CDs with hand-drawn art, VanGaalen released Infiniheart on Canadian independent label Flemish Eye...
's label Flemish Eye
Flemish Eye
Flemish Eye is a record label started in 2003 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The first release was Infiniheart by Chad VanGaalen, which was picked up in 2005 by indie label Sub Pop. From the success of Infiniheart, the label has earnestly developed a mandate of assisting Calgary-based musicians and...
would distribute Native Speaker in Canada and Kanine Records
Kanine Records
Kanine Records is an independent record label based in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York started at the end of 2002 by Lio and Kay Kanine. Their first release, NY: The Next Wave, was a 20 track compilation featuring mostly unsigned and emerging acts from the area...
would release the album in the United States, with the release date set for January 18, 2011.
Native Speaker has received mostly praise from critics, with the group's percussive sound likened to Feels-era Animal Collective
Animal Collective
Animal Collective is an experimental psychedelic band originally from Baltimore, Maryland, currently based in New York City. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare , Panda Bear , Deakin , and Geologist...
and remarkable for its innovative melodies and Standell-Preston's "dynamic" vocals. The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
's Robert Everett-Green gave the album four out of a possible five stars, declaring he could not stop listening to the record and compared the importance of the group's debut to early Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed in 1999 by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning. Most of its members currently play in various other groups and solo projects, mainly based around the city of Toronto...
and Arcade Fire. The group also garnered positive reviews from The New York Times' Jon Pareles, remaking the music is as "mesmerizing and vertiginous as desire can be" while The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Paul Lester remarked the band's "experimental dream pop delivered through a shoegaze haze" warrants comparisons to "very important bands". Reviews from Spin Magazine, Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
and Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
were also positive, with the publications rating the record 8/10 stars, 7.9/10 and 3.5/5 respectively. On November 17, 2010 Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
announced that Braids will tour the United States and Canada in 2011 with Baths.
On June 16, the album was named as a longlisted nominee (one of 40) for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize
2011 Polaris Music Prize
The 2011 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 19, 2011. The winner was Arcade Fire, for the album The Suburbs.For the 2011 award, the prize was increased to $30,000 for the winning musician.-Shortlist:...
. On July 6, the album was named as a shortlisted (one of 10) nominee for the 2011 award. The Polaris Music Prize
Polaris Music Prize
The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label...
is an award presented on an annual basis to the creators of a full-length Canadian album - based solely on artistic merit without regard to genre or records sales.
Discography
- Set Pieces (Self-released, 2008)
- Native Speaker (Flemish EyeFlemish EyeFlemish Eye is a record label started in 2003 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The first release was Infiniheart by Chad VanGaalen, which was picked up in 2005 by indie label Sub Pop. From the success of Infiniheart, the label has earnestly developed a mandate of assisting Calgary-based musicians and...
/ Kanine RecordsKanine RecordsKanine Records is an independent record label based in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York started at the end of 2002 by Lio and Kay Kanine. Their first release, NY: The Next Wave, was a 20 track compilation featuring mostly unsigned and emerging acts from the area...
, 2011)
Members
- Raphaelle Standell-Preston (guitar, lead vocals)
- Katie Lee (keyboard, vocals)
- Austin Tufts (drums, vocals)
- Taylor Smith (bass, guitar, samples, percussion, vocals)