Broken Social Scene - Old Dead Young - B-Sides & Rarities

Once a two-person basement recording project, Broken Social Scene came to life onstage as a shadowy improvisational entity with a revolving-door roster, each concert a wholly unique experience dependent on the room, the weather, what they ate for dinner that night, and who was dropping in to play. Where the band’s 2001 debut album, Feel Good Lost, presented BSS as an anonymous ambient project that reflected its humble, homespun origins, their electrifying live performances from that era rallied an extended family of performers with roots in post-rock (Justin Peroff, Do Make Say Think’s Charles Spearin), Latin jazz (Andrew Whiteman), art-folk (Feist), synth-pop (Amy Millan and Evan Cranley, also of Stars), dance-punk (Metric’s Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw), and country rock (Jason Collett).

But by pursuing improvisational freedom over commercial considerations, Broken Social Scene set a new gold standard for indie rock in the 21st century with 2002’s You Forgot It In People, an album that pushed the genre far beyond its noisy ’90s slacker roots toward a more sonically expansive, emotionally expressive vision. And with follow-up releases like the blissfully chaotic Broken Social Scene (2005), the rapturous Forgiveness Rock Record (2010), and the intricate, insidiously melodic Hug of Thunder (2017), Broken Social Scene have amassed a thrillingly amorphous, unpredictable body of work.

 

Old Dead Young: B-Sides & Rarities is everything in between: A career-spanning collection of B-sides, rarities, and outtakes pulled from 20 years of 7-inches, compilations, soundtracks, unreleased music, and hard-to-find releases. Despite being a compilation, it has the same cohesion of a meticulously considered full length album with all the familiar euphoric highs and meditative lows.

 

Tracklist:

1) "Far Out" (2009, From the 'Forgiveness Rock Record' pre-order EP 'Lo-Fi For The Dividing Nights')
2) “Do the 95” (2001, B-Side to “Stars and Sons” 7-inch)
3) “Curse Your Fail” (2009, From tour 7-inch split with the Sea and Cake)
4) "Not At My Best" (2010, From the end credits for film 'It's Kind Of A Funny Story')
5) "National Anthem of Nowhere" (2004, Early Broken Social Scene version of an Apostle Of Hustle song)
6) "Golden Facelift” (2009, ‘Forgiveness Rock Record’ outtake. Released on Globe & Mail’s Broadsheet Music project)
7) “This House Is On Fire” (2009, 'Forgiveness Rock Record' outtake)
8) “Canada vs America” (2004, From the ‘Self-Titled’ bonus CD "EP to be You and Me")
9) "Day Of The Kid" (2005, Released on Arts & Crafts 10th anniversary compilation)
10) "Stars and Spit" (2006, B-Side to "7/4 Shoreline" 7-inch)
11) “Until It's Dead” (2006, From Lake Ontario Waterkeeper compilation 'At The Barricades: Vol 1')
12) "All My Friends" (2004, From the ‘Self-Titled’ bonus CD "EP to be You and Me")
13) “Death Cock” (2001, Very first recording with producer Dave Newfeld. Released on Arts & Crafts 10th anniversary compilation)
14) “Old Dead Young” (2016, ‘Hug Of Thunder’ vinyl-only track)