Best Coast + Country Influences Including But Not Limited To Loretta Lynn = Too Much High-Octane Kick-Assity For Me To Handle

Seriously. This is some of the best news I've heard in a LONG time. As if Best Coast covering Loretta Lynn wasn't an awesome enough collision of worlds/musical styles that I never saw coming, now, in an interview with Rollng Stone Magazine, Best Coast frontwoman Bethany Cosentino reveals that their follow-up album to 2010's Crazy For You (my favourite album of that year) is going to be inspired by country music; more specifically, their new album is going to be inspired by country artists like Loretta Lynn.

Bethany assures fans (or re-assures, depending on one's stance on country music) that Best Coast's sophomore album isn't exactly going to be a country album though. She says they're going try to blend their usual pop with their country influences. If their upcoming album is going to sound anything like their cover of Loretta Lynn's "Fist City," then Best Coast fans are in store for something great.

From the Vault: "Pop Goes Halifax"

While organizing files on my computer, I found an article I wrote about bands to see and other artistic things to do at the 2009 Halifax Pop Explosion for my university's student newspaper the Xaverian Weekly. I also found some of my reviews of that year's HPE shows that I went to which I'll post another time.


Pop Goes Halifax

It's October again which means I and countless other music-lovers in and around the Maritimes have some tough decisions to make. It's time, once again, for my favourite music festival Halifax Pop Explosion, the city's annual showcase of some of the finest local, national and international talents.

The five-day arts festival enters its seventeenth year, on Oct. 20th. While HPE has been confirming impressive names since its inception (including Canadian music and literary legend Leonard Cohen and bubbly, British pop experimentalists Stereolab), its annual line-up continues to grow by the year.

Here's a smattering of artists who will surely make the trip worthwhile:

Oct. 20th and 21st: HPE kicks off in chaotic fashion with Montreal's chameleonic, genre-bending Red Mass and 60s-style power-psych enthusiasts Crystal Antlers at the Paragon Theatre. The next night, husband-and-wife duo Mates of State will be sure to make audiences swoon and dance with their brand of love-struck synth-pop (though not necessarily in that order).

Oct. 22nd: Night three is when decisions get tough. On one hand, Toronto's By Divine Right resurface with a rare appearance at the Seahorse, after laying relatively low for nearly half a decade. There can pretty much be no talk of 90s Canadian indie rock without mentioning this one-time Tragically Hip tour-mate and former home of both Leslie Feist and Broken Social Scene's Brendan Canning. Diehards won't want to miss this show, and neither will fans of charming melodies and good old-fashioned rock and roll.

That same night, New Brunswick's indie folk-rocker Julie Doiron plays St. Matthew's Church, but if you're in the mood for hip-hop instead, check out Alberta rapper Cadence Weapon at the Paragon. And for those who are tired of conventional song structures in general, Toronto's ambient shoegaze/doom-metal duo Nadja might be your medicine.

Oct. 23rd: The decisions don't get easier from here, as lo-fi Brooklyn noise-punks Japanther renovate the Seahorse with their manic, sweat-soaked mosh-show. Halifax talent The Grass, who blessed StFX's very own Golden X Inn with their presence last year, rhythm bandits Tomcat Combat and power pop-rockers Two Hours Traffic can also be found making noise at various venues on the 23rd.

Violin sensation Final Fantasy returns to Halifax as well, this time with Symphony Nova Scotia at his side. His one-man shows are enthralling enough, with dazzling lights and live, projected animations, so Final Fantasy backed by a symphony should be no less enticing. Finally, electronic dance juggernauts MSTRKRFT make their highly-anticipated appearance at the New Palace Cabaret with Jimmy Swift Band spin-off duo Scientists of Sound. Unfortunately, this one's sold out.

Oct. 24th: Mash-up madman Girl Talk touches down at St. Antonio's Hall with his own highly-anticipated show, along with quirky, do-it-yourself, one-man-band Rich Aucoin. I expect this one to be sold out too, but don’t worry. Night five is also loaded with alternatives. Vancouver's Japandroids light up the Paragon Theatre with the intensity of ten cities in a furious blaze of high-octane rock. Meanwhile, Japanther make their second appearance with a set at the Converse Pavilion Stage.

If you prefer something less abrasive, acoustic indie darling Owen, Jason Collett's sometimes-backing-band Zeus, and hauntingly spellbinding folk ensemble Timber Timbre with Halifax-based singer-songwriter Jenn Grant can be found at Alderney Landing Theatre, the Paragon and St. Matthew's Church, respectively.

As stellar as this year's line-up is, Halifax Pop Explosion isn't just about music. Its talent showcase includes independent films from the 23rd to 24th, pre-festival, live art dances from the 8th to 10th and a free zine fair on the 24th which includes T-shirt printing stations, create-you-own-zine workshops, and various crafts for sale and trade. Details on the festival's visual art exhibits aren't available yet, but further information on concerts and special multimedia exhibits can be found at http://halifaxpopexplosion.com/.

HOLY CRAP, the New Wilco Song is Good!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNs7NLwuHx0

"I Might" is the first single from Wilco's upcoming first album from their own label dBpm Records. It's about damned time they got away from the alt-country they were doing over their last couple of albums. Although Wilco the Album was pretty good, this is the Wilco I missed. I can't get enough of the bass on "I Might" - so damned catchy, and I can't remember the last time Jeff Tweedy - or the band in general - sounded so alive to me.

Note: Yes, I realize Wilco had been doing the alt-country thing since before Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but Sky Blue Sky and onward had not always been the greatest musical reprise.

An Intelligent Birthday

June 21, 2011
The Waldorf Hotel
Vancouver, British Columbia

I arrived at the Waldorf Hotel for the Intelligence plus guests at 9:15 pm on Tuesday night. The show was scheduled to start at 9:30, but knowing how late it took for anyone to show up there for Wildbirds & Peacedrums (a considerably better-known band than the Intelligence, and that's not saying much, as Wildbirds aren't very well-known), I figured I could cut it pretty closely. Boy, was I incorrect.

I thought Wildbirds & Peacedrums' opening band Therapies Son played in front of a small crowd: the Intelligence's first opener Manic Attracts didn't even start until almost 10:30, likely because by the time Manic Attracts were scheduled start, only I and two other people had shown up. By the time Manic Attracts did start though, the crowd had more than DOUBLED from three to seven, not counting the venue staff. It wasn't until the second opening band started that I realized that four of the other six people were in a band themselves: Sex Church, the evening's second opening band.

Enough about the attendance figures though. So, how was the actual music? Well, I often really like screaming and noise, but Manic Attracts' music had absolutely no other attributes: no rhythm, no melody, no technicality and no discernible lyrics except (I kid you not) "suicide." Sorry, it was more like, "SUUII-CIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" As I began to question whether or not the Intelligence was worth enduring such an offensive aural assault, the thirteen-plus dollars I'd spent on the show and the five-dollar round-trip bus-fare, I wondered what had happened to the sinister blues-lines that Manic Attracts had spewed during their sound-check.

After some length of time (I don't recall how long; I lost my sense of time after I became convinced I'd died and gone to Hell), Manic Attracts finished their set, and the spacey punk quartet Sex Church took the stage. I didn't expect two openers that night; I already had to wait over an hour for Manic Attracts to start; and I knew I'd have to sit through a third sound-check after Sex Church, so I'd gotten pretty annoyed by that point.

Well, merciful Heavens! Sex Church wasn't bad - but not very interesting either. I was just thankful they weren't a pain to sit through, unlike Manic Attracts. Before I knew it, Sex Church had finished up, and it was on to the main event.

The next thirty-or-so minutes totally made up for the previous three hours. The Intelligence's angular, keyboard-loaded fun-punk (they have a lyrical and vocal quirkiness about them) was the perfect remedy for the toxic combination of Manic Attracts and Sex Church. The Intelligence ripped through most of their latest album Males (In the Red, 2010), a few songs from their other albums and a new track the title of which, if front-man Lars Finberg even announced it, I don't recall.

I was happy and even surprised by the Intelligence's set list because they have seven albums, six of which I hadn't heard by the night of the show. I'd expected the Intelligence to have played more songs with which I was unfamiliar, especially since I didn't think the Intelligence would still have been promoting Males. Anyway, even the songs with which I was unfamiliar were great.

By the time the Intelligence started to play, the place did fill up quite a bit (more): I'd estimate about forty people at most, mostly standing pretty still underneath a totally unnecessary disco ball (really? A disco ball at a punk/screamcore show?). That was too bad (people standing still, not the disco ball): there were a good few of us near the front who were rocking out. That would have been a lot more fun if we weren't all so scattered. Most into the music was a fifties-ish-year-old man whom the Intelligence identified as "Wolfgang" and thanked for having shown up. He was dressed exactly the way one might imagine a band's manager or some other aging guy who is "with the band" in some ambiguous capacity would be dressed. Wolfgang was fun to watch: it was almost like looking at my future self. Actually, I think that almost every time I see an older person at a concert.

My only minor complaint about the Intelligence's show was that they introduced most of their songs before they played them. In this context (rather than, say, finding out there are not one but two opening bands and that both are either terrible or a complete bore), I prefer being surprised.

All in all, long waits, mediocre-to-bad openers and more openers than expected aside, having been at the Intelligence as the clock struck midnight was a great way to start my birthday.

Wildbirds? Yes. Peacedrums? Not Quite.

June 10, 2011
The Waldorf Hotel
Vancouver, British Columbia

I went to the Waldorf Hotel for the first time a couple of weeks ago to see experimental Swedish freak-folk duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums. Californian psych-rockers Therapies Son "kicked off" the night, having played for an audience of about ten at most; that's including their friends and the venue staff. Nineteen-year-old lead-singer Alex Jacob commented during his band's set that it was like playing at a high school talent show; at several points, Therapies Son seemed as though they might have benefited from having practiced at a few high school talent shows: not only were their and Wildbirds' sets marred by considerable amounts of feedback (so much so that Wildbirds songstress Mariam Wallentin flinched and had to cover her ears), but at one point, Therapies Son made about five attempts to start one of their songs, struggling to keep time with their laptop-looped backtrack to which they played most of their songs and struggling to keep from laughing at their own repeated failures to start the song.

Amateurish screw-ups aside, I really enjoyed Therapies Son, even though I was ready to hate them the moment I laid eyes on them. Jacob's fluttery, near-falsetto recalled Grizzly Bear's Daniel Rossen, as did the waltzy, carnivalesque aspect of Therapies Son's unconventional psychedelic blues rock. Their guitar-work was simultaneously rocking and dreamy; the bass lines were punchy and stood out on their own; and the drumming was creative in its sparseness and surprisingly hard-hitting, considering how loosely the drummer seemed to have hammered away at her kit. Overall, Therapies Son were original and skilled enough to have earned the pretty-fun-and-accessible stamp (patent pending).

Shortly after Therapies Son finished their brief set (which was only about thirty minutes long), Wildbirds & Peacedrums took the stage. Now at least touring as a three-piece with an added keyboardist, Wildbirds & Peacedrums wasted no time filling the room with their primal, polyphonic, often cacophonous drumming. Mariam and husband Andreas Werliin unleashed their simultaneous percussive assault with an array of instruments including a Jamaican drum, xylophones and a shaker of some sort. All the while, Mariam completely controlled the room with her hauntingly beautiful voice, even more so when she stood at the very edge of the stage and performed a mic-less, partially a cappella number near the end of their set. The fact that the room was so small and intimate accentuated her complete command of the audience's attention.

The only slightly disappointing parts of Wildbirds & Peacedrums' set was that they only played songs from their latest album Rivers (The Leaf Label, 2010), aside from their first encore. Rivers, which was originally released as two EPs that same year (Retina and Iris), is pretty difficult to find; at the time, I hadn't heard it. Furthermore, Rivers is their most adorned album to date, and I far prefer their sparser material.

Minor complaints aside, Wildbirds & Peacedrum'’ entire set was incredible - one of the most spellbinding shows I'd ever experienced. Also cool was the crowd-atmohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifsphere at Wildbirds & Peacedrums: I'd been to many small venues before, but I think Wildbirds & Peacedrums (not counting Therapies Son) was the most sparsely attended show I'd ever been to up to that point (see my upcoming review of the Intelligence with Sex Church and Manic Attracts, also at the Waldorf Hotel). I'd also never seen people not only keep as far a distance from the stage as they did but sit on the floor and even move their chairs into the first few "rows" as well.

The Waldorf Hotel is definitely a great venue for those who are tired of large crowds and sleek bars and clubs; while the Hotel has a bar, the venue is more similar to a café in set-up and atmosphere. The people one will find at Waldorf shows are people who are there for the band rather than a show for the sake of being at a show. The distinction makes a bigger difference than one may think.

Click here for more photos of Wildbirds & Peacedrums and Therapies Son.

All I Can Say Is, "Ha-Ha."

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/17/local/la-me-edge-malibu-projecthttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif-20110617

"In 38 years of this commission's existence, this is one of the three worst projects that I've seen in terms of environmental devastation."

All Hail the Mountain Goats

June 17, 2011
The Biltmore Cabaret
Vancouver, British Columbia

I saw the Mountain Goats at the Biltmore Cabaret two nights ago, a bar conveniently located just a twelve-minute walk from my apartment. I didn't make it to the venue in time to get front-and-centre (I try not to rush so much anymore because more often then not, it's so damned easy to get front-and-centre), but I did get there early enough to sit on this ... I don't know what you'd call it: big, black square thing at the extreme left of the stage but that wasn't part of the stage. Above the big, black square hung the bar's main left speaker. Because the speaker was also a bit behind me, the show wasn't blaringly loud for me. In fact, the volume was probably the most reasonable of any show I'd ever been to: I could make out every note and lyric, and it was never so loud that I could feel my clothes shake or felt like I was getting punched in the chest with every beat. Anyway, I had the luxury of deciding whether I wanted to sit or stand, and I chose to sit for once (not that that didn't become uncomfortable after three hours). And that was how I experienced one of my favourite bands of all time (my favourite band lyrically): seated a mere two feet in front of them.

The opening band was Midtown Dickens, an almost entirely forgettable folk trio from North Carolina whose name I wouldn't have known if I didn't Google "mountain goats biltmore" after the show. I say almost entirely forgettable because Midtown Dickens did play one good song with a mandolin-with-slide and clarinet, as well as another song with a steel saw and bow. I never knew one could get such a cool sound out of a saw with or without a bow.

Shortly after Midtown Dickens' set, the Mountain Goats took the stage and proceeded to deliver the fourth best show I'd ever seen. Almost every song they played was one of their hits: "Broom People," "Damn These Vampires," "Birth of Serpents," "Pale Green Things," "Southwood Plantation Road," "Woke Up New," "Palmcorder Yajna," "Liza Forever Minnelli," "No Children," "Age of Kings," the live-only "You Were Cool" - and that’s just what I can remember.

When the Mountain Goats reached their final pre-encore song "This Year" (possibly my favourite and most personal song of all time), Midtown Dickens returned to the stage and danced and played a bunch of shakers and other percussion instruments. Or did only one of them play a shaker while the other two just danced? Anyway, a couple of handfuls of audience members rushed the stage almost on Midtown Dickens' cue and danced their asses off too (there's no barrier between the crowd up front and the performers at the Biltmore). At the time, I wished I'd joined them, but what happened during the encore more than made up for my decision to refrain. Most of the people who jumped on stage were from the same group of douchebags in the front row who annoyed everyone else in the crowd by yelling out dumbassed comments all night anyway.

My highlight of the night came during the Mountain Goats' final song (their third encore), after the stage-jumpers returned to the floor. Lead-singer and core-songwriter John Darnielle unravelled his mic from his stand so he could move around the stage. He pressed himself up against the metal mesh barrier on the left side of the stage (that is, the audiences' left, around where I was sitting) and gripped the mesh barrier with his hands like a caged animal. He sang as close to the audience members' faces on the other side of the barrier as possible and made his way closer to the left corner of the stage, away from the meshed area. There, he cupped audience members' cheeks with his hand, and they reciprocated before he gave their hair/heads a rub and moved on. Finally, John made his way over to me. By this time, he'd taken off his glasses, and when he got to me, he looked me in the eyes while he was still carrying the tune. Without thought (besides “This is fucking awesome!”), I took off my glasses and put them on him. With the mic away from his mouth, mid-song, he laughed and said, "That's good!" and put his glasses on me! I watched through the blurry lenses of his sweaty spectacles as he immediately peeled away to the other side of the stage and continued performing the song while wearing my glasses.

We switched back a couple of minutes later during the same song. My lenses were smudged, but what the fuck - I didn't bother wiping them until I started walking home. Right after we switched back, I noticed that one of the girls with whom he had a tender hands-to-cheeks moment was reaching over to me. Still caught up in the "what the fuck" spirit of the moment, I handed her my glasses and kept watching the show. I glanced at her a few times to see exactly what possibly stupid/reckless thing I'd done, but I didn't see her or any of her friends wearing or even holding my glasses. I became a little concerned but turned my attention back to the show. When I finally asked her for my glasses, she reached into the front of her dress and fished them out for me. Splendid.

Personal encounters of the Darnielle kind aside, the Mountain Goats COMPLETELY obliterated my expectations. They were far more energetic than I'd ever expected them to have been, especially John Darnielle. Casually dressed in a tie-less suit, he danced, pranced, skipped and hopped barefoot all over the stage, laughing and beaming with miles of smiles all night long, even before they actually started playing; I'd never seen a performer look like he or she was having as much fun as John Darnielle seemed to have been having. I don't think I'd ever seen a band more appreciative of its audience (they thanked us profusely) or banter so much or so genuinely with its audience either (between most of their songs); John even humoured the previously mentioned idiots as best as he could rather than ignored them.

It'd been a long time since I'd been able to sing along with most of a band's songs - probably not since the Dandy Warhols last December. I don't think I could have had more fun singing along to a band (that I haven't already sang along to) other than the Mountain Goats. There truly is no feeling like seeing a guy you've only seen in countless photos, whose voice and lyrical genius you've listened to in your highest and lowest moments of the past five years and whose lyrics you've analyzed like you've discovered the Rosetta Stone performing with more passion in one hour than most people can express in their lifetimes just a couple of feet in front of you. Sure, the Mountain Goats didn't play every song I wanted them to (although they did play a lot of them), and they played many songs I didn't know, but I didn't expect any less from a band with such an overwhelming discography; besides, they played a significant enough chunk of the Sunset Tree, my favourite and first Mountain Goats album, to have satisfied me without having played all of my favourite Mountain Goats songs. And again, every other aspect of the Mountain Goats' show completely exceeded my expectations.

If you ever get a chance, see the Mountain Goats live. Even if you're not familiar with the their music, they could very well change your life.

Mister Heavenly vs. Sia

I just found out Mister Heavenly, the new indie supergroup comprised of Islands'/the Unicorns' Nick Thorburn, Man Man frontman Ryan Kattner and Modest Mouse drummer Joe Plummer, will be playing at the Biltmore Cabaret, a bar just a twelve-minute walk from my place, in August.

I'm thoroughly surprised by Mister Heavenly: I'm not a huge Modest Mouse fan, I despise everything Nick Thorburn does, and while I really like Man Man, I rarely have an impulse to listen to them. I don't usually like jangly, spastic yet melodic and playful indie rock either, but I actually really like the two songs Mister Heavenly has released so far, "Pineapple Girl" and the self-titled "Mister Heavenly." For $13 (before fees), Mister Heavenly is bound to be a good show for the price alone.

Unfortunately, Mister Heavenly falls on the same night as Australian pop songstress Sia's show at my beloved Commodore Ballroom. However, Sia is $28 before fees and a twenty-five-minute bus ride away; round trip, that's going to cost another $5. I also dropped $53 for Battles and Les Savy Fav with Handsome Furs yesterday, so I'm not so eager to spend right now. And I want to go to the Kills in September. And who knows what else is going to crop up in the meantime?

In Sia's favour, however, a few of my friends want to see her, including one who never goes to concerts, whereas I'd more than likely be seeing Mister Heavenly by myself. I have no problems whatsoever going to shows by myself (most of the shows I go to I go to by myself, and going alone does have its advantages), but I haven't gone to a show with more than two other people since the White Stripes. Or was it Feist? Or was it Tokyo Police Club/the Black Keys/Stars? Whoever it was, it was a few years ago, so it'd be nice to go with a decent-sized group of friends again.

Both shows would be fun (Mister Heavenly with their high-energy and Sia with her quirky personality and fare share of equally fun, quirky songs), and both shows would be pretty intimate (Mister Heavenly with its smaller fanbase at a smaller venue with zero barrier between the audience and the performers and Sia with her generally low-key, late-night bedroom pop). My decision will basically come down to what kind of mood I'll be in that night, how much I will want to spend and how far I will want to travel. I'll play it by ear for as long as I can and hope neither sells out before I decide, although one show selling out would definitely help me decide ...

Free Download: Best Coast - "So Gone" (Mexican Summer, 2011)

Between releasing one of the best albums of 2010, collaborating with Weezer, Wavves, Kid Cudi, Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij and the Go! Team and releasing a split-7" single with JEFF the Brotherhood and, most recently, releasing an iTunes session EP, California surf-poppers Best Coast is quickly becoming one of the most prolific bands today. Last week, via Adult Swim's "2011 Singles Program," Best Coast released yet another new song into the world.

Beginning last week with Ford & Lopatin's "Too Much MIDI (Please Forgive Me)," Adult Swim is releasing ten free songs a week for ten weeks straight on the network's website. This week's download is a brand new track by Best Coast called "Gone Again"; up until yesterday, the song was only available for streaming.

"Gone Again" is typical Best Coast fare in every imaginable way: simple, chill, catchy-as-all-hell riff; lyrics about feeling low, getting high, her guy being gone, her missing her guy and her being "insane"; the lyric "gone"; and of course, a shout-out to her cat. That is to say, I fucking LOVE and can't get enough of "Gone Again."

Best Coast is one of those bands that can be repetitive as HELL both musically and lyrically, and I'll still love them more than ninety-five percent of everything I've heard or ever will hear. Yes, there are a million fuzzy, poppy, lo-fi-turned-hi-fi bands that sing vapid songs about puppy-love, sunshine and getting high, but only Best Coast puts all of those elements together the way they do, and how Best Coast puts all of those elements together is the x-factor - the intangible - that sets apart Best Coast from every other band in which you can find the same aforementioned elements.

*The pie-face is a screencap from the official video for "Gone Again."

Odd Couple

I found out a few nights ago that New York hardcore rockers Les Savy Fav will be playing with Montreal's Handsome Furs at the Commodore Ballroom on July 22. Talk about an odd couple, and I don't mean Handsome Furs' Dan Boeckner and wife Alexei Perry.

I'll definitely be going to this show. The Furs' newest album Sound Kapital (Sub Pop Records, 2011) isn't stellar (I've had almost zero desire to listen to it), and last year's Root For Ruin (Frenchkiss Records) is my least favourite Les Savy Fav album, but Handsome Furs are great otherwise, and Les Savy Fav is one of my favourite bands, especially when it comes to hardcore music.

Additionally, I've been craving a high-energy show lately - something on the level of Japanther which was the third best show I'd ever been to. I'm no longer counting on the Intelligence on June 21st at the Waldorf Hotel to be that high-energy show, especially knowing the size of crowd a better-known band like Wildbirds & Peacedrums was able to draw to that same venue (more on that show another time). No doubt, Les Savy Fav is going to be insaaane: just check out this video of them at Fun Fun Fun Fest in 2009. If Les Savy Fav is going to be anything like Japanther, I'm in for another sweaty, sore, bloody, beer-soaked night. And I didn't even drink at Japanther.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums - Heartcore (The Leaf Label, 2007)

Wildbirds & Peacedrums are a rare specimen in my music library: incredible Swedish music. Moreover, they are one of the most instantly refreshing acts I've heard in the last few years. If there was such a genre as "vocal expressionism" (although I'm sure there actually is, especially in today's increasingly ambiguous musical climate), Wildbirds & Peacedrums would certainly be at its forefront, at least as far as contemporary indie artists go.

Heartcore, the band's debut LP, features standard chamber pop instrumentation used to minimal effect, although the album's focus is on the masterfully complementary interplay between Andreas Werliin's array of idiosyncratic, often avalanche-like drum patterns and wife Mariam Wallentin's breathtakingly powerful and spellbinding voice. Wallentin stretches her voice in all imaginable ways, cresting and troughing without much restraint, much in the spirit of Icelandic voice-collage artist Bjork. The majority of Heartcore, including "The Way Things Go," "Bird," "Lost Love," "The Window," "Nakina" and the partially a cappella "The Ones That Should Save Me Get Down" (a song that bleeds buckets of soul) is entirely drum-and-voice.

Heartcore's standout track "Doubt/Hope" is also entirely drum-and-voice and perhaps the best example of how much fire Wildbirds & Peacedrums can fuel with voice and drums alone. The song's emphatic, erratic cacophony most succinctly captures the duo's frenetic, bare-bones energy. Conversely, Wallentin can also be sweet, barely rising above a coo or even a whisper on "A Story from a Chair" or lulling on "I Can't Tell in His Eyes," possibly the most conventional song and tender moment on the album.

Despite songs like "I Can't Tell" and closer "We Hold Each Other Song," however, an overall palling sense of emotional strife similar to that which has incensed so much of PJ Harvey's and My Brightest Diamond's works still pervades Heartcore: hear "Bird," for example, on which Wildbirds & Peacedrums seem to struggle to contain or direct their volatile inner turmoil.

Heartcore is a truly unique album amidst a tepid musical climate wherein conceptions of minimalism, especially with the advent of new musical technologies, increasingly associate the aesthetic with electronic drone music. Heartcore flawlessly demonstrates that raw, at times seemingly improvisational energy and technical skill can be compromised to unique emotional effect and resonate with listeners on the most primeval of levels.

The Whites/Elsons Is Weird Peoples.

After six years of marriage, Jack White and Karen Elson are getting divorced, and they're throwing a party to celebrate. Good to know the split is amicable.

Free Downloads: FAROFF Mash-Up Madness

I love mash-ups, and in my opinion, no one does them better than FAROFF. The greatest thing about his mash-ups is that he doesn't rely on generic, indistinguishable club songs; instead, he builds his songs out of classics by the likes of the Beatles, the Doors and the Ramones, danceable contemporary artists such as LCD Soundsystem, Gwen Stefani and Fatboy Slim and old-school hip-hop artists and one-hit wonders like Elastica and Dee-Lite.

All of FAROFF's mash-ups are available for high-quality download (between 256 and 320 kbps) on his official website djfaroff.com. Linked below is a smattering of my favourite FAROFF mixes:

The Beatles vs. LCD Soundsystem vs. The Kinks - "The Brits Are Playing at My House"

B-52s vs. Lipps, Inc. vs. Patrick Hernandez vs. Yello vs. Soulwax - "Funky Shack!"

Franz Ferdinand vs. Stealers Wheel vs. Nirvana vs. Michael Jackson vs. Def Cut vs. C.S.S. - "Franz Tranz"

Britney Spears vs. Metallica - "Enter Toxman" (for Smashlie, if she reads this)

Nirvana vs. Dead Or Alive - "Spins Like Teen Spirit"

Best Coast - iTunes Session (Apple Inc., 2011)

Finally, Best Coast has released an official version of their cover of country legend Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City.” It may not be a “proper” studio version, but the fact that it’s clean and clear is all I ever asked for.

Best Coast's cover of Lynn's controversial 1968 chart-topping hit is just one of nine tracks on their latest release iTunes Session. With twenty minutes of music and an informative thirty-one minute interview, the EP provides a bite-size live-sampling of the band. The EP contains a pretty balanced spread of Best Coast’s discography (considering how small the band's discography actually is), featuring not only songs from their critically acclaimed breakthrough debut LP Crazy for You (Mexican Summer, 2010) but various singles and EPs as well. The recordings sound great, and the band performs with enough gusto and variation from their original versions to change the minds of those who've only seen the band on YouTube. Indeed, iTunes Session is most satisfying as a testament to how good Best Coast is live; they’re always hit-or-miss (mostly miss) in YouTube videos, but they were pretty well flawless both times I saw them.

Second Chance

I found out a couple of nights ago that the Kills will be coming back to the Commodore Ballroom here in Vancouver on September 5th, almost four months to the day after they last played here. As shitty as my experience at their show was in May, I’ll definitely be putting down money to see them again.

Along with Feist, the Kills were one of the most disappointing shows I’d ever seen: the crowd sucked, and my friend and I were far from the action, stuck behind tall people almost the entire time. Of course, I can’t blame the band for any of that, but I can blame the band for its lackluster song-choices. Considering how many great songs the Kills have, they could hardly have selected a worse playlist. Granted, they played a few of their best songs including “Kissy Kissy,” “Pull a U,” “Fried My Little Brains” and “No Wow,” but considering that almost every song on the Kills' first and second albums are knockouts, their set left a lot for fans of their earlier, bluesier material to desire. I left the Kills’ show thankful I didn’t fly from Nova Scotia to Montreal to see them in 2008.

So, why am I willing to give the Kills live a second chance? Because even though they didn’t play my favourite tunes, they played their tunes well. Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart definitely brought the energy; anyone anywhere in the venue could have seen that. Furthermore, I just know that being as close to the Kills as possible next time - being able to see the performers perform - will make a huge difference. Plus, there’s always hope for a better set list; maybe the Kills always change it up, and I just caught them on a bad night.