The Courtneys - "90210"

Vancouver's Keanu Reeves-obsessed trio the Courtneys have released the video for "90210," their upcoming full-length debut album's lead single. They've blown up and cleaned up their sound, but their guitars remain fuzzy, and they still play and sing with beach-ready poppiness. I can already tell I'll have this one on repeat for days.

The Courtneys - 90210 from Courtney G on Vimeo.

Nardwuar vs. iceage

And here, related to the post below, is Nardwuar's interview with Copenhagen's iceage at the Waldorf. So severe. And awkward. I wonder if they're like that all the time. I've also never seen a band so unimpressed by Nardwuar. Not even musicians who've dicked off to him have been so lifeless (Blur, Sonic Youth, Henry Rollins).

Punk Music and Barbecue

With the exception of Cult of Youth, this must have been one of the most skull-crushingly awesome shows in a LOOONG-assed time. Scarcely a more stacked line-up than this. Don't know how I missed this one.

Friends in Montreal!

Can you keep your eye out for this poster? Will pay postage/etc! Do I even have friends who will be in Montreal before New Year's? :/

"Snowdrifting"

Snowdrifting from Jackson A. Ragg III on 8tracks Radio.

1 hr, 12 min, 20 sec

1. Azure Ray - "Favourite Cities"
2. Animal Collective - "Bees"
3. Jose Gonzales - "Cycling Trivialities"
4. Interpol - "NYC"
5. John Maus - "Hey Moon"
6. Miracle Fortress - "Blasphemy"
7. John Fahey - "Remember"
8. Kurt Vile - "The Finder"
9. Noveller - "St. Powers"
10. The Walkmen - "We've Been Had"
11. Nico - "The Fairest of the Seasons"
12. Nico - "I'll Keep It with Mine"
13. Roger Eno - "Dusk at Dawn (The Last Cowboy in the West)"
14. Roger Eno - "Field of Gold"

Favourite Releases of 2012: Nite Jewel - One Second of Love (Secretly Canadian)

One Second of Love, the second album by L.A.'s Ramona Gomez, A.K.A. Nite Jewel, has been one of my most listened to albums of the year. There was a period of about two or three months when I first got One Second of Love that I listened to it up to six times a day. The album really turned me around on some of the more recent synth-pop including Toronto's Memoryhouse and Brooklyn's Chairlift, both who put out full-lengths as well at the beginning of this year. However, only Nite Jewel has made it onto my "prestigious" end-of-year favourites list.

Hints of sorrow underlie many of the songs on One Second of Love, but grandiosely sustained synth and drums that seem to echo into space on the swooping opener "This Story" belie the melancholy the music and lyrics otherwise forebode.

The following title-track immediately takes One Second of Love to a starker place. More importantly for me, though, the track may have provided the catalyst for one of my most significant musical revelations: one of my favourite elements in music is tension. I like when elements that shouldn't go together are forced into the same auditory space and, for whatever cosmic reason, totally work. "One Second of Love"'s spire-shaped synths joust with deep bass notes and metallic, clanging, church-bell percussion for control, like Nite Jewel refuses to let negativity prevail. As a result, the song sounds choppy, at once stuttering but then flowing, some parts chunky and other parts fluid. This structure is perhaps most pronounced on the more cheerful "She's Always Watching You."

Despite such seemingly incongruous moments, One Second of Love is graceful as well in its minimalism and deliberation. Nite Jewel's magic is all in how and where she chooses to place every detail, never dabbing more than she needs. Just listen to the barely existent acoustic guitar, drooping, cuppy suction sounds and glimmering electronics on the glacial "Unearthly Delights." These sounds (with the exception of the acoustic guitar) are often only heard on purely ambient albums by artists such as Autechre, whom she cites as a primary influence, but none of the elements or motifs in Nite Jewel's arrangements become effaced by repetition as in so much pure ambience.

"Unearthly Delights" comes halfway through One Second of Love, thus marking the rather late beginning of listeners' realization that for such a relatively minimal album, One Second of Love is quite diverse. "No I Don't," which follows "Delights," slowly scours the cavern floor, hitting the album's lowest notes - notes so low, they're mostly distorted rumbles and warped, inharmonious electronic clicks and zaps. "Autograph," also coming so late in the album, kicks it into an unexpected downbeat, flirtatious groove. Think the New Deal's "Don't Blame Yourself" featuring Feist with its deep, bobbing bass-line. The blissfully celestial "Clive" immediately contrasts the cozy, intimate "Autograph," filling my head with nothing but clouds when I close my eyes. And just when I think One Second of Love couldn't get anymore heavenly, "Sister" sends the album through the earth's exosphere, closing the album on the highest possible high.

One Second of Love is spacious yet catchy, slightly melancholy yet slightly danceable (at least groovy). Nite Jewel successfully combines usually disagreeable elements to give what are pop songs at their cores the illusion of unpredictable structures by way of deliberate but unexpected arrangements. Perhaps the song that best demonstrates all of this, and for that reason is my favourite song on One Second of Love, is "Memory Man." If you're not hooked, don't give up. As I've said, One Second of Love is surprisingly diverse. Give it all a chance, and you too may never come back down.

Favourite Releases of 2012: Night Plane - Heartbeat EP (Soul Clap)

As I've said in my review of Dead Sound & Videohead's Murder EP, I'm not the most well-versed in discussing danceable music. But at least Murder contained some electronic and industrial elements onto which I could latch as descriptive fodder. Unfortunately, I have no such luck with Texas-born, Brooklyn-based producer William Rauscher, A.K.A. Night Plane,'s Heartbeat EP.

I've heard Heartbeat referred to as "nü-disco." I don't know what that is, but it sounds awfully cheesy, as most "nü"-anything does. To me, Heartbeat is just dance music through and through. I guess the title-track is a bit cheesy, but that's as much as I can churn from this EP, especially with my apparent lack of familiarity with disco.

Labels are trivial, though. Regardless of what one wants to call Heartbeat, it sounds good, and that's all that matters. The breezy tune "Gold Soundz" (featuring Harry Bennett and Heather D'Angelo) captures the relaxed spirit of drifting down the highway in an open-top car, in no hurry to get anywhere in particular as the song languidly stretches nearly eight minutes in length. The sky is blue, and D'Angelo's melon-sweet voice shines through the few thin, transparent clouds like rays of light. If the Chemical Brothers' "The Sunshine Underground" downshifted a few gears and jettisoned most of its busy, tunneling electronics, it may follow an even more similar route as "Gold Soundz."

The latter two-thirds of Heartbeat comprises of Wolf and Lamb's remix of "Gates of Dawn" (which again features Heather D'Angelo), an almost equally long Burning Man mix of "Gates of Dawn" and finally, the original version of "Gates." Yes, that's a lot of versions of one song on a five-track release, and the Burning Man mix doesn't differ much from the Wolf and Lamb version, but the original thumps more steadily, like day shifting into night from one version to the other (or night shifting into day, since the Wolf and Lamb version is the sunnier remix). Jazzy one-two cymbal hits and a higher BPI pick up the tempo and add extra groove to the more nocturnal original. Low, muffled post-dubstep piano chords pulsate in the same one-two pattern and fade into the night as the song drives on and electronics bubble and pop - swirl like the tails of a poi performance.

While closing Heartbeat with the original version of "Gates of Dawn" may seem like an odd choice (usually, remixes come last), Night Plane's sequencing actually makes sense: each version progressively picks up speed and incorporates more effects, eventually culminating in a nearly twenty-minute track with minimally varying motifs spread throughout. Running so many generally similar versions of the same song (in sound and in length) together can grow dull quickly, but "Gates of Dawn," no matter whose interpretation, and "Gold Soundz" are both so relaxing that I'm totally fine just drifting along until the road ends.

Favourite Releases of 2012: Group Rhoda - Out of Time, Out of Touch (Night School)

"Out of time, out of touch." That's exactly how I feel when I listen to the debut album of Group Rhoda, the solo project of San Francisco's Mara Barenbaum. Like fever dreaming, unsure if one is waking up back into reality or if the dream is just beginning, there's a disorienting sensation of having been dropped into the middle of an exotic, unplaceable, detached nowhere realm. Synthesizers hiss and rise like steam before tracelessly vapourizing into the night sky ("Virtual Dancer"); jungly percussion melts and drips out of the humid atmosphere ("Hi Rise"). I can't help but envision sultry, Surrealist dreamscapes painted in glowing neons that fade to soft pastels, like Henri Rousseau's jungle scenes doused in Dali's runny aesthetic.

On first impression, Out of Time, Out of Touch may seem thinly layered with very little to conceal. But listen closer, and you'll discover a bounty of life: warm beats patter like paws on the leafy, overgrown forest floor; electronics blink in and out of sight like fireflies; shakers rattle like creatures rustling in the bushes. You may feel an out-of-body lightness in this mirage-like environment, but the tender crackles of branches and bug-eaten logs beneath you remind you in your delirium of your weight. It's curiosity and intrigue over this microcosmic world of mystery - at the time when all of the unseen creatures of the night come to life and thrive (and feast) - that pulls listeners into Group Rhoda's fantastic world.

Though Group Rhoda presents an inviting scene into her tropical world on her Magritte-like album cover*, Out of Time, Out of Touch is not as innocuous as she leads one to believe. The open door and added allure of a comfortable bed are like the vivid spots and stripes on a frog: one can't help but be cautious of the poisonous dangers that lay in wait in her brightly coloured world. "Can you hear me call?," she asks no one in particular on "At the Dark," seemingly reading your mind. "'I'm looking at you / But you're not looking back," comes her reply on "Silence."

Though you still can't see or hear what's lurking in the dark, invisible to the naked eye, "Nightlight" seems to depict the moment you realize without a doubt you're being stalked. By then, it's almost too late: your pulse rises; panic intensifies; desperation sets in. With no escape in sight, album closer "Fire" best illustrates the frantic last dash for a way out after shaking free from whatever mystical force has tried to wrap its seductive, predatory spell over you. You stumble and trip - become entangled in vines as the unseen prowls, and all you can hear is the siren's call ringing behind you: "There is a light / You can stay, if you want to / Stay if you want to / Stay if you want to." But if you've found yourself this deep in the bush, you don't have a choice; Group Rhoda already has you where she wants you.

* There's a version of Belgian Surrealist René Magritte's The Human Condition painted in 1945 that I think Out of Time, Out of Touch's cover art more closely resembles. From what I recall, the painting depicts a room, a door and most similarly a bed. I saw the version at the Surrealism exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery last year but haven't been able to find an image of that version since, hence why I can't fully remember.

Favourite Releases of 2012: Naomi Punk - The Feeling (Captured Tracks)

Three words I would use to describe Naomi Punk's debut album The Feeling: unsettlingly crooked; agitated. Not that the album scares me, but it's just a bit off-centre; it constantly teeters, sustaining a feeling of anxiety that things could tip at any moment.

There's a primordial power to The Feeling that comes not only from its minimalism and rough recording but the way the Seattle three-piece bashes out its riffs and sing with abandon. Naomi Punk's bare, unconventional riffs are anything but smooth, and the sparseness of it all accentuates the space the already loosely recorded instruments have to ring out between each other. The result is an overall hauntedness to the cavernous album.

Naomi Punk aren't outstandingly unique - there has been a recent rise in the number of dank, sludgy bands with similar aesthetics on the West Coast - but they do what they do distinctly (and well) enough that The Feeling has been one of the cooler releases I've heard all year. And it was released by Brooklyn-based label Captured Tracks, one of my favourites. Hopefully, having signed with Captured Tracks as recently as in September, we'll hear more from Naomi Punk next year and on a more prominent level.

Marnie Stern - The Chronicles of Marnia (Kill Rock Stars)

Marnie Stern continues to be one of my favourite musicians whose music I don't really like by naming her upcoming album The Chronicles of Marnia (due March 19). Actually, "Year of the Glad," the album's first single, is pretty good. Definitely greater attention to song-craft on it than anything else I've heard by her, the focuses of which seem to have been just showing off how well she can play guitar.

Favourite Releases of 2012: METZ - METZ (Sub Pop)

One of my most frequent musical analogies for the hardest rocking music to me is the sound of fighter jets taking off and barreling through soot-filled skies. Nothing I've heard from this year - or ever, really - has sounded quite as turbulent as Toronto's destructive METZ. They play to kill, even if it means taking themselves down with you.

METZ' entire self-titled album bleeds the nihilistic despair of a pilot who knows he's on a collision course with infernal death. Downward spiraling, tailspin guitar opens "Rats," and the plane bursts into a ball of flames as drums and bass simultaneously inject themselves into the wreckage. The sense of panic in "Rats" is so overwhelming, I find myself wanting to radio for help, fully aware of the futility in doing so.

METZ is volatile, every song a ticking time-bomb. Every drumbeat explodes like stepping on a landmine. Bass notes launch like strings of mortars. Engine-roar guitars ring out relentlessly like glass-shattering sonic booms. The only cessation comes as stormy calms before METZ circle around and dive-bomb your ears again, penetrating all the way to your psyche, blanketing you with scalding sheets of corrosive napalm noise.

Though not stripped enough to sound punk in the purest sense, the actually demure Toronto trio delivers their F5 whirlwind of gusty hard rock with such an unmatched sense of urgency and alarm (perhaps nowhere more than on "Sad Pricks") that METZ has become one of my favourite albums of its kind period, let alone of the year.

"How The Spice Girls Taught Me To Be a Riot Grrl" By Mish Way

I remember watching the special "Girl Power A-Z" hosted by the Spice Girls. They named Courtney Love for C and showed a clip of the "Doll Parts" video. The Spice Girls commended Courtney for her anger, "Yeah Courtney! Throw that chair! Yeah! Raw! Courtney!" They clearly had no understanding of feminist politics, post-structural analysis or the fact that the inversion of gender roles is counter-productive and binary. But did I? Fuck no. That's something I figured out third year university. Deconstructing Spice was something I would do as a woman, not a girl.

Click here to read the full article.

Favourite Releases of 2012: Jack White - Blunderbuss (Third Man Records)

A no-brainer for anyone who knows me or reads this blog. This past April, Jack White, my favourite musician for the past eleven years, finally dropped his long-awaited debut solo album Blunderbuss. I tried to review Blunderbuss when it came out, but when it started becoming a God-damned thesis (after about day five), for the sake of my sanity and having a life, I scrapped it. So, I'm going to try to keep my thoughts on Blunderbuss short.

We've heard Jack in big-band situations before, most notably with the Queen of Rockabilly Wanda Jackson whose 2011 album The Party Ain't Over Jack produced, played on and released through his company Third Man Records, but we've never heard Jack play with a large ensemble totally on his terms, with him as the chief conductor.

Solo albums are usually hit or miss with me (mostly miss), but there isn't one sour note on Blunderbuss. It's everything Jack White fans could and should have expected from him: a blend of songs that touch upon most periods of his extensive history of work. Lead singles "Sixteen Saltines" and "Love Interruption" could very well have been salvaged from the White Stripes' surely bottomless demo-bin - "Hypocritical Kiss," "Weep Themselves To Sleep" and "I Guess I Should Go To Sleep" re-upholstered from leftover Raconteurs material. And no one can deny the influence of Jack's work with Wanda Jackson on the jumpy, swingin', impossibly, unfathomably cool Little Willie Johnson cover "I'm Shakin'."

But Jack White fans should have expected that he was going to tread new territory as well, as he has with every single full-length album he's released in his career. Jack has never saloon-rocked like he does on "Trash Tongue Talker." More notably, however, nothing he has ever done has trembled like the low-rumbling "Freedom at 21," and while Jack seems to stretch his vocals in new ways every time we hear him in full-length studio format, we've certainly never heard him rap as he nearly does on "Freedom at 21." Perhaps he once again drew inspiration, this time from his long-rumoured session (sessions?) with Jay-Z and his ill-fated session with RZA that never materialized because RZA no-showed but, with a full band already on hand, ultimately led to jamming and writing the songs that would become Blunderbuss.

Although I've identified particular songs on Blunderbuss with particular periods of Jack White's work, I do so non-definitively: I simply mean to draw attention to what I feel is the most prominent leaning of each song. Ultimately, Blunderbuss can be considered Jack's opus because for the first time, Jack has truly combined everything he has ever done not only across one album, effortlessly and cheaply mimicking a career-spanning "best of" compilation, but within individual songs as well. That is the success of Jack White's premier outing as a solo artist. Though I see most of the styles and motifs Jack has covered on Blunderbuss re-appearing on solo album number two (if and when that ever happens), that Jack has finally made his statement as to who is as an artist today - who his fifteen-plus-year career has made him - has finally given him the leeway - the freedom and possibly even the peace of mind - to move on and really tread new territory.

Big Boi feat. Little Dragon - "Mama Told Me"

Listening to every version of this song I can find:

Favourite Releases of 2012: The Intelligence - Everybody’s Got It Easy But Me (In the Red)

Although a familiar t-t-tat-ty drum machine beat opens quirky San Fran punk rockers the Intelligence's eighth album Everybody's Got It Easy But Me, after a few minutes, the first track "I Like L.A." suddenly halts. Singer and guitarist Lars Finberg announces: "Ladies and gentlemen: the band," and, like flipping a switch, suddenly, "I Like L.A." changes gears into a more colourful hi-fi performance complete with live drumming.

From the moment Lars introduces the band, EGIEBM never looks back to its trinkety beginning. Nor does the album ever falter. Anxious, jittery, hip-shaker/breath-takers "Hippy Provider" and "Evil Is Easy" shoot forth like jolts of electricity from the ends of cut wire. Even when the Intelligence slow down on the lightly strummed "Techno Tuesday," one of their rare songs with acoustic guitar and their only song I can remember that features horns, their respite is short-lived as more clamorous songs come in such quick succession that it feels like the band never slows.

Sometimes, a band's switch to high-fidelity can detract from their music, polishing the band's snare unremarkably slick and the production itself becoming a point of attention for the listener. But the opposite can occur, too: the high-fidelity of EGIEBM does nothing but favours in letting the Intelligence's off-kilter riffs and sharp, note-picked guitars, amplified by forceful, though not exactly tight, drumming, punch and stab more tactually than ever.

While not as streamlined as the Intelligence's previous album, 2010's Males, or as far out (sometimes seemingly for the sake of being far out) as pretty much all of their other albums, Everybody's Got It Easy But Me falls refreshingly right in the middle. EGIE even manages to sound cleaner than Males. I don't know how that is. Maybe it's because even though EGIE sounds equally clean, it literally has more details to hear, including more varied instrumentation and similar sound effects as their aforementioned eccentric, "far out" albums. Thus, I listen to EGIE more attentively and take greater notice of its production rather than let Males' comparatively simple songs bowl over me.

Despite falling between Males and the rest of the Intelligence's discography, EGIEBM features some firsts for the band. The surfy "Little Town Flirt" is pure acoustic pop, a complete anomaly for the band. "Little Town Flirt" is also their first female-led song. Lars sings in a key high enough that at first, it's difficult to believe (or at least tell) it's him.

"Little Town Flirt" should be about the only truly unfamiliar moment on Everybody's Got It Easy But Me for Intelligence fans. That the album combines the best elements of one of my favourite bands and somehow makes forty-four minutes seem brisk, lending to its endless re-playability, makes Everybody's Got It Easy But Me not only one of my favourite albums by the Intelligence but one of my favourite albums of the year as well.

Favourite Releases of 2012: Half Chinese - We Were Pretending To Be (Sad Game)

Don't forget about Half Chinese.

That's a note more to myself than anyone else. In the heaps of local bands I discovered in 2012, Half Chinese, one of the first local bands I liked, almost got lost in the shuffle.

Half Chinese's debut full-length We Were Pretending To Be opens in pretty standard indie rock fashion with "Horse Did Whinny," a catchy song that bounces along with the added sheen of plinky mandolin. But it's the following track "Hatchi" that better reflects the album's overall direction, tightly mixing melody with ripping guitar lines over propulsive drumming. Half Chinese also dissolve into more free-form explorations with songs such as the lyricless, essentially instrumental "China Creek" which creeps with subtle, lingering, slowcore guitars, creating a dim undertone before erupting in scorching, uncapped, discordant squalls.

In circular fashion, We Were Pretending To Be returns to pure pop with songs like the clarinet-backed "Boomerang" and the zippy "Little Moon Beam" which cruises along a singular synth-line and wraps up with another catchy, noise-infused rocker ("Goodbye Farewell") and finally bids adieu with another subdued ambler-with-a-big-chorus "Ever Crowley."

Perhaps my perception has been knocked awry by the force with which even the most free-form songs on We Were Pretending To Be hit, but even such songs can't help but feel concise - deliberate - like there's a palpable temperance to the album. Although Half Chinese pretty much bee-line to their point with full focus and seem to know exactly how to get there, they still sound very patient and unrushed. It's impossible to know how well thought out the songs on We Were Pretending To Be were, but with such rocking fun, it's best to just sit back, enjoy the feel-good ride and not think about it.

Download We Were Pretending To Be in full and entirely for FREE on Half Chinese's Bandcamp page.

Favourite Releases of 2012: Death Grips - NO LOVE DEEP WEBB (Self-Released)

Fresh thoughts on NO LOVE DEEP WEBB and Death Grips in general here.

Favourite Releases of 2012 - Grimes - Visions (Arbutus)

Okay, so after only six days, life got in the way, and I fell one entry behind. Luckily, though, one of those entries is Grimes' breakthrough third album Visions, and I don't have much to add (or much need to add) to the discourse regarding Visions because the album has already been talked about to death. Here's a re-post of Visions in full on YouTube:

Favourite Releases of 2012: Ex-Cult - Ex-Cult (Goner)

Jeez, almost every one of my favourite releases of 2012 I've posted about so far has grayscale cover art. Hardly bucking that trend is entry #6, Memphis punk band Ex-Cult's crude debut full-length Ex-Cult.

Like a milder early Les Savy Fav, complete with vocals by Chris Shaw that echo Tim Harrington himself, Ex-Cult bring the noise with an album full of fierce hooks and frantic energy - ballasted by flat drums and fuzzy production. For some, filing down the band's teeth and dulling the album's overall energy in such a way casts unwanted restraint over what are, in essence, exuberant songs. No doubt, cleaner production would bring Ex-Cult to different level of life, but for me, the bleary production - scratching out details - obscuring them - engages me more; it makes me want more, but it forces me to fill in the gaps with sounds that are certainly influenced by what I can hear (obviously) but that ultimately arise from nowhere else but my own imagination. To that extent, Ex-Cult is an exercise in engagement - call-and-response - and I'm ready to shout until I’m hoarse.

Favourite Releases of 2012: DIIV - Oshin (Captured Tracks)

Yesterday's entry was Death Grips' self-released NO LOVE DEEP WEBB, but I already posted about it last week, so I decided to skip to DIIV's Oshin.

Beach Fossils touring guitarist Zachary Cole Smith, better known as DIIV, has managed to put out a far more cohesive, enveloping album than his lo-fi indie rock counterparts with his solo debut Oshin. Underneath the layers of reverb and effects, there isn't much to the songs on Oshin, lyrically or technically, but that Smith manages to create a lot out of a little (at least in terms of feeling) is part of what makes Oshin impressive.

As Oshin's title aptly connotes, listening to the album is a submerging experience. I can see the tiny ripples every note makes, faintly undulating as watery guitars and Zach's washed out vocals in turn wash over me. Whether the songs in their fluidity trickle like riverbed runoff, swirl like a whirlpool or placidly shimmer after rushing forth like a windy stream, Oshin moves as a singular, amorphous entity. But instead of trying to learn the song titles or differentiate the songs from one another by ear, I'm happy just going with the flow, following the ever-changing current wherever it carries me.

I rarely prefer a musician's solo work over that of his or her primary band's, but Zachary Cole Smith has definitely made a bigger splash with me than any fossil I may find washed up on the beach.

Favourite Releases of 2012: Dead Sound & Videohead - Murder EP (Perc Trax)

I wish I could say more about Dead Sound & Videohead's second collaborative EP Murder, but I'm not the most well-versed in techno music. Too bad, because Murder has been one of the biggest blind surprises of the year for me; I'd never heard of either Dead Sound or Videohead prior to hearing Murder, but when I want some grimy beats, it's my go-to record. For thirty dirty minutes, locomotive beats chug alongside the churning sounds of dark, industrial soundscapes, creating a sense that you're trapped in the belly of an impenetrable machine. But when entrapment sounds this good, I don't want to be saved.

Stream Murder in full here.

Favourite Releases of 2012: Best Coast - The Only Place (Mexican Summer)

One of my favourite unapologetically simple and repetitive, lo-fi turned hi-fi pop-machines Best Coast returned this year with their "mature" second album The Only Place. The album certainly shows a band that has grown: it's a bit more musically complex, with more controlled noodling on the guitar and solos that feel more deliberate than ever, and Bethany Cosentino sings with a newfound confidence which she has cultivated over the course of the band's loaded tour schedule. All of these details are given greater clarity thanks to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Jon Brion's spacious production.

Luckily for fans of "the old Best Coast," Bethany and second core member Bobb Bruno have not abandoned their charms. The songs on The Only Place remain supremely catchy, and while their lyrical themes have shifted from weed, cats and puppy love to more serious topics including homesickness, the need to get away from the vices of life on the road and self-reflections on self-identity versus "how they want me to be," Bethany's lyrics remain straightforward.

Favourite Releases of 2012: Beats Antique - Contraption Vol. II (Antique Records)

My first thought upon hearing Contraption Vol. II, my introduction to Beats Antique, was, "I never knew music could sound like this." Even though I'd heard a lot of "eclectic," "genre-bending" music before, I couldn't help but feel that such overused terms could not do Beats Antique justice. The only alternative I can think of is "world music," and even that term is too widely tossed around as a broad stroke to refer to seemingly any music made outside of North America and Britain. Maybe "world fusion," which I've also come across in reference to Beats Antique, is more apt, as generally repulsive as anything that ends with "fusion" may seem without even being heard.

At least the word "fusion" gives a sense of how seamlessly Beats Antique blends a vast array of musical styles. One moment, you're being seduced by the sounds of the Far East. The next, elements of dubstep and drum 'n' bass join the polyphony, and you're cast into a trance by a steady, bold electronic beat on top of dramatic strings ("The Allure"). Or you're rocketing across vast dune vistas in the Middle East ("Skeleton Key"). Hip-hop scratches and fades also pervade Contraption, such as on the Indian-influenced "Crush," and by the end of the album, you may find yourself oafishly box-stepping to the fat, gypsy waltz of closer "Bloody Bones." Often, such shifts in imagery, scenery and mindsets occur organically, sometimes even within seconds of the same song.

At once exotic and familiar, antiquated (exactly as the group's name describes) and contemporary, Contraption Vol. II transports listeners into an atemporal space where concepts of culture and regionalism don't exist beyond the words we seemingly arbitrarily assign to their associated sounds. Where Contraption takes listeners, the world is one, truly a melting pot - truly a unique listening experience.

Favourite Releases of 2012: Preamble and First Entry

There are three reasons why I never make year-end "best-of" lists: 1) I find them too time-consuming to compose. 2) I usually don't hear enough good music that won't already appear on every other best-of list. 3) I find ranking and rating equally frustrating, impossible and pointless. But this year, I feel I've heard enough music that may (or may not) have been overlooked, so I've decided to give making a list another shot.

As I have around thirty releases in mind, l've decided to attempt mini-reviewing one release per day until the New Year, despite blogging having stalled over the past couple of months. Call this an exercise against writer's block - in writing concisely and prolifically without over-thinking grammar and structure (two of my most formidable roadblocks in becoming a serious writer). And in order to save myself the headache of ranking my favourites, I've decided to simply list them alphabetically.


Angel Olsen - Half Way Home (Bathetic)

2012 was a year of folk revival for me, incited by new discoveries such as Chelsea Wolfe and the late Bert Jansch, having embraced Nico's 1967 album Chelsea Girl as one of my favourite albums of all time and pushed forward most significantly by Canadian filmmaker James Cullingham's documentary In Search of Blind Joe Death: The Saga of John Fahey, a long-overdue definitive biography of the late American guitarist which debuted at this year's Vancouver International Film Festival.

While not as haunting as Wolfe's "doom-folk," musically delicate or emotionally naked as even Bert Jansch's least moving pieces or environmentally transformative as the soundscapes conjured by John Fahey, Angel Olsen's greatest draw for me is the tension that exists within her music: her quivery treble rings out so pronouncedly against the inviting warmth of her clean and relatively spare arrangements (usually no more than twangy acoustics). Half Way Home opens with a song called "Acrobat," a title that could describe her singing which she topically demonstrates right out of the gate. If Angel Olsen can retain the amount of originality found in her voice alone, she'll definitely be an artist to keep an eye on in the coming year.

FULL STREAM - Death Grips - NO LOVE DEEP WEB (Self-Released, 2012)

Add Sacramento's experimental hip-hop duo Death Grips to the list of musicians I never thought I'd like.

I've been a fan of drummer Zach Hill since he and L.A. art-punk duo No Age released their collaborative 2008 EP Flannel Graduate, but I like Death Grips for more than just the mere fact of his involvement: there's a certain organicness and thematic metaphysicality to Death Grips that I haven't found in any other super-aggro hip-hop group. Maybe it's Stefan "MC Ride" Burnett's internal look-to-the-self-for-inspiration vs. idolatry philosophy, the fact that Death Grips employs live drumming rather than programmed beats and their minimalist approach (see Zach's three-drum set-up) that imbues their primal performance with a certain humanness or immediacy.

Death Grips play Fortune Sound Club this Friday. Redcat Records will announce a winner of two pairs of tickets as well as a copy Death Grips' first (and only other) album The Money Store in the format of one's choice this evening. There's still time to enter the contest, which you can do by clicking over to Redcat's Facebook page.

BotchedSpot - "Smart Fan"

Click the image to enlarge or view at BotchedSpot.com.

Today's comic is like me with music, except I'd never see that vampire Lincoln movie, and I've never told anyone to kill themselves over music.

Night Plane feat. Casey Gibbs - "Heartbeat"

"Nu disco"? Sure. Call it whatever you'd like. It kicks ass:

hearty magazine Feature: "Angel Haze: Can't Stop Won't Stop"

"Haze brushes off tired juxtapositions to other female rappers like Nicki and Azealia. Apart from the fact that those kinds of comparisons are sexist and unimaginative, her teenage-boy like build and the way her music plays with gen/sex issues make her a specific case study. In a time when people can't seem to get over asking if 2012 is the year of the femcee and whether Hip Hop is ready for gay rappers, Angel is ready and willing to beat her way into the spotlight to answer, 'Yes.'"

Read the full article and interview at hearty magazine's website.

Coming This Friday: Third Man Records Novelties Lounge

That's it. I'm moving to Nashville to pursuit my dream job at Jack White's Third Man Records.

"Then Vote Hezbollah Did a Pro-Bush Song That Pissed Everyone Off

but that was the whole point and even when the crowd booed, they had a great time doing it because they got the joke. You have to stop trying to make sense of Punk - what it's for, what it's against. It's against everything. The singer from Vote Hezbollah pissed on the Qur'an. Everyone loved it. Then he picked up the kitab, shook some drips off, carefully turned the frail wet pages and recited Ya Sin with absolute sincerity. Somehow, the whole thing made sense."

"They're a Different Bunch," Replied Jehangir,

his eyes stuck on the closed door.

"They're a buncha cocks," said Muzammil.

"They're decent guys," said Jehangir. "They'll give you anything. If all they have to give you is a fuckin' Bic pen, they'll fork it over. But they're a little rough to deal with sometimes-"

"Hatemongers, Jehangir. Fuckin' bigots. If they had their way I'd be tossed from a minaret." Jehangir paused for a moment.

"Yeah," he said softly. "Yeah, Muzammil. They hate you. And they hate me too. They hate all of us for something. Me for the beer in my hand, you for the cock in your mouth, Rabeya for having her clitoris intact. We're all going something haram. Look at us. We're the ones that have always been fuckin' excluded, ostracized, afraid to be ourselves around our fuckin' brothers. They don't build masjids for us. We have to get our own. A fuckin' fag mosque in Toronto, you know I'm all for it. Female imams, God bless 'em. Whatever. You know I don't give a shit. But let's not play that bullshit game where once we get our own scene we can push people to the sidelines, to the fuckin' fringe like they did us. Do you only want a community so you can make someone else feel like the Outsider?" His voice gradually raised. "Fuck that, he said sharply. "Fuck being as small as they are. I say be big. Be bigger. Kill 'em with kindness. How the fuck are they going to hate you when you love them?"

"Why Don't You Have Any Taqwacore Bands?" I Asked.

"Because the fuckers put all their shit out on vinyl."

"What? Why?"

"They just do," he answered shrugging.

"But who even has a record player anymore?"

"I do," said Jehangir. "But just so I can listen to those guys. And it fuckin' sucks because it can't record from vinyl to a cassette, the shit's so old."

"I don't get the vinyl thing," I said. "Is there some kind of ideological point behind that?"

"Maybe. A lot of punks turn out to be sentimental suckers."

"Like Amazing Ayyub last night," Fasiq interjected, "when he said that there hasn't been any real punk since 1980."

"What does that have to do with vinyl?" I asked. "Do they think that they're closer to the Lost Golden Age by rejecting CDs? What does that have to do with anything?"

Micro-Sculptor Willard Wigan TED Talk

British sculptor Willard Wigan discusses his method of working between heartbeats to create his microscopic sculptures which he paints using a single housefly hair. Fascinating:

Full Album Stream: Slint - Spiderland (Touch and Go Records, 1991)

It took me, oh, eight or so years to appreciate this album:

James Murphy DJ Set at Celebrities

 

Whoooooaaaaa. I don't do DJs, but I might have to make an exception.

What's This? A Whole Weekend Off?

Well, I'll be damned. I can't remember the last time I had an entire weekend off.

Angel Haze: 21, Makin' Waves

With her ironically Eminem-sampling version of "Cleaning Out My Closet." Read how in this article by the Atlantic.

Metric Still Kicks Ass

That is to say, all of the Metric I've been listening back to has aged well. Old World Underground, Live It Out, "Help, I'm Alive," "Gimme Sympathy," "Stadium Love" (their biggest song in terms of its arena-filling ambition and scope) and by far and away my favourite Metric song "Rock Me Now."

I never thought Metric would become an arena band. In fact, I didn't know they had become an arena band until a couple of months ago when I saw a flyer for their show at Rogers Arena with Stars opening on Nov. 10. And then, random Twitter freeloading led me to this contest by the Georgia Straight to win tickets to that show, and while I don’t like today's Metric (or today's Stars or arena shows, for that matter), fuck, I'm not going to turn down a chance at free ticket to see either of them anywhere given how much I like them in general. Plus, the show's on one of the extremely rare Saturdays I have off.

So, the contest has me revisiting Metric, and I've been remembering how jagged, rocking, danceable, clean and sultry they can be, even though I can personally attest twice to their reputation of being a sloppy, drunken, likely stoned mess live. Actually, didn't I swear off seeing them ever again after those two shows? Shut up; it's free … It's free … It's free …..

Beats on Repeat, Beating on Me

I've had this one on repeat since Monday:

Steve Aoki For Halloween

By default.

Martha Wainwright - "Proserpina"

Incredible. One of the greatest voices today. I would pay a fuckload of money to see Martha Wainwright. Hope she tours Vancouver in support of her new album Come Home To Mama.

Look Who's Coming Back To Town

On January 28, the Walkmen return to Vancouver, this time to a venue that befits them: the Commodore Ballroom. Not too small, like the Venue, and not too large/outdoors, like Deer Lake Park. And yes, they are headlining, with Father John Misty opening. I've had bad luck buying tickets MONTHS in advance lately, but I can't see myself passing up the Walkmen for much - not unless another Krautrock legend comes through town on the same night.

FULL STREAM: Swans - My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope To the Sky (Young God, 2010)

Because trying to pick only one Swans song for a Halloween playlist is absolutely impossible, here's their nightmarishly oppressive album My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope To the Sky in full:

Faust - "Krautrock" (Last.fm Presents)

Still reeling from Faust two nights ago. Full recap of the weirdest, wildest show I've ever seen to come:

Radiohead - "Separator"

Relaxing on a low-lit rainy morning:

Documentary Trailer: Tomorrow

Synopsis (via VIFF.org)

Before Pussy Riot, there was Voina (War), an anarchist avant-garde Russian art collective given to acts that frequently and flagrantly break the law. They've been a persistent thorn in Putin's side since the group's formation in 2007, and Andrey Gryazev's immersive documentary on these political provocateurs—as raw cinematically as the group it depicts is socially—more than shows why.

Gryazev (whose documentary Miner's Day was nominated for a Russian National Film Award in 2010) gained round-the-clock access to the leaders of the group, known as "Vor" (Thief), a bearded bear of a man, and "Koza" (Goat), his more delicate partner. They live underground, raise their incredibly game one-year old son Kasper (many might say, "on the edge of disaster") and carry out their "art actions"—which range from tipping over police cars to a final, rather monumental piece that is too funny to ruin by speaking about here—under cover of the night and with the help of their fellow agitators. Gryazev is there in the dilapidated apartment Vor and Koza share with other members, and he is there when Vor is caught and imprisoned. It is said, by the federal prosecutor’s office no less, that Voina has 3,000 followers throughout Russia, all of them harbouring the hope for a better tomorrow…

"An oddly stirring, gripping and thought-provoking piece of work about a group of artists… whose art-actions have exposed them to arrest and beatings, and attracted the support of fellow artists from Brian Eno to Banksy."—Screen


Tomorrow makes its North American premier tonight at Empire Granville at 9:15 P.M.

Another Day, Another New Order Song

Best hooks. Best bass.

Beasts Bellow Or Howling Hell Blues: Six Organs of Admittance with Low Hums and Mirror Lake at the Waldorf Hotel

October 2, 2012
The Waldorf Hotel
Vancouver, British Columbia

Six Organs of Admittance with Low Hums and Mirror Lake was exactly the show I needed to wash out the still-acrid taste of Mode Moderne, Terry Malts and the Fresh & Onlys at the Media Club a couple of weeks earlier. Best of all, Six Organs et al. were all surprisingly better than I had expected.

There are two ways to make interesting music: by having a completely original sound incomparable to anything that has previously existed or by blending pre-existing styles in ways never (or at least seldom) heard before. Though I failed to find a single piece of information on the Vancouver-based Mirror Lake prior to the show (although I had no trouble at all when I searched again afterwards), they immediately intrigued me as a case of the latter. Right away, they captivated me with their brooding Turn on the Bright Lights-era Interpol hooks and similar steady builds and tremolos. Mirror Lake's pounding bass, riddling the audience's ears like rounds from a Gatling gun in tandem with drum-work brimming with fills, could have emanated from Carlos D. and Sam Fogarino themselves, if the audience didn't know better. "All right, so Mirror Lake's a really tight post-punk group. Sweet," I thought. But then, lapping up like agitated waves from below the surface of post-punk rhythms and tempos, came lashes of psychedelic keys and dual guitars. Mirror Lake was the first band I ever heard to blend post-punk and psych or at least to have done so so skilfully that I liked it enough to have noticed.

As the next band, Seattle's Low Hums, indicated, the night was only about to become even more psychedelic. On record, Low Hums often hint at Swans-style post-rock; at times, Michael Gira himself even seems to possess lead-singer Jonas Haskins, albeit at Gira's tamest. But although the pastoral psych quartet did not take long to break into a bluegrass-jam with banjo, shaker and lap steel, Low Hums were able to just as quickly turn around and conjure a Judgment Day-ominous riff with as much menacing, slow-brew suspense as any doom-psych band. Their third-last song in particular, with several false disintegrations in the forms of droning Brian Jonestown Massacre-like interludes, could have been dubbed space-rock, as it rocketed me into a different galaxy. Following that cosmic experience was another song that could have fit seamlessly amongst the BJM's oeuvre, this one alongside their catchier, Matt Hollywood-penned hits.

The psychedelic attack peaked with San Francisco's Six Organs of Admittance, the solo project of Comets on Fire guitarist Ben Chasny. Backed by a three-piece band, anyone who had heard Six Organs' latest album Ascent probably knew why Chasny enlisted the extra muscle. I, however, was not one of those people. I had known Six Organs of Admittance for delicate, calculated, introverted neo-folk, so when the first sounds that erupted from the stage with a ferociousness that could have blown the (faux-?)bamboo finish off of the walls, I was more than taken aback. It was difficult to believe that the music with which I was familiar - which I had expected - was borne of the same creature that was attacking every part of his guitar with Palaeolithic savagery right before my eyes. But observe Chasny closely, and one would have seen that his furious attack was merely a veneer - that he was, in fact, dissecting his guitar as precisely as a surgeon manoeuvres its knife.

The only serene moment of Six Organs of Admittance came during their only encore, Chasny's sole unaccompanied performance of the night. I wish I knew the name of the song, because it was the most pleasant way to close the show - aside from my successful acquisition of their set list.

With a surprise as good as Six Organs of Admittance at the Waldorf, it was a good thing I did not remember until at least more than halfway through their set that my friend, with whom I had attended the show, described Ascent some weeks back as very much a hard rock record. She wasn't fucking kidding. The crispness of Chasny's playing was ultimately key in the indelible impression Six Organs left on me, his guitar-work sharp amongst the frenzy of every other instrument. If the Men can learn a lesson from Six Organs of Admittance in this respect, maybe the Brooklyn quartet's recent Waldorf show would have been memorable.

Cat Power - "Crazy" (Gnarls Barkley Cover)

Man, I thought the Raconteurs did a great cover of "Crazy" ... Cat Power's version is ineffably good. So distinctly Cat Power, at many times unrecognizable. Amazing how much soul she infuses into the song.

Interpol - "Pioneer To the Falls (Orchestral Remix)"

"Pioneer To the Falls," one of the only songs I like from Interpol's third album Our Love To Admire (Capitol Records, 2007). Former Interpol bassist Carlos Dengler left the band to pursue a more low-key career in composing. If his orchestral remix of "Pioneer To the Falls," which appears on the U.K.-only Mammoth single, is any indication, Carlos' solo work is definitely worth checking out.

FREE STREAM: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! (Constellation Records, 2012)

Stream Godspeed You! Black Emperor's new album 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!, their first album in a decade, via the Guardian. How topical.

Yes! She's Coming Back!

La Sera returns to Vancouver on Nov. 6, this time at the Waldorf with hometown garage rockers the Courtneys. I missed La Sera when she played the Biltmore in July due to financial constraints, but so far, November looks like a pretty show-barren month. And the Courtneys are great. I may finally get a taste of them live if I decide to go to their show with Nü Sensae at 360 Glen in a couple of weeks. You may recall that the Courtneys were one of the bands I missed at this year's Khatsahlano Music + Arts Festival. Weee, pop-rock!

Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas Tickling Kittens

I'm not into the cat-craze, but this is just too good:

Feist - "Undiscovered First"

 

A year and a day already since Feist released Metals (in Canada). "Undiscovered First" is still one of the the most perfectly tempered build-ups to one of the stormiest, most seismic crescendos I've heard. I still get goosebumps every time I listen to it, imagining clouds forming over turbulent waters before howling winds rip trees out of the splitting, lava-spewing ground.

Tegan & Sara - "Closer"

It seems like this band is always doing something:

Japandroids Guitarist Brian King Discusses Jack White and the "It" Factor

Pitchfork: As far as contemporary artists, I feel like that mythic [rock 'n' roll] aura is present in somebody like Jack White, too. Is that something you personally aspire to?

Brian King: I don't know if you can aspire to be that necessarily. In some respect, Jack White became that because he's Jack White. If you listen to the early White Stripes records, it's the same Jack White. That voice is the same. The songwriting ability is there. The guy just has that special thing. People like us cannot aspire to be that; you have to accept that it's OK not to be a Jack White. It's unfair to put that burden on yourself.

There's a difference between people who are born with that special thing and people who love the people who are born with that special thing so much that they want to try their best to get as close as they can to it. I don't consider myself to be a very creative person. We have to work really, really hard to write a song we think is really good. I mean, we have two records in three years, and the records only have eight songs each. It's a slow process. It might take a whole month to write a song we think is good.

If you lock Jack White in a room with an acoustic guitar, he's gonna come up with something great. If you don't have that gift, you have to grind away-- that's more what our band does. The Replacements seem like a band where no one was born particularly great. They were just along for the ride and kind of accidentally came out with something incredibly powerful.

I Like Dubstep Sometimes

The Vaselines - "Son of a Gun"

The sun shines in the bedroom
When you play
And the raining always starts
When you go away

Besides Nirvana and a little Zeppelin, the only band I listened to during the first half of August. If I could just make music like the Vaselines, I'd be happy for life.

"Thank God For Mental Illness"

Probably my most satisfying mix in terms of adherence to a theme and sequencing:

"Thank God For Mental Illness" from Jackson A. Ragg III on 8tracks Radio.

47 min, 46 sec

1. Royal Headache - "Psychotic Episode"
2. Terry Malt - "I'm Neurotic"
3. Ramones - "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment"
4. Daniel Johnston - "I Had Lost My Mind"
5. Sonic Youth - "Schizophrenia"
6. Eels - "My Descent into Madness"
7. The Dandy Warhols - "Everyone's Totally Insane"
8. Queens of the Stone Age - "Everybody Knows That You're Insane"
9. The Pixies - "Where Is My Mind?"
10. Nirvana - "Lithium"
11. The Sound - "I Can't Escape Myself"
12. Joy Division - "Disorder"
13. Nico - "I'll Keep It with Mine"
14. Eels - "The Medication Is Wearing Off"

Full Stream: Love Cuts Self-Titled 7"

Running into someone I recognize from a Calvin Johnson house-show, finding out Calvin's playing in town again the day after I run into her and then finding out she’s in a band I was already planning to see. Fuck yeah, East Van.

Full 7" tracklist:

1. Hi Smile Wave (2:06)
2. Lone Wolf (1:55)
3. Mimes (1:36)
4. Moon Friend (2:28)
5. I Will Kiss Anyone (1:55)

Dead Energy Or That Moment When You Realize You've Wasted Your Money

September 15, 2012
The Media Club
Vancouver, British Columbia

Two weekends ago marked the first time I walked out of a show out of displeasure. I don't count the time I left after the Constantines when they opened for the Weakerthans at the Palace in Halifax in 2009, for I had planned to see only the Constantines, whereas I actually wanted to see all three bands at the Media Club.

Formed twenty years too late and a continent too far away, borne directly of the melancholy pop of 1980s Britain à la the Smiths, Vancouver's Mode Moderne opened the show. Despite having formed in 2008 or 2009, I had only heard of them a couple of weeks prior to the show, although as a friend of mine tells me, they've been popping back up after a bit of a hiatus. And she's correct: I can think of at least four shows they've played/will play between September and October alone: the Victory Square Block Party on Labour Day and with Wild Nothing, Cult of Youth and, of course, the Fresh & Onlys.

Since last year, I've wished more Vancouver bands would play the exact kind of music Mode Moderne plays. Despite that, I found myself bored by their third song, and I'm not entirely sure why. Technically, they're good; there's absolutely no denying that. They were cohesive, and the acoustics were sharp, but they just lacked something. Singer Phillip Intile had all the right moves and mannerisms and all the right clothes, yet, I couldn't help but find his entire presentation affected - incredibly affected. Seeing Mode Moderne live was truly a confounding experience. All I can really hold against them that night is, as I've already said, that at least live, they just seem to lack a certain intangible that brings their technical soundness to life.

Next was San Francisco pop-punk trio Terry Malts, the band that sold me on this show over the cheaper five- (or did it dwindle to four-?) band bill featured at the Astoria that same night. Their debut album, this year's Killing Time (Slumberland Records), is a blitzkreig of punchy, uncomplicated-despite-containing-a-potential-athiest's-anthem, headbanging tunes. Simply put, and I say this with zero scrutiny, Terry Malts are the best Ramones rip-off band I've heard. At just over thirty-minutes in length, Killing Time lent itself to at least six rotations per day when I got it the week before seeing them.

Now, let me make this clear: Terry Malts definitely did not slouch at the Media Club. But as hard as a band tries, sometimes, it's just not enough to get all the cylinders firing. Maybe it was the lackadaisical, thinly packed audience, the failed attempt after failed attempt by two guys in trying to start a mosh-pit, or even the lighting under which both Mode Moderne and Terry Malts looked naked or exposed, but the atmosphere for what should have been a sweaty, in-your-face, sing-along dance-party just never coalesced. I think Terry Malts could sense so too, coming off with a soldier-on attitude, but again, like Mode Moderne, Terry Malts just seemed to have been off that night - missing something, not as punch as on record. Although, even as a lo-fi-lover, I did really appreciate being able to hear Corey Cunningham's surprisingly bluesy-toned guitar with clarity.

And then there were the Fresh & Onlys, a psychedelic garage outfit also from San Fran. I can't say much about them though, because I left the Media Club a few seconds into their fourth song (their third song was actually a bit catchy, but then they reverted right back to their grotty, more-psychedelic-on-record blues rock).

After a night of all-around flaccid performances, I left the Media Club with more than a bad taste in my mouth. It wasn't a taste I'd experienced much, but it was almost sickening. A deep pressure sank into my chest as I thought about how I not only wasted three hours and $20 when I could have spent $8 and seen probably a far better show with more bands and how I may have to cut a show from my upcoming schedule to make up for the money I wasted at the Media Club. Hopefully, my second experience at the Media Club, which instantly had one of my favourite interior layouts of all the venues in Vancouver, will be more enjoyable with more worthwhile bands.

Trout Lake, That Moment Just As the Sun Starts To Set and This Song

Bauhaus - "Satori"

Britain's Bauhaus may be one of my least favourite super-influential post-punk/goth rock bands, but it turns out they do have at least one song I like - but only because it's funky in that Liquid Liquid sort of way.

Anyone Want a Grimes Ticket?

Sweet motherfucking Jesus. Just announced yesterday, but I'm only finding out now. I can't remember the last time my hands clammed up, and I had difficulty swallowing and breathing after finding out about a show. I guess I'm selling my Grimes ticket which I've had for months. This will be the third time in a row I've missed Grimes, setting my total times of seeing her to ... zero. I'll see her ... one day ... Too bad I have to miss her this time too: I bought my ticket for $25.50, before the price was jacked up to $32.50. Difficult to argue with seeing Faust though, for THIRTEEN measly dollars, no less.

Van Rules Pitchfork

White Lung is the latest band to be profiled in Pitchfork's weekly(?) "Rising" feature. Also, today, the Fork reviewed Nü Sensae's new album Sundowning (Suicide Squeeze), giving it the same score as White Lung's new LP Sorry (Deranged Records). The two best Van bands considered on equal footing by the greater masses? Pretty fucking sweet! Click here to read PF's article/interview with White Lung.

"It's a Fast-Driving Rave-Up with Jackson A. Ragg III Thirty-Eight Minutes"

"It's a Fast-Driving Rave-Up with Jackson A. Ragg III Thirty-Eight Minutes" from Jackson A. Ragg III on 8tracks Radio.

38 min, 11 sec

1. Brian Eno - "Third Uncle"
2. Fugazi - "Full Discloure"
3. Joy Division - "Failures"
4. LCD Soundsystem - "No Love Lost"
5. The Raconteurs - "Salute Your Solution"
6. Sebadoh - "License To Confuse"
7. Soledad Brothers - "Goin' Back To Memphis"
8.  The Stooges - "Search and Destroy"
9. Thee Oh Sees - "Contraption/Soul Desert"
10. Tricky Woo - "Let the Good Times Roll"
11. The Von Bondies - "It Came from Japan"

Opiatezzzzz … Morphiiinnnnne …

WOB-WOB-WOB, WOB-WOB-WOB, wob, WOB ..... This song is so warm, you can almost feel it with your fingers.

Documentary Trailer: This Ain't California

I can't wait to see this documentary at the upcoming Vancouver International Film Festival. There are few movies I'd see at the cinema, and not only is it one of them, but it's the first film I've ever booked off work to see. This Ain't California plays at Empire 7 on Granville on Oct. 6 at 10:30 A.M.

FREE ALBUM STREAM: Flying Lotus - Until the Quiet Comes (Warp Records, 2012)

Head over to NPR's website to listen to L.A. music producer Flying Lotus' upcoming fourth album Until the Quit Comes in full. The album drops October 1.

This Year's 12 Best Vancouver Bands According To the Georgia Straight

I finally got around to reading this article yesterday. I don't, but evidently should, read the Georgia Straight. Loads of places in Vancouver and other bands not included in the list name-dropped in the interviews. Time to do some research.

The Captured Tracks of Naomi Punk

Did one of my favourite current bands from Olympia, WA just sign with one of my favourite labels? Hell yes! Captured Tracks announced its newest signee today, the Vancouver-frequenting Naomi Punk!:

Summer-Brain

It's still summer in my mind:



I felt the grass on my chest in the open field
And I knew there was nothing left for me to feel
Airplanes above cross the sky under a haze
In the morning time, we didn't think about our days

The wind was blowing through our hair as we lied down
And we could feel under our backs that the earth was round
Lazy today, lazy tonight and later on
All we had to do was nothing at all, under the sun

Doug Aitken's The Source Trailer

Jack White, LCD Soundsystem, Beck, Lucky Dragons (so underrated, it hurts me) and more musicians, visual artists, actors, photographers and architects discuss the human impulse to create. Cannot wait for Doug Aitken's new documentary The Source:

Still My Most Recognized/Commented On T-shirt

Eight-years-old and not throwing it out any time soon:

Best Coast Touring with Green Day?

Despite the larger exposure, YUCK! Please don't go the way of Green Day, Best Coast. Here's a song from when GD was still worth a damn:

American Analog Set - "Choir Vandals"

From their 2001 album Know by Heart (Tiger Style Records), a perfect album to play quietly on a slow, quiet morning, and by "morning," I mean just a bit past midnight, if you're an early riser like me these days.

Missy Elliott Feat. Timbaland - "9th Inning"/"Triple Threat"

Damn. Is all Missy Elliott this good?

Sleeping with Jasmina Maschina Or I Think I'm Over Something, and Then It Turns Out I'm Totally Not

This happens too frequently. I thought I was over woozey, lo-fi-ish, bedroom neo-folk with intentionally hollow, distant vocals and sparkles of piano and other miscellaneous, blinking star-percussion, and then I hear Berlin-based multimedia composer Jasmina Maschina. I suppose I do still have albums by Tara Jane O'Neil, Jana Hunter and Mazzy Star.

Jasmina's second full-length album Alphabet Dream Noise (Staubgold, 2011) is stunningly well-crafted and one of the most balanced albums I've ever heard for its style. Never does the album suffer from the repetitive platitude of so many similar records; whereas they meander aimlessly, seemingly unsure of their courses, every detail on Alphabet Dream Noise is delicately and deliberately applied with acute precision and in ways that never shake listeners from the lull the album induces. Even the static and crackling sounds of looping electronics on "Invisible Rays," for example, flicker like an indolent flame as a candle burns to its end.

Jasmina's electronic proclivities appear elsewhere on Alphabet Dream Noise, strewn throughout the album in however limited doses, often appearing only as hypnotic background whirrs or a song's pulse; hear "Community," a drifter that makes listeners feel like they are submerged under waters so deep, the surface eclipsed by the black and blue abyss, that all notions of direction dissolve along with consciousness completely. Jasmina's capacity to conjure such a sublimating effect seems entirely natural when one keeps in mind (or discovers) that she also forms half of experimental electronic duo Minit.

Despite Alphabet Dream Noise's electronic overtone, the album is not a cold, alienating experience. Jasmina paints her ambient canvases with dabs and dribbles of intricate finger-picked acoustic notes and electric guitars that never get lost in her subtlety, her notes woven into gloaming melodies as her fingers slide audibly up and down the fretboard, imprinting her human touch.

It's strange how I always seem to stumble upon albums like Alphabet Dream Noise at the most appropriate hours for listening to them: midnight and beyond, when albums like this come alive like hypnotic nocturnal creatures. And then I end up looping them until it's time for both me and the albums to go to sleep.

For individual links to most of the tracks on Alphabet Dream Noise, visit Jasmina Maschina's Bandcamp page.

New Order - "Your Silent Face"

This song made me happy today:

The Men at Work

All photo credits: steve louie

Sept. 5, 2012
The Waldorf Hotel
Vancouver, British Columbia

I admit I don't know much about Vancouver quartet Sex Church. I don't know their history. I don't know the names of their releases. I don't even know what to call the music they play. After the first time I saw them (the only time I saw them), I always referred to them as shoegaze. And although I didn't hate them, they didn't impress me either. I never thought that a little over a year later, Sex Church would steal the show even as the first of three bands on the bill, especially a bill shared by the likes of White Lung and the Men. Maybe "stealing the show" is a bit of an overstatement, but Sex Church were unquestionably the surprise of the night, delivering scorching 80s/90s alt-rock à la Dinosaur Jr. and blustering indie rock à la Dinosaur Jr. offshoot Sebadoh, all with a spaced out twist.

I hesitate ever so slightly to say Sex Church stole the show because White Lung was also fucking fantastic - worlds better than the last time I saw them; a superior sound system goes a long way, particularly in amplifying Mish Way's voice into a building-razing roar from the deepest recess of Hell. I decided that night, unable to take my eyes off of Kenneth William as I soaked in the fury with which he unleashed his coarse, chunky guitar lines, that he is one of my favourite guitarists to watch. The fact that he is White Lung's sole guitarist and carries the band's blazing fast rhythms while shooting out white-hot solos, with impeccable precision, no less, is simply amazing. Also pretty cool was seeing Nü Sensae drum-machine Daniel Pitout rocking out in the front row, cheering on his Van-punk besties.

"That's really original. I like it," Mish Way complimented with dry sarcasm before tossing the sign into the crowd.

 
Unfortunately, any interest I had in the show left in tandem with White Lung. As an indie "it" band that is really just starting to break out now despite having just released their third full-length, this past spring's Open Your Heart on Brooklyn imprint Sacred Bones Records, I'd expected quite a bit more from New York's genre-blurring Men. I had looked forward to frantic, noisy, (possibly post-)punky mayhem delivered with manic desperation amidst searing, driving drone that billowed and loomed like smog in a house-fire, but what I received instead more closely resembled psych-tinged hard rock, more streamlined and high in positive rather than depressive, stifling energy. As well, loud as the Men were, two of the band's vocal mics were almost inaudible, even after one of the Waldorf's sound-people in the audience instructed the house-crew to turn up the mics. With only two songs I really enjoyed, the names of which I don't even know, I was unfortunately relieved when the Men finished their set.

One may assume I would never see the Men again. While I thought as much up until this very sentence's writing, I've since reconsidered: Perhaps the unpredictable(-to-me) nature of the Men's show is simply characteristic of the band's uncategorizeable temperament (they've also delved into sunny 60s/70s open road pop on their latest album). If such is the case, perhaps the Men still have enough allure to keep me returning to their shows, despite this unfavourable first live impression.

Click here to view a very few more photos of White Lung and the Men at the Waldorf.