Saturday, June 30, 2012

"O Canada!"


1 hr, 6 min, 38 sec

1. Tricky Woo - "Fly the Orient"
2. The Deadly Snakes - "Oh My Bride"
3. The Fembots - "Gilded Age"
4. By Divine Right - "Soul Explosion"
5. The Awkward Stage - "The Morons Are Winning"
6. Zoe Boekbinder - "Paralyzing"
7. Pat LePoidevin - "Car Crash"
8. Black Ox Orkestar - "Ratsekr Grec"
9. Chilly Gonzales - "You Can Dance"
10. Mocky - "Mickey Mouse Muthafuckas!!!"
11. Reverie Sound Revue - "Walking Around Waiting Downtown"
12. Grimes - "Genesis"
13. Miracle Fortress - "Blasphemy"
14. Tongan Death Grip - "Scientology"
15. White Lung - "Atlanta"
16. Grown-Ups - "Meat"
17. Cold Warps - "Science Fiction"
18. Hangedup - "Go Let's Go"
19. Le Fly Pan Am - "Pas a Pas Step Until"

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Hello, New Favourite Halifax Band

It's shoegazey, it's lo-fi, it's sludgy, it's psychedelic and even a little poppy. It's Monomyth, and they make me miss the 902. Listen to their self-titled release in full on their Bandcamp page.

The Mountain Goats with Dustin Wong, Pt. 1

June 22, 2012
The Rio Theatre
Vancouver, British Columbia


Sure, I've written about Best Coast, Jack White/the White Stripes and Jesus and Mary Chain a lot, but I actually rarely write about my favourite artists. That's because I usually have the greatest difficulty articulating exactly how the artists that move me the most move me the way they do.

Hawaii-born, Japan-bred, Baltimore-based guitarist Dustin Wong is one of those artists. I've seen live videos of Dustin before, so I knew he was going to be great - interesting, even - but I didn't think he was going to steal the show; after all, looped music, especially by a solo musician, can get pretty repetitive, especially since most loop-based songs start with the same slow layering process. But Dustin utilized so many different sounds and playing styles throughout his fifty-minute set - the most delicate finger-picking; open chord strumming; muted picking to create plinking, percussive notes; low, thuddy, percussive notes; slides; straight-up shredding and sudden intentional stutters and stops, all filtered through a fire-hazard platter of effect pedals - that there wasn't a single dull moment while he was onstage.

As I watched Dustin, leaning forward in my seat with my eyes transfixed on him the entire time, mouth often ajar in utter entranced awe, I wondered what it must be like to be someone like him: how does someone like Dustin see and hear the world? Is his head filled with intricate, ethereal soundscapes all day, providing his life with an endless soundtrack that would make having a bad day impossible? Just watching his body movements - sometimes rocking, often swaying, almost always with his eyes closed - I could tell music just pours out of the guy, and we aren't hearing a quarter of it because he only has so many hands, so many fingers, so many pedals and so many strings.

And flow the music did: even with intentional stutters and stops, all of his songs immediately segued into one another. Not only did the lack of breaks afford few appropriate opportunities to applaud (we the audience actually didn't applaud once while he played), but his performance was one of those that is so captivating, the audience doesn't want to so much as let out a clap or whisper a sound until the whole performance is over, for fear of interrupting (tainting, even) the spectacle. But when it ended, man, we erupted. We gave Dustin all of our energy we had in return for his, but he deserved far more than we could give him.

One would never imagine that Dustin Wong's elaborate compositions - his symphonies - exist in someone as unassuming and beyond shy as him (he said nothing all night except in nervously introducing himself and thanking the Mountain Goats before his set and quickly and humbly tweeting "Thank you" afterwards). They ought to come from older, more experienced individuals who've spent years and years plying their crafts, not a kid in Cons and a tight, cream-coloured sweater with a cartoon owl on it.

But fuck looks. Dustin Wong is one of the most inventive young minds in music today. And that he's so young (or at least he looks so young) means fans can expect many more years of amazing music from him to come. If Dustin continues to evolve the way he has, such as with his increasingly prominent drum samples, vocal "waaaaaa-AAAAAAaaaaahhhhhh"s and yelps of varying pitches and other primal vocal gymnastics (all which he masterfully incorporated into his current style), he's bound to crowd everyone's radar sooner or later.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

I Have Never Been So Excited For a Book-Release

"Whether you're a fan of Beat Happening, Bikini Kill, or Nirvana, this book will help you understand a scene that changed music history."

 - Charles R. Cross, author of Heavier Than Heaven 

Not even when it was announced last month that a book chronicling Yo La Tengo and the rise of indie rock was going to be released, and I was pretty damned excited about that.

Love Rock Revolution: K Records and the Rise of Independent Music, out July 10, details the history of the seminal Olympia, WA-based label co-founded by Beat Happening's Calvin Johnson in 1982. Featuring interviews with figures associated with the label over its thirty-year-existence, there's a good chance artists including Beck, Mirah and members of Modest Mouse, Built To Spill and Bikini Kill will make appearances. Here's hoping.  

Love Rock Revolution will also be accompanied by a soundtrack that will be available from the author's website here between July 10 and July 17.

White Denim: Coming Soon

Some bands I just can't miss, even if I don't listen to them often:

Monday, June 25, 2012

Take Me To the Sticks

I think I need to move to the sticks where I wouldn't be constantly bombarded by shows. New album, new tour. Garage/blues rock vets the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Nov. 14 at the Biltmore:

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Presenting the Most Captivating Live Performer I've Seen in a Long, LONG Time

More on Dustin Wong when I recap his opening set for the Mountain Goats at the Rio Theatre on June 22:

Saturday, June 23, 2012

John Darnielle: Pro Wrestling Fan?

I never thought I'd hear the names "Roddy Piper" or "Iron Sheik" at a Mountain Goats show, but then, I never thought my favourite lyricist of all time, the Russian lit- and Marxist-reading John Darnielle would have been a fan of professional wrestling - one who knew what the hell he was talking about, no less. Here's the song John was introducing, an ode to Ox Baker:

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Give Me Some More Fucking POP MUSIC

It's Kylie/Madonna/Britney week at my house.

Timebomb by Kylie Minogue on Grooveshark

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Mousse T. vs. The Dandy Warhols - "Horny As a Dandy"

I don't know who Mousse T. is, and I think this song is kind of old, so I'm surprised I haven't heard it until now, especially given my love of mash-ups. The vocals and music mix perfectly:

Heroin Is So Passé, But Dandies Rule Forever OK?

 June 15, 2012
Commodore Ballroom
Vancouver, British Columbia

Last Friday, the Dandy Warhols, one of my favourite bands since eighth grade, returned to the Commodore Ballroom in support of their newest album This Machine. Even though I wasn't able to see them with my best friend who loves them as much as I do this time, unlike when they played the Commodore two Decembers ago, it was still one of the best times of my life, let alone one of the most fun shows I've seen.

San Fran psych-rockers Sleepy Sun opened the night. Despite their generic psychedelia, they had a few impressive moments which was more than I'd expected based on their latest album Spine Hits (ATP Recordings, 2012). Lead-singer Bret Constantino's electronic harmonica-type thing, which was shaped like a fist-sized box, sounded pretty cool, too.

As the mediocre portion of the night drew to a close, it was time for what everyone in the building was chomping at the bit to see. The Dandy Warhols emerged with keyboardist Zia McCabe and guitarist Pete Holmström in particular looking as fashionable as ever. Pete also looked as disengaged from the rest of the band as ever, even physically as he stood the furthest away from everyone else; I often wonder how much he enjoys being in the Dandies, especially considering his outspokenness against the band's creative process.

With the crowd still roaring, the Dandies began not with a bang with one of their big pop hits but by drawing out the audience's anticipation with the hazy, rush-building "Be In." It didn't take long for the Dandies to bust out their myriad pop-hits, though, and when they did, they pulled out pretty much all the stops: the breathtaking one-two combo of "Horse Pills" and "Bohemian Like You" (literally breathtaking: try singing these songs back-to-back at the top of your lungs with my recent respiratory problems amidst a blanket of pot smoke), "Get Off," "Last Junkie," "We Used To Be Friends," "Boys Better," "Minnesoter," the most surprisingly good song of the night for me (I love the song, but it was even better live than I'd expected) ... Then, there were the other best songs of the night: the sultry "I Love You," "You Come in Burned" which sounds so much more exotic live with Courtney playing the clacky percussion that while not terribly audible on record rang throughout the venue, and the washboard, ranch-clopper "Country Leaver."

Of course, the Dandies couldn't cram all of their most popular songs into their set. In fact, I don't think they played any songs from either Odditorium or Earth To the Dandy Warhols ... which was too bad mainly because I'd really looked forward to hearing the slow version of "New Country" again; their twangy, countrified version of "New Country" was amazing and one of the top highlights of the last time I saw them. Lead-Dandy Courtney Taylor-Taylor played a slow, solo version of "Every Day Should Be a Holiday" on electric guitar, though. That was a pretty acceptable trade-up.

Also different this time around was an awesome keyboard freestyle by Zia that was full of fat, warpy, spaceship tones and which Brent DeBoer and Courtney joined (Brent of course on drums and Courtney with a lot of palm-mutes and random noises with his mouth).

Unfortunately, a few more songs after that groovy freestyle (maybe even just a couple), the Dandies wrapped up their show. They didn't play an encore, but unlike probably a lot of people, I actually didn't mind: not only did the Dandy Warhols play long enough that I didn't feel cheated without more music, but the entire encore process is pretty hokey and feels so canned/phoned in. Also, Zia was "drunk enough" to sing a cute little unaccompanied ditty at the end of the night, so that was enough of a bonus for me.

Click here for photos from the show.

Monday, June 18, 2012

New Cat Power Song: "Ruin"

Wow, Cat Power's new song "Ruin" is pretty flippin' good. Her newest album Sun comes out Sept. 4 on Matador:

Furiocity

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Oct. 6, Oct. 6, Oct. 6, Oct. 6, ...

If "I Was Denied" by Thee Oh Sees  doesn't make you want to abandon all brain, shake until you break and rock like the world is ending tomorrow, ... I don't know how to end this thought without saying something ignorant or disparaging. These people know what I'm talking about: that crashing chorus of relentless guitars and "la-la la la la"s, steady primitive drumbeat and a riff so catchy, not even the Loch Ness Monster could escape its clutch.

I Was Denied by Thee Oh Sees on Grooveshark

Car-Free Day Vancouver

Free shows by the Evaporators, the Jay Arner Band, the High Drops and a hell of a lot more. Also, a shit-ton of non-musical things. Full event details and performance schedules on CFDV's site.

One More For Good Measure

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Whiplash Industrial Goth-Dancing

Every time I listen to "Taste the Floor" by Jesus and Mary Chain, I think it's the coolest song in the world. There's just nothing like the opening guitars that lash your ears to shreds like a whip, leaving them stinging as screeching noise pierces through the steady chug of distortion like an electrified javelin.

Combined with the dreary lyrics, "Taste the Floor" has always made me want to do some kind of sludgy, sedated Twist when I listen to it:

Taste the Floor by The Jesus and Mary Chain on Grooveshark

Thee Oh Sees: Pure-Bred Rock-and-Roll

San Fran's Thee Oh Sees are possibly the best ROCK-AND-ROLL band today, and they'll be hitting the Rickshaw Theatre here in early October. Sure, it won't be as intimate as their New York show depicted in Pitchfork's +1, but it's going to be REALLY fucking good. Need proof? Just watch my two favourite videos from Thee Oh Sees' KEXP session from a couple of years ago, and come rock with me in October:



Monday, June 11, 2012

Animal Collective in September? Fuck Yeah!

I said I was going to cut back on concerts, and then fucking Animal Collective announces a show at the Malkin Bowl on Sept. 19. ****:

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Radiohead + Jack White?

Thom Yorke at Bonnaroo last night: "This song is for Jack White. We saw him yesterday. A big thank-you to him, but we can't tell you why. You'll find out."

Holy. Shit. Jack White? Radiohead? Good thing(s) coming. For many like me, collaborations don't come bigger than this.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Azealia Banks - "1991"

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, mahhhhh GOODNESS. "1991," the opening track from Harlem rapper Azealia Bank's 1991 EP, her first official release:

1991 by Azealia Banks on Grooveshark

One of the Most Badassed Songs



Few songs make me feel as badassed as Joy Division's "Shadowplay" from their 1979 debut album Unknown Pleasures (Factory Records). The song is cold, distant and mechanical, yet there is an undeniable palpability that only comes through a certain contradictory warmth primarily embedded in the unsettling bass line that prowls beneath a shower of cymbals like a stalker in the rain. There's nothing quite like the way the predatory guitar riff just pounces on the victim/listener at 1:59 - truly the song's highpoint for me.

LCD Soundsystem - "Dance Yrself Clean" (From Shut Up and Play the Hits)

Clip from the upcoming LCD Soundsystem doc Shut Up and Play the Hits. Unfortunately not screening anywhere in Van:

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Music Waste 2012 Kick-Off

10 bands, 10 bucks. Music Waste, Vancouver's dirt-cheapest music festival celebrating the best in local/local-ish underground music, kicks off tonight at the Waldorf. No show over $5 (except tonight's) or $15 for a three-day pass. Click here for tonight's line-up and here for the complete schedule.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

I Think This About A LOT of Songs, But

I like to think that if "When Morning Comes To Town" by the Field Mice doesn't move you even a *little* bit, you have no heart:

When Morning Comes To Town by The Field Mice on Grooveshark

Sunday, June 3, 2012

The National Live at the Orpheum Theatre

November 28, 2011
The Orpheum Theatre
Vancouver, British Columbia


The National have been one of my absolute favourite bands for at least the past four years - my second favourite band lyrically, behind the Mountain Goats. After having swooned over live National video after live National video, needless to say, I had pretty damned high expectations of them. Although my expectations weren't impossibly high, the National, as good as they were that late-November night at their first of two sold-out shows in a row at the immaculate Orpheum Theatre, still unfortunately fell short of them.

I always thought the National were one of the tightest bands today. However, there were a few moments when the band seemed completely out of sync: a missed drum-kick on "Secret Meeting," a mistimed lyric here or a completely missed lyric there.

Far more glaring - distracting and even unbearable - was some of Matt Berninger's vocal performance. Matt possesses one of my favourite voices ever: a velvet-smooth baritone so soothing and soft yet aggressive when it needs to be. However, he should NOT yell. EVER. I love well-executed yelling, but Matt's yelling was strictly piercing and very nearly ruined many of my favourite National songs including "Abel," "Mr. November" and "Secret Meeting." Matt's "intense" vocal performance also seemed to have gassed him quite a bit, as he kept running out of breath and thereby missing lyrics.

I admit I actually nodded off during some of the National's more sombre songs. I mainly attribute that to having been seated in the middle of the upper balcony. Not being immediately immersed in the band's and floor-level crowd's energy definitely doesn't help bring up my energy. When I'm so far removed from the action, I don't feel very motivated to do anything but pretty much stand still and keep my mouth shut: no dancing, no singing, not even mouthing along with lyrics. I'm sure I would have felt more alive if I was on the floor near the stage when Matt went into the crowd, but I could hardly even enjoy the moment vicariously, as I could only see Matt suddenly disappear and the distant crowd erupt. I'm sure the audience around me felt the same way which was why they were so still and silent as well.

Even some of the good aspects of the show were not perfect. Almost every song (if not every song) got the brass treatment. Being a huge brass fan, I was overjoyed, except the horns periodically drowned out the rest of the band.

Despite all of my complaints, the National did put on quite a good show. They played a generous four-song encore which included "Mr. November," "Terrible Love," "Lucky You" and an entirely acoustic version of "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" which closed the show. In fact, the only songs I wanted to hear that the National didn't play were "Karen," "Lit Up," "Start A War," "Wasp Nest" and "Apartment Story."

Furthermore, my less-than-favourable seat in the upper balcony wasn't all bad. It did provide a great cinematic, panoramic view of the show which allowed me to simultaneously watch the slowly swirling patterned lights cascade across the large chandelier that hung from the painted domed ceiling and look down, down, down upon the band as it and the rows of audience members' heads in front of me were silhouetted by those same blue and white lights.

Finally, I have to hand it to the National for their visuals. A gigantic screen onstage provided a live feed of the band members backstage minutes before the show, up to and including the moment they came out. The screen also displayed shots of the audience from various angles throughout the night including the band's perspective. It sure beat every other "artistic" visual I've seen on screens or projected otherwise at shows (ahem, Feist).

So, a good show overall, despite technical problems and my physical and emotional distances from, well, the show. I'm going to give the National the benefit of a doubt and say perhaps they were just warming up/saving their A-game for their next night's performance. After all, the second show of back-to-back performances is usually the one to catch.

Click here for more photos of the National's first night at the Orpheum Theatre.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Do You Remember the Moment You Got into Sonic Youth?

I was in tenth grade and saw them play "Unmade Bed" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The only exposure I'd had to Sonic Youth prior this performance was their video for "Teen Age Riot" on MuchMusic's late-night alternative show The Wedge. I dug "Teen Age Riot," but it was Sonic Youth's ability to so seamlessly infuse a song as dreamy and melodic as "Unmade Bed" with such destructive blasts of sustained noise and then bring everything back down to that same dreamy state in which they started that drew me into the band:

"Is It So Wrong, Wanting To Be Home with Your Record Collection?

It's not like collecting records is like collecting stamps, or beermats, or antique thimbles. There's a whole world in here, a nicer, dirtier, more violent, more peaceful, more colorful, sleazier, more dangerous, more loving world than the world I live in; there is history, and geography, and poetry, and countless other things I should have studied at school, including music."

 - Nick Hornby, High Fidelity (Victoria Gollancz Ltd., 1995)

The Only Place For Me

May 23, 2012
The Biltmore Cabaret
Vancouver, British Columbia


After having missed Vancouver punk trio Nü Sensae three times, I finally got to see them when they opened for Best Coast at the Biltmore Cabaret. Although Nü Sensae's set only lasted twenty minutes, drummer Daniel Pitout looked like he was convulsing after the first song. The intensity with which he and the rest of the band played is why I for once, reluctantly, kept my earplugs in for more than a few seconds; in fact, I kept them in for the entire set. It was definitely a smart move, because when I took them out for a second to hear how loud Nü Sensae were, I felt like I'd been cast into the first level of Hell (the deeper levels being reserved for heavy- and doom-metal - truly Satanic shit).

Unfortunately, yet unsurprisingly, to say the plugs took away from Nü Sensae would be an understatement. I tried only wearing the plugs halfway in, and even then, I could hardly hear Andrea Lukic's blood-curdling, Kim Gordon-like screams. I realize it seems stupid to complain about earplugs taking away from shows, but I really wonder what the point of going to shows is if one can hardly hear anything. Maybe I just need to find less-isolating earplugs - or stop caring even in the slightest about my body's well-being.

After the snarling punk of Nü Sensae, another trio, Portland, OR's Unknown Mortal Orchestra, took the stage and delivered hands down the worst performance I'd ever seen. They weren't bad at their instruments, but they weren't interesting in the slightest either; I could not have fathomed more generic indie music. Until UMO, Oh Land and Dan Sartain were the worst bands I'd ever seen, but to Oh Land's and Dan's credits, they were just boring; UMO were so annoyingly bad, I couldn't even bring myself to pretend I was into them. I frequently scanned the floor behind and beside me, I was so bored, and was shocked to find people actually enjoying UMO. That, or there were far better actors than me at the Biltmore that night. I thought my eyes were going to become stuck behind my head, I rolled my eyes so much during UMO.

As excruciating as UMO were, Best Coast were completely worth the seemingly endless torture. Although now a fleshier four-piece featuring new guitarist/bassist Rafe Mandel and Brett Mielke replacing Ali Koehler on drums, I couldn't tell much of a difference from the last two times I saw Best Coast. Despite a few slightly missed cues between frontperson Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno (also on guitar and bass) and minor malfunctions with Bobb's amp during the encore, Best Coast still put on an all-around solid performance.

In typical Biltmore charm, I stood so close to Bethany, at near-eye-level, that I could have hugged her just by sticking out my arms. But that would have been getting a little too personal, so I settled for snatching her second bottle of water; I'm now two-for-three in snatching Bethany's water at Best Coast shows (someone snatched her first bottle before the encore, prompting her to ask, "Who took my water?" when the band returned to the stage. So, I decided to wait until the band was done for sure to make my move).

Bethany's bottle of water in one hand and Best Coast's set list in the other, and that was another show marked off of my calender - another ripped ticket stub in my desk drawer. And speaking of set lists, that Nü Sensae had theirs scrawled on a piece of bent cardboard was funny in its DIYness. I would have snatched it, but I didn't know where I'd keep it. It would have kind of detracted from my bedroom set list wall, even if I taped the cardboard flat. Also, I didn't want to keep that piece of cardboard on me the entire show.

Click here for more photos of Best Coast, and click below to watch a video that must have been taken by the person who stood right beside me, because the video shows pretty much the exact view I had:

Why Do I Always Like Marnie Stern Interviews So Much?

“The way the music business is now…well, there are just so many bands,” she exasperates. “No one is critical. It’s all about having as much music as possible. Nobody listens to anything for more than 30 seconds.” For someone that can spend up to “five fucking hours” perfecting one simple guitar riff, this change in the musical landscape is frustrating. Bands Marnie once looked up to and adored like Hella (whose drummer now plays with her), Ponytail and Battles aren’t on the forefront of the scene. A new crew has taken over. “I don’t hear any [new music] that gets me excited,” she complains. “That is the worst part. I like that healthy sense of competition. It’s what I thrive from and it’s gone.” 

I don't particularly like her music, apart from a few songs. I wouldn't see her live. Maybe I just like her opinions, although I sometimes disagree with her. Maybe I just appreciate her outspokenness. But then, why do I hate the likes of Morrissey and Axl Rose for their outspokenness? And I sure as hell disagree with pretty much everything I can think of either of them ever having said.

Click here to read the rest of Marnie Stern's interview with hearty magazine.