July 21, 2012 West 4th Avenue, between MacDonald Street and Burrard Street Vancouver, British Columbia
The
2012 Khatsahlano Music + Arts Festival, Vancouver's largest free outdoor
music event of the year, took place the Saturday before last. With over forty
mostly local performers featured between ten blocks on West 4th Avenue, I did my best
to catch all of my favourite bands, and that I did with surprisingly
few conflicts.
The festival ran from 12 P.M. to 8 P.M., but the day began for me
with Juvenile Hall, a three-piece pop-punk band that takes cues from
the Ramones (obvious by the bassist's T-shirt) and Shonen Knife (based
on JH's sound alone). Catchy songs about candy, love and getting high
delivered with more chops than the typical pop-punk band made Juvenile
Hall one of the top highlights of my day. And they gave away free
buttons! Chyeah!
Next up on the same stage (the Yew Stage) were Weed, my most
anticipated band of the day. That this was my first time seeing them
after having missed them three times, I was pretty damned stoked.
However, Weed were also the most disappointing band of the day for me.
Not only did they play the shortest set out of everyone I saw at the
festival, and they
didn't play "Eighty," one of the top two songs I wanted them to play,
but the live versions of their other songs all kind of sounded the same.
Weed did live up to the ubiquitous description of them as grungy
sludge-pop, though: they layered everything on thick, particularly Hugo
Noriega's slabs of fat bass. That said, Weed were one of the last bands
I expected to see a couple of toddlers dancing to in the front row. Weed couldn't have possibly been good for the kids' ears: Weed were possibly
the loudest band I heard at Khats, unless my ears had adjusted to
face-melting levels of volume by the time I saw Nü Sensae.
The final band I saw at the Yew Stage, immediately following
Weed, were Peace. I'd looked forward to Peace's unconventional,
danceable, Q and Not U-style rhythms and melodies, but Peace were more
post-punky live than on record. And singer "Lt." Frank Dickens' vocals
sounded much plainer live. Peace were still pretty good, though, as I do
love my post-punk; they just weren't entirely what I'd wanted.
Finally moving from the Yew Stage, I saw possibly my favourite Van-band, punk trio Nü Sensae. They were
exceedingly better than the first time I saw them, when they
opened for Best Coast at the Biltmore at the end of May. Maybe it was a
difference in sound systems, but at the Biltmore, while Nü Sensae were
good, pretty much every note in every song sounded indistinguishable. This time, however, each song actually stood
out, the band was clear, and they didn't seem to just blitz through
their set. I didn't keep track of the time, but I was surprised by how
long it felt like they played - much longer than their Biltmore
set felt. Maybe their new songs are just more dynamic - fleshed out - and kick more ass,
and that's why they stood out. And despite bassist/singer Andrea Lukic's initial mic problems (her mic was initially so low, she was completely
inaudible), her screaming seemed even more
eviscerating than ever. Nü Sensae were definitely my favourite
performance of the day.
The final band I saw at the Khatsahlano Music + Arts Festival was
indie pop-rock band Pleasure Cruise. Like Peace, I'd looked forward to
them quite a bit, but also like Peace, vocals were not Pleasure Cruise's
strong suit live. Otherwise, Pleasure Cruise were pretty on the ball: fun, rocking, and they seemed like nice people, constantly joking with
the crowd and even giving a shout-out to Nardwuar who was in the crowd.
And they played a Misfits song. How rad!
So, I missed all but two of the High Drops' songs; Capitol 6
seemed to have either been taken off of the festival's line-up, were
poorly advertised or, despite having played the Khats Fest launch party
at Zulu Records back in May, were never scheduled to play, and the
Dirtbombs-evoking Ballantynes who are just GOD-AWESOME were moved to a
timeslot that conflicted with some of the other bands I wanted to see,
but my first Khatsahlano Music + Arts Festival could not have been
through and through funner. Forty bands over eight hours, I was bound to
have missed some things. And it was all free, so how can I really complain?
The B-side of Jack White's Freedom at 21 7" single, and it's flippin' awesome. I'm
63 years old, you know. Look at you: you're just a baby; you're 22. [...] You
wake up at 3 in the afternoon; you ain't got no mom, no dad, yeah, and
nothin' else to do. Me, I'm wakin' up at 3 A.M., and I'm worryin'
about somethin' that I know I can't undo.
Realizing that the only bar/club in the city that plays the music I want
to hear is one of the city's most cliquey, scenester bars/clubs = fuck. But it's
where I heard the late-70s Edinburgh psych-garage band the Delmontes for
the first time, so I often find myself wanting to go back. Plus, they used to host a C86 night every Friday which was exactly what I'd always wanted in a bar/club:
It's time I give British 70s post-punk band Wire another chance. How did I ever find them too drab? Stupid high school self. Listen to the influential debut
album by one of the most influential post-punk bands in history. Sonic
Youth, Minor Threat, Black Flag, R.E.M. and Guided by Voices have all taken cues from Wire, particularly GBV frontperson Robert Pollard who calls
Wire his favourite band:
When I first heard "Gimme Shelter" in Layer Cake,
listening to "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" while driving around
country roads in one of my best friends' Dynasty and when Jack White played "Loving Cup" with the Rolling Stones in the Martin Scorsese-directed documentary Shine A Light. Now, there's a fourth: Black Bananas' cover of "Before They Run Me Down" featuring Kurt Vile:
Find the track on Black Bananas' debut LP Rad Times Xpress IV (Drag City, 2011).
FINALLY, long-time mutual admirers Jack White and Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme have come together in an official capacity! One of my top dream collaborations has come true! ... unfortunately only in the form of a
brief-as-brief-can-be cameo by Josh in Jack's newest music video
for "Freedom at 21"; Josh appears even more briefly than Beck did in the White Stripes' video for "The Hardest Button To Button." Now, if only Jack and Josh would make some
music together ...
Okay, so the video was available in Canada when I started writing this post, but for some reason, the uploader (JackWhiteVEVO) has made it U.S.-only. So ... keep your eye out for Josh if you ever happen to see the video?
Available as of two days ago is Fantasea, Azealia Banks' nautically themed mix-tape and
her longest official release to date. It contains several of her
previously released tracks including "Jumanji," "L8R," "Fuck Up the Fun"
and my favourite Azealia track "Us." Finally, a high quality version of
"Us"! Download Fantasea by clicking the link at the top of Azealia's Twitter page.
Calvin
Johnson, one of my favourite musicians of all time whom I refer to for the first time in this post, is playing a
"secret" show tonight at a
place called "the Mansion." After my friend and I spent the majority of a week asking every relevant person we knew, I'm preeetty sure we've
nailed down the unlisted, likely unconventional "venue."
Not that a couple of cool kids like
me and my equally chronically black/leather jacket-clad friend would ever get denied at a secret show, but "I Was
Denied" by Thee Oh Sees is pretty much how I envision the possibility,
depending on how one interprets getting "fucked up." I try re-posting as seldom as possible, but the song is just too damned topical:
I flew right by And surveyed the scene I was denied It felt like a dream
And so, I flew away With a friend of mine I got fucked up Sufficed to say
I love you, Best Coast. I God-damned love you. I'm seriously going to marry Bethany Cosentino. And right there is the most fanboyish thing I've ever said in this blog.
It takes Best Coast to
make me like Fleetwood Mac in the slightest, and even then, I still
don't care for the original version. Cool to see Bobb on drums and
Bethany on piano; I'd never seen them on either. This is probably the
most precise I've ever heard Bethany sing live.
Best Coast's cover of
"Rhiannon" appears on a Fleetwood Mac tribute compilation that also features
Karen Elson (produced by Beck), the Kills and Lee Ranaldo featuring J.
Mascis. Listen to the slightly more adorned album-version of Best Coast's cover below:
Fire-spitting
Vancouver party-punk duo Japandroids played the Biltmore, this past
Saturday night. After weeks of waffling, which included me selling my
ticket to a friend and then debating until nearly showtime whether or
not I wanted to try lining up for a ticket at the door to the
otherwise sold out show, I ultimately decided not to go. I passed for
many reasons, most of all because other shows came up, and I figured the
hometown boys would have been back soon enough.
My night, in lieu of Japandroids, ended with me and my friend Peter
at the Rumpus Room, a hipster bar/restaurant with, admittedly, the best
music I've heard in that kind of joint. Near the tail-end of our time
there, as Peter spoke, my attention kept wandering over to someone who
looked incredibly familiar. It turned out I was correct to have been curious - that the person I was eyeing
was anyone of even slight significance: it was David Prowse,
Japandroids' drummer.
I pointed out Dave to Peter, and while I calculated the precise right moment to catch Dave's
attention, Peter, more impulsively, blurted out, "How was the show?" So, the three of us chatted a bit, and not only did it totally not occur to me to bring
up my one even slightly noteworthy bit of conversation (me essentially having missed them three years ago because their Halifax show was cut short), but I told
Dave I didn't go to their show that night which was only one block away; in fact, I told him, I sold their
ticket because other shows came up. Whoops. But hey ... anyone who's
real should appreciate not getting his or her ass kissed ... Anyway, I
eventually approached guitarist/lead vocalist Brian King, and I remembered to run
my Halifax story by him, a gig he called "a shit-show." I agreed and
promised I'd catch them next time they were in town which, Dave told me,
could possibly be in December after their current tour; I told him I'd be
here.
Overall, I didn't talk to either Brian or Dave very long, but they were both super-chill, approachable guys. And even as Dave was busy talking on his phone, he still smiled and waved to me as I passed him on my way
out. Maybe next time, I'll remember to remind them that we ran into each other at the Rumpus Room.
Wow. What a God-damned tattoo. It is, of course, the cover image of their 1979 debut album Unknown Pleasures.
Embedded below is a remix of JD's "Atmosphere" by iamxl, a DJ I'd never heard of before stumbling upon this post but who happens to be based in Vancouver. Click here to download the track for free.
Oppressive heat. Too difficult to sit and write. Here's a song that emulates the feeling of slowly being roasted, with its hazy guitar riff that induces a delirium like one brought on by heat, steadily beating against the listener, rising in intensity like mercury in a thermometer. Hey, look: maybe it's not too hot to write:
It's no wonder why Exclaim! named Vancouver's own White Lung's It's the Evil punk album of the year (in 2010). So devastatingly good. It's like auditory evisceration.
I still have to buy my Liars, Calvin Johnson, La Sera, Hives or Swans, Chelsea Wolfe, Raveonettes, Ariel Pink and Thee Oh Sees tickets, and frankly, I want to see all of them more than I want to see Japandroids, even though I never got my full Japandroids show. I guess I'll wait until the last minute to decide whether or not I want to try buying a ticket at the door (for once) at the otherwise sold-out show. Also, I feel kind of silly possibly buying another Japandroids ticket after I sold mine in order to save money for all of the aforementioned shows ... Who knows what the night brings!?!
"Best New Music"ed rappists (to borrow a mondegreen from Parks and Recreations'Jerry
Gergich), most of whom fail to live up to the hype apart from a song or
two, seem to emerge every week. With Azealia Banks being one of the
more recent examples but actually consistently banging out hot track
after hot track, from a statistical standpoint, I'm wary of praising twenty-year-old
Michigan-born rapper Angel Haze too soon; plus, her work I've heard
aside from "New York," from her Reservations EP due in a couple
of weeks, hasn't impressed me.
While I'm refraining from making any predictions about Angel Haze, I can say (and will say) "New York" totally kicks ass. But how could
it not when she pretty much straight-lifted Gil Scott-Heron's "New York Is Killing Me"?
Blog note: Starting with this post, I've created a new "watch out" tag for posting about emerging artists. I'll still use the "spotlight" tag, but I'll reserve it for more tenured artists.
Slight fuzz, candy-sweetness, a catchy, chunky, fast-driving
riff, simple,
lovey-dovey lyrics, guitar solos that ripple like summer drizzle on a pond - this song has all the essentials. Between
La Sera and Seapony, Hardly Art is becoming one of my new favourite
record labels.
Maritimer, recovered minimalist, Contributing Music Reviews Editor at Vancouver Weekly. Published profile: www.vancouverweekly.com/author/leslie-ken-chu Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeslieKenChu Instagram: https://instagram.com/record_lows/