Sunday, September 30, 2012

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.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

"Thank God For Mental Illness"

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


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

The Medication Is Wearing Off by Eels on Grooveshark

Friday, September 28, 2012

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.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

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.

Krautrock by Faust on Grooveshark

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.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

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

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.

Jennifer by Faust on Grooveshark

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

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.

Monday, September 24, 2012

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!:

Sunday, September 23, 2012

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

Saturday, September 22, 2012

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:


Friday, September 21, 2012

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:


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

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.

Monday, September 17, 2012

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.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

New Order - "Your Silent Face"

This song made me happy today:


Friday, September 14, 2012

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.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Blind Surprise of the Week: Moon Duo

What's that? A Sacred Bones artist NOT playing at the Waldorf? It's true: San Fran psych-rockers Moon Duo will descend upon Vancouver once again, this time at the Biltmore on Dec. 7.

I hate drum machines and keyboards/synths live, but Moon Duo is just. Too. Hypnotic, with dark, entrancing, Jesus and Mary Chain/Joy Division/Frank Alpine danceability (swayability?). And I like Ripley Johnson's guitar-work. Time to get lost!

Between the Men (whose show at the Waldorf this past Wednesday I still have to recap), Nice Face, Amen Dunes and Moon Duo, Sacred Bones is quickly becoming one of my favourite new labels.

Check out "Motorcycle, I Love You" and the more upbeat "Mazes" below, just two selections from the eight great videos of Moon Duo's two KEXP sessions:




Monday, September 10, 2012

My Favourite Hole Song

Say what you will about Courtney Love, but there’s a reason why Live Through This is considered a classic of alternative rock:

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Hole = Youth

Listening to an album for the first time and recognizing one of the songs from your childhood, after having forgotten the song existed:


Saturday, September 8, 2012

Ian MacKaye, Calvin Johnson, Nü Sensae and the Evaporators, and I'm Missing Most Or All of Them

Talk about missing the opportunity of a lifetime. I am missing this FREE workshop because I only found out about it yesterday when I ran into someone at the grocery store I recognized from the Calvin Johnson house-show a couple of months ago. I would give anything to see Ian MacKaye speak and Calvin, Nü Sensae and the Evaporators play ... Can't afford anymore sick days at work, unfortunately, and registration for the workshop closed yesterday, though there's an ever-so-slight chance I may be able to catch Calvin's set at the very least. It took me until this morning to be able to bring myself to read the full event description. The relevant parts highlighted below:

A Free Weekend of Workshops led by Local Experts in a Variety of Indie-Music-Related Fields!!!

with Keynote Speaker: Ian MacKaye (Fugazi, Minor Threat)!!!

and a Saturday Night Rock Show Featuring: Calvin Johnson, Thee Evaporators, Nu Sensae, and The Bank Dogs!!! Doors open at 7pm! Show at 7:30!

Come learn about all aspects of D.I.Y. music-making , including production, promotion, organization, and networking. Ever wanted to book a tour? Make your own t-shirts? Build a distortion pedal? Shoot a video? Whether you're a musician, artist, organizer, music-lover, or just an overall cool cat: meet new people! Learn from THE BEST! Witness history in the making! And rock hard!

- Find out how record labels work from the staff of K Records, Mint Records, Student Loan Records, Hockey Dad Records and more!

- Get interview tips from Nardwuar the Human Serviette
- Learn about music theory from members of the SSRIs
- Discuss the perils of ageism with members of Safe Amp and the Vera Project
- Discover how to make effects pedals with Julian Marrs of Marrs Pedals

Friday, September 7, 2012

Nothing To Do This Friday Night?

Go see THE WHITE STRIPES!!!!! ... cover band White Blood Cells, $10 at the Fairview Pub.


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Free Concert Tickets = As Easy As Joining Twitter? Apparently So.

I still don't know how to use or read Twitter, but despite my social media illiteracy, I was still able to win two tickets to the Men with White Lung and Sex Church at the Waldorf tonight by retweeting @justshowsVAN. How lucky, as retweeting is all I know how to do on Twitter. That's like, 50% of Twitter anyway, isn't it? And to think, I was going to buy my ticket today ...

Twitter has also already begun paying dividends in other ways. Check out American Snakeskin, awesome New Orleans psychy-pop fuzz-punk-rock, at http://soundcloud.com/janitors_closet. Thanks, @myszkaway (Mish Way, lead-singer of Vancouver punk band White Lung and writer for Vice and hearty magazines).

Monday, September 3, 2012

Frank Sinatra Night


For a While by Frank Sinatra on Grooveshark

Sunday, September 2, 2012

R.I.P. Hal David



Unfortunately, I can't find the version sung by Burt Bacharach to post.