Best Shows of 2013: Waxahatchee and Swearin’ at the Biltmore Cabaret, November 29

The night before Swearin's and Waxahatchee's co-headlining show at the Biltmore, the sister-bands played in Langley, of all places. "Where [in Langley]?" I asked in immediate disbelief. The late (to me) news made more sense when I learned that the Langley show was at Twin Towers, a frequent spot for house shows. As great as Swearin' and Waxahatchee were at the Biltmore, the house show - within the bands' DIY comfort zone - would have been the one to have seen.

Swearin' and Waxahatchee alternated headlining slots during their fall tour. At the Biltmore, it was Swearin's turn to open. They discharged their hyper-fast, straight-out-of-the-90s rippers, including "Kenosha", "Here To Hear", "Crashing", and "Kill 'Em with Kindness", with some of the greatest clarity I ever heard. Or at least it seemed like some of the greatest clarity I ever heard because I didn't expect Swearin' to have been so tight and hard-hitting. Maybe the disparity between expectation and reality is why typical adjectives such as "sharp", "dense", and "crunchy" somehow feel inadequate in describing the power of their riffs and solos.

Waxahatchee's breakthrough album, this year's Cerulean Salt, has been my go-to album for pretty much any occasion that doesn't involve other people. It soundtracks countless comatose walks to work at five- and six-in-the-morning. In addition to all of the times I want to listen to it, it fills the many quiet voids when I don't know what to listen to.

Waxahatchee was great, as expected, but I actually preferred Swearin'. I never thought that would have been the case. I didn't fully get into Swearin' until pretty close to showtime, and I'm still lukewarm on their second album, the much slower Surfing Strange. Swearin' were just that good. They didn't deplete the night's energy and leave Waxahatchee in a tough spot either; if anything, the crowd was still amped on Swearin'. But Waxahatchee's bedroom pop offered no release. You could feel the restless energy linger in the air, especially as the crowd chattered amongst itself, infiltrating - overtaking - what should have been extremely intimate moments.

Best Shows of 2013: Pere Ubu at the Biltmore Cabaret, December 15

Seeing a decrepit David Thomas, his gigantic frame slouched on a chair, ratty in suspenders, boots, and a trench coat, eyes mostly closed and slit-thin behind equally thin spectacles (could he even see anything through them?), reading from a lyric book whenever he required a prompt, characteristically (caricaturistically) spouting essentially sexist in 2013 in 2003 in well any time comments and stories and half-truths and bold- read: scrunch-faced lies, flanked by percussion and a single guitar that bent around, stabbed through, knotted, seesawed, played sonic tug-of-war with each other within the radioactive sphere of charged Theremin sounds, each note an atom on a collision course, until it was show's over get the fuck out of here fuck the opening band whatever they were called I don't give a shit, Ford Pier Vengeance Trio happily eat it with smiles only because it's David Thomas, who struggles to stand, achingly limps, surprised there was an immediate encore, mere feet in front of my eyes, was one of the most powerful musical experiences of my life.

Sunny Side of Angel Olsen

Who says Angel Olsen never smiles? ^_^

Angles, Shadows, Geometry

Couldn't you just draw Blixa Bargeld all day?

Best Shows of 2013: Martha Wainwright Tribute To Edith Piaf at the Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, November 2

Two Martha Wainwright sets for the price of one. During the first half of the night, Wainwright exclusively covered "rarer" songs by French national icon Edith Piaf. The second half featured Wainwright's own songs, mixed with some old family songs by her mother and aunt, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and a few more Piaf songs. Although Andrew Whiteman didn't join Martha this time, Thomas Bartlett, one of the best pianists I've seen, did.

Full review at Vancouver Weekly.

Best Shows of 2013: Rae Spoon at the Rickshaw Theatre, October 27

A frustrating tangle of miscommunication ended in one of the most surprisingly good shows I've seen. Based on a few songs, I thought Rae Spoon was an unadventurous electronic pop artist. There are plenty of electronic sounds on Spoon's latest album, My Prairie Home, and they are pretty adventurous for Spoon, but I was bright with glee to hear a majority of songs that leaned more towards drum-and-guitar indie pop. The Kingsgate Chorus, who joined Spoon for one of the night's final songs, made me wish I had the foresight to book off work that night. I still need to watch Chelsea McMullan's documentary My Prairie Home.

Full review at Vancouver Weekly.

Best Shows of 2013: Loretta Lynn at the Red Robinson Show Theatre, October 18

Given country legend Loretta Lynn’s age (81), she was probably at the top of my bucket list. She was everything I expected, from her glamourous dress to the way she talked, even to how early her show ended (at approx. 9:20, after fifty minutes).

Exhaustion forced Lynn to reschedule some shows halfway through her three-week tour. Considering her health (within the past two years, she had knee replacement surgery and was hospitalized with pneumonia), this not only could have been my last chance to see her, but it also could have been one of her last shows ever.

Full review at Vancouver Weekly.

Best Shows of 2013: The National at the PNE Amphitheatre, September 22

Photo credit: Kirk Chantraine

This was the National show I should have seen when they played the Orpheum a couple of years ago: front, nearly centre, nearly getting kicked in the face by a crowd-surfing Matt Berninger, bracing his legs while he stood on the guard rail. And the PNE's sound system wasn't as bad as I'd always heard it was. Seeing the National play some of my favourite songs ever was worth all the rain (it was an outdoor show) and my infuriating trek to the PNE; I was in such a bad mood due to the often incompetent transit system (and annoying fans) that I considered selling my ticket while I was in line.

Dark Dancing

"HOUSE DISCO FUNK TECHNO ITALO COSMIC". Add "minimal" to the list of descriptors. Everything on Feel My Bicep is good. I will always be delayed when it comes to electronic music.

Stating the Obvious: Cat Power - "Silver Stallion" (Live Highwaymen Cover)

Chan Marshall has one of the best voices I've ever heard. So gruff. So naked.

I just realized Cat Power probably isn't in my top fifty musicians, but I blog about her an awful lot.

Soft Side of Suppression Ring

For three years, I hesitated to check out Eddy Current Suppression Ring's albums besides Primary Colours because I feared that their other albums would not be as good. This summer, I finally took a risk and picked up Rush To Relax. Being so accustomed to ECSR's snotty, buzzing rock and anxiety-ridden lyrics, I still find it strange listening to Rush To Relax's "Gentleman", a love song:

Best Shows of 2013: The Sonics with the Vicious Cycles at the Rickshaw Theatre, September 20

The greatest rock 'n' roll band of all time, one of my top bucket list shows, and, as I expected, one of the best shows I ever saw (#5, behind the White Stripes twice, Les Savy Fav, and Japanther). Nardwuar the Human Serviette introduced the godfathers of garage rock with as much trivia about their history with Vancouver as one would expect from the music guru, which indirectly explained why Tacoma, Washington's the Sonics chose nearby Vancouver as the site of a one-off show.

The Sonics played allllllllll of their hits, but they really couldn't have done otherwise, given that all of their songs are hits, at least to me. Besides having been able to sing every word and having rocked so hard that my glasses flew onto the floor in the front row (surprisingly no damage), the best part of the night was when the Sonics announced that they'd just finished recording a new album in Seattle and promised another show soon.

I also have to praise openers the Vicious Cycles. Their greasy punkabilly left the audience lying in oil slicks, coughing up dust. I couldn't believe I'd never heard of the Vicious Cycles before, besides one mention from a friend during Khatsalano Fest a couple of months earlier.

Dinosaur - "Kiss Me Again"

I meant to post this song years ago. I think I had some comments in mind. But I can't remember them now. So just enjoy the song. And dance a little. Groove in your seat. Or get on your feet.

Dream T

I came across this photo of Johnny Greenwood on someone's Tumblr. Before I read the author's comment, I thought, "I want his shirt." And wouldn't you know it? That was the first thing the author said, verbatim.

Best Shows of 2013: Julia Holter at the Biltmore Cabaret, September 16

Julia Holter was slated to have been my first interview. I read every interview with her I could find - made sure I didn't ask the same questions I came across. I built off of her past responses. I thought my questions were solid - at least solid enough to have gotten me through my general social anxiety under which I was extremely likely to have crumbled.

In researching Julia Holter, I came to love her more for her ideas about art and music than her music itself.

But my chance to speak with Holter fell through. The day after I was notified, I saw her interviewed in that week's issue of The Georgia Straight. Snaked. I was disappointingly stuck with a pile of potential.

My review of Julia Holter was 1) a bit of an exercise for me, my first attempt to write more concisely, and 2) my first in conjunction with a photographer I personally knew.

As for why the show was one of the best of the year, it just kicked ass. Well, Holter and her band did. Review at Vancouver Weekly.

Best Shows of the Year: The Courtneys at the Biltmore Cabaret, August 17

I love the Courtneys, but as much as it hurts admitting it, they sound shitty almost every time I see them. Not on August 17 though. They couldn't have been more bang-on. Moreover, the show contained some of my favourite concert moments of the year: Nü Sensae drummer Daniel Pitout guested on the skins for one song and pounded out the most intense version of "90210" I've heard; I didn't know the song could sound so good that fast. Even Courtneys drummer/singer Jenn Twynn Payne shouted, "Too fast!!" with a laugh. The giggles continued when, during the same song, Hockey Dad Records founder and B-Lines singer Ryan Dyck paraded Payne around the Biltmore on his high shoulders, nearly smashing her head into the ceiling several times. Yet Jenn sang on. Trooper.

Speaking of Pitout, I have to note that he claimed yet another one of my top concert moments this year when he marched onstage during B-Lines, mic in hand, and launched into a SCORCHING version of "Busy Man".

The Courtneys FEAT. Daniel Pitout - 90210 at the Biltmore from The Courtneys on Vimeo.

Best Shows of 2013: The Dandy Warhols at the Commodore Ballroom, June 22

13th anniversary of Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, the Dandy Warhols’ best album by far. One of my favourites of all time. Played the album in its entirety. Front and centre. My birthday. Hardly gets bigger - hardly gets better - than that. Full review at Van Weekly.

Worst Shows of 2013: Torres with Lady Lamb the Beekeeper at The Media Club, June 19

I’m frequently obsessed with Torres’ performance of “Come To Terms” in this video; it's fucking beautiful. But I've never been impressed by anything else of hers. Regardless, I thought she’d have been worth seeing for "Come To Terms" alone. I couldn’t have been more incorrect. Torres with Lady Lamb the Beekeeper was my first unmitigated negative review. It was… just such a bad show. Man, I don't even want to talk about it! Read why in my review at, where else? Vancouver Weekly.

Best Shows of 2013: B-Lines, June 15

Photo credit: Sylvana d'Angelo

Ryan Dyck, boss at Hockey Dad Records and one of the best, most commanding frontmen I've seen. Definitely my favourite local band live, and the "competition" is stiff. Snappy, breakneck punk. Consult a chiropractor. And maybe a psychiatrist.

Snippet from my Vancouver Weekly review:

If there was ever a time for me to see B-Lines, this was it. The B-Lines as I knew them were to be no more, as Nominal Records' showcase marked bassist Adam Fothergill's final show with the band.

When your life revolves around music – whether you play it, write about it, read about it or anything else – it's easy to become difficult to impress. I've become a tougher sell over the years, but B-Lines reaffirmed everything I ever loved about music in general, specifically seeing live music. Just try to pin back the grin on my face as I watched the "everyday Joe" Ryan Dyck who took my money, stamped my wrist and chatted briefly with me at the door proceed to leave his body, and let a manic, possessed surrogate take over the stage. Ryan spun; he writhed; he squirmed; he kicked; he fell to the floor and pounded the stage so hard, you could hear the full *thud* over the band's high-speed thrash. I'd never witnessed such an instant, dramatic metamorphosis. His tall, lanky, tapeworm-like frame whipped and twirled with the mic cord so that I couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.

With a glassy look in his eyes that stared hollowly into nothing in particular, Dyck yelped anxiety-ridden lyrics about social disconnect ("Social Retard", "Houseplants") and impending world destruction ("World War Four"). "I just wanna feel normal again," the chorus went on "Normal Again". Unless Dyck and company conform to the mould and abandon everything that makes them so electrifying and unique, he may never feel normal again. Certainly, after having seen B-Lines, I will never feel normal again. But I can live with that.

A word of warning: If you're seeing B-Lines, be prepared to be rained on as Ryan Dyck aimlessly launches wads of spit into the air. Although, I hear you'll be lucky if that's all that happens to you.

Best Shows of 2013: METZ at the Biltmore Cabaret, May 3

Photo credit: Azimut Brutal

Some bands fail to capture their live energy on record. Some bands fail to translate their studio dynamics live. Some bands manage to sound exactly the same live as they do on record but come off boring, robotic. "If a band sounds the same live, why not just listen to their albums?"

METZ prove that the problem isn't remaining too faithful to records but being a boring, robotic band in the first place. METZ are every bit as explosive live as they are on their self-titled 2012 debut album, and that album, as I've discussed in last year's best-of list, contains a despairing energy I've never heard in music before and didn't think could have been captured in a studio. There is no divide between recorded and live experiences with METZ: What you hear while safe at home or when passing as a detuned ghost in transit is what you hear while being moshed unstuck from beer-soaked floors at the bar - or in my case, a "cabaret."

Read my full review of METZ at Vancouver Weekly. And before anyone "quickly" points out, yes, I repeated much imagery between both the album and live reviews. If musicians can re-work demos, I can re-work my personal writings.

Worst Shows of 2013: The Thermals with Peace at Fortune Sound Club, April 26

The Thermals with Peace at Fortune Sound Club was only my third published review. With this blog having afforded me frankness and casualness (personal luxuries, professional detriments), I had yet to have any opportunities to practice being tactful with negative reviews. Without re-reading my article, I feel I was more than "fair": I highlighted the positives as much as I could. But truthfully, to be colloquial, the show sucked through and through.

I think Peace are one of the most wildly overrated Vancouver bands. The praise they garner mystifies me: Much of it comes from their close friends - other local bands, whom I love, including White Lung and Nü Sensae - but I'm still perplexed because none of them praise their other friends' bands as much as they praise Peace. Apathy and politely loose post-punk has never felt less inspired or genuine.

Combating Peace's blackhole charisma were the hyper-charged Thermals. They weren't bad live - they weren't sloppy, they played a standard-lengthed set, they appeased the crowd with encores - it just turned out I wasn't as big a fan of them as I thought. Even though I knew their reputation for generic power-pop, I expected their live energy to compensate. But for whatever reason, it just didn't. Even the hits, which are often worth all the duds, felt depressed in the homogenous mire.

If I was a diehard fan, I'd have eaten up the Thermals' set just like... everyone else at the club: Again, the ticket stub should have come with a "HIGH VOLTAGE" warning. But as the show turned out, I can see why The Body, the Blood, the Machine is really the only Thermals album casual fans may gave a shit about.

Read my full review at Vancouver Weekly, and maybe tell me I was wrong about having been tactful.

Best Shows of 2013: Angel Olsen at the Media Club, April 21

My first time seeing Angel Olsen, one of my favourite musicians of 2012. She lived up to all of my expectations and was the first good show I saw at the Media Club. It was also the first time I saw people sit on the floor during a headliner, but because they were in a focused hush.

The following excerpt is taken from my review of this show for Vancouver Weekly:


Up until Angel Olsen, I was starting to think the Media Club was cursed for me. My first time there was the only time I walked out of a show. I nearly had to leave during Chelsea Wolfe and King Dude because my mildly sore throat from the night before blossomed into a full-on fever during the show; simply standing still was painful, especially as I fought off the chills while wearing two layers and a jacket indoors. And Terry Malts, one of my favourite bands in 2012, only managed to pull off a lukewarm set at the Media Club despite their Ramones-ripping pop-punk.

“Luck” would have it that I walked into the Media Club this past Sunday with a killer chest cold, the same one that forced me to skip Nervous Talk and Crystal Swells on Record Store Day (if you were at Neptoon Records, you know how suffocatingly hot the store got during and after the Evaporators). But the St. Louis-born, Chicago-based Angel Olsen’s debut full-length album Half Way Home was one of my favourite releases of 2012, so there was no way I was letting anything stop me from seeing her live.

Angel Olsen kicked off week three of her current tour at the Media Club. It’s her first West Coast tour, but more significantly, it’s her first tour with a backing band. And though she’s expressed uncertainty as to where her writing and performing will go now that she’s working with a band, that was part of the excitement as much for me as I’m sure it is for her.

I don’t know how long Olsen’s been playing with drummer Joshua Jaeger, bassist Stewart Bronaugh and cellist Danah Olivetree, but they sounded so right together that I never would have thought they formed just for this tour. By the second song, “Drunk and with Dreams”, Olsen showed that with this new outfit, she could rock. The hardest rocking of all (and most altered from the recorded version) was “The Sky Opened Up”, my surprise hit of the night.

There’s always a question of whether or not voices that are usually only heard in intimate settings, especially voices as humanly fragile as Olsen’s, can be sustained when belted out. I was happy to hear that as loud and distinct as the bass, drums and cello were, Olsen’s voice rose above them all. The strength of her voice really showed when she sang acoustic over her own electric guitar and by how loudly her voice took over the room even when she stood a fair distance from her mic.

Olsen’s only mildly unimpressive moments were actually the two songs I’d looked forward to the most, the more uptempo “The Waiting” and “Sweet Dreams”. But they were only the slightest bit unimpressive because they were the only songs she didn’t give a unique, live band spin.

Half Way Home marked the beginning of a breakthrough year for Angel Olsen in 2012. Her rise only continues in 2013 with the January release of her new Sleepwalker 7” and her recent signing to Indiana label Jagjaguwar. If you hadn’t heard of Angel Olsen before, you surely will soon. And there’s a good chance when that happens that one of Olsen’s final lines of the night will resonate with you the way it resonated with me: as I left the Media Club, although I didn’t couldn’t identify the song, I found myself repeating her last words in my head: “I’ll never forget you all of my life.”

Worst Shows of 2013: Half Chinese at the Astoria, January 23

I shouldn’t complain about free shows, but Half Chinese at the Astoria wasn’t even worth the $2.10 I spent on transit or the ~hour-and-a-half I spent in transit and enduring a shitty opener (form of dude at a laptop).

Half Chinese’s We Were Pretending To Be was one of my favourite albums of 2012. I’d missed them multiple times, so I was stoked to finally see them. But they played for about fifteen minutes, and most of it sounded like they were tuning. There was scarcely a string of recognizable notes.

Half Chinese still play often enough, but their fifteen-minute sound-check that cost me time and very little money was enough of a rip-off to strongly dissuade me from ever seeing them again.

Visit their Bandcamp page to listen to ALL the sounds I expected to hear at the Astoria.

Worst Shows of 2013: Chelsea Wolfe with King Dude at the Media Club, January 15

Okay, I fucked up my list already. This show (and tomorrow’s entry) happened two months before Martha Wainwright and AroarA.

That Chelsea Wolfe with King Dude was one of the worst shows I saw this year was no fault of theirs. The sorts of black magical forces they tamper with were exactly the ones that seemed to have been at work against them. She was sick. Members of King Dude were sick. I was sick. A full-on flu hit me at the show. My joints ached. It hurt to even stand still. I fluctuated wildly between suffocatingly hot and shiveringly cold, even though I wore two layers and a jacket. All of that befell me on top of usual cold symptoms. No way was I able to focus on Wolfe's or Dude's cauldron-brewed doom-folk. Still, I didn't have it as badly as one person in the audience who passed out and had to be taken away in an ambulance.

Chelsea Wolfe with King Dude continued my Media Club Curse (see paragraph three of my Angel Olsen review). In hindsight, the show was no big loss: Despite heavily getting into Nick Cave and back into Swans and Michael Gira this past week, I'm mostly past Gothic music, these days.

Best Shows of 2013: Martha Wainwright at the Rio Theatre, March 9

I’ve been a huge Martha Wainwright fan for years. I still think she has one of the greatest voices today. I’ve seen videos in which she’s played to entire opera houses, so I was shocked (but delighted) that I was able to see her for the first time at the Rio Theatre for only thirty bucks or so.

Surely enough, her voice was as huge as I expected, and she had a personality to match. One of the best parts of this show was that Andrew Whiteman, one of the core members of Broken Social Scene, who plays under the solo moniker Apostle of Hustle, filled in on lead guitar (his band with his wife, AroarA, opened). But it wasn’t great just because Whiteman played with Martha; it was great because his lightly ocean spray, lightly Latin-influenced guitaring came through in her songs, and being the underrated guitarist he is, his style totally worked.

This show was also my first published music review. Read the entire piece at Vancouver Weekly.

"Davidoff Could Speak of Nothing But Himself For Long and Rarely Strayed Far from the Subject.

But Baddeley had always taken comfort in being led from his troubles by a mind that acknowledged no troubles but its own. Whenever he grew tired of himself, spending time with Davidoff allowed Baddeley to grow tired of someone else. It allowed him to return refreshed to his own company."

From André Alexis' newest novella A (BookThug, September 2013). I really like this idea, but unfortunately, under no circumstance can I endure people who talk about themselves incessantly. Perhaps my troubles aren't great enough.

Read an excerpt from A at BookThug.

FULL STREAM: Best Coast - Fade Away (Jewel City)

Stream Best Coast's upcoming mini-album Fade Away, due October 22 on Bethany Cosentino's own Jewel City label:

Aaron Carter Coming To Fortune Sound Club

THE Aaron Carter is coming to Fortune Sound Club on Nov. 24 for only TWELVE - yes, TWELVE - dollars! I don't know what a "Y2K Party" in 2013 is, but this might be goofy. Visit Fortune's website for more details.

Andrew W.K. To Release "Party Bible"

Someone better review this book for me:

The National - "All the Wine"

Forget the rain: Not even the shittiness of the PNE Amphitheatre was able to dampen the National:

Sonic Life

Fifth best show I've ever seen. I was sore for a couple of days. The best part: Every. Song. They. Played. Was. A. Hit:

Julia Holter - "In the Same Room" (Live)

Julia Holter was one of my favourite shows of the year. As good as this video is (not from the show I saw), imagine it with a violin and saxophone too. 

Read my live review, with photos by Jon Vincent of Labless, at Vancouver Weekly.

Don't You Just Love This Photo of Neko Case?

Diane Birch Announces New Album Speak a Little Louder (Oct. 15 on S-Curve Records)

Four years after Diane Birch's debut album Bible Belt, my favourite album of 2009, she finally returns with her full-length follow-up Speak a Little Louder on Oct. 15, again on S-Curve Records. The fact that I could be seeing her in Seattle a week after Loretta Lynn is the stuff of dreams. Listen to the title-track, "Unfked" and "All the Love You Got" here.

The Fleshtones Coming To Pat's Pub Nov. 15

Of all places. $20 + s/c:

FULL STREAM: Weed - Deserve LP (Couple Skate Records, 2013)

Finally. I have waited two years for this. Album review to come? ... In the meantime, catch Weed's album-release show tonight at THEY LIVE Video, with Seattle bands FF and So Pitted. $5:

First Concert of 2014

The first concert I'm going to in 2014 announced. January 24 at the Commodore Ballroom, $29 + s/c:

MORE FUCKING DANCING!!!

Janelle Monae - "Dance Apocalyptic" (Live on the Today Show, 09/12/13)

The coolest, hottest, hippest, most stylish God-damned talented thing going today. It's hard to believe this performance wasn't backtracked or lip-synced, because the whole band is so fucking good. Forget live audiences: Janelle Monae was made for the CAMERA. Great to see real fans at one of these things for once too, even if that one person in the front row was like, "Janelle is right in my face, but I'm going to stick my phone in hers." Come the fuck on. You want documentation? THE TODAY SHOW is your documentation!

Waxahatchee + Sweain' X Vancouver

Waxahatchee + her and her twin sister's band Swearin' are coming to Vancouver on Nov. 29! Venue TBA. My twee heart swells!

New Best Coast "Mini-Album" Fade Away Due Oct. 22

On Bethany Cosentino's own new label Jewel City. "Fear of My Own Identity" and "Who I have Become", both from their 2013 Record Store Day single, will also appear on the new seven-song "mini-album."

The songs are apparently going to be faster-paced but have been inspired by the likes of Mazzy Star, Patsy Cline and My Bloody Valentine. Seems contradictory, but it certainly helps the intrigue ...

Listen to both "Fear of My Own Identity" and "Who I Have Become" below:

Boris - "Electric"

"This song makes me want to steal cars" - B.L.

Nine Inch Nails 2013 Tour Doc: Part 1 of X

Good God, I might have to get whatever shittiest nose-bleed, oxygen-depleting seat might still be available:

Thrift Store Finds: Olivia Newton John - Physical LP

$1 at V.G.H. Thrift Store. I can't go in there and not buy something. Every time.

FULL STREAM: Giorgio Moroder - From Here To Eternity (1977)

Looks like I'm not listening to Daft Punk for a while.

Like a lot of people, I first heard of Giorgio Moroder during the making of Daft Punk's latest album Random Access Memories. I decided to delve deeper, after a friend of mine played me snippets from Moroder's 1976 album Knights in White Satin. It's absolutely mind-blowing how influential every sound, every trance-inducing passage, on this album is; but then, to dig deeper, it's also mind-blowing how much crossover there was between the contemporary likes of Kraftwerk and Moroder's Italo-disco electronica.

At a digestible thirty minutes, I never want to stop listening to From Here To Eternity. Also, I now see where Philly rapper Spank Rock derived his "Modbroder" alter ego:

Woo-Woo Cryptic Bullshit Marketing Campaign

I'm still excited though.

Serious Steam

In addition to SPIN Magazine and The Fader, White Poppy has now been covered by Nylon Magazine. Check out Nylon's "Band Crush" mini-feature with White Poppy here.

The Courtneys X Tegan and Sara

Whoa. Mega-stars Tegan and Sara with my favourites. The Quin sisters were at Ambleside Park in West Van this past Saturday, and someone, somehow, hooked this up. It really makes me wonder how far the smallest bands' connections go.

Lesson Learned: The Breeders, Set Lists, Strangers and Casual Conversations

Always mention that I collect set lists because I never know when strangers will feel generous. Thanks, anonymous who mostly parted with his because the Breeders signed his poster. My informal review of the Breeders' Last Splash Twentieth Anniversary show, with Tweens, possibly to come soon on Vancouver Weekly.

Another Concert Death-Week

Living Colour the night before Loretta Lynn??? And Thee Oh Sees the night before Living Colour??? "Rocktober" indeed! My next concert death-week begins with Thee Oh Sees at the Rickshaw on Oct. 16, followed by Living Colour at the Commodore and L-Double at the Boulevard Casino. This week will truly be the "BEST IN THE WOOOOOOOOOORLD!!!!!!!!!!"

I'm slow

Anxiety

Positive anxiety can be just as crippling:

New Angel Haze Track: "Echelon"

So sick, I could puke. I feel like I would lose my mind if this song came on during the credits of some high-adrenaline action movie with a dramatic ending.

"Echelon" comes from Angel Haze's feverishly anticipated debut album Dirty Gold. Though no release date has been announced, the album's been finished for some time. So any day now ...

The Day of Full Highly Anticipated Album Streams

News broke early this morning that Nine Inch Nails' Hesitation Marks had started streaming in full on iTunes. Click here for the link.

Eight hours later, I came home from work and found out Fader is streaming White Poppy's debut self-titled LP, and Blind Horses, another Vancouver act, are streaming their debut LP Avail via Bandcamp.

Unfortunately, the first real chance I'll have to listen to any of these, I'll probably be hungover.

The Go-Betweens - "Two Steps, Step Out"

My second favourite song from one of my least favourite albums by one of my favourite bands. "Two Steps, Step Out" x Before Hollywood x The Go-Betweens:

The Courtneys Feat. Daniel Pitout (Nü Sensae) and Ryan Dyck - "90210"

The sound quality in this video is shit, but after having seen Nü Sensae's Daniel Pitout drum on the Courtneys' "90210", I will never listen to this song the same way again. Can Daniel play on all of the Courtneys songs from now on? And B-Lines'/Hockey Dad Records' Ryan Dyck almost dumping JTP on her head and smashing her against the ceiling - best Courtneys show I've ever seen no question:

The Courtneys FEAT. Daniel Pitout - 90210 at the Biltmore from The Courtneys on Vimeo.

Vancouver's Got LEGS ∆

I may not get to see the Dead Weather any time soon, but at least this band lives in my town:

Swearin' Is Cool

Happy I could tell there was a Crutchfield in here (two, actually):



Check out Swearin's entire self-titled LP below:

The Sonics with the Vicious Cycles - Rickshaw Theatre, Sept. 20

For my money, the greatest rock 'n' roll band of all time. They've only announced one show, it's in Vancouver, and I have my ticket. THE SONICS come to the Rickshaw Theatre on Sept. 20. The Vicious Cycles are opening too, and I hear they're great.

Numan, Breeders ... Ant?

Gary Numan, the Breeders the next night and Adam Ant six nights later? The urge to complete a week of icons with A-Double is high ... Adam Ant comes to the Vogue on Sept. 6:

Janelle Monáe - "Dance Apocalyptic"

This song will be everywhere. From Janelle Monae's The Electric Lady, due September 10 on Bad Boy/Wondaland/Atlantic Records:

FREE SHOW: Johnny de Courcy with LEGS ∆ at the Cobalt, Tomorrow Night

I may not get to see the Dead Weather any time soon, but at least this Friday, I'll get to see Vancouver's LEGS ∆ - and for free to boot. LEGS ∆ open for Johnny de Courcy as part of the Cobalts' no cover Come Fridays, every Friday:

FULL ADVANCE STREAM: No Age - An Object (Sub Pop Records)

Stream No Age's upcoming album An Object in full at NPR.org. The album comes out August 20 on Sub Pop Records.

Freak Heat Waves, Cowards and Viet Cong To Invade the Cobalt

It's jammy. It's Kraut-y. It's mildly post-punkily despairing. It breathes. It lumbers. It bends. It kind of pricks. It's Freak Heat Waves. They play the Cobalt with Cowards and Calgary's Viet Cong on Aug. 29. This is going to be a groovy night. Check out the Bandcamps for all three below.

Freak Heat Waves:



Cowards:



Viet Cong:

Suddenly, There's More Than a Handful of Movies I Want To See

"Thank Goddess* For Riot Grrrl"

"Punk boys can be just as macho and bro as the bros themselves... ... everyone claims to be so against the state, and they claim to do whatever the fuck they want... But really, the power relations between the state and the people play out in the very relations between guys and girls in the scene. How punk guys carry their own privilege and power into the basic act of sex (and even in how they relate to each other as people), and oppress women by silencing them and using them. The girls don't see them as allies, but as oppressors in their own scene.

Thank goddess* for riot grrrl."

Double-Header at the Rio: Guess I'm Seeing Some Movies This Week

Anyone who knows me knows I'm not big on movies, especially not seeing them in theatres. But as I've said, music-movies are the only movies I see in theatres anymore.

Playing (again) at the Rio tomorrow night is Justin Ludwig's documentary on hardcore Christian music. Ludwig will be in attendance to introduce the movie as well as answer questions afterwards:



Immediately following ChristCORE will be Poull Brien's first feature film directorial debut Charles Bradley: Soul of America. I could get into this double-header thing:

R.I.P. Tim Wright

Bassist, No Wave pioneer and founding member of Pere Ubu, one of the most fearless, challenging bands I know, passed away on Sunday. R.I.P. Tim Wright:

"The Pyrotechnics of Sound and Scare Tactics"

Trent Reznor on Nine Inch Nails' upcoming new album Hesitation Marks:

"I don't think it’s a gentle record. I do think it's more subversive in how it gets you. It's not about everything being at 11 and the pyrotechnics of sound and scare tactics, which I've definitely used in the past. But it doesn't feel like the middle-aged, I've-given-up record either."

"The pyrotechnics of sound and scare tactics." Describing music in those terms is one of those things I've never thought of before but makes total sense when I hear them; I can imagine exactly what Reznor's talking about. Don't you love those second-hand "Eureka!" moments when someone else articulates something so lucidly that you can't?

Click here to read Reznor's full interview with The New York Times.

Angel Olsen Performs New Song "Forgiven/Forgotten" at Pitchfork Music Festival 2013

Angel Olsen's new album will be so damned good - whenever it comes out. The way she sings "I don't know anything" and how the drums come in just at the right time. Oh, daaammmnnn:

FREE EP DOWNLOAD + Spesh Pep and Yes Bear House(?)/Park Show, August 8

Hey, doggies! A great band called Yes Bear is playing with Spesh Pep on August 8 at Slocan Park. How much is it? All I can tell you is that it'll probably be worth it (update: it's by donation). Indie math-pop. Yes, it's possible! Event page at Field House Noise Field w-SPESH PEP/ YES BEAR/ DRUIZ.



Also, download Yes Bear's 2011 EP We're Alive, Let's High-Five for FREE here.

I Only See Music-Movies at the Theatre Now

A Band Called Death comes to the Rio Theatre August 18-20:

The First December Show I'm Going To

Announced last week: Lee Ranaldo. $15 at the Biltmore:

Icona Pop Announces Vancouver Date

Try to save money. Icona Pop announces tour. Fuck. Sept. 3 at the Commodore Ballroom.

Quoth Liz Lemon: "What the WHAT?"

Yeeeaaahhh .......... Click here for more images of a cultural trend I don't understand.

Johnny de Courcy - "Andrea's Song"

How great is Johnny de Courcy? "Andrea's Song" pops in predictable places, and the lyrics are pretty standard love when it comes to love, but I just love the way he sings here. So glad JDC lives in Vancouver.

Johnny de Courcy plays with hazy psych-rockers Tough Age and soul/R&B octet the Chantrelles this Friday at the Electric Owl for a measly $5. Early show: doors at 8, ends by 10:30 (so they say).

JDCxCCC

I saw Johnny de Courcy outside the Carnegie Community Centre a few days ago. He was leaning stock-still against a sign post and had the most spaced-out, far-away look in his eyes ever. I wonder where he was and how he got there. The lyrics to "Cherry Lane" never seemed so fitting:

Let me be in the clouds
I just wanna be okay
I know I won’t bother you
So just give me my drugs

The Courtneys Interview with the Grey Estates

The Courtneys give lyrical insight into some of their songs, an update on future plans and, of course, discuss Keanu Reeves. The Courtneys play the Chinatown Night Market on July 27 and this year's Victory Square Block Party (Labour Day Weekend, TBA). Both shows will be FREE! Click here to read the interview.

New White Poppy Track: "Wear Me Away"

White Poppy's new track "Wear Me Away" premiered on SPIN yesterday. The song comes from her self-titled debut album due in September. No word on when writers will stop feeling the need to emphasize that acts are "one-woman shows" and the like, however. 

Check out the song and her new album's track list below:



White Poppy:

1. "Darkness Turns to Light"
2. "Wear Me Away"
3. "Joyride"
4. "Today Tomorrow"
5. "Dead Night"
6. "Emotional Intelligence"
7. "Without Answers"
8. "Dizzy"
9. "Skygaze"
10. "Existential Angst"

"The Simpsons Graffiti in the Downtown Eastside"

Finally, some good graffiti in Vancouver. Vancity Buzz has the story plus a load more photos.

Vancouver Weekly's Best Albums of 2013: Mid-Year Round-up - Run-Offs

Since my pitches for Thee Oh Sees' Floating Coffin and Waxahatchee's Cerulean Salt didn't make Vancouver Weekly's mid-year round-up of the Best Albums of 2013, I'm posting my mini-reviews here. At least my vote for the Courtneys self-titled debut album passed. Click here for the full list, and read on for my blurbs:

Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin (Castle Face Records, April 16)

San Fran's hyper-prolific garage outfit Thee Oh Sees returned this year with Floating Coffin. It's meaty - a thick, bubbling stew of bloody psychedelia, cavernous claustrophobia and hypnotic, mangled riffs that burst like stressed sutures. Though it's one of the band's rare releases primarily written as a group, it still creeps and crawls the way only Thee Oh Sees can before tearing your flesh from bone.

Stand-out track: "Toe Cutter/Thumb Buster"

Waxahachee - Cerulean Salt (Don Giovanni Records, March 7)

Bedroom pop songs sung with enough obliqueness as to never quite feel confessional. A single guitar is mostly all Katie Crutchfield needs on her doleful second album Cerulean Salt, but bassist Kyle Gilbridge and drummer Keith Spencer make little rock gems like "Coast To Coast" possible, even lifting the album's spirits a bit, at least musically.

Stand-out track: "You're Damaged"

Lost My Copy of Summerteeth

And I

Math-Rock Vancouver (FULL STREAMS)

I'm discovering that Vancouver has a pretty good math-rock scene. My favourite was the string-laden Barcelona Chair (R.I.P.). Check 'em out posthumously at their Bandcamp page.

And this Friday at Simply Delicious - yeah, the sushi restaurant on Main Street - Man Your Horse play their debut release show, for their Marrel of Bonkeys cassette, along with the straight Nirvana-ripping War Baby, tinny, jolty garage-rockers Tri 5 and lo-fi, sing-their-hearts-out pop-punkerz Jelly Boyz. They're all great - check 'em all out at their Bandcamps too - but the point of this post is Man Your Horse. So buckle up, and stream Marrel of Bonkeys in full below:

Today, I Watched the Sun Change Colours in My Bedroom

All images and sounds by Crystal Dorval/White Poppy.

Today, I took a homeopathic pill of advice from Crystal Dorval, a Vancouver-based multimedia artist whom I primarily know as the ambient/psych sound-collagist White Poppy.

I often feel as though life is a race against time that I'm desperately losing. We're all bound to lose, but I mean trailing - languishing in the dust, even: there's too much music to listen to, too much work I have to do in order to get where I want to be, too much work in general; I don't make enough time for my important relationships or myself. I feel I should be proactive on my rare days off, as Dorval says: force myself to take advantage of the sun - force myself to see people. As time only seems to accelerate, why waste what little we have (left)?

Yet I can't seem to pull myself away from work even when, like today, I make a conscious decision to not think about it. I slept in, yes, and I did make great headway with a book I’m genuinely enjoying, but I still spent all morning writing and sending e-mails and punctuated my reading by scribbling notes in preparation for a book review. And currently, I'm disentangling my thoughts for this post.

I used to think going out and seeing people were the solutions to the innervating effects of isolation and boredom. But then, why did the Best Coast lyrics "And when I go out, I don't feel anything / I just keep on spending my money / One day, it will be gone / And then I'll have to write another song" ("Last Year") keep sticking out?

Dorval has taught me that yes, there is value in taking a day to yourself - to lounge about and do whatever you want, even if all you want to do is nothing. Like her, lounging around the apartment, not doing anything, usually makes me feel "lazy" and even guilty about wasting precious time. But everyone should give themselves permission to lounge and do nothing with their day. Try it just once, and maybe you too will realize that, as Crystal assures, "It's okay. in fact, it might be one of the most productive things you can do for your mental health."