Rickshaw Theatre + Waldorf Hotel = Fox Cabaret

Follow-up story about Main-and-Broadway's Fox Cinema being slated for renovation into a live music venue later this year:

http://globalnews.ca/news/409260/vancouvers-last-porn-theatre-the-fox-to-become-live-music-venue/

A thirteen-minute walk from my house vs. thirty minutes of being in transit. If the Fox Cabaret hosts the same caliber of shows and other events as my former favourite venue the Waldorf Hotel, things aren't lookin' bad at all.

Three New Diane Birch Tracks

Diane Birch has released three new tracks from her upcoming reportedly eponymous second album. Two of the tracks even have videos. She's already played a couple of shows in New York City, as well as a living room performance streamed from her Williamsburg apartment. It's safe to say we're on the cusp of a new album. Check out the videos for "Unfucked" and "Superstar" as well as the track "Speak a Little Louder" on her media page.

With a new backing band in tow, "Unfucked," "Superstar" and "Speak a Little Louder" all find Diane Birch expanding her intimate Carol King piano pop into more sublime balladry, experimenting with grandiose harmonies, vocal reverb and minor delay and generally more complex arrangements. Birch channeled her classic influences almost without a filter on Bible Belt (her deeply personal lyrics aside), and The Velveteen Age EP consisted exclusively of her putting her own spin on her favourite Goth bands, covering songs by Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen and Souxsie and the Banshees among others. Her new album is shaping up to sound like the logical next step: while some of her 80s power ballad influences still naturally trickle through, Birch is really beginning to find her own sound.

Successful second albums are tricky to pull off, especially when following up a debut as flawless and graceful as Bible Belt. But by the sound of Birch's new songs, she's smartly avoiding the mistake of trying to recreate her success, instead opting to make a record that will be equally strong but that will ultimately stand alone from the rest of her work.

The Strokes Announce New Album Comedown Machine

The Strokes have announced their new album due March 26, and it's called Comedown Machine. I dig the mechanical cover art - I haven't seen a label name displayed so prominently on the cover since New Order's similarly monochrome and industrially sparse Movement issued through the appropriately named Factory Records. I don't, however, dig the bubbly but sloppy "One Way Trigger," the second song from Comedown Machine. I can't imagine coming down to that. In fact, I'd probably be more desperate to get high in order to try to enjoy it. I still haven't heard "All the Time," the first official single from Comedown Machine which the Seattle radio station 107.7 The End debuted last week but I can't find on the Net. The song's been described as "packing a classic Strokes sound," but I'll have to hear for myself.

Listen to "One Way Trigger" below:



Random aside: While filling out the tags, I realized this is my first Strokes post. How is that possible? They've been one of my favourite bands since they came onto the scene.

Coming This Friday: Third Man Records Novelties Lounge

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

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!:

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.

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:

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.

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.

Beck and Jack White Together Again

This has waited too long to happen, but it totally makes sense. Two days ago, Jack White's Third Man Records released Beck's new single "I Just Started Hating Some People Today"/"Blue Randy." These are the first Jack White/Beck collaborations since Beck produced and played on the White Stripes' 2007 Conquest EP. Other Jack White/Beck joints include Jack contributing bass to "Go It Alone" from Beck's album Guero and Beck making an all-too-brief cameo in the White Stripes' video for "The Hardest Button To Button."

Check out "I Just Started Hating Some People Today," which features Jack White on drums, acoustic guitar and background vocals, below, and preview "Blue Randy," which features Jack on drums, on Third Man's homepage.

Janelle Monae and Kid Koala To Play Vancouver Jazzfest

I missed you once before, Janelle, but I WILL see you at the Vancouver Jazzfest on June 29. Like your song says, it's dance or die:



Also playing at the Vancouver Jazzfest will be Vancouver-born turntablist Kid Koala. He'll be performing his "Space Cadet Headphone Concert" twice on June 27 (at 7:15 PM and 9:45 PM) and once more the next night (at 7:15 PM). "Combine 1 piano, 6 space pods, 7 turntables, and 250 sets of headphones with an audio science fair/gallery. What do you get? Fun for the whole family!" his website says, but even after having watched the concert's trailer, I'm still not entirely sure what I'll be getting into:

Well, I Don't Know What To Call This One

Endless whacky/star-studded collaborations, a record store in the form of a tricked out tour van, clear/multicoloured vinyl records including talking "greeting card" gatefolds, 3 RPM records, vinyl discs filled with "psychedelic blue liquid," and now, a release of his newest single "Freedom at 21" on flexi-disc via ..... 1000 helium balloons. The only way to own the single is to find one. Jack White sure is giving Wayne Coyne a run as "Craziest Fatherfucker in Music Today":

Is This Going To Be A Great Album Or What?

The Walkmen's seventh album Heaven comes out on June 5. Hopefully, next time they come around, they won't be opening for Florence + the Machine - for over $50, no less.

Fucking up the Fun with Azealia Banks

Harlem singer/rapper, brand new Interscope/Polydor signee and all-around next big thing Azealia Banks has dropped a new Diplo-produced track called "Fuck Up the Fun." No word on whether or not this song will appear on her highly anticipated debut album Broke with Expensive Taste which is slated for release in September.

  FUCK UP THE FUN Prod. By DIPLO by Azealia Banks

Time For Celebration

When Vancouver's fuzzy, soaring punk rock duo Japandroids blew up in 2009 with their debut album Post-Nothing, released that same year on Polyvinyl Records, they instantly became one of my favourite bands - not up there with my elites like the White Stripes, Bowie, Sonic Youth or the Mountain Goats, to name a few, but definitely in my upper-tier of favourites. Hell, Japandroids were the only band whose ticket I bought in advance when they played that year's Halifax Pop Explosion.

Though Japandroids' HPE set was cut short after only a few songs due to time constraints (you can read that story here), my love for Japandroids did not waver. But some time passed, and they released a smattering of singles as well as re-issued their first two EPs together as a compilation entitled No Singles, none of which impressed me, and I eventually lost (most of my) interest in the band.

A few days ago, though, Japandroids resurfaced with the announcement that they've completed their second album, and it's ready for public consumption. The new album, due in June once again courtesy of Polyvinyl Records, is called Celebration Rock and will include a cover of one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite bands: "For the Love of Ivy" by 80s L.A. punkabilly band the Gun Club. Hearing about that cover was enough to send shockwaves down my spine. Maybe more people will hear of the Gun Club now.

Japandroids guitarist Brian King said they specifically wanted to make an album listeners could sing along to and that captured the band's and their audience's frenetic live energy. Considering how singable Post-Nothing was, I can only imagine how energetic and at least aurally uplifting Celebration Rock is going to be. And judging by its title, and the fact that King has said Celebration Rock is more lyric-oriented than Post-Nothing, aurally isn't the only way in which the new album is going to be uplifting.

I don't know if "Younger Us," previously issued as a single, is going to appear on Celebration Rock as the song is heard here or in a different form, but here's at least a small preview of the new album:


I passed on seeing Japandroids at the Waldorf Hotel for a mere $12 shortly after I moved to Vancouver (that was still during my cooling-off-on-Japandroids period) and I think even once more after that, but I'll definitely try to see them next time around. Hell, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to catch a whole Japandroids show next time, and Halifax will know what it's like to be called "No Fun City" instead of Vancouver for once.

First Beef of the New Year: No Age Vs. Kings of Leon

No Age have accused Kings of Leon of ripping off No Age's white T with rainbow-coloured text. As much as I love No Age and dislike post-Because of the Times Kings of Leon (although, their latest album Come Around Sundown is actually pretty decent), I think this claim is a little farfetched. I whole-heartedly do not believe No Age are the first to have put rainbow-coloured block text on a white T. It's far too simple of a design to have first appeared in the New freakin' Millennium. But hey, what do I know about the history of logos and clothing design?

The Third Coming of Diane Birch

Since at least this past June, piano songstress Diane Birch has been working on her sophomore album, the follow-up to 2009's Bible Belt, in a studio in London, England. She's working with producer Dan Carey who's also produced albums by the Kills, La Roux, Lily Allen and Franz Ferdinand. Based on those artists and Diane's 2010 Velveteen Age EP, which consisted of covers of her favourite gothic post-punk songs growing up, I'm expecting her new album to sound pretty polished.

Until her new album comes out, fans will have to make due with an acoustic version of one of its new tracks "Diamonds in the Dust":

New Sharon Van Etten Track: "Serpents"

One of the more recent NYC-based artists garnering attention is New Jersey-born indie folk songstress Sharon Van Etten.

I saw Sharon live at Zulu Records many, many months ago for an acoustic solo in-store performance, and while I liked her set, she didn't sound overly interesting. "Serpents," the first available track from her upcoming third album Tramp, due February 7 on Jagjaguwar, is quite different from what I heard that day at Zulu though.

It's pretty obvious to myself that I like "Serpents" because it features members of two of my favourite bands the National and the Walkmen. Tramp was recorded by the National's Aaron Dessner who recruited several friends to guest on the album including members of Beirut, Wye Oak (one of two openers for the National's Vancouver shows next week), Shearwater and the aforementioned Walkmen. Sharon's dramatic Cat Power-like vocals (about a 99% resemblance to me) and instrumentation by members of two of my favourite bands make for a good enough combination for me to check out at least Tramp and, if I like it, work my way backwards in her discography.

Addendum: If Tramp is good, I'll also have a reason to stick around after the War on Drugs' set when they play the Biltmore Cabaret on March 24. I'd pay the $15 that show costs to see the War on Drugs alone; a good album by Sharon Van Etten would only sweeten the deal.

Indie Pop Sucks

Well, that's how I feel most of the time. But not today. I just listened to "Good Day Today," the first single from David Lynch's upcoming debut LP Crazy Clown Time, and although the song is not as out there as I'd expected, it's goooood - love the gunshots, loud knocking in the background and warbled vocals.

Crazy Clown Time, worth getting for its title alone, drops November 8 on Sunday Best Recordings. Oh, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O sings on the album's opening track "Pinky's Dream."

New Feist Song: "How Come You Never Go There"

Listen to "How Come You Never Go There," the first track from Feist's upcoming fourth album Metals (out October 4 in Canada on Arts & Crafts) here.

Well, I'm stoked. "How Come You Never Go There" teeters between sombre and lullingly warm, its gentle pulsation complemented by extremely careful drum-work. The restraint shown in the compressed drumming, sharp guitar solo and even the song's brevity is the sort that always leaves me wanting more; the song is over before I know it. I've always been a sucker for brass too, especially when, like in "How Come You Never Go There," it isn't an airy whisper in the wind but not overpowering either. Likewise, Feist's voice is mostly a perfect medium here - and every bit as good as it has ever been. Ahhh, everything about this song just makes me melt.

I'm so happy Feist is trying something new and actually pulling it off. I was always kind of scared she'd repeat herself, mainly because I didn't really know where she would (or could) go after The Reminder (Arts & Crafts, 2007). On a more personal level, I'm also just so happy that I'm actually excited for her new album - really excited. I kind of lost my fire for Feist a few years ago: I had (and still have) 1.75 GB of music by her, and for a while, I even thought I might have liked her more than the White Stripes, but I was hardly excited to see her in Halifax, and while that was a good show, it was still the most disappointing show I'd ever seen. Hell, I haven't even been bothered to watch her DVD Look at What the Light Did Now. Now, however, I'm quite crushed I don't have a ticket to her show here in November, even though tickets ranged between fifty and seventy dollars. I'm still going to search Craig's List for as long as I can.

Regardless of nostalgia, it feels so great to remember why I loved Feist. Maybe it's finally time I try to find a copy of Look at What the Light Did Now.