Jack White. John Paul Jones. Allison Mosshart. Seasick Steve.

My Internet is slow as hell lately, so I can't upload the video I want to talk about, and I can't figure out how to embed YouTube videos in the correct dimensions, so I'm just going to hotlink the video here.

Oakland, California-born bluesman Seasick Steve, the newest signee to Jack White's Third Man Records, first blew me away in this video from this year's South by Southwest. This past weekend, Seasick Steve played at the iTunes Festival in London, England and who joined him onstage for a cover of legendary bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell's "Write Me a Few Lines" but Kills/Dead Weather frontwoman Allison Mosshart, Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones (who is actually now one of Steve's touring band members and might have even appeared on Steve's Third Man debut album You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks) and of course, the very man who signed Seasick Steve, Jack White.

I love the raw simplicity of most of Seasick Steve's furious, slide-heavy blues (his "arsenal" of instruments include a three-stringed guitar with a duct-taped pickup, a one-stringed diddley bow and his "MDM" Mississippi Drum Machine: a small, carpet-covered, wooden box that Seasick Steve stomps), but Seasick Steve's new fuller sound on Old Dog doesn't quite do it for me; the drums are far more pronounced, and even the guitars are cleaner - far less rough-edged. And as cool as it always is to watch Jack White drum, especially alongside John Paul Jones and Allison Mosshart, musically, even the group's iTunes Festival performance doesn't impress me much. Oh, well. I'm sure as is the case with most live videos, it's one thing to watch the performances recorded and a complete other thing to witness the performances live. Seasick Steve et al.'s performance is good overall (I can't really argue with Jack White playing with John Paul Jones), and at the very least, it makes me want to listen to Zeppelin.

From the Vault: "Pop Went Halifax, Part One: Brian Berchardt, Julie Fader, By Divine Right and Off the International Radar"

My review of the first set of shows I went to at Halifax Pop Explosion '09 which I previewed here.


Pop Went Halifax, Part One: Brian Berchardt, Julie Fader, By Divine Right and Off the International Radar

The first show opened with Holy Fuck frontman Brian Borcherdt's surprisingly mellow set - quite a contrast to his full-time band's livetronica raves. It was mainly him and another guy both on electric guitars, and they were eventually joined by Julie Fader with her Feist-like background vocals. After Brian's set, Julie took the stage herself, mostly backed on second guitar by Jose Contreras, the frontman of 90s Canadian indie rock icons By Divine Right. Brian and the other guitarist returned the favour by joining Julie for a few songs as well.

Although Off the International Radar was the last band of the night, [my friend] Steve and I left after the next act (and the main attraction for me) By Divine Right. They are one of the first indie rock bands I can remember, and I've listened to them since grade eight, so it was a real treat to finally be able to see them, especially since they're so inactive these days.

BDR played as a newly formed trio that night, pounding out song after song from their upcoming new album Mutant Message. It didn't matter that they didn't play a single familiar song (although it would have been nice), as every one of their new songs kicked ass - much harder edged than anything they'd done before. In fact, they rocked so hard, Jose broke a string during their first song and had to borrow Brian's guitar until Brian finished restringing it in the back. I never knew how much of a showman/skilled guitarist Jose was. I also have to hand it to Jose for having admitted that they didn't only play new songs to promote their new album but that they simply hadn't learned much of their old stuff yet.

BDR closed with "Titty Shaker," the same words that were written on the young, new drummer's white shirt in reflective gold letters. Jose kept charitably asking the crowd to fix up the drummer's "dope habit." I wish I could have obliged.

The Raveonettes: Rarely Great, Always Good

Even though the Raveonettes are far from one of my favourite bands, they will always have a special place in my heart. Nine years ago, my cousin’s boyfriend at the time burned me two CDs that ended up changing my life: one disc contained the White Stripes' breakthrough third album White Blood Cells and second album De Stijl, and the other CD contained their self-titled debut album and the Raveonettes' Whip It On EP. At the time, the Raveonettes were still a young, up-and-coming Swedish band that was brand new to the indie scene and had nothing more to their name than their Whip It On EP.

Like most of the Raveonettes' discography, I was never crazy about Whip It On, but the fact that I've liked the Raveonettes almost exactly as long as I've liked my favourite band the White Stripes is kind of endearing to think about. It's too bad I missed the Raveonettes' recent show here back in May.

Here are a couple of my favourite latter-day Raveonettes songs from their newest album Raven in the Grave (Vice Records, 2011):

"Recharge and Revolt"

"Forget That You're Young" (Rainy day music, if I ever heard it. Probably my new favourite Raveonettes song.)

Cool Cover

No urge to listen to post-A Crow Left of the Murder Incubus, but I do like this album cover.

Forget Jay-Zeezer, Jaydiohead and the Grey Album: Soon, We Will Have Wugazi.

I don't know much about the project that is Wugazi, but I do know the obvious facts that it's a mash-up of late-eighties-to-early-aughts hardcore legends Fugazi and equally legendary hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. I also know that something's going to be released on July 13, 2011. I assume that release is going to be a full-length mash-up album of Fugazi's Instrument Soundtrack (which corresponds with the 1999 documentary of the same name on the band) and Wu-Tang Clan's 1993 debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). So far, whoever is behind Wugazi has made one track available at wugazi.com, and it is fucking AWESOOOMMME.

Field Rotation - Licht Und Schatten (Fluid Audio, 2009)

I've increasingly fallen out of love with ambient and electronic music, over the past few years. I rarely seek either style, although I do still keep up with ambient and electronic artists of whom I'm already a fan. That said, I was more than surprised when I blindly downloaded Field Rotation’s 2009 album Licht Und Schatten.

Working out of Kiel, North Germany, Field Rotation (real name Christopher Berg) composes warm ambient textures that flourish with electronic pulses and blips. The movement created by those flourishes, pulses and blips, despite Field Rotation's choice to use dissonant percussion, allows him to avoid the typical repetitive and sometimes even droning character one might instinctively associate with ambient music. Licht Und Schatten's seven tracks range from five to eleven minutes, but with the consistent motion that the aforementioned electronic effects (which never overstay their welcomes) create, listeners may barely notice how long the songs actually are.

If you don't like the cold, alienating effects of most ambient or electronic music, perhaps Licht Und Schatten will change your mind. Licht Und Schatten palpitates in a way I haven't heard in much down-to-mid tempo ambient or electronic music besides that of jazzy British electronic artist/producer Four Tet.

Standout tracks: "Lichtbrechung"; "Polarlicht"

Free Download: Male Bonding - "Bones" (Sub Pop Records, 2011)

British punk-rock band Male Bonding, who made their full-length debut last year with Nothing Hurts on Sub Pop Records, are returning with their new album Endless Now on August 30. A couple of weeks ago, they released for free download their first new song from Endless Now called "Bones." To download that track, just plug in your e-mail at Male Bonding's Sub Pop Records page.

Male Bonding promised a sleeker, more expansive sound on their new album. I don't know about sleeker, but "Bones" is more expansive for sure. The band is in no rush here, taking its time over six-and-a-half minutes to create mood rather than quick bursts of buzzsaw punk (the longest song on their first album is 2:45). Based on "Bones" alone, I'm going to be optimistically presumptuous and say we probably won't have to worry about Male Bonding's new album being a flop.

And just because I don't write about Male Bonding very often, here's a smattering of my favourite tracks from Nothing Hurts:

"Weird Feelings"

"Year's Not Long"

"All Things This Way"

"T.U.F.F."