While doing a little cleaning recently, I came across a CD-R that a friend of mine in Richmond, Virginia sent me a number of years ago. It’s a collection of 8-track demos by a local band called Salt Chunk Mary circa 1992/1993 which isn’t especially remarkable in and of itself save for the fact that it was fronted by one Mark Linkous, who would go on to create the singularly sad and beautiful Sparklehorse. Information on the band is nigh impossible to find since they didn’t really do much before morphing into the ‘Horse and they generally predate the internet – however the notes indicate the lineup on the recordings included Mark Linkous, his brother Matt on guitar, Chip Jones on bass and Steve Schick on drums. I also found this fifteen-year old article from the Richmond Times Dispatch that talked to the band about their fledgling project.

There are a few jams and sonic experiments that foreshadow the direction that Linkous would head in the future but most of the songs are solid if unremarkable pieces of rootsy jangle pop and bluesy rock. It’s fascinating to hear Linkous sing with volume and authority, considering how he usually sounds like he’s singing via a transistor radio transmission from the far reaches of the galaxy these days. As I said, if that wasn’t Mark Linkous fronting the band, there’d be really no reason to pay much attention to these songs but as the naked baby photos for one of the more unique and eccentric talents on the musical landscape today, they’re pretty interesting. Somewhere, along the way, Mr Horse took a hard left off the highway and into the ditch and has been wandering the wilds of Appalachia ever since.

And there is one familar tune as four songs in we find an early version of “Someday I Will Treat You Good” from Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot – much cleaner and straightforward in production but not far removed from final product. I’ve posted both versions for you to compare and contrast (and the video as well, if you require visual aids). I’ve also posted a couple of the better tunes from the demos – unfortunately, there was no track listing to go along with the disc so I’m left making up names based on the phrase most often repeated in the chorus. Imprecise, but what can you do.

And back in the present day, The Scotsman talks to Linkous about making Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain.

MP3: Salt Chunk Mary – “Rest Your Worried Mind”
MP3: Salt Chunk Mary – “Take Back Everything”
MP3: Salt Chunk Mary – “Someday I Will Treat You Good”
MP3: Sparklehorse – “Someday I Will Treat You Good”
Video: Sparklehorse – “Someday I Will Treat You Good” (YouTube)
MySpace: Sparklehorse

There’s also a tribute album to Sparklehorse in the works where you can almost surely expect another version of “Someday I Will Treat You Good” to turn up. Curated by Slight Record, the lineup of artists who will appear on Sad and Beautiful World is still being kept secret but confirmed are Daniel Johnston and Toronto’s Barzin, whom I just discovered last week.

Primarily the project of Barzin Hosseini though also enlisting talents such as Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers, their slow, sad and spacey country-tinged tunes recall Scotland’s Zephyrs (whose website is down now but hopefully that doesn’t mean anything…) as well as Mojave 3, Low and Red House Painters – in other words, the sort of stuff that I love. I’m a little surprised that I’d never even heard the name before, let alone the music, considering we share an area code but hey – better late than never. Their latest album is My Life In Rooms, released this past Spring domestically and just a couple weeks ago in the US. You can sample a few songs below or stream the whole record via the eCard. Barzin played Toronto last night opening for Stuart Staples and heads out on a European tour later this month.

MP3: Barzin – “Leaving Time”
MP3: Barzin – “Lets Go Driving”
MP3: Barzin – “Won’t You Come”
eCard: Barin / My Life In Rooms
MySpace: Barzin

And to loop back a bit, the Slight Record label is associated with the Slightly Confusing To A Stranger webzine, which currently has a live Sparklehorse track taken from this year’s Austin City Limits festival available to download:

MP3: Sparklehorse – “Sad & Beautiful World” (live at ACL 2006)

eye meets Devastations, playing at the ElMo downstairs tomorrow evening.

Filter has posted their almost unbearably precious yet somehow still insightful recent cover story on Cat Power online. Of course, I’m fairly sure this interview was conducted pre-breakdown/dry-out so any insights the author claims to have divined from his time with Ms Marshall are probably questionable. She plays the Phoenix November 22.

CokeMachineGlow interviews the boys from Grizzly Bear.

np – The Clash / The Story Of The Clash

So on Tuesday I Heart Music unveiled the results of this year’s “33 Hottest Bands In Canada” poll of Canuck bloggers and online media types. The criteria for the poll was simple – the bands had to be Canadian and they had to have had a “really good 2006”. How I chose to interpret those requirements was entirely up to me.

I had to think on the second criteria for a bit – you may recall that I was/am still smarting from my epically lame experience trying to pick nominees for the Polaris Music Prize earlier this year. With this in mind, I decided to ignore who was actually having a good year in terms of things like critical acclaim, record sales, public exposure, whatever, and pick the 10 bands/artists that got me personally excited about cheering for the home team this year. It could have been because of an album, a song, a live performance, whatever – all they had to be, really, was new to me and have gotten my attention.

Only five of my picks made the final list, which is probably about what I expected. I don’t know why, but I had expected there to be more unfamiliar names on the list – you know, in keeping with my general inability to keep an ear to the ground. But no, I’ve actually heard most of the artists on the final list and even have informed opinions about most of them. How about that? But here’s my list as submitted to Matthew last week along with whatever pithy annotations I could come up with at the time. Most of the others who participated have done the same on their own respective sites so if you want to see their lists and rationales, just click through the participant list in the I Heart Music post. And also note that you can now see the full list of all other nominees, many with linked audio samples. Nice.

1. Land Of Talk – Applause Cheer Boo Hiss is one of the best things I’ve heard by anyone from anywhere in any year.
2. Ohbijou – Fresh-faced and -sounding, yet already incredibly polished, this chamber-pop mini-orchestra has boundless potential.
3. The Airfields – Breaks your heart into little pieces and then breaks those pieces into smaller pieces.
4. Destroyer – I’m a latecomer to this party but I finally get it.
5. My Dad Vs Yours – Thank you, Matt, for the term “post-pop”.
6. The Coast – Their glistening pop is Toronto’s Anglophilia done right.
7. The Acorn – “Blankets”. All you need to hear.
8. Malajube – No idea what they’re saying but sounds great regardless.
9. The Diableros – Sugar-laced soul coated in delicious white noise.
10. Final Fantasy – 100 Canadian music critics can’t be wrong! Still warming to the record but breathtaking live.

And what are my selections up to? Land Of Talk are in town November 16 and 17 opening for The Dears at Lee’s Palace while Ohbijou supports their two November 18 shows (all-ages matinee, licensed evening show). Ohbijou are also at the Boat on November 27. The Airfields are currently… kicking around. Some signs of life but not too much to report. Dan “Destroyer” Bejar is currently occupied with his Swan Lake project, My Dad Vs Yours just wrapped a fairly tour-intensive October and The Coast are rereleasing their excellent self-titled EP on Tuesday and celebrate with a party/show at the Ukula store on November 9. The Acorn will release their new album Tin Fist in late November/early December, Malajube headline a show at Lee’s Palace on November 25, The Diableros are touring across Canada later this month and Final Fantasy performs at the North York Central Library on Saturday as part of the Blocks party.

Just in time for their big-ass party in NYC, CMJ has posted a two-piece article about the differences between indie labels and majors. In part one, they compare and contrast the life lessons of Harvey Danger and Rollerskate Skinny/Favourite Sons. Part two talks to some indie label reps about the current industry landscape and how bands like Be Your Own Pet and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are taking advantage.

One band that’s got a fair bit to say on the above topic are The Decemberists, in town on Monday night at the Kool Haus. Chris Funk talks Capitol expectations to Philadelphia Weekly while Colin Meloy address same (amongst other topics) for NOW and The Toronto Star and Nate Query for MP3.com. eye, on the other hand, skirts the topic completely preferring to talk about Robyn Hitchcock.

One of the great things about the return of zombie WOXY is the return of their Lounge Acts studio sessions – currently up, Frank Black, who incidentally calls rumours of a new Pixies album “Bulls–t”. And he actually pronounced the hyphens – both of them.

np – Daylight’s For The Birds / Trouble Everywhere

Things I know about Shout Out Out Out Out – 1) they’re from Edmonton, 2) they can make even Torontonians dance and 3) they’re playing the Horseshoe next Friday night and courtesy of The Musebox, I’ve got a prize pack to give away that includes a pair of tickets to said show, a copy of their new album Not Saying/Just Saying and a t-shirt, most likely with some sort of band-related slogan or artwork on it. Doesn’t that sound delightful? Sure it does.

To enter, email me at contests@chromewaves.net with “I want to Shout Out Out Out Out” in the subject line and your full name in the body. The contest will close at midnight, November 5 so get crack crack cracking. CONTEST NOW CLOSED. Congrats to Gloria of Toronto.

New Music Canada: Shout Out Out Out Out

I’m tempted to criticize Birmingham, UK’s Fields for being yet another band with a generic, un-Googleable one-word name but in a strange way I can’t quite articulate, it’s a very fitting name for what they do – listening to them, it somehow just feels right.

They were in town this past Monday for a small gig at Revival that didn’t seem to be part of any particular tour. They were also up against a couple of other high-profile shows that same night and not having had much in the way of publicity leading up to it, there was only a modest audience in attendance but probably better than expected. I was there because though I had not heard a note of the band before the previous Friday, what I did sample of their website impressed the hell out of me after just one listen. Plus locals The Coast were added as support so I was fairly assured that it’d be a good show.

It’d been over five months since I last saw The Coast and in the interim, they’ve signed a record deal with Aporia Records and are re-releasing their self-titled EP next Tuesday. Their set was even better than the last time I saw them (read the linked review) though in the same ways, if that makes any sense. It was also good to hear them roll some new tunes into the mix, – They’re playing a free CD re-release show at the Ukula Store next Thursday (November 9). It’ll be worth checking out.

It’s worth noting that I didn’t have a copy of the Fields record, 7 From The Village, before the show. I’d only listened to the online stuff a few times before heading to the show so for most intents and purposes, seeing them onstage would essentially be my first impression of the band – and it was a damn good one. Building towers of sound on the foundation of Nick Peill’s acoustic guitar and bolstered by Jamie Putnam’s shoegazey guitar and Thorunn Antonia’s squalling synths, their set was compact but intense and wholly impressive – an opinion greatly reinforced when I got a copy of the CD yesterday. Considering that the band has only been together for a year or so, it’s a bit fearsome to think about how much better they’re going to get with time. They’re generating some considerable buzz back home and if you were one of the 40 or 50 people in attendance Monday night (rough guess), consider yourself lucky – I suspect they’ll be drawing far more than that the next time they visit.

As for the record, the EP/mini-album draws a line from English folk bands like Pentangle and Fairport Convention and weaves it through a tapestry of electro-tinged, psych-rock goodness. Over the course of seven songs (hence the title) and just 27 minutes, they cover a wide breadth of stylistic bases while maintaining a distinctive and cohesive sound that’s simultaneously ancient, modern and timeless. Some standouts are the barreling rock of “Song For The Fields” and the anthemic pop of “Brittlesticks” but this record is extraordinarily solid top to bottom and bodes very well for their first full-length, due out next Spring.

Photos: Fields, The Coast @ Revival – October 30, 2006
MP3: Fields – “Brittlesticks”
MP3: Fields – “Song For The Fields”
MP3: The Coast – “The Lines Are Cut”
Video: Fields – “Brittlesticks” (MySpace)
Video: Fields – “If You Fail We All Fail” (MySpace)
Video: Fields – “Song For The Fields” (MySpace)
MySpace: Fields
MySpace: The Coast

Just as suddenly as it was announced, British Sea Power’s November 15 show at Lee’s Palace has been canceled. Don’t shoot the messenger, man.

Brett Anderson is previewing material from his forthcoming solo record on YouTube, starting with a new song – “Scorpio Rising”. The man has baby photos of himself on his website. That’s just… too much, man. Too much. Via The Tripwire.

Bradley’s Almanac has posted the recording of Cat Power’s solo show there this past September. Unlike the Toronto shows, which were sublime, the Beantown performance was a little more… classic Chan. The audio evidence is right there. Expect the presence of the Memphis Rhythm Band to (hopefully) keep her a little more focused and on the rails when she plays the Phoenix on November 22.

Eric Bachmann gives the AV Club a look inside his iPod and what they find may shock and titillate you. Okay, not really – it’s folk singers and language lessons.

Torontoist interviews The Fiery Furnaces, also in town this past Monday evening.

np – Fields / 7 From The Village