Monday, February 27th, 2012
Scud Mountain Boys at Lee’s Palace in Toronto
Frank YangEven in this age of band reunions run amuck, the returns of some outfits to active duty seem highly unlikely. Maybe the animosity between the principals is too deep for even the biggest prospective paydays to put aside, or the prospect of being regarded as a nostalgia act rather than active, vital artist is too unpalatable, or maybe the band’s audience wasn’t all that big the first time around and their legend hasn’t necessarily grown enough in the interim to make it seem worthwhile.
Any and all of these could reasonably have applied to early ’90s alt.country outfit Scud Mountain Boys. A falling out, the specifics of which have grown vague, left it so that singer-guitarist Joe Pernice hadn’t spoken to the other three in some fourteen years, Pernice had since established himself as a successful bandleader via Pernice Brothers and solo artist, and though the Scuds certainly had their devotees, their name wasn’t exactly topping anyone’s list of dream Coachella headliner reunions. And yet last Summer, following the death of a close mutual friend, Pernice decided to reach out to his former bandmates and revisit the old material – net result, a string of live dates along the east coast in early 2012 that wrapped up, for the moment, this past Saturday night at Lee’s Palace in Pernice’s adopted hometown of Toronto.
Any question about the vibe of the night was answered with the band’s stage setup, carried over from their original incarnation – a kitchen table set up in the middle of the stage, adorned with a small lamp and surrounded with comfortable chairs. It was both symbolic, hearkening to the band’s beginnings sitting around a kitchen table playing music together, and practical, giving them a place to put their drinks. And with regards to my earlier comments that no one was waiting for this reunion – that’s not to say that it wasn’t welcome; a few hundred locals were out for the occasion, and some were louder and rowdier than the band themselves.
Being more a fan of the Pernice Brothers’ ornate pop than the Scuds’ country leanings – relatively speaking, just to be clear – I’ve always preferred the more produced third album Massachusetts to their sparser, earlier records Pine Box and Dance The Night Away (collected and rereleased as The Early Year) but hearing the earlier material was a great reminder that those simpler recordings still contained some great, great songs. And also that as much as history has framed the Scuds as Pernice’s old band – and he was great, having shaved for the occasion and looking a lot like Elvis Costello, and still a hilarious onstage personality who despite planning to become a Canadian citizen this year, hadn’t forgotten his Boston roots (“Pogge or Rask?”) – the others were far more than just a supporting cast. Drummer Tom Shea was deft on mandolin for the front half of the show before taking up behind the drum kit, bassist Stephen Desaulniers’ voice has more of an innate twang than Pernice’s honeyed vocals and guitarist Bruce Tull’s leads offered a great balance of emotion and melody.
The 90-minute set was actually more dynamic than a show anchored around a kitchen table might have implied, the Massachusetts material almost rocking out (thought still seated) and main set closer “Cigarette Sandwich” coming across particularly rollicking. But perhaps most importantly, given the history of the band, everyone onstage seemed to be having a grand time of it and that spirit carried over into the audience, including former Pernice Brothers and current Sadies drummer Mike Belitsky. He was texting taunts at Pernice during the encore, causing him to crack up whilst trying to sing the somber Cher cover of “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves” (the table was also good for holding mobile phones). A hilarious end to a wholly entertaining show, and if that ends up being it for the Scuds reunion – there are no more dates on the sched and Joe will be turning his attention to the new Pernice Brothers record due out this year – then it went out on a high note.
The Washington Post has an interview with Pernice about getting the band back together.
Photos: Scud Mountain Boys @ Lee’s Palace – February 25, 2012
MP3: Scud Mountain Boys – “Grudge Fuck”
Stream: Scud Mountain Boys – “In A Ditch”
Stream: Scud Mountain Boys – “Sangre de Cristo”
Both The Line Of Best Fit and DIY crash Stephin Merritt’s hotel room to record Magnetic Fields video sessions, while NPR has new album Love At The Bottom Of The Sea streaming in full before it emerges next Tuesday. They’re at the Sound Academy on March 30.
Stream: The Magnetic Fields / Love At The Bottom Of The Sea
Spin solicits a list of Sharon Van Etten’s favourite things; The Ottawa Citizen also has a chat.
Frankie Rose – whose CV takes her through such acts as Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls and The Outs – has released her acclaimed debut under her own name alone in Interstellar and will bring it to The Shop Under Parts & Labour on May 2.
MP3: Frankie Rose – “Little Brown Haired Girls”
Beirut has released a new video from last year’s delicious The Rip Tide. Hear it, and others like it, when the band are at The Sound Academy on July 19.
Video: Beirut – “Vagabond”
Baeble Music has premiered a new video from The Wooden Birds, taken from Two Matchsticks.
Video: The Wooden Birds – “Long Time To Lose It”
Drowned In Sound chats with Andrew Bird, whose new album Break It Yourself is out March 6 and now streaming in full at NPR.
Stream: Andrew Bird / Break It Yourself
NPR welcomes Nada Surf for a World Cafe session. They play The Opera House on April 4.
Spin interviews James Mercer of The Shins. Their new album Port Of Morrow comes out March 20.
Sunday, February 26th, 2012
Lambchop covers American Music Club
Rateyourmusic.comA lot of folks were surprised when Nashville’s Lambchop returned with their new record Mr. M last week. Not because it was great – that’s pretty much the baseline for anything that Kurt Wagner and cohort release – but that it happened at all, many assuming they’d quietly called it a day after 2008’s OH (Ohio).
But as surprise comebacks go, it doesn’t hold a candle to the return of San Francisco’s American Music Club, who against all expectation reformed in 2003 after a decade apart and with frontman Mark Eitzel having cultivated a relatively fruitful solo career. The AMC reunion yielded two very good albums – Love Songs For Patriots and The Golden Age and a goodly amount of touring before apparently being put back into mothballs. Alas.
In the midst of their first hiatus, American Music Club got what all revered yet underappreciated bands get and that’s a tribute album – Come On Beautiful: The Songs Of American Music Club collected a bevy of artists who may have been small names circa 2001, but would go on to much larger things – including Lambchop. Kurt Wagner, on the band’s artist page on the compilation website (still up!) talks about how he initially didn’t care for AMC but came around on them. And in the present day, he talks to The AV Club about Mr. M.
MP3: Lambchop – “Why Won’t You Stay”
Video: American Music Club – “Why Won’t You Stay” (live in Ireland, 2004)
Saturday, February 25th, 2012
thewalkmen.comWho: The Walkmen
What: Veteran New York rockers who’ve carved out a successful, decade-long career consisting of six albums with a seventh on the way.
Why: A 10th anniversary is as good a time as any to have a look back and throw a party, so the band are doing just that with a series of one-off, career-retrospective shows
When: Friday, March 2, 2012
Where: The Phoenix in Toronto (19+)
Who else: It’s billed as “An Evening With The Walkmen”, not “An Evening With The Walkmen And Some Other Band That Will Keep You From Seeing The Walkmen For An Extra Hour”. So there.
How: Tickets for the show are $26 in advance but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I’ve got one pair of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with, “I want to be a Walkman” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, February 28.
What else: Hardly getting stuck in the past, they’ve just completed the follow-up to 2010’s Lisbon – they talk to Paste and Stereogum about the new record, which they hope to have out in the Spring and which you can expect to hear material from when they open for Florence & The Machine at The Molson Amphitheatre on August 2.
MP3: The Walkmen – “Stranded”
MP3: The Walkmen – “Four Provinces”
MP3: The Walkmen – “In The New Year”
Saturday, February 25th, 2012
Andre GueretteWho: The Barr Brothers
What: Montreal-based, Boston-bred quartet led by 2/3 of art-pop trio The Slip who are, indeed, brothers surnamed Barr.
Why: Taking a break from their main gig produced a rustic-sounding self-titled debut that’s garnered much acclaim.
When: Thursday, March 1, 2012
Where: The Great Hall in Toronto (19+)
Who else: Fellow Montrealer Little Scream makes it a top-to-bottom solid bill
How: Tickets for the show are $15 in advance but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I’ve got one pair of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with, “I want to be a Barr Brother” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, February 28.
What else: CBC Radio 3 has a profile piece on the band.
MP3: The Barr Brothers – “Beggar In The Morning”
Video: The Barr Brothers – “Beggar In The Morning”
Friday, February 24th, 2012
Charlotte Hatherley reveals herself as Sylver Tongue devil
The GuardianWith her tenure in Ash, as sidewoman to the likes of KT Tunstall and Bat For Lashes and a solo career that’s yielded three good albums, Charlotte Hatherley has pretty well established herself as a purveyor of sharp, smart power-pop and more than a bit of a guitar heroine. But apparently she’s been hiding another side of herself that worships at the altar of ’80s-vintage electro-pop and that side has now surfaced under the guise of Sylver Tongue.
So far there’s just the one single to represent her first work since 2009’s New Worlds, but it comes with an accompanying video that demonstrates in no uncertain terms what the aesthetic of the project is, which is to say happily neon and glammy. The track itself is far from a club floor banger, its dreamy pace probably better suited for slow dances at proms and if you traded some synths for guits, it wouldn’t have been out of place on her second album The Deep Blue. In any case, it’s good to know that Hatherley remains a solid songwriter, whatever the genre or identity.
Album information is still forthcoming, but the “New band of the day” feature at The Guardian implies they’ve heard more from her and they like it. Which bodes well.
MP3: Sylver Tongue – “Hook You Up”
Video: Sylver Tongue – “Hook You Up”
The Independent and The Fly have interviews with Beth Jeans Houghton.
Pitchfork has got the… interesting cover art from the new Spiritualized record Sweet Heart Sweet Light, due out April 17, and a stream of the first single. They’re at The Phoenix on May 5.
Stream: Spiritualized – “Hey Jane”
SXSW chats with We Were Promised Jetpacks, who will be at Lee’s Palace on April 15.
Mystery Jets have given their fourth album a title of Radlands and a release date of April 30; some details on the release and a trailer for the album can be found at Exclaim.
Charles Watson of Slow Club talks to The Vinyl District.
The Fly chats with the Brewis brothers of Field Music.
NPR has a World Cafe session with Los Campesinos!.
DIY interviews Fanfarlo, whose Rooms Filled With Light comes out on Tuesday, February 28. They play The Mod Club on March 25.
The April 17 Kaiser Chiefs show at The Phoenix has been moved to The Opera House due to “scheduling conflicts”, so don’t read the downgrade in venue as indicative of their popularity. No, seriously.
English DJ-type guy Star Slinger is back for a show at Lee’s Palace on May 14 as part of a Spring tour.
MP3: Star Slinger – “Mornin'”
MP3: Star Slinger – “Minted”
James Blake talks to Spinner about where he wants to head, musically-speaking, next.
Under The Radar has got videos of Blur’s comeback performance at The Brits earlier this week, and The Quietus examines the merits of some of their lesser-known, non-album tracks. Oh, and they’re now headlining the Way Out West festival in Gothenburg, Sweden in August – anyone want to go?
Holy Moly has a sit-down with Niki & The Dove. Their debut Instinct is out May 14.
The Line Of Best Fit has posted a video session with The Mary Onettes.
Denmark’s Alcoholic Faith Mission, whom I believe impressed a lot of people when they were here for NXNE last year, are coming back for a date at The Drake on May 2, tickets $13.50 in advance. They’re giving away their last album Daylight From Above until February 29 over here and their new one Ask Me This comes out March 27.
MP3: Alcoholic Faith Mission – “Running With Insanity”
Paste has an interview with Icelandic composer Ólufar Arnalds about his two new releases: Living Room Songs, which collects tracks that were recorded and released one a day last October and Another Happy Day, which is a soundtrack to the film of the same name and out next week. One of the Living Room Songs tracks also has a video, even though clips of the actual recording sessions for each song are also out there. Arnalds was one of the highlights at Iceland Airwaves last year, and has been soundtracking a lot of my time lately. Recommended if you like pretty things.
MP3: Ólufar Arnalds – “Near Light”
Video: Ólufar Arnalds – “Near Light”
Stream: Ólufar Arnalds / Another Happy Day original soundtrack and Living Room Songs
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