Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
Mark Linkous’ Salt Chunk Mary demos
MyspaceSometime around, oh man, 2001 or 2002, I got a CD-R from a friend of mine in Richmond, Virginia containing a number of 8-track demo recordings circa 1993 by a local outfit called Salt Chunk Mary. They didn’t do too much but their singer-guitarist, a fellow by the name of Mark Linkous would go on to form a new project called Sparklehorse and over the next fifteen years or so, would craft four gorgeous records of otherworldly, fractured Americana before suddenly taking his own life in March of this year.
I had posted the best-sounding of these demos, including an early version of “Someday I Will Treat You Good” from his/their 1995 debut Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, back in 2006 to mark the release of Sparklehorse’s new record Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain, and since then every few months I’ve gotten a request from someone to hear the rest of them. A request I’d have obliged if I hadn’t misplaced the CD-R… or thought I’d misplaced it. Turns out it was in the rest of my CD collection under “S”. In the interim, Linkous passed away so as a way of fulfilling those requests and paying tribute to the man, here’s the demos in their entirety.
As with the ones I posted before, I’ve made up song titles based on the choruses – hopefully no one objects – and this Richmond Times-Dispatch interview remains essentially the only documentation online of Salt Chunk Mary’s existence.
Thanks for the music, Mark. Hope you’ve found some peace.
MP3: Salt Chunk Mary – “Won’t Know If You Don’t Try”
MP3: Salt Chunk Mary – “Rest Your Worried Mind”
MP3: Salt Chunk Mary – “instrumental”
MP3: Salt Chunk Mary – “Someday I Will Treat You Good”
MP3: Salt Chunk Mary – “I Take It All Back”
MP3: Salt Chunk Mary – “There Ain’t Nobody But You”
MP3: Salt Chunk Mary – “Break My Mind”
MP3: Salt Chunk Mary – “I”
MP3: Salt Chunk Mary – “Sorry Now”
Monday, November 22nd, 2010
Review of Feist’s Look At What The Light Did Now
FacebookOf all of the remarkable things that Feist has done in the past few years, one of the most impressive is managing to go from a state of almost complete ubiquity circa The Reminder to one of relative obscurity. Over the last two years, there’ve been the occasional guest appearance on others’ records and even rarer live appearances with Broken Social Scene, but by and large she’s done a fine job of keeping a low profile – presumably working on a new record but no one really knows.
That profile has risen again of late with the upcoming release of Look At What The Light Did Now, a documentary film culled from footage taken during The Reminder tour. Coming out on DVD on December 7 with an accompanying CD of recordings taken from and around the film, it received a hometown screening last night at the Royal Ontario Museum… which probably seemed like a good idea but proved to be an almost disastrous one thanks to the horrible acoustics in the main atrium. But if there was an upside to it, it was that you were forced to pay almost unnatural attention to the film to extract anything comprehensible from the echo- and reverb-drenched audio.
With regards to the film itself, some have questioned if there’s really a need for a Feist documentary when her career isn’t a decade old, and if Light was a biography of any sort, it’d be a valid question. But rather than focus on Leslie Feist the person, it spends most of its running time examining the art around The Reminder – not only the songs and the album itself, but everything surrounding it. The portion focusing on Clea Minaker’s shadow puppet/projections were particularly fascinating; I already regretted not seeing any of The Reminder shows – I last saw Feist perform way back in the Summer of 2005 – and now regret it even more now that I see what I missed.
Other segments recounted the recording of The Reminder in France, the filming of videos for “1, 2, 3, 4”, “I Feel It All” and “Mushaboom”, the last of which is not Reminder period-correct but offered some terrific anecdotes from director Patrick Daughters, and the assemblage of the artwork for The Reminder. Though there were some segments focusing on her early days and ascendancy to stardom, they were kept to a minimum, as were the behind the scenes tour footage that’re typically the bread and butter of musician docs (though the scenes of Feist and her band and crew playing ball hockey was pretty great). Instead, the topic of who she is and how she got where she is was left to be implied by her work, how she approaches her work and how and why she works with others. In focusing on the what and how rather than the who, Look At What The Light Did Now manages to be an engaging and entertaining document of one of Canada’s biggest and brightest musical stars while barely acknowledging that fact.
And in the Q&A with Feist following the screening, the inevitable question of “when is the next record coming” was raised and all that she’d offer in return was that she’d be recording over the Winter – based on that, I wouldn’t expect a new album before next Fall.
Video: Feist & Little Wings – “Look At What The Light Did Now”
Trailer: Look At What The Light Did Now
Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene talks about the KC Accidental days with Spinner. Broken plays the Sound Academy on December 9 and 10.
Planets profiles Dan Mangan.
The Guardian talks to Dan Snaith of Caribou.
Away from the city for far too long – she played here four times in eight months circa Neptune City – Nicole Atkins returns to Toronto for a show at the Horseshoe on February 26 with support coming from Cotton Jones; tickets $15 in advance. Her new record Mondo Amore arrives January 25.
MP3: Nicole Atkins – “Vultures”
MP3: Cotton Jones – “Gotta Cheer Up”
Keren Ann 101, the new record from, Keren Ann will be out February 21 – the rather divine first single “My Name Is Trouble” is currently streaming at her website.
John Vanderslice has set a Janury 25 release date for his next record, which will bear the title of White Wilderness, a record recorded over three days with the assistance of the Bay Area Magik*Magik Orchestra.
The Depreciation Guild have released a new video from their latest Spirit Youth.
Video: The Depreciation Guild – “Blue Lily”
Prefix and The Toledo Blade chat with Craig Finn of The Hold Steady.
Sunday, November 21st, 2010
Wilco and Fleet Foxes cover Bob Dylan and/or The Band
YouTubeLast week saw the release of a rather specific kind of tribute album – one devoted to The Band, which in and of itself isn’t that remarkable since their place in music history has been cemented for decades. But what made Garth Hudson Presents A Canadian Celebration Of The Band was, as the title clearly states, the fact that it was curated by and features guest spots from The Band’s keyboardist Garth Hudson and all participants were passport-carrying Canucks.
So even if they’d offered, Wilco and Fleet Foxes would have been politely told “no” by virtue of their collective American-ness. And it was their American-ness that prompted them to, in the Fall of 2008, to country-rock the vote by offering an MP3 of them performing “I Shall Be Released” in Bend, Oregon earlier that Summer in exchange for a pledge to vote in that year’s Presidential election (and if you weren’t American, it was implied that you were promising to vote in whichever democratic exercise was coming up in your own neighbourhood next). Interestingly, none of the participants in the new tribute record chose to cover “I Shall Be Released” – perhaps the stickiness of it having a sole Bob Dylan writers credit rather than a Band co-write, despite being performed by them and appearing on the seminal Music From Big Pink scared folks off?
In other Yankee Band-related news, A Canadian Celebration Of The Band gets a release south of the border as an import this week, though the price discrepancy and parity of currency probably makes it cheaper to order it from Canada anyways, and Band drummer Levon Helm will be bringing his famous Midnight Ramble shows to Toronto next year on March 4 and 5 at Massey Hall where he’ll be joined by Lucinda Williams.
Garth Hudson talks to The Toronto Sun, The Toronto Star and Spinner about the tribute project and tells aux.tv how Neko Case’s honourary Canadian-ness wasn’t enough to keep her contribution on the record.
MP3: Wilco with Fleet Foxes – “I Shall Be Released”
Video: Wilco with Fleet Foxes – “I Shall Be Released” (live)
Video: The Band – “I Shall Be Released” (live)
Saturday, November 20th, 2010
Grant CornettWho: Buke & Gass
What: Brooklyn duo whose unique angle is the use of homemade, hybrid instruments – specifically a modded baritone ukulele and a guitar-bass mash-up. The buke and the gass – get it?
Why: Though they visited a couple times in the Summer, their debut Riposte only came out in September and so it’s time for a proper promotional visit
When: Saturday, December 4, 2010
Where: Sneaky Dee’s in Toronto (19+)
Who else: Support comes from Brooklyn’s Talk Normal and Toronto’s Doldrums
How: Tickets for the show are $10 in advance but courtesy of Union Events, I’ve got two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want some Buke & Gass” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, November 30.
MP3: Buke & Gass – “Your Face”
Video: Buke & Gass – “Page Break”
Saturday, November 20th, 2010
Frank YangWho: Ra Ra Riot
What: The biggest orchestral indie rock band to ever come out of Syracuse, or anywhere in upstate New York for that matter.
Why: Their last visit was a sort-of-but-not-really-secret-and-free show just after the release of their second album The Orchard. Now they’re back – same room – but whereas the first time was free, this time you have to pay.
When: Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Where: The Mod Club in Toronto (19+)
Who else: Support comes from labelmates (in Canada, anyways) The Most Serene Republic and Winnipeggers Imaginary Cities
How: Tickets for the show are $16 in advance, but courtesy of Collective Concerts, I’ve got a grand prize consisting of a pair of passes to the show and a copy of The Orchard on CD and a second prize of a pair of passes to the show to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to Ra Ra Riot” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, November 28.
What else: The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix welcomes the band to the prairies for the first time by way of interview.
MP3: Ra Ra Riot – “Boy”
Video: Ra Ra Riot – “Boy”
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