Sunday, March 2nd, 2008
This is Canadian Music Week so to mark the occasion, three records from bands who are not playing Canadian Music Week. Huzzah!
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The D’Urbervilles / We Are The Hunters (Out Of This Spark)
The debut full-length from Guelph’s D’Urbervilles crackles with the anticipation of some bad shit going down. The tension of the band straining to bust loose is tangible but singer/guitarist John O’Regen keeps everything barely in check with his almost preternaturally calm vocals – even when he’s shouting he sounds calm. It’s as though he knows that this musical knife fight is just the prelude to something even bigger coming around the corner. If there’s a complaint, it’s that that something bigger never quite manages to arrive – there’s post-punk border skirmishes and disco-rock commando strikes, but each only seems to be pointing to something bigger just over the next ridge and it’s that epic, battle of Mordor finale that never quite arrives. But maybe it’s for the best because the build up is tremendous and if was to actually deliver a worthy climax, heads might quite literally explode. A rather stunning record from a band that I didn’t know had it in them. I salute them.
The D’Urbervilles play a CD release show with labelmates Forest City Lovers at the Tranzac on Friday, March 14 and tour across Canada through late March and most of April.
MP3: The D’Urbervilles – “Dragnet”
MP3: The D’Urbervilles – “National Flowers”
MP3: The D’Urbervilles – “Hot Tips”
MySpace: The D’Urbervilles |
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Kara Keith / Kara Keith (Saved By Radio)
Kara Keith, former frontwoman for Calgary’s Falconhawk, drives her piano like a runaway car. She careens from the theatricality of “Gorgeous Gets The Gold” through the crashing power pop of “Kick This City” before skidding into the baroque tension of finale “Knosses”, and of course she gets up and walks away without a scratch on her. She’s obviously well trained on the keys but that doesn’t stop her from delivering the goods with irreverence, genuine punk rock zeal and enough stylistic ADD (know what goes great with angelic choral vocals? Massive fuzz bass!) to make the record’s 13-minute running time feel like even more of a whirlwind experience – but one that merits hitting the “repeat” button over and over again.
MP3: Kara Keith – “Kick This City”
MP3: Kara Keith – “Get Up And Go Go” |
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The Paper Cranes / Halcyon Days (Unfamiliar)
I’d almost forgotten that I reviewed the Paper Cranes’ debut EP Veins a couple years ago, though re-reading that piece doesn’t do much to remind me what I thought of it. I seemed rather fixated on singer Ryan McCullagh’s yelping and while yes, his vocals on the full-length will be a comfort for those who seek no cure for clapping hands, saying yeah or shouting out loud, they’re no longer the object of fixation for me. Maybe I’ve grown, maybe he’s grown, but either way it’s the songs and not the singing that stuck in my head this time around. They’re no longer easily pigeonholed as new wave or post-punk or whatever label jaggy guitars and, um, yelpy vocals usually garner – they’re still obviously children of the ’80s but there’s a melodic sophistication that mines a more timeless vein of pop songcraft.
The Paper Cranes play the Wrong Bar this Thursday night, March 6. Yes, it’s during Canadian Music Week. No, it’s not a Canadian Music Week show. And no, this is not the same band that’s opening for R.E.M. at SxSW next week – that’s a different Papercranes. Oh the difference a space makes.
MP3: The Paper Cranes – “I’ll Love You Till My Veins Explode” |
Saturday, March 1st, 2008
Photo via
ANTIBob Mould has long since earned the right, via his works with Husker Du and Sugar as well as his solo work, to do whatever the hell he wants. But it’s probably safe to say that most of his fans breathed a sigh of relief when he backtracked from his decision to give up electric guitar and concentrate on his DJ gigs and dance music. 2005’s Body Of Song was a welcome return to his more aggressive, plugged-in aesthetic though he brought with him touches of the electronica that has inspired him in recent years. This new, consolidated Bob returns with District Line, a record I’ve yet to hear in its entirety but which is garnering solid reviews.
Besides the return to the ear-shredding volume he’d once sworn off, the tour for Body Of Song was remarkable for the fact that Mould once again embraced the songs he’d written for Husker Du and Sugar, a trend that one can expect to continue when he returns to Toronto to play the Mod Club on March 10. And, courtesy of ANTI/Epitaph, I’ve got two prize packs consisting of a pair of passes to the show and a copy of District Line on CD to give away. To enter, shoot me an email to contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want the Bob” in the subject line and your full mailing address in the body. Contest will close at midnight, March 5.
Oh, and the other best thing about Bob live, besides getting to hear the likes of “Could You Be The One”? No vocoder.
The Star-Tribune and Reveille talk to Bob from a hometown POV and NPR has a World Cafe session.
MP3: Bob Mould – “The Silence Between Us”
Video: Husker Du – “Could You Be The One”
MySpace: Bob Mould
Saturday, March 1st, 2008
Some might challenge the legitimacy of “singer-songwriter” as a genre because as vague and pigeonhole-y as epithets as “jazz”, “rock” or “country” might be, they at least give some indication as to the musical gene pool from which an artist is descended. But what does “singer-songwriter” tell you? That the person in question both sings and writes. That’s helpful.
But consider Toronto’s Matthew Barber, who releases his new album Ghost Notes this week. It’s too soft to file under “rock”, too jauntily contemporary for the folk crowd and let’s not even get into the whole “pop” thing, whatever that might mean these days. And so we’re left with the singer – he has a fine voice, expressive and articulate yet not elastic enough to allow over-singing – and the songwriting, which covers the well-worn terrain of love and heartache but is well-crafted and mated to fine musicianship and sharp, yet subtle arrangements. It’s all quite pleasant but a bit overly-soft for my tastes. But hey, that’s singer-songwriter for ya.
Barber is playing an in-store at Sonic Boom next Thursday evening, March 6, at 7PM then jaunts down to Austin for some SxSW action before returning to his home and native land for the cross-Canada “Sibling Revelry” tour with sister Jill Barber which stops in at the Rivoli on April 3 (Chart and BeatRoute talk to both Barbers about the upcoming tour). And, courtesy of Stage Fright Publicity, I’ve got three copies of Ghost Notes to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want some hot singer-songwriter action” in the subject line and your full mailing address in the body. Get these in to me by the time Barber takes the Sonic Boom stage at 7PM on March 6 and, for a change, this contest is open to anyone anywhere.
And you can stream the whole record on his MySpace right now.
MP3: Matthew Barber – “Easily Bruised” (demo)
MySpace: Matthew Barber
Friday, February 29th, 2008
Though I came of age in the early ’90s, neither the Screaming Trees nor Afghan Whigs figured heavily into my musical development. I dug a few of the singles from each but I just couldn’t relate to their brand of bellowing angst – was more of a moper than a shouter. Did I say was?
Even though it’s been some 15 years since either band reached their commercial peaks with Sweet Oblivion and Gentlemen respectively, the frontmen from each band have never stepped out of the public eye. Mark Lanegan has carved out a critically acclaimed solo career in addition to his duties as a sometime-Queen Of The Stone Age and unlikely duet partner with Isobel Campbell while Greg Dulli has been a Twilight Singer for as long as he was an Afghan Whig and now the pair, who’ve worked together before in the Twilight Singers, are set to release the first album from their long-percolating collaboration as The Gutter Twins – Saturnalia, out Tuesday. And hell, if you’ve been waiting a long time for this? It was worth it.
It’s hard to imagine a situation in which Greg Dulli would be the good cop, but here – even though his vocals drip with the greasy soul and anguished lasciviousness that have long been his hallmark, they can’t withstand Lanegan’s weight of a thousand tombstones baritone. When he steps in, it’s like every light in the room dims and the temperature drops by ten degrees. The man has presence. They both do. And together, whether trading lead vocals or in harmony, they’ve produced a record that stands as one of the finer pure rock records I’ve heard in ages. Dominated by huge guitars (“Idle Hands” is an apocalypse I could get into) but also drenched in piano, strings and mellotron – this is no collection of home demos cobbled together – Saturnalia is grandiose but never loses the rawness or darkness that gives it its crackling vibrancy. Of course, when you’ve got two singers who sound like their concert rider could consist of nothing but whiskey and gravel, how could it? The songwriting drips with blues and soul with dashes of Americana and shows two veteran songwriters still restless, still searching and still not the kind of guys you’d want to run into in a dark alley. Absolutely bracing.
You can stream the whole album on their MySpace and they kick off their North American tour tomorrow at Noise Pop in San Francisco, with a Toronto date on March 14 at the Mod Club. There’s not many things that could make me wish I was here at home that week rather than eating tortilla-wrapped foodstuffs in Austin, but this show is one of them. And there’s a terrific feature on Lanegan in the new issue of Magnet, featuring conversations with many of his collaborators over the years as well as the man himself.
MP3: The Gutter Twins – “Idle Hands”
Video: Afghan Whigs – “Gentlemen”
Video: Screaming Trees – “Nearly Lost You”
MySpace: The Gutter Twins
The Oakland Tribune discusses the life story of The Mountain Goats with John Darnielle.
The Herald Sun gets to know Interpol frontman Paul Banks.
A Place To Bury Strangers tells The Deseret News they are pro-internet.
Drowned In Sound talks to Beach House about Devotion. They’ve a new video and are at the El Mocambo on March 28.
Video: Beach House – “Heart Of Chambers”
Thinking about heading to the ElMo this Sunday night to see Headlights and Evangelicals, aren’t that familiar with either band and don’t have a lot of time to spare? Have no fear – just check out the track below wherein Headlights cover Evangelicals. If you like the performance and the songwriting, it’s win-win. If you don’t like either… well there’s a new episode of The Simpsons on. You could watch that.
MP3: Headlights – “Skeleton Man”
MP3: Evangelicals – “Skeleton Man”
Billboard reports that Elbow’s next album The Seldom Seen Kid will get a North American release on April 22 courtesy of Fiction/Geffen.
Dev Hynes of Lightspeed Champion, who plays a free show at the Horseshoe on Tuesday night, chats with Exclaim!.
The Westender talks to British Sea Power, whose Martin Noble writes in The Guardian about the debut of The Modern Ovens, his Jonathan Richman covers band.
Entertainment Weekly has the tracklisting for the Heroes soundtrack, out March 18, which will feature artists such as Bob Dylan, Wilco and the first new Jesus & Mary Chain single in a decade. None of which changes the fact that it’s a terrible show.
Canadian Music Week hits next week and while we, as a city, haven’t cottoned to the culture of the day show yet – and probably never will – we have rather taken to the art of the in-store. Just consider the many mergers of live performance and retail next week: On Thursday, March 6 at 5PM you have Immaculate Machine at Soundscapes, then it’s a quick jaunt on the Bathurst 511 to Sonic Boom where Matthew Barber will be playing in the basement at 7PM. Then on March 7, Attack In Black will make those same wood-paneled walls rattle with a show at 7PM. Laura Barrett will serenade Soundscapes on Saturday the 8th at 4PM and then on Sunday at 4PM, once you’ve recovered from whatever CMW hangover you’re nursing, head back to Soundscapes for a show from Forest City Lovers. Yes? Yes.
And not an in-store, but there might be a merch table – Emily Haines plays the Phoenix on March 30.
And here’s something to wind out the week… new Iron Man trailer. May 2. Yes.
Trailer: Iron Man
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Photo via
EisleyI’m not a believer in the idea of “guilty pleasures” but if I were to hold the music I listen to up against an objective scale running from “cool” to “not so cool”, Eisley would almost certainly have to fall into the latter end of the curve.
And on paper, there’s a lot that about them that you could consider cred-defeating. An outfit comprised of all siblings and one cousin hailing from the Texas Bible belt and trading in earnest, major label-endorsed pop-rock would appear to have about as much edge as a rubber ball. But what they do have, and what all the studio gloss can’t obscure, is a glorious pop sensibility that guarantees at least a half-dozen melodic moments per album, delivered in the angelic voices of one of the DuPree sisters (or all three in harmony), that remind me of why I buy their records. Compared to their mostly midtempo debut Room Noises, 2007’s Combinations showcased the band’s rockier side though at the expense of some of the first record’s lyrical whimsy.
Eisley came through town a few times in support of Room Noises – I caught their first headlining show and felt old – but they’ve yet to tour through for Combinations until now. Their Spring tour still has many holes in it but their April 9 date at Lee’s Palace is on the books.
MP3: Eisley – “Golly Sandra” (live)
MP3: Eisley – “I Wasn’t Prepared” (live)
MP3: Eisley – “Just Like We Do” (live)
Video: Eisley – “Invasion”
MySpace: Eisley
As promised at his in-store last week, Kinks-man Ray Davies has booked a North American tour in support of his new solo record Working Man’s Cafe and will be at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto on April 3. Good news for everyone who couldn’t make it to HMV to see him play or who could make it but couldn’t see him anyway.
Anglo-Gallic trio The Teenagers return to town for a show at ANTI (nee Spin Gallery out on Queen West) on May 1 – full tour dates on their site. They will be celebrating the March 18 release of their debut Reality Check.
MP3: The Teenagers – “Starlett Johansson”
Video: The Teenagers – “Starlett Johansson”
The two-thirds of Low-powered Retribution Gospel Choir makes its Toronto debut June 21 at the Rivoli. Their debut, self-titled album is due out March 18.
NOW Q&A’s Devonte Hynes of Lightspeed Champion. He’s at the Horseshoe for a free show on Tuesday night (March 4).
Chart has a feature on Super Furry Animals.
Kevin Drew has a new video he’d like to share with you.
Video: Kevin Drew – “Lucky Ones”
The Georgia Straight talks to British Sea Power about the recording process of Do You Like Rock Music?. They’re at Lee’s Palace on May 16.
Black Mountain, playing Lee’s Palace on March 5, talk to NOW, The Montreal Gazette, The Chronicle Herald and hour.ca. Also on the bill is Bon Iver, who just released For Emma, Forever Ago last week. ArtistDirect, PopMatters and MP3.com chat with Justin Vernon.
Steve Earle discusses prison and Elvis with hour.ca. He’s at Massey Hall on March 4.
If you missed NPR’s stream of Wilco’s show in DC last night, fret not – it’ll be online soon it’s online now. And the band are also going to be on Saturday Night Live this Saturday night – playing live – with guest host Ellen Page.
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