Thursday, June 28th, 2007
Waaaaait a minute. Didn’t I, who have professed no love for much of anything Ryan Adams has done in the past half-decade or so, just run a post on the man last week? Well yes, but I wasn’t at all prepared for the enthusiasm with which the contest in that post was received and coincidentally, I’ve just been given another DRA-related prize to give away. So I am revising/amending/what have you the contest to accomodate.
It will work like this: the original contest for the Easy Tiger
LP, CD and poster, open only to Canadians, will still close tonight at midnight. BUT all non-winning entries will automatically be carried over to this new contest, which is a fancy-pants Easy Tiger lithograph autographed by Ryan himself (check it out). And since this contest, which comes courtesy of Filter, will be open to residents of the United States as well, I’ll ask that entries follow the same criteria as before – leave me a comment on this post saying which Ryan Adams song is your favourite (and the album it’s from, to help vote tabulation). Whiskeytown compositions are also eligible. A winner will be selected from the combined entries from the first contest and this one, which will close at midnight, July 4. Please be sure to leave a valid or decipherable email address I can contact you at.
This recent flurry of activity has prompted me to revisit some of Adams’ back catalog and reminded me of just how brilliant Heartbreaker was. This isn’t meant as a point of comparison to his recent stuff, that’s a horse that no longer needs beating, but just as a comment on the album on its own. It really is magnificent. So it’s no surprise that of the informal poll I was conducting via the original contest, 32% of the favourite songs came from that record. 19% were from Gold (the double-disc edition), 19% from Whiskeytown, 19% from his 2005 troika and only 11% from what I’m calling the Demolition era (the four shelved records that made up that compilation, plus the Love Is Hell and Rock N Roll releases). Curious to see if this ratio changes much with additional entries… I’m guessing no.
And to round things out, an interview with The AV Club, a short feature on Adams from Exclaim! and a the interview that it was culled from. Spinner has a couple of exclusive live videos of Adams and the Cardinals performing a song from Easy Tiger and another from Cold Roses. Finally, the first video from Easy Tiger is for the most directly rocking track from the album, “Halloweenhead”. Yahoo has an exclusive on it for now and has protected the content by geographic region – if you’re in Canada, use the first link. If you’re in the US, use the second. If you’re in neither, well too bad – though Yahoo UK seems to have two more live clips from the same session – or at least the same room – as those Spinner vids and they’re not behind any kind of territorial restrictions so everyone can share and enjoy.
Video: Ryan Adams – “Halloweenhead” (for Canada)
Video: Ryan Adams – “Halloweenhead” (for USA)
What else we got… Wilco are in town on Saturday for a show at Massey Hall. Jeff Tweedy apologizes to NOW for being a grump in interviews, thanks eye for comparing them to Television, Nels Cline shares a guitar tip with Spinner and The Boston Herald takes a wander through Wilco’s discography.
Patterson Hood gives Paste an update on the new album from the Drive-By Truckers as well as working with soul legend Bettye LaVette. He also talks to Savannah Now about recent goings-on in the Trucker camp. Ex-Trucker Jason Isbell, meanwhile, talks to Commercial Appeal about his new record Sirens Of The Ditch, out July 10. He’s at the El Mocambo here in Toronto on July 24.
Shows via For The Records: John Vanderslice is at the Horseshoe on October 1 and The Raveonettes are at Lee’s on October 14. Vanderslice’s new record Emerald City is out July 24. There’s an MP3. You can get it below.
MP3: John Vanderslice – “White Dove”
Totally overslept this morning and if my cat hadn’t decided to walk on my head for a good half hour, I’d probably still be asleep. Good kitty.
Wednesday, June 27th, 2007
There was a piece in the Chicago Tribune this week about how vinyl is making a comeback amongst music connoisseurs. Now this sort of piece that crops up every so often to bring warm fuzzies to analog-loving types, but there is truth to it if my contests are any barometer (which they’re really not). I’ve been giving away a fair amount of vinyl lately and here I am giving away some more.
Courtesy of Universal Music Canada, I’ve got a sweet Polyphonic Spree prize pack to give away to some lucky Toronto-dweller – a copy of the Dallas outfit’s latest album The Fragile Army on LP and a pair of tickets to their upcoming show at the Phoenix on July 5 (hence the Toronto-area restriction). To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see the Spree” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body. Contest closes at midnight, July 1.
MP3: The Polyphonic Spree – “Running Away”
Video: The Polyphonic Spree – “Running Away” (YouTube)
Myspace: The Polyphonic Spree
Wednesday, June 27th, 2007
Completely out of the blue yesterday morning and probably of interest mainly to people of my particular age and musical taste demographic was the news that The Verve were reuniting for shows in the UK this Fall and a new record for next year. My first reaction? Excitement. The Verve were one of the first bands whose heyday I got to experience in real-time, albeit only at the tail end with Urban Hymns, rather than as a back catalog discovery, and were crucial in bridging my musical tastes from straight-ahead Britpop to trippier, more psychedelic realms and my current shoegazing proclivities.
They were also, I think, the first band I cared about that I got to see implode. I had vague ideas of going to see them in 1997 in Hamilton before guitarist Nick McCabe suddenly quit the band and was replaced by pedal steel guitarist BJ Cole (sidebar – I think the move to add Cole was inspired. There’s no guitarist who could have replaced Nick directly, but by going in a totally different direction they added a completely new texture that deflected comparisons and also, theoretically, sounded great. I’ve never heard recordings from Cole’s tenure – I’m just guessing). From that point, it was just a matter of waiting for the inevitable though they did wait till 1999 before officially announcing the band’s dissolution. McCabe had quit before, during the A Northern Soul era, and all respect to his then-replacement Simon Tong (who’s not part of this reunion) but without McCabe and his otherworldy guitarwork, it wasn’t The Verve and not continuing on as if they were was really for the best.
Chalk it up to that distinctly British phenomenon of a singer and guitarist whose chemistry makes them so much more than the sum of their parts, but also so volatile. Bowie/Ronson, Morrissey/Marr, Anderson/Butler, Brown/Squire, Albarn/Coxon, and that’s just off the top of my head. It makes for some brilliant music but after the inevitable interpersonal blowout, rarely do either parties achieve the same creative heights again. So consider McCabe – who has been almost completely dormant over the past decade (a couple of guest appearances notwithstanding) and Ashcroft, who got clean, discovered the joys (and paycheques) of toothless, MOR soft rock and is a long time removed from earning the nickname of “Mad Richard”. Is there really any reason to think that they can recapture the energy and chemistry of over a decade past? Is the fact that everyone (presumably) gets along now a positive sign or a warning of impending disappointment? Surely the interpersonal friction was a critical element of their magic? I have visions (nightmares) of this new album consisting of mid-tempo piano ballads, less a storm in heaven than a touch of fog in the suburbs… But this is happening whether I approve or not, will sell craploads of concert tickets and make everyone lots and lots of money. But maybe I’m just being cynical – after all, they do say they’re “getting back together for the joy of the music” and who am I to contradict?
So yes, after the initial shock and excitement of the announcement, emotions have settled down to mostly a state of wariness and trepidation. But as I listen to A Northern Soul for the first time in ages, as I download the Urban Hymns demos that I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has on offer and consider dusting off the guitar to jam along with “Catching The Butterfly”… yeah, okay. Let’s see what you’ve got.
Video: The Verve – “Bittersweet Symphony” (YouTube)
Video: The Verve – “The Drugs Don’t Work” (YouTube)
Video: The Verve – “Lucky Man” (YouTube)
Video: The Verve – “Sonnet” (YouTube)
Video: The Verve – “History” (WMV)
Video: The Verve – “All In The Mind” (YouTube)
MySpace: The Verve
The AV Club gets Kele Okereke of Bloc Party to shuffle his iPod.
Chart has details on Calexico’s new instrumental record Tool Box, which will be available at shows and on their website and may well feature all the southwestern-sounding bits that were missing from Garden Ruin.
Filter offers first impressions of Rogue Wave’s forthcoming record Asleep at Heaven’s Gate, due out September 18.
Beach House discuss the direction of their second album with Pitchfork.
LullaByes has got the audio from Land Of Talk’s show in Dallas last week, a set chock full of new material. Via Largehearted Boy.
The Denver Post and Salt Lake City Weekly ask Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg to compare music and ornithology.
Filter has a conversation with Leonard Cohen.
Some more show announcements I missed in yesterday’s roundup, courtesy of Torontoist and For The Records – Liverpool’s Wombats, who I can only assume from their hair are the current band du jour across the pond, are at the Mod Club on August 11, The Black Lips will do damage to the Horseshoe on September 23 and The New Pornographers will be in town sometime around the third week of October – Beggars Canada’s tours page has the band playing on October 13 three different times in three different cities, but accounting for typos, it’s more likely they’ll be here around the 17th or 18th at the Phoenix on October 20th with Emma Pollock as support. The other question is will Dan and Neko still be with the band, as they will be for the already-announced September dates? Mysteries abound. Challengers is out August 21.
Tuesday, June 26th, 2007
It was a little infusion of Montreal at the Whippersnapper Gallery on Saturday night with an art exhibition from poster designer Jack Dylan, soundtracked by Montag and Miracle Fortress. The bill originally had the latter opening and the former headlining, but the running order was wisely flipped before showtime – putting aside the fact that the Miracle Fortress record is currently riding a not insignificant amount of buzz, following up a loud band with a not loud solo synth-pop artist just doesn’t make for the best dynamic.
And that’s not to take anything away from Antoine Bedard, he who is Montag and who has his own shiny new record in Going Places to promote. Though one-man synth bands as live performers tend to start off with a couple strikes against them what with being trapped behind a wall of keyboards, Montag did quite well for himself. For starters, Bedard seemed almost unnaturally happy to be playing, all pep and smiles, and that fit in well with the vibe of his music, which was also heavy on the pep and smiliness. Bedard’s decision to include lots of live percussion as well as violin to the live arrangements also added a very welcome organic and physical dimension to the show. Short and sugary-sweet.
I saw Miracle Fortress last October at Pop Montreal and was impressed with how the strength of the songs transcended the novelty and limitations of seeing Graham Van Pelt perform them solo, simultaneously working a drum kit, playing guitar and triggering keyboards and samples. But since the release of Five Roses last month and the acclaim that’s followed, it’s not only forced Van Pelt to transform Miracle Fortress from a pseudonym into a proper band but to step out from behind the figurative and literal shelter of the drum kit and play frontman.
I can’t imagine it’s an easy task to expand one man’s creative vision to three others, so even though the new additions were all fine players with terrific musical pedigrees, the inevitable growing pains were in evidence. It wasn’t anything especially specific, just a general feeling of the band getting used to playing the songs and with each other. It’s almost a shame that the record is so good as a whole because it makes reproducing it onstage, with all its soft and swirling textures, so much more daunting. Most notable was the odd, bleat-like quality that Van Pelt’s live vocals had when compared to the wonderful, Wilson-esque layered voices of the record and the individual songs, but I’ll chalk that up to nerves in transitioning from a studio project to a touring one and also the fact that the Whippersnapper’s PA system isn’t anything to write home about (unless it’s to complain).
But despite these complaints, the strength of Van Pelt’s compositions rose above it all and ensured a good time was had – the man has written some undeniably superb pop songs that can definitely translate in a live setting with the right arrangements, more confidence and experience. And as I heard that this show was a big improvement on the one they played a month ago at The Boat, I can only expect that they’re getting it all together and the next time through they’ll sound even better.
Canada.com talks to Van Pelt about the contrasts between Miracle Fortress and his other band, Think About Life.
Photos: Miracle Fortress, Montag @ The Whippersnapper Gallery – June 23, 2007
MP3: Miracle Fortress – “Have You Seen In Your Dreams”
MP3: Montag – “Best Boy Electric”
MP3: Montag – “Going Places”
MySpace: Montag
Billboard reports that Neil Young has pushed back the release of Archives Vol 1 from Fall of this year to Spring of 2008. I’m shocked – SHOCKED – that this isn’t coming out when initially promised.
Britt Daniel talks to NME about some of the circumstances around the recording of Spoon’s new record Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, out in a fortnight.
The full itinerary for Okkervil River’s Fall tour is now up – Pitchfork has the full itinerary – and I note that after their Friday show in Toronto on September 21 is a Saturday show just down the QEW at the Pepper Jack Cafe in Hamilton. I think this calls for a rock’n’roll road trip to the Hammer. Who’s with me? I’m serious. It’s in the calendar and everything. Donuts and Okkervil double header = the awesome. Support for the Hamilton show and presumably the Toronto one as well is Damien Jurado.
Joseph Arthur has been added to the day one of V Fest. Those hoping for more acts to make or break their decision to attend will probably be disappointed – as far as big names go, things are pretty much set. There’s some more smaller acts still to be named but Radiohead is NOT going to be an 11th hour addition. But come on, look at the lineup – it’s pretty damn good on both days. So says I.
Other random announcements – Cary Brothers is a the El Mocambo on July 29 with the ever-present Stars Of Track & Field. Don’t these guys have homes? Also Girl Talk is at the Phoenix on September 12, Akron/Family at Lee’s on September 23 (full tour dates at Tiny Mix Tapes) and Earlimart is in town at the El Mocambo October 5. Their show at Main Hall in Montreal the following evening is almost certainly a Pop Montreal showcase.
Grok the first official cast photo from the Iron Man film, complete with Robert Downey Jr in dubious facial hair and a folically-challenged Jeff Bridges.
I finished season three of The Wire. I… I have no idea what to do with myself now.
Monday, June 25th, 2007
This weekend’s slate of shows read a bit like my finalists list for this year’s Polaris Music Prize, what with Miracle Fortress on the Saturday evening (check back tomorrow) and The Besnard Lakes on Friday at the Horseshoe, in support of their perhaps prophetically-titled album Are The Dark Horse. And if that sentence is as awkward as I suspect it is, I apologize.
Opening for the Besnards for this night (though they weren’t technically headlining, I didn’t stick around for final act In-Flight Safety) was fellow Montrealer Jade McNelis, whose debut All The Fables EP was released this past March. With a strong voice, classically-trained piano chops and a solid band behind her, McNelis’ material was good but still a little too easy to accurately describe as “girl with a piano”. She reminded me of Emm Gryner, though steeped more in jazz and rock than straight pop and balladry. Enjoyable and lots of potential, but not distinctive enough to make me take notice… yet. The Toronto Star talked to McNelis before NxNE at the start of June.
I think I managed to miss the Besnard Lakes live maybe a half-dozen times in the past nine months or so, and that’s with my actually making an effort to see them. Scheduling issues, as they say. But this night, I finally got to see them and the timing was good as Are The Dark Horse has recently been burrowing its way further into my consciousness. The six-piece band came fully armed to recreate The Dark Horse‘s psychedelic pop otherworld, pedalboards and smoke machines a-plenty, but for some reason, they didn’t bring the reverb. Whereas the album is drenched in bottom-of-a-well reverberation, they played this show mostly dry. But rather than dispel some of the material’s mystique, their Beach Boys backed by Hendrix vibe remained intact and if anything, the more direct sound served to emphasize the classic rock goodness of the band’s triple guitar attack.
And I’d like to point out just how impressive their guitar arrangements were – even with the three axes, their choice of tone and notes played was such that no one ever stepped on each others’ parts or sounded unnecessary. Probably a geeky thing to notice but it definitely caught my ear. Actually the tightness and focus of their set overall surprised me a bit – with a record ripe for jamming out, I would have expected some more extended musical excursions but they kept things firmly on track. Probably being the middle band, albeit the one most were there to see, with a fixed time slot had something to do with that. But seeing it performed live confirmed that Horse was one of the most interesting Canadian albums of the past year – yes, I’m still in Polaris-think mode. Only disappointment on the night? They were sold out of the flaming horse t-shirts in my size.
Photos: The Besnard Lakes, Jade McNelis @ The Horseshoe – June 22, 2007
MP3: The Besnard Lakes – “And You Lied To Me”
MySpace: The Besnard Lakes
Muzzle Of Bees has details on Magnolia Electric Co’s forthcoming release The Sojourner Boxset, which as implied will collect a wealth of recent unreleased MEC material over four CDs, one DVD, 5,000 copies and out August 7. Molina and co are at Lee’s Palace on October 5.
Drowned In Sound talks to Tokyo Police Club about their UK Summer festival itinerary.
Biggie-sized shows coming to town – The Cure will be at the Air Canada Centre on September 27, 65 Days Of Static support, and Bloc Party at the Ricoh Coliseum on September 28.
Some forthcoming release news – Super Furry Animals will release Hey Venus! on August 28 – full details at Prefix. Super Furry frontman Gruff Rhys will be in town doing the solo thing September 25 with a show at the Rivoli. The Weakerthans’ Reunion Tour is out September 25, details at Punknews, and Aversion has it that British Sea Power’s third album will bear the cryptic title of Now That’s What I Call World War One Joy Division. Ask for it by name sometime this Fall.
Takeaway Shows featured a joint Voxtrot/Sparrow House session last week.
JAM! caught up with Ryan Adams during his recent tour stop in Toronto. Sadly, no further revelations of drug abuse or near-death experiences – just talk about his music. Booooring. Easy Tiger is out tomorrow, critical reaction is decent.
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