Thursday, October 27th, 2005
It’s been a hard year for Low. 2005 started out great – they released one of their best albums and possibly one of the best of the year by anyone in The Great Destroyer – but partway through their Spring tour, the wheels began to come off. First, they had to cancel a slew of dates (including a June show in Toronto) on account of a mental breakdown on Alan Sparhawk’s part. Within the last couple months, Sparhawk seemed to have recovered well enough to play with his other outfit in The Retribution Gospel Choir, as well as a few one-off Low dates here and there. But now comes word from Pitchfork that bassist Zak Sally has left the band… again.
You may remember the Sally quit before, back in 2003, but was lured back by the prestige (and dollars) of opening a European tour for Radiohead. That time, the terse announcement made it sound like it was a move made out of anger or temper. This time, his announcement seems more thought out and final. He has already been replaced by Retribution Gospel Choir bassist Matt Livingston (whom The Duluth Superior has a chat with), so while his departure is sad – any time one-third of the band leaves, there’s going to be an effect – hopefully this won’t spell the end of the band in any sense. They still owe Toronto a show.
But! Whatever happens in Low-land from here on out, we’ll still have the records. And the videos. Like these ones – I had no idea they’d made three clips for The Great Destroyer. Check em out:
Video: Low – “Death Of A Salesman” (.MOV)
Video: Low – “California” (.MOV)
Video: Low – “Monkey” (.MOV)
And speaking of things I didn’t know about videos – I had no idea that The Decemberists were still milking The Tain. I note that they recently reissued the EP – I guess it was out of print? – but now it appears they’re making a DVD video for their 20-minute epic to soundtrack? Coolio. No release date yet, but BrooklynVegan has some screen caps.
Billboard talks to James Shaw about juggling duties with Metric and Broken Social Scene. It’s this scheduling nightmare that’s led BSS to recruit some new help on their current tour, namely vocalist Lisa Lobsinger, formerly of Calgary’s Reverie Sound Revue. Anyone who’s heard the RSR stuff (there’s a couple working MP3s on that link) know that Lobsinger has got the pipes, but the faithful still aren’t convinced. Change is necessary, kids. The Minnesota Daily also has a piece on the band.
And as they did last year, Stars are closing out the year with a couple of shows – December 16 and 17 at Lee’s Palace, tickets $15. This one is probably already sold out. NOW, who declare Amy Millan as Toronto’s best female singer, gets a couple tips from Amy about where to find good lingerie and country music in the city. Update: the Saturday show will be a double-header, one a dry all-ages matinee performance and a licensed evening show. Both are $15.
Ryan Adams gets his third album of the year out just under the wire. Look for the final episode in his 2005 trilogy, 29, in stores on December 20. Rachel at Scenestars has assembled a frighteningly comprehensive radio blog covering the entirety of Adam’s career. And I mean entirety.
See, if more labels would do what Merge is doing – namely giving away a downloadable copy of the album with every vinyl purchase, I would be a happy, happy man. Of course, I don’t really want The Clientele record in any format, so this particular offer is moot, but the practice? Gold. Hope it catches on.
The Torontoist week in shows.
My iPod was in Alaska yesterday. ALASKA. This thing is going to be better travelled than I am before I get it.
np – Explosions In The Sky / How Strange, Innocence
Wednesday, October 26th, 2005
I was pleasantly surprised to see Pitchfork’s feature story on twee and indie pop this week. While I’m nothing remotely resembling a connisseur of the genre (as my brief tenure as a member of the Indiepop List proved – I could go through entire digests and not see one band name I recognized), I do like a good dose of anorak-wearing, note-passing, kitten-petting, sugar-frosted wimp rock now and again. Too much of it and I want to go start fights just to get the testosterone levels back into the black, but in properly measured doses, it’s great. I definitely prefer the British stuff to the American (C86 yes, K Records no), and since I already did a Field Mice post earlier this year, I’ll devote this one to Heavenly, as well as their antecendents and descendents.
I was very pleased that the article acknowledged that despite being one of the big bands of the “twee” scene, Heavenly were far from stereotypical of it. The musicianship was top-notch, especially Peter Momtchiloff’s sinewey guitar lines, the production tight and the harmonies between Amelia Fletcher and Cathy Rogers, well, heavenly. But I think my favourite thing about Heavenly was the lyrical content – it wasn’t cutesy, though it may have sounded like it because of the delivery. It was clever, sharp and often quite dark. Themes like shiftless boyfriends, romantic despair and date rape abounded – rather than write about daydreamy schoolgirl crushes, they seemed to prefer to talk about what happens when the boy turns out to be a total dick. But in such a way that you could dance to.
The heart and soul of Heavenly were the Fletchers, siblings Amelia and Matthew. Amelia was the voice that made the indie boys swoon, Matthew played the drums. They’d started out as teenagers in Talulah Gosh, and what that outfit lacked in sophistication, they made up with the bubbly energy that characterized the early British indiepop sound. After a couple of albums and singles (collected on Backwash), Talulah Gosh disbanded and reassembled with a couple of lineup changes as Heavenly. Sadly, their run ended in 1996 when Matthew Fletcher took his own life after the recording of their third and final album, Operation: Heavenly.
A few years later, the remnants of Heavenly regrouped with a new drummer and became Marine Research, who released one wonderful album in Songs From The Gulf Stream that continued on down the pure pop path that Heavenly begun before disbanding themselves. But despite losing Momtchiloff and Rogers (who would go on to host Junkyard Wars), the remaining members soldiered on in yet another incarnation, Tender Trap, who released Film Molecules in 2002. And that’s pretty much the last I’ve heard of Amelia Fletcher’s adventures in indie pop. This article in The Guardian last year says she’s director of economic and statistical advice and financial analysis at the Office of Fair Trading – probably not a euphemism for active rock’n’roller. But she’s allowed to retire – she’s created more than her share of great pop music.
Here’s some muuuusic for ya. I had wanted to post both tracks from this Built To Spill/Marine Research 7″ wherein each band covers one of the others’ songs (BTS does a Heavenly tune), but I see that it’s still in print. Even though I’ve posted both tunes in the past as an MP3 of the week, I’m not comfortable with posting the entirety of the record (and I don’t want Calvin Johnson to come kick my ass) so you’ll just have to buy it if you want to hear it. But take my word for it, they’re great. The BTS track also appears on their The Normal Years compilation. I will give you one old Heavenly tune and one new(er) one. “Shallow” comes from their debut record Heavenly Vs Satan while “Space Manatee” is from their swan song, Operation: Heavenly (mp3s courtesy of Epitonic – they may ask you to register, if you haven’t before).
MP3: Heavenly – “Shallow”
MP3: Heavenly – “Space Manatee”
There’s also some good Marine Research stuff available online at their old label.
MP3: Marine Research – “Hopelessness To Hopefulness”
Video: Marine Research – “Parallel Horizontal” (.mov, 15MB)
You know, trying to find online info about lower-profile bands that predate the internet is BRUTAL. The above pre-Cathy pic is the only Heavenly image of any size I could find online. You’d think someone would have scanned the liner notes of any of their albums at some point. Don’t look at me, I don’t have a scanner.
The Cardigans were twee once upon a time. Then they discovered metal. They talk to The Cribs have indeed cancelled their North American tour, the other two acts on the bill – Longwave and Giant Drag will still be playing. Refunds are available for those who only wanted to see The Cribs and tickets for the smaller show are now just $10.
So I ordered an iPod last week. One of the new video dealie doos, a 60 gigger. Please, no congratulations on my indoctrination into the cult of creepy black silhouettes doing funky dances on billboards, it was strictly a pragmatic move since I’ve noticed my CDs are starting to get scuffed from being constantly loaded and unloaded into CD wallets and being toted around. That said, I am excited about getting my new toy which according to FedEx, left Shanghai yesterday and is currently over the Pacific somewhere. What was it doing in Shanghai? Getting engraved, apparently. Why did it have to go to Shanghai to get engraved? I do not know.
np – Mojave 3 / Spoon & Rafter
Tuesday, October 25th, 2005
You may (or may not) remember me saying not too long ago that I had been generally underwhelmed by SF pop combo Rogue Wave – I’d given their debut record Out Of The Shadow and their live show a fair shake but just couldn’t quite get into it.
Well, it turns out I’d simply arrived one album too early if I wanted to be really impressed. Rogue Wave’s sophomore album Descended Like Vultures, out today, is a revelation. Where Shadow was kind of fuzzy and lacking focus, definitely showing its one-man show origins, Vultures is confident, fully-formed and just all-around better. Both the songwriting and production are much sharper than on the debut – I think playing with a full band agrees with Zach Rogue. Hopefully with this record, they’ll move out from the shadow of their labelmates and musical kindred spirits in The Shins and folks like me will stop namechecking them when talking about RW (though it’d probably help if they got different album artwork – compare the album art with that of a Chutes Too Narrow-era single. Different artists, but undeniably similar in style).
The album’s Metacritic page is still pretty barren, but I expect to see a brace of very positive reviews in short order. I’m not sure it’s year-end list material for me, but it’s going to get some serious consideration. Gorilla Vs Bear is also very enthusiastic about the record and has some downloads, old and new.
There’s also some more audio to be found at the band’s sorta-secret MySpace page, including a cool cover of Buddy Holly’s “Everyday”, taken from the soundtrack for the Stubbs The Zombie video game, and on the press side, SF Weekly has a feature on the local boy done good (though the bit about Zach Rogue being supermodel-hot does leave me scratching my head). Rogue Wave the live act will get another chance to impress me on November 27 when they play the Horseshoe. And in the meantime, here’s a track from the new album courtesy of SubPop.
MP3: Rogue Wave – “Publish My Love”
Death Cab For Cutie answers the “sell out” question for the umpteenth time, this time to PopMatters and The Houston Chronicle, while they think out loud to MTV about the next album.
I was apparently overzealous in reporting that Trespassers William’s Having would be out on January 24 – they’re now going with the vaguer “February ’06″… but they have redone their website. So things are progressing. I will keep you posted.
And speaking of guesstimating release dates, Centro-Matic figures we should see their new album around March. Ish.
Brendan Benson is coming back to Toronto for – what – the third time this year? This time, he’s back at the Horseshoe on December 3, a damn sight cozier than his last time through at Massey Hall opening for Keane. Tickets are $12.
Ticketmaster is reporting that the November 12 show featuring The Cribs/Longwave/Giant Drag show has been cancelled – not just the Toronto show, but the whole tour (check out the fourth post from the bottom). Poor Longwave – that’s the second time they’ve had a tour cancelled out from under them this year, the first was when Embrace bailed earlier this Summer. Just goes to show – you can’t count on the British for anything.
np – Centro-Matic / Love You Just The Same
Monday, October 24th, 2005
Bits and pieces today. Drips and drabs.
With the release of The Cardigans’ Super Extra Gravity in Europe last week, the press is starting to descend on the band for features, interviews, etc. Here’s some of the first salvo – pieces from The Independent, Gigwise and Contact Music. There’s also a radio session with XFM up for your streaming pleasure. Last I checked, the record was still due for a Canadian release tomorrow, but I suspect it’ll be more like a couple weeks before actual copies start showing up in shops. Oh, Said The Gramophone has another track from the new album available to download.
Wilco have put up a 4-song preview of Kicking Television in their Roadcase. The full double-album will be in stores November 15.
Harp makes sweet sweet interview love to Sigur Ros.
Metromix declares Arcade Fire “rookie of the year”. Win Butler accepts the award by phone.
Toronto Life interviews the man behind the curtain for Broken Social Scene – producer Dave Newfeld. The Boston Globe settles for the Great and Powerful Oz – ak Kevin Drew.
Colin Meloy of The Decemberists confesses to The Daily Nebraskan that he’s downloaded leaked records before, even though he asked that anyone who had a leaked copy of Picaresque before its release earlier this year to not post it online.
I stopped in at the release party for the new Fall issue of Shameless magazine yesterday afternoon and caught performances by Republic Of Safety and Couger Party. Neither act was really my thing, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t take pictures. Just a few, though.
With the release of The Complete Calvin & Hobbes, the Associated Press takes a stab at tracking down Bill Watterson. With little success. I saw the three-volume hardbound set in a store the other day – it looked absolutely gorgeous.
Oh yeah, check this out:
SELL! SELLLLL!!!!
np – Okkervil River / Black Sheep Boy
Sunday, October 23rd, 2005
We’ve got a sort of covers theme going on today…
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various artists / This Bird Has Flown (Razor & Tie)
At first glance, it looks like a can’t-miss proposition. In honour of Rubber Soul‘s 40th anniversary, gather up fourteen top-notch, mostly indie-friendly acts and get them to cover one track a piece from the album. Compile, simmer, salt to taste. Serves 4. But that’s actually why This Bird Has Flown (out Tuesday), for all its good intentions, ultimately fails – it’s just too by-the-numbers. Almost every act contributes versions so faithful, they’re pretty much pointless. I don’t expect grand reinvention from The Donnas (“Drive My Car”) or Ben Kweller (“Wait”), but I expect better from Low (“Nowhere Man”). Some of the artists who do try something a little different succeed in putting their own stamp on the material, like Ted Leo’s echoplex-driven “I’m Looking Through You” or Sufjan Stevens’ “What Goes On”, but others fail miserably (The Fiery Furnaces’ abhorrent “Norwgian Wood”). But really, better the spectacular failure than the utterly bland – and sadly, that’s what most of this is. |
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Sun Kil Moon / Tiny Cities (Caldo Verde)
Everyone who had “An album of Modest Mouse covers” in the “What is the next Sun Kil Moon album going to be?” pool, hands up. Liars. But that’s what Mark Kozelek has given us with Tiny Cities (out November 1) – an album of Isaac Brock compositions. The conceit is largely lost on me, however, since I’ve only got one Modest Mouse album (yeah, that one) and have only ever heard two (I sold my copy of The Lonesome Crowded West a long time ago). The only song I can make an education comparison of is the album closer, “Ocean Breathes Salty”, originally one of the poppier numbers on Good New For People Who Love Bad News, and frankly, if I hadn’t compared track lists, I’d never have known that I had the original of this tune in my collection. Like all of these songs, Kozelek performs musical alchemy on the original, turning it into a beautiful, meditative ballad that actually make Brock’s lyrics listenable (I’m not the biggest MM fan…) and you know what? The dude can write. Though brief at barely 30 minutes long, Tiny Cities shouldn’t disappoint Kozelek fans no matter what they think of Modest Mouse.
The San Francisco Chronicle interviews Mark Kozelek (via Largehearted Boy).
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The Arrogants (MySpace)
The Arrogants serve up note-perfect indie-pop, striking the perfect balance between crunchy upbeat numbers and dreamy slow songs, all anchored by Jana Heller’s sugar-sweet vocals. While you can follow their influences directly across the Atlantic to the UK’s C86 scene, but they also sound quintessentially Californian (which fits, since they’re from California). I hear bits of The Sundays, Heavenly, Belly, but it’s never derivitive. Superb stuff. They’ve just released their third album, You’ve Always Known Best When To Say Goodbye, is available at TweeKitten and comes with a bonus DVD. Go listen to their MySpace samples, check out some more bits and pieces here and then go buy the record.
Covers content? Here’s The Arrogants doing some Jesus & Mary Chain and New Order:
MP3: The Arrogants – “You Trip Me Up”
MP3: The Arrogants – “Shell Shock” |
np – Shearwater / Everybody Makes Mistakes
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