Best Albums of 2011

1) Ringo Deathstarr - Colour Trip
2) Braids - Native Speaker
3) Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts
4) Wild Flag - Wild Flag
5) Austra - Feel it Break
6) Brian Eno - Drums Between the Bells
7) Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
8) Small Black - New Chain
9) Dreamboat - Buddies
10) Male Bonding - Endless Now

Honourable Mentions: Tune-Yards - whokill, Bibio - Mind Bokeh, Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact, Neon Indian - Era Extrana, The Horrors - Skying, Esben and the Witch - Violet Cries, Shimmering Stars - Violent Hearts

Overall, I felt it was a weak year for music. My Top 2 picks are truly smazing albums. Most of the rest have great moments, but aren't mindblowing overall. In depth reviews and music from the Top 10 will start next week.

Forgotten Music #12: The Smithereens - Blood and Roses

Hailing from New Jersey, The Smithereens formed in the early 80s, playing a stripped down but powerful form of rootsy rock. The main songwriter and singer was Pat DiNizio, Their material was, for the most part, dark, with angsty lyrics, driving basslines, sort of like early R.E.M. with a meatier guitar sound, or a rootsy, proto-grunge sound. They only had one Top 40 hit, "A Girl Like You", which peaked at #38 in 1990. The band is still together and tour extensively. "Blood and Roses" comes from their 1986 album Especially for You.

Back when "Blood and Roses" came out, I was just beginning to pay attention to music. In about 1984 or 1985, music became a big part of my life, and by my grad year in 1987, I was already branching out beyond what I could hear on the radio and on MuchMusic. When I went away for university, I got involved in college radio and began to hear lots of great bands that weren't being played on commercial radio. The Smithereens were one of those bands I heard that I couldn't believe commercial radio hadn't picked up. "Blood and Roses" was catchy, it was gritty and it was earnest. It deserved to be heard. Maybe it was the angst ridden young 20 year old at the time speaking, but this song resonated with me. The chorus was incredibly moving: "I want to love but it comes out wrong, I try to live but I don't belong", appealing to the lonely and loveless life that I lived at the time, having no idea how to change my situation. But, listening to the song again today, the lyrics and music haven't lost their power.

http://youtu.be/vqML7WbOun8

Hipsters Ahoy: The Pitchfork Top 20 Albums of 2011

20) Nicholas Jaar - Space is Only Noise
19) Danny Brown - XXX
18) Atlas Sound - Parallax
17) Clams Casino - Instrumentals
16) Kurt Vile - Smoke Rings for My Halo
15) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
14) Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
13) EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
12) James Blake - James Blake
11) St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
10) The Weeknd - House of Balloons
9) Real Estate - Days
8) Drake - Take Care
7) Tune-Yards - Whokill
6) Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
5) Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
4) PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
3) M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
2) Destroyer - Kaputt
1) Bon Iver - Bon Iver

There was a time I used to visit Pitchfork religiously every couple of days, to keep up on what's hot in indy music. That was several years ago. Now, the website has become a pale copy of what it used to be. Pitchfork lists are very predictable too. They have the indy darlings (Real Estate, Kurt Vile, Atlas Sound), the flavour of the week (in this case, the mopey, folky indy rock that's infesting college radio lately, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes), the "we're so hip, we have music no one has ever heard before" (Clams Casino) and the inexplicable mainstream hip-hop albums (Drake). I think this list underscores how poor music this year was. I think only PJ Harveym, Tune-Yards and St. Vincent have enough artistic merit to mention in a Top 20 this year, at least from this list.

My Top 10 is coming in exactly one week.

RIP Cesaria Evora/Vaclav Havel

Cesaria Evora may not be a well know name in mainstream music, but if you liked worldbeat music, then you'd know her work well.

Born in Cape Verde, she's probably the best known musician to ever come out of that tiny country. She was known as the "Barefoot Diva" for her penchant for performing in bare feet. She had 12 albums to her credit and she won a world music Grammy in 2004 for her album Voz D'Amor. She died on December 17, 2011 in Cape Verde from resperatory problems. She was 70.

http://youtu.be/dNVrdYGiULM



Not music related, but Vaclav Havel also died on December 18th. As the first leader of the modern Czech Republic, Havel asked Frank Zappa to be a consultant on trade, culture and tourism, which Zappa agreed to. According to Zappa, Havel sat down with Zappa, lit a joint then told Zappa he really liked Bongo Fury.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49XUP2gS-2s

Can Con Round Up for December 15, 2011

As usual, the erratic schedule of the Canadian Soundscan charts means there hasn't been a Canadian Top 40 posted in three weeks. Here's the latest

Cancon in the Top 40: Victoria Duffield (top Canuck at #8), Hedley, Nickelback, Anjulie, Mia Martina, Carly Rae Jepsen, Drake, Kristina Maria, Danny Fernandes, Craig Smart (10/40=25%, still well below the nationally mandated 35%)

Chart chat: Ugh, another Glee song in the Top 40 on the US Charts. These things usually show up for one week (the week the song is featured on Glee), then disappear. They are the epitome of the short attention span in music. Oh hay! A new Glee song. Oh wait, it sucks, what else is on? On the Canadian charts, we have the return of Bush to the charts for some reason, and the first single from the new Black Keys up at #26.

It begins: Best of 2011 albums coming in

First Paste Magazine:

1) Bon Iver - Bon Iver
2) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
3) My Morning Jacket - Circuitual
4) Tune-Yards - whokill
5) Middle Brother - Middle Brother
6) Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - It's a Corporate World
7) Wilco - The Whole Love
8) Dawes - Nothing is Wrong
9) M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
10) The Decemberists - The King is Dead
11) St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
12) Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
13) Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost/Radiohead - The King of Limbs
14) Adele - 21
15) Deer Tick - Divine Providence
16) Yuck - Yuck
17) The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
18) Wye Oak - Civilian
19) Cults - Cults
20) Beirut - The Rip Tide

And Rolling Stone:

1) Adele - 21
2) Jay-Z and Kanye West - Watch the Throne
3) Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What
4) Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
5) Radiohead - The King of Limbs
6) Lady Gaga - Born This Way
7) The Decemberists - The King is Dead
8) Wilco - The Whole Love
9) Wild Flag - Wild Flag
10) Robbie Robertson - How to Become Clairvoyant
11) My Morning Jacket - Circuitual
12) The Black Keys - El Camino
13) Tune-Yards - whokill
14) Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Pt. Two
15) Cage the Elephant - Thank You Happy Birthday
16) R.E.M. - Collapse Into Now
17) TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light
18) Feist - Metals
19) Eric Church - Cheif
20) Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

Comments: This year's music seems like a weak crop to me. It seems it's the year of the brooding hipster neo-folky, with the Top 3 in Paste's list falling into that category and even more beneath it. I'm surprised to see that Iron and Wine album on any list. I thought it was one of the most disappointing albums of the year. Bon Iver is decent, but very overhyped. No way it deserves to be anywhere near #1. The Rolling Stone list is predictably stacked with buzz-worthy acts and old bands that trotted out new albums, which only a few challenging picks (Wild Flag and Tune-Yards are nice to see in the Top 20). They had Bon Iver at #21. Proving that Rolling Stone loves old time rock, no matter how bland it is, they had Superheavy at #34. This is a collaboration between Mick Jagger, Damien Parley, Joss Stone and A.R. Rahman, which sounds great in theory, but turns into a sleeping pill on CD.

RIP Gary Garcia

The music world is abuzz about the death of legendary jazz drummer Paul Motian, I'll focus on a much lesser known artist this entry, Gary Garcia. Who?

Gary Garcia was one half of novelty musician duo Bucker and Garcia. Who? You probably know them best for this song:

http://youtu.be/kBdAPkk8yMM



The two met in Akron, OH (home of DEVO!) in the late 70s and recorded a few novelty songs, until they became cult heroes with the song "Pac-Man Fever" in 1982, which became a top 10 hit. This led to a major label deal with Sony, who then pressured them to release a full-length album about video games, which they called Pac-Man Fever. The duo never had another hit, but continued recording sporadically through the years. This year, the entire Pac-Man Fever album was released for the Rock Band video game.

Gary Garcia passed away on November 17, 2011. He was 63.


http://bucknergarcia.com/gary-garica-r-i-p/

Cancon round up for November 18, 2011

Been a while since I did one of these, but, as usual, little has changed in the commercial radio world:

Cancon roundup: Hedley (Top Canuck at #8), Anjulie, Victoria Duffield, Nickelback, Kristina Maria, Craig Smart, Simple Plan, Drake, Jason Aldean (9/40=23%, well below the national law of 35%).

Chart notes: In the US Charts, it's Taylor Swift day, with three new singles debuting in the Top 40. In Canada, it's the same old artists. Jason Aldean checks in with the latest horrible song title, "Tattoos on This Town".

RIP Heavy D

Heavy D and the Boyz, led by Jamaican-born Dwight Myers, were part of the late 80s surge of hip-hop/R&B hybrids, blending elements of vocal R+B love songs, dance style hip-hop and rapping. Heavy D was a big more on hip hop side of things, but they had several very successful hits in the late 80s and early 90s. Their first hit came in 1987 with "Mr. Big Stuff", but they are best known for the song "Now that We Found Love".

I was never a big fan of the band's work, but my brother loved this stuff in the early 90s. While I was starting into college in 1988, often all I would hear coming from my brother's room was Heavy D, Keith Sweat, Jon Secada and Bobby Brown. His work is written on my brain, but not for a love of his work.

Myers was in Jamaica when he passed away. He had recently begun to record reggae music. He apparently passed away from respiratory problems. He was 44.

http://youtu.be/NNEgUPKxk7A

Covers Courageous #3: Revolting Cocks - Physical

Back in the early 80s, it was impossible to turn on mainstream radio without hearing the pox of OliviaNewton-John's "Physical". I remember long car trips with the AM radio on, with some sweet voiced chanteuse singing every second song. Sometimes it was "Never Been to Me", but mostly it was Newton-John. To be fair, she captured the post-disco zeitgeist and turned in into sweet, sweet AOR fodder and made a tonne of money with what was probably her last hurrah in mainstream music. Good on her.

Enter Al Jorgenson.

Old Uncle Al has a knack for turning pop culture into sheer ugliness. His main band, Ministry, had been subverting music for years before he started branching out into numerous side projects, which included the infamous Revolting Cocks, formed with fellow industrialists Richard 23, Luc Van Acker and Chris Connelly. While they sounded a lot like Ministry, the Cocks were much more subversive, meldling sleazy disco with pounding industrial. In 1990, the Cocks released Beers, Steers and Queers, which featured a brutal and sleazy cover of "Physical".

Now, when this song came out, it was like a bomb going off. I remember being at CKUL in Lethbridge listening to the 12" that came in for this song. There had been rumours going around that the band was forced to change the song due to Newton-John's people having trouble with the sheer ugliness of the cover version. And, the rumours turned out to be true. There's an original version of the cover, and a cover that appeared on the album itself. The differences are significant. The original version's lyrics are much closer to the original Newton-John song. The second version can be more rightly termed as an homage to the original song, with altered lyrics and less obvious references to the original song.

The original (censored) version:


http://youtu.be/vpvHeTsgdUk



There's no Youtube video for the studio version of the album track, but there are plenty of live versions.

Forgotten Music #11: Rockpile - Teacher Teacher

More from the LiveJournal vaults. Strangely appropriate since I just replaced my CD copy of Basher.

Rockpile is a collaboration between Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds, two musicians who got their start together in the legendary pub-rock band Brinsley Schwartz in the 70s. After that band broke up, Lowe and Edmunds started solo careers, but always worked back up for each other. Their band became known as Rockpile. While both men were successful as solo artists and recorded as back up on each other's albums, Rockpile only appeared once under that name with that 1980 album Seconds of Pleasure. The album is the usual mash up of rockers and covers of classic R&B and blues. "Teacher Teacher" was the standout track on the album, though the entire album is stellar, especially "When I Write the Book" and "Heart".

I got into Nick Lowe a bit late in the game. While I'm a huge and longtime fan of Elvis Costello's work, I didn't pay much attention to Lowe, but knew of his work through Elvis's albums. Lowe has produced several of Costello's albums (as well as many other artists on the early days of Stiff Records) and wrote "(What's So Funny Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding", one of my favourite Elvis tracks (It's also one of the few tracks I can count on to make me start bawling like a baby at times). I picked up his best of, Basher, a few years ago and fell in love with is work right away. I've played Basher so much that it's very scratched now and can't be played anymore without skipping. Good think Nick's got a new best of called Quiet Please out now. Weirdly enough, I discovered Dave Edmunds after Lowe and I love his work even more than Lowe's now.

http://youtu.be/n9_9k8-W1Po

Cancon Roundup for October 20, 2011

Cancon in this week's Canadian Top 40: Hedley (top Canadian at #8), Anjulie, Simple Plan, Marianas Trench, Kristina Maria, Mia Martinia, Alyssa Reid, Nickeblack, Martin Solveig and Dragonette, Drake, Craig Smart, Victoria Duffield (12/40=30%, still below the national law of 35% Cancon)

Notes: Nothing much of note on the charts this week. George Strait has a song called "Here for a Good Time", which I doubt is a cover of the Trooper song. And for those of you thinking what I am thinking with Kelly Clarkson:

And now, Kelly Clarkson with Mr. Know it All!

http://youtu.be/CuWhgyGWkgE

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees 2012

Yes, it's that time again. Last week, the nominees for this years Hall of Fame class were announced. Let's look at em shall we? (And celebrate that I started this blog with a similar post just last year!)

Guns 'n Roses: Probably a shoo in for this year's class. Guns 'n Roses defined the gritty edge of loud guitar rock in the late 80s, with "Appetite for Destruction" being one of the biggest selling albums of all time. The band's fortune's lately have been pretty sad lately, but their early work is career and genre defining. The drama behind the band should make an interesting induction speech too.

The Beastie Boys: They were nominated last year and missed out, but this year should be their year to get in. The Beastie Boys had a unique style that combined rock and hip-hop, then moved away from that formula and created some of the most innovative hip hop albums through the 90s. Someone from the rap field is going in this year, it should be the Beasties.

The Cure: A fascinating choice for the Hall. The Cure were part of the second big British Invasion during the 80s and had a unique style to their music, combining synth pop, new romanticism and, yes, goth into their sound. The Cure deserve to be in the Hall, but I think will be passed over this year.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts: Interestingly, Joan Jett's first band, The Runaways, aren't in the Hall. Joan Jett's work with her second band, The Blackhearts, was gritty, biker bar style rock and roll. They were undoubtedly influential, but The Runaways deserve to be in the Hall before the Blackhearts. Without the Runaways, there would be no Blackhearts.

Heart: Seattle mainstream rock mainstays Heart are still recording today and have been a very successful band, stringing together hits since the late 70s into the early 90s. Nancy Wilson's skill as a guitarist is notable as well. I think they'll get in this year.

Donna Summer: Re-nominated this year, Donna Summer was a huge star in the late 70s as a disco singer, then had a few hits in the 80s as a pop singer. Her work is genre defining for disco. She's a dark horse in my books, but may get in this year.

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Starting as a goofy punk/funk band, RHCP have come to represent mainstream radio rock in their later years. While their earlier work was sometimes laughably bad, the band hit their stride in the late 80s and never looked back. I think it's a bit too soon to put them into the Hall, maybe next year.

Rufus and Chaka Khan: Most of you might think of Chaka Khan for the mid 80s hit "I Feel for You", but Rufus and Chaka Khan were a huge band in the soul/disco scene of the 70s. I figure some disco band will go in this year. I think Donna Summer has a better shot.

The Spinners: There's always a classic band that's been overlooked that gets into the Hall and there's usually three or four candidates. You can't go wrong with inducting The Spinners.

Laura Nyro: She was nominated last year and is still an intriguing pick for the Hall. Nyro's work isn't well known, but her influence to other musicians is huge, especially in folk, singer/songwriter and jazz. I'd love to see her in the Hall, but it likely won't happen for a while.

Eric B. and Rakim: If the Beasties don't get in, then Eric B and Rakim will. Rakim was one of the smoothest lyricists in rap and widely held up as a true poet. Eric B, his DJ, was a groundbreaking DJ, using samples from all over the world to use as backdrops for Rakim's rhymes. Check this out:

http://youtu.be/E7t8eoA_1jQ



Freddie King: The late Freddie King was one of the best blues guitarists of all time, mentioned in the same breath as B.B. King and Albert King. He's also known for his soulful vocals. Probably get bumped aside for the Spinners, but he'll get in someday.

Donovan Leitch: Donovan defined the folk and hippie music scene of the 60s. His clear tones while singing were breathtaking. He had a string of hits through the 60s and 70s, then disappeared as the folk style's popularity wound done. This won't be his year, but he'll get into the Hall eventually.

The Faces: Formed out of the ashes of seminal UK band The Small Faces, The Faces kickstarted the careers of vocalist Rod Steward and guitarist Ronnie Wood, both formerly of Jeff Beck's band. The band will probably be best known as a footnote in musical history rather than a Hall of Fame entrant.

War: California's War made some great funk and soul based rock through the 70s, and are best known for the tracks "Why Can't We Be Friends" and "Low Rider". They deserve to be in the Hall, might be an outside chance of that happening this year.

Predictions to get into the Hall: Guns 'n Roses, The Beastie Boys, The Spinners, Donna Summer, Heart.

Latest Earshot Reviews - October 2, 2011

Deep Dark Woods - Places I Left Behind

The Dynamics - 180000 Miles and Counting


Interstllr - Interstllr EP

Robin Jessome Quintet - For Whatever Reason

The Key Frames - Out on the Point

Krista Muir - Between Atoms

Cancon Round Up for September 29, 2011

The Canadian charts have been updating about once every 3-4 weeks, thus the delays in these...

Cancon Roundup: Simple Plan (top Canuck at #10), Anjulie, Marianas Trench, Mia Martina, Martin Solveig and Dragonette, The New Cities, Kristina Maria, Drake, Alyssa Reid, Karl Wolf (9/40=23%, still well below the CRTC mandated 35%).

Random Thought: Does anyone else hope that the new Kelly Clarkson single "Mr. Know it All" is about Bullwinkle the Moose?

The Fall Neptoon Record Fair

Last weekend, a friend and I made a day trip down to Vancouver for the Neptoon Record Fair. Neptoon Records hosts this used music sale twice a year, once in April and once in September. For this fair, I mainly look for bargains, and for vinyl on the Wax Trax or Nettwerk label. There were plenty of bargains, especially a guy with 4-5 boxes of sealed vinyl from the 70s to the 90s. I did see some nice collectible stuff, but a bit out of my range for price. The first Devo EP on Stiff Records for $75 and a Japanese pressing of Brian Eno's Before and After Science for $35. I passed on both. I also ran into the guy from Krazy Bob's again. I asked if he remembered me. He said that I had a different haircut than last time (I didn't). Then I told him we talked about Katrina and the Waves, then he remembered me.

Here's what I got (in alphabetical order):

Appliance - D4 (2000, 4 song remix EP from this band, minimalist electro-pop. Remixes by Kreider, Pole, Tarwater and To Rococo Rot)
The Bongos - Drums Along the Hudson (1982, one of only two releases from this excellent and overlooked new wave band. Notable for launching the solo career of Richard Barone.)

http://youtu.be/E-0ukoYwnwI



David Bowie - Lodger (one of the three seminal pop/electronic "Berlin Trilogy". I just need Low and my collection is complete for the trilogy)
Clock DVA - Sound Mirror (12") (nice vinyl on Wax Trax. Clock DVA are legendary drone/industrialists. Also notable for being Jeffrey Dahmer's favourite band.)

http://youtu.be/qfMlbZqRQX0



Elvis Costello and the Attractions - The Best of: The First Ten Years (got this for $5 and it was the only album I bought on CD. It's a track for track reprint of the Ryko best of, but released on the Hip-O label. A guy was selling sealed best ofs for cheap, so what the heck...)
Dead or Alive - Youthquake (Pete Burns band, got it for a buck.)
The Drivers - Short Cuts (1983, UK new wave band, only put out two albums, eventually became known as the Cutting Crew.)
Dave Edmunds - Rockpile (his second album from 1974.)

http://youtu.be/Ry2td7q5ZMc



The Fleshtones - Roman Gods (1981, their debut on IRS Records. Underrated New York based new wave band. This band is still recording today!)
The Godfathers - Birth, School, Work, Death (1988, driving indy rock from the UK. Sentimental favourite from my early days in college radio.)

http://youtu.be/QO5dcW0P75M



Greater Than One - G-Force (a real score! $5 for this album, UK electro-industriallists on Wax Trax Records.)

http://youtu.be/aPR7-sttLOo



Joe Jackson - Big World (1986, double album, sealed, for $2)
Jazz Butcher - Big Planet, Scarey Planet (1989, one of the first bands I got into when I first got into college radio)
Judas Priest - The Best of Judas Priest (1978, import on the Gull Label)
Katrina and the Waves - 2 and Waves (I'm a fan, sue me...)
Moev - Yeah Whatever (1988, Vancouver industrial rockers on the Nettwerk label.)
Nash the Slash - American Band-ages (1984, Canadian electro-violinist. All covers.)
Neon Judgement - Horny as Hell (1988, Belgian industrial band, on the PIAS label.)
Nu Shooz - Told U So (electro-pop from the mid 80s. $1)
The Pumps - Gotta Move (1980, only album from this Canadian new wave band from Winnipeg)
Scritti Politti - Cupid and Psyche 85 (best album from these UK working class new wavers.)
Squeeze - Squeeze (1978, their debut album. This copy pressed on red vinyl!)
Tin Huey - Contents Dislodged During Shipping (1979, Akron OH new wave band, rubbed elbows with Devo and the Rubber City Rebels)

http://youtu.be/Ud11xA6b_9Y



Wiseblood - Somebody Drowning in My Pool (12") (alter-ego of Jim Thirwell of Foetus, on the PIAS label)

Goodbye R.E.M.

Yes, the venerable college rock band that made it big has called it quits after 30 years in the music industry.

R.E.M. were one of the first bands championed by college radio to really make it big. Started in 1980 in Athens, Georgia, R.E.M. were a very melodic, roosty and quirky little band, the type of band that could only be formed in a small college town like Athens. Formed by two music fans (Michael Stipe and Peter Buck) and two college students (Mike Mills and Bill Berry), R.E.M. recorded their first single "Radio Free Europe" on the tiny Hib-Tone record label. This song made it on to the band first retrospective, Eponymous, and was re-recorded for the first album. The Hib-Tone single has a much raucous feel to it than the rerecorded version, partly because the band was forced to change their sound early in their career. It's one of my favourite "folktales" of indy rock. Bassist Mike Mills had lots his bass guitar (or it was stolen) and was forced to find another bass for a gig that night. The only thing he could find was a Rickenbacker bass, the type that Paul McCartney played. He used the bass and the band liked the rootsier, jangly sound it had, so he stuck with it. Without that serendipidous find, R.E.M. may have sounded like a very different band...

http://youtu.be/tyH7NEHfYIo



In 1982, R.E.M. released their first EP, Chronic Town, on IRS Records, then a very small label. R.E.M.'s debut album Murmur helped establish the label as one of the more important ones in independent music. They followed this up in 1984 with Reckoning, which featured their first wellknown single "South Central Rain", which got them some MTV play.

http://youtu.be/msWi0c4tHV8



The early work of R.E.M. had a mysterious quality to it. The music was rootsy, driving and melodic, but singer Michael Stipe had a tendency to mumble, making his lyrics hard to understand. At the time, there were rabid fans desperately trying to decipher Stipe's lyrics. This was long before the internet, so no information was out there. Their 1985 album, Fables of the Reconstruction, was indicative of this, with murky lyrics and a gloomy musical feel. 1986's Life's Rich Pageant saw the band lightening up a bit, with their first commercial radio play from the song "Fall on Me" (one of my favourite R.E.M. songs, coincidentally).

http://youtu.be/lf6vCjtaV1k



1987 saw R.E.M.'s first big breakthrough into mainstream radio with Document (this was preceded by 1986's B-sides collection Dead Letter Office). The album went platinum on the strength of "The One I Love", which hit the Top 20 in the USA and Canada. Document also saw the band becoming more political, which Stipe railing against the current Reagan administration.

http://youtu.be/j7oQEPfe-O8



In 1988, R.E.M. left IRS Records for Warner Brothers, where they would spend the rest of their career. IRS released Eponymous, a singles collection shortly after the band left the label. Their first album for Warner, Green, was a tighter, more raucous effort from the band, and spawned two big singles, "Orange Crush" and "Stand", as well as the popular tune "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" and the controversial video for "Pop Song '89", featuring three topless dancers (who were friends of the band) and a topless Michael Stipe. Stipe said that if he could go shirtless, why not women in the video? Of course, the video was rarely shown at the time, and banned from MTV.

http://youtu.be/xjMwfDFypa4



1991 saw Out of Time, a more laid back album, come out. This album featured the huge hit "Losing My Religion" and the upbeat "Shiny Happy People", featuring the vocals of Kate Pearson of fellow Athens' band The B-52s, as well as a tune featuring rapper KRS-One. A surreal moment saw the band playing on Sesame Street doing "Smiling Happy Monsters".

http://youtu.be/xpqGvYN5p-I



in 1992, R.E.M. released Automatic for the People, which turned into the big breakout commercial success for the band, with singles "Drive", "Everybody Hurts" and the sublime "Man in the Moon", a tribute of sorts to doomed comedian Andy Kaufman. This album has a much more sombre tone than their last two albums, but hangs together very well.

http://youtu.be/1hKSYgOGtos



R.E.M.'s next album, Monster, was a start departure to their previous two, dominated by driving, fuzzed out guitars and a more primal look from Michael Stipe, who had begun shaving his head. "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?", a brutal rocker about a disturbed fan who confronted Dan Rather, and "Bang and Blame" hit the Top 40, the first perfomed live on David Letterman with Dan Rather on vocals. "Kenneth" is one of another one of my favourite trivia songs, since it has an uncencored swear word in it that's aired on commercial radio without complaint.

http://youtu.be/lVJ2dT34dg8



During the tour for Monster, Bill Berry suffered a brain aneurysm on stage in Switzerland and collapsed. Mills and Stipe both had surgery on the tour as well. They wrote their next album, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, while on tour, but the album saw the band slipping out of the public consciousness. EMI bought the IRS catalogue in the late 90s, releasing all their albums in remastered form, plus three compilations.

Bill left the band in 1997 and the remaining band members continued as a trio, using session players to fill Bill's role on studio recordings. Their first album as a trio, Up, came out in 1998 to a mixed reception. Their single "Daysleeper" was underwhelming. The album did very well in Europe, where the band was much more popular than in the US. They recorded the soundtrack to the Andy Kaufman biopic, Man in the Moon, in 1999, bouyed by the single "The Great Beyond".

http://youtu.be/k_JnCWT-_O8



In 2001, the band released Reveal and Around the Sun followed in 2004. Neither album received much notice in the US, but the single "Imitation of Life" reached the Top 10 in the UK. It also has a wonderfully trippy video to go along with it. Warner also release the label spanning compilation, In Time, in 2003.


http://youtu.be/0vqgdSsfqPs



The bands fourteenth album, Accelerate, came out in 2008. The album saw the band sounding much more focused and tight, which a more rock-based sound. In 2011, the band's last full length album came out, called Collapse Into Now. While both sold well, it was clear that R.E.M.'s time on the radio was long gone.

The band just announced a career spanning retrospective called Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage will be released on November 15th.

R.E.M.'s success paved the way for countless bands from Athens. The B-52s owe a debt of gratitude. They were famous during the late 70s, but their late 80s resurgence was helped in part to R.E.M.'s interest in their music. The scene was chronicled in the documentary Athens, Georgia Inside/Out. Other great bands of the era include the Flat Duo Jets, Pylon, Oh-OK, Matthew Sweet. Dreams So Real and Love Tractor. Athens also had a pop resurgence in the 1990s with the so-called Elephant Six collective, featuring bands like Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Control.

As for side projects, Mike Mills formed the skewed pop act The Minus 5 with Scott McCaughey of the Young Fresh Fellows. One of the more interesting project was the Hindu Love Gods, formed by the band (minus Michael Stipe) and Warren Zevon, doing classic R&B tracks. The album they released was out of print for a long time, but was re-released in the mid 200s.


http://youtu.be/_4A-kuqn2Bs

Forgotten Music #9: Grapes of Wrath - "Peace of Mind"

From the Livejournal vaults:

I recently rediscovered The Grapes of Wrath, a fantastically underrated Canadian band that merged roots with the radio friendly rock of the time, kind of a folkier version of R.E.M. They are arguably the biggest band to come out of the BC interior (The Odds might make a claim to that title too). They got their start in 1984 with a ground-breaking EP on the Nettwerk label, before releasing their first full length in 1985 with September Bowl of Green. Their next album, 1987's Treehouse put them on the Canadian music map, spawning three minor hits, "Peace of Mind", "O Lucky Man" and "Backward Town". By the late 80s, they were the darlings of the then fledgling MuchMusic channel, propelling songs like "All the Things I Wasn't" and "I Am Here" into the mainstream Top 40. The band had broken up by 1992, but most of the members reformed as Ginger in the mid 90s to some success. Now, each member of the band is active in solo careers.

"Peace of Mind" was an early favourite of mind in my first days in college radio. They sounded only tangentally related to some of the rock I was listening to at the time. There was something so earnest about what they sang about, and something very Canadian about the soul-bearing subject matter they handled with a sort of futile fatigue. "Peace of Mind" is a bittersweet song, showing the struggles of a type of person who strives to be pure and honest in a world that isn't very nice to them. Recently, as I rediscovered this song, the bits about a father not acting the role of a father have hit home to me, and the bits about the pure of heart having so much trouble living in a dirty world also resonated with me. It's a beautiful song and overlooked in their catalogue for those that only know their songs that got played on the radio.

http://youtu.be/w7dB8lEW2iY

Cuddlecore: The Genius of cub

When I saw the title of the new single and album from Florence and the Machine, I got excited. Unfortunately, it turned out that "What the Water Gave Me" wasn't a cover of the cub song of the same name... (no video but check the second song in)

http://youtu.be/HYnaEBiHisY



I have three bands I'm obsessive about and collect about everything I can get my hands on. The first is Elvis Costello, the second is Devo. The third is Vancouver's cub. Yes, the band is so cute that their name is spelled in lowercase. cub was a band from Vancouver, a trio of girls who came together to make a style of music called "cuddlecore", kind of a giddy, lo-fi garage rock style. Think The Ramones crossed with Hello Kitty and you get some of the idea. The two constants in the band were bassist and vocalist Lisa Marr and guitarist Robyn Iwata. They shifted drummers a few times, including a very young Neko Case, who is featured in the video for "Nicolas Bragg"

http://youtu.be/gUCdJHP_6Bg



Why cub? I suppose a couple of things attracted me to the band. At the time I heard them, music was very dark and gritty and angry. In 1992, the grunge movement was in full force and everything was loud and sludgy. cub was the anti-grunge band: cute, light, amateurish but not childish. They sounded like nothing else being made at the time. The band has the lo-fi garage aesthetic too. In fact, Robyn performed several early shows sitting on the stage, reading cheat sheets for the chords she needed to play. In the video for "My Chinchilla", you get a sense of what the band was doing. Very cute, very lo-fi, very real.


http://youtu.be/-u3fG2eJvCc



It also didn't hurt that the girls in the band were as cute as buttons. I still have an innocent dream of marrying one of them some day.

The band's first full-length album came out in 1993, Betti-Cola collected some of their earlier work, released on 7" vinyl, on the Mint label, where they spent their whole career and added some new tracks. The cover was illustrated by Archie Comics artist Don DeCarlo, which perfectly captured the bands playful nature.

Come Out, Come Out came out in 1994 and cemented their sound and their reputation in Canadian college radio, featuring their singles "Flaming Red Bobsled" and "New York City", which was later covered by legendary nerd-rockers They Might Be Giants.


http://youtu.be/jlx-pvUfuk0



http://youtu.be/lRL9C5cttcI



By 1996, the band had started to lose it's way a bit. Box of Hair wasn't a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, but it didn't exactly sound like cub. Check out the video for "Freaky" and see the change in look for the band. Lots of hairspray and dark makeup, a heavier approach to the music and a bit too much sexuality. The album does feature one of my favourite tracks though with "Pillow Queen"

http://youtu.be/lrTxV5eMB20



cub broke up in 1996, but Lisa and Robyn went on to other projects. Lisa Marr formed a band called Buck that put out one album, then she moved to Los Angeles and released music under the Lisa Marr Experiment, as well as recording an album with Kim Shattuck of the Muffs under the name The Beards. Robyn Iwata changed her stage name to Cup and formed a San Francisco/Vancouver based electronic band called I am Spoonbender, who have released several well-received albums. Drummer Lisa G is still retired from music as far as I know. The band's last release as cub came as a b-sides compilation in 1997 called Mauler, which was released on a small Australian label called Au-Go-Go Records.

http://youtu.be/dQxox6OS_Vc

Musicworks Magazine

"For Oh, it all comes down to the way people listen. Most people listen to be comforted; they listen passively. Oh cites Canadian composer John Beckwith's idea of active listening. The listener should be engaged, possibly uncomfortable, and that experience is ultimately more rewarding." - from Matthew Pioro's interview with Toronto-based classical composer Gregory Oh from Musicworks #110

Musicworks Magazine, where have you been all my life? That quote (and a few others from the same article) encapsulate why I listen to the music I do. Musicworks, a Canadian magazine focusing on experimental and avant-garde music, mostly on the classical end, is a wonderfully esoteric read. There are interviews with Gregory Oh, neo-classical recorder player Terri Hron, Canadian pop/electronic artists Braids, Grimes and Doldrums, compoer Christopher Mayo and the Vegetable Orchestra of Vienna (complete with instructions on how to make your own instruments out of vegetables). This magazine isn't for everyone. In fact, I doubt it's even for me. I have an interest in neo-classical music, but probably not enough to get a subscription to it. While there are bits on bands like Braids and Grimes, whom I both like, the focus is on oddball classical. But, if you want a different perspective on music, this is a great magazine for it.

Cancon Roundup for September 8, 2011

This week's Cancon Roundup: Simple Plan (top Canadian at #8), Anjulie, The New Cities, Martin Solveig and Dragonette, Karl Wolf, Alyssa Reid, Marianas Trench, JRDN, These Kids Wear Crowns, Mia Martina, The Sheepdogs (11/40=28%, still below the national Cancon law)

Chart chat: Adele has her second #1 in the US with "Someone Like You". The Sheepdogs ride their Rolling Stone cover to fame with their first Top 40 Canadian single "I Don't Know". I actually like the Sheepdogs a bit. They have a classic rock sound (not something I'm a fan of), but also have a garage rock ethic that brings a grittiness to their work.

And now a rant that's been simmering for a while. I've been noticing how stagnant the Top 40 charts have been lately. Not to say that Top 40 radio hasn't usually been stagnant, but it seems more so lately. This rise of shitty, insufferable, "party party" frat-rock bands has really ticked me off lately. Bands like LMFAO, Foster the People, Gym Class Heroes, Cobra Starship and the like. It seems that Top 40 bands can be narrowed down to four main categories: 1) Your obnoxious frat-rockers 2) Rockers that try to act dangerous but are as safe as foam rubber (Nickelback, Maroon 5, OneRepublic, Marianas Trench) 3) Good looking guys with cowboy hats that forgot to shave this morning (Jason Aldean, Zac Brown, Jake Owen, Blake Shelton) and 4) R&B and rappers, who again try to act dangerous but are as lukewarm as bathwater (Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Lil Wayne, Britney Spears). The Canadian chart is just as bad for this, but there are a few less "country pop singers" and a few more "rockers"

Looking at both charts, here's a line up of artists that actually have artistic merit, IMO: Adele, Bruno Mars, Dragonette, Foo Fighters, The Sheepdogs. That's 5 out of 80 songs (some songs doubled up on the charts). That's pretty sad.

Forgotten Music #8: Platinum Blonde - "Standing in the Dark"

And Post #100 of my blog goes to another installment of Forgotten Music, originally from my LiveJournal account:

My first Canadian band, time to school you non-Canucks on our music. Platinum Blonde were huge in Canada in the mid 80s, spawning 7 top 40 hits and and 3 platinum LPs. They never really caught on anywhere else, though they did try the US market in with their 1987 album Contact, but never managed to crack the Top 40 there. Platinum Blonde merged the jangly style of 80s rock with the look of hair metal. Some critics called them the Canadian Duran Duran, but Platinum Blonde had the look, but not the musical chops that the Durans had. I'm featuring this band to pay tribute to Kenny McLean, who joined the band for 1985's Alien Shores album. He played bass for the band. McLean was also part of a short lived new wave band called The Deserters, who released two albums in the early 80s. Kenny passed away two weeks ago just after releasing his third solo album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnJ_xyFI0pQ



"Standing in the Dark" came out on the 1983 album of the same name. While it just barely missed the Top 40 charts, it's one of the bands best known songs. It has the drive the band was known for: chunky/jangly 80s power pop guitar with Mark Holmes trademark vocals driving the song along. As lyrics go, there's not much here, but the song is pretty fun as it is. Weird personal trivia: Standing in the Dark and Alien Shores were often on the school gym stereo back when I used to work out in the high school weightroom. A certain cohort that might read this blog may remember hearing them often...

Cancon Round Up for August 25, 2011

Alright, back at it. I was living out of a suitcase for a few days while my landlords fixed up my bathroom with new tile, but now I can get back to blogging about music no one cares about!

This week's Cancon round up: Simple Plan (peak Canadian act at #8), The New Cities, Martin Solveig and Dragonette, Anjulie, Karl Wolf, Alyssa Reid, JRDN, Fefe Dobson, These Kids Wear Crowns, Raghav (10/40=25%, still way belong the National mandated 35%)

Chart chat: Adele has officially become a Top 40/Mainstream artist with her second single entering the US Charts ("Someone Like You" at #34). You hipsters who championed her early career can now begin hating her work.

Latest Earshot reviews

The Plimptons - '00's Nostalgia

The Baketones - Unite

Feast of Mutton - Seven Fine Cuts

Brooke Wylie - Half Empty Moon

The Vancouver Record Buying Spree - 2011

There's nothing I love more than thumbing through piles of used records, CDs and other musical stuff. The feel of a record store is something I love: being surrounded by people who love music as much as I do and work hard at making sure that everyone is happy with their musical purchases. Every year, I take a major 2-3 day trip to Vancouver specifically to buy music. I usually don't go to buy new music, but to get deals by getting used music. It's really shocking to me how much good music you can find used, and for very cheap, in Vancouver. Even their Salvation Army stores have amazing collections.

The major stops on the trip are Audiopile Records, Zulu Records and Red Cat Records. Audiopile is my favourite record store in Vancouver and I always find something surprising there. Zulu is next on the list, and that's where I usually drop a lot of cash, often for a huge pile of music, from their huge used section. Red Cat is usually where I buy new stuff, since their prices are a bit high and they tend to specialize in new stuff. I used to stop at a couple of places on Granville, but they seem to have disappeared, but I did find a store about 6 blocks up from the Commodore.

Last on the list is Krazy Bob's out in Langley. I like Krazy Bob's just for the atmosphere and being able to talk to Bob about music, since he knows his stuff and is passionate and upbeat about what he does. He also gives you a free mystery pack of music if you buy more than $15 worth of stuff there (I got Don Henley and Bushwick Bill of all things).

Now, the haul (I've marked off any Canadian music with a *, for those interested)

Bought new:

Brian Eno - Drums Between the Bells
Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts
Washed Out - Within and Without

Used: (All under $10, most under $5)

Add N to (X) - Avant Hard
Adult. - Gimme Trouble
Frank Black - The Cult of Ray
Broadcast - Pendulum EP
Bugskull - Bugskull and the Big White Cloud
Bugskull - Distracted Snowflake Vol. 2
Chris Connelly - The Episodes
Didjits - Full Nelson Reilly (out of print, contains an awesome cover of Devo's "Mr. DNA")
The Double - Loose in the Air
Etre - A Post Fordist Parade (weird electronics from Europe, on the Compost label)
Flying Luttenbachers - The Void (noise-industrial. Awesome!)
*Hilt - Get Stuck EP (I think this completes my Hilt collection, barring single EPs I don't know about....)
Lali Puna - Tridecoder
Legendary Pink Dots - The Whispering Wall (CD release on ROIR Records)
*Les Georges Leningrad - Sangue Puro
*Leslie Spit Treeo - Don't Cry Too Hard (back in my collection at last, has a great cover of John Prine's "Angel from Montgomery")
Magic Numbers - S/T
Meat Beat Manifesto - 99% (replaces a scratched copy)
*Microbunny - Dead Stars
Microstoria - _snd
Muslimgauze - Extreme
Mussolini Headkick - Themes for Violent Retribution (very surprised to see this in a used record store, classic Wax Trax releases go for a good $50, especially obscure stuff like this album. Now, I just need to find their second album...)
Northern State - Dying in Stereo
Out Hud - Let Us Never Speak of It Again
*Pork Queen - Strang (weird electro-noise on the Scratch label)
Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers and Queers (old Wax Trax version, since re-released and expanded on Ryko)
*Sailboats are White - Turbo! (electro-noise-punk!)
Savath and Savalas - Folk Songs for Trains, Trees and Honey (lo-fi folktronica from the guy behind Prefuse 73)
Severed Heads - Come Visit the Big Bigot/Dead Eyes Open (nice CD package, got both albums on vinyl)
65daysofstatic - One Time for All Time (sprawling drone rock, very good)
Squeeze - Argybargy (CD copy, already had it on vinyl)
*Stereo Image - S/T
SubArachoid Space - Also Rising
Tarwater - Rabbit Moon
*Dandi Wind - Sacrificial

V/A - Yes New York (modern rock from New York, Rogers Sisters, Calla, Secret Machines, and more mainstream stuff like The Strokes and Interpol)
V/A - Branches and Routes (2 CD comp from Fat Cat Records: Sigur Ros, David Grumms, Kid 606, Matmose, Fennesz, Black Dice, etc.)

Cancon Round Up for August 11, 2011

Again late with the Canadian charts, but it's not like much changes on them anyway...

Cancon Roundup: Simple Plan (top Canadian at #7), Martin Solveig and Dragonette, Karl Wolf, Anjulie, Alyssa Reid, Fefe Dobson, The New Cities, Raghav, JRDN, Down with Webster, These Kids Wear Crowns (11/40=28%, still below the needed 35%)

Chart talk: Boring charts lately, though the US chart is burning up the summer's buzz song, Foster the People's "Pumped Up Kicks", currently sitting at #13. Definitely a one hit wonder if I ever heard one.

Covers Courageous #2: The Pixies - Winterlong

I'm a sucker for tribute albums, even when they're those awful industrial albums that Cleopatra trots out every so often (heck, I own four of them!). Often, they'll have some perfect collaboration between the vision of the coverer and the coveree. Or they'll be some perfect eyebrow raiser you wonder why they recorded, but having it turn out to be amazing. Luckily, "The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young" has both of these, one of which we'll look at today.

Neil Young barely needs an introduction, but the concept behind this album deserves a mention. Young formed a society called The Bridge School, which raises money for educational technologies for handicapped children. Young's own son Ben has cerebral palsy. So, a bunch of folks got together to do this album to raise funds for the Bridge School. The Pixies were one of the more loud and grungy acts that did a song (along with Sonic Youth, Soul Asylum and Dinosaur Jr. on that end), and their style of tense noise rock fit well with Neil's ramshackle, broken down sludge rock. Taking on "Winterlong", it's one of the highlights of the album.

http://youtu.be/mWWjMgzhbu4



The Bridge, the album, is long out of print and a bit difficult to find, but The Pixies included this cover in their B-Sides album, so you can find it easily there.

For those curious of the other cover, it's Psychic TV doing "Only Love Can Break Your Heart'. Look it up, we'll be looking at it soon.

Scratch Video

I've been looking at some old Howard Jones videos tonight and remembered how innovative and colourful his videos were.

http://youtu.be/XD3qA54Fn_Q



I got to thinking about the early days of video (this being the 30th anniversary of MTV going on the air) and how experimental the video form was when it really started to take off, about 1984 to 1988, then remembered this brilliant slab of video and music:

http://youtu.be/UWglhugZZ-c



I remember seeing the video for "Life in One Day" on MuchMusic and wondering what the heck I was watching. I thought it was difficult to watch, but it held my attention. I couldn't turn away. Eventually, Christopher Ward (one of my musical heroes, BTW) explained it was a concept called "Scratch Video". The video was directed by noted video producers Godley and Creme, who tried to turn the video into the visual equivalent of a DJ sampling and scratching on a turntable. Needless to say, the experiment wasn't entirely successful, but it's an interesting look into the past of music video.

Godley and Creme are also famous for their own groundbreaking video for "Cry":

http://youtu.be/KxtPRF6NG7I

Cancon Round up for July 28, 2011

We finally have a new Canadian Top 40 Chart! Let's get to it!

Cancon Roundup: Simple Plan (at #7, the highest Canadian artist), Martin Solveig and Dragonette, Karl Wolf, Fefe Dobson, Alyssa Reid, JRDN, Anjulie, Raghav, Kristina Maria, Down with Webster, The New Cities, These Kids Wear Crowns (12/40=30%, still under the nationally mandated 35% Cancon)

Chart Talk: With a month between this chart and the last Canadian chart, there are some new faces on the Top 40, which is good. Raghav, Anjulie and Down with Webster are at least homegrown talents, which proves promising. In the state, that insufferable "Party Rock Anthem" is at #1, but low in the Top 40 is the brand new Red Hot Chili Peppers, debuting at #38.

Yet Another Punk Rock Museum

This one is in East Germany. Imagine what it must have been like playing punk rock in the Eastern Bloc!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/20/us-germany-punks-archive-idUSTRE76J2B320110720

Forgotten Music #7: Squeeze - "Cool for Cats"

(Another classic post from my Livejournal)

In honour of Rock Band 2 (and hopefully getting to sing this song next time I play), I'm selecting an nice new wave nugget from Squeeze. Squeeze are probably the most overlooked band of the new wave era. The songwriters for the band, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, were as comfortable with the quirkyness of new wave as they were with the simple pop song. In fact, they excelled at straight ahead pop. Unfortunately, interest in pop was waning as Squeeze were making their best music from 1980-1985. If it weren't for the rise of hair metal, Difford/Tilbrook might have been mentioned in the same tones as Lennon/McCartney are today. I ask you to listen to "Tempted", "Labelled with Love", "Domino" or "Another Nail for My Heart" and tell me I'm wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JAk_UZ7xF8&feature=related



"Cool for Cats" is an odd song from 1979's album of the same name, penned at the time when the band was stradling their early years in pub rock and finding their way into new wave and pop. It's notable for the broad use of British slang and the lower class accent from Difford, who takes a rare try at lead vocals. The wordplay is quite remarkable as well, deftly moving from nonsense lyrics about cowboys and indians into the language of the British pub. "Cool for Cats" was a big hit in the UK, but almost unheard in North America. Interestingly, Squeeze's only Top 40 hit in the US, was "Hourglass" from 1987, long past the best days of the band.

George Harrison vs. Queen

I heard an instrumental piano version of George Harrison's "All Those Years Ago" a couple of weeks ago and though it sounded exactly like the opening to Queen's "Killer Queen". There's almost nothing on the internet about similarities or plagiarism for this track. Any one else here the similarity?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85Smw33PKJA



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVjOK2KCwqg

Vancouver Punk Rock Library.

I was thumbing through the latest issue of BC Musician and say a great article about Simon Fraser University compiling a library on the Vancouver punk scene. Being an avid, frothing fan of Canadian music, I was very interested. The physical library is available to view and research at SFU, but the library has a virtual aspect too:

http://www.lib.sfu.ca/special-collections/punk

I just started looking through the images. I'd love to get a look at the library of music they have too, though that's a bit of a haul to Vancouver to see it. Maybe when I have a serious amount of time to burn when I'm next in Van...

New Earshot Reviews

Candelora - S/T

Cecile Monique - S/T EP

Covers Courageous #1: Camper Van Beethoven - "Pictures of Matchstick Men"

I'm happy to introduce a new feature here on Shellac and Vinyl. Those of you that know me or enjoy my radio show know that I'm a sucker for odd or interesting cover versions. So, I've added a new column here to expose my readers to some of these covers.

The first feature is on Camper Van Beethoven's cover of Status Quo's "Pictures of Matchstick Men". First, here's the original and the cover.

http://youtu.be/NP6RzRfVlpA



http://youtu.be/ShWNLlz4Ic4



The original version by Status Quo, a psychedelic folk band from the UK, was recorded in 1969 and has the heady and unmistakable vibe of 60s psychedelica, a slow, rolling groove. Under Camper Van Beethoven, the song takes on an urgency and the slick and direct style of 90s with CVB own genre-bending style. The reedy guitar of the Status Quo version is replaced by an actual violin. Camper Van Beethoven's version appears on the landmark album Key Lime Pie in 1989.

CVB and Status Quo are actually still performing today. Status Quo still tour with some of the core group still intact. CVB put out an album a few years ago and singer Dave Lowery also records solo and under his other band, Cracker.

Cancon Round Up for June 23, 2011

Now that I don't have the NHL Playoffs distracting me, let's talk more about music shall we?

Cancon roundup for the Canadian Top 40 Charts: Martin Solveig and Dragonette (Top Canadians at #8), Fefe Dobson, Alyssa Reid, Kristina Maria, Simple Plan, Three Days Grace, Raghav, Karl Wolf, Girlicious (9/40=23%, still lower than the national Cancon mandated law of 35%)

Chart chat: Adele is still on top of both the US and Canadian charts, which is quite amazing. I'm more than a bit worried about over-exposure at this point. Jason Aldean is in the Top 10 in the States, sandwiched between Niki Minaj and Lady Gaga, further cementing that modern country stars are just pop singers with cowboy hats.

The Good Ol' Cancon Round Up for June 9, 2011

Once again, the Canadian charts have been flaky about updating, so we skipped a couple of weeks...

This week's Cancon Roundup: Martin Solveig and Dragonette (Top Canadian at #9), Alyssa Reid, Kristina Maria, Fefe Dobson, Three Days Grace, Raghav, Shawn Desman, Simple Plan, Girlicious, Sara Evans (10/40=25%, still below the Cancon radio regs).

Chart chat: Adele is still on top of both the US and Canadian charts, which fills me with hope. I was talking to a friend last week and recounting the story I heard about Jann Arden, back when she was trying to break into the US radio market. The US label rep said she had a great voice and she'd do great in the State, that is, if she could drop about 40 pounds.

Last week, there were two American Idol singles on the US charts. This week, they've disappeared. I'm thinking that American Idol has begun to play itself out and that the stars they produce are merely flashes in the pan. Outside of Kelly Clarkson and Daughtry, no one who's come from the show has any staying power. Might be time to hang the whole thing up.

John Lydon - Rotten: No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs

Johnny Rotten's biography is a frustrating read to be sure. He's deliberately confrontational and negative, matter of factly contradictory and he constantly contradicts himself. But, his biography, Rotten: No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs (so named for the sign that used to hang outside English pubs) is pretty fascinating.

One very interesting thing Johnny does is to hand over the narrative to others who were there with him as punk music became relevant. John does most of the talking, but there are whole chapters handed over to his father, plus anecdotes from people like Steve Jones (who was with John in the Sex Pistols), Billy Idol (Generation X), Dave Ruffy (The Ruts), filmmaker Julien Temple and Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders, also sometime cashier at Malcolm McLaren's Sex boutique)., amongst others. Instead of one man's skewed view of music history, we get several different perspectives of the same story, which makes for some fascinating reading.

First off, John's recollection of the history of punk is very different from a lot of other histories I've read. John claims that punk didn't just come from the disaffectedness of urban youth, but that it also grew in the fashion shops and gay bars of working class England. He said that punk was as much a fashion movement as a musical movement. He said that punks would buy (or more often, steal) clothing from shops and then tear it up, stitch it up and mold it into something else. He also claims that he invented the clothespins-holding-clothes-together movement, not Richard Hell, which is the first time I've ever heard that. Another interesting claim is that punk was ultimately British, not influenced by the American proto-punk bands that toured through the area before punk hit (The Ramones, New York Dolls, The Stooges), which is another thing I've only heard from John's mouth. He does say that the British did punk better than most of the American bands that followed, which I agree with. The British understood that punk music was a class and political movement before it was a musical movement.

Johnny's claims often clash with others in the book, and sometimes with himself. His dislike and outright hatred for most humans is difficult to swallow without seeing it as an affectation. John seems deliberately confrontational for the same of conflict, not for some ideological point he's making. He hates Malcolm McLaren and for pretty good reasons (Malc managed the band, mostly into the ground), hated Nancy Spungen (but everyone did), hated The Clash, hated bandmate Glen Matlock and hated pretty much every other band doing punk at the time. His views of Sid Vicious are interesting. He liked Sid as a person, but hated his drug addiction, his obsession with being a rock star, his inability to play his instrument and his relationship with Nancy Spungen. He also says in multiple places that Sid was a passive, calm person, but also says he did wade into bikers while playing on stage and swung around a bicycle chain while dancing in clubs. It's difficult to take John seriously sometimes.

The real meat of this book is understanding the musical output and overall feel of the punk scene at the time. Seeing a band as scummy and vaguely talented as the Sex Pistols climb out of the muck is endlessly entertaining. There's a full chapter on John's trip to Jamaica to scout reggae music for Richard Branson's Virgin record label that's very interesting. He also reprints all the statements from his trial with Malcolm McLaren, who John sued for revenues after the Pistols broke up, which make for some candid looks at the players at the time. The stories from the trip across the American south are wonderfully decadent.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the punk movement or independent music. Just remember to take John's word with a grain of salt.

Forgotten Music #6: The Traveling Wilburys - "Nobody's Child"

In honour of Bob Dylan, I figured I'd do an obscure song from his catalogue. For those that don't know, the Traveling Wilburys were a super-group formed of George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty. Orbison died two weeks after the band released their first album Volume One, and the remaining four stayed together to record a second album, Volume Three. "Nobody's Child" was recorded for a benefit album for the orphans left after the overthrow of the Nicolae Ceauşescu dictatorship. The song was included as a bonus track on a Traveling Wilburys box set a couple of years ago, so you can get it pretty easily now.



To be fair, this song and the video is crushingly depressing, but it's a very moving song. It's not a new song either, it's been recorded by artists ranging from Hank Williams Jr. to Hank Snow to the Beatles. The harmonica in the song does make an honest effort to cheer things up, but the song's message is just too sad to make it that uplifting. I like the band because every member takes a step back and works in a band setting, not letting ego getting in the way. Bob Dylan, especially, seems in a strange place in this song. It's just a weird little nugget in each of the musician's catalogues and a stellar song that has been forgotten over the years. Enjoy!

RIP Gil Scott-Heron

2011 continues to be a bad year for losing influential musicians. Hip-hop, soul and jazz pioneer Gil Scott-Heron has left us. He passed away on May 27th after falling ill after a tour of Europe. He was 62.

Scott-Heron grew up in Tennessee and went to college on a literature scholarship. He published his first book, The Vulture, in 1970 and in college, he met Brian Jackson, who he would go on to record with during the 70s and 80s. His first album, Small Talk, came out in 1970 and laid the ground for the eventual insurgence of hip-hop, fusing spoken word with jazz, soul and funk and talking about social and cultural issues.

He released music throughout the 70s and into the 80s, with his usual political and social commentary, using the backdrop of Brian Jackson's jazz and soul as the music for his words. He stopped recording in 1985 after being dropped from the Arista Records line up, but continued to tour. He released an album, Spirits, for TVT Records in 1993, which included his critique of hip-hop music, "Message to the Messengers".

After two prison stays in the 2000s for drug possession, Scott-Heron released I'm New Here in 2010 on XL Records, his first album in over 15 years. This was followed with a remix album with Jamie XX called We're New Here in 2011.

Cancon Round Up for May 26, 2011

As I recover from my hospital trip, and as the Stanley Cup finals take up more of my attention, as well as keeping up with work, another sporadic update:

Cancon Round Up for May 26: Alyssa Reid (Top Canuck at #8), Martin Solveig and Dragonette, Kristina Maria, Fefe Dobson, Three Days Grace, Raghav, Shawn Desman, Girlicious, JRDN (8/40=20%, still very low Cancon on the Canadian charts)

Chart talk: Nothing much going on in the Canadian charts, but Adele is still on top of the American charts, and now sits on top of the Canadian charts. The Lady Gaga hit machine has 5 singles currently on the US charts. And, as usual, the three Glee singles from last week have disappeared completely. Glee sucks.

Cancon Round Up for May 19, 2011

As I continue my recovery from various injuries, updates will be sporadic...

Cancon on the Canadian Top 40 Roundup: Alyssa Reid (peak Cancon at #7), Martin Solveig and Dragonette, Kristina Maria, Three Days Grace, Fefe Dobson, Shawn Desman, Raghav, Girlicious, JRDN (8/40=20%, one of the lowest Cancon figures yet!)

Chart talk: Adele scored her first American #1 last week and continues to hold on to it this week. I'm pretty happy for her, she has a great voice and is a wonderful talent. The Glee hits continue to plague the US Top 40, with version of "Rolling in the Deep" and "Friday" (for some weird reason...). Steven Tyler's first solo song "Feels So Good" debuts at #35 on the US Charts.

Lates earshot Reviews

Sorry for not updating earlier. I had been suffering from a nasty sinus infection that laid me out for a good week. But, during that time, I finished the latest four reviews for Earshot Online. Enjoy!

Betsy Charge - S/T

Morbid North - Sick and Tired

Salinas - S/T

We're Not Popstars - S/T EP

RIP Poly Styrene

Not 6 months ago, I was talking about the death and influence of Ari Up on the world of punk rock. This week, we lost another innovator and influences for women in the punk rock movement. Poly Styrene of The X-Ray Spex. In today's world where women are given more of a fair shake in rock and roll, it's easy to forget how segregated things were in the 70s. If you were a woman in music, you were usually a pop singer, a piano player/jazz singer, or a groupie. The punk movement was more inclusive, women and men were treated equally. Among the most important women bands to come out of the UK punk scene were The Slits, Siouxsee and the Banshess and X-Ray Spex.

Poly Styrene (born Marian Elliot-Said) was double ostracized, being a woman, and being from half British/half Somali descent. X-Ray Spex played a noisy, post-punk tinged version of punk that reverberated through the underground scene. Her abrasive and screaming style of singing inspired the Riot Grrl movement. If there were no Poly Styrene, there would be no Sleater-Kinney, no L7, no Gossip, no Le Tigre.

Like a lot punk bands, X-Ray Spex had a very short career, only releasing one album, Germ Free Adolescents. Styrene released a couple of solo albums over the years. Her last, Generation Indigo, was released a day before her death on April 25, 2011 of breast cancer. She was 53.

Forgotten Music #5: Hoodoo Gurus - Death Defying

(Reposted from my Livejournal, Oct. 21, 2008)

In the late 80s, I really fell in love with the sound of Australian rock. Midnight Oil were (and still are) one of my favourite bands at the time. I enjoyed the gritty, driving rock sound that most bands had, as well as the rootsy sound they often melded with it. Hunters and Collectors really captured the roots-rock sound perfectly (I'll feature them in the future), but the Hoodoo Gurus I really got into. They used a power pop/psychedelic sound, full of catchy hooks. "What's My Scene" was one of my favourites, but I think the song I love the best from them is this one, "Death Defying".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRHvTrfpiTI


For one, it's one of the few songs they performed that has a strong roots feel to it. It also really shows off the underrated voice of Dave Faulker, usually awash in guitar fuzz, he really stands out in this song. "Death Defying" also heralded a softer, less-ramshackle sound for the band. Note that Dave finally cut off his long hair around this time.

The Gurus have a vast musical legacy in Australia but are almost unknown in North America, save for a few tracks played on college radio during their heyday. If you like what you hear here, check out their albums Mars Needs Guitars and Magnum Cum Louder for their best work. This song is from 1985's Mars Needs Guitars

Why Record Store Day is Important

This past Saturday was the bi-annual Record Store Day. While I didn't get out to buy vinyl for myself this year (I got the Devo 12" and Elvis Costello 7" last year), I was there in spirit.

Record stores are starting to disappear except in large cities like Vancouver and Seattle. In some ways, the record store seems like a quaint holdover from old times, like campus radio, championing dead or dying music forms. But, this is far from the truth. Vinyl record sales have been on the upswing in the past two years. And there's something to be said for holding a piece of music in  your hand, rather than having it as a digital file on your mp3 player of choice.

I've always said art is an artifact, in that, it needs to be a physical object in order to be fully appreciated. If you'll excuse some sentimentality, the days when you could hold a full length album in your hand, with full cover artwork, and artwork on the inside of the album in some cases, showed you more insight into who the band was. Even a CD case gives you a booklet of liner notes you can read in addition to enjoying the music. That sense of effort put into a piece of art is lost if you just have a digital file. You have the name of the artist, the title and the song itself. What about the lyrics? Or the producer? Or even the record label? All that is lost with strictly digital music. You can't sense what went into making it. At the very least, you lose out on the little things. Similarly, you could look at a high quality megapixel photograph of the Mona Lisa, but wouldn't you rather go into the Louvre and see it for yourself?

Another aspect is what is called the Loudness Wars. Back when CDs were brand new, there was a lot of talk about their benefits as recording technology, namely, their dynamic range. Vinyl records had a dynamic range of 60 dB, which meant you could push the volume up to 60 dBs before the sound started to distort. CDs have a dynamic range of 100 dB, which meant you could push them even louder without distortion, which meant the sound was much clearer and less prone to distortion. If you give a listen to a CD made in the late 80s, you can hear how quiet they are recorded in comparison to a CD produced in the last ten  years. Once the CD became accepted, instead of seeing more recording exploiting that dynamic range, engineers and producers were instead pushing the initial recording volume up, so instead of starting at 0 dB base, they'd start at 40, 50, even 60 dB as a base, wiping out the dynamic range that a CD format gave as a benefit. So, the CD format is now *LESS* dynamic than vinyl and sounds worse than vinyl in terms of distortion. This is one of the reasons why vinyl is making a comeback, because it sounds better than CDs. Most vinyl fans also say that vinyl sound warmer than CDs as well. It's also a factor in why big record labels are taking a beating in sales right now, but that's a post for another day.

Adding into this is the digitalization of music, which flattens out the sound of music. Digital music is compressed in order for it to take up less space, which means that the extremes of the music are usually clipped off. This means that louder sounds sound quieter and quiet sounds are loudened up, making everything sound flat. A trained ear can hear a digitally compressed track immediately. Modern engineered rock music is over-produced, recorded to loud and lacks the subtlety an older, more properly engineered album does. The only CDs you hear today that fully exploit the range of a CD format is high end classical and jazz albums. The modern rock CD is like comparing a caveman's club to a diamond-headed drill of a vinyl album.

Perhaps the most important part of Record Store Day are the special incentives, which are produced strictly for the music fan and the record store lovers of the world. You get lovingly crafted vinyl, with coloured vinyl, unreleased tracks, special pressings and other goodies. Most of the major record labels don't get too involved in RSD outside of a few special releases, which means we get to support the artists themselves.

Cancon Round Up for April 14, 2011

I haven't done one of these in a while because the Soundscan charts were not updated for a good month. Now that I have a new one, we can continue.

Cancon on the Top 40: Alyssa Reid (highest Canadian at #7), Martin Solveig and Dragonette, JRDN, Avril Lavigne, Three Days Grace, Kristina Maria, Shawn Desman, Fefe Dobson, These Kids Wear Crowns (9/40=234%, still below the legally required Cancon requirement)

Notes: The Black Keys have their first Canadian Top 40 single, with "Howlin' for You" checking in at #40. I also suggest that Wiz Khalifa do a Canadian version of his new song "Roll Up", called "Roll Up the Rim (to Win)".

The March 30 Day Song Challenge Part 6 Final

Day 26 – A song that you can play on an instrument: Devo - "Satisfaction"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jadvt7CbH1o



I can't really play any instruments, but I took a crack at drums in high school. The drum rhythm is simple enough, I think I could do it.

Day 27 – A song that you wish you could play: Husker Du - "Could You Be the One"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjEsw9lxtRw



If I could play guitar, I'd play it exactly like Bob Mould.

Day 28 – A song that makes you feel guilty: The Cars = "Heartbeat City"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKIJVKzgoSc



I couldn't think of a good one for this question, but this song reminds me of someone I know (and still am friends with) that I wish I could have treated better when we were very close. Hint, she's mentioned in the song.

Day 29 – A song from your childhood: Charlie Pride - "Kiss an Angel Good Morning"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib0DI8jjm8E



I listened to this song so many times as a kid. One of my mom's favourite songs.

Day 30 – Your favorite song at this time last year: Magnetic Fields - "California Girls"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2EQxrGU7Yc



I was on a big noise/shoegazer thing around early spring last year. Ironically, I'm back into it again, listening to Jesus and Mary Chain lately.

The March 30 Day Song Challenge Part 5

Day 21 – A song that you listen to when you’re happy: Golden Boy with Miss Kittin - "Campari Soda"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHMUDFv7cYg



Undeniably camp and too bubbly not to enjoy ironically.

Day 22 – A song that you listen to when you’re sad: The Beatles - "In My Life"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI0Q8ytD44Y



The Beatles have a way of cramming hills of emotion in just a few chords. This is a great song and it always makes me sad.

Day 23 – A song that you want to play at your wedding: Elvis Costello - "Wave a White Flag"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC2f_j1zPtc



I suggested this to a past girlfriend to use as the wedding march. She didn't see the humour in it...

Day 24 – A song that you want to play at your funeral: DEVO - "Beautiful World"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIwnIQT1lOA



Devo's outlook on the world is similar to mine: vaguely optomistic, but ultimately brutally realistic.

Day 25 – A song that makes you laugh: Weird Al Yankovic - "CNR"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLnapb-30hA



A spot on parody of the White Stripes.

The inevitable post-Juno Awards post

The Junos are a bit more exciting that the Grammys, mostly because it's our own homegrown musicians being celebrated and the pool is a bit smaller, it makes things a bit more unpredictable. It's also fun watching bands like Metric being treated as important.

That being said, this year's Junos were a bit predictable. Of course, Justin Bieber and The Arcade Fire were the big winners. But, just like the Grammys, the real action for me happens in the awards not shown on TV. Give a look at the jazz, blues and roots nominees, you can easily say "Yeah, every one of those albums deserve to win the Juno."

Drake was shut out, which seemed surprising to me. Outside of Bieber, he's the biggest star we have in Canadian music. Shad ended up with the hip-hop album of the year. I'm no expert (or fan) of hip-hop, but perhaps this signals a turning away from celebration ofcommercial hip-hop?

The March 30 Day Song Challenge Part 4

It seems when this gets imported to Facebook, the fancy HTML Youtube links get stripped out. So, I'll be including simple HTML links with the embedded Youtube links so anyone reading on Facebook can enjoy the posts too.

Day 16 – A song that you used to love but now hate: Oakridge Boys - "Elvira"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdFghZmdwXk



My pre-teen years were country years. Grew up with country. Hate everything but classic country now.

Day 17 – A song that you hear often on the radio: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - "Refugee"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yai8fxLok8



I don't listen to commercial radio, but I like Tom Petty and he can be heard on the radio sometimes. I'll pick him I guess.

Day 18 – A song that you wish you heard on the radio: New Pornographers - "Crash Years"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KZANuDcRO4



The New Porngraphers are talents and play music catchy enough to be played on commercial radio, so let's hear them!

Day 19 – A song from your favorite album: Elvis Costello - "Sleep of the Just"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpstsuRa6v8



More Elvis, go figure... "King of America" has long been my favourite album, and this is one of the best songs on it.

Day 20 – A song that you listen to when you’re angry: Ministry - "Stigmata'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxaPj19VnRA



Nothing beats trashing around to some classic industrial to cure the angrys.

Just two more months....

And the Cars will be back baby!

The March 30 Day Song Challenge Part 3

http://shellacandvinyl.blogspot.com/ for links my Facebook friends.

Day 11 – A song from your favorite band: Elvis Costello and the Attractions - "Oliver's Army"



More Elvis? Okay!

Day 12 – A song from a band you hate: Pink Floyd - "Wish You Were Here"



I could easily but Nickelback here, but that's too easy. I hate almost everything Pink Floyd have ever done. I can tolerate "Animals" on a good day...

Day 13 – A song that is a guilty pleasure: KISS - "Strutter"



Awesome, the only KISS song I truly like.

Day 14 – A song that no one would expect you to love: The Rolling Stones - "Sympathy for the Devil"



I'm well known for my dislike and, at time, outright hatred of classic rock. But this song is very, very cool.

Day 15 – A song that describes you: DEVO - "What We Do"



I can think of a few DEVO songs that describe my philosophy of life. "Through Being Cool" would be my second choice

The March 30 Day Song Challenge Part 2

Day 6 - A song that reminds you of somewhere: Stompin' Tom Connors - "Bud the Spud"



Reminds me of Prince Edward Island obviously.

Day 7 - A song that reminds you of a certain event: Oingo Boingo - "When the Lights Go Out"



Weekends of WH30K in the clubs rooms at the University of Lethbridge.

Day 8 - A song that you know all the words to: Elvis Costello and the Attractions - "Pump It Up"



Yes, there will be a lot of Elvis Costello on my list. Thanks for asking.

Day 9 - A song that you can dance to: Mohammed Rafi - "Jaan Pehechaan Ho"



I dislike Indian music, but this sound like 50s rock and roll with East Asian lyrics. I love this song mostly because I love Ghost World and Thora Birch's mimicking dance to this song at the front. And I love Thora Birch. Thora, call me.

Day 10 - A song that makes you fall asleep: Brian Eno - "Music for Airports"



I used to fall asleep to Brave New Waves on CBC 2. By the time I got to falling asleep, Brent or Patti would be playing something spacy like Brian Eno. Now I fall asleep to the sportscast on TSN.

And my latest hopeless rock-girl crush is...

Eliza Doolittle

Cancon Roundup for March 10, 2011

Cancon in the Canadian Top 40: Martin Solveig and Dragonette (peaking at #9), Alyssa Reid, Fefe Dobson, JRDN, Avril Lavigne, Shawn Desman, Three Days Grace, Neverest, These Kids Wear Crowns (9/40 = 23%, one of the lowest Cancon percentages yet!)

Notes: Lady Gaga is at the top of both the US and Canadian charts. I'm not sure what opinion I should have of Lady Gaga. I've been reading Johnny Rotten's autobiography and I have a strange mix of respect and disgust for him, much the same way I feel about Lady Gaga. Rotten's take on life is to do everything as an individual and screw anyone who doesn't like it. He refuses to conform because conformity means buying into the larger social and musical meme and drains your ability to be creative. I think Lady Gaga does the same thing, but she doesn't do it as a middle finger to the rest of the world, she does it to stay commercially relevant. No one would pay much more attention to her over, say, Britney Spears, since they play a very similar style of music. It's only the spectacle she creates that makes her more visible. One gets the sense that her image is one that's produced and not one that is genuine, unlike Johnny Rotten, which makes me think of her as less of an artist and more of a performers. That's fine and all, but it doesn't make her music more compelling.