This band should have been huge. Instead, they're a footnote in history, Scotland's Dogs Die in Hot Cars take some obvious cues from some new wave legends, notably the quirky pop sensibilities of XTC and the manic energy of some of Scotland's greatest 80s acts like The Fire Engines and Orange Juice. The band took several years to bring their music vision together, forming in 1997 but not releasing anything until a single for One Little Indian Records in 2003. In 2004, they released their debut full length called Please Describe Yourself, a new wave influenced album full of classic jangly and upbeat British style rock.
The band had three singles of the album, the most successful of which was "Godhopping", which peaked at #24 on the UK charts. A second album never truly came together. After the band recorded some demos, they split up but released the album they planned on releasing free on the internet.
"I Love You 'Cause I Have to" is just one of several great songs on their only album. This is one is very worthwhile to track down if you love UK new wave.
http://youtu.be/AeywCfxYcas
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
Eight and a Half - Guest Blog on RDM Music
My first guest blog is up over on RDM Music Blog, on Canadian band Eight and a Half. This should be the first of a monthly guest blog on Canadian music I'll do for them. I've already got two more reviews in the works. Head on over and support them!
http://rmdmusicblog.com/2012/07/20/album-review-eight-and-a-half-go-ego-electronicexperimental/
http://youtu.be/mWnq8op-IN8
http://rmdmusicblog.com/2012/07/20/album-review-eight-and-a-half-go-ego-electronicexperimental/
http://youtu.be/mWnq8op-IN8
Saturday, July 14, 2012
The Shadowy Men Change Their Hearts
Two nice surprises from the summer festival scene have been the return of two classic Canadian indy rock bands: Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet and Change of Heart.
Shadowy Men are much better known outside of Canada due to their penning and performing "Having an Average Weekend", the opening theme for the legendary comedy show Kids in the Hall.
http://youtu.be/CqmFspZqr34
The band formed in the late 80s and released their first album, Savvy Show Stoppers, in 1990. The band mixed surf rock and touches of punk and indy rock, performing almost entirely as an instrumental band (very few of their songs had singing on them). They released only three full length albums during their short existence, but the band is well loved and well known by Canadian music fans. After the band's break up after 1995, Don Pyle and Reid Diamond formed another instrumental band with Dallas Good (later a member of the much loved Canadian alt-roots band, The Sadies) called Phono-Comb. Guitarist John Connelly formed another surf-rock instrumental band called Atomic 7, who released several albums on the Mint label, and played in Neko Case's band for a while. Diamond passed away in 2001. The band returned for some dates this summer, most notably at Calgary's Sled Island festival, with Dallas Good filling in on bass for Diamond.
What's even better is that the bands back catalogue is being re-released by the Lethbridge, AB based Mammoth Cave Records, which will be a nice treat for anyone who was a fan of the band, but had a hard time tracking down their albums.
Change of Heart was a heavily psychedelic influenced band from out of Toronto and part of the Canadian indy rock explosion of the late 80s/early 90s that included bands like Sloan, Thrush Hermit, Jale and Eric's Trip. Fronted by Ian Blurton, the band put out 6 albums, their last in 1997, Steelteeth, on the major label Virgin. After breaking up, Blurton worked as a producer for a lot of Canada's biggest names, such as the Weakerthans, Cursed and Attack in Black. He also formed the short-lived Bionic, and his latest band C'Mon, which just broke up in the last couple of years.
Blurton announced last month that Change of Heart were reforming for several reunion shows, as well as putting out a long awaited retrospective.
http://youtu.be/JsmKSN3rBPM
Shadowy Men are much better known outside of Canada due to their penning and performing "Having an Average Weekend", the opening theme for the legendary comedy show Kids in the Hall.
http://youtu.be/CqmFspZqr34
The band formed in the late 80s and released their first album, Savvy Show Stoppers, in 1990. The band mixed surf rock and touches of punk and indy rock, performing almost entirely as an instrumental band (very few of their songs had singing on them). They released only three full length albums during their short existence, but the band is well loved and well known by Canadian music fans. After the band's break up after 1995, Don Pyle and Reid Diamond formed another instrumental band with Dallas Good (later a member of the much loved Canadian alt-roots band, The Sadies) called Phono-Comb. Guitarist John Connelly formed another surf-rock instrumental band called Atomic 7, who released several albums on the Mint label, and played in Neko Case's band for a while. Diamond passed away in 2001. The band returned for some dates this summer, most notably at Calgary's Sled Island festival, with Dallas Good filling in on bass for Diamond.
What's even better is that the bands back catalogue is being re-released by the Lethbridge, AB based Mammoth Cave Records, which will be a nice treat for anyone who was a fan of the band, but had a hard time tracking down their albums.
Change of Heart was a heavily psychedelic influenced band from out of Toronto and part of the Canadian indy rock explosion of the late 80s/early 90s that included bands like Sloan, Thrush Hermit, Jale and Eric's Trip. Fronted by Ian Blurton, the band put out 6 albums, their last in 1997, Steelteeth, on the major label Virgin. After breaking up, Blurton worked as a producer for a lot of Canada's biggest names, such as the Weakerthans, Cursed and Attack in Black. He also formed the short-lived Bionic, and his latest band C'Mon, which just broke up in the last couple of years.
Blurton announced last month that Change of Heart were reforming for several reunion shows, as well as putting out a long awaited retrospective.
http://youtu.be/JsmKSN3rBPM
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Covers Courageous #4: Jesus and Mary Chain/ZZ Top - Reverberation (Doubt)
I was chatting online with a new friend the other day, who's also a music nerd like me, and got to talking about the early days of psychedelic music. She's got an opportunity to see Roky Erickson in a few days, and we talked about his legacy. That got me to thinking about an awesome tribute album that came out in 1990 called When the Pyramid Meets the Eye, which was artists covering Roky Erickson. Even in the 60s, Roky wasn't exactly a household name, and even less so in the 90s, so the compilation was very leftfield. It introduced me to his music though, which is a good thing.
Roky Erickson fronted a folk/psychedelic band called the 13th Floor Elevators, who started recording out of Dallas, TX in the mid 60s. Their biggest hit was a tune Roky wrote for a band called the Spades, called "You're Gonna Miss Me." The band had their following, but weren't terribly commercially successful. Instead, Roky's work was influential to those that came after him. Roky himself was plagued with health problems, from mental imbalances to general neglect, and constant drug use. He was also routinely exploited by record promoters, swindling Roky out of money owed him through a number of unauthorized releases.
More recently, Roky was embraced by modern musicians and began recording again, releasing an album with Will Sheff (aka Okkervil River) in 2010 called True Love Cast Out All Evil. He was also featured in a documentary about his career called You're Gonna Miss Me.
The range of artists on Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye is surprising. Given Roky's base of Dallas, it's not surprising that ZZ Top took on a song on the album, though ZZ Top isn't really a band you associate with psychedelic music. Regardless, they do a fantastic version of "Reverberation (Doubt)". Second, noted shoegazers Jesus and Mary Chain seemed like a natural match for Roky's work, and they take on the same song. Judge for yourself who does the best version.
http://youtu.be/KmiEC7G43OQ
http://youtu.be/buEGBtLsc1k
Roky Erickson fronted a folk/psychedelic band called the 13th Floor Elevators, who started recording out of Dallas, TX in the mid 60s. Their biggest hit was a tune Roky wrote for a band called the Spades, called "You're Gonna Miss Me." The band had their following, but weren't terribly commercially successful. Instead, Roky's work was influential to those that came after him. Roky himself was plagued with health problems, from mental imbalances to general neglect, and constant drug use. He was also routinely exploited by record promoters, swindling Roky out of money owed him through a number of unauthorized releases.
More recently, Roky was embraced by modern musicians and began recording again, releasing an album with Will Sheff (aka Okkervil River) in 2010 called True Love Cast Out All Evil. He was also featured in a documentary about his career called You're Gonna Miss Me.
The range of artists on Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye is surprising. Given Roky's base of Dallas, it's not surprising that ZZ Top took on a song on the album, though ZZ Top isn't really a band you associate with psychedelic music. Regardless, they do a fantastic version of "Reverberation (Doubt)". Second, noted shoegazers Jesus and Mary Chain seemed like a natural match for Roky's work, and they take on the same song. Judge for yourself who does the best version.
http://youtu.be/KmiEC7G43OQ
http://youtu.be/buEGBtLsc1k
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Forgotten Music #14: Ultra Vivid Scene - Staring at the Sun (1989)
Ultra Vivid Scene is yet another act that had to go to England to gain recognition and critical acclaim. A one man band, Kurt Ralske started in New York before jumping to the UK to sign with 4AD Records, who had jumpstarted the careers of fellow American bands like The Pixies. Ralske's style of music had very little to do with the noisy excursions of the Pixies, but was more in line with dream pop bands like The Cocteau Twins and The Sundays. "Staring at the Sun" wonderfully captures the ouevre of the late 90s style of dream pop, the sound of college radio at the time. This track comes from Ralske's second album as Ultra Vivid Scene, called Joy 1967-1990.
http://youtu.be/n7buuj1JWI8
http://youtu.be/n7buuj1JWI8
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)