Canadian Indy Band Round up, June 2017

Been a while since we've focused on new Canadian indy talent that you (yes YOU!) should check out.

Soul Mates

Saskatchewan has been a real hotbed for indy bands lately, from country and folk to more experimental and noisy bands. Soul Mates are a new band from Saskatoon and are in the noise rock/post punk/hardcore punk vibe. Their debut album just came out, and it's called Snake Oil.


Elephant Skeletons

From Fredricton, NB, Elephant Skeletons are a jazzy, dancy electro-rock band. They run the gamut from spacy, playful indy rock, to dance floor raves, to jazzy house. Their first album is called The Traveller and is a fun, disco-tinged electronic romp.


Apollo Suns

Apollo Suns are a sprawling, seven-member jazz-rock collective from Winnipeg, MB. Their debut EP, Each Day a Different Sun, only has 5 songs, but all clock in around 5 minutes or more. Their style is a mix of rock, prog, jazz and experimental rock.

DNTTA Playlist for May 5, 2017

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Celebrity Traffic - Chains* - We Bleed Blood (Independent)
Elephant Skeletons - Metals* - The Traveler (Independent)
Kytami - Silk Road* - Renegade (East Van Digital)
Pavel - Laziness or Fear* - [sic] (Independent)
Soldout - Breaks - Forever (Flatcat)
Moby and the Void Pacific Choir - Don't Leave Me - These Machines Are Faling (Arts and Crafts)
Mome - Hold On - Panorama (Mercury)
Kele - The New Rules - The Boxer (4AD)
Mid Pines - Winds* IIVIXIXXX (Circuit Song)
Moon:and:6 - Welcome to Space* - A Brief History of Space Travel (Maisonneuve)
Delia Derbyshire Appreciation Society - Ride Under Trees - Delia Derbyshire Apprecation Society (Six Degrees)
Magic Sound Fabric - Heaven's Coming Down - Observer (Spiralight)

When They Ruled Canada: The Pursuit of Happiness.

While doing some research for this article, I came across a Youtube comment that struck home for me. They said that The Pursuit of Happiness (TPOH) were a band that could only have become successful in Canada. The USA was deep in hair metal at the time, and TPOH were a straight ahead rock band with a sardonic and intelligent take on the music. In the UK, they were awash with vapid pop and the lingerings of synth-pop. In 1988, TPOH were much to heavy for a UK audience. But they were perfect for Canada, standing beside bands like Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo and the Cowboy Junkies.

TPOH were my soundtrack through the early years of college. I was fresh into college and my first, abortive, year of university. I had a tape collection and Love Junk, their 1988 album, was one of my go to albums, along with VIVIsect VI by Skinny Puppy and the Midnight Oil back catalogue, among other albums. It was their earnestness, their sense of humour and their rock sound that drew me in, and the sound was almost uniquely Canadian. While I'd say the sound of the music had a lot in common with my love for Midnight Oil at the time, it was TPOH's sense of fun that drew me into their music. They're still one of my favourite rock bands of all time.

TPOH are fronted by Edmonton-born singer and guitarist Moe Berg, but the band started in Toronto. They formed as a three piece in 1985, then released their first 12” in 1986. The A-Side, “I'm an Adult Now”, became a fairly big hit for them, with the independent video being played a lot on MuchMusic at the time. What TPOH did at the time was unusual, since the Canadian music scene was still really coming into it's own. While most bands waited to get attention from a major label, TPOH released their 12” independently with no label behind them. Soon after came another single, 1988's “Killed by Love”. Both singles displayed Moe Berg's weary take on daily life, the uncertainty of love and struggles of adulthood, abandoning the naivete of youthful ideals of the world and love, and embracing the confusion of adulthood.

Love Junk came out in 1988, on Chrysalis Records, and was produced by alt-rock legend Todd Rundgren, who's melodic take on rock was perfect for the band. Chrysalis was a great label for them to be on too, with artists like Billy Idol, Pat Benatar, The Art of Noise, Cyndi Lauper and a lot of other hip and popular bands recording for it. “I'm an Adult Now” and “Killed by Love” were re-recorded for the album. The re-recordings were good, but lacked the ramshackle, punk tinge the 12” versions had. “I'm an Adult Now” was also the only song they recorded that got much airplay outside of Canada. The album also saw guitarist Kris Abbott and vocalist Leslie Stanwyck joining the band. “She's So Young” and “Hard to Laugh” were released as singles as well. “She's So Young” has the same adult-weary vibe that would come to define Moe Berg's songs, and “Hard to Laugh” taps into Berg's sexual perversion and insecurity about relationships which he would plumb over his career.

1990 saw their follow up, One Sided Story, which spawned the singles “Two Girls in One” and “New Language”, both of which got play on rock radio at the time. “Food” gets the sexual aspect of the album going right away, along with “Shave Your Legs” (another song about Berg's uncertainty about relationships) and “Something Physical”, which is about physical attraction trumping love, which also comes up often in the band's songs. “Runs in the Family” is about the innocence of youth and how it gets crushed by experience and adulthood. Leslie Stanwyck and bassist Johnny Sinclair left the band after this album, and went on to form Universal Honey, which had a few big hits in the early 90s in Canada.

TPOH released The Downward Road in 1993 on the Mercury record label. This album had “Cigarette Dangles” (another raunchy sex song), and the more innocent “Pressing Lips” as the singles. This album didn't do as well commercially, but it's one of my favourite albums from the band. It's more raw in style than One Sided Story, but also has a maturity that fits well with the band at this point in their career. Once again, sex features prominently (“Honeytime”, “Bored of You”, “Ashamed of Myself”, “Nobody But Me”, “In Her Dreams”) along with the loss of youthful innocence, (the wonderful “Heavy Metal Tears”). The best track here, in my opinion, is “Villa in Portugal”, a snarky tale of lost love framed by a postcard sent from abroad.

By 1995's Where's the Bone, TPOH's star had begun to fade. “Gretzky Rocks” and “Kalendar” were the biggest songs, but were largely underplayed on rock radio. 1996's The Wonderful World of the Pursuit of Happiness, was the band's last album, and featured “She's the Devil” as the main single. The band have never officially broken up, and continue to play shows here and there, and record singles.

In 2000, they released a best of called Sex and Food, which featured some b-sides, like “Edmonton Block Heater”, which they recorded for Hard Core Logo. Another hits collection came in 2005, called When We Ruled, and included the original demo version of “I'm an Adult Now” and a version of Prince's “When Doves Cry”. In 2006, the band was inducted into Toronto's Canadian Indies Hall of Fame.

Moe Berg has recorded as a solo artist and worked extensively as a producer for many Canadian bands. His first solo album came out in 1997, called Summer's Over. He also performs as a member of the Trans-Canada Highwaymen, featuring Chris Murphy of Sloan, Steven Page of The Barenaked Ladies and Craig Northey of the Odds.

This year, Artofact Records is releasing several Brave New Waves sessions (that beloved CBC 2 late night radio program that featured new and emerging music... how I miss it!) and TPOH are of the bands to be featured. This is a live-to-air recording with an interview by Brent Bambury included!

DNTTA Playlist for April 18, 2017

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Smokey and the Feeelings - Build a Hole* - Smokey and the Feeelings (Mangled)
Caapi - Ornette* - Caapi (Cuchabata)
Ugly Beauties - Open My Eyes* - Strange Attractors (Independent)
Micheal Snow and Jesse Stewart - Abstraction* - Live at the National Gallery (Independent)
Theo Bleckmann - Fields - Eley (ECM)
Mostly Other People Do the Killing - Bloomsburg - Loafer's Hollow (Hot Cup)
Allan Holdsworth - Funnels - All Night Wrong (Favored Nations)
Apollo Suns - An Iberian Peninsula* - Each Day a Different Sun (Independent)
Talking Heads - Girlfiend is Better (live) - Stop Making Sense, Deluxe Edition (Sire)

Best of 2016 #1: Minor Victories - Minor Victories (Fat Possum)

The race for #1 was a close one, between glitchy and difficult electronica and all-star post punk, and my love lately for modern post punk won out.

Minor Victories are a bit of an all star band, featuring Rachel Goswell, of recently-reunited shoe-gaze legends Slowdive, and quirky folk rockers Mojave 3, Stuart Braithwaite of menancing Scottish drone-rock band Mogwai, and Justin Lockey of Brit-alt-rockers The Editors. Given that I already love Slowdive and Mogwai, it seemed natural I'd love this band.

As a band, they are equal parts of the bands they came from. Goswell brings the slow-paced disaffection and dreamy vocals of Slowdive. Braithwaite brings the drums of Mogwai, along with the slowly rising wall-of-noise assault that Mogwai is known for. Lockey brings more of a melodic, indy pop feel to the band. The result is a cascading melange of sound, at times dark and brooding, and at times soaring and orchestral.

The range of the album is remarkable. You'll find yourself bouncing from emotion to emotion as the songs change through the album, and often as the songs progress.

Sadly, this band likely won't be long for this world. This was their debut and with Slowdive reuniting and already having released an album this year, Goswell will likely be focusing on her first band. Nevertheless, this is an amazing album, and a must for lovers of drone, post punk and shoegaze.

DNTTA Playlist for April 21, 2017

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Numb - Painless* - Death on the Installment Plan (Metropolis)
Lets Eat Grandma - Chocolate Sludge Cake - I, Gemini (Transgressive)
Louise Burns - Moonlight Shadow* - Young Mopes (Light Organ)
Dear Criminals - Lone Ride* - Seven Songs for Nelly (Independent)
Geoffroy - Sleeping on My Own* - Coastline (Bonsound)
Velvet Vice - Urban Instinct* - Velvet Vice (Independent)
Lutra Lutra - Miser Remedy* - Lutra Lutra (Independent)
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Sleep Drifter - Flying Microtonal Banana (ATO)
Backbiters - Sourdough* - Backbiters (Independent)
Silverfish - Petal - Crazy EP (Creation)
The Alarm - 68 Guns - Declaration (IRS)

DNTTA Playlist for April 14, 2017

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

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Silkken Lauman - House of Common Problems* - Not Forever Enough (Independent)
Kid Koala feat. Emiliana Torrini - Fallaway* - Music to Draw To: Satellite (Arts and Crafts)
Pinkcourtesyphone - A Dark Room Full of Plastic Plants - Please Pick Up (I/O Sound)
Honeybeard - Celestial Bodies* - Dreamless Sleep (Independent)
Pick a Piper - Further and Further* - Distance (Tin Angel)
Elaquent - Gyoza* - Worst Case Scenario (Urbnet)
Fantastic Plastic Machine - Honolulu, Calcutta - Luxury (Emperor Norton)
Cygnets - Amnesia* - Isolator (Negative Gain)
Common Deer - Settle Down* - 1 EP (Independent)
Himiko - Soul and Spirit Extraction* - Skin Removal (D-Trash)
Jen Gloeckner - Ginger Ale - Vine (Spinning Head)
Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way - Forever Now (Columbia)