I’m not really into reviewing things, but I’ll make the occasional exception for people I think deserve the extra exposure. In this case, I couldn’t pass up saying something about the new Black Mountain album, In The Future. They’re a band close to my heart not only because they hail from Vancouver but also because they’re pretty excellent people in the community. Three members of the band work for Insite, the safe injection site in Vancouver’s downtown eastside. They’re vegetarians. They’re also big players in the local scene. They use their music to support a lot of good community projects. Steve McBean is also the man behind Pink Mountaintops and Jerk with a Bomb, two other bands you should check out if you get the chance.
There’s also lots to say about the band’s music, but if you want big words and tenuous connections go read pitchfork. It’s rocking, it’s awesome, at times it’s overwhelming. Yeah, they sound like Black Sabbath sometimes, and Led Zeppelin sometimes, and the Velvet Underground sometimes. But mostly they sound like Black Mountain and that’s good enough for me. You will like them if you like guitars, or drums, or freedom. Give it a try.
The new album is coming out Jan. 22 on Jagjaguwar. It’s a really great record. Highlights include “Tyrants” (included below), “Stormy High” (coconuts way to kick off the album), “Evil Ways” (not a Santana cover, but the influence is there in the structure and the ideas), and “Bright Lights” (sixteen minutes long!!!). Out of respect to these dudes I’m putting up the song from it that they willingly released themselves, as well as an older song by them that I love. If you like it get the whole album or see them when they roll through your city.
With Stars finishing off their Canada tour, I figured it would only be appropriate to write a piece in honour of them. However, I figured as far as Canadian indie music goes, Stars is just one iPod commercial away from being mainstream. So I figured everyone probably knows about them by now, right? So instead, here’s a piece on Torquil Campbell’s side project: Memphis (Website| MySpace).
If you like Stars’ new stuff, I think you’ll love Memphis’ most recent album, A Little Place in the Wilderness. For me, this album would be the perfect selection for a rainy Sunday afternoon, where all you wanna do is go back to sleep and keep dreaming. But maybe that’s just me.
Every word on this album is imbued with raw and powerful emotion, softly and sincerely sung and spoken by Torquil Campbell. The album starts off with “I Dreamed We Fell Apart” (which is actually the title of their album prior to this one). This song sets up the rest of the album to have the feeling like you don’t know if you’re awake or still dreaming (like I said, great for rainy Sunday afternoons).
Then it continues with “In The Cinema Alone” which is the first of three love songs in the album. Of these three love songs, my favorite has to be “I’ll Do Whatever You Want”, because of its dark lyrics which remind me of your typical evil Stars love song. But the most noteworthy might be “In The Highest Room” where Torquil gets his wife Moya to whisper a story about a couple who have been together for such a long time and help each other get through everything. It’s sad that my description of this song doesn’t do justice to the depth and meaningfulness of the lyrics. It might even be window into Torquil and Moya’s marriage?
Two other songs in this album worth mentioning are “Incredibly Drunk On Whiskey” and “A Ghost Story”. The first is probably the most light-hearted song of the album, whereas in contrast, the other is probably the most serious. I’m not sure what the whiskey song is about, but it’s possibly about being underaged and going to the megaplex to try to steal some alcohol (could be wrong). The second song is more obviously about a child being haunted by ghosts and then growing up to become a ghost to haunt other people. But I wonder if this could be a metaphor for something else?
Memphis is Chris Dumont (producer and guitars) and Torquil Campbell (words and voice), but includes contributions by long time friend James Shaw of Metric (mixer and bass). The album was released in August 2006 by the Good Fences Label. This album is a hard one to find on mininova, so if you like the sample offered below, I encourage you to get the album.
Maybe it’s a romantic connection with some bygone rural era, Mother Nature serving as a glorious muse, or a malignant environmental conspiracy of epic proportions (I’m looking at you Al Gore), but I’m finding a naturalistic / animalistic theme running through a lot of my favorite music. Whether its Andrew Birds, Grizzly Bears, or Alligators, I am feeling as much of a connection with nature as my crippling pollen allergy will allow.
However, there is one group of creatures I feel the need to focus on – Animal Collective. I recently picked up (coughTorrentedcough) Strawberry Jam, feeling that I would experience the same affinity for that recording as I had for band member Panda Bear’s excellent Person Pitch. Fun fact; apparently Person Pitch is a pun based off of the title of the obvious Panda Bear influencing record Pet Sounds (Get it? Get it? Lame as puns go apparently. Look out for another lame pun at the end of this article).
Anyhow, getting to the music at hand, let me first say that I truly admire these two projects for their unbridled creativity and willingness to push sonic boundaries. Person Pitch simply must be heard to be believed. Made by singing overtop of samples sounding like old Phil Spector, 60s girl group, and dub records, Panda Bear (aka. Noah Lennox) has created a record that is simultaneously innovative, nostalgic, and beautiful. Standouts include the second half of Take Pills and the tear-inducing (In a good way) chorus on Bros.
As for Strawberry Jam, I must say, I am slightly disappointed, but only slightly. The record is as original a work as Person Pitch, but with a much broader sonic palette. Band members Geologist, Avey Tare, and Deakin (yes, those are how their names are listen, along with Panda Bear, an enterprising bunch) create textures and layers of noise that prefer a build and swell approach to traditional note or key changes. Check out Fireworks or Peacebone for perfect examples of this. However, despite this breadth of sound, Avey Tare’s vocals are a standout weak point. By alternating between a playful singing tone and full throat screams, even within the same sentence, Avey Tare juxtaposes a vocal style suited for the dignified genre of mall-emo (yeah, I said it, want to fight?) against perfectly constructed music, which is highly unfortunate. It’s easy to see where the improvement the band would have if Panda Bear sang all the tracks, especially on the exceptional number Chores.
I hope I haven’t ruffled too many feathers with this Animal Collective article (See? So many puns). Check out the track below for your listening pleasure.
Maybe it’s just me, but I thought that music and violence don’t really correlate. Both are a release, music being a far more creative and constructive form than violence. Sure, there have been instances of violence in pop music: Pete Townsend annihilating his guitar on stage, Sid Vicious spitting on his audience, Joy Division rejecting their skinhead fans, mosh pits in American hardcore concerts of the early 80s, et cetera. But it’s like Dee Snider said, it’s better to throw your fists in the air than in someone else’s face.
The last place I would ever think to see violence glorified (or accusations of violence being glorified) is in a retro-minded pop group from Sweden. This is the buzz on The Tough Alliance (Website / MySpace): they carry baseball bats and swing them a lot. But despite my pacifist ways, I just don’t care. The songs are good. Most likely it’s just an exaggeration of a clever stage prop, and either way they live in Sweden, which is a long ways away. It sounds like a hilarious live show, especially once you hear what they sound like. With definite new wave influences, I would say the closest sound is Wham!. That’s right! George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. So if you’re like me and have a new wave guilty pleasures playlist on your iTunes, then blast it loud and proud. “Too-Ry-Aye!”…”Hush hush, eye to eye!”…”I wanted to be with you alone…”
”First Class Riot” from A New Chance (MP3 Download)
Hi, my name’s Will. This is my first time, so I hope it’s a lot like how it sounded in health class. I’m very fond of pretty much everything on this site but I tend to think the most interesting things coming out these days are in the more danceable genres suitable for sweaty upstairs dance parties. So every Wednesday I’ll try and rock this spot with some tracks that you might have ducked and maybe shouldn’t. All bangers no busters. Modern science has proven that the weekend starts on Wednesday, and if you play out some of this wildlife you’ll be sure to have a good one.
Here’s a mega-post starter kit to kick things off. Like a store-bought veggie and dip platter, what this post lacks in freshness it makes up for in variety. Future Wednesdays will be more current (which, currently, would be futuristic).
Giddyup. So sometimes I’ll rock out some disgustingly fun original tracks. Sonny Jim’s “Can’t Stop Moving” was one of my favourite jams of the summer, and Sneaky Sound System’s “UFO” is some durrtay electro-pop that’ll make you shake all the way from Australia.
I also enjoy remixes and mashups. Some would say too much. In fact I like remixes so much that I’m writing a term paper on them right now. And mashups these days are not your grandmother’s mashups. Some are very good, and none smell like patchouli. So here’s some remixes and mashups guaranteed to romance her.
And speaking of your grandmother, or mine at least, do you ever feel like sometimes it all gets a bit too fast? Too current? Too loud? If somebody tells you to “turn down that danged racket”, but you don’t want to stop dancing, I’ll be here to help.
Especially don’t sleep on that last one. In fact, don’t ever sleep; you could be dancing. Hope you enjoyed the taste test. Even better things to come next week (not least of which because half the songs I wanted to put up here refused to work).
So I won’t lie, it was the band name that attracted me. Black Kids (Website / MySpace) are a pretty nifty group. The have yet to release an album, but their EP, The Wizard of Ahhhs (get it, so damn creative!), makes you want to nod your head, tap your feet, air guitar, and do the running man all at once. But in all seriousness they floatingly sing about what teenagers from Jacksonville, Florida know best - alligators! Ok I lied, more like teenage heartbreak and angst in their cultivated American world. However this comes with a twist. This time it’s about girls chasing boys and/or girls for that matter, and there are lyrics thrown in there that just make you scratch your head.
So far Black Kids have been pretty impressive. They have no label, but their EP has already got some heavy attention from the likes of Rolling Stones, NME and myself. One more thing to add, the lead singer’s name is Youngblood, Reggie Youngblood. Now how hood is that!
Although they are called the Black Kids, for some reason unbeknownst to the general public, there are only 1.5 members (1.67 if you want to get technical) who are actually of African American descent. So who’s the racist now? Oh Reader, next time don’t assume.
The Rural Alberta Advantage (Website/MySpace), a local Toronto trio originally from Edmonton, writes folk-inflected songs of ‘hometowns and heartbreak’. Their homesick love-song lyrics attempt to embrace the advantage of growing up on the Prairies. With only one solid local word-of-mouth and a home-burned five-song EP, the Rural Alberta Advantage have become one of Toronto’s most beloved local indie acts. Only great things are expected to follow suit. In the mean time, check out some of their songs below:
When I first began writing this post I was really excited and thought I was going to have a bunch of amazing remixes of one of the fall’s most talked about indie tracks, Homecoming by The Teenagers. However, after endless searching and downloading I didn’t find any that I particularly loved…Maybe I had set my expectations too high??! Every mix I found seemed to have removed the Teenagers’ raw, catchy melody and replaced it with a bunch of random awkward beats….. like really bad versions of Simian Mobile Disco…. Or something like that….booh. On a more positive note, my failure with the Homecoming remixes led me to other greatness from the London/Parisian trio- remixes they have done of other artists. And WOW…. I was blown away… truly amazed! My favourite is probably their remix of Brooklyn based, Au Revoir Simone’s, “Fallen Snow”…. Since I found this song I have been listening to it on repeat…. I’m listening to it right now in fact… it’s THAT good…. VRAIMENT…. This may be a little bit of a stretch, but when I played it for the first time I sort of felt like I was listening to a mellow Jacques Lu Cont remix… maybe it’s the emphasized base…. I don’t know…In any case, The Teenagers get three giant neon hearts from moi for these COOL remixes.
After spending a while recommending music with a friend, it become very clear that my taste gets more obvious with every passing day. I love garage rock that plays like pop music, which is creative and fun, but simple and raw. My newest discovery in this field are The Royal We (Website / MySpace). As the influence of the Strokes slowly disappears (hopefully to be rehashed very soon), it is getting harder and harder to find good guitar bands. One place which is still pouring them out is Domino Records. With the original success of Franz Ferdinand and the later (and even greater) success of Arctic Monkeys, Domino have always remained faithful to the music they love: those bands inspired by the post-punk and indie pop bands from the UK in the late 70s and early 80s.
I’ve included a videos for the “All the Rage” and “I Hate Rock N Roll”. If you like what you hear, download their cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game,” which reminds me of how The Raincoats did a cover of “Lola” on their debut album. The best part of the album make come at 1:20 of “All the Rage” when the violin kicks in. The whole album plays like the two singles, so check out the self-titled album too.
Ok, so I know Ed Banger is old news to some….. but they have never been discussed on Ca Va Cool before….. SO……… une petite histoire… The French electro label, Ed Banger Records, that was founded just four years ago by Pedro Winter (aka Busy P and Daft Punk’s manager) has only eight signed artists AND they are all INCREDIBLE. Oui oui. Incredible, I lurve them all. The favourites of Ed Rec, Jus†ice (made up of Frenchmen, Xavier de Rosnay & Gaspard Augé), are currently on their first world tour and I was lucky enough to see them live at Metropolis in Montreal this past October. The show was insane! They also recently won two well-deserved awards at the MTV European Music Awards (Video Star & Best New French Artist) félicitations Jus†ice!!!! Ok ok…… the MUUUUSIQUE…. Jus†ice pretty much sounds like hmmm… Jackson 5 mixed with Daft Punk and….. Metallica??…They create a sound that blends electro with a clear rock influence and some of their remixes have a definite 70s pop vibe…… My description really isn’t doing them any justice though (no pun intended).
….So here are a few/alot of my favourite Jus†ice songs, remixes, etc. as well as a lil’ intro by Mr. Oizo for Ed Rec. Vol. 2 that was released in March…. It features all the artists…… Check em’out….VIVE LA FRANCE!
