The 2010 Polaris Music Prize Long List was released a couple weeks ago, and it is a long list. At first, I thought I was reading a list of all the albums released in this country over the last year. Not surprisingly, Swim, the latest release from Caribou, the moniker used by expatriate canuck and 2008 Polaris winner (for his 2007 LP Andorra) Daniel Snaith’s electronic orchestrations, made the list. I don’t expect the jury will award him the honour again, not that it wouldn’t be deserved. With Swim, Snaith has deviated from the course established on The Milk of Human Kindness and taken to its most euphoric on Andorra, veering for a darker, more nuanced sound, that remains fundamentally Caribou at its heart.
Caribou – Bowls
Caribou – Jamelia
In anticipation of catching Caribou live at Sasquatch! Music Festival, we caught up with Snaith on his cellphone before a show in San Diego to talk about being a Canadian making placeless music, why Snaith works alone (except on tour), and the city-cum-genre he looks to most for musical inspiration, Detroit.
Justin: Can you talk a bit how being Canadian has shaped the trajectory of your musical career?
Dan Snaith: Generally, I kind of feel like I’ve made music that is geography-less, that it doesn’t really have a national identity. I’m not particularly interested in making Canadian music. The music that I listen to comes from all over the world and I want the music that I make to sound like it could come from anywhere in the world. On the other hand, I guess the thing that challenged or changed that perspective was the Polaris prize a couple years ago. You know I work in an isolated way, so I always thought of myself doing my thing over in this corner, you know in my own little apartment, my own little world. Being included in the community of Canadian musicians and being able to meet all the other people who were nominated was really nice, really affirming. Pretty much all the musicians I collaborate with are in one way or another Canadian, just because of the kind of personal connections growing up living in Canada.
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Photograph by Mat Dunlap
Toronto’s indie charmers The Meligrove Band (Brian O’Reilly, Mike Small, Darcy Rego, and Jason Nunes) are ready to rock again. After a four year hiatus, their new singles-packed album Shimmering Lights is set for release by Nevado in Canada, and Last Gang in the U.S. on September 21.
For the unfamiliar, high School pals Mike, Jason and Darcy have been jamming together for over 10 years, with Brian recently joining from the stylistically similar Halifax music scene. In 2006, their catchy yet artistic “concept” LP Planets Conspire weaved its melodically-linked tunes into campus airwaves and reviewer’s hearts. Since then, the band has released little – but certainly not for the lack of trying. A multitude of obstacles plagued the recording, signing and release of their fourth LP; which makes yesterday’s release of its first single, ‘Halflight’, all the more exciting.
The Meligrove Band – Halflight
After mixing their dd/mm/yyyy cover ‘Super VGF’ (which will be released on their limited Halflight 7″ on August 24), Darcy, Mike and Brian relaxed on the patio with Ca Va Cool and joked about post-education abandonment (the three members dropped out of school twice to pursue the band) and the interesting characteristics of sound-guys (who are apparently “crazy and terrible, or crazy and awesome, but always crazy”), as well as the more serious topics of the upcoming album, tours, and the most delicious food in Toronto.
Sabrina: How long have you had the album recorded?
Mike: It’s been recorded for over a year now, and was mastered last October.
Darcy: A lot of people have been wondering why it was taking us so long, but we’ve been sitting on this finished record for a while. There were a lot of obstacles. For example, the legality slowed things down. We couldn’t sign a new contract because on paper, we were still signed to V2 who released Planets Conspire.
Sabrina: What happened with V2?
Mike: They just ceased to exist. And we owed them some money for CD sales, but they also owed us some money as an advance for the new record.
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Photograph by Caroline Desilets
The latest record from Plants and Animals proves with striking clarity that rock ‘n’ roll need not be convoluted and tedious. La La Land focuses on the twist and shout, sweaty psychedelia, and roaring guitars. The record opts to be played at full volume to an empty room rather than having to be throttled to an audience of thousands. Following up Parc Avenue, Plants and Animals have found a way to balance a louder, ripped-up sound while creating a tight collection of ballads that inherit the spirit of their memorable first effort. Their second album released by Secret City Records last month feels bigger and rowdier. La La Land sounds like Parc Avenue went to a night at the opera and decided to bring a six-pack and foam finger. I recently had the chance to speak with Warren Spicer and we discussed everything from Canada’s status in the music world and the new Plants and Animals record to whimsical CFL dreams and three-legged dog hybrids.
Plants and Animals – Feedback in the Field
Plants and Animals – The Mama Papa
Plants and Animals – Tom Cruz
Jan: Are you excited for how La La Land will be received, how did you approach this album after the success of Parc Avenue?
Warren Spicer: You just hope for the best. I think we’ve made another record that we we’re happy with and it was done around Christmas time. So we’ve been sitting around and waiting for it to come out for a while, you kind of lose track of where it actually is. Then people start to get their hands on it and it takes on a life of its own – a more public life.
Jan: So when did you start work on La La Land?
Warren: I guess about last December.
Jan: So was most of the writing done in Montreal or while you were on tour?
Warren: I would say most of it was done in Montreal; some of it was done in France, too. We recorded half the record in a studio outside of Paris. We wrote and recorded some stuff while we were out there as well, but most of it was done in Montreal.
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It’s hard to remember that February even happened, and why would you want to now that spring is well underway? Here at Ca Va Cool we have a pretty good memory, at least where music is concerned, and we think back to those chilly February days and remember that Woodhands had a new album less than a month old and were playing a show in Vancouver that would put some serious heat into our bones.
I had a chance to sit down with Paul Banwatt of Woodhands and The Rural Alberta Advantage a day before the show at my favourite coffee shop in Kitsilano. Having just reviewed the recently released Remorsecapade, we thought we should sit on the interview for a while. Now, a few months later Woodhands has released a remix album, obviously titled Remixcapade, featuring some substantially dialed-down remixes by touring-mate Diamond Rings and others. It’s available for free download from Paper Bag Records.
Woodhands – Pockets (Diamond Rings Mix)
Woodhands – Dissembler (French Husband Mix)
Justin: The new album just came out, are you happy with the result?
Paul Banwatt: Yeah. It’s a weird thing, we were super excited about it but also kind of scared. It’s really different for us then Heart Attack was. We felt like it was a little bit deeper and darker and maybe a little less instantly appealing. It might be a couple of listens before you start to feel some of the songs on there. The response from critics so far has been so overwhelmingly positive that we’re like “People are getting this, this is awesome.” It makes us really confident going forward to keep pushing ourselves that way. It’s like, if this is still cool, then watch out.
Justin: Is there even crazier stuff in store? Is there new stuff that isn’t on the album?
Paul: Well we always do, because our songs tend to come from a lot of different places. A lot of them come from jams we just come up with while we’re in the middle of a show. We use to do a lot more just straight improvisation than we do now, but we still do a lot. There was a time when we use to have a residency in Toronto every month and we would just play hour long shows of just pure improvisation. Those kinds of things are where a lot of the songs come from and they can get really crazy. Just weird electro-freakouts that we realize sound kind of cool and try to turn into a song later.
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Photograph by Alex Cairncross
The Balconies, one of the newest bands to set Toronto on fire with blistering live shows, may formerly have been more comfortable in formal concerts playing classical compositions. Composed of Liam Jaeger and siblings Jacquie and Stephen Neville, The Balconies bring an edgy post-punk feeling to their energetic pop. They’re on the cusp of kicking off their tour in support of their self-titled debut album from late 2009, but took time out between their local shows to tell Ca Va Cool about their backgrounds, discuss differences between Ottawa and Toronto, and point out the importance of animal noises.
The Balconies – Lulu
The Balconies – Serious Bedtime
The Balconies – Rest Up
Sabrina: You guys are still pretty new, having started up in 2007. I was checking out your influences, which range from punk, post-punk, electronic… lots of different decades and genres. Were you trying to channel some of that when you came out with your first LP?
Jacquie Neville: Not consciously. It just kind of came out with our songwriting and the chemistry together. Our influences come out.
Steve Neville: : And if you look at the influences, there’s such a big variety.
Jacquie: Technically speaking, we’re all classical musicians. That’s our formal training, so I feel like the practice of that comes through as well.
Sabrina: Speaking of your training, you studied music at the University of Ottawa. What’s the mentality in the classical music department when it comes to pop music? Is it accepting or more straight-laced?
Jacquie: In my experience, the classical field is quite strict. But as soon as I went to Ottawa U, I met all these amazing professors who would say, “No, they can come together. You can like mainstream and classical music.” If anything, it makes you a more well-rounded musician.
Liam Jaeger: It’s becoming a lot more common. A lot of the professors also experiment. There’s a professor who is a professional pianist and he also plays keyboards at raves. It’s becoming a necessity because you can’t really survive playing one type of music anymore, you need to move around.
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