I bought Wolf Parade’s new album, At Mount Zoomer on a whim the other day because I was feeling majorly out of the loop of recent music releases. I prefer Dan Boeckner’s stuff in Handsome Furs to most things Spencer Krug has done, so be aware of my bias. (Although Shut Up I Am Dreaming is still an awesome song by any measure.) Behold, my impressions!
After an extended hiatus, the musical lexicon has returned! I’m having cognition issues today (probably due to seasonal affective disorder, bloody blizzards) so I apologize for the lack of witticisms.
Progressive Rock
Ah, the awesomely indulgent genre of Prog Rock, one of the vestiges of the early 70’s (other than streaking and pet rocks). Many listeners and critics view Prog to be synonymous with “pretension”, and they’re not off the mark. It started with noble intentions… to change the disposable feel of common pop rock into artistic statements. The concept album – an LP tied around a theme, story, or sound – found its roots in the progressive movement. Often appropriating from classical music, the disciples of prog often incorporated a more lush, orchestral sound into their tunes. A few examples at the time included the Moody Blues, Frank Zappa, Genesis, Yes, and of course, Pink Floyd. While most Prog came out of the UK, there are a few very notable exceptions. Miles Davis and his contemporaries could also be considered among the finer progressive musicians, and some neat stuff came out of Brazil (ie. Os Mutantes) and Italy (ie. Banco del Mutuo Soccorso) among other places.
Where did everyone go? There were some indie hipsters here a minute ago…
A sweet recent demonstration of prog is School of Language’s Sea from Shore. SoL is side project for David Brewis of Field Music, featuring a few members of The Futureheads (who have a new album coming out in a few days, actually). With guitar work reminiscent of a combination of The Stills’ somber strumming and twee-like jangle but without the Prozac, combined with Brewis’ s occasionally high-pitched warble and a lush layering of noise, Sea from Shore is pretty ensnaring. True to its progressive form, School of Language takes a theme & a sound and run with it; by the end of each song, the mood has been built up and brought down as smooth as waves from the ocean (okay, the water simile was a little corny). Here’s the vid for Rockiest Pt. 1 and one of the best tracks from the album.
School of Language - Extended Holiday [2008, Sea from Shore]
Dubstep
Dubstep originated in the early days of house music, within the UK Garage phase of electronica. Stylistically, the genre borrows elements from dub reggae, but with a considerably darker sound. The focus of the tracks revolves around a stark, drum-machine beat, with accents of synth and (usually haunting) sampled vocals. This is all pieced together in a minor key (that’s the sad key, for the non-musically inclined). House experts will be able to tell you more about the characteristic beats-per-minute and all that jazz.
Once of the most recent and lauded albums in this field is Untrue by Burial. I’m not going to lie; I’m not really the biggest fan of this album. I can appreciate it as a piece of creative work of music, but it just doesn’t appeal to my taste (similar to my sentiment toward Prince). It’s worth mention though, since it got a fair bit of coverage last year. It’s good to stay informed, I say. Also, I had this entry half-written since late January, and a few of the songs have actually grown on me. And, who doesn’t like an anonymous musician? That’s half the reason that Prozzak got anywhere. Here’s a sampling:
Burial - Near Dark [2007, Untrue]
Burial - Homeless [2007, Untrue]
Also, I got thinking about Prozzak again and for nostalgic reasons looked up the video. I forgot how bad they really were.
It does suck to be Simon, I guess.
Shoegaze
Okay, okay, I’ve done this one before. Basically, I loves my shoegaze, and I feel that it’s my responsibility to keep the Ca Va Cool community afoot of the new releases in the genre. So, let’s skip the Oxford Dictionary definition and go right to the common usage. That would be – A Place To Bury Strangers. I was a bit late to pick up this one (it’s been around since August). In my opinion, this is the best recent album in the genre since Serena Maneesh. They did take their liberties with using Jesus & Mary Chain as an influence though; their “I Know I’ll See You” is eerily reminiscent of JAMC’s “In a Hole”. But, let’s face it, I’d borrow from JAMC if I could play an instrument too. And they haven’t had any riots yet, that’s good!
A Place to Bury Strangers - To Fix the Gash in Your Head [2007, A Place to Bury Strangers]
A Place to Bury Strangers - I Know I’ll See You [2007, A Place to Bury Strangers]
The Jesus and Mary Chain - In a Hole [1985, Psychocandy]
P.S. I’m making the pilgrimage to Coachella this year! I’ll try to represent CvC and get some sweet pictures and new tunes. Jealous? Then join me!
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.
Memphis - A Little Place in the Wilderness
Memphis - I Dreamed We Fell Apart
Memphis - I’ll Do Whatever You Want
Edit: If songs don’t play, just download them. I’ll fix these later…
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.
First off, the title is one part reference to a really good Swedish music blog, http://www.swedesplease.net/, and one part plea.
There are those that subscribe to the belief that indie pop music was born in the releases of Scottish record label Postcard Records (i.e. Josef K, Orange Juice, and Aztec Camera), and to some extent that is where the home of pure pop music remains, as evidenced by more recent bands like Belle and Sebastian, Franz Ferdinand, and Camera Obscura. But somewhere in that bustling period from 1981 to today, indie pop found a second home. Sweden, despite its distance, and with many thanks to the internet, has had a huge outpour of both excellent and excellently-received albums. Some of my personal favourite artists include Peter Bjorn and John, Love Is All, The Concretes, and Shout Out Louds.
Today I’m going to focus my energy on my newest favourite Swedish release. Jens (pronounced “Yawns” or “Yens”, not quite sure which) Lekman’s Night Falls Over Kortedala, is an album I would usually refer to as my favourite album of the year (Website/MySpace). However, I’ve stopped using that moniker as I tend to have several “favourite albums of the year” making it very clear that I am either confused or a liar. All will become clear once the end of year bests are published on Ca Va Cool. So what I mean to say is that I love Jens Lekman, and that at one period in time this year, a period which may not have ended yet, this was/is my favourite album.
Sounding as if a humble eukele player was given unlimited access to an orchestra, Jens Lekman’s second LP Night Falls Over Kortedala is both understated and overstated at the same time. The core of the songs rest in Lekman’s Jonathan Richman-esque delivery: witty tales of insecurity with a romantic twist. But then each of the songs is expanded to their climactic limit with instruments from varying genres (i.e. R&B, Salsa, Classical). Definitely worth more than just a listen, and if you like what you hear, check out “A Sweet Summer’s Night on Hammer Hill” and “Black Cab”. Click on the [more…] link for some of my Swedish favourites.
Here’s the music video for “Sipping on Sweet Nectar”
M.I.A.’s Kala is released on August 21 and singing/rhyming/whatever it is she does seems as consistent as the first album, but this album really innovates in the differences in style of the productions. The sound that Diplo set on the first album is expanded here by a myriad of new sounds, including those from Timbaland and Three 6 Mafia, whose presence proves how big M.I.A. has gotten.
The album begins the same as The Modern Lovers (1976): “Roadrunner, roadrunner, going faster miles an hour,” then flows through a few weak points where the album gets too adventurous, but then we hear the real highlight “Jimmy”. The new single has everything a dance song should. Lyrics which come off like Jane Birkin moaning “Je t’aime,” an LCD Soundsystem beat, and then to give it real umph, strings that sound like they’re an ABBA sample (think Madonna).
Here is the video for the Switch-produced Bollywood disco dance floor filler:
Ca Va Cool is no Family guy, but some have complained that I haven’t written a post in a while, and that makes me feel all warm inside. Am I a lazy bastard? Some would say yes, but I’m gonna go with maybe. How could I have used part of this summer to watch marathons of horror movies with friends and not update this site which I love so dearly? I’m a man of action, so rather than explain my “absence”, I’m gonna start updating this site as much as it deserves. And since I’m going back to university in September, this is pretty much guaranteed, as Ca Va Cool is my favourite study break. So without further ado, I give you my summer music recap…
Arcade Fire’s second album Neon Bible gets better every time I listen to it. Every review talks about how its such a deep artistic record like the first one. It is, but the reason I like it more and more is that it reveals itself to be a rocking record more and more. ”Keep the Car Running” and “No Cars Go” are just plain good rock songs. They build, they’re upbeat, and they’re even pretty danceable (although those may all mean the same thing). Arcade Fire even even gets radio play with them. But that might just be because I live in Canada.
“No Cars Go” from Arcade Fire’s second album Neon Bible 
No Cars Go
Art Brut’s second album It’s a Bit Complicated is not as good as 2005’s Bang Bang Rock & Roll, but that’s like being disappointed when Room on Fire wasn’t as good as Is This It. The Strokes couldn’t have made the most important album of the new millenium twice. The new Brut album is consistent with the upbeat British guitar rock of the first album (and the not-quite-singing of Eddie Argos). Listen to it. If you like it, listen to Bang Bang Rock & Roll. You won’t be disappointed, and you’ll probably even enjoy singing along to his song about performace anxiety…”Leave the light on! Leave the light on!”
Art Brut gets a “Direct Hit” with It’s a Bit Complicated
Direct Hit
I’m waiting for Jack White to come out and say that “Icky Thump” was a joke. Any thanks The White Stripes get for doing a tour of every Canadian province is completely nullified for making me listen to that crap electric snake charmer solo on the radio every day.
The White Stripes leave their hotel in Iqaluit, Nunavut
A totally re-invented band since their debut album Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, Shout Out Louds (Website|MySpace) have struck another goldmine. Their second album Our Ill Wills finds the Swedish five piece turning down the gain on their guitar amps and replacing it instead with harmonicas, violins, and backing harmonies. This retreat from Strokes-esque crunchy power chords is surprisingly welcome as they deliver one of the best indie pop albums of 2007.
New single “Impossible” from Our Ill Wills
Impossible
British guitar bands will never die! Even as they’re slowly being replaced by new rave on thousands of British teenagers’ iPods, the bands just keep coming with the good tunes.
The Cribs‘ (Website|MySpace) third album Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever doesn’t evolve their sound one bit, and that’s a good thing.
The newest single “Moving Pictures”
Moving Pictures
The Maccabees (Website|MySpace) have made wave pools sexier than ever with debut album Colour It In.
The first single “Latchmere”
Latchmere
So consistent. Tokyo Police Club (Website|MySpace) has never released a bad song. Two EPs and one single in, they’re probably the most talked about Toronto band which hasn’t released an album. The new single “Your English Is Good” is being released while they work on their debut LP to be released by Saddle Creek Records.
The newest TPC single “Your English Is Good”
Your English Is Good
I will now turn my attention to two bands I heard about on Indie MP3. The first is The Lodger (Website|MySpace), who have just released the best album of 2007 thus far. Grown-Ups is so ridiculously melodic. Their short and sweet pop songs have been ruling my iTunes since the beginning of the summer and haven’t lost their charm one bit. When I set up my new soundsystem in my room, I used “A Free Period” because it is just so well produced. I swear I can’t talk enough about this album. Go and find it if you can. If not, check out their myspace or something. You must hear this album.
“A Free Period” from Grown-Ups
A Free Period
The second band is The Mary Onettes (Website|MySpace). First of all, just a wicked band name. They’re basically just a New Order rip-off, but if there’s one band to rip off, it could very well be New Order. And they’re not like other new New Wave bands like The Killers who put a modern twist (when they’re not busy talking about Bruce Springsteen), they keep it strictly traditional. Fefinitely worth a listen. And for those of you who are expecting “Blue Monday” or “Bizarre Love Triangle” try more like earlier “Ceremony”-era New Order.
“Void” from The Mary Onettes
Void
And last but not least, The National (Website|MySpace). Thanks Taha for making me listen to more of this band. I don’t usually like this kind of music, but I can’t stop listening to this album. Mainly piano and Tom Waits-type vocals, but when the band enters, the songs turn to pure gold. This is the kind of album I can picture Pitchfork listing as its best album of 2007, which doesn’t make it the best album of 2007, but makes it pretty good.
“So Daniel, what’s on the horizon?”
Jesus. I would keep writing, but I just played “Brimful of Asha” on guitar, so my fingers hurt. Enjoi!
Straight from Melbourne, Australia comes post-punk’s newest soldiers Love of Diagrams (Website / MySpace). I don’t really know where I was going with that soldiers bit, but Commando is on cable right now. Nonetheless, they’ve made the jump to the big time from Unstable Ape Records for their debut album The Target Is You (2003) to Matador Records for their spectacular sophomore album Mosaic, released on April 10. It’s abrasive stuff, but if you’re into Sonic Youth (who they’ve opened for) then this is probaby for you. I think the reason I like it so much is because everytime I listen to it it reminds me more and more of The Sound’s Jeopardy (1980) and anything that comes close to touching that has got to be good. Enjoi!
“The Pyramid” from Mosaic (2007)
Love of Diagrams - The Pyramid
“Pace or the Patience” from Mosaic (2007)
Love of Diagrams - Pace or the Patience
With a band name like that, I didn’t even have to think of a witty title. You Say Party! We Say Die! (Website / Myspace) are this hip band hailing from good ol’ Vancouver. Classified as new wave, this post-punk band is sure tearing things up. The female vocalist transitions nicely from softer vocals to just ripping up her larynx. Lose All The Time is their latest album, and it makes me sorta want to do a jig on my desk. They are definitely experimental with their instruments and they remind me a tad of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s. Me likes, me likes a lot and I think you will too. So support the Canadian Indie Scene and check them out.
Some good music takes a while to sink in, to fully “get” it. Then, every once in a while, something comes along which is instantly accessible, and you can’t take the headphones off. It happened last year with Writer’s Block by Peter Bjorn and John, Someone to Drive You Home by The Long Blondes, and Grown-Ups by The Lodger, and it’s happened again. I can’t express to you how much I love The Great Unwanted by Lucky Soul (Website / MySpace). Just like Peter et al, the blondes, and the lodging boys, Lucky Soul have an unabashed love of pop music. I guess that’s why I like it, I know just the feeling.
These five hipsters from Greenwhich, England have created 13 of the most majestic and epic songs of tragic love in recent memory. Looking like five boys from a well-dressed garage rock band plus one blonde from a 60s beach party movie, they take their cues from all the best 60s soul hitmakers. These kids did their homework; I hear everything from the tragic “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by The Supremes to triumphant returns like “But It’s Alright” by J.J. Jackson. This album is more than all right, and it definitely keeps me hanging on. If Phil Spector didn’t have so many problems right now (his murder trial began three days ago), I’m sure he would love to get a piece of Lucky Soul’s production, or at least be flattered by the homage paid in this album. To close, this is my favourite album thus far in 2007. The Great Unwanted is out April 3. Enjoi!
“Lips Are Unhappy” from The Great Unwanted (2007)
Lucky Soul - Lips Are Unhappy
“The Great Unwanted” from The Great Unwanted (2007)
Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted
“Ain’t Never Been Cool” from The Great Unwanted (2007)
Lucky Soul - Ain’t Never Been Cool
Music Video for Lucky Soul’s latest single “Add Your Light to Mine, Baby”
