Heavy Empire

Sometimes 90's indie rock videos I saw on The Wedge as a kid made life make sense...

2011-02-10T16:09:00.000-08:00

The Next Few Days in Preview

2011-02-03T16:21:00.001-08:00

This week will destroy my paycheque. I will be attending a few shows this week/end that I feel might be important or at least interesting to see.

Tonight

Julie Doiron @ Horseshoe 9pm

Friday Feb 4

Gang of Four @ Phoenix

IS THERE SOMETHING ELSE THAT IS CHEAPER!?!?!?!

Saturday Feb 5

Hush Arbors, LOOM, others @ Placebo Space (blandsdowne)

Induced Labour @ "The Garage"

2011-01-30T11:55:00.001-08:00

Friday January 28 was my first visit to "The Garage," an unconventional venue for bands and performers. It was freezing and beginning to snow. I was stopped by the police on my way, delaying my arrival by about 20 minutes. I walked into the alleyway where said Garage was located; a Police car followed me in. Noticing I was being followed, I walked to the end of the alley as to not bring attention to the venue. I made a "I dunno where I am" gesture then walked out. The vehicle followed me out and the officer inside asked me to stop and proceeded to prod me with questions on where I was going, and what I was doing. Fucking annoying.

The venue was absolutely bitter cold. John from Induced Labour told me after the set that after the first song he couldn't feel his fingers touching the strings. Overall, IL played a really great set. Friday night's set felt heavier than usual, musically. I think they played faster than I've ever seen them, likely because they were so cold and just wanted to warm up/get it over with. I've seen them many times in the past, and while it's difficult to perform as a group of freeze pops, they pulled it off with mass effect. I think the sort of frostbitten feeling gave things a very black metal feel. Perhaps anytime I'm really cold I feel "black metal." Or, at least black, frostbitten toes of Necromortem.

Leslie's mid-set lament, "This is not how I wanted to spend my 20's" really set the tone that night. Perhaps we all feel that way freezing out buns off with good friends, cold beer and loud music.

Sadly, I did not get the chance to see Ancestors. My feet were freezing and I needed to warm up. Invite me to your next show!

I want to take the opportunity to express my appreciation for the venue on Friday. I feel like I haven't expressed enough enthusiasm for the Garage. There's a punk rock quality to persevering the weather (if, in misery) to host shows in your backyard for whoever shows up. I can't wait for more shows to happen here in the spring. It may even be the highlight of the summer.

A Pre-cursor to Heavy Empire's Best Albums of 2010

2010-11-20T20:46:00.000-08:00

Dear Faithful and Patient Readers of HE,

This year has been chocked full of albums. My head, at various times throughout the year has swam with delerium in a stockpile of unopened LPs and a Utorrent download list that ended up in a $135.00 internet bill for bandwidth overuse. It's fair to say, I won't be able to include every band who released an awesome album on that list. I won't even try.

Instead, I will choose 10 songs. The #1 spot will undoubtedly be my favourite album of the year. Number's two to nine will be albums I thought stood out more than others, in no particular order of preference. Maybe I will alphabetize them to not be criticized for album-nepotism.

Before I go, I want to let you in on a hope, wish and dream I have for HE in the new year. Podcast, or something like it.

Also, Coming Soon: Print Issue.

Bye, for now.

-Heavy Empire

Four Touchdowns, One Game

2010-09-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

I can get behind the recent trend of past-their-prime bands dedicating a tour around a "classic" album they have written. In years past I have seen acts like Primus re-commit to performing Sailing the Seas of Cheese in it's entirety, which was extremely entertaining despite it being my favourite album.

Lately every band who was popular more than 10 years ago is giving an honest, yet somehow desperate shot to re-live a "timeless" moment of their career where every song was a gem. Classic rock bands like Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) rebuilding The Wall seem to have every good intention of bringing something back from the past. Hell, even Weezer have decided to throw the "Blue" album in as a grand affair. Oh, and don't forget Bad Religion and Swedish punks Millencollin (never was a fan) to kick off anniversary tours themselves. Good intentions of offering a show you are sure to love.

And then there's the business side. The money side.

I have no problem with a band sticking it out for 25+ years and telling their fans "Hey, remember when you loved our band? Well you're gonna LOVE this." Nostalgia is, and forever on will be up for sale.

Sure, Weezer just released a new album on tuesday titled "Hurley," a reference to ABC's sci-fi/fantasy/drama Lost. Hell, a song or two even made it onto a commercial. Cashing in on "The Greatest Story of our Lifetime" with a Jorge Garcia's big ol' mug on the cover is instant proof of that. The first song on the album is called "Memories." Dinosaur boned Jackass crew do gang vocals on the chorus of that song. And now they're gonna tour the "Blue" album.

What is my point? Like Lost, I only have questions. Does a victory lap tour like Weezer or Roger Waters or even the rumoured Rolling Stones "Exile on Main Street" equate to an admission of post-classic career failure?

I think of this, and am reminded of Al Bundy's four touchdowns in one game and get sad.

Look Out Honey Cause We're Losing Technology

2010-05-07T16:52:00.001-07:00

Weekend Afterthought Mixtape #1

2010-01-31T14:01:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Welcome back. It is great to see you all! I have taken some time off, and have returned when I felt I could devote more time to this blog and you, my forgotten readers. I am sorry.

I start new, fresh and re-energized with a lovely little collection of tracks by some of my current musical crushes. I've chosen the following recordings not only for the great songs they contain, but also for the way in which they were recorded. In a perfect world, I aspire to achieve the quality of fidelity captured in the tracks you are about to hear.

The tracklisting is as follows.

1. Place to Bury Strangers - "It is Nothing"(Exploding Head 2009)
2. Neu! - "Hero" (Neu! '75)
3. Shangri-La's - Shout (Remembered)
4. Suicide - Girl (Suicide 1978)
5. Lydia Lunch (Teenage Jesus and the Jerks) - "Closet" (1978 No New York/TJATJ reissue 2004)
6. Brigitte Bardot "Je T'aime...Moi Non Plus" (BB 1967)
7. Spacemen 3 - "Muzik Konkret/Sound of Confusion" (Revolution or Heroin Live 1988, 1995)
8. Air Miami - "I Hate Milk" (Me.Me.Me 1995)
9. Section 25 - "Friendly Fires" (Always Now 1981)

Weekend Afterthought Mixtape 01-30-10

Cameron's Album #8: Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

2009-06-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

I should have my dear ol' dad to thank for getting me into Pink Floyd at the age he did. I was first introduced to Pink Floyd in grade 7 on a very long drive to Myrtle Beach, SC as we listened to Dark Side of the Moon and about 5 choice cuts from The Wall while passing through Maryland.

Thanks, Dad. I love you.

I can't say that I really got into them until 2 years later when my good friend Kevin, a massive Floyd fan reintroduced them to me through a copy of Wish You Were Here on the 45 minute bus ride home from school. As I delved deeper into the band`s catalogue, I was awe-struck by an album that didn`t quite sound like the others. The band name was still Pink Floyd, but the front cover wasn`t quite as ominous; there was something quite `psychedelic` about the honeycomb of mirrors that gave me an instant impression of a sort of drug-inhibited vision. It was as if I was looking at a proper picture of the band through a kaleidoscope. I also wasn`t aware that the lead singer was strikingly dissimilar from Roger Waters or David Gilmour. The guitars--oh the guitars--didn`t sound like Gilmour either. Rather, they were completely atonal, wild, and relentlessly "Wierd". As a 14 year old boy barely having smoked pot for the first time, it was the closest thing I could imagine one would experience during a really wicked acid trip.

Being introduced to the album at a young age, I don`t think myself, nor anyone could possibly appreciate it without letting it grow into your head a little bit. I`ve probably given the entire album a good, ample listen a few times a year for the past 9 years and I am always stunned by its brilliance. Anyone that can make a song about a Bike, and how I can `ride it, if you like` into a creepy, hellish circus piece is enough to make anyone love this album.

While I still love the rest of Floyd`s albums, there is no doubt in my mind that Piper at the Gates of Dawn is my absolute favourite Pink Floyd album. Though Floyd did undergo a radical change after this album having then hired a new guitarist (Gilmour) and letting Waters takeover much of the vocal performance, I can still honestly say both eras of the band have collectively worked to produce some of my favourite albums of all time.

The amount of stoner rock riffage from songs like "Astronomy Domine" or "Interstellar Overdrive" seemed to be enough to put the gears in motion for an entire genre of fuzz-driven protopunks like Simply Saucer to begin their space-rock assault on us all. God Speed.

MP3: Pink Floyd - Interstellar Overdrive

James' Album #8: Daydream Nation

2009-04-28T02:40:00.001-07:00

8. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

Like many people who were three years old when Sonic Youth released Daydream Nation in the fall of 1988, I missed it when it was first released. To be honest, the first album of theirs I ever got into was Goo and, for the longest time, Dirty was my favorite Youth record. Their pre-Geffen catalogue, to my less-than-hip teenage brain, was much too dense and difficult and deliberately challenging. I just couldn’t speak its language; its alien discourse baffled me. I bought it because I had been lead to understand that any self-conscious music fan (and oh how I longed to be one of those) must have a copy of it. But, in reality, I only played it now and then and usually not for too long before swapping it out for something friendlier.

Now I wouldn’t go so far as to say that one requires a university education to understand or like this album. In fact, most of the people I went to school with (for English, I should add) weren’t even that well versed in the language they were studying let alone the finer points of seminal rock albums. But higher education (which, it’s worth mentioning, all the band members had) does train one’s mind to think about things, particularly art, in certain critical and analytical ways that an untrained mind might not be naturally inclined to do. With that in mind, Daydream Nation is, at this moment, one of my favorite albums of all time.

While there are several reasons for Daydream’s sudden rise to the high end of my own personal best-of list (besides my own increased level of external comprehension) the one that seems the most obvious, in retrospect, is the fact that Lee Ranaldo sings three songs on this album.

Three.

That’s not to say that Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore don’t pull their weight. They are both in masterful form here. But there has never been (and probably never will be) a Sonic Youth album with this high a concentration of Lee Ranaldo jams. From the surreal Joni Mitchell homage “Hey Joni” to the band-name inspiring “Eric’s Trip” and the weird, seldom played darkness of “The Rain King” Lee really steps out of the shadows on Daydream Nation. And it shows.

It might have taken me a long time to understand it. But now that I do it’s like I’ve learned to communicate in some savage, wordless language. That’s some rock-crit hyperbole, to be sure, (something else they teach you in College) but sometimes excessively great works of art deserve excessively great hyperbole.

MP3: Sonic Youth - "Hey Joni"

Cameron's Album #9: Yahweh or the Highway

2009-03-16T22:59:00.000-07:00

At some point in the late 1990s, five factory workers quit their jobs in Providence, Rhode Island to form a band. Showing an enthusiastic inability to play their instruments, Arab on Radar engaged in minimalist techniques by default. They played loud if they even played at all; Incoherence was a skill Arab on Radar perfected early on in their career.
Still...who were Arab on Radar?
A desription on the cover of their DVD Sunshine For Shady People (2008) reads "Defining the band as "No Wave" was often an ill attempt to explain a sound so new it had no frame of reference. At the height of their popularity Arab on Radar abruptly disbanded, leaving many people wondering who want what they really were." Yahweh or the Highway (2001), was Arab on Radar's swan song, and a masterpiece of contemporary music that effectively expresses the band's incalcuable ability to walk the line between immaculate genius and the sociopath's lament. Yahweh is an album that is constantly eluding the listener. While the music is extremely organic it is by no means natural. If music is formed by the brain's organization of sound to recognize rhythmic and tonal patterns, Yahweh is--intentionally or not--challenging this very neural process. Repetition of "sections" is simultaneously integral and completely irrelevant. As soon as you have become familiar with the idea behind what you are hearing, you are once again dislocated, attempting to re-order your senses to align with the sound coming from your speakers.
The guitars are loud, buzzy, and inchoherent. You hear the notes being played, but are never sure of which guitar is making them. The basslines are muddy, washed out with distortion and truly have a life of its own. The drums never really stay on time...or maybe they do. The end result is agressive, but also highly abstracted, in a way that challenges your ability to judge the band's intentions. Arab on Radar constantly elude the listener in ever really understand what or how anything is ever happening.
The vocals, performed in shrill, manic faux-falsetto barely constitutes as singing. Instead, "Mr. Pottymouth," can be related more to highly stylized poetry readings spoken/shrieked/whined clearly and distinctively, yet sometimes barely audiable over the instrumental cacophony. I could spend an entire day talking about the lyrics, so I will attempt to be brief. Pay attention to any of the words coming from his mouth and you will be shocked, horrified, and offended. Topics range anywhere from very descriptive accounts of child abuse, sexual perversity, violence and simple derrangement.
After maybe 50 listens to this album, I still can honestly say I have no idea what is going on, but I am in love with it. It makes my #9 only because I am forced to be intrigued by its ability to elude me time after time.

MP3: Arab on Radar - Birth Control Blues

James' Album #9: Drum's Not Dead

2009-02-23T13:07:00.001-08:00

Liars - Drum's Not Dead

Where to begin? Somewhere between the city of Berlin; the displacement of three young Brooklyn-ites and the early hours of the 21st century Drum's Not Dead got made. There's a rushed, tribal madness to the whole affair, as if Angus and crew found something between here and there that couldn't be transported but merely bottled. This album is a portion of something far more sinister and far more lovely than we can imagine. I've tried to measure its parts, hash it up and dissect it and give back what I've taken.

But I cannot.

The story? Your guess is as good as mine. Who is Drum? Who is Mt. Heartattack? Their epic love/hate is stretched to absurd levels; painted in off-colours and sold back to us in loose, jeering fragments. There's all the gooey stuff that comes between the pavement and the stars: love, sex, murder, violence, hate, joy, fear and redemption. Somewhere, buried. But it's worth digging, worth searching. Worth being haunted by.

Shivers when the organ moves suddenly into play during "It Fit When I Was A Kid". A mix-up of sorrow and peaceful resignation as the clean guitar notes echo through album-closer, "The Other Side Of Mt. Heartattack". And, of course, the drums. Those mad, fury-drums carrying us through with ancient simplicity. If it seems like it's all a bit much to take in one meal, it is. Tastes like this demand to be savoured.

To me, Drum's Not Dead is like some rude drug that increases in potency with each trip. It will encompass you, if you allow it to. To the ears of the offended it may seem harsh and grating, but its open spaces are inviting despite being poorly lit.

I suppose that's the best summary I can give you. My grand attempt at distilling sea water. A cruel thing to try and do really, as futile as most criticism, even that of the positive sort. I will say that the music sneaks up on you like weeds, parasitic but comforting; synthetic but still alive. Like an android or a photograph. A captured piece of time. That kind of bullshit.

Take a walk.

MP3: Liars - "It Fit When I Was A Kid"

Cameron's Album #10: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

2009-02-03T10:57:00.000-08:00

De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is the product of a series of events that occured between 1990 and late 1994 in Norway. Ultimately, this album is but a fragment that reflects on the mysterious and bloody tale that is True Norwegian Black Metal. Mayhem's sonic masterpiece is, in the truest sense of the phrase, a horror story.

The events in question that surrounding De Mysteriis' creation take place over a period of 5 years of what can only be described as pure pandemonium. It was during these 5, long and violent years in Norway that this album was given its conception and birth. It is interesting to note that only one of the band members from the early 90s era of Mayhem are still living today. Guitarist and main songwriter Euronymous (Oystein Aarseth) was brutally mudered during a confrontation with sessional bassist Varg "Count Grishnakh" Vikernes. Original vocalist known famously by the name Dead shot himself with a shotgun after slitting both wrists, leaving behind an apologetic suicide note that simply read "excuse the mess." A photograph of Dead's 3-day fresh corpse was used for the cover of a bootleg vinyl release "Dawn of the Blackhearts." Attila Csihar, a hungarian vocalist was recruited to fill the empty spot and, in my opinion is the jewel on the crown of this masterpiece album. His style is often characterized as operatic, theatrical and demonic. While most Black Metal we know today focuses on high pitched screams, Atilla chooses to fill his voice with depraved torment. A masochistic, hideous creature from the depths filtered through the reverb of an abysmal void.

Thematically, the lyrics, originally written by the late Dead border the thin line between 18th century romantic and gothic literature in the vein of Byron or Polidori with songs like Funeral Fog, "All natural life has for a longtime ago gone / It's thin and so beautyful but also so dark and mysterious." Musically, Euronymous chooses to invoke a classical air to his riffs and time signatures. While the characteristic of many Black Metal guitar tones is a cold, isolated and treble-heavy sound, Euronymous armed with a Gibson Les Paul Standard offers a much brighter and sustaining sonic quality, embracing the listener into the comforting arms of death.

Particuarily interesting as a side note is the credits that go to sessional bassist and murderer of Euronymous. A request for his basslines to be removed were put forward by the deceased's family, but drummer Hellhammer was unable to accomodate. Haunting is the four-stringed instrument barely audiable over the blast-beat drums and drowning wash of guitar.

Depression, Suicide, Murder and Darkness is the death shroud that covers the body of work that makes this album THE most true and honest metal album ever recorded.

MP3: Mayhem - Freezing Moon

James' Album #10: Separation Sunday

2009-01-28T07:31:00.000-08:00

The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday (2005)

When it comes to fictional works (films, novels, TV shows), there are a variety of character tropes that get endlessly recycled: there's the hardass cop who breaks the rules for the all right reasons; there's the hooker with the heart of gold; there's the valiant hero who sacrifices himself for the greater good; there's the poor man who goes from rags to riches; there's the addict who finally gets clean: and the unbeliever who finally learns to believe. Usually, all these characters are seeking some sort of redemption and, more often than not, they find it by story's end. As we all know, however, the real world seldom plays out like this. Sometimes cops are just assholes, hookers are just hookers, the poor just stay poor, the hero just gets ignored, the addict just stays hooked; and the unbeliever just continues to not believe.

It is, perhaps, this reliance on the formulaic (on behalf of the mainstream media, at least) that has drawn me so deeply into ballads, story-songs, concept albums and other narrative-related forms of music. Outlaw folk ballads and albums like Pink Floyd's The Wall taught me that music was one of the strangest and most bewildering art forms for story-telling, allowing its creator(s) to combine poetry, prose, pop hooks, abstraction and genuine (if sometimes vague) narrative into one complete (and often brilliant) package.

Which brings us to my #10 album: Separation Sunday by the Hold Steady.

Using classic rock as a musical template, Separation Sunday tells the story of Hallelujah (but the kids all call her Holly), a down-and-out woman in her early 30s who is forced to come to grips with her fading youth, as well as the questionable choices she has made throughout her life. Lead singer/lyricist Craig Finn uses his gruff voice and sing-speak vocal style to tell a coherent (if not totally linear) story, perfectly capturing the decadence of 80s youth in middle-America and the tiring burnout of a drug-addled hoodrat chick finally coming to terms with herself.

Craig Finn grew up in Minneapolis so it's only natural that the city's specific idiosyncrasies colour much of Holly's story. Finn has a real knack for detail, managing to simultaneously wrench profundity from the banal while also finding humour in the absurdity of modern life. Subverting the high-minded philosophies and epic Shakespearean pathos of earlier concept albums, Finn and crew choose instead to centre in on a few very real-feeling people and make us love them, warts and all. That's not to say that Holly doesn't grow or change, or that the ending of the story (the magnificent closer, "How A Resurrection Really Feels") isn't grande in its own way, she does and it is. It's mostly that Finn doesn't bog us down with purple prose and needless abstraction which, to me, is the less-trodden and considerably more difficult path.

Though there are a number of great songs on Separation Sunday (and an almost unlimited supply of wicked quotes and pop-culture references) I've decided to offer up "Banging Camp" as a suitable introduction to the album and its themes. While every song introduces a variety of interesting lyrical ideas, it is the final section of "Banging Camp" that, because of its brilliant execution, stuns me the most.

I saw him at the riverbank/
he was breaking bread and giving thanks
With crosses made of pipes and planks/
leaned up against the nitrous tanks
He said, "Take a hit, hold your breath and I'll dunk your head
Then when you wake up again/
you'll be high as hell and born again."

Religion (Catholocism, in particular) plays a large part in the story of Separation Sunday. In fact, Holly's conflicted relationship with God forms the crux on which the entire album is ultimately based. It is because of this that I can think of no better moment than Holly's Nirtous Oxide-baptism at the hands of some drug-pushing pseudo-preacher to accurately sum up this record as a whole. It is also interesting to note that immediately after the final line of the aforementioned verse there is a meta-pause as Holly is submerged and the band stops dead, only to return (along with the freshly baptised and totally high Holly) with a chorus of racous guitar and thumping drums.

Enjoy.

MP3: The Hold Steady - "Banging Camp"

Cam & James' Top Ten Albums Of Ever . . . Right Now!

2009-01-22T07:31:00.000-08:00

Loyal Readers (all 3 of you),

Cam and I have decided to do a super fun list-thingie counting down our individual top ten favorite albums of all time. Of course, both of us are well aware how fickle and ridiculous lists of this sort are, which is why I'm pointing out right now how un-seriously we're taking it. We all know how much we change from month to month and year to year, which makes definitive list-making quite the impossibility. So we'll have to settle for this: our favorite albums of exactly-this moment- right now-for-totally-ever-except-probably-not.

Coming soon...

Strange Overtones

2009-01-20T06:38:00.001-08:00

About a year ago I bought a used copy of David Byrne and Brian Eno's sole album, My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts. Recorded around the same time as the Talking Heads' Remain In Light, which Eno also produced, My Life was one of the first albums to feature heavy use of pre-recorded samples. The process was simple but painstaking: Eno and Byrne would create a musical backing track in the studio (often substituting strange kitchen items for various parts of their drum kit) and then they would attempt to layer a sample (speeches, sermons, radio adverstisements) over top. It's difficult to convey to someone not familiar with record production just how difficult (and revolutionary) this process was back in the early 80s. Using imprecise analog equipment, Byrne and Eno experimented with number of techniques before their small masterpiece was realized.

That was over 20 years ago. Last year, Eno and Byrne teamed up again to create a follow-up. But instead of attempting to break new ground, both men just did what they do best: making slightly weird but catchy pop songs. The result was Everything That Happens Will Happen Today.

It's one of those albums that should of made my Best Songs of 2008 list but caught my eye just a bit too late.

Better late than never, I guess.

Enjoy.

MP3: David Byrne and Brian Eno - "Wanted For Life"

Owning up to the Damage...

2009-01-15T23:45:00.000-08:00

When I first saw them play live, I could hardly hear them over the intense feedback screeching off the stage. Their guitars are muddy and often decorate the dense soundscape with unintelligible notes and chords, causing a very pleasing array of cacophony. Ladies and gentleman, I offer you a chance to hear Toronto's own The Pink Noise.

The band successfully strips down the rock genre to create very simplistic, yet very rich song structures that make for a rewarding, no-bullshit listen. They choose to coat this very minimalist approach in dense sonic textures that push venue PAs and home analog 4-track recorders to their limits which often give a tasteful lo-fi aesthetic to their sound.

I offer a track from an upcoming album to be released this year.

MP3: The Pink Noise - Go Downtown

I Would Hurt A Fly

2009-01-08T05:18:00.000-08:00

When it comes to finding new bands to listen to/love, my system is somewhat generic. Generally, if I hear a name thrown around long enough (sometimes over the course of several years) in various media outlets I'll eventually give said band a listen. Sometimes word-of-mouth even makes me go back to bands I'd previously disregarded for re-evaluation. Often, hearing a band's third album instead of, say, their first can mean the difference between a life-long devoted fan and someone who has "only heard that one record and thought it was okay".

There are countless bands that took repeated attempts for me to like (Pavement, Grizzly Bear, Neil Young). And many bands whose names I heard tossed about for years before I finally took the plunge (Love, Karen Dalton).

Most recently, there is Built To Spill, a band who's last album, 2006's You In Reverse, left me largely underwhelmed. But, like I mentioned above, sometimes liking a band is all about a good first impression. With some bands, listening to a weaker or more difficult album can leave a bad taste. Now, I never thought You In Reverse was terrible (and I loved "Traces") but it didn't make me want to go and check out the rest of their discography.

Luckily for me, I gave Built To Spill another shot, deciding to go back and to their almost universally acclaimed masterpiece Perfect From Now On.

This is what it's all about, folks.

Enjoy.

MP3: Built To Spill - "Randy Described Eternity"

Christmas time. Shit. Nintendo. Awesome!

2008-12-24T18:12:00.000-08:00

Posting a christmas post is pretty lame, I get that. But COME ON when you hear this sick 8-bit, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES 1985) you will thank me. I chose my favourite off of the album, one reminiscient of the Konami brand, a great video game maker responsible for classics such as Metal Gear series, Blades of Steel (the BEST sports game ever) and Contra (SUPER C!!!!).

Enjoy the madness.

MP3: 8-Bit Jesus - We Three Konami

Cameron's Best of 2008

2008-12-15T13:33:00.000-08:00

So, here it is. Lots of fruit for the punch. The selections from my favourite albums of this holy year 2008 in no particular order as follows:

01. No Age - Sleeper Hold (from Nouns)
02. Glass Candy - Beatific (from B/E/A/T/B/O/X)
03. Marnie Stern - Ruler (from This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That)
04. Boris - Statement (from Smile [international version])
05. Indian Jewelry - Temporary Famine Ship (from Free Gold)
06. Deerhunter - Backspace Country (from Weird Era Cont.)
07. Chromatics - Night Drive (from Night Drive [LP version])
08. Black Moth Super Rainbow (from Drippers EP)
09. Women In Tragedy - Holder (Grow Colder) (from Dark Passenger)
10. Quest For Fire - Bison Eyes (from Quest for Fire)
11. Earth - Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull (from Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull)
12. Disguises - Flesh Bodies (from Post-Mortem Depression)

ZIP: Cameron's Best of 2008

Special thanks to James for the ipod artworkkk

James' Best Songs Of 2008

2008-12-15T07:45:00.000-08:00

For better or worse, here we go:

01. Portishead - "Magic Doors" (from Third)
02. Destroyer - "Foam Hands" (from Trouble In Dreams)
03. No Age - "Teen Creeps" (from Nouns)
04. Hercules And Love Affair - "Blind" (from Hercules And Love Affair)
05. The Hold Steady - "Constructive Summer" (from Stay Positive)
06. Spiritualized - "Death Takes Your Fiddle" (from Songs In A & E)
07. Cut Copy - "So Haunted" (from In Ghost Colours)
08. Fleet Foxes - "White Winter Hymnal" (from Fleet Foxes)
09. TV On The Radio - "Stork And Owl" (from Dear Science)
10. Vampire Weekend - "Oxford Comma" (from Vampire Weekend)
11. Department Of Eagles - "Around The Bay" (from In Ear Park)
12. Wolf Parade - "An Animal In Your Care" (from At Mount Zoomer)
13. Beach House - "You Came To Me" (from Devotion)
14. Fucked Up - "No Epiphany" (from The Chemistry Of Common Life)
15. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - "Lie Down In The Light" (from Lie Down In The Light)
16. Deerhunter - "Nothing Ever Happened" (from Microcastle)
17. Bob Dylan - "Red River Shore" (from Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol.8)
18. The Walkmen - "In The New Year" (from You & Me)

Here is a link to a .zip file containing all 18 tracks listed above:

ZIP: Various Artists - James' Best Songs Of 2008

New this year to James's Best Songs Of . . . is iPod artwork, lovingly hand drawn by yours truly. The .jpg file is included in the .zip.

I guess that's about it. Do feel free to pass it along to all your friends & enemies.

Enjoy.

Short Delay . . . Please Stand By

2008-12-06T08:20:00.000-08:00

Just to let our many readers know that Cam and I will be taking a week or two off so we can both compile our own "Best Songs of 2008" list. Your patience will be rewarded: instead of one .mp3 every few days you'll be getting like 35 all at once! Lucky you.

Until then . . .

Then Play On

2008-12-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

I don't know much of anything about Fleetwood Mac. I know "Landslide". I know that Rumours is considered a seminal (breakup?) album. I also know the names of at least two of the band members. That's pretty much it. I really couldn't say a word good or bad about them; I simply haven't listened to enough of their music to have a worthwhile opinion. This may lead one to question why I'm writing a blog post about a band I don't seem to care or know anything about so I'll explain:

Once, when I was younger, my family went on a trip to Buffalo. For those of you who haven't been to Buffalo, it's a rather poor city composed mostly of outlet malls which, I suppose, is why my family always went there. At one of the better outlet malls my dad picked up a CD composed of songs no one remembered or cared about and one of those songs was "Man Of The World" by Fleetwood Mac. A few months later, while I waited in the car for my brother to finish getting a hair cut, I popped in this strange compiliation odditity and found it to be pretty terrible. With just one exception.

It's been about ten years now, and the CD has been missing for almost as long. As I said, I was young then, and perhaps if I listened again I would find more to like. It's impossible to say. I guess I'll just have to be content with this one gem of a song. Someone once told me that songs find people, not the other way around. That might be total bullshit, but I'll leave it with you while you listen.

Enjoy.

MP3: Fleetwood Mac - "Man Of The World"

Woman is a Danger Cat

2008-11-28T11:47:00.000-08:00

Simply put, Marnie Stern is the epitome of sexy. Not only is she cute as a fucking button on a bear suit, but I think what everyone can appreciate is her ability to shred that guitar to face-melting extremes. No, you sexist asshole she doesn't just throw a few chords around so we can all pat her on the head like a good little girl. Stern whips out rediculously insane solos fit for any Hella or Lightning bolt track. She is a veteran with her finger-tapping skills that will, as I stated earlier, melt your face right off.

What makes this dazzling beauty so incredibly attractive is the respect she commands for being such an amazing musician. Her voice is absolutely original too. The timbre and pitch of her voice seem to shock you and whip you around this aural room she constructs.
Her latest album, This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That, produced and accompanied on drums/bass by her good friend Zach Hill (Hella, Shred Earthship) is easily in my Top three favourite albums of the year. The entire album gives one an overwhelming effect akin to having just sucked the juice from the gold pot at the end of a rainbow. In your daze your face melts (it really does, that's why I said it three times), your heart falls in love, and for a brief moment life doesn't totally bring you down.

NOTE TO ALL FEMALES: There is absolutely no excuse for the poor number of female musicians rocking out these days. The majority of males suck, so you have got to pick up the slack. If you have something you would like to show either of us, feel free to e-mail it to jolthax at hotmail dot com.

MP3: Marnie Stern - Transformer

Lord, I'm Discouraged

2008-11-27T07:27:00.000-08:00

Unlike my associate Cameron, I'm the type of music fan who cares a great deal about lyrics. Perhaps more than anything else in a song, I have to be moved by words. That's not to say that the music itself is an afterthought; far from it. Even the strongest lyricist must be able to craft songs that highlight and accentuate his or her words in order to present them in their most powerful context. Or, in the case of a band, the singer/frontman must be able to find his or her place within the confines of the band's sound, adding words that fit the aesthetic while also allowing for that person's unique voice to shine through (provided said person has anything remotely original or interesting to say . . . )

As I've aged into early adulthood, I've become concerned with a problem that faces many a young songwriter: how to write, for lack of a better term, "in my own time". Some, or even most, choose to ignore their era and its distinct social reality, focusing instead on universal themes with vague, unspecific and rarely interesting lyrics. To me, the very best lyricists manage to combine the universal with the present, taking old forms and applying them to contemporary ideas. Craig Finn, lead singer of The Hold Steady, is certainly one of the better examples of how to write captivating lyrics that, while drenched in 80s/90s nostalgia (also important), never feel anything less than relevant to the here and now.

"Slapped Actress" is the final song off The Hold Steady's latest album, Stay Positive, and it swirls and swings with the usual bar band swagger fans of the band have come to know and love. It's lyrically dense but, like any good piece of writing, it doesn't drown itself in difficult, obtuse language. The song, I believe, is largely a reference to the films of John Cassavettes, whose work I am unfamiliar with. Regardless, the lyrics also touch on various tried-and-true Hold Steady themes like religion, violence and, perhaps most imporantly, Ybor city, the historica Florida neighbourhood that has been a fixture in the Hold Steady mythos since their first record.

Enjoy.

MP3: The Hold Steady - "Slapped Actress"

Sweet Feather

2008-11-25T06:48:00.000-08:00

In my relatively short life, I've seen maybe a dozen anime movies. Some were phenomenal (like Akira) and some were just downright screwy. I know that there is a large and vocal anime/manga fanbase in North America and, while I appreciate their love, I've opted to dedicate my nerd-time to other, more traditional, pursuits like comic books, films, music and video games. Regardless, there are one or two (probably mainstream) anime films that I really do love.

Macross Plus is one of those kind of anime films. Released in 1994 as a 4-part mini-series, it was one of the first animated films to combine traditional cel animation with computer generated imagery, making it look and feel like nothing that had come before. Also unusual for an anime film was the fact that Macross Plus had a fully orchestrated score, more akin to a Hollywood film than the typical synthesized fare of other animes.

"Voices" is the kind of song that you forgot you ever loved. If it hadn't been for my friend Parker happening upon it on one of his internet-piracy binges, I might never have heard it again. Listening to it now brings me back to a time when every mp3 was precious if only because each one took so damn long to download over my 56k modem. Unlike today, where so-called music fans have thousands (if not millions) of mp3s stored on their hard drives, back then you savoured every single song you got. And "Voices" was one of the songs I happened to have.

I've chosen to post the English language version of the song as opposed to the original Japanese one. Both versions are identical musically speaking, the English one is just the one I'm more familiar with (and if you plan on watching the film in english it's the one you're going to hear).

Enjoy.

MP3: Macross Plus OST - "Voices (English Version)"

- -

2008-11-16T06:55:00.000-08:00

...

MP3: Shellac of North America - Prayer to God

Working Class Hero

2008-11-10T06:41:00.000-08:00

There's not a lot one can say about John Lennon nowadays. He died nearly thirty years ago after producing some of the greatest pop songs of the 20th Century. The fact that he wrote said songs while playing in the most famous band of all time makes him nothing less than a historical figure. There's been movies, biographies and anthologies galore. His message of peace and love has been absorbed into the very psyche of popular culture, its echo recognizable at every peace rally since Vietnam. But, for every cover of "Imagine" you may hear, or every "War is over, if you want it" sign you may see, there were moments or dark, unbridled cynicism and anger in the works of John Lennon, and this is the side I'd like to explore.

I find it surprising sometimes that so few people have heard of Plastic Ono Band. That may seem like an understatement, and in some ways it is (any hardcore Beatles/Lennon fan has a copy of it, probably two). It was Lennon's first post-Beatles album and arguably the very best of any Beatles solo work (with Harrison's All Things Must Pass coming in second). Unfortunately it was also released a year before Imagine, forever relegating it to second fiddle status. I'm not saying Imagine isn't great, or that it isn't dark and cynical (the title track, for all its codification, is nothing less than an atheist anthem). It is all these things. But, to me, Plastic Ono Band is the definitive John Lennon solo album: a cathartic work of criminal genius that rivals even his great Beatles work.

"God" is such a staggering song. It begins quite simply with the line "God is a concept/ by which we measure our pain" but slowly evolves into a anarchistic breakdown and codemnation of what one might call "false saviours". The fact that his list includes Hitler, JFK, Bob Dylan (referred to as Zimmerman) and Elvis is audacious enough, but the final hook of "I don't believe in Beatles" is downright chilling.

"The dream is over"

Enjoy.

MP3: John Lennon - "God"

Dark and Nocturnal Blasphemy

2008-10-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

As we inch closer to the utmost necro hours of the year, one band who stands alone in their pure frostbitteness comes to mind. Impaled Northern Moonforest are the epitome of Black Metal masquerade. INM are typically a half-serious accoustic black metal act from everyone's most hated musician/artist Seth Putnam (Anal Cunt frontman, Full Blown AIDS), but shining through is a real innovation which has been since adopted as a legitimate subgenre of black metal.

Impaled Northern Moonforest are one of these bands you hear and can't help but laugh your ass off at. The awfully long and intentional use of cliched song titles and the use of a bed and bare chest as a drum kit playing "slap beats" is golden. I think this poking fun at the most serious of Black Metal acts (see: Immortal) is what halloween is all about. Underneath this masque of tounge-in-cheek music, there is something quite interesting about their sound. Production value (terrible, at best) gives it that true norwegian black metal sound (from somerville, usa). The band only put out one 7" which sold out very quickly, and recorded but never released a single titled "Return of the Necrowizard."

I give you a little taste of their only official released recording...

MP3: Impaled Northern Moonforest - Nocturnal Cauldrons Aflame Amidst The Northern Hellwitch's Perpetual Blasphemy

Spinal Remains

2008-10-27T06:33:00.001-07:00

Cam suggested that we post Halloween songs this week and I agreed. Unfortunately, I can only think of the one Halloween song: a horror punk number by the (old) Misfits, perhaps unsurprisingly called "Halloween".

The Misfits meant a lot to us as teenagers. I think it was a combination of songs that were incredible easy to play (Adam used to be able to play about 3 dozen of 'em if I recall) and cool, horror-movie themed subject matter. Danzig, their lead singer (who you might know from one of those cursed Guitar Hero games) has this evil-Elivs thing going for him, which puts him above you're average horror-punk crooner (I think it's the crooning element that so much punk music lacks . . . )

Regardless, have a spooky and safe Halloween, kids.

Just don't come to my house.

MP3: The Misfits - "Halloween"

There's Something Shifting in the Distance...

2008-10-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

As the Eve of All Hallows approach and overcast the daylight skies a two-season grey, we consider our record collection in order to compile a soundtrack catering to the dismal days and heavy nights.

So many songs have been written about Hallowe`en (do people remember that it was spelled with a colon between the e`s?). I truly believe the spirit of the holiday comes from a very creative part of our collective unconscious. It is the one day that we all feel truly inspired to express ourselves to the utmost degree. A ceremonial lifting of the masques we wear in favour of redressing/addressing a very hidden-yet very real part of ourself.

A rather dark tune I found for you was done by none other than our Sonic Youth. I grabbed this particular recording off of a compilation titled A Diamond Hidden in the Mouth of a Corpse (1985). Mudhoney covered this track in the late 80s, but I just don`t think it keeps the haunt that Sonic Youth does.

MP3: Sonic Youth - Halloween

FOREVER HEAVY

2008-10-21T22:01:00.001-07:00

Hiatus is over - prepare for the continuation of the Heavy Empire...

SPECIAL THANKS TO LESLIE PREDY (SPASTIC COLON) for the delicious header image. contact me and i'll get you in touch with her.

Pittsburgh, Pensylvania knows HEAVY. ---Black Moth Super Rainbow--- is the "Home of the Pirates" contribution to the loud, experimental sublime. With close to 10 years of material (an album a year plus various EPs), the band is a well oiled machine, rubbing itself gingerly, warmly into our hearts and record shelves.

This band has been around since 2001, known originally as Satanstompingcaterpillars, performed by founding BMSR members Tobacco and Power Pill Fist, though which they released 3 albums (1 cd-rs, 2 cds) and one cd-r EP, Sing to Us that I am told is pretty much impossible to find.

Black Moth Super Rainbow has been labelled alot of different genres, each as terrible as the next in terms of an accurate description. Their sound does heavily focus on analog electronic instruments, but are hardly worth placing in the electronic category. However, you will find their material in chain record stores across canada in this particular section.

I've always felt listening to BMSR has a Coheneqsue aftertaste. You feel completely satisfied as you would finishing a perfectly crafted album, yet its end leaves you hungry to continue the cathartic journey you have been lead on for the past half hour...

I leave you with a choice cut from the Dandelion Gum LP.

MP3: Black Moth Super Rainbow - Forever Heavy

U Don't Know

2008-10-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

I just listened to the new Jay-Z single from the apparently-being-released-this-year The Blueprint 3 and man, does it ever suck. One of the problems with mainstream rap these days is the (over)use of autotune. The worst for this has to be Kanye West and Lil' Wayne. Seriously, once or twice is tolerable, but every song I hear by these guys is coated in digital swirl.

This is rap, not Daft Punk.

Today we're going to head back in time to the days when rappers didn't use autotune: 2001. The original Blueprint, which was released on September 11th, 2001 (morbidly fascinating?), is probably Jay's best album. If you hate mainstream rap, or rap in general, you're not going to like it. It's vain, it's not socially conscious, it's slick and well-produced; it's the opposite of most anything we've posted so far. Regardless, I like this song and album. I always have, even when my holier-than-thou friends were giving me a hard time about it. Plus, I've been watching The Wire a lot recently, and it has put me in the mood for some bangin' beats.

This is a dis track. And like the hand of God it crushes any and all compeititors. Check out the final line: for the rest of you cats throwin' shots at Jigga/ you only get half a bar, fuck y'all niggas. How does one respond to that?

Plus, bonus points for interpolating the Bowie/Lennon classic "Fame".

Enjoy.

MP3: Jay-Z - "Takeover"

Random Rules

2008-09-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

The Silver Jews are one of my favorite bands. Their frontman (and only consistent member) David Berman, is one of the few lyrical greats of the last twenty years. He's written some clunky lines before, and his voice doesn't have a lot of range, but it hardly matters when the images he stirs up are so captivating. Take the chorus of today's post, "Buckingham Rabbit":

So the rent became whiskey
And then my life became risky
and so the rent became whiskey, whiskey
Shattered dogs on the rocks

His lyrics are both evocative and modern, speaking to age old emotions as well as contemporary troubles. The Jews haven't really made a bad album either, even though their last record, Lookout Moutain, Lookout Sea was only okay-to-good, it's still a fun listen with some very good lyrics. This song is taken from their American Water album released in 1998. It's my personal favorite (and this seems to be the critical consensus as well). Jews vinyl is always priced to sell on label Drag City's homepage, and their Canadian shipping is almost nothing, so if you like it, pick it up.

Enjoy.

MP3: Silver Jews - "Buckingham Rabbit"

pack your ears with shit because that's what you're hearing

2008-09-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

When recording music, there are many things to consider that so many bands never do. Usually, this lack of foresight (and hindsight) in the studio is out of ignorance, arrogance and a complete lack of responsibility to those who dare listen to the recordings you will put out. Possibly the largest and most insulting thing your band can do is to record your music produced in a way which will never, EVER be reproduced the same way live.

If you are going to play the Sony Center and other such venues with superb sound, by all means pro-tools your music to hell. EQ it until you could use words like "Fat" and "Punchy" to describe the quality of your recording. If you're going to play a small-but-quaint music venue with heart, soul and a whole lot of dirt, grit and grime then for God's sake, reflect that in your recording.

There is an essay by Steve Albini called "The Problem With Music" which im sure you will find useful.

The Jesus and Mary Chain is a testament to this ideology. Album Psychocandy retained the quality that unprepared bars unable to support the amplified destruction they were causing less-than-adequate PA systems. Later, when they got more popular and started playing bigger and more adequate venues, their sound changed on disc, ranging to softer much more clear sounds being heard in albums such as Darklands.

I offer a B-side from the Never Understand 12", a loud, messy piece of perfection. take a lesson, kids.

MP3: Jesus and Mary Chain - Ambition

Law And Boarder

2008-09-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

Home Movies is a cool show. Not only that, it's a cool show with cool (and funny) original music. Brendon Small, who went on to create Metalocalypse (which I'm not a huge fan of, though I know it has its audience), is a skilled musician. That being said, sometimes he also likes to have fun. This song, which is under a minute, is called "Don't Kill Children". It's only got three chords. The guy can shred, but he also writes music to serve the show, and in this case a quickie punk song was all that was needed.

Not much more to say about it other than that. If you end up buying the 4th (and final) season of the show on DVD, you get a sweet bonus disc featuring most (but not all) of the music from every season of the show. There's a ton of good (and stupid) stuff on there, and it's definetly worth checking out (though most of it only makes sense in context of the episodes themselves).

Enjoy.

Brendon Small - "Don't Kill Children"

Observation Is No Crime

2008-09-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

So today I'm posting a song by Fela Kuti. If you don't know him, he's a famous Nigerian composer and band leader, as well as a prominent social activist. This song, "Zombie," might well be his most famous number. Written as a critique of Nigerian soldiers who blindly and brutally follow orders, the song was a huge hit in Nigeria. This, of course, infuriated the government, whose soldiers were openly mocked by the locals with taunting calls of "Zombie! Zombie!".

It speaks to the character of Kuti (who was by no means a perfect man) that he never shied away from speaking out against injustice. Following the release of this song, his commune was attacked by 1000 Nigerian soldiers who savagely beat him, burned down the commune, and threw his elderly mother out of a second-story window, causing fatal injuries. .

The stories of his persecution are many, and I urge you to check out his biography. It's very captivating and fiercely uncompromising. Kuti spent nearly four decades composing and peforming and rarely (if ever) did he back down from his convictions.

The song "Zombie" came with a terrible price, as some songs do, but the music itself still resonates today. It's unfortunate, but it seems that corrupt governments and brutal armies never go out of fashion. Fortunately for those of us opposed, we already have our anthem.

(Kuti died of complications due to AIDS in 1997 at the age of 58).

MP3: Fela Kuti & Africa '70 - "Zombie"

It's alright, we know where ya've been...Richard Wright 1943-2008

2008-09-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

I call - do you listen?
Stoner-Metal enthusiasts; bong-gods; anyone within earshot of your (cool) dad's (decent) record collection...

Smoke one giant fucking bowl for one of the most fucking seriously inventive dronelords of all time, for he is no longer with us. Richard Wright, founding and keystone member to the Pink Floyd sound is dead.

Wright was given to us on July 28, 1943 and was taken from us by cancer on September 18, 2008.

Without the entrancing, dark and brooding synthesizer sounds produced by none other than our late Wright, we would have nothing to trip out to on such classics as "Time," the beautifally crafted "Echoes" and O.G work on "Astronomy Domine."

Wright was the least public figure in Pink Floyd, opting for virtual anonymity in his stage presence and extra-curricular activities. Needless to say, his use of texture and just pure energy in front of those keys added the atmosphere and depth that made their music so powerful and gigantic.

For anyone who has ever played a synthesizer since the release of Piper at the Gates of Dawn, you owe this man BIG TIME. Don't bother with Gilmour or Waters' new material. It sucks.

I offer one of the most stoner-worthy synth jams Wright gave us. Wierd to mention, it's actually been 33 years exactly to the day since Wish You Were Here was released. On this song he did alot of shit, not just synthesizers.

MP3: Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)

Common People

2008-09-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

Let’s get this out of the way right away: Captain Kirk is the best Star Trek captain. I know that a bunch of “intellectual” Trekkies out there are die-hard Picard lovers, but he’s just not brash or arrogant or insane enough to deliver the camp thrills we all expect and need from a Star Trek-based adventure. I mean, was Picard in Wrath of Khan? Yeah, that’s right, he wasn’t. Case closed.

But really, as much as I love pissing off Star Trek fans, this song is acually very good. In fact, Shatner’s whole Has Been album is way better than it has any right to be. Everyone knows the single (it’s the title of this post) and there is, I’ve been informed, some argument as to whether Shatner’s interpretation is now the definitive version (but really, let’s not go nuts). Regardless, the album is a pleasure to listen to . . . provided you have at least the smallest soft spot for the greatest space Captain in the galaxy.

This song also features Henry Rollins, who some of you may know from Black Flag or possibly his short-lived cable talk show. It’s a blast to hear the two of them go back and forth, the rabid spoken word jazz beat providing the perfect backdrop for their surreal and spastic rant.

Seriously, this song is fucking apocalyptic.

Enjoy.

P.S. First Contact isn’t nearly as good as everyone seems to think it is.

MP3: William Shatner - "I Can't Get Behind That"

CHROMATICS recording new album - awesome.

2008-09-10T16:04:00.000-07:00

The Chromatics are for all intents and purposes, an awesome band. Their earliest albums like Chrome Rats vs. Basement Ruts is a pioneering LP that made the art-noise-punk movement possible.

Since then, Chromatics have delved deep into a mostly sublime electronic sound that is both danceable yet extremely depressing. Their most recent album, 2007's Night Drive was close to something you might hear playing on a David Lynch-ian bar jukebox. It's melancholy rhythms and cold, yet gripping vocals are capable of holding one in the arms of hopelessness, dancing slowly into the night.

Chromatics have gracefully released a practice demo from their recent record rehearsals titled "Lady." The song remains dark and morose as always.

MP3:Chromatics - Lady (Practice Demo)

My Eyes Have Seen

2008-09-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

I have to admit to not really knowing too much about Odetta. I only found out about her because of the small role she played in Martin Scorsese's documentary No Direction Home: Bob Dylan. Her work isn't exactly easy to come by, though there is some of her stuff kicking around on various compilations and file-sharing networks. This song, "900 Miles", is taken from her Odetta Sings Folk Songs album from 1963. It's no longer in print and I'm not certain it was ever released on CD so I'm assuming that this is just a good vinyl rip.

She's got a great voice: deep and heavy and booming but still emotive, and her guitar playing is steady and skillful. I'm not sure if she wrote this song (though, from what I can tell, she did), but it's one of those down-and-out-and-far-from-home blues-like numbers which, even after 45 years, still echo the displacement so many of us feel.

Enjoy.

MP3: Odetta - "900 Miles"

Gettin' cozy with Women in Tragedy

2008-09-05T11:24:00.000-07:00

This week i sat down in front of my PC Laptop to converse over msn with Bob McCully of Toronto's fabulous Noise/Drone/Name-it outfit Women in Tragedy. Amongst things talked about was his new album Total Fucking Romance, noise and pop music as a whole. Much of this article will be published in my column for York University's student rag Excalibur (http://excal.on.ca), but i've highlighted a bit of our interview in this here post.

DIG!

Cameron says:
So, bob. bobtherockstar; Women in Tradedy. Total Fucking Romance: one piece of wax hosted by a foreign label, and another on the way. Is this the rock star life or what?

bob. says:
Hardly!

I don't really think about that kind of thing, nor would I ever want it. I don't ever even see it as a possibility, and I don't mean 'being a Rock Star', but just reaching that point where I can say making music is my career and I'm recognized by the masses. The less I think about trying to achieve, the more successful I am.

Cameron says:
I think we once had a drunken discussion on the topic of 'noise' being so present in pop music these days. loads, walls of background indistinction heard in these massively overproduced tracks. Even in an imperfect world, doesn't that stand for something?

bob. says:
The way I see it is that experimenting with music is a way of finding that pop song. Eventually the experimental work evolves into a composition that people can latch onto. It's just about communicating with the audience, that is how I see the pop song...I'm still honestly trying to figure out how the hell I want to create music and how the hell music works in the first place. It's just a process, a constant shaping and evolving of ideas Although maybe I wouldn't call it 'pop song', just because in many ways the 'pop song' is a negative term, or can be seen as negative.

Cameron says:
it's true, the Pop Song does have a tragic stigma attached to it. I would love to argue in your favour that you have chosen to join many before you who have successfully attempted to reclaim popular music as a viable form of art that can be molded and shaped into something...positive?

Bob says:

I think what is most positive for art is that it does not concern itself with following one set structure, genre or categorization. So, going along with my own personal theories, I do feel it can be positive for others to experiment...but even when one gets to the point where they feel they can communicate with the audience then it is time to re-evaluate their process...and do something completely different. I just don't want stagnation in music, and this is definitely another part of the negative side of pop music[;]familiarity, and that is not what I want myself or others to strive for.

Cameron says:
do you feel your music holds a certain amount of structure that perhaps separates you from noise?

bob. says:
I think so, yeah, I prefer writing and practicing and perfecting a composed piece of music as opposed to improvising, which most noise bands do...i feel kinda insecure about my answers, especially since the way i make my music is just such a primal thing, i think about what i'm doing, but not so much why, and i like it that way.

Cameron says:
I think the term Noise is somehow uncertain for most people. I've tried-and failed-to explain what noise means by throwing on a Hair Police tape or a Wolf Eyes cd but that is just such a limited view of the umbrella word Noise means. What do you think Total Fucking Romance is in terms of where it's coming from at a theoretical/musical standpoint? Finally, how do you feel it appeals to fans of any genre?

bob. says:
Not entirely sure what you mean by the theoretical/musical standpoint for Total Fucking Romance. That record is definitely more in the psychedelic/drone category for the most part. It's also constructed through improvisation, and it was the last time that I'd do that for an entire album. In many ways it's like the ending of one phase and beginning of a new. The two pieces that bookend the album show the direction that I've started to evolve in, which is a direction of purely composed and practiced work. My next LP, Dark Passenger, due in October on Grief Foundation is more of a statement of that newly found direction. I think that will appeal to fans of any genre because of its accessible structures and linnear arrangements that I had not really attempted in the past.

TOTAL FUCKING ROMANCE is now available at http://www.musicfellowship.com/ , and Rotate This and Soundscapes in Toronto.

Dark Passenger will be available in October on Grief Foundation (website link soon)

MP3: WOMEN IN TRAGEDY - WOMEN

Buffalo Ballet

2008-09-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

Back when I worked at the gas station I used to bring in my iPod and dazzle people with my incredible music taste. Or, perhaps more accurately, people were confused and/or weirded out and/or annoyed that I had opted not to go with some FM radio drivel like Q107 or B101. Sure, whenever I played Radiohead or The Beatles people didn't mind, but people just don't care to hear Liars or Animal Collective when they're paying for their gas.

Depending on the song, John Cale is perfect radio pop or experimental madness. Or both. His solo stuff hasn't exactly been neglected, but I've always felt it been over-shadowed by his work with The Velvet Underground (which is, admittedly, pretty breathtaking). He did do that "Hallelujah" cover that ended up in Shrek, but other than that, he hasn't gotten much exposure in a mainstream way. Anyway, here's a song off his Fear album from 1974.

I love the way it breaks down at the end into total funk carnage.

MP3: John Cale - "Fear Is A Man's Best Friend"

Heaven swallows a Sunburned soul...Adam Nodelman 1966-2008

2008-08-30T14:46:00.000-07:00

From John Moloney of Sunburned Hand of the Man:

"Adam Nodelman age 43, married and father of 3 girls, died suddenly at his Woodstock, NY home on Monday, August 25th. The cause of death is yet to be determined. Adam had a huge heart and the musical energy of 10 men. This is a huge loss for his family and friends. Memorial services and events are being planned right now for New York City, the Woodstock Area, and Western Massachusetts to commemorate his life and celebrate Adam's life.

If anyone has any photos or video of Adam please, please, contact us at sunburnedhand@gmail.com

We'll send information regarding the memorial as soon as it comes in.

Adam began playing with BORBETOMAGUS at age 18 in 1984. He appeared on LIVE IN ALLENTOWN(RECENTLY REISSUED), 7 REASONS FOR TEARS,and FISH THY SPARKLING BUBBLE He joined MISSING FOUNDATION IN 1987 appearing on various recordings, he was in MOTHERHEAD BUG with DAVID OUIMET, he joined the west coast band CRASH WORSHIP in 1996-97. Since 2005, Nodelman has been a core member of SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN & FRANKLIN'S MINT and appears on ton's of each band's recent recordings and live shows. Adam has been a sometimes member of Bunny Brains in the past year, and In 2008, Adam became the front man of the pioneer valley assault band - SHITSWEAT."

Many of you Toronto folk remember Sunburned Hand of the Man's show with Sonic Youth in 2004 @ the Kool Haus. You will also remember how Sonic Youth's set ended in total chaos
, Sunburned members climbing all over the stage fiddling with the amps and carrying off Thurston Moore to the side of the stage whilst giving him pink belly.

A great show, but a great man.

Photos and Youtube link found by Sinister Canyon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29LNV9KfIj8

BABY EVOLVEEEEE

2008-08-29T22:44:00.000-07:00

I was told that evolution is the result of inbreeding favourable mutations. That being the mutations causing something to evolve resets the standard. Music functions much the same way, for truly interesting music is an incestual process by which the product-a mutation of influences and references to itself-is a sound object evolved.

For your listening pleasure I provide you with 3 generations of noisy racket that harbours essentially the same message: to assault, to disturb, to annoy, to lose your mind.

Up first is a choice cut from Captain Beefheart's Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1969) I went with the title track as it expresses that raw, disgusting and offensive attitude that will carry on 2 generations after it (and probably more). Take notice of the rhythm section as the drum set is stripped bare, discarding any unnecessary sounds to provide a minimalist approach to play. The guitar is played with lots of mistakes, bursts of improvised nonsense and just casual wandering.

Second track listed is a track on legendary No New York compilation by noisy jazz punks The Contortions "Dish it Out."(1978) Arguably James Chance and co. storm up a dancier path than Beefheart, but the simplistic, raw noisy bits remain the key feature. The opening saxophone solo disorents and repulses-much like Beefheart's dirty guitar fuzz-playing out of tune, out of time and out of patience.

Thirdly I chose a recent contribution to the evolution with Arab on Radar's "Attack on Tijuana"
from 1997's Queen Hygiene II. Drums are simplified, resorting to 1/1 shots of violent lethargy. Whether it's lazyness or genius, this album comes prepared for both in its endless amounts of lack-of-precision guitar playing; The bass sometimes can hardly even catch up. Arab on Radar convince its listener that what they're hearing is planned and executed with finesse.

While each band brings a very original set of ideas to the table, it's easy to see where evolution took place by aknowledging the incestual nature seen in 3 generations of sickness.

Captain Beefheart - Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1969)

Contortions - Dish it Out (1978)

Arab on Radar - Attack on Tijuana

Recovery

2008-08-28T16:52:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to post today. I suppose there's a lot I could post, but nothing in my modest mp3 folder is really screaming out to me. So . . .

Here's a live reading of a poem by Anne Sexton. She killed herself, I can't recall when exactly but it's probably been a few decades now. She was also very pretty and was known for her vivid readings, which I think this recording attests to.

Enjoy.

MP3: Anne Sexton - "All The Pretty Ones"

Indian Jewelry - Outta Sight!

2008-08-25T11:43:00.000-07:00

It has been two long, dirty years since Indian Jewelry destroyed us with their release Invasive Exotics. It has been that long since they've toured. Melting guitar dripping hot weld juice on messy loops, cranky synthesizers, pretty vocals and vacant rhythm sections was the sound of Invasive Exotics. Its difficult to say nothing has changed on forthcoming release FREE GOLD scheduled to arrive in our hearts this year.

The newest release, by the sounds of track "Swans" is a densely packed love-in between swirling synth sounds and fuzzy, heavy guitar warmth. While this shoegaze-y kind of sound is very popular these days, Indian Jewelry are playing/paying no lip service.

---INDIAN JEWELRY TORONTO DATE-------
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2008
POSTER SHOW III - /w AIDS WOLF AND ROMO ROTO
@ WHIPPERSNAPPER GALLERY (587A College Street W)

MP3: Indian Jewelry - Swans

Revolution Blues

2008-08-22T07:32:00.000-07:00

So Neil Young is playing at the Air Canada Centre. Tickets go on sale today, not that I'll be buying any. Even though Neil Young has proven with his recent live DVD releases that he, unlike Dylan, hasn't completely lost his voice, I can't imagine wanting to see him play a huge arena show. My cousin Jane went to one of the Massey Hall shows and said that the intimacy of the smaller venue really sold the show. But $150 for a single ticket? I don't think so. I 've never really understood why older artists have to charge so much for tickets ($100 to see Roger Waters sing about the evils of money?). I'm sure there's some sort of marketing or supply and demand reasoning behind it but for younger concert goers like myself, I'd rather go see ten shows by smaller up and coming bands than blow a year's worth of concert money on an over-the-hill singer belting out the classics.

Also, Cam (a.k.a. heavyempire) went to see ol' Neil on his Greendale tour and said it totally sucked. But you know, you can't always trust ol' Cam either.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to, uh, post this rad Radiohead cover of Young's "On The Beach". It's just Jonny and Thom and it's really quite lovely. For anyone keeping track, On The Beach is my favorite Neil Young record. If you haven't heard it, pick it up.

MP3: Radiohead - "On The Beach"

AUGUST 28th - A Night of First Times and Ears to the Grind

2008-08-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

Summer is ending. Your girlfriend is breaking up with you. The radio is pumping Zeppelin. Wonderland is like 50 bucks, so where can you go for dirt cheap thrills that will leave you just a bit perkier than you did before you spent your rent money on weak mexican weed and some seriously pierced eardrums?

THURSDAY AUGUST 28th @ TERRANGAAAAAAA (159 Augusta Ave)

William Sabiston left Axolotl to form BULBS. Check out the new shit.

THRASHED JEANS - members of nervous sleepers, disguises and a band i keep missing called gravitons. FIRST SHOW EVER!!!!!!!!!!!! let that camera roll.

"JEREMY STRACHAN'S CANAILLE (Sun Ra vibes from the Strach Ra)Jeremy Strachan of Feuermusik, Rockets Red Glare, pulls the strings & pulls out all the stops with his new adventure into jazz-land. Promising a Sun Ra vibe meets the likes of Toronto heavy hitters Colin Fisher, Brandon Valdivia, Nick Buligan & Mike Smith. Another first show." - Tad, Stillepost.ca.

The Dead Are Those Who Have Died - This guy is fucking loud...Awesome! One man. One guitar. Bring Earplugs. I'm not lying. He rocks.

Bulbs - Sample

Things Have Changed

2008-08-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

I'm going to see Bob Dylan perform in Hamilton tonight. It'll be the first time I've ever seen him live and I'm pretty excited. This being my first post on my first mp3 blog, it's probably only fitting that I start with a Dylan song. He's my favorite artist. Period. And though I'm able to admit that he's released quite a lot of stupid shit (Self-Portrait, anyone?) I remain a devoted fan.

I've heard that his shows are very hit-or-miss. I've also heard that he doesn't talk to the audience. I'm totally prepared for this show to totally suck balls.

So what? I get to see Dylan. In a decade or two I probably won't be able to.

Lucky me.

MP3: Bob Dylan - "Visions Of Johanna"

Introduction to the Fog...

2008-01-13T18:14:00.000-08:00

Coming May 2009...Just Kidding