Latest album reviews

Well that was quick, I sent !earshot my latest reviews on Thursday and they're already up!

Cambridge - This is Not a Victory

Fond of Tigers - Continent and Western

Caleb Klauder - Western Country

And a bonus review I just posted on RYM for Soundgarden's new best of, Telephantasm

Arhoolie Ovesrtock Music Sale

Just learned about this from the good folks at the Obner music board. $20 for four albums. Arhoolie is a very well respected roots, blues and worldbeat label.

http://www.arhoolie.com/overstock-sale-items/

When David Lee Roth ruled music television

Back when music video was very new, say about 192-1984, there seemed to be some acts that were born for it. Bands that understood that being an entertainer also meant that there needed to be something to look at as well as being listen to. Band like Duran Duran, Devo and, yes, Van Halen. When VH's "1984" came out, it seemed like they were born fully formed into the video age. With four albums of solid guitar rock/metal behind them, they fully embraced a pop-rock sound and made upbeat, feelgood videos that were fun to watch. Like "Panama":



And their excellent "Hot for Teacher":



Soon after 1984 had fizzled out, David Lee Roth embarked on a solo career. His first EP, Crazy From the Heat, took the Van Halen party formula and thrust it forward to it's logical extreme. Roth was a camera hog, a ham and he chewed up the scenery like no one else at the time. The two videos that came from the EP, "California Girls" and "Just a Gigolo", were paeans to the excess of the 80s, with Roth as a grinning, wacky ringmaster. "California Girls" had racial stereotypes and rampant sexism, with Roth wallowing in the absurdity, like some sort of Roman idol, all of the members of the video's cast seemingly worshiping him.



"Just a Gigolo" came off like a Las Vegas stage show, with Roth changing costumes and sets every 15 seconds or so, skewering the pop idols of the time (including Billy Idol). It seemed like Roth was ready to take over the music world.



By the time his first full length album, Eat 'em and Smile, came out, Roth was beginning to look long in the tooth. The album was enjoyable enough and the first single and video for "Yankee Rose" was wacky enough, but the edge seemed to be dulled. Roth's stage presence was reduced to his trademark high-kicks and karate moves, and he was hanging off his backing band (containing an up-and-coming Steve Vai) like he was in Motley Crue, not being his own man.



His second full length, Skyscraper, was a disaster. The music industry had passed him by. Roth was a parody of himself and his music lacked the energy and sheer mania of his earliest solo work. The video and single "Just Like Paradise" sounded like every other rock band on the planet.



Growing up, I remember watching Roth and being very excited to watch this new kind of rock star, one born for video, take off. Watching him very quickly fizzle was disappointing, but showed he needed some talented people backing him up for him to really shine. His ego was too much for his music and he quickly proved to be a shyster in spandex. Strangely, his prediction at the end of the "Hot for Teacher" video, where he became a popular gameshow host, didn't fall too far from the mark. Really, who respects a gameshow host, that is, if your name isn't Bob Barker?

Forgotten Music #2: Morrissey - "Every Day is Like Sunday" (1988)

Reprinting from my LiveJournal:

The second song in my series of song focuses is a bit a shocker for me. I actually really dislike Morrissey and The Smiths. I find them preachy and self-important most of the time. In fact, this is the only song besides "Interesting Drug" I like from either of them.



When I first heard this song, I thought it was another typical British song, about living in a backwards town where no one understands you. Like you are the only smart and cultured one there and that the town is so boring, you want everything to disappear. You can see how the sentiment would appeal to a teenager. Every teen in every small town thinks their town is boring and drab. I still feel that way about my hometown. But, this song takes a disturbing twist in the second verse. The town becomes the "town they forgot to bomb" and Morrissey is suddenly asking for it to be hit by a nuclear bomb. Then, the bored teen is surprised by "strange dust" falling on their hands, like nuclear fallout. The song becomes not a plea to get out of a small town, but a plea for the ugliness in the world to go away. A desire so strong that only being obliterated by a nuclear warhead will do it. The song is about the hatred for the shallowness of humanity. You see this a bit clearer in the video, where the young girl drops the postcard on the old ladies and let's the spoiled dog run away. The women laughing at the mechanical dancing bear seems grotesque and artificial too.

Of course, some of the message gets lost in Morrissey's own personality. There's a lot of self-adulation in the video. Whether it's intentional or ironic, it still detracts from the overall message of the song.

RIP Ari Up

Ari Up (real name Ariane Foster), guitarist and lead singer for legendary UK post-punk band The Slits, passed away on Wednesday, October 20. She was 48 and had been fighting with cancer for the past year.

Ari formed the Slits with drummer Palmolive when she was just 14 years old. Her legacy in punk and the UK scene is long, since her mother, Nora, used to put up punk band in their house as they toured, she met many of the earliest stars of the genre as she was growing up. She learned how to play guitar from Joe Strummer of the Clash. Her music had a distinct reggae feel to it. The Slits were only around from 1976 to 1981, but left an indelible stamp on UK punk and post-punk music.

The band recently came back together and recorded a full length album, Trapped Animal, for Narnack Records, in 2009.

I remember The Slits mostly for their dubby version of The Miracles' "I Heard it Through the Grapevine":

Band name mashups

A classic post from my Livejournal, ca. 2008:

From the cover of the new LP by The Two Koreas (which looks like an old John Peel Sessions cover):

Chinese Daughters
Alien Sexsmith
Sun-Ra and Cher
Ultra Broken Vivid Scene
Gang of Foreigner
Klaatu Live Crew
Dinosaur Jr. Walker
Bing Crimson
The Irish Descendents
Franti-Nowhere League
Mission of Berman
Half Man Half Japanese
Clock D.O.A.
Adamski and the Ants
Fleetwood Mac Davis
Peter and the Test Department Babies
Godspeed! You Black Oak Arkansas
Dire Strokes
I Beefeater
Steel Eye Can
The Sisters of Mersey
Siouxsie Quatro
Teafinger
Husker Duul II
The Randy Vicars
Elevenenth Dream Theater
Scritti Gritty Dirt Band
Bauhausmartins
Too Much Joy Division
Grateful Dead Can Dance
Merzbow Wow Wow
R.E.M. Speedwagon
Loggins and Masonna
Thin White Lizzy
DJ Spooky Tooth
Wishbone Ashford and Simpson
Curved Air Supply
The Go-Go Betweens
Simply Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
Yazoobombs
Altered Images in Vogue
Fuzztones on Tail
Talking Headpins
Duran Sirhan
Buddy Holly Modal Rounders
Hot Hot Tuna
Sonic Boomtown Rats
Blood Wind and Palmer
Earth Lake and Tears
Emerson Sweat and Fire
Fun Boy Three Dog Night
Swing Out Sister Sledge
Phishbone
My Blue Heaven 17
Godflesh for Lulu
New Model Army of Lovers
Psychic Television Personalities
The Wall of Deja Voodoo
Frank Black Sabbath
Nick Cave and the Bad Finger
Howard Devo
Agitation Free Design
Bowling for Soup Dragons
Bronski Beat Manifesto
Mojo Nixon and Skid Row
Manfred Mannheim Steamroller
We've Got a Buzzcocks and We're Gonna Use It
Jethro Tulpa
Moby Grapeman
Orange Juice Newton
Echo and The Bunnymen They Couldn't Hang
Crass McCombs
Doctor John Cooper Clarke
Severed Headcoatees
Human League of Gentlemen
Jermain Duprifab Sprout
Gong of Four
Everything But the Girlschool
The Black Rabbit
Richard and Linda Thompson Twins
ABC/DC
Ten Years After the Fire
Hoodoo Guru Gurus
Sniffin' the Tears for Fears
Rage Against the Soft Machine
Linton Daniel Johnson
Jandek Street Preachers
Genesis Loves Jezebel
38 Special AKA
Bonnie Prince Billy Idol
Ash Ra Temple of the Dog
General Public Image Limited
Stray Cat Stevens
Exploding Plastic Bertrand
Fischer ZZ Top
Kate Bush Tetras
Martin Rev and Suzanne Vega
Wreckless Eric Clapton
Platinum Blonde Redhead
Big Country Joe MacDonald and the Fish
The Crazy World of Arthur Brownsville Station
T-RexTC
Giorgio Moroderhead
Tangerine Dream Academy
The Beastie Boys Next Door
The Mighty Lemonheads
British Sea Power Station
Agnostic Front 242
Love and Rocket from the Tombs
Vanilla Fudge Tunnel
Great Big Sea and Cake
MC Young Marble Giants
Julian Cope Shoot Cop
The Moody Blues Explosion
New Faust Automatic Daffodils
His Name is Dead or Alive
You Am I Mother Earth
Wedding Parties Mental as Anything
Grand Funk Railroad Jerk
Peter Criss and Cosey
Generation Xhol Caravan
Mahavishnu Order
Motley Du
Lynyrd Cohen
Ned's Atomic Rooster
Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Darkness
Miranda Soundgarden
Fripper
Royal Court of China Crisis
Marvin Gaye Bikers on Acid
Popul Eat Itself
Minutemen Without Hats
Wayne County and the Electric Prunes
Nine Inch Nils
Average White Zombie
A Gordon Lightfoot in Cold Water
Flower Travelin' Wilburys
Counting Krokus
SNFUzeb
Shocking Blue Messiahs
Steppenwolfgang Press
The Hillage People
Fine Young Cannibal Corpse
Silver Apples in Stereolab
Gentle Giant Sand
Belle and Sebastian Bach
Tad and Jeremy
Chesterfield Kings-X
Cradle of Frith
Tenpole Bathtub
Billy Ocean Colour Scene
Flo and Eddie Money
Chad Van Halen
Bachman Turner Overdrive Like Jehu
Bananarammstein
X-Mal Deustchland

A big vinyl score

One of the most heartbreaking things I can think of is having to dismantle a record collection. This past week, I fielded a call from the Kamloops brand of Habitat for Humanity and their Re-Store storefront, saying that someone had dropped off a big collection of vinyl (they said 600 records, there were more like 300). So, I went up to check it out and found a lot of stuff that I like, mainly new wave and obscure Canadiana. The clerk said the woman who dropped off the records had been collecting music since the 60s and had to give up her vinyl since it was too heavy to move across the country. Though, one collectors loss is always another collectors gain.

I was pretty impressed about the obscure Canadian music in the collection and I bought most of the stuff I could tell was Canadian, plus most of the stuff I recognized as new wave. Thanks whoever you are lady who had to move across the county!

The haul:

6 Cylinder - S/T (Canada, RCA 1979)
The B-52s - Bouncing Off the Satellites (USA, Warner 1986)
The B-52s - Party Mix! EP (USA, Warner 1981)
The B-52s - Whammy! (USA, Warner 1983)
Blue Northern - S/T EP (Canada, Quintessence/Polygram 1980)
Boy's Brigade - S/T (Canada, Anthem 1983)
Kate Bush - The Sensual World (UK, Capitol 1989)
Cool it Reba - Money Fall Out the Sky EP (USA, Hannibal 1982)
Crazy House - Still Looking for Heaven on Earth (UK, Chrysalis 1988)
The Dream Syndicate - Medicine Show (USA, A&M 1984)
Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars! (Australia, Mercury 1985)
Hoodoo Gurus - Blow Your Cool (Australia, Capitol 1987)
Iko - '83 (Canada, Manhattan Formula 1983)
Kissing the Pink - What Noise? (UK, Magnet 1984)
The Little Heroes - Watch the World (Australia, Capitol 1983)
Nash the Slash - And You Thought You Were Normal (Canada, Cutthroat 1982)
Numbers - Add Up (Canada, Basement/Attic 1980)
Offenbach - Coupe de Foudre!! (Canada, Spectra Scene 1981)
One Horse Blue - On the Street (Canada, Vera Cruz 1982)
The Planets - Spot (USA, PolyGram 1980)
The Rings - S/T (USA, MCA 1981)
Rough Trade - O Tempora! O Mores! (Canada, True North 1984)
Pete Shelley - On Your Own (12") (UK, Vertigo 1986)
Soft Cell - The Art of Falling Apart (UK, Some Bizarre/Vertigo 1983)
Soft Cell - This Last Night in Sodom (UK, Some Bizarre/Vertigo 1984)
The Spizzles - Spikey Dream Flowers (UK, A&M 1981)
The Tourists - Luminous Basement (UK, Epic 1980)

Indie Band Roundup #2

Three more artists worth your time, this time all Canadian

John Hornak: Hailing from Calgary, Alberta, John Hornak is a minimalist composer, dabbling in electronics, pop and strange forms of dub. His new album is called "A Needle, a Feather and a Rope", about 36 minutes of wonderful lo-fi electronica and pop. He's got a new dub based album coming out very soon. Buy and check out his music here.

Fine Mist: As I mentioned in a previous post, Fine Mist are a band that have really caught my attention as of late. From the always interesting experimental hotbed of music, Vancouver, BC, Fine Mist mix offbeat indy pop with electronics into a fine mix of sounds and lo-fi noises. Their debut album is called "Public Domain". You can download their song "Stop or Start" here for free.

Cygnets: This album dropped on me like a bomb. I love the retro sound of new wave, and love revivalists even more for keeping the sound going. Edmonton's penchant for producing great retro acts continues here, with Cygnets joining The Floor as one of the best new wave acts in Canada right now. Their debut full length is called "Bleak Anthems", and mines the sound made by Joy Division, The Smiths and Echo and the Bunnymen to great effect. This album was also produced by Nik Kozub of electronic retroists Shout Out Out Out Out, who are also worth your time if you haven't heard them before.

The Cars return

Found this on Slicing Up Eyeballs, your necessary source for all things 80s music. The Cars have posted a clip of their first new music in 23 years (that is, if you forget the abortive reunion band with Todd Rundgren at the helm instead of Ric Ocasek). And it sounds pretty good. Kind of angular and new wavey, definitely an early Cars sound here. But, can they be the Cars without Ben Orr?

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=445115559565

What I'm Reading

Some recent printed media round-ups.

Exclaim is a must read for me each month. It's one of the best sources for lesser known and obscure artists, especially Canadian artists. This isue (October 2010) features Deerhunter on the cover, some Q&A with the gorgeous and talented Corin Tucker and a career retrospective of Robert Plant. Some nice short features on up and coming Canadian acts like Women and PS I Love You, and new stuff from Black Mountain (still haven't heard their new one, but soon...) It's free across Canada, so grab it if you see it.

I just got my first two issues of Discorder in the mail this week too. I got a subscription to it (just $20 for a year) since I always pick up all the back issues when I'm in Vancouver and I rarely get to Vancouver. Discorder is the program guide for campus station CiTR and an indispensable source of info about the Vancouver scene. September's cover story is Black Mountain and the inside contains stores about recent festivals, including The Vancouver Folk Festival, Calgary's Sled Island and Nelson's Shambhala. October's issue features local up and comers Myths and Fine Mist on the cover, inside features on Wavves, Witch House and Fond of Tigers. I'll be talking about both Fine Mist and Fond of Tigers soon, both of their new albums are excellent.

On the stranger side, I just got the latest (Fall 2010) issue of Signal to Noise, a nice magazine about experimental and improv music. Guitar and bass player Joe Morris is on the cover, plus a very lengthy article on The Ex and a nice article on the underground music of Singapore. There's some bits on Canadians Eve Egoyan and The Minotaurs too. This mag is great for one thing and that's the huge mass of detailed reviews of experimental music. If you pick it up, pick it up for that.

We Will Robot Rock You

Cruising around Youtube yesterday, I found this pretty decent mashup from the DJ Hero game:



Mashups are a real hit and miss for me, and especially with DJ Hero. Half of the remixes are pretty inspired, the other half confusing and banal. I was listening to Queen with a good friend on the weekend and got inspired to find some of their more interesting songs. I'm not much of a Queen fan, especially of their straight up arena-rock songs, but their pop and electronic tinged work is quite good.

Check this awesome video out for "I Want to Break Free":

RIP Solomon Burke

Legendary soul, blues and R&B singer Solomon Burke passed away on Sunday. Burke was 70. He apparently died on a plane flight in Europe. He was touring at the time.

Burke's work spans the range between blues and soul, with R&B, rock and country sounds seeping into his work. His most successful period came in the 60s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. Here's Burke doing an early hit, "If You Need Me".



Burke underwent a resurgence in popularity in the early 2000s, after releasing Don't Give Up On Me in 2002 on Fat Possum, then releasing a couple of albums on Shout Factory. Since I never miss a chance to mention Elvis Costello, here he is doing Burke's "The Judgement", which Costello recorded on his album, The Delivery Man.

Jenny and Richard

Thursday night, I treated myself to a night out at a concert. I caught Guelph, Ontario's Jenny Omnichord (of the on-hiatus Barmitzvah Brothers) and Richard Laviolette at local tea/music house The Art We Are. I arrived a bit early to talk to both of them and get station IDs.

Jenny was very kind, though a bit distracted with her 2-year old Otis, and Richard was quite friendly and engaging. They took their time getting to the performing area, but it was definitely worth the wait.

Jenny Omnichord plays a strange electronic instrument called an omnichord (natch), which is sort of like a cross between a player organ and an accordion, but you play it on your lap like a steel guitar. You can see her playing it here. It has an eerie sound sort of like a theremin. Jenny's set was cute and her music has a wonderful lo-fi indy sound, sounding like it was kind of thrown together in a sort of dada-ish way, but clearly structured and warm, despite the 70s space-age sound of the omnichord. Her vocal style reminds me a lot of Kimya Dawson and the music is similar to B.A. Johnston or a mutant lo-fi version of They Might Be Giants. She also played a Mayor McCA cover, a name I haven't heard in years. Otis provided his own entertainment, wandering around looking for something to entertain himself, checking out the bookshelves and generally being a cute little gremlin.

Richard's set was equally as disarming, but for different reasons. Richard is a thin and friendly person, but the voice inside of him is more like a young Bob Dylan, both in power and in passion. His work is definitely on the broke-down country side of things, but he often sang like a protest singer too. Most folk style singers may slack off on their guitar playing, simply strumming along, but Richard played a bit like John Fahey (Richard did a short cover of Fahey's Sligo River Blues to start his set). Richard was a very pleasant surprise and well worth your time if you get to see him. Here's Richard with a full band, playing Funeral Song.

I bought both of Jenny's solo albums and you should too. She's on her way East back to Ontario now, so catch her if you're on the tour route!

Congotronics

I've been prepping my radio show for Friday, which is a special on experimental worldbeat music, and I'll definitely be playing this band:



Konono No. 1 are a very intriguing band from what was formally Zaire, who play African rock with the improv style of an industrial band, using electrified acoustic instruments and junkyard percussion. They don't sound like any other band I've ever heard. They've just released their latest album Assume Crash Position on Crammed Discs Records.

Nick and Elvis kick off tour

Most know my love for Elvis Costello, but I also have a deep love and respect for Nick Lowe's work. Nick wrote "(What's so Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" with Brinsley Swartz back in the 70s and Elvis covered it early in his career. Elvis's version is equal parts punk fury and soulful rock, and one of my favourite songs he's ever done.

Elvis and Nick are touring now on the Costello Sings Lowe/Nick Sings Elvis tour, which should be a good one. I always lack the money to go see Elvis, but I will someday, before either he or I die.


Here's Elvis and Nick doing "Peace Love and Understanding" from the tour in San Francisco. (from the excellent 80s music blog, Slicing Up Eyeballs.)

Throbbing Gristle on tour

Legendary brain-melting industrial noise terrorists Throbbing Gristle have just posted a promo video for their upcoming European tour. They've reformed for a few tour dates over the summer. This was posted up on Boing-Boing today.

Throbbing Gristle 2010 Tour

Make sure you turn your speakers up for maximum effect.