In honour of last night's trance-inducing Black Mountain performance at the Marquee, a little morning after music for those who didn't cab home alone (a knowing wink to you). Pink Mountaintops "Tourist In Your Town."
Prior to the acclaimed fame of Picnicface, Mr. Mark Little put this gem dubbed "Tourist In Your Town," on a mix CD for me. I think I made him a mix cassette in return that he couldn't listen due to a lack of a tape player. Go figure, either way Mark is a Vancouverite we're so lucky to call a Halifax adoptee.
Pink Mountaintops paint the metaphorical landscape of my rock n' roll dreams a light shade of lipstick. Love, love, love, love them.
After having an amazing weekend, I remembered some of the songs/artists I used to play and make mix CD's for someone. This show is for him. Note the new Hot Chip track, a new Superfantastics song from their new EP as well as new Cadence Weapon.
Gonzales, "Overnight", Solo Piano Great Lake Swimmers, "Song for the angels", Bodies & Minds Antony & The Johnsons, "Bird Gerhl", I am a bird now Feist, "How my heart behaves", The Reminder Radiohead, "Unravel (feat. Bjork)" Portishead, "Requiem for Anna", Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited Hot Chip, "Made in the dark", Made in the dark controller.controller, "The Raw No", X-amounts Stars, "Your ex-lover is dead", Set yourself on fire Black Mountain, "Wild Wind", In The Future New Pornographers, "Challengers", Challengers Wolf Parade, "I'll believe in anything", Apologies to the Queen Mary* Superfantastics, "Turn on me", Choose your destination Dntel, "The dream of Evan & Chan" The Postal Service, "Such great heights", Give Up Holy Fuck, "Choppers", LP Buck 65, "Indestructible Sam", Cretin Hip Hop Vol 1 Cadence Weapon, "Unsuccesful Club Nights", Afterparty Babies The Juan MacLean, "Give Me Every little thing" The Cure, "Close To Me (12" Mix), 12" Liquid Liquid, "Bellhead" LCD Soundsystem, "Us V Them (Amigam Remix)"
I have to admit, I am not one of the throngs of people who love and idolise Dylan. Is he important? Without a doubt. Is he a gifted songwriter? Beyond any doubt. Is he still producing important works? Arguably.
"Knockin' on heaven's door" is one of those songs that is often pulled out by ridiculous frat boys with guitars trying to look and be all sensitive, and skinny guys who want to get laid alike. Which means that I had kind of forgotten that it was actually a Dylan classic. It had kind of gotten dirty with all those bad covers. Then I heard Antony's cover. Slowly, all those layers of sachharine and collegial lechery faded, and I realised what this was: a great song.
Gonzales, "Overnight", Solo Piano Albin de la Simone, "Elle aime (feat. Feist)" Jimmy Scott, "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child", The Source Antony & The Johnsons, "Knockin' on heaven's door", I'm not there Portishead, "Glory Box", Dummy Tricky, "Hell is round the corner", Maxinquaye Massive Attack, "Protection", Protection Beck, "Ramshackle", Odelay Grizzly Bear, "He Hit Me", Friends EP Hawksley Workman, "Wonderful & Sad", Lover/Fighter Interpol, "NYC Cares", Turn on the bright lights Black Mountain, "Queens will play", In The Future Tom Fun Orchestra, "When you were mine", You will land with a thud Got to get got, "No one riots in the winter", Canadian arts collective blues/huge zig zag Superfantastics, "Lullaby Punches", Choose your destination The Arcade Fire, "Antichrist Television Blues", Neon Bible The Long Blondes, "Lust in the movies", Someone to drive you home Cadence Weapon, "In search of the youth crew", Afterparty babies Gnarls Barkley, "Run" Santogold feat. Spank Rock, "Shove it (Switch Remix)" Simian Mobile Disco, "Hot Dog", Attack Decay Sustain Release
Antony and the Johnsons, "Knockin' on heaven's door"
J'adore Modular Recordings (that's french for, holy fucking shit I love Modular). Home to The Presets, New Young Pony Club, MSTRKRFT, Wolfmother and Cut Copy (among others).
In Ghost Colours is their follow up to 2004's synth-pop infused Bright Like Neon Love. Produced by 1/2 of DFA Records, Tim Goldsworthy, the album promises to be a "a trans-galactic voyage featuring epic synth breakdowns and more than a sprinkling of Goldsworthy magic." Shifting slightly away from their original happy go lucky pop sound to something perhaps a little more refined. More guitars, more dynamics, more luscious synth goodness.
Latest single, Lights & Music here:
Also: So Haunted (first single), Hearts of Fire (originally a Bright Like Neon Love b-side, it's been re-recorded for the new album which makes me a pee a little bit because I love it so much).
My poetical pal Tanya Davis is nearly finished her new album. She's in the midst of wheeling and dealing record deals (i.e. anyone wanna offer her one?). The single from the forthcoming album is dubbed Fortress, an accordian pop tune like you've never heard it done before.
Davis considers it her, "my you-can't-hurt-me pop song."
When she's not working on new tunes, poeming or hanging out at neighbourhood java joints, she runs a little side catering project. While Hawksley Workman was in town producing Hey Rosetta's sophmore release, TD kept the boys' bellies full. I recently caught up with Hawksley, somewhere between the ugly and the beautifuls, and Davis' fine home cookin' came into play.
Webb-Campbell: There’s actually a cookbook that came out called I Like Food, Food Tastes Good, which features recipes from musicians, everyone from Death Cab For Cutie to Hayden. I was thinking someone should put together a Canadian version. When you were here, my neighbour and good friend Tanya Davis, was in charge of catering for you and Hey Rosetta.
Workman: Tanya is wonderful.
Webb-Campbell: Isn’t she? She’s just about finished her record.
Workman: She was working on it while I was there, I was working with Hey Rosetta when I was in Halifax and she was in every day, bringing us wonderful cooking creations. And Hey Rosetta, by the way, is also a phenomenal record
Consider Miss Davis' the jill of all trades these days.
I'm still stuck on those Disco Not Disco comps. I played a few of them today on my show, as well as a 12" of Jane's Addiction that I got of "Been Caught Stealin' "with a pretty fun little mix. I also dug out some old late 80's/early 90's hip hop for my friend Frizz, in honour of him. And of course, more Poni Hoax.
Gonzales, "Overnight", Solo Piano Daniel Lanois, "Still water", Acadie Kate Maki, "Wanted Ads", On High Cat Power, "Silver Stallion", Jukebox Sigur Ros, "Staralfur", Hvarf/Heim Pipettes, "Sex", We Are The Pipettes Black Mountain, "Stormy High", In The Future Dog Day, "Ironhide", Oh Dead Life EP Stars, "The Night starts here", In our bedroom after the war Handsome Furs, "Dead & Rural", Plague Park Dream Warriors, "My definition of a boombastic jazz style", And now the legacy begins Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock, "Joy & Pain", 7" Ghislain Poirier, "One Hand Can't Clap", No Ground Under Buck 65 feat. Sage Francis, "Benz", Situation LCD Soundsystem, "Hippie Priest Bum Out", Confuse The Marketplace 12" Maximum Joy, "Stretch (Disco Rap)" Disco (Not Disco) Jane's Addiction, "Been Caught Stealin' (12" Remix)", 12" Material, "Ciguri", Disco Not Disco 2 Poni Hoax, "Budapest", 12" Poni Hoax, "Antibodies (To The Bone Edit)" Thunderheist, "Suenos Duces"
I just got an advance copy of The Ravonettes newest album "Lust Lust Lust". This is out in Canada via vice records on Feb 19th/08. It's hot, dark, and quite and improvement from their last major label hurrah. First track Aly walk with me reeks of days of jesus and mary chain, and had me from the start. Potential for top ten of 2008? Check, making out to this record? Check, having everyone read this pick it up check?!! I will also take this chance to let the people of Halifax know that Friday Feb 22nd 10pm at Tribeca there will be a listening party for this record. Free stuff . http://vice.typepad.com/vice_records/2008/02/only-more-more.html
I found an MP3 on a blog, somewhere. It listened to it, dug it, asked Jeff about it, but he had never heard of them.
I kind of forgot about it for a couple of months until I started going through songs to put on the new iPod Nano I got for Xmas. I made a list of all the MP3s I had only listened to once or twice and put all of them on the Nano. While taking the bus, I heard thisbass line kick in. It hit me hard. This was amazing. How could I have not realised how good this was? It also didn't hurt that for the past month or so I had gone on a re-discovery of disco and learned all about the wonders of Italo. Believe me, I'm still learning. (Shut up Jeff).
I haven't been able to find out much. They're French. The girl is a guest vocalist, apparently. "Budapest" was produced by Joakim Bouaziz who has worked with Tiga, Annie and Air. They put out a new single in 2007 called "Antibodies". They're wonderful. And they have fanned the flames of my love of disco.
It came on fast and hard, as the birth of Broken Deer's debut "Displaced Field Recordings" was the result of an unconscious surge of creation. According to lead fawn Lindsay Dobbin, the wounded wunderkind behind these patchworks of achingly raw, yet beautiful landscapes, "feeling creative is just a mind hum that needs to be expressed."
Late in the Spring of 2006, Dobbin was recruited to live in the oldest apartment dwelling at the mouth of downtown Halifax. With the ancient fortress to the right of her and the bridge to Dartmouth at her left, she sewed together the most influential album of this year while I slept in the bedroom next door. Obviously my biases should be presented considering this visionary is my band mate, best friend, former roommate and sister.
But with all of those incidental/coincidentals aside, "Displaced Field Recordings" navigates the curious listener through the eerie, deep, dark, dank woods with a flashlight which cuts in and out at random. Listen; the whispers ring! One moment I am in the thick of the bush, the loneliness sinks in, my brain is a sieve. All mess, no order. Fear nips, bites and barks at the hairs on my neck. Anxiety thickens. My heart beats to the abstract rhythms.
Suddenly, a flash of blinding shooting stars fall across the sky. An overwhelming sadness envelopes my eardrums. The orphan choir echoes in the distance, their hollowed voices rejoice in-between the intervals of layered tape. The orchestration of haunting emblems of the past surface, such as lost lovers, soldiers, both the strong and weak of heart meet. A reunion of mourning. A funeral of sorts.
This is not an album, but a pregnancy, an artifact of fantastical misery, joy and collective individuality. "Displaced Field Recordings" soundtracks the revival of my soul, as the wretched translucent organ once belched and begged for mercy, but no longer. I rest among the living, the pure of spirit, I raise my glass in honour of those who wander the earth today and those who still live beneath it. A knowing wink to you.
So I get to the station and realise that I had forgotten the cable I use to hook up my lapotop to the console. I had to scrimmage around and find some cds's, and ended up finding this:
Gonzales, "One Evening", Solo Piano Julie Doiron, "Last Night", Goodnight Nobody Feist, "Intuition", The Reminder Francoise Hardy, "Mon amie la rose", Les plus grand succes Great Lake Swimmers, "Moving pictures, silent films" Cat Power, "Metal Heart", Jukebox Mountin Goats, "So desperate", Heretic Pride Stars, "After the war", In our bedroom after the war Hot Chip, "Made in the dark" Magnetic Fields, "Three-way", Distortion Vampire Weekend, "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa", S/T Goldfrapp, "A&E" Sixtoo, "Track 5", Jackals & Vipers in envy of man Ann Peebles, "I can't stand the rain" Ann Peebles, "99 Lbs" Buck 65, "Way Back When", Situation Gwen Guthrie, feat. Sly & Robbie, "Hopscotch" 12" Goblin, "Tenebre" James White & The Blacks, "Contort Yourself (August Darnell Remix)", Disco not disco Stereo MC's, "Connected", Connected Gnarls Barkley, "Run" Hercules & Love Affair, "Theme" Holy Fuck, "Milkshake", LP
So, it’s like nearly 2AM, my lover’s asleep on the couch, she passed out cold hours ago. Flu season chips and chews away at us all, which is why I think there is a need for a call to arms, a bedroom dancing renaissance of sorts. What to listen to? Well that’s simple, The Gossip.
When my girl Beth isn’t delivering the most dynamic live show, posing nude for a NME cover shoot, being dubbed the “sexiest woman of the year” by lesbian glossy Diva Magazine (a British publication most noted for their sultry, skinny-girl mugs shots of the ever-expanding cast of the L Word), or writing a weekly advice column for The Guardian, she’s working on a new record and writing a book. Published by Simon & Schuster, Ditto’s autobiography “Coal Into Diamonds,” should hit bookshelves in October 2008 to coincide with a new Gossip album.
Until then, bust out the slouch socks and sweat bands and get your fat girl groove on with “8th Wonder Version" and “Heavy Kross,” thanks to the myspace jukebox.
London's The Black Ghosts new 4 song EP, Anyway You Choose to Give It just made it's North American debut. A blend of their signature noir electro-rock with heavy leanings towards Hot Chips ethereal pop sound is a definite departure from both members roots (one half is ex-Simian member Simon Lord, who's collaboration in Simian with Justice produced the hit "We Are Your Friends." The other was a founding member of The Wiseguys whose works has been feature in commercials as well as a few Hollywood hits.)
Ever since their first single, Face, was released in the latter half of '06 I've been pretty excited for some more official releases, so needless to say this arriving in my mailbox was a happy day filled with repeat plays, especially of:
Just a quick follow up to Simon's disco post last week. originally off of the '85 LP "Home Boy - Sister Out" by Don Cherry; Strut chose this track for the first installment of Disco-not-Disco back in 2000. Enjoy.
You Left Saving The Planet is not a testament of redemption, in fact the existential focus and grandiose arrangements found on the debut EP " Here, But Not Found," are more of an orchestra of sentiment than a slogan for personal salvation.
Recorded in an 18th century old farmhouse on the outskirts of Enniskillen, ON, the slim collection of highly-intellectual, open-ended, emotionally-entangled tracks are reminiscent of metaphysical superstitions.
"Here, But Not Found" is an illusionary stroll through the subconscious of humanity, as the longing for a sense of an indeterminable sense of home, flailing insecurities and lingering phantoms create the atmospheric landscape of the album. Dark nights beneath starry skies, the sounds of creaking floorboards, drained bottles of Niagara Region wines, and hopeless hopefulness are layered throughout. Inspired by the remoteness of the location, Stuart Everitt converted his single bedroom apartment into a studio.
The makeshift recording suite exposed a window view of a barn; the slanted, weathered structure of a since retired agriculturalist prized possession nestled within rolling stretches of land. The endless cascade of fields and crops led the composer's mind and eyes off into the ambiguity of a not-so distant future. With uncertainty in tow, Everitt found himself embracing his inner child.
The fractured elegance of the recording is a bare bone framework for an epic full-length debut. Bound by the paradoxical constrictions of being both a practicing cynic and an optimist, Everitt toys with the perspective of being a displaced person. Themes of establishing a sense of self, the renewal of true love, internal inquisitions and the evolution of seasons are vague interpretations of an intricate, artfully crafted, collection of sound.
"Here, But Not Found," is an insight into the lost blueprints for Noah's Ark, the viewfinder of an antique camera and the remains of an abandoned family photo album.
According to Everitt, a new album is emerging, he hopes to have it released March 2008.
First of all, I'd like to thank Simon for inviting me to contribute to this blog. It certainly has the potential to be pretty rad.
For my introduction post I'd like to highlight a band I came to know after a summer stint in Calgary, one of the few treasures found within the corporate conglomerate. Pop-noir quartet Jane Vain And The Dark Matter create masterfully moody melodies. Their recently released Love Is Where The Smoke Is, embodies the spooky seduction of Emily Haines solo endeavors, the mystique of Maria Taylor and features splashes of Coco Rosie's black humour throughout.
Chanteuse Jamie Fooks resembles a wiry, petite pixie with Coke bottle glasses. The captivating 24-year-old chanteuse is painstakingly honest, and her anxiety-ridden on-stage persona is merely amplified in person. Over a pot of tea in a pub, she spills over lost tales of adolescence, alcoholism and the struggle of self.
"I didn't even know how to play these songs when I recorded them. I just wanted to learn the process of everything. I played in bands prior to this, but they were mostly drunken punk rock bands. This just started as something I made in my bedroom, layering piano track over piano track."
As Fooks crafted the skeleton of the album in her basement apartment, she rang up old friend Dillon Whitfield of local act Racoon to add his instrumental expertise on guitar. The twosome are the spine of the band, as they've auditioned and lost three members over the course of the past few months. Currently, Britt Proulx is listed as the bassist and Jzero Schuurman sits in on drums.
"Basically, the band name stems from a darker period of my life," explains Fooks. "I don't really know how to say anything without being too blunt.
"I guess it mostly comes from a reckless adolescence, a time when everything was circulating around being vain and concerned with how everything appeared to everyone else."
"C'mon Baby Say Bang Bang," "Ships Bound To Sink" and "Last Chance For Romance" are tortured testimonies cloaked in endless existentialism and dense instrumentation.
In honour of last night's trance-inducing Black Mountain performance at the Marquee, a little morning after music for those who didn't cab home alone (a knowing wink to you). Pink Mountaintops "Tourist In Your Town."
