I'm in the mood for this #17 New releases # Disco is not a dirty word# 6
From the same label that brought you Disco Not Disco comes Disco Italia, a compilation of some of the most essential and influential Italo Disco tracks that have ever graced dancefloors.
If anything, it's thanks to my friend Jeff that I discovered the wonders of Italo, as well as Canadian DJ/musician Dubious with whom I had one of my first ever DJ gigs. Between these two, I began to discover the world of such artists asKano, Kebekelektrik. Through my own research, record digging and conversations/mixes with other DJs, I have come to appreciate and admire the subtleties that come from the world of Italo (and how it's world escapes its eponymously named boundaries) and its (arguable) twin sister, Cosmic Disco.
I've said it once and I'll say it again: Disco is not a dirty word. It is glorious.
Gonzales, "Overnight", Solo Piano Jose Gonzales, "Remain", Veneer Bonnie Prince Billy, "Love Comes To Me", The Letting Go Adem, "Warning Call", Love & Other Planets She & Him, "You've really got a hold on me", Volume 1 Ghost Bees, "Vampires of West Coast", Tasseomancy Archivist, "Fabulous Muscles" Lou Reed feat. Antony, "Perfect Day", The Raven Portishead, "Hunter", Third Final Fantasy, "Many Lives --> 49 MP", He Poos Clouds Old Man Luedecke, "Send My Troubles Away", Proof Of Love Betty Lavette, "Sleep To Dream", I've got my own hell to raise Bloc Party, "Like eating glass", Silent Alarm LCD Soundsystem, "Someone Great", Sound Of Silver Material, "Don't Lose Control (Dance Version)", Disco Not Disco 3: Post Punk, Electro & Leftfield Disco Classics, 1974-1986 Red Dragon Band, "Let Me Be Your Radio (Part 1)", Disco Italia: Essential Italo Disco Classics 1977-1985 Buck 65 feat Old Man Luedeceke, "Indestructible Sam", Cretin Hip Hop Vol 1 Thom Yorke, "Skip Divided (Modeselektor Remix)" Moby, "Disco Lies", Last NIght Crystal Castles, "Courtship Dating (J. La Bootleg Mix)" Holy Fuck, "Frenchy's", LP
It's not that he sings in this bizarre throaty way, or that he has a habit of screaming, or that it took me a while to understand/get used to/appreciate his music/art/performances/ideas. It's that he does what he does, because it's him.
Oh Toronto. You took me in as a mistress, seduced me with your record stores, concerts and plenitude, but somehow I ended up on the street corner, snot-streaked and tired. The piles of music and books I returned with were no match for your harsh ways and cold mannerisms.
It’s fair to say I’m glad to be home, back in this little city by the sea. The days have been gentle and generous –Cohen and Dylan all in the span of a week? Sarah Slean with Royal Wood next week?
Be still my lion heart.
To soundtrack my feast of Mariko Tamaki, Peggy Munson and Chandra Mayor reading, I’ve enclosed a list of my latest loves. While I was visiting family in Peterborough I did my ritualistic rounds of the city, dinner at Hot Belly Momma’s and an afternoon at Bluestreak Records (owned and operated by Tim Haines, son of Canadian poet Paul Haines and brother of Metric’s Emily Haines). One of the pleasures of this streetside record store, in addition to the plethora of albums, is visiting with an old friend of mine Jarrett Prescott –the mastermind behind Fire Flower Revue, who fuses kaleidoscopic sound and art reminiscent of Portland's buoyant bubble-makers The Blow and Paris' glock-popper Uffie.
Fire Flower Revue hesitate to dub the project an environmental protest, as their technicolor soundscapes have an animal-based theme, but don't tag them to be the next Wolfmother, brother, sister, or parade. Their slightly schizophrenic dance beats have backbone, vibrancy and are coated in an unconventional imaginative euphoria.
After a two-hour chat about music, art and all things in-between, I left with Crystal Castles, an advance of Silje Nes “Ames Room,” Santogold's self-titled, Gossip “Live in Liverpool Live CD and Concert DVD” and Cat Power’s “Moon Pix” on vinyl. On a brief bus ride back to my suburban blue-collared hometown I listened You Left Saving The Planet’s unmastered version of “Tabitha Cain,” and it blew my mind. The combination of yearning and anxiety mirrored the mood of my trip. It was almost time to come home. Prior to departure, I did catch Pony Da Look's CD release at Sneaky Dee's, The Clicks' frontman Lucas Silveria's solo set at the Gladstone, The Constantines at The Phoenix and am looking forward to befriending Emma McKenna - she recently picked up and moved to Halifax from Toronto.
Upon arriving at my doorstep with stuffed suitcases in tow, I opened my overflowing letterbox to find Christina Martin’s sophomore release “Two Hearts,” produced by Dale Murray (Cuff the Duke, The Guthries) and co-engineered with Charles Austin, Hey Rosetta’s “Into Your Lungs (and around your heart and through your blood), Gonzalez “Soft Power.”
If I could go back in time and tell my sixteen year old self that some day I would be getting advanced copies of albums in the mail, I just might have saved a fair penny along the way –though I doubt it. Perhaps I would have stopped trying to purchase them on eBay with my parents credit cards a month before the release date.
I discovered Leonard Cohen when I was a teenager. I heard his voice and was blown away. I found his arrangements strange, almost archaic. Here was a man who sang in his distinctive deep voice, surrounded by cheap sounding synths, cooing women. It was all so idiosyncratic. I didn't always get it, but I knew I had found something special.
As I got older, I discovered his earlier work, I learned to understand the subtleties of his prose, of his delivery. I was fascinated how a jew was obsessed with distinctively christian icons and had become a buddhist monk. The man was obviously on a journey and wanted to understand it. He told us about, so that when he spoke, he would understand it himself.
When news hit that Cohen was coming to town, I knew I had to get tickets. Two shows were announced with gold seating at $125.00 (which I would have paid in a heartbeat) and regular seating at $87.00. When the tickets went on sale, the first two shows sold out in less than an hour. They soon added a third, then a fourth and even a fifth show, the latter being the one I attended.
I was in the tenth row. He came out, bowed to the audience. He was thinner than I expected, in a well tailored double breasted suit. He smiled to the audience, an air of beneficence on his face. He opened with Dance Me To The End Of Love. His voice was still there. Deep, sandy, frighteningly soft.
He sang most of his well known songs from the 80's and 90's ("Anthem", "Democracy", "Everbody Knows") and the 60's ("Suzanne", "Bird on a Wire", the latter which was wonderfully arranged). He also sang a few new songs, and recited a poem or two.
In the 2nd part of the show, he came out on stage, pressed a button on an old Yamaha keyboard and began to sing this. When he played the small flourishes on the keys between the verses, the audience applauded and cheered. He smiled, embarassed, moved and humbled. It spoke of the reverence the audience had for him, for his voice, his songs, his craft.
He was gracious. He was tremendous. He did three encores.
And I am glad I was able to see him.
Note: I only have a small caveat. When he sang "Anthem", he changed the lyric of "Give me crack and anal sex" to "Give me crack and dangerous sex". I was a bit shocked. I wanted to hear the man sing about anal sex.
In honour of Cohen's coming to Hali, I played a bunch of his songs on the May 13th episode of Moody Morning Music. I hope you enjoy it
Gonzales, "Overnight", Solo Piano Jose Gonzales, "Killing for love", In Our Nature Old Man Luedecke, "Just like a river", Proof Of Love Leonard Cohen, "Suzanne", Song of Rufus Wainwright, "Chelsea Hotel No.2", I'm your man Leonard Cohen, "If it be your will", Various Positions Antony, "If it be your will", I'm your man John Cale, "Hallelujah" Leonard Cohen, "Tower of Song", I'm your man Grizzly Bear, "Knife", Yellow House Wolf Parade, "The Grey estates", At Mount Zoomer The Long Blondes, "Erin O'Connor", Couples Heloise & Savoir Faire, "Illusions", Trash, Rats &Microphones Radiohead, "15 Steps", In Rainbows Gnarls Barkley, "Who's gonna save my soul", The Odd Couple Modeselektor, "The Dark Side of the sun (feat. Puppetmastaz)", Happy Birthday Crystal Castles, "Untrust Us", S/T Hot Chip, "One Pure Thought", Made IN The Dark Hercules & Love Affair, ""Raise Me Up", S/T Holy Fuck, "Super Intuit", LP MSTRKRFT, 'VuuVuu", Bounce EP BoysNoize, "Lava Lava", Oi Oi Oi Remixed
Gonzales, "Overnight", Solo Piano Jose Gonzales, "Time to send someone away", In Our Nature Sun Kill Moon, "Moorestown, April Old Man Luedecke, "Wake up Hill", Proof Of Love Islands, "The Arm", Arm's Way Wolf Parade, "The grey estates", At Mount Zoomer Superfantastics, "Lullaby Punches", Choose Your Destination Portishead, "Machine Gun", Third Thom Yorke, "Harrowdown Hill", The Eraser Jamie Lidell, "Where'd You Go", Jim Gnarls Barkley, "Going On", THe Odd Couple Hercules & Love Affair, "Time Will", S/T Matmos, "Rainbow Flag", Supreme Balloon Zapp, "Dance Floor" Kano, "Now Baby Now (Kotey Edit)", Disco Italia: Essential Italo Disco Classics 1977-1985 Crystal Castles vs Health, "Crimewave", S/T Thunderheist, "Bubblegum (Hatchmatik Birdflu In June Remix)" Windom Earle, "Kitten Vs Pegasus", GoldWave Duchess Says, "Rabies (Baby's got the)", Anthologie des 3 Perchoirs
My favorite Leonard Cohen song, performed by one of my favorite artists, Antony Hegarty
I'm 31. I grew up listening to music at (arguably) the end of the age of vinyl and the smackdab in the middle of the heyday of cassette tapes. Ah tapes. You remember, those wonderful, spindly little pieces of plastic filled with magnetic ribbon that you would chuck all over the place in your car, leave out of the cases 'cause god knows, those suckers wouldn't get ruined like your precious LPs or your new fangled CDs.
Only, those new fangled CD's are looking like they're going to last forever like we thought they would. And that vinyl you've got stored away? Good thing you didn't throw it away, 'cause at least you can still find record players. Also, those new albums you keep hearing bloggers talk about are becoming easier to find on vinyl than they are on CD. Heck, some of you are still pressing 7" singles. Good on ya.
But good luck finding a cassette deck, let alone a ghetto blaster to play your tapes on.
Or even better, one to play your mixtapes on.
Oh, how I miss thee, thy beautiful work of art.
Yes, we can now make CD mixes and with a lot less effort and time. But you've gotta wonder, wasn't that time worth it? As Rob, the protagonist/anti-hero in Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, there is something to be said for sitting down, making a list of songs, arranging them in order, creating a feel, a vibe throughout the mix. But the most important (and now forgotten) part of the mixtape is actually listening to it as you're making it.
Now, with mp3s, you still make the list, you still arrange them, BUT you don't listen to it while it's being created. Nay, you can't do that. The magic of the creation has been replaced by instant programs made for people who don't want to "waste time". The programs we use to create such mixes are made to be fast and efficient. Insert CD here, press button here, out pops CD here.
I'm not saying I'm against CD mixes, nor am I waxing nostalgic over loops of cassette-deck-eaten-tape. I hated it when the tape inside got loose, making the music warbly and warped. I happily enjoy being able to make a mix for a random car ride in less than 10 minutes - including selection, arrangement and execution. But I miss sitting there, pondering the subject (either musical or personal, in the case of the mix tape for someone you like or wish to impress) throughout the entire 60, 90 or 120 minute process. TDK, Memorex, we salute you, you love gods of yesteryear.
Muxtape is a site where people can upload their favorite songs (in mp3 format) to create their own mixtape. The site allows you up to 12 songs, and no song should be over 10 megabytes. You then click on each track and the site uploads it through a script which allows the song to play, as well as continue playing the other songs, just like your old mixtapes.
Muxtape doesn't replace the old cassette or the CD mix, but there is something wonderful about sharing your favorite songs. Which is what mixes are all about. But instead of only one copy of that cassette, or losing a CD, you can just click a link and let as many people as possible listen to your mixes. YOUR mixes. YOUR choices. Your gift.
At Mount Zoomer, Wolf Parade's eagerly awaited second full length will be released on June 17th here in North America. Of course, if you're smart (or immoral, depending on how you look at it), the album has been leaked to the internet on various torrent sites and a few singles have been popping up on various blogs.
The bands has been touring with the new songs, teasing audiences (and youtube fiends)for a while now. Now, with the new album finally being released (or leaked), fans no longer have to deal with inferior sounding mp3s and videos.
In honour of such a thing, I did a small profile on the band, playing tracks from all three of their SubPop releases, as well as a track from Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner's respective side projects, Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs.
Gonzales, "Overnight", Solo Piano Jose Gonzales, "Lovestain", Veneer Old Man Luedecke, "Little Bird", Proof Of Love Forest City Lovers, "Waiting by the fence", Haunting Moon Sinking Final Fantasy, "This Modern Love (Bloc Party Cover)" Immaculate Machine, "Dear Confessor (Wo Xiang Tanbai)", 7" Jamie Lidell, "Another Day", Jim Gonzales, "Working Together", Soft power Wolf Parade, "Shine a light", Apologies to the Queen Mary Wolf Parade, "I'll believe in anything", Apologies to the Queen Mary Wolf Parade, "Disco Sheets", EP Sunset Rubdown, "Winged Wicked Things", Random Spirit Lover Handsome Furs, "Cannot get started", Plague Park Wolf Parade, "Call It A Ritual", At Mount Zoomer Wolf Parade, "Soldier's Grin", At Mount Zoomer Thom Yorke, "Jetstream", 12" Taana Gardner, "Heartbeat", 12" LCD Soundsystem, "Freak out", 12" Delta 5, "Mind Your Own Business", Disco Not Disco 3 Hot Chip, "Hold On", Made In The Dark
