2000

The year 2000 does not seem like such a long time ago... and yet it was! Nine years have passed since the Y2k scare, since we exited the 1990s, since Bush, Jr., first entered the White House. A lot really has happened between now and then. I had to make a lot of personal adjustments as well since this was also the year I graduated from high school and entered college. Music was also turning a corner as certain scenes died (ska, industrial) and others (rap-core, metalcore, revitalized hardcore, and something we mislabeled as "emo") took off. Of these I tended to favor the sad stuff because, obviously, nobody on Earth could possibly understand how I felt.

We're not going to look at the outright emo-y stuff because, in retrospect, quite a bit of it was actually quite annoying. Instead we'll focus on these five performers who were (and some continue to) express loss and doubt and shame in an authentic and ear-pleasing manner.

Lock the door so nobody will see you cry. We're going to revisit some of the music that made gray clouds weep cold rain... IN THE YEAR 2000!



Bear Quartet - Helpless
The Bear Quartet are, at last count, a quintet from Sweden who, despite having been around for twenty years, remain fairly obscure. They cover a myriad of noisy genres, from straight up rock to electro-pop to post-punk, but excel when they tone it down for the weepy ballads. In "Helpless" the lyrics are vague (and Swedishly accented), but the stumbling acoustic guitar and pitter-pat percussion and the wispily sung chorus convey soft forlorn emotions that are bittersweetly familiar, even if there's not really anything identifiable to put your finger on.

Kind of Like Spitting - Birds of a Feather
In 2000 Ben Barnett, who pretty much IS Kind of Like Spitting, released (at least) three full-length albums and a split, and there were probably some other EPs recorded that year as well. He is a prolific beast, yet his songwriting remains uncompromised. Two things stand out in this song... well, way more than two, but these are the things that grab me hardest: 1) the violin that winds its way through the music like a thin stream of water, and 2) the closing lines of the song. It's all a little bit angsty, but in a resigned sort of way rather than the more irritating overwrought sort of way.

Damien Jurado - Tonight I Will Retire
This was the very first Damien Jurado song I ever heard, and it is still one of my favorites. I couldn't understand how such joyful things like embracing your lover and going to heaven could end up being so dang sad. Listen to the lyrics and hear it all unfold. The instrumentation doesn't add much in the way of happiness as it's only Jurado's soft voice over top sparse piano playing and even sparser percussion. It's a bleak recipe for complete and utter sadness. Enjoy! By the way that's David Bazan on keys and drums, and sources tell me that even the album's name, Ghost of David, refers to Mr. Bazan. Why don't they just get a room?

Pedro the Lion - Bad Things to Such Good People
So... David Bazan. He can and will devastate you. The story told in this song makes a little bit of sense on its own, but to be fully appreciated it should be taken within the context Winners Never Quit which tells the story of two brothers, one a successful politician, the other a screw-up. There's a lot of drama and "Bad Things", located near the end of the album, describes some of the aftermath. It's amazing how many emotions this one song can elicit, all of them negative. What's completely positive, though, is Bazan's acoustic guitar-playing. It churns and gallops as he wails about familial disappointment and spiritual crises. This album changed the way I thought about music while depressing the heck out of me.

The Gloria Record - A Lull in Traffic
This title track from The Gloria Record's A Lull in Traffic EP. It's a musical departure (or advancement) from the band's previous work in that there is a lot more going on here sonically. While the band's first recordings seemed to pick up where Mineral left off, the initial pop of the very first note from this, the very first song from the EP, indicates that the music is going to hover in a more etheral direction. And it certainly does. "A Lull in Traffic" (both the song and the entire album) sound like Christmas songs for the wary. Lyrically every line of this song is a keeper even though nothing is really being described. It's like hearing a vague outline to the story of a failed life, and you can interpret the middle as you like.

Jesper Norda Update

If you enjoyed Jesper Norda's Little Ones EP as much as I did (it was amongst my favorite releases of '08) then you'll be happy to know he has posted some new material, We Have the Guts EP, available to freely download and listen. As before this new collection of music is very low-key and stripped bare and carries on like a brooding inner monologue (that is, if that inner monologue were backed by a piano and delivered with a Swedish accent).
Jesper Norda - Ami's Song

However if cold introspection isn't your thing, but groovy synth-pop is, then check out the duo If There Is Something, another Norda-involved project shakin' things up on the opposite end of the musical spectrum. Again, the entire release, titled Put Your Jacket On, is free to have and to hold, so get on that.
If There Is Something - The Joy Of

Happy Valentine's Day

It's a great day for those of us in love.
And for all you other suckers...
there's always next year.

Valentine's Day = the Chicago Cubs of holidays.

The Status - Happy Valentine's Day

Kathleen Edwards, Hunting Horns, 2/9/09 @ Aeolian Hall, London, ON

I've been wanting to see Kathleen Edwards for a long time. She tours constantly and even lives less than a couple hours away from where I do, but I've never had a good opportunity to attend one of her live shows. I've gleaned some performances from Youtube and have recorded her televised 2004 appearance at Rehearsal Hall that Bravo! airs periodically, but it's not quite the same as living and breathing in the same room at the same time as her. So finally, finally, a London concert was scheduled and I scooped up tickets for what turned out to be a sold-out show.

The event was held at the historic Aeolian Hall of London, Ontario (not to be confused with the historic Aeolian Hall of London, England), housed in the upper half of a 125-year-old building located just east of downtown. A narrow stairway spirals patrons up from the ground floor and into a quaint old lobby. The lobby, being that it is a lobby, abuts the hall itself where ticket holders can either climb more stairs to hang out on the balcony (where the view of the stage is very nearly obstructed by the chandelier) or claim a chair on the floor. High or low, as long as the chandelier isn't in the line of sight there isn't a bad seat in the house. The floor space is unexpectedly small but not tight, although it may only feel small due to the stage being so large and the ceiling so far away. Holding that ceiling up, by the way, are a series of large wooden beams. Beams, in addition to bearing loads, carry a surprising amount of character.

Following a brief introduction by the Hall's owner, Toronto's The Hunting Horns took the stage. Wearing tweed suits and thin ties the four performers appeared dressed to hawk snake oil. Couple that with the 19th century hall architecture (beams!) and the atmosphere became oddly nostalgic in a brown-colored post-war sort of way (though I'm sure nobody in that building except for the old man taking tickets could even remember the 1940s). Short a drummer, they crooned out lonely neo-folky southern gothic numbers by way of a stand-up bass and guitars and a keyboard in piano mode, and occasionally an accordion and a mandolin and a banjo would make an appearance. They seemed a bit loose, and maybe some solid percussion would have tightened things up.* It didn't help that the guitarist broke a string on the very first song. Anyway, if you like Nick Cave or the Castanets or you read too much Faulkner then check out their Myspace page. "The Vulture" is a good song.

After the Hunting Horns came Kathleen Edwards. Again, a drum set was conspicuously absent and she was accompanied by only one instrumentalist on either side of her; "Jim Bryson on red guitar" and "Gord Tough on yellow guitar." Bryson also played the keyboard and harmonized beautifully with Edwards, who also played guitar and harmonica. This was to be a stripped down and low-key affair, but a no-less entertaining one.

The setlist was full and varied and covered all three of her major releases. She often swung suddenly from a completely depressing song to something upbeat, but the transition was never jarring or even awkward. Midway through the set a Merle Haggard tune was played in honor of an encounter she had with an American border guard (an occurance that residents of Southern Ontario are not unfamiliar with).

In interviews and certainly during between-song banter Edwards continuously cracks jokes and tells funny stories. A lot of humor stems from her honest approach to things, and this honesty carries over into her music as well, but in a darker, more serious way. Her songs are often quite serious and usually about strained relationships (gruesomely like "6 O'Clock News", subtly like "Hockey Skates", and everywhere in between). If it weren't for the upbeat songs that periodically appear on her albums then listening to Edwards' music could become quite a downing experience. But during the show she was good enough to follow a somber song with a fun one, and there was plenty of talk to keep the audience amused.

Here is the complete setlist, by the way.

Buffalo
6 O'Clock News
Asking For Flowers
Copied Keys
Summerlong
I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory
Run
Alicia Ross
Are the Good Times Really Over (Merle Haggard cover)
Hockey Skates
In State
Scared at Night
Cheapest Key
Back to Me

[Encore]
(new song)
Lone Wolf
Your Love (The Outfield cover)

Yeah, that's right, she closed the show with THAT song, and everybody couldn't help but hum it as they drove home that night. Also of note was the new untitled song (it may actually have a title, but she didn't happen to mention it). It was good -- another one of those slower-but-catchy relationships-down-the-tubes numbers -- and should be interesting to hear on any upcoming EPs or LPs that would feature a full band. Also, there are a couple more new songs on her Myspace that are worth listening to.

The only dismal part, at least for me, was my inability to remember to bring a camera. Somebody sitting nearby with video recording capabilities, though, has already posted the first song. Watch it if you care to.

Kathleen Edwards put on a great show and I hope to see her again soon. She hinted that she might return to London for a summer festival, so everybody in the area can hopefully look forward to that. She'll be touring elsewheres in the meantime and I recommend catching her if you can.



(*My wife made this observation. I initially just assumed that they were trying to sound this way.)

il Buono, il Brutto, il AlbumArto: Tim Buckley

il Buono, il Brutto, il AlbumArto.

Take a band. Take its album cover highlights. Take its album cover lowlights.
Swish it all around in your mouth. Comment.


Tim Buckley

I must be a sucker for live images because once again I prefer an in-action photograph of the performer over any of the posed shots. This is the cover to The Copenhagen Tapes, a live recording from a 1968 performance in Denmark. I like how Buckley's black shirt camouflages him with the black background, and the only thing you can really see clearly is his head cocked to the side as croons one of his soul-stirring love songs (or one of his manic jazz-edelic pieces). There's some emotion being presented here, and I like my album covers to emote.



This is the cover to Buckley's final studio album, 1974's Look at the Fool. It'd be too easy to make a comment regarding the album title, so I'll instead direct my jabs at the artwork itself. Cal Schenkel, who did a lot of awesomely weird art design for the Mothers of Invention, is credited with the art direction here. I don't know if that means he painted the picture himself or commissioned a freelance artist who showcases all of his work at his uncle's Wyoming trading post. I like to think this is part of a larger picture with wolves howling at the moon, maybe a couple deer grazing in a nearby field, and it's all printed on some grandmother's sweater.

From Buckley's final album to his very first, take a look at his self-titled debut, released in 1966 when he was only 19-years-old. I imagine he sent the same image to a number of local fashion agencies. I like that wall for some reason, probably because it appears incompletely painted. In fact, if that's fresh paint then the young Buckley has just ruined the back of his turtle neck. He is a handsome figure standing there (a somewhat awkward figure as well), but is that garish tweed jacket eating him? What's going on here?

MMFRR#13 -- The Lakeside Is For Killers

Often, in lieu of actual people wanting to be my Myspace friends, I get piles of friend requests from bands and musicians attempting to get me to check 'em out/attend their shows/join their street teams. Naturally a great bulk of these bands are awful and I want nothing to do with them, yet the requests keep coming. As a mild form of revenge I have decided to review these bands. Welcome to another therapeutic entry of what I like to call Myspace Music Friends Request Review.

I have often wondered what the lakeside is for. I would have guessed fishing or a nice picnic. Nope. The Lakeside is for Killers.

(Careful, heavy flannel will always tip a picture over)

This entry, lucky number 13, is a special one. Drummer Nich specifically asked me to review his band for this particular purpose. I was all, "Are you sure, 'cause what if you suck?" And he was all, "Bring it!" And I was all, "Fine, I will." And he was all... actually, this conversation never happened, but he still wanted me to check out the band, be they awesome, awful, or otherwise. Anything for promotion's sake, I guess. There really is no such thing as bad publicity.

I've often been leery of local bands no matter where I've lived, and it's a terrible bias to have. A band doesn't have to be from a major metropolitan area in order to be good, but I've had to sit through too many not-at-all-good small-town local openers to assume otherwise. Of course now I must remind myself that the "town" in which I currently live has a metro area of half-a-million people and these reservations I have don't make any sense anyway.

I'm still hesitant to publicly review a local band though because if the members don't like what I have to say THEY KNOW WHERE I LIVE. There are five members in TLIFK, only one of me, and I sure don't know any kung-fu.

Am I leading up to another dismal review of another dismal Myspace band? Let's take a look at the evidence.

- Bogged down Myspace? Check, somewhat. It still slows down my computer, but I've seen much, much worse.
- South Park illustrations of band members? Check. For some reason I freakin' hate that.
- No "real" website? Check. And no, Purevolume.com doesn't count. Invest in your own dang domain! (As I write this on Blogger.com).

Otherwise there's not much else to complain about, and these items are nitpicky anyway.

But what about the music?
They've got all the explosive stops and starts of metalcore, but the vocal delivery of southern rock. We could amalgamate the terms and call it drrtycore™. I like the call-and-responses, I like the guitar work, I like the change in rhythms, and I like the screamy bits. I like that the backup vocalists are capable of good screams even though this isn't really a screamy band, per se. I like the songwriting. This is good stuff. These songs are also very well recorded considering they're just demos.

Also, bonus points for naming a song after a "Double Indemnity" quote. You're just a little taller.

I wish there were more than two songs because I certainly want to hear more. I mean, I have heard more (a live performance at the freezing cold Embassy in London), but I would like to hear more studio-quality recordings. Post more songs, fools. Get on that.

And thank you for disproving the notion that all local bands, at least in this municipality, suck.

I give The Lakeside Is For Killers
8 Walter Neffs out of 10.

"You're Not Smarter, Walter, You're Just A Little Taller" (.mp3)

2005

It's far easier to pick five great songs from the 1950's when there were only, like, ten albums released every year (half of which belonged to Frank Sinatra) than it is to choose five great songs from within the past couple years as there are literally hundreds of thousands of LPs and EPs and singles and samplers and CD-Rs currently being produced. So, after a painstaking narrowing-down process, here are five completely awesome songs from 2005.


Sleater-Kinney - Jumpers
This is a rockin' catchy little ditty, but if you pay attention to the lyrics you'll find something terribly sad going on. I'd explain it all to you but listening and experiencing the story yourself is half the fun. I will point out that all the verses save the last are told in first person present tense. The last verse is told in first person past tense, effectively (and tragically) concluding the song and story. Adding another layer of finality to the song is the fact that it appears on Sleater-Kinney's final studio album, The Woods.


El Perro Del Mar - Party
Instead of sad lyrics sung to an upbeat tune, here we have happy lyrics set to a sad tune. "Come on over, baby, there's a party going on." Yeah! "Be-bop, Be-bop-a-lula." That's right, rock it like Gene Vincent! But before you include this onto the rockin' portion of your party mix you should first consider the moderately slow tempo, the moderately lo-fi recording, and the moderately wispy vocals of Sarah Assbring. Moderate, yes, but catchy as all get-out. I don't know about you, but this song gets stuck in my head for days at a time.

Discover America - Green Eyes
Chris Staples... with beats and loops! But his lyrical wit and his unique take on love songs remain. Also unique, at least compared to Staples previous efforts, is the feel of this song. There are several layers of electro-thumpety-thump underlying everything and it creates an interesting, almost-but-not-really foggy atmosphere. Lyrically this is a song about that unapproachable ultra-hip scene goddess who (the twist!) is not as snobbish as you might think. She's not impressed, but she's so polite.


Christian Kjellvander - Drunken Hands
Kjellvander is Sweden's answer to Richard Buckner, but in my world I can accept them both. Also acceptable are songs that begin quietly and conclude loudly -- "build-up" songs. "Drunken Hands" begin with Kjellvander's deep and warbled voice setting a mid-western scene. He goes on to describe something I can't put my finger on (but still very obviously bleak) as the music builds behind him. The final minute is head-nodding bliss, a surprising guitar-chug that could go on forever.


Animal Collective - Grass
Some Animal Collective songs go on for dozens of minutes. I can't handle that. There's only so much ambient pseudo-earthy rhythmic indie whateverness I can take in one sitting. But this... clocking in at just under three minutes, "Grass" is absolutely perfect and is a great song to fire you up if you ever need to run a race or wrestle a gorilla or sprint through a brick wall. I have absolutely no idea what this song is about, but like good poetry there's a sensation and/or indescribable imagery painted by the words. Couple that with the unique sound of the song itself and you've got yourself a tune that is experienced rather than just heard.