Wednesday 29 January 2014

Some Things I Missed from 2013

It happens every year, you think you’ve covered all your bases with your end of the year list and then a few weeks into the New Year you hear a bunch of stuff that totally shakes up the list. This year was no different. Check out some awesome tracks and albums that I stupidly passed over in 2013.

Together PANGEA – “Snakedog”

Holy rock and roll! Hives-esque riffage with an explosive group-sung chorus gets the head bobbing and the foot tapping. March 28th Media Club, someone come with me.



Lucius – Wildewoman

This was an album I made the conscious decision to skip over when I heard one of the tracks earlier in 2013. What an idiotic choice that was! This is great folk rock with some cool melodies and percussion breakdowns. February 10th Media Club, come out.





Sleepy Sun – “11:32”

This is the B-side track of the Sleepy Sun 7-inch released in 2013 on Dine Alone Records. Excellent psychedelic rock and roll with a driving, deep guitar riff that holds the reverb heavy accents floating over the top of the track together. The lyrics are incomprehensible as per usual. Oh well.



Shad – “Love Means”

I didn’t really skip over this track at all, as it was in my Top 25 for a long time. This track contains the best female rapping of 2013, if not EVER. That’s right, I really like this verse. She goes by the name Eternia. Great feature followed up by some solid lines from Shad matching his stellar lyrics from the rest of Flying Colours.





Thursday 16 January 2014

Record Store Adventures 1

One of my new favorite things is going to the $1 bargain section of the record store and digging around for a while. Looking exclusively for cool band names, familiar band names, and cool album art, I’ve managed to find some gems, especially on my latest trip. I’ll try to make this a regular feature on the blog, as it’s a nice way, albeit old fashioned, to discover bands that might have just slipped under the radar when they were brand new. Here are some of my favs from my latest haul:

Record Store: Zulu Records Vancouver

The High Strung – Ode to the Inverse of the Dude

The very strange album art made me pick up this CD from the shelf, and I expected the strangeness to carry on into the music. However, what emerged from the speakers caught me by surprise. It’s an album filled with Zeus-esque ballads and silly, nonsensical lyrics. My favorite track is one called “Real Stone,” but because it isn’t online, “Guilt is How I’m Built” will have to suffice. The song is centred on the very catchy, but also very cheesy rhyming chorus of, you guessed it, “guilt is how I’m built.” It’s just a nice rocking track.




Novillero – Aim Right for the Holes in Their Lives

I heard this band a handful of years ago because of their awesome song “The Hypothesist,” a powerful rock song with relentless lead piano riffage and a powerful horn section. It was quite the hit on CBC Radio 3 back when it was released in 2005. However, I never bothered to listen to the rest of the album until now. It’s a magnificent group of songs ranging from straight rock to power-pop, and leans heavily on the influence from other Canadian band like power-pop rock giants Sloan. The song “Abbey” perfectly illustrates the Sloan influence!



Boats – Intercontinental Champion


I don’t really know why I like this album so much. The vocals are incredibly nasally, the lyrics are completely random and nonsensical, and the instrumentation isn’t exactly awe-inspiring. Yet this album is the best of the bunch I grabbed from the store. It’s got those catchy group harmonies you know I love, and a really nice groove throughout the album. It just sounds FUN. And guess what? Their new 2013 album A Fairway Full of Miners rocks too.



Monday 6 January 2014

Concert Review: Surfer Blood with Wild Ones

This marks my first concert review for the blog, and, truthfully, I don't know how I feel about doing concert reviews. Frankly, I love seeing live music, and I find it difficult to say negative things about a show, regardless of actual quality. Every musician busting his or her butt on stage has my respect, because it sure isn't easy up there. That being said, I'm going to give it a try.

January 5th, 2014 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (channeling my inner Nardwuar!)

Surfer Blood with Wild Ones at Media Club

I've been to a fair number of shows at Media Club by now (Elliott Brood, Wildlife, etc), and it's definitely one of my favourite venues in Vancouver behind the Biltmore Cabaret. It's loud, it's tiny, and the beer is good. What more could you want for a rock show?

I got to the venue just as Wild Ones took to the stage. I had not heard any of their music prior to show, and they really impressed me with their blend of indie pop/rock. What really held down the groove was the fantastic drumming that mimicked a "drum machine" sound perfectly. That combined with lead singer Danielle Sullivan's gorgeous, perfect vocals made for a great sound. I can't help compare Danielle's voice to Chvrches lead singer Lauren Mayberry, except for my money Danielle's vocals are more powerful and less pitchy. Wild Ones was a lovely unexpected addition to the night.



Following that great warm up, Surfer Blood slowly got ready for their set, building anticipation in the crowd as they fiddled with the monitors for ages. After drummer Tyler bought a beer from a random chick at the side of the stage, Surfer Blood was ready to rock. And that was exactly what they did, rattling off the first quarter of the set with pratised ease. The show began to kick into a higher gear on "Floating Vibes," a personal fav of mine. However, when JP jumped into the crowd and laid down on the dirty floor of the club during "Take it Easy," the concert really got good. I loved the crowd interaction, with band members mingling in the crowd, taking gulps of beer and highfives from their fans. Their hit "Swim" prompted the audience to burst in a wild mosh of happiness, and the crowd screamed lyrics into the low ceiling above.

Just before the encore, Wild Ones iced Surfer Blood on stage which really symbolized the night for me: Surprisingly sweet!