Smalltown Devotion #1

I feel like writing about good people.

Good people like my pal (and therefore, yours) Joel Elliott.

Joel at play

For a guy built like a well-postured Grizzly Bear, Joel has the voice of an archangel, the range of an arrow and the backhanded love songs of a baseball bat. If that wasn't enough weapon references, the first song on his first self-titled release is called I Am A Weapon, so you get the idea.

He first hit the stage as the lead vocalist and guitarist for 'angular, dissonant' math-rockers Bird Rentals years ago. and just recently started playing shows with The Thin Line (a.k.a Circuit Breaker) as his backing band. Joel's performance is a double-edged sword of a different kind- when he play's solo, his voice is almost ghostly; flowing between chords and floating through walls. With a band, his songs act like rays of sun through a windowpane- curing the most violent of hangovers with a snappy rhythm section and glowing keyboards to boot.

With a new album in the works and the frequency in which this fellow likes to play shows- you better book him now, wherever you are (for the sake of good people).

Mixdowns Up

Hurrrrrrr


Weights & Measures - The Love That You Share (Is Making Everyone Else Sick)
Silent Film Soundtrack - Accolades
Special Noise - Lullabye
Onieda - Pure Light Invaision
Thundrah - Weighting and Wanting
Hella - Biblical Violence
Sourkeys - Locked and Loaded
Most Serene Republic - Phages
The Building Press - Far Above the Trees
Q and Not U - Fever Sleeves
Bird Rentals - Assume the Wall Breaking Position
Polvo - Snowstorm in Iowa
Faraquet - Cut Self Not
Tera Melos - Melody 7
Inflation Kills - Bad Wolf
The Burdocks - Snakes
Maps and Atlases - The Most Trustworthy Tin Cans
Cinemechanica - I'm Tired of Paul McCartney
Battles - Ddiamondd

The party in my mouth

This is what it feels like every time that first sip of Dad's root beer hits my tongue, only Bizzaro David Bowie and Michelle Pfeiffer are replaced with Chris Colohan and Laura Barrett

The Noises I Hold Dear

These guys put out a new e.p recently called The Year. It's two-piece math pop at its finest, and human beings at their nicest. Check'm out.

Hitting the Coast

Canada's East coast gets a ton of exposure. Bands like Dog Day, Wintersleep and Land of Talk tour and have enough press behind them that Nova Scotia is treated like the best kept geographical secret of this fine country. The West coast definitely has its own musical treasures, too, but Halifax seems to have a lot more familial based bands, while bands in the West play their cowboy roles wholeheartedly- acting as lone rangers who pop up when you least expect them to.


Ladyhawk, for example, I'd never heard of until I saw them play a friend's loft in Montreal. These fellows play fist pumping anthems for the hard-party crowd, and the crowd did indulge- people were riding on each others' shoulders half-naked while the band wailed through a fantastical and sweat-drenched jangly set. Their self-titled release, and most recent album Shots is a pretty damn accurate representation of their shows, only not as loud.

On the even crazier side, two-piecers Run Chico Run have scared the fuck out of me on more than one occasion. It's not their song content or style that freaks me out- these guys range from the sensible rockiness to the post-punkability- it's the ridiculous, ridiculous, ridiculous amount of talent these two possess. There are millions of talentless hacks out there- and these guys hog all that talent for themselves. Have you ever seen a drummer play keyboard and sing at the same time? How about a drummer and a guitar player who can do all of that. Both of them. Ridiculous. Here's on of their equally fantastic music videos:





Kids These Days were also great. I say 'were' because they haven't really released anything in the past four years since their side project Octoberman became more of a full-time dealie. Their full length, All These Interruptions is like a summer adaptation of a musical written by old Radiohead.

Then of course, there's the Thrush Hermit song, The Day We Hit The Coast- which is technically by an East Coast band, but its about how much they love the West Coast...so...I guess it ends up somewhere in the prairies? I don't know.

Brotherly Love and the City

Cowlick -Eternia Hernia (Down To The Point Records, 2008)

Brothers Dylan and Jackson Hudecki have roughly a decade of musical bloodlines between them, but it's their family connection that shines through, they manage to match each others' sounds so well. Dylan letting loose a flurry of fuzzed-up bass riffs that are felt more in your gut than your ear, and Jackson executing machinegun drum rolls with heavy hits to match each chord. Cowlick surfs a sea of genres almost flawlessly- skipping from balls-out rock to modest piano instrumentals. After each listen, you notice more and more finesse matching the initial wall of distortion- the little synth growls that makes Eternia into a layer cake of style and rhythm.

Mike Long - Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell (Hollywood Press, 2008)

This is a movie that I can't help but look at from more angles than its shot from. Seeing your hometown with high-definition eyes, from a perspective your routine doesn’t provide is something I enjoyed, not to mention a large chunk of the movie's soundtrack is scored by one Luke Warm of Slow Hand Motem/Motese family fame, so the aural accompaniment adds yet another unique viewpoint. Though I could do without the religious context and sometimes long-winded introspection, both aspects still provided alternative outlooks to consider while the visuals slowly slid by. Every shot frames the city as a picturesque utopia- which I think is more than it deserves.

Punks Simplified by your friends, F'ed Up

Gleaned from Looking for Gold:

Gutter Punks: Can't afford to make mohawks so they have natty dreads and live on moving trains and also in "gutters".


Whacktivists: Are "punks" but don't listen to music - are more interested in making politics. Have punk style but listen to Indigo Girls and Ratatat.


Skinheads: The racist kind - are fat and wear Lonsdale clothes from outlet malls and have short girlfriends. Listen to obscure UK and Canadian racist OI music on CDRs


Posers: Listen to punk music like the Sex Pistols but also Rage Against the Machine. Are mostly in highschool. They wear punk/goth clothing like leather jackets (new only) but also black bell bottom jeans and weird shaped sunglasses


Old Punks: Wear 20 year old tshirts because they spent all their money on records and have no jobs so they can't afford to look sharp. Have strange jobs and did zines a long time ago. Have grey hair and/or are balding and make everyone else feel depressed at shows and worried that they are looking at their own future.

Hardcore Punks: Wear only band tshirts and cut off shorts. Very short cropped hair. Super clean and carry deodorant in a bag with them.


Hipster Hardcore Punks: Like above, but also wear "limited" baseball caps, xxxlarge tshirts and "limited" shows. Only listen to Lil' Wayne and some modern Hardcore bands.


Indie Punks: Wear grunge clothes, but a little tighter. Move very slowly and smoke lots of weed and are super "Creative". Also ride bikes everywhere.


Punks: Who knows what they look like, or who they are.


Hipster punks: Like mostly dance music like Uffie and Daft Punk, but also some punk bands that are amazing (Fucked Up) and are able to transcend boundaries. Wear mostly clothes from American Apparel, and also only work at American Apparel, or Vice Magazine (interning only)


Fucked Up: Wear only free Fred Perry, Evisu, Burberry, Ben Sherman, and G9 Harrington Jackets, and other selected vintage styles.


Fucked Up's full length Hidden World is fantastic and you should buy it. They've released a million records in the past and have another coming out in the fall called The Chemistry of Common Life. Dig'm.

Hooks in Heads

Humid and smelly, sporadically rainy. Summer in the city. This kind of weather is best punctuated by pop songs and pink lemonade- those songs that sum up summer nights best spent dancing under patio lighting with your shoes off.


The Nerves put out a four song EP in 1976 that was just introduced to me a few weeks ago, and though it clocks in at just under eight minutes, every song is so damn catchy that you can't help but sing along after the second or third listen. Wicked vocal harmonies and classic broken heart lyrics.

Cain and Abel (?-2008, Acton Ontario) were a bunch of hardcore kids who decided to worry less about hair flips and worry more about having a damn fun time on stage (so I guess not worry at all?). They released two EPs, Mosey On, and Keep On Keepin' On simultaneously, sharing songs on both albums, but taking an acoustic approach on Mosey, and a full band approach on Keepin'. Singer/Guitarist Peter van Helvoort's voice falls somewhere between John Fogerty and Robert Plant, conjuring memories of those hot summers in the seventies when I wasn't born yet. Their video Sing It, With Some Soul (directed by Mitch Fillion of Hamilton band Kilhuminzu):



Summer wouldn't be complete without a healthy does of fist-pumping pop-punk, and Burlington's St. Alvia Cartel make sure every tambourine, gang vocal, and organ chord is drenched in sunshine and sticky heat. Though their self-titled release is a year old now, it seems fresh off the press and onto my aural barbeque. These guys are label-mates with fantastic ska-punks The Planet Smashers, and the much shittier ska-punks, The Johnstones- but they manage to hold their own aggressive pop style steadfast.

Jun-jun-junnnnnn

Torche – Meanderthal (Hydrahead/Robotic Empire, 2008)

After spending a large part of their career establishing their ability to play sludgy stoner rock, Torche decide to apply their skull-shaking distortion to songs that are twice as fast and complex as any of their past releases. Meanderthal is abrupt, blunt force trauma to the eardrums that refuses to slow down until it chugs to a stop with the album’s last two tracks. The opening track, Triumph of Venus lifts off and sets a pace that carries from every dropped chord to harmonized anthem. This album has totally smashed any notions I had about what this band was capable of creating. If you like loud, buy this now.

Yew ain't frum 'round here, are ye?

I will be the first person in line to kick country music in the face (were it a person). There is only so much twang that the human ear can process without being up to ones earlobes in moonshine and support our troops patriotism. Accessible country music is a rare commodity, but it is out there- and it can start up hootenannies at the first pluck of a banjo.



O'Death (New York) blur the line between punk and country without a single drop of grain alcohol. Quick-ass brushed drums, banjo and Tom Waits-y growls mixed with gang yelps and fiddles shooting off all over the place...shit, I don't know if I should be moshing or not. These guys have a wicked full-length called Head Home that is really worth a listen. You can buy it here. They'll be recording with Alex Newport some time soon, and he is responsible for some of At the Drive-In(!) and The Locusts'(!!) stuff, so you just know that ho-downs are shoe-ins.



Locally (somewhat) The Deadly Snakes (1996-2006) poured out wicked born-again country rock tunes album after album, though their 2003 release of Ode to Joy is still their catchiest, stomping-alongest (Grammar! yeah!) record as of yet, their whole discography is pretty shit-kickin'. Check out 'Oh My Bride' on their myspace for an example of these folks at their best.

Guephically, Richard Laviolette makes crowds swoon with his whiskey rock anthems of preachers, pirates, protesters and pumkin heads. His split album with math-folker Chris Yang Hands and Feats is up for grabs here. Richard's first solo disc A Little Less Like A Rock, A Little More Like Home can be bought from the man himself at one of his shows, which you should go see. He recently stopped by my apartment and treated me (and you) to a quiet little folk song:

A Band Apart

Regina doesn't exactly pump out music as consistently as bigger cities in Canada, but the quality of their exports dwarfs the quantity of bands coming out the likes of Montréal and Toronto. Regina seems to be on par with Halifax, building a concentrated community of musicians who all seem to have played in other bands with everyone else. Inbred is such an ugly word.


Despistado are at the root of all music I've heard that comes out of Saskatchewan. I first had a chance to see them when their EP, Emergency Response came out- it was (and still is) one of the most bitingly catchy records I've heard. Tribally structured drums fills and a twisty-turny bassline that jangles between two high-strung guitars that dance on a tightrope. Post-punk loveliness. Shortly after signing to Jade Tree Records in 2005, the band decided to call it quits. Their only full length record, The People and Their Verses is for sale on Jade
Tree's website.

First to rise from the ashes of Despistado was Sylvie, featuring Joel Passmore (Despistado's bass player/ supporting singer) on guitar. Sylvie focuses on a frantic approach to progressive rock- walls of guitar effects and a corset-tight rhythm section. Their video for the song 'Rise and Fall' from their album An Electric Trace is pretty durn wonderful:





Then Geronimo started touring- bringing the guitars of Dagan and Leif to a wound-up climax, harvesting the aggressiveness of Dagan's lyrical politics as an added barb in an already razor-sharp band. Their EP Enlightenment in a Small Town is full of twang, breakneck dance breakdowns and a million notes of fury from the prairies.

Anatta were the last to announce their inception- drawing a large amount of fantasticness from the drum acrobatics of Brenan Schwartz, Anatta build a background of strings and keys for both sets of male and female vocals to wax poetics amidst the frantic percussion, painting pictures of raised fists and unrest.


I fucking loved Despistado, but their parts apart are still pretty damn good. Reunion shows, though? Maybe?Maybe.

Life with jazz hands

I'm not a fan of bands with thematic albums- they're like bling raps for white people. Gaudy, sweet sentiments that almost always seem to turn into epic masturbation sessions (with the exception of Okkervil River's Black Sheep Boy)- but when a band can write an epic of a song, enclose and finish it...it feels like a one night stand with an out-of-town babe.



Vancouver's Bend Sinister (Storyboard Records) are one of those bands that can pull off those types of songs with seemingly effortless execution. Their vocals spiral upwards and in between ridiculous guitar progressions so closely that they're on the brink of strangling each other. There isn't a moment on their three song, unnamed EP that doesn't suggest that West Side Story should be remade with real people in real gangs really snapping in unison in dark alleys.


Owen Pallett, better known as Final Fantasy (A million different labels) is another one of those songwriters. Though his first full length record, Has A Good Home is poppy, straightforward and catchy in its own right, his second full length He Poos Clouds won him the 2006 Polaris Prize for good reason. Every song stands well on its own, but each song creates its own operatic sound that carries a weight only summed up when the whole album plays through. Pallett's ability to craft symphonies piece by piece in combination with his nerdy wit and sometimes bizarre lyrics makes He Poos Clouds play out on a stage in your headphones.


I myself never could stomach a play without feeling the need to beat someone up or eat an entire cow or drag race in a minivan while doing to drive-by to regain my masculinity, but the Evil Dead musical just might change the way I feel about watching grown men prance around on stage with makeup on.


It might be the summery weather making me all bubbly inside, but I hope some epic shit comes out this summer- I got me some jazzhands that need some shakin'.

Collecting Diamonds

A few words about the name of this blog:


Q and not U (Dischord, 1998-2005)were a band. They were a great band. Three stellar and diverse studio albums, and a spastic, unpredictable live show made the band into an unmatched creative force. They managed to define a distinct sound that's recognizable but indescribable. Fuck trying to pin the tail on the genre- Q and not U were post-punk with a bit of dance, math and folk rock(s) mixed in on any given track.

And that is why everybody ruins music. You can't write about it. Trying to sum up seven years of fantastic sounds from a keyboard/pen/never represents what a band really sounds like. You have to put those sounds to your ears, or the point of starting a band in the first place is totally lost. It either makes you dance (in one way or another), or you hang it up.

That's it.

Softening tones, punishing blows

So this is it.

I've decided to start a music review/share blog. It's four thirty in the morning, so I'll be brief:

MISSION

To share albums/videos/websites/bands/songwriters with people on the internet who happen across this little blip of a blog. I love music and I'd like to share things with you that I think you'll like.

Not all of the music will be current, it won't all be 'RAAAAAGH', and it won't be all pussy-ass songs, either.

Album reviews will be no more/less than one hundred and nine words.


/END MISSION



So, to start on the right footy-



I hope you enjoy.