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.