Excess of Exuberance

Having been locked in a cage for a month sorting out papers from last semester (and the struggle continues) I thought I'd burst on the scene to update the blog with some songs that have been keeping me motivated and entertained over the last few weeks.

I know usually one song per week/month is usually enough for people to digest when it comes to new music but I think this crop is especially good.

In it we have some psych rock and experimental rock from The Acorn and As The Poets Affirm. To finish the set, however, I'm leaving you with The Weakerthan's cover of The Rheostatics "Bad Time To Be Poor." You don't hear songs like this nowadays on the indie scene or anywhere really and its a welcome sound to hear.

Bon Apetit!

Guide to Your Epic Music Experience (feat. Neon Bible)

Without desiring to fall into the trappings of the music snob, I am nevertheless endeavouring to take the time to press upon my noble readers the importance of setting for truly 'experiencing' music!

As a young socially inept person, where computers stood as status symbols among friends, modifications made the difference between hot or not. Imagine it as a low-cash and low self-esteem version of Pimp My Ride.

Now, whereas some competed in terms of harddrive capacity or video graphics, my niche - so to speak - was sound. Despite the warnings that SoundBlaster 16 (and equivalents) had cornered the market on what was worth hearing, I was the first on the block to have a SoundBlaster Live! and 4.1 surround system. My favourite memory of this awe-inspiring setup came when, on a dark night in the high-school years, I was seated beside a friend when the silence between us was split asunder by the loud whip-like crack of thunder, followed by an epic roll of rumbling aftershocks that coursed through the room and just as forcibly across the skin and hair on the back of our necks. My poor and somewhat dimwitted friend was completely startled and turned immediately to the window in expectation of a forthcoming flash of lightning to complete the storm that he thought had suddenly besieged our house.

Needless to say, its obvious that there was no such storm, but the point remains, this was a perfect auditory simulation (for a not-as-intense extension of this, pay particular attention to Song 6 during your Arcade Fire session described below).

And now, my guide for recreating this holiest of holy events with the best of whats-you-got and the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible.

Jason's 5 Step Method

The perfect musical experience is like a bath. The heat must be hot but not too hot and, equally important, the heat must be evenly distributed all around the body.

Step #1	Arrange speakers optimally - which is pointed toward a centered subject. Ensure a subwoofer enters the picture for those important vibrational tones that engage with the body.
Step #2	Find an appropriate temperature. The volume shouldn't hurt your ears but bathe you in enough sound to successfully immerse the body.
Step #3	Find a central place to relax. Comfy chair, extended couch, bed, etc. By minimizing other senses one can heighten their attunement to the sound alone.
Step #4	Allow music to course through and around you. Only good, nay great, music can do this and such music cannot be decided upon in terms of lyrics, vocals or instruments alone. It is what it is. Allow yourself a long and luxurious immersion. One album usually runs 40 minutes to 60 minutes, which is perfect.
Step #5	Mimesis: Extend into the depth of the music, listen for the particular, follow non-dominant melodies. Dive into it as it dives into you.

Why Neon Bible?

Cause I did it and it works. My first exposure to Neon Bible was, unfortunately, not in an optimal environment. I listened to the first single, "Black Mirror" on CBC Radio 3 while doing other work. Volume, distractions and sound quality all played a role in preventing a true appreciation (This is also a plug for CD quality sound and the experience that comes with listening to the whole album versus singles).

Upon following my 5 step method I had a different perspective.

Neon Bible comes across like a combination of early Springsteen and U2's Joshua Tree, evoking with run-through-the-streets style anthems that seem to soar, as if composed of some joyous sound molecules that are given to fly once released from their compact digital form. Fine examples include "Keep the Car Running", "The Well and the Lighthouse", "(Antichrist Television Blues)" and "No Cars Go".

The heavy use of a full-scale church organ throughout the album, but most notably in "Intervention" and "My Body is a Cage" provides a purely electrifying sensation - about the closet one can come to bathing with the electric blow dryer! If you want to know what it'd feel like to feel the full force of that shock without waiting patiently for the last track on the disc, tune in to about 2:10 on "My Body is a Cage"!

The entire album is a stand-out track that deserves to be experienced in a single sitting as immersion. Give 'er a try!

---

PS. While you're listening to the album and all, check out this recent CBC New piece on how our nervous system functions through sound energy! CBC News

Ménage-à-em-pe-trois

As a quick follow-up to that much-too-serious post for an already-stressful March comes an enchanting three-piece of female talent from Canada's up-and-coming, popular and established songstresses Jenn Grant, Feist and Julie Doiron. Each of these songs have caught my attention and implanted themselves so firmly into my brain that I cannot help but hum and tap my foot while I leaf through the monotonous pages of postmodern mumbojumbo, Marxist economics or Latin American tales of migration.

Julie Doiron's thrumming guitar and cute lyrics ("I woke myself up - to rest my weary head") are completely infectous. Jenn Grant's soft and sensual Dreamer will have you going "ya dre-ma-ah-ah" over and over again and finally, Feist's beat-centric and sultry-spun My Moon My Man closes the set that invites repeat upon repeat!

My ladies who've lured me from my work with their siren songs:

Julie Doiron	Jenn Grant	Leslie Feist

Take a ten-minute break and enjoy their fine sounds with my mini-playlist below.

Canadian Music Week Update

Its been a pretty intense week here in Toronto. I can finally relate to what it must be like to live in Austin, Texas during SXSW. For those back home, its Canadian Music Week here and every night has half-a-dozen bands playing at a dozen venues from Wednesday to Sunday. Not living downtown I had to forgo the militant indie fan role for the more casual two-night visit.

Thursday Night @ The Silver Dollar
Autodrone 8 : 00 PM
Locksley 9 : 00 PM
Moi Caprice 10 : 00 PM
The High Dials 11 : 00 PM
Uncut 12 : 00 AM
Les Breastfeeders 1 : 00 AM

I arrived at the beginning of Moi Caprice's set. This Danish band has signed with a Canadian label and sings in English, so I guess that's how they qualified for CMW. They had a distinctively European flavour - at least it seemed to me. It wasn't exactly my type of music but was definitely an enjoyable set. The High Dials followed which was a real treat since their album, War of the Wakening Phantoms, was one of the first indie Canadian albums I bought. Next up, Uncut, really kicked it up a notch at midnight with a hardrock edge that had been missing so far. I'd never listened to these guys so this was the surprise pick of the night. The set closed with Les Breastfeeders who, as usual, did not disappoint. They are one of the most fantastic bands to see live. I own both of their recent albums and while they are satisfying to listen to, it doesn't compare at all to their live shows. Their music is very danceable and energetic and seems to magically capture wandering bodies within its reach and possess their limbs...

Saturday Night @ The Horseshoe Tavern
Wil 8 : 00 PM
Yoko Casionos 9 : 00 PM
Two Hours Traffic 10 : 00 PM
In-Flight Safety 11 : 00 PM
The Golden Dogs 12 : 00 AM
Jenn Grant 1 : 00 AM

I came a bit earlier to this show because the line-up was so solid. I'd heard of four of the six bands and see two live on the same bill a month before. Saturday's line-up featured a truly pan-Canadian mix with Vancouver's Yoko Casionos, Charlottetown's Two Hours Traffic, Halifax's In-Flight Safety and Toronto's (originally Thunderbay) The Golden Dogs. The Golden Dogs were worth the price of admission (only $10) alone as their 70s-esque rocker Nineteen-hundred-and-eighty-five tore the roof off the joint. The Yoko Casionos, whose Much Music style pop-rock hadn't appealed to me in February, were much likeable this time around. Two Hours Traffic was probably the second biggest hit of the night, and played a number of hit-worthy tunes after an impassioned introduction by the Horseshoe's tavern keeper. A memorable night!

In keeping with my tradition of posting a song every week or so, here's Quadra Island's Mother Mother with their track Polynesia. Mother Mother played Friday night at the Horseshoe and I missed out because I'm too weak and old to go out 3 nights in a row. This song alone would have made it worth it though.

Enjoy.

Mother Mother - Polynesia.

City Lights Align

Coming out of one of Canada's best indie-rock bands, Cuff the Duke, Wayne Petti was already standing on firm ground for his debut solo effort City Lights Align which will be released on March 13, 2007. Sporting a much softer and folkier side than Cuff the Duke's regular mix of pop, country and rock, Petti nonetheless brings across CtD's most shining asset: his voice and lyrics. The first single from City Lights Align is Moment by Moment which I've posted here.

A slight change I've added to the format of the blog should be visible on the right-side menu. I've stolen a handy-MP3 player gadget from Todd Leskie's Blog. This might help those too lazy to click on the link and open the song in Winamp or whatever. It also provides a handy list of all the songs I've posted so far in one playlist.

So click play on the first track, "Moment by Moment" and listen to one of Canada's best upcoming talents, Wayne Petti.

Wayne Petti's Myspace Page: http://myspace.com/waynepetti

Pre-order City Lights Align: http://www.maplemusic.com

 

My Role Model: Grant Lawrence

Broken, torn, and shattered, 2005 had been a year of downturns and failures in many ways. A break-up with a long time girlfriend, a money well wasted vacation to Costa Rica as well as a number of jobless months searching for reasonable (above min. wage) employment in Vancouver. Indeed for about half-a-year it seemed like nothing could go right, that is until I met him in November. That him is my hero, the ace of adjectives, prince of pop references and uh... queen of quirkiness, Grant Lawrence. At first our encounter was limited to an hourly engagement once a week but I soon discovered a giant backlog of his musings and recommendations on music and life through the CBC archives (and later even more Grant through a satellite radio given to me by a friend). Now I was set to be a disciple of Grant and have faithfully followed ever since. Grant led me out of the darkness and into a better and richer world of music and soul and to him I am indebted (with a shout-out to my favourite fruit Apple of course).

So when Grant Lawrence starts his favourite show of 2006 on Canadian music with Destroyer's 3000 Flowers, and cites "its amazing feedback drenched guitar riff" I couldn't help but agree. This is the kind of off the wall guitar buzz and screeching that one can just lose onself. And in the long months of a Toronto winter, far from where Grant & I met for the first time, this song delivers the best in what pop music can offer: joy.

So sit back, relax and let your cell's dance to Destroyer's 3000 Flowers.

For an introduction to Grant Lawrence start here.

Get Back Get Back (to Ootischenia)

Its been over a month since I last posted a song on the blog and my guilt has actually kept me from making good on my commitment to spreading the good news of the lord, indie music. Part of the problem has also been that I scooped up a lot of good cheer over the holidays including 5 new albums (some of those which made my top 10 of 2006 had not been purchased and obviously earned the honour, including Matt Mays' excellent When the Angels Make Contact album as well as Pink Mountaintops Axis of Evol. Moreover, a free week or two of downloading from my favourite bittorrent site (the best way to listen to new music) has given me a whole new library of tunes to sort through and its been tough to find the one song that deserves a blog post out of the bevy of great picks and friends recommendations I've heard.

However, this post is about picking and not indecisive meanderings (save those for the philosophical posts) and the pick is The Be Good Tanyas's "Ootischenia". Besides the obvious qualities of the song, most notably lead singer Frazey Ford's drawl and the comforting old-timey rhythm, the lyrics tell a story about a small Doukhobor community in the interior of British Columbia. The song, which Ford describes as a reminiscence of life growing up in the town of Ootischenia (near Castlegar), feels like a warm embrace which I wanted to send out to all friends and family in the little town of Kelowna (OK not so little) no matter whether they've been scattered (to Ulsan, Vancouver, Toronto, etc.) or if they're still making life work in that odd little city-on-the-lake. So sit back, relax and drift away to The Be Good Tanyas' Ootischenia.

Top 10 Canadian Indie Albums of 2006

Top 10 Canadian Indie Albums of 2006

1. Amy Millan - Honey From The Tombs
2. Pink Mountaintops - Axis of Evol
3. Melissa McClelland - Thumbellina's One Night Stand
4. Matt Mays - When The Angels Make Contact
5. Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
6. Les Breastfeeders - Les Matins de Grands Soirs
7. Magneta Lane - Dancing With Daggers
8. The Golden Dogs - Big Eye Little Eye
9. Sam Roberts - Chemical City
10. Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds

While I spent most of 2006 catching up on some great albums from 2005 from artists like The New Pornographers, Immaculate Machine, Novillero, Cuff the Duke and the Diableros (among others), there were a number of spectacular releases this year including Polaris Prize Winner Final Fantasy and the stunning solo effort of Amy Millan. This list is by no means in order save perhaps for the #1 of 2006 which goes to Honey From The Tombs.

Let me know what you think of the list and where I've gone wrong and I'll send you one of my last two invites to the best music site on the net.

The Art of the Clap + The Bicycles

When it comes to catchy pop tunes, Toronto's The Bicycles have written the book, or should I say the album, by which I mean their new CD The Good, The Bad, and The Cuddly. 17 tracks measuring on average 2 minutes each solidifies The Bicycles as icons of a different age. Listening to the album once from afar and again close-up clearly brings back a '60s-esque lo-fi feel, with slightly scratchy vocals, rattles and hand-clap rhythms. Which brings me to my next point, the art of the clap. When used strategically, as it is on this week's track "Australia" it adds a completely new dimension to the music. Acoustically, the clap cannot be duplicated. What instrument in the modern pop-band ensemble comes close? Certainly not the guitar, bass or drums. Even our ancient friend the tambourine, one of the most ancient instruments still in use today, is incomparable to the sharp yet warm sound of two hands in unison (if you want to know the sound of half of one-handing clapping listen to Joel Plaskett's ode to Kelowna in "Love That Town"). Its staccato snap punctuates the music as if from without. Perhaps it was my youthful years spent listening to bootlegs and audience recordings that have sensitized me to the lovely sound of hands in motion, but even without that historical tidbit, I'd still say the handclap is an instrument all to itself. Listen to its crisp albeit seldom sound in "Australia" and judge for yourself! For an over-indulgence of handiwork take a listen to "Paris Be Mine."

Other stand-outs on The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly include the first track, "B-B-Bicycles" and the airport lounge mix of (what sounds like) "My Guy" (or was it Whoopi's "My God"?) which comes out altogether new in "Ghost Town". "Cuddly Toy", the eleventh track on the album is very reminiscent of a Beatles track which means fans of 60s pop that are more knowledgeable than I will get a kick out of matching songs, albums, artists and influences to the The Bicycles.

Returning to "Australia", the hypnotic foot tappin' bass-line is rivaled only by the Golden Dog's Dynamo from last month and the layered cascading vocals is like something straight out of The Mamas and Papas or the Archies.

NewMusicCanada had this to say about my fellow Torontonians:

The Bicycles want their music to reflect who they are as people, as a band, and their outlook on the world, which sounds really boring, but think of all that set to a crisp bit of tambourine. Snappy! Basically, the Bicycles like to have fun.

So give it a spin yourself and those of you who know your classic pop better than I, let me know how you'd describe it!

The Bicycles - Australia.

PS. As I post this I'm heading out the door to fly back to Kelowna, BC for the holidays. I hope to be able to update the blog over the break, especially to post my top list of albums for 2006, so stay tuned. Lastly, as a Christmas gift to anyone who reads this blog, I will be handing out 5 invites to a top-rated music torrent site for serious audiophiles! If you're really into music and want a quality virus-free way to *sample* music from the Canadian indie scene and beyond shoot me a message or post on the board and I'll get one out to you!

CBC Radio 3 Recap of 2006

CBC Radio3 has published on their blog a collection of Canadian indie music nods from across the entertainment spectrum, including Amy Millan's spot in Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs and The Wailin' Jennys CD success on the Folk Alley Top 10. A few other favourites posted on this blog right here have also made some noise internationally including Emily Haines' Metric and the Golden Dogs - which just goes to show you all I have excellent taste in music! And if you doubted it, why not try out some Les Breastfeeders for size. This Quebec band left a permanent mark when they headlined the Lamplighter back in Vancouver last March and did an equally impressive job here in Toronto performing hits from their latest CD Les Matins de Grands Soirs. So if you haven't been paying attention to the music tracks I've painstakeningly posted and raved about on this blog, click the "indie music" label at the bottom of this post to get a showcase of the who's who of the Canadian indie scene and stay tuned for more in the new year!

The CBC Radio 3 Top 94 of 2006 and the first annual Bucky Awards are fast approaching; but Canadian artists are already hitting 2006 best album lists around the world.

Tokyo Police Club and Amy Millan have both made it into Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of 2006. Of Millan's song "Skinny Boy", they write, "Singer from Canadian indie-pop outfit Stars applies angel-voiced cynicism to delicious Mazzy Star-style tune. Best line: You've got lips I could spend a day with.'"

Meanwhile, Tokyo Police Club get a whole new word made up for them in the description of their great song, "Cheer It On": "They're not from Tokyo, they're not cops and the only club they could get into is probably the Strokes Fan Club -- but these mods score with a gloriously dumb garage-punk thrash-terpiece."

Destroyer's latest CD, Destroyer's Rubies, is number 9 - and the only Canadian pick - on Metacritic's 30 Best-Reviewed Albums of the Year, which tallies its results based on major critics' reviews from around the world. The Vancouver band beat out internationally acclaimed releases by groups including The Roots, Arctic Monkeys, Neko Case, The Decemberists, The Hold Steady and even The Beatles.

Right now, NME's Top 50 Albums Of The Year is only out on newsstands, but Metric's Live It Out, which was released in the UK in July this year, is ranked at number 38, above Beck, Bob Dylan, and Wolfmother.

The Wailin' Jennys recent CD, Firecracker, is number 1 on the Top 10 list of Folk Alley, a national NPR radio program. On the show's website, they rave: "Wailin' Jennys' award-winning Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta and Annabelle Chvostek combine their individual songwriting talents, spine-tingling harmonies and rootsy folk-pop arrangements for a stunning follow-up to their 2004 debut."

Three Canadian bands have received a slightly different kind of honour: The Bicyles, The Golden Dogs and Les Breastfeeders have made it onto Allmusic.com's 25 Most Crushworthy Bands of 2006 list.

Of Toronto's The Golden Dogs, Allmusic's Margaret Reges writes: "The Golden Dogs are Canadian, they sound a little like Arcade Fire, they wear cute outfits, and gosh darn it, I want to put them in my back pocket! I wanted to buy a t-shirt, but they aren't selling any! Damn you, Golden Dogs! Damn you for making me love you!"

Hear Les Breastfeeder's Pas Sans Saveur from Les Matins de Grands Soirs

NSX: the Nova Scotian Xperience

I hate to butt in on Immaculate Machine and Novillero who haven't even had one week on the chart (as I'll call it), but I've got late-breaking news from the world of Canadian indie music! News that I must share with the devoted one or two people that read my blog! Remember, you heard it first here!

What happens when you cross two of the best Canadian acts out of Nova Scotia, Matt Mays and Buck 65 (for some strange reason I'm talking about the best acts out of N.S. without mentioning Joel Plaskett?)? Well, as the song title says you get: When The Angels Make Contact, a solidly rocking number from Matt May's new album by the same name. Known for his solo work as well as his CDs with backing band El Torpedo, Mays is the definitive Canadian indie hard rock act in a scene that has long abandoned hard rock to the cheesy odes of Nickelback or the to the dinosaurs of The Tragically Hip and Rush (not to mention whatever whale song Randy Bachman is turning out on some pacific island). In fact, the indie scene, as varied as it gets here with everything from "death country" (Elliot BROOD) to electronically-manipulated violin and piano (Final Fantasy) doesn't have much room for traditional crunchy guitar riffs and Chris Cornell-esque screams. Which in fact, is usually fine with me. As much as hard rock was my genre of choice as a teen its been so-constantly-and-consistently bastardized throughout the late 90s and 2000s that leaving it to die a cold and anonymous death seemed best, lest it pollute the glorious pride of Canada's budding scene.

Thus for me, Matt Mays has only been a passing interest. I saw him live (but not purposely) in Vancouver opening for Plaskett and again at V-Fest Toronto where he was relegated to the B-list stage (and put on the best performance I witnessed on that stage). His tunes were good but not great, they provided the kind of hard rock background noise that might as well come from Nickelback. The songs just did not stand out, against one another or on their own.

Buck 65, on the other hand, is a Canadian legend, as far as that goes. The Eminem of the Canadian East, sans lyrics of strangling wife and child naturally. In fact, Buck 65 easily transcends the category of rap, with a brisk spoken-word pace that sounds like its tinged with slam poetry as much as conventional rap. His music itself is never satisified with being a simple beat to his vocals, and he takes on a number of genres from the electronically synthezied Devil's Eyes to his cowboy-rockin' Road House Blues. The bilingual Buck also slips between French and English on his latest CD Secret House Against the World...

So what happens when you mix this overly-potent talent with up-and-coming Matt Mays: an extremely solid effort that ends up overshadowing (if possible) Buck 65 and illuminating the potential of hard-rock greatness in Mays. Starting with the grittly churning guitar riffs Mays' voice and lyrics immediately stand to be recognized. Buck 65's brief interlude provides a great dimension to a song that, even without his touch, would stand well on its own. Mays' final howl and the minute-long guitar solo that follows make me wish I owned a lighter.

Find out some more information about the artists from and then give the MP3 a whirl.

Matt Mays:

Matt Mays & El Torpedo is Matt Mays (guitar, vocals), Jarrett Murphy (guitar, vocals), Andy Patil (bass, vocals), Rob Crowell (keyboards) and Tim Baker (drums). MM&ET have spent the last four year touring the country endlessly. In that time the band has moved from opening shows for acts such as Blue Rodeo and Sam Roberts to headlining their own sold-out shows. The group recently took home four awards at the 2006 East Coast Music Awards. They are touring Canada with The Black Crowes in May 2006.

With Patil and Baker's driving rhythms supporting Crowell's organ swells and the squalls Murphy & Mays' dual guitar attack, MM&ET's sound is a soulful eruption of roots rock. From the first listen, it's obvious that they have that indefinable element that carries a group's music beyond the sum of its parts. "It's one of those things that you couldn't really construct with anyone," claims Mays of the band's chemistry. "It's a really natural solidification in music of five friends who like, listen to and laugh at all the same things."

MattMays.com

Buck 65:

Buck 65 is old. He started out as a b-boy back in '82 while living in Small Town, Nova Scotia, but today this no-nonsense white boy is the Jimmy Castor of hip hop. Handling production, lyrics, and Djing duties by himself, Buck may be the man to single-handedly rescue hip hop. Many regarded Buck as somewhat of a weirdo because his subject matter includes fashion design, freestyle BMX, baseball, and ichthyology. Maybe he's a throwback, maybe he's the future, but you can't hear any death threats or hollow boasting coming from this honky. Forget about it. This is music that picks up where the rap performance in Revenge of the Nerds left off.

NewMusicCanada.com

So without furhter ado, please enjoy When The Angels Make Contact.mp3

Celebrate CBC Radio3 with Immaculate Machine

For those of you poor souls unlucky enough to have missed the CBCRadio3 See Vous Play concert in Toronto last month or the cross-Canada Radio3 / Mint Records / Exlaim Magazine tour featuring The New Pornographers, Immaculate Machine and Novillero, then now is the time to rejoice: fresh from the copy of the CBC Radio 3 Sessions CD distributed freely at See Vous Play. I figure this is a good way to plug both the CBC Radio3, which is my secret reservoir of musical knowhow, as well as show off my favourite band-out-of-Victoria, BC: the Immaculate Machine. I first saw this trio perform at the Railway Club in January of this year and its pleasing to chart the progress of an indie-band on the rise. Whereas at the Railway Club they were one band in 4 playing short sets for a handful of dollars they are now opening for the New Pornographers and touring in Canada and the US. This is no doubt due to the great dynamic of the two alternating lead singers - Brooke Gallupe and Kathryn Calder - which bring an incredible range to their solid pop melodies.

Their latest CD Ones and Zeros has been / is / one of the best albums of 2006 with nary a bad tune on the disc. If you're like me, you'll fall in love with Kathryn Calder (literally). Hearing her cover for the lovely Neko Case on the New Pornographers tour (2nd time at least, 1st time is a haze) cemented her status as an outstanding female vocalist.

So if you hate Victoria BC like I do and want one more reason to trash it, love Immaculate Machine until they move to Vancouver like every other good thing does (just ask Glen Clark).

More on Immaculate Machine from NewMusicCanada.com

"A hearty mix of smart pop, atmospheric new wave and garage rock..." This Victoria, BC trio is acclaimed for its songwriting as well as for its energetic live show. Three voices, crashing drums, catchy keyboards, and electric guitar blend to create a sound that is truly hard to pin down. Kathryn Calder: keyboards, vocals Luke Kozlowski: drums, vocals Brooke Gallupe: guitar, vocals ...The "favourites" section to the right is an incomplete list of some fine bands we've shared the stage with.

Now hear Immaculate Machine's latest CBC Radio 3 Sessions debut Dear Confessor.

Also listen to the Exclaim/Mint Roadshow openers (and CBC Radio 3 Sessions colleagues) Novillero: The Hypothesist

A tribute... on friendship in times of sorrow.

When it comes to death I have a certain inability to act appropriately. It seems a situation which defies convention. Condolences always seem artificial and cheap, maybe because in myself I realize that there is no way I could really sympathize or approximate the pain and anguish experienced by another. It's at times like these where the distances between individuals - even the best of friends - can seem staggering. Its never a comfortable moment, yet at the same time the bereaved in question is almost always extremely accommodating and thankful - more awkwardness but in the incongruity lies a sense of understanding, on some level. It seems as if these moments bring into relief the whole history of like-moments, the breakups, the defeats, deaths, injuries, sicknesses which have translated into sorrow, pain and anguish in which the two have each played the role of victim and sympathizer, and that this shared memory of simply being-there, being-part, and the vicissitudes of time it exposes: that everything is in flux, that this moment was lived previously in another sorrow and will be survived by the necessity of a future being-there-for-the-other. An eternal recurrence of the same which grounds true friendship amidst changes of place and date. Perhaps the only method of experiencing in common that which is in essence completely individuated - pain, grief and sorrow, through the bonds of history that make a friendship.

And now to express in song what fails me in words, Amy Millan's Baby I.

The Golden Dogs Set Your Foot A-tappin'

Not being able to resist sharing the great tunes here's a new one for everybody. Its "Dynamo" care of The Golden Dogs, another Torontonian band. With connections to local favourites Cuff The Duke and the Hylozoists these guys could hardly disappoint.

Dynamo is clearly pop in the best sense of the word. It does everything right to be catchy and infectuous, from the initial foot-tapping beat to the multi-vocal cheer of the chorus-line.

The band credits influences ranging from the Beatles and the Beach Boys to modern acts Elliot Brood and the New Pornographers.

Take a read from this blurb on New Music Canada and give the track a twirl. Let me know what you think (for a change).

On their new record, Big Eye Little Eye, it’s impossible not to stomp your foot to the frantic opener, “Dynamo,” and it’s even harder to avoid shouting along to the chorus of “Saints At The Gates,” a passionate track about playing live. If you’re not in the mood to air guitar, don’t worry, Big Eye Little Eye, which some critics are already calling the best disc of the year, has more to offer than just intensity. Intimate moments like the stripped down “Wheel Of Fortune,” the only song not recorded in the studio, puts listeners in Dave and Jess’ basement, while Theresa’s Beach Boys-style vocals is a touching tribute to one of the bands’ heroes, Brian Wilson. On Big Eye Little Eye, it looks like The Golden Dogs have done everything right. Naturally, after the critically acclaim of their debut album effort 'Everything in 3 Parts', the group was anxious to record. They teamed up with Paul Aucoin, a prolific producer (The Old Soul/the Heavy Blinkers/Cuff the Duke) and founder of the instrumental pop group The Hylozoists, and headed into a bonafide studio for the first time. Listen to the rapid snare hits on “Construction Worker,” or the wild insanity on “Life on the Line” and you’ll see that life as a Golden Dog is just fine.

Listen to The Golden Dog's Dynamo.
Visit their New Music Canada site: New Music Canada:The Golden Dogs
Visit their homepage: http://www.thegoldendogs.com

PS. Listen to another side of The Golden Dog's with their air-guitarring number 1985.

Happy Halloween with Emily Haines

Anyone who has bothered coming back to my blog is probably bored with the lack of "content" and the excess of "form" (ie. music). Right now its a convenient way of expressing my right-brain as my left is trying to prevent information overload from the books and philosophies its juggling.

Besides, these are great songs so I'm hoping its not just me who is listening to them. You're getting the very best of Canadian indie music served straight-up with a slice of lime every week(ish). Now, without further ado, here's a Halloween track from Emily Haines's (the popular front-women of Metric) solo side-project.

The song of choice is Dr. Blind a piano-driven haunting number from her equally dark album Knives Don't Have Your Back. The faint strains of strings in the orchestric backing by the Soft Skeleton provide the type of eerie semi-silent ambience one might expect in an Edgar Allen Poe film. Haines' raspy almost-spoken-word vocals intwine with her unique brand of seemingly random imagery for lyrics helps complete the picture.

Emily Haines is an artist that defies labeling. Frontwoman for Metric, she is proud to release her debut solo album, Knives Don’t Have Your Back this fall on Last Gang Records. Written and recorded over the past four years in Los Angeles, Montreal, Toronto and New York,the record sites contributions from the likes of Scott Minor from Sparklehorse, Broken Social Scene’s Justin Peroff, Stars’ Evan Cranley and Metric’s Jimmy Shaw. A distinct contrast from Metric’s bold, danceable sound, Knives is an intimate and subtle collection of mellow, piano-driven tunes complimented by soft string and horn arrangements.

The song is Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Doctor Blind.

More information about Emily Haines and her new solo album.

The music video for Doctor Blind.

Devil's Paintbrush Road

The Wailin' Jennys have been a staple of Canadian folk/country scene for a number of years now. I didn't listen often, their sound generally too country for my tastes. Their latest album, Firecracker, is no exception and it wouldn't make it on my personal list for best albums of 2006. Devil's Paintbrush Road, the intro track to the album, however, could easily make my top ten for best songs of the year. In the style of Copperhead Road this piece has a rocking pace despite being nestled in the same acoustic countrified instruments that normally accompany the Jennys' signature sound.

The lyrics also separate Devil's Paintbrush Road from the rest. Unlike Blood Meridian's Get Someplace Else which was motivated by the anguished vocals of its lead singer which often times obscured the words, D.P.R. rests solidly on lyrics about straddling the line between life and death. Warning: this song is addictive, from the harmonica riffs to the seductive chorus of Ruth, Nicky and Annabelle.

Once more, the song is Devil's Paintbrush Road.

Give it a listen and tell me what you think.

More on the Wailin' Jennys:

The Wailin’ Jennys are Annabelle Chvostek, Nicky Mehta and Ruth Moody—three distinct voices that together make an achingly perfect vocal sound. Winning fast fans all over the world with their powerful singing and thoughtful rootsy songwriting, they have become “one of the most exciting new folk bands” (Barnes & Noble). The Wailin’ Jennys have toured throughout North America, Europe and Australia, and their first full-length album 40 Days won a 2005 Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year. The Wailin’ Jennys have a fresh folk-pop sound with stunning 3-part vocals and an eclectic mix of accordion, banjo, harmonica, mandolin, violin, guitar and percussion. Coming from a wide variety of artistic backgrounds, they embrace many musical styles including alt-country, Celtic, rock and traditional. The Wailin’ Jennys are all established singer-songwriters in their own right and unique in their individual expressions, but together their voices forge a unified sound that is unforgettable, breathing fire and grace into each note.

New Music Canada

The Wailin' Jennys homepage: http://www.thewailinjennys.com/

Amy Millan "Top Ten Artists To Watch"

You might know Amy Millan from her day job singing and writing in dreamy indie-rock band Stars, or from her moonlighting gig in fellow Canadian collective Broken Social Scene, or perhaps from the nifty little profile we did on her in our special “Ten Artists To Watch” issue. But last month, Millan stepped out on her own, releasing a stripped-down, countrified album called Honey From the Tombs (which we reviewed in this very magazine and talked up on Rock Daily previously). Ms. Millan brought her show on the road and played Joe’s Pub in NYC last night.

Rolling Stone Rock and Roll Daily » Blog Archive » Why We Dig On Amy Millan: An Un-Edited IM Concert Review

Now that I'm back on the wagon, may as well mention that Amy Millan's Honey From The Tombs, one of my top 10 favourite albums from 2006, was mentioned in Rolling Stone. I kinda thought Amy would be flying under the radar for most mainstream mags so I'm happy that she not only got covered but spotlighted as one of the "Top Ten Artists To Watch".

I couldn't even pick one song as the best on her record as I rotate between 3/4 of them, but I'd recommend:

• Losing You
• Skinny Boy
• Baby I
• Headsfull
• All The Miles

Amy Millan's website is: http://www.arts-crafts.ca/amymillan/
Two of the aforementioned songs are available to be streamed at: http://newmusiccanada.com/

Back in the Saddle Again... with Blood Meridian

So its been a few months since I added anything to my regular blog. Still trying to get the tremendous amount of photos I took in Europe off my chest and into posterity on the Travel Journal (www.jasonharman.com). In the meantime I've been visiting and re-visiting this blog trying to come up with some idea of what to start posting with. I don't want to bore people with the usual details of my life if I can help it. Suffice it to say for now that I've moved to Toronto and am having a good time in the Social & Political Thought program at York University.

Back in the Spring I tried doing album reviews but I'm notoriously lazy and genuinely don't like reviewing/criticizing music in particular (entire genres or industries are fair game though). However, I would still like music to play a part in this blog, especially the discovery of new music which constitute some of the best moments of my day/week/month.

So what I plan to do is share with you in quick posts any song(s) I find and hopefully be able to post you a link to that song so any interested individual can post their feedback. I intend the music to be non-mainstream (I want to bring something that other people might not have already heard to the table).

I've been doing this on the side through emailing my favourite tunes spontaneously to three or four friends but this will save the space on gmail!


Blood Meridian - Get Someplace Else
from Kick Up The Dust (2006)

It wasn't until I checked their bio on newmusiccanada.com that the final piece fell into place. Prior to that, I had heard of Blood Meridian on and off via CBCRadio3 and the first time this song came on the air I wasn't paying any attention, in fact I was reading a book on Deleuze or maybe Hegel or Adorno for class. I went to mute it when I suddenly stopped to give it another listen. The voice seemed so reminiscent, a pained and haunting sound with lyrics, which I didn't follow but nonetheless seemed sad and anguished. A voice from the grave was stirring in this melancholy number which made me search it out (it turns out I had actually downloaded the album but had yet to give it a listen. Blood Meridian is friends with or perhaps even made-up of two other great indie Vancouver bands called Pink Mountaintops and Black Mountain which are already personal favourites).

I won't blow the moment of realization for any of you like I did for those poor few I emailed (probably the same poor few who read my blog :(). I will add though that the last piece of the puzzle was this:

we like sailing....and the meat puppets... and the
13th floor elevators.....and the stones....and
whiskeytown...and other stuff...

Their song is Get Someplace Else and is hosted here.
To read more about Blood Meridian their webpage is: http://www.bloodmeridianmusic.com/

Comments welcome.

Jason's Picks

There are fundamental markers in one's life. The absence of a cool nickname could be said to be one. Now if I was cool the above title would read something like J-Dawg's Picxsz but we play the hand God dealt us... Whore (see I am a feminist).

Anyway, I don't have the discipline (read: disaprin) to post weekly about CDs and I especially have a hard time treating music and art in general analytically. It seems to strip the joy out of substance, much like academia strips the joy out of all learning and knowledge. So in lieu of "reviews" I'm going to post some recommendations, any of which I would be more than happy to endorse or defend if someone wants to email me about them. Consider anything that makes it to these pages as 4 star plus material. That alone should be enough to make you do the right thing and purchase the CD at your local indie music store.

Today's List will be a bit long as I'm going to go a bit far back in the indie catalogue here:

Immaculate Machine: Ones and Zeros
The Novaks: (self-titled)
The New Pornographers: Twin Cinema
Controller Controller: X-Amounts
Metric: Live It Out
The High Dials: War of the Wakening Phantoms
The Arcade Fire: Funeral
The Deadly Snakes: Porchella
Winter Sleep: (self-titled)
Broken Social Scene: (self-titled)
Cuff The Duke: (self-titled)
Les Breastfeeders: (see below)
Buck 65: (see below)
Great Aunt Ida: (see below)
Pink Mountaintops: Axis of Evol
Black Mountain: (self-titled)
The Organ: Grab That Gun
Bend Sinister: Through the Broken City
Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
Magneta Lane: Dancing With Daggers
Elliot Brood: Ambassador
Tegan & Sara: So Jealous
Feist: Let It Die
A.C. Newman: The Slow Wonder


On a side note, not indie but excellent is The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Show Your Bones. Can't seem to escape news about these guys in magazines, etc. so I won't waste another word on them.

Buck 65 & Great Aunt Ida

Our Fall
Great Aunt Ida
April 3 - April 9

Welcome to April the month of rain in Vancouver and to celebrate all this doom and gloom (of which, thanks to global warming, we haven't really seen any of) the month of April will feature only Vancouver-based artists. The first of which is Great Aunt Ida. I saw GAI the same night as the Breastfeeders and the group seemed a bit out of place following the lineup of a hard-hitting quebecois electronic group and then preceding punk-rockers Bend Sinister and the energetic Breastfeeders. Yes, Great Aunt Ida made their mark that night through quiet minimalistic melodies featuring piano and trumpet with the tiny voice of Ida Nilsen adding the sufficient haunt and wistfulness.

The standout tracks (with only a few days on the go) are Corners and Macarena (the latter seems another playful contrast). The bluesy touches on "Corners" brings to mind a softer version of Fiona Apple's "Criminal." The lyrics, full of 'dailyness' and individual conceits, give the impression of a feminized Hayden.

Outside of the two star tracks Corners and Macarena, the songs blend together against Ida Nilsen's soft voice and the sad meandering of the trumpet. This makes "Our Fall" a good CD in the background but doesn't speak volumes about its ability to stand on its own in the competive indie music scene.


All in all, "Our Fall" has some real gems but this is no diamonds in the rough scenario as the rough itself is still very listenable. Find out more about Great Aunt Ida and Our Fall at www.newmusiccanada.com and their website here.

***.5 / 5 (Still under review)

Secret House Against the World
Buck 65
March 27 - April 2

Buck 65 comes across as a kind of spoken-word cowboy rap. His gravelly voice steers clear of the cliched rap / hip hop of mainstream music and the beat is more of an electronic ambiance while being as far apart from the Beastie Boys as one might imagine.

Not to establish Buch 65 by what he is not, but this is definitely an artist that seems to cut his own path away from the herd which is best demonstrated on the heavily synthesized Devil's Eyes track and then again on its own remix done with a piano accompaniment sans digitization and all in French.

The best tracks on the album by far are the most introspective and somber pieces which include "The Suffering Machine" and "Surrender to Strangeness". In the former, Buck's call to a "black angel" to "carry me down" in his low rumble is immediately reminiscient of Johnny Cash.

For more information on Buck 65 check out www.newmusiccanada.com and his own site www.buck65.com

****.5 /5