June 2006 That beat that shit into a file magazine from CITR 101.9 FM Free
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wOiSski.O * ■ i k-feu. * '"_P_. 0*_ 06/26 ELVIS COSTELLO
AND THE IMPOSTERS
ALLEN TOUSSAINT and the Crescent City Horns,
THE RIVER IN REVERSE TOUR 2006
Pop music icon teams up with New Orleans R&B legend
06/28 TONY BENNETT
"The best singer in the business'
- Frank Sinafra
+ Brad Turner Trio
■Cathay Pacific
SEU JORGE
Charismatic Brazilian blends samba & bossa nova
E.S.T. ESBJORN SVENSSON TRIO
21 st Century grooves meet jazz piano tradition
McCOY TYNER TRIO
Unrelenting swing from legendary jazz pianist
MICHEL DONATO'S EUROPEAN
QUINTET
Euro-Quebecois quintet's post-bop melange
PINK MARTINI
Ultracool 12-piece ensemble's "urban music
travelogue" ■
-t-Tango Paradiso
BOBBY HUTCHERSON QUARTET
feat. RENEE ROSNES
Jazz vibraphone master's fiercely swinging band
+Amanda Tosoff Quartet
MIKE STERN BAND
Jazz/rock guitarist incinerates the house
GRDINA/ VAN DER SCHYFF with
GARY PEACOCK
Legendary bassist meets Vancouver jazz stars
06/28 PAQUITO D'RIVERA QUINTET
Award-winning Cuban sax giant
//1 ROBERTO OCCHIPINTI QUINTET
Intoxicating jazz/latin/classical powerhouse
06/30 PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND
Uplifting sounds from Bourbon Street's golden age
+New Orleans North
07/01 DR. JOHN
Legendary New Orleans pianist/vocalist & his
killer band
+Jim Byrnes Acoustic Band
07/02 NEKO CASE
Revved up, stripped down Country Rock and
Rockabilly
+Sonny Smith
Program guides at TO Canada Trust
branches, HMV, Starbucks
and Ticket Outlets
coastaljazz.ca
COMMODORE BALLROOM 868 Gr
URBAN GROOVE SERIES
KARDINAL OFFISHALL
Rap/dancehall intensity from hip-hop prince
POCKET DWELLERS
Infectious collision of funk/soul/hip-hop/jazz
THE CAT EMPIRE
Wicked Aussie funk/soul/latin grooves
+Mother
BAABA MAAL
Senegalese superstar sings with hurricane force
-f-Aboubacar Camara & Doundounba
SHARON JONES & the DAP-KINGS
Searing funk from Brooklyn's soul diva
-i-Binky Griptite and the Dee-Kays
BUCK 65
Hip-hop with real storles/lrisplred rhymes
KINNIE STARR
"Sings like Polly Harvey, raps like Chuck D"
IVAN NEVILLE'S DUMPSTAPHUNK
"The funkiest collection of human gumbo ever
assembled" - Bonnie Raitt
MARK DE CLIVE-LOWE
"Future funk at its finest" - Music Week
NO MEANS NO
Legendary bass-heavy slabs of prog/punk/jazz
WIBUTEE
Hot electro-jazz from Norway
+ Zu
DIVINE BROWN
Canada's reigning queen of soul
JACKSOUL
Canadian soul powerhouse goes for the groove
NILS PETTER MOLVAER
Oslo's intensely grooving sonic scientist
JAMIE LIDELL
"Britain's answer to Prince" -~gigwise.com
•CAMPBELL BROTHERS
Outrageous, Righteous steel guitar-driven gospel
+Reuben Cherry
:ttw (SlnlfatttS
CnhlO) ,$„((
Rock Out With Yer C*ck Out!
The Ultravixen Peepshow
Wednesday, June 7th
llie Railway 579 Dtt-ismtsire <
-*«-*B«a J°HN Bates*
y£ 5eas°N OF N|3Htj^ares *
.Saturday torn FHhroar-rds °n r>
JSSaM
tix 9 scratch, zulu, red cat anrXnignhfe
Pat's Pub
403 East Hastings
June 1st
MUSIC WASTE
The Pockets
Dustin and Garrett
Blue Gray Dots
Palm Pirates
June 2nd
Two Gallants
Oakley hall
June 10th
SPARTACUS BOOKS BEMIFIT
My Project Blue
e3rd
I MUSIC WASTE
I Raised By Wolves
I Ladies Night
I Live Girls
The Jolts
June 4th
MUSIC WASTE
Stumbler's Inn
Shapes and Sizes
Screaming Eagles
Spell Caster
Pink Noise
June 16th
Canned Hamm
and guests
June 17th
Vailhalen
The Quite Franklies
and guests
June 23rd
YouSayPartylWeSayDiel
All Purpose VoltageHeros
Run Chico Run
June 24th
CASBAHI
Sudden Infant Dense Syndrome
Palm Pirates
Blue Gray Dots
June 30th
A HIGH POINT PRODUCTION
P8JDAY, JULY 14th
THEAGGROUTES
THE PARALLELS
2 June 2006 Productic
Charlotte Bourne
Will Brown
MarloG
Andy Hudson
Neb JVIacura
David Ravensberg
Alanna Scott
Caroline Walker
Graeme Worthy
Photo & Illustration
Karin Abramova
Devendra Banhart
Lucas Soi
Alanna Scott
Saelen Twerdy
Spectres of Discord
by Admiral McGruff
Textually Active
Bike Manuals, Inkstuds
Mixtape
by Vancougar
Calendar
by Team Macho
Under Review
Camera Obscura, The Starlight Mints, Ju ma Molina,
Magik Markers, Ethan Collister, The Bla k r
Procession, Tilley and the Wall, and Trih
Real Live Action
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Strokes, Mogwai, a id Joel Plaskett
CiTR Charts
The Dopest Hits of May 2006
Program Guide
The Highlight: Afrobeat
Dear reader,
Welcome to the bicycle issue. I think you'll find that bicycles and music fit together
quite nicely. Now, you stubborn motorists out there may protest: you can't fit a 500 watt
amp in a rat trap, nor can your 10 speed slay every lady on the block with booty bass. Valid
points, but I've noticed that motorists—otherwise known as fossil fuelists, or better yet,
fossil fueligans—tend to listen to bad music anyway. Nine times out of ten the distorted
bass spewing from that passing Prelude belongs to Dr. Dre's 2002; a great album, certainly,
but one whose lustre has dimmed somewhat since I graduated from high school. Expensive
car stereos always seem to find their way into the hands of philistines, people obsessed with
decibels and high-definition tweeters, oblivious to the music itself. Maybe I'm way off with
this one, but I've got lingering bitterness over a youth squandered on the streets of Surrey
to blame.
Cyclists, by virtue of their silent machines, create space for subtler music, from the
chirping of city birds to the rhythmic clacking of an old Apollo coasting downhill. It's not
all hippie-bullshit, though; riding with the right album in your headphones is one of the
true joys of modern city life. If you're feeling a little aggressive, toss on some Lightning Bolt
and race a Hummer through a school zone. Nothing beats the catharsis of flying over speed
bumps with "Assassins" screaming in your ears, while the driver of that beached whale of
a vehicle curses his $200 gas tank. Then there's those late night rides coming down from
Point Grey, when the only fitting response to the view of downtown sparkling against the
mountains is to belt out Rufus Wainwright's "Oh What a World" at the top of your voice,
off-key and proud.
If you're unimpressed by my rationale for this month's marriage of bikes and bands,
I've got another suggestion for you. Bicycles may not be a musical instrument, but they
can carry words about music to the masses. If you've got some panniers or a paperboy
basket, then you're qualified to join our distribution team. We're currently in the process
of recruiting regional distribution chieftains, people responsible for keeping their
neighbourhoods stocked with fresh copies of Discorder as the month wears on. Send me an
email at discordered@gmail.com if the idea rings your bell, or come out to our next general
meeting on June 6th.
I'd love to finish this issue by riding off into the sunset, but I'm afraid some drunken
gear-changing a couple nights back has left my bike indisposed. Luckily bikes are easy to
fix, and I'll soon be back and rolling around with the rest of you. As my pals in cLOUDDEAD
like to say, "Physics of a bicycle...isn't it remarkable?"
David Ravensbergen, Editor
CITR Station Manager
Lydia Masemola
Publisher
Student Radio Society
of UBC
Shapes & Sizes §
\Bishop Allen is
Sunset Rubdown 18
Nels Cline
Cover photo by Karin Abramova
©DiSCORDER 2006 by the Student Radio Society of the University of British Columbia. AU rights
reserved. Circulation 10,000. Subscriptions, payable in advance, to Canadian residents are $15 for one
year, to residents of the USA are $15 US; $24 CDN elsewhere. Single copies are $2 (to cover postage).
Please make cheques or money orders payable to DiSCORDER Magazine. DEADLINES: Copy deadline for
the July issue is June 20th. Ad space is available until June 22nd and can be booked by calling Caroline
at 604.822.3017 ext 3. Our rates are available upon request. DiSCORDER is not responsible for loss,
damage, or any other injury to unsolicited manuscripts, unsolicited artwork (including but not limited
to drawings, photographs, and transparencies), or any other unsolicited material. Material can be
submitted on disc or in type or via email. As always, English is preferred, but we will accept French.
Actually, we won't. Send words, to discordered@gmail.com and art to discorderart@gmail.com. From
UBC to Langley and Squamish to Bellingham, CiTR can be heard at 101.9 FM as well as through all major
cable systems in the Lower Mainland, except Shaw in White Rock. Call the CiTR DJ line at 822.2487,
our office at 822.3017, or our news and sports lines at 822.3017 ext. 2. Fax us at 822.9364, e-mail us
at: citrmgr@mail.ams.ubc.ca, visit our web site at www.citr.ca or just pick up a goddamn pen and write
#233-6138 SUBBlvd., Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1, CANADA.
Red Cat Records
4307 Mafia St.
Spring Cleaning Sale
June 1st - 12th
AlHJseaCD'g#IJ>'s
30% Off
JVew & Used CD's & Vinyl
ph. 708-9422 * email buddywedeakea
Discorder 3 ilTlllX:CiT?R#res0n
ll..l'HU-1'hlH.HIfl.. IJV IOt« 9PM
Fri June 2nd Waiting For Roger P^
& Sonic City Double CD Release „ _♦£ ^\&V^X
Party with Shiny Diamonds \\mOL K \ \\L.C
& Arctic 5-10pm ALL AGES SHOW WeU. Sv^ktfs
@ AZURE (770 Pacific Blvd, right \^(^$\^
beside the Plaza of Nations)
Fri June 2nd Make The Lion
The Painted Birds, Elias & Shukov
@ The BACKSTAGE LOUNGES
^griJifne 2nd The Manvils, Savile Row
Midnight Dragon & Danny Echo
@ The LAMPLIGHTER
210 Abbott Street
Sat June 3rd Hey Ocean!
Madison's PanicJxMs Vegas
& Karmetik Underground
@ The RAILWAY CLUB, 579 Dunsmuir St
%Fri June 9th Whitfield CD Release wl Yoko Casionos
Elias & DJs P Fembot & Lektra (from Miami)
@ The MEDIA CLUB, 695 Cambie
Fri June 9th Notes, Hinterland, Windows '78 & North
@ The RAILWAY CLUB
Fri June 9th Shoofly, The Good Sister & Headwater
@ The BACKSTAGE LOUNGE ^
Sat June 10th The Skatomatics CD Release ^o^Siv
Party wl The Panic, Whitey & Blind God W^^C
@ The LAMPLIGHTER V^\<
Fri June 16th The Buttersprites, The Furios w
Mongoose & The Smears
@The RAILWAY CLUB
Fri June 16th Matthew Mei CD Release Party
wl The Pete Werner Band, Edmond & Debi Wong
@ The MEDIA CLUB
Fri June 16th Stem Grout CD Release Party
wl Cheek & Tea @ The BACKSTAGE LOUNGE
Tfhu June 22nd Kobayashi, The No Luck Club
@ The LAMPLIGHTER
Fri June 23rd Mecca Normal, Yoko Casionos,
The Feminists & Fun 100 @ The LAMPLIGtiMl
Fri June 23rd Savile Row + guests
@ The RAILWAY CLUB
Thu June 29th AU4 CD Release Party
wl Sinewave, Genika & Fontane
@ SONAR, 66 Water Street
FriJtme 30th Madison's Panic. Andy Collins
Tart + guests @ The BACKSTAGE LOUNGE
Coming this JULY!
Thu July 6th Hinterland, Blind Carbon Copy
@ The BACKSTAGE LOUNGE
Fri July 7th Krome CD ReleasetParty® The WALDORF
Sat July 8th Orchid Highway @ The WALDORF
Sat July 8th Conrad CD Release Party @ The RAILWAY
Sat July 15th The Kitchen @ The MEDIA CLUB
^mjuly22nd Superbeing Tour Kick-Off Party @ MEDIA CLUB
Sat July 29th Shukov CD Release Party w/ln Media Res
@ The BACKSTAGE LOUNGE
G e f full show details at
im uproductions.com
S"»j8t
EATER'S DIGEST
cord short Ovaltine Cafe
251 East Hastings (Next to the Afton Hotel near Main and Hastings)
The Ovaltine opened in 1942 in a shop once
called Burlington Tailors. To find this oddball
dining establishment, simply scan the horizon for
an enormous flowing '0', and follow the arrow to
the stylish pirik neon sign. There are no other cafes
in Vancouver thatcan rival the authenticity of this
truly vintage locale. Even Hollywood celebrities
know its reputation, and come seeking to reconvene
with .reality; Will Smith and Ben Affleck have
eaten here and left autographed photos as proof.
If that doesn't have you convinced, just head to
the bathroom for a scrawled message from George
Orwell: "In a world of universal deceit, telling the
truth becomes a revolutionary act."
The varnished wood and squeaky floorboards
only enhance the atmosphere. Well-used red
leather swivel stools line a long white Formica
countertop—perfect for a coffee and pie date. The
wall decor favours ships and tasteful landscapes,
velvet and ornate. S
The womb-like booths are covered in brown
panelling with cigarette scars that hark back to
the glorious days of old when people could smoke
"I have eaten a lot of brown
things, and I'm OK with that."
in restaurants. Aging, disintegrating mirrors hang
on the walls, ideal for watching yourself pretend to
smoke through a straw. Convenient old metal coat
racks .grow like trees out of each booth. The staff
creatively re-use old containers: the water comes in
a plastic milk jug, the salt in a Tabasco sauce bottle,
and the pepper in a small whiskey bottle.
We were pleased to see our ALF house friends
enjoying tuna melts and delicious lemon meringue
pie, so we sat at the booth across from them to
continue the banter.
Menus arrived; choices were made. Aili, my
fellow eater this month, started the meal off with the
bizarre selection of both a cola and coffee. Weighing
her brown caffeinated offerings, It was decided
that the cola was fresh but the coffee was not. She
emulated our pals' meal and enjoyed the tasty tuna
melt, a delicious spread of tuna goodness smothered
in a square of bright orange processed cheese.
Upon having a bite, I immediately understood
why everyone orders this menu underdog. Aili
commented, "I have eaten a lot of brown things,
and I'm OK with that. In fact, my lunch matches my
outfit: brown and orange,"
The service is fast; the lone waitress had a slap
in her step, and even broke into a run a few times.
I chose the grilled cheese sandwich and fries. The
fries were crispy and laden with grease, but a liberal
dose of ketchup worked wonders for both items. I've
also heard the fish and chips are quite good here
with either beer or a milkshake. Perhaps I'll enjoy
these treats next time, as this locale is so close to my
new house in Strathcona.
. Our friend Leanne ordered home fries which
she said were reasonable, but commented that her
pancakes were delightfully light and fluffy. Each
pancake comes with a little whipped rosette of
butter in a small white ceramic container. Note that
the pancakes are only $1.50, and go very well with
a steaming cup of, you guessed it, ovaltine. ,
CiTR -
101.9PM -^fpr
©Wfldie
Are you a local band or musician? We are now
accepting entries for SHiNDiG! 2006.
We need from you:
1. Three songs of original material
2. Contact phone number and email address
Send it to:
SHiNDiG! 2006
c/o CiTR Radio
#233-6138 SUB Blvd.
Vancouver, BCV6T1Z1
or
Emaihshindig.submissions@gmail.com
Burning questions? Interested in becoming a
sponsor? For more information please visit
http://shindig.citr.ca Rm
Bryce Dunn
We start off this month a little differently .
with The Rogers Sisters, who are, not
surprisingly, two sisters 0ennifer and Laura on
guitar and drums respectively) plus bassist Miyuki
Furtado (no relation to Nelly, thank Christ!). They
hail from Brooklyn, New York, that hot bed of
hot indie rock, and have been on yours truly's
peripheral aural radar due in part to a pretty
catchy (in a souped-up Velvet Underground sorta
way) album from 2004 called Three Fingers. Now
just last month I saw them in concert and was
so mightily impressed with their pulsating, bait-
and-hook filled set that I purchased their latest
7 inch ("Never Learn to Cry" b/w "The Clock").
The former sounds like a 60's girl-group ballad
that gets a kick in the tuckus from a healthy dose
of Jesus And Mary Chain-style distortion, while
the latter is a cryptic tune about a timepiece that
somehow hits every hour (except 12?), and still
manages to rock out with a rollicking bass line
and crunchy, scattershot guitar. These two tracks
can also be found on their latest full length The
Invisible Deck on Too Pure Records. (Too Pure
Records, 17-19 Alma Road, London SW18 1AA
United Kingdom, www.toopure.com).
Been a while since I last heard Frankfurt,
Germany's The Satellites on record. They've been
flirting with lo-fi sixties garage punk and the mid-
eighties paisley underground revival sound since
'93, and this 7 inch takes us back to October of
2005. Side one lays down the fuzz guitar nice and
thick, starting off with a throaty snarl on "It's
Not True". "Where Do We Go?" reminds me of a
lost track that eighties garage greats The Miracle
Workers could have written, with its psych-
tinged Pacific Northwest stomp sound.. Flip it over
and you get "Our World Will Pass", a punchy
Eurobeat number rerniniscenf of Dutch masters
The Outsiders, followed by "Six Days Are Gone",
a mid-tempo folk-punk tune that proves these
Germans still have a lot of schnell in the tank,
if you get what I'm saying. (Dionysus Records,
P.O. Box 1975 Burbank ,CA U.S.A. 91507, www.
dionysusrecords.com).
Turning our attention now to some Canadian
punk rock, The Bayonettes slice through a couple
quick numbers with "Stuck In A Rut" and "Sour".
This two guy /two girl combo play melodic punk
(a la The Soviettes) in a pretty decent introduction
(forme, anyway) to this newest slab of wax. "Stuck
In A Rut" rides a cool bass riff while singer Zoe
wails about the boredom of living a static life, and
"Sour" sings the praises of what you can do to get
out and change all that to a scrappy, pop-fuelled
backbeat. Less in-your-face" than label mates and
fellow Torontonians The Brutal Knights, but in
no way less entertaining, this is good for repeated
spins on the hi-fi. (Deranged Records, www.
derangedrecords.com).
To wrap up another batch of vinyl verbiage,
a band after my own heart; not in a sappy, flowers
and candy kinda way, but more of a hi-fiving,
"these are my bros" feeling. Naming your band
after the bat-wielding rival gang in my favourite
movie of all time The Warriors, The Baseball
Furies win major points right off the bat (hahal).
When I first heard them on a 10" for Flying Bomb
Records, the sheer blast of rock and roll made a
lasting impression, and had me filing them next
to The New Bomb Turks' Destroy Oh Boy! for all
the times I needed to freak out to great music. A
couple records later, a move from snowy Buffalo,
New York to windy Chicago and The Furies have
still managed to retain the intensity and chemistry
of fusing punk and rock in a volatile batch of
songs for this recent single. "Lost Ones" is a mid-
tempo, swagger-filled scorcher, and "Know That
Girl" picks up speed with a nod to The Stooges.
"Quite Alright" does The Reatards proud with
a rendition containing the same amount of piss
and vinegar that made it a great tune in the first
place. Wrapped in a cool, cut-out sleeve, this is
one record that will.stand out among the crowd
and leave you wanting more, I guarantee. (Alien
Snatch Records, Morikeweg 1, 74199 U-Bach
Germany, www.ahensnatch.de).
I'm gonna make like a banana and split—see you ■
next timet
STRUT, FRET
ANDFLICKEP
Terrible Things, Blue Velvet,
(hit off ihe Blue
Penelope Mulligan
Terrible Things
A Section 8/Studio 58 Collective Creation
Performance Works
Saturday April 29
Brilliant theatre is such a rare thing that
when you realize it's unfolding in front of
you, elation is often mixed with shock. By the time
these recent Studio 58 graduates had established
their twisted characters in a series of monologues
delivered in rhyming couplets, it was clear they were
in control of an arsenal of skills that would allow
them to create richly textured worlds out of nothing
but space, light and themselves.
The plot was a stew of intrigue: in a Victorian
era household, the rich and influential Stipple family
guards a bulging closet full of secrets spanning
abuse, sexual perversion and murder. To the outside
world, father Henry is a renowned physician, mother
Eleanor is a respected culture maven and daughters
Tawnon, Mirella and Lucy are philanthropist, civic
advisor and piano prodigy, respectively. Dysfunction
doesn't begin to describe how they relate to one
another. Imprisoned in the basement, fed on scraps
and frequently beaten is another daughter, Dora.
Why she is thus rejected is never explained, but
this gives rise to such interesting speculation that
it hardly matters. It's initially tempting to cast
the cellar-dwelling creature as the id or even the
family's super-ego, since she's privy to all its sins,
but the metaphor breaks down when the love-
starved child begins to assist the family members
with their horrid activities in order to gain their
approval. Massive cock-ups ensue and the dynasty
collapses. Greek tragedy perfumes the air, as the
downfall is orchestrated by Edith, a servant with a
grudge of Orestian proportions.
The performers worked with a technical
precision that was at once clean and baroque. Their
delivery was often arch but never parodied itself.
Even when shoehorning ill-fitting dialogue into
rhyming couplets, the result became a comment
on character rather than on the device itself. The
effect was uncomfortably mesmerizing. The playing
area was empty save for a piano off to one side,
yet whole environments were suggested by Itai
Erdal's sculptural lighting and the meticulously
possessed actors. It's hard to pluck stand-outs from
such an excellent cast, but, as the hapless Dora,
Stacie Steadman was a tiny wire of heart-rending
optimism. And Evangela Dueck had a riveting
scene as Mirella, whose face had been scarred in a
riding mishap. Alone with a mirror and without her
concealing veil, she was hilariously insane.
As the play-progressed, I was reminded of
Lars Von Trier's Dogville, in which the filmmaker set
a story of abuse and revenge on a grid so stylized
and unreal (more like a theatre than a film set,
actually) that it should have upstaged the telling.
Part of Dogville's brilliance is that it didn't, but
instead became integral to the film's power. Terrible
Things shares.that stylistic courage (as well as a
predilection for propulsive strings in the sound
design) and boasts some fabulous scenic writing.
If there's any justice in the theatre world, both
director Craig Hall and this razor-sharp ensemble
will be pelted with awards.
THE PLUGHOLE
Happy Birthday Blue Velvet. Twenty years
after molesting the sensibilities of mainstream
movie-goers, David Lynch's breakthrough film gets
a new print and an anniversary run at Vancity
Theatre. Watching a DVD on a 12-inch laptop
wasn't going to be anything more than a pleasant
revisit, but damn—this thing is way harsher and
more fucked than I remember it. Dennis Hopper's
performance is giving me nightmares, and Isabella
Rossellini comes across so fantasticallly bruised that
it's almost obscene.
Lynch's palette definitely changed with Velvet.
The delirious expressionism of Eraserhead and
The Elephant Man was replaced by the heightened
realism of picket fences and backyard heart attacks.
His camera often seems to have burst in on a Diane
Arbus photo and stared at it until it squirmed. As
Hopper puts it, "David does American Surrealism."
It was an aesthetic that would continue into the
more television compatible Twin Peaks, but for
untamed Lynch, Blue Velvet is mandatory viewing.
Six years earlier, Dennis Hopper was in
Vancouver directing and starring in his own vision
of small-town agony. Out of the Blue is a left-field
curiosity from 1980 which, thanks to The Terminal
City Film Festival, screened here a few years ago.
It!s strong, uncompromising stuff, yet has an
earnestness that one has to titter at now and again.
Linda Manz gives a bulldozer of a performance
as Hopper's doomed, punk rocker daughter. The
remarkable thing is that this film was made back in
1980...in Vancouver.
Blue Velvet plays the Vancity Theatre June 9-15.
Call 604-683-3456 or visit www.vifc.org for times.
Outof the Blue screens at 9:45 on June 12 & 13. ■aM I^fr ill! IlltlW^I 11^^ jlllillllW^MI IM^^'1"^
/^llVldl/lO ACDPDAMT |s^in«ma food for your soul, and is your soul
^ 11 \| [21 y IQ _f\0 ■ I It A\ IM hungry? Cinema Aspirant offers glimpses of
gems to be rescued from the wreckage of your
local video store&
Allan Maclnnis
Vancouver Plays Itself: The Films of
Bruce Sweeney
Movie lovers, are you sick of seeing Vancouver made to
stand in for some more important (read: American)
city in film after film? Did it irk you that we were supposed to
be grateful when, after four years of transforming Vancouver
into every American city imaginable, The X-Files finally threw
us a crumb and let one small sequence be set here? Does it
piss you off that we can no longer shop in the Granville Book
Company—one of the biggest severed limbs in the city—but
can see it on film, in White Noise, its specificities erased and its
location switched to Chicago? When Arnold Schwarzenegger's
truck jumps some of Arthur Erickson's architecture during the
SFU chase scene in The Sixth Day, do you guffaw in contempt?
Do you feel a mild resentment when you find a notice on
the door of your building telling you that a big Hollywood
production will be presently taking over your block, whether
you like it or not?
If the answer is yes to any of these questions, I'd like to
suggest a remedy, in the form of the films of Bruce Sweeney.
The Vancouver-based filmmaker is now at work on bis fourth
feature, American Venus, which began shooting with Brightlight
Pictures on April 25th; like his previous three films, it will be proudly,
explicitly local. Says Sweeney, "It's*shot in Vancouver and Vancouver
stands for Vancouver. We have a history in BC and in Canada of selling
ourselves short and selling ourselves out—a lot of filmmakers get this
notion in their head that they'll shoot their film in Vancouver, set it in
Seattle, and sell it to the States. It's a bankrupt bullshit idea and I want
no part of it."
Sweeney is committed to "rooting" his films here even when he
doesn't have to. When you see SFU in Dirty (1998), there is really no
need for Sweeney to identify it by name, and he admits that doing so in
fact could limit its saleabflity, scaring people by being "too local"—but
he does it anyhow. When he wants his characters to have an argument
about architecture in his very well-received 2001 feature, Last Wedding,
they don't talk about some safely universal abstractions; they discuss
gentrification and the development of Expo lands, and to hell with you
if you don't recognize the place names. It's a gutsy move, and a moving
one, for a Vancouverite; if Sweeney is counting on people like me liking
him for the gesture, it works.
It's not just a matter of place names though. Consider the
characters in Dirty. Everyone in it is recognizable as belonging here;
they feel like people you know, even if you'd rather you didn't. There's
a girl sunk in student loan debt (Nancy Sivak), hiding in her basement
suite, comforting herself by binging on junk food; an unfortunate
out-of-towner (Benjamin Ratner) who can't seem to break the ice
with anyone and is boiling over with rage at his constant humiliation;
a snobbish university student (Tom Scholte) obsessed with the
dominatrix who used to treat him like the wretch he is; and
the aging dominatrix herself (Babz Chula), who deals pot out
of her kitchen and is grappling with mother issues. The film
is spiritually akin to Todd Solondz' Happiness, but is at least a
little bit warmer and fonder of its varied desperate characters
than that film; it can't help it, because they're us.
If all that's not enough to sell you on seeing Dirty, the
film also features what is hands-down my favourite depiction
of cunnilingus on film, non-pornographic or otherwise.
It's not...exactly...sexy; it's cunnilingus as an explosion of
frustration and spiritual starvation, more or less. Even that
somehow reminds me of life in Vancouver.
. Alongside Solondz, Sweeney lists Cassavetes and
Fassbinder as favourites, as. well as one of our other proudly
local filmmakers, Nathaniel Geary, director of On the Corner.
■ "I think he's a very smart filmmaker and is making it specific. I
W1 don't know anyone else who is setting films in East Vancouver
sRF like that."
I'm told that Dirty will be screening in August at the
■ Vancity Theatre, as part of a series of Telefilm Canada award
§ winners; it's a must-see, and I highly urge your attendance.
■ As an early appetizer, I'll be playing Sweeney's seldom-seen
^™ first feature, Live Bait (1995) at Blim (http://www.blim.ca/) on
June 16*. Live Bait stars Scholte as an intelligent but sexually
inexperienced young man, alienated from his family, who gets involved
with an older woman. It's rilled with wry, Sweeney-esque humour and
incisive observation. Both Sweeney and Scholte have both been invited
to attend the screening.
Sweeney says his new film is "about mother/daughter conflict,
figure skating, and gun addiction, as a metaphor for addiction in
general." It's set in Vancouver and in Spokane, Washington, and the
difference between American and Canadian culture—particularly
when it comes to guns—is one of its themes. It should wrap up
production around Christmas; expect it to pop up at a festival in
2007—and expect to see Vancouver playing Vancouver, without
apologies. t^
m -J o_ 11. *i!ia _ ism _\»:
by Admiral McGruff
The time machine dial is set to' wtf' and we hang on for dear life as
we go back to September 1989. This issue introduced the 11.25"
x 13" format you hold in your hands today. The switch to this 'tabloid'
size would draw howls of 'sell-out' and 'what the fuck' complaints to
- the then-thriving 'Dear Airhead' page of letters to the editor; there
was no email in 1989 (this is important). Previously, Discorder was
smaller and stapled, much like the Only magazine is today. This change
brought comparisons to the Georgia Straight, which was of course, and
still is, a 'sellout'. tf&d&tiii
Our editor was Kevin Smith, who I can only assume was about
to drop out of Vancouver Film School and go shoot Clerks. It's quite
possible that there are other non-movie making Kevin Smiths in the
world, but a magazine can dream can't it? So, I already mentioned
the lack of email, but the wholesale lack of an internet at all in 1989
was something nobody ever talked about, or so it seems. This issue
opened with a listing of, get this, 'fanzines!' Apparently, without Myspace,
Livejournal and their ilk, people would get together in their basements
and publish mini magazines about their lives and their favourite things,
and then diligently check their P.O. boxes (like inboxes, but you had to
go down the street to get it) to see if they'd gotten any friend requests
lething. Mail (this pains me every time I think about it) took d;
to arriver and moreover cost money to send. The Canadian government
had a near monopoly on the delivery of mail, and like all monopolists
charged people out the asshole to deliver it (imagine if you had to pay
35 cents every time you wanted to send mail!?). These 'fanzines' also
cost money because their production costs were non-zero per copy. All
in all it seems like a terrible time to-have been alive, much less trying to
learn about the world around you.
And Discorder was a major source of underground information
for Vancouver's media starved and monopolistically marginalized
masses; imagine it.
And marginalized information indeed we served up! Re/Search,
the publishers of the Industrial Culture Handbook, had just published
Modern Primitives, which told weird tales of people with piercings and
tattoos, but more of the facial tattoos and hanging-from-hooks-on-
the-ceiling style of piercing; not the oh so cute belly button jewel. Judy
Lahti had attended the book launch and adamantly restated that no
one should attempt any of the body modification procedures that, in
1989, no one had even really thought of before.
This particular issue of Discorder magazine also features, and
this is really awesome, An Introduction to Chaos Theory, by Mike Grigg
and Dave Hauck. A beautifully illustrated two-page spread details how
rejection of non-Euclidian geometry can explain so much more of the
world. "A branch of non-linear mathematics using fractal dimensions
is uncannily able to analyse and explain many naturalphenomena that
are irregularly shaped and have no apparently ordered or quantifiable
structure."
So, we're sitting right there on the cusp of the '90's, eager for
information and expecting radical transformations, and the means
of production are ripe to be seized. In an article entitled "Toilet Paper
Celluloid: Comics as Alternative Media", Don Lebel describes the comic
scene as a tangle of publishers with complicated ownerships, but then
expounds upon the amazing possibilities of small-Xerox press. Wherein
any comic creator with the will can create a small press, distribute
their underground comics through the mail and be independent. With
the rise of indie publishing, the comic world was ripe for a shakedown.
"So hang ten boy wonder, because it's a brave new world..."
The optimism, the DIY punkness, the idea that the world was
about to meet its match.
1989, my friends, fucking ruled. £k „Ktfjsii_v
6 June 2006 ■TEXTUALLY ACTIVE!
Anybody's Bike Book, The Bike Bag Book, Fix Your Bicycle, Bicycle! A Repair &
Maintenance Manifesto, Bicycle: The History, True Loves, Beg The Question, and Ripple
Bike Manuals
by Andy Hudson
I am a bike repair novice—the black marker outlines on my tool'
board are just two weeks dry. Nonetheless, with help from the patient
* "people at Bike Works and OCB, I reefed proudly into a seized bottom
^.bracket, free-packed a headset, and wrangled out shorn cotter pins. My,
fifty dollar, ten-speed Gitane rides at least as smoothly now as it did inj
1972.
To stock our home repair crib, 'I wanted to find bike books of the
Osame vintage. I asked a Bike Works mechanic, alias Hoopdriver, for,,
advice ("Hoopdriver" is the name of the hero in H.G. Wells' cycling5;
^romance of 1899, The Wheels of Chance). He writes the "Reluctant
j Mechanic" column for Momentum, the free BC magazine for 'self-
propelled people,' and is wise to what makes a bike book reliable. Before^
handily tightening up my loose fork, he came up witha shortlist:
Anybody's Bike Book by Santa Cruz cycling whiz Tom Cuthbertson'
is an old favourite, and easy to find used or at the library. It sold millions
of copies during the 1970s craze for European-style ten speeds. Also*,
handy is The Bike Bag Book, a pocket manual for emergency roadside
i repairs. Both books feature Cuthbertson's entertaining, down-to-
eartJi style and hand-drawn illustrations by Rick Morrall. The latest
^edition was printed in 1990. Some might find they want more precise
graphics, but for the price this book is a good starter.
Fi* Your Bicycle, from Clymer Press, is more textbook style,*
with plenty of photos and beautiful, exploded schematics of bike
**3|:
components. Besides this manual, Clymer Press is an exclusive
§»Mishfr of "automobile" and "motorcycle" guides. It may please you
to see the gear ratio tables of a bicycle given equal graphical treatment.
Thiemex of the 1970s edition, Hoopdriver points out, features a go-
lucky cyclist in hot pants and a rad, racing-stripe sweater.
Bicycle! A Repair & Maintenance Manifesto, printed last year, is
geared toward couriers, cycling punks, and other radicals. My copy
is still in the mail, but the Soviet red cover looks pretty serious. This
is Sam Tracy's follow up to How to Rock and Roll, which features
smokes and beers in its illustrations. Sam Tracy is an ex-courier, now
a mechanic, and for all the cyclist ideology, says Hoopdriver, these are
reliable manua|^40QS^J
Sheldon Brown's Homepage (sheldonbrown.com) is a mid-nineties
HTML glory. I've met two mechanics who shamelessly admit to having
a photo of Sheldon framed at home. With repair tips and riding advice,
plus a handy glossary of terms and a list of manufacturers, Sheldon's
site is as handy for beginners as it is for the hardcore. Want to try a
fixed-gear conversion? Rebuild a mythic Peugot PX-10? Colour code
your wrench sets? Sheldon's in your corner—particularly if you go for
the classics.
rf-V$
HP
%m
>$my\__~
Bicycle: The History by David V. Herlihy is not a repair book, but
an elegant, engaging chronicle of bicycle history. You can take out
the library copy, once I'm finished ogling. The photos and drawings
collected here are gorgeous, unique beyond the standard crop of art
nouveau posters and museum pieces. Most bicycle histories, says
Hoopdriver, have coffee-table looks but get the story wrong. Published
by Yale University Press, Herlihy matches pictorial appeal with an
intelligent, socially-conscious history.
When an obscure Parisian blacksmith first advertised "pedal
velocipedes" in 1867, someone wrote in the New York Times, "Is it not
absurd, is it not a disgrace to the inventive age we live in, to see a man
obliged to employ, in order to get through the street, a great vehicle, as
large almost as a house? So let us have the velocipedes." Indeed, says I,
every time I pass a Hummer.
Inkstuds
by Robin McConnell
June brings sun, fun, and summer love—the hot, concise
romances which can be tidily fit inside a graphic novel. Whether
budding, unrequited, or debauched, love inspires a lot of storytelling,
even in the comics world. Among my favourite comic heart-throbs
are a pair of Canadian gems and a series by a New York master of
sequential art.
True Loves is a by-product of Jason Turner and Manien Botma—
the story of a young, hip vintage clothing store owner who is struggling
to manage the two men in her life. One of her relationships is stalling
while a fresh one grows optimistic and understanding. Jason's artwork
blends attractive, simple lines with a flare for drawing physical gestures
between couples. True Loves is also the most Vancouver-steeped graphic
novel around, though Steve Rolston's Pounded comes a close second.
Originally a web comic, True Loves is now printed by a local publisher,
Reliable Press. Only issue one is out so far, but check out Jason's other
ventures at http://www.jasonturnerproject.com. I highly recommend
Battlism Royal, his comics duel between Impressionists who trade
brushes for fists.
flf||MHJ§St. Bob Fingerman's highly acclaimed series Minimum Wage
has been collected in a must-have anthology. Beg the Question is the story
of Sylvia and^ittfp^pH^iw'Eork fiances. Rob holds true to many geek-
boy stereotypes: he is an avid collector of zombie movies, pornography,
and toys. His ftiends share an-equal indifference to social graces. On
the other hand, Rob's love life is very intense, and intertwined with
his development as an artist. Rob mirrors»|§|german's own career,
working his way through nasty porn rags and Cracked magazine while
maintaining a semblance of purity in his own creations (which include
a collaboration with Lydia Lunch).
Rob's saga rings tirueSIb his time, and Bob Fingerman relates
his pre-marital trials with rare humour. Without falling into cultural
stereotypes, Fingerman finds laughs in the family gatherings where
Jewish Rob is introduced to Sylvia's fully Italian family. Fingerman's
talent lies in his ability to detail believable characters in ordinary life.
This anthology was a long time coming, but Fantagraphics has gone
over the top. Beg the Question is high on my best of 2005, and it could
be your favourite summer read.
In his latest and greatest, Ottawa-born mastermind Dave
Cooper tells the story of a lonely artist who faces his own deep-seeded
obsessions. Ripple is one of the most disturbing comics to which I've
been exposed, but Dave Cooper can find beauty in disturbing places.
While True Loves andBe_ the Question take place in the everyday, Ripple
transports the reader into the psyche of an artist who stands shocked
before a sense-shattering wreck of unrequited love. The artist is Martin,
who is tantalized by the ugliness of his anti-model, Tina. Watching
their relationship is like driving by a car crash. Wrong as it feels, you
can't help rubber-necking. Tina rejects Martin emotionally, but toys,
with his sexual proclivities. Martin is only too eager to play along.
The many awards for Dave Cooper's short-lived series Weasel
speak to his originality. Ripple seems to reflect his transition from comic
artist to oil painter. Despite its perversity, the love and loathing shown
in Ripple is well worth digesting. For more of Dave Cooper's fine work,
see http://www.davegraphics.com.
On the whole, comics are often classed primarily as fantasy, but
True Loves, Ripple and Beg the Question show what realism comics are
capable of. For more examples, listen to Inkstuds, every Thursday at
2:00 PM on CITR. Interviews with some of the artists mentioned here
are available at http://www.crowncon_nission.co_i/inkstuds. ve always lovedplaying music in Victoria, especially with local gems like Chet, Run Chico Run and Away, R'io! Most recently,
my travels through our fair capital gave me the good fortune of befriending the wonderful four-piece pop sensations Shapes
and Sizes. Now I can play with them every day if I want to, since Nate, Caila, Rory and John have all moved out of Eden
, to Vancouver, to suffer like the rest of us. They just completed their first tour, and have recently been signed to Sufjan
Stevens' Asthmatic Kitty label. I talked to Nate and Caila at their home in the sweetest location, right off Commercial Drive.
8 June 2006 Can I borrow your Nord Lead? I'm doing some recording and
mine is totally messed up.
Nate: Of course.
Thanks, man. How was the tour?
Caila: It was good. It was really long, but...
a. long tour for your
What was the idea behind dc
first time?
- Caila: It was Nate's idea and he wanted to do three months, but the
booking agent talked us down to two. I just wanted to go for it.
Why did you think three months was going to be OK?
Nate: People in the band were taking time off school, and we had to
make it worth everyone's while. To make it a tour and not just go for
a couple of weeks.
What were your favourite towns?
Caila: All your typical ones, like New York and Portland and
Chicago.
I found that Portland is a tough place to play. And that
Portland and Seattle are such sucky towns...
Caila: Yeah, they suck. Well, they don't, but aur show in Portland
was probably the worst show on the tour.
Nate: The whole West Coast was really hard. You have to be an
established band for people to come to your shows down there. The
■ moment we got off ihe West Coast, we played in Phoenix at The
Trunk Space and it was fantastic. Immediately after that we had
great shows all through Texas and all up the Midwest.
You have all moved to Vancouver. How did you get
everybody on the same page with that?
Nate: I guess we're all pretty committed to the band. All of us
wanted a change of scene and a move to a bigger city.
I once asked the question, "Would you ever consider moving
to Vancouver?" to Carey Mercer of Frog Eyes, and he
said he would move here if he wanted to be miserable.
Caila: Maybe Carey lived in bigger cities before. I've lived in Victoria
all my life, so I guess I don't know any better.
Nate: 1 think also, with being on tour, you get a taste of bigger
cities. Nothing against Victoria—we love it there.
Yeah, it seems that every town that you go to, there's a
musical community of like-minded bands trying to help
each other out. victoria, i think, is one of the better4ones. i
was just reading about Aaargh! Recqrds [see the April
Discorder for more on Victoria's musical Utopia-ed.]. All these
bands have been playing together for years NOW, like Chet
and Run Chico Run. Was it too small a city for you guys?
Nate: More as a city than a music community.
Caila: For its size, it's the best in my opinion.
Asthmatic Kitty—congratulations on getting signed. The
first time I heard about it was at Richard's on Richards
WHEN YOU WENT TO MEET SUFJAN STEVENS.
Caila: When we first met the label, we never talked with him
personally. We talked to Michael Kaufmann, one of the three, I
guess, leaders of Asthmatic Kitty. Sufjan wasn't originally involved
with the decision to be interested in us. He only listened to MP3s
on our website.
Nate: I could see him being really busy, with Illinois just coming
out. I think that when he met us, maybe he felt that we were a
pressure that his label was trying to force upon him. But halfway
through our tour, we got a nice email from Sufjan. He told us he had
been listening to our album and he liked it quite a bit. He was excited
about coming to see our show in New York.
Caila: We met Michael Kaufmann in Indianapolis, and he was so
great. We weren't getting our hopes up, though. It was really nice to
get the email from Sufjan. O
You guys had breakfast .with Sufjan in New York. How. was
that? How does he like his eg&s?
Caila: Poached.
Really? What a nerd.
Caila: I had mine, poached too, Chris.
Girls can have them poached. So are the papers
signed? What does this mean? \
Nate: Well, that breakfast with Sufjan was really great. He was
a really nice guy. And also... we're not Christian, but meeting the
Asthmatic Kitty folks... they are generally Christian, but they were
really like... you can talk about things I wouldn't think you can talk
about with Christians. Sufjan was in the process of reading Howard
Zinn's A People's History of the United States, ft was great to get
to know that about him.
Caila: Although you do kind of get that from his records.
But what does it mean? Are you going to get to tour with
him?
Nate: No. He's not going on tour for a while.
I KEEP BUGGING YOU ABOUT THIS, BUT YOU GUYS PLAYED IN FRONT
OF AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ONCE. I THINK THAT IS THE BRAVEST
THING I HAVE EVER SEEN A BAND DO. WHO CAN BE HARSHER
CRITICS THAN LITTLE KIDS? WAS IT AN OKAY EXPERIENCE? I'VE
HEARD GOOD AND BAD THINGS COME FROM IT. I HEARD THEY
CALLED YOU "HOBOS".
Caila: We thought they were saying "homos", and we thought,
"yeah whatever." Rory had a hole in his sweater...There were a few
guys that said "Hey, I can go get my guitar from my locker and play
with you guys."
,_ with your music. Would you do
But you are touching pi
IT AGAIN?
[Both shake their heads.]
IF I HAD A BAND THAT PLAYED A SCHOOL, WOULD YOU BE IN IT?
Caila: Sure: I'd let you do all the talking, and I would wear a I
over my head. ,
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10 June 2006 mix we §
ANCOUGAR
BECCA
1. TheShaggs | My Pal Foot Foot
_.»'^B^rica | The Last Unicorn
3. Ike & Tina Turner | Nutbush City Limits '
4. Eddie Murphy | Boogie in Your Butt
5. TheSpits | Let Us Play Your Party
Enough said.
CC
1. Tom Petty | Refugee
If I ever do karaoke it's gonna be this song.
2. Faces | Sweet Lady Mary
Rod Stewart, man. One of the best rock n' roll voices ever. Also
wicked organ playing.
I. Candi Staton | The Best Thing You Ever Had
When you're feeling heartbroken, this is all you need.
A. Lee Hazlevvood | Your Thunder and Your Lightning
He's like the Steve McQueen of country music.
5. William Shatner | Mr. Tambourine Man
Anyone who hasn't heard this is totally missing out. Totally.
EDEN
1. Kelly Clarkson | Since V Been Gone
That guy Max Martin sure knows how to write a good song. What's
not to love about this song? I love Kelly Clarkson. What's not to love
about Kelly Clarkson?
2. Lucinda Williams | These Three Days
This is the only lady in the world I would go gay ^-Seriously. This
song is so beautiful and sad. I remember I saw Lucinda live .arifeL
Commodore aneFwas really drunk and decided I would go backstage
and convince her to go gay with me and then we would rim off
together. Turns out I couldn't get through the bouncers. -
3. GBV | Kicker of Elves
''Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo kicker of elves." Bee Thousand. So
irreverent. -W6$. come they are so funny? I want to be that funny. I
want to make the world laugh.
4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Turn Into
One of those epic songs. I wondered why I liked it
S*-3__ f__]Sr'"1___
I F^_L t_«_„' •* ^____B____i
■ learned the chord progression on the guitar and realized it has a
chord in it. That's why I love it so much. I like her nasally, whiny,
perfect voice too.
3. Karate | Diazapam
This song fucking rocks. There were about four years of my life where
I listened to Karate every single day. I had this old beat up Rabbit
Volkswagen, and I made tapes of all my Karate records, and I would
just blast them while putt-putting around Santa Cruz County. My old
car could barely make it up bills, but shit did I ever belt out a lot of
Karate songs in it. Karate is good. I saw them live once. Geoff Farina
was not friendly. That's probably a good thing, as I would have tried to
date him if he had been.
MEGAN
1. Wreckless Eric | Whole Wide World
Ragged and approximate vocals, layers of tambourine, and those
I "glorious" (as the great Jesse Gander would say) chord progressions
that make for an epic but quirky pop song. I can relate to this one.
2. Neil Young | Barstool Blues .
My favourite track from my favourite Neil Young album, who is my
favourite singer/song writer...so I guess this is just my favourite song. I
get all misty every time I hear it.
3. Blue Cheer | Summertime Blues
We were going to pick five songs each, but the iffy weather all weekhas
forced me to squeeze this one in as my sixth choice. More sun, please.
4. The Time Flys | Dirt (My Best Friend)
Because bathing is for pussiest
5. TheDelmonas | CC Rider
Call it sacrilege or whatever, but I think The Delmonas' (or would that
be Billy Childish's?) interpretation of this song is the best one. They're
backed by The Milkshakes! It's still not as cool as our very own CC
though.
6. Pleasure Seekers | What a Way to Die
The Pleasure Seekers was the Quatro sisters' garage band in the late
'60s, before Suzi went solo and appeared as Leather Tuscadero on
Happy Days. Arlene Quatro, the keyboard player, is Sherilyn Fenn's (of
Twin Peaks fame) mom. This song is about choosing beer over boys
and pretty much nails it.
Of;, *. #* J^ »■
DISCORDER
■NFEDS
NEIGHBOUR-
PHOOD"!
DISTRO HELP!
Get on yr bikes
(or feet) and
help us improve
and expand our
distribution one
neighborhood
at a time.
Contest!
Be the first to answer the following
question correctly and win!
How many operations must a skill testing
question legally contain to be considered
skin testing?
email discorder.advertising@gmail.com with yr answers.
* | tjS*_?Y~ BEN LEE
I_E_Et it fr*^fc % r Awake Is The New Sleep
f OV ^.-'' **'* >^ The eclectic album
i^^__£4lS^^^- . fr°m acc'aimec' Hidfe
|WJc i\n»'« singer-songwriter
Ben Lee. Features the
fk I {*"" tO t**j infectious single "Catch
[If 1** I * p My
^^JHL 3 KINNIE STARR
<"«^i^M^ Anything
^J^P81 Kinnie Starr returns wtth
[O 00'; - - a brand new album
E;? showcasing her eclectic/.
of hip hop, rock,
folk, R&B, electronics^
and anything else in
between!
IN CONCERT
June 27 The Commodore (with Buck 65)
i|||||fc
J
Prizes
Autographed KINNIE STARR
'Anything' CD + T-shirt
Autographed BEN LEE Awake Is
The New Sleep' CD
Discorder 11 1 o 1
The not^so-secret origin of Bishop Allen reads:
Just^^^fvo^h/guita^^^Christian Rudder (guitar) first met
whma^mdinc^Mlege m&^bridge, Massachusetts. When not
busif'^wk^meiMtW^s, whey lent their burgeoning musical chops
pmxband TMPjg^fpfflcers. The pair also shared an interest
BEMJl^™B*©rciS the rooftop of their apartment at 66
Bisho%r_Wm Drive. After graduation, they eventually relocated to
Brooklyn, renamed their project, home recorded an album entitled
Charm School and self released the disc in 2003.
| by Curtis Woloschuk p
In short order, they found themselves NPR darlings, soundtrack
contributors and recipients of a four-star review in Rolling Stone.
The venerable music publication observed: "If Modest Mouse spent a
year in a Chuck E. Cheese ball pit, they might emerge sounding like
the delightful Brooklyn quartet Bishop Allen." That quip provided an
undeniably accurate assessment. Indie pop gems such as "Empire
City," "Things Are What You Make of Them" and "Little Black Ache"
embodied the band's endearing knack for off-kilter, melodies and
clever lyrical turns. Along with angular Isaac Brock, the frenetic,
unbalanced appeal of The Pixies was also an obvious influence.
Despite attaining certain measures of "success," Bishop Allen
experienced consistent difficulty in delivering Charm School into the
hands of potential listeners. "Getting records into record stores is a
hassle," reflects Rice. "You have to convince a lot of people on the
inside that people on the outside will show up to buy what you're
selling. Then you have to stay on top of everyone in every link of the
chain."
With a rhythm section of Jack Delamitraux and Christian
Owens added to the fold, Bishop Allen searched for a record label that
might offer them some manner of support system. "The process is
frustrating," Rice chagrins "You wait and wait to hear from people
who may never get back to you. There's a lot of 'touching base' and a
few meetings. There's plenty of time to get work done."
And so the band set about recording their follow-up album:
Clementines. "We worked on it for a year and a-half," recalls the
charismatic vocalist. "We went into a studio to record drums; hacked
away in our rehearsal space on other instruments; went into another
studio for big guitars and recorded vocals for a week in Boston."
However, with no label deal imminent, studio costs spiralling and
the recording process growing interminable, acute dissatisfaction
set in. "We were tired of being in between releases," says Rice. "We
were getting better and working harder to find new songs but no one
outside the four walls of our studio was any the wiser."
Late last year, someone proposed a fanciful, nigh-ridiculous
idea: every month in 2006, Bishop Allen should self-record and
release a four-song EP. A few minutes of debate culminated in a
decision to tackle the daunting task. "The scheme had an undeniably
compelling logic to it," offers Rice. "We got excited talking about it
and it sounded so good and made so much sense that our exeitement
quickly overwhelmed our doubt."
Those early uncertainties centered on the band's ability to write,
record and release a staggering forty-eight songs in a timely manner.
However, such concerns ultimately became a source of inspiration
for Rice and Rudder. "The desire to push ourselves creatively was our
entire motivation," states the vocalist. "We wanted to force ourselves
to get better and to work harder. We wanted to live on tight deadlines
like newspaper reporters and to hone our songwriting with the
strictest discipline."
Moving the uncompleted Clementines tracks to the backburner,
Bishop Allen began anew with a fresh batch of songs. "We usually
start with a fragment—chords, a beat, a vocal melody, a couplet—
and build outwards, adding pieces as we go," says Rice of the creative
process he shares with Rudder. "Corazon" was the ideal opening track
for both the January disc and a sprawling, year-long undertaking.
"It's about how we found a discarded piano on the street and hauled
it back to the space," Rice discloses. "I started learning to play and
new ideas appeared in droves. It was like the piano was teaching me
the songs."
"In a lot of songs that I like, you can hear a band learning," he
continues. "We're still trying new things and hopefully that makes
for an interesting listen." In addition to piano, Bishop Allen has
also begun incorporating strings, saxophones, flutes, Wurlitzer and
glockenspiel. "We're also striving to write some longer songs, songs
in different time signatures and songs with key changes. We're not
doing anything that real musicians don't do all the time. But, because
so much of it is new to us and because we're basically untrained, it's
thrilling to us. I hope that thrill comes across."
Indeed, charting the band's heady development on a monthly
basis has proven absolutely enthralling. Despite its abundant
appeal. Charm School offered little evidence that Bishop Allen was
capable of songs with the slowly unfolding eerie beauty of "Flight
180" (April) or "The Monitor" (March). Meanwhile, February boasts
four infectious-to-the-point-of-pandemic pop songs. In addition
to more adventurous and accomplished musicianship, the EP
seriefffinds Rice rounding into a top flight lyricist. His detailed and
evocative storytelling conjures the kind of contemporary yarns The
Decemberists' Colin Meloy might spin if he ever shed his fixation with
all things Victorian.
"Working constantly on new songs has forced me to think
more about what I find interesting," confesses the songwriter, who
claims to be a more avid consumer of literature and film than music.
Regarding his narrative-heavy, character-centric songcraft, he
suggests, "I like it when I know where words are coming from, when
I have an idea of who is singing, where they're standing and how they
connect to the world. I try to imagine myself somewhere—walking
around Dealey Plaza after losing someone close ("The Bullet & Big
D"), on a plane flying into New York City at the tail end of a long trip
("Flight 180"), driving down the Palisades with a newfound crush
("Queen of the Rummage Sale")—and then pick up on the details
that surround me."
At present, Rice is surrounded by "details" such as boxes of CDs
and shipping manifests. Of his band's cottage industry, he submits,
"It's a challenge that rests entirely on our ability to organize and
accomplish thousands of tiny tasks every month. Logistical problems
are constant: broken CDs; CDs that get lost or fall out in the mail; lines
at the post office. April was misprinted, so we had to send it back."
Such minor setbacks have failed to discourage the band. "While we
didn't see these specific things coming, we weren't surprised. We're
tackling them one by one and getting better at all the back end stuff
every day."
Despite the fact that they've another seven months of
recordings to attend to, a reinvigorated Bishop Allen are about to see
their workload grow all the heavier. Rudder and Rice have decided
to revisit their long-delayed sophomore album and complete it in
conjunction with the remaining EPs. "If we finish the EPs and we still
haven't found someone to put out Clementines, we'll do it ourselves,"
declares Rice confidently. "Every month, it becomes clearer that we
can manage on our own."
The January-May EPs are available exclusively through www.bishopallen.
12 JUNE2006
I ?^=a
"Maybe we
can meet in
ihe middle
and agree that
we're both
stupid and
pretentious99
by David Ravensbergen | Illustration by lucassoi.ca
If you had the good fortune of wandering into San Francisco's
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in the morning between
November 7th and 23rd, 2003, chances are you now own an exclusive,
personalized Matmos album. Over an epic 96 hours, sample-
wielders Drew Daniel and Martin Schmidt willingly confined
themselves and their collection of idiosyncratic gear in an
"art prison," interviewing visitors and composing audio
portraits about their lives. When each piece was completed,
the lucky subject was handed a burned CD and turned loose,
left to decipher some resemblance between the odd collection
of glitchy samples and her own life. If you're getting images
of blank white paintings and insufferable conceptual artists,
don't be misled—Matmos' music is more palatable than you
might think.
The duo first met during Daniel's stint as a go-go dancer
in a fish-head jockstrap at San Francisco's Club Uranus,
where he.was trying to earn money to pay for college. From
these sordid beginnings they developed a mutual love for
manipulating unusual samples, composing their first self-
titled album in 1998 using sounds ranging from amplified
crayfish nerve tissue to shorn human hair. Since then, they
have found a home on Matador Records and released some
stunningly esoteric albums, such as 2001's occasionally
nauseating, Iiposuction-themed A Chance to Cut is a Chance
to Cure. I asked Schmidt to describe the sampling concepts
on their latest CD The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast,
a collection of ten diverse biographical portraits inspired by
their museum installation.
"We're kind of bonk-you-over-the-head literal with
this stuff. I guess you could describe that as conceptually
rigorous, or you could describe it as stupidly literal," he
explains. The album—named for a line from Ludwig
Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations—focuses on ten
literary and historical figures, using recordings of objects and
actions related to their lives to compose audio biographies.
"Wittgenstein talks about roses and teeth in this paragraph, so
we record: roses and teeth!" Schmidt jokes. "Kind of stupid, but
like a lot of art stuff, if you describe it one way, it's completely
ridiculous, and if you describe it in another way it sounds high
flown and pretentious."
After a brief pause, Daniel suggests, "Maybe we can meet
in the middle and agree that we're both stupid and pretentious,"
For all the self-deprecation, Daniel has a point; as a PhD in
medieval literature and a driving force behind both Matmos
and the new wave sleaze of the Soft Pink Truth, categorization
does not come easy. Their unclassifiable sound hovers near
the nebulous realm of intelligent dance music or IDM, and is
further complicated by the pair's involvement in the academic
world. Intrigued by Daniel's dissertation on melancholia in
literature, I inquired about the relationship between their
musical and scholastic pursuits. "The actual process of making
this music is one in which I get lost in the process, I get lost in
the sounds. I'm not hashing something out on an intellectual
level and then proving it," explains Daniel. V* "O '■'
Schmidt, an instructor at the San Francisco Art Institute,
reacts in horror to the label of academic, but admits that the
scholarly life influences how he conducts himself in interviews.
"The curious, unforeseen part of making records and having people
actually buy them and sort of being successful is that you journalist
people then call us out on the carpet, and ask questions like, 'well,
why did you do this?'" Such questions are inevitable for a band that
clearly invests so much intellect in their recordings, no matter how
IAS lUS DIARY
much they insist that they're simply "sitting in their living room the Naked Lunch creator. Deciding who to include was a difficult
making funny songs." process, guided by the desire to construct a respectable track list
Perhaps in response to my persistent badgering, Drew explains rather than an undergraduate syllabus. After recording four of the
tracks, a pattern began to unfold; sensing the emergence of a .
workable concept, Schmidt thought "ah, good—let's do them
all queer." While their choice "delimited the entire world of the
living and the dead," it still allowed for a great deal of stylistic
variation; the surf rock of "Solo Buttons for Joe Meeks" follows
a jilting laptop barrage on "Germs Burn for Darby Crash", and
somehow it all works.
While the title honours go to Wittgenstein, the nearly
14-minute tribute to William Burroughs provides the album's
centrepiece. A notorious paranoiac, Burroughs saw language
as an infectious virus from outer space, one which he tried
to escape through fragmented writing strategies, copious
drug use and sex with young Moroccan boys. He pioneered
the famed cut-up technique with Brion Gysin during the
creation of Naked Lunch in an effort to escape the control
mechanisms implicit in language. Drew Daniel discovered
Burroughs when he stumbled across a copy of The Soft Machine
at age 16; hallucinatory and lewd, the novel was Daniel's first
encounter with descriptions of gay sex. "My own experience of
representations of queer sexuality was by way of the cut-up,
which maybe says something about why I'm so...perverted,"
he laughs.
In addition to challenging delicate American standards
of decency with his novels, Burroughs worked as a recording
artist, collaborating with musicians like Kurt Cobain. During /
one of his more unhinged periods, Burroughs conducted an
audio campaign against The Moka Bar in London, making
field recordings outside the cafe and later playing them back
on site. The technique allegedly created a disturbance in the
fabric of reality, ultimately forcing The Moka Bar to close.
During his years as an undergraduate at Berkeley, Daniel
tried to emulate Burroughs' success. "I went to Cafe Milano
with a jambox and I recorded ambience, and then I walked
down Telegraph Avenue playing Milano for the people on
Telegraph," he reminisces. "It was really fun to do. It was
interesting because it started to confuse me where the sound
was coming from, and what was now and what was then, but
it didn't destroy Cafe Milano or Telegraph—they're both going
strong today."
Though the experiment failed, Daniel remains fascinated
by the possibilities of recontextualizing the sounds of everyday
life. In light of the improvements to synthesizer technology in
recent decades, Matmos' commitment to using recordings of
real life may seem masochistic; the manure sounds on Rose's
opening track could have been approximated by a computer,
'wtth far less bother. "I think at home you could fake some of
the textures, but the rhythms of everyday life, the specific
way that a shovel full of marijuana—uh, manure..-." Daniel
struggles to regain his composure as Schmidt cracks up
about the Freudian slip. "The specific way that a shovel full
of manure strikes a pile of roses is going to have a particular
trailing effect in the rhythm that I can't fake. The real world
gives you things that you can't come up with on your own."
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that he sees his involvement in music "as an escape from language."
Oddly enough, Matmos take their non-linguistic approach into
some heavy literary territory on their new album': "Tract for Valerie
Solanas" ruminates on the author of the vitriolic SCUM Manifesto,
and "Rag for William S. Burroughs" tells the psychedelic tale of
Unfortunately, the upcoming Matmos tour doesn't feature a
Vancouver stop, as their last visit saw them mistaking the Downtown
Eastside for the set of Night of the Living Dead. Check out the sure to
be schticky show in Seattle on October 21st, or fust stay at home and say
MatmossomtaM frontwards and backwards, and watch as time collapses.
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"Uf
*__ P «i Q ^ S S-l-l^J- Fancouver has a healthy cycling communiM that loves to talk about their rides. Playing
back the many interviews I conducted with Vanomvm^yclists, I had trouble k&@j)ing up with their
enthumistic vMponses, but I did manage io cg^pile a lilf i^wzi/ bicycles rule. First of all bikes are
just plain good for you: good for mef good for community and good for our health. They're a mobile political
statement, and they c'anprovide accessible transpdmation for people in various economic situations. Yet
cyclists aren't always aXj& seriously on the road, everyis more,4$Ld more people come to rely on two
wheels for transportatiori^WfemWancouver has a lot going for it in terms of cyclability—scenic bike
routes, above-zero temperatures^^jm (Sundance of community bike shops—motorii^mtill have a hard
time getting it through their heads that bicycles are not just toys, and bicycle commuters are not all nutty
left-wingersmmi an axe to grind.
MORE THAN JUST A BETTER Way to get to Work,
cycling can be the gateway to a diverse and
multi-layered social scene. Inspired by the global
Critical Mass phenomenon, Simon Little and friends
started up their own late-night ride, meeting every
second Thursday to explore the streets of Vancouver
after hours. Dubbing the event "Midnight Mass", Little
has been spreading the word since the first ride took
place on a rainy night last Novefhbek The group meets
on Commercial Drive before heading out to explore
some of Vancouver's lesser-known neighbourhoods,
ultimately winding up in one of the city's 24-hour
restaurants or coffee shops.
"It's tonnes of fun...You find places in the city
that you didn't know existed," Little enthuses. While
numbers have been sparse during the winter months,
he expects people to come <nj||_ droves as the weather
improves—the latest ride having attracted more than
30 people.
Critics of Midnight Mass feel that the event will
encounter difficulties with the law as the ride attracts
more people. According to one recent Mass participant
and critic, the problem is one of "a lot of cyclists riding
around, most of them without helmets, most of
them drunk or stoned." Obvious safety issues aside,
g_rrAjp11Nfc_fl perceived problem is simply a challenge
to Vancouver's tradition of late night prudishness.
fn_iwte_raccounts and experiences of Midnight Mass
vary, but the best way to really know what it's like isto
make it out to one yourself. For the less adventurous,
you can check out footage and picl|n;eiTrom the rides
so far' at http://www.midnight-mass.blogspot.com/.
Despite the detractors, the event continues to gain
support for Its relaxed approach, free of grand political
philosophizing or the confrontational tactics that
some dislike about Critical Mass.
If you have yet to have a Mass experience of the
Midnight or Critical variety, June is the perfect time to
16 June 2006 GET UN ycniR BIKES END RIDE
induct yourself. As Bike Month, Vancouver enjoys
its most sud^stful Critical Mass ride at the end of
June. To fin4*OTfe«bout some of the many other
cycling events happening over the course of the
month, pick lip a free copy of Momentum magazine,
or check out t^e PEDAL and VACC .websj&es.^
Calendar highlights include The Mountain
Equipment Co-op bike-drop on June 3rd, the huge
Critical Mass on the last Friday in June and the
International Nude Bike Ride, an event promoted
by the Work Less Party and the CiTR cycling
program "Pedal Revolutionary".
Events like Bike Month and improvements to
the city's bike-friendly infrastructure are mainly
due to the hard work of non-profit organizations.
PEDAL (Pedal Energy Development Alternatives),
one of the most multi-faceted cycling non-profits
in town, recently opened a new depot near 3rd and
Columbia. In their back alley location, manager
Omar leads his staff and a dedicated group of
volunteers in collecting used parts and assembling
bikes to be given away through Our Community
Bikes' free bikes program. PEDAL does their part to
help develop a positive bike culture with the chopper
bike PedalPlay splinter group, and with their new
dance project, the Bicyclettes. Omar describes the
Bicyclettes as "a group often or twelve women who
do bicycle-themed dance routines." The troupe has
done a couple of performances to date, and plan
to do battle against their male counterparts at a
future dance-off.
Vancouver boasts three community bike
shops—places where you can get your bike fixed
for dirt cheap, learn how to fix your bike for even
■ cheaper, and in some cases, build your own bike
from used parts with instruction from the staff.
These shops serve a neglected demographic of
students, the working poor, binners and others
who for one reason or another don't want to pay
commercial shop prices. The community bike
shop niche has a noticeably different feel from
commercial bike shops. Places like Our Community
Bikes on Main, the Bike Kitchen at UBC and
Bikeworks downtown are more like workshops for
people to learn about their bikes than places where
you just take your bike to fix a flat. You can still pay
the staff at a community bike shop to fix your bike
and pick it up later, but you would only be getting
the bare minimum of benefit from an incredible
;e of knowledge.
Many things have changedf&pthe better in
Vancouver in the last terJipars: almost all the bike
routes were created and traffic calmed, Skytrain
rules concerning bikes have been relaxed and
buses have come in with bike racks on express
routes. By 2008 all trolley buses, meaning the
entire fleet, will have bike racks, further increasing
the favourable hybrid of cycling and public transit.
There is room for improvement though; it's still
hard to bus a group of three or more cyclists to the
ferry on time for a trip to the Island.
Since cycling is such a great way to get
around, whyjBjtt more people dflilfas a means
of transportation? Posing the question to various
people around the city, I received answers ranging
from rainy weather and safety issues to laziness
and fitness barriers. For some, the prospect of
riding on the road appears too dangerous, and
they opt to stick to the sidewalk or just stay in the
car. In response, three of the cyclists I interviewed
stressed the fact that a bfcycle is a vehMe'with-
the right to claim space on the road, just like a
car. I met many long-term commuter cyclists like
Martin at Bikeworks who've never bothered to get
^driver's, licence, and unless they have to move
heavy furniture, will always be on their bikes.
TagHlyV nsing a bike as your primary mode of
transportation is mostly an issue of willpower and
determination; you just have to get out there and
rack up. As they say in the movie Wildstyle, "ain't
nothing to it but to do it."
Once you're feeling confident and stable on
your wheels, you can up the ante by checking out
the racing world. The Tuesday Criterium races,
held throughout the summer at UBC, are a good
place to get started. Criteriums—typically called
?crjttsfeaare brief but intense races around short
sections of city streets. Omar from PEDAL and
Andrea from the Bike KitcMfen referred me to the
event as a non-threatening introduction to cycle
racing, with specific categories for new racers. You
can try it out and get a sense of what it's like before
you go out and drop a tidy sum on a high-powered
racing bike.
Ed Luciano from the Mighty Riders shop
kindly enlightened me about the oii|ins of courier
racing. Ed, fiCRHjig-time cyclist originally from
Toronto, told me that around ten years ago groups
of Torontonian bike mechanics and their courier
customers would head out to prowl the city after
hours and get up tc* no good. These late-night
forays were referred to as "AHegpfeat" races, and
eventually grew into the organized courier races
that now take place in many cities under the same
name. A large, wooden figure-eight track was built
at an indoor location in East Van some years back
in the name of Alley Cat racing, and many have
fond memories of this corporate sponsored race.
Johann, the manager at Our Community Bikes, has
a poster of the event in the back of the shop if you
want to see what the wooden track looked like.
Unfortunately, biking isn't all endorphins
and community-building; theft continues to be a
major issue in Vancouver, even if the police don't
treat it like one. Many blame the problem on the
VPD's lack of political will when it comes to stolen
bicycles. Reported numbers of thefts hardly match
all the bikes surfacing in pawn shops around the
city, and few cyclists ever see a bike that's been
stolen again. As ten year commuter-cyclist Andrea
Smith suggests, your best bet is to insure any bike
that would be too heartbreaking to lose. Keep in
mind that a good commuter bike runs about 1000
dollars new—at that price, insurance is pretty
much mandatory.
Despite the risks of losing your ride, the
costs—economic, human and environmental—
pale in comparison to our oil-loving friends with
whom we share the road. You can live your life by
the slogan "one less car," but events like Midnight
Mass call attention to the simple joy of getting on
a two-wheeled contraption and striking out to feel
the wind through your hair. Problems of dealing
with transit, impatient drivers and the difficulty
of picking up a date on a bicycle all fade into the
background as I kick off on my self-made, pink and
black mountain bike and shoot down the road.
Ride safe. M by Mike LaPointe | Photo by Saelen Twerdy
THE MOOD AT RICHARD'S
Dn Richards was uneasy
forSunsetRubdown'slive
Vancouver debut Delayed due
to the cancellation of an opening
act, the show was still laced
with a hint of gunpowder from
the shooting only a few nights
before, and Sunset Rubdown
had been experiencing technical
difficulties all night. The
disquiet culminated in Spencer
Krug's onstage proclamation,
"leant get comfortable up here.
Everything is fucked up." The
small audience seemed to share
his sentiments, as the applause
was nervous and awkward,
seemingly out of place in the
hushed venue.
Enamoured with their first release" as
a four-piece, Shut Up I Am Dreaming, I arranged
an interview and had been observing and
pestering the band throughout the afternoon.
As soundcheck wore on due to drum troubles
("I don't own my own set," admitted drummer
Jordan Robson Cramer), tensions and cigarette
consumption rose, and my interview with
Spencer became less and less likely. Watching the
band interact, with all eyes on Krug, I began to
wonder: who exactly is Sunset Rubdown?
Guitarist Mike Doerksen explained to me
that "Sunset Rubdown has been in Spencer's head
for about eight years." His first release under the
name, 2004's Snake's Got a Leg, was a collection of
16-fi basement recordings, generating not only the
first editions of several of Shut Up I Am Dreaming's
numbers, but also the Wolf Parade favourite, "I'll
Believe in Anything, You'll Believe in Anything."
Though fans of the album admire its dishevelled
sensibility, Krug was dissatisfied by the lack of
focus resulting from its hasty assembly, designed
to arrive on the heels of Wolf Parade hype.
With his next effort, Krug began to arrange
the line-up that would eventually become the
current incarnation of the name. After being
kicked out of Pony Up!, multi-instrumentalist
Camilla Wynne Ingr "thought that was it for
[her] and a band." But last May, a chance meeting
plunged her into Sunset Rubdown." [Spencer] was
looking at me weird at a poker game," recalled the
former boxer.
At that time, Krug was at work on 2005's
Sunset Rubdown EP, a recording done mostly alone
1 8 June 2006
on a Radio Shack microphone. Ingr lent vocals to
"Jason Believe Me, You Can't Trust Your Dreams,"
one of many folk-infused songs that form a stark
contrast to the grinding laptop gadgetry of Snakes.
Not knowing much about the compatibility of
each other's music, she initially joined Sunset
Rubdown as a provisional member. She's still
there.
The Sunset Rubdown EP remains a bit of an
anomaly on the band's radar, existing as a brief,
stripped-down, largely acoustic effort in between
two denser, lengthier albums. Their latest LP takes
the opaque Sunset Rubdown aesthetic of Snakes
and lends it further depth with live instruments.
The result is Krug's most realised vision in or out
of Wolf Parade; an album that transcends genres,
from the Cossack-like "They Took a Vote and Said
No," to the bewildering "Swimming," sort of like a
soundtrack to the hall of mirrors from Something
Wicked This Way Comes.
Krug decided to expand the lineup from
two to four for the new album, enlisting the help
of Doerksen and Cramer. "[Spencer and I] had
been sharing a jam space in Montreal before
Wolf Parade," said Doerksen, who was then
playing in a "biblical rock" band called the Ten
Commandments with Cramer. Biblical, "but not
in the Christian way," added Doerksen. The two
were the final trade needed to ditch the laptop,
moving Sunset Rubdown further from the lo-
fi project it once was and closer to a viable rock
and roll outfit. "I think that the popularity of
Wolf Parade allowed Spencer the confidence to do
that," said Doerksen.
With the band assembled, they went to
work on Shut Up I Am Dreaming, beginning with
the reworking of several songs from Snake's Got a
Leg. "The album is meant to be a band, not just
Spencer," said Cramer, a notion evident in the
character brought to the songs by each member.
While Spencer supplies the direction and the
voice, Shut Up I Am Dreaming feels like the product
of four individual efforts. Like a jazz bandleader,
Krug seems to trust his musicians to find their
place within the songs and flourish. In that
respect, Cramer explained, "We go by instinct."
But in the end, as he pointed out,*"the songs
are Spencer's," and Sunset Rubdown live still
looks like Spencer's show. The band's inexperience
probably doesn't help. "We only played three
shows before we went on tour," said Ingr, making
the Vancouver gig the band's seventh appearance.
"And two of us had never been on tour before," she
added, referring to Doerksen and Cramer.
' The focus on Spencer is certainly also due to
the success of Wolf Parade. On the posters for their
"show, Sunset Rubdown was advertised as "Sunset
Rubdown (member of Wolf Parade)," and Shut Up
I Am Dreaming comes with a similar sticker. The
two projects are inseparable. "We're resigned to
that fact for now," said Ingr, "and the only way
we can be regarded as our own thing is to prove it
with the live show."
And what did they prove in Vancouver?
Krug, for one, showed that he's a more versatile
songwriter than his contributions to Wolf Parade
would indicate. Relentless touring, most recently
praying a set at the massive Coachella festival, has
tightened up his musicianship. He's somewhat
of a virtuoso on the keyboard now, moving like
the puppeteer of a marionette, half-sitting, half-
standing. While he still gets nervous on stage, as
Ingr reported, he sings with more passion and
lucidity than ever before.
But the rest of the band proved that they're
the force behind his vision. Without them. Sunset
Rubdown is a sail without wind. You get a sense
that this line-up isn't merely another link in the
ongoing experiment of Sunset Rubdown, easy
to turn over. I never did end up getting to talk
to Spencer, but the three I spoke with are now
Sunset Rubdown as much as he is—they just .
don't quite behave like it yet. Maybe they should
get their own drum kit. Jordan replied, "It's next
on the to-buy list." «^ Hit with a Wet Fist
Nels Cline on Wilco, Musical Epiphanies, and the Music of John Coltrane
| by Allan Maclnnis
mi
uitarist Nels Cline is, for me, by
IwJB far the most exciting player coming to the
Vancouver International
JaZZ Festival this year, but he doesn't
really think of himself as"a jazz musician. "I
think real jazz players know far more about the
ins and outs of that language than I do. I have
some familiarity with it, and I have a kinship
with the idea of improvising both spontaneously
with no parameters and within
compositional parameters: he
informs me, but he also finds himself at home in
the worlds of rock and of avant-garde/
improvised music. In the former category,
he has, somewhat famously, been recently
added to the WllCO roster, and has recorded
with everyone from Mike Watt to Lydia
Lunch. In the latter realm, he has produced
smouldering free jazz with saxophonist Wally
Shoup, explored the outer edge of guitar
noise with Thurston Moore and Lee
Ranaldo, and recorded discs of ambient '
texture with Devin Samo (which he describes
on his website, with typical good humour, as
"dronefestS"). Asked how he categorizes his
playing, he laughs and says, "I've given up. I used
to be tormented by these distinctions and I had to
discard them in order to not quit playing music."
Jazz is clearly writ large in Cline's life,
however. His current (non-vocal) trio, The Nels
Cline Singers, freely delve into the idiom on
their recent recording, The Giant Pin, and he is
currently engaged in a project devoted to the work
of pianist and composer Andrew Hill, featuring
Ornette Coleman sideman. Bobby Bradford
on cornet and New Klezmer Trio leader Ben
Goldberg on clarinet. Asked which guitarists he
admires, he says "Lee and Thurston are certainly
influential," and name-checks Tom Verlaine and
' Richard Lloyd from Television, but then jazz
takes the fore: Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery, John
Scofield, John Abercrombie and Ralph Towner
all get mentions. Cline admires Derek Bailey
for being "courageous enough to do all the
stuff that I was too cowardly io ever do, which
is to strike out on a path of pure investigation
and pure unadulterated exploration of the
parameters of the guitar and of improvisation."
But then he adds, "he's not my biggest influence
by any means, because I'm still a pretty much
traditional player—my music, I think, is pretty
emotion-driven. There are times when I get out
of my own way and we'll all improvise, but we do
it in a way that's much more related to, say, John
McLaughlin with Tony Williams' Lifetime."
Influence-wise, Cline lists three big "musical
epiphanies." As a young teen growing up in Los
Angeles in the late 1960s, Ravi Shankar and Jimi
Hendrix were the first real discoveries; "then
probably John Coltrane was the next big one.
There's a whole bunch of little ones, but Coltrane
was my first glimpse into something far beyond
what I could comprehend at that time." Fitting,
then, that the Nels Cline Singers will be sitting
in with Orkestrova's Electric Ascension on June
25th (Ascension is a famously noisy orchestral
free jazz piece that Coltrane produced two years
before his death in 1967, when his music was at
its most adventurous).
It's Cline's second major engagement with
the music of Coltrane; in 1999, he and Gregg
Bendian recorded their take on Interstellar
Space, Coltrane's famous album of free duets
with drummer Rashied Ali. "It's one of those
weird things, like playing in two different Miles
Davis tribute bands at the same timeEyou have
these weird points of inspiration that follow you
through your whole life, or you're following it,
it's kind of hard to tell."
I asked Cline how he approached Interstellar
Space; given that much of the music on that disc
is improvised, did he actually set out to play what
Coltrane played? "Yeah, actually," he laughs. "I
went and investigated a lot of his melodic and
sequencing things and the register parameters—
I mean, I studied it pretty carefully. We knew
we were biting off more than we could chew
and that we were maybe gonna get killed in the
press. It turned out not to go that way at all." The
album was nominated for the International Jazz
Critics Award for best tribute record that year,
and got "alarmingly favourable" reviews in jazz
magazines. "Ultimately the best thing was that
Rashied Ali praised it in print. Who cares what
those critics said if ll||Pigd|ikes it!"
Like any teenlgEp"owing up in a cultural
milieu skewed towa^y^k and pop, Cline did
not naturally begin with jazz. I asked him how
he hooked onto the music of Coltrane. "My twin
brother Alex and I were lent a copy of Coltrane's
Greatest Years Volume One around 1971, so we
were in-between junior high and high school.
Our friend David heard it, and thought that
Alex would like it because he was so into the
instrumental pieces of Frank Zappa and the
Mothers of Invention at that time. We sat down
to listen to it in my friend's apartment. The first
piece was an edited version of "Africa," and
that was it. That was absolutely like, what's the.
expression, I was hit with a wet fist. We were
dumbfounded that we had not heard about, all
this and that became the pivotal moment where
all this investigation had to ensue and I had
to find out who this man is and where did he
come from and who did he play with, and then
you discover Miles Davis and that leads out into
pretty much everything..."
^^
Despite his musically adventurous nature,
Cline is genuinely enthusiastic about his
membership in Wilco. "The Wilco thing just sort
of fell out of the sky and it's really pleasurable. I
love it. I have a lot of latitude—everybody kinda
wants me to do what I do—plus it taps into a lot
of other, in some ways, latent and temporarily
discarded facets of what I like. And it saved my
ass! It's not like I'm raking in major dough,
because we're .not that kind of band, but it's made
my life a helluva lot easier and in a way enabled
me just to survive and continue to do less viable
music commercially." The experience of live
gigs with them is also quite refreshing. "It's
really different playing with Wilco, because the
audience is with us as soon as we walk on stage,
for the most part. That was a mind-blowing
experience after spending my whole life trying to
just get over, you know?"
Working with the band does require a fair
bit of devotion, Cline admits, but adds, "that's
fine, because frankly, all the time I was devoting '
to doing improvised music was basically just
becoming more and more difficult to survive on.
I was getting tons of work but I was making less
and less money..."
Nels Cline will be in Vancouver for much
of the festival. In addition-to the Orkestrova
event, he'll be part of the visiting faculty for the
improv workshops, will give a pre-fest show with.
Dylan van der Schyff and Peggy Lee at Rime on
the 20th, and will be on a double bill with Mats
Gustaffson's project, The Thing, on June 23rd.
That gig, at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre,
is THE show not to miss at the festival, if you're a
fan of adventurous music. The Nels Cline Singers
"don't get to play very often, anywhere"—all the
members have other commitments^and are
bound to open a few ears. The Thing is also a
hugely powerful trio, with a foot in the world of
rock; I'm hoping they'll do their cover of the Yeah
Yeah Yeah's "Art Star," which truly cooks.
Cline is not the only member of the Nels
Cline Singers who will be doing other shows at the
festival. The Singers' drummer and electronics
man, San Francisco-based Scott Amendola, will.
be playing with pianist Paul Plimley at a late
night gig at the Ironworks on the 24th. Amendola
is on one of Plimley's records, Safe Crackers, and
says of playing with him live, "Nothing gets by
Plimley, so who knows what to expect. With
Paul, I always feel like we've only just begun by
the end of the gig." Asked about Cline, Amendola
describes him as "one of the most inspired and
continually prolific people I know," and says that
"Nels is someone I feel like I'll be playing with
for the rest of my life." Amendola and Cline have
been playing together in a variety of projects for
about 12 years now.
Bassist Devin Hoff, who has been working
with Cline since 1999, also expresses great
enthusiasm for playing with the Nels Cline
Singers. "Playing with Nels is a very .satisfying
experience. His music and his approach are
both very emotional and very visceral at the
same time; I walk off stage feeling physically
exhausted and emotionally cleansed."
I asked Nels Cline if he had anything he
wanted to say to Vancouver audiences*before we
signed off. He thought about it for a few minutes,
then laughed. "Something I want to say to
Vancouver audiences...? I dunno...Much love!"
Be there on the 23rd to reciprocate. *
. Discorder 19 „
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Last month I was doing some research into Vetiver for what better, way to sneak more art into the magazine than If you happen to be in Modena, Italy around Jun&24th,
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found out that they Were done by Devendra Banhart, because agreed that it would be a great idea. , n
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Discorder 21 KSSDER REVIEW
CAMERA OBSCURA, M AGIK MARKERS
TRIKE, ETHAN COLLISTER, TILLY AND THE WALL
THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION, THE STARLIGHT MINTS
JUANAMOLINA
■ _■_!!
Let's Get Out of This Country
(Merge)
Tired of having If You're Feeling Sinister on a
constant loop? Still looking for that cute sound
of Scottish accents lamenting about social
awkwardness, but just can't find the right album?
The pessimistic but openly romantic opener,
"Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken" sets the
mood for an album dominated by failed romance,
cynicism and a-ready-for-more attitude. Tracyanne
Campbell's incredibly cute and sexy voice drives
the album across the band's lush backdrop of
baroque organ sounds, twangy guitars and catchy
drum beats. Camera Obscura may not be treading
a lot of new ground here, but they have refined
the twee pop sound that originally made them so
attractive. The loungey "Tears for Affairs" oozes
sappiness but still works, while the title track is
an upbeat piece that's perfect for any road trip.
These two are followed by the mournful "Country
Mile", which ties them together in a way that is
hard to forget. Camera Obscura may never be able
to recreate the beautiful simplicity of Teenager,
but they don't seem to be even trying. The music
may be simple pop, but that's okay. It's what they
do best, so why would we want to hear them do
anything else?
Jordie Smith
_^=.
Painting Pictures
(www.ethancoIlister.ca)
Ethan Collister is the paradigmatic troubadour:
on his debut album Painting Pictures, Collister
weaves folky guitar riffs, harmonica solos and
jangling tambourines with rich lyrical imagery
of sweeping seascapes and changing seasons.
What makes Collister a worthy successor of his
populist-folk progenitors is his undeniable gift for
storytelling. On tracks like "Dust Blowin' in the
Wind" and the psych-rock tinged "Lady of the
Midnight Sun," Collister sings of the inescapable
passage of time and bruising of hearts, of the
necessary erosion of the provisional truths we
cling to so desperately: "on the shore, you and
I/we hold our hearts of stone/broken by the
shallow sigh/of the wind as it blows." Confronting
life's transience with a mixture of resignation
and perseverance, Collister seems determined to
capture this elusiveness, bouncing stylistically
from the understated tenderness of "Venus" to
the desperate theatricality of "The Hunter" in
his efforts to do so. A compelling and dynamic
debut album, Painting Pictures resonates with
the realizations of a man who knows he once
experienced the picturesque landscape, but is
now only confronted with a blank canvas and his
fading memories.
Katherine Somody
A Panegyric to the Things I Do.Not Understand
(Gulcher)
The freedom afforded by lo-fi's lack of a fully
defined sound has helped a lot of bands; some
things just thrive amidst layers of murk and muzz.
Still, while trying to get a grip on a fairly difficult
band whose entire catalogue seems- to consist of
clutches of poorly recorded live takes, it can be
pretty frustrating.
Everything I'd heard from Magik Markers
prior to this album was definitely promising,
but difficult to really find a way into. The best
tracks I'd heard moved from thin, quiet sections
nurtured by Elisa Ambrogio's vocals to bracing
fire squalls. If you could surrender yourself and
embrace the dynamic, the music's peaks were
pleasantly overwhelming, but it was quite a
commitment. But it's all changed with this one.
Now, every element of the MarJsers' sound is clear
as day, and the clarity is blinding. Hearing every
nuance of the free noise spewing out of Elisa's
guitar only increases its power, and with Leah
Quimby's bass and Pete Nolan's drums audible
in the mix, their sound is fully realised. This is
no-wave spew ala Confusion is Sex-era Sonic
Youth bent through a psychedelic, free jazz lens.
The .songs transition from searing guitar noise
into whistling, light feedback, and the barest
of rhythms, but manage to avoid sounding like
an airless avant-garde wank. It is this fractured
improvisational logic that stands as the album's
greatest strength. Every time you think you're
hearing a musical non-sequitur, they bring the
fire and everything is acquitted. Taken as a whole,
it might crack your skull open wider than you
expected.
I thought the title was needlessly pretentious,
but look up that p-word and I think you'll be quite
pleased. Or maybe you just knew it already. Either
way, I'm really impressed.
Dave Nichols
b^=_
It's been so long since the Mints put anything
out that people were beginning to wonder if they
were still together at all. But the long-aWaited
third album is finally here, and it's every bit as
quirky and eccentric as anything the Mints have
ever released. I don't really know what the term
"dream pop" means, but the Mints make music
that I don't understand either. Their songwriting
is bizarre, musically as well as lyrically, containing
wails, oompahs, beeps, whistling and rattles
all strung across a confectionery rock-band
backdrop. Drowaton is every bit as unusual as
their previous endeavours, featuring songs about
murderers, pumpkins, and the sound of rhino
hooves stomping around. Even though it's hard to
say what they're going on about, there's nothing
about this band that isn't likable. They just seem so
happy to be making music that they'can't control
themselves.
Maybe it's best not to understand so much as
simply appreciate them for their unique sound
amidst a world of derivative bands. Nothing is as
refreshing as the dose of weirdness provided by the
Starlight Mints.
Jordie Smith
&==? '
(Domino)
Argentina's princess of electro-acoustics has
again ventured forth to give us Son, the follow-
up to 2004's critically acclaimed album, Tres
Cosas. With album number four, Juana Molina
has decided to let the strength of her vocals be
the main driving force, and in turn has kept
the instrumentation and" beats very minimal.
Unfortunately, this approach is met by varying
degrees of success.
Much like its predecessors, Son still offers a
blend of laid-back folk guitars, loops, and off-kilter
electronics as a backdrop for Molina's delicate
songs. Her instrumentation gives a good deal of
warmth and texture to her relatively stripped-
down compositions, but it feels like there's not
enough of it. On the other hand, the soft warbles
and squelches of analog electronics are a total
plus, like on "Rio Seco" and "Yo No". Actually, this
synth sound seems to draw strongly from Nuno
Canavarro's brilliant 1988 album, Plux Quba,
which is always a good thing.
Where this album really doesn't fair so well is
when Molina attempts to layer percussive vocal
tracks in the absence of few real beats, much like
the way Bjork did on her last effort. But unlike
Bjork, Molina's vocal experiments can be a bit
painful on the ears and come out a bit too scatlike for comfort. The somewhat jarring vocal-
manipulation on "Un Beso Llega" is a prime
example of this. What works best is when Molina
keeps the vocals simple and stays away from all the
fancy effects. In the end, this whole affair is a bit
of a mixed bag with a few good nuggets here and
there, but ultimately a bit of a let-down.
BRock Thiessen
(&**_
MSEEEmm
Bottoms of Barrels
(Team Love)
It's more or less impossible to read anything
about Omaha's Tilly and the Wall without a
mention of how the drummerless band relies
mostly on tap dancing to fulfill their rhythmic
needs. I'm sure it's quite a sight live. On record,
however, it's a different story. Jamie Williams'
dancing shoes do have a distinctive sound, but
if I didn't know any better, I would just as soon
chalk up the percussive tone to production values.
Unable to rely on—or perhaps free of the trappings
of—the novelty of such a quirk, when it comes to
releasing albums, all they've got to fall back on is
the music.
The aural .formula on Bottoms of Barrels
follows largely in the footsteps of the band's
much-celebrated 2004 debut, Wild like Children.
The record's vocal performances are dominated by
multi-part harmonies flowing over acoustic guitar
or piano-driven numbers, while organs, strings,
and horns provide some instrumental flourishes
here and there.
"Rainbows in the Dark" opens the album on a
strong note, with a very tasteful set of horn lines
following some errant harmonica notes and a
jubilant "1-2-3-4!" By the midway point, Neely
Jenkins, Kianna Alarid, and Derek Pressnall are
all belting it out in unison. Track two, "Urgency,"
follows suit, albeit with a little distortion on the
vocal three-way. "Bad Education"? Ditto. In fact,
by the time you get to the sparse introduction to
"Lost Girls," a mere four tracks in, the lone female
voice is more than welcome. Similarly, "Love Soijg"
gives Presnall's vocals—which come off a lot like
the band's label boss, Conor Oberst—some much-
needed space. Those tracks, though, are two of the
album's novel moments, which is unfortunate,
22 June 2006 because the campfire sing-along action gets trying quite
quickly. It's not only the vocals, however. The album is
thick with warm-sounding instrumentation, but again,
space is an issue. With some exceptions, for the most
part I found myself wishing that the band would just let
up once in a while and give their very catchy melodies
some room to breathe.
~ If you're part of the segment of the music-listening
population that now "forgoes full records in favour
of an iPod set to shuffle, you'll probably get some
decent mileage out of Bottoms of Barrels: it's largely
a collection of very strong songs. Put side by side,
however, the individual slices of tuneful indie pop just
blend together. There's nary a "bad" song in the entire
bunch, but working in tandem, they add up to a boring
record.
Quinn Omori
t_.IJLJM.UiU,l_--..m^M-
The Spell
(Touch and Go Records)
The Black Heart Procession's music has always
been ideal for those feelings of loneliness you get from
post break-up comedowns. With The Spell, Pall Jenkins
and company are luckily still creating music for the
lonely. This time around they've decided to play it safe,
sticking to their sure-fire formula of gothic indie-rock.
Perhaps this has much to do with the mixed reviews
they received from their last full-length, the overly-
ambitious Amore Del Tropico, which was a concept
album and feature-length film based around the plot of
an intriguing murder mystery.
While The Spell generally still sounds as if it was
recorded by the house band found at some lonesome
Twin Peaks cabaret, there are bound to be a few whines
and complaints about the few rockin' tracks from the
old-school purists. Songs like "Not Just Words" and
"GPS" don't rely on weeping saws or spooky pianos like
the BHP songs of yore, but instead revolve around the
rhythmic patterns of distorted guitars and fast-paced
snare hits from a rock kit. Funnily enough though,
these uncharacteristic rock songs are in fact the ones
that sound the most inspired and realized, not the
typical slow and brooding tracks, which even sound a
bit by-the-numbers at times.
The battle between these two categories of songs
on The Spell makes it seem as if this is a band in
need of a change. This possibly explains the sudden
announcement that Pall Jenkins would once again be
recording a Three Mile PHot album with former band
mate, and half of Pinback, Armistead Burwell Smith
IV. Identity crisis aside, this album is a satisfying one
and will likely find a place on many stereos as the lonely
ones pour themselves another nice strong scotch.
BRock Thiessen
The New Album
(www.trikeabarid.com)
On Saturdays, Steven Taylor and Wes G. Knight like
to go down the most vomit-inducing slide at the local
water park; drop by the art gallery for the most bizarre
experimental performance art; play glitchy street
fighter games at the most rundown Granville Street
arcade; make fun of the yuppiest' of the people walking
up Robson Street; go dancing at the dingiest possible
Gastown club; and finish the night off at a campfire
on Wreck Beach. Then they write an epic email about
the whole experience to their buddy Alex Van der Meer
in Holland, who writes some electronic beats about it.
When the beats return, Taylor and Knight compose
some live bits for voice, acoustic guitar and keyboard.
Okay, so most of that's complete and utter
speculation on my part, but from the diversity and
quirkiness of their music, I wouldn't be surprised if it
There's a little ink-jet printed insert that comes with
Vancouver locals Trike's The New Album, which includes
a string of Jumbled words: electropopaltfolkcanadiand
utchcrunchcore. All things considered, this is actually
a pretty good description of the band's output, not in its
specificity but rather its A.D.D. quality.
Singer Steven Taylor's folky vocals and the
proliferation of clicks and beeps automatically bring to
mind words like laptop folk, but it's not nearly that simple.
They draw rhythms from hip hop, textured sounds from
IDM and lyricisms from the best singer-songwriters.
The album jumps around from track to track: "Biggest
Schmuck" closes with a psyched-out outro, directly
followed by "Sense of Well Being" a straight-up acoustic
rock track with a thin veneer of vocal delay. "Bring the
Shit Back" brings out the Beasties-style white boy hip
hop. Trike (pronounced tri-key) even drops some math
in "Soap Opera Atmosphere." Taylor's croonings and a
well-tuned pop sensibility are the glue that holds what
might otherwise be a disparate disc. The New Album
shows definite potential for a further solidified sound in
the future.
Peter C. t
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Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Blood on the Wall
Imaad Wasif
April 24
Orpheum Theatre
Black-clad balladeer Imaad Wasif
began the show with his pretty but
bleak meditations on isolation and
heartache. Wasif's songs were mystical
and Eastern-sounding (thanks to
warbling back-up tones emitted from a
small electronic unit), and touched on
dark, personal themes. His stage banter
was cynically dark as well, and at times
later on (when not acting as an extra
musician for the night's headlining act),
he could be seen on stage, crouching
with his head tucked in, rocking back
and forth. This guy's got issues, but he
makes good music.
Blood on the Wall love to rock: you
can tell from the prevalence of brazen
guitar chords and Miggy Littleton's
extravagant drum fills. At different times
throughout the set, I picked out heavy
influence from the Pixies, Sonic Youth,
90's grunge and raucous post-punk.
Each influence was skewed in some way,
making the tunes just original enough
to scrape by—and to the band's credit,
they all added up to an interesting, if
scattershot, performance.
The stars of the evening, the Yeah
Yeah Yeahs, put on a completely
immersive show. At the right moments
(like the soft spots in "Cheated Hearts")
tension and anticipation was stretched
as taut as Karen O's tights, before being
released in floods of light and sound.
The crop-topped singer went all-out
with her theatrics, doing bunny-hops
and manic struts, or making gestures in
slow-motion to complement crescendos
in the music around her. Quiets,
louds, pauses and 'transitions were all
emphasized to draw the audience in,
adding a whole other dimension of
emotional appeal. This was a more-
than-sufficient substitute for the lack of
physical intimacy (a grand total of one
lucky fan got to high-five the otherwise'
distant Karen).
Nick Zinner was only one man, but
used a plethora of pedals, effects, and
synths to set up several musicians'
worth of shimmering harmonic
accompaniments. Meanwhile, his
sweet melodies, feral eruptions of
distortion, and fuzzy, seductive chord
progressions worked in tandem with
Brian Chase's dense drumming style
to exert expert control over mood and
atmosphere. Stage banter was spare,
so there were few distractions from the
punch of "Gold Lion", the rolling stomp
of "Phenomena", and "The Sweets", far
more epic and grandiose than on record.
Welcome surprises came in the form
of "Black Tongue" and a cut from the
band's debut EP, while "Maps" carried
all the melodramatic weight everyone
knew it would.
Simon Foreman
The Strokes
May 17
Plaza of Nations
Unable to find a date to take my
other ticket to see the Strokes, I took my
father. This was my third round seeing
the handsome five-piece from New York.
The first time was their Toronto debut,
back when Julian Casablancas used to
vomit out of nervousness before every
gig. They stood totally still and played
every song they knew. It took about
forty minutes, and it was a great show.
When I caught them again, this time
in Mississauga the trendiest rock
'n roll city in the country the boys
were drinking their way through the
nerves of massive oncoming success.
The release date of Room on Fire was
two weeks away. Julian passed-out into
the audience for a while. And that was
a great show.
But times have changed for the
Strokes. Their audience, skeptical after
Is ITiis It?, seemed perfectly satiated by
the undeniable catchiness of Room on
Fire. Only on their third and most recent
record, First Impressions of Earth, from
which they drew most of their set list,
have they shown some growing pains
and felt some backlash. No longer just
singing about sleeping with girls or
being pissed off because girls won't
sleep with them, the .Strokes are out to
prove that they can do everything other
rock bands can.
I count myself in the minority of
people who consider First Impressions
to be a good record, in spite of its
shortcomings, but the gravitation
away from the simple pop of their
earlier repertoire requires a lot more
versatility live than the Strokes seem
capable of. While the band is infinitely
more confident than when they began,
even going so far as to actually walk
around in some parts, and get on top
of an amp or two during their typically
rousing closer, "Take it or Leave It",
they didn't seem overly proud of the
new material or the way they played
it, with a few notable exceptions. "You
Only Live Once" reaffirmed Fab Moretti's
drumming as some of the tightest
currently out there, and "Juicebox" (a
song I will defend against all critics) got
the all-ages toes tapping. But the bulk
of the First Impressions melodies seemed
strangled by the sum of their parts.
Blame is due to the Plaza of Nations,
"this fucking weird greenhouse place,"
as Julian aptly puts it. The sound was
cavernous, but the straightforward
hooks of the Is This It? and Room on
Fire melodies were strong enough to
overcome it. They performed criminally
few of the latter's songs, with "Reptilia"
crowning the evening (still containing
the Strokes' most potent hooks).
So here I am, championing
straightforward pop, but I'm
comfortable with the Strokes in that
position. They're everything pop music
should be: drunk, aggressive, charming,
and slutty. Only fit that they played at a
casino venue, which is where I can see
Casablancas singing in thirty years. He
already performs like a drunk belting
out the words to his own songs on the
bar jukebox. And while the concert
served to stress the relative weakness
of First Impressions of Earth, they're still
the only Strokes, and everyone knows it.
That, frankly, made it a great show. My
dad liked it, too.
Mike LaPointe
Mogwai
May 24
Commodore Ballroom
For the casual listener, the easy
criticism of Mogwai is that, by and
large, most of their songs sound the
same. Now, before ye Mogwai faithful
get up in arms about that statement,
let me assure you that I don't agree.
However, I do see where those people
might get that idea: the whole quiet/
loud thing is getting a little tiresome.
While the band's latest, Mr. Beast, does
forgo some of the lengthy buildups that
characterized their earlier work, it's still
a Mogwai record. For that matter, it's
not one of their stronger releases. As a
live entity, however, the Scottish quintet
is an entirely different machine.
In my younger days, I _sed to be
quite into judo. That might not seem
like it has much to do with Mogwai,
but I assure you it does. Watching them
live is sort of like practicing some sort
of competitive, high contact sport:
nobody is there to kill one another, but
you're always kept on your toes, and
at times it's as if your senses are being
assaulted. The lighting was used, not
so much to illuminate the band, as it
was to keep a disorienting sort of spell
on the audience; swinging around in
different, multi-coloured directions.
The drums were a constant pounding,
organs swelled and released, the bass
rumbled, guitars squealed feedback and
echoed trills swirled around the room.
Then there were the loud parts. For each
one of those gratuitous, epic climaxes,
volume level was deadly: not just to
the ears, but to your entire body. The
crunchy low end was pushed to high
enough decibel levels to make chest
cavities rumble.
The band pulled quite a bit from their
latest, but also culled a fair amount of
their set from older material. That being
said, to me at least, it didn't really matter
all that much. Maybe that plays into the
hands of those foolish people who write
off Mogwai because "all their songs
sound the same,", but the individual
songs really were much less important
than the overall experience. "Ratts of
the Capital" or "Auto-Rock"; the pieces
didn't matter as much as the whole.
By the time the band left the stage,
in a hail of feedback and flashing
lights, it really was like the end of
some exhaustive judo practice. More
specifically, it was like an hour and a
half of practicing with someone much
better than you; an hour and a half
of getting your ass kicked, essentially.
"Better" is not a judgment on the" band
or audience as people. But, in the game
of music, Mogwai was operating on a
whole other level. They came. They
pummeled us into submission (several
times over). They won.
Quinn Omori
Joel Plaskett Emergency
Matt Mays & El Torpedo
May 5
Commodore Ballroom
I haven't much to say about Matt
Mays & El Torpedo, but if I've got to say
something, it's that they seem to have a
lot of fans.
Moving on to the more important
things: after a Matt Mays set that went
on for way too long, the fans all cleared
out and new people moved into see
Canada's sweetheart and his band, the
Joel Plaskett Emergency.. That's right,
Joel Plaskett at the Commodore. No,
not the Media Club like last time (when
Joel was solo); the Commodore. As one
would expect, the atmosphere was I
intimate, especially due to the roar of
the crowd—indifferent Matt Mays fans,
perhaps—that was occasionally louder
than the band's music. Despite this,
an enthusiastic, Vancouver-loving Joel
played on, wearing his traditional black
jeans (the kind you wear from the day
you graduate high school until the day
you die), pointy shoes and vest, and
demonstrating his slick dance moves.
In fact, Joel seemed mysteriously yet
pleasantly overenthusiastic, repeatedly
claiming to be "overwhelmed" and
even laughing at his own lyrics during
"Extraordinary".
As the show went on, Joel began
to lose his voice—quite possibly as
result of jet lag after flying to Vancouver
directly from Australia—but he made
up for his curbed vocals and noticeable
lack of the usual hilarious Joel Plaskett
banter by allowing his dancing feet t
take over the show.
Joel and the band brought back the
old favourites, like the acoustic "Before
You JLeave" and "light of the Moon",
new favourites like "Love This Town",
and successfully promoted his n
DVD Make A Little Noise by playing a
couple of new songs that can be found
on the disc. One song, "Nowhere with
You", can even be found on a certain
television commercial, for a store with
a name that starts with a Z and rhymes
with "fellers".
All in all, the show was entertaining
despite its lack of the intimacy familiar
to most Joel Plaskett Emergency fans.
We can only hope that next time Joel
comes to Vancouver, his show will be at
a smaller venue, and won't be combined
with that of another band. Please, no
more Matt Mays fans at Joel Plaskett
shows!
Kimberley Day W
24 June 2006 CITR CHARTS!
Strictly the dopest hits of May
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2 Islands*
Return to the Sea
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4 IbkyoMceaub* A Lesson in Crime PaperBag
5 Run Cluto Rim"
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8 FinalFantasy* HePoosCJouds Blocks Recording
9 The Rogers Sisters W bumble Tire, Too Pure
10 The Black Angels Passover Light In The Attic
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12 Windows V8* ' The Window Seat f|J|§ll Submerged
13 TteStffls*
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14 Pretty Girls Make Graves Elan Vital Matador
15 GnarlsBarkley
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16 Mr. Plow* ChairmanPlow'sLittleRedBook Crusty
17 Jolie Hottaad
SpringCim«'£a!iKfflFo«
Anti
18 Beirut
Gu-ffOrfastar
BaDaBing!
19 Mecca Normal*
The Observer
Kill Rock Stars
20 ' Aphex Twin
Chosen Lords
Rephlex
21. iVy Shoot Horsi-s Don't They?*
Boo Hoo Hoo Boo
Kill Rock Stars
22 Bellrays
Have A Little Faith
Cheap Lullaby
23 Fiery Furnaces
Bitter Tea
Fat lKuin
24 Paper Moon*
Broken Hearts Break Faster Every Day
Endearing
:# AJRTIST
Title
Label •
25 The Doers*
WhatchaDoin?
Red Cat
26 Billy And The Lost Boys*
YetWhyNotSayWhatHappened?
Lost
27 Rose Melberg
Cast Away the Clouds
Double Agent
28 Spank Rock
Yoyoyoyo
Big Dada
29 TlraMatningLips
At War with the Mystics
Warner
30 The Sword
Age of Winters-
Kemado
31 Dead Vampires
We are the Dead Vampires
Independent
32 Starlight Mints
Drowaton
Barsuk
33 Mono
You Are There
Temporary Residence
34 Kimya Dawson
Remember That 1 love You
K
35 Band of Horses
Everything All the Time
SubPop
36 Mudhoney
Under a Billion Suns
Sub Pop
37 Daniel Johnston
Welcome to My World
Independent
38 The Gotan Project
39 Om
Lunatico
Conference of the Birds
XL
Holy Mountain
40 Brian Eno and David Byrne
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
Nonesuch
41 The Threat*
Red Dawn
Slanty Shanty
42 Danielson
Ships
Secretly Canadian
43 Shoplifting
Body Stories
Kill Rock Stars
44 Built to Spill
You in Reverse
Warner
45 Experimental Dental School
2 112 Creatures
Cochon
46 Velvet Teen
Gyzmkid
3$w^_Sips_k'' --Slowdance
47 Liars
Drum's Not Dead
Mute
48 Jesu
Silver
HydraHead
49 Jamie Lidell
Multiply Editions
Warp
50 Pink Mountaintops*
Axis of Evol,
Jagjaguwar/Scratch
SPM MUSIC BIZ AND CITR 101.9 PRESENT
BOOKING AND PROMOTING THE VANCOUVER MUSIC SCENE/ CONTACT 604 322 0102 WWW.SPIV1IV1USIC.BIZ
FRIDAY, JUNE 9TH FRIDAY, JUNE 16TH
FRIDAY, JUNE 30TH
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8am
Tana Radio
Breakfast with
the Browns
Highbred Voices |
Suburban Jungle
^^^fc,THE World News
Cute Band AlertI
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9am
ShookShook
Third Time's The Gffjutjj
10am
Afro
Fill-In
11 Sweet ^^B^m
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Drive
11am
Lions and Tigers ec,ec"
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Morning Afbrr Show
Anoize
12pm
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Alt. Radio
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Powirchord
Democracy Now
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Radio Zero
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Reel to Real «*
3 pm
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Let's Get Baked
Career Fast Track **
Rumbletone
Radio A Go
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Motor
DADDY
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6pm
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Son of Nite
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Blue
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Wigflux Radio
Exquisite Corpse
African Rhythms
wiDow Jugglers
8pm
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9pm
the Jazz Show
Folk Oasis
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Radio Max ,
Planet Lovetron
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10pm
TRANCENDANCE
•PLUTONIAN
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11pm
Hans Kloss'
Misery Hour
~^4ri&£ti TltoM*^" j~
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12am
BBC
Vengeance is Mine
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2am
BBC
BBC
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3 am
4am
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I SUNDAY
JANA RADIO (World)
SHOOKSHOOK (World) ___J
AFROBEAT (World)
In two hours, I take the listener
for a spin—musically—around
the world; my passion is African
music and music from the
Diaspora. Afrobeat is where
■ you can catch up on the latest
-in the "World Music" scene
and reminisce on the classic .
collections. Don't miss it.
<myafrobeat@yahoo.com>
THE ROCKERS SHOW (Reggae)
Reggae inna all styles and fashion.
BLOOD ON THE SADDLE
(Roots)
Real cowshit-caught-in-yer-boots
country.
CHIPS WITH EVERYTHING
(Pop)
British pop music from all
decades. International pop
(Japanese, French, Swedish,
British, US, etc.), 60s soundtracks
and lounge. Book your jet-set
holiday now!
QUEER
dlcated
bisexual, and transexual communities of Vancouver. Lots
of human interest features,
background on current issues,
and great music.
RHYTHJVISIIVDIA (World)
Rhythmsindia features a wide
range of music from India,
including popular music from the
1930s to the present, classical
music, semi-classical music such
as Ghazals and Bhajans, and
also Qawwalis, pop, and regional
language numbers.
TRANCE1VDANCE (Dance)
Join us in practicing the ancient
art of rising above common
thought and ideas as your host DJ
Smiley Mike lays down the latest
trance cuts to propel us into the
domain of the mystical.
<trancendance@hotmail.com>
BREAKFAST WITH THE
BROWNS (Edectic)
Your favourite Brown-sters, James
and Peter, offer a savoury blend of
the familiar and exotic in a blend
of aural delights!
LIONS AND TIGERS AND
BEARS...(Ecfectic)
A mix of indie pop, indie rock,
and pseudo underground hip hop,
with your host, Jordie Sparkle.
ALT. RADIO (Talk)
Hosted by David B.
PARTS UNKNOWN (Pop)
Underground pop for the minuses
with the occasional interview
with your host, Chris.
LET'S GET BAKED w/matt & dave
(Eclectic)
Vegan baking with "rock stars"
like Sharp Like Knives, Whitey
Houston, The Novaks and more.
national radio service and part
international network of
information and action in support
of indigenous peoples' survival
and dignity. We are all volunteers
committed to promoting Native
self-detennination, culturally,
economically, spiritually and
otherwise. The show is self-
sufficient, without government or
corporate funding.
W.I.N.G.S. (Talk)
Womens International News
Gathering Service.
SON OF NITE DREEMS (Eclectic)
UNCOIVIMON PRACTICE
(Classical)
WIGFLUX RADIO (Reggae)
Listen to Selecta Krystabelle for
your reggae education.
THE JAZZ SHOW (Jazz)
Vancouver's longest running
primettme jazz program. Hosted
by the ever-suave, Gavin Walter.
June 5: Tonight our annual Jazz
Festival preview for the full three
hours with Gavin and co-host
the Jazz Festival's eloquent media
director John Orysik.
June 12: Tonight celebrating the
birthday of the amazing "Mr.
Chameleon" Armando "Chick"
Corea in an all-star concert date
that features Corea on acoustic
piano(solo and with a trio) with
Miroslav Vitous on bass and the
great Roy Haynes on drums. "Trio
Music" is a gas!
June 19: Two stars of this year's
Jazz Festival play together here
on "Time ForTyner". Pianist
McCoy with vibraphonist Bobby
Hutcherson in a great album
accompanied by bassist Herbie
Lewis and the late great Freddie
Waites on drums. Solid stuff!
June 26: Gavin Walker will
take the night off to enjoy the
Jazz Festival but the show will
continue with a guest host. See
you on July 3rd.
VENGEANCE IS MINE (Punk)
All the best the world of punk has
to offer, in the Wee hours of the
■■■.■TUESDAY
PACIFIC PICKIN' (Roots)
Bluegrass, old-time music, and its
derivatives with Arthur and the
lovely Andrea Berman.
HIGHBRED VOICES (World)
THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM
(Rock)
Open your ears and prepare for a
shock! A harmless note may make
you a fan! Hear the menacing
scourge that is Rock and Roll!
Deadlier than the most dangerous
criminal!
<borntasixtynine@hotmail.com>
MORNING AFTER
SHOW (Eclectic)
REEL TO REAL (Talk)
Movie reviews and criticism.
EN AVA1ST LA MUSIQUE (French)
En Avant La Musique! se
concentre sur le metissage des
26
June 2006 genres musicaux au sein d une
francophonie ouverte a tous les
courants. This program focuses
on cross-cultural music and its
influence on mostly Francophone
musicians.
WENER'S BARBEQUE (Sports)
Join the sports department for
their coverage of the T-Birds.
FLEXYOURHEAD (Hardcore)
Up the punx, down the emo!
Keepin' it real since 1989, yo.
Flexyourhead.
SALARIO MINIMO (World)
Salario Minimo, the best rock in
Spanish show in Canada.
CAUGHT IN THE RED (Rock)
Trawling the trash heap of over 50
years' worth of rock n' roll debris.
Digit!
AURAL TENTACLES (Edectic)
It could be punk, ethno, global,
trance, spoken word, rock, the
unusual and the weird, or it could
be something different. Hosted by
DJ Pierre.
■ WEDNESDAY
SUBURBAN JUNGLE (Eclectic)
ANOIZE (Noise)
Luke Meat irritates and educates
through musical deconstruction.
Recommended for the strong.
DEMOCRACY NOW (Talk)
Independent news hosted by
award-winning jounalists Amy
Goodman and Juan Gonzalez.
RUMBLETONE RADIO (Rock)
Primitive, fuzzed-out garage mayhem!
MOTORDADDY (Rock)
Cycle-riffic rawk and roll!
NECESSARY VOICES (Talk)
Socio-political,enviromental
activist news .iiul -pohtii word
milisuiiiamuHtfm
^4J&|§_mTIMESWHY
^^Op/Eclectic)
First Wednesday of every month.
BLUE MONDAY (Goth/Industrial)
Vancouver's only industrial-
electronic-retro-goth program.
Music to schtomp to, hosted by
JUICEBOX (Talk) U
Developing your relational
and individual sexual health,
expressing diversity, celebrating
queerness, and encouraging
pleasure at all stages. Sexuality
educators Julia and Alix
will quench your search for
responsible, progressive sexuality
over your life span!
<www.juiceboxradio.com>
OPEN SECRETS (Talk)
FOLK OASIS (Roots)
Two hours of eclectic roots music.
Don't own any Birkenstocks?
Allergic to patchouli? C'mon in! A
kumbaya-free zone since 1997.
HANS KLOSS'lVflSERY HOUR
(Hans Kloss)
This is pretty much the best thing
_______■ THURSDAY
SWEET 'N' HOT (Jazz)
Sweet dance music and hot jazz
from the 1920s, 30s, and40s.
WE ALL FALL DOWN (Eclectic)
Punk rock, indie pop, and
whatever else I deem worthy.
Hosted by a closet nerd.
RHY1VIES & REASONS (Hip Hop)
MY SCIENCE PROJECT (Talk)
Zoom a little zoom on the My
Science Project rocket ship,
piloted by your host, Julia, as
we navigate eccentric, underexposed, always relevant and
plainly cool scientific research,
technology, and poetry
(submissions welcome).
<myscienceprojectradio@yahoo.
ca>
PEDAL REVOLUTION (Talk)
NUTHOUSE RADIO THEATRE
(Drama)
All-original Canadian radio
drama and performance art
written and performed live-to-
air by our very own team of
playwrights and voice actors. We
also welcome you to get involved, .
whether you are professional or
inexperienced...
EXQUISITE CORPSE
(Experimented)
Experimental, radio-art, sound
collage, field recordings, etc.
Recommended for the insane.
LIVE FROM THUNDERBIRD
RADIO HELL (Live Music)
Live From Thunderbird Radio
Hell showcases local talent...LIVE!
Honestly, don't even ask about the
technical side of this.
June 8th: Wayside
June 15th: Trike
June 29th: The Basement SuUes,
LAUGH
PLANET LOVETRON
(Dance/Electronic)
Music inspired by Chocolate
Thunder; Robert Robot drops
electro past and present, hip hop
and intergalactic funkmanship.
<robertrobot@gmail.com>
IN THE SHADOWS (Hip Hop)
I UKE THE SCRIBBLES (Edectic)
Beats mixed with audio from old
films and clips from the internet.
10% discount for callers who are
certified insane. Hosted by Chris D.
THE VAMPIRE'S BALL (Gothl
Industrial/Mettd)
Dark, sinister music to soothe
and/or move the Dragon's soul.
Hosted by Drake.
<thevampiresball@yahoo.ca>
mmm SATURDAY
THE SATURDAYFDGE (Boots)
Studio guests, new releases,
British comedy sketches, folk
music calendar, and ticket
giveaways.
GEPERAIlONANNIIJnLATION
(Pwk)
A fine mix of streetpunk and old
school hardcore backed by band
interviews, guest speakers, and
social commentary.
- <www.streetpunkradio.com>
<crashnburnradio@yahoo.ca>
POWERCHORD (Metal)
Vancouver's only true metal
show; local demo tapes, imports,
and other rarities. Gerald
Rattlehead, Dwain, and Metal
Ren do the di
iTHEHIGHLIGHT
IFRIDAY
CUTE BAJND ALERT! (Edectic)
SKA-T'S SCENIC DRIVE (Ska)
Email requests to:
djska_t@hotmail.com
THESE ARE THE BREAKS
(Hip Hop)
Top notch crate digger DJ Avi
Shack mixes underground hip
hop, old school classics, and
original breaks.
RADIO ZERO (Edectic)
NARDWUAR THE HUMAN
SERVIETTE PRESENTS
(Nardwuar)
NEWS 101 (Talk)
A volunteer-produced, student and
community newscast featuring
news, sports and arts. Reports by
people like you. "BecometheMedia."
THE CANADIAN WAY (Eclectic)
Independent Canadian music
from almost every genre
imaginable covering the east
coast to the left coast and all
points in between: Yes, even
Montreal!
<thecanadianway@popstar.com>
AFRICAN RHYTHMS (World)
David "Love" Jones brings you the
best new and old jazz, soul, Latin,
samba, bossa and African music
from around the world.
<www.africanrhythmsradio.
3 honks, blues,
and blues roots with your hosts
Jim, Andy and Paul.
THE LEO RAMIREZ SHOW
(World')
The best of music, news, sports,
and commentary from around
the local and international Latin
American communities.
OUR WAVE (World)
News, arts, entertainment and
music for the Russian community,
local and abroad.
SHADOW JUGGLERS
(Dance/Electronic)
An exciting chow of Drum n' Bass
with DJs Jimungle & Bias on the
ones and twos, plus guests. Listen
for give-aways every week. Keep
feelin da beatz.
SYNAPTIC SANDWICH
(IXmcelElectmnfclEdeetic)
BEATS FROM THE BASEMENT
(Hip Hop) ^
She is a proud Canadian of African descent, but it was a four year sabbatical abroad
in Asia, New Zealand and Australia that awakened her to the realities of this world
and helped Ebony put it all together and 'find herself'.
As a young adult, Ebony worked for BC Ferries. It was then that she started to
experience the pain of racism. Realizing there had to be more to life than that, she
decided to grow in different dimensions by taking off on a four year sabbatical to
experience other cultures overseas and across Canada.
During her travels, while searching for a connection to her roots and African
heritage, Ebony discovered a hidden gem—the Melanesians. Melanesia is a Greek word
which when translated means "black islands". The label 'Melanesia' was first used to
separate the peoples of this area by their skin tone. Indeed, the indigenous people of this
area have her "dark" skin and "Afro" ("woory") hair, and they carry the traits of their
African ancestors. Ebony rejoiced at this discovery and took much time to get close to
these newly discovered relatives.
Ebony is a graduate of Osaka International University in Japanese Language and
Cultural Studies. She was also was privileged to learned ceramics from a reputable
potter in the Kyoto region of Western Japan. Whilst in Japan she won an audition to
co-host a commercial radio show in prime time; the show eventually won best in prime
time amongst the 25 million-plus listeners in Western Japan, and was a regular on a
popular TV show in Tokyo. She learned to produce in Sydney, Australia and since then
has trained, filled-in and co-hosted several shows abroad and locally.
Now back in North America, Ebony is devoted to enlightening the community with
her experience and celebrates the beauty of her proud African heritage through music.
She is the initiator and facilitator of AFROBEAT, an info-tainment Vancouver radio
show that serves as the voice of all Afro-centric matters in the Vancouver community
and surroundings on CiTR 101.9 FM. She invites everyone to join her in providing a
voice to tell the story of the people and to gain respect and visibility for her brothers and
sisters. Ebony can be reached at myafrobeat@yahoo.com. ^
LEFIN!
Discorder 27 PICK UP ON FOURTH AfBlIf
Jake a dniK Hi yp jnusiG—! Zulu
LADYHAWK
Hey Caulston... it's me,
Roccoi* ZuJu Records
is pleased that Drag City is
pleased and proud to intro-
- duce the debut of Espers on
' the Drag Gify label. This
Philly indie band has always had a loyal fan base and
truly lives up to its critical acclaim as one of the most
beautiful working bands in the world. Espers II finds
the group at sextet size, with greater powers and capabilities than before. Still, the original spirit of the band,
which rules Espers in everything they do, gives the
band the freedom to reach for the spiritual and the fun
at once, a spirit from which the music arises. The
sound of Espers II was achieved using a mad variety
of instruments, from your standard everyday Martin 6-
string acoustic, Fender jazz bass and drum kit to more
exotic implements such as doumbek, dholak and male
& female larynx (which we assume are swung around
in the air to produce a recorder-like sound?). Espers
at-play tap into shared spaces with joy, a sense of
humor and, naturally, wonder. The musical outcome is
a friendly new sensation: as the record plays, it warms
the room and dims the lights with dense yet agile
atmospherics, allowing you, the listener, to relax, and
revel in communion with the realities of our present
day. Dig, friends.
CD 16.98
VITAMINS
FOR YOU
The Legend of
Bird's Hill CD
» parts was screwed over
I big time," Run the
name check on this... An
amazing record a la Tetefon tel aviv, Notwist, Postal
Service. Schneider TM, Manitoba, blunderspublfk,
pinback, The Junior Boys, Fennesz, my bloody valentine, mice parade, to rococo rot. mutek,
introversion mitchell Akiyama, Boards of Canada,
Ghislain Poirier, Joshua Treble The Beans
Desormais Montag, Ben Folds, Aphex Twin, Giant
Suns, Marumar, Greg Davis, Dntei, Alice In Chains,
Royksopp, Steve Reich, Takagi Masakatsu, Music
A.M., Slowdive, Tarwater, Manual, Lali Puna, Ms
John Soda, Tied Tickled Trio, Nobukazu Takemura,
Eric's Trip, Sloan, Greg MacPherson, Snailhouse,
Woollen Stars, Kepler, Tim Hecker, SND, Wagon
Christ, Venetian Snares, Cornelius, The Free Design
French Paddleboat Console, Arovane, Bjork, Beck,
-Neil Young.
CD 16.98
JUANA MOLINA
Son GO
••Tell me Carmen, am I really so dandy?"
I Miccitinpan soap star turned singer-songwriter'
Juana Molina is art incredible new voice fHat redefines
, /norjern music With her wide saras scope thalgficom-
passes breez -.• i,j musii iritluftiii.es dnicatea&e*,
rronic?, Miici classic forkKB baroque folk rock balladry.
Molina's practice is ons that is instantly unique and .
Oisamily enchanting Utilizing basic arrangements of
_uftaf key-, cymbals gongs, bombo leguero, and a
oats Maiina's fourth full-length Son. was recorded
entirely in Juana's house, thus infusing she charming .
fracte wrtf13 profoundly enthralling intimacy Inspired
'by trip fragile birdsongs outside tier wnftkw, these .
'•.-.■five ;;nci--- mesh together nicety' (like nature, according to SSefes) and ring with me ssme unity as Hick i
Brakes putsjder classic Pinlc Moon F,»-..:iy. Son is '.
hard to puttiown - pick yours up oo-.v.
m<ASlA8i.SJUNES:h -
CD 16.98
THY AND
THE WALL
Bottoms of
Barrels CD
Jessica found the
feathers and gave
them to Jen." Tap dancing
as a percussive element is only one of the many
incredibly celebratory twists that Omaha Nebraska's
love-in kids Tilly and The Wall serve up on this, their
second full length for Conor Oberst s Team Love label.
Bottoms of the Barrels is one of those records that
sounds good with your eyes closed - in fact, we recommend that you attempt to listen to the entire record
in our store with your eyes firmly shut. This way Tilly
can score the strange animations that dance through
your head. Tilly and The Wall offer an instant catharsis that is rare in today's indie-rock circles - get to the
bottom of their barrel pronto!
CD 16.98
VETIVER
To Find Me
Gone CD
•'Qandy, sweet Sandy,
Oiet's cruise the
dunes." Of course Vetiver
is the masterwork of celebrated out-folk troubadour Andy Cabic, who is best
known for runnin' with the pack of big league players
including Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and
Brightblack. His debut was a pastoral fantasy record
Jhat featured some stellar contributions from members
Of My Bloody Valentine and Mazzy Star, among other
San Fran freaks. For this next installment of his heady
outsider ramblings, Cabic has synthesized his longstanding admiration for classic "60s West Coast summer ballads while furtively furthering his delicate take
on the free-folk genre. That said, this record isn't afraid
to rock out a bit as well as to strip Andy's compositions down to their bare essentials (including some
gorgeous slide guitar work) thus presenting Cable's
bold sonic vision in its rawest form yet! To Find Me
Gone has all the hallmarks of a modern classic - this
is clearly the music of our time. Recommended.
CD 16.98
SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
The Sun Awakens CD
""Tell Heathcfflf his days at the Hotel
I tend/ Ever, wandered u hat the actual physical
changes made to a soundwave are as it's played
'lpnp{0$8 distortion pedal? Is the signal simply ampli-
fieA-to-ipSKit where its width expands to include-all
sorts of noise and dissonance' Perhaps distortion ts
the result of the soundwave Breaking into millions ot
other smaller soundwaves that when taken together
create % dense, in oMuzzy chaos Perhaps soundwaves arc like electricity when released and when distorted' bolt tikf a million screaming wild horses' 'J'
Heartless Six Organs of Admittance's Bet _%&$&_
is definitely aaautftofrty on bliss rock and distorted
guitar Iteafr outs Renowned, within guitar circles for
Ims Incredible finger-picking style ano avant-psyoh' ■
coRBjositJpns, Chasny's follow up to last year _ epic'
School of The Flower .release dials in _ more fipnjfied
jamrny guitar tuzz fury ihat '.ikes fhe current lefocus:
ing oi body-rcck/ns'/ciisrevi /alifin to a much higher
level Chasny is ai the lop r>i hi? nmne - his ra-jn
inspired drones vt avveson-k AVAILABLE JUNE 13"'
CAMERA
OBSCURA
Left Get Out Of
This Country CD
iiY A/hen I fell in love with
VV Gloria, I fell out a
window." Merge Records
released Camera Obscura s U.S. debut, II
Achievers Please Try Harder in the winter of 2004.
Indie pop fans across North America quickly became
hooked on Camera Obscura s lovely, enchanting
melodies and undeniable hooks, especially after Merge
reissued Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi in the fall of 2004, Next,
in the fall of 2005, Camera Obscura traveled to
Stockholm to begin work on a new album with
acclaimed producer Jari Haapaiainen. Influenced by a
wide variety ot heroes - from Jimmy Webb to Lloyd
Cole, from Connie Francis to Skeeter Davis, from the
Supremes to Oavid Lynch - lead singer/songwriter
Traceyanne Campell and crew assembled a remarkable batch of new songs. Decidely upbeat, optimistic
and catchy at times ("H Loots Could Kill", "Lloyd I'm
Ready To Be Heartbroken"), while also beautifully
romantic, quiet and reflective at others ("Country Mite",
"Dory Previn'). the new album - Let's Get (tat Of This
Country - is the sound of a wonderful young band just
hitting their stride. Good, good. AVAILABLE JUNE 6™
CD 16.98
BORIS
Pink CD
"That's when Julian
I reached for his
revolver." Boris appears to
be the sort of band for
which anything is possible -
anything amazing, that is.
Their records are so hotly anticipated that it was way
back when people were just starting to dig their Hick
Drake cover parody release Akuma Ho Uta that we
heard of the stoner rock fury that is Pink! Combining
the best of all their various modes - f eedbackin', atom
smashing experimental noise, and dreamy Shjur Ros-
esque odes,- this release is destined to be the one that
earns Boris the North American fanbase they truly
deserve. If you are looking for a more blessed-out take
on the currerf jjterier rock scene, then Boris' Pink is
certain f o be yfi$r hue of coot.
CDIftJHj
AN AFFAIR FOR GOOD MUSIC,...
TWWAUfflra-AftaKfradMtesOffCD
MSStON OF BURMA- The OWrterati CD
Stl^ASWIB-Le3ringS«^s2CD
N8CAH P. HNSDN-The Baby & The Satellite CD
n___il_U_~WKtVM^Xke'imVB
THE ROBOT ATE ME - Good Watt CD
SOMC YOUTH-Rather Ripped eoftP
SMOG-R«* Bottom faserCW /■_.
BWffl~fiara45ai>siil»Ei{&a^^
of Demons CMP
eftHABDZIUCH-&iangi«staCW -
CHARAUulffilDes-A Vintage Burden CB
0 h fl^p^i^ffteOt-MsfnniiS^
lyttoe inrabaVI? ye'ufjavel^j-:""-
mads love ih>^'vfl1d'yofl.v)ib )«9^k^
^S^^"spro^&Hig^ifrtr3e.arf sf ^
protreabon You and your lover become |
- like biids thaisoai on the warm »Jtfl
ot ecstas? that it '"i. >' the, > coned cypresses anc rusty
arbutuses Hpre^yo'jr voices •. ill jom in song vim tfose of the tour
memttfrsofVtncouvprsfiewe'-trockmsehine Ladyhawk Driven
-by delectation you give your euphoric chants to Duffy flamy, Ryan
and Sean respei ft till / to fuel thpir tkiod of hard rock stean wfrdi
.. heroically sai't towards tne mother* Soon tusic will rail down on..
the earth ana quench your naked bodies as th'S is as close to per
feet pitrinca'fofi as"one can possibly get and arv wicked scum that
■ vou have pit ked up along the «#t will become Vie trim we now call
Sad Eyes/Blue Eyes' We unnot get o'f their cloud so b°- '.
Ladyhawk!
CD 14.98
LOSCIL
Plume CD
"Jley Sadie, now your Daddy son .'
' riftre!"Whensometimes-Bestroirar
drummer Scott Morgan dons h.s electron*, i ih r o„ yob can be sure mat
some serious softwaie science is about
to be dropped Previous Loscil albuirjr
have been enchantingly aqueous - aj§iS|S/0s, in warm te^^^B^
before commencing cod refresfemo shower, of crystalline
droplets. Plume heats thin__ up considerably, with a greater quo
-"te&flf live-instrument input creating surprisingl/ gaseous-results. '
Diffused it may be but this is still the ambient dub par excellence
tha' LoscB fans have „nm» to expel t They wilt breathe rt jn deeply
and exhale slowly, with a great deal of s_ti faction
CD16.lCo
VANCOUGAR
Losin'ltCD
it ft fl elissa, meet me in my space at
I Vlmy place." Many folks dream
about Vancouver having a really cool- ..'
music scene... some folks go about
actually making really cool music
Vancougar have quorum to kick as s and
we invite you to be the some witness to this {h/aiiaon debut
release on So atch-Records Featuring the killer iine-up of CCRose
(Tie Cinch Pink Mountaintops), basssMtecca Stewart, fce^f .' .
boardist Megan Johnson, and smger/faftarist Eden Finedaysthigj-
power four pwcf^HS already dropped the gaunfiatigening for Gris
Gris, Drunk Horse Quintron and others. Their sounrite fresh, no ;
' nonsense, pure fiowef pop that seunds-like a row between «je
Modem Lovers and The Ronettes --but cbances aw that it ypu re
part of the scene, you knew that already jSupport yei»,loca! ladies ;
and lose it with Vancougar I
CD 12.98
THEH»rrEDSTia(S
VfaitUrf^orTteReal
Finafiy tssuedMjpey Shithead s
Sudden Deatft rec Jid label. Bj__b_
NtaitlfStiek- Waiting For IWttfajfc.-
Thing culls together the best materials I
from their ihre_ singles and multitude of demos as well as the TV' ;
. affii radjr>watift$ B» folntrt Sticks W6feJfcifiBPd'ioj9arlv t97Sv ''
amJ9i«r^becameabigfjartotmPHnae^eHrMjp(.nl^e*wav8- _
seen, ift Va icotwer glggifig wftfi bandf like BAA. Sis SubtttHnass
and Ihe Dishiags Thev had a fun. quirky style that they combined
" with pure pop genius Following a couple of classic singles, fhey -"
signed to Stiff Recoids and fte;; to Engtend to i ecord an'aibuifi.; '.
Thi ough bad iuck and bad oroduetion tbe album was never ■. •
released. Ihat would fall to Vancouver's Quintessence Record^ _
v/fio released the Mi Rock production of the PerfectVoJ
in 1951. On tfit's CD you get fo hear one of ihe very bj
I ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^___i_i_____^iB
m*****
Discorder
Discorder CITR-FM (Radio station : Vancouver, B.C.) Jun 1, 2006
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