^^^W—&u^. ttirvUjUu o they shoxythorsey, don/tthey? th&van&ouver nighty japandroids the/padoa/.d: safety show herwvetic/ view yeary resolution/fun/100 thre&inxzhes of blood/ edL^aheth/h\x*reel/ the/weather rock/n/ the^jolty hidsthese^ dayy th& salteens aMapsin^ opposites the/ v\asty on/ clover honey trail/vy russia/ the/petrole4A4n/-byprodux^ fan&haw the/orgalWsmyifP_m%^^^ • - And, Uke a frumpy bridesmaid, Laughey opened with a withering look at aU the weH-studied subcultures on the shelves—from Teddy Boy rock and rollers to beats, mods, punks and so on— and concludes that, with a few exceptions, both journaUsts and academics have badly sexed up jjgw^fetofy of youth culture. h^^___Y^\^__^'^^_^^i__^f- '4°nt\ j'SJfcfrj What do you imagine kids were up to in mid-1970s Britain? Punk shows and motorbikes? Your average Brijt, writes Laughey, was more likely suiting or skirting up for a Mecca Dance haU—a nationwide chain that kept up dance steps and dress codes. vJ^lSg A senior media studies lecturer at Leeds University, Laughey says too many researchers get blinkered by pet theories or don't talk to anybody. Steeped in semiotics—studies of signs and symbols that gave us Barthes' sparkling take on soap ads and Da^ Brown's holy shit—Laughey 'says a m ■_W^I^^1 •^ lot ^jheoiiatsare[haPpy to Given all thetspectacle of 1930s 1 see a photo of a punk with a swastika patch, chalk it ^^ and 1940s youth cultures, "shock value" and call it a dag ■■". JK£%& no interviews, ni ^ount Laughey corWudes that-they of how a fascist fad symbol r^^outsideitsow^^;.,had more in conrimon with youth on buses, streets arid punks- ^^R&IK at-iarge. cultures today than the counter- For this book, Laughey EJEslSzia j||g?to 232 high school and cultures of the 1960s and 1970s. coUege kids from a smaH city ■ - in Greater Manchester and, despite spats over Linkin Park vs. Motorhead, he found surprises: eclectic is the norm, and most kids respect a pareiifebhangra/bluegrass/T. Rex coUection. *^*fpfi Seventy years before him, a group of sociologists were doing much the same thing, in exactly the same place. In 1937, a group of 50 professors and students-from the University of Sussex formed a kind of gentle secret agency called the Mass Observers. During summer holidays, they aU moved to Bolton, the same town where Laughey found his "youth sample." The group was instructed "to see before being seen, to hear before being heard" and to secretly record as much as could be gleaned from the schools, factories, pubs and trams of a city so ordinary the Mass Observers renamed it "Workfown" in all their reports. Sifting through the findings, Laughey discovered that pre-war teens with jobraetualfy had more spare cash than their parents—enough for dance mags and gramophone records. Big-band jazz beat out any other music genre across aU ages and income brackets, and aH the hip kids Uved to go on "promenades." Given aU the spectacle of 1930s and 1940s youth cultures, Laughey concludes that they had more in common with youth cultures today than the counter-cultures of the 1960s and 1970s. Back in the dance-haH days, neo-Marxists like Theodor Adorno were first to point out that the new, mass-production pop machine could have, a positive social effect—records wera4£f"g§0in» access, remix and re-record. But, stuck in a dominance/resistance paradigm that assumes all youth culture aspires to be a fist against The Man, even guys Uke Adorno went off the rails. When Laughey quoted Adorno's tirade against jitterbugging, it smacks of the same moral panic you read in today's anti-hipster rants: "Their only excuse is that the term jitterbugs, Uke aH those in the unreal edifice of films and jazz, is hammered into them by the entrepreneurs to make them think that they are on the inside. Their ecstasy is without content... the ecstatic ritual betrays itself as pseudo-activity." . One bonus in Laughey's approach is the number of first-hand accounts he coUected. After a whack of theory, we hear from bus-riding, mall-shopping goths in 2006 and an unnamed man who told a Mass Observer in 1939 that "I occasionaUy attend a dance for the sole reason of showing the local society that my wife is desirable and attractive." The book has drawn flak for focusing on individuals and their Ustening habits. Laughey downplayed a few sticky questions, like why so many of the kids he spoke to divide pop genres into racial categories. And his biggest question—was 70s punk the last true "subculture"—goes unanswered. Those are dodges, but maybe forgiveable ones in a book that's clearly trying to inspire better, more evidence-based research into such questions. If you're a budding sociologist or extra keen on secretly observing and recording your feHow humans, Music & Youth Culture makes for good homework, ph Velievvs Jordie Yow keeps you up-to-di^^^^m^^^ind ISjWm ofVmmm^sJive music-e^w^^Sknts. If you were wondering what the ads in last month's issue crypticaHy stating the word "Venue" in last month's issue of Discorder were, wonder no more. Venue is what's going to be located at the newly renovated Plaza, With a whole new interior and new branding. "It's a complete renovation of the dub,* said Dax Droski, a representative "6t jiM Adelphia Group which wiU be running the new night spot. The new venue wiH be located in the exact same location on the Granville strip and is slotted for a mid-June opening. It wiH stiH be keeping up the practice of a weekend curfew, with any Uve shows ending at 10 p.m. tp kick off a Dj night that wiU be play-- """tt^^pBp, rock and retro" , with "bass heavy electro remixes." Droski said people who attended the shows would be welcome to -stick around and that the music wiH probably fit the tastes of concert goers a lot more than the previous R&B nights that shuffled people out the door at the Plaza. Mondl^fW Thursday wiH be concerts without curfews so audiences can expect to enjoy normal set times. The newly renovated Venue wiH be targeting a hipster crowd with the electro-pop outfit the Veronicas akeady booked for June 27. . With their sexed up ads and ironic name they may be trying a bit too hard to present themselves as "cool," but any effort to change GranviHe Street's image can't be aU bad. Ei- . ther way they're going to have an uphiU slog trying to convince hipsters to head back to GranviHe Street, especiaUy now that venues in East Van have buHt up foUowings. . Fans of Uve music in town wiH also be happy to note that Hoko Sushi and Karaoke Bar is going to be providing music once^. again in Vancouver. "Now I have a Uve music permit from the City and the ttquor board* said Jian Chao, a manager at Hoko's. "So I am very happy" Hoko's got into trouble in February when it was found that they had been operating for years without the proper permits for Uve music. They have since applied for the missing permit, and plan on being careful not to breach their midnight curfew or the City's strict noise bylaws. "We do not play loud music, like heavy metal," said Chao. She hopes the city witt allow for some leniency from those enforcing the bylaws, which (as we have noted before) are strict enough that almost every business open past 10 p.m. in Vancougar is breaking them almost everynight. ^jm& For a taste of what sort of music Hoko's wiH be booking, check out the Phantom Islands night, which is hosted by Jarrett Evarf§smj"t», son of Collapsing Opposites and Shipyanljg „ Little Mountain Studios cancelled a number of shows after receiving noise complaints during One Cool Word's Third Birthday. The - night was shut down early and a number of bands who had shows booked at the art gal- "Now I have a live music permit frorwthe City and the liquor liS5|tr said Jian Chao, a manager at Hoko's. "So I am very happy." lery/venue later in the month found themselves scrambling for a new place to play. Though things seem to have stabilized now, the venue is still closing ear|y to avoid further noise complaints and they have changed their Facebook group name to Little Mountain Oatta*y> which implies that they'll be focusing more on their role as an art gallery than a music venue in the future. What do Hoko's and Little Mountain have in common though? They're both some of the few venues in Vancouver that aHow music fans undo: the age of 19 to see music. If you're as annoyed at the lack of aU ages spaces in Vancouver then ydu may want to consider joining the Safe Amplification Site Society, "a non-profit society dedicated to establishing a permanent all-ages space for -music- and other arts events in Vancouver." "There's been a lot of problems with venues getting shut down in Vancouver, particularly aH ages venues," said Ryan McCormick, a director for SASS. The group is organizing to try and work with the city and poUce to provide a safe venue that underagers can attend. "We want & venue that's stable and att ages," said McCormick. The group is still looking for a site and plans to run it without liquor sales so they are hoping to get things going with government grants and donations from the pubUc. They're just getting started and looking for people who are interested in get- ting involved. To find out more about them check out their website at www.safeamp.org^W jiMe 2009■ , by Jordie Yow leardec r.^nt .man--tor ~B\£cfc\ Mountain. His music *Ohas "'helped put- Vancouver on the -radar of independent, music critics everywmro. He has been raise sir!:i albi :ri's as a side-project under the name |:^ink Mountaintops since<2Q04: It's a Uttle hit mete experimental, and asMcBear said in this interview, it's:a little more personal. McBean.chatted with Discorde\ via phone,from.'Switzerland about his newest album Outside L$ye, which is described in the press release as "ten songs of love and hate he. 'y ad like a Danielle Steele romance novel.'' _ .fev*/"\ $$M li Discorder: How's it going? ___$& SM: It's going pretty good. . 0 D: Are you in Switzerland right now? SM: We're in Switzerland, yeah. We're in Uke some big cement building that's leaking sewage. It smells awesome. D: What are you doing there? SM: I'm just going to play a show. D: Awesome. So I wanted to talk about your discorder magazine % new album Outside Love. Are you afb^^)ij«^ ieUe Steele fan? SM: [chuckles] I am in—I've never r&tffjrany of it, but if I picture what I think, IH six I "%bx\ a fan, but just a fan in sorta iny Jujiagm^ori. I always really Uked the covers. ThexFabio covers and stuff in the '80s and '^s^n^ke London Drugs and all mat stuff. £?\ D: So how do you imagine DanieUe Steele then to be if you've never read anya^J^? SM: Very poUtic, veiy romantic, v^y^fort?* art by Aisha Davidson D:Yeah. SM: Remember that song? It was kinda based f$lsi|&P on if LL Cool J wrote that song now and if he were never a rapper or an actor what he would write. I dunno something like that. D: So which "song on the album is based on that? SM: I'd say most of them. D: So how did LL Cool J have that influence? SM: WeU that's the thing, it's one of those songs that you think in your head. You know how things have kind of a grace period? After 15 or 20 years, like a fine wine or something, they age. They become better. It was kind of in the theory that that song throughout time became way more epic and beyond itself. As opposed to the original version which wasn't aU that good but it had it's merit. D: I'm just looking at the lyrics right jiow [reading off a lyrics website] "When I'm alone in my room sometimes I stare at the waU / And in the back of my mind I hear my conscience caU." SM: Yeah [chuckles] That's some deep shit. EspeciaUy for the time. LL Cool J, he's very masculine. He's a very big attractive man. But for him to go out on a limb after "Momma Gonna Knock You Out" and "Going Back To CaU" to puH that out of his hat was pretty brave for the time, I think. He coulda just stuck with what he was doing, but he decided to try a different thing. He decided to put his heart on his sleeve or on his Kangol [ed. The hat LL Cool J wore in the '80s was a Kangol.] Right out there. D: On this album ... you've got "Axis: Throne of Love." Is that a throwback to [your previous album] Axis of Evol. SM: WeU the original plan was Axis of Evol was supposed to be an EP and this album Outside Love was supposed to be called Axis: Thrones of Love, and the EP was supposed to come out and then six months later put out the album. But we never finished recording. Like a couple of the [songs] "And I Thank You" was recorded I guess three years ago. We did a bunch of stuff and never finished it. The Evol record just kinda became a short LP. It was my friend Steve Balogh. When we were working on Axis: Thrones of Love. He somehow came up with the term Axis of Evol. With this record there wasrftireaHy a plan to do a record, and then my friends Cory and Fiona, they got married and I was the best man and Sophie Trudeau from Montreal was the maid of honour. They were Uke, "You've gotta play a song together at the ceremony" and we were Uke, "OK." We actuaUy played "Closer to Heaven" [ed. The closing track on Outside Love.] at the wedding as soon as they did their vows. And then we got reaUy drunk and were Uke, "Hey, that's fun! We should make a record." [Sophie] came out to Vancou- ver, so it was a lot different than the other ones. It wasn't just "write the songs and record." A lot of the songs were lying around for a bunch i of years. Me and Sophie coHaborated on the arrangements. I guess while Black Mountain was touring, whenever I'd get home I'd record bits there. Like Jesse Sykes, I ran into her [on tour]. I was reaUy into that Sunn O))) record r that she sings on. So I was Uke "Do you want " toT&dbA&iMSWf_**iS)\ jyQu kpgiw—perfect love stories where every- thing happens in the right way and everything comes true. I don't know. D: So did you make a conscious (effortJijgjnake an album based onjfour idea of DanieUe Steele novels or is fl:«on$ething that came to be after you'd written some songs? r ffl SM: That was kinda later. The first thing was based on—you know the LL Cool Jr [song] "I Need Love"? ; D: Speaking of Black Mountain, how do you divide your time between Black Mountain and Pink Mountaintops. Does one take priority over the other? ~j_&% '■$% SM: I don't think that anything takes priority over the other in a heart way. ... Touring with Black Mountain is quite easy. Over the last couple years we've been offered some cool stuff. It just takes up most of our time. That's "the band" you know? It's the same five people and everyone else's other bands kind of have " LL Cool J, he's ven||§| masculine; He's a very Big attractive man. But for him to go out onS^||| -alimb after "Momma Gonna Knock You Quf' and "Going Back To Cali"| to pull that out of his ha|| was pretty brave for'XmM time I thinko a revolving cast ... It's always**hard to teU. I mean, when the first record came out a lot of stuff happened that we didn't think would happen. We were just basically being Uke, "I hope we can get through a thousand CDs." D: Just fo^peopje^ho h^e^(&rfp^3l^la£k Mountain, how would yoi^ayJPittk Moun taintops is different than Black Mountain? SM: It's different, especially more nowadays. Lyrically it's kinda different. With Black Mountain we're writing stuff for me and Amber [Webber] to sing either separately or together and that's just a different element And maybe it's a bit more theatrical. And with the Pink stuff it can be more personal. They are farther apart now, it makes things easier. There's still some stuff that well try with both bands. If it's a riff, it's definitely Black Mountain. If it's like "Oh that's a kiHer riff" than that's just kinda a given. For some reason Pink Mountaintops makes my feet move differently on stage. I always wear Vans when I play in Black Mountain, but for some reason Pink Mountaintops is more of a dress shoes kinda thing where you can flip your feet around and stuff, whereas Black Mountain is more soUd ground. D:oThafs interesting because when you look at the first Pink Mountaintops album, whichv J^alLabqut sex, lyricaUy at least, it seems that llSrik: Mountaintops has grown closer to Black ^l^pjSritf&f than it was back then..;. SM: With that record, it was just kinda "I'm gonna do this." No one was Ustening to us. I just turned 40. We stiU play some of those songs, but I played an instore the other day somewhere in the UK and I was going to play "I (Fuck) Mountains." But then these kids showed up and they were Hke seven. I can't— I'm not going to play that song in front of kids, I'm a responsible adult! WeH maybe not responsible, but a caring man. After awhile that would get pretty stupid r^ifty^quick, un- "I was going to pla$41|f (Fuck) Mountains." But theft these kids showed . up and they were like seven/t^n't^'m not going to piay that: song in front of kids, I'm MX:\ responsible adult!" • less you're Uke Christina [Martinez] from Boss Hog. She could do it forever. D: So what are you doing right now? Are you just touring in promotion of this album? SM: Yeah we're just touring ... I think the plan is this summer, to actuaHy be home. None of us have actually spent a whole summer in Vancouver in Hke five years. That's when you reaUy fid! in love with Vancouver, the city. I'm always there in November or January, February and it's aH grey and I'm Uke, "I fucking hate this place? We're going to try and write a whole bunch of Black Mountain stuff. ... Well be home in ... June, July, August so well get to go to the beach, ride our bikes, do all that fun stuff. D: I also wanted to talk about "HoUjfajRjK^E think it's the happiest song you'vee\"g wjiroenXc SM: I think it is. SM: I dunno. That's a pretty old song. I think the initial vocal take and the bongos and acoustic guitars—there was Uke seven of us at the Hive [Studios], this was maybe four years ago. It was me, Josh [Stevenson], Amber, Lindsay [Sung], Cory [Gangnes], Keith Parry, kinda a campfire thing. I think it was just a couple mics. It was probably written in Uke two minutes. It's just more a celebration of friends. You < always have one or two friends who are going through heartache or anything, financial crisis or their pet's died.... Whenever [you have] something bad happen in [your] Ufe you suddenly realize how many great friends you have that sometimes you take for granted. ... You end up going out for beers and you end up being Uke "Hey, do you Uke this band?" "Do you Uke that band?" "Oh, cool skate board," as opposed to reaUy talking Uke real humans, just communicatmg^jj|etty much sums it up with "Everyone I love deserves a hoUday in the sun" on the beach in Mexico or wherever. If they're into snow it could be the Antarctic or the Arctic. Bifffj^pne deserves happiness, even people I don't know. D: Is there anything else. yaU wanted to talk about beforef lfn§§i|EK^ j S£j|: I 4unno. I'm not good with final words. It's like saying goodbye. It's always hard. I usu-' aUy Uke to gypsy fade into the night ^ D: What's that song about? june 2009 art by Lindsey Hampton a With Glowing Hearts, We See Thee Rock by Dan Fumano Constantines stand out from most of their peers in the Pitchfork-approved, "major indie" world of rock music. They shun irony in favour of sincerity. In interviews, they're earnest and polite instead of flippant and aloof. And unlike too many of their contemporaries, they never come off as elitist. They are also Canadian. Canadianness is not unusual or uncommon in and of itself, since so many Canadian bands currently enjoy success and acclaim south of the border and elsewhere. But few bands seem as Canadian as the Cons. They have invoked Canadian geography and landmarks in their lyrics, recorded (with Canadian supergroup the Unintended) a spUt album of NeH Young and Gordon Light- foot covers, and—in case you needed soUd proof- named their third album Tournament of Hearts after Discorder's favourite curling tournament. Speaking in the Commodore's green room before their May 1 show, singer/guitarist Bryan Webb admitted that their home arid native land "definitely" has an influence their music, a straight-ahead, muscular brand of rock that blends the urgency and ethos of punk with classic rock sensibUities, folk influences and howled heart-on-sleeve lyrics. Webb explained, "For me, its just where we grew up. It's in how we play and how we act and how we are in pubUc, because that's where we grew up ... I'm inspired by the physical part of this country, and I love travelling across Canada, and when we're in the States or in Europe, I compare everything to travelling through Canada. It's a pretty nice country to drive through and the variety of landscape is pretty inspiring." Webb is hesitant, however, to describe this inspiration as patriotic. "No, not patriotic, reaHy. I don't rank Canada above other countries in any way, po- liticaUy or anything. Patriotism ^______ is such a loaded idea." Instead of patriotism or nationalism, Webb prefers to look at this inspiration as regionalism. "I Uke regionaUty in art and music and literature. It,gives a good perspective for the writing... Its just regionalism and sensitivity to one's surroundings... I think we would have been as sensitive to it if we were from Mexico or something." Pause for a moment to imagine a Mexican version "I'm inspired by the physical part of this country, and I love travelling across Canada." 8 discorder magazine % (jLos Constantinos!) belting out Mariachi- inspired rock. Awesome. Fittingly, then, Constantines were in Vancouver for* two nights in early May as part of a massive cross-Canada tour with their good friends, Winnipeg's the Weakerthans. The "RoUing Tundra Revue" took the two bands through more than 20 different Canadian cities, including several smaUer stops not often included on rock tours—Nanaimo, Kelowna, SackviUe, Regina, Whitehorse (two shows!) and Guelph, the coHege town in Southern Ontario where the Constantines first came together in 1999—with Webb and Steve Lambke both on vocals and guitar, DaUas Wehrle on bass and Doug MacGregor on drums. After a few years and an album as a four-piece, they brought keyboardist WiH Kidman into the fold, and this has been the Hneup ever since. Over March, April and May, the tour has given them some great opportunities to erijoy "some reaUy incredible experiences" Jn different parts of their beloved country. Webb told stories of campfires and canoeing in Cowichan Bay, seeing Neil Young play in Edmonton and flying in a Cessna 172 Skyhawk over the foothiUs of the Rockies near Calgary. The single- engine, four-seat Skyhawk is the very same aircraft that appears on the cover and liner notes of the Constantines' exceUent 2008 album, Kensington Heights, their fourth album so far and their first for their new label, Arts & Crafts. Webb explains that the move from Seat- tie-based Sub Pop to Toronto's Arts & Crafts was motivated by a desire to bring the business back to Canada, and have a sense of proximity and community with their label. "We had a great relationship with everyone at Sub Pop and we were reaHy inspired by everyone there, and obviously by the history of bands there," Webb said. "But the Arts & Crafts office is Uke a five minute walk from our rehearsal space in Toronto, and just being able to go out for a beer with the people that are handling your business is so much better than feeUng like they're far away? To commemorate the tour, the Constantines released a seven-song EP, intended as a companion piece to Kensington Heights. The EP, titled Too Slow for Love, includes stripped-down versions of a few Kensington Heights tracks, a couple of songs from earUer albums, plus a breathtakingly beautiful version of Jon Langford & the Sadjes' "Strange Birds." As-it turns out, the recording of Too Slow for Love came about through a connection With another beloved Canadian rock band— perhaps the most iconic and most Canadian of aH rock bands. "We were offered a chance to record at the TragicaUy Hip's studio, the Bathouse, near Kingston in Bath, Ontario. It was a beautiful house, like an old, LoyaUst-era house. They offered us the space to record for a weekend, and we thought it would be fun to just go, and record everything pretty much Uve off the floor. We had aU the amps in different rooms of the house, and we had this Uttle web of cords going into each room connects ing everybody. It was a reaUy nice experience, reaHy meHow and e'asy. I hope that the next record, we can structure the songs so they're meant to be recorded that way' "We had toured a bit with [the Hip], and^they were great people, reaUy kind and generous," Webb went on to explain. "Gord [Downie] actuaUy came in when we were mixing [Kensington Heights], curious to hear the new record and we started to talk to him about whether their studio was avaUable at aU in the next year, and they were reaHy into letting us use it." - Webb said it was a great way for five buddies to spend a weekend. "You can teU they've buflt itto be kind of a clubhouse, just a reaUy nice place to be for a long time. It was great to just hang out, play pool at night, go for a "Being able to go out for a beer with the people that are handling your business is so much better than feeling like they're far away" walk on the shore of Lake Ontario." Webb doesn't mention it, but along with a control room, vocal booth, premium analog and digital recording equipment, the Bathouse also boasts a hockey pond on the property. How Canadian. StiU, as much as the Constantines' music is informed and inspired by Canadian region- aUsm, its appeal is universal. There is good reason for the media's repeated references to the Clash, Fugazi, the Replacements and Bruce Springsteen as styUstic touchstones for the Cons. The music and lyrics of Cbn- stantines speak to the same universal emotions and urges as do the best songs by these classic acts, combining the youthful exuberance of the Clash, Fugazi s pounding rhythm section and punishing dual-guitar attack, the ramshackle charm of the Replacements and the common- man sensibiUties of the Boss. Such comparisons aren't meant to trivialize or beUttle Constantines' music, but to celebrate it. Like their musical forebears, this is the kind of music that kids (of any age) identify with and want to shout along to the choruses of. Over four albums and myriad tours, Constantines have buflt upon then- punk rock roots, adding incisive, Uterate lyrics and melodic songcraft, whue expanding the scope of punk. In addition to the anger, disenfranchisement and bitterness that are typicaUy the province of punk rockers, Constantines have made room for hope, consolation and love. And these five Southern Ontario boys made sure to keep room for campfires, canoeing and songs about Canada, tod. kK. VANCOUVER FOR IT EN FOR IT ■MENT ON IT _____m_\Wm u$£i^xTENsj^fMsfiwy^su^ UPfi§pfl MU^ii _Ll5fHJnS AVAIlABM-tCj,Mf'SJHI NSI\.E, COV1MUM%>' VICTORIA BC SKA SOCIETY PROUDLY PRESENTS Cxand Tiruda Gonca.tt. SeJLmdeu Uulu II THE MIGHTY MIGHTY B0SST0NES VOODOO GLOW SKULLS* ONE DROP*THE H00CHY GIRLS VICTORIA CURLING CLUB. ALL AGES, BEVERAGE GARDEN W/1D. DOORS 7PM. -latin. AUik't tASEVCttAWATACERA^TTQUnAMQCKfNGBfgPORCHCSTPfl SHIP POINT, (INNER HARBOUR). ALL AGES. BEVERAGE GARDEN WAD. DOORS 5PM. Ttidcui £xtrtt_*eujany__. Txidau yutu 10 THE SLACKERS %* CHRIS MURRAY* GEORGETOWN ORBITS &MW WOT' (INNER HARBOUR). ALL AGES. BEVERAGE GARDEN W/ID. DOORS 5 VW RUCGIEtO*CHWS MURRAY LUCKY BAR. 19+W/ID. DOORS 10PM. ^^«i«»^^ IQkaqeJt ■OftWzxi&rtu. ikvetuLsu Qulu 9 ffl JAH CUTTA W DETERMINATION SUBATOMIC SOUND SYSTEMHA SEVERA MATACERA ELEMENT. 19* W/ ID. DOORS 9PM. june 2009 Advertise with Discorder. We 11 treat you real nice, and give you a damn good deal. We will be switching formats for our July issue. Some of our new ad rates are as follows: Full page $500 * Quarter page $190 • Sixth page $145 • Sixteenth page $60 Full colour upon request for a mere $150 more If you advertise with both CiTR and Discorder you get a discount! So why not get an ad in both and reach peoples eyes and ears. Thirty 30 second slots on the air for just $300 or, sponsor your favourite show for $105 to $125 a month. Contact our ad manager at: promotions.discorder@gmail.com The Eyaporators/AfldrewW.K. split 7H Single oat Jane 23! . {Nardwuar / Mint Records) Four songs, Nuid vs. AWK interview jsnippet, measiye liner notes, and exclusive artwork by Miteh Ciem dJ pressed on white vinyl! Also available on iTnnes! www nardwuar com www.theevaporators,c»ni Release party action on Tuesday, June 23! Neptdon Records - 4pm The Biltmore - doors Spm free all ages kstore Andrew W.K, with special appearance by Andrew W.K.! with pests The Evaporators! ^«b #ttff"wy[ffl IMMACULATE MACHINE HIGH ON JACKSON HILL THE HANDSOME FAMILY HONEY MOON KELLARISSA mvspace.com/kellarissa 06/12 Secret Loft, Vancouver BC - Music Waste THE PACK A.D. thepackafterdeath.com ' 06/19 The Biltmore, - Vancouver BC THE HANDSOME FAMILY handsomefamily.com 07/18 The Biltmore, i MINT RECORDS KedCat , RELEASES ARE £*? ^fclj L AVAILABLE AT tMs wv^i|M «■ FINE RETAILERS RED CAT records scratch records zulu records I IISC TUCOCI 4307 MAIN 726 RICHARDS 1972 WEST 4TH LIKE IHCdt! 604-708-3422 604-687-6355 604-738-3232 mintrecordst 10 discorder magazine 1 Perfect Presents infected mushroom LIVE o SATURDAY JULY 4 f COMMODORE BALLROOM tickets mtawintwnaome^" £_■ 'ji* ORNOGRAPHERS RA RA RIOT JULY 2009 C COLISEUM ■Ml* mmm s ^ "a ij, |j g M B pf O NC 00 v] OS Vn *. 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J® IfsstlSI'li j *f *" J» ^ 5 •UMlf 3*13 ft ©?8 3* «!•?** (4 fi! ii j 3iilM R®§®4-® I I J" J i" Z& i „ § •5 (Sh * <8h/^ > y i i «.-« =3* 3* e s g t*2 >■: s s 11 § iM-Si i.<£ g ex 3 2 BS W B s 3 9 1 2 I a 1- SJfe Elk sr &. s ^ s" 1 I 8" ' O m 1 2 3 ilfipfimmimffiirifiiii iiisiiiii.r^si^s|f|i||||.1io§rg i-1' -> S^ S « ff I & H ■3- a a* Lived f$14" Lor less'i New studio album Available Now www. wasteyourday sa way. com www.myspace.com/hayden listenwatchplay flfYW Julie June 14th, Biltmore^^^t -:- Doors 8:00 p.m.-Show at 9:00 p.m. Tickets: $15.00 Ticketweb, Red Ga@B£.& Outpost amseventsubc.com Canada Trust Vancouver International Jazz Festival JUIIC 26-JULY 5 (OflSTflUOZLCft I800 musician 400 PtwoRMflncts 40 vtnuts COMMODORE BALLROOM June 26 . KING SUNNY ADE& HIS AFRICAN BEATS plus Kow Kanda June 28 ffiS JOSE GONZALEZ and NDIDI ONUKWULU June 30 AMON TOBIN and QUANTIC Amon Tobin BILTMORE CABARET June 26 BLUE KING BROWN June 27 ' ALICE RUSSELL June 28 j THE HEAVY June 29 %*& June 30 MARACA SALSA & LATIN JAZZ BAND Julyl THE SEA AND CAKE July2 FOND OF TIGERS W/MATS GUSTAFSSON and SECRET MOMMY QUARTET July 3 RASTRILLOS July 4 - RYAN SHAW Ryan Shaw 'imn___r» 6B4.28fl.4444 cgggezz 604.872.5200 coastal/azr June 2009 by Mel Mundell ||g If you're into ATM dance parties, being locked in a self- storage unit, meditating in an organ the size of a room, pirate-radio plays in the park, re-writing Vancouver's history or psychic readings of pizza crust with a vegan option, then you must have attended the life changing Signal & Noise festival, as I did this Apr. 23 to 26. If you didn't, I suggest you make a resolution to attend next year's festival, right now. Jeffery Allport At VIVO Media Arts Centre, ground zero for the ninth annual Signal & Noise festival, bikes were piled high out-front. They seemed to be greeted by the rhythmic cacophony of Stephan Schulz's Drumline, which was mounted to VTVO's front wall. Like a vocalized speed trap, three snare drums were triggered by the passing cars. Volunteers, signified by matching braided headbands, greeted me with screams and warnings saying, "You don't want to go in there." I'm still not sure if this was a joke, but strangely, the door was locked. Eventually someone left and I darted in, smiling back at the nervous volunteers. The main room was rushing with sound. People were pinned to the walls-and all the seats were taken. Three projected images raced, roared and fluctuated between sky and ground in a chase between deer and wolves, eagles and ravens—the hunters and the hunted. A live audio composition of a wild animal snuff score was taking place at the back, hidden in near darkness. The gallop of hooves, the wind rushing through feathers was too real and too loud. This was Hope and Prey, a fierce and majestic collaboration between Portland-based artists, composer Daniel Menche and filmmaker Vanessa Renwick. Menche, whose antics are as innovative and extreme as his sonic work, is well on his way to becoming this year's Signal & Noise comedic wiseman. He remarked that "people chase each other around in films all the time." So, he implied, why not watch animals do the same thing? The serene Renwick studied wolves and developed wolf and wild animal footage since the late 1990s. When asked about her work she recalled reaching a point and deciding, "I'm not going to go to schooL I'm going to make a film and hang out with wolf biologists." If you get a chance to witness her work, you'll be glad Event photos by Noel Begin she didn't pick the education route. One hour into Ryan Trecartin's film, I-Be Area, where virtual reality bought-out reality, I managed to tear my eyes from the screen, remembered I had a body that was inhabiting a room with other bodies, and turned to see people stumbling from their chairs, some never to return. At this point I broke into a paranoid sweat over who had spiked the wine with psychedelic drugs. I-Be Area reveals a hyper-cyber space divided into areas like, plots of purchased land. "Originals" and clones—as people in the audience called them—traipse around speaking in SMS [ed. Text messaging jargon.] It was like online social-networking gone berserk in a virtual high school popularity contest for identity where children are left in rooms screaming and people are moved to the desktop trash can. Chaos. One of the few moments of discernible plot in I-Be Area happened when a pregnant character revealed a target painted on her stomach. Removing the stuffing from herself, she screamed, calling it a "power prop." Menopausal lesbians in this movie can purchase children through Internet auction which gives them all the parenting power. In this, I-Be Area contains a social commentary and futuristic forecast, disguised as a hallucination, revealing a critique of heteronormality. After being immersed in the cyber-queer capitalism of I-Be Area, ironically, I wondered two things: How much does this area cost? And where can I buy it? The Mystic Pizza Occult Snack Den ambient room supplied Signal & Noise goers with an amber-lit refuge, as well as mystic healing. There were three pizza choices, including a Julia Roberts variety in honour of her role in the installation's namesake film, Mystic Pizza. This installation filled VIVO with the alluring aroma of pies magically produced by the Canadian born, but Portland-based artist couple, Helen Reed and Hannah Miami. According Reed, through the use of the "divine," psychic clues could be found in a patron's crusts and crumbs—all to the tune of a mystical mix-tape, which included darkwave artist Diamanda Galas. Patrons sat at one of three small round tables. The positioning of the crusts and crumbs on the plate, the crumb to crust ratio, the directional relationship between pizza eater and pizza, all inform the artist's psychic script. The pizza partners divined my crust by shaking up my plate's crumbs to the rhythms of an undisclosed question with impressive accuracy and attention at the end of a busy mystic-pie filled weekend—and all for a mere four dollars (including the vegan slice). It was, in truth, a mini-therapy session and nourishment for the body, spirit and eye. Jeffery Allport's solo percussion improvisation brought the main space—including the standers and wall-leaners—to an intense . breath-holding near-silence. The work was performed without the use of electronics, but rather with snare drums, mallets, rubber balls, cymbals, vibration and tuning forks. Most of Allport's instruments were acquired from the Sally Ann and a medical supply store, as opposed to Long & McQuade—a dreaded destination for the artist. Refreshing to the experimental music and noise-norm, Allport is a self-identified musician, although he said, "Some people wouldn't consider me one." Although the work felt more exploratory than realized at stages, Allport appeared to place emphasis on listening as opposed to playing, exposing his process, as well as his craft. "Science of Sound," the artist lecture featuring Allport, Sara Gold, Daniel Menche and Brady Marks as facilitator, explored the idea of capturing what was referred to by Marks as the "holy moment"—a place of cathartic connection, and even spirit, within improvisation. This holy moment in Allport's Signal & Noise performance was not only achieved, but was delicately transferred, leaving the ear renewed. Showcasing media artists at home and abroad in a presentation of new-tech contemporary work, Signal & Noise provided a view- finder into the current (and what we can either hope or dread is to come) realm of art, as well as in our interactions with media, technology, nature and each other. uy oaian ^uiuinyie) Ah, Music Waste. This is everything that's right about Vancouver in the summertime. Do yourself a favour: get a pass (it's a steal at $15), a bicycle to zip between venues, and check out as much as you can. You can even plot your route beforehand on the handy Google map available at www.musicwaste.ca along with a full event schedule. Here are our picks of the pack. June 9 Healthy Students | Hard Feelings | Tight Solid | Progressive Thinker @ The Cobalt Healthy Students are a hardcore outfit featuring Andy Dixon (of Secret Mommy, Winning, and a ton of other rad bands). The versatile-Mr. Dixon's been on a bit of a roll lately (last year's The Mice of Mt. Career is an excellent, excellent album), and with members of Taxes rounding out the band, Healthy Students are a pretty good bet. We have heard lots of positive things through the grapevine about the other bands on this lineup, especially about Hard Feelings, so put your money on this one, cause it's a sure winner. June 10 Sex Negatives | Totally Ripped | The Internet! | Shipyards | Ahna | Ejaculation Death Rattle | Boogie Monster | yellowthief @ The Cobalt It's noise night at the Cobalt! Some of the best examples of Vancouver's vaunted noise scene are on this bill: the largely improvisational Sex Negatives, the tremendously named Ejaculation Death Rattle, and some of the wildest drumming you'll ewer witness courtesy of Boogie Monster's Tony Dallas. You may want to pack earplugs to this one, or you're risking (possibly permanent) ear damage. On the other hand, isn't that what noise music is all about? illii^li June 11 Gang Violence | Animal Bodies | Makeout Videotape | Crystal Swells @ Honey Lounge Sarah Cordingley of Gang Violence said in an interview with Discorder, "We're dance, we're punk, we're electro and we're rock, but we're not any hyphenation of than." That pretty much sums up their sound, but they are also one of the best live bands in Vancouver. If you haven't seen them at one of their performances about town yet, it's well worth the effort They're still pretty enjoyable the second and third times around. Rob Andow and Bobby Siadat, who provide the non-vocal portion of the band, play a tight fast set that is mesmerizing to listen to when combined with Cordingley's powerful voice. Also worth mentioning are Makeout Videotape, a lo-fi garage outfit who sound Uke the UK invasion happening with Ariel Pink's production style. If they're as good as their Myspace, then they're worth showing up a bit early for. London Drugs | Haunted Beard | MT-401 Techromancer | Kidnapping @ The Biltmore Noisy electronic music all night long. With a dancy element in the form off the brilliandy named Techromancer, heavily processed experimental music from Haunted Beard, fuzzy Gameboy dance music from London Drugs (who literally program their music on Nintendo DSs) and screamy high energy keyboard-drum-machine combo MT-40, you won't be disappointed if you have any interest in the genre. Even though Sean Orr's Kidnapping is the exception to all the electronic music, they're solid musicians and a solid band—if you can get into Orr's voice. &20?e* June 12 White Lung | Modern Creatures | Nu Sensae | Needles & Pins @ The BUtmore White Lung's Local Garbage 7" was one of the best 45s of 2007, and they're still going strong. With Modern Creatures and Nu Sensae also on the bill, the night will be an Emergency Room (R.I.P.) reunion of sorts, and a noise-punk extravaganza not to be missed. In fact, you may as well just curl up on one of the Biltmore's plush banquettes after Thursday night's show to make sure you get a good spot for this one. Ghost Bees | Timber Timbre | Rose Melberg | Kellarissa | Ian Wyatt & Jasper Baydala @ Secret Loft If the punk, noise and rock of Music Waste is a Uttle bit too intense for you, then you may want to check this night out for its more low-key Uneup. Local Mint artists Rose Melberg and Kellarissa always give beautiful performances and out-of- towners like Ghost Bees and Timber Timbre are a bargain at the five dollar cover (or less if you get a pass) to get in. \ June 13 Japandroids | Hermetic | World Club None @ The Biltmore Japandroids have been staring at us off what seems like the cover of every magazine in town this month. These local buzz kids have been Discorder faves for awhile now and this show, \ fresh off the celebrity of their new album, wiU be deservedly packed. Showing up early to make sure you get into the Biltmore won't be a waste of time. Shindig winners Hermetic give an excellent performance and the rumour miU teUs us World Club None had the panel of judges for Music Waste buzzing. Twin Crystals j Vapid | Pompoir | No L. A. Kill @ The Astoria This one's a no-brainer. Consistently one of Vancouver's best Uve acts, Twin Crystals are a sure bet for Music Waste excellence. And as for Vapid, if the idea of noisy, energetic punk excites you even a Uttle bit, it would be best if you didn't miss them. Since the Japandroids show at the Biltmore starts early, there should be plenty of time for you to hop on your bike and coast gently down into Strathcona to catch this show. Don't forget your helmet! No Gold I Certain Breeds | Role Mach @ Funky Winkerbeans These bands don't have a lot in common musically. The rhythmic No Gold [ed. Seepage 18 for more] wiU be headlining for the no-nonsense no wave outfit Certain Breeds and the epic psychedeUc barrage that is provided by the seemingly endless army of players in Role Mach. That said, each of these bands do have one thing in common: the ability to put on a soUd performance and entertain a crowd. This night is in collaboration with No More Strangers, so expect dancing when the bands wrap up. Comedy Waste: Do you Uke comedy? Yes, you do! And you're lucky, too, because this year's edition of Music Waste includes a healthy dose of the funny stuff. Local sketch comedy acts like Bronx Cheer, Manhussy and the Sunday Service will be joined by the video production team Weekend Leisure as well as a contingent from Vancouver's Uvery improv comedy scene. You'U laugh, you'll cry, etc. Do it! Art Waste: The Waste franchise has also decided to expand into the world of visual art, displaying not only the art of local musicians such as Ben Jacques (Haunted Beard), Andrea Lukic (Nu Sensae) and Justin Gradin (Sex Negatives, Mutators), but also the art of people known about town for being artists of the non-musical variety. The exhibitions wiU be taking place throughout the city. Going to see them is a great thing to do before heading to check out some bands if you don't fed like pre-drinking. Check www.musicwaste.ca for more details and listings. "O. Kidnapping NO Sensae june 2009 17 by Aaron Goldsman While smiling through the vertical bars of a rather imposing gate in Strathcona, Liam Buder, bass player and vocaUst for local band No Gold, unlocked the entryway and led me to a small courtyard between two houses. Buder shares the one farther from the street with his two band mates, guitar player Jack Jutson and drummer Haley Pearse, who were poring over a large cookbook on the kitchen table as we walked into the house. This thick volume with tiny type is called The New . Best Recipe. "Our bible," Jutson told me as he closed the book and put it aside. "It's got everything." He went on to extol the virtues of the book (which did sound pretty comprehensive) in what remains of his Australian accent Jutson left Sydney for Vancouver with his family just days after finishing high school because his dad took a yacht-designing job in the city. He met Buder a few years later, in 2005, and the two have been hanging out and making music ever since. They met appropriately enough, when they both found themselves on the wrong side of the tracks at the Commercial Skytrain station, trying to make their way out to the suburbs. As Buder remembered it he saw Jutson and thought, "This guy kind of looks Uke he would know what he is doing, so I'm just going to follow his lead." Jutson had the same idea, and pretty soon they were both lost "A couple of hours later, we were in a burger line-up together," Buder said, laughing. Pretty soon they had started a band called Yukon that after a series of radical transformations—including the addition of Pearse, a high school friend of Butter's—became No Gold in early 2007. Since then, No Gold has been a near-constant presence in the Vancouver music scene, playing countiess shows in different venues across the city. Their loud, tropically-inflected take on dance pop is unlike most other music being made in the city and the intense energy of their shows has kept their audiences 18 discorder magazine % coming back for more. When asked about their unique sound, the band seems as pleasantiy surprised as any member of their audience. "We aH come from different influences, what we reaUy like to - Usten to and stuff. The style that we've developed comes from playing our individual instruments, then getting into a room, drinking some beers, sweating a lot and then whatever comes out, comes out. As long as it sounds good to us, that's what we'U play? said Buder. Looking to bis band mates for confirmation, Buder shrugged and said, "There was never any specific intent on building a sound. It just sort of came out." " TBS"1oose collaborative process can be felt in their Uve sets, where the band is open to experimentation on stage. "A song, for us, is reaUy just a sort of structure to work within, rather than something carefully worked out that you just sort of repeat on stage," said Pearse. "the sOng gives us guidelines, but that's it." The result is the sort of dynamic interaction between them and the crowd that the band aims for. Ultimately, they seem to be less concerned about their precise sound and more about the energy they're able to estabUsh in the room with their audience. And as far as No Gold is concerned, you can't find a better city than Vancouver for their kind of show. While we may hear no end to the complaints about how hard it is here for bands, with what seems to amount to an open war against independent Uve music venues being waged by the city, the guys are rather upbeat about the whole situation. "There are people who are willing to put a whole lot of effort into [the music scene in] this fucking crazy city," said Buder, and that seems to make all the difference. "There are a lot of people who want to go to shows and dance in Vancouver, so people are always going to make venues out of non-venues, figure out weird shit in basements, or whatever else needs to happen." The guys actually prefer a makeshift venue to a more legitimate one, because it lets them focus on what they Uke best about making music. A high-tech sound system generally leaves them wrapped up in specifics, but basements and dive bars let the band relax. "In places that are less technically advanced, I don't give a shit and all I see are the people in front of me having fun," said Buder. To make things work, sometimes you have to make compromises, an idea the band seems to like. ., "Making concessions is definitely part of the appeal, and I think that as a band, an analogy between us and a concession stand, I likel," said Pearse. "Pretty accurate I think. We're just giving people hot dogs and popcorn." The band currendy has plans to set up their concession stand in record stores, with a debut LP tentatively slated for release in the faU. After losing their practice space when the Emergency Room was closed at the end of last year, Buder's dad offered the band his freestanding single car garage so long as they left room for his gardening tools. Pearse is now putting the finishing touches on their new soundproofed studio, a project they aU consider a great success—considering he did it with no experience or training other than some 1970s handbooks on acoustics he found at the VPL. The guys are looking forward to taking their time in the studio, finding a way of translating their sound from thcstage to a record. "We're going to have to make a hobby of recording before we get to a finished recording," Pearse admitted. Jutson nodded, adding, "it's going to be a longer process than just writing some songs and going into the studio and recording them in a couple of weeks. It'U be sort of slower. Well take time to try things out and I think in the end it'U be better." Their label, UnfamiUar Records, is behind them 100 per cent on the project, and is giving them as much leeway as they need. "It's pretty weirdly ideal," Biitier said. "I don't know how we stumbled into it" This summer, when they re not slaving away in their new studio, the band plans on spending as much time as possible out at cabins of friends and family. They just got back from a week at Pearse's family's cabin on Lasqueti Island, which is apparently overrun with feral sheep. After offering this bit of trivia, Jutson paused and said, "We actuaUy have One in the freezer right nowr At this point Pearse—who has been flipping through a cookbook on Indian food for the last ten minutes or so—looks up to teU us he's trying to find a recipe for lamb samosas. Taking this as a cue that the interview is over, Butler hefted a pot of gazpadio outof the refrigerator and began ladling it into bowls with generous doUops of homemade hot sauce. After handing me a spoon, he told me, "I hope you Uke it spicy." It tasted pretty good. 22 discorder rri^Mne % Green Go Borders (Pheromone Recordings) Recording a debut album seems Uke an incredibly stressful ordeal. You have to work out a coherent sound that embodies the Uve act you were before entering the studio and carry it through the whole record without exhausting itself. Add the extra pressure of the inevitable make-it-or-breakrit stance that a first album often carries, and ifs a wonder people get around to making that first record at all. Although these anxieties logically would have had to fall on the members of Guelph party band Green Go, their debut record shows few signs of any stumbling trepidation. Perhaps it's the conservatory training of the band's fronting duo, Ferenc Stenton and Jessica ToUefsen, or the confidence of a band that has reached a sort of hometown hero status with a reputation for insane Uve shows. In either case, Borders sounds Uke the work of a band that knows exacuy what it wants and has the experience to do it Specifically, they seem to want to make you dance. And though the obligatory skittery new-wave drums and lunar synths are present here in abundance, Borders does not sound Uke yet another rehearsal of the current '80s dance revival. Competentiy moving through various iterations of post-punk, electro-pop and funk while still retaining a crisp, polished and unified sound, the record offers a style that, though familiar, is engaging from start to finish. —Aaron Goldsman wSs^Aia Hanne Hukkelberg Blood From a Stone (Nettwerk) Originating from Kongsberg, Norway, Hanne Hukkelberg has been making music and testing out her vocal capabilities from the ripe old age of three. Performing with an ever- expanding cast of friends and accompUshed musicians, Blood From a Stone is Hukkelberg's third release as a solo artist Listening to the disc, one can certainly detect Hanne's early punk/noise roots, and Jier assimilation into a scene that championed d\i.y. noise and experimentation over musical uniformity. Like the songs from Cocteau Twins, Joanna Newsom or Coco Rosie, Hukkelberg's music has a distinctly ethereal quaUty. It captivates and entices, transporting the Ustener through a series of dark, foreboding and enchanted spaces. Blood From a Stone certainly lends itsetf to the majesty and grace of Hukkelberg's voice. If the world is a stone, Hukkelberg is the crimson blood that spills forth from it—unapologetic, whimsical, and brimming with emotion and depth. Hukkelberg's music offers a cathartic diversion from the humdrum of the everyday as it creates a space to engage in fantasy, and acts as a medium for ecstatic, unadulterated" feeling. Drawing inspiration from bands Uke Einsturzende Neubauten and Sonde Youth, Hukkelberg utilizes everything from kitchen utensils to clacking type writers, flag poles, shrieking sea gulls and purring cats, to weave a unique and poignant miasma of textured, layered and ambient sounds. —Amy Scott-Samuel - Jason Lytle Yours Truly, the Commuter (ANTI-) Yours Truty, ihe Commuter is a solo album in the truest sense of the word. Former Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytie played all of the instruments on this debut disc, written and recorded in his adopted home of Bozeman, Montana. Based on the evidence here, moving to smaU-town America hasn't done much to improve his mood, since the album is heavy on weighty ballads and wounded, sorrowful lyrics, "I may be limping, but I'm coming home," Lytie sings on the tide track; I'm not sure exacdy what injury he's referring to, but I'm guessing he's not talking about his leg. Lytie sings in a thin, nasal drawl—it's not unpleasant to Usten to, but it has a tendency to sound a Utde weak when paired with muscular arrangements, such as on the fuzzed-out "It's the Weekend." His voice fairs better on the sombre acoustic numbers, especiaUy when fleshed out with lush harmonies and subde electronic flourishes. There are echoes of Elliott Smith in the heartbreaking "I Am Lost (and the Moment Cannot Last)," a reverb- soaked piano waltz with ghosdy backing vocals and a waU of synth strings. As is the case on much of Yours Truly, the Commuter, die . pathos is laid on a Utde thick, but the lush in- . strumentation and sharp melodies prevent it from ever sounding too bleak. lljKSls —Alex Hudson Leverton Fox Country Dances (Gravid Hands) On their debut album, Leverton Fax devise surprisingly cohesive arrangements that remain true to their clearly experimental and improvisational roots. Country Dances can be summarized as the band's first few identity crises wrapped in a tidy package, as it compiles and sets out to blend a variety of electronic and organic sounds into a psychedeUc, avant-jazz experiment Songs Uke the gtitchy, low end grumbler "Rubbed Out," die haunted-basement-dwelling "Radar Remote," and the cavernous "Vulpecu- la" are all dripping with cosmic mud and help send the album into darker, more evocative realms. The hazy "N4 Comedown" and album standout "Spectre & Wagon" are among some of the album's more subdued songs that focus on intermittent jazz-style percussion and echoing trumpet augmented by thin layers of gritty feedback, swirling synthesizers and samples from field recordings. It is these songs that prove the band's akeady ambitious approach to musical catharsis. In comparison, tracks Uke "Prang" and "Uncle Jack" seem sUghdy juvenile and atmospherically misplaced due to their simplicity. The more complex layering on the album allow for the band's improvisational qualities to fully exert themselves and while its occasional rigidity certainly leave more to be desired, the album finds, for brief moments, a loose identity within : its semi- viscuous layers of sound. —Chad Thiessen Moll Flanders If You Cant Understand What You Don't Understand It's Not Easy (Crying Bob Records) Pop/rock sextet MoU Flanders hail from Sweden but sings exclusively in English, presum ably hoping to break through to the same worldwide market enjoyed by feUow country-' men Peter, Bjorn & John and the Knife. Unfortunately, the band's grasp on the language isn't quite strong enough to make it work. The inexpUcable album tide could almost he forgiven, but the clunky lyrics are impossible to ignore—most of the songs contain simpUstic rhyme schemes and awkward syntax. "Friday Mght" features the danger "Maybe visit MySpace online / But my computer sucks, HI take a nap." Worst of aU, the tune's sombre deUvery makes it impossible to tell if it's a joke. Nevertheless, the band has enough musical ideas to make the album entertaining, if occasionaUy frustrating. "La La La" is a hypnotic new wave groove, brought to Ufe by rich vocal harmonies and gorgeously chiming guitar breaks. "Valentino" is similarly infectious, with a joyous keyboard riff set against a stomping beat and lush saxophone flourishes. "Fading Away" even features sections of a cappeUa vocals, simultaneously bringing to mind die Beach Boys and a barbershop quartet. Ignore the lyrics and you could swear that the band was going to be the next big Swedish export. —Alex Hudson Rat Silo Doubleplusungood (Independent) Jim Newton, a Vancouverite whose previous band, Sons of Freedom, received critical notice in the late '80s and early '90s, is die creative force behind pop/rock band Rat Silo. After a 12 year hiatus from the music industry, Jim has assembled a crack band of industry veterans—including members of Jakalope, Numb, 54-40, SNFU and the Tainted Lovers—to re- cord Doubleplusungood. The album shows aH the signs of a guy who has returned to making music for me right reasons: he's good at it and he loves it And at this point in his career, Newton's not going to puU his punches, and has earned the right to teU it like it is, as opening rocker "Oh, Fuck Off Tony" sardonicaUy demonstrates. But if this is a man who casts a weary eye at the world ("I Blame It On Your Momma" and "Jiggle My Wiggle"), he has come out with his optimism (mosdy) intact, an achievement in itself, which he celebrates on "Shiny Light" He has also not lost his capacity to love, which expresses itself in wonder and gratitude for relationships on "Hello Beautiful Girl" and "Candy Let Your Hair Hang Down." The songs are unpretentiously simple in both composition and arrangement and while this approach can make for music that occasionaUy sounds famiUar, the essence of this music lies in its spirit, not innovation. Hopefully that's something that music fans can still be grateful for. —Jonathan Evans Rock Plaza Central At The Moment Of Our Most Needing (Paperbag Records) Sometimes an artist creates simply out of the need to express, not expecting people to take the time to notice let alone appreciate their work Such was the case when Rock Plaza Central released 2007's Are We Not Horses; an album that quickly gained in popularity and allowed for some very favourable reviews and lip service from industry biggies, such as Roll ing Stone and Pitchfork. At The Moment Of Our Most Needing is the fourth release by Rock Plaza Central. Largely inspired by die William Faulkner novel Light In August and described by founder/singer/ noveUst Chris Eaton as a sort of love song to one of the novel's central characters, the album can be best described as a journey. But it's hard not to be intrigued even a Utde bit by RPC's music that sounds as if it has been written and recorded by sUghdy crazed and terribly drunk hiUbiUy rockers with a penchant for Neutral Milk Hotel, Songs: Ohia and Thee Silver Mount Zion Orchestra. Songs Uke "A Mule on Fire" and "The Hot Blind Earth" show influences steeped in big rock while "The Wrong Side of the Right" sounds as if it could have been recorded with deep '30s American folk music in mind. This is not your typical album. Highly inventive, intelUgent and fon to Usten to, At The Moment Of Our Most Needing will stick to you tike glue and is indeed a journey that you wiU not soon forget —Nathan Pikr ^ 0 iffciti f Gf#ENG0| jpfcj June 2009 23 •J THE WELL NOURISHED STEREO Zulu's easy plan far better sine living. DEERHUNTER Rainwater Exchange CDEP FIELD Yesterday And Today CD The fearsome and fearless Atlanta foursome come back with another shot to the head. Certainly not a group to rest on their laurels, Deerhunter delivers five new tracks on this extended play. This is not some stop-gap release between albums, or mere leftovers from their most recent Microcastle album, but an all new session. The band loves the EP format and thinks it does not get the respect it deserves. Hell, some bands arguably \»?ork best in the EP format (think Cocteau Twins or My Steady Valentine), and now maybe we should add Deerhunter to that list. That's certainly not to say their albums aren't great, but with 2007 s Fluorescent Grey EP and this new one. a lucid argument can be made that minute for minute, and hook for hook, their two EP's can't be matched for visceral energy and pop smarts. CDEP 10.98 SONIC YOUTH Hie Eternal CD/2LP Aside from their perennial role as tastemakers and curators of the underground, Sonic Youth's business since their kind-of-comeback with 2002's Murray Street has been the delivery of solidly excellent art-rock albums to stoke your summertime. With The Eternal, their first album for mega-indie Matador since leaving Geffen, they're bringing those two jobs together: every song here is a subtle homage to the artists and musicians that SY finds eternally inspiring: you can hear sonic echoes of or riff-citations from the Dead C, Neu!, Kevin Ayers, Sonic's Rendezvous Sand and the Winers. Even the artwork is homage: it's a painting by the late John Fahey. The band is also back up to a quintet: following Jim O'Roiirke's departure, Pavement Free Kitten bassist Mark Iboid has joined up as a full-time member. The Eternal also features the first- ever instance of Kim, Thurston, and Lee all singing on the same song. If you didn't take advantage of the "Buy early, get now" deal, you can pick up the album June 9f. CD 16.98 2LP 27.98 AUREVOIR SIMONE Still Night, Still Ught CD Field is Axel Wiltner. and his last album, From Here We So Sublime, was one of the most acclaimed releases ot 2007, receiving a 9.0 on Pitchfork and universal praise. It was arsoundtrack to the spit-shined airport of your dreams - faceless, futuristic, and fuzzy. You could dance to it, sleep to it, or daydream to it: it's a versatile little album. Wow, Winner's label, Kompakt, has teamed witlnANTI- to release his anticipated follow-up, Yesterday And Today. On the new album, Winner expands his palette, continuing the oblique sampling strategy of From Here We Go Sublime while building up the rhythmic architecture; on the title track, Willner collaborates forthe first time with Battles drummer John Stanier. Since startling the world with From Here We Go - Sublime, Willner has been much in demand as a remixer, with tracks from Them Yorke to Battles to Maps raising his profile, so that now legions are gathered, in that spit-shined terminal, waiting for their blissed-out departure. CD 16.98 JASON LYTH Yours Truly, The Commuter CD it*' After 15 years at the helm of Grandaddy - the Modesto, California ouintet whose celebrated five-album run started as a project i„ _ Jason Lytie's bedroom and took him t,^*t*Sl^^w*lfr*'s^ a QQ "J fiQft around the world - Jason lytie returns with a new collection of songs that are at once a continuation of and elaboration on the musica! and lyrical ideas he explored in that band. The title - Yours Truly, DIRTY PROJECTORS The Commuter - tells it all: songs about the treks we all make, from one state to another, from inner lives to outer, and the tolls those travels take. Musically, the dreamy soundscapes mirror the dramatic environment of Lytie's newly-adopted Montana, where tne record was written and recorded, while the twang of centra! California farmland remains in the inflection and phrasings of the Modesto native's urmjfsfakabie voice. Electronic flourishes collide with acoustic guitars and soulful piano parts, recreating Lytie's signature electro-lo-fi atmospheres. "I wrote all the songs, I engineered the whole thing, I recorded it, I played all the instruments - this is what I do," says Au Revoir Simone epitomize innocent beauty: a band of three tall, graceful Brooklyn brunettes (they could be sisters, but they aren't) who play sweet yet sophisticated synth-pop, setting their hushed vocal harmonies against layered lunar textures and the electronic heartbeat of an analog drum machine. Thoughtful but unpretentious, they are a pretty cotton sundress in a world of nylon and neon. Like Cocorosie minus the fake blood and beaded headdresses, An Revoir Simone are pure charm with a casio keyboard, ali clean lines and classic si They've slowly stolen hearts over the course of two albums, to the point where number three arrives weighted with considerable buzz and anticipation, but not to fear: Still Mght, Still Light is brightly coloured hot air balloon, and its going up. up. ..UP! CD 16.98 IRON AND WINE Around Tne Well CD tracks collected on Around the Well span from iron ami Wine's earnest sessions which yielded the band's debut (2002's The Creek Drank the Cradle} through material recorded for 2007's The Shepherd's Dog. The double-disc collection is broken up into two sections. The first hatf js an assortment of hushed home retsrdings, unedited and raw, and the second highlights moments captured in the confines of proper studios with the help of other musicians, friends and engineers. The album's title comes from a line in the song "The Ti Swinger, a fan favorite which was written for and included in the'movie In Good Company. Three more songs written and recorded for the film finally make their appearance here as well: "Belated Promise Ring,* "Sod Matte the Automobile' and Homeward, These Shoes." ftround the Weil also brings together hard to find covers such as The Flaming Lips' "Waitin* for a Superman and New Order's "Loire Vigilantes," along with one of Iron and Wine's earliest originals, "Sacred Vision," which appeared on a compilation for Sound Collector magazine. Thetr Wine BUSDRIVER Jhelli Beam CD ipa^l A dashing young figure in the Los Angeles underground hip hop scene. Busdriver returns with his ' latest, Jhelli Beam - both smart and smart-ass, theatrical without J being pompous, and. as always, funny as hell. SB's tegendarily breath-defying flow teeters precariously on top of samples of classical music, jazz drumming and proggy guitar parts, without ever losing sight of the electronic music that helped dearie Ms sound, erttftralted fans and stood out from the soggy beats that vwsjghed down much of his contemporaries' work. Sound schizophrenic? It's not. And as usual, Busdriver has some heavy friends to help out: legendary underground battle rapper Nocando guests on a classically witty Busdriver track least Favorite Rapper" while Islands' preco- -. cious Mick Thorburn s influence can be heard on an almost ELO-fla- vored song Happy Insider." The sum of Jhelli Bean's seemingly disparate parts creates a record that Is mindfully engaging and booty shaking at the same time - a wholly unique take on what an underground hip-hop album snouStbe. "= CD 16.98 TYVHC s/tCQ/LP FoBowing a gaggle of seven-inches for goose-y labels such as X!. What's Your Rupture?, S-S, and M'Lady's Records, Detroit's noisy darlings, Tyvek. deliver a tong-pfe^er that coujdn't make Siltbreeze happier were the colonel slathered in foie gras and seared to a crisp. The details of this release have been a closely- guarded secret, but if you saw the band in '08, some of these jams might ring a bell. Combining an uncanny channeling of The Urinate and early Mekons, Tyvek drops jaws to floors with solid acorns of repetitive punk/pop numbeTsllaftKGeme oaks almost instanta* r neously. The inclusion of Damon (a.k.a. Teets of Puffy Areolas) brings in another sorric dimension and suddenly the band's set « - veers into a Velvet Underground-by-way-of-The Feelies stratos- - phere. Here you'll find a mixture of both, the blend of two perfect worlds. Practically a year in the maJorig, ftis baby is worth every second of the wait. Lytte, and we are glad he's taking passengers on this journey. CD 16.98 THEVASEUNES Enter The Vaselines 2CD The Vaselines have long been celebrated by musicians and music enthusiasts across genres and across the globe, including super-fan Kurt Cobain Sub Pop's May 5 release Qf Enter The Vaselines is an opportunity for those already familiar with the Scottish bands brief career to delve deeper into their body of work, while those new to their music can experience firsthand why so many hold them in such high regard. This new collection is effectively a deluxe-edition reissue of the 1992 Sub Pop release "«wrw.subpop.com/relea^s/me^va»lirHK/fulUengths /the_way_ofJhft_vase1ines/" The Way of The Vaselines, which compiled the band's two EPs (Soa-of a Gun and Dying for It) and their sole LP release (Oum-Dum). Enter The Vaselines is the definitive triple LP/doubie CD Vaselines collection. It includes new mixes and re-mastered versions of everything by The Vaselines, plus never- before-heard demos, and live recordings from 1986~in Bristol and 1988 in London. Bitte Circa CD It's hard to overestimate tha magnitude of this release. Over many years and several releases, Dave Longstreth has proven his restless, quixotic genius with cross-pollinated genre experiments, unconventional song structures, and an ambitious, high-concept approach to indie rock. While often difficult, his songs have always had a core of raw emotion and overreaching passion,.hinting at " potential for a major statement, a rapturous breakthrough. Last year's Rise Above was a landmark release for the projectors: still fuelled by a strange concept (Stack Flag song reconstructed from memory), it introduced a new, soukous-flavoured guitar style and a higher level of collaboration with Longstreth's now-solid bartdlhat made for their most powerful and accessible record.'Bitte Srca sees them taking it to the next level: everything they've ever done, done better, just songs, a pure album, radiant, beattttfuJ, sublime, spiralling, snaking, and ttMBftiBg;. No indie rock band right now is more inventive, more vital. This is artful, abstract soul in the tradition of Prince and the Talking Heads. Essential. AVAILABLE JUNE 9th CD 16.98 Even more for your... 2CD 16.98 JAPANDROIDS fflfflZLY BEAR -veckatimest CO/LP VIVA VOCE-RoseCity CD DAVE AUM - And the Guilty Women CO PALE Alfl SINGERS-sA CO t NEKO CASE-Middle Cyclone CD DUCWMS-sA :sj& BLANK DOGS -Under ami Under CO/LP IMP - The World in Your Eyes CD LOOP-Gilded Eternity CD SIR RICHARD BISHOP -The Freak of Araby CO/LP BAC*ORET!l-My Electric Family CD MT.EBffi-Lhre in Copenhagen 3LP BLACKOUT BEACH -Skin Of Evil LP SIX FiMGERSATELITTE- Half Control CD/IP BLACK MOTH SUPERRAINBOW -Eating Us CO/LP MAGNETO FBDS -69 Lave Songs 6x10" LP THINK ABOUT UFE-Family CD vIEUXFARKATOURE-FondoCO VARIOUS- Nicola Conte Presents Viagem 2 CD BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE -The Smoking AcidCQEP T^p PAUL mum - Just a Dream CD/DVD You've seen them on Pitchfork, you've seen them on the cover of | Exclaim! and 77w Georgia Straight and if you've been out and about, you've probably seen them rocking the collective socks off various venues in town for the last couple. years. You might even have their Lullaby Death Jams album or All Lies EP. Well, folks, this here is the full-length (vinyl-only, 'cuz that's , how. things are going these days), arriving with a fanfare, clouds parting, and ray of light the day of Japandroids is at hand. Vancouver's most powerful power duo are taking their maximal teen- angst garage-pop to tne world, and the world is loving it. No Fun - City, meet your new heroes. They're fun dudes. You'U like them. CD/LP 16.98 LP 14.98 Sale prices in effect until June 30,2009 ZULU NEWS: JU»1* •n SUPpOlt Of mm ntSBt MM* am HOUR! Zulu Records supports SORiG tOUf FSIIl! In fact we want to give away a couple of passes for two to take in ■ Calgary's SLED IStANBFESTIVM. June 24-27 to se Liars, Women, Woodhands, Tricky Woo, The "Breeders, Obits, Anvil, The Coathangers, HEALTK The King Khan & BBQ Show, The Evaporators, Mount Eerie, Hot Liffle Rocket The Pack A.D., Sub-linguals, Githead, Final Fantasy, The Rural Alberta Advantage, The Whitsundays, The Dead Science, Andrew W.K., Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir, Novillero, The Bronx, Nardwuar*s Video Vault, Slim Twig, Quintrop and Miss Pussycat, O'Death. Monotonix, Jonathan Toubin, Malajube, Ladyhawk, Library Voices, Hollerado, Japandroids, The Cripple Creek Fairies, Holy Fuck. Battle Snakes. SEE-STORE FOR FULL DETAILS!! kJllSIl ZULU ART NEWS: JUNE 1-30 these are moments: part 1 drawings and screenprints for the past, present, and future by alanna scott Zulu Records 1972-1976 W 4th Ave Vancouver BC tel 604.738.3232 \rV\rvw.zulurecords.com STORE HOURS Mon to Wed 10:30-7:00 Thurs and Fri 10:30-9:00 Sat 9=30-6:30