Halifax Pop Explosion | Day 2

The Got To Get Got (courtesy of TheCoast's flickr photo-pool)

You'll notice there's no Day 1...because I didn't actually go. I have a festival pass, which I mistakenly bought in the summer, thinking I'd take in a ton of shows and that it'd totally be worth it. Wrong. When I looked at the pricing of the shows I actually wanted to see, as well as be able to physically attend, I would've been much better off just buying advance tickets to those performances. But whatever, it's my first HPX, and I'll learn for next year. As for why I didn't go to Day 1, featuring California's Crystal Antlers? Midterms. Yay.

But luckily, I only have about 2.5 days of school a week, and booked all my nights off from work so that I could catch as many shows as possible. Last night, that included stops at both craptastic Toothy Moose and the semi-legendary Paragon Theatre (more legitimately legendary as The Marquee Club, which is what it used to be known and run as). Of course, there were acts playing at other places that I also wanted to see, like the above-pictured Got To Get Got at The Seahorse, but even though the proximity of the venues was convenient, the set times certainly weren't. So my night went as follows:

Hannah Georgas | @ The Toothy Moose: I've heard some of Hannah's stuff both on CBC Radio 3 and on her own myspace page as well. She comes off as held-back and acoustic for the most part...both of which certainly weren't on display last night. She had what I soon found out was Said The Whale's backing band playing with her, so her one-woman act fleshed out into an ensemble featuring the pretty Hannah on guitar, as well as the cutest girl on keyboards, a drummer who looked all of 10 years old, and a pretty nondescript bassist (though they usually are, aren't they?). The overall effect was definitely an upgrade over many of the recordings I'd heard of Georgas'.

She has a great voice off the get-go, and an awesome stage presence, commanding attention and exuding confidence. Last night she was rocking an old-school wolf shirt too, so she either has a great sense of irony and humour...or just looks good in a wolf shirt. The set itself felt just long enough, and Hannah kept my interest throughout, changing up tempos and feelings, from the song she literally said was about "dating an asshole" to her huge closer "All I Need," which had the same kind of feeling for me as, dare I say it, Death Cab For Cutie's stunning rendition of "Transatlanticism" earlier this year. It started off slow and delicate, and seemed an odd choice for a set closer...then it kept building, and building, until it seemed the song was filling up the whole room -- and everyone's hearts. Check it out below, and then imagine it twice as loud and passionate towards the end:

Hannah Georgas - "All I Need"

Just a footnote though about this show and The Toothy Moose in general as a venue: it would be a fine punk venue, with the low stage and boxy design...if it wasn't a freaking country and western bar. The crowd seemed totally at odds with the usual frequenters, and if that wasn't enough, I was forced to recall the great crowds at Osheaga in Montreal this summer. The reason? The one really loaded girl and her semi-drunk girlfriends in front of me. It's fine to go nuts if there's a lot of people and they're all moving and shaking...but sadly, the 'Moose last night was far from that, being nearly-empty and all. You guys were just kinda annoying, and somehow already drunk during the first act.

Said The Whale | @ The Toothy Moose: now this Vancouver band started off the set with an a capella start to "False Creek Change," which sounds like as good of a sea shanty as you could whip up right here in Halifax. They played through a melodic if somewhat forgettable set, and I dunno if that's because I had higher expectations from excitable single "Camilo (The Magician)," or because I simply wasn't that familiar with their stuff. Sadly, I probably remembered them more for their funny quips in between songs, though they definitely did quite a number on "Camilo" as well as "This City's A Mess." The tempo of the show just happened to be all over the place for me though, between a few slow and folksy tunes, and my more-favoured rocking songs.

Said The Whale - "Camilo (The Magician)"

Kestrels | @ The Toothy Moose: I was hoping to settle in by this point and enjoy a rocking show, but unfortunately, things didn't get too much better. The crowd severely thinned out once Said The Whale finished their set, and there was maybe one third of the people left to see Kestrels perform. As their lead singer took the mic and said they had 20 minutes to play and that he'd shut up right after this, you could barely hear him above the chatter in the bar. I felt pretty bad for the guys actually.

The show itself was full of droning, feedback, pedal effects and a general warbling tilt to most of the songs. They actually even kept the droning going in between songs, so it almost seemed like Kestrels played one super-long piece of aggressive post-punk. I'm not sure if it was just the acoustics of the place, or the general malaise of the audience towards them and the corresponding effort by the band, but they weren't anything that impressive. Imagine Japandroids, but like two steps down if you can -- more garage-y, but also more jangly, so a bit of a juxtaposition.

Either in response to the audience, or his own pent-up rage during the set, the lead singer and guitarist randomly smashed his instrument to the ground at one point, only to pick it up unharmed...and heave it at the curtain behind the stage, which was only serving to cover a wall, and which consequently sent gyprock spraying when the head of the guitar stuck in and promptly fell out. Confusing series of events to say the least, especially since Kestrels' music doesn't seem particularly...angry. Below is a track they may have played, but which certainly didn't have the same zeal or earnestness to it last night.

Kestrels - "Sailed On"

Sprengjuhollin | @ The Paragon: don't laugh. That's what they're actually called, and it means something like "exploding palace" in Icelandic. Yes, they're the biggest pop sensation from Iceland, and they were playing last night when I wandered over to The Paragon after Kestrels finished their set. I wasn't greatly impressed by their msypace playlist when I was trying to pick what concert to attend last night, but as I got there, what they were lacking in perceived musical talent, they surely made up for in spunk -- and strangely enough, English. Everyone in the band who spoke last night had very good English, and just the slightest accent. Sure, three out of the five of them looked Icelandic...but you'd never be able to tell from speech alone.

The keyboardist seemed to be the band's spokesman, cracking jokes all night long and even offering free t-shirts to whomever was brave enough to stick their face into the sweaty bassist's stomach (again: don't laugh - four girls ended up doing it, and all got shirts for their effort). Just to backtrack though, I got to the venue in between songs, and in time for the keyboardist to point at a sign another band member was carrying, all to help us sound out their seemingly impossible name. "Spreng-you-hok-lean" was what I derived from the group session, but I'll be damned if anyone but the band said it right during any point of the night.

Among the funnier quips during their set was them implying that Iceland was "just to the East" of Canada, and they were "pretty much one of your provinces." This of course was part of their merch pitch, which also included a frank declaration that "as most of you know, our country, Iceland, went broke last year," which elicited a few laughs from the crowd. All that aside, their music fell somewhere between knee-slapping folk, energized dance-pop, melancholy ballads, alt-country and upbeat rock. Overall, the band was certainly faster-paced than (again) their myspace led me to believe. Some of the lyrics were also in Icelandic, as the band is only now in the process of translating their work into English for more widespread consumption.

Sprengjuhollin had at least two very good songs, and their slight lead singer, a boyish fellow with long sideburns and short-cut hair, delivered the lyrics in an almost-precious manner, seemingly unsure of the English footing of his words. They even got the same sweaty bassist to slow it down for a number, handing him a guitar and the mic for a decent tune. Overall, the band was fun, likable, and probably a group I wouldn't mind seeing again, especially once they flesh out their catalogue a little more.

Sprengjuhollin - "Worry 'Til Spring"

Mates Of State | @ The Paragon: at this point I should probably point out just how spread out and sparse the crowd was at The Paragon. I've been to a handful of shows there, and I have to admit every one of them was probably better-attended than last night's HPX exhibition. There were people from front to back, but they all seemed grouped up and most of them not even interested in the acts onstage. This of course led to an easy-to-reach spot in the second row, centre stage (basically the same place I had at the Toothy Moose), but I couldn't help feeling there could have been more passion flowing through the place as the top two acts were playing.

Either way, after what must've been the lengthiest set-up delay since Crystal Castles ended up in Ottawa instead of Montreal this summer, the married couple better known as Mates Of State came out to their drumset and pair of keyboards and synths. You could see the disinterest in their eyes and body language even as the stage was being arranged for them: husband Jason Hammel came out in a khaki trenchcoat and tucked-in scarf, looking like he was more ready for a shopping trip than playing drums. Wife Kori Gardner seemed no more into it either, even when Jason tried to create some between-song banter with her; she was reduced to saying what - thinking back seems a little meanspirited - "my mother always told me if you have nothing good to say, don't say anything at all."

Here, I have to admit that I read The Coast's review after I did up my own notes, and though I made a point even then of Mates Of State's business-like demeanor and general tiredness, I never really equated those to a displeasure the group must've had towards either the crowd or the city in general. Jason even whipped out his Blackberry as he was tuning up his drums, and I was fully afraid that he'd play the entirety of the show in his trenchcoat and scarf. Of course, that may have been influenced by some pretense I had about the group being from Britain, and possibly a ponderance on my part that the duo may have thought themselves "bigger" than a show at the HPX. That was washed away when I could neither hear an accent from the two, nor any mention of a long trip over here. In reality, they're just a couple from Kansas, possibly weary of a long tour and under-attended venue.

The music though was far from lacklustre. I went in thinking I was gonna get lambasted with over-the-top pop melodies and boy-girl harmonies from two lovebugs crafting old-timey tunes. I was quite wrong. Jason plays a mean drum, pinpoint and severely catchy, and also mixed in much higher than you'd hear a drumset this side of Death From Above 1979. That may be a stretch to compare him to such a hard-driving dance-punk group, but the dude can play, and his drumming went a long way to helping impress Mates Of State's live show upon me. Kori's crafty synth work (creating a palpable atmosphere throughout every song) and equally deft keyboard playing even made up for the lack of guitar. I even found it a fun little game to compare them to the only other husband-wife duo I've seen live: Handsome Furs, at this year's Virgin Festival. Whereas the Furs put wife on drum machine/synth and husband on a wall of distorted guitar, Mates took a different approach with the real drums and fake pianos/synth. Vastly different styles of course, but two neat approaches to coping with not having a full band.

Many of the songs were thumping, superbly catchy, upbeat (notice I love that word/style?), and sometimes downright ecstatic. The onstage presence of the duo was business-like as mentioned, to the point where each one basically knew what to do, talked little in between songs, and just played out the show. The audience probably wasn't helping either, as after four acts and two venues I was literally nodding off at some points, and I wasn't the only one from the number of yawns I saw going around The Paragon. If Mates Of State were tired, we were certainly doing no better. Refreshingly, there was only one really drunk guy I saw, as the crowds tend to be a bit better behaved at The Paragon than at other venues.

The rest of the place could've used a drink though thinking back, as I remember that every time a song ended, you could only hear what seemed like the front quarter of the place clapping. Sing-a-longs were few and far between, as I was standing by ostensibly the only four or five people who knew any of the Mates' material. Even our clapping for the encore resembled a forced gesture, with few whoops if any, and moreso a feeling that we owed it to the band as the headliners to ask for an encore, and they owed it in return to give us one.

I'm basically going out on a limb and saying last night's show was like staying in a relationship that's not working for either person, but you keep riding it out because you know that soon enough, it's gonna be over. I was even so hungry and tired that I felt a little microcosm of that myself: once the show was over, I could swing by McDonald's and then pass out on my bed. Is that the feeling you want during a show, let alone the headliners? I'd probably say no.

Some musical notes though before I finish - because there actually was some music being played while all of this was going on. "My Only Offer" was definitely their showstopper, as they performed a rousing rendition. The rest of the tunes definitely had me questioning the point of even putting songs on a band's myspace page, when they sound so little like that live. I mean, they kinda blew my socks off at some points last night, taking me into the rhythm and melody of the tracks with barely a drum kick and a synth stab. For all their laissez-faire attitude up there, they sure can still bang out the songs when need be.

Mates Of State - "My Only Offer"

My overall lesson from last night? Don't trust myspace; bands some bands are better live than you'd think...while others...not so much.

Phantom...Pt. 1

Walking back home from a night out on Friday, I passed a small bar, and thought I heard the faintest sliver of "Phantom Pt. 1" by Justice. For literally the next twenty minutes I was walking back, I whistled the brain-sticking notes of that electro tune, and didn't tire of it once.

Of course, I stopped for a bit when I waited to see if the guy with alcohol-poisoning across the street was being tended to well enough, but once I was assured of the latter, I went right back to whistling away. I've always been a big fan of Justice - I love their music, I like their remixes, I've watched "A Cross The Universe" - a hilarious and sometimes scary look at their North American tour - a number of times...but given all that, I still never actually had their full album. I've expressed on here before that I'm not really an album guy, but the more time wears on, the more I see the sense in it. Songs are made and arranged in album form - so why not listen to them as such?

So the day after my walk, I got Cross in its entirety. There were really two impetuses (impetuii?...nope) for that; one being "Phantom" embedding itself in my head for the majority of the walk home, and more notably, waiting for the Thunderheist show the other week, the club hosting the event played Cross front to back on their amazing sound system. Between the two, I was more than sold.

Obviously - as always - I'm like two years late with this, but it's just a small slice of what makes Justice so good in my books. From my perspective, mainly from having heard "Phantom Pt. 2" over and over again, "Pt. 1" seems like the slower, choppier and almost backwards-sounding companion to the sequel. Strangely, that's all meant in a complimentary fashion, and if you listen to them back-to-back (album-wise, that's how they're arranged as well), you'll see what I mean.

Justice - Phantom Pt. 1

Pnau - Baby (Breakbot Remix)

I imagine that picture sucks if you're colour-blind

Little makes me happier musically than listening to this song. It's true. There's an undeniable joy in the Breakbot remix of "Baby," and I bet you anything it comes from that children's choir singing the tune. The production may be another factor, as well as the piano, which I'm always a sucker for...but I'm pretty sure it boils down to those kids. The record shows that using children/children's choirs works to spectacular effect in making a song popular (see: Justice - "D.A.N.C.E."), so it's a wonder more artists don't do it, especially in genres like electro, where very little singing is done by the artists themselves.

As an interesting aside: part of the duo that's PNAU is Nick Littlemore, currently of Empire Of The Sun - so the man knows his catchy electro/dream-pop. And briefly? This is the remix of "Baby." Guess what? The original sucks. I mean sucks. I'm pretty sure I stopped it before it even finished playing out it was that bad, and it's one of the few songs I know of that's been so totally and pleasingly transformed from the original that it's completely blown it out of the water. Here it is if you wanna compare and contrast, but I personally hated the thing.

White Rabbits - Percussion Gun

perfect for magic tricks

It's about time to just go back to some good old-fashioned song-postin' fun. "Percussion Gun" by White Rabbits is something that combines a lot of different styles and a few different sounds that I'm a huge fan of. Much of my indie listening is influenced by what I liked early on tuning in to Indie 103.1, a station around Orange County, California that conveniently pops up on iTunes Radio.

"Percussion Gun" to me screams the kind of indie that station plays cuts of, and even more specifically, it has the local feel of the LA-alt-rock scene: a sound mined by the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins, Silversun Pickups, and even lesser-known groups like Darker My Love. When I heard "Percussion Gun" a few weeks ago, it sounded familiar. Now, I don't know if it's the fact I'd heard it on Indie 103.1 before, or if its LA-centric sound was just that strong.  However, the singer's voice echoes the impassioned and throaty shouts of groups like The Walkmen and The Rapture, groups more associated with the New York scene. Either way, there's a darkish tone to the song that doesn't really get fleshed out - and to pleasing results.

White Rabbits - Percussion Gun

The track could've been a sombre stroll through melancholy, but the steady strum of the bass, the gaudy piano stabs, and the glintzy guitar work jazz up your regular kiss-off tune. Add in the slightest sliver of a backing choir, and "Percussion Gun" really has everything going for it, as well as going on in it. But above all, it's the lead singer's delivery that really grabs the spotlight; he's standoffish without being specifically mean-spirited - even starting the song off with "Feel Good Inc."-reminiscent laughter - and the strains of "and iiiiiiii know/which way you run, you're a child my love/I feel the same" bely a sense of empathy for whomever the track's directed at.

There's a lot going on in this song, and multiple listens only help to understand and appreciate one of the better tunes this year.

I've immigrated

it was tough, but I made it safe

I moved the blog's address to www.ialreadytookthat.blogspot.com. It's easier to spell, more digestable...and whatsnottakenyet was already taken, so go figure. I also did it because I might have a chance to get on to hypem if I post actively enough. Dunno if it's gonna affect anything existing on the blog already, but I don't think it should. Cheers.

untitled (?)

el marqo de questiano

I'm writing this as I take my first listen to track 5 from Wolf Eyes & Black Dice's self-titled album. Two things off the bat: every one of the seven songs on this LP is titled "Untitled," with two of the tracks having "(rough mix)" attached to their non-names; secondly, Wolf Eyes and Black Dice are two separate noise bands who came together halfway through this decade to craft what some believe is the best noise compilation yet.

I've always been interested in noise rock, but not necessarily noise. Even as open-minded as I am, I'll admit I find it quite challenging to listen to, and although there's some variations I enjoy, they tend to be the more upbeat and - dare I say - conventional-sounding compositions. An example here, from the above-mentioned Black Dice:

Black Dice - Glazin'

You see? There's weird noises; blips, scratches, slides, abrupt snippets of real instruments, electro clashes and the chugging backbeat of leathery scale upon leathery scale of...noise. But there's that bouncy element of fun and light-heartedness overshadowing all of that, and I find that's what's really lacking from the Wolf Eyes & Black Dice album. So then, a few particular things I wanted to touch on concerning the Wolf Eyes and Black Dice combination:

1.) It sounds like Halloween. That's right. If you wanted to soundtrack one of those creepy displays the odd person sets up outside their house for that one all-unholy day of the year, there'd be nothing better to throw on than the otherworldy electronic grumblings of this album. 10 minutes into this 15:13 epic that is track 5, there's that perfect balance of old, creaky swingset and percussion tapped just lightly enough, just menacingly enough, that it would scare away any child even considering a candy grab from the front porch.

2.) Like I said, every track is untitled. Now this makes for a really, really interesting activity that it's a real shame more groups haven't thought of in this wholly-technological age, when everyone and their aunt has an iPod and iTunes. You can name the songs whatever the hell you want. I'm aware some bands do gimmicks like this once in a while, but an entire album? It's genius. So right from the start, I loaded the songs into my iTunes, and decided to name each one what I thought was most appropriate as I listened to it. Kind of like that game where you say the first thing that pops in your head when someone else says something. But with music. My results?

You can see there wasn't exactly Fall Out Boy-song-title-level thinking put into this. It's just what those songs sounded like to me. Some of them are quite obvious, as the tinkling noises in "Diamonds" easily lent themselves to that title, the laser sounds in "Spaceships" accenting that selection, the unnatural moans and groans of "Zombies" making that one an easy choice, and "Geese" approximating just well enough the vibe of track 6.

3.) I'm deleting the entire album from my iTunes and from my hard-drive the minute this song ends. Not to say I don't appreciate noise music, but let me put it this way: I wouldn't throw it on, in any situation really. It's too depressing for long drives. It's too discomforting to fall asleep to. There's much better albums to put on doing things around the apartment. All-in-all, this is something you'd have to be seriously tripped out on drugs to fully - I hesitate to say "enjoy" - tolerate.

Tolerate really is the operative word here. The music isn't danceable - some might not even call it "music" at that. It might even be a totally ear-grating experience for others to listen to, though I found it bearable for the most part. Creativity comes in all forms, but real beauty is obviously in the ear of the beholder. For me, noise still isn't really where it's at, at least done in this manner. But enjoy that Black Dice track, and take the Wolf Eyes & Black Dice LP for a spin if you're feeling experimental...and if you wanna try naming the tracks yourself any different.

the xx | album review

I really can't say anything that hasn't been said about these guys. They're the hottest new thing out of London. They've all only just turned 20 years old. They're seemingly the greatest indie wunderkinds since the Strokes almost a decade ago now. They've been featured everywhere from being named "Best New Music" on Pitchfork, to freakin' sports-centric ESPN. They're the xx (not "double x," just "ex ex").

So I'm not gonna bore you with details about the group. They're young, they're awesome, wise and talented beyond their years, blah blah blah. Guess what? It all comes down to sex appeal, believe it or not. I've been quite averse and wary of the hype surrounding the group for months now, so articles I've read on them are few and far between. The sex appeal may have very well been mentioned (I know for a fact it has on Pitchfork's review, with the site stating that the songs are "mostly about sex"), but maybe moreso as a side effect, than the actual cause of their overall appeal.

Romy Madley Croft, one half of the guy-girl vocalists in the xx, shines as an uninteresting (uninterested?) and disaffected vocalist, flipping between sorry and flirty. She's the mood-swinging girlfriend, who loves you and lusts for you one day, and she's an emotional and apologizing wreck the next. The songs are all so minimal that the vocals are predominant enough so as to give the impression you've simply got the TV turned on to "The OC," but you're in another room. Basically, all you're getting is the dialogue from the show, with some moody music. That's about the easiest way to sum the xx up.

Is that meant disparagingly? Not in the least. I love these guys. Just absolutely head over heels for them. Yes, I was totally wary of the hype in the beginning. Didn't even bother reading the whole review on Pitchfork I don't think. I was sick of hearing that a bunch of minimalist teens were the big thing right now, especially after a summer plagued by minimalist crap being hyped far beyond its expiry date. The problem with all that crap though? The lo-fi aesthetic that seems so necessary nowadays. Barely-heard lyrics. Fuzzed-out guitars. Short and spurt-ish blasts that are gone before you can truly squeeze all the joy out of them.

The greatest thing about the xx? You guessed it: none of the above. When I finally got on their good side, it was from listening to "Heart Skips A Beat" on hypem's Top 20, and then going to the blog featuring that one and hearing "Islands" and "VCR," loving all three. The songs are unequivocally crisp-sounding, the lyrics almost-whispered in many instances, but clearly heard. The guitars and bass are by turns jangling and mood-setting. Aside from the instrumental intro, not a song below 2:30. It's just an impossibly and impeccably good album, especially for a debut, and especially for the age of the curators and performers.

Back to that sex appeal though. It's just oozing here, and it's not in the subtle and sultry ways that older and more mature bands dabble in. This foursome is all about getting it right now, in the most direct way possible. "If you want me/Let me know" is the sentiment echoed so straightforwardly on the most back-and-forth exchange on the disc, "Stars." I read that the xx are influenced by R&B. I unfailingly am unable to pick out hip-hop and R&B when it comes to any form of rock; it all just sounds like good rock music to me, so hell if I think the xx sound like R&B. But I do know nothing makes for betting make-out sessions than throwing on some heartfelt R&B ballads. These kids seem to take that one step further, fleshing out the physical experience over 11 tracks and 38 minutes. It's bedroom rock, if ever such a thing existed.

It's going to be extremely interesting to see where these guys take it from here. They could implode from the pressures and hype and never make another album, let alone one approaching the likable qualities of their eponymous debut. They could add more members, a string section, some industry all-stars, and end up playing the kind of all-encompassing and seizing music that a collective like Broken Social Scene does so effectively. They certainly have the right mindset for that kind of music, and their current tracks certainly have enough quiet space for that kind of arrangement to bring out that little extra in the music.

Final verdict? This may not be a completely awe-inspiring album, or even on the level of some of my favorites. But it's a fun album, in more ways than one. You can throw it on at any time during the day...though it works best at night, whether by yourself and feeling a little lonesome and appreciative of the night, or for those fun nights when you might have someone else with you filling up that lonely space.

Song recommendations? Too many to make. I already mentioned attention-getters "Islands," "VCR" and "Heart Skipped A Beat," but there is actually not one bad song on the album. I mean that. "Basic Space" and "Crystalised" are actually the xx's two singles out right now, and I didn't even mention them yet. That's five really solid tracks up front. I'm on my ninth listen of the album in three days, and nothing's lost its replay value. I mean, just get out and get the whole thing, you can't go wrong. If you're not convinced though, here's the track I initially fell in love with, alongside another standout:

The xx - Islands

The xx - Heart Skips A Beat

what is that song?

Hopefully the post's title doesn't become a long-running gimmick - I hate not knowing what a piece of music is if I like it. This post however stems from a shopping trip to American Eagle (don't worry, I didn't buy anything) last weekend. It really serves two purposes that I'll elaborate on: 1.) the commercialization of indie music 2.) Wolf Parade

We'll get to Wolf Parade first, as it's ostensibly the easier issue to tackle. The Montreal group, fronted by now-one half of Handsome Furs (looked at here on WNTY here, here and here), Dan Boeckner, and now-Sunset Rubdown band leader (featured here), Spencer Krug, has been around long enough that it's one of those other groups I regret not getting into earlier. I've certainly tried to keep abreast of Handsome Furs and Sunset Rubdown since discovering them, but Wolf Parade's back-catalog is only something I've dabbled in conservatively. Again: mistake.

Wolf Parade is evidently the more exciting, engaging, alt-rock-centric precursor to both (major) offshoot groups it spawned. They mix Spencer and Dan's vocals interchangeably, and it's amazing how two people who are so outwardly different can have two similar and equally pained-sounding voices. When listening to a Handsome Furs or Sunset Rubdown album, it can get tiresome listening to each guy holding his own for a full length, but interspersed with each other, it becomes much more bearable, and even inviting to listen to. It's also striking how aside from slow marches like "Dinner Bells," Wolf Parade is able to consistently contrast the guys' dullish voices with such upbeat instrumentation.

Anyways, I've known about Wolf Parade for over a year now, but I have to admit to just listening to their debut album, Apologies To The Queen Mary this morning. How I got around to that however is where the story lies. Chilling at American Eagle on a shopping trip, I was greeted with the sounds of Spoon and other indie legends, as well as a few up-and-comers I all recognized. That is, until a certain song came on, and the voice sounded extremely familiar, though the song did not. I knew it wasn't Interpol, though the sadness in the voice echoed lead singer Paul Banks' delivery - and of course Joy Division's Ian Curtis if we're playing that game.

Now, most people who I really like, I can pick out their music quite adeptly if I've heard enough of it. Given that I've heard three album's worth of Dan and Spencer's music away from Wolf Parade, it was a bit disheartening that I had to wait for the TV screen announcing American Eagle's playlist to tell me that I was, in fact, listening to "Shine A Light" by Wolf Parade. Upon realizing it was a Wolf Parade song, I was instantly struck by the catchiness and pure feeling captured in the song, even over the speakers at a retail outlet. Now, Handsome Furs and Sunset Rubdown both feature their own share of emotion, but it's sometimes convoluted, and in Sunset Rubdown's case, downright weird and indecipherable. Wolf Parade offered something more palatable, accessible, and ultimately, pop-ish.

(This is the part where I post my own mp3 link, or one from hypem, but as luck would have it, basically every single one of Wolf Parade's songs has been removed from hypem's database, which means Wolf Parade really doesn't want their music being shared that way...regardless, below is a link I got through hypem from a post on hearya.com, so credit goes to them)

Wolf Parade - Shine A Light

Now the second issue at hand. The commercialization and mainstreaming of indie. I'll keep this as short and sweet as possible, though an entire essay could easily be written about the topic. Kids, teens, young adults, and even twentysomethings tend to love indie music. They also tend to shop at the same stores. Maybe it's just that I heard Wolf Parade playing in an American Eagle, which is the poster-store for largely dressing like a trust-fund douchebag, even though you may not be anywhere near that well-off. (Full disclosure: Yes, I have pieces of clothing from American Eagle. I certainly don't shop there regularly though, and I have a certain self-consciousness about me when I am looking for clothes there.)

Back to the music however. It makes perfect sense to play music that your shoppers would like. But when you think about the kind of aesthetic and corporate image American Eagle has, it would seem that getting played there would fulfill every criteria of "selling out," whether by the band's design or not. Where, especially in a realm like indie culture, selling out and authenticity are always at the helm of current issues, you have to consider being irked a little bit by the whole thing. "Indie" itself is derived from "independent," as in the record labels that went their own way and did their own thing, instead of following suit (and suits) with the major record labels. Such a fierce and ingrained sense of independence breeds a mistrust for mainstreaming and selling out, while maintaining an undeniable emphasis on authenticity. Plainly and simply, it just doesn't feel authentic for American Eagle to play Wolf Parade.

Whether or not that's a harsh criticism of American Eagle is up to the individual, but take it for what you will. But like any other company, it will cater to what the majority wants, and that requires constantly changing your stance on something. Indie is "in" right now. If country somehow made a huge leap to the mainstream and dominated in sectors like indie is doing currently, I'm sure American Eagle would be playing the hell out of that too. But for now, indie feels like it's mine and ours, so when you see corporations pimping it out, you have to take it a little personally.

That being said, all thanks to American Eagle for playing that Wolf Parade track and igniting an interest in me for them. So what am I trying to say here? I don't know.

get a drink, have a good time now, welcome to paradise

I'm just as lost as you

The only reason I even discovered this song was because of Pitchfork's list of the Top 50 Videos of the last decade, where you'll conveniently find "Since I Left You" as the 4th greatest video on that list. I'd greatly recommend watching the video first, because every time after that, whenever you hear this song, you'll be reminded of what goes on in it (I'm not gonna describe it...just go watch it). Usually, a music video would ruin my mental image of a song, and I'm not exactly the biggest fan of music videos in the first place. So "Since I Left You" is definitely an exception.

The song itself is - like the entirety of The Avalanches' work - a combination of dozens of samples, both musical and vocal. Whereas Girl Talk pieces them together while quite obviously keeping the originals intact (mashing if you will), The Avalanches masterfully craft entire new songs using just snippets of ones they'd spent many an hour digging through crates for to find. Eventually, I'm going to get around to listening to the full album of the same name as the single, but I'm a little hesitant right now, given that "Frontier Psychiatry," their only other song I've heard, is basically a mindfuck of juxtaposed vocal samples straight out of 1940's and 50's television and radio ads and shows.

"Since I Left You" is then a weird juxtaposition in itself. It's a song where I gladly let the music video "ruin" my impression of it, while I won't chance listening to the rest of the (highly-regarded) album it's featured on, for fear it might sully what's left of my impression of The Avalanches. It's certainly an amazing song in its own right, dream pop mixing tinkling bells, flute, female vocals, an unashamedly disco groove, bouncy keyboards, and even an intro consisting of guitar and shouting you'd expect to hear from an afternoon at a South American weekend market. I just don't know if the rest of the album will be filled with similarly stunning material, or something that just degrades my already fragile impression of the group - this song not withstanding of course.

a pictorial analogy of how I feel about music at the moment

By my estimation, it's been two weeks and a day since I posted anything. That's just way too long, but in my defense, I just moved out, got a job, and university started, so I've had my hands full with classes, work and getting settled. Obviously music's been a big part of that, but I've found my habits have changed a little bit, and I'm no longer able to keep daily track of what's new on Pitchfork or what's hot on the hypemachine. I've had peeks here and there of both, but with a shoddy wi-fi connection in the new place, even that's been tough.

So with all of that in mind, I may as well clear out old inventory first. I promised some record reviews earlier in the summer, but really only delivered on my take of Jackson Square from Arkells. In that time, I've literally added 214 songs to my iTunes library, many of which are from albums by Joel Plaskett, Black Mountain, Ladyhawk (not Ladyhawke), Radiohead, Death From Above 1979, Broken Social Scene, Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains, Lightning Dust, Arcade Fire, and my much-loved collection of New Pornographers tunes.

Within this post, I'll actually have quick little run-downs of each one of those albums, but first, I'll get to what I promised earlier, and do some short reviews of previous albums. A foreword though: if I'm passionate about something, I'll be more likely to follow through with it - the following few albums didn't make as big an impression on me as Jackson Square did, so that's why I didn't have quite the same initiative to review them.

Sunset Rubdown | Dragonslayer | I liked this album. I really did. But when the majority of the songs are around 5 minutes and there's a 10 minute epic like "Dragon's Lair," it can be a hard thing to throw on and listen to in its entirety. "Idiot Heart" is certainly the standout, and the rest of the album's songs have much the same structure and sound, but overall, that tends to be a dense and disorganized one, right down to lead singer Spencer Krug's voice and lyrics.

There's some sentences he utters that'll surely make you question his sanity, and that's after you wrap your head around what was actually just half-shouted/half-sung at you. Again, it's good music - but I stress music. It's really an album that's more to be appreciated than truly enjoyed; more like attending a symphony in a church than a rock concert in an arena. Before moving on though, I do want to add that "Apollo And The Buffalo And Anna Anna Anna Oh!" is on the shortlist for this year's "Best Song With A Song Title That's Long Yet Still Ties In To What's Actually Sung." - and that's to take nothing away from a song that's actually still good regardless.

The Most Serene Republic | ...And The Ever-Expanding Universe | Yet again, another good album, but another that I didn't truly enjoy or play too often. To approximate their sound would be to compare them to Broken Social Scene, albeit on a smaller and happier scale. Again, it's largely orchestral music, and some of the songs border on modern classical music, with some truly great strings and piano arrangements. There's a joyous and uplifting tilt to most of the songs, and "Heavens To Purgatory" will be most people's favorite, but it's simply one of those things that's not totally my cup of tea.

Speaking of that though, The Most Serene Republic actually seems like a good band to just sit outside in the garden while drinking tea and listen to. It's that kind of music I guess; relaxing and modest, with just enough pep to not be boring or dragging on your ears. They're playing here in Halifax in November, and I may yet check them out, just to see if there's any added pizzaz to their live shows that may not come through in the recorded versions of the songs.

Handsome Furs | Plague Park | I remember I was going to review this one simply with more recent album Face Control in mind. To be honest, I barely listen to this album, and I've actually taken more of a liking to Face Control in recent days, so there's little to compare I guess. Suffice it to say that in my earlier stipulation that Handsome Furs would sound better with some live drums...I guess they utilize them on Plague Park, though with the decidedly slower and more deliberate sound of the latter album, they don't have quite the same effect I'd intended when I made that recommendation.

Plague Park, funnily enough, sounds like Handsome Furs decided to record an album of them playing a small underground jazz club. Whereas Face Control sounded boxed-in, the earlier album is simply more rounded in its claustrophobic-ness, as if that jazz club was built in a small cave. "Hearts Of Iron" shows off the above analogy quite well, but tracks like "Cannot Get Started" show off more of the direction Handsome Furs took later on with Face Control, dominant drum machines, faster-paced choruses, reverbed guitar and all.

If you were to measure the albums against each other simply in terms of some abstract "excitedness," Face Control would score about an 8.2/10, while Plague Park clocks in around 5.3/10. Yes, totally random numbers, but that's what the albums sound and feel like to me. Dan Boeckner's voice is pretty forlorn on either compilation, but the instrumentation and pace of the two albums make a real difference. For one, it's like wife and bandmate Alexei Perry woke up and decided to take the obvious energy she has during live shows and transmit it to album form on Face Control. Sadly, you don't get that on their first effort.

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But good, that gets those out of the way. Because it may well be another few days before I get the free time/initiative to do another post, I'm also going to get a bunch of other reviews and musings off my chest right now, so another long post it is.

Like I alluded to earlier, I've been putting my room and the general apartment together since moving in, and much of this I've been doing while listening to entire albums on iTunes, something I very rarely did in the past, but which I became much more attuned to this summer. I owe much of this to my friend Laura, who chastised me for my singles-heavy listening, and kind of reintroduced me to the concept of listening to entire albums. It's certainly given me an affinity for hearing albums all the way through, instead of simply picking and choosing what I want to listen to out of them - although hand-in-hand with that, listen to an album enough, and it becomes easier and more justifiable to pick out some favorites you'll come back to again and again.

In light of all the above, a quick rundown of what I've been listening to for the last month plus, with a song to check out from each:

Arcade Fire | Funeral | It's no wonder to me now why this album was so well-received and so quite universally well-loved. In 10 songs, Arcade Fire show off how to make an album, make it work well together, and how to arrange the songs for the maximum impact. There are four or five legitimately great songs ("Tunnels," "Power Out," "Wake Up," "Rebellion (Lies)" spring to mind quickest) and the rest more than hold their own. It's an intensely listenable album and a favorite with many of my friends.

Arcade Fire - "Power Out"

Radiohead | OK Computer | I knew going in that this was the more rocking Radiohead album, and I really like it for that. Lots of classics in here, some of which I'd heard, and others which I'd never and which really surprised and pleased me. There's diversity and only the subtlest hints that Radiohead was going to unleash Kid A years down the line. It just blows me away that this album came out in 1997 - 12 years later it sounds just as great, and I can hear the precursors in their music to the likes of Keane and Coldplay in the decade following its release.

Radiohead - "Electioneering"

Radiohead | Kid A | Brutal honesty time: yes, I did cheat on my final exam. Oh wait, Radiohead. Yeah, not as big of a fan of Kid A as I am of OK Computer. If I'm simply one of those people who would have back then dismissed it as experimental trash, or if I'm just someone who favors straightforward rock over electronic hissing and concept-heavy material, so be it. I like to think I'm pretty open to experimental noise and music, and Kid A is supposedly epic in that regard. Maybe I don't fully appreciate it in that way, or I just don't have the same connection to it as people who heard it when it first came out.

Don't get me wrong, there's more than a few songs on there that I do truly enjoy listening to, but they're the more conventional Radiohead, and seemingly not the pieces that went together to make Kid A the sonic landmark that it so overwhelmingly happens to be. Maybe my view is reflected well enough in my choice of song from the album:

Radiohead - "The National Anthem"

Lightning Dust | Infinite Light | I went out and bought this album, and I'm actually very pleased that I did. Singer Amber Webber (of the to-be-reviewed-in-a-minute music collective Black Mountain) has a beautiful voice, one that sounds strong but damaged all at once. It seems ready to break at any time, but there's an underlying force driving her to keep the words coming out of her mouth. I read that the duo (Joshua Wells - also of Black Mountain - is in Lightning Dust) rented a Steinway piano for the album, and they put it to great use, clearly showing off the piano parts with skillful playing and clear acoustics. Lightning Dust may be getting a little more publicity right now, but nowhere near what it should be when they craft such good music.

Lightning Dust - "I Knew" (was to put "The Times" but couldn't find it on hypem...definitely check it out though if you can)

Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains | Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains | Similarly went out and bought this album, and I'm equally glad I did. Fun fact: Sebastien was actually one half of Death From Above 1979 before they broke up, and he's went on to lend guest vocals on some of my favorites like "Let's Make Out" by Does It Offend You, Yeah?. I didn't know the latter fact until after I bought this album, so it turns out I was more familiar with Grainger's work than I even thought. Quick and simple review though: my second favorite album on this list. Great variation between the songs, awesome backing band, great pace to the album, and really makes you wish that DFA1979 got back together for one more go at it - between Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains and MSTRKRFT, the boys have still got it.

Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains - "I Hate My Friends"

Black Mountain | Black Mountain | The aforementioned musical collective, hailing from Vancouver, BC. Of the two albums by them here, this is my favorite. It tends to longer songs, so it can be harder to digest, but to think of and compare it earnestly: The Rolling Stones do pysched-out, 70's-influenced, Canadian-rock - right down to this almost-rip-off/tribute:

Black Mountain - No Satisfaction

Black Mountain | In The Future/Bastards Of Light | The newer of the two albums, this go by Black Mountain is certainly more appropriate for their name, as the material is darker and almost gothic. Some of the care-free sentiments and delivery present on Black Mountain are done away with and replaced instead by frenzied classic-rock guitar playing and a grandeur that seems a little unbefitting of a group of musicians from Vancouver. With songs clocking in 7:07, 8:03, and 16:41, you also get the feeling that Black Mountain could have split a few tracks in two and still had quality tunes.

Black Mountain - "Wucan"

Ladyhawk | Ladyhawk | The initial offering from the also-Vancouverites, Ladyhawk lean a little more to the garage sound of rock, and do it admirably. There's a bit of a live sound mixed into the album, but it doesn't detract from the quality, instead adding an authentic quality to the compilation. Between some legit rockers and the perfectly suited voice of the lead singer, it's a wonder these guys aren't bigger either; I know they have a good Canadian following, but this album proved pretty well they've got all the tools to make it.

Ladyhawk - "The Dugout"

Ladyhawk | Shots | If I have any complaint about Ladyhawk though, it's their front-loading of albums. Ladyhawk starts with a great trio of "48 Hours," "The Dugout," and "My Old Jacknife," while Shots works a similar angle with standout "I Don't Always Know What You're Saying" and the impeccable "S.T.H.D." before tailing off a bit into death-obsessed songs like "Corpse Paint" and quite literally, "Faces Of Death." In light of the previous statement finishing out the Ladyhawk review: these guys certainly have all the elements of a band on the make; it may just be a matter of putting them all together for a consistently great effort to launch them a little higher in music fans' minds.

Ladyhawk - "S.T.H.D"

Broken Social Scene | Broken Social Scene | I said above that Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains was my second favorite album here. Well, this is my first. It's the one I've been going back to over and over: everything from cooking meals to doing the dishes to showering to getting to sleep - Broken Social Scene has everything you could ask for and then some. I didn't dive into the whole album when I initially got into BSS, opting only for You Forgot It In People and two or three songs off Broken Social Scene. On my recent album-hoarding spat though, I went for all 14 tracks off the latter, and could not have been more thoroughly impressed.

You Forgot It In People had some weirder moments and some lackadaisical instrumentals. This album has absolutely none of that - it may be the most perfect album on my iTunes in my regard. Just a stable of outstanding songs, paired with eight or nine other great tunes that make up the most easily digestible and fun-to-listen-to album I've heard, possibly in my life. I mean, yeah, there's great albums that come out all the time, and consensus may dictate which of those is "the best," but to me, right now, Broken Social Scene is probably my favorite album ever. There, I said it. And I only just figured that out as I've been writing these words.

It has everything. Exuberance ("Ibi Dreams of Pavement [A Better Day]"), sincerity ("Major Label Debut"), the sexiest song I've heard in a long time ("Hotel") and a song so damn good that I could care less that it's 9:55 long ("It's All Gonna Break"). I cannot say that about any other album I've heard, previous favorites In Rainbows and Post-Nothing included. That's what, four songs? There's another 10 amazing tracks, so think of it that way. Heck, K-OS even makes an appearance. Where was I in 2005 when this actually came out? I shudder to think that I've went four years without paying attention to this gem.

Broken Social Scene - "Hotel"

Joel Plaskett | Three | This thing really deserves its own separate post at 27 songs long, but with the Polaris Prize being presented tonight and Joel in the running, I may yet give it a proper one should it win/be slighted. Just a genre-spanning spat of tracks spread over three very-well-organized CD's, each one keeping a definitive tone. CD 1 contains most of the singles material and tends to Joel's folksy and rocking side. CD 2 without a doubt contains the real ballads of the compilation, and a few odes to Joel's Maritime (and maritime) connections. CD 3 has some country feel to it (old-country, not that new-country stuff) and the epic "On And On And On," 12 minutes of Joel self-consciously sing-speaking about almost anything that comes to his mind.

Three is just a superb effort, plays great in concert (I've seen three - coincidentally - shows since the album came out, and whether in a theatre setting, outdoors for Canada Day, or at a university concert, it sounds amazing) and is a great introduction for those new to Joel's music, and a special treat for career-long fans of possibly the most lovable guy in Canadian music.

Joel Plaskett - "Through And Through And Through"

Death From Above 1979 | You're A Woman, I'm A Machine | Have you noticed yet I'm extremely far behind on most relevant music, especially some select Canadian classics? Um, yeah. It's sad too, because ever since I really got into alternative music, I've had a great affinity for dance-punk/electro/rock, which nobody does better than DFA1979. I was really only slightly familiar with "Blood On Our Hands," and even then it was through my sister getting the track what must have been about four years ago.

What stuns me about DFA1979 is that they can craft such small and immediate-sounding songs; the majority of tracks clock in under even three minutes. Thank God for the remix economy though; DFA continue to live on through the expansion of their tiny tracks into danceable jaunts many minutes longer. I've already expressed my liking for MSTRKRFT and Sebastien Grainger, so it was nice for me to get into DFA and see where it all started for the two guys.

I can't really say much more about them or the album anyways: it's testosterone in music form and one of the truly great acts that combusted before it could put out any more truly awesome work.

One thing I do have to say though: why the hell did Death From Above Records (officially known as DFA Records after the Sept. 11th attacks since they were a NY-based record label) get mired in a legal dispute with DFA1979 over their original name when they could've put that money towards simply signing the act to their own label instead. I mean honestly, has a group ever been more fit for a label, both in name and musical style, than DFA1979 was for DFA Records? Another shame of a development when it comes to Jesse and Sebastien's adventure into duo-ship.

Death From Above 1979 - "Black History Month"

Sunday Night Spotlight | No. 2

I'm certainly not endearing anyone with this picture

Animal Collective is a group of guys from Baltimore. They're weird and strange in more ways than one, not to mention their music. It's dense and multi-layered and frankly, it's probably the kind of thing you'd have to have copious amounts of drugs to truly appreciate. However, the music is still good un-drug-aided, but you have to be in the right mindset for it, and not expect some radio-friendly jam to fill your ears when you spin an Animal Collective record.

Some people tout their 2009 album Merriweather Post Pavilion (which has the coolest album cover in the history of cool album covers...it's not moving either, it just looks like it) as possibly the best album of this year, if not the last few years, if not the last decade. I've given it quite a few spins since it came out, and I'm not nearly on the same wavelength, but I can appreciate what they've tried to do, and MPP certainly has its great points. It's just not the kind of thing you'd throw on for your friends to have a quick listen to.

With all that being said, I wanted to spotlight one of Animal Collective's more accessible and engaging tracks. Clocking in at 6:51, "Fireworks" never seems that long, as it just builds and builds on itself, and has a climax that never quite gets there - that's to say, the song itself is the climax.

Animal Collective - Fireworks

All four members of Animal Collective evidently do vocals, so I can't tell you exactly who it is singing, but I can tell you that part stands out the most for me. There's something visceral about the delivery, a quality that's largely absent from most of the tracks on MPP, and which is oddly refreshing to hear on "Fireworks." Visceral is only one way to describe the vocals as well - they alternate between laboured, desperate, joyful and even ecstatic during the interlude, and even animalistic when the monkey and jungle sounds make appearances throughout.

All the above are nice to hear on an Animal Collective track (aside from the fact actual animal noises are present on a song by a group with such a name), and show a more human side that's usually drowned out in watery noises and stuffed underneath multitudinal layers of sound. But don't just take my word for it; Pitchfork listed "Fireworks" as the 35th best single of the last 10 years. And there's nothing weird or strange about that to me.