An exceptional video from a band we love to hate sometimes!
Archive for the ‘Canada’ Category
Great Bloomers Fall Video For Us All
October 28, 2009Good video for the season…although as I am sure everyone would agree, the whole concept of a band playing in a field, with the camera circling around is a bit played out. The cynics like me can’t help but think about how much they’re faking…I mean they are being filmed pretending to sing and play their instruments. It’s kinda weird….contrived…But the band is good and it’s seasonal so it plays on Foxtrott. I like the pumpkins…nice touch…
New Secret Session Posted with Black Hat Brigade
July 30, 2009
Black Hat Brigade, a band long championed by Frederick Foxtrott, has just released a live session with AUX TV in part with Audio Recording Academy of Toronto (TARA). It offers a little more of an intimate look at who they are and where they’ll be going.
Zombie City Shakedown
April 21, 2009
Black Hat Brigade- Zombie City Shake
Perhaps it is mere proximity that has me talking about Canada as if it were the hydroponic greenhouse of good music. Whatever the case, Black Hat Brigade, from somewhere-or-another Ontario, has penetrated into New York, prompting me to tell you how great they are. They are like a nine-headed hydra, with each viperous head representing an enduring tradition of independent spirited stylistic wisdom. What the fuck does that even mean? It has been said that these guys are post-rock, which can be deduced from the lyricless sprawls, cavernous reverberations, and extended buildups, as in the song epically titled Swords. But the outfit has no problem shifting to into an indie dance beat that approaches the realm of Eagle Seagull or Talking Heads; the specter of late seventies Mancunian music appearing throughout.
No matter what their slightly schizophrenic style choice is for any particular moment, Black Hat Brigade makes great music. They are asking for donations to self-release their newest EP Fathers due out May 29th. Of course a donation of $10 or more gets you a copy of their EP. This sounds to me an awful lot like they are selling the thing for $10 (or more if you really like it). With the industry as saturated and volatile as it is, it seems everyone is finding creative ways to fund their projects. But I say if they want to be bums, it is time they travel to New York and pander in the clubs of Brooklyn.
-FF
http://myspace.com/blackhatbrigade
Tour
April 23rd – Lee’s Palace, TORONTO w/ Youth Group and Bellewoods
May 29th – El Mocambo, TORONTO **FATHERS EP Release Party!
PS I know they are from Brampton
Green Go Loves Canada
April 2, 2009 
Green Go- We’re in a Thunderstorm (Gentlemen Reg Remix)
Green Go- This Sentence Will Ruin Save Your Life (Born Ruffians Remix)
Ontario illectronic indie dance meisters Green Go have released a remix album of their favorite fellow Canadian acts including Women, The D’Ubervilles, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Gentlemen Reg, and our favorite Born Ruffians. These tunes are a taste of their fuzz filled style. The band sports their original music on their Myspace page, which I find to be twice as interesting as their remixes, but this record of reworks is certainly worth a listen. It will give you a taste of what’s to come this month as they release their debut LP, Borders. So Cheers, and enjoy! We hope to report on their release this month.
-FF
Great Bloomers to Release Full Length
March 24, 2009
Great Bloomers- The Young Ones Slept
This track from Great Bloomers’ forthcoming full length is well worth a listen. The track is called The Young Ones Slept and the new LP has been named Speak of Trouble. It is being released on Maple Music Recordings, a tip of the hat to Canada’s burgeoning music scene. The recording and production of their new material is much more polished, possibly a sign that they have left behind some of the more Pavement-esque song structures that require a calculated measure of unevenness and low fidelity. Of course we will have to wait and see when the record is released in April. If The Young Ones Slept is any indication, we eagerly anticipate another taste of this indie-pop confection.
-FF
Keeping Tabs…
January 27, 2009
Darla Farmer and Wintersleep are starting 2009 with bright proclamations.This week Wintersleep are #26 on the College Music Journal‘s Top 200 chart. They released Welcome to the Night Sky last November and have toured with a number of great acts including Wolf Parade. Their mix of calculated, guitar driven rock gives Canada a good name. They left us wondering, what is in their water… just how many bands can Canada export? They are now touring their homeland and will zip over to Europe February 10th. They will be back in the US soon enough though, and we’ll be happy to welcome them.
Darla Farmer, after releasing their 2008 debut Rewiring the Electric Forest on Paper Garden Records, and touring with a slew of notable artists, has landed a spot on NPR‘s All Things Considered. The spot is sure to expose their circus sideshow to millions. They are also rereleasing last year’s debut on February 17th. Check out both of these fine bands and your ears will be kindly rewarded.
Wintersleep- Welcome to the Night Sky Review
Darla Farmer- Rewiring the Electric Forest Review
-FF
Matt Mays & El Torpedo- Terminal Romance
October 7, 2008
Matt Mays & El Torpedo
Terminal Romance
September 30th 2008
Sonic Records
What is going on in Nova Scotia? To borrow a phrase from a dear friend, “What the fuck’s in that water?” Perhaps we as children of the 70’s and 80’s have some strange Freudian obsession that lingers late into adulthood. We want to destroy our proverbial fathers and godfathers, not to dispose of everything that they stand for, but to take their place in the hard fought legacy of rock and roll. This is the difference between acts that sound in style like their forbearers and those that so completely embody those that have come before them that they simply aren’t recognizable as part of our time. When a band of this caliber is discovered your affinity for them is involuntary. Innovators like John Cougar and Rick Springfield drew on trend heavy subcultures to create the most perfect pop radio rock songs. Matt Mays & El Torpedo are so stylistically imbued with this same project that it is difficult to claim mere mimicry. The band recorded in England with Chris Tsangarides, a producer who has had experience channeling pop rock in its greatest days. Having produced for Thin Lizzy, Tsangarides is sure to have been shuttled back by their performance.
Terminal Romance is kids living in the city, looking at the lights, riding downtown with nothing but adventure in their hearts and perhaps a touch of coke in their nose. It is big guitars and youthful melodies that together sing celebratory anthems to the night. It is ¾ sleeves and cut off jeans. I mean com’on, this guy owns a fucking DeLorean! Or at least he drives one in the video for Tall Trees, easily one of the album’s best cuts. Digital Eyes and the record’s title track cement Matt May & El Torpedo as visionary time travelers—faster than 85mph and we are back to the future. This ain’t no costume party—this ain’t no remake.
Like any pop-rock anthem of any era, the lyrics, while invocative, aren’t exactly fine art. The words aren’t completely vacuous in that Sarah Palin sort of way, but it’s fair to say the songs rely more on their pop appeal and accessibility than deep rooted meaning. It is incredibly difficult to write a song about loving someone until the end of time without coming off as a complete tool bag. Terminal Romance figures out that it isn’t always the words that matter— it’s the alcohol content. Matt Mays & El Torpedo have put together an entirely entertaining record worth every moment that we are shuttled into our former selves. They give us the ability to see the modern city through a different lens, one that frames it as a playground for the rebel, for the lover, and for those unsatisfied by the quiet streets, dim lights, and slow nights of small towns.
-FF
http://www.mattmays.com
http://www.myspace.com/mattmayseltorpedo
Other Music
Matt Mays- 2002
Matt Mays & El Torpedo- 2005
When the Angels Make Contact- 2006
Tour
Oct. 1 Middle East Upstairs Cambridge, MA
Oct. 2 Jammin Java Vienna, VA
Oct. 3 Piano’s Bar New York, NY
Oct. 7 M Room Philadelphia, PA
Oct. 9 Club Cafe Pittsburgh, PA
Oct. 10 Beat Kitchen Chicago, IL
Oct. 11 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN
Oct. 15 Garrick Centre Winnipeg, MB
Oct. 16 Odeon Events Centre Saskatoon, SK
Oct. 17 Dog House Rocks Medicine Hat, AB
Oct. 18 Edmonton Events Centre Edmonton, AB
Oct. 21 B.J.’s Grande Prairie, AB
Oct. 22 Blue Grotto Kamloops, BC
Oct. 23 Queens Hotel Nanaimo, BC
Oct. 24 Sugar Nightclub Victoria, BC
Oct. 25 Commodore Ballroom Vancouver, BC
Oct. 28 Red Deer Memorial Centre Red Deer, AB
Oct. 29 Flames Central Calgary, AB
Oct. 30 Pump Roadhouse Regina, SK
Nov. 1 The Outpost Thunder Bay, ON
Nov. 4 Barrymore’s Music Hall Ottawa, ON
Nov. 5 Barrymore’s Music Hall Ottawa, ON
Nov. 6 Phoenix Concert Theatre Toronto, ON
Nov. 8 The Casbah Hamilton, ON
Nov. 11 Element Night Club Kitchener, ON
Nov. 12 The Ale House Kingston, ON
Nov. 13 Cowboy’s Ranch London, ON
Nov. 14 Les Saints Montreal, QC
Nov. 15 Chez Dagobert Quebec City, QC
Nov. 28 Cunard Centre Halifax, NS
Nov. 29 UNB SUB Fredericton, NB
Wintersleep- Welcome to the Night Sky
July 28, 2008
Wintersleep
Welcome to the Night Sky
October 2nd 2007
Labwork Music
Wintersleep formed in 2002 in Halifax Nova Scotia. Paul Murphy and Loel Campbell collaborated on songs that were unsuited for the various other projects in which they were engaged. What began as a repository for odd ends, emerged as a well spring of potential. With the help of various recruits Wintersleep made use of their creative resources to produce an album of exceeding excellence. Welcome to the Night Sky is themed with violence and illness, words referenced as key phrases on multiple tracks. Borderline depression asserts and capitulates itself throughout the record, although the mood is not formed out of self loathing or inadequacy. The “unknown self” quarantines the words to a weighty inner dialogue, with questions as often rhetorical as they are inquisitive.
Mouth full of teeth chewed up and spit on the ground
When I speak, are my words just white naked sound?
Carelessly rendered and scattered around
RandomThe lyrics are particularly artful. The poetics of the words are reinforced by a lack of repetition. There is little resemblance to the typical verse, chorus, bridge, reprise structure. The words are wrought with anxiety and self reflection. They expose the self interrogation undergone by those who do not know what to make of the world, let alone themselves. The lyrics suffer from a strange detachment of mind from body, and question the nature of such detachment. The mind is as anatomical as the brain. As we try to describe the phenomena of the mind, we visualize its throne and all its biological susceptibilities.
Oh my, I feel the teeth again
Gnawing and eminent in the lost lonely night.
Oh my, give me the words again, paint it aluminium, make it white, make it white.The music is not as provocative as the lyrics, but even with occasional pop-rock simplicities, it provides an infectious mode through which the obscure words can be implanted into our own consciousness. The music rarely challenges the listener; however its accessibility will not leave the sour taste of conformity in your mouth. During its blissful moments of intensity, the music is textured with synthesizers and sprawling guitars. On balance it is yet again another exciting band to emerge from Canada. I am extraordinarily pleased with Wintersleep’s Welcome to the Night Sky. Their next stop in New York will find a warm reception.
-FF
http://www.myspace.com/wintersleep
http://www.wintersleep.com/
Other Music
Wintersleep- 2003
Untitled- 2005
Islands- Arm’s Way
June 4, 2008
Islands
Arm’s Way
May 20th 2008
Anti-
There is a history here, a Montreal history that I don’t understand. The accolades that have pushed Island’s second disc onto the shelves of every major record retailer must be rooted in the friendships the band enjoys within the tightly knit music community of Montreal. With the support of members and former members of Arcade Fire, The Unicorns, and Wolf Parade, Islands recorded and released their debut Return to the Sea. Now they have come at us again hoping that some of that earned cachet and the fostered connections will provide a favorable lens through which to judge their newest effort. I just don’t have it in me to see it their way.
Making a playlist of my favorite Canadian bands would take hours, but I know that Islands probably would not be on the list. There are very few things I like less than an album, which shows all the signs of greatness, is striped of its pretty packaging and exposed as a fraud. I loved the psychedelic loving images from the cover of Arm’s Way, framed by what looks to be a hacked open chest cavity. The pink flesh color reveals a stylized Eden complete with a mushroom cloud and burning car, the outer edges of which, when looked at closely, reveal a wound composed of suggestive yet ambiguous pink parts. But even when you tear away that cellophane wrapping, the disc never looses its status as a packaged product.
Islands’ style is an amalgamation of everything pop. It is hard to deny their song writing abilities. Nicholas Thorburn’s, former vocalist of The Unicorns, brings tons of energy and talent to Islands. The song Abominable Snow, written prior to the formation of Islands, is a great tune with dense textures that allow the sounds of every instrument- guitar, violin, keys- to ebb and flow in volume. Kids Don’t Know Shit is a passionate track that lyrically walks the balance beam between sarcasm and sincere judgment of the supposedly oblivious youth. There are many elements of Arm’s Way that naturally lend it to a favorable review.
The record’s flaws do not come from the writing aspect, although I might suggest that many if not most of the lyrics are uninteresting. No, Islands’ problem comes in the production and conceptualization of Arm’s Way. The maturity that they sought to express ended up painting their project with a veneer of contrivances, caricaturing a style that they and others popularized previously. Songs like The Arm fail to reach the level of epic depth that they overtly are attempting. You do not achieve anything simply by adding a violin run here and there. J’Aime Vous Voire Quitter begins well conceived, but the chorus jolts the listener from good to poor taste before it pulls another punch to the senses when it erupts into La Bamba.
For all it lacks, especially in the first half of the record, Arm’s Way still has enough buoyancy to make a listen worth while. Vertigo closes well. Although it plays lyrically with the often appealed to image of being picked up just to fall down again, the somber vocal melody and full guitar orchestration generate genuine moments of grandeur. But the excellence of this track does much to remind the listener of how little the record offered in its introduction. Islands may be forever but cachet can be exhausted like any other currency.
-FF
http://www.islandsareforever.com
http://www.myspace.com/islands
Other Music
Return to the Sea- 2006
