Reviews
By wavelength ~ Posted Saturday, December 4th 2004THE ANOMOANON
Joji (Temelporary Residence, www.temporaryresidence.com)
Jason Molina, you are not good at rocking out country style. Or, not yet anyway. You are best fit for melancholy. We do not like to pigeonhole, I know, but in some cases, like how you're so powerfully awesome at sad and hot and dank and dark, you gotta stick, or work harder. Or take a tip from these dudes. Anomoanon, as you probably know, features Will Oldham's Ned Oldham, who, yeah, sounds like him and does a similar thing. But while Will is off recording boring instrumental sea captain junk, we've got other Oldhams to fill the gap. And plus, Ned's got cool right away on the opening track, with a wicked Vikings and warriors MIDI-style-metal-but-played-on-a-guitar thing. You know, kind of like that Nintendo song band, The Advantage, but minus tiring one-trick pony and plus lonely swelling country sweetness (that can sometimes classic rock as hard as your dad). - SDT
File next to: How amazing it is to like Neil Young if you do it right.
APE
s/t (www.geocities.com/wolfbeatrecords)
APE is Professor and Ape. They have songs like "Planet of the Apes" where the Ape sings things like "Ten minutes ago, I was in outer space, now I'm on the Planet of The Apes! Planet of the apes, planet of the apes, planet of the apes..." among everything else Ape related. All I know is, I put this on at work and the lames who shop in the Greeting Card section come up to the counter like, "What the hell is this?" Which means it's awesome. It seems like people don't get that nowadays. - MFC
File next to: Go see Ape live, and then feel EVEN WORSE about your own band.
BEEP BEEP
Business Casual (www.ilovebeepbeep.com)
The band's bio describes this album as "a symbiotic relationship between driving, angular rock and bold, effeminate textures." Symbiotic means "the intimate living together of two dissimilar organisms in a mutually beneficial relationship", according to Websters. That is not what this album is. There's new wave bass and keyboards, excessively angular guitars, and the world's most annoying singer (who sounds like the guy from Hot Hot Heat at the best of times). Just wait until the third song when he says he's going to "crack the whip of lust." It's that grating. There's no beneficial relationship here. There are too many layers and too much going on for anything good to poke through. Those individual pieces might be okay on their own, but together they clash and jar, and the singer covers it all over with a thick coating of dung. This really doesn't have any redeeming qualities. - RM
File next to: Rice Krispie squares made out of chocolate, jalapenos, salt, Worcestershire sauce, and wood.
C.AARME
S/T (Burning Heart/Epitaph; c.aarme.lofi.org)
What with all the head-explodes punk playing around my place lately, it was weird to find out that Epitaph still had good bands (you in the Converge shirt - put your hand down). It was even weirder that they were singing in French and Spanish. It was even weirder when they turned out to be Swedish. What wasn't weird was the way it was COMPLETELY AWESOME - fast, yelpy, like a pummelling machine set on "bruise." But what is going on with Swedes and not singing in Swedish? How come only Bob Hund sing in Swedish? You know what else? If you were to view Sweden like the movie Crybaby, these guys are like Johnny Depp and Jens Lekman is like the evil preppy dude. MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS WHEN BUYING SWEDISH MUSIC! - MFC
File next to: Skate rock you think you can't buy or get into because you're not a teenager, but really what's going on is you can't grow up at all and have to buy fake adult things to pretend to be a grownup. Which is worse?
CAT POWER
Speaking For Trees DVD (Matador, www.matadorrecords.com)
Ever used a friend's video camera and then proceeded to make your own music video in the backyard? No cuts, no pyrotechnics just a simple (and occasionally boring) home movie of you playing. Maybe you sat drinking a beer watching a buddy playing guitar at the cottage, drifting in and out in the comfort of the moment. These are two impressions that describe this DVD to me. You get two hours of Chan Marshall playing her guitar in the wilderness as a single distant camera shot by Mark Borthwick. At times comforting and subtle; at other times a real snoozer. One thing about this release is that you get to see Chan, bereft of her on-stage breakdowns, as a more accomplished talent. The magnificient 18-minute "Willy Deadwilder," performed with M. Ward during the You Are Free sessions, is also included here on a separate CD. - SV
File next to: Private Cat Power concerts, The "Deep Blues" documentary backyard performances.
CLINIC
Winchester Cathedral (Domino, www.dominorecordco.com)
Imagine there's this new thing. Now, this new thing is really unique and interesting, and all you really want is more of it. Then, a little while later, there's more of it. The novelty has worn off a little, sure, but it's still pretty unique and interesting. And then one day there's even more of it. By now, it's lost a lot of its original appeal. Sure, it still has that thing about it that made it so desirable in the beginning, but it's not so new anymore. The shine has dulled, and it really feels manufactured. It's not bad, no no. There are still occasional moments when you think "Yeah!" as it jolts you with that feeling you had when you experienced it for the first time, but it just doesn't grab you like it once did. The love just isn't there, and while it's far from dead, you worry that it might be on its way. This is that thing. - RM
File next to: Clinic and laziness.
THE DOERS
Ready, set, do/I can enjoy almost anything (Red Cat; www.thedoers.com)
How well does "under two minutes" work as a song length? Pretty damn well, and The Doers are experts at it - each and every 45-second to one-and-a-half minute outburst is packed with jazzy, melodic bass lines and furious acoustic guitar strumming - the latter being perfect timing, because I never thought I would like one of those again. In fact, The Doers have single-handedly fixed the acoustic guitar. There are now two acoustic guitar camps, and The Doers are on the winning side. - MFC
File next to: "Doers" yourself the favour. This is one of my favourite records.
EL-P
Collecting The Kid (Def Jux, www.definitivejux.net)
Basically, this should have been a single - "Jukie Skate Rock" by Central Services backed with "Constellation Remix" featuring Stephanie Vezina. That's where you'll get the El at his best, that is, amazing Prince versus Gary Numan futuro heaviness. Supposedly, Central Services is gonna put out an album. I'm stoked for that, because "My country's crazy baby, your country's crazy too, we got our weapons ready, you got your weapons too" is the best hook a song that shouts out Tony Blair could have. - MFC
File next to: If you smoke a lot of pot, you should get this. If you don't, borrow it off your pothead friends.
ELECTROPUTAS
3 (Social Registry, www.thesocialregistry.org)
Electroputas have a serious Sonic Youth fixation. The clanging guitars and detuned vocals are enough to tell me that. Unfortunately, the band doesn't really have the skill or the grace that Sonic Youth have, and a lot of their ideas seem to get lost in the delivery. The best moments come from when Electroputas aren't trying to emulate anyone: the instrumental break in "AA," the soft vocals of "Starsoul." But these moments are few enough. This is where I normally say something like, "they will probably get better with time," but this is their third album, so they probably won't get better with time. - AG
File next to: They probably won't get better with time.
FOAL
Foliage (Cognition Audioworks, www.cognitionaudioworks.com)
Foal is Saskatoon's Chad Munson, who has been busy composing and performing music since '96. Frustration with prairie venues and the Saskatoon scene, Munson followed in the steps of wheat farmers from days gone by and helped form The December 5th Music Cooperative with Brennan Hart (Knar), Jake Hardy (Holzkopf), and Max Haiven (NoType) in order to help promote experimental electronic music in their area. Chad also played guitar in a band called Blood Music but his real accomplishments have been with electronic music, with his debut Re:construction being released by NoType sublabel Nishi (free downloads at www.notype.com/nishi). On Foliage, Foal continues where he left off with Re:construction, fashioning minimal techno tracks out of the sonic debris he created with his electric and acoustic guitar. "I see myself as a guitar player, not as an electronic musician," notes Munson and the results can be heard in the organic textures of his headphone music. - MJ
File next to: Techno for guitarists by guitarists.
GRANDADDY
Under the Radio (Ultra, www.ultrarecords.com)
In what seems like it's become a sort of tradition for artists, Grandaddy unleashes a mix-tape worth of indie pop songs for their loving fans to digest (plus an exclusive cut of their own, of course). While I don't think that these kinds of things are the most scrupulous ever, I will admit that this mix tops other such ventures - shit like Ladytron's Softcore Jukebox - especially since, included with the music are liner notes by the chief Grandaddy himself, explaining why he chose the songs. It's an interesting look into a band I like; plus, the exclusive cut is pretty great. Just... try and find it used, don't buy it new. - AG
File next to: Pavement, Beulah, cash-in.
HALL OF FAME
Paradise Now (Social Registry, www.thesocialregistry.org)
Sounding like what would happen if Six Organs of Admittance and Sunburned Hand of the Man got together to jam... no, that's already happened, but it's a good enough comparison to make. The guitars are so reverberated and thick sounding that it's hard to concentrate on anything else, but when the soft vocals come in, and the brushed drums, you want the guitars to kind of tone it down a little, but they don't, which is also kind of awesome. - AG
File next to: Castanets, Souled American, Six Organs, NNCK.
KID DAKOTA
The West Is the Future (Chairkickers, www.chairkickers.com/label)
This came as a shock not because I like it so much, but because the first time I listened to it I absolutely hated it. See, I turned it off and put something else on, but the songs stayed with me, lodged in my brain, even when listening to other music. I ended up putting it back on and liking it some more, taking it off again, putting it back on... This went on for about an hour before I realized that this was great Minnesota folk in the vein of Fog and Low (both of whom guest on this album). There is a religious undertone that I don't really understand, although it's on Chairkickers, Low's own label (Mormons!), so I guess it's alright. I don't mind religion. - AG
File next to: Minnesota.
KIDS THESE DAYS
All These Interruptions (White Whale, www.whitewhale.ca)
Despite the femme-y croon on opener "About Every 12 Hours," there are no women in Kids These Days. No women, but five extremely hard-working man-dudes who manage to evade the plague of suckage that generally falls upon try-hard indie rock bands. All These Interruptions picks up and revamps tracks from the Kids' demo and points them towards you with a solid, quality effort. These songs are not the next big thing, but energy in this system is definitely conserved: the Kids get out every inch of effort they've put in. "Rest Tonight," also from the demo, is particularly lovely and still the stand-out, and it's a good thing a couple of them can sing, because too much woman-man could begin to grate. Seriously guy, you sound like Sarah Harmer. - SDT
File next to: Smacking of effort, in a nice way.
KILN
Sunbox (Ghostly, www.ghostly.com)
Holy fuck, is this ever good. It's only a half-hour long, only five songs, but dang do I wish it went on longer. Kiln make the music that Sigur R≤s dream of, the kind of understated electronic tone poetry that goes well with anything. There is a definitely vibe of regret throughout the album - songs crest slowly into elegiac refrains, kind of like Stars of the Lid without all of the Percocet - the kind of vibe that makes you want to start it again once it's finished. - AG
File next to: Man I sound like a real flake sometimes...
MIDNIGHT MOVIES
S/T (Emperor Norton; www.midnightmovies.net)
This strong debut from this L.A. trio will undoubtedly get compared to other bands. Sure these guys are a bit retro-futurist and psychedelic, but I think the album is a very skillful start. Drummer/singer (!) Gena Oliver appears to channel the spirits of the Euro chanteuse Nico and Broadcast's Trish Keenan which lends a distinctly retro sound to the group's aesthetic. But they create songs that are very much their own, a fuzzy mix of the spacey and the spooky. The dark rave-ups and Oliver's vocals just seems to be a perfect fit for me (and obviously for many others who thought they stole the recent show with Clinic). There's also a bit of the driving motorik of Electrelane, building up steam as the songs go along. This is definitely worth a look. - SV
File next to: Noirish dreams of yesteryear at Andy Warhol's Factory.
NAW
Green Nights Orange Days (Noise Factory, www.noisefactoryrecords.com)
Neil Adam Wiernik aka NAW has been active in the electronic music scenes in Toronto and Montreal for years. He was responsible for a string of events as a part of the Clonk promotions team, organized stages for the Om Festival and works with the Phoniq crew in Montreal. Nights and Days is his follow up to The Resound of a Foggy Autumn Dawn, also released by Toronto indie experimental label, Noise Factory. The new album can be described as dubby minimal techno with a certain delicate edge. NAW's electronics, mostly custom designed MAX/MSP patches, are not grating or banging, rather the sounds provide a soothing sonic pulse that creates an elegant vibe. There are subtle shifts to the beats, which toss about back and forth a little, but it's the constant nature of the music and deep chords and echo that appeal. NAW also currently has a net release available for free download by England's clevermusic.net. - MJ
File next to: Chain Reaction and Basic Channel.
THE NEIN
s/t (Sonic Unyon, www.sonicunyon.com)
Starting with big drums and dirty bass, kind of like Fridmann and Shellac jamming, but mixing it together with some strange jangly guitar, The Nein's eponymous EP begins well... it's when the vocals cut in that it gets a bit tedious. Employing an emocore style in the vocals that sounds a bit like now-defunct Elliott, the vocals grate at me in an intense way. Nonetheless, instrumentally the band is tops - songs have a way of lock-grooving and spiralling off into the four minute area (normally not long, I guess, but long for the type of stuff The Nein is pulling off), resulting in a mash of Chicago post-punk and Gainesville emocore. What would happen if The Jesus Lizard started kicking it with Another Sevenfold? I guess this is the answer.
File next to: Touch and Go, No Idea records.
Durham, NORTH CAROLINA's The Nein make their Toronto debut at Wavelength Dec. 12.
PAN/TONE
Newfound Urban Calm + remix album (Bip Hop, www.bip-hop.com)
A desolate mining town in Northern Ontario is the last place that you'd expect to be the breeding ground for one of Canada's best known laptop musicians. pan/tone aka Shelbono Del Monte has had numerous releases on renown minimal microhouse labels BackGround, Onitor, Neuton, Substatic and Algorithm's Revolver, but Newfound Urban Calm, a co-production between France's Bip Hop and Swayzak's 240 Volts label, to release the vinyl 12-inches, is perhaps the best. Shelbono flirts with techno-rock and takes the microsound into much dirtier terrain than most with gritty bass lines and a focus on dance inspiring rhythms. The accompanying remix includes interpretations by Torontonians Adam Marshall and Jeff Milligan as well as MIA, Frank Martiniq, Andy Vaz and Losoul. This is a tight album that is sure to set more discerning dance floors on fire. Urban Calm is a decidedly new step for Bip Hop and although it's a great album, I hope that they don't abandon their more experimental roots, artists like Wang Inc., Bovine Life and Komet. - MJ
File next to: Another Canadian in Berlin becoming a techno star.
PSAPP
Tiger, My Friend (Leaf; www.psapp.net)
Birds chirping and the sounds of children lead into goofy flute and marimba filled out by strings and dog squeeze toy, and that's only in the first minute. You know that you are in for a friendly and diverse listening experience on this one. This release by the London-based duo of Carim Clasmann and Galia Durant fits neatly into the area of sample-based collagists in the tradition of Matthew Herbert. Durant's bittersweet lyrics and sleepy singing style are an interesting contrast with the bouncy pop constructions of Clasmann. Mixing intricate fragments of African jazz, glitch and such things as sampled elevator alarms and cat meows, these two create a very melodic and diverse little release. There's an unabashed cuteness factor that is matched by an adept mixing skill here. A quirky and interesting release. - SV
File next to: Dani Siciliano, Toys `R' Us, melancholy sugar highs.
BRITNEY SPEARS
Greatest Hits: My Prerogative (Jive/Zomba)
Since hooking up with Kevin Federline, it seems that not a day goes by without new candid shots popping up in tabloids and blogs of Mr. and Mrs. Spears dressed down and buying munchies at their local 7-11. Appropriately enough, all of Britney's convenience store dietary staples are represented in this all-killer, no filler compilation. There's the pre-requisite bubblegum of the title tracks of her first two albums ("Baby One More Time," "Oops!... I Did It Again"). There's a pair of so-hot-you'll-need-a-Marlboro-Light-after Neptunes-penned grinders ("I'm a Slave 4 U," "Boys"). And, of course, there's Britney's beloved Red Bull (dance-floor fillers "Toxic," "Outrageous," "Overprotected") and Chee-tos (schlocky ballads "Sometimes," "Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman," "Everytime"). Wrap it all up in a shiny magazine full of hot, airbrushed photos and you've got a perfect little plastic bag of goodies. Of course, after 74 minutes you may be finding yourself craving some real food. But there's nothing wrong with a little trashy indulgence every now and then. - SB
File next to: The Immaculate Collection, Design of a Decade, US Weekly.
VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Polygon Minute (www.polygonnetwork.org)
If you're into making mixed tapes for your friends, then you'll have run into the problem of what to do when there's only a minute or so of tape left to fill. The Polygon Network, a Halifax based online resource for electronic musicians, has tackled this problem by releasing a 48-song compilation of complete one-minute tracks by the who's who of Atlantic Canada's electronic community. The results range from noisy electro-pop and mental mashups to the sublime. Esten Gerriets's effected guitar work on "I came in 60's" has a particularly elegant and delicate feel. Brasshole's "Mookie" also has a retro down-tempo vibe, reminiscent of Money Mark's Hammond ish. While Andrew Duke's "Cookies for Oscar" scratches that experimental glitch techno itch. One minute goes by quickly, and it's hard to develop a piece of music in that time, so the simplest tracks on this comp tend to stand out. A nice introduction to what's going on out East. - MJ
File next to: Canadian Experimental Electronics or One Minute of Fame.
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Samplicity: One Step Further (www.wef.prv.pl)
This double CD is a document of the Warsaw Electronic Festival 2003, an academic festival with performances, lectures, art exhibits and club nights geared towards music, media art and technology, WEF is Poland's Mutek. Samplicity gives one a taste of the sounds by artists involved in WEF, both Polish and international talent who help give street credibility to the intellectuals and media artists with their electro boogie and tweaked out d'n'b. The Gameboyzz Orchestra Project is a particularly interesting group that uses the portable LCD video game (apparently the old school grey model sounds the best) and cartridges like Nanoloop to make music - the results are killer. There is a wide variety of music here but my personal favourites are beat-driven tunes by Mr. Incognito, Syntix, Anaxy and Canada's own Andrew Duke. There are also a few ambient and jazzy tracks that are surprisingly un-wanky and help make a well rounded, listenable document of an intellectual festival. - MJ
File next to: d'n'b and electro for chin-scratching media artists.
WOVENHAND
Consider the Bird (Sounds Familyre, www.soundsfamilyre.com)
Wovenhand sounds like Leonard Cohen if Leonard couldn't write songs... or play guitar. Honestly, though, after having heard about Wovenhand from a number of credible people, I decided I would check it out; the results were less than great. I can't really complain about it much aside from the fact that each song sounds similar to the one before it, and I found myself tuning out about halfway through. It's not that's it's necessarily a bad album, just not a very interesting one. - AG
File next to: disappointment.