we are northernly
August 31st, 2009

Review :: Dirty Beaches – Horror

Dirty Beaches - Horror Dirty Beaches
Horror
(Fixture Records)
Montreal, QB
::web/sounds::

Somewhere deep within the Montreal subway system lurks the one-man-chamber that is Dirty Beaches. I say “deep” because I cannot imagine Horror being recorded outside of some disturbing corner previously forgotten by civil servants and hobos. Harking back to the cavernous solitude of Arthur Russell, Horror departs from the reverb-bellowing to relish in minor-key melodica and hazy room-scapes. Anyone who has ever picked up a melodica has wanted to make this record. They’ve also realized how difficult it is to actualize these sounds; invitational rhythms to a ruptured dystopia built on echo and cosmic background radiation. You could play this in the most horrific and terrible place on earth and we’d still be curious enough to bare the environment just to see what’s going on. Excellent material courtesy of Fixture Records.

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Dirty Beaches – Window Rail Seats

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Dirty Beaches – Sea Drift

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Categoria!! New Canadiana :: compact disc :: quebec | 2 Comments »

August 26th, 2009

Review :: Cresting – An E.P.

Cresting - An E.P. Cresting
An E.P.
(Fixture Records)
Montreal, QB
::web/sounds::

I was not prepared for Cresting’s beautiful basement-pop macabre. I had a fist-full of spaghetti (dinner related) half-way through An E.P. when I suddenly realized my whole environment had changed. The combinations of cassette-warmth and sharp, repetitive percussion drenched in brilliant grey-scale low-end formed continuous sequences of pop hyperbole too advanced for my supper preparations. With this in mind, An E.P. is suitable for: late-night/early-morning bike-rides, not being homeless and waking up in a park at 2pm, realizing you got punched in the face because you’re 16 and deserved it, blowing cigarette smoke into a flashlight so you can pretend you’re film-noir, and contemplation. I’m at the contemplation stage of my Cresting cycle so let me gush: this album is thoroughly convincing, clever, innocent, wonderful, pastiche, subtle, and vivid. Do the right thing and listen while you’re sitting down. And make sure you purchase the beautifully packaged CD from Fixture Records whose aesthetic reminds me that compact discs are still a viable format.

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Cresting – Sashes

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Cresting – Sprained Ankle

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Categoria!! New Canadiana :: compact disc :: quebec | No Comments »

August 26th, 2009

Promotion :: Sat. Sept 5 :: Wicked Awesomes! LP Release! At Bonnie Doon Bowling Lanes

For international readers, this post will be totally irrelevant. Except for the following: I am sick and I just got back from the world’s second-largest mall, which means I’m stressed out and angry. I spent $50 on a pair of pants because I got a new job. Ridiculous.

For Edmonton readers, I’d like to remind you that on Saturday September 5th Weird Canada will be presenting the The Wicked Awesomes!’s LP release party at Bonnie Doon Bowling Lanes. Music and bowling.

Weird Canada Presents

The Wicked Awesomes! “Punk Holograms” LP Release Party!!!

… WITH …

The Wicked Awesomes! (Edmonton, AB)
Myelin Sheaths (Lethbridge, AB)
Moby Dicks (Lethbridge, AB)
Grown-Ups (Calgary, AB)

Come down to Bonnie Doon Bowling Lanes for the one-night-only extravaganza of the year. “Punk Holograms,” the debut LP by Edmonton’s uber-weirdos The Wicked Awesomes! is sure to be the most talked about record from Edmonton this year. And they’ll be coming back from a North American tour that received a huge amount of press, including a glowing review on the Brooklyn Vegan blog!

Joining The Wicked Awesomes will be a weird-punk invasion from Lethbridge and Calgary. We have the Myelin Sheaths, who devastated crowds at the Sled Island Music Festival and will be releasing a 7″ on the fabled HoZac Records label (home to Smith Westerns, Blank Dogs, Nobunny, Nothing People, and a host of other underground talent). Tagging along will be the Moby Dicks, whose weird lo-fi garage is sure to turn the heads of folks fortunate enough to catch them now (before they explode – KABOOM!). And coming up from Calgary will be this unknown band Grown-Ups whose MySpace I loved so much I asked them to drive all they way to Edmonton for this show!

***BONNIE DOON BOWLING LANES ::: LOCATED AT 85 st. and 82 ave.(in the bonnie doon shopping mall)****

Yes, the event will take place at Bonnie Doon Bowling Lanes! This is fantastic. Not only does the venue serve beer but it’s ALL AGES as well! The lanes will be open all night, so there will also be a BOWLING COMPETITION!! Win radical stuff!

And now for the bands!

The Wicked Awesomes!
weird canada review
File-Under: burnt puke-garage & psychedelic mizrahi-surf

Myelin Sheaths
weird canada review
File-Under: Psy-fi garage-punk

Moby Dicks
weird canada review
File-Under: Cavernous garage revival

Grown-Ups
web: http://www.myspace.com/wearegrownups
File-Under: lo-fi teen-angst

Monies: $5
Doors: 7:00pm
Bands Start: 8pm (sharp)
Band Order (theoretical): (??surprise??) -> Grown-Ups -> Moby Dicks -> Myelin Sheaths -> The Wicked Awesomes!

Please tell all your friends! This is going to be a lot of fun! I’m excited!!!

Hearts,

Aaron Levin
Weird Canada / Cantor Records
www.weirdcanada.com / www.cantorrecords.com
Weird Canada Presents - The Wicked Aweomes! LP Release Party!

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Categoria!! Promotions | 1 Comment »

August 25th, 2009

Review :: The Moby Dicks

The Moby Dicks - The Moby Dicks The Moby Dicks
The Moby Dicks
(Mammoth Cave)
Lethbridge, AB
::web/sounds::

Another brilliance piece of post-existence garage-punk from Lethbridge, Alberta, released on the soon-to-be-legendary Mammoth Cave Recordings. label. The Moby Dicks’ debute CDR is liquor-store garage-punk-revival filtered through ashtrays and pissy stair-wells; it’s puzzling, adventurous and full of Paul’s weirdly flavored recording MSG. Who is Paul? On top of being the leading member of now-defunct Endangered Ape and producer for about-to-blow-up The Myelin Sheaths, Paul is the cold glue keeping Lethbridge a veritable force in Canada’s what-the-hell-is-this? landscape. Paul’s recording techniques are paramount in separating The Moby Dicks’ debut form derivative garage-punk. Through the Mammoth Cave studios the songs transcend their late-60s roots and firmly entrench themselves in the whirlwind of hell that is the modern Terminal Boredom palette. Buy the CDR before it’s extinct.

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The Moby Dicks – Always Be Around

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The Moby Dicks – Fuck Off Baby

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The Moby Dicks – Talk Money

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Categoria!! New Canadiana :: alberta :: compact disc | 1 Comment »

August 21st, 2009

Review :: Peace – Slow Children

Peace - Slow Children Peace
Slow Children
(Reluctant Recordings)
Vancouver, BC
::web/sounds::

The bombs were going off in my mind as I watched Peace for the first time mere hours ago. Peace has been Edmonton’s secret obsession since Dan Geddes, singer and guitarist from everyone’s favorite Bummers, left for Vancouver and formed this unique trek into hi-fi indie-rock pastures with a few other Edmonton ex-pats. Searing above Peace’s late-period post-punk jangle is Dan’s unique voice, recorded way in the front so his anthemic chants, hollers, and laconic-yet- surreal lyrics direct you to the corners of his frayed and ingenious existence. It’s easy to fall in love with everything Peace is about; it’s weird and hip, with their angular guitar riffs, rolling bass-lines, and Dan’s bizarre vibrato, but seemingly straight enough to blast in your mom’s car as you drive to Red Lobster waiting to suck down a juicy shrimp platter whilst convincing your litter sister that, yes, Peace will be her favorite band once she tires of Morrissey and The Fall. Which is why the bombs have gone off and I’m not going out on saturday night. Highly recommended. I want to keep gushing; so just listen to the damn mp3s already.

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Peace – I Forget

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Peace – Saturday Night

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Categoria!! New Canadiana :: british columbia :: cassette | 1 Comment »

August 19th, 2009

Review :: Mess Folk – Songs!!!

Mess Folk - Songs!!! That Don't Fit Together At All Mess Folk
Songs!!! That Don’t Fit Together At All
(No Clear Records)
Sydney, Nova Scotia
::web/sounds::

There is a song on Mess Folk’s CDR debut that summarizes his interpolated stream-of-consciousness garage-psych misery: Don’t Steal My Medication. There were two occasions in my life where I ended up serving coffee in my apartment to women who had escaped taken leave from the mental health ward. The situations were scary, uncomfortable, weird, exciting, messy, and bizarre. Which is why I’m glad someone has been withholding Mess Folk’s medication as he continues to besiege the world with his ramshackle of raw-delinquent-expression (read: punk), noise freak-outs, and songs that flourish somewhere in between. Out of the 17 tracks on Songs!!!, 4 of them are actual “songs” whereas the rest are varied forays into experimentalism and thrashy-noise. I appreciate the kind of fuck-you attitude it takes to populate a CD full of improv jams and psychedelic-noise-shreddery. Mess Folk will be releasing a 7″ on Hozac Records and I’m very excited about it. You should be as well (actually, I’ve already heard it and it’s awesome).

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Mess Folk – On and On

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Mess Folk – Don’t Steal My Medication

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Mess Folk – A Place For A Dusty Factory

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Categoria!! New Canadiana :: compact disc :: nova scotia | 1 Comment »

August 18th, 2009

Review :: Arron – Untitled

Arron - Untitled Arron
Untitled
(Self Released)
Sudbury, BC
::web/sounds::

There are pockets of exciting, creative energies hidden all over Canada. I can’t find them all, so credit for this discovery goes to Jenni from Illfit Outfit. She e-mailed me to the effect of “I like your blog. There is this guy that makes great music in his basement.” Fairly typical story I thought, until I landed on his myspace page and was immediately wooed by the triumvirate of bursting lo-fi pop, sensitive-and-sweet basement loner folk, and scattered noisescapes. A few convincing MySpace messages later and I get a CD in the mail that (very quickly) peels my wig back (to use the parlance of mid-90s rap gangstery). Aaron Read, performing under Arron, has a sweet, boyish, and endearing voice suited well for his combination of frenetic pop lonertude and campfire folk. Lyrically, he crafts narratives and hooks with a psychedelic edge, keeping us immersed in his own personal snow-globe. It’s the kind of CD I expect to come from Calgary, an artifact left in the wake of bands like Women and Hunter-Gatherer; thankfully, these streams of ingenious melodies seem to pop up everywhere.

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Arron – Fog Legs

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Arron – Coyote

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Arron – Costco Drumz

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Categoria!! New Canadiana :: british columbia :: compact disc | 2 Comments »

August 17th, 2009

The Pizza Box-Set Volume 2: White!

The Pizza Box-Set Volume 2: White! White!
!!!!!!!!!WHITE!!!!!!
(Self Released)
Edmonton, AB
::web/sounds::

In this installment of The Pizza Box-Set (the second volume, if you will) we will investigate the back-yard freak-out ramblings of White! featuring Lucas, Owen Gaudin (ex-Wicked Awesomes! bass player), Jesse Wilkinson, Russel (Wicked Awesomes! drummer), and Logan Gilmour. White! provides a cheaper-than-25-cents peep into the deranged habits of these ruffians in their most wasted state. It’s shear, unadulterated teenage expression at its finest; improvised, absurd, non-linear, poorly recorded and difficult to listen to; sounds that would have found a welcoming home on ESP-Disk in the 60s. Nevertheless, it’s an exciting experience that should remind us of what it was like to be young and attempt to capture everything at all costs. Thoughts running through my mind whilst listening: Was I there? Did that just happen? Ham sandwiches in the sky? Are you serious? How can I hang out with these dudes? Can I be down?

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White – We’re All Stars

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White! – Good For Them

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Categoria!! New Canadiana :: alberta :: compact disc | 4 Comments »

August 14th, 2009

Review :: Noise Cobra – Tongue and Groove

Noise Cobra - Tongue and Groove Noise Cobra
Tongue and Groove
(Patentes)
Montreal, QC
::web/sounds::

Palette cleansing rhythmic noise from Montreal packaged beautifully via Quebec City’s finest experimental boutique label Patentes. Tongue and Groove bombards us with with fifteen minutes of organic, droning noise before collapsing into an ironic heap of 80s trash vis-à-vis Scorpions “No One Like You” with electronic manipulations hovering in the background. I prefer the kind of accessible, meditative, and neutral-inducing static from Noise Cobra over the stinging reality bite you get when confronted with noise’s harsh counterpart. I’ve listened to this album about four times now and I feel ready to face my urban reality; meditation. I look forward to more from Noise Cobra and Patentes.

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Noise Cobra – Tongue and Groove

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Categoria!! New Canadiana :: compact disc :: quebec | 1 Comment »

August 13th, 2009

Review :: Seizure Salad / Indiensoci Split Cassette

Seizure Salad / Indiensoci - The New The Good The Bad and The Ugly Soundtrack (split cassette) Seizure Salad / Indiensoci
The New The Good The Bad and The Ugly Sound Track
(Ice Cream Ala Mode Tape and Sound)
Calgary, AB / Montreal, QC
::web/sounds::

This cassette woke me up on the first day of my vacation. My buzzer rang at 8am this morning and I was pissed-off. I ripped open the parcel and the Seizure Salad / Indiensoci split-cassette fell out; I was excited and ashamed. Seizure Salad’s side skidded into my mind with a lo-fi barrage of experimental psychedelia; a droning, rhythmic travelogue to the far-reaches of Disneyâ„¢-hell filled with distorted film illusions and guitar shreddery. It’s a real narrative with emotionally percussive climaxes and mellow, ambient descents. On the flip-side, Indiensoci sends her parsed, ambient bellowing in an attempt to balance the intricate mind-barrage of Seizure Salad. Indiensoci is the not-so-secret side project from BRAIDS‘ singer and it all makes sense; mellifluous echoes of her voice traveling from every direction in cassette-quad beauty and sentient brilliance – it’s all the things we love about BRAIDS in one stream of magnetic tape. Where Seizure Salad takes you on a Trip Thru Hell, Indiensoci brings you back to the world of the half-alive, allowing a return to your dreams, naps, narratives, and lives with the subtle feeling that everything is not-OK, but it’s all lovely because her vocal wysps linger on in half-audible existence. An easy contender for best experimental cassette of 2009.

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Seizure Salad – Sleeping Buddy

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Seizure Salad – The Lion Thing

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Indiensoci – Boys aRe Stupid 1 (the snowshoe)

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Indiensoci – Boys aRe Stupid 2 (touched by a sentiment)

And for fun, here is two more Seizure Salad tracks…

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Seizure Salad – Beauty Lewis & The News

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Seizure Salad – Acquittal Mermaid

File under: // // // // //
Categoria!! New Canadiana :: alberta :: cassette :: quebec | 1 Comment »

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