weird canada » alberta

New Canadiana :: Dave Smith – Dave Smith

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:30:34 +0000

Dave Smith
Dave Smith
(Self Released)
Calgary, AB // Toronto, ON
~~::web/sounds::~~

From the rap medley of Kevin Stebner:

Somewhere between a Canadiana Jandek, or a tone-deaf Neil Young, prairie-born Dave Smith drops a few of his strongest Going Down the Road-styled slices. Smith’s jams are often nothing more than tape buzz and harmonica-folk devolving into windy noise but with enough personality to shame Shotgun Jimmie into submission. Man of the land.

Dave Smith – Crowfoot’s Grave
Dave Smith – Wheat Pools

New Canadiana :: Monroeville Music Center – Le Progrès DVD

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:30:39 +0000

Monroeville Music Center
Le Progrès DVD
(Crash Symbols // Broken Machine Films)
Calgary, AB
::web/sounds::

From the centre de contrôle of Jesse Locke:

The bleeps, sweeps and creeps of Craig Storm’s MMC get a visual jolt from found footage aficionado Joshua Rogers on this hep DVD. In a tour de force of cable access follies, the songs of Le Progrès sync up with stormy night drives, puppy love on the monorail and aluminum foot soldiers goose-stepping to the beat. It’s an A/V collab on par with Ratté v. Femminielli.

Ephemera :: GreyScreen on Thrillogy

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:30:57 +0000

Ephemera of: GreyScreen
Existing during the recording of: Thrillogy
(Bart Records / Revolution Winter)
Calgary, AB
::web/sounds::
[Photos: Landon Speers]

Kevin Stebner is the only guy we know who can fit his gear into a lunchbox. While he wears many hats — Bart Recs / Revolution Winter founder, Stalwart Sons howler and Ghost Throats head stoker — his chiptune project GreyScreen is the focus of this particular feature. Jamming harder on his GameBoys than most can with a Stratocaster, Stebs charges the Nintendo kingdom full steam ahead. On his recent trip to support the new tape Thrillogy, we linked him up with WC’s resident lensman Landon Speers to spotlight some essential tour items.

Jesse Locke
Weird Canada // Texture Magazine
weirdcanada.com // texturemagazine.ca/wordpress

GreyScreen – No East Or West
GreyScreen – Deer Into A Noose

(click to enlarge)
Game Boys: As with many chiptuners, having a stock of Game Boys is your bread and butter. That Game Boy Light right there, though… that’s my pride and joy; a Japanese exclusive backlit Game Boy that I managed to track down at the legendary Super Potato in Akihabra. That was a holy grail find for me. Nowadays, we backlight-mod these things so you can rock them in the dark (as is that yellow DMG there), but even with the buzz the Game Boy Light puts out, I’ve got a soft spot for that thing.
Permastruct / Lunchbox: With the 4×12′s I normally haul around for bands, it’s nice to pack your entire set-up into a single lunchbox. Ride the Via with nothing but a backpack and lunchbox in tow. The Permastruct cases were from NES rentals from Hollywood Video back in Red Deer. Such a bittersweet moment going to that closing-out sale; my favourite video store was closing its doors, but I managed to snag a ton of gems before it did. Permastruct became the title for the first GreyScreen tape.
Power Glove: Got this on the tour. Major gift from a major pal. Any child of the Nintendo generation should know what this, and chances are you wanted one with every fibre of your being. You saw Lucas in The Wizard, and you most certainly wanted to be him. This Power Glove is for the Famicom (Japanese NES) and I’ve only just recently managed to work it into the set and utilize it live. I love the Power Glove… It’s so bad.
Robert Kroetsch Novels: Keep your enemies close, but keep Alberta closer. The absolute brilliant and hilarious Robert Kroetsch, my favourite writer ever to emerge from Alberta. Studhorse Man in particular. No resounding ovations from the world at large, even with his passing this past year, but to me he is such an inspiration. It speaks more to the attitude of being an artist from Alberta, to simply keep making good things, and hope that some kid discovers it. May his legacy live.
Anti-Nukes Pin: The welcome sign to my hometown reads “Welcome to Red Deer / A Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone.” I’ve always been a strong contender of singing and wearing where you’re from, reflecting your place, your community, your family, your actual culture. In an age of internet world-wide universalism, the notion of regional situation and pride is waning. Since I’ve lost my “HI, I’M FROM RED DEER” pin, this will do as a close second.
Red Apple Arizona Iced Tea: Dubbed ‘Zonas by us in the know. Arizona is the only company I have ever written a fan letter to (wherein we received hats for being “super fans”), and subsequently when they discontinued Red Apple in Canada, a complaint letter. Red Apple may be the greatest liquid ever to grace my throat – nectar of the gods – thus, being able to find them while on tour in the East makes the excuse to tour all the greater.
Dead-stock Trading Cards: I found these crazy things while on tour at a wholesale liquor shop in Pittsburgh. The accusation is constantly, be it directed at chiptune or anything else tied to this by-gone era, that what we are doing is simply reveling in nostalgia. But the truth of it is that the late ’80s and early ’90s produced a “popular” culture that was so out there, one so transfixed on youth, in music, fashion, film, adventure, exploding video game technology, and especially a culture so irony-free, one where “radness” was all that was needed, that odd music could make it on TV or prairie-born heroes like the Hitman putting greasy shades on your face was the coolest thing in the world. Is it any wonder that a fascination of that era exists – to partake and respond and produce art and music out of such a rich and insane cultural heritage as that?

New Canadiana :: Brazilian Money – Doug Nasty

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:30:31 +0000

Brazilian Money
Doug Nasty
(Gripper Tore)
Edmonton, AB
::web/sounds::

From the jived shuckin’ of Jared Majeski:

Hey, you over there. Brazilian Money is back didn’t cha know? Led by bespectacled teen heartthrob Garrett Johnson and a new backing trio of friendly and familiar faces, these boys on the bus are back to what they do: making artfully warm and warbly pop wormholes. Their latest release Doug Nasty asks questions: “What do ya do when a guy comes and shits on your floor?” and ponders the simple things: “Nothing is free, some things are cheap.” Maybe it was the product of several late night acid parties; maybe it was just the people. Maybe it’s for the dance floor slackers, burned out, thinking about the incomprehensible. Either way, it’s fuuuuuuuuun! Glad to see Johnson still shuckin’ and jivin’ in yer minds, giving you reason to think.

Brazilian Money – Can’t Make Up Your Mind
Brazilian Money – Why Couldn’t I?

New Canadiana :: The Ketamines – Spaced Out

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:30:39 +0000

The Ketamines
Spaced Out
(Mammoth Cave Recording Co.)
Lethbridge, AB
::web/sounds::

From the teenage emergencies of Aaron Levin:

Taking their blown-out, wasted pop moves to a new level of blasted riff denial, the darlings of Lethbridge unleash another hyperbolic garage-psych monster within the Canadian ether. Spaced Out soars with wings of farfisa and splattered psychedelics, channeling enough Fred Cole and Ariel Pink to catalyze the ridiculous catch laying in concentrate within their reverberated debut. Finally, an album with enough pop-raunch to satisfy the rolling, sexual hills surrounding southern Alberta’s bleakest plateau. Grip++.

The Ketamines – Teenage Rebellion Time
The Ketamines – Skin Trade
The Ketamines – Midnight Dawn

New Canadiana :: The Cable-Knits – Twins

admin — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:30:29 +0000

The Cable-Knits
Twins
(Self Released)
Calgary, AB
::web/sounds::

From the pre-burner afterthought of Jesse Locke:

Calgary’s Cable-knits play summery skate jams for when you got dumped by your brace-faced teenage girlfriend and just want to bust a boneless into the pool. Knotty threads of guitar drive the duo’s junk-fi pop into a swift set of sugar rush head-boppers. Turns out Stalwart Sons plus Hunter Gatherer equals hook city.

The Cable-Knits – Eyelash Got You Down
The Cable-Knits – Leejay’s Peejays

New Canadiana :: Burro – Burnt Monument

admin — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:30:01 +0000

Burro
Burnt Monument
(Bug Incision)
Calgary, AB
::web/sounds::

From the teenage emergencies of Aaron Levin:

The scorched ferocity barely tethers Burnt Monument‘s searing atonal bliss to our malignant reality. Revelling within the distorted chaos of a guitar-driven daily dance, Burro decimate every squalid soundscape in their pursuit of tautolic wretchery. It’s the ultimate display of damaged purity; a cacophony of annihilation; a treatise on the fundamental nature of obliteration. Ultimate Shred™.

Burro – Burnt Sonic Toast
Burro – Red Eye

Departures :: Lewis – L’Amour [1983]

admin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:30:06 +0000

Lewis
L’Amour
(R.A.W. Records)
???, Canada
Originally Released: 1983

From the summer’s moon of Aaron Levin:

Thanks to the hard work of Numero Group‘s Rob Sevier, the world’s most epic soft-synth mumbler has been caught with a Canadian citizenship. What started with a chance pull in an Edmonton flea-market by one Jon Murphy, ended in a bewildering world-wide phenomenon of softness. Lewis’ lone LP from 1983 is as unusual as it is delicate; an incomprehensible whispered drawl lingers above mysts of smooth-laced synthesizers and nylon guitar as Lewis croons his way through inaudible love, suffering, and mid-afternoon bliss. The confusion accelerates as you begin to dissect the record: dedications to Christie Brinkley, an incredible facsimile on the cover (looking surprisingly like Aaron Levin), a record label named R.A.W., and a history of rip-offs and potential murders (uncovered by multiple individuals tracking members associated with Lewis’ LP). In the end there are no answers. Lewis remains a mystery, with only his name (not Lewis), citizenship (Canadian), and a PO Box in Hawaii. I once found five copies in Calgary, Alberta, which makes me believe this unidentified future softness began in the heart of wild roses. But we may only wonder. Until then, enjoy the most incomprehensible album in the universe (yes, it’s softer than THOMAS). If you can transcribe the lyrics to “I Thought The World of You” I will give you a rare record. [Special thanks for those involved in uncovering the Lewis mystery (and laughing at me when I began to champion it): Jon Murphy, Rob Sevier, Jack Fernwood, and Douglas McGowan].

Lewis – I Thought The World of You
Lewis – Love Showered Me
Lewis – Cool Night In Paris

Departures :: The Stonefield – Deep Shades of Blue b/w Morning Hours [1967]

admin — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:30:25 +0000

The Stonefield
Deep Shades of Blue b/w Morning Hours
(Luck Records)
Rycroft, AB
Originally Released: 1967

From the mourning hours of Aaron Levin:

Hailing from one of the most northernly outposts in Canada, The Stonefield remain an enigma within the Canadian garage-punk cosmos. An easy personal favorite and serious head-scratcher with its brutal fuzz massacre, dual piano weirdness, and bewildering A/B-side pairing. “Deep Shades of Blue” oozes an addictive, lysergic weariness with its mid-tempo somber organ stuck firmly in a minor-key while their drummer, seemingly in his own universe, augments the pacing with a complete disregard for drum pattern awareness. “Morning Hours”, the track that has grippers sweating this single pretty hard, is equally confusing, with a relentless bawdy piano swirling beneath the primitive fuzz lead, secondary organ (two keyboards?!), and bleary vocals (singer Joe Verheyden has stated that he had a flu the day they recorded). The pièce de résistance hits mid-way through “Morning Hours” when one of the most intense and ridiculous fuzz-guitar solos totally drowns out the entire track. I once drove to The Hub of the Peace (Rycroft) on a mission to uncover the mystery behind the band and their insanely obscure 7″ to little success. They recorded in Edmonton and later reformed as The Exit, leaving the rest of the world to ponder the sheer awesomeness and absurdity of their legacy. I’d like to dedicate this post to my very close friend Jon Murphy who has brought a much needed light to many unknown 60s singles throughout Canada, including The Stonefield.

The Stonefield – Morning Hours
The Stonefield – Deep Shades of Blue

New Canadiana :: Matthew A. Wilkinson – sSs EP

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:30:37 +0000

Matthew A. Wilkinson
sSs EP
(Self Released)
Grand Prairie, AB
::web/sounds::

From the magnetic fields of Jesse Locke:

Quick as a cricket, Grand Prairie’s holiest warbler zaps us through the post with his latest enchantment. The sSs EP picks up right where the spellbinding Namers left off, spiraling into black echoes for a series of cinematic miniatures, scraped strings, plucked banjos and touched electronics. The creeping horror culminates in “Cen eTe neR”, a nine-minute scorched earth awakening of cooing kitties and the post-rock dawn of its “secret song.” Discover Alberta.

Matthew A. Wilkinson – yYy