Chromewaves

Detour

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:26:02 -0500

Hello gentle RSS readers, and welcome to the end of the line. This here site is being shut down - mothballed, if you will - and shant be updated again. Instead, I'm choosing to devote my time and energies to my new site... which looks an awful lot like the old one, only built in Wordpress.

Yeah, I've switched CMS' and as such, this RSS feed won't be updated anymore. I ask you to head over to version 7.5 of chromewaves and re-subscribe to the new RSS feed there.

Regards

The Management

Catapult

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:31:06 -0500

Photo via Murmur

Those fancy double-disc deluxe edition reissue sets have become fairly commonplace recently as the labels try to take advantage of the type of people willing to buy the same album over and over again while they're still alive, but that doesn't mean they're not - at least sometimes - getting it right. Case in point, the announcement that R.E.M.'s debut album Murmur will be getting said treatment this Fall.

Pitchfork has your specifics, but basically you're looking at the standard remastered album on disc one - maybe the same remaster job as the last couple times Murmur was re-released? - and for the second disc, a complete live show recorded here in Toronto circa 1983. The gig was held at a no-longer existent dive called Larry's Hideaway which if memory serves (and by memory I mean Google - I was 8 at the time and wouldn't have had the experience with Toronto's live music dives that I do now) was located just a few blocks from here at Carlton and Jarvis. Anyone know if the place still exists in some form and if so, what it is now? I'm curious.

The Murmur deluxe edition is out November 25. Update: Blurt has some thoughts on what they view as a flawed reissue (thanks to Eugene for the link).

Video: R.E.M. - "Radio Free Europe"

Though guitarist Damian Cox has recovered from his stroke well enough to blog, he's not sure if or when he'll be able to play guitar again so as a result, The Long Blondes have called it a day. Details at NME. Singles, the compilation of their early singles, is out in the UK today.

MP3: The Long Blondes - "Once And Never Again"
MP3: The Long Blondes - "Here Comes The Serious Bit"
MP3: The Long Blondes - "Guilt"

Relix has specifics on M Ward's new record Hold Time, due out February 17.

Pitchfork has an interview with a surprisingly lucid and non-crazy pills Kevin Barnes. Of Montreal's new one Skeletal Lamping is out tomorrow and they're at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on October 28.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune talks to Lucinda Williams.

Pop Reckoning and Paste interview Rachael Yamagata.

Sloan's Chris Murphy talks to The Halifax Chronicle-Herald. They're at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday night.

So while I usually try and actually get a substantive post up for Mondays, this week will instead kick off only the slim bits above and a weak-ass apology. Rather than actually do any listening or writing this weekend, I was instead coding, trying to get a fairly significant upgrade to this here site working and while it's tantalizingly close, it's not there yet. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe the day after. Hopefully before I leave for New York, at the very least.

Sunday Cleaning - Volume 100

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 11:55:11 -0500

Hearts Of Palm UK / For Life (Hypnote)

For the record, the "UK" part of the name is all affectation - there's was territorial trademark tussle and the trio hails from California. There's not even much overtly Anglophilic in their sound, which is a twinkling example of electro-chamber pop more comparable to the likes of The Postal Service or Au Revoir Simone, though not as peppy as the former or as dreamy as the latter. Built on Erica Electra's downcast lyrics and delicately worn vocals, burbling synths and beats more suited to shuffling than dancing,, For Life is beautiful in sound and melancholic in mood, evoking the feel of an Autumn day where the sun may shine, but the chill in the air remains.

MP3: Hearts Of Palm UK - "People & Logistics"
MP3: Hearts Of Palm UK - "I Flow"
Video: Hearts Of Palm UK - "People & Logistics"
MySpace: Hearts Of Palm UK

Hospital Bombers / Footnotes (Saved By Radio)

I didn't need to read the bio for Amsterdam's Hospital Bombers to know they hold the Mountain Goats in high regard. Besides the fact that their name is taken from the lyrics of "The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton", the influence of John Darnielle is evident in every one of vocalist Jan Schenk's nasal bleats (this is not criticism, just description). And while it's not really possible to emulate Darnielle's songwriting, the quartet - self-proclaimed deliverers of "stadium folk" - do manage to replicate some of the manic, playful energy of mid-period Goats with a delivery that's suitably dry though seasoned with a blend of New Wave and orchestral flavours. Combined with a certain distinctive Euro-ness, the Bombers ensure that for all their idol worship, they remain their own band. If you don't like the Goats in the first place, however, you may want to just move on.

Footnotes will be released in North America on Tuesday and they play Sneaky Dee's next Wednesday night, October 29.

MP3: Hospital Bombers - "Neighbourhood"
MySpace: Hospital Bombers

The Company I Can Get

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:25:07 -0500

Photo by Frank Yang

Rocking out, of course, would have been wholly inappropriate. The New Year may have finally chosen to visit Toronto after years of passing us by, but to make any sort of production of it would have been completely out of character. Instead, the slow and steady languidness on which they've built their career (or careers, if you count Bedhead) demanded that the Texan quintet show up, do their quietly mesmerizing thing and depart. Which they did, while still blowing at least a few of the 50 or so minds gathered to welcome them.

I'd gotten a preview of what the live show might be like when the two principals - Matt and Bubba Kadane - played Sneaky Dee's as a duo back in July but as anticipated, the addition of the third (and at one point fourth) guitar and rock-solid rhythm section featuring drummer extraordinaire Chris Brokaw put things into another dimension from that stripped-down performance. I covered some of what makes The New Year special in my review of their new eponymous album but to see the intricate guitar-chestrations executed live was fascinating - between the five of them, it was like watching musical engineers at work, systematically and methodically building something cool and crystalline and beautiful.

Neither Kadane seemingly interested in stepping up to the front of the stage unless they had to sing, so at more than a few points the entire band was pulled back to near the back of the stage, far more intent on the job at hand than working the crowd. Material was drawn from all three of their records though with the absence of a piano in the lineup, arrangements were rejigged to be even more guitar-intensive but such is the magic of their recipe that even with all that going on, nothing got overly busy or muddled - each part rung out clear as a bell and as delicately or intensely as necessary. With a set that lasted just an hour including encore, it seemed rather short considering how long I - and at least a few others I sure - had waited for the show, but that's a small complaint. Satisfying in every other regard.

It was unclear who support was for this show - all listings I'd seen said Angela Desveaux, but a few instead said a fellow named Ryan Driver. As it happens, it was both. Driver was up first and didn't seem at all perturbed to be playing to less than a dozen people. Seated in a chair and deftly fingerpicking his acoustic guitar, he offering up a short set of fairly standard but still well-executed coffeehouse folk. Desveaux, on the other hand, brought a full-sized band featuring not just three guitars but a pedal steel as well, all tasked with recreating the rich country pop of her latest record The Mighty Ship. I've always found Desveaux to be a solid, if not over spectacular, live performer - her strength is very much her voice and songwriting - so the extra musical muscle went a long way to making things engaging throughout. Throw in a couple of covers from Paul Simon and Richard & Linda Thompson and you had a set that was comfy like a warm sweater.

New City Chicago talks to Matt Kadane, Here chats with Angela Desveaux.

Photos: The New Year, Angela Desveaux, Ryan Driver @ Lee's Palace - October 15, 2008
MP3: The New Year - "The Company I Can Get"
MP3: The New Year - "X Off Days"
MP3: The New Year - "The End's Not Near"
MP3: The New Year - "Sinking Ship"
MP3: Angela Desveaux - "Sure Enough"
MP3: Angela Desveaux - "Heartbeat"
Video: The New Year - "The End's Not Near"
Video: Angela Desveaux - "Wandering Eyes"
Video: The New Year - "Disease"
MySpace: The New Year
MySpace: Angela Desveaux

Boston Music Spotlight spotlights Frightened Rabbit, playing Lee's Palace on Tuesday.

The Ithaca Journal interviews Billy Bragg.

Travis - remember them? - are back with a new album in Ode To J Smith, out now. And it sounds a little like this.

MP3: Travis - "J. Smith"

Murray Lightburn details the fall and rise of The Dears to The Globe & Mail.

Time Out Chicago gets some time with TV On The Radio's Tunde Adebimpe.

The Denver Post chats with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats. Their new EP Satanic Messiah is available digitally, either via a pay what you can model or at a suggested price tag of the devil of $6.66.

Colin Meloy gives Paste some insight into the next Decemberists record Hazards Of Love, currently targeted for an April release.

Will Sheff of Okkervil River gives SPIN an explanation of the song that closes out The Stand Ins, "Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979".

Two Hours Traffic are coming back for their four millionth Toronto show this year for an all-ages gig at the Whippersnapper Gallery on November 28 as part of their "Sure Can Start" tour. Hey, that's the same name as one of their songs. What a coincidence!

MP3: Two Hours Traffic - "Sure Can Start"

The Falls Church News Press and Minneapolis Star-Tribune talk to Broken Social Scene's Brendan Canning. They've got two dates at the Sound Academy on November 27 and 28.

CONTEST - Mad Decent/Diplo @ Circa - October 21, 2008

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:51:35 -0500

Illustration via Imeem

That Diplo would headline the tour that bears his label's name is a bit of a no-brainer. That he'd fill out the lineup with Los Angeles dance-punks Abe Vigoda, the Brooklyn-based embodiment of the "if you can't say anything nice..." adage Telepathe and UK electro act Boy 8-Bit is rather more surprising (okay, not so much that last one) but genre shmengre, right?

The tour is now underway and hits Circa in Toronto next Tuesday night, and courtesy of tour sponsors Incase, I've got a prize pack to give away consisting of a pair of passes to said show - that's October 21 for the calendar-challenged - and a 15" hardshell Macbook Pro case featuring custom tour artwork by artist Jacob Chabot. Don't have a Macbook Pro? Planning on getting one of the new ones? Not my problem.

To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with "I want to see Diplo" in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body. Since this is coming right up, it'll just run this weekend - get entries in to me by midnight, October 19.

NOW is all over this tour with features on Diplo as well as Abe Vigoda. JAM also has an interview with the former and eye with the latter.

Sing A Song

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:31:16 -0500

Photo by Autumn De Wilde

So obviously I'm on record as having thought that Rilo Kiley's last record (and according to some, their last record) Under The Black Light was a massive disappointment. It sounded like both principals were disinterested and just phoning it in, and made me think that maybe frontwoman Jenny Lewis' solo career - at that point consisting only of the rather lovely and understated country-soul gem Rabbit Fur Coat - was going to be the actual way forward.

Which put her second solo effort, Acid Tongue, under that much more scrutiny. Was the weak and indifferent songwriting on Black Light an aberration or had the wellspring of inspiration that had served so well up to that point actually dried up? Well, it's definitely a better record than Blacklight, but coming from me that's not necessarily saying much. It thankfully eschews the genre-hopping of that last Rilo Kiley record and returns again to the rootsier trappings that suits Lewis' voice best, though not in as quiet a manner as Rabbit Fur Coat. Acid Tongue is a bolder, brassier record with its share of rollicking moments, but what it gains in energy over the first solo record, it loses in vulnerability.

As her success has grown, it seems Lewis' willingness to expose herself in her songwriting has diminished or what does make it through is thoroughly encrypted. And that's fine, emotionally naked, heart on sleeve songwriting isn't for everyone but Lewis has indulged before and the results have been stirring. So instead of a confessional, she's enlisted a slew of guest stars - Elvis Costello, M Ward and Zooey Deschanel among them - and hosted a party instead. A party where the theme is loose but impeccably played, '70s-style country-rock. And parties are great, everyone likes parties, but I've always been the sort who preferred the quiet 3AM conversations that follow when things have died down.

The AV Club, The Guardian, The List, Blurt, The Independent and The Skinny talk to Lewis about her new record.

MP3: Jenny Lewis - "Acid Tongue"
MySpace: Jenny Lewis

Feist talks to The Winnipeg Sun about visiting the Arctic. She visits Massey Hall on November 1 and the Air Canada Centre on November 3.

Paste talks to Lucinda Williams.

The Denver Post and Colorado Daily Q&A Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields.

Chart talks to Matthew Sweet.

The McGill Tribune interviews Travis Nelson of Okkervil River.

Gotham Acme talks to Joey Burns of Calexico. They're at the Phoenix on November 18 and with original support act Bowerbirds having cancelled on account of exhaustion, the opener will now be Cuff The Duke.

In response to my "nothing to write about" comment yesterday, Radio Free Canuckistan gently reminded me that The Awkward Stage, who released the wholly underappreciated Slimming Mirrors, Flattering Lights earlier this year, are at the Horseshoe tonight as part of a west coast-acular bill with Said The Whale, Vancougar and Sylvie. Pulse Niagara has an interview with Awkward frontman Shane Nelken, The Toronto Star features Sylvie.

MP3: The Awkward Stage - "Anime Eyes"
MP3: Vancougar - "Obvious"
MP3: Sylvie - "Please Make It Home"

Get Outta Town!

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 08:26:34 -0500

Photo by Libi Pedder

So - I'm currently in a weird sort of position where after a fairly hectic few weeks of wholly bloggable stuff, I've finally gotten a chance to take a breath and have realized that I have nothing to blog about. Which is not to say that there's nothing worthwhile happening in music, just that I've not had the chance to listen to anything in the last while sufficiently that I feel compelled to write about it nor is anything especially newsworthy happening that I can run with (besides Chinese Democracy! November 23!).

And so, instead, I'll tread water for a day and look ahead to next week, when I jet off to New York City for CMJ though not for CMJ. As previously mentioned, I am going to witness the North American debut of Lucky Soul, which just happens to be part of the CMJ Music Marathon. You may recall that their retro-pop-tacular debut The Great Unwanted was one of my top albums of last year and even a year and a half later, it remains an absolute delight. And considering how difficult it is for them to cross the pond, this is an opportunity not to be missed. They're actually playing two shows - the official showcase on the 23rd at what is apparently a brand new venue called The Studio At Webster Hall and then a headlining show of their own the following evening at Joe's Pub as presented by Music Snobbery. And, around these two must-see shows I'm hoping to squeeze in a few more - currently on the calendar I've got The Brother Kite at Lit on the 23rd (immediately following Lucky Soul's show a few blocks away) and then Emmy The Great is apparently doing a day show of some sort at The Delancey on the Saturday.

If I can fit all that in, I will declare the weekend to be a triumph. Anything on top of that is gravy. I'm also hoping to squeeze in a bit of touristing whilst I'm there - the last time I was in New York a couple years back, I managed to hit most areas in Manhattan except for Soho and the Lower East Side. This time, excepting a midtown pilgrimage to B&H, I don't expect to leave that area. Anything particularly noteworthy to see around there? This is probably the last trip of any sort I'm taking for a good long while, probably till SxSW in March, so I'd like to make the most of it.

MP3: Lucky Soul - "The Great Unwanted"
Video: Lucky Soul - "Lips Are Unhappy"
Video: Lucky Soul - "My Brittle Heart"
Video: Lucky Soul - "Add Your Light To Mine, Baby"
MySpace: Lucky Soul

Ex-Pipette Rosay - now just Rose Elinor Dougall - has made her first single as a solo artist available for grabsies. It'll be released as an ultra-limited 7" single on December 8. The Von Pip Musical Express has an interview with Dougall about going solo. Oh, and the new lineup of the Pipettes look a little like this.

MP3: Rose Elinor Dougall - "Another Version Of Pop Song"

Paste talks reunion with Simon Jones of The Verve. I finally picked up a copy of Forth this weekend - used, natch - and to my surprise it's not nearly as weak as I'd been led to believe. Not a classic by any stretch and it definitely has a potent case of the meanders, but still pretty listenable if in a wallpaper-y way. It doesn't hurt my ears, though if I never ever hear the phrase "A latte, double shot" used in a song lyric again, it'll be too soon.

The Quietus considers a recent Jarvis Cocker lecture on the importance of songwriting and comes up with a list of the 20 worst lyrics ever committed to, um, voice? And not even Dylan or Morrissey escape unscathed.

Billy Bragg sings Woody Guthrie to a lobster puppet for the CBC at the ANTI blog. Why ask why?

NME reports that Franz Ferdinand will release their third album Tonight on January 27.

The Killers are at Massey Hall on November 18.

Drowned In Sound talks to Murray Lightburn of The Dears about the difficult birth of Missiles, out next Tuesday. And I should clarify something that was pointed out to me after I talked about the record a few weeks back - though the previous lineup of the band is obviously now dissolved, some of them did play on the new record. From the sounds of the interview, probably Patrick Krief, now plying his trade as Black Diamond Bay and, incidentally, playing a gig at the Annex Wreck Room tonight.

MP3: Patrick Krief - "Worries Are Over"

Centro-Matic have released a new video from the Dual Hawks double-record. Will Johnson is in town tonight at Lee's Palace as a pinch-hitter guitarist in The New Year.

Video: Centro-Matic - "Rat Patrol & DJs"

As they've done the past few years, the Toronto Public Library is injecting some hot rock into the stacks with their Make Some Noise program, basically an invitation to turn a library - in this case the North York Central branch - into a rock venue. On November 15, they'll host a free show featuring Slim Twig, Masia One, Winter Gloves and Gentleman Reg and according to Soundscapes, there'll be some workshops the following week covering topics such as breaking into the music business and DIY show booking. Tickets for the show are available now, first-come first-serve at Soundscapes and certain Toronto Public Library branches. Details here.

Alphabetical Order

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 08:35:24 -0500

Photo by Elizabeth Weinberg

So most everyone I know is referring to next Tuesday night's show at Lee's Palace as "the Frightened Rabbit" gig, and quite reasonably so - they released one of the year's best records in The Midnight Organ Fight back in April and have toured North America a few times since then, but have yet to visit Toronto and also, we do love those thick Scottish accents. But as much of an attraction as they are, there's another touring band on the bill, the one that goes on after them. What's the word... oh yeah - the headliner.

And the lucky band that gets to follow Frightened Rabbit (and possibly see the crowd thin considerably?) is the hottest thing out of Deleware right now - Joe Biden. Okay, second-hottest - The Spinto Band, who just released a new album in Moonwink. As was established when the tour was first announced, it's an odd pairing of acts. Frightened Rabbit trade in deadly earnest folk-rock with a particular interest in bodily fluids and listening to The Spinto Band is like mainlining pure refined sugar through your eyeballs (or eardrums), but apparently they're quite big in Europe so there you go.

Moonwink is unrelentingly cheerful and bursting with tight harmonies, runaway off-kilter melodies and quirky instrumentation. Imagine Clap Your Hands Say Yeah overdosed on cotton candy or Of Montreal without the general batshit crazy. Moonkwink's unrelenting glee gets a bit exhausting, even over the record's brief 35-minute running time, but its masterfully executed and all evidence is that the sextet put on a terrific show so if your blood sugar is within safe levels, they may offer the perfect pick-me-up to follow Frightened Rabbit.

Metro and ArtistDirect have interviews with The Spinto Band.

MP3: Spinto Band - "Summer Grof"
MySpace: The Spinto Band

The Quietus has an interview with one of Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes' alter-egos. As I said: batshit crazy. Skeletal Lamping is out next week, they play the Queen Elizabeth Centre on October 28, and if that show is even a fraction as insane as the New York one - though I think the venue IS next door/part of to the equestrian building at the CNE - it's going to be ridiculous. Update: New video!

Video: Of Montreal - "Id Engager"

Spinner and LiveDaily talk to Rachael Yamagata about her new record Elephants... Teeth Sinking Into Heart.

Pitchfork has an interview with Sigur Ros bassist Georg Holm about the making of Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust, which NME points out will be re-released on November 24 with a fancy 200-page hardcover book and DVD video content and costing a pretty penny (approx $85). Gotta combat that collapsing Icelandic economy somehow, I guess.

The Globe & Mail and Canadian Press talk to Feist about the charitable aspect of her upcoming cross-Canada tour which has two dates in Toronto - November 1 at Massey Hall and November 3 at the Air Canada Centre.

JAM, The Portland Mercury and Canada.com have features on Chad Van Gaalen.

Minnesota Public Radio welcomes The Magnetic Fields to their studios for a session.

Daytrotter has a downloadable session with Black Kids.

NPR is streaming Ra Ra Riot's show in DC this past weekend in its entirety.

Unless It Kicks

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:40:04 -0500

Photo by Frank Yang

Some people spend Thanksgiving with their families. I spend mine with rock'n'roll bands. Two years ago at Pop Montreal, last year at The Phoneix with The National and this year again at the Phoneix with Okkervil River and Crooked Fingers. It's okay - my parents have a habit of being out of the country on Thanksgiving so it's not like I'm a total no-account son. Just mostly. Anyways.

It's not like I was the only one - the Phoenix was pretty much full of people skipping out on turkey day to welcome what was pretty much one of the best touring bills you'd be likely to see. And while I was, as always, excited to see Okkervil River, this would be the fourth time in less than a year that I'd be seeing them - Crooked Fingers, on the other hand, had been ages. Eric Bachmann had come through as a solo artist (with band) two years ago and as a solo act under the Crooked Fingers name (opening for The Delgados back in 2004 but the last time Crooked Fingers came to Toronto as a proper band was March 2005 and while I went to that show I wasn't a fan at the time and... you know what? Never mind. It'd been a while.

One consequence of Bachmann's constantly shifting musical identities is that you'll rarely get the same band from one tour to the next. This time out, Crooked Fingers was the four-piece who recorded their new record Forfeit/Fortune but in addition to the new material, they were tasked with covering songs from throughout Bachmann's varied career and results were a bit mixed. For starters, they had to fight through a mix that just didn't sound quite right - the balance between Bachmann's powerful rasp and the softer vocals of bassist Miranda Brown and violinist Elin Palmer never managed to find the sweet spot - and while airing out Archers Of Loaf classic "Web In Front" brought many cheers, the arrangement didn't have the necessary muscle to do it justice. On the plus side, the new songs sounded mostly excellent stripped of the album's heavier production and the older Crooked Fingers repertoire sounded terrific, no qualifiers. Though they could have played more from Dignity & Shame.

Okkervil also came in with their own share of lineup shuffling - while keyboardist Justin Sherburn had been Jonathan Meiburg's official replacement since March, guitarist Charles Bissell, who'd stepped in for new father Brian Cassidy at the same time had done his tour of duty and returned to the Wrens and his replacement was Austinite Lauren Gurgiolo, tasked with handling guitar, mandolin and steel duties. But such fluidity is in the nature of every river, even the Okkervil. Yes, I went there. Let's move on.

Every time I've seen Okkveril River live - and I think this was time six or seven - they've put on an even better show and considering their last couple visits set the bar pretty high, that's an accomplishment. This time out, they had the advantage of touring behind their most out and out rocking record in The Stand-Ins, sequel to last year's The Stage Names. Kicking off with "Plus Ones", Okkervil barreled through an over ninety-minute set that focused on their last two opuses, Stage Names/Stand Ins and Black Sheep Boy, only reaching back to their debut Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See for the rousing encore-closing double shot of "Okkervil River Song" and "Westfall", the latter featuring a boisterous audience sing-along. And while I'd hoped to hear the lyrically-updated version of "The President's Dead" that's been making appearances this tour, it wasn't to be this night. Did they not know we also have an election tomorrow?

The band's steady evolution from a folk to rock band has done wonders for their live set - originally, they had to deliver the slower end of their repertoire with a solid dose of slop and anarchy to generate the energy necessary for a riveting live set. And while it was an exhilarating experience, it wasn't always pretty. Now, with the relentless touring having tightened them up immeasurably, Okkervil are an amazing live act to behold and there was no need to make excuses for missing notes or being off-key, because it didn't happen. Though if you were looking for a little of the old chaos, it was there when Will Sheff pulled the mic off the stand and knocked it down, directly on the head of a girl in the front row (she was fine). Accidental assaults notwithstanding, Sheff was a magnetic frontman, starting off besuited and bespectacled and steadily shedding his wardrobe as he became more and more sweat-soaked from bounding around stage and working the crowd, the patron saint of English majors who secretly wish they were rock stars.

The Toronto Star has an interview with Sheff covering topics such as the fertile Austin music scene and Canadian Thanksgiving traditions. Chart talks to Eric Bachmann about Forfeit/Fortune.

Photos: Okkervil River, Crooked Fingers @ The Phoenix - October 12, 2008
MP3: Okkervil River - "Lost Coastlines"
MP3: Okkervil River - "Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe"
MP3: Okkervil River - "The President's Dead"
MP3: Okkervil River - "No Key, No Plan"
MP3: Okkervil River - "Black"
MP3: Crooked Fingers - "Phony Revolutions"
MP3: Crooked Fingers - "Call To Love"
MP3: Crooked Fingers - "Big Darkness"
MP3: Crooked Fingers - "Devil's Train"
MP3: Crooked Fingers - "New Drink For The Old Drunk"
Video: Okkervil River - "Lost Coastlines"
Video: Okkervil River - "Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe"
Video: Okkervil River - "Girl In Port"
Video: Okkervil River - "For Real"
Video: Crooked Fingers - "Let's Not Pretend (To Be New Men)"
MySpace: Okkervil River
MySpace: Crooked Fingers

Sunday Cleaning - Volume 99

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:54:05 -0500

Shannon McArdle / Summer Of The Whore (Bar/None)

Considering that Shannon McArdle's solo debut came relatively hot on the heels of the dissolution of both her band - The Mendoza Line - and her marriage to said band's principal songwriter Tim Bracey, it'd have been reasonable to expect it to be damaged in tenor at the very least. And it is, absolutely, running the emotional gamut from anger to resentment to guilt, but the prevailing tone is resignment. Such a musical trip could and should be draining - particularly one delivered in as raw and direct a lyrical manner as this one - but dressed as it is in surprisingly rich country-pop trappings and delivered in McArdle's breathy, downcast twang, it's also eminently listenable. The growth in songwriting and confidence that McArdle demonstrated with each subsequent Mendoza Line release continues uninterrupted here - here's hoping for her sake that next time out, she doesn't need to look quite so close to home for inspiration.

The Village Voice and PopMatters discuss the difficult year that led to the record with McArdle.

MP3: Shannon McCardle - "Poison My Cup"
MySpace: Shannon McArdle

Tusks / Tusks (White Whale)

With a lineup that can boast tours of duty in such veteran acts as Kepler, Snailhouse, Wooden Stars and HILOTRONS amongst others, calling Tusks a new act is a trifle misleading, but after kicking around the Toronto scene for some years, this six-song EP is their first recorded statement. The collective experience and maturity of all the players is evident throughout - the songwriting is sophisticated in the way that only artists who've been around for a while know how to do and the musicianship does an impressive job of maintaining some pop-friendly simplicity while still indulging its more cerebral, exploratory inclinations. Is it uncool to name-check Steely Dan? I hope not, cause I just did.

MP3: Tusks - "Baby Noise"
MySpace: Tusks