Posts Tagged ‘Secretly Canadian’

ALEX CAMERON – ” Jumping The Shark “

Posted: January 12, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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If in a parallel, time, Bruce Springsteen, instead of selling out arenas, ended up singing resentful songs in a dark Las Vegas bar. In our reality, this same person lives in the body of Alex Cameron. We see him in a smart suit with slicked back blond hair, sometimes his cheeks are wrinkled, as is an older version of himself possessed his figure unexpectedly. He is almost kneeling on stage while holding on to his microphone; It’s impossible to foresee if he’s about to burst into tears or into a fit of rage. But nothing happens, the song ends, the action stops. He’s still there, on the empty stage, in the empty room, and you can’t help but keep thinking of his words, his voice, his hopelessness.

“And I’ve sat here thinking, I hate my god damn life/ I used to be the number one entertainer, now I’m bumpkin with a knife/ I’ll never get my show back.” he sings, in one of his tracks, titled “The Comeback.” Oddly enough, despite what you might think, “The Comeback” isn’t the opening song on Cameron’s debut album: the first place in his record titled “Jumping the Shark” is, indeed, for a song named “Happy Ending.” It’s as if we are taken backwards in the life and the career of this unfathomable music business man from a timeless place. the fact that the record in question, “Jumping The Shark”, was actually sneakily released by Cameron way back in 2013, and merely saw a wider U.S. release last year, with the record getting a proper release this year from new label Secretly Canadian and producing some of the best video clips this year, Alex, who knocked it out of the park this year with a aforementioned string of brilliant videos taken from the record,

“I’ve got, everything I need/ It’s a strong connection, that’s high-speed/ Got two modems, and a fax machine/ I got receptionists, they keep my office clean/ I’ve got, a master plan/ I’m my own boss, I’m the man/ I got business cards, you can find me;” .

His narrative is evil and repulsive, yet we can’t help but listen carefully to the stories he sings, fascinated by this corruption and determined to save his poor, self-destructive soul, always concerned to find out that its us he’s talking about. The electronic arrangement, made of straight synths and guitars, remind of the new-wave, post-punk era – vintage or out-of-date, it’s difficult to tell. But the result is an album that sticks in the listener’s mind, persistent in the thoughts, coming back when least expected; impossible to give up on, just like a crushing addiction.

WHITNEY – ” Polly “

Posted: December 1, 2016 in MUSIC
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The smartly dressed simpleton at the center of Whitneys “Polly” video isn’t having a very good day. The clip, directed by animator Sarina Nihei, starts off promising; sitting alone on a bench one cloudy morning, the gentleman is joined by another fellow, who just so happens to like fellows. They fall in love and go on a dune buggy ride, and it’s great, until the dune buggy crashes and the boy’s new beau leaves him choking in the dust. So, naturally, he decides to go for a walk through the seediest part of town, passing by addicts and dead birds (not to mention through a sludge wave) as he goes on his merry way. Is it a happy adventure? No, but it’s an adventure nonetheless. Watch below.

Whitney released their debut album “Light Upon the Lake“ earlier this year on Secretly Canadian.

 

CHERRY GLAZERR – ” Told You I’d Be With The Guys “

Posted: September 8, 2016 in MUSIC
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Their new single, ‘Told You I’d Be With The Guys’ documents Clem’s realization that she needed to establish solidarity with other women and stop being a “lone wolf.” “Sexism is so ingrained in me, I can often feel that men are the only ones who can help me socially, economically. The most important thing in my life is that I’ve realized I need to work for solidarity. That song’s both hopeful and dismal!” she laughs. Clem still feels like she constantly need to prove herself. “Women work from behind their oppression. In order to make good art you need to be emotionally free and sadly, not a lot of women are able to do that. That always puts a fire under my ass.”

Cherry Glazerr was dreamt up by Clementine Creevy at age 15 in her LA bedroom. Having released their debut, Haxel Princess, on much-loved Cali imprint Burger Records and the scorching Had Ten Dollaz 7″ on Suicide Squeeze, the band has now evolved into a wildly complex, hugely guitar heavy, and unapologetically loud machine. The catchy hooks in Cherry Glazerr’s songs offer a counterpoint to the purposeful social commentary and incisive humour which has been ever-present since the band’s formation. Bolstering Clem’s vision is the loud-in-every-way-possible drummer Tabor Allen and the level-headed, nevertheless bad-ass, multi-instrumentalist Sasami Ashworth.

Cherry Glazerr – Told You I’d Be With The Guys out now on Secretly Canadian

SUUNS – ” Translate “

Posted: January 29, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Hold/Still, the third studio album from Suuns, is an enigmatic thing: an eerily beautiful, meticulously played suite of music that embraces opposites and makes a virtue of cognitive dissonance. It is a record that does not give up its secrets easily. A natural step on from theirtwo previous albums, 2011s Zeroes QC & 2013s Images du Futur, and yet a marked departure,Hold/Stillis a cerebral exploration ofhow to take live and analogue instruments and create a deeply textured electronic record. In May 2015, they decamped to Dallas,Texas to work with Grammy-winning producer John Congleton and for three intense weeks they recorded by day and stewed in their cramped apartment by night. It felt like we were on a mission – looking for something to take us out of our element, or that might seepinto our music, say the band. Hold/Still will be released 15 April, 2016.

Thefirst single, “Translate”, is one of the defining songs of the album – the sound of a band working in mental lockstep, crafting guitar music that feels unbeholden to clear traditions or genre brackets. It is a song that the band have been reworking for years, and wasone of the last songs to be finished for the album, and yet, perhaps, defines the record perfectly. The synthesizers are the work of Max Henry, an obsessive who builds his own patches and confesses to using cranky or budget equipment – [good gear] does all the work foryou, and thats not always fun.

Accompanying the song is the first of a trilogy of videos for the album (the second and third installments will be launched ahead of therecord release). Shot by Charles-Andr Coderre, a long term collaborator of the band, he says‘Translate’, the first music video of atriptych series, is an incandescent vision. It was shot with thermal imagery. The concept was simple: film the band in their rehearsalspace and transfigure the footage into something unusual and gorgeous. We experimented the different meanings of the word”translate” and explored a new film language by shooting what the human eye can’t see.”

Also released today is the Dark Sky Psych remix of Translate”– the first of a number of remixes that will be launched alongside tracksfrom the album. This one takes”Translates” repetitive, krautrock-like rhythms and squeezes them into a tighter, mesmeric arrangement..Says Dark Sky “We really liked the psyched out sounds and sonics from the original track which sounded vintage but also forwardthinking. We were inspired to build on this vibe.”

SONGS: OHIA – ” The Big Game Is Every Night “

Posted: September 22, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Songs: Ohia ‘The Magnolia Electric Co.’ (10th Year Anniversary Edition) out now on Secretly Canadian, a fine year for reissues although none can be more welcome than this 10 Year Anniversary Edition of Magnolia Electric Co confusingly the last album by Songs: Ohia before Jason Molina took the name of this album for his new band. No surprises there, “Magnolia Electric Co” is Molina’s masterpiece and celebrating its decade long existence is right and proper. Molina died at the age of 39 as a result of chronic alcoholism. His music had a dark heart and a desolate core. He sung about it, lived it and possibly died of it. Often compared to Neil Young the music of Jason Molina went well beyond that of a mere copyist. He was a true original, always located on the fringes of success and a man whose recognition that he was “paralysed by emptiness” led him towards destruction that played out in “bad luck lullabies”. His music is Americana gold including classics like the uber powerful seven minutes of the epic “Farewell Transmission”, the quiet wonder of one of his greatest songs “Just be simple”, the power surge of “John Henry Split my Heart” and the wasted country beauty of “Hold on Magnolia”. The album was also unique in that Molina relinquished his vocal duties on two songs, the Merle Haggard-esque “The Old Black Hen” and the sauntering “Peoria Lunch Box Blues”, giving the lead vocals respectively to Lawrence Peters and Scout Niblett.

Beyond the core of the released album the 10th Anniversary Edition are extra rare tracks and a second disc consisting only of demos, which was originally released, in its first pressing. Taking the demo album first this truly does add weight to the originals. Firstly it has Molina doing his own versions of “Old Black Hen” and “Peoria” which are rough, ready and heartbreaking. There are also sterling versions of “Farewell Transmission”, an uber poignant “Hold on Magnolia”, a stripped back version of “I’ve been riding with the ghost” that this reviewer prefers to the original and two acoustic demos of the extra tracks “Whip Poor Will” and what must rank as one of Molina’s greatest songs “The Big Game is Every Night”. The former appeared in a polished version on 2009’s “Josephine” but both sweet versions here beg the question why Molina left them of “MEC”. The lines on “Whip Poor Will” still resonate not least “so all of you folks in heaven not too busy ringing the bell/some of us down here ain’t doing very well/ some of us with our windows open in the Southern Cross motel”. When it comes to the “The Big Game is Every Night” this was originally included on the Japanese pressing of the album. It picks up the whole gamut of Molina themes of the moon, NFL football (“Unitas to Berry – so good its scary”), blues, musicians and a hardy perennial – references to snakes. The acoustic version of the song is actually less harrowing than the electric version which stretches to 10 minutes. In it he finishes with the embittered (and self reflective) observation “Show an American if really I am the snake they’re all saying/If they look up here do they see just my black tail swaying?/If I’m all fangs and all lies and all poison/If I’m really what they’re saying/I don’t want to disappoint them”. Like “Blue Factory Flame” it is utterly engrossing and compelling. The raw power of the songs conclusion sees Molina reach the pinnacle of his recording career.

The passage of ten years and the passing of Jason Molina confirms that “Magnolia Electric Co” is every bit the equal of Neil Young’s “On the Beach”, Will Oldham’s “I See A Darkness” and Johnny Cash’s “American III – Solitary Man”. Sadly we just didn’t know how great Jason Molina was.

 

 

VARIOU ARTISTS – ” Unsung: Songs: Ohia Covers Compilation “

Posted: July 2, 2015 in MUSIC
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This album pulls together a handful of musicians, who to varying degrees have been influenced by Jason Molina’s work, aesthetic , and songwriting.

The covers album is available for free download for 30 days. Please consider making a donation in honor of Jason Molina to MusiCares:www.grammy.org/musicares/donateFolkadelphia’s Unsung is a project digging deeper into seminal artists, albums, and songs. Our first feature focuses on the late Jason Molina and his musical outfits Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co., specifically around a watershed moment in his career around the time of ‘Didn’t It Rain,’ recorded in Philadelphia in 2002 and Magnolia Electric Co. in 2003. A Philadelphia-located folk music organization, WXPN radio show, airing Wednesdays 10-11 PM ET on 88.5 FM orxpn.org,

WOMANS HOUR – ” Devotion “

Posted: March 1, 2015 in MUSIC
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Womans Hour  return in 2015 with another beautiful black and white, minimalistic video for the song “Devotion” off their serene Secretly Canadian debut album “Conversations” out last year. You can watch the twin filled video directed by Weronika Tofilska .

Here’s Fiona Burgess with more behind the video:
‘We talked a lot about the idea of closeness, trust and dependency, and felt that using siblings was the most natural way of communicating this…as well as looking identical, the twins in our video have a loyalty to each other that is so constant throughout their lives that it’s unlike any other relationship. We were interested in how the visuals could compliment this theme, using minimal props and staging in order to make the focus on the subjects. They are almost like still life portraits, their movements are subtle so that the viewers focus is on the tinniest movements… it’s often the smallest gestures that speak volumes”

WOMANS HOUR – ” Conversations ” Best Albums Of 2014

Posted: January 30, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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There’s a relatively simplistic formula at work on the debut long-player from Woman’s Hour, but it’s executed with sensitivity and a rich narrative that allures the listener from start to finish. “Conversations” succeeds in capturing – entirely  – a humanity that’s both poetic and grounded. It’s simply astounding that they’ve pulled it of so perfectly, without a trace of lull.

Fans of dreamy, Synth Pop and  soulful indie-pop should tune in to ‘Conversations’, the captivatingly delicate debut by Cumbria’s Woman’s Hour.They are not your average band. The first clue comes in the name of the London-based swoon-pop four-piece, taken from a beloved female-focussed news and culture show on BBC Radio 4. The second is in their graphic, striking monochrome visuals, meticulously curated in collaboration with TATE and MOMA certified fine artists Oliver Chanarin and Adam Broomberg. These play with shape and texture, much like their powerful, iridescent music. On their excellent debut album ‘Conversations’, this has the intricate construction and intimacy of The xx and the iridescent shimmer of summer-defining indie pop.

SONGS OHIA – ” Soul “

Posted: May 1, 2014 in MUSIC
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taken from the SONGS OHIA record store day box set collected singles and rare recordings gathered within are charming haunting and disparate moments over a six year course. A set of nine 7″ singles in a clothbound box with a 24 page booklet.

WOMAN’S HOUR live at The Bodega, Nottingham 27th April 2014 –

Posted: March 11, 2014 in MUSIC, NOTTINGHAM CITY VENUES
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WOMAN’S HOUR live at The Bodega, Nottingham Sunday 27th April 2014 – thebodegasocialclub.

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