Posts Tagged ‘Vancouver’

The NEW PORNOGRAPHERS – ” Mass Romantic “

Posted: November 20, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“Where have all sensations gone?” Neko Case asked on this Vancouver band’s debut. A lot of indie-rockers were wondering the same thing during the music’s late-Nineties nadir. The New Porno’s gave the scene a jolt of energy and sorely missed fun. Burt Bacharach fan Carl Newman, Bowie obsessive Dan Bejar and alt-country barnburner Case didn’t have much in common on paper but on songs like “Letter From An Occupant” and the title track they came up with music that surged with electric smarts, roundhouse drum-pump and hooks atop hooks. It’s power pop that never lets up for a minute.

Initially billed as the biggest Vancouver supergroup that no one had heard of, the New Pornographers were burst to life fully formed on Mass Romantic. There’s three different vocalists competing for your attention here – Neko Case, A.C Newman and Dan Bejar all the while the band opts to throw everything into the same blender. What the New Pornographers excel at is making everything sound like a massive sugar rush with their voracious love of synths and guitars and catchy melodies. With Mass Romantic, the band proves themselves studious in their noted appreciation of the pop form and its classics but too hypercharged and frenetic to come across as retro. The highlights are many: The vocal harmonies on “Letter From An Occupant”! The way those brash synths build up and let loose on “Mystery Hours”! How it takes less than thirty seconds for the band to get to the chorus for “The Mary Martin Show”! The New Pornographers would scale greater heights in later albums and make big names out of everyone involved but Mass Romantic was where they thrillingly laid down the blueprint.

The COURTNEYS – ” The Courtneys II “

Posted: July 17, 2017 in MUSIC
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II artwork

When word spread that the Courtneys almost got their own animated TV show, only to have it falter over Nickelodeon’s insistence on singling out a “leader,” longtime followers of the Vancouver band couldn’t help but chuckle. Onstage and in interviews, the trio of singers come across as an ideal ensemble cast. Plus their 2013 self-titled debut was rife with chunky guitars and peppy choruses ready for primetime, including one song named after “90210.”

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Instead of a TV show, with their sophomore album the Courtneys became the first non-New Zealanders signed to Flying Nun, the influential kiwi-pop label. But II’s sticky-sweet bubblegum could still spark singalongs anywhere Saturday morning cartoons are viewed. Nick may have missed the mark, but fans of whip-smart fuzz-pop should tune in anyway.

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The COURTNEYS – ” Minnesota “

Posted: February 23, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The Courtneys II arrives as the band themselves are on something of an ascent. In the three years since their self-titled debut, The Courtneys have signed with their dream label renowned New Zealand giant Flying Nun and have netted slots opening for Tegan and Sara and mac DeMarco. In that context, II feels like a collage of moments, the band reviewing the highs and lows of their journey so far, with their eyes fixed firmly on the horizon.

A rarity in contemporary surf rock. Where their counterparts—and, for that matter, their forerunners—are chiefly concerned with both brevity and blown-out instrumentals, The Courtneys are deliberate and unabashedly heartfelt. Underneath all the fuzz and reverb on their second album, The Courtneys II, there are honest displays of emotion.

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On the blissful “Tour,” the band is determined to remain optimistic, even during long periods of “slacking off and hitting the open road.” “If it’s in your heart, you’ll find a way,” they sing, “who you are and who you wanna be can take a long time.” Songs like “Virgo” and “25” use buoyant, punched-up slacker pop to explore feelings of isolation and the headaches of having a crush. And it’s not all growing pains and heartbreak; on “Lost Boys,” the trio schemes to find a vampire boyfriend with whom they can ride off into the sunset.

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Crazy Courtney: Bass + backup vocals
Classic Courtney: Guitar + backup vocals
Cute Courtney: Drums + lead vocals

Flying Nun Records

JAY ARNER – ” Jay II “

Posted: December 6, 2016 in MUSIC
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The melodies are lush and there’s an even broader use of the synthesizer here than this multi-instrumentalist’s debut. Some might claim it’s excessive. I might say “relax!”. Excellent modern record. Unforgettable songs with smooth vocals, conveniently jammed in under a half hour for your commute. Full disclosure: Jay’s our friend, and he asked me to say “this rocks”. Fuller disclosure: He asked me about the Bee Gees not long ago, so I’m curious where that will lead.

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Written and recorded by Jay Arner
Performed by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle

BLACK MOUNTAIN – ” IV ” Best Albums Of 2016

Posted: November 28, 2016 in MUSIC
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Vancouver-birthed psych-rock greats Black Mountain haven’t released a proper studio album since 2010’s Wilderness Heart , but their latest album this year comes bearing the appropriately-epic title IV.

Every music note cast by Black Mountain instantly turns to gold and no, this is not a statement that is up for debate. Very few bands can start their album with an eight-and-a-half minute song and keep you completely glued to it for every last millisecond of this album’s 56 minutes. Songs like “Florian Saucer Attack” possesses a sound that countless bands are trying to emulate, but none of them can do it justice quite like Black Mountain. It’s a testament to what they are: a true rock band, through and through

The COURTNEYS – ” Mars Attack “

Posted: November 28, 2016 in MUSIC
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The Courtneys, 'II'

The Courtneys may hail from Vancouver, British Columbia, but they’re New Zealanders at heart. Lifelong admirers of the Flying Nun Stable of signees like the Clean and the Dead C, the trio specializes in the sunny power-pop endemic to the Down Under label, with a twist of garage punk thrown in for good measure. Following 2013’s self-titled debut, the Courtneys have signed to the storied label for their sophomore album, The Courtneys II, came out February. (They’re the first non-New Zealand act to ink to Flying Nun in its 35-year history.)

Three Vancouver women bashing out scruffy surf-guitar tunes, an album you can spin all day, with an almost automatic “press play, feel lifted” effect. Every song makes me think “right, I love this one” when it comes on. The inexplicably poignant “Mars Attacks,” despite the joke title, might be the first song ever to build on the elegiac nuance of the mid-period B-52s circa Whammy, while “Lost Boys” is a mash note to the ultimate “vampire teenage boyfriend.”

Our first glimpse of next year’s LP arrives in the form of a feedback-laden, nonstop sugar rush that lands somewhere between Courtney Barnett and Crowded House. There’s no comedown here — just a cavalcade of exuberant guitar highs and deliriously tangled vocal melodies. Take a listen below, and scroll down to check out a trailer for The Courtneys II, plus its album art and track list.

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The COURTNEYS – ” Silver Velvet “

Posted: November 27, 2016 in MUSIC
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How exactly Vancouver’s The Courtneys ended up on the legendary New Zealand label Flying Nun is a matter we could only speculate on; but with a shared love of the janglier recesses of indie-pop and the more tuneful edges of post-punk, there can be few better musical matches.

This week The Courtney’s have shared details of their imaginatively titled second album, The Courtney’s II, as well as sharing the first track from it, Silver Velvet. From a scrawly burst of feedback, the driving rhythm section propel the song along, as the vocals chime in with a presumably accidental touch of Shampoo. The Courtney’s are the sound of a thousand teenage rebellions, broken hearts and candy floss fuelled roller-coaster rides; as they conclude at the tracks finale, “it doesn’t matter if it’s right, you’re just the one I like.” And if you’re not humming that to yourself long after Silver Velvet has stopped playing, you should probably check your hearts still beating.

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First single from Vancouver’s The Courtneys sophomore album ‘II’The Courtneys II is out February 17th via Flying Nun Records.

WHITE LUNG – ” Paradise ” Best Albums Of 2016

Posted: September 5, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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White Lung — Paradise

White Lung used to be a hardcore band. They made brash, unapologetic punk music that confronted its listeners by drowning them in assertive, nofucksgiven attitude. But on Paradise, White Lung prove themselves to be capable of so much more than that. This is an album that transcends anything the band released before; the hooks are heavier, the production is cleaner, and Mish Barber-Way’s vocal range is bigger. “Every new record should be the best work you’ve ever done,” she told us in our cover story. On Paradise, that offhanded comment doesn’t sound boastful or empty. It’s a statement of fact Mish Barber-Way … and her crew of Vancouver punk ruffians whip up a gloriously hostile racket, sharpening the raw attack of their 2014 breakthrough, Deep Fantasy. The songs gain a mammoth melodic crunch thanks to guitar whiz Kenny William, who sounds like Johnny Marr with his cardigan on fire.

Every now and then, there comes a band that reminds you why you fell in love with rock & roll in the first place. In 2016, White Lung was that band, and “Paradise” was the record. It’s a synthesis of everything that I love about the genre and its many subsets– soaring pop hooks, thrash-tastic riffs and drumming, gleaming post-punk atmosphere, and lyrical narratives. Like Japandroids and Titus Andronicus, White Lung have set the gold standard for rock music in the 21st century.

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DESTROYER – ” Girl In a Sling “

Posted: July 16, 2016 in MUSIC
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Vancouver native Dan Bejar is set to return in August with his eleventh album under the pseudonym Destroyer. Ahead of that album he’s shared the video for the second track lifted from the album, Girl In A Sling.

Discussing the video for the track, director David Galloway said, “he’s the Pacific Northwest’s Buster Keaton, and I hope one day to share that with the world. One day. For now, though, there’s just this sadness. This poison season.” And certainly the casual observer would probably see more sadness than slapstick in both the song and the video, either way it’s an exciting taste of the album that’s too come. Daniel Bejar is an singer songwriter from Canada.  Bejar has gained widespread popularity through his musical collaborations with Vancouver indie rock  band The New Pornographers, but has released far more material as the band Destroyer.

Poison Season is out August 28th on via Merge/Dead Oceans. Destroyer start their tour of the UK at the end of October including dates at Islington Assembly Hall and Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club.

From the album Poison Season,

WHITE LUNG – ” Paradise “

Posted: May 9, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Following the critically acclaimed 2014 LP Deep Fantasy, punks White Lung are back at it with their fourth studio album “Paradise”, out now via Domino Recordings.

Coming in at a succinct yet powerful 28 minutes, Paradise is simmering with desire and pain, love and beauty, and in typical White Lung fashion a journey that travels at a seething urgency, unrelenting until the album closer (and title track) ‘Paradise’.

DEAD WEIGHT

Kenneth William: I always wanted this song to start off the record. That quick synth-sounding backwards guitar sample at the beginning reminds me of a video game console turning on or the beginning of some 80s horror movie theme playing behind the studio credits.

It’s also my favourite guitar performance on the record, it’s one part straight through without any prominent overdubs. It’s also the only song that doesn’t use any MIDI sampling so I don’t have to worry about tap dancing on pedals when we play it live.

NARCOLEPTIC

KW: This was written near the end of making the record, Lars told me I should write a song with just bass for part of it so the record wouldn’t be wall to wall guitars. The arrangement for this was all done on my laptop so I didn’t realize it was a nightmare to play live until we started practicing live months later.

The creepy high notes in the verses aren’t keyboards it’s guitar through a Earthquaker organ emulator pedal and a bunch of delay. I think this is the weirdest song on the record and that only our band could’ve written it.

BELOW

KW: For this song I just wrote two very simple guitar parts that loop through the verses and had the bass switch between major and minor keys so it would alternate between feeling hopeful and sad.

To get those high sustained notes we ran through my normal pedal chain backwards, so it went from the delay pedal into the chorus pedal then the distortion. That normally would sound like a mess but since we recorded every held note separately it has this almost comforting quality.

KISS ME WHEN I BLEED

KW: I thought having a guitar solo during the break of this song would end up being super cheesy so we hacked it to pieces in Pro Tools, pitched it up and then bitcrushed it I think. Annie Clark told me it sounded like an angry mosquito.

DEMENTED

KW: Justin Gradin does all our album art and he told me this song sounds like Slipknot. I guess I can imagine the guy in the mask with the pinocchio nose playing garbage can drums to this during that floor tom part.

I think my guitar part sounds like A Flock of Seagulls, so I guess this sounds like A Flock of Seagulls mixed with Slipknot. That sounds hideous but this song is good.

SISTER

KW: This is probably my favorite song on the record to play live. I think it’s pretty funny how obnoxious the guitar part is in the chorus. I took the bridge part of this song from this terrible techno song I made on Fruity Loops years ago and moved it onto guitars and I think it’s strange how just the sequence of notes and the arrangement make it still sound like electronic music.

HUNGRY

KW: My original recording of this was way cleaner and haunting it sounded like a mix between My Bloody Valentine and the Wipers or something. I had a hard time with this song in the studio because the drums changed the vibe of it so much but I got used to the added energy after a while. Finally got to use the tremolo bar on my guitar for a recording.

I BEG YOU

KW: The concept behind the music for this track was to write a song that sounds like a punk cover of a Smiths song that doesn’t exist. I kept the guitars pretty bright and in the same register as the vocals for most of the song so the choruses would feel darker when the power chords come in. I like this song because the guitar parts are pretty bubbly sounding by themselves but with the repetition and the bass part they end up sounding almost oppressive.

VEGAS

KW: This was also one of the last songs written, we needed something angrier to balance out all the softer stuff so I came up with this. I tried to move away from writing guitar parts like this because they all sound somewhat similar to each other and one of my fears is that I’ll find out once the album is released that an identical riff was on a Hatebreed album or something and I’ll get sued. But I think this is a cool diversion from the rest of the record and I really like the outro which is made from a bunch of layers of backwards guitars and drum hits.

PARADISE

KW: This song is kindof a throwback, it’s the fastest song on the record at 280 BPM which is what most of ‘Sorry’ was recorded at and I used the same Space Echo delay I used on that record. All our other records ended with a song that would kind of point the way to the direction we would go in next but since this one was so varied and all over the place for us it felt right to close it with something more familiar. Hope everyone likes it, bye

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