Tag: Rock

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Music

The Gay Nineties party like it’s 1899

The band celebrates the 1890s, a decade touched by new art, literature, and optimism

Between the 7 a.m. wakeup calls and the 13-hour cross-country drives to reach their next show, The Gay Nineties try find time to read, unwind…and have some daytime Merlot.

Just last week, vocalist and guitarist, Parker Bossley, was in Toronto representing the Vancouver-based band at the CASBYs, an awards ceremony that showcases alternative and independent Canadian acts. Though in Toronto, the other boys in the band, Malcolm Holt on drums, Bruce Ledingham on keys and Daniel Knowlton on bass and vocals, were on their way to their next show in Fredericton, N.B..

“The thing about touring…is that it’s not that exciting,” said Bossley. “I’m kind of constantly on tour. Some might say that I’m just running away from my problems,” he joked.

Bossley, who also plays bass full time with CASBY-nominated group, Mounties, worked for a long while as a session musician before forming this band.

“My real passion was always songwriting,” he said. “So I quit all my other bands, sold my bass guitar and equipment, and started a band.”

Calling up his longtime friends, Holt and Knowlton, and then later Ledingham, The Gay Nineties were born. They had previously released Coming Together, essentially an EP collection of four songs. Not just a cheeky play on words, the Coming Together EP personified the group’s musical process and style.

“We knew the sound of that EP wouldn’t be our sound forever,” said Bossley. “That’s the sound of a band trying to find their sound.”

Since then, they’ve been on tour promoting their upcoming EP, Liberal Guilt. Although officially slated to be released in late November, the album’s been on soft release at their shows, giving people a taste of their infectiously catchy and melodic breed of alternative rock. It’s at times psychedelically charged, with moments of glowing indie-pop, that’s garnered them comparisons to the likes of The Kooks and Arctic Monkeys.

“It’s absurd…but nice?” said Parker. “We’ve found what our sound is going to be for the next few years.”

Comparisons aside, The Gay Nineties are immensely proud of Liberal Guilt. Bossley rarely forces his friends and family to listen to his music, but just couldn’t hold back with this one. “I’m a critic. I criticize the things that I do, but I’m very proud of this,” he beamed, adding, “We listen to it in the van, that’s a good sign. This is the most proud I’ve ever been.”

Fans of The Beatles, The Gay Nineties admire the Liverpool lads’ simple style, both lyrically and instrumentally. “What I appreciate the most about The Beatles is that they’re challenging you, but your ear never notices,” said Bossley.

“I think art should change, if it’s real. Everyone changes every single day and every single month.”

Their appreciation for all things Beatles doesn’t end there: on “Turn Me On,” off the upcoming EP, they lift directly the eternally lovely and whimsical lyrics: “Somebody’s knocking at the door/Somebody’s ringing the bell/ Do me a favour/Open the door/And let ‘em in” from Paul McCartney’s 1976 hit “Let ‘Em In”.

Drawing inspiration once again from the past, the band’s name itself is a reference to the 1890s. The decade, which was at the center of what was known in parts of Europe as La Belle Epoque (The Beautiful Era), was characterized by an explosion of art, literature, and optimism.

“There were a lot of amazing and liberating things happening,” said Bossley. “The Gay Nineties is this fun way of sharing this feeling that we wanted to convey.”

The feeling in question, is that of celebration and overall happiness which can be felt  throughout Liberal Guilt, since the band writes songs so that “people can enjoy them.”

Two singles already out, including “Letterman,” with its accompanying music video that sees the band spoofing the classic late night talk show format, The Gay Nineties are already looking ahead. “We’re about to go into full on writing mode. We want to follow this EP up pretty quickly with a full-length. We’ve pretty much got half of it written, ready to go,” said Bossley.

“We don’t really have time to waste, so we’ll be diving right into it,” he continued. “But we will definitely be sipping wine while we do it.”

The Gay Nineties had to cancel their Montreal date, but will be passing through Montreal in the near future.

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Music

The Glorious Sons revive rock n’ roll

Photo by Jesse Baumung.

The band writes songs that cite their experience growing-up in middle class families

Eleven short months ago, The Glorious Sons released their first album, Shapeless Art, and their career took off from there. The five-piece band from Kingston, Ont., are still new to anything resembling fame, but after having won a handful of awards and embarked on three Canadian tours, people have really started to pay attention. Their newest album, The Union, dropped mid-September and the group is currently touring with Airbourne.

The Concordian recently spoke to the industrious band’s lead singer, Brett Emmons, about The Glorious Sons’ music and how he got to where he is today.

Many would say that rock and roll is dead — that it perished along with the musical relevance of MTV and the financial viability of the record store — but Brett Emmons thinks otherwise. The Glorious Sons don’t like to limit their music by categorizing it in a single genre, but Emmons would definitely prefer to be called a rock band than an indie band.

“A lot of indie bands are really just rock bands. They’re really just afraid to call themselves rock bands for some reason, but if you think of [a group] like The Beatles, they were a rock band. You could even call them a pop band,” Emmons said.

Photo by Jesse Baumung.

From an early age, the vocalist spent all of his money on AC/DC albums. Emmons was brought up on rock. “My brother [Jay Emmons, now the group’s guitarist] used to read me Led Zeppelin’s biography when I was like five years old. It was like a bedtime story growing up,” he said. To this day, Emmons’ favourite bands include many rock legends: “I look up to Bruce Springsteen and a lot of other people too,” Emmons said. “I don’t think you’d pinpoint the influence. You’d see hints of it– hints of The Doors, of My Morning Jacket, Kings of Leon, even a little AC/DC, but we never really believed in sounding like anyone else.”

When Emmons was in grade 10, he began writing music. Later moving to Halifax, N.S., for school, the vocalist dropped out to pursue his musical ambitions and began playing venues around the city. “I decided to take the leap and commit myself to music,” Emmons said. “I didn’t think to myself ‘if’ I could make it; I just went for it. I always believed if you work your hardest at anything, you’ll make it. My dad taught me that at a young age.”

At the same time in Kingston, the foundation of what was to become The Glorious Sons was being laid down.

“Andrew [Young, one of the group’s guitarists] and Adam [Paquette, the drummer] were jamming in [Paquette’s] garage and not having much fun,” Emmons said. “The other two were jamming in another garage. They knew each other, got together, and jammed once. They wrote a song on their first jam then became a band.”

Back in Halifax, Emmons was having a rough time following his dream: “When I quit school, I was getting myself into trouble, partying a bit too much — a lot, actually. Things weren’t working out when I was playing in Halifax. I hadn’t made a splash on any music scene.” That’s when, about three years ago, a phone call and a dash of fraternal love changed everything for the vocalist.

“When my brother called me home to join the band, it was a weight off my shoulders,” Emmons said. “My brother’s always been kind of my best friend. He’s been like my security blanket. We’d always said that we’d do this together one day.”

The band’s new album, The Union, is meant to pay homage to the members’ families and their own past struggles. “The concept is blue collar, it’s called The Union because we grew-up in middle class families who worked their ass off for their children,” Emmons said. “You can’t write about something that you don’t know. Chris (Huot) was a plumber before and we all had those kinds of jobs at one point.”

Every member of the band is a songwriter, according to Emmons. “We’re always writing — I don’t think we’ll ever be short on material for an album.”

Before going on tour, Emmons has created a ritual of sorts: “It’s kind of become second nature now: go to my vocal coach to tighten my voice and try not to drink for a week before we leave,” said the singer.

While many musicians have mixed feelings about the touring experience, the frontman seems to prefer life as a nomad to life at home. “I feel more restless at home than I do on the road. When you get home there’s so many people to see and so many things to do. When you’re on the road you can just settle in and do your job.” Emmons will get his wish of more time on the road, as The Glorious Sons will be touring straight through to December. You can expect, in Emmons words, “a sweaty, bloody, rock and roll show” when the band plays the Corona Theatre in Montreal on Oct. 16.

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Music

Rock warriors ready for battle

Photo by Allie Mason

What began as an inside joke about a character in a high school play has now become the Montreal electro-rock band Chair Warriors, whose debut EP A Thousand Words features traditional rock vocals, guitar and a little bit of ivory-tickling.
“We entered our first battle of the bands, scrambling to find a name,” recalls guitarist Rob Flis, a Concordia journalism student and staff writer at The Concordian. They decided on the name Chair Warriors, inspired by their friend who played a character called “the Chair Warrior,” a super villain who finished off his adversaries with a chair, à la WWE, in Laurier Senior High School’s annual Blue and Gold Revue, Super Zeroes.
“We just used Chair Warriors as a last resort, thinking, well, you know, we’ll just use it for this because we need something, and we couldn’t shed the name.”
After a few lineup changes, the band has settled down as a three-piece, emulating their sonic heroes Muse. The trio consists of Rob, his brother, drummer Ryan Flis who also attends Concordia, and vocalist/keyboardist Brandon Mignacca, who is studying music at Vanier College.
“I’ve known Ryan for, let’s see, since he was born,” Rob jokes. “Ryan met Brandon during high school, where he was already blowing away people with his talent.”
The band members quickly bonded as they began making a name for themselves on the rock scene, playing clubs around Montreal.
“It’s been great playing at places like Le Divan Orange and La Sala Rossa,” says Rob. “But we’ve played our share of dumps, too.”
In addition to their covers, which treat fans to classics such as Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song,” they have been working hard writing original music, too. The songwriting process often begins with an idea from Brandon, while working at home.
“Usually it’s just a simple piano melody and a vocal take,” says Rob. “And from there it grows. Sometimes it changes drastically, but most of the time it’s a collective process.”
The new ideas and fresh songs have led to the band renting out a recording studio to flesh out their ideas.
“It requires more responsibility,” explains Rob, adding that the studio time is both necessary and expensive to capture their electro, classical and ‘90s grunge influences. “But it comes with being a musician.”
So does the challenge that plagues all musicians: getting people to listen to their music.
“Word of mouth is very difficult,” laments Rob. “Even on the Internet, you feel like this little guy, stuck in a life raft in the middle of the ocean, amongst the millions of other life rafts.”
“Right now, we really have to publicize ourselves as much as possible, and we seem to be doing quite well. But we are always happy to work from step one,” says Rob. “First step, you start a band. Next step, you play shows. Next step, you record an album. Next step, you get fans.”
In taking on the roles of student and musician, the dedication and commitment can take its toll.
“It’s draining,” admits Rob. “There is a lot fun, but there is a lot on our plates, so we couldn’t do it without the people who give us clear-headed advice. It makes life so much easier.”
While they make sure their music is readily available on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Reverbnation with its smartphone app, the band recognizes the need to give fans something physical. That’s why they are planning to launch the physical copy of their album when they perform as a featured artist at Landmark Entertainment’s Battle of the Bands 2012.
“Fame, fortune, the works,” Rob says is what’s in store for Chair Warriors. “We want to be the next Foo Fighters. 2012 is our year.”

Catch Chair Warriors at Le National (1220 Ste-Catherine St. E.) on April 14 for the launch of their debut record A Thousand Words.

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Music

Quickspins + Retroview

Little Chords – Afterlife (Lefse Records; 2012)

When B.C.-based singer-songwriter Jamison is not producing records under his other monikers, Teen Daze and Two Bicycles, he is churning out music as Little Chords, an ‘80s drum-based, lo-fi, indie pop project from Vancouver. His new record Afterlife was released for download on March 20 on Bandcamp.
Chiming guitars, bathed in reverb and delay effects, synths, drum machines and quiet, almost haunting vocals lead the listener through the journey of the record.
It’s a welcome excursion, as some of the songs, such as “Firsts,” seem as if they could come right off the soundtrack of an eighties flick—think The Karate Kid (no, not the one with Jaden Smith). Others, such as “Afterlife,” are quieter introspectives, giving the album balance and contrast.
The record runs just over 36 minutes long and treats listeners to a scenic, pop-psych drive. While it won’t bring back glam rock bands on cassettes, inline skates or Atari games, it will surprise listeners looking for a little something nostalgic.

Trial track: “Afterlife”

Rating: 8.5/10

– A.J. Cordeiro

Mark Stewart – The Politics of Envy (Future Noise Music; 2012)

Mark Stewart has burst back on the scene after a four-year break, with his raw and dangerously sexy album The Politics of Envy. I have a feeling Stewart would spit in my face if he knew what I’m about to say, but here it goes: This album is like TV on the Radio and Nine Inch Nails bonding at a dubstep-fuelled afterparty. Trust me, it’s a good thing. Stewart keeps alive the experimental, industrial, hip-hop sound that he’s been celebrated for since his first band, The Pop Group, split in the early ‘80s. The tunes are moody and rife with anti-“corporate cocksucker” messages and the album features a handful of punk’s and post-punk’s most respected pioneers such as Keith Levene of early Clash fame, Slits bassist Tessa Pollitt and The Raincoats’ Gina Birch. Birch’s deep, robotic voice makes “Stereotype” one of the most haunting pop songs I’ve heard this year.

Trial track: “Want”

Rating: 9.0/10

– Lindsay Briscoe

Tanlines – Mixed Emotions (True Panther Sounds; 2012)

What’s a better way to end the academic year than with something as overtly non-academic as Tanlines?
After years of teasing with endless singles and EPs, Brooklyn duo Jesse Cohen and Eric Emm have finally released their full-length debut album Mixed Emotions. Best described as electro-pop with a tropical flavour, this album is like a piña colada in a test tube: fun and refreshing, but completely synthetic.
At times influenced by Paul Simon’s Graceland, the production has a strong emphasis on dance floor beats and catchy pop melodies, with a heavy reliance on synthesizers and an afropop veneer. Emm’s muffled baritone vocals both accentuate and compliment the artificiality of the soundscape constructed entirely of relentlessly upbeat rhythms and repetitive drum patterns.
Like a coconut-wielding caricature imprisoned in a souvenir shop snowglobe, Mixed Emotions may ultimately be the desperate plea of a man trapped in a kitschy tropical dystopia.

Trial track: “Real Life”

Rating: 7.0/10

– Paul Traunero

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Axis: Bold As Love (Track Records; 1967)

Late legendary musician Jimi Hendrix has never failed to impress with any of his releases. Following the success of his debut album Are You Experienced?, Hendrix was keen on expanding his musical horizons. Axis: Bold as Love, recorded in 1967, combines elements of rock, blues, psychedelic and jazz, creating a beautiful hodgepodge of sound.
Out of the three albums Hendrix recorded, Axis is often the most underrated, largely due to the fact that it was released in between his two most commercially successful albums. With Axis, the late rock ‘n’ roll icon displayed remarkable growth as a tunesmith, asserting his position as a multifaceted and highly-skilled musician.
The album features one of Hendrix’s finest performances on the guitar, as well as his most emotional. “Little Wing,” a two-minute odyssey through sound, showcases his versatility and superior songwriting skills, forging a sound that no other artist could replicate.
All of Hendrix’s albums are definite must-haves for any music enthusiast, but Axis stands out as his most experimental and original record.

Trial track: “Little Wing”

– Gabriel Fernandez

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Music

Witness the rebirth of real southern rock ‘n’ roll

Photo by Andrew McNeill

Honest-to-God rock ‘n’ roll is long gone, kaput, defunct; it crumbled alongside Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, dried up, and floated away in the 1970s.
Wrong. And no, it’s not hiding.
The Bright Light Social Hour doesn’t want to be Austin’s little rock saviour secret, but when they roll into Montreal’s Club Lambi to a crowd of about twenty, we’re pushing them into that corner.
It’s a terrible shame, because these four southern boys bring more talent to the stage than this and last year’s crop of emerging indie bands combined.
This is hard, gyrating, blues/funk rock that oozes simple and unabashed sexual desire, gratification, and invincible optimism.
Curtis Roush, Jack O’Brien, Joseph Mirasole and A.J. Vincent began playing together as an art-rock collective  just under five years ago at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. They spent the past year and a half touring around the states, building a reputation as a real high energy, mustachioed, dance floor-arousing live rock band.
These guys know what they’re doing. They’re as proud of their long luscious manes as of their musical ability, and each is unafraid to gloat their solo skills on drums, bass, guitar and even keyboard. Have you ever seen a rock organ-keyboard solo? Didn’t think so.
Mirasole’s drumming alone whips feet into a confused frenzy, while O’Brien, Roush and Vincent’s three-part vocal harmonies echo the yearning of Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and AC/DC’s Bon Scott.

Photo by Andrew McNeill

After the release of their self-titled debut album, The Bright Light Social Hour swept SXSW’s 2011 Austin Music Awards and immediately hit the road for their first North American tour.
Now, their shows sell out to thousands in the south, and after clenching hot ticket status at last year’s SXSW, you’d think this group of gentlemen would have SOB egos to boot.
Over a year later, and still touring strong, their live show is polished, polite, yet confidently dirty—even when playing to a handful of people.
Montreal, you really missed out.

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Music

Mixtape: Music to strike to

Does the proposed tuition hike piss you off? Does Charest’s silence unnerve you? Are you worried about the way the government manages funds? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one.
Whether it’s a question of accessibility or where the provincial government’s priorities lie, this is a historic moment for CEGEP and university students in Quebec. Protests and sleep-ins are taking over Montreal’s downtown core. It’s chaos for change; for those who don the red square, this is not a quiet battle. The strive for accessible education is a loud revolution and a long fight. Though the weather is getting warmer, Minister of Education Line Beauchamp should be aware that the students won’t quit until the freeze settles in. So, for those of you who choose to strike, or for anyone who is against the hike, this mixtape is for you.

Listen to the mixtape here!
SIDE A: Hungry for change

1. “Bulls on Parade” – Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire

2. “The Hand That Feeds” – Nine Inch Nails – With Teeth

3. “Walk” – Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power

4. “Fuck Authority” – Pennywise – Land of the Free?

5. “I Fought the Law (and I Won)” – Dead Kennedys – Single

6. “Brainstew/Jaded” – Green Day – Insomniac

7. “Flagpole Sitta” – Harvey Danger – Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?

8. “I Get it” – Chevelle – Vena Sera

9. “Fight the Power” – Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet

10. “Bound for the Floor” – Local H – As Good as Dead

SIDE B: Irate and ready to rage

11. “Uprising” – Muse – The Resistance

12. “Seven Nation Army” – The White Stripes – Elephant

13. “Deer Dance” – System of a Down – Toxicity

14. “Down With the Sickness” – Disturbed – The Sickness

15. “Bodies” – Drowning Pool – Sinner

16. “The Kids Aren’t Alright” – The Offspring – Americana

17. “Break Stuff” – Limp Bizkit – Significant Other

18. “Re-Education (Through Labor)” – Rise Against – Appeal to Reason

19. “Man in the Box” – Alice in Chains – Facelift

20. “When Worlds Collide” – Powerman 5000 – Tonight the Stars Revolt!

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Music

A gothic birthday party, UNzipped

Photo : Andrew McNeill

With the band’s biggest festival appearance yet just days away, UN’s Kara Keith was fretting over footwear before set lists.
“It’s all about the outfits, right?” reasoned Keith.
UN, a gothic rock/electro-pop duo featuring Concordia grad Jen Reimer on drums with Keith on vocals and piano, is jetting off to Austin, Texas to play POP Montreal’s showcase at the SXSW Music Festival.
Over 2,000 acts from all over the world flock to SXSW every year to mingle with music industry professionals, debut new material and wrestle for exposure. Buzzing reviews at this festival can change an artist’s life overnight. Just one year after her SXSW debut, former McGill student and electronic musician Grimes has gone from virtually unknown to posing for Vogue.
“I haven’t gone to SXSW before, but I’ve done a lot of crazy shit in my life,” said Keith. “It’s just another five-day-long party where I don’t have a home to go to at night.”
Keith and Reimer have been playing together in bands for over five years, but they first collaborated as UN in 2010 and have just released their debut album, Nu. Keith’s confidence on stage is magnetic, her voice deep, dark and borderline satanic. Backed by snappy synth, piano and Reimer’s fierce animalistic drumming, this is something you must dance to, entranced in your own world.
UN’s sound and stage presence has the ability to whisk the crowd away to a subterranean gothic birthday party, providing an escape from the mundane.
“It’s cathartic for me,” explained Keith. “That’s why it ends up being cathartic for other people.
All the melodies, lyrics and ideas are from my singular experience. I walk about with those songs all the time.”
Reimer and Keith left their families behind in Alberta before becoming Mile End inhabitants. They attended separate classical music conservatories in Edmonton and Calgary, but met at an artist residency program at the Banff Centre in 2007.
“We started jamming together in these little huts in the woods, spending night upon night playing music,” revealed Keith. “We instantly connected.”
At the time, Keith studied piano, while Reimer was perfecting the French horn. Reimer picked up the drums as recently as two years ago for UN’s first performance in New York City, though she had only been practising for three weeks.
“[Reimer] already had so much skill in her body from being a very accomplished classical musician,” explained Keith.
Keith found Alberta hostile to artists, as rent was skyrocketing and it was difficult to find space to practise or play.
“It wasn’t a very nurturing community, and we felt like outsiders,” said Keith. “There were no other women doing anything [like us].”
The pair clicked with producer Howard Bilerman, known for his work on Arcade Fire’s Funeral (2004), while at The Banff Centre. Keith wrote a record while in Alberta, but flew to Montreal in 2008 to record with Reimer, Bilerman and a band of 10 other people.
“That was our foray into Montreal. We were just going to come for two weeks and make a record,” said Keith, “but that record took six months.
“We quickly evolved, realized it was an amazing city, and now we are very happy here.”
Though the songstress was unhappy in Alberta, the record she wrote while living there is curiously upbeat, and became quite popular. Keith’s indie-pop single, “Kick this City,” caught fire in 2008 and was picked up by CBC for radio play.
Since moving to Montreal and forming UN, Keith’s songwriting has turned to gloom.
“What’s funny is that as I’ve gotten my life more organized, been happier, got really good friends, moved to a great new city, and started taking care of myself, I started writing really dark music,” said Keith.
Despite the drastic change in her musical tone, Keith insisted that it’s completely unintentional. She challenged herself to depart from her more complicated classical roots and produce music that was simple, strong and straight from the gut.
“I’m not trying to do anything, I don’t listen to music, and I don’t know what our ‘sound’ is,” said Keith. “Neither does Jen.”

UN debuts at SXSW on March 16 at Hotel Vegas in Austin, Texas.

To download their new album visit their bandcamp:
http://unmusic.bandcamp.com/

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Music

Not yet The End of That for Plants and Animals

Plants and Animals play and sound like a band that has lived through decades together. But there is a good reason why a band with only three full-length albums, the first of which was released as recently as 2008, sounds so mature.
Bandmates Warren Spicer and Matthew ‘Woody’ Woodley first met as 12-year-olds in Halifax, N.S., but they found their missing piece, Quebec native Nic Basque, over 10 years ago in the depths of Concordia’s music department.
Combined, they bring a tight, red-hot gospel/soul sound that escaped rock somewhere between the ‘80s and today.
Woodley’s skittering, feet-flicking drum beat and Basque’s classic-rock-country trilling guitar provides the canvas for Spicer’s gargling, soulful voice and easy-to-relate-to tales of ecstasy, disappointment and growing older.
Since their debut album Parc Avenue got shortlisted for the 2008 Polaris Prize, Plants and Animals have toured Europe and North America extensively, played the summer music festival circuit, and opened for Grizzly Bear, Gnarls Barkley and The National—to name a few.
Despite hobnobbing with industry elites and dealing with the distractions of rock ‘n’ roll life on the road, Woodley claims that his bond with Spicer and Basque has only strengthened.
“The one thing that’s changed the most is we’re more comfortable being open with each other,” revealed Woodley. “We’re not afraid to say what we think to each other, not too shy and don’t take things too personally.”
Fresh off the shelves, The End of That has already garnered significant commercial attention. The album was featured as CBC Music’s Album of the Week, its first single, “Lightshow,” was Amazon MP3’s Song of the Day on Feb. 29, and the band stole the cover of several Montreal publications in February alone.
While Parc Avenue was Plants and Animals’ love letter to Mile End, and La La Land (2010) revealed the gritty truth of touring around Los Angeles, The End of That is a therapeutic return home.
Vocalist Spicer dealt with some life issues through the lyrics. In “Crisis!” he returns home to find “everyone is getting married or breaking up / And the stroller situation on the sidewalk / is way out of control,” while on “The End of That” he reflects on his foray into cocaine.
“I don’t think that we wanted to be happy-go-lucky,” said Woodley, “but we wanted to put something out that hit people in the heart a little more quickly, not such a slow burn.”
Woodley and Basque often have their music charted out before Spicer brings the lyrics into the studio, which Woodley admits completely changes the way it plays out.
“It’s kind of an obtuse feeling when a song hits, and when you put words on top, they can really change the message of the music,” explained Woodley. “Sometimes I find it’s an adjustment, playing it, coming to grips with it.”
The band recorded the album at La Frette, a manor just outside Paris where they ate, slept and played while touring in France.
“We got there after playing a show at two in the morning, turned on the lights, and realized, ‘Oh man, we have to work here again, we’ve got to settle down and do it here,’” recounted Woodley.
“It isn’t the fact that it’s in France, the city close by, or even the river down the street. It’s the space itself and what it felt like that made it so special.”
With roots in improvisation, Plants and Animals are known for seducing crowds to the dance floor with their loud, jam-rocking live shows. They take their albums’ work to the stage on an entirely different level.
“There’s nothing like [playing] live,” professed Woodley. “It’s in the moment, it’s about the people.”
This time around, the Mile Enders wanted to produce an album that already reflected as much of their live material as possible.
“I think you might find the live show as close to the album as we have ever gotten,” said Woodley. “It’s still louder, and still rockier, but it’s closer in character.”

Plants and Animals play Le Cabaret du Mile End (5240 Parc Ave.) on March 10. Tickets are $17 in advance or $20 at the door.

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Music

Quickspins + Retroview

Band of Skulls – Sweet Sour (Electric Blues Records; 2012)

Sweet Sour is the second studio album from British trio Band of Skulls. Their sophomore effort brings back the gritty guitar riffs and smooth vocal harmonies that put Baby Darling Doll Face Honey on the alt-rock map, but fails to fully live up to the debut’s promise. The first half of Sweet Sour groups together all the heavy songs, which results in a feeling of “where did the album go?” as the second half closes with one meandering, slow number after another. As a whole, the album lacks expected creativity and plays on the safe side of the music industry, seemingly vying for a single on MTV and a radio hit.  But its shortcomings don’t mean that it isn’t an enjoyable album. Stomp rock track “The Devil Takes Care of His Own” easily steals the spotlight as the best showcase of Russell Marsden’s catchy, dirty guitar riffing. It just never finds the breakthrough originality it needs.

Rating: 7.0/10

Trial track: “Wanderluster”

– Lindsay Rempel

Young Liars – Homesick Future (Self-released; 2012)

Electro-indie group Young Liars will have you bobbing your head and swaying your hips along to their rhythmic tracks from their latest EP Homesick Future. The Vancouver-based band released their first EP in early 2011 and have plans to make their full-length album debut sometime in 2012, but have released both EPs to tide listeners over until then.
All seven songs on Homesick Future have lengthy instrumentals that encompass you in the music. In contrast to the verses, the choruses have simple, repetitive lyrics, allowing the listener to pick them up in no time.
Unfortunately, at times the music seems to overpower the vocals, creating a cacophony of sound that breaks the melodic flow. The songs on Homesick Future are catchy but easily forgotten, with the exception of the song “Colours” where the electronica background music, guitar riffs and fresh vocals mesh together perfectly.
Overall, Homesick Future is good without being great.

Rating: 6.8/10

Trial track: “Colours”

– Natasha Taggart

Tennis – Young & Old (Fat Possum; 2012)

A little over a year after disembarking from Cape Dory, husband-and-wife duo Tennis are landlocked and ready to release their sophomore album, Young & Old.
Teaming up with The Black Keys’ drummer Patrick Carney to oversee the production, the album reveals an obvious divergence from Tennis’ previous songwriting with a more polished sound. A welcomed addition, Carney seems to lend a much needed structure to the songs. He is likely also responsible for a tinge of sass in lead vocalist Alaina Moore’s crooning vocals, especially demonstrated in R&B-inspired “My Better Self” and “Petition.” Despite the occasional quirk, the 10 tracks follow the same brisk-paced urgency, rendering the album monotonous.
My main concern with Tennis is that they don’t seem to be able to find their voice. Remaining true to their kitschy sea-shanty act would become tiresome, but too big a change in any direction would cause fans to question their sincerity.

Rating: 6.0/10

Trail track: “My Better Self”

– Paul Traunero

The Grateful Dead – American Beauty (Warner Bros. Records; 1970)

There aren’t too many people who can say they’ve mastered composing, poetry, songwriting, piano, banjo, guitar, pedal steel guitar, painting and drawing, all while missing a key digit from their right hand, but The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia did, and American Beauty exemplifies his prowess. The classic jam band’s fifth studio album further cemented the Dead as one of America’s great, iconic jam bands with timeless hits like “Ripple,” “Box of Rain,” “Truckin’” and “Sugar Magnolia.” Building upon the country and folk styles of their previous albums, American Beauty epitomizes easy listening and pure audio delight. The album takes you on a voyage through 1960s America. All of the usual suspects are there: freedom, love, music, travel, luck, and of course, drugs. Anyone who hasn’t heard this album multiple times from beginning to end is doing a disservice to themselves, and possibly even the world.
So, go make yourself a headband out of daisies, put on your tie-dye, and let this album move you in ways you never knew possible.

Trial track: “Till the Morning Comes”

– Allie Mason

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Music

The Box rocks for the young and old

Photo: Andrew McNeill
Photo: Andrew McNeill

An impromptu snowstorm certainly didn’t scare The Box junkies away from Montréal en Lumière’s downtown festival site Friday night.
At long last, a festival experience where cigarette toting twenty somethings are outnumbered by miniature humans dressed in technicolor Ewok snowsuits.
Quebecois baby boomers wrapped up their wee ones, lugged them up on their shoulders, and marched through clumping snowflakes to Place des Arts to rock out to the ‘80s New Wave band that once topped the charts and dominated the airwaves.
The Box assembled in 1981 at the hands of Jean-Marc Pisapia, one of the first members of Men Without Hats. The band hit mainstream success in 1987 with their album Closer Together, disbanded in 1992, but reassembled in 2002 to spin out a few new tunes and reunion concerts.
The Box is mom and dad pop-rock in its most uncomplicated format. Its sound is stereotypically New Wave, and dependant on upbeat yet playful male-female vocal harmonies and catchy choruses. Despite its harmless and agreeable disposition, The Box’s sound didn’t survive the turn of the ‘90s, as listeners looked for something darker—and found it in grunge.
But while The Box’s denim cut offs, hairspray, and Jheri curl days are over, they still know how to get the crowd shaking. Friday’s show was for older fans and their obligatory offspring.
The Box knows they won’t be reigning any new converts, but their live show keeps all the energy of late-’80s Canadian New Wave intact. Dragging toddlers out in the snow past bed time isn’t easy, but this was clearly a show families didn’t want to miss.

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Music

Mark Bragg ignites Your Kiss on stage

Mark Bragg either has a multiple personality disorder, is one heck of a storyteller, or has some serious explaining to do.
The Newfoundlander’s latest ECMA-nominated album, Your Kiss, reveals details concerning a kidnapping, a run from social services and a burning desire for the boss’ daughter.
“It’s straight up fiction,” clarified Bragg, “dark, character-driven, narrative fiction.”
The wacky rocker will bring bizarre, eye-bulging stage antics and every Your Kiss character to L’Escalier on Feb. 24 and 25.
“Before I started playing music, as a person, I was intolerable,” confessed Bragg. “Now that I’ve found a way to channel all that, I’m completely laid back. I get it all out on stage.”
Your Kiss is a collection of short stories, but music is the medium, and each track a different tale. It is energetic, theatrical, and much more than a studio session. It successfully simulates the live stage performance.
The lyrics alone are undeniably dark, but Bragg’s rollicking voice, yowling horns, wailing organ and crashing drums bring a more celebratory than morbid quality. His sound is impossible to generalize. It’s punk, country, rock, jazz, and everything in between.
“I get to know these characters pretty intimately in the process of writing and rewriting, but I get to know them even better when I’m performing with my band or touring,” explained Bragg. “I embody the characters and play it out on stage.”
For Bragg, it’s all about the performance. Your Kiss was over five years in the making, but even after producing and releasing the album, he claims that he only finds true satisfaction in performing.
He’s no newcomer to the Canadian music scene, considering his two previous albums have already sent him on tours across Canada and Europe. Music is his trade, but if he isn’t working on his own material, he’s producing or doing session work for other artists.
Born and bred in Newfoundland, Bragg has the St. John’s music community to thank as the driving force behind his talent.
“The music community here is very supportive, but the bar gets set pretty high now, there are so many great writers and musicians,” said Bragg. “It really challenges you, but it’s friendly competition, we push each other.”
“It’s a culture of storytelling around here. Everywhere you go, whether through music or other mediums,” said Bragg, “I’m just happy to be a part of it.”
Bragg has a knack for musical fiction, and despite admitting that he’s not planning on writing many personal songs, one very truthful tune managed to slip onto his album’s track listing. He is a newlywed, and the ballad he wrote for his wife, “The Fool,” is nestled in between songs about a dirty colourblind pirate and an overweight teenager’s lust.
“It’s challenging, but what we need from the people that we love can be a bit of a guessing game. At the end of it all, when you find out what it is, it seems so simple, and I guess that’s love,” admitted Bragg. “[‘The Fool’] was my way of trying to get to the bottom of it.”

Mark Bragg opens for Guy Pharand on Feb. 24 and headlines on Feb. 25, both at L’Escalier. Doors open at 9 p.m.

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Music

Belgian band serves up its ‘best burger’ yet

Belgium is often associated with praline chocolates, waffles, beer and the unassuming cartoon hero recently rejuvenated in 3D, Tintin, closely followed by the Smurfs. Crazy experimental jazz musicians don’t usually come anywhere near the top of the “Best of Belgium” list.
But that’s all about to change when The Experimental Tropic Blues Band, born in Liège about a decade ago, bring their “best burger” attitude to L’Astral during Montréal en Lumière on Feb. 18.
“We just want people to have fun, express themselves, party with us,” explained guitarist and lead vocalist J.J. Thomsin, who goes by the stage name “Boogie Snake.”
Their most recent album, Liquid Love, is somewhere between a dance party, a mosh pit and a jam session and, while it’s sometimes physically confusing—you won’t know whether to dance, jump or just shake erratically—its high energy, hard rocking, experimental sounds will eradicate those doubts and fears as quickly as they came.
The album, which was largely influenced by the band’s time in the United States during 2010-2011, packs punch after punch of loud, homage-paying bluesy goodness into a mere 34 and a half minutes. Songs like “T.E.T.B.B. Eat Sushi,” written about the first time they ate sushi in New York City, and “The Best Burger” aren’t just about the differences in cuisine the band members experienced during their travels, they’re also about an attitude.
“We wrote [“The Best Burger”] after SXSW [Festival] in Austin, Texas,” said Thomsin, laughing. “It was funny. Everywhere we went people had this energy like, ‘we have the best bugers!’ They’ve got the mojo!”
Jon Spencer, who lives in New York City where he produced and mixed the band’s latest LP at NY Hed studio, helped to incorporate that attitude into Liquid Love, adding “cool instruments and ideas,” like the double bass featured on the album.
“It was the best experience we’ve had in a recording studio,” Thomsin added.
But our neighbours to the south aren’t the only ones with mojo. The gusto of Thomsin and his bandmates, Jeremy Alonzi (Dirty Coq, guitar/vocals) and David Dinverno (Devil D’Inferno, drums), comes through in their music and their nicknames.
“When we were kids—when we were 20—we came up with these stage names when we would play because our real names were not very fun, they were too serious,” said Thomsin. “Plus, in blues everyone has a nickname.”
Despite their leaning toward the “experimental” part of their name, T.E.T.B.B. carry the traditions of classic blues throughout their album. With sharp guitar licks, gruff vocals and hilarious anecdotal voice-overs about boners and partying, there’s more mojo in this album than you ever thought was possible.
And it’s that same mojo that’s fuelling their touring fire. They’re spending the majority of this year headlining dates all over Europe, Canada and parts of the U.S. Between jet-setting across the globe, the trio are writing new music for an upcoming self-produced EP along with creating acoustic sets too.
“People want acoustic songs for showcases, but our songs aren’t really made to be acoustic, so we really have to reinvent them,” Thomsin said, adding that touring is when they have the most fun.
“We just want to have fun and maybe the people who were there last year will come back and we’ll make more friends,” Thomsin said. “We want to meet new people, new bands and make new fans so we can come back. We just want to have fun, that’s all.”

The Experimental Tropic Blues Band play during Montréal en Lumière at L’Astral (305 Ste-Catherine St. W.) on Feb. 18.

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