Fake Jazz Festival, March 24-28, Vacouver
Fake Jazz Festival
This is going to be unmissable for in-the-know Vancouverites. Four nights and one afternoon showcasing some of the city’s top avant rock, noise and electronica talent, including Aerosol Constellations, Empty Love, Scant Intone, The Rita, Flat Grey, Magneticring, Shearing Pinx, AHNA, Josh Rose, Stamina Mantis, Twin Crystals and Coin Gutter. Plus a rare appearance from Japan’s KK Null!
And here are some MP3 tasters:
Aerosol Constellations – “Vii-Ii”
Empty Love – “Sinking, Floating, Listlessly”
Magneticring – “Live September 23rd 2007″
Add comment March 13, 2010
Quiet City – A Reminder
Quiet City March 2010
Blim & Soundscape & Panospria presents: Quiet City, Benefit for CFRO Co-op Radio
Featuring:, Broken Sleep, Empty Love, Glaciers, Nervous Operator
Friday, March 12th, 8pm-11pm
$7-10 sliding scale
Blim, 197 East 17th Avenue, Vancouver
Add comment March 12, 2010
Peep Show
Eternal gratitude to Big Walters in Addis Ababa for sending seasons one to four on DVD as a much-appreciated birthday present (and a cautionary tale about what would surely have happened if a certain pair of bumbling idiots hadn’t removed themselves to separate continents about 10 years ago). Sorry that you have to skip to YouTube to actually watch the video embedded above but it is worth it. Season two is the best.
3 comments March 11, 2010
Haven’t We Been Busy?
In 2009, it seemed like not much truly great music was unleashed until right at the end of the year. By contrast, the first few months of 2010 have seen a relative flood of exciting new releases. It’s already hard to keep up but this here blog has been trying its best.
To help you out, here are links to some recent reviews of note:
The Fall – Your Future Our Clutter
Add comment March 8, 2010
The Fall – Your Future Our Clutter (Domino) LP
The Fall 2010
With his appearance on the latest Gorillaz multimedia circus of an album, Mark E Smith finally became a caricature of himself, in the most literal sense possible. The British media continues to laud his brilliance and celebrate his increasingly erratic antics but old MES simply isn’t the razor-sharp visionary he used to be. And in recent years, the music he’s released under the banner of The Fall has become distinctly patchy.
Having said all that, 2008’s Imperial Wax Solvent was the most consistently inventive Fall album in ages – a tightly produced exploration of the same ground covered by that recognized late-period classic The Unutterable. The 2009 single “Slippy Floor” suggested that Smith had decided to take the Fall group (such as it is) in a more ramshackle direction.
However, any suspicion that Your Future Our Clutter might be a half-assed mess along the lines of Reformation Post T.L.C. or Are You Are Missing Winner is immediately dispelled by “O.F.Y.C. Showcase” , which actually recalls the noisy epic “No Bulbs” from the group’s mid-’80s heyday. This seems to set the template for Your Future… – longish, raucous minimalist rock jams, excellently produced. The “Slippy Floor” 7″ tracks even make a comeback, in a somewhat fleshed-out form.
On songs like the funky “Mexico Wax Solvent” , Smith actually sounds remarkably lucid. Better still, he’s backed by musicianship and production that is hard-hitting and imaginative in equal measure. Fall fans can breathe a sigh of relief – Your Future Our Clutter is a triumph. It will be released by Domino on April 26th.
15 comments March 7, 2010
Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me (Drag City) 3LP
Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me
Joanna Newsom is one of those artists who polarizes opinion and sparks fierce debate. This mammoth triple-album set (housed in a sodding-great pizza box of a cover) therefore seems destined to become one of most discussed records of 2010. This here blog is not generally in the habit of entering into such discussions but just so happens to have a bit of a “thing” for Ms. Newsom and her delightfully harp-tastic song stylings.
These particular stylings are generally similar to those on her previous opus, Ys but with rather more restrained arrangements, where conventional rock instrumentation is allowed greater prominence than on previous releases. Indeed, despite its length, Have One on Me is surely Newsom’s most approachable album to date – particularly as her signature love-it-or-hate-it squawk has been softened to a conciliatory purr.
Joni Mitchell comparisons have been bandied about and Never for Ever-era Kate Bush would be another apt comparison. But you should all know by now that Joanna Newsom is in a world of her own. What is more, you should be well aware that her world is a wonderful place to be. In this climate of austerity, Have One on Me really does feel like a much-needed outpouring of generosity. Heck, if your heart isn’t melted by the likes of “‘81″ and “Kingfisher”… erm… we’ll just have to agree to disagree, won’t we?
This could be the album that turns Joanna Newsom into a bona fide superstar. As such, it should be pretty damn easy for you to find a copy at your local record store. Otherwise, you could go straight to the source and buy it from Drag City.
No comment
4 comments March 4, 2010
A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Nitetime Rainbows (Mis Ojos Discos) 12″
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Nitetime Rainbows
This clear vinyl EP from Philadelphia’s A Sunny Day in Glasgow is a pretty generous offering. The A-side features “Nitetime Rainbows” from the band’s excellent 2009 album Ashes Grammar plus three new songs. On the flip, we get three remixes of “Nitetime Rainbows”. All for a very reasonable price.
The remixes are fine but it’s the new songs that really make this 12″ worth having. These tunes do a reasonably good job of finding a middle ground between the electronica-tinged dream-pop idyll of Ashes Grammar and the thornier territory explored on the band’s debut album, Scribble Mural Comic Journal. For instance, “So Bloody, So Tight”, though generally in the Ashes Grammar style, contains elements that hint at the acidic feedback of early Jesus & Mary Chain or – more speculatively – the stately doom of late-period Swans.
A Sunny Day in Glasgow plays Vancouver media club on March 9th and you can buy Nitetime Rainbows from Mis Ojos Discos.
1 comment March 2, 2010
Quiet City, Vancouver, March 12th
Blim
EDIT: connect_icut will no longer be appearing at this event. Empty Love will be playing instead (it’s his last chance to play in town before moving to Montreal). This seems like a good time to mention that Empty Love has made the latest contribution to CSAF’s ongoing 10-20 2010 series of MP3 releases and that you can download it for free from the CSAF website.
Here are some more details of that show. Apparently, it will be the penultimate live music event at Blim before the gallery moves to its new location.
Blim & Soundscape & Panospria presents:
Quiet City
Benefit for CFRO Co-op Radio
Featuring:
Broken Sleep & Merlyn
connect_icut Empty Love
Glaciers
Nervous Operator
Friday, March 12th 8pm-11pm
$7-10 sliding scale
Blim
197 East 17th Avenue
Vancouver
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=230077221204
http://www.coopradio.org/
http://www.panospria.com/
By the way, there’s also a new connect_icut track called “Chrome Burner Holy Day” posted on the CSAF website, as part of the 10-20 2010 series.
2 comments March 1, 2010
Loscil – Endless Falls (Kranky) 2LP
Loscil - Endless Falls
The Work of Vancouver’s Loscil – aka sometime Destroyer drummer Scott Morgan – is all about incremental development. This applies at the micro level and the macro level. Each individual track pivots around Morgan gradually introducing a series of slow, dreamy loops – mainly chord washes, sub-bass detonations, and percussive clicks…
Morgan’s career as Loscil, meanwhile, has seen him building a cult fan-base across the span of a decade. If you’ve followed the series of albums he’s released on Kranky during this time, you might be forgiven for thinking they all sound pretty much the same. But compare the murky dub-techno of Triple Point to the twinkling bliss-out of Plume and you’ll see that a real musical progression has occurred somewhere along the line.
Endless Falls is the latest Loscil album and the first to be released on vinyl. It takes up where the last two albums (First Narrows and the aforementioned Plume) left off – displaying an increased emphasis on juxtaposing Morgan’s processed loops with live instruments.
The subtle difference here, on tracks like “Lake Orchard”, is an almost neoclassical feel, reminiscent of Max Richter’s work. This similarity is reinforced by an overall melancholy feel and a spoken-word appearance by Destroyer’s Dan Bejar (on “The Making of Grief Point”).
Endless Fall’s immediately feels like the most ambitious Loscil album to date and it might just be the best. You can – and should – buy it once it gets released on March 1st.
2 comments February 27, 2010
Fenn O’Berg – In Stereo (Editions Mego) 2LP
Fenn O'Berg - In Stereo
In Stereo is the long-awaited third album from the trio of Christian Fennesz, Jim O’Rourke and Peter “Pita” Rehberg. Like The Magic Sound of Fenn O’Berg (1999) and The Return of Fenn O’Berg (2002), this is an uncompromising work of hardcore digital electronica. However, whereas the trio’s first two albums compiled edited versions of live improvisations, In Stereo was created 100% studio-side.
This fact may suggest that the new album takes a more premeditated approach than its predecessors did but any hints of compositional rigour will not be immediately apparent to the casual listener. Initially, In Stereo sounds like just the kind of three-way laptop cluster-fuck you might expect – high on harsh, glitch-ridden textures and chaotic granular synthesis manoeuvres.
However, after repeated listens, you’ll find the album revealing a genuinely epic sense of drama. The mood throughout is darkly cinematic – murky soundscapes are shot-through with intense digital clarity. Fans of Black to Comm’s superb Alphabet 1968 are bound to find something to enjoy here.
Even at its most patently bonkers, In Stereo never descends into aimless fidgeting. Take “VI”, for instance (the tracks are named with Roman numerals but presented out of sequence). It begins as a barrage of sliced-up digital detritus, which purposefully gives way to a passage of tense contemplation. The results are absolutely phenomenal – attentive listeners may find themselves compelled to stand up and applaud.
In Stereo marks a great start to 2010 for Pita’s Editions Mego label. The vinyl seems to gone out of print before the arrival of its March 5th release date but you should be able to order a copy if you shop around. There will also be a slightly abridged CD version, which you can still pre-order from Mego.
1 comment February 25, 2010
