Sunday Playlist #31: Give Thanks for Rock'n'Roll
Sunday Playlist is a semi-regular feature that brings back some of this blog's previously-posted original live recordings for an encore. You can always click the tags below to see what I originally wrote about the shows these songs came from.
Artist: Japandroids
Song: The Nights of Wine and Roses
Recorded at Lee's Palace, June 23, 2012.
Japandroids - The Nights of Wine and RosesFull review to follow.
Artist: Japandroids
Song: Art Czars
Recorded at The Horseshoe, April 3, 2010.
Japandroids - Art CzarsMy notes for this set can be found here.
Japandroids (Love is All / The Two Koreas)
The Horseshoe Tavern. Saturday, April 3, 2010.
"Good evening, we are The Two Koreas. We were put on this earth to entertain people who show up to concerts too early." Regardless of what you might think of them musically, The Two Koreas have their ways of entertaining a crowd — not in the least with vocalist Stuart Berman's always-entertaining banter, perhaps putting something he's studied in his rockcrit dayjob into practice. Because they show up with semi-regularity as a steadily-dependable opening act, it's a little easy to take the crew for granted, but within the little patch of rock'n'roll that they tend to, they do a good job, finding new applications for repetition, be it Fall-like chants or Krautrock beats.
This time round, the band played a whole bunch of new material, some of which saw them stretching out in different ways, whether in a "power ballad" (labelled "Geezer" on their setlist) or in "Karl Johans Gate (Suicide)", a sort of uptempo monotone slowburner stretching out about seven minutes. "Midnight Brown", however, kicks like a classic Two Koreas groover, so no radical re-inventions are expected on their forthcoming new one. There was also some older material, like "Retarded Architect (In Two Parts)" (from 05's debut Main Plates & Classic Pies and the singalong catchy "Cloth Coat Revolution" (from '07's Altruists). The room was filling in as they played and the band got a pretty good response from the crowd.
Listen to a track from this set here.
And it was an interesting crowd on hand. Although they undoubtedly have some overlapping appeal (and share a record label), it was clear that there were separate groups of the most ardent enthusiasts for each of the visiting bands. As they took the stage, Love is All, from Gothenburg, Sweden, had a fair number of supporters right up front. I know that they were the factor that had edged me over into buying a ticket for this show. I'd dug them quite a lot the last time I'd seen 'em, back in late 2008, and I think I'd have been pleased if they were headlining their own show. But even if they were the support act, it seemed prudent to catch them when they were in town — who knows when/if they'll be back in North America?1
The band led off with "Bigger Bolder", the first track from new album Two Thousand and Ten Injuries, before looking back for a couple tracks, including "Talk Talk Talk Talk" (from their debut Nine Times That Same Song) with James Ausfahrt's skronky sax and "Wishing Well" with its Clean-biting keyboard hook, a standout from 2008's A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night. I've found the new album's production to be somewhat punchless when compared to their live energy, and songs like "False Pretense" and "Early Warnings" were played with an immediacy that the new album is lacking.
The band's main weapon is vocalist/keyb player Josephine Olausson, whose occasional yips and yelps never subtract from the songs' underlying catchiness, always balancing X-Ray Spex-styled punk and pop precision. Playing an efficient ten songs in just over half an hour, I could have certainly done with more, a sentiment that was echoed by some of the Love is All partisans up front.
Listen to a track from this set here.
But as the set ended, there was already a different crowd circulating up towards the stage. And though I attempted to hold my position, it didn't take more than a song or so into Japandroids' set for me to realize I needed to move. It seems like the band's fanbase isn't your watch-contemplatively-and-nod types, so the previous wall of polite Scandinavian pop-art-punk admirers were pushed back by a more laddish workin'-for-the-weekend bunch.
It's trite to say that the band fed off the energy of the crowd, but here was a case where it really seemed like precisely that as the devoted throng was moshing and stage diving from the get-go, shouting and singing along. No wonder, then that the pair looked well-pleased to be in their "second home" city, absorbing the energy from their last night in Canada before heading back to less-won-over crowds Stateside.
Starting with "The Boys Are Leaving Town", the duo proceeded to power through the entirety of Post-Nothing — even the rarely-played "Wet Hair" got an airing, "for only the second time in Canada". They threw in a couple of their EP tracks and finished with covers of Big Black's "Racer X" and Mclusky's "To Hell With Good Intentions" for a pretty hefty seventy-five minute set.
I suppose I'd back off some of my earlier claims that Japandroids are the new Loverboy, but there is a populist rawk-out simplicity underpinning their songs, no matter how much enthusiastic garage-scuzz they coat them with. With a surfeit of new material, the band is bigging up their songs, a few of which now come with increasingly extended instrumental intros — don't think of it as noodling so much as the jagged burst of gasping required for band and crowd alike to regain their breath after each jam. This on top of a general sonic expansion, such as with "Heart Sweats", now part of a ten minute-plus epic with the song bleeding seamlessly into "Darkness on the Edge of Gastown".
For "Rockers East Vancouver", with drummer David Prowse taking lead vocals, Brian King said, "I'm going to dance around and rock out, I hope you guys do too." The crowd needed no such invitation. For anyone looking for a sweaty, participatory time, Japandroids is money well spent, no doubt. For those taking a more considered view of things, though, a little bit less so. The band's success has given them some ride-the-moment tenacity — they've sunk their teeth in and aren't going to stop the momentum, touring relentlessly for the past year with no end yet in sight. The downside is that there isn't really any new material from the band — so in one sense this wasn't all that different a show than I saw when they were here the last time around. Which isn't to say I didn't enjoy it, but it didn't feel like an entirely new experience. Those who haven't caught Japandroids yet should undoubtedly catch 'em the time time or two they pass through town, though I'm willing to wait for the next phase to start before I check 'em out again.
Listen to a track from this set here.
1 Perhaps somewhat ironically, when I saw 'em that time, it was mostly because I'd bought a ticket to see their opening band — in that case Crystal Stilts.
Somewhat unexpectedly a few weeks back, I found a message in my inbox from Matthew — in charge over at the always well-informed i(heart)music — soliciting my opinions for his annual "Hottest Bands in Canada" poll. I spent some time thinking over the loose rules1 and resolved to let it percolate a bit, so I could articulate a thoughtful list. Then, of course, I pretty much forgot about it until right before it was due and threw something together with as much haste as possible. I plagiarized myself pretty ruthlessly in coming up with some blurbs and sent out my list.
That list (or the top-ranking bands, anyways) are now posted, and of course, I immediately started combing through to see how the big list looks compared to mine. It's interesting, of course, to feel the push/pull of groupthink at work — that tension between not wanting to be the odd kid out, looking like I'm not in touch with what's, y'know, hot. But then there's that countervailing force of taste as distinction, where you want to be cooler than all the other list-makers — "oh, I see you still think so-and-so is hot. How quaint."
As it turns out, almost totally unsurprisingly, I'm not the avant-garde ahead-of-the-pack genius I might think I am, nor the the deluded outcast that I fear I am even more often. Six of my ten bands were in the top-ranking group, putting me firmly in the hive mind consensus — although only one of my bands was in the top five, proving, maybe, my deft hand at picking fellow misunderstood geniuses.2
Just a note on method: I basically went totally subjective with my list. I didn't construe "hotness" as the bands that have generated the most buzz or popularity. In that regard, I'm sure Arcade Fire could twitterize about what they had for breakfast and garner more attention in a morning that some of the bands I care about in a whole year. Instead, I had two key qualifications for my list: a live show that moved me and a 2009 release of consequence. Thus, bands that have been bringing it live and to ever-growing crowds but are still working older material (Rural Alberta Advantage, Kemer Yousef); bands collecting awards and plaudits (Fucked Up – 2009 Polaris Prize, catl – Toronto Blues Society Talent Search Award); or bands that brought it live but still have new releases in the pipeline (The D'Urbervilles or The Disraelis) ranked lower in my consideration. I guess I was thinking about bands that felt, to me, to be really in their moment, which is why their live presence was probably the most clinching factor. As it turns out, I have seen all of the bands on my list live in 2009 — nine of them more than once. So that was the highly unscientific ordering principle I was using.3
So anyway, without further ado, my list as sent to Matthew. Out of kindness, I suppose, I managed not to include any footnotes in my list. #1 is the top and working down from there:
1. Ohbijou
Releasing an album as good as Beacons — a compendium of all the warm hugs you've been missing compressed into musical form — would be enough to place Ohbijou highly on this list. But add to that stellar achievement their formidable live presence where they can bring it solemn-like or party-like as the situation dictates. And then add to that their principled community-building, putting out the Friends in Bellwoods 2 compilation with a little help from their friends as a fundraiser for the Daily Bread food bank and you get the full picture of this band as a fully-engaged force.
Check out my live recordings of Ohbijou here and here.
2. Gentleman Reg
Reg Vermue is having the sort of year that his fans have been wishing on him for awhile now. It's been a long gap and a lot of water under the bridge since '04's Darby and Joan so it's no surprise that Reg hit the ground running once he had a solid new album (Jet Black) to promote. Playing plenty shows and working some choice opening slots, the fabulous thing is that his crack band quickly surpassed the songs' recorded versions. Between all that, Reg has also had some time for collaboration, debuting a new dancefloor project with Woodhands' Dan Werb.
Check out my live recordings of Gentleman Reg here, here, and, urm, here. (So much Reg!)
3. Japandroids
Youth and energy are great rock'n'roll currency, and these lads have it in spades. This Vancouver duo (guit/vox/drums) are garage rock maximalists, filling up their songs with a young man's frenzy that owes as much to "Working For The Weekend" as to any punk antecedents. Their album (Post-Nothing) is filled with shaggy, buzzing charm, but live they really won me over, finding a sweet spot between sounding rough and sounding tight, and rolling somewhere between swagger and modesty. By the end of the set's end, first time I saw 'em, I was a convert, and the deal was sealed on the last song when guitarist Brian King lurched behind the drum kit, and then, while attempting to step out, tripped backwards over the monitor, and ended up sprawled out, still playing. As the song ended, he shouted, "we're going up the CN Tower, and you guys should come with us!"
Check out my live recording of Japandroids here.
4. Great Lake Swimmers
From one coldly analytical perspective, GLS have moved from being a nearly solo folk project to a fleshed-out rootsy, MOR band — the sort of stuff that Canadian A.M. playlists were filled up with a couple decades ago. But that overlooks the fact that main swimmer Tony Dekker continues to write incredible songs, each a little roadmap of closely-held desire that seems so recognizable. And when those songs delivered in his aching croon, he even makes the boys a little bit weak in the knees.
5. Julie Doiron
Her new album I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day follows on the heels of '07's Polaris shortlisted Woke Myself Up, but exchanges that album's dark explorations for musings on domesticity and gladness. It's considered, in some quarters, to be Higher Art to write about misery as opposed to happiness, which might account for this one getting a few less accolades, but it's not a lesser album. And add to that an enchanting stage presence — a ramshackle, figure-it-out-as-we-go-along spirit combined with her uncalculating, plainspoken sincerity, and you might float out of one of her gigs instead of walking.
Check out my live recordings of Julie Doiron here and here.
6. Kids on TV
A couple short years ago, Toronto's Kids on TV were a little easier to put in a box — something like hardcore rap meets General Idea. After some quiet time, they re-emerged this summer as something the same but different, suddenly re-establishing themselves as a dancefloor-ready pop unit. With a passel of new songs (some of which have now come out on the Shape Shifting Mutants digital EP) including two bona fide smashes in "Poison" and "Dazzler", KoTV have re-positioned themselves to catch some new ears while staying true to their art-queer roots. Out of the bathhouse and into your ears!
Check out my live recordings of KoTV here and here.
7. The Hoa Hoa's
The winner of this year's "let's take a trip" citation, garage-psych explorers The Hoa Hoa's have focused their sound and songwriting on a batch of new songs that figures to anchor one of the fall's most-anticipated releases (the perfectly named Pop/Drone/Pedals, forthcoming on Optical Sounds). Live, the band brings a rewarding mix of immediacy in their hooks and psychedelic drift in their layered extended excursions.
Check out my live recordings of The Hoa Hoa's here and here. Update: Also here!
8. Spiral Beach
This band's presence on my list would have surprised me a year ago. Perhaps a case of too much, too soon, I wrote this crew off when they started turning heads back in '06, finding their songs unfocused and undercooked behind an overexcited veneer. Catching them this year at NXNE it turns out that they've grown up some, found their sound and come up with solid songs, playing with a far darker, more psychedelic edge than I remembered. With songs that sound like Piper at the Gates of Dawn hooked up to a primitive drum machine, they've got something that suggests, "even if I'm dancing the Rock Lobster, I'm still in the middle of a bad trip".
Check out my live recording of Spiral Beach here.
9. Diamond Rings
How far can eyeliner, a fabulous video, a split single and a pocket full of songs take you? Surpisingly, giddily far, it turns out. It probably helps that Diamond Rings (aka John O'Regan of The D'Urbervilles) was something of a known quality — but managed to turn his persona on its head as his glammy rainbow-and-unicorn bearing alter ego. With a growing setlist of hummable, remember-the-eighties dance-pop confections, that rumoured album is looking to be stacked. And in the meantime, check him out live for an antidote to the dreary gloom in your heart.
Check out my live recordings of Diamond Rings here and here.
10. The Diableros
Don't call it a comeback etc. etc. The current lineup (containing only Pete Carmichael and guitarist Ian Jackson as long-time holdovers) has apparently stabilized this band and has led to a fine EP (Old Story, Fresh Road), five songs that are a logical extension of their signature sound — like all of us, growing less fuzzed-out and sound-saturated with age, but still powerful nonetheless. And still a knock-'em-dead live band. Maybe this will herald a productive next act for The Diableros. Whatever, we'll still have rock 'n roll.
Check out my live recordings of The Diableros here and here.
1 The guiding principles were:
The only criteria you need to follow in making your list are:
1) the bands must be Canadian (however you want to define that); and
2) they had a good 2009 (again, however you want to define that).
2 And, in another measure of how in/out of touch I am, I was mostly conversant with the names that other people had put on their list — there were only three artists that I'd cold not heard of yet, and a bunch in that vague category of 'know the name, haven't heard anything'.
3 And, lest anyone should happen to think I am immune from the selection bias of a short attention span, I should point out that I had seen, like, two of the bottom three bands that I filled out my list with in the previous week or so before I threw it all together, which was probably the tiebreaker that put them there instead of several other nearly equally worthy potentials.
Artist: Japandroids
Song: Crazy/Forever + Sovereignty
Recorded at the Horseshoe Tavern, September 19, 2009.
Japandroids - Crazy/Forever + SovereigntyThese songs just flowed together so nicely, I decided to just leave them together here as one long track. Enjoy!
My notes for this gig can be found here.
Japandroids / Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band
The Horseshoe Tavern. Saturday, September 19, 2009.
Leaving the Music Gallery and the Woodchoppers gig, took the walk over to the 'Shoe at a brisk pace. Sadly, I'd missed Brides who were first up on the bill,1 but it looked like I'd be able to get there just in time to see Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band.
In fact, I made my way in and walked up to the stage with moments to spare before the five-piece from Seattle took the stage. Had zero knowledge of the band going on, so I was able to take it with a blank slate. Shades of Modest Mouse, inasmuch as the band featured sorta yelpy vox and a sorta spastic take on guitar rock. Two guits, occasional chirruping keyb, extra drums brought up to the front of the stage for extra percussion, and Traci Eggleston's backing vox. Towards the end of the set, Eggleston employed a pair of cymbals taped to the end of two broom -handle-like sticks for floor-banging rattlin'. Nothing at all wrong with what they were doing, but it didn't grab me all that much, not even the last song, which dared to ask that burning musical question: "What's in his souvlaki?" They were entertaining in their presentation, otherwise, no long-lasting impression.
"In case you didn't know, it's fuckin' on tonight," guitarist Brian King announced, wind blowing his hair, as Japandroids took the stage. Leading from a position of strength, the Vancouver duo launched straight into the dance frenzy of "Heart Sweats", which segued into a low-slung run through "Darkness on the Edge of Gastown". Two thirds of the way through the crowd started to applaud, and Brian said, "Hold it! We haven't done anything to deserve applause yet!" as they leaned into the ending of the song.
It turned out we got the extended Saturday Night set, with the band pulling out some songs that were outside their regular setlist, including a new (?) song — another one with pick-it-up-quickly lyrics: "Here's your body back / here's your punk rock back" — and also "Couture Suicide" from the group's first EP. The pair were clearly having a ball, and ingratiating themselves with the crowd with that age-old trick of denegrating the other cities they're playing: "They're sure not getting that fucking song in Columbus!" Not that such ego-stroking was required, as the crowd was pretty rabidly into it.
And then "Young Hearts Spark Fire", the hit, was like gasoline on flames, giving a whole whack of dudes a prime opportunity to push their way up to the stage, scream along and generally push people around. Suddenly there were bodies bouncing off me; I moved back some. After a ripping cover of Big Black's "Racer X" with Dave on vox, the band played "Crazy/Forever" for the women in room, inviting any who wanted to to come up stage to dance "without getting a fucking elbow in your face", leading to a suddenly full stage. That careened into the stellar "Sovereignty", probably the high point of the set. Definitely much more than I was expecting, the band played seventy minutes before encoring with "I Quit Girls".
A pretty good show. The band have a winning attitude, a democratic "fuck yeah" aimed back at every drunked-up partier raising a beer to them, tempered with an aw-shucks vulnerability where they seem moved by the crowd's support, impressed that people are paying and shouting for songs that they would be playing to each other in a room anyway.2
Listen to a track from this set here.
1 Though I did spot them, sprawled out en masse in one of the Queen St. doorways beside the 'Shoe, supine in the post-gig comedown.
2 There's also some signs of some rigorous aesthetic smarts somewhere in their camp, with a snappy and varied assortment of t-shirts on offer at the merch table.
Artist: Japandroids
Album: Post-Nothing
"We used to dream/ but now we worry about dying," the band opines on what might be their signature track, continuing "I don't wanna worry about dyin'/ I just wanna worry about those sunshine girls". That situates them as being old enough to be worried about not being as young as they used to be, but still young enough to raise a ruckus about it. This Vancouver duo (guit/vox/drums) are garage rock maximalists, filling up their songs with a young man's rock'n'roll frenzy that owes as much to "Working For The Weekend" as to any punk antecedents. Full of pithy, quotable lyrics: "some hearts bleed/ my heart sweats" might encapsulate them best. Although there are a couple duff tracks, this is filled overall with a wonderful energy that makes it feel like they are reinventing rock'n'roll anew — post-nothing indeed.
On a somewhat sad note, sort of upsetting my normal way of doing things, I was a bit taken aback when after looking around some, I realized that this album was being released on vinyl and digital only: no CD to be found. It upsets all my little rituals of ownership, and seems like a sign of things to come. At least there was an option at Zunior to buy the album as lossless FLACs, but it's just not the same as having an disc to file away on the shelf — it just feels impermanent somehow.
Track picks: 2- "Young Hearts Spark Fire", 5 - "Heart Sweats"
CMW: Hooded Fang / Teenanger / Japandroids / The Mark Inside / The D'Urbervilles / The Ghost is Dancing
Gladstone Hotel Ballroom / The Silver Dollar. Friday, March 13, 2009.
Walked into the Gladstone Ballroom just as Hooded Fang were getting underway. Didn't see anything else especially eye-grabbing as an option, so I thought I'd check them out despite having seen them last month. Got a fairly similar set, but that at least showed consistency of their talent, and that it was no fluke the first time around. Once again they made me smile. Good bouncy pop.
Teenanger looked like a diverse bunch of miscreants (nerd/slimebag/reprobate/sexy chick) that had ended up in a band together. They were basically mining from a rich vein of Stooge-y rock. Just starting to build up a good head of steam a couple of songs in, all momentum was sapped from the set when a broken string (and no backup guit) brought things to a complete halt for a few minutes. A contingency plan for this sort of eventuality is definitely indicated for the future. Once things got going again, they were pretty good, although for one reason or another the guitar was pretty quiet for the rest of the set. Whether the room's sound system was just underpowered for this kind of thing, or perhaps the guitarist didn't crank things fully up after replacing the string, it made the band feel a bit less biting than it should have — music like this demands a loud, mean, snarling guitar sound. Even though the songs didn't stick with me, I enjoyed their set, and I dig what they do.
I had read some interesting things about Japandroids and they were probably the main reason I'd come down to the Gladstone. A two-piece (guit/drums) from Vancouver, with both members shouting along.1 An obvious point of comparison would be No Age, but these guys are coming from a different place, more straight-up garage2. When they started, I was a little doubtful: with their off-the-cuff shouty hooks, the first thing that came to mind was Armada.3 But as the set went on, they won me over as I realized these guys had found a sweet spot between sounding rough and sounding tight. The lads were also in a spot between swagger and modesty, making casual overtures to the women in the room while seeming humbled to be out on the road, playing for strangers. By set's end, I was a convert, and the deal was sealed on the last song when Brian lurched behind the drum kit, and then, while attempting to step out, tripped backwards over the monitor, and ended up sprawled out, still playing. As the song ended, he shouted, "we're going up the CN Tower, and you guys should come with us!"4
In the warm glow of that, it was time to switch venues and by luck there was a streetcar pulling up as I got to the stop. Made my way east and north to The Silver Dollar and had good timing again, as The Mark Inside were just finishing their setting up. It'd been ages and ages since I'd been to the Silver Dollar, and I'd forgotten how claustrophobic it gets when the place is full, as it happened to be. Looking for room, I forged through the narrow peninsula in front of the stage and did find a bit more breathing space on the other side, though regardless of where I was standing, there seemed to be a loud drunk shouting at someone just inches away from me. As the band started, I tried to remember where I'd read something positive about them, but was drawing a complete blank.5 With no preconceptions, I can say they were a very good band who were not totally my style. Good solid rock, very proficient. If I had to guess, I'd wager that a blues-rock band lurks in their background... and that a Tragically Hip-esque band lurks in their future, though without the mytho-poetic baggage. Very well-received by the crowd.
Next up was The D'Urbervilles, who were the band I'd come to see. Singer John O'Regan (tall, laser-beam glare) still projects a youthful image, arriving on stage wearing a backpack and being handed a slurpee soonafter, giving a bit of image of a high school-aged Ian Curtis. But despite their youthful appearance, this is a band that has fast matured. I last saw them almost exactly a year ago, at their album release gig, and their musical growth since then was palpable, as was their confidence. In short, they gave the sense that they have become who they are. Their set was powerful and spooky focused. This was one where I genuinely wish the band had been able to stay on for longer. The D'Urbervilles really come across like a band in their moment, so hopefully there are bigger stages in their future.
Anything might have seemed like a comedown after that, but The Ghost is Dancing felt more like a plummet. Another sprawling cute-rock collective, replete with props (their presence was announced with their name spelled out on a Lite-Brite) and instrument changes aplenty, there just wasn't anything I could get into here. The band was six members deep, which seemed like at least two too many, as it left the songs feeling over-arranged and all mashed together instead of layered. Not for me. I was feeling beat by then, and getting no lift from this music, decided it was time to make my way home.
1 In a fiendishly nerdy coincidence the drummer is named David Prowse. Although I imagine he must have taken some grief over this, it seems likely that anyone who'd make fun of someone about this would be the sort of person easily beaten up anyways.
2 Although if I were trying to be cool, I'm sure I could find some west coast punk band to place them in some sort of rock lineage. Maybe just a touch of early NoMeansNo?
3 Obviously sans Herman Menderchuck.
4 I note they already have another local show lined up, May 9 at the El Mo. I recommend it.
5 It was only after a week or so later, that I put it together in my head that I'd read their new album was recorded with Arctic Monkeys producer Jim Abbis, and that they opened a string of UK dates for The Hold Steady. Interestingly, one wonders if this would have shaped my appreciation of the band had I remembered this going in.
Posts
All Comments
