combination lock

the soundtrack to my heart freezing over

2006-07-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

the Junior Boys rule my life. i've fallen hard, chums. real hard. So This is Goodbye is so, so good. i'd gush more but i have to go put it on, lie down on my bed, and cry icicles. or ball bearings.

Vancouver's answer to the Constantines

2006-07-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

Oh, how the Westerners would hate to hear me say (type?) that. And, worse, they're not exactly, um... as good... as the Constantines. But few bands are.

Anyway, I just picked up the self-titled debut from Vancouver's great indie-Neil-Young-aping hope, Ladyhawk. My first few listens to the album were slightly disappointing, because nothing lived up to the epic triumph that is "The Dugout", the only album track I'd heard before the purchase. In time, though, I discovered that there's plenty to love on the disc - plenty of great sing-along one-liners and choruses, a bunch of concise, country-tinged foot-stompers, and a few sprawling, slow-building epics. If they really are the West-Coast-Cons (by the way, I didn't make that comparison - I heard it first from a Vancouverite, so I'm allowed to use it), they are definitely Tournament of Hearts-era cons, not the debut or Shine a Light.

They also put on a sweet live show, which I've had the opportunity to see once (kinda - they got shut down by the fuzz about 30 mins into their set...). So, when this music makes its way East, friends, you'd be wise to check it.

The Dugout

did you know...

2006-07-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

A resident of Halifax is called a Haligonian? That gives Liverpudlian a run for its money, dunnit?

get offa my cloud.

2006-07-15T07:25:00.000-07:00

Last night I saw Tonight Let's All Make Love in London, a film/documentary/music video by British filmmaker/madman Peter Whitehead which was about - more accurately, it was - late-1960s London. The music, the culture, the miniskirts, the art, the body paint, the mods. Everything. It was a frenetic, 70-minute piece of rambling, visceral, insistent brilliance. It was made at the time, in the thick of it, so there was no added gravity to the times - they were what they were, and the people - the movie stars, the artists - were along for the ride. No one really understood much beyond "it's a good time, innit?" And that's what made the film so perfect. Official score: 9.7/10

We were then treated to a series (I think about a dozen) of "music films" by Whitehead, which were essentially early music videos. There were videos by the Faces, Nico, Jimi Hendrix, and the Stones, amongst others. They were of great historical interest, and the cinematography was consistently excellent, but they were really, really primitive music videos, and strung all together, they became kinda boring. Official score: 6.0/10

On the way out, the host of the evening yelled out "we have one more reel! It's the Rolling Stones documentary! Please stay!" And so those of us who were lucky enough to have gone to the bathroom before heading home were treated to a wild ride showcasing the Stones for a few days and few shows in Ireland. I haven't seen Sympathy for the Devil, but all of a sudden there's some real competition for best Rolling Stones documentary. A particular highlight was seeing Mick, Keef, and Brian Jones get drunk and sing Elvis Presley songs. Official score: 8.9/10

I'm not sure if these extremely rare films are touring the continent, but if they are, it'd be a crime to miss them when they hit the T-Dot.

"your kisses are wasted on me"

2006-07-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

10 days. 25 shows. 6000 words. for those of you who read it all, you're very brave and i'm very sorry.

obviously, both griffin and max needed a wee hiatus after that blog-a-thon (if you will, but i probably wouldn't), but it's time to return, and to mention a few things of note that just passed us by on the way...

the day 10 post just happened to be COMBINATION LOCK's 100th post. it took me far longer than most to get that far, but it's still cool, right?

the first time i saw zu during the fest i completed one of my two new year's resolutions, which was to see 1 show per week (on average) in 2006. yup, it was my 52nd show, and i made it before the halfway point of the year. 100, anyone (note: NOT OFFICIAL)?

"8 year-olds, dude"

that is, 9 year olds, dude.
that is, 9th of august, dude.
that is, on the 9th of august i'll be heading back to ontario for 2 weeks. clear your calendars.

minimum number of awesome shows i'm going to miss by not being in vancouver for that time: 2.
replacement awesome shows in toronto: at this point, zero. anyone gots any leads?

and, truthfully, they are the prettiest girl's i've ever met and indeed i love the pipettes. but why are all the record reviews about feminism?

VIJF, day 10

2006-07-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

5:30 p.m. - Joost Buis "Astronotes"

As a brief preamble and to expand on some of the Yaletown emotions presented yesterday, I'll mention that before I hit up this show, which was back at the Roundhouse, I decided to pick up some food at the closest grocery store - Urban Fare. Now you would think that a grocery store in the heart of Yaletown would be a silly place for a student to shop due to the exorbinant prices (350ml of "Still Water" for $3.99 - I think that the word "Still" in the name accounts for three of those dollars -, and organic grapes for $8/kg), but quite the opposite is true: as soon I walked into the store, my hunger disappeared and was replaced by an irrepressible nausea. Weird.

(Oh, and there were no push carts and the check-out counters were dispersed in very strange angles around the store, making line-ups impossible "Can I help the next person please?" great so now starbucksmeetsgrocerystoremattisgettingsomad!)

Joost Buis is a great trombone player.

This tentet (I'm not sure if that's the proper name but that's what Peter Brotzman's band-with-ten-members was called) were similar to Les Projectionnistes in their cinematic approach to the big band, but veered to less humourous and more abstact material (less post-modernist, more post-post-modernist). And, quite strikingly, were often very, very quiet after the opening, loud number. This allowed the two (!) drummers great opportunity to trade sound effects, including a number of mouth instruments and toys. The pianist was also a highlight of the set - he was an amazing internal-piano player, often playing lines which combined pure notes with ones muted by his non-playing hand (although some of it may have been from prepared piano, I didn't have a good enough view to be able to tell). Other than that, all of the players were great but none were showy, trading off solos that were, to be frank, a little unaffecting by day 10. A particular highlight, though, was the straight-up gamelan piece they played, adopting the circular style of composition and overlapping lines of double- and half-speed, performing in a way that, appropriately, gave the feeling of drawing music from the air, that when they finished playing the piece would return to its rightful home in the ether.

7:30 p.m. - Neko Case/Sonny Smith

I was late for the opening band, which I thought was okay because I was showing off my toy pianos beforehand and the last opening band at the Centre were the second worst show I'd seen at the festival, but, ironicially, it turned out that I would have been wise to catch the entire Sonny Smith show, who played a wonderfully jangly folk/country/rock (but isn't every band a mix of those styles these days?). Even more ironically, though, when the set ended and I ran into a friend in the lobby, he said, halfway through a beer, "is that godawful excuse for a band done yet?" Tomayto tomahto, I guess.

Anyway, I made it. Neko Case was going to be my triumphant 25th show of the jazz festival, and it was perfect the icing to this jazzy cake. I was ready to sit back and let the woman of my dreams' inimitable voice and delicately constructed country tunes wash over me, and Ms Case delivered mightily. She began nervously, tuning and silent between songs (even though the songs were flawless and Neko's voice sounded unimaginably beautiful in this swanky venue), but the show kicked into high-gear when she proved indisputibly why she's the love of my life: when Neko told a joke that fell flat ("...and she'll wear her aprin backwards...you know what that means..." silence.), she responded by assuming something was wrong with the audience ("are you guys feeling alright?"). Neko, let me have your babies.

They played most of Neko's recent stunner Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (props to "Hold on Hold on", "That Teenage Feeling" and of course "Star Witness") and also some of the highlights from Blacklisted ("I Wish I was the Moon" almost brought me to tears), I think a track or two from earlier on in her career and a few covers (including Dylan's "Buckets of Rain" - SO good!). It was front to back solid, but - let's be perfectly honest - the mournful country thing gets a bit same-y after 90 minutes. Definitely a minor quibble, though, as this was a tremendous concert and an amazing (if inappopriate - jazz?) ending to my once-in-a-lifetime jazz fest run.

10:30 - putting "Dance Like a Fat Baby" to sleep

After Neko Case, I sped off (on my still-kicking bicycle) to Ironworks one last time to hear my piece in the festival (the one that made all 25 shows possible) - "Dance Like a Fat Baby", for 9 electromechanical toy pianos. As it's a piece based entirely on spatialization, I'll never hear it again, which added a bittersweet tone to this official ending of the festival. But as angry as the bartenders to hear "that guy's piece - again", my friends and I raised a glass as the Jaymars and Schoenhuts came to life one last time.

VIJF, day 9

2006-07-02T08:20:00.000-07:00

6:30 p.m. - Jazz at the Roundhouse

This weekend's free, outdoor event moved from Gastown to Yaletown and I managed to catch a few of the sets before deciding that for my own safety - that is, the imminent suicide that would take place if I stayed in Yaletown any longer - I should go hear my toy pianos again.

Mini reviews and observations:

- the use of space for the event was great. It seemed as though this sprawling, multi-stage beast grew out of the concrete, and the connection to a park for the marquee stage was a nice touch. As much as Yaletown is a hole, I'm a sucker for an urban park surrounded by tall buildings, and from David Lam Park some of those condos actually looked pretty nice.

- "I usually have two lattes during my shift." I heard this, but that wasn't the strange part - after it was said, the two people talking started laughing. This was a punchline? How could those words be a punchline to anything?

- Mark de Clive-Lowe was playing at the park, dropping some urban-groove, if you will. And, for the record, I won't. Especially when it's accompanied by urbanites getting their groove on...

- I saw some young cats called the October Trio drop some neo-modal (Kind of Blue throwbacks), which sounds like it might be good. Nope. Sucks, actually.

9:30 p.m. - Nils Peter Molvaer/Jamie Lidell

I liked Jamie Lidell's breakthrough album, Multiply, just fine, but I was not at all prepared for his brilliant live show. He's still a novelty soul singer, at best, but dude is a master of all his electronic toys (including a devastating MiniMoog). He was alone save for a puppet of himself, and costumed as a proper cad. His easygoing demeanour and British tongue-in-cheek humour made the show seem to go between a club and Lidell's living room for the between-song banter. The show was basically a back and forth between a press-play-and-sing-along album track and a built-from-scratch track. The press-play tunes were of varying quality (just like on the album), but here, as they were much shorter than the other tracks, they served as a kind of interlude, a little pop ditty before Lidell whisks us off into outer space again. And whisk he did. The songs ebbed and flowed and crashed and exploded, but of particular interest was the transformation of these neo-soul beats (or at least motifs) into swirling, epic club bangers. His combination of musical languages and mastery of them both was thrilling. I'm a convert, big time.

I would describe the music of the headliner for the night, Norwegian trumpeter Nils Peter Molvaer, as "Yaletown Trance". When I described this to people, the alternatively gave me blank stares or burst out laughing. I'm not sure I want to explain it any further, but I sure do hope you're laughing. I wasn't, by the way...

VIJF, day 8

2006-07-01T15:05:00.000-07:00

3p.m. - Muller, Kornstad, Nordeson

Oh, the shock we received - thinking that this show was going to be like yesterday afternoon's, but twice as long - when the douche bag from Wibutee walked out on stage to join Muller and Nordeson. It's out fault for not reading the program properly, but still - our collective crest fell. Fortunatly, with such a monster rhythm section, even I'd sound good, and Mr. Butee was a changed player. Not night and day, as such, but maybe night and dusk. He had moments of excellence, but in a festival where so many players have been near-flawless, it was tough to take this one-trick pony (dude loves the slap-tongue...). Also, the mix had the bass really far down, which was a disappointment.

With all that negativity in mind, it was still a pretty decent show, with more than a few very memorable and wonderful exchanges.

Said a friend of the show: "I know I'm going to lose all my credibility for saying this, but I'm kinda sick of hearing small sounds."

That friend did not join us for the next show, when Lady Irony reared her ugly head...

5:30p.m. - Fe-Mail

There was a warning outside the Western Front which read: "This show will be very loud".

Fe-Mail is half of the Norwegian all-female electronic improvising quartet SPUNK. Leave it to the country with strongest women in the world to ruin our hearing whilst stealing our hearts.

The duo began with some close mic'd (electoacoustic glossary definition: making very quiet sounds into mics that are turned up very, very loud, allowing you to hear normally inaudible sounds) improvisation using voice and French Horn, and this entire, sweeping gesture was unprocessed, making the variation and development of the sound that much more impressive. And it also got us saps in the audience thinking "well, this isn't so loud...". And then they got the toys. With a table full of Moogerfoogers, PowerBooks, contact mic'd kalimbas and sets of keys, this truly was an electroacoustic performance. And it was, as promised, tremendously loud. The excessive volume, though, never once made our heroines flinch. They were uncompromising in their vision, and the show benefited greatly from it. The textural variation and all the "cool sounds" are far too many to list. Suffice it to say, though, that after this show I'm a little more deaf and and a lot more in love.

11p.m. - Les Projectionnistes

So we've had shows that harken back to Brotzman, Braxton, Mitchell, Parker and now finally Mingus! Specifically his amazing opus The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady. Like that album, Montreal sextet Les Projectionnistes make music to put images in your mind. In many ways the most post-modern of the acts, their high energy, dense sound leaned heavily on semiotics, in-jokes, and cultural references. And it was fun. Endless, joyous, fun, and in the context of this festival, they were completely original and refreshing.

VIJF, day 7

2006-06-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

5:30p.m. - Nordeson/Muller/Lonberg-Holm/Speed

This was jazz that a roommate of mine would probably deem "academic". I've seen plenty of really, really loud jazz this fest so far, but this show was hands down the most difficult.

Why?

Well, it was pure sound exploration jazz. The four players (bass, cello, clarinet/tenor, drums) had no interest in crafting hooks, tonal or textural, but instead creating relationships between respective aural gestures. And, to make things more complicated, this type of jazz is not to be confused with textural improvisation, which, to my mind, is characterized by both much more accessible relationships between the gestures of the players and more typical metastructure in the pieces (textural improv is like the post-rock of free jazz, if that makes more sense.). Again, to make things clearer, I'm thinking of records like Roscoe Mitchell's Sound or AMM's AMMMusic. In any case, these cats mercilessly scraped, squeaked, squawked, popped and bubbled (the drummer, mostly, who was again very impressive - he was the drummer from the Kjetil Moster show last night) their way into our hearts. This was not only the most abstract show of the festival, but also one of the best. And as a bonus, I get the pleasure to see them again tomorrow afternoon.

8p.m. - NoMeansNo, Wibutee, Zu

I feel bad for the guy who had to mix Zu. Mixing heavy metal is tough, and mixing jazz is really tough, and mixing them together I'm sure is a nightmare. Maybe even impossible, as it seemed last night. Depending on where you were in the Legendary Commodore Ballroom, you got either no bari sax or all bari sax. And maybe it was because of the mix or maybe it was because of the large venue (bigger than they're used to, perhaps?) but Zu didn't really come out flying. In fact, it was downright mellow (relatively speaking) and for a band like Zu, who really entirely on pummelling energy, that's a death knell. It wasn't until the very final tune that they really turned it on, but by then it was too little, too late.

And then came the nadir of the festival. Wibutee were bad in ways I didn't even know bands could be bad. They were a jazz/rock/electonic combo, with guitar/bass/drums/reeds (including flute... need I say more?) and more PowerBooks than you can shake a stick at. Of course, the PowerBooks were good for little more than advertising and the occasional bleep (it's a texture, maaaan), but they sure looked impressive. And what of the music made by this disaster? Somewhere between Jaga Jazzist (but much worse, and that's sayin somethin), those university-level-jazz-band-faux-funk heads, and a little Sigur Ros... but without the climax. Yeah, I know... Anyway, it was garbage, and the less said about it the better. Therefore -

NoMeansNo. West Coast punk/post-punk legends. Middle-aged men in too-tight shirts ("I'm trying to embarass my wife.") They didn't even know why they were asked to play the jazz fest. Nevertheless, they redeemed the night to some extent, efficiently bashing their way through what I gather is an extensive back catalogue, only stopping long enough between songs to count in the next one. This, naturally, became a bit draining after an hour and a half, and these cats certainly weren't my thing (although they were exactly, exactly how I pictured them in my heads), but they were damn good and I have a tremendous amount of respect for them. Basically, it was like seeing the Buzzcocks on their "reunion" tours - it's satisfying, but it's easy to tell that it's little more than a replica of the real thing.

12:30a.m. - Susy Hildegaard

The reason this Danish singer-songwriter/jazz-songstress' show sucked can be broken down quite easily:
1) Song selection ("Moondance"? Don't fuck with the classics... Although props for the Michel LeGrand.)
2) The bass player - he did this 80s virtuoso-style of playing, and he was wearing a suit, and did this weird leg-in-the-air thing.
3) The drummer - high, tight, white pants; a clip-on microphone; a smile. not a regular smile (a la Kurt Dahle of the New Pornographers), but a jazz-choir smile - the kind of smile that says i'm-smiling-but-i-want-to-kill-myself. oh, and he sucked at the drums
4) The 'electo' - the occasional casio fill and you can call yourself electronic jazz. gimme a break.

Susy herself, though, was quite charming and she had a lovely, just-harsh-enough voice. She also was completely unintelligible when she spoke. Her English was very good, and her accent wasn't that thick, but she spoke so quickly that almost every word was lost. But it was funny just to hear her speak, so I think we laughed at all her jokes. I can't be sure, though.

1:30a.m. - Avant Jam with the Gonzalez Brothers

This was a wicked fun way to end the evening. The Gonzalez Brothers are from Dallas, TX, and they played rebellious, outlaw jazz. A local heavy-metal drummer joined them for the improv, and, for the first time, people showed up and joined the jam. By the end there were up to seven people wailing, and surprisingly it wasn't chaos. I think the fun and the thrill of it kept any egos in check. It sounded like a game more than an improv. A great way to end the night.

So, I made four concerts in one day, bringing the seven day total up to 18. 25, here we come!

VIJF, day 6

2006-06-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

Midnight - Kjetil Moster Trio

Wow. This one came out of nowhere. Just as last night I was so disappointed with Jeanette Lindstrom's failure to embrace a truly unique style, on this night I was floored by Kjetil Moster's committment to one. Leave it the Norwegians, I guess.

This was another low-end-heavy ensemble, with the leader, Moster, playing baritone and tenor saxophones, accompanied by double bass and drums. This is the same instrumentation as The Thing, and it's quite interesting because the bands were tremendously different (and, since Mats Gustaffson is the hands-down star of the festival, doesn't everything have to exist in relation to him and his bands?). Whereas The Thing knocked you over with their power and visceral live presence, Moster's trio were an extremely cerebral band, coaxing nuances out of their instruments and generally playing very slowly and quietly.

The opening piece featured a fairly traditional unison theme followed by a Moster solo, but the fascinating thing was how he approached his time in the spotlight. He did what I would call subtractive soloing. Most jazz players will use an opening theme or motive as a springboard for further exploration, which tends to reach a dramatic climax before further ensemble playing can begin. With Moster, he began with a short theme, yes, but over the course a few minutes, he broke it down to its composite parts, disintegrating and crumbling the notes until he was barely playing at all, save a few pops and squeaks. Then, very dramatically, the band rejoined, and it seemed like a wall of noise, although they still weren't playing very loudly - it was the contrast, the unity, even, that was so shocking.

The second number was interesting in its daring to not change. It was entirely mezzo-piano, the bass played exclusively quarter notes (spelling out chords), and the drummer produced textural gurgling as opposed to a straight-up backbeat. Over top Moster played a very subtle solo, using only notes - no tricks, no bells, no whistles, no extended technique. Near the end of the piece he quoted Coltrane's A Love Supreme, and it kind of summed up the whole show for me, because, unlike most quotations, it didn't inspire giggles. It was smart, but not smart-assed.

They finally blew for serious in the final piece (after a tremendous arco bass solo), which seemed at first to be the most disappointing, because, as smart as you are, you can't beat Gustaffson at his own game. Fortunately, Moster had one last trump card up his sleeve. On his final solo, he deconstructed his altissimo wailing, dropping the speed and volume consistenly until he had nothing left and stood there blowing air through his horn. It was truly magical.

Moster recently won an award in Norway as the best jazz player in the country, and it's easy to why. This cat's a contender.

1:30a.m. - Avant Jam hosted by Ron Samworth

"I wonder what makes the soprano sax so bad?"

When I was describing the second show to my roommate, this was his sagely comment. And I'm not sure exactly. But it sucks, and the jam sucked last night because some dude showed up with one and totally, as it were, harshed everyone's mellow. Just as the night before succeeded because of teriffic additions to Tony Wilson's sound, Samworth had basically nothing to work with on this night. It was the same drummer as the other two nights and the soprano sax player (who, to be fair, had plenty of chops, but unless you're Evan Parker-good, soprano sax is barely tolerable...), and that was it. Samworth tried his damndest to make it click, but there just wasn't any connection there. Oh, well. Better luck next time, Ron-boy.

VIJF, day 5

2006-06-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

Midnight - Jeanette Lindstrom "In the Middle of this Riddle"

This show was nothing if not frustrating. It was "vocal jazz from Sweden", which immediately begs the question "how is vocal jazz in Sweden any different from any other vocal jazz?" It turns out it's not.

It started out promising, as Jeanette Lindstrom began by honouring a request to sing in Swedish, and she graced the audience with a - "I don't know to say it in English... pizzalm?" - Swedish psalm. And it was absolutely enchanting. Then things got even better, as the band joined in (a fairly traditional quinted of piano, drums, guitar, trumpet, with a few effect pedals thrown in for good measure) and crafted a beautiful, (wait for it) glacial soundscape with textures effortlessly weaving in and out, and I thought "now that's how they do it in Stockholm." It was really interesting stuff, and Lindstrom joined in with wordless accompaniment, and as cliche as it might sound, it was just as much (or more) Sigur Ros than Nina Simone.

But I was duped. That beautiful opening wasn't the song, but rather an intro to the song, which was not like Sigur Ros at all, but instead fairly run-of-the-mill vocal jazz stuff. They were quite good, mind you, but I couldn't help but thinking "why couldn't that opening have been the basis for the songs proper?"

One other spellbinding moment was when Lindstrom - solo again, but this time accompanying herself on piano - played a freeform piece which set a lovely poem to music.

She (and they) could have given us much more, but they did okay for themselves, for what it's worth.

1:30 a.m. - Avant Jam hosted by Tony Wilson

Now this was a pleasant surprise. Tony isn't my favourite local jazz guitarist (that's reserved for the inimitable Ron Samworth, who's hosting on Wednesday), and I've occasionally found his style a bit too show-y, but the group on this night produced some really great sounds. John Korsrud, leader of the local avant-big-band The Hard Rubber Orchestra, was playing trumpet, and I think he was the difference, as he tended to avoid the textural playing of the others and add a counterpoint of more traditional free trumpet playing - bold but fluid solos. There was another trumpet player there who was more of an effects player, and having the two of them (on opposite sides of the room, no less) was a great combination.

Anyway, that officially marks the halfway point of the fest, and I'm up to 12 shows. It'll be tough to make it to the arbitrary goal set of 25, but so far I've worked every day, and I've got day 7 and day 8 off, so those should be off the shizzle. Speaking of which, what's Snoop Dogg's favourite part of the Bible?

VIJF, day 4

2006-06-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

The thing about having an artist pass to the festival is that you don't know if you're going to get into a show until you are actually inside the venue with a ticket in your hand. And, of course, you can't leave the lineup for fear that the bloodsucking leeches that call themselves volunteers won't let you back in.

In general, this is not a problem. But as I stood outside of the posh Orpheum Theatre last night, waiting excitedly to see if I could see Elvis Costello, I got - straight up - shat on by a seagull. Top of the head, no splatter, but it was there. And like I said, I couldn't get into the facilities to clean myself up until they were good and ready to let us passholders in, and I couldn't leave my place in line. So I was pooched, pretty much. I had to stand there, shit in hair, and wait and wait and pretend like it was no big deal.

Fortunately, I did get in, and I did get the dung from my scalp no problem, and I got to see...

7 pm - Elvis Costello and Allan Toussaint with The Imposters and the Crescent City Horns

My dear hero Elvis Costello began the show with just the Imposters and ripped through "What's so Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding", and it struck me (and everyone else there) that Elvis the punk was alive and well. Unfortunately, he spent the next 2 and a half hours trying to convince us otherwise - that Elvis the artiste was the man of the hour. And Elvis is artiste is lame.

But that's not even really the bad thing. Allan Toussaint is another legend - he's a New Orleans hitmaker who's the author of "Lady Marmalade", "Right Place, Wrong Time", and "Workin' in the Coal Mine", among others. Basically, between Toussaint and Costello there's more pop gold than in most countries. And yet the album they were promoting, The River in Reverse, is almost completely devoid of memorable hooks. It was pleasant enough at the time, but I've forgotten most of it less than 24 hours later. I'm amazed that those two cats couldn't put something brilliant together by accident, even.

Anyway, because of the dull-ness of the collaborative tracks, we were left with the cliche of waiting for Elvis to run through the hits, which he did a little bit of, but also played a bunch of album cuts which came off pretty well. The only disaster of the night was "Alison", arranged into lite-jazz tripe. It was almost a shame that I went just because I had to hear that song.

Mr. Costello did play a pair of Get Happy! tracks - "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down" and "High Fidelity" - near the end which made the night more than worth it. When the horns worked, as they did on those two tracks - it did the music the "new coat of paint" which Elvis described in his between-song banter.

Elvis, you're a lame artist, and you're vocal affectations and hilarious conducting motions are pretty embarassing, but you can never kill that geek-punk that we all fell in love with.

11 pm - Zu with Mats Gustaffson

Aside: this was the fifth time in 5 days that I saw my new hero Mats Gustaffson play, and it was mighty bittersweet because it would be the last time I would get the pleasure at the fest, as by now I suspect he's back home in Sweden eating herring and making fun of Norwegians.

So, Zu are fucking loud. They are an Italian death-metal/free-jazz group and John Zorn has said the drummer is "the loudest [he's] ever heard." The show was consequently less of a musical experience and more a test of endurance. It was pummelling and painful. The ensemble was the aforementioned drummer, proper death-metal bassist, and two baritone saxophones (one of whom was of course Gustaffson.). The first set was of composed material, with the drummer and bassist flying through odd time-signatures and the baris squealing away. The second half was improvised, and I thought I'd like that better, but there were similar issues with both sets - lack of personality and especially sensitivity in the sax playing, for example. Anyway, it was still a pretty great show, and, if nothing else, a completely unforgettable experience.

1 am - Avant Jam with Jesse Zubot

Apparently, there's not much of a middle-of-night-on-a-weekday free improv crowd in Vancouver, as this jam had already been moved from its original venue and still couldn't draw a good crowd to this smaller room. The playing was kind of uninspired, also, as the players didn't seem all that into playing for a dozen people. I'll probably go back tonight, though...

VIJF, day 3

2006-06-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

2 pm - Vancouver Creative Music Institude Showcase

This was an afternoon full of performances from VCMI, which is basically a Free Jazz Fantasy Camp. You come to Vancouver for a week, work with world-famous faculty (many of the jazz festival participants, such as Mats Gustaffson and Nels Cline, plus some local heroes), and then get a concert with them at the end of it. Naturally, then, this show was spotty. Some of the players you really believed in, and others, well, you can tell that they barely believe in themselves. One highlight was a quartet which did a really good approximation of the Evan Parker Electroacoustic Ensemble, complete with circular sax playing and processing.

More of note was this, my first Heartwarming Jazz Festival Story:

I was sitting by Mats Gustaffson and one of the main organizers of the jazz festival during the show. Once Mats' piece was done, she said she would get him a ride back to the hotel, so he could prepare for his evening show's soundcheck in time to get some complimentary drinking done first. He looked tempted by the drinking, but said "actually, I think I'd like to stay until the end of this." This a world-class player saying he'd like to hear semi-pros of suspect quality instead of getting pampered with food and drink? He acts the rock star on stage, sure, but there's a heart beating down there, it turns out. Whattaguy.

Midnight - The Thing (again)

A cold beer on a hot, sweaty evening in Gastown with the sweet sounds of The Thing was just what I needed on this night. In many respects, a change of venue (to something more "appropriate" - first time I saw them was in a proper theatre, this was more of a jazz club) didn't do much to change the sound, as many suspected it would. Of course, they couldn't really get any louder, so I don't know what I was expecting. The beauty was in recognizing some of the pieces better. While they are largely a free ensemble, they use strict covers/originials as springboards for the improvisation. And from the opening drum fill last night they had me hooked. A highlight: I swear there were tears in my eyes when they morphed a noise section into the bassline (played first on bari sax) of "To Bring You My Love" by PJ Harvey. Even writing it is giving me goosebumps. Wow.

Greatest between song banter (Mats Gustaffson): "Well, what else can I say? Go to Austin, eat some barbecue. Go to Norway, clean some sheeps."

VIJF, day 2

2006-06-25T06:56:00.000-07:00

3 pm - Mats Gustaffson, Paal Nilssen-Love, Paul Plimley

This was supposed to be a set with Mats playing solo with a dancer, which I was really looking forward to, but the lineup they handed us instead did quite nicely, thank you very much. Paul Plimley was a completely different player today, completely on the Nordic wavelength. Also, when you're on stage with Mats Gustaffson, he's in charge, and this kept Plimley in check. The first half was stunning, as it was composed of three duets between the combinations of players, which is such a revealing way to listen to improvising players. And they didn't disappoint - each player played with great variation, humour, and plenty of requisite intensity (but it was in much shorter order - it was 30 degrees in the afternoon, so everyone - including the performers - were okay with toning it down a wee bit.). The second set - the trio - was not quite as good, but my body was also trying to decide if it should be buzzin of the large coffee or shotgunned beer, so I had trouble concentrating.

After grabbing a bite at the Granville Market, I hopped on the ol' 10-speed to the Western Front for...

5:30pm - Wayne Horvitz and Robyn Holcomb

The first time I saw Wayne Horvitz (of Naked City fame) it was awesome. The second time it was pretty good. And today was not that good at all. He's really abandoned any fury from his downtown-NYC days - this show was almost purposefully MOR, which is kind of a bummer from such a guy, but, on the other hand, he's really committed to doing his thing, it just so happens that his thing is not nearly as interesting as his comrade Bill Frisell's mellow later years. Again, though, today was really hot, and the afternoon show was pretty heavy, and I was heading to another show right after, so some chill solo piano and folky songs were fine by me. Jazz-geek highlight: Horvitz played one cover, and described it thus: "Credit where it's due, I should mention that that was written by, to the best of my knowledge, the only other Wayne associated with jazz." It's not Wayne Newton, by the way...

Then disaster struck.

I was biking down Main St., rushing to complete the triple-bill before my 9-hour-night-shift begins, and I popped the back tire on my bike. Now ain't that a kick in the head? But I thought "goddammit, this is the jazz fest and I came to play, son. I could turn around, put my bike away for the night, sacrifice the show and transit it to work, or I could giv'er." And so I gav'er. Perhaps causing irrepairable damage to my wheel, I rode on (very slowly) through downtown Vancouver on a decimated bicycle and made it to my seat just in time to see...

7:30pm - McCoy Tyner/Michael Donato's European Quintet

The irony is that the opening band was garbage. Garbage. The most euphemistic way I can put it is that they were very polite... I easily could have taken my bike home and made it for the headliner. But thinking about it makes me mad so I'll say no more.
McCoy Tyner is most famous for his piano playing on seminal John Coltrane albums A Love Supreme and Ascension, among others. He's a legend, so I couldn't not go to the show - but I didn't expect all that much. So I was pleasantly surprised (read: floored) by the amazing quality of the performance. Sure, he was playing music much tamer than Coltrane's quartet in the mid-60s, and sure, he's adopted a fairly trad-jazz piano trio format, but they played with such vitality and urgency that you could easily be convinced that they were 20-year-olds leading a new generation of piano trios. They were also doing their own thing, something that, to the best of my knowledge, isn't really out there - their drama and dynamics, their adoption of certain timbral-improv techniques (but not reliance on them), the use of a FUZZ PEDAL on the bass... It was a great show, a hugely pleasant surprise, and far from the victory lap I had been expecting.

Vancouver International Jazz Festival, day 1

2006-06-24T03:10:00.000-07:00

1 pm. Chad calls me. I'm asleep. Not lazy, night shift. I got to bed at 9:30. He says "are you going to check out the 3 o'clock show on Granville Island?" I had planned to mosey on over, but now I'm excited, can't really get back to sleep. The Jazz Fest is on. Sleep is for the weak.

3 pm Paul Plimley/Paal Nilssen-Love/Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten
The first show was a doozy, featuring a local heavy on piano and the Norwegian rhythm section who will pretty well dictate my life over the next 10 days teaming up for a sporadically brilliant but often awkward afternoon performance. The Norwegians came out swinging, flexing their Scandinavian-post-Brotzman-energy-improv muscles, while Plimley enthusiastically led the way, quite often to places to where no one needed to go. Plimley, a composer to boot, had a huge vocabulary to draw from, whereas the Norwegians, while versatile, where unyieldingly intense, and Plimley's lighter moments tended to clash, largely because Plimley is, well, kind of a dork. And Norwegian jazz players don't blend well with dorks.

7 pm The Thing/The Nels Cline Singers
I posted earlier about the brilliance of Nels Cline, so I'll just briefly reiterate what a joy it is to have him in town. To be honest, though, I think I preferred his second set at RIME to tonight's. The best moments tonight were better (I couldn't even breathe once or twice...), but there were a few lulls, and that didn't happen on Tuesday.
Nor did it happen in the (speaking of unyieldingly intense) Scandinavian supergroup The Thing, with Nilssen-Love and Haker Flaten joined by sax player and true Swede Mats Gustaffson, who rock-star'd his way into the audience's heart with a big tongue and a much bigger sound. He mostly played bari-sax, and he blew the horn for an hour like he was trying to kill it. Unlike this afternoon, the group achieved a true unity, which allowed the dense, difficult (painful?) sound to be punctuated by humour
and (don't tell anyone...) a bit of sentimentality (Paal's childhood in the fjords...). Mats was a charismatic bandleader who channeled Ayler and Brotzman expertly, and the rhythm section was as chaotic and frantic as it was tight. They played in a kind of post-post-modern style - any genres are allowed and equal, but there's a lack of pastiche and an almost auterish (artist as genius? jazzman as rockstar?) feel.
They were monstrous on this night, friends.

so, jack-o...

2006-06-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

it seems the little match between our two countries (not that we're from the respective countries or anything, and i know i haven't been to either of them, but whatever...) solved nothing. sure, argentina won the division, but they still couldn't take down the fortress of dutch defensive dominance.

see you in the finals, punk.

agaetis byrjun

2006-06-21T01:30:00.000-07:00

the Vancouver Jazz Fest has had a heluva good start, and it doesn't start for a few days yet.

tonight some friends and i experienced one of the best shows any of us is likely to see at local jazz hangout and turkish eatery extraordinaire RIME. a few local improv heroes were performing with a special guest - the inimitable Nels Cline (from Wilco).

this wasn't an official jazz fest show but it seems Mr. Cline showed up early for this unforgettable one-off.

the first half was totally chill - it was a quintet, and no one voice was able to really show itself. it was a very mellow, almost MOR-free improv (but not free improv, as the cellist and leader of the ensemble had composed a fair amount for the show). nels and the trumpet player seemed to be branching out by the end, but they never quite made it. it was pleasant, but kind of underwhelming considering the circumstances.

the second half began seemingly as a bolt out of the ether, as the drummer and nels began playing far a more energetic, humorous, dextrous, textural, intense, colourful, and downright brilliant set. they didn't let up for nearly an hour, but after only one piece, my roommate/bandmate/dj/microhouse, left-field pop, anything good fan said to me "well, that's probably the best thing i'll see all year". and then it got better. much, much better.

and as amazing as it is to see a fully realized improv set, it's almost better to experience that realization of the potential of improvised music in someone you respect a great deal.

score one for the van city, i guess.

and the really good stuff hasn't even begun yet.

one more quickie.

2006-06-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

the sexiest moment in music this summer: beyonce saying "808" at the beginning of "deja vu".

"i used to be carried around by cheerleaders"

2006-06-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

at long last, i've given The National a second chance. i saw them on the (in)famous tour last fall with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and they were, to say the least, underwhelming. but after hearing the wonderful "Mr. November" on internet radio during a graveyard shift at the hotel, i decided to acquire (...) Alligator. at this point, though, i was expecting to be too cynical for CYHSY and my jaded self would be more than happy to get my National on. not quite so, friends. Alligator is a very strong record, so epic at points that you'd think it was british, but the anti-CYHSY-in-the-long-run-the-national-will-reign-victorious sentiment is a bit exaggerated. It's a good listen, though, and "Mr. November" is even better as an album closer.

Speaking of good listens, good on those kids from Camera Obscura for crafting an exceptionally pleasant little record in Let's Get out of this Country, but there's a record I could never fall in love with. Again, it's really nice, and some of the tracks with really reverb-y production use the space in a really intelligent, engaging way, but there's too much sunshine and too little grit. It washes in one ear, avoids the brain, avoids the belly, and washes out the other ear.

It's a good listen, though.

new pitchfork.

2006-06-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

i don't care for the revamped site. too much clicking for too little payoff. i admire the goal of creating a more multimedia site, and that's working pretty well, but i hate the new news section. reclick to read an entire story? you guys KNOW i want to read the whole story, why else would i be reading the news section?

i just hope this is a middle stage to something much better.

preview number two

2006-06-08T22:32:00.000-07:00

"Now THAT'S Coldplay..." - Warford's reaction.

Yeah, the inner rock star came out on this one. But we're done the rough cut, and now it's all guest musicians and touch-ups, so I thought I'd present another piece of the bagpipe-post-rock puzzle. As of yet, it's untitled, and it's not nearly as good as anything Cadence Weapon has done or will ever do, but it feels really nice to finish an album. Oh, and don't tell the bagpiping community, but there's a B-flat chord in their, which will apparently cause them to lose their shit (the bagpipe uses an A-drone usually). Nick, does this fly with you?

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=3D72C370377DA20B

And, for the record, the official griffin remix would have the song end at the 3:20 mark. I'm just sayin...

Perfect Moments in Pop (with all due credit to Stylus)

2006-06-05T23:38:00.000-07:00

"Turning on Your Sign" by Cadence Weapon

Cokemachineglow.com said this song was a "front to back triumph", and, to an extent, I agree. Mr. Rollie Pemberton swirls the listener around with increasing layers of cyclical loops only to be brought down to earth during the rather weighty chorus by one of his typically gritty synth lines. This is where I don't exactly agree with the fine folks at CMG. The lyrics are epic in the chorus, to be sure, and definitely memorable, but I can't really accept the whole "bike/fight" rhyme. Even the first couplet is a bit dicey. In any case, it is infectious and it works pretty well, so I'll let it pass. Where this song, almost literally, elevates itself to the highest planes of pop music, is the third chorus. The third verse, as a leadup, is far and away the most dramatic to that point, but, instead of the great release of a triumphant return to the familiar synth, we are instead thrown upwards from the hurricane with the addition of a glorious brass line, twisted just enough that we're still never given a stable footing. And the final stroke of brilliance is the very end - the immediate cutoff. We're left floating way, way up there, not unlike the end of "Motion Picture Soundtrack" by some band from Oxfordshire.

I'm not sure if it's a single, but if it is, it's my single of the year so far.

Dig it.

griffin gains back some hipster points.

2006-06-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

Obviously max is the cooler of the two house bloggers, but tonight our good friend griffin bumped himself up a few notches. Working at his boring hotel job, he happened to be visiting Lily Allen's myspace page, when a few local artists (who were dismantling an installation piece) said "So, you're into Lily Allen, too?"

And while max was clearly the one who introduced griffin to this summer's hipster poster girl, max is too busy listening to her sweet jams in his cozy composer cave to share his knowledge of her to the world. griffin, tonight, got that chance, and boy did he hit that one out of the park. Jokes about "M.I.A. minus ethnic interest or a calypso beat" were made a-plenty, and the good griffin is the good books of people who by all rights should fancy max and max alone.

So it goes, I suppose.

Peace.

This was a fun game, let's do it again.

2006-06-02T16:52:00.000-07:00

Jack just wrote a really good piece regarding the similarities between Talk Talk and Radiohead. I've often worked out a similar argument, but instead of Talk Talk, I use Talking Heads. Let's see how things work out, shall we (and, to make things more interesting, let's turn it into a battle royal for greatest rock band supremacy)?

The Debuts - Pablo Honey vs. '77

A no-brainer for the victor, but in many ways more similar than you might think. '77 is a great album, but my least favourite of the first 5 Talking Heads records, just like Pablo Honey's inglorious position at the bottom of the Radiohead ouvre. Of course, while Radiohead seemed to fit nicely into an existing mould, Talking Heads went ahead and defined their own subgenre with their twitchy, jumpy, punky debut.
Advantage: Talking Heads

The Sophmore Slump - The Bends vs. More Songs About Buildings and Food

Honestly, I don't think I can (or will) choose between these albums. They are both the perfect versions of the vision set out in the respective debuts. In either case, had the band not produced anything after, they would still be worth remembering.
Advantage: tie

Album Number Three - OK Computer vs. Fear of Music

Both bands transcended what came before with these wonderful albums. Again, they still more-or-less fit with the genres with which the bands had been associated, but listening to them now, 9 and 27 years after they were released, they seem to look forward to the masterpieces ahead rather than harken back to earlier success. Also, there's the whole Godrich/Eno thing, and it's on these albums where the voice of the producer really begins to shine, becoming an integral part of the band's sound. The thing is, though, that in my opinion Radiohead didn't quite top OK Computer, and that it would probably only lose a head-to-head with the next Talking Heads album. Sorry, Fear of Music...
Advantage: Radiohead

Album Number Four - Kid A vs. Remain in Light

It's really begin to hurt having to pick a winner. Anyway, like Jack, I feel that Kid A isn't so much a leap off the deep end rather than a fairly logical extension of the bands career-arc. These are two opressively dark records ("Treefingers", "The Overload") with the occasional huge groove provided by a bassline ("The National Anthem", "Once in a Lifetime"), that deal with identity in a technological society ("Motion Picture Soundtrack", "Seen and Not Seen" - also, both covers exploit contemporary computer technologies in their creation, in turn commenting on its role in the production of art.). Both have longer songs and shorter track listings than the bands' previous efforts, allowing more breathing room for the pieces. Also, songwriting takes a backseat to timbral explorations, and the lyrics become much more obtuse. Both albums are pretty well perfect. (incidentally, pretty much all of the above comments apply to another perfect album - Laughing Stock...)
Advantage: Talking Heads

Big discrepancy - Talking Heads don't have an Amnesiac, but I don't really care for that record (Radiohead die hards - put your claws away!). Maybe we could compare it to My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, but I'm not going to bother. Moving on.

The live album - I Might Be Wrong vs. The Name of This Band is Talking Heads
This one's a bit of a stretch, particularly if you compare the Talking Heads reissue. The originals, though, go quite nicely together. Short, concise, a good round-up of great bands playing some of their greatest songs. Talking Heads wisely reissued theirs and basically turned it into a classic. Therefore...
Advantage: Talking Heads

The solo album - The Eraser vs. The Catherine Wheel
Again, it doesn't quite work because Thom's album should've been released before Hail to the Thief, but the albums themselves are quite brotherly: when given the chance to do anything - as far removed from the bands' sounds as possible - David and Thom decide - surprise - to sound pretty much like one facet of the band. Of course, they are both wildly successful albums, and they certainly do expand on certain ideas in each band, but they're not exactly revolutionary. The producers (Eno/Godrich) make the albums seem almost like duo albums, their influence more obvious than ever before. Also, without the benefit of hindsight with The Eraser, it's tough for these to duke it out properly, so for now we'll call it a tie.
Advantage: Tie

The fifth album - Hail to the Thief vs. Speaking in Tongues
First off, Godrich shouldn't have had anything to do with Hail to the Thief. Eno left, and Godrich's hand isn't nearly as present as on the previous few albums (in some spots - or, at least, they could have had different successes had he not been present...). Both bands came back from long breaks and finally showed some dents in the armour. Both albums are still really, really good, but it became clear in both cases that the highs of the respective perfect trios couldn't last forever. Radiohead would probably win this one, but Speaking in Tongues has the greatest pop song ever written on it, "This Must Be the Place".
Advantage: Talking Heads

Freaky, huh?

This also allows us to look into Radiohead's future: the next album will finally put them on the top of the Pazz and Jop poll, and there will be a country-tinged song on it. It will be their poppiest album since The Bends. Their next album will be really bad, but it will have a song title which becomes the name of the band who will be the next band as good as Radiohead ("Radio Head" appeared on True Stories). They'll have one more "return to form" album, which won't be all that good, then they'll break up. Oh, and this will probably be Radiohead's last tour, so snatch up those $1000 eBay tix. Thom will start a record label that, instead of Byrne's Luaka Bop, which releases music from other continents, will release music from other planets.

Whether you believe my conspiracy theories or not, it's a fun game to play, and the canon which places Talking Heads, Talk Talk and Radiohead at the top is good canon to have around.

i guess i should post early...

2006-05-31T03:04:00.000-07:00

So they/he didn't fuck up.

It's great.

How do they/he keep doing it?

Jack's got it/going to get it soon. I'll post it/he'll post it post-haste.

Thom Yorke - The Eraser.

Thom Yorke - The Eraser.

Speaking of Jesus being unstoppable...

2006-05-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

I was thinking that maybe he doesn't want to me to see hip-hop shows.

Listen: I was giving Breaking Kayfabe by Cadence Weapon its first spin last night (and wow, is it a winner. Edmonton? Who knew? And try not to bust a gut during the opening track, "Oliver Square", when Cadence outlines what a dangerous life he leads in the capital of Alberta... And, of course, dude's a former critic, so the references are mega-hipster and really funny. And the beats sound like they were made on a series of broken synthesizers... but I digress.) when I realized how much I'd really like to see this guy.

But I almost did - Cadence Weapon was touring with Islands and the show was coming to Vancouver earlier in the month. I had a ticket. I was pumped. And then the day before the show the club decided that, instead of putting on the show as scheduled, they would close their doors forever. Bummer.

And THEN, two weeks later, I was all jazzed to head down to Seattle to see Prefuse 73 and EDAN (!!!), one of my other favourite indie-hop artists, when I read Tuesday morning on Pitchfork that the good Scott Herren had fallen ill and the show would be (you guessed it) cancelled.

Two in a month. That's not a good sign. Wish me luck on June 7th for The Streets and Lady Sov.

Oh, and by the way, how crazy is all the Edmonton/Alberta stuff this year? Arguably Canada's best album, finally wrenching the crown away from the Big 3... Those crazy Edmonton Oilers, convinced that it's still the 1980s and they're a Stanley Cup-calibre team... and I guess there's that whole Prime Minister thing, which isn't quite as good, but he's from Calgary, so whatever.

Anyway, it bothers me that there's a little feeling deep down in my belly somewhere that Edmonton is cool. I can't wait until hockey's finished and a new Frog Eyes record comes out and I can get rid of my illness...

The Thin White Duke

2006-05-29T01:56:00.000-07:00

"1976's Station to Station featured a starker version of this soul persona, called The Thin White Duke. Visually the figure was an extension of Thomas Jerome Newton, the character Bowie portrayed in The Man Who Fell to Earth."

Taken from Wikipedia.

I'm not sure why the name was picked up, though, other than as a Bowie tribute. Sorry, Jack, I can't help you this time...

Jesus is unstoppable these days.

2006-05-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

Wow. Danielson's Ships is a swirly rainbow kaleidoscope of an album. In fact, it's the best swirly rainbow kaleidoscope kind of album I've heard in quite some time. Between Danielson and Soof-jan, you just can't beat those religious folks at indie rock.

Incidentally, I think Danielson will be bringing is Famile to Bingeman's Park in Kitchener as part of a religious festival. What I wouldn't give to go see the opening acts at that show...

Loch Caron, let's try again

2006-05-26T22:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=5FFCC4975B160002

Cill Criosd preview

2006-05-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

max alexander in the house:

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do this, but I'm interpreting Nick's one tiny question about the bagpipe album as an overwhelming interest.

So, some details: my man The Doog has gone completely ambitious on his new record (his second), and is writing a concept album about two Scottish families and their epic conflict (one burned down the castle of the other, and then the other got revenge by burning down the church of their enemy whilst everyone was inside praying). The bagpipe tunes are based around piobraughs (sp???? - pronounced peeb-rock) and also composed and improvised melodies by the Doog himself. My bits are mostly improvised around some loose themes/compositional structures.

But don't take my word for it - here's a preview:

Loch Caron

This tune is about the time after the castle-burning, when the church-burning family are celebrating their victory (I think...). Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

Return to Cookie Mountain

2006-05-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

max alexander reports:

The forthcoming TV on the Radio album is finally something to get excited about - something that lives up to what Young Liars began. It's a tremendous album, starting off with three of the best songs you'll hear this year, particularly "Province", featuring that itty-bitty vocal contribution from the Thin White Duke himself. And, unlike Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, Cookie Mountain doesn't lose its steam as it progresses. The whole thing is much grander than their debut full-length, yet doesn't get similarly dirge-y. I love this album.

And the live show, too, was quite transcendent (although most in attendance didn't feel that way).

But who are you going to trust? Those suckers or your buddy max?

Speaking of which - does anybody have Wes Anderson's mailing address? I'm trying to send him a package and dude's not all that easy to get a hold of.

Oh, and TVOTR = 8.4 - 9.2 right now. We'll see how it ends up over time.

wild gravity

2006-05-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

Why is it that whenever anyone mentions "defying gravity" or "breaking the laws of gravity" the implication is that the pull of Earth becomes lessened? Isn't it just as valid to fall really, really fast than to fly away? If one day I defy gravity I hope it's because I fall really, really fast.

a partner in crime?

2006-05-24T18:36:00.000-07:00

For a number of reasons, there will be some changes coming to COMBINATION LOCK, but first of all, why has it been so long (the nutshell remix):

the roaring sound of percussive banjos
a few essays
one short-film soundtrack (which i'll post via yousendit for Jack, if no one else)
one move (yep, i now live in THUG HOUSE, with 2 other thugs, and one non-thug. rock and roll dreams really do come true.)
i didn't have significant access to that ether-like substance we call the internet until today.

but that's not the important bit. i neglected it because my life, griffin's life, is rather boring. therefore, from this day on, COMBINATION LOCK will be a collaborative effort between your hero up to this point, griffin (me), and my close, personal friend (and all-around cool and exciting dude) MAX ALEXANDER.

max is a composer who really gets around. i'm not sure where he's from originally, but these days he hanging around my parts (vancouver), with the occasional jaunt back to the eastern time zone (and who knows where else? sometimes he disappears for weeks, even months at a time).

these days he's working on a few exciting projects: recording a masterpiece of bagpipe-post-rock with a bagpiper from upstate new york (i heart upstate), composing a work for trombone and Bill Cosby, and in June/July he will be featured in the Vancouver International Jazz Festival with a piece he wrote for 9 mechanical toy pianos. He's a thug, son, and don't you forget it.

of course, my life is not entirely lived in the shadow of mr. alexander. i spend my days (and many nights) working in a hotel in downtown (eastside) Van-city (the poorest postal code in the nation, friends). the fun never stops, let me tell you...

anyway, that's it for me right now. max could stop by at any time. it's hard to tell.

the lepp has landed

2006-03-29T09:54:00.000-08:00

"i've been here 11 hours,
i've been on the bus for about 2,
played street hockey for 1
i've had 3 warsteiners,
been hassled by the pne security police for public drinking and playing street hockey twice,
made one mortal enemy,
seen one coyote,
had two slices of uncle fatih's pizza - the greatest pizza in the world,
and now i'm off to whistler where i'll probably ski in a plaid sport coat and where i'm probably going to get paralyzed.

see you on friday."

it's good to have visitors.

i'm going to do it... i'm going to form a band!

2006-03-25T10:48:00.000-08:00

i mean, i did promise the boys in art brut that i would last night, and they said they had a really good memory for faces, and that when they came back to vancouver they'd be checking in with each and every one of us - EACH AND EVERY ONE - to make sure we'd started a band.

so i will. and it will be called "p'b RAWK"!

nevermind what that means - it's a long story.

WORLD PREMIERE OF "SHE'S MY RUSHMORE, MAX"

2006-03-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

my new piece,

"She's my Rushmore, Max"
a love song dedicated to Max Fisher, Rosemary Cross, and Herman Blume

is being premiered in Waterloo, Ontario on April 8th
the show is free and it's at a church.

i've been performed in 2 provinces. sick move.

it's been another month...

2006-03-15T16:51:00.000-08:00

sorry. pretty busy, y'all. and i'm going to remain so for a while. anyway, right above here is some big, important news...

2006-02-14T08:37:00.000-08:00

"in the first bar things were just okay
but in the second bar things were more my way

i was dancing in a lesbian bar
ooh ooh ooh

i was dancing in a lesbian bar
ah ooh ooh ooh"

theme song for valentine's day 2006

2006-02-14T08:36:00.000-08:00

"i was dancing in a lesbian bar" by jonathon richman

my first meme as well.

2006-02-10T11:22:00.000-08:00

Four jobs I've had:

Bellboy
Camp counsellor
Guitar teacher
Textbook editor

Four movies I can watch over and over:

Breathless
The Big Lebowski
Nashville
In the Mood For Love

Four places I've lived:

Vancouver, BC
Toronto, ON
Kitchener, ON
Burnaby, BC

Four TV Shows I like to watch:

Arrested Development
Seinfeld
M*A*S*H*
The Cosby Show

Four foods that I like (I'm going to be very specific):

Uncle Fatih's Pizza (the dollar pizza place a block from my house with legendary potato pizza)
Veggie Lunch (a Hari Krishna lunch served twice a week at SFU)
Kohinoor (Indian food in Waterloo - this one's for Jack)
Lasagna (pretty much any lasagne will do)

Four websites I visit daily:

Pitchfork
Stylus
CBC
The Max/MSP Forum

Four things I want to do before I die:

have something of mine played in a music festival (something like Open Ears in Kitchener or the New Forms Fest in Vancouver)
play a show in another country
go someplace like Bolivia
babysit Jack's kids

Four places I'd rather be right now:

my mom's house
at band practice
in Chicago (anywhere will do)
Continental Coffee

Four people I'm tagging:

coming soon...

2006-02-09T00:43:00.000-08:00

as a composer i aim to do the following more than anything else -

to create a situation where individuals produce music that they otherwise would not.

no more.

no less.

money jungle

2006-01-22T03:11:00.000-08:00

this track was a revelation for me. i'd never heard the duke sound like this before. so, taking a cue (as usual) from Jack, i decided to make a mixtape.

1. "money jungle" - duke ellington, charles mingus, max roach (from money jungle)
2. "soul flower" - the pharcyde (from bizarre ride II the pharcyde)
3. "police on my back" - the clash (from sandinista!)
4. "the fire waltz" - eric dolphy (from live at the five spot, vol. 1)
5. "blue flowers" - dr. octagon (from dr. octagonecologyst)
6. "tanguedia III" - astor piazzola (from tango zero hour)
7. "soon enough" - constantines (from tournament of hearts)
8. "scrapbook" - william parker violin trio (from scrapbook)

and here's the YSI link: http://s23.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2TL2OFI0D3PNW2R8D5S0Q4JB5M

wait a minute...

2005-12-15T12:11:00.000-08:00

Intonation - not number 1?

Strange, I know. But, when putting together the list, I really wanted to include Intonation (you know, to show off that I WAS THERE, IN CHICAGO, 2005), and it didn't seem fair to give it the number 1 - 25 spots. So I REALLY had to rack my brain, and it struck me that, no, it wasn't perfect. It was over 100 degrees when out hud played, and we sat in the shade instead of dancing. We only caught the last 7 minutes or so of dungen, because we were at Frank Lloyd Wright's house that morning. I was pretty disappointed by Magnolia Electric Co. I'm not too big on the decemberists, either. Other than that, it was perfect. And the weekend itself was defintely the best weekend of the year, as I'd never been to Chicago before and now it's the greatest place I've been to. And it was definitely the most SIGNIFICANT music event of the year (in this small, members only indie rock world...), but, frankly, I really loved those #2 and #1 concerts.

Anyway, even if no one out there was wondering, I felt I had to explain it, if only to myself.

My Favourite Concerts of 2005

2005-12-14T01:42:00.000-08:00

There's something so wonderful and personal about this list. I can't have been in every city to see every tour, but that's exactly why proper publications can't really do a "Best of" for concerts, because once the show has ended, it's just gone, left with each person who was lucky (or unlucky) enough to have been there.

I've included everything - rock, jazz, electronic, "new" music (let's not get into the terminology...). If I've seen it, it gets counted on this list. And if this week goes well, 2005 will be the first year in which I've averaged 1 concert per week. Could there be a better time to present a list such as this?

Anyway, it spans 6 cities, all 12 monts, a lot of hard work, a little ear-drum damage, but goddamn it - nothing beats a great live show.

(Oh, and I've avoided listing headlining bands twice, which mostly only applies to Constantines. However, if a band isn't the headliner of the show - like Destroyer or Wolf Parade - they can keep popping up as many times as they like.)

25. Stones Throw Preview (feat. Madlib, PB Wolf, etc.) - The Opera House, Toronto
24. Xiu Xiu/Final Fantasy - The Ford Plant, Brantford
23. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah/The National - Sonar, Vancouver
22. Charlotte Hug and Chantalle LaPlante/East Van Strings - The Western Front, Vancouver
21. Ikue Mori with Dylan van der Schyff and Ron Samworth - Ironworks, Vancouver
20. The Books - El Mocambo, Toronto
19. Francois Houle, Amir Koushkani, Sal Fererras - RIME, Vancouver
18. Zeena Parkins, Ikue Mori - The Registry Theatre, Kitchener
17. Nick Storring - The Grad House, Waterloo
16. "The Long String Instrument" - The Western Front, Vancouver
15. Buck 65 - Mod Club, Toronto
14. Humcrush with Francois Houle and Jesse Zubot - Ironworks, Vancouver
13. Negativland - Kitchener City Hall Council Chambers, Kitchener
12. Spoon/The Clientele - The Opera House, Toronto
11. Constantines/The Hold Steady - Richard's on Richards, Vancouver
10. Destroyer/Frog Eyes - WISE Hall, Vancouver
9. Deerhoof - Richard's on Richards, Vancouver
8. The Futureheads - Richard's on Richards, Vancouver
7. Fred Frith - Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver
6. Architecture in Helsinki/Wolf Parade/Dr. Dog - Hastings Art Space, Vancouver
5. Wayne Horovitz - RIME, Vancouver
4. Arcade Fire/Wolf Parade/Final Fantasy - Danforth Music Hall, Toronto
3. Intonation Music Festival (feat. The Wrens, Les Savy Fav, Tortoise, Deerhoof, etc.) - Union Park, Chicago
2. LCD Soundsystem/M.I.A. - The Opera House, Toronto
1. The New Pornographers/Destroyer/Immaculate Machine - The Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver

wait, I'm not hating on Stylus entirely...

2005-12-12T00:06:00.000-08:00

On the other hand, I did get a lot of good listening out of Stylus' list. I love that Amerie tune, "1 Thing", and that vocoder/a capella Imogen Heap track - wow. I can't wait to see the albums list.

i'll give you three minutes

2005-12-11T23:46:00.000-08:00

Impress me. That's what 'single' is for me. There should be no baggage. No great pop music history arc. Just show me what you've got in 2, 3 or 25 minutes, however long it takes. You're free from the dreaded album, and all that's associated with holding a listener's attention for an entire disc, lp, or whatever.

Therefore, I must say - it's over. Pop and I are breaking up. We had a nice fling going for a while. Indeed, it was a wild, guilt-free 18 months, but we have different goals in life. Don't worry, though, it was a mutual split. Kelly Clarkson feels the same way about my tastes as they feel about her.

I guess I should be a little more clear: I'm not saying that pop is out the door for good, but this blind, almost free-pass I'd been giving pop so I could grasp a better concept of what was going on in the world of music is finished. So I still love "Toxic", I still love "Heartbeat", most things I've said still stand.

It was the recent Stylus Best Singles of 2005 list that broke the camel's back.

I cried when I got to number one.

"Since U Been Gone"

Kelly Clarkson

It took me a while to figure it out, but listening to Ted Leo's cover of the song made things clear. When Leo plays the song, a lot of similarities arise between "Gone" and his music. Which I'd never realized. It's frenetic, it drags you along with a real urgency. It's not quite as musically interesting as most of Leo's stuff, but had he written it, it probably wouldn't have been his worst effort, either. However, the lyrics fucking suck. Not when they're sung by Leo, but all the time.

So, what we've got so far is an okay Ted Leo song with shit lyrics. Doesn't sound like a single of the year to me.

But -

a cover is not the real thing, particularly in this case, when a great deal of time would have been spent in the studio to make it sound just so. First off, the vocal performance is okay. At best. It's not terribly interesting - sure, she's got a powerful voice, but not really distinguishable in many other respects. It's that big, American Idol thing, which doesn't usually strike me as terribly convincing, particularly upon repeated listens. If it's your thing, fine - it's not mine. And the intrumentation has a glossy studio sheen that really strips any Ted Leo swagger from the song. I'm a sucker for sloppy playing, for swing, for a machine that's about to fall apart - so, admittedly, this is simply not my aesthetic, but it really surprises me how many people are saying that yeah, this time it works for me. I'm not sold.

The review of this song at Stylus mentioned the fact that the song doesn't hit you the first time, but perhaps by the 37th it would. I disagree. I feel that all the juice this song could have had is gone by (generously) the 3rd or 4th. By number 37 it was mush to these ears.

(Thanks to Chad for listening as I pieced this argument together with a belly full of wine last night.)

Best Albums of 2005

2005-12-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

It has been a very good year. Even still, like Jack, I've decided that this list will consist of my top 25 favourite albums of this year. That includes compilations and EPs (although no EPs made the list). I'm missing many albums, as it's really difficult to hear every album that's lauded by anyone, but, particularly in the past few months, I've done my best to absorb a good deal of it.

In any case, there are some albums I really like that are not on this list, some that are growing on me and maybe in a few days would make this list, one in particular that I've badmouthed a fair bit but have grown to love as it's by one of my favourite bands, and, naturally, some that are present just to keep my indie cred points high.

Here we go:

25) Jamie Lidell - Multiply
24) The Juan MacLean - Less Than Human
23) Constantines - Tournament of Hearts
22) Common - Be
21) Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs
20) Lightning Bolt - Hypermagic Mountain
19) LCD Soundsystem
18) Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock 'n' Roll
17) Dangerdoom - The Mouse and the Mask
16) Animal Collective - Feels
15) Caribou - The Milk of Human Kindness
14) Run the Road
13) Architecture in Helsinki - In Case We Die
12) Deerhoof - The Runners Four
11) Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
10) M.I.A. - Arular
9) Isolee - We Are Monster
8) Spoon - Gimme Fiction
7) My Morning Jacket - Z
6) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
5) Kanye West - Late Registration
4) Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
3) The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
2) Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
1) Edan - Beauty and the Beat

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

2005-12-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

I'd originally hoped to post three year-end lists: a best albums, a best live shows, and a miscellaneous singles list (as I'm not really up on enough singles to do a best of). I was going to do them in the reverse order of how they are listed now. Unfortunately, Jack decided today was the day to post the Best Album list on his site, so in the spirit of solidarity, I thought I'd post mine today as well, as it's the only one that's ready anyway.

Next I'll do Best Live Shows (a list which I think works pretty well in the blogosphere, as it's very personal), and I may or may not still do that miscellaneous list.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

first impressions of first impressions of earth

2005-12-03T02:49:00.000-08:00

full disclosure: this post is mainly for the subject line.

therefore, i don't have a great deal of insight to impart. the first time through, i remember "fear of sleep" and "razorblade" in particular. well, and "juicebox", but for not exactly the same reasons... actually, i really expected the album to end on the high note of "fear of sleep", as that's when the other two albums would have ended (time wise). i thought this one went on a little too long. 14 songs? listen, fellas, we're not going to think less of you just because it took you 2 and a half years to put out another 35 minutes of music. you can still release tunes which are under 3 minutes. your brevity was most certainly a virtue. why did you feel the need to give that up?

anyway, like i said, first impressions. i'll give it another spin tomorrow.

december?

2005-12-02T01:19:00.000-08:00

wow. for all intents and purposes, classes are done this semester (one performance and one in-class exam, but whatever.). then we goes electroacoustic for a week, analyzing the music of manitoba (that is, dan snaith, not the province...), feeding some poetry through delay lines and filters, then we goes HOME! november, she moves mighty quick. one day, you're in the midst of rocktober, and the next there's a goddamn federal election coming up. my god.

"take him out and shoot him"

good for the syndicate (i'll have a link up soon...), the piece i wrote for clarinet, trombone, cello, and tape, got selected for SFU's Fall 2005 composer's concert, which was excellent. even more excellent was that my piece was one of few played more or less perfectly (it's easier not to get lost when you're improvising, i guess...). that happened today. it was a good day today. i also performed the world premiere of "3 Horns", a piece for solo trombone written by a friend of mine. i played it in the parking garage of SFU to get a nice, reverberent sound. hopefully, i'll get a recording of that soon, too. at which point i'll put it here so all can have a listen. it was a pretty nice performance, but mighty cold.

cold? in vancouver?

yes, friends, it's been a cold week. SFU got about 20cm of snow earlier this week, and it was glorious. it makes me want to get back to ontario even more, before vancouver turns into a disgusting, slushy mess.

one of my favourite parts of december is the mass of LISTS that appear. i can't wait. best of this, best of that, which pope tv special was the worst... i love them all. and, of course, i have a feeling i'll be putting a few of my own up when the time comes. jack, i hope to see plenty from you, as well. and maybe the rich jerk. i hope he comments.

humcrush. it'll take me a while to put this experience into words, but let me say it again. humcrush. it'll have to wait until next time.

humcrush.

tuesday

2005-11-22T22:31:00.000-08:00

why post? well, it's tuesday.

1) "masterfade" is a great name for a song. too bad andrew bird took it. man can that guy whistle.
2) vancouver has been in the DENSEST fog i've ever seen the past few days (it's positively Fellini-esque...). the fog ends at 200m. my school is at 400m. the view from school is unlike anything i've ever experienced. just another example of how strange and wonderful november can be on the west coast.
3) jiri flecher's heart stopped during a hockey game yesterday. wowza. good on the nhl for calling the game immediately.
4) it's tough to beat a good veggie lunch (a hari krishna who serves delicious curries twice a week at sfu)
5) how did a broken social scene interview take feature of the week on pitchfork but a SONIC YOUTH interview was only a daily? it was lee ronaldo, sure, but he's still a member of SONIC YOUTH!

november in vancouver

2005-11-18T12:57:00.000-08:00

Most of November in Vancouver sucks. Really sucks (these are a couple of very negative posts, eh?). It rains about 28 of the 30 days, and it's a cold, cold rain.

But my god those other 2 days are beautiful. It's crisp, clear, you can see the your breath and the newly snowcapped mountains. From SFU, you look west at about 4 o'clock and you can see the sky glowing a brilliant pink over a silhouetted Vancouver Island.

It really is a place too beautiful for humans.

kate bush - aerial

2005-11-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

This album sucks. It's horrible. It's trash. "Pi"? That's the goddamn stupidest thing I've heard in a long, long time. Paul Schaeffer does a song like that on The Late Show with David Letterman. Paul's is much better. And the second disc? A horrible soundscape (completely raping every soundscape cliche in the book, and maybe throwing in a few of her own) held together by essentially non-existant songs? Are you kidding me?

On the other hand -

I like it. I put it on, turn it up, and just let it wash over me. Kate Bush is superhuman. One should not be able to make an album that bad and still have it be good.

i'm surprised jack hasn't mentioned this already.

2005-11-15T00:42:00.000-08:00

oh, wait - he only plugs stylus. (he wants to write for them, i think.)

anyway, brent dicrescenzo is back again, with his biggest post-official-member-of-team-pitchfork contribution yet, and it's fabulous.

The Worst Album Covers of All Time

sung tongs

2005-11-15T00:34:00.000-08:00

it's funny -

i've liked this album for quite some time. but just liked it. today i learned to love it. love it and all its brain-melting brilliance. the funny thing, though, is how it happened. it happened on shuffle.

i was just sitting in the corner, doing a little studying, and some animal collective song would come on, and i would have no choice but to pause. i knew it, but i didn't really know it. it was one of those boring second-half-of-the-album tracks that just sort of became part of the blur. but, invariably, it was fucking brilliant.

but go figure, huh? this amazing, singular artistic statement. this pillar of album-ness in a decade of mixtape-ology, shows its true colours on shuffle.

take that, rockism.

and then my world came crashing down around me.

2005-11-06T12:26:00.000-08:00

i like my posts to be fairly universal, as i'm pretty sure most of the people who read this are in ontario, but this one's for the folks on "the drive".

IT'S NOT UNCLE FAITH'S PIZZA! IT'S UNCLE FATIH'S PIZZA!

look again. i'd been mistaking the name for two months. it would be like finding out jack's name is actually jcka. i had a lot of faith (har har) in this pizza place, and then to find out the foundation upon which i built my love for the good old uncle's pizza has crumbled...

of course, i went there for the first time last night knowing the true name, and it turns out that delicious pizza after a night of drinking by any other name will taste as delicious.

here it is

2005-11-04T15:37:00.000-08:00

the link to "good for the syndicate":

http://s31.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1RITHHOHNG65X1Y91X5NHA5RP0

just so you know, it's a largely improvised piece (beyond the tape part), and the players are reading off of a graphic score, which is made up of things like interpretive drawings of what's going on in the tape, quote cues from the tape, etc.

good for the syndicate

2005-11-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

my latest piece got its inaugural reading yesterday, and - if i may say so - it went pretty fucking well. it's for trio (clarinet, trombone and cello) and tape. the tape part takes quotes and sound effects from the film "catch-22". i've got a fairly lo-fi recording of the performance (a better one is on the way), and i'd love to share it with the world. so, uh, how do i do that? where is a good place to host fairly large audio files?

help, please?

and

2005-10-31T21:11:00.000-08:00

In my ongoing effort to be just like Jack, I've gotten my first pair of Converse All-Stars. I know, the hair seemed to be getting long, but it's back down to Jack-length now. I've been eating a lot of cheese and crackers for lunck (but, really, that's just a great idea). And, frankly, if I knew what size shoe he'd wore, I'd get that size.

take a deep breath

2005-10-30T22:07:00.000-08:00

here's a superhyperfast and most likely incompresensible update of all the things that have happened since that last stupid post about muzak (even though it got 4 comments - noted, more stupid posts coming).

who loves deerhoof? i love deerhoof. many others did on thursday as well but not that many people liked we are wolves but i have love for them too i saw weekend by godard earlier in the week jesus i loved it i think if i have a hero it's godard i haven't had a hero for quite some time since the 90s perhaps and then it was billy corgan but then there was the whole going nuts and releasing horrible albums thing the last weekend my mom visited me great great great she hadn't visited me in vancouver before and it meant good food lots of catching up and doing some touristy things that one doesn't usually do whilst living in a city THUGS! had their first rehearsal on saturday and we're going to be good friends real good we've got turntables and laptops and two guitars and a ukelele and a distorted clarinet and a bass and a piano and remember this jazz... is the thing sally jumps to jupiter oh yeah and the week before fred frith of naked city and other john zorn related acts was in vancouver and he was fucking killer i saw two shows the best one was with some wackos from montreal and a solo set also fabulous fabulous great great the vancouver laptop battle i went to that too kind of disappointing actually a dude named humdinger won but he was only okay the thing was that most competitors were really quite bad and last night instead of going to a halloween party i went to a religious folk jam called acoustic autumn i get a real kick out of this event let me tell you and let me tell you also that the quesadillas were fantastic fantastic fabulous fabulous great great.

until next time.

"speak beneath it & puppy mother"

muzak

2005-10-14T01:34:00.000-07:00

i've learned a bit about this phenomenon this semester, and i just commented about it on a friend's page, but i thought i'd post it here as well:

"muzak - a (billions of dollars per annum!!!) company which began in the 1920s and is run out of seattle. played in factories, grocery stores, etc., to improve production or consumption.

for example - factory workers get a coffee break mid-morning. there's an initial buzz, then a comedown before lunch. very slowly and subtly the music (muzac) will pick up, causing an increased productivity in the workers leading to the adrenaline which volleys workers towards the lunch break.

it's scary, man."

8 reasons why going to university is great

2005-10-14T01:08:00.000-07:00

1) klute
2) hopscotch
3) shane
4) platoon
5) stolen kisses
6) the battleship potemkin
7) amarcord
8) the rules of the game

i'm in temporary posession of all these films right now, and i paid a total of zero dollars for them. i have cleo from 5 to 7 and weekend on reserve. life is good.

final thoughts on the stylus list

2005-10-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

number one: i didn't realize that talk to her was from this decade. i loved that film. it'd place near the top.

number two: i'd go to the mat for moulin rouge. i thought it was spectacular spectacular and i don't care who knows it.

number three: i haven't seen that many films this decade (hence my list of 15 and stylus' - and jack's, for that matter - list of 50), but i've seen a lot of the very best ones, from what i can tell. case in point: jack and i had 4 of the same top 6 movies (frankly, jack is a better source than stylus anyways), and the other 2 were both included in our respective lists (i think the lowest was 11). i think i'd seen most of jack's (and stylus') top 20s, but i'd seen very little of the 21-50 region. the problem with that, though, is that i don't really feel too inclined to see those other films.

number four: i really need to see donnie darko again.

thanks to minute maid and soon enough

2005-10-11T15:18:00.000-07:00

i'm feeling the love today.

number one: minute maid concentrated orange juice is 2 for 1 at safeway. i've been waiting for this glorious day since my arrival in vancouver at the beginning of september. if there's one thing i love, it's orange juice in the morning.

number two: the constantines. or, to be more specific, the love being shown to the constantines in the reviews of the new album, tournament of hearts. if you'll recall, i gave this album a 7/10, which i stand by, but i'm definitely loving the album more, and i'm really happy to see pitchfork, allmusic, et al loving the album as well (now magazine notwithstanding...).

oh, and the sun is out. now, i'm not much of a sun guy, but here in vancouver in october, the sun is a glorious thing, and even miserable bastards like me get some joy from seeing it peek from behind the clouds.

a one and a two

2005-10-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

I forgot Yi Yi - a very beautiful film.

I also didn't realize that Ghost World and Gosford Park were from this decade. I don't know if either of them will affect the list.

With these new films in mind, and with a firm talking to from Kierin which made me realize that CTHD probably hasn't stood the test of time that well, I've added numbers (which may well change tomorrow):

1. In the Mood For Love
2. Punch-Drunk Love
3. City of God
4. The Barbarian Invasions
5. Amorres Perros
6. Traffic
7. Songs From the Second Floor
8. Yi-Yi
9. Moulin Rouge
10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
11. The Royal Tennenbaums
12. Mulholland Drive
13. Amelie
14. Kill Bill
15. The Man Who Wasn't There

stylus magazine, the home game

2005-10-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

This week, Stylus Magazine are listing their Top 50 Movies of the new millenium. Whenever they do a list like this, I like to play along. When sites were doing the Best Albums of the decade so far, I wrote down a list of my favourites. Similarly when they did the Greatest Bass Lines Ever list a few weeks back.

The problem with this list is that I really haven't seen too many films from this decade. So far, of the 20 films they've listed, I've seen 4. The fact is, I'm only 15 months or so removed from my first experiences with Godard, Bergman and Fellini, and only weeks away from Rosillini and Resnais. I've been making up for lost time over the past year, and it's left me with very little time to keep up-to-date in the world of cinema.

Nevertheless, I'm going to play along, even if my list is incredibly flawed due to my lack of exposure. I think I'll do it without numbers then, just a general trend from most awesome to just regular awesome.

In the Mood for Love
Punch-Drunk Love
City of God
The Barbarian Invasions
Amores Perros
Traffic
Songs From the Second Floor
Moulin Rouge!
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Amelie
Mulholland Drive
The Royal Tennenbaums
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Kill Bill
The Man Who Wasn't There

dreaming of pavement, shorelines, curling

2005-10-03T23:26:00.000-07:00

I thought this was going to be the year of the Great Canadian Backlash. Let's face it: we've had a good decade. Really good, in fact. As far as I'm concerned, the naughts are the greatest decade Canadian rockenroll has ever had. Sure, the 70s were sweet, too, what with Neil and Joni and Leonard and The Band... but we had a handful of legends (many of whom have called Amrrica home for decades now...) and not a great deal beyond that. Now we've got buzzbands popping up almost weekly, from one of half-a-dozen centres (okay, pretty much just four unless you count places like Victoria and Guelph.).

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that it seemed like critical adoration of all bands Canadian seemed to come to a head last year with Funeral. It was huge. We finally scored Pitchfork's #1 of the year. But, as with any album that loved, a backlash had to hit. But I was pretty sure that, with no new Arcade Fire material in sight, the love/backlash was going to be generalised to include all Canadian bands. But that would have been pretty mean, right? Damning all albums from the North regardless of quality? Well, there were other signs. Namely: new material from two heroes - Broken Social Scene and Constantines and Wolf Parade - "the new Arcade Fire" (and a perfect scapegoat).

(aside: frankly, no one ever expected the New Pornographers to suck, but the magnitude of Twin Cinema's success is still delightful.)

Okay, so fast forward to August. As I said, NP dropped a fucking classic, when "not bad" would have more than sufficed. And thanks to those fucking weirdos in Wolf Parade and their surprisingly incredible debut, I'm wrong about the Year of the Backlash.

(aside: in fact, I'm no longer sure the backlash is looming, thanks to Wolf Parade. What I mean is that their album is great, but not life changing, and therefore not good enough to inspire a backlash. Thanks, boys. We owe you one.)

So we've avoided the backlash... BUT...

No thanks to our fine friends from the T. Dot.

Broken Social Scene. First of all, titling a song with a time signature. That's fucking stupid. Minus one point.
Next - the opening of You Forgot it in People lasted less than 2 minutes. Then you broke into a killer tune. On this album you take over four. That, too, is fucking stupid. Minus another point.
The second half of YFIP was meandering, sure, but we kinda liked it that way. The second half of BSS (I don't like the self-titling, either, but I'll let it slide) is fully masturbatory. That's incredibly fucking stupid. That's, like, 5 or 6 points gone.
But having Leslie Feist sing on "(Shoreline)", that was smart.
And "Superconnected", that's all-around pretty smart (although it doesn't save the album's second half).
"It's All Gonna Break", well, it's not 12 minutes long, and we should all thank our lucky stars for that, so we'll hand you a point for that one.
And Dave Neufeld is not only a genius, but he got the shit kicked out of him in New York City and then still helped you guys rock our socks at Intonation. That's a few points.

After all the adding and subtracting - that's a 6.5. Not that disappointing, though, because - no offence - nobody expected this beast to be any good. Props for the few amazing moments and, well, better luck next time.

Tournament of Hearts - The Constantines

I, for one, was holding out hope for this one. Shine a Light was, and still is, my favourite record of 2003. And while I didn't expect one quite that sublime, I can't help but be disappointed by this offering.

It's not even that it's bad, really, it's just... there. While BSS has incredible highs and painful lows, ToH has nine pretty good songs. Actually, eight pretty good songs and "You are a Conductor" - a goddamned brilliant song.

And frankly, I really like Fugazi. While I also like the Boss - and Neil Young-, I really liked the Fugazi part of the Cons, which has been relegated to one or two tracks, at best - and they're the most forgettable ones on the record. These new BossNeil experiments are hit-and-miss; whereas "Soon Enough" is a pretty good departure from the signature sound and "Draw Us Lines" is a fabulous opener (but much better live), "Working Fulltime" is unforgivable (so let's make it seven okay songs, "Working Fulltime" and "You are a Conductor").

Nevertheless, as disappointed as I sometimes get in the middle of this record, I'm always happy at the end because of brillaint closing pair of "You are a Conductor" and "Windy Road", another fabulous departure and possibly the best track Steve Lambke has ever put to tape.

After the math: 7.0

a tortured ryan stiles with a short drink and a cigarette

2005-10-03T23:14:00.000-07:00

Who else has seen the National/Clap Your Hands Say Yeah tour? Did the lead singer not have a STRIKING resemblance to Ryan Stiles (The Drew Carey Show, Who's Line is it Anyways?)?

But that's not the point --

Jack didn't like them, neither did Pitchfork, but Kierin and I saw them last night, loved them, and I've been questioning all that I hold dear ever since. Can there really be a god in a world where Jack/Pitchfork and I see things so very differently??? How can she let something like this happen???

What I think happened is this -- North America is, like, a really big fucking place, and there are a whole bunch of cities between Toronto/New York City and Vancouver. CYHSY played in quite a few of these cities. And I think they got better. Like, way, way better. And when they got to Vancouver, not only had they made their shows back east into a distant, ugly memory, but they had taken over the tour. The National had been demoted to openers and CYHSY into confident, even cocksure headliners.

Of course, as good as the show was, it still wasn't amazing or transcendent, which means it would in fact be one of the lesser shows I've seen recently.

Cheers to Rocktober, friends.

the best weekend of music since intonation

2005-09-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

friday:
the new pornographers
destroyer
the immaculate machine

saturday:
architecture in helsinki
wolf parade
dr. dog

six wonderful, beautiful sets. the immaculate machine welcomed us back to the commodore ballroom after summer in ontario. they're a solid little victoria band, even though they only made the bill because the keyboardist is a.c.'s neice. destroyer played a wicked set filled with old city of daughters- and streethawk-era classics. it was a little less spirited than when he rocks it with frog eyes, but the setlist was phenomenal. and the new pornographers... well, there really are no words. 27 songs. 2 hours. i fell in love with neko case. dan bejar got so drunk that he had to ask at one point "what song is this?" they played motherfucking "graceland". and an impromptu cover of that fleetwood mac song that goes "thunder only happens when it's raining..." i've avoiding saying this throughout this year so far, but it was the best concert i've ever seen.

so what does one do the next night? well, travel to a back alley on one of the sketchiest blocks in all of canada to get to an umarked door leading to an "artspace" where another brilliant concert is about to take place. dr. dog arrived very late, had to borrow wolf parade's equipment, and the lights went out as they tried to begin their set. but the perservered and kicked some serious ass. i hope i have the chance to see them again one day. and then the most-hyped band in indie rock - wolf parade. and, man, were they hungry. they've added members and beefed up the sound significantly and it's totally paid off. they're ready for the five-star reviews to come pouring in. they're ready to get big. and even though those funny australian music-geeks put on a really great show, also, the night belonged to wolf parade.

(side note: we got a copy of "apologies to the queen mary" at the show and have been listening to it non-stop since then. it's fucking great. the canada-backlash has been avoided for another year, friends.)

podcast number two - shop as usual

2005-09-21T17:21:00.000-07:00

this podcast, designed specifically for a friend of mine, will, like podcast number one, be available only as a burned cd, without any clever banter or useful information between tracks. nevertheless, i assure you that it is a podcast.

machine gun - peter brotzman
my buddy - derek bailey
toward the margins - evan parker electroacoustic ensemble
to composer john cage - anthony braxton
say hello to jimmy james - red krayola
holy holy holy - marc ribot
(some swedish title) - dungen
christianity is stupid - negativland
Is - thurston moore/evan parker/walter pratti
etude 2 - john zorn
sex machine - sly and the family stone
bright moments - rashaan roland kirk

oh, hello there

2005-09-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

friends, i'm back.

i'm back in vancouver. i'm back at school. i'm back to this blogging game.

more in moments...

who are these guys?

2005-08-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

they say their names are yakko, wakko and dot, and they seem to like to break into places. info about urban infiltration can be found here. what a bunch of weirdos.

still, i'm looking forward to reading about their pan-canadian infiltration adventures.

r.i.p. robert moog (and spins part 2, kind of)

2005-08-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

who?

robert moog, the inventor of the moog synthesizer, died yesterday.

but griff, what's a moog synthesizer?

it's an analog synthesizer. it uses additive synthesis. it's monophonic. it was invented in the 1960s. wendy cooper created an album of bach's music using one. it sold over a million copies. herbie hancock used one a lot in the 70s. so did stevie wonder. some prog rock bands did too, but fuck them.

so, like, does anyone play one anymore?

um, not really. a few people interested in retro sounds, probably. anyway, who cares? it's still a sweet little instrument. i'd play one. you would, too.

as a tribute to this great human being, i've been listening to headhunters by herbie hancock and innervisions by stevie wonder. i love the moog.

why i love insound (late august spins)

2005-08-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

the vast majority of my latest insound order came yesterday. i'm busting, my friends, busting.

now, i haven't had a very long time to listen to them yet, but here's a rundown anyway:

it takes a nation of millions to hold us back - public enemy
how could i live without this album any longer? the reason, actually, that i didn't have it up to this point was that in stores it's consistently twice (or three times) as expensive as fear of a black planet. at insound it was under ten bucks.

get happy and trust - elvis costello (the deluxe editions)
at under $20 each, it was time to stock up. these are going to be in my cd player a whole lot in the near future, as i have a real taste for power pop these days thanks to twin cinema. get happy is the only disc i've really had a chance to listen to so far. it's absolutely amazing. 20 brilliant tracks ripped through in less than 50 minutes.

and the piece de resistance:

freak out!, absolutely free and we're only in it for the money by frank zappa, all in one convenient box set.
this, kiddies, is the fucking shit. it's not some cop-out box set collecting a few tracks here and a few tracks there. it's the first three zappa albums sold dirt cheap. in fact, all the box does is hold the three albums together. the albums, including artwork, liner notes, etc., are completely intact. and this shit was less than 30 bones. beauty.

the comeback kid gets smoked

2005-08-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

cutti the short made huge strides today towards a victory, making up for his very disappointing activity yesterday.

but first, some quick points:
- 7 to cutti the tall for making the best flash program which says "griffin is cool"
- 10 to each cutti for correctly answering last night final jeopardy question
- 10 to cutti the small for having a better "skate or die thursday" outfit

the frisbee, though, the frisbee was the big one. we got 19 points today, and cutti the small was involved with six of them. amazing. his total is now an astounding 167 points! cutti the tall is at 38.

is it over? is cutti the short out of reach??

only time will tell.

the battle heats up

2005-08-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

it's wednesday and cutti vs. cutti is getting cutthroat, friends.

the first blood of the day was drawn by cutti the tall, as he weaved his way to 4 points in a game of sewing the gap vs. our wonderful hl. of course, he didn't win, but the kids were behind him, and wanted to give him 3 points anyway, and then one honesty point. four for the big guy!

then came the big challenge for cutti the short - his very own activity (worth up to 50 points! it's second in weighting only to ultimate frisbee).

of course, we told him to learn and teach flash in 30 mins., and he did an amiable job, but the kids were a little harsh. the average score was 29 - so that's the score he gets.

he made up at lunch big time, though, with 2 touchdowns and an assist in ultimate frisbee, worth 30 points.

cutti the tall responded with 10 initiative points in the afternoon, helping a kid faster than i could say "hey, cutti the tall, help that kid."

so, at the end of day 3:
cutti the tall - 21
cutti the short - 87

remember, though, that cutti the tall can still grab 50 big ones for his activity on friday.

"how did you vote in the last federal election?"

2005-08-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

i'm torn - should i take points away from the competing cutties for political views which differ from my own?

well, after running my query by the group, it turns out that the cutties can think whatever they want to think without having their hopes dashed in our little game. too bad.

nevertheless, i'm taking 10 away from cutti the tall because he said the following things last night:
when talking about art, cutti the tall said "i just don't like art".
when talking about things he does like, he said "i like math and science, you know, where you have to really think."

i could easily have taken away, oh, 1000 points, but i want to give him a fighting chance even though he insists on shooting himself in the foot.

the score at lunch on tuesday:

the tall: -7
the short: 1

and the lunch recap:

cutti the short got 3 points for being the first one in the hall during an emergency procedure. (he's now up to 4)
cutti the short got 5 points for having the better lunch (including a sandwich, 2 gatorades, a bag of sun chips, a banana, and a fake twix - which, frankly, almost cost him the competition. fortunately, cutti the tall only had two buns with butter and honey and a banana. that's fucking gross.)
cutti the short got 5 more points for tossing the frisbee farther.
cutti the short got 10 MORE points for getting a point in the ultimate frisbee game.

after this devastating hour, cutti the tall had this to say: "i'm going to let my teammates do all the work." what a wierd dude.
cutti the short graciously passed on the credit to his very able teammates for the great successes this lunch. what a stand-up dude.

the score:
cutti the tall sits at negative 7
cutti the short sits at positive 24

ICE CREAM!!!

we had two final challenges on tuesday:
first, the get-me-a-cd-from-the-office challenge. cutti the tall apparently swiped the disc from small cutti on the final straightaway and scored 5 sweet points.

and then we had the ICE CREAM!!! challenge. one of the cutties (short) had to pour the perfect amount of chocolate syrup into our mixture. he did terribly. he had to be prompted by coraff and then the mixture ended up looking like coffee. it was a bit strong. 4/10. cutti the tall began the difficult task of completing his comeback with some excellent stirring technique, landing himself 9/10.

after 2 days, amigos:
tall has positive seven
short has positive twenty-eight

(everyone's above zero!!!)

cutti vs. cutti, day 1

2005-08-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

first off, let's just say that cutti number 1 is the taller one.

cutti number one gets -1 because his team cheat in the human knot game
he gets another -1 for trying to make excuses for his first -1

the introduction (out of 10 points):
cutti number one - concise, good at answering questions, a little stumble at the beginning (forgetting to tell us his name), doesn't have a favourite band (that's not so good, unless he ends up really liking talking heads and/or the new pornographers), and, let's face it, star trek: nemesis is far from the greatest movie ever made. 7/10
cutti number two - made me laugh, i'm not sure about the yellowcard thing, snowboards but it tolerant of skiers (therefore most likely not a racist), a bit longwinded, had his leg on the chair (a grave mistake). 1/10

cutti number one just lost another point due to his semantic arguments. and another for saying "arguments, what arguments?"

the score at lunch:
cutti the tall has 3 points
cutti the short has 1 point

ultimate frisbee could change everthing. there are 100 points at stake.

...
(lunch has come and gone)
...

the score: 7 to 1

we struggled. it should have been at least a dozen. the kids ain't that strong this week, but we played very poorly. we were a group of individuals, not a team. but with all these new cutties, it's not that surprising.

anyway, on to cutti the tall and cutti the short.

cutti the tall seemed to have a lot to say about the game, and he caught on to our modified rules very quickly, but frankly i just didn't see the hustle. dude's gotta start using his brain to make the plays, you know?

cutti the short, on the other hand, showed some serious hustle. sure, he may have cost us a few points, but he was always giv'n'er.

so far, the score stands at 25/75 (tall/short), but this can change throughout the week. the 100 points will be doled out on friday.

oh, and i just took another point from cutti because he wouldn't explain how quickly i take away points for being argumentative.

2/1 (tall/short)

podcast number one*

2005-08-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

1. beyond belief - elvis costello and the attractions
2. bam thwok - pixies
3. saints - marc ribot
4. ox out the cage - cannibal ox
5. sun moon spark - captain beefheart
6. not great men - gang of four
7. fuck the facts - naked city
8. apollo kids - ghostface killah
9. dummy discards a heart - deerhoof
10. the jungle line - joni mitchell
11. who makes the nazis? - the fall
12. break it up - patti smith
13. non-alignment pact - pere ubu
14. do the strand - roxy music
15. the end of biters -- international - prefuse 73
16. ascension day - talk talk
17. 007 - sex mob
18. l.a. blues - the stooges
19. karen revisited - sonic youth
20. streethawk II - destroyer

* - it should be noted that this is not a "podcast" in the traditional sense, in that instead of being broadcast over the internet, it distributed by way of a burned compact disc.

emergency info on twin cinema

2005-08-11T12:12:00.000-07:00

what do i mean by dan bejar's album sequencing ideology?

well, the first two new pornogs albums seem to me like 12 (or 13) brilliant songs put back to back, each perfectly good in a stand-alone situation. sure, there's still logic behind the sequencing, but it doesn't really enhance the listening experience. one great song ends, you have a second to recover, then the next song begins.

destroyer albums (particularly City of Daughters and Streethawk: A Seduction) are built around the sequencing. for example, Streethawk is bookended by two mini-songs which fade into or out of their respecive neighbours. the unity (because destroyer tend to be far more eclectic than n.p. albums) is created through clever and subtle sequencing.

track 13 on twin cinema is a more typical "sequencing" track by bejar. as a stand alone, it probably wouldn't hold up well against other n.p. tracks, but it's nothing short of brilliant in its home near the end of the record.

i hope that clears things up.

oh, and what are the 9 albums and 1 ep?

mass romantic
electric version
twin cinema
streethawk: a seduction (destroyer)
this night (destroyer)
your blues (destroyer)
notorious lightning (destroyer/frog eyes ep) *
the slow wonder (a.c. newman)
blacklisted (neko case) **
the tigers have spoken (neko case live album) *

* - don't have it, but have heard a fair bit of it
** - don't really know it, but has a great reputation
the rest i know very well, are part of my collection, and i'd go to the mat for.

new slogans for alexander keith's india pale ale

2005-08-11T07:07:00.000-07:00

the slogan right now: "those who like it, like it a lot."

this slogan sucks. in fact, i can't think of a slogan that is further from the truth. ergo, here are some better ones (developed by jack, coraff, and me.)

1) "those who like it, don't mind it."
2) "when given the choice between keith's and molson canadian, labatt blue or coors light, most people will usually choose keith's."
3) "of all the domestic non-premium beers, alexander keith's is in a class all its own."

spinning (legally or otherwise)

2005-08-10T17:33:00.000-07:00

as i eagerly await insound order number two, i'm listening to these things:

twin cinema. the new pornographers can't miss. as i was told the other day "if the combined their collective talents and tried to write a bad song, it would still end up sounding amazing."
listen one: oh, man, this is great. more wonderful new pornographers to fill my brain with.
listen two: wow, i recognize every single song.
listen three: hmm, i'm beginning to realize that the band's palette is definitely expanded on this record. dan begar's third track (#13) is brilliant, but in a really different way. they're not only using his songs now, but his album organization ideology. wow.
listen four: more stuff is beginning to hit me. the kitchen-sink-yet-beautifully-subtle-and-even-quiet opening to "bones of an idol". the fact that this is definitely the least summery of the band's albums. the fact that first two lines of the album are "home" and "theatre".
the score: 9/10 (in the decimal point system, this would be an 8.8 probably.)
the new pornographer catalogue ranking: just kidding. mass romantic is the best, but i can't decide yet between the other two.

between the members of the collective there have been no fewer than 9 fabulous full-lengths (and a pretty wicked ep). how many have arts & crafts given us?

supreme clientele by ghostface killah. i like this album a lot. i like the song "nutmeg" and i like the song "apollo kids" and i like the song "buck 50" and i like when ghostface says "supercalifragilisticexpialadocious dociousalaexpifragailisticcalisuper". i don't like how i was duped into thinking that i was purchasing a concise hip-hop record when i bought it, as there were only 14 tracks listed on the back of the case. who puts SEVEN SECRET TRACKS on an album??? so it's a bit overlong, but not by much. hilarious, confusing, brilliant.

i've also been listening to black star by mos def and taleb kweli. i can't say enough about this. i just got it. i've only listened a few times. in a few more times i might say something stupid like "this is the greatest of all hip-hop albums". fabulous beats that sort of recall eric b. & rakim or a tribe called quest but not as overtly james brown-aping which leaves them hanging in that timeless space where few other artists exist. great flows? check. chuck d? q-tip? jay-z? not quite. but they're pretty close. i guess one of them needed a single letter in their name or something. the greatest duo in hip-hop? perhaps...

naked city. 10-year olds don't like this. i do a really good a capella take on their cover of the theme from contempt. i like the song title "igneous ejaculation". nothing else in the world sounds like this.

kerplunk by green day. this is a fun one to revisit. it was one of the first "indie" records that i searched out in my youth. a kid told me today that she picked it up at wal-mart. oh, how things change when you sell 20-million records.

too much too young by the specials is the only the specials i have. that's right - no eponymous debut. anyway, until that happens, i'll listen to this and love it. i understand that it's not a very good representation of the band, which sort of frightens me, because it's a brilliant record.

singles going steady by the buzzcocks. these last two have been listed because i've been trying to introduce this girl who just bought kerplunk at wal-mart to a few of the bands that paved the way for her american idiot heroes. she's one of the more receptive 10-year-old students i've ever had.

a very incomplete list of pet peeves

2005-08-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

- passive-aggresiveness
- bad fruit
- adobe premiere elements
- Coraff
- pulling jl moves
- michael jackson's career after off the wall, including the 27-times-platinum thriller
- hollywood
- bollywood
- when people spell my name with one t (yeah, i know that sounds a bit odd considering my name on this page is griffin)
- mapping network drives
- west vancouver
- value villages that don't carry cowboy hats
- value villages that try to sell jackets (even really cool fat albert ones) for $79
- not being able to get up on the hour (and therefore missing the cbc hourly news)
- robert john "mutt" lange
- 10-year olds

how i learned to stop worrying and love the chatham

2005-08-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

- the kids were endlessly irritating
- i hurt myself in most every imaginable way playing volleyball
- our house was roughly 1 000 000 degrees whilst we slept
- we made at least two of our coworkers hate us

but my god it was all perfect. coraff and i wouldn't have had it any other way. chatham, my love, you are unforgettable. of course, i hope i never return, but this was certainly a solid week.

"don't lets ask for the stars, we already have the moon."

how we roll in chatham, part 2

2005-08-03T05:32:00.000-07:00

a less literal roll this time, as it's not a wheel that was rolling, but instead my ankle...

we were having a pretty sick game of volleyball last night at the farm where we're staying. it was the classic boys-versus-girls matchup. we'd lost the first game 15-13, but we turned it on the second, taking to the females 15-7. we thought we had the third, jumping out to a dominant lead and eventually making the score 14-7. and then the collapse happened. they bravely battled back to tie the game at 14, and it seemed like nothing could stop them. during the next play, though, disaster struck. i went up to make a dazzling block, and i came down hard on my ankle. there was a snap. at least three people heard the snap. so i yelled - not in pain, but to keep playing. sacrifice the body, you know. and it was worth it, because we won the play. 14-14, our serve. that is, my serve. after a quick examination it became clear that my ankle wasn't broken (so what was the snapping sound, then???), probably just sprained. nevertheless, i had to play. first serve, ace. 15-14. i had to sit down between serves. there was a lot of pain. one to go. so i served it, crumpled to the ground, and let my good buddy coraff finish the play and crown us kings of the chatham volleyball court.

anyway, i made it the rest of the night without much ankle trouble.

but today i can barely walk...

fuck.

how we roll in chatham, part 1

2005-08-03T05:17:00.000-07:00

so we were driving to work yesterday morning (get it, driving - how we roll...), minding our own business (let the record show that i, in fact, was not the driver), when i decided to pop in some interpol on the ol' car stereo. and i was so very excited about the opening of the brilliant "next exit" that i decided it was a really excellent idea to roll down my window and give the nice folks of chatham a little rock'n'roll sign (you know, that fist-pumping move where your index finger, your thumb and your pinky are extended). and perhaps it would have been an excellent idea, had there not been a police officer who decided he would no longer overlook our 80 km/h in a 50 zone...

whoops!

what people listen to in chatham

2005-08-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

well, shit, i imagine. you know, glass tiger, dep lepperd, lynyrd skynyrd, balls-out rock like that. that's not really what this is about, though.

spinning this week (month? it's been a while):

clap your hands say yeah - clap your hands say yeah
the hype machine works, i guess, because these kids are the real deal. they're derivative rockists, of course (that is, any and all criticisms are completely founded... oh, well), but they're fabulous. it's been a while since i've played an album with such consistency. my copy is legitimate, by the way.

negativland - escape from noise
i saw these guys perform... well, broadcast their radio show live in kitchener last april, and i've become increasingly obsessed by their beautifully illegal music ever since. i understand that this is their masterwork (but they really defy canonization, anyway) and i can see why. it's a perfectly constructed record, which easily (and bafflingly) flows from a noise-pollution theme to a communist theme, with the unfogettable "Christianity is Stupid" as its centrepiece.

caribou - the milk of human kindness
another pretty sick record from canuck dan snaith. i wish i'd seen the tour. the bear masks, the two drum sets...

talking heads - 77
i'm listening to this right now. i love talking heads. i just thought i'd remind everyone.

i'll continue this later. i've got to tell some kids what to do.

live from chatham

2005-08-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

We've taken the camp on the road!

Coraff and I will be blogging live this week from lovely (read: not at all lovely) Chatham, Ontario this week, as we spread the good word of postmodernism and the awful word of rockism on our first ever world tour of science.

Anyway - sorry I was so very out of commission in July. Here's a rundown of significan events (some will get their own posts later - especially one in particular...):
- I have a place to live in Vancouver in the fall
- I saw Buck 65 in Toronto (very good show)
- I saw Charlie and the Chocolate factory (very bad movie)
- I helped some people move
- I WENT TO CHICAGO FOR THE FIRST EVER INTONATION MUSIC FESTIVAL AND IT WAS AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING THE CITY THE MUSIC (NOT THE DEEP DISH PIZZA, THAT SHIT IS WACK) SO GREAT AND THE BANDS OH THE BANDS THE WRENS DEERHOOF LES SAVY FAV THE GO! TEAM WOWWOWOWWOWOWOWOWOOOOOOO

Yeah, it was pretty sick.

Gots to get back to the hick chil'ens now.

SCIENCE!!!

158-133!!!

2005-06-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

It's over, Harper, and the homos win!

Same-sex marriage bill is passed!

Third in the world, friends, third in the world.

spinning this week

2005-06-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

Let's get sentimental: my girlfriend and I just celebrated 5 years together. Ergo, we spent a good amount of time listening to David Bowie's "Five Years" (which, incidentally, is her favourite Bowie track).

I just got the debut from The Shins, which is a great album, to be sure, but unfortunately the greatest part of the CD is the first 8 seconds. The disc never fully recovers from this monumental opening.

I read somewhere recently that Talking Heads, while great, had a lot of filler on some of their albums. This, for the most part, is complete bullshit. However, I will concede that on the first three albums there are a few tracks which in some circles may be considered disposable. Speaking in Tongues, their fifth album, certainly is not my favourite, but I would say that there is nary a throwaway. A scant nine tracks, and each one has a distinct flavour, burrowing itself into my brain for its own unique reasons.

Laughing Stock - in a certain mood, is this not the greatest thing that's ever happened?

Just picked up Electric Ladyland also. The singles, as everyone knows, are great, but the real gem is "1983", an 11-minute jam that proves Jimi stole from jazz just as much as jazz stole from Jimi. It really showcases the other members of the Experience. The interplay is dazzling. It's definitely one of my favourite tracks right now.

dancing about architecture

2005-06-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we all know the famous Zappa quote about the usefulness of discourse about music (see title if you're not following me), but how about this one:

Describing music is like describing the colour orange. You just compare it to other things and hope people make the connection.

And where did I get this little ditty from? None other than Jann Arden. Who woulda thought?

not bad for a thursday night

2005-06-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

There was an incredible show of improvised and electroacoustic music last Thursday at University of Waterloo's Grad House, featuring a number of local performers.

My girlfriend and I arrived late, missing Jasha Narvesson's laptop magic, but apparently it was really great, which isn't terribly surprising, based on what I've heard of his in the past.

A duo from Hamilton then played, one guy on processed pedal steel guitar and the other on pedals, and the proceeded to produce feedback-laced ambient music for the next 40 minutes. It was pretty interesting stuff, even though ambient anything is not usually what I go for. When you're forced to really listen, though, many things come out of the music that you may not have given much thought to in the past.

The definite highlight of the night, though, was the trio of Nick Storring (cello and some laptop), Brandon Valdivia (percussion) and Colin Fisher (guitar and tenor sax). They were playing freely improvised music, and despite a few hesitant minutes at the beginning and a disobedient computer throughout, they produced some truly transcendent moments. These guys are fresh out of school, but - especially Valvidia - have the chops to be mentioned in the same breath as established improvising musicians.

It was great also to see something this abstract being presented at a university watering hole. Not a bad night at all.

batman beforehand

2005-06-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Let's start at the beginning: there was no hook. You remember the opening of Tim Burton's Batman, with the fantastic lick in the opening credits, and the visuals which perfectly set up Burton's vision of the Dark Knight. Well, such a thing did not happen in Christopher Nolan's new film. And, while I think the movie was really great, it seemed as though they were unwilling to take the risk of competing with Burton's film. They're clearly setting out to make "the definitive Batman", complete with exhaustive backstory, but, consequently, they seem afraid to have anything be "the 2nd best". The score, which probably couldn't have topped the one from 1989, became nearly unnoticable, and, while Gotham City was quite striking in this version, it lacked some of the character that Burton's had.

This is all sounding very negative. Beyond this nitpicking, it was a great film. Not a great comic book film, but a great film. The acting was uniformally excellent (other than Katie Holmes), in particular Michael Caine as Alfred and Morgan Freeman as... well, as some wise black guy who hooks Christian Bale up with all his gadgets.

Speaking of which, Christian Bale IS Batman. I was a huge fan of Michael Keaton in Burton's Batman, but Bale is the real deal. He's the embodiment of internal struggle, and obviously a hugely intimidating Batman. A perfect choice.

The story was also surprisingly engaging for the first film of a series (because this film is clearly not part of the Burton/Schumacher foursome), capturing the heart of what Batman is all about - the manipulation of fear.

Chris Nolan did a great job with this one - we can only hope that this new series (because there will almost certainly be a sequel) does become the definitive Batman. It may not have been as good at Burton's Batman (really, though, how can you compete with Jack Nicholson as the Joker?), but it's probably not only the best Batman since then, but even the best superhero film since then.

8 / 10

Oh, and I also saw the new Star Wars. The completist in me is happy, but the rest of me wants my money back. The acting is just as bad as in the other two, the writing may be worse, the directing is... well, George Lucas, and the visuals, while often dazzling, are so glossy and sterile that they become incredibly uninteresting very quickly.

But at least we know how Anakin became Darth Vader, right?

4 / 10

afi's top 100 movie quotes

2005-06-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

The American Film Institute is issuing yet another of their Top 100 lists, and for the first time in quite a while it's one that's inspired a fair amount of discussion (at least in my small world). In any case, I've got a lot of money riding on these predictions, so here's a look at what the top 10 are surely going to be:

1. "Of all the gin joints in all the cities in all the world, and she walks into mine." - Bogey (Casablanca)

2. "You don't understand. I coulda had class! I coulda been a contender! I could have been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am." - Brando (On the Waterfront)

3. "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." - Clark Gable (Gone with the Wind)

4. "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night." - Bette Davis (All About Eve)

5. "All right, Mr. Demille, I'm ready for my closeup." - Gloria Swanson (Sunset Blvd.)

6. "You've gotta ask yourself one question: 'do i feel lucky'? Well, do ya, punk?" - Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry)

7. "Here's lookin' at you, kid." - Bogey (Casablanca)

8. "Rosebud." - Orson Welles (Citizen Kane)

9. "Bond. James Bond." - Sean Connery (James Bond)

10. "There's no place like home." - Judy Garland (The Wizard of Oz)

Hugely "classic hollywood"-heavy, but that's what I'm predicting these fine folks are going to vote for...

I'd like to also make some honourable mentions. These either are far to coarse (or stupidly weren't even nominated) to make the list, much less the top 10.

"Nobody fucks with the Jesus." - John Turturro (The Big Lebowski)
"I'm your worst fucking nightmare, a nigger with a badge." - Eddie Murphy (48 Hours)
"What your daughter needs is the kind of man who'll smack her once a day whether she deserves it or not." - Clark Gable (It Happened One Night)

Enjoy the show.

Favourite Albums Preamble

2005-06-16T05:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I'd like to thank my job for being so easy that I had time to do something as bafflingly trivial as listing my favourite albums. But that's the sort of thing that pops my shutter, as it were.

Anyway, here it is (for better or worse) - in all its glory.

Enjoy, friends.

Favourite 100 Albums

2005-06-16T05:39:00.000-07:00

100. Songs of Love and Hate – Leonard Cohen (1971)

99. Bee Thousand – Guided By Voices (1994)

98. What’s Goin’ On – Marvin Gaye (1970)

97. The Shape of Jazz to Come – Ornette Coleman (1959)

96. Sister – Sonic Youth (1987)

95. Laughing Stock – Talk Talk (1991)

94. Live at Folsom Prison – Johnny Cash (1968)

93. Surfer Rosa – Pixies (1987)

92. …Endtroducing – DJ Shadow (1996)

91. Pink Moon – Nick Drake (1970)

90. Are You Experienced? – Jimi Hendrix (1967)

89. For Alto – Anthony Braxton (1970)

88. Madvillain – Madvillainy (2004)

87. Slanted & Enchanted – Pavement (1992)

86. In C – Terry Riley (1964)

85. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)

84. Maggot Brain – Funkadelic (1970)

83. I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One – Yo La Tengo (1997)

82. Another Green World – Brian Eno (1975)

81. Darkness on the Edge of Town – Bruce Springsteen (1978)

80. Fear of a Black Planet – Public Enemy (1990)

79. 3 Feet High and Rising – De La Soul (1988)

78. Astral Weeks – Van Morrison (1969)

77. Saxophone Colossus – Sonny Rollins (1956)

76. English Settlement – XTC (1983)

75. Turn on the Bright Lights – Interpol (2002)

74. Blood on the Tracks – Bob Dylan (1975)

73. Unit Structures – Cecil Taylor (1966)

72. The Bends – Radiohead (1995)

71. Face to Face – The Kinks (1966)

70. There’s a Riot Goin’ On – Sly & the Family Stone (1970)

69. Swordfishtrombones – Tom Waits (1984)

68. Forever Changes – Love (1968)

67. I See a Darkness – Bonnie “Prince” Billy (1999)

66. The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

65. This Years Model – Elvis Costello and the Attractions (1978)

64. The Beatles (1968)

63. Ege Bamayasi – Can (1971)

62. Low – David Bowie (1977)

61. Enter the Wu-tang: 36 Chambers – Wu-tang Clan (1993)

60. Naked City (1989)

59. Hunky Dory – David Bowie (1974)

58. Kill the Moonlight – Spoon (2002)

57. The Lonesome, Crowded West – Modest Mouse (1997)

56. Blue – Joni Mitchell (1970)

55. Let it Be – The Replacements (1984)

54. Paid in Full – Eric B. & Rakim (1987)

53. Kid A – Radiohead (2000)

52. Disintegration – The Cure (1989)

51. Horses – Patti Smith (1976)

50. Stand! – Sly and the Family Stone (1969)

49. Odelay – Beck (1996)

48. Nebraska – Bruce Springsteen (1982)

47. The Band (1969)

46. London Calling – The Clash (1979)

45. Mass Romantic – The New Pornographers (2000)

44. Out to Lunch – Eric Dolphy (1964)

43. Headhunters – Herbie Hancock (1975)

42. More Songs About Buildings and Food – Talking Heads (1978)

41. The Soft Bulletin – The Flaming Lips (1999)

40. Live at the Apollo – James Brown (1963)

39. The Modern Lovers (1976)

38. Closer – Joy Divison (1980)

37. Original Pirate Material – The Streets (2002)

36. Siamese Dream – Smashing Pumpkins (1993)

35. Music for 18 Musicians – Steve Reich (1978)

34. Paul’s Boutique – Beastie Boys (1988)

33. A Love Supreme – John Coltrane (1964)

32. Exile on Main St. – The Rolling Stones (1972)

31. The Queen is Dead – The Smiths (1985)

30. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back – Public Enemy (1988)

29. Rid of Me – PJ Harvey (1993)

28. Kind of Blue – Miles Davis (1959)

27. Free Jazz – Ornette Coleman (1960)

26. Daydream Nation – Sonic Youth (1988)

25. Hex Enduction Hour – The Fall (1982)

24. Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys (1966)

23. Mingus Ah Um – Charles Mingus (1959)

22. Revolver – The Beatles (1966)

21. Entertainment! – Gang of Four (1979)

20. In Utero – Nirvana (1993)

19. The Low End Theory – A Tribe Called Quest (1991)

18. Blonde on Blonde – Bob Dylan (1966)

17. White Light/White Heat – The Velvet Underground (1968)

16. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – Wilco (2002)

15. Imperial Bedroom – Elvis Costello and the Attractions (1982)

14. Marquee Moon – Television (1977)

13. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel (1998)

12. Bitches Brew – Miles Davis (1970)

11. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere – Neil Young (1970)

10. Doolittle – Pixies (1987)

9. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain – Pavement (1994)

8. Machine Gun – Peter Brotzman Octet (1968)

7. Fun House – The Stooges (1970)

6. Spiritual Unity – Albert Ayler (1964)

5. Rain Dogs – Tom Waits (1985)

4. Trout Mask Replica – Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band (1969)

3. Highway 61 Revisited – Bob Dylan (1965)

2. OK Computer – Radiohead (1997)

1. Remain in Light – Talking Heads (1980)

captain sleater and his magic fall

2005-06-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

As the "Spinning" list on the right would indicate, I've been listening to a fair bit of the new, hugely praised Sleater-Kinney album, The Woods. And I, like the majority of the music criticism world, enjoy it thoroughly. Actually, that may not be the best way to put it. Another way: it fucking rocks. Unfortunately, as soon as I became sold on the album, I started listening to Hex Enduction Hour by The Fall a lot. And as far as albums that flat out rawk, Hex pretty much rules the roost. Sleater-Kinney have taken a bit of a beating by comparison. Actually, there is a counterpoint review at cokemachineglow.com, which pretty much sums it up. If we think that kicks our sissy-hipster asses with is bombacity, that's only because we've forgotten about albums like Hex. Thank you, Mark E. Smith.

(By the way, to find out just how much I love the fall, read my Top 100 Albums Ever post tomorrow.)

Listening to a lot of the fall also got me thinking about something else: the relationship between The Fall and Captain Beefheart. Sure, the music does sound not at all similar, but there's definitely something there. I think it's the arrangements. That is, in both bands it seems like the mastermind (Smith and Don Van Vliet, respectively) gives each member a part, counts them off, and pure chaos ensues. In Beefheart, the influence was delta blues, but The Fall have much more sinister, atonal, avant-punk (think Wire) roots. But honestly, I've been realizing that these bands are far more similar than I've ever realized. I'd even go so far as to say that The Fall owe more to Beefheart than Tom Waits, who obviously learned from the good captain, but has much more structured arragnements.

Mark E. Smith takes the Heart from the Magic Band.

another sign of the apocalypse

2005-06-15T07:40:00.000-07:00

I think, when combined with this little tidbit, it seems that the end is truly nigh.

That's right - Pink Floyd are reforming. What the fuck? It's true, and I can prove it: if Pitchfork says it, it must be a fact.

say it ain't so...

2005-06-15T07:34:00.000-07:00

The label that got its name from sweet little Jimmy Three-gut...

The home of your friends and mine the Constantines...

Guelph's premier indie label, Three Gut Records, is calling it quits. Honestly, I can't believe this news... I'm really stunned...

Read the post here.

I suppose the only silver lining is that they are going to be releasing the new Constantines album, Tournament of Hearts, in October before closing their doors for good.

It seems so strange that this would happen now, when Canadian indie rock's stock is higher than ever. It's a sad day, friends.

something wicked this way comes...

2005-06-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

Work was a little slow this week, so I set out on my yearly task of making a huge and admittedly geeky (well, usually geeky, but of course this is the world of blogs...) list of my favourite records.

It's not quite done yet, but later this week 100 stone cold classics will be laid out on this here page for you, your family and your friends to take a gander at. Until then...