The High Dials - Moon Country

It takes a very talented band to remain fresh and original without repeating themselves. This is what makes me love Montreal's The High Dials so much. In their original incarnation as The Datsuns, they were another above average Nuggets-inspired garage band, which was cool. Other bands of that ilk have proved beyond any measure of doubt that this sound is all that they can do and although they continue to regurgitate album after album of the EXACT SAME THING, The Datsuns were determined not to all into that trap. They changed their name to The High Dials and explored more of a psych-rock territory for their second album, A New Devotion, much to the high praise of none other than the ultimate modern day psychster Anton Newcombe. Well, here they are a few albums later, and they've managed to do it again. Moon Country is the name of their latest release, and this time I'm hearing more of a power pop sound, not entirely dissimilar to Big Star or Teenage Fanclub. Oh, their psychedelic slant is still in tact, but the reigns of accessiblity have been pulled in just a little bit and, as per usual, it works really well. Although many of the songs are a little bit more straightforward this time around, trippiness still abounds aplenty on a few of the tracks. Seagull Blues morphs from a singalong head bobber to a droney instrumental in a matter of seconds, quite unexpectantly. Open The Gates is the most blatantly psychedelic number, with the voice alterations, fuzzy guitars and slightly muffled drumline all merging together to form an 8 minute existential oneness (!!) (OK, that last statement probably doesn't make sense but it's what I felt like typing while the song was playing.) If that's not your cup of meat however, most of the songs cut to the chase nice and quicklike, such as the Lennon-ish Clare, the beautifully executed My Heart Is Pinned To Your Sleeve and the slight Britpop of Invisible Choirs. While many bands have lost their ability to know when to quit and call it a day, The High Dials' ability to reinvent themselves while still sounding very much like themselves is a talent that they should continue to nurture for many albums to come.

The High Dials are playing on Tuesday night (November 11th) at The Horseshoe on what is probably the greatest free bill I've heard of all year! Evelyn Room are on at 9; The Golden Hands Before God come on at 10; you've got Spiral Beach bouncing around at 11; and then this here band The High Dials go spinning at 12! Holy awesomeness!!!

Myspace: The High Dials
Download: Killer Of Dragons mp3


More stuff: I've made no secret about how much I dig Sweden's Loney Dear and it looks like his new album Dear John will be released on January 27th. The new single Airport Surroundings is being streamed over on Pitchfork and I like it a lot! [Myspace: Loney Dear]

80's pop band Ultravox is doing a little reunion tour of the U.K. in 2009; beginning in Edinburgh on April 10th, and ending in Portsmouth on April 28th. I've gotta be honest, I didn't know that there was still this much interest in the band. Cool. [Myspace: Ultravox]

Bob Dylan's world tour takes him to Ontario starting today. He's not coming to Toronto, but he's playing strange venues like John Labatt Centre in London and General Motors Centre in Oshawa. Does anybody else think that this is sort of strange but kinda cool at the same time? [Myspace: Bob Dylan]

Oasis' Noel Galagher gives us some of his opinions of Radiohead at Spin Online. OK, everybody's entitled to their opinion but "they've been making the same record since Kid A"? Erm, excuse me black pot, have you met kettle? [Myspace: Oasis; Myspace: Radiohead]

A blog entitled From Closer To Near has just posted Pitchfork's list of the 500 greatest songs from punk to the present. It's a pretty cool list although part of me wishes that it was done in some sort of numerical fashion instead of being divided up by year. Still, it's definitely an enjoyable time waster. It is going to be released in book form on November 11th. [Official Pitchfork 500 site]

Wow, and while scouring the net for some other newsworthy items to post here, I just saw that HeroHill has just finished posting their very own review of The High Dials as well. So, y'know, great minds and all of that...