"Like a freight burning down the track, illuminating all the things you lack..."

Reviews of Sunparlour Players, The Grass and Dinosaur Jr.

Over the past couple of months, secular work and concerts have pretty much taken over the bulk of my life, meaning that I haven't had much of an opportunity to tell you about some of the CD's that I've been enjoying lately. So, why don't I do that now:

Sunparlour Players - Wave North

I'm kinda weird sometimes. There are times where I look just as forward to disliking an album, as much as I look forward to liking one. The hype surrounding Sunparlour Players' latest release was of the sort that I was actually looking forward to spouting several thoughts on what makes this album so overrated, and why everyone should accept that my opinion is right and everyone else's is wrong. After all, I saw them open for The Sadies last year, and although I enjoyed the show, it was certainly not in a 'best artist ever' sort of way. It was a good, energetic show. Period. Therefore, the album could not possible be 'best of the year' worthy, could it?

Well, that slurping that you might be hearing, is that of an arrogant music blogger licking his wounds. Right from the opening track, entitled North, the stripped down, yet shredding vocals of Andrew Penner have pierced my very being. The song opens with subtlety, as each strum of the guitar gets thicker and thicker before the song explodes in a way that reminds me of some of Glen Hansard's more powerful pieces in the movie Once. The album takes that opening point and continues to build on it, creating a sound that is much fuller than an ordinary three piece would normally be able to pull off. This is illustrated most obviously on the first single, Battle of 77, which wouldn't sound all that out of place on an Arcade Fire album except, once again, this is only a three piece. A grand achievement indeed. For the most part, the simpler tracks work just as well. Joy In What You Lack is one example, where the arrangement is as simple as it gets, and the lyrics are even simpler, yet there is still something epic about the song's presentation. An area where the two elements combine and create something really special is with the song Nuclear, which begins with a down south vocal and banjo accompaniment. This creates a certain historical mood that gets blown to smithereens during the song's second half, where the pace picks up, the tempo changes and the song becomes enigmatic.

Sunparlour Players have broken me down and taken their folksy brand of gospel-rock to the next level, and it'll be great to see how this translates to their live show, which I'm sure I'll be taking in sometime before the year is through.

Sunparlour Players are playing the Hillside Music Festival in Guelph from July 24th - 26th, and the Summerworks Music Series at The Great Hall in Toronto on August 14th.

Myspace: Sunparlour Players
Download: Battle Of 77 mp3


The Grass - Rogue Waves

I don't usually listen to the CD's that I didn't ask for right away, simply because I can't listen to everything. But there are two reasons why I popped this one in my CD player earlier than usual: First of all, I quickly looked at the title and mistakenly thought it was a new album by the band Rogue Wave. But secondly, and this is the main reason, the CD's trippy cover looked like something circa 1967, leading me to believe that this is likely another psych-rock recording that I am sure to dig. Looks like, in this case, I can judge a book by its cover, because psych-rock this is, and sure enough, I'm digging it immensely.

Upon researching this band from Nova Scotia, I was blown away to find out that this is their fourth album. It certainly sounds like a band that has experience behind it, but how come I've never heard of them before? To pigeonhole them into the psych-rock genre isn't exactly accurate, since they seem to find inspiration in all of the music of the sixties. The album opens with the soulful piano of Ain't Runnin' Scared, which is a song that oozes a real Motown vibe. Spreadin' The Blues, as its title would suggest, is a bluesier number, reminiscent of some of the classic rock output of artists like Cream, or perhaps even the Grateful Dead without all of the jammy-ness. Songs like Lucky and Without You take us back to the early 60's, with a sweetly saccharine malt shop style; the latter song even boasting a syrupy female vocal that is hard not to be charmed by. The psych-rock tag gets more appropriate in the loud and freaky The Ballad of Davey Jones while their sense of melody in Down At The Station reminds me of Big Star, Matthew Sweet or even The Action's Rolled Gold album. And the whole things ends with the southern rock jam of Skyline Daisy, showing that the band still knows how to bring the country that earned them a nom for Best Country/Bluegrass Recording at the Nova Scotia Music Awards back in 2006.

Rogue Waves is a really good album that makes me want to go back and examine the rest of their catalogue since they seem to find inspiration amongst many of my personal faves.

Above photo is by Mallory Ryan.
Myspace: The Grass
Download: The Ballad Of Davey Jones mp3


Dinosaur Jr. - Farm

Dinosaur Jr. is sort of like the AC/DC of indie rock in the sense that they don't really change much from album to album but for whatever reason, we all seem to be quite content with that, myself included. In fact, personally, I wouldn't want it any other way. I suppose it's just because they're so great at what they do, that the old "if it ain't broke" dictum applies here, not to mention the personal nostalgic effect that they seem to have on me.

Their great comeback album of 2007, Beyond, was way better than anyone expected from them at this latter stage of their career, ranking among some of the best work they've ever done, and while Farm is perhaps a lesser album, it may be simply a matter of the surprise factor having been taken away. There is nothing wrong with this album whatsoever, and it is proof positive that the magic that is Dinosaur Jr is showing no signs of fading anytime soon. J. Mascis' voice is still as world weary as ever, and this time around it seems to be exposing a little bit more heartbreak than last time around, but it works well. The band has always been great at performing an excellent straight forward rock song, and there's plenty of them here, the best being Over It and I Want You To Know. The contributions by Lou Barlow add enough variety to keep things interesting. Your Weather is one of these songs, an almost Beatlesque number with great harmonies and an infectious melody. As usual, the standout tracks are the ones that prove wholeheartedly that J. Mascis is one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time. The Crazy Horse comparisons have been dropped before, but take a listen to the guitar work at the end of Said The People or, even more notably, the blisteringly euphoric I Don't Wanna Go There and try to convince me that the man is not worthy of, at least being the runner-up king to Shaky Young's Like A Hurricane throne. When the band comes to The Phoenix in a couple of months, that song is sure to rise as triumphantly as anything else in their catalogue, which means that I may have to make a special effort to be there. We'll see...

Dinosaur Jr. is playing The Phoenix on September 30th.

Myspace: Dinosaur Jr.
Download: I Want You To Know mp3

The Space Between Things - Songs About You EP

I've been following the evolution of local lo-fi phenom The Space Between Things (aka Chris Hobson) for over a year now, and it's frightening the amount of prolific output that has been created by this musical workaholic in that relatively short time. Other than the odd song being featured on a compilation or soundtrack however, the amount of stuff actually being exposed to more than a fleeting myspace appearance has been ridiculously low. The reason for this can only be attributed to Hobson's borderline obsessive nature in making sure that the music that is provided to the public meets his high standards of excellence. Thankfully the wait is finally over, now that this one man psych experience has made the Songs About You EP available to the masses. Upon hearing the release, it's become obvious to these ears that the result is well worth the effort put into it.

Perfecting a psychedelic lo-fi sound that is free of gimmick and pretentiousness is no easy task. Too many times have I come across an album that is made to sound like a basement recording, only to be irritated by the fact that the buzz and hiss involved is creating too much of a distraction to be endearing for long periods of time. Although Songs About You definitely has an earthy feel to it, the pristine production means that the sounds and effects are there to enhance the experience, not detract from it. Taking a cue from the early days of studio wizardry, this collection is a psychotropic journey unto itself; an amalgamation of highs and lows that enable the EP's 4 tracks to meld together into one satisfying piece of music, even without a literal segue. In fact, "the space between things" is a highly accurate moniker since it is the atmospheres and the white noises in between the melodies that are used to paint such a sonically menacing landscape. Even Hobson's singing is presented in an indistinct hush that makes it just one ingredient in the overall picture, as opposed to being the main ingredient.

The most obvious point of comparison can be found in the work of Rick White, most noticeably with Elevator, although Eric's Trip parallelism would be justified also. Fans of Guided By Voices and Sebadoh are also likely to find something interesting here. The Space Between Things has a couple more releases planned for this year, but for now, the entire Songs About You EP is available for free here.

Above photo from myspace.

Listen: Love's On The Run

Myspace: The Space Between Things

Other stuff:

The Waking Eyes' Rusty Matyas has apparently joined The Weakerthans. This is according to an article in Chart Magazine. The Waking Eyes are opening for The Weakerthans and The Constantines at The Phoenix on March 31st - April 2nd. [Myspace: The Weakerthans, The Constantines, Waking Eyes]

Metric's Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw express some thoughts on the recent online leak of their upcoming new release Fantasies, as well as some other comments on the album over at Clash Magazine. [Myspace: Metric]

Torquil Campbell of Stars and Memphis has started yet another new band called Dead Child Star, which also features Apostle of Hustle's Julian Harris Brown. Info on this new project is on Pitchfork. [Myspace: Dead Child Star]

Dinosaur Jr. has a new album entitled Farm that will be released on Jagjaguwar on June 23rd. Stereogum has some of the details. [Myspace: Dinosaur Jr.]

One of the strangest new releases I've heard about would be Iggy Pop's upcoming foray into french pop jazz entitled Préliminaires, set for release on June 2nd. If you're as confused as I am about this, hopefully Iggy will be answering some of your questions on an interactive online press conference over at the Iggy Pop Préliminaires Official Website being held tomorrow (Thursday March 26th) at 11am CET (6am EDT). [Myspace: Iggy Pop]

Deerhoof has an artsy new video for their equally artsy new song Eaguru Guru from their latest album Offend Maggie. It's up on Pitchfork. [Myspace: Deerhoof]

And finally, it's been a couple of years and I've been really craving some live Jay Farrar like nobody's business. Well, Son Volt has a new album slated for release in May, and it looks like a full tour cycle will follow the release of the new album. OK, that's not much in the form of new news on the Farrar front, but I'm just making it clear that I've been checking up regularly. [Myspace: Jay Farrar; Son Volt]

NXNE 2007: Day 2

Day 2 of the NXNE festival was the day of legends for me. I saw several of my all time favorites that night. I started early by heading on over to The Phoenix during that wicked rainstorm to make sure that I get in to see Dinosaur Jr. No problem. The opening acts for that show were both fantastic.Awesome Color is a semi-psychedelic garage band from Michigan. They warmed up the crowd admirably with their Stooges-style rock. Upon looking into them some more, what's most impressive is that their album was partly produced by none other than Thurston Moore. His influence is definitely there, although the band seems to draw more influences from the early Detroit rock scene.

Download: Free Man mp3 / Visit the band on myspace. / My Awesome Color pics on flickr.

Up next was Toronto's own Uncut. They also rocked pretty heavily with a real onslaught of loud guitars and insanely thrashing cymbals! All of the members (except the drummer) took a turn at lead vocals and I thought that they had a bit of a shoegazy vibe to their sound, albeit a heavy one. Besides Dinosaur Jr, they've also had the privilege of opening for the likes of Bob Mould himself.

Download: Breaking Glass mp3 / Visit the band on myspace / My Uncut pics on flickr.

The original lineup of Dinosaur Jr. was of course, very very loud. They cranked out all of the hits as well as several songs from their excellent new release "Beyond." The chemistry was still there in full force and the guys even seemed to be surprisingly enjoying themselves. For the encore, local stage hog Kevin Drew stepped up to the mike to perform "The Wagon" which succeeded in bringing the already hyperactive crowd to a rambunctious (but interestingly controlled) frenzy. It was fun. They were loud. I was deaf.

Download: Almost Ready mp3 / Visit the band on myspace / My Dinosaur Jr pics on flickr.

Although deaf, I picked up my wife and we headed on down to Lee's Palace to see yet another legend, John Doe. Upon looking at the schedule I was a little confused because some references said that John Doe was on first, and others said that The Sadies were first. Upon arriving I realized that the two of them had joined forces to put on an awesome performance that surprisingly even outshone the Dinosaur Jr show that I just attended. John Doe is the founder of the seminal punk rock band X, but he's been releasing his unique style of country-folk-punk rock music over the last few decades. He opened the night with a 45 minute set that was just him on the guitar cranking out the tunes. He sounded great. After that The Sadies hit the stage, and one of my closest friends had told me about how great they were in concert but I had yet to see them. Yep they're great. Their set was chock full of whiskey stained swagger and punk rock 'tude, and I expecially enjoyed their forays into surf guitar instrumentation. After about half an hour they called John Doe back to the stage and they played a few more alt-country tunes with special appearances from Kathleen Edwards and Dallas and Travis' papa Bruce Good of the legendary Good Brothers. I was completely exhausted at the end of the night, but boy, did I ever feel like I got my money's worth.

Downloads:
John Doe - The Golden State mp3 (fixed link)
The Sadies - Loved On Look mp3

Visit John Doe on myspace.
Visit The Sadies on myspace.

Unlike my pictures from the rest of the night, the pics for this show actually turned out really good. See them on flickr.

Off to NXNE again this year! Woo-hoo!!

This years’ NXNE festival is rapidly approaching (June 7-10) and I couldn’t be more enthused. I sort of laid off the concert going this month in preparation. Of course, The Mystery Jets canceling their shows this week (due to a Visa situation) certainly made it easier to do so. But I’ve perused the acts and I think I have a personal schedule all made up and prepared. The cool thing is that you can actually make up a printable schedule right there on the NXNE site. So right now, here it is.

Thursday night, I want to start off at The Art Bar and check out Christa Couture, a folk singer from Vancouver. I’ve admired her music for a few years now and her song “I Will” is still one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. I meant to see The Ghost Is Dancing last year but didn’t, so maybe this year I will. And then it’s a beautiful repeat of last year when I check out the always fantastic Jason Falkner. Maybe I can meet him again and he won’t remember how much of a dork I was last year. The Old Soul is playing at the Horseshoe and they’re described as “an orchestral explosion of horns, drums, saxophones, vibraphones and accordions.” Sounds pretty cool to me. Follow that up with Adam Franklin at the Reverb and then, depending on how tired I am, it’s Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland at Lee’s Palace. However, the chances of me staying awake that late are basically slim to none.

Friday night is devoted to being one of the first 100 wristbands at The Phoenix to see Dinosaur Jr. It’s an early show (doors at 6) but there are two opening acts as well, Awesome Color and Uncut. Never heard of them. But I have to be there early if I’m going to get in. I do have a back-up plan if that one falls through but I'm fairly sure I won't need it. After that, I know many who will be zipping over to the Voxtrot show. Although I wouldn’t mind seeing openers Au Revoir Simone again, I reckon the crowd is going to be massive and since the Dino Jr crowd will likely already give me a headache, I think I’ll pass on that one and check out The Sadies instead at Lee’s Palace. That will be followed by Birds of Wales at The Drake.

My Saturday night schedule consists of Ohbijou at The Horseshoe. Everyone is telling me that I HAVE to see them so I will. Then I am really excited about seeing Hello Operator! I love those guys and I’ve never had the opportunity to see them live so it’s going to be great. It’s not going to be easy, but I’ll try to get from The Rivoli to Jeff Healey’s Roadhouse quick enough to see Soundtrack Of Our Lives. I think that one will be pretty busy though and I may be pressing my luck. But I’ll try anyways and after that I’ll go to The Horseshoe again and see In-Flight Safety, whose live show was very impressive the last time I saw them.

Although I’ve received endless amounts of mockery from several friends, I like Fountains of Wayne. I realize “Stacy’s Mom” made them incredibly uncool, but I’m sorry, I’m a sucker for a well written pop song. I also don’t understand how it’s alright to like Matthew Sweet, but not FoW. To me they both write and record the same brand of catchy, hooky and hummable pop music. Whatever, I’m looking forward to seeing them and on Sunday night, the first 50 wristbands at Lee’s Palace are going to be allowed in to see them. So, I’ll be there early. Because I love them. And I don’t care if you don’t.

Downloads & Streams:

Christa Couture - I Will (stream)
The Ghost Is Dancing - People (mp3)
Jason Falkner - Lose Myself (mp3)
The Old Soul - Stream all of their songs here.
Adam Franklin - Cannery Row (mp3)
Dinosaur Jr. - Almost Ready (mp3)
The Sadies - Loved On Look (mp3)
Birds Of Wales - Stream several of their songs here.
Ohbijou - Misty Eyes (mp3)
In-Flight Safety - Stream their entire album here.
Fountains of Wayne - Watch the new video for "Someone To Love" featuring Dimitri Martin at youtube.

Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond

The new Dinosaur Jr. CD is a total throwback… THROWBACK TO AWESOMENESS!!!! Yes, Dinosaur Jr. is releasing their first album in 10 years, and their first album with all the original members since 1988. With their egos in check and dollar signs in their eyes, J. Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph have decided to let bygones be bygones and have joined together to release the wonderful album “Beyond.” There are no real surprises here, other than the fact that they still sound great. The songs are very distinctly Dino-like, with hooks and deafening loudness still being the main ingredients. J. Mascis’ insanely unfathomable guitar playing is the highlight of the album for me, allowing even the most mediocre of songs to rise to unparalleled heights. The first single, “Almost Ready,” sounds like classic DJ, the electric guitar immediately commanding your attention, and, although sounding vaguely familiar, catchy nonetheless. “Pick Me Up” is their epic track this time around, with another wicked guitar crunchy solo towards the end. “Been There All The Time” is another single from the album, and it relies on the stop-start pattern that the band had mastered back in their heyday. There are also a couple of Barlow tracks, and they’re good but basically forgettable when listened to within the context of the raunchy Mascis songs.

The album is officially released on May 1. They play The Phoenix on June 8^th, 2007.

Download:
Almost Ready mp3

Dinosaur Jr. on myspace.
Purchase the CD “Beyond” over at Fat Possum Records.