Rob Szabo - Life & Limb

How does a guy who constantly gets expressions like "Cobain-worthy" and "like prime Costello" hurled his way, manage to stay significantly unknown? Not only is Rob Szabo unknown in the world of pop music, but even in the world of indie rock he still seems to be a heavily guarded secret, appreciated by only a few astute, CBC loving individuals. The fact is that such overly flattering comparisons, while perhaps a tad extreme, are not entirely inaccurate. Rob Szabo is one of Canada's most gifted singer-songwriters, on par with fellow under appreciated artist Danny Michel and even Ron Sexsmith.

His new CD Life & Limb has just been released, and it's a sophisticated follow up to 2006's Like A Metaphor containing more of the same clever wordplay set to melancholic pop hooks that fans such as myself have come to have an awestruck admiration for. The CD begins quite upbeat with That Cold Hard Sell, which is a wonderful Dylanesque rant on blatant commercialism. The rest of the album remains a little bit more acoustic and chilled, but never does it lag or grow monotonous. All the Sleepy Souls is a beautiful slice of balladry that avoids sounding contrived, as ballads often do. Last Night is a country and western shuffle, which features the beautiful voice of Kerri Ough. What I Deserve has Szabo sounding his most genuine, hinting at a slight desperation that is tempered with hope. The album closes with That Kind Of Fight, possibly the most beautiful song he's ever written, sounding as if he's taking a cue from some of Neil Young's more personal works. The album is the perfect length clocking in at just over 30 minutes and hopefully Life & Limb will finally be the release that brings Szabo the attention that has unjustly eluded him for too long.

Rob Szabo is playing The Cameron House with Revival Dear tonight (Oct 3rd)
$10 at the door

Myspace: Rob Szabo
Stream: Life & Limb - Entire Album here.

Other stuff:

The Matthews Brothers (whom I talked about here) are playing The Horseshoe Tavern on Friday October 10th. It's an open guest list, which means that you simply say that you're there to see The Matthews Brothers and you're in for free. It's part of Indie Music Week.

Myspace: The Matthews Brothers

Camera Obscura apparently have another album all finished, mixed and mastered and they're looking forward to releasing it sometime in the new year. They're interviewed over at Von Pip Musical Express.

Myspace: Camera Obscura

Retro hip hop soulster Slakah The Beatchild has a cool new video for his song What's This Feeling? from his current release Soul Movement Vol One. The video can be seen here.

Myspace: Slakah The Beatchild

Apostle Of Hustle and Tanya Tagaq are playing the Glen Gould theatre on Friday November 7th. They're giving you an opportunity to win tickets to the show over here.

Myspace: Apostle Of Hustle
Myspace: Tanya Tagaq

You wanna be the guitarist for an ultra cool San Franciscan rock 'n roll band? The Diletantes are apparently looking for a new permanant guitarist. They are going into pre production for their second album this month.

Myspace: The Diletantes

Tickets for Sondre Lerche's November 14th show at The Mod Club go on sale today for $18.50.

Myspace: Sondre Lerche

And finally, for people who are my age and stuff, Virgin Music Canada is holding their 25th Anniversary concert at Lee's Palace on Tuesday October 14th. Performers include The Northern Pikes, Colin James, Pluto, and Choclair. Tickets are $20 with all the proceeds from the show being donated to MusiCan, which will use the funds to raise money to support a school's music program.

Myspace: The Northern Pikes
Myspace: Colin James
Myspace: Pluto
Myspace: Choclair

A couple to keep your eye on...

Here are a couple of quick picks of some artists that I've recently come across that sound very good, but I actually know very little about.

The Matthews Brothers' Rob and Cole Matthews are from Kingston, Ontario and their background in classical music training has made them very adept at crafting music that is emotional and steeped in atmosphere. The three songs that they have up on their myspace page display an incredible amount of maturity and contradict the whole idea of an adjustment period. I suppose if you need to place a label on something, then I would put them in the folk / rock area of the musical world, but overall, I would simply label them as a good little band that is very easy to consume and digest. They spend a lot of time at the quiet farmhouse and, apparently, this is where they gain a lot of their inspiration, which gives their music an incomparable warmth that feels especially good on those blustery winter snow days. I'm looking forward to warming up with their CD and a hot chocolate, but it looks like the recording of their full-length is going to take some time as they strive to gain perfection but in a financially feasible way. However, if their demos are any indication, it'll be worth waiting for.

Myspace: The Matthews Brothers

Very very little is known about Jeremy Sparrow. I know his real name is Lasse Smed and he hails from Denmark. His music is heavily influenced by John Cale and The The and it really shows. He has four songs displayed on his myspace page and to say that they show a great deal of promise would be an understatement. "Outrunning Paper Tigers" for example, is restrained and mercurial as it harks back to seminal 80's bands like Flesh For Lulu or late Roxy Music. "The Radiant 5" has Lasse vocalizing a delicious falsetto that still manages to sound slightly dark, a real accomplishment. "Without You I'm Nothing" is equally impressive, a lushly produced song that avoids sounding syrupy, although it could certainly have gone that way if left in less capable hands. It avoids over reaching itself by keeping the instrumentation minimal, keeping only what's necessary. He works along with Tobias Winberg, whose Death Valley Sleepers I had mentioned that I was quite impressed with in another post. Apparently Denmark is becoming a hub of impressive talent these days.

Download: Outrunning Paper Tigers mp3
Myspace: Jeremy Sparrow

The above photo is by Mikkel Balle.