Language-Arts and The Pinecones @ The Garrison

Over the days leading up to this No Shame event at The Garrison featuring, amongst others, Vancouver's Language-Arts, I've been happily immersing myself in their sophomore album, Where Were You In The Wild?. In this internet age, originality is a concept becoming more and more (understandably) difficult to come by, and the challenge is whether or not an artist can present some new ideas while still remaining melodious and enjoyable. The constant rotation of this album proved to me that they are well trained when it comes to doing so in the studio, and I'll admit that I was fairly confident that they would be able to translate such to the live stage as well.

I arrived a couple of songs into the evening's second act, The Pinecones. Originally known as Brent Randall and his Pinecones, this time around the band is promoting the release of an album called SAGE!, which is the first truly collaborative effort by all four members of the band. This means that besides Randall's own compositions, Brian O’Reilly, Joel Goguen and Paul Linklater all had a share in the songwriting process, creating a collection of songs that still boast a similar tribute to a 60's British Invasion styled sound, but with an earthier, and perhaps less polished feel. The lack of studio sheen works in the material's favour however, creating an album that is probably their most satisfying so far. I came in as they had just started a song called Tea Tonight, which is one of the Randall penned compositions. Just as I was admiring the jaunty, Kinks-iness of that particular number, the band confirmed my suspicions of inspiration by segueing into a brilliant cover of The Village Green Preservation Society, which, of course, is one of The Kinks' most respected numbers. A broken guitar string meant that the band had to deviate slightly from the original setlist while an audience member (and fellow musician) worked on replacing it. This led to some more piano based material, as well as an opportunity for some of the others to take over lead vocals. Afterward, the evening progressed with one catchy hit after another, including the fuzzed out delicacy Jenny Fur, where they sounded more than a little bit like Howe and West's Tomorrow, who were a psychedelic two-hit wonder in the mid 60's. The full band composition ...Ardmore...Jenny was another highlight, with O’Reilly's Eight Miles High-ish guitar work being particularly stunning. A couple more covers were included in their set, such as Del Shannon's I Go To Pieces and set closer Dead End Street, which was another Kinks classic that they shredded brilliantly.

Photos: My pictures of The Pinecones @ The Garrison are up on flickr.
Myspace: The Pinecones

As I suspected, Language-Arts proved themselves to be just as stunning live as they are on record, with their four members creating an orchestral sound that is remarkably full. On album, the band is composed of only two members, Kristin Cudmore who sings and plays classical guitar, piano and banjo on the album, while Gregor Phillips handles all drums and percussion. The live version hires on a couple of other people to handle the keys and upright bass/cello, and I was immediately impressed with the professionalism of the entire outfit. The band set up and tuned quickly, enabling them to begin their set quicker than usual. They opened with one of my favourite songs on the album called Cavity, its jazzy bass-line designed to hypnotically suck you in and although many patrons were rather chatty on this particular evening, I found it hard not to remain fixated on what was taking place on stage. Cudmore's vocals are high and pixie-ish in a way that is slightly reminiscent of Joanna Newsom or Suzanne Vega, but perhaps more accessible. The music itself is one of constant wonder in the sense that there are certain songs where you think that you've got the groove figured out and then they throw in a tempo change, or similar progressive tangent that takes your head journey in a totally different direction. Lighthouse is one example of this, where an almost Spanish guitar break seemingly comes out of nowhere, taking the song to a whole new level. White Socks in Birkenstocks is another example of this style of accomplished musical composition, where the classical tag proves itself appropriate both in its instrumental sense of musical adventure, and in the vocal style that Cudmore almost raps her wordy lyrics in a way that distracts from how cumbersome they would be if left in other hands. By the time they ended their set with the incredibly wordy Tuck It In, I was left in awe, not only of Cudmore's ability to remember all of those lyrics, but also in the way that the band has managed to carve a niche that is all their own, and present it on a live stage in a way that never alienates, but endears. I'll certainly be seeing them again.

Photos: My pictures of Language-Arts @ The Garrison are up on flickr.
Myspace: Language-Arts
Download: Where Were You In The Wild? mp3

Language-Arts will be playing a CMW Showcase on March 11th at Sneaky Dee's.

Other stuff:
I came home late last night to the sad news that Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous has died. My introduction to his music came a little later than some. I was first introduced to him in the early days of my blogging when I saw him live at The Mod Club, thanks to the fact that I had won tickets to his show from fellow blogger Frank Yang, whom I did not know at the time. Needless to say, that performance impacted me greatly, and although I was mildly aware of his history with substance abuse, as well as his general disdain for performing live, I can't say that any of those things were apparent that night. He seemed to be in high spirits, and I even remember him smiling frequently for the cameras and coming across as a genuinely affable fellow. Since then, all of his albums have been on regular rotation for me, most notably his 2006 release Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain, which contained a song that always made me smile called Don't Take My Sunshine Away. The song sounds even more poignant as I listen to it this morning. His musical contributions will certainly be missed. [Myspace: Sparklehorse]

Kurt Vile @ Criminal Records (In-Store Performance)

As of today, my most listened to album of 2010 has got to be Kurt Vile's Childish Prodigy, which is just about perfect as far as I'm concerned. There is something very seductive about its lo-fi melding of trippy 70's sounds and in your face songwriting that I find myself returning to it a couple of times a week. What's interesting is that, while expressing my enthusiasm toward seeing him perform in the intimate confines of a local record shop, a friend recently asked me to describe his music, and do you think I could do it? Of course not. And although my fumbling for the right words frustrated me a bit at the time, I suppose it's a testament to the originality of his material that I was unable to hurl a tag at him so easily. There's definitely some elements of psychedelia in there, but Roky Erickson, Mr. Vile is not. He's a little bit freaky and a little bit folky, but when the term 'freak-folk' calls to mind artists like Devendra Banhart, it hardly seems like that is an accurate tag either, although enjoying both of those artists may be a step in the right direction. Until I think of something better, I'm just going to go with fuzzed-out, lo-fi, Philadephian psychedelifolk, with a hint of classic rock throw in for good measure. And as lame as my particular description may be, the performance on that blustery winter eve was anything but.

When I heard his performances on CBC's Q earlier in the day, it seemed as if he was going to have some accompaniment on guitar and percussion with him for the show, but as it turned out, this was a solo performance and although he seemed slightly awkward on his own, that mild timidity still boasted an assured-ness that was quite endearing. There were a few issues with getting the sound just right, and although I don't think they ever really did, the slight hiss actually added to the overall effect, creating an atmospheric buzz that was well suited with Vile's fuzzed out tones. He opened with Overnite Religion and immediately followed that up with Dead Alive, both songs sounding even warmer and more haunting than on the album, largely as a result of his deliberately muffled vocals. One of the biggest surprises to me was the fact that he was a dang good guitarist, taking the opportunity to showcase his finger picking abilities several times throughout the show. His banter was laid back and brief, yet even simple questions like "What's the Opera House like?" was met with great enthusiasm. He played many of the great songs from the album, but unfortunately he didn't get to perform my favourite song Freak Train, likely due to the song's use of heavy percussion, of which he had none. Still, it was a short set that was still surprisingly heavy on material, and as he neared the end, an audience member loudly requested Blackberry Song, which had Vile respond by saying something like, "um, yah, well..." before he lunged into something entirely different. His sense of humour shone through though as he ended off with "that song for that dude" which, of course, was his way of introducing the aforementioned request. Sadly I wasn't going to be able to make it out to the Opera House for the actual show that evening, but I felt more than satisfied with what I did see, and there's no doubt that I'll likely get the opportunity to catch a full set next time around.

Photos: My pictures of Kurt Vile @ Criminal Records are on flickr
Myspace: Kurt Vile
Download: Overnite Religion mp3
Download: Hunchback mp3

Other stuff:
Born Ruffians are set to release their sophomore album entitled Say It on June 1st on Paper Bag Records. The first single, Soul Brother, is available as a free download. [Myspace: Born Ruffians]

The Weakerthans will be releasing a brand new CD/DVD set entitled Live at The Burton Cummings Theatre on March 23rd. They'll be celebrating this release with an all ages show at Queen Elizabeth Theatre on May 26th with their special guest Bahamas whose Pink Strat is up for a Juno in the Best Roots Album category. All ticket information is here. [Myspace: The Weakerthans, Bahamas]

Yah, so OK Go are officially the greatest music video makers of all time. Watch their latest video for This Too Shall Pass for proof. [Myspace: OK Go]

Two Way Monologues has ten questions with British Colombia's We Are The City. They are playing the Rancho Relaxo tonight for $5. [Myspace: We Are The City]

BBC Radio 6 Music News reports that Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse's Dark Night Of The Soul album is going to FINALLY get an official release sometime this year. Because last year's leak of the album made it an unofficial release, I was not able to include it on my year end best of, although in my opinion it would've definitely made it into my top 3. Maybe this qualifies it to be included on this year's list. Hmmmm.... [Myspace: Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse]

Sparklehorse w.Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter @ The Mod Club

Thanks to the kind folks over at Chromewaves.net, I won tickets to see Sparklehorse with Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter at the Mod Club last night. Unbelievable show!

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter are an alt-country-ish band from Seattle that have been receiving quite a bit of buzz lately. Her mega-husky voice was in full form as she played mostly cuts from her third release, “Life, Love, Lust and the Open Halls of the Soul” and I really admired the way that she seemed to pour out huge wails of emotion into every song. Being relatively new to her music, I really didn’t know what to expect, but the fact that guitarist Paul Wandscher was in Whiskeytown was definitely a huge selling point for me. And I could certainly hear that influence. The setlist was a mix of whisky-stained bawlers and a couple of more upbeat tunes. Her demeanor was very gracious and when she stated that “I realize that most of you don’t know me…” it didn’t come across as mock humility.

Download:
LLL mp3

Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter myspace
Purchase “Life, Love, Lust and the Open Halls of the Soul” here. You can also stream the entire CD there as well.

Check out the pictures I took of Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter on my flickr page.

Meanwhile, I think Sparklehorse is my new favourite band. Mark Linkous has spent the last few years battling his share of personal rivalries in the form of substance abuse, alcoholism and the like. He apparently dislikes performing but it didn’t show last night as he was very kind to the enthusiastic audience, even occasionally mugging for the cameras. The playing was exceptionally tight, especially when playing some of the rockier numbers like “It’s Not So Hard” and “Pig”. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard a setlist that flowed quite like the one he chose for this show. The heavier numbers all seemed to come in right when we needed it most and the mellower songs were steeped in so much atmosphere that they came to life in ways that, although still excellent on CD, just made them even more impactful (is that a word?) in a live setting. I loved it when they performed “Don’t Take My Sunshine Away.” What a great great song! I think I’ll definitely be listening to a lot of their music this week.

Stream:
You can stream several tracks including the excellent “Don’t Take My Sunshine Away” on the myspace page.

Purchase “Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain” at Amazon.ca.

Check out my pictures of Sparklehorse over on flickr.