Darren Gaines & the Key Party - My Blacks Don't Match

When I reviewed the debut release by New York's The Key Party, I referred to it as a slice of Tom Waits-ian lo-fi gutter rock. Using such a singular description for the sophomore release by the newly renamed Darren Gaines and the Key Party, is not going to be as easy a task since the band has stepped up the variety this time and allowed this project to be more of a collaborative affair. Recruiting the vocal and vibraslap talents of Sara Syms was a sweet move, as she adds a sultry layer of sludge to the soundtrack, which dives head first into a musical mud sluice leading to a bluesy underworld that is as endearing as it is frightening. While listening to this album, you get the sense that Darren Gaines was raised in a world where you'd be happy to keep a family of sewer rats as pets, or even friends. Despite the dark and dingy analogies that I've been overusing in this opening paragraph, the fact is that, simply put, I love this album.

After a brief acoustic intro, opening track Nightshade, busts forth with a blasting barrage of brass, accompanied by Gaines' delicious yelp. It does a very good job at setting the tone for the album, as it straddles a line between smoky urban blues and New Orleans funk. Songs like Hey Napoleon and The Litterati follow along in a similar mold, with the latter boasting a significantly fuller sound than when I first heard it in its demo form. Good Old Days (Wash Away) has more of a light hearted vibe to it, even if the lyrics are still somewhat dark in tone. Still the song does boast a real celebratory feel, not unlike John Hiatt's Slow Turning, although once again, the horn section gives it that extra bit of oomph. A couple of the songs showcase a different side of Gaines' vocal abilities, most notably in Tripped Down Memory, which describes a chance meeting with the past; and on album closer Speechless, where his vocals display a warbly bassy-ness that actually benefits from a couple of bum notes, allowing an appealing vulnerability to shine through. I have to admit, that I'm a bit curious as to how that last song would have sounded with the production toned down just a bit, having only the vocal and guitar speak alone. Still, it's a captivating way to end the album. And that very approach is showcased earlier on with Snowdrift, a beautifully engaging song that causes me to hit the repeat button whenever it's played.

My Blacks Don't Match is a significant step up from Hit Or Miss, which was a good album, but it perhaps overstayed its welcome by a few songs. This one feels just right, length wise, and Darren's desire to step out of his comfort zone on a couple of the tracks is an inspired move that I hope he continues to cultivate on future releases.

My Blacks Don't Match will be released officially in March, but a downloadable version is available now at digstation.com.

Above photo by Alison Grippo

Myspace: Darren Gaines and the Key Party

Other stuff:

Local electro-pop dance sensation Green Go have just released a bunch of new remixes which are available for free download over here. Admittedly, dance music always takes a little while to register with me personally, and this goes double for remixes, but I really like what these guys have done here, providing interesting versions of songs by Born Ruffians, The D'Urbervilles, Rural Alberta Advantage, Gentlemen Reg and Women. [Myspace: Green Go]

If you haven't already picked up your tickets for Flight Of The Conchords at Massey Hall, well it looks like you're out of luck. Sold out. The only reason that I mention this here is because, even though I think that they're all kinds of hillarious, I personally could not justify spending that kind of cash on a novelty act. There's still tickets left for great bands like Bat For Lashes (Mod Club, April 25th, $15), Enter The Haggis (Mod Club, March 17th, $15) and A.C. Newman (Lee's Palace, March 11th, $15) but the overplayed (yet understandably delightful) FOTC is completely sold out. What kind of a bizarro world are we living in anyways? [Myspaces: Flight of the Conchords; Bat For Lashes; Enter The Haggis; A.C. Newman]

One of my most anticipated releases of the year is The Hazards Of Love, the upcoming rock opera by The Decemberists. They already displayed a little prog love on their last album with songs like The Island and The Crane Wife Parts 1, 2 & 3, but this 17 song suite sounds like it's going to be deliciously self-indulgent. Personally, I can't wait. The band plans on touring the album in its entirety, just like Pink Floyd did with The Wall, and Genesis did with The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, and The Who did with..., well, you get the idea. Tour dates (no Toronto yet) and other info are on Pitchfork. [Myspace: The Decemberists]

Brian Jonestown Massacre guitarist Matthew Tow's other neo-psychedelic project The Lovetones are set to release Dimensions, their fourth studio album, stateside on February 24th. How this affects us here in Canada, I'm not sure, but from what I've heard, the album is a little bit more in line with what I love about the BJM world, as opposed to their very confusing last album, My Bloody Underground, which I did not get at all. You can download the newest Lovetones single Journeyman by right-clicking and saving here. [Myspace: The Lovetones]

PJ Harvey and John Parish are interviewed about their upcoming collaboration project in the upcoming issue of The Stool Pigeon. An excerpt from the interview is transcribed over at The Quietus. [Myspaces: John Parish; PJ Harvey]

My old favourites Young Rival have recently performed a CBC Radio 3 Session. The session is available in a song by song mp3 format over at I (Heart) Music. By the way, the official website has a cool little guitar fishing video game on it. Addictive. [Myspace: Young Rival]

Nuit Blanche 2008

I thought I'd stray from the topic of music just this once since I think my blog is just as much about Toronto as it is about the rock and/or roll. Last Saturday was the 3rd annual Scotiabank Nuit Blanche all night contemporary art festival, and as usual it was an opportunity for the city to display its community spirit and show us what it's made of.

Every year when the festival takes place, I'm left with a bit of a catch 22 since my circle of adventurous friends (who wants to come) seems to grow exponentially with each passing year. And as the group gets larger, the opportunity to see more things gets smaller. However, if I were to make a choice, friends always win out over art, and Nuit Blanche for me is an opportunity to hang out with some of the people that I don't get to see as often, as well as others that I see all the time. Like every year, we all met at the Red Room on Spadina at around 5:30pm so we could plan out our attack on the city.

This year became a game of Nuit Blanche Survivor as our group of 20+ eventually whittled away into the night, ending at 5:30am with only me, my wife and two of our good friends left fighting to stay awake. As expected we had a number of "what the?" moments, but we did see a few cool things. There was Michel de Broin's Overflow, which was a waterfall from a third story window, as well as the all night mascot dance-a-thon at Lamport Stadium. I was hoping to meet Yoko Ono at the Imagine Peace exhibit but apparently the rumours that she would be there proved to be just that: rumours. Probably my favourite exhibit was Tom Bendsten's Conversation #2 (pictured above) which was an elaborate colour coordinated fort made entirely of books. It was pretty cool. However, like I said, with such a big group, there were many things that I didn't get to see. We missed out on Fujiwara Takahiro's Into the Blue at the Eaton Centre, as well as the Stereoscope interactive light installation at City Hall. I also would've liked to see the recyclable plastic waterfall at the Ontario Power Generation Building. But ultimately bathroom breaks and filling our bizarre midnight culinary cravings had to take priority and I for one, am far from disappointed. Many people like to make fun of our fair city of Toronto, but personally I love it, and I'd take the opportunity to roam the streets with my friends into the wee hours of the night anytime, if the opportunity presented itself. Looking forward to next year...

My Photos: Nuit Blanche 2008
More photos of Nuit Blanche: Flickr Pool

More news:
Chairlift (whom I saw open for MGMT) are coming back in town to play The Horsehoe on October 25th and they're opening for Yeasayer. Tix are $13.50 adv; $15 at the door.

Myspace: Chairlift
Myspace: Yeasayer

Darren Gaines and the Key Party have put a track called Nightshade up on their myspace page. It's from their upcoming album called My Blacks Don't Match.

Myspace: Darren Gaines and the Key Party

Margot and the Nuclear So and So's have just released two new albums entitled Animal and Not Animal. They are both streaming in their entirety on Spinner.

Myspace: Margot and the Nuclear So and So's

That's all I got time for today, gotta run to work. Bye.

The Nature Of The Game

Today, I'm just going to throw up a bunch of information that appeals to me personally in the world of music, some that I've been very neglectful in sharing due to the winter blahs making me incredibly lazy.

First of all, on Wednesday night I finally went to check out Elvyn at The Boat. I've been meaning to check them out for a while for two reasons: first of all they're sort of mild acquaintances of mine (i.e: two of them I may or may not have possibly met in the past through mutual friends and the other one I knew when I was a kid but haven't seen in about 15 years.) The other reason is that their music is so incredibly right up my alley. They're from Peterborough and they blend the styles of Teenage Fanclub, Neil Young and The Jayhawks to create a style of pop music that not enough people are trying these days. It's beautiful in that it does not sound forced or gimmicky in any way, it's simply a flawless example of straight ahead good music. It was one of those nights that was as much about hanging out as it was about hearing them play, so I forgot to snap any photos from the show, but I'll get them next time.

Myspace: Elvyn

Darren Gaines and the Key Party (whom I raved about last year) is in the process of putting some other stuff together and it sounds like it's going to be more lo-fi junkyard gutter rock, that he pulls off so effortlessly. The new songs sound a little bit more mature and varied while still staying true to his style. In fact, he's so confident with what he's accomplished here, that he's offering them all for free download on his myspace page. "Snowdrift" (as much as this year's winter has made me despise the title) is absolutely beautiful. My other favorite is "The Litterati" where his gruff gravely voice is gloriously pitch imperfect as the horn accompaniment sounds like he's slapping around Henry Mancini for some kicks. Can't wait for his next full release.

Canadian Music Week is fast approaching, and I'm going to see how successful I can be at getting into some of the "limited wristband admittance" shows. I have a backup plan in case some of these don't work out, which is fine because there's a lot of great local acts playing around the city. But if I do get in to some of these, I'll definitely be getting some substantial bang for my 35 bucks. First off, it sounds like The Hives and The Donnas are accepting all wristbands for their March 3rd appearance at Kool Haus (*shudder) so, in theory, I should have no problems with that one. I'm most excited with the fact that it appears that they'll be letting some in to the Steve Earle / Alison Moorer show at Massey Hall on the 4th. I'm not getting my hopes up, and even if I do it'll likely be nosebleeds but still... On Thursday night there's Jason Collett at Lee's. That's another tough one for me because my Thursday nights are occupied until about 10, so the chances that there will still be room at Lee's after that are slim, but nothing ventured, nothing gained 'eh? Birds Of Wales come on after him. And then there's Hawksley Workman at Danforth Music Hall on Friday night and the triumphant return of The Breeders at The Phoenix on Saturday, limited entry for both of them. On the Saturday however, Fox Jaws and Beth In Battle Mode are both playing at Rancho Relaxo. How can that be nothing short of ridiculously fantastic? So, we'll see how that week shapes up but if I make it into even a smidge of these shows, I'll feel very king-like. CMW takes place March 5-8.

Two of the shows that I've recently attended are available in downloadable mp3 form on the interweb. Basia Bulat's in-store at Criminal Records is up at I Heart Music and Nicole Atkins' amazing show from last Sunday at Lee's is up at Hater High. Basia is performing with Amos The Transparent (yay!) at Lee's on March 29th.

And this just in....according to For The Records, Ray Davies of The Kinks is playing an in-store at HMV on 33 Yonge Street TODAY at 6pm. The Kinks are one of my all time faves, the benchmark for all of the 60's styled bands that I so enjoy today. Color me excited.

I've got way too many CD's to get through these days, but I will try to tell you about them next week, if I can. A couple of them are beyond fantastic. Laterz.

The Key Party - Hit Or Miss

The Key Party's Darren Gaines gave me full permission to use his CD as a coaster if I found that it doesn't meet my pretentious rock snob standards. Well, he needn't worry because it looks like the beer I'll be drinking while listening to this release shall continue to make permanent circle stains on my living room table. "Hit Or Miss" is definitely a hit for me as it cranks out 15 tracks of Waits-ian lo-fi gutter rock, stripped back and fully believable. The song "Born Permanently Cool," besides having the best title ever, has a slight junkyard rockabilly feel to it. "Police KMD" contains a unique "sung through a megaphone" harmony, which makes it a delightfully disordered yelpfest. And "To Begin Again" is a moving almost-ballad with a hooky chorus and a slight grunge-style single guitar riff that ends the album off nicely. The latter song has already received a fair bit of recognition on American college radio. Throughout the CD, you'll find that Darren sings of heartbreak and unemployment with complete conviction and you'll truly believe that he has the full authority to do so. There is no posing here, no fakery. Overall, this is a very fun, yet poetic release that will surely satisfy fans of Scott McCaughey, John Prine or the aforementioned Tom Waits.

Downloads:
Born Permanently Cool mp3
To Begin Again mp3

Visit The Key Party on myspace
Purchase "Hit Or Miss" at CD Baby.com