Basham’s latest is dripping with Mortfell Oktorium’s goofy-yet-relatable character of humour and DIY production, in the form of some seriously up-tempo numbers. Seriously, no one can deliver a punch line like that of “Bad Mood:” A mermaid pops out of the river and makes a come-hither motion. “I wasn’t really in the mood / But I didn’t want to be rude! / She was quite the dish / And I wanna return that fish!” This is his third solo album as a follow up to Thick and Thicker, and he recently, to really prove that he’s serious, started playing with The Upsides and they’ve donned themselves The Girth. Unfortunately, length is seriously lacking here (none of these tracks break the 2-minute mark) but that’s not a problem as they certainly are thick with lightning-quick quips and proto-punk energy. “Seriously Not Serious” is the album’s “Marquee Moon” as the most serious number (or is it?!) with Basham analyzing his own talents and it ends with a palatable guitar duet in under a minute and forty seconds. (Independent, www. soundcloud.com/stevebasham) Taylor Burgess
Tearist – Living: 2009 – Present
I took my friend Kram Ran to see Tearist play live in New York while we were visiting—a performance which has become to the two of us a base to which all other events and experiences are now compared “This isn’t as good as seeing Tearist live.” “This show would be better if Tearist was playing.” “I wish Tearist was here” (in line at the grocery store).
If you don’t know who Tearist are, it might be because you’re not following the internet’s international underground dark music scene, or you never got into Former Ghosts. All you need to know is that Tearist is Yasmine Kittles and William Strangeland of L.A., they’re influenced by Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty (and somehow get it right), and no one knows when they’ll make it up to Canada. Living: 2009 – Present is their first official live release.
When you put this record on, Kittles isn’t going to be inches from your face, all limbs and teeth, menacing a metal pipe one second and then beating herself against a wall on the other side of the room while cameras flash the next. You can, however, put this on and hear her yelping and swaggering in your living room over Strangeland’s Suicide beats and gut-aggressive synth lines.
Kittles can belt it out so hard and so good it paralyzes you and still flail wilder than Freddy Ruppert did in This Song is a Mess but So am I, but my main attraction to Tearist goes beyond their next level live show. I’m obsessed by their relentless integrity and commitment to making good art. Get Living if you want to hear a talented, real band get down (or if you collect hand letter-pressed LP jackets). Otherwise, just download some syrupy Austra mp3s and go to the beach. (Thin Wrist Recordings, www.thinwrist.com) Kristel Jax
Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will is the seventh studio release by Scottish post-rock/shoegaze group Mogwai. These guys have been together for over 20 years now, and it shows. The new album is pulled together and packed with a ton of energy and tenacity. You’ll get no comparisons from me of Hardcore to previous Mogwai albums. For that I apologize, both to you (the reader) and myself. I can’t believe I’ve missed out on these guys for the large majority of my young adult life. Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will is a hefty title to put out there, encompassing a dark humor to an odd, uncomfortable irony. In my mind, this album is that story exactly. Synths and distortions simmer with guitars and drums to provide a fast-paced landscape whose music will survive, while its inhabitants pass through unnoticed. City lights glow and cars speed through tunnels while swells and riffs take their hold on a thriving (albeit, doomed) existence. “White Noise” is a great opener and by far a favorite, along with “Letters to the Metro” and “George Square Thatcher Death Party.” (Sub Pop Records, www.subpoprecords.com) Victoria King
Diagram Brothers – The Peel Sessions
You’ve probably never heard of the Diagram Brothers, so here’s a fast breakdown: four English lads who took the last name Diagram; played punk songs you could dance to, with simple lyrics set to a musical formula of discordant chords only; they only put out one album and a handful of singles (all of which were collected on Brit label LTM’s reissue, Some Marvels of Modern Science); and they sound like a mishmash of Devo, The Jam, and Man…Or Astro-man? While only being active for three years, they were invited by John Peel just as many times to record Peel Sessions. This CD collects them all. What’s great about these Peel Sessions (and the sessions in general) is that bands only have a few takes before they move on to the next song, giving each track the sound of raw and live immediacy. The album tracks “Those Men In White Coats,” “I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today by Being a Right Git,” and “My Bad Chest Feels Much Better Now” sound angrier, slashier and more paranoid than the versions that have been floating about for years, which only leaves me thinking, “How would songs like ‘Atom Bomb’ and ‘Bigger Box’ sound if they were picked for Peel Sessions?” The biggest treat (besides essential versions of album and single tracks reworked) is the third Peel Session. It contains five songs, three original and two covers, that haven’t been released in any form before this. The feel of the final session is looser and more fun than anything I’ve heard by them. “Hey Dad” is a call and response between a teenage girl asking his dad for things that a teenage girl would want, and the father shooting down every request (putting it over the top, dad sings back opera-style). And by far, the best tracks here are inspired covers: the first being “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two” from the musical Oliver!, replete with whistling and bouncy feel, it’s twisted into something that a droog would sing. The other cover is a completely hammed up-and-warped rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel. Wavering between a Nick Cave in the Birthday Party and drunken Elvis, it’s a total piss-take, and a window into a band that knew how to have fun. Essential. (LTM Recordings, www.ltmrecordings.com) Patrick Michalishyn
Kid Koala – 3030: How I learned to Love the Bomb
By Patrick Michalishyn
Those who tuned into CKUW 95.9 FM on the morning of Friday, April 22, heard nothing for an hour and a half from midnight on. But from the void comes everything, and Radio Schizophrenio host and Stylus writer Patrick Michalishyn had secured an interview with Kid Koala, and proceeded to drill him for several hours until they left the station to get Breakfast Nips. These are some excerpts of that interview.
[After a couple of songs, Patrick apologizes for being late, but talks at length to Kid Koala, Eric San, about hoop-dancers at the show, touring constantly, and the koala suit that San has to wear for 100 shows because he lost a bet. The Winnipeg show was number 33.]
Stylus: Are you in the mood to listen to anything?
Eric San: Do you have anything cued up? Actually, what we were just listening to was Money Mark! He was a mentor of mine in 1998, very much so. That’s a funny story of how things happen in the music industry. He was playing as a part of the Beastie Boys band, playing keyboards on Check Your Head and Ill Communication, and those records, and I just loved all of the stuff that he did on those records. On their website, they said Money Mark just put out a 10 inch of his stuff—and you had to send a cheque. So I sent it to get this 10” record of Money Mark’s solo stuff called Mark’s Keyboard Repair on Pinto records. And I never got the record. I was just crushed. That was the first time I sent away money for anything.
Stylus: What a bad experience, what a souring experience.
ES: Yeah. Anyways, fast-forward a few years. The Beasties came through for Ill Communication, and the promoter was a friend of mine, and he said, “Hey do you wanna meet the guys?” And I was like, cool. And so I met Money Mark that time for the first time and I said, “Mark, I sent you a cheque like four years ago, and I never got my record!” And he’s “Oh really? Man, keep me posted and I’ll send you a record.” Anyway, I had a tape, called Scratchcratchratchatch and I handed him a copy of it, and it had my number on it.
Fast-forward a couple months again, and I totally forgot about this transaction. Then I get a call at my house. He says, “Hey is this Eric? This is Mark.” I was in this band called Bullfrog at the time, and there was this guy named Mark also in that band. And I was like yeah, sorry, we should get together and rehearse, blah blah blah, thinking this was Mark from my band. He goes, “No this is Mark—yeah, Mark from L.A.” I said, “I don’t know any Marks from L.A.” He said, “Money Mark!” I almost dropped the phone.
I say, “Hey, what’s up? Why are you calling me?” He was like, “I listened to your tape. I really dig it.” He said, “I’m going to do a tour for Push the Button,” which was his second album that he was putting out. “We’re gonna do a tour with the Beasties, with them, opening for them. Do you want come to play turntables in the band?” And I was like, yeah, let’s do it! So he was one of the first ones to take me under his wing and teach me about music and playing live and all that stuff.
Stylus: How does feel to meet a hero, and, instead of just being a super-fan, to start a working relationship with these people?
ES: Well I’m still awestruck by all these dudes. Coldcut, who owned Ninja Tune records—they were one of the reasons I started scratching. So to be touring for them and recording for them, it’s like total dojo-master-student style.
I’m just going to record stores with these dudes, or Mark, going to keyboard shops or Salvation Armies, pick up an old synth, and be like, “Have you heard this record? This why it sounds like that.” They’re just encyclopedias of knowledge. I mean, before I met Mark, I didn’t know what a blues scale was! I knew what it was, but I didn’t know the actual notes. I studied classical music exclusively before scratching.
[Musical Break. Pat relays some frightening tales of hosting late-night radio, and talks at length about Salisbury House, which is when they decide to go for nips. Questions continue.]
Stylus: You play with the Gorillaz!
ES: I don’t technically play with the Gorillaz. The Gorillaz are cartoons.
Stylus: Don’t make me look stupider.
ES: Okay, I did some recording with the people behind the cartoons. They are still cartoons. Dan the Automator actually hooked me up with that gig, to segue into the CD you’re holding in your hand [Deltron 3030]. He called me and said, “You’re in London, I’m in London, come down to the studio. I’m working on this record called Gorillaz and we need some turntables!” I went down and it was Damon Alburn’s studio. Jamie Hewlett—who drew all the Tank Girl stuff, and designed the Gorillaz characters—he had his studio upstairs and that was exciting on a couple different levels.
Stylus: Segue! Back to—
ES: Back to Dan the Automator! He is also one of my mentors, along with Money Mark. He came to my first New York show when I was touring with Ninja Tune. He had just put out Dr. Octagon at the time and a couple other things under Dan the Automator, but I was aware of his work and a fan of his work. We met there and hit it off right away. A couple years later, we working together for Handsome Boy Modeling School, and we did a song with Del [tha funky Homosapien]. Del was talking about this character that he wanted to write for this character in his mind, named Deltron Zero, who lived in a post-apocalyptic age. And that’s where this idea for Deltron 3030 came around. And we did that record, I believe, in 2000. Right?
Stylus: I’m looking, I’m looking. You caught me off guard.
ES: We actually did 12 shows with that record. Unfortunately, Winnipeg wasn’t one of them.
Stylus: So, they’ve been saying for the longest time that the new [Deltron] record will be coming out soon. Wikipedia has been giving me the updates.
ES: Wikipedia? How would they know? Who is that anyways? I’m checking my emails—and it doesn’t seem to be coming out any time soon. [laughs] The beats are done. I’ve done one layer of turntables—this is a fact, these are all facts—Del has written about nine of the tracks.
Stylus: Out of how many?
ES: Well we have 14 that we’re going to whittle down to 11 or 12 good ones. The last I heard, Del is going to finish his lyrics on a few things, and then Dan is going to fly out to Montreal and I’m going to do some counter-point turntables for the choruses and outro sections. Then we’re going to mix it, and put it out.
Stylus: And which album am I holding now?
ES: That is the Slew, 100%.
Stylus: And whose brainchild was this?
ES: That was a project of Dynomite D, from Seattle, and myself. And that started about five years ago. See, all the records I’m involved with take at least five years to complete! That’s just part of the process. I’m like the Miyazaki of records.
Stylus: Art takes time.
ES: Well, it’s the process. We have to make source vinyl, cut that to vinyl, and reassess it for turntables live, which is how we did The Slew. We didn’t use any drum machines or computers for any of that. It was all just vinyl.
Stylus: With a live dr—
ES: No, actually the live drummer and bass only came into the picture for the tour. That [album is] all records. But if you listen to the new Slew album, which we’re also working on right now, it does feature drum and bass parts from Chris and Miles, formerly of Wolfmother. But again, we’ve decided to keep that hip-hop turntable stead again, take their drum and bass parts, solo them, and reassemble them off turntables. Then you get that hand-cut flow, which I think is pretty key to The Slew.
Stylus: So, can we get some exclusive info on this record? Like sometimes Pitchfork comes out with news of a record, and say that it’s exclusive information. Then you would tweet and say, “Actually I broke this news all on CKUW 95.9 FM months ago, bitches.”
ES: [laughs] About the Slew. I don’t know, what do people want to know?
Stylus: Jon Spencer is rumoured to be on this new album.
ES: Yes, Jon Spencer has agreed to sing on some Slew stuff, as Mike Patton has as well. [Patrick quietly gasps] They were both fans of the first record. I think just because I know Mike and John, and they’d seen us perform, they were down even before I sent the record to them. I worked with Mike Patton a little bit on Lovage and his Peeping Tom stuff, but Jon I haven’t worked with, but I’ve been a big fan of his stuff. I think they’re going to add another level to The Slew trip.
Stylus: “Slew trip.” Well said, Eric.
[Another musical break, and Patrick and Eric talk about CKUW’s range, one of the hoop-dancers, calls in, and Pat and Eric talk at length well into the night.]
Chain & The Gang – Music’s Not For Everyone
“If you feel like you’re not good enough then you’re probably not / And you know what / You never, ever will be.” Singing this silently for a whole week may seem to be disparaging to the extreme, but after listening to Music’s Not For Everyone, it could hardly be helped. Chain & The Gang have written 14 catchy blues and garage rock tunes, each one with clever and simple lyrics that you will find yourself singing incessantly. On the surface, the defining themes of these lyrics would be drug taking, and music making, however, these guys are not some superficial rock & roll losers. When you listen to the lyrics of “Detroit Music”: “With all these factories closing down / Who is gonna make that sound!” You’ll realize that these guys have political and philosophical convictions. “Music’s Not For Everyone” is a Jim Morrison type psychedelic spoken word-and-musical piece about the appreciation of music. “Does a moth know a flame just because it’s drawn to it? / Does a body know a bullet just because it got hit? / Do people who are listening to music even like it? / Do people deserve it, even when they buy it?” Also notable is the theme of self-loathing in “Not Good Enough” and “Can’t Get Away From Myself.” This album is the band’s second full-length and I would be remiss if I did not mention that these guys are a bunch of filthy Marxists. Their first full-length album is Down With Liberty…Up With Chains! “Liberty” is used as a symbol of Western greed and capitalism. Ian Svenonius, the lead singer of Chain & The Gang has released a book called The Psychic Soviet which might well be worth a read through! I love every single track on this brilliant album. (K Records, www.krecs.com) Kyra Leib
Shannon and the Clams – Sleep Talk
Hunx and his Punx recently traded in the Punx for the Punkettes who include bassist Shannon Shaw, the lead singer of Oakland’s Shannon and the Clams. The band enters the spotlight with their excellent sophomore album in the congested genre of lo-fi/garage/punk/surf/rock revival. And while groups like the Vivian Girls continually release notable albums, including this year’s Share The Joy, the Clams come as a breath of fresh air (especially after the Dum Dum Girls and Best Coast put out kind of underwhelming albums despite crazy hype). At its core, Sleep Talk is a doo-wop cacophony that jumps from distorted jingles (“Sleep Talk”) to broken-hearted ballads (“Tired of Being Bad”), but the album really shines when Shannon unleashes her brash vocals and the Clams follow with their crunchy guitars and booming drums on “King of the Sea” and ”Toxic Revenge.” The beauty of the recent influx of revival bands is the fluidity among its members. While the genre’s hub bands are generally more well-known, their side projects like the Mayfair Set, Frankie Rose and the Outs, and, here, Shannon and the Clams become the gems that are proving their worth. Maybe I’ll start working on a garage revival Venn diagram to capture its incestuous behaviour… or maybe I’ll just go back to loving the hell out of this album. (1-2-3-4 Go! Records, www.shannonandtheclams.com) Andrew Mazurak
Absent Sound – Turn Them Off EP
The Absent Sound’s fifth release opens with “TV Song,” containing the simple and resounding message; “Talk back to your TV as if it had something to say.” The guys from Absent Sound have always put an astounding importance on community, having organized the semi-annual celebration of Element Sircus for years, and this album is a call-to-arms for those looking for more than a mundane electronic/escapist life. It’s obvious that Turn Them Off is the product of A.D.D.-free minds. Absent Sound negotiate these five-minute-plus songs in a pretty calm and collected (though energetic) headspace and the band’s songs turn slowly from start to finish, revealing more mysterious layers as they go along. The time signatures and tempos of “Occupying Home” shift prismatically like few other bands in the city (except maybe their peers Mahogany Frog) could replicate, and the self-effacing angst of “Stuck in Line” is for great dramatic effect. Closer “Hip Hop Knights” keeps its groove for a good seven minutes, making it a great ethereal pop song that closes the album and echoes off into the distance. (Independent, www.absentsound.bandcamp.com) Taylor Burgess
The Haunted Films of Michael Robinson
Today will be the third installation of Language Formed in Light, a series of experimental film screenings presented by PLATFORM centre for photographic + digital arts and curated by local filmmaker Clint Enns. For this screening, they’ll be bringing in the films of Michael Robinson, along with the filmmaker himself. His works are obvious appropriations of source material, manipulated and rearranged for fantastic criticisms and forlorn hopes. He was able to answer a handful of questions via email before flying into Winnipeg.
Stylus: Your work utilizes found footage. Where do you believe that the spirit of the original footage ends and the spirit of your film begins? Or do you believe that you’re uncovering hidden truths about the material, like Burroughs said of his Cut-Up Method? Continue reading “The Haunted Films of Michael Robinson”
Two Women of Mountain Man: Winnipeg Folk Festival Day 4
When I met Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Meath behind Little Stage on the Prairie, Alexandra was writing down the lyrics to a Charlie Feathers song, and they both excused Molly Sarle, who was off relaxing on a magnetized mat. So the three of us went for a short walk away from the festival, mostly talking about fantasy novels and science fiction.
Stylus: In your career, how long have you been touring for?
Alexandra Sauser-Monnig: We started two years ago, but we’re not one of those bands that tours six months of the year.
Stylus: And how long were you playing shows for before you started touring?
Amelia Meath: I think we had three shows before we started touring. I booked an east coast tour for us—two weeks long. It was really hard, but we did it. We toured in my Prius.
ASM: We played a show in a field, we played a show in a weird coffee shop, we played in houses and backyards and porches and all sorts. For our friends, mostly.
Stylus: And what keeps you grounded while touring? Continue reading “Two Women of Mountain Man: Winnipeg Folk Festival Day 4”