Canada’s greatest secret in music is that we are home to one of the best punk bands in the world—Nomeansno. Ausfahrt isn’t necessarily Nomeansno’s best; they have an extensive back catalogue and that honour could go to any number of their albums. Ausfahrt was, in some ways, a retread of many of the same socially-conscious, aggressive ideas and sounds we’ve heard before from the band. However, it’s an important album because it shows that this is not a band that has lost its edge. Despite 30 years of making music, they’re still great. Here, the rhythm section—always powerful—seems larger than ever, focused on taut, quick punk rock. Some thought it too “pop” at the time, or even too strange with an incorporation of synths at times. However, this album demonstrates longevity in the band, fully realized in the sheer muscularity of the music. They were as good as ever, and musically bigger than ever. Unlike the Rolling Stones, whose longevity is often touted though their later album releases don’t hold up musically, Ausfahrt proved that Nomeansno had the longevity and the sheer talent to sustain it. Lead singer Rob Wright is 57—most would have burnt out or faded away by that age. All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt exemplifies a band still going strong, solidifying themselves as the premiere punk band of Canada’s present, and well into the foreseeable future. (2006, Ant Acid Audio, www.antacidaudio.com) Devin King
FOUND: Tyler X Yourstru.ly
In the upcoming issue of Stylus, we kinda rag on Tyler, the Creator a bit. That’s because Sara Quin’s criticisms of the bombastic rapper really hit home, and even if Goblin is full of self-disclaimers, it doesn’t excuse the representation of homophobia in the tracks. A hefty chunk of Quin’s criticism is aimed at the media covering Tyler, so we’re making it known that that’s not “artistic” or cool, dude.
That being said, here’s a nice video that doesn’t touch on any of that, but has Tyler opening up nostalgia-like, recalling summers of playing piano, on his trail to become a better musician.
FOUND: Grimes//Silly Kissers
Here’s a couple new gems from the freshly-revamped Arbutus Records website. Gotta love the blog digs.
First up, a new video from gothwave (/whatever) artist Grimes who’s currently on tour with Lykke Li. “Vanessa” features a horde of dancers starring in a video that’s stuck between the worlds of fashion photography and a kaleidoscope.
And then here’s “Japan Man” from Silly Kissers, which, for years to come, will be in direct lineage of “Mr. Roboto,” “I think I’m Turning Japanese,” and kin to “Chinatown.” The groovy 1970s greenscreen editing was done by the band’s singer Jane Penny.
Also, be sure to check out our upcoming interview with Arbutus artist Sean Nicholas Savage in our June/July print issue, and it’ll be online sometime soon.
Sic Alps – Napa Asylum
Finally, new Sic Alps! It’s been a few years since the fantastic US E.Z. came out. Waiting sucked a big one, but the band’s delivered with a discfull of brand new, sun-kissed, reverb-hissed, noise-damaged poppy psychy rock. I had fun trying to sing along to fast-favourites without consulting the lyrics sheet. “Eat Happy” chugs along, hugs along to one chord of an eventual three-chord kicker that hooks you in then… just stops. Bastards! (I was singing along “Beep beep beep…” to what was actually “Eat eat eat… eat happy.”) Then you’ve got songs like “Trip Train” and the wonderfully titled “Wasted At Church” that build on a fuzzed-out loop and noisy blasts of distortion that look back on the sound of their early tapes. About half of the songs on this disc don’t break the “perfect pop song” length (2:42, duh). “Ball of Fame” and “Saint Peter Writes His Book” combined don’t even come close, but throw enough earworms out that anyone listening will hit <back> as the last note decays out the speakercone. And what about the gauzy, Archies-jangle of “Cement Surfboards?” Or the twilight blues of “Nathan Livingston Maddox?” Or maybe the fury of the MC5-like garage stomper “The First White Man To Touch California Soil?” There’s so much awesome packed into this package that it’s impossible to pick a “best.” So, person of discerning musical taste; remember when you digested GBV’s Alien Lanes? The noise, the variety, the hooks, the “Hey, I wanna try that!” feeling? Well here, feel it again. You’re welcome. (Drag City, www.dragcity.com) Patrick Michalishyn
Timmy’s Organism – Rise of the Green Gorilla
Okay, before we get on with listening to this album, let’s do a pre-boarding check: Do you like glammy garage rock? Good, good. Do you have your bong? Essential. Absolutely essential. The album’s called Rise of the Green Gorilla, for funk’s sake. Timmy’s Organism is Timmy Vulgar (I’m not sure that’s his real name), former frontman for some other bands you probably haven’t heard of (Human Eye, Clone Defects), and I certainly hadn’t heard of. However, after taking in Timmy’s Organism and witnessing (WITH MY EARS) the Rise of the Green Gorilla, I sure as shut am going to. This album is epic. It’s loud, scuzzy, noisy, lo-fi, overblown, and otherwise plain old shitty sounding, which makes it all the more impressive that I want to listen to it over and over. It really stands as a testament to an album when they do all they can to make the sound ugly and unpalatable and you’re still croaking and wailing along to the songs and generally causing everyone around you incredible distress. Stylistically, it’s like a magical collaboration that I wish had actually happened – if Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band had been sneakily replaced with T. Rex’s band and they recorded all their demos on a shitty 4-track in someone’s basement. Excellent glam stomp filtered though Beefheart’s raspy, acid-stained psychedelia, while aurally bringing to mind the resin-stained tape recordings of lo-fi paterfamiliases Sebadoh. Timmy takes elements that in the hands of a lesser artist would make this album completely unlistenable, such as ridiculous vocal effects (most tracks, most notably “Give It To Me Babe”) or just plain raunchy guitar noise (every track, but notably “Oafeus Clods”), and even downkey instrumental synth jams (“Building the Friend-Ship”), but makes it work. The music is so trashy-sounding you almost feel wrong enjoying it so much – like getting hot ’n’ bothered staring at an Aphrodite made of garbage. But damn, it’s so right. (Sacred Bones Records, http://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/) David Nowacki
Papercuts – Fading Parade
While listening to this album, I felt like I was in a dream. This album contains an open room feel the whole time, but it is filled to the brim quickly and strongly with a soft yet powerful playing style. Lead singer Jason Quever has the perfect voice for an open room sound. The echo of his strong but effortless voice creates an amazing atmosphere for the ear. The instrumental part of the music seems so lightly played, yet it fills up the room wonderfully with its soothing and full sound. The title of the album Fading Parade could very well be connected with the style of music. Although the feel is pretty close to having a Parade Fade away in front of you, at the same time it feels like you’re riding along with the parade the whole time. If you are in a party scene, I would recommend not spinning this album, unless it’s a relaxing party. The members of Papercuts have the perfect balance between sounding soft and rough, so if you’re in a relaxed mood, but also want some more upbeat music, Fading Parade is the way to go. The opener “Do You Really Wanna Know” starts of the album wonderfully, and I recommend you follow this Parade. (Sub Pop, www.subpop.com) Nicholas Van Doeselaar
Dum Dum Girls – He Gets Me High EP
This album poses, to me, an existential question—which is really ironic because this is the most over-produced album I’ve heard thus far this year. If I were to take every moment in my life that I had turned on Top 40 radio before boy bands and Spice Girls, it would vaguely sound like this album. The instrumentation is really distinct, Dee Dee’s vocals are blissfully ignorant and wrapped in notably less reverb than I Will Be, and Richard Gottehrer of the Strangeloves (who wrote “I Want Candy,” among others) produced this album, as he did Dum Dum Girls’ full-length. And to top it all off, it ends with a cover of “There is a Light that Never Goes Out.” Seriously. So, if this EP is pop perfection—the holy ghost of pop music, if you will, and I’m at the pearly gates, listening to this thing, how could it possibly be too perfect? (Sub Pop, www.subpop.com) Taylor Burgess
Death – Spiritual Mental Physical
A few years ago, Drag City released an album’s-worth of killer material by a ferocious punk rock band from Detroit from the ’70s that no one’s heard of. That band was Death, three brothers who got together to play funk and soul, saw an Alice Cooper show, and went headlong into the garage. That first one collected their single and some other tracks, and this companion piece of sorts collects the rest. The 10 tracks on this comp cover the “reel-to-reel” demos the guys recorded in the middle of the decade. “Views” starts off in full “1-2-3-4!!” mode, punk fury with vocals that alternate between Malcolm Mooney like stabs and Gino Washington falsetto. It sounds like the Damned and the like, thrashing away at power chords, pounding out a beat with every instrument. The stomper “Masks” will put a smile on your face after your brain take those few seconds to realize why you “know this song from somewhere.” They totally nicked the melody from the Beatles’ “Got To Get You Into My Life” and muscled it into a corner. Taking a quick turn into quasi-hypnogogia with “The Change,” an instrumental, two-guitar duet changes the mood completely and turns the woolly-rock into something of a psychedelic jam. The three tracks at the end aren’t so much songs, as they are each member noodling around on their instrument. Great noodling, but not really songs (although “David’s Dream” sounds a lot like “The Change”). My vote for the best song on the album though, is “Can You Give Me A Thrill???”, a leather jacket-wearing, jean-knee ripping, sneering, spittle on the audience slice of everything that is Detroit rock ’n’ roll. How these brothers went unnoticed, and almost undocumented, boggles my brain. But with this CD (along with “…For The Whole World To See”), you’ve found that chapter that’s been ripped outta the history books. Listen and learn. (Drag City, www.dragcity.com) Patrick Michalishyn
Obits – Moody, Standard, and Poor
The second Obits CD has absolutely killer packaging done up in the colours of bottled acrylic paint, with the sleekness of thick, pristine graphic novels. I don’t think anything could more predictive of how the music sounds. Guitars and drums lash out a web of dense and muscular garage rock that takes you cleanly and boldly out of your head. The members aren’t new to the music scene: there’s Rick Froberg of Hot Snakes and Pitchfork, guitarist Sohrab Habibion of Edsel, bassist Greg Simpson, and drummer Scott Gursky of Shortstack. All songs are timed to get just the right amount of suspense and perfect finish, as on “Standards,” which slows down like a marathon runner majestically breaking through the ribbon. Obits know they’re good, and they’re not afraid to proclaim it in the thickest musical equivalent of black Sharpie they can find. “Naked to the World” is purely joyful yawling. Froberg’s vocals “I Want Results” has a great, rolling, rumbling bassline, and hell, I don’t even know what kind of results I want after listening to this, but I sure know I want them. “Shift Operator” is slow and sparse compared to the other tracks (but by no means would you call this ‘slow’ out of context), which doesn’t work too well with the record as a whole. “New August” has a turgid undercurrent of wickedness, a touch of devious guitar riffing darkness. This is an exciting listen that’ll get you pumped up and ready for a comic-book-worthy adventure. (Sub Pop, www.subpop.com) Adrienne Yeung
Small Black – New Chain
As far as finding and signing solid indie is considered, Jagjaguwar is a ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ type figure to the music scene. Leading us out of the darkness with artists like Bon Iver, Black Mountain and Okkervil River, Small Black is another one of gems in the Jagjaguwar trove. Released in November of 2010, New Chain is 10 tracks of elctro-rock goodness. Complex and absorbing, I can’t deny that this album is a dream for anyone looking for something solid for his or her “Recently Added” list. I won’t pretend like I know exactly how they make their stuff so freaking good – my best guess is that little aliens were in the recording studio, shooting laser guns of cool while Small Blackness got hit by a few while jamming, using their bleeps and buzzes all along the way. The album flows with a distinguishable sound common to each track. Smooth yet edge-frayed vocals, sharp beats and casio (a la ’80s inspired) all adds up into one polished LP. As far as favorite tracks go, “Hyrda,” “Goons” and “Invisible Grid” are all on repeat for me. (Jagjaguwar, www.jagjaguwar.com) Victoria King