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Live Bait: Emailed reviews of things I never went to…

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine
Oct 11 2010
Pyramid Cabaret

Now you must understand that the gig was totally amazing. Guitarist from Victim’s Family, Bassist and Drummer from Rollins band (and the drummer played with Helios Creed ex-Chrome), plus this kid on guitar named Kimo who did all these weird affected sounds like East Bay Ray. They played for almost 2 hours, got two encores, did tons of songs from the album plus a bunch of unrecorded songs and “Cal Uber Alles,” “Lets Lynch the Landlord,” “Holiday in Cambodia” and “Bleed for Me”!!!!!! The only bad thing about the show was the last song – some shitty lollapalooooka-like grunge thing that went on far too long – it is also the last song on the album – sheeesh what a stinker! The five or so fights – including a guy totally knocked out cold by a douche who hit him five times in the head with his fist from behind right in front of Jello who stopped the show temporarily- also sucked ass big time. I took the day totally off, so I didn’t see yer email until now. I called you on the way to the show, but I figured you either had a family thing or would be there, but alas the former was the case. Jello was in a crusty mood – not quite happy with his rider meal – he apparently hates yams and wonders why we celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada. He also wanted to know if any Canadian troops were deployed in Iraq while he was warming up backstage. He asked if his T-Shirt was appropriate. It had a slogan on it that only activists could love. He was amazing on stage. Great show!
-From Anon to Anon

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Found: Dinosaur Sex

It’s time for No Degrees of Separation. Someone should write a song with that title, and it’d pretty much be Winnipeg’s theme song.

It all started with this nifty infographic, which I found while reading the backlogs on one of my favourite blogs, Effing Dykes. (I don’t think the blogger made it, but it’s where I found it, and I’m giving it credit.) If you’ve got a slightly warped, slightly filthy sense of humour and you think lesbians are super nifty, you should totally check it out.

Anyhow, it clearly explains how to deal with a potentially awkward and confusing situation, one that I’ve grappled with many a time.

SO HELPFUL.

I really should just print this out, keep it in my pocket and pull it out as a reference guide. But my printer doesn’t work and I’m lazy.

But you know what makes this infographic truly, truly awesome? The inclusion of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs make everything better.

Because you love Stylus, you probably love our most recent cover, which was designed by a guy named Chris Bryan. Fun fact: I worked with Chris Bryan for a few years. Chris had some control over the sound system in our funky retail environment, and had put a number of tracks on the sound system. (Memory may be murky, but again, credit where credit is due.) Many of these tracks were highly amusing and highly bizarre. Examples: Devo tracks rendered as elevator music, a song that sounded like an abuse of power tools – which I’m surprised we had no complaints about, as someone once asked us to turn off Public Image Limited. But the most memorable track – and believe me, folks, this is not a complete non-sequiter from that infographic – was, as I recall, eleven minutes long and somewhat grating, and the only lyrics were “dinosaur sex.” It’d come on the PA, and then sort of sneak up on you in the background, until you realized exactly what the hell you were listening to. No one really complained about this song, either.

I decided to hunt it down.

Do you know how hard it is to search “dinosaur sex” on the internet? All sorts of random shit pops up. Strangeways, here we come.

But! After some careful googling (read: procrastinating), I finally found the song. It is, simply, titled “Dinosaur Sex,” and it’s by a group called Family Fodder. The only information I can really find about Family Fodder is that they were “less a band than a never-ending collective of musicians messing with tapes in the basement of a London flat” in the late-70’s/early 80’s. Sounds like a party I wanna go to!

Apparently there are more lyrics than just the title, it’s actually nine minutes long, and it’s not as grating as I remember.

Dinosaur Sex, folks. Worth the ramble.

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Review: Underworld – Barking


I got exposed to U.K. digital wonderboychiks Underworld via a recent Uncut® Magazine free CD where they featured a track from the band’s 1990s heyday. It sounded okay and when this sparkling new “U-World” disc hit the review “do-you-wanna?” list I jumped at the chance to hear a full release from this talented duo. Karl Hyde and Rick Smith connected with a bevy of producers to create this, only their sixth album in their thirty-year existence. And at first listen it sounds pretty much like a techno album should. Most every track strikes a groove early on and fans of the genre will respect the urgent boom-thuwap as being as authentic as it gets. The trouble is, techno is an extremely limited style and if you don’t have a dance club and a wigful of ecstasy outside your back door then the tunes here do definitely become a little boring. There are a couple of tracks (song names are irrelevant for this music, really) that edge into a beatcentric, Pink Floyd-y vibe but so many as that one would notice the advance or even pay extra attention to what comes after them. Search this out if you were ever a fan. If not, swerve to the left and move on. (Cooking Vinyl, www.underworldlive.com) Jeff Monk

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Found: Pratt’s Driving Off a Cliff


After one of Fletcher Pratt’s latest sets, Guy from free grind band Tu Sufres (among other bands) commented that he dug all of Pratt’s set, except for the beats, because he doesn’t like beats at all.
“Really?!” said I. “I really enjoyed the beats.”
“Yeah, see, that’s why I don’t like beats,” he quipped. That motherfucker.
Either way, here’s Pratt’s newest release off his Soundcloud account, and, in Guy’s face, it starts with a beat. It, however, isn’t something to dance to–it’s definitely 5/4. Then, as the drums punch away, drones and twinkles entwine the piece until that sure beat speeds up, stays at double speed, and dissolves into a series of glitched-out purgatories.
It’ll be on a limited edition CDR of 50 titled DEATHDUBS on Snapped in Half. You can see Pratt play in his band Kkraakk!! open up for B.C.’s Anha this Friday at Freud’s Bathhouse and Diner.

Driving Off a Cliff by fletcher_pratt


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Review: Elaste – Super Motion Disco

The third compilation of obscure ’80s disco by DJ and musician Dompter Mooner–a.k.a. Elaste–is a CD that’ s outrageously fun and enjoyable. Super Motion Disco is acollection largely inspired by the Italian afrofunky disco of the ’70s and ’80s. The 14 lovingly selected tracks encompass “avantgardistic, galactic sounding disco, proto-techno, electronic new wave, and cheesy slow motion pop.” Yeah, this sounds like theingredients of pretentiousness all right, but Super Motion Disco is like any variety offreshly baked pastries: sure they can be reheated, and sure other people know how to bake, but they’ ll never taste the same as the way they used to. Still dubious? One listen and you’ll find yourself grooving along to tracks such as the zippy “Maccaroni Radio” (by Eddy Trauba & MM Greco) and the zappy “ The Shark Eats Ice” (Conrad Und Gregor Schnitzler), with your dad, your little sister, and your dog. The lyrics are more often than not super cheesy, (“Glaring Sound throbs / DJs turn the knobs”) but they’re so unabashedly sung, you’ll wonder why you even cared. The tracks of Super Motion Disco sound as fresh and fun now as they must have 30 years ago. There’ s a lot going on here, and it’s a rewarding and filling listen. (Compost Rec, www.compost-rec.com) Adrienne Yeung

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Found: PUT IN THE PIZZAAAAAA

My A.D.D.-free mind can’t handle the original, but this wicked slow-mo clip of Mary-Kate and Ashley’s post Full House career-saving videos seriously sounds like it’s from a chopped and screwed copy of 3 Feet High and Rising. lolllllllllllllllllllllllll

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Review: Tender Forever – No Snare


Melanie Valera couldn’t have picked a more apt moniker. As Tender Forever, Valera crafts curiously intimate, sparsely instrumented indie pop – previously seen on 2005’s The Soft and the Hardcore and 2007’s Wider – letting her pipes take centre stage to draw you in close. And close you get. Valera’s voice tends to wrap around you, going from hopeful staccato to desperate howls. Opening with “Got to Let Go,” on which Valera croons, “This song is not for you and it is meant to be/ Just a piece of something nice that you won’t get to see,” the album seems borne the eventual relief and release that comes from heartbreak, that pocket after the end of a relationship where emotions run free and wild, the realization that you’re better off alone. “Day Number” swiftly counts off phases of a dying relationship, followed by the musically optimistic, yet lyrically dark “But The Shape Is Wide.” No Snare – named not for instrumental patterns, but rather, as Valera sings on “The Snare That’s Gone,” “My heart was the snare you could hit anywhere” –  is truly an album in the purest sense, a mood that carries through all nine tracks and belies song transitions, each number luring you further into an oddly soothing sorrow, flashes of synths, organs and various percussions. (K records, www.krecs.com) Brietta O’Leary

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Live Bait: Luminous Rays of F-L-A-M-M-A-R-I-O-N

We who are in-tuned to the fainter vibrations know of ghosts and ghouls around all the time–but now that all Hallow’s Eve approaches, the supernatural bubbles to the surface of the mire more quickly. But F-L-A-M-M-A-R-I-O-N is a video installation at aceartinc. by Susan MacWilliam that explores the validity of an infamous Winnipeg seance, or lack thereof–and the jump cuts and repetition will either make you feel sickly uncomfortable, or just at home.

Continue reading “Live Bait: Luminous Rays of F-L-A-M-M-A-R-I-O-N”

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Review: Jukebox the Ghost – Everything Under the Sun

Have you ever seen the falling star? I’ve seen it. Usually, it vanishes away in a matter of seconds. But I’ve seen the everlasting falling star. This is Everything Under the Sun. I’ve had this album playing loudly in my head since I listened to it for the first time. I’m always listening to this album, because Jukebox the Ghost makes my emotions deeper. Although music has a limited ability to express the human mind, their music can almost express our feelings. If you listen to “Schizophrenia” and “Half Crazy”, you must be happy and you can’t help dancing. On the other hand, when you listen to “Mistletoe” and “So Let Us Create,” you will get sentimental. “The Sun” and “The Stars” will let you can enjoy this album whenever you listen to it. It is because we live under the sun. Jukebox the Ghost knows everything about us and what music we want to listen to, as if they are watching us from the sun. So we can listen to their music easily. Your day doesn’t start without listening to it. Just listen to it!! (Yep Roc) Takashi Wakasugi