Stylus Magazine

Grinderman is and isn’t Nick Cave at the same time. The faces may be the same – Grinderman’s cast is populated solely by members of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – the costumes are different. While Cave and the Bad Seeds are certainly rock musicians, their oft-furied instrumentation are often overshadowed by Cave’s favourite lyrical pastime – yelling at God. But on Grinderman 2, as much a sequel to 2007‘s self-titled debut Grinderman as possible, Cave and his posse let themselves shed the self-awareness present on so many Bad Seeds tracks, and give themselves license to rock, heavily and free of all inhibitions. Opener “Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man” lulls you in sparse, melancholic plucking, before pulling the curtains back for the real show – ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Mr. Cave’s Axefest. Sit back, relax, and let the shredding guitar tear into your brain. Cave’s obsession with religion is still evident on tracks such as “Heathen Child,” his lyrical topics branch out to critiquing popular culture, and what could be interpreted as a series of bizarre pick-up lines. “Who needs a record player? You are my record player!” (Anti-, www.anti.com) Brietta O’Leary

Montréal alt-rock band Karkwa’s fourth album, Les Chemins de Verre, won the fifth annual Polaris Prize Monday night in Toronto – and their success is only the beginning of what could be an entirely new chapter both for them and for popular Canadian music. The Francophone quintet beat out an impressive list of nominees, among them Caribou (who won the prize in 2008), Broken Social Scene, Owen Pallett (who won in 2006 as Final Fantasy), Radio Radio, and Tegan and Sara.

The Polaris Prize celebrates the best Canadian album released in the previous year. Judging is based not on sales or genre, but solely on artistic merit. While the shortlist was selected by a 200-person jury of industry professionals, music bloggers, broadcasters, and journalists from coast to coast, the Karkwa was voted to the top by a grand jury of 11.  Their name comes from the phonetic representation of “carquois” – French for “a quiver of arrows” and Karkwa is the first francophone band to win the Polaris Prize.

Despite extensive touring and an enthusiastic following in France and Quebec, Karkwa has remained relatively unknown in the rest of Canada – until now. The band hopes that the Polaris Prize will prove to be the tool that helps them to bridge the dichotomy between anglophone and francophone Canadian music and achieve success on a wider scale.

Louis-Jean Cormier (guitar), François Lafontaine (keyboard), Julien Sagot (percussion), Stéphane Bergeron (drums), and Martin Lamontagne (bass) have been working together since Karkwa’s inception in 1998. The band quickly gained such appreciation that they were invited to perform in Paris for the Printemps du Québec cultural expo the following year. In 2001, after a brief hiatus, Karkwa was back on their feet and released their first album, Le Pensionnat des Établis. Les Tremblements S’immobilisent (2005) won them three Felix Awards, and Le Volume de Vent (2008) featured musicians Patrick Watson and Elizabeth Powell. Les Chemins de Verre was recorded overseas just outside of Paris at Studio la Frette, the same place where Feist and Plants and Animals put together their best-selling albums. Self-described as “organic and impressionistic,” the album’s lack of pre-planning was a way for the band to play with their music and work off each other in a truly creative, cathartic process.

They’re frequently compared to Sigur Rós, Radiohead, and Coldplay, but their ability to go from low-key, reflective, and experimental to fast-paced, heavy, rollicking, and impassioned is distinctly their own. Les Chemins de Verre is undoubtedly their most experimental and most powerful to date. The Polaris Prize has given Karkwa the exposure they’ve needed to get the rest of Canada to look at them. What the jury, and thousands of Canadians saw on Monday night, is that Les Chemins de Verre gives Karkwa new depth, interest, and power, while still retaining that universality that makes their songs work their way into your dreams.

Adrienne Yeung

There are three avenues with which one could think about Say It. The first are the vocals, which often come off as constricted, high-pitched and unappealing, most evident on “What You Say.” This is the simplest criticism of the album. Musically, the instruments seem disconnected—most often, for some reason, the bass. When they do form any cohesion, it lacks any particular hook for the listener. It just is. Lyrically the songs are curious; most of the album sports songs that are four and a half minutes long, while the lyrics are only a few dozen words each. A good writer knows to pick their words carefully—Born Ruffians do so here; it is just simply a shame that they had not chosen better ones. The best thing one could say of this album is that at times it sounds like Vampire Weekend. At the same time, probably the worst thing you could say about this album is that it sounds too much like Vampire Weekend. The sound of Vampire Weekend demonstrates a keen ear for genre and how it can be properly integrated into pop music—skills which are not shown by Born Ruffians on Say It. (Paper Bag Records) Devin King

Much love for Broken Pencil, a magazine that revolves around Canadian zines, writing, poetry and the arts. I gotta say, we go back a little while–I was digging around in our old filing cabinets and found an snarky review of an early Stylus mag in Broken Pencil. Heart!

But by far, Broken Pencil‘s biggest draw is now their annual Deathmatch–a country-wide literary gorefest where the winner is decided upon by readers online. And now the mag’s looking for submissions for their fourth year. They want your stories (between 1500 and 3000 words long) by December 31, 2010. Prizes include $300, publication in their Spring 2011 issue, and, the best perk of any battle royal, bragging rights. Check out their website for details.

And as a twist, Broken Pencil is looking for bands and new media artists to contribute to Deathmatch too. The spirit is the same but the deadline is November 15, 2010, and you can email Nathaniel G. Moore at [email protected] for more details.