Local homeboy Ross Crockford shows up on Living in the City to talk about what Victoria looked like in 1862! Like did you know… Johnson Street used to be a gully? a gully full of dead bodies!?! SWA? Fortunately, our fore-fathers/mothers… rightly fearing a zombie uprising, had prisoners move them to Pioneer Square on Quadra. Now there are no more bodies (that we know of) buried under Johnson Street… yet the threat of Zombie apocalypse remains. Stay vigilant.
As alternative music continues to slide to the margins…we get some Electronic Dance Music from Deadmau5 showing up on KROQ in LA, LIVE in San Fran and on the modern rockers in Alberta, Sonic and X.
I can already forecast a pushback when the Zone features this jam (and I don’t expect it right now to be an add, but you never know)…but the song is catchy and fun so if for anything, stream it here. Deadmau5 featuring Mr. Gerrard Way of My Chemical Romance fame.
Deadmau5 feat. Gerrard Way – “Professional Griefers”
What do you think? Too EDM for the Zone? Maybe a direction you’re excited to go?
Whoa… back from holiday. And I do have a adventures to talk about…but first! NEW Mumford and Sons.
New record is called Babel and it will be a massive, massive out on September 25th. First single is “I Will Wait.” First couple listens here at Zone HQ…if you like Mumford, you should easily be able to get behind this cut. Here we go.
Hit the Cave Singers show last night. I am so happy Michelle was on me to rally.
I want to start by saying…there were a lot of drunk girls there. A lot. Alyx, Michelle, Two and I all looked at each other and thought, this is abnormal. Now, if I were a younger, single, hipper, bro-man, this would have been prime hunting grounds. But now I am a married Dad and its like, “really, bumping into me boobs first, again! ugh…put more clothes on, your Dad would be so upset dressed like that… oh I can’t stay mad at you hipster girl with an arm tattoo of feathers, I just can’t.” One of them spilled beer on Two… so there’s that.
I went to the Melvins on Monday with Jason Lamb, considerably less women. Maybe Jason’s wife? Kim? Heather? and then 40 year old men in black (or my case, wearing running shoes).
The show was pretty good. I went with Alyx and we figured we have now seen Cave Singers 3 times! The set had bon energy and drunk girls like to boogie. Lots of dancing and clapping. Festive. I think the crowd was big by Cave Singer standards because they genuinely seemed excited on the energy. That was nice. The guitar guy sat on a stool for the whole show, maybe he was less amped on the crowd? But the lead singer was engaged.
There was no merch station so I couldn’t buy a t-shirt. Coral seems to think I already have one. Oh man, my brain is slowing down quicker than I thought it would.
This is the only photographic evidence I was at the show.
Zone writer Caleb turned me on to this Southern sludge metal band Baroness. A band of grown-ups, with kids and life and responsibilities now living in Philadelphia. Their new double album Yellow and Green was just Best New Music’d by Pitchfork and the songs I’ve heard are mighty.
I don’t listen to a ton of metal these days… but when I listen to hard rock I prefer the super fuzz. And some boogie. And a band that borrows a name from a GI Joe smoke show.
Everything I’ve heard from Baroness so far is quality. This might have to be a record I invest in.
The record review talks about wanting to listen to the double record in its entirety… and though it may be hard to get Coral onside during our family road trip, I imagine there will be a time, late, when Coral will go to sleep and I’ll be cruising over the Rockies or across the Plains and I’ll get to hit play on this album.
Oh.Ma.Gawd…. another post about fuzz rock band. I know. But I can’t get enough of this shit right now. And produced by The Black Key’s Dan Auerbach… how could I not hit play on Nashville’s JEFF The Brotherhood.
Two interesting things happened to me today that made this record pop out to me in the sea of internet nonsense…
01) During our music meeting today at The Zone I said, “rock and roll should be made by ugly people.” And JEFF the Brotherhood are beautifully ugly. I see the pictures and graphics of this band and think, I like these guys.
02) I called Coral the sweetest Peach today. Who says that? People sick in the brain, that’s who… then I hit go! on the song “Leave Me Out” from their album Hypnotic Nights… first line… “Pretty as peach…”
Now I’ll always think of Coral when I hear this song which will quickly make it a favourite. I’ll slot this album into my playlist with Cloud Nothings, Japandroids and classic Dinosaur Jr… Fuzzy, poppy… Pitchfork compared them a bit to Weezer. Yeah, maybe. Its got the hooks and simple sing-song rhymes.
I know what you’re thinking… how can “sick shit” ever be good? I don’t know either. It actually sounds rather horrible.
BUT the new Mother Mother single is pretty magical. Its getting ridiculous how every single Mother Mother song is so bloody catchy. One listen of the song “Let’s Fall In Love” and you’ll be singing along. Jenkies!
Mother Mother – “Let’s Fall In Love”
New Mother Mother record will be called The Sticks, its due in the fall. MM plays Rifflandia in September and yeah, Mother Mother is pretty much great.
On Saturday I DJ’d a wedding in Victoria at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. Ryan and Emily are a couple from Vancouver that made the voyage to our Island village to celebrate. Ryan happens to be a composer and so during the reception he had a couple performers jam out a song he made for his new bride. Have a listen…
An Ode to Emily: Frustrated Landscapes
by Ryan Trew
Flute: Crystal Yang
Piano: Matty Poon
The song and little concert was such a fun and unique moment in the wedding. I asked Emily if I could share it on my blog and I am happy she said yes. Some classical music MP3s on the old MAS Blog. Good times.
Here is a picture of Madelyn helping me. On Saturday, I hooked the bike trailer up to the bike and took Maddy along as I ran errands for the wedding DJing. We stopped by a venue to scope out how to set up for a future wedding and had to rent lights. She was a great assistant loading the lights into the back of the bike trailer.
Summer is raging in Victoria. Busy as ever with work… and Coral and I are planning on taking Mads on a road trip to Alberta. Good thing there is an oil tanker FULL of new music.
New Bloc Party rolled off the assembly line yesterday. The song is called “Octopus” and you’ll find it on their August 21st release, Four. When I got home last night, I downloaded the song and it immediately got me jazzed on their 2005 record Silent Alarm…which to this day is still an amazing record. I like Bloc Party.
Bloc Party – “Octopus”
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The problem with too much good new music (I know… #HipsterProblems too much good new music?) is that it is hard to focus on any one song or record in the way you might have in the olden days. Its like weekly, or even daily, I get a few new songs across the desk or computer. Diving in and really enjoying music can be hard. I am looking forward to some playlists and long drives to soak it in.
The Killers are back with an album on September 18th… also their forth, called Battle Born. The first single is called “Runaways” and the style is taking you back to Sam’s Town-esque Killers. What did Pretty Much Amazing say….
“If you ever liked The Killers’ unabashed brand of escapism, “Runaways” won’t disappoint.”
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Today twitter earned its keep….a tweet from Band of Horses got me very excited for yet another September release. September 18th will feature the release of Band of Horses’ forth studio record, Mirage Rock.
In the pantheon of BoH records…their latest, Infinite Arms is my least favourite (but I love the album cover the most?…sure). Already, just a couple listens in, and I jive on “Knock Knock.” So here’s to hoping.
Local homeboy and all-about-man-about-town Simon Ogden was telling me to check out the new Dirty Projectors record Swing Lo Magellan. So weird but so hypnotic. I am not saying this is an everyday kinda record… but there are a couple jams on this album that turn the brain crank in new and interesting ways. My first time through I went, WTF? I thought maybe Simon was experimenting with the bath salts… but the second time through (or third, or forth) the album made more sense (kinda). I clearly don;t have it figured out. Who knows, maybe its bad? But so bad it tricks you into thinking its high art?
I heard a couple songs I enjoyed and one of them was the title track.
The Dirty Projectors – “Swing Lo Magellan”
That song has a real cool retro vibe. And I do feel it fitting in at Veneto Lounge. And seeing as Simon is the head bartender/manager there…I can understand how he heard it and maybe thought…. cocktails!
The guitars on the whole album are so pleasantly jangly. Everything is a little off-kilter and unsettling. If you are turned off by traditional pop and want to weird the fuck out for awhile… headphones, low-light and this album.
I don’t follow Dirty Projectors on twitter… so I don’t have a tweet form them, but I do have one from Cloud Nothings that caught me eye…
