Jangly, fuzzy, hazy… like the heat rising off the pavement in summer.
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Finally got a chance to jam out another episode of Hockey! with Jeremy. Madelyn asked me how they make the ice in the hockey rink for a Victoria Royals hockey game… I go and find out… and maybe get a forth job?
Growing up in the wilderness territory East of Burnaby… my folks used to listen to AM radio. 1410 CFUN. Pretty much every morning and in the car. Fred and Cathy in the morning, soft favourites the rest of the time. I wouldn’t really consider myself an expert on the love songs of the 80s… but weirdly, I seem to know them all… because I heard them all getting shuttled to and from swimming lessons at Canada Games Pool or skating at the Coquitlam main rink.
Back in the summer…I broadcast my show from Pickers Consignment. They have a fairly extensive collection of previously loved vinyl and lots of 45s. After my show, the guys let me pick out a stack and I pulled out a bunch of stuff that I sort of recognized. Like Phil Collins.
In the early 80s… Phil Collins had two interesting things happen to him. He had a horrible divorce from his Canadian wife, and he began a solo career. Phil Collins had been fronting Genesis but during his divorce he wrote a series of very personal and dark songs that were released as his first record, Face Value.
“I had a wife, two children, two dogs, and the next day I didn’t have anything. So a lot of these songs were written because I was going through these emotional changes.”
Face Value became a hit record and encouraged Phil to continue this solo path (while still playing drums for Genesis alum Peter Gabriel and working with Genesis). It also brought him in contact with director Taylor Hackford who was given a list of Atlantic records artists to use for a film he was working on… Phil Collins was on that list.
Before Jeff Bridges was “The Dude” he was a movie actor (I know right?). In 1984 he played washed up pro-football player Terry Brogan in the movie Against All Odds. (Did you see the movie Tron and wonder how they made Jeff Bridges look young? It was footage from this film they used for young Bridges)
Hackford had used a signature song for a previous film (An Officer and a Gentleman) and wanted something for his new project. Having heard Phil Collins in Genesis he asked if Phil Collins if he had anything. Phil had a song from his Face Value sessions called “How Can You Just Sit There.” Phil watched a preview of the movie “Against All Odds,” rearranged and retitled the song. Recorded it in two days, mixed it over the phone and bingo-bongo, his first Billboard Number 1 hit and a timeless breakup power ballad was born.
Phil Collins – “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)”
Poking around the internet reading about this Phil Collins classic, I discovered more than a few cover songs. One interestingly celebrated version comes from another soundtrack, 20 years later. Wicker Park.
For this film, The Postal Service breaks it down.
The Postal Service – “Against All Odds (Take a Look At Me Now)”
I am doing that #MarchPhotoADay thing on my twitter. Good times. Every day there is a theme and you take a picture about it. Fun!
I have a couple songs for you today… two very different styles.
Lets get started talking about one of my favourite chill beat mongers, Four Tet. The UK producer and DJ teamed up with Burial for a song called “Nova.” The song will likely show up on Four Tet’s Text Records.
This song kind of reminds of the grey days leading up to spring. Spring is coming to Victoria, but ain’t here yet! (heck there was a light dusting of snow the other day).
You got that signature Four Tet beat and the ghostly samples and glitches of Burial. Basically everything about both performers I like, in one song. I remember when Four Tet toured to Vancouver… and I think played at The Biltmore? Oh man, it will forever be a shame that I didn’t rally to hit the show. In my defense… he played on a February 24th… Madelyn’s birthday. Just couldn’t do it.
The writer didn’t jive on the record, but in explaining their distaste they kinda sold me on the disc. The group is called Mr. Dream and their EP is Fatherland.
The critique is that band sounded a bit like a second-rate 80s vintage Homestead Records band. Sounds like my kind of band.
I started poking around the other day on Homestead because they are an important record label based out of New York for alternative music in the 80s. They feature prominently in the lore of the time in outsider music. Gerald Cosloy ran the label during a lot of important years and was instrumental in the early days of Dinosaur Jr. Awesome.
It was Dinosaur Jr that inspired me to try and learn guitar… and to hear a band that borrows heavily from that era but is modern sounds exceptionally intriguing to me.
Poking around more, and Colsoy’s story intersects again… as he is a part-owner of today’s influential indie record label, Matador Records. And then it just all makes sense. matador is home (or was home) to a lot of bands that I love. Namely Interpol (currently) and Spoon (formally). But click the link and you’ll see a pretty select roster of bands.
Very cool.
Back to Mr. Dream, the band out of Brooklyn NYC… are a couple Pitchfork writers (which is funny, because Pitchfork ripped them)… which goes to show, judging music is easier than making it (or at least a very different skill set).
I like Mr. Dream… but mostly because I like the style and era they are trying to replicate. And if I ever get half decent at guitar, might try for something similar (but with a Four Tet beat? haha)
That’s all I got… I am off on a little holiday tomorrow and Friday… Coral is taking me to a Canucks game. We’ll eat street food, drink beers, maybe hit the Red Wagon… I might go for a soak in the hot tub at my sister’s place, and generally act like a tourist with 48 hours to cause trouble Vancouver friends… if you’re downtown Thursday night…look for Hurricane Coral, I’ll be holding onto a lamp post or sturdy hipster near that!
I listen to a LOT of CBC. During the day its all… “blah blah blah important stuff….”
During the witching hours its all… “blah blah blah less important stuff…”
But that less important stuff can be pretty neat. Take the show they air called Public Radio International. They have correspondents all over the world talking usually, politics and music. And usually they work the two into a story. Or at least they seem to every Friday at 1:45AM when I’m listening. Last week they talked about a Burmese punker band called Side Effect.
In Canada, when we talk “punk rock” its either in the historical sense… like the pioneering punks that overcame the social norms of the time to rock.
Or maybe we talk about the modern punkers which is really more a fashion style or a caricature of the punks of yore.
Then I heard about Side Effect and went whoa…
Burma is now called Myanmar and since 1962-ish till just recently it was ruled by a military junta that oppressed the people, was a barrier to freedom and retarded the economy. The results of years of disservice is a society that has one of the worst health care systems, is poor, and rife with child labour, human rights and human trafficking abuses.
Last year, the military government was replaced by a civilian one and slowly, Myanmar is stepping into the year 2012. One way… is with punk band Side Effect.
Just some young bros trying to make music in Yangon.
Listen to this PRI story.
Righteous. These guys could just “disappear” for stepping out of line, yet they feel compelled to create.
AND the radio show features Montreal band the Handsome Furs!
The Handsome Furs traveled to Yangon and hung out with Side Effect. and Side Effect did a pretty choice cover of “Radio Kaliningrad.”
Side Effect – “Radio Kaliningrad” (Handsome Furs cover)
What a wonderful weekend. Had lots of opportunity to hang out with Madelyn and Coral. We did some swimming, record shopping, thrift-storing (now a verb!) and coffee stops. Saturday night was the co-op pre-school fundraiser. Being the resident DJ Dad in the school, I got the gig of jamming the tunes. I’ll tell ya, that was a night. These folks went hard and raged it. Lots of Moms having a couple and getting weirdly close-talky to request Flo Rida cuts…should be an interesting Tuesday morning dropping Maddy off.
The night had good energy. I think any party where the beer comes in a can and the wine comes in a box will end well. Coral bounced a little early to hit the Acres of Lions show and I rushed there as soon as I could to hear the last four or five songs. Wild.
Also on the weekend I got to punch up M83 on the modern rock countdown. It was fantastic to get a flood of positive reaction from Zoners jiving on the cut, “Midnight City”.
The album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming came out last fall… but as often happens with these things, sometimes it takes some time for the great songs to reverberate.
The song “Midnight City” is moving up the modern rock charts in the US pretty fiercely, propelled by its Phoenix-esque hazy vintage synth sounds.
Like an good electronic jingle… there is a remix. Check out this one.
There is a TV commercial they seem to play all the time when I’m watching highlights on TSN or Sportsnet. Its for erectile dysfunction… 40 Over 40. I watch it and think… man, we sure do get preoccupied with weird shit.
I was talking about this commercial on twitter with @TimAyres, and he made a comment about the other weird shit we could be preoccupied with. I laughed and thought about it some more then made this with Cassie and Kim at the Zone.
Montreal’s Plants and Animals will come to Victoria on March 20th for a show at Lucky Bar. The same place I saw P&A years ago… and the show was so impressive.
I had heard their music from the acclaimed 2008 record Parc Avenue. But I didn’t know what to expect. I assumed they were a giant jam band for some reason…well they do have lengthy jams, but I guess I expected more. When they came to Victoria, there was just three of them. Very rock & roll looking, in that working class sense of the word. The show expanded my mind, two times (and I bought the t-shirt… and a t-shirt for my Dad).
Since that time, I have followed along on the band’s journey. Enjoying 2010’s La La Land, and now getting excited for The End of That.
Today, Lyle at EMI sent some vinyl copies of their LP and a stack of 45s for the single “Light Show.” How old school, I love it. Thank you Lyle!
I immediately retired to the Zone studio where we keep our turntable (yup… we have a turntable. I wonderful Technics, plus Boitano’s DJ set up with a pair of Stanton’s and Serato Scratch). I dropped the needle on the b-side of the “Light Show” single. Right away the lead singer Warren Spicer sets the stage at a live show… “This is a cover. By one of the first bands that took us out on tour. And showed us how to rock as it were. One of the best Montreal bands that there is.”
Plants and Animals – “I’ll Believe in Anything” (Wolf Parade cover)
The original song was an old Sub Pop single originally from 2005’s Apologies to the Queen Mary. Listening to the P&A version… just makes me want to hear the strained yelp of the Wolf Parade original. The P&A version makes the song a little more humanistic and easier to digest for sure. But I do like the weirdo jams of Wolf Parade too…
You can’t help it when you listen to chillwave… you think the beach. Even if you live on an Island adrift in a cold Pacific sea… people still hit the waves. Coral is just driving home from Tofino right now and took this picture yesterday of some brave adventurers enjoying the ferocity of the Ocean.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are an indie hipster band out of NYC. Their music is pleasant for sure… but what I am really feeling today is music from their new remix EP, Acid Reflex.
I’d put money on G&Y playing Rifflandia this year. The boys are currently on tour of the Eastern US showcasing right now. Lead singer Matt Lyall posted the top picture of their view from the Brooklyn Bridge. Gorgeous.
From one bridge to another bridge a bit more local.
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My little girl Madelyn turned 4 on Friday. Coral and I took Friday off work for a family day. It began with breakfast at Spoons with Coral’s family. Then we bundled up into all our rain coats, gumboots, hats and toques and traveled north to Shawnigan Lake. Our destination was the Kinsol Trestle.
The Kinsol Trestle is a beautifully restored rail crossing and part of the Trans-Canada trail. You could ride your bike or hike along this path from Shawnigan Lake to Lake Cowichan if you were into it.
It was an easy and fun hike to take a 4-year-old on and we’ll for sure be heading back in the summer with our bikes and a picnic.
Then back to the city for burgers, hotdogs and ice cream sandwiches from Big Wheel Burger. The best.
Saturday saw my family taking the ferry to Victoria and a big birthday party at PlayZone in Langford with Mads’ friends from pre-school. Then dinner at home.
Sunday I hung out with my folks while Coral, Nana and Madelyn left for a holiday to Tofino! What a busy girl and a busy weekend to turn 4! I am actually excited to be back at work as this three day holiday was a lot of work! What a great treat to have so much family in town to celebrate Madelyn being on Planet Earth for four whole years.
If you are heading to the Sasquatch music festival in may… you are one lucky duck. The list of bands and artists taking part is once again pretty strong.
My wife Coral will be heading to the festival so I was trolling the website looking at the bands to see which ones I should try and implore her to check out. I saw that a band that Coral really loves, Electric Guest is playing. How fun! (oh and fun.)
Must be a lot of the right hype behind this LA band as they have maybe 3 songs for download on iTunes? And another you get for free if you give them an email address.
Coral jams out a lot of Alt Nation on XM and they often get insight into the next pet-project of the Industrial Record Complex. Regardless… super fun and catchy jam.
Poking around some more, and I heard the Canadian dark electro pop band Purity Ring. One half of the band (Megan James) is from Edmonton and now lives in Halifax. The other half (Corin Roddick) lives in Montreal.
I was reading the interview they had with Pitchfork. I love how the interviewer was all, “you music is so deep and dark…” and Corin just basically says, “yeah I listen to a lot of Soulja Boy.”
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I lifted this picture from the Frightened Rabbit twitter feed. It seems the Scottish lads are recording some new tunes. More than that, I just think the picture looks cool.
This is my amp. I am still learning how it goes and what makes it work. For being so small… it wails pretty good.
Finally got a chance to jam out another episode of Hockey! with Jeremy. Madelyn asked me how they make the ice in the hockey rink for a Victoria Royals hockey game… I go and find out… and maybe get a forth job?
