“‘Randy’ started as an almost industrial techno track, but we were in such a good mood that day that we ended up making the song as it is that is real like joyful. Like if you’re in the car with your best friends or your lover or your kids. And that’s the feeling of the whole record I guess.”
Someone randomly “liked” the post the other day shooting back up on my feed and here we are. Enjoying Cloudchord’s tasteful remix of Bon Iver’s “22 (over soon).” I dig it.
Happy Friday! Fall came quickly and completely to Vancouver. It was like the calendar flipped to September and everyone had a Pumpkin Spice Latte in their hand and a chunky sweater on.
It’s been awhile since I’ve checked in with NYC’s Verite. She tweeted out this cover of The 1975’s “Somebody Else.”
I can’t not like the original as much as I fight against my ’75 fanboydom. I hit play on Verite’s take. 1975’s take is still the standard, but I like Verite too.My heart is big enough to love both.
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Before school fired up and the rains returned we did manage some beach time on the Island.
Philadelphia’s Beach Slang are getting ready to release their sophomore record, A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings, on September 23rd (Polyvinyl Records).
There is a music video for the song too if you’re still jiving on the audio-visual medium. Noisey says the music video takes to an explosive and volatile relationship. “Dysfunctional relationships are a vicious cycle. Fight, then makeup sex. More fighting, more makeup sex. One minute you’re drunkenly screaming at each other in a parking lot about god knows what, the next you’re tearing at each other’s clothes against a dumpster behind the movie theater.”
James Alex sings, “I won’t die, don’t need heaven. Too fucked up to put out.”
Beach Slang is on tour back east then Europe. Nothing out west yet. I missed their show last fall at the Cobalt and it is one of my great rock & roll regrets.
I get asked a lot, “where are all the new rock bands?”
Here you go.
Victoria’s Ellice Blackout have been working hard on their debut record Villains. The record which comes out on September 10th, is 12 wailing guitar driven shredders.
Lead singer David Fraelic matches the fierce energy of the guitars and is able to punch through on songs like “Duct Tape,” “Blue Ribbon” and single “Dead Radio.”
It’s fists up and everyone singing along on “Give Up The Ghost.”
The record marches at a fairly consistent high intensity for most it’s run but for me, the stand out moments are when it backs off the throttle a bit like on “Weightless.”
Fraelic says that a lot of the lyrics are “quite personal.” Which reminds me, next time I see him, I’ll have to ask about the story behind “Bad Tattoo.”
His favourite song on the record is side one, track one, “I personally love ‘Duct Tape’ because it’s the perfect combination of pop and hooks but still coming across very hard. It’s got all my influences in one song.”
The band does a fun modern spin on a classic hard rock sound.
Might have to wake her up sometime this week and do the Coquitlam Crunch before work.
Finally, how about this wedding venue? The space is called The Permanent. It was an old bank back in the day. Now it’s a hall right downtown on Pender.
Trying really hard to not throw more shit on my VISA. It all adds up…t-shirts, concert tickets, songs from iTunes, parking, bridge tools, I bought a book yesterday! But c’mon! New Beach Slang pre-order is so pretty and just $20 (US dollars, but whatever).
And for my homeboy Tyson…yes they have a cassette option for $8.
So you’re going to the Pacific National Exhibition and you just don’t have time to mess around. I feel you. Here are the three best things to eat at the 2016 PNE.
01) The Legendary Pickle Dog from Chicky’s Chicken. It’s a hot dog, in a pickle, then corn dogged. I enjoy mine with mustard, the kid likes it with ketchup.
02) The Fat Elvis from Rocky Point Ice Cream. It’s chocolate ice cream, banana, peanut butter, jam all smushed in a brioche bun and grilled. Messy. Good.
03) Delicious beer from the Craft Beer Fest. All that walking and show home viewing will make you thirsty. Visit the Craft Beer Festival for a tasty beer brewed right here in British Columbia.
Aussie alt-electro poppers Empire of the Sun have a new record out on October 28th called Two Vines.
Here’s a quote from the press release.
“There was an image we talked about very early on with this record, before we wrote the title track, Two Vines, and that was this image of a modern city overtaken by jungle, almost like mother nature taking back the planet,” says Nicholas Littlemore, the co-pilot with Luke Steele of this fantastic vessel of electro-futurist sound and vision. “All the buildings will turn back to sand. All it will be is nature again. We wanted to make something that reflected the beauty of that.”
Empire recorded the new album in Los Angeles and Hawaii.
“Going to Hawaii to record was the best idea,” said Luke. No shit.
Our first listen is “High and Low.”
Yeah I think this song will be going into heavy rotation at my DJ sets at Match Pub and on the driving iPhone playlists.
Stilling hanging out on Staycation around Vancouver…kinda. DJing at the Starlight Casino this weekend still and picked up another gig supporting Daniel Wesley when he does a free patio show at the Match Eatery and Public House in Langley.
Still poking in on my new music emails….and an email from Metallica’s people caught my eye. Hardwired….to Self Destruct, their first record since 2008’s Death Magnetic will be out on November 18th.
The first single is “Hardwired.” Being a legendary band adds a little more challenge to new music. You’re not only taking on all the other bands putting out music, you also take on yourself. All the music you’ve put out. Where does “hardwired” fit in the pantheon of Metallica greatness? Does it even fit in? The song is fun, but personally I just can’t relate to 50-something multi-millionaires. I can still throw down Kill ’em All and James Hetfield is singing about my world. This song isn’t speaking to me. But it is a fun Metallica jam. A 3 minute new rock blaster.
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It is hot as heck in Vancouver right now. We went for a drive out to Brandywine Falls and at one point our thermometer read 35 degrees!
