Pet Politics is rocking my Hi-Fi

Minor Update today. So my copy of Pet Politics Ep, In My Head just arrived as a late Christmas present. You may remember Pet Politics from a previous post here. Ryan over at Catbird records was actually turned onto Pet Politics from our post. I have to say this is really a badge of honour for me because this album is really great. Ryan has made some wonderful limited edition silkscreened packaging that is handmade and well put together. It is also amazing that he is selling them for only $3!!!!! Go Buy the album. Listen to a Song Here. The EP is great from start to finish especially the song "Provence" which hasn't been available until this record, I look forward to more from Pet Politics.

Happy Holidays

I've never really cared much for Christmas music. Thankfully Nick Krgovich(P:ano) created a Christmas album last year that I really like. It isn't composed of Christmas songs, but songs about the season. The one I am sharing here is a particular favorite of mine, Christmas in Killarney, it catches me with lines such as "The parking lots are action packed/ And Brimming with life/ As men run home to their wives/ Stores start turning out their lights"

That pretty much sums of Christmas for me. Happy Holidays.

Chris Mastheim - Christmas in Killarney

Amateurs do it for love.

The Molson Youth Chorale, from Regina, Saskatchewan, cutting loose from their stuffy name and singing a tune by none other than The Left Banke, from New York City, New York. I love the harpsichord but FORGET about the harpsichord - give me a showy piano accompanist and church friendly closet-rock drummer. Give me a few bars of over confident improvised shuffle near the end. Give me a solo by Laurie and shorten the name to The Molsons!



The Molsons - She May Call You Up Tonight

Xmast Patdown

This will probably be my last post for a while as I embark upon a spiritual journey into the dark interiors of British Columbia. Enjoy the festive lights and tinsel, everyone.

Sunset Rubdown - Three Colours II
Before I go, a few New Year’s resolutions. I will worship the new Sunset Rubdown EP. I will tell everyone that this song sounds like Frog Eyes doing a Daddy’s Hands cover and that it is going to make Wolf Parade sound like a bar band. I will stop playing this song on repeat. I will start describing the wind by going, “ooo ooo ow ooo oh”, but only to a claustrophobic musical accompaniment. (Sorry for the sound quality, but this is really only a teaser anyway.)

Daddy’s Hands - Moon vs. Mancoat
This is the prequel to your favorite Wolf Parade song.

Christmas: Holiday/Lazy Ways

I have begun a long Christmas holiday. It is exciting and slow. It involves hurry up and wait air travel. Dinners that begin in hectic chaos and end in painful boredom. VHS rental. Daytime TV.

EXCITEMENT:

MC Miker "G" and DJ Sven - Holiday


Is this song played out? So far, everyone I've played it for has enjoyed the surprise (as opposed to rolling their eyes as if it was "Rapper's Delight"). So many amazing bits: the sampled voice keyboard line, the beat boxing, the sing along chorus. If this song had harpsichord I would probably lose my mind.

SLOW:

Marine Girls - Lazy Ways

A little cold weather at Christmas is great. However, in Victoria you have to go out of your way to get the suitable conditions. This usually means going to the beach: heat sucking pebbles, a chilly southeast wind, the frozen Olympic mountains. When bundled up appropriately this can be a very pleasant experience.

Songs of Interest

I was going to do a post about the new Destroyer album but, in light of some excellent posts over at Zoilus and Said the Gramophone, I'll wait until closer to the release date to join the critics' love-in. In the meantime, here's some songs that I've meant to post for a long time but haven't got around to and another song that I just stumbled upon one minute ago.

Angels of Light & Akron/Family - Raising the Sparks
I don't know where to start. This is a religious revival in the parking lot of a Judas Priest concert. It's teenagers setting fire to their parent's record collection in a bonfire in the backyard. It's the high school smoke pit rising up in revolt against the school board. It's that guy you know who did acid in his eye almost hitting you with his truck.
[buy]

Pink Mountaintops - The Solo Sex
This is what Sonny and Cher's "I've Got You, Babe" would have sounded like if it was written about masturbation. McBean's call-and-response to a smaller, more high pitch McBean can't help but be disturbing in it's own right but becomes even more disturbing when you imagine it as conversation between man and member.
[PM myspace page where I found this song]

Pink Mountaintops - New Drug Queens
This is from the upcoming "Axis of Evol" album and heralds beautiful things to come. It's about sex in the the same way that the Redd Kross song "Linda Blair" is about drugs.
[Jagjaguwar PM Site]

Il est bel et bon

Jay's post of 'a perfect song' inspired me to look beyond the 70's feel good pre-disco dance rock that has been filling my head lately. So here is something I truly believe in. The electronic back up is intensly quiet, affirming my foundation of a no-instruments future. The song was written by Passereau and arranged by Ward Swingle in the most anti-Enoesque fashion possible: on paper. This song makes me love my life.


The Swingle Singers - Il est bel et bon

Wendy Rene

Wendy Rene didn't make more than a few singles for Stax. This particular song gained her quite a bit of success, and enough money for the Teenager to buy her own pet monkey. The song almost sounds like it was created in Jamaica's Studio One, with an amazing pulsing reverb drenched keyboard line provided by Booker T.

At 2:49 the "oh OH OH!!!!!!!!!!" is purely amazing, a cathartic moment.

This is a perfect song.

Wendy Rene - After Laughter (Comes Tears)

Nostalgia

I've been having some mid-1990s nostalgia for the past few days. Please bear with me.

Archers of Loaf – Lowest Part is Free!
If an oldies station for mid-twenty-something indie rockers like myself ever came into existence the playlist would be overflowing with songs like this. Yeah, maybe it sounds almost stereotypically like 1994, but I guess that’s precisely what I'm looking for whenever I listen to bands like Archers of Loaf, or Sebadoh, or Weezer. The unfortunate part is that I suspect the (very annoying) baby-boomer, reunion tour/oldies radio nostalgia probably feels frighteningly similar to my reaction to this song. (Although, you have to admit that an Archers of Loaf reunion would be kind of awesome.)
[buy]

Built to Spill - Kicked it in the Sun (Live, Acoustic)
For any of you who know the 1997 Built to Spill album Perfect From Now On, it's probably kind of jarring to hear this song played on an acoustic guitar. On the album it almost sounds like it's being played outside somewhere and you're listening to it through an open window or from underwater. There's so many layers, and everything's drenched in so much reverb that sometimes it's hard to keep track of what's a guitar, or voice or moog. But, even stripped of all the studio tricks and effects pedals, this version of the song is no less captivating or confusing. After listening to this a few times, I started to realize that the complexity was never really a product of the instruments or production at all but, instead, is the result of the song itself basically consisting of an entire (good) album condensed into a little over six minutes. Enjoy.
[buy]

Toronto's gonna get you so bad!

I continue my look at the state of music in Toronto in a second installment, I think there will be about 4 or 5 more to come.

There is no particular theme to today's songs, though both Les Mouches and The Vermicious Knid are no more. Les Mouches spawned Final Fantasy, Nifty, and Awesome but my heart still houses a wee void where tiny french flies should dwell.

The Vermicious Knid just released Smalltown Devotion/Hometown Compulsion and then called it a day. If you want the album, visit The Ford Plant. Er, and before I mislead anymore of you - they are from Brantford!

Thankfully, we don't have to mourn three bands today, The Phonemes are still alive and well. This song is a real treat - cutest imagery ever! Something to warm you up on this cold, cold day and cheer you up after wrapping yourself in a couple of sadly defunct bands.



Les Mouches - Divorce The Ones You Love
The Vermicious Knid - The Ghosts of Drunken Past
The Phonemes - Porcupines

P.S. to Jeff, thanks for helping to select Toronto songs for hours and the introduction to Elimidate you gave me while doing so. Shudder.

(Les Mouches Link fixed)-Jay

Regionalism

Well, I'm pretty much homeless when it comes to regional pride. I've been working on San Diego by attending one Locust show, one GoGoGo Airheart show and by collecting the homegrown comp series. I've been haning out at the Che Cafe and eating burritos at Pokez. Otherwise, I have:


Greg and Rich - Summer Dream


This song was the B-side to "For This is British Columbia" which was the theme song to the Queen's visit to British Columbia in 1977.


Joey Smallwood - Like Ya Would


There have been some tough premiers but nothing really compares to this. Note that it comes from an entire album.


Richard Valente - Montreal


Why would you move away from a city like Montreal? Why would you leave behind the dirty shitty streets? I guess you can always go back if you really want to.