SoundSalvationArmy

Get psyched Regina! It’s the greatest time of the year once again, our extremely wonderfully-booked and comparatively-tiny Folk Festival is moving in on the park near my house again!

Live reviews will follow for the next couple of days (mostly the smaller, free shows since I could only afford passes for Friday’s main stage show), but here’s a run-down of where you need to be and when in order to see the acts I’m anticipating most!

For easy reference I’m cribbing from the festival program: free stages are annotated as #1, #2, and #3. The first is in the south-west quadrant of Victoria Park, the second is in the north-east, and the third is actually outside the park on the Scarth Street Mall. Let’s go!

Basia Bulat
The Ontario songstress is big in Europe (as far as I know) but she’ll be a big presence in Regina this weekend. Check out our review of her debut album, Oh My Darling, right here. One of the best releases of last year and, according to Tanis, she’s a pistol in a live setting.
Free stages: songwriter showcase on “Songs of Home”, 1:30pm Saturday (#3); songwriter showcase on “Travel Songs,” 3:15pm Saturday (#2)
Main stage: Friday, 7:00pm

the Deep Dark Woods
Yeah, these guys are going to be tired by the end of Saturday night. They’re playing THREE shows on the free stages in the afternoon and a teaser set on the main stage and then another full set at the after-party. Seriously, don’t miss these guys. They’re world-class songwriters hiding in our own backyard. More on their latest album Winter Hours in this post.
Free stages: songwriter showcase with Saskatchewan artists, 12:4pm Saturday; songwriter showcase on “Travel Songs,” 3:15pm Saturday; full set, 4:30pm Saturday (#2)
After party: 12:30am Saturday night/Sunday morning, the Legion on Cornwall Street
Main stage: teaser set, 9:10pm Saturday

Ghost Bees
They may not be telepathic, but as we’re both twins I feel a certain psychic connection to the Lightman sisters (not really). Regardless, these two make sounds that are as creepy as they are beautiful. Mandolin alert!
Free stages: songwriter showcase on “Broken Love Songs”, 4:00pm Saturday (#3); full set, 1:45pm Sunday (#2); songwriter showcase on “Story Songs,” 2:45pm Sunday (#2); songwriter showcase on “Water,” 4:00pm Sunday (#3)
Main stage: teaser set, 6:50pm Saturday

Matt Goud
Regina’s version of a hardcore hero turned acoustic troubadour. If you haven’t already he’s worth hearing.
Free stages: full set, 11:30am Saturday (#3); songwriter showcase on “Broken Love Songs”, 4:00pm Saturday (#3); songwriter showcase for local artists, 12:45pm Sunday (#3); songwriter showcase on “Making a Stand,” 2:00pm Sunday (#1)
Main stage: teaser set, 6:50pm Sunday

Iron & Wine
Duh. Come on. Co-headlining Friday night. Check this post for more on Sam Beam, from which you can listen to “Flightless Bird, American Mouth,” the single most-played track we’ve ever featured on this site. Yes, it probably is because of Twilight.
Main stage: Friday, 9:45pm

Dave Lang
A wry, tongue-in-cheek singer-songwriter and local musical magnate that doesn’t play often enough for my liking. Emcee on the main stage Saturday, but catch him doing a songwriting showcase on Sunday for nothing at 3:15.

Andy Shauf
Modesty is a curious thing. It comes to some as second nature, and Andy Shauf is a great example of that. The dude was writing songs for like six years or something before he even bothered to tell anyone. Now he’s got his first LP up for sale across the world and it’s good.
Free stages: songwriter showcase on “Songs of Home”, 1:30pm Saturday (#3); full set, 3:15pm Saturday (#1); songwriter showcase for local artists, 12:45pm Sunday (#3); songwriter showcase on “Making a Stand,” 2:00pm Sunday (#1)
Main stage: teaser set, 9:55pm Sunday

Socalled
This dude is crazy. He’s a Quebecer that can and has done pretty much everything there is when it comes to music and I’m not exaggerating. He programs MIDI instruments and plays accordion with equal fervor. Free shows: Remix 40 set, 11:30am Saturday (#1); songwriter showcase on “Radio 3 Wishes,” 2:45pm Saturday (#3); songwriter showcase on “Fat Beats and Funky Rhymes,” 11:30am Sunday (#1); songwriter showcase on “Global Electronica,” 4:00pm Sunday (#2); magic show on the kid’s stage, 2:30pm Sunday
Main stage: 8:15pm Sunday

Volcanoless In Canada
One of Saskatchewan’s best-kept secrets. Triple-guitar’d, energetic pop rock that spans a ton of genres. Super-tight! Just released a new album to boot.
Free shows: songwriter showcase for local artists, 12:45pm Saturday (#2); songwriter showcase for local artists, 12:45pm Sunday (#3); full set, 1:45pm Sunday (#3)

the Wailers
My biggest regret! If I could afford to get a weekend pass I would’ve just so I could see these guys. We may not do a talk a lot about reggae on this site but you can’t argue with the legacy of this band.
Main stage: 10:40pm, Saturday

 

 Andy Shauf - Your Heart [2:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 the Deep Dark Woods - the Gallows [4:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Volcanoless In Canada - She Moves [2:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Dave Lang - I Like Roads [3:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Basia Bulat - I Was A Daughter [2:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

So much awesome! Click on band names for purchasing links!

Pat entries Andy Shauf, Basia Bulat, Canadian content, Dave Lang, Folk Festival, Ghost Bees, Iron & Wine, Matt Goud, Regina, Saskatchewan, Socalled, the Deep Dark Woods, the Wailers, Volcanoless in Canada

Austin Lucas is an anachronism, through and through. The American (and sometimes Czech resident) writes songs that seem to insist they were born on a back porch overlooking a wheat field as the sun recedes on a painfully-warm day, flecks of sweat springing off his guitar strings with every strum. A pitcher of lemonade would be adjacent.

Lucas has a lot in common with another rising roots/depression-era country artist, William Elliott Whitmore, but with one diametric difference: while both pen songs that reflect old-timey tropes, one sings like the bastard son of Tom Waits and a gravel crusher while the other croons like Sinatra’s country-bumpkin sibling. In fact, as previously mentioned on this site, Lucas’ voice is so overwhelming it tends to overshadow how gifted a guitarist and songwriter he really is.

The release of his latest long-player, Somebody Loves You, comes just a few months after he dropped the astounding At War With Freak Folk. That vinyl-only EP is a stark affair that seems to consciously play up Lucas’ aptitude as a guitarist, concentrating on one-take versions of six songs with zero accompaniment outside of his guitar and voice. His songs have always boasted some incredibly intricate guitar work and the fiery spirit that moves his fingers definitely seems to be informing the songs he presents once again.

From a musical standpoint Somebody Loves You don’t step too far outside the boundaries Lucas has set with his first two long-players and the collaborative LP he recorded with Chuck Ragan. Musically it consists of what some might call predictable country music instrumentation, most of which continues to be provided by Lucas and his father Bob (who has played numerous instruments and helped arrange songs on nearly all of Lucas’ solo releases). The template is set in the album’s first seconds, as Lucas immediately erupts into ten seconds of convoluted picking, followed by Bob’s banjo and some brooding electric slide guitar. The latter is the real backbone of the title track, reflecting a murky and conflicted lyric about the nature of love and how it can often seem unwarranted or misplaced.

As in all country music, love is the fallback lyrical theme. Lucas tells stories of emotions that are tortured and inexplicable yet somehow easily-relatable, be they the reluctant letting-go that ends so many relationships (”Go West”), the realization that one can’t make it through life on their own (”Shoulders”), or the genuine surprise that some maligned souls feel when someone offers their heart (”Somebody Loves You,” “Singing Man”). “Wash My Sins Away” and “Fountain of Youth” provide a little more lyrical hopefulness, but Lucas stays far away from the stereotypical banality and cheap puns and wordplay that plagues so much modern pop-country.

Those familiar with At War With Freak Folk will easily recognize more fleshed-out versions of two of those cuts. In revisiting the marvelous “Go West” and “She Did,” Lucas wisely avoids the temptation to add too much to the mix or significantly alter the skeleton of the song (mis-steps that hurt the studio version of the Ragan/Lucas composition “Hold My Bed;” that song was so stunning in its vocals-in-the-red, recorded-in-a-bathroom early version but the studio cut on Bristle Ridge felt too clean, too overworked in comparison). The heart and soul of the songs remains unmarred, some tasteful fiddle and the ever-present banjo of the elder Lucas serving to propel the tracks. The same goes for the sombre “Shoulders,” which die-hards will recognize from an earlier version released on Lucas’ myspace. Here it’s wisely translated into a duet with sister Chloe Manor on lady vocals, a plaintive bed of steel guitar offering a counter-point to the resigned yet hopeful chorus.

One of my favourite things about this album is that Lucas seems to be taking a more concise, tempo-focused view as a songwriter. A number of tracks from his previous album (”How Are You My Lover?,” “Breaker, Breaker,” and “Tall, Dark, and Handsome,” especially) seemed to crawl at a dirge-like pace, demanding a patience that at times is hard to grant. While I can appreciate the mood and tenor of those songs is serviced by an almost non-existent tempo, six minute songs that feature nothing but slow-moving acoustic guitar figures and vocals can come off as tedious at times. “Breaker, Breaker” and “Shipwrecked (Glass Bottom Boats)” are devastatingly-good numbers, but I’ve always felt that they might have even more weight if they meandered a little less. The songs on Somebody Loves You don’t rely on slowly-strummed, minute-long musical intros to convey that mood and I feel like they’re better off for it. Take for example “Farewell,” an absolute barn-burner of a tune with racing guitar and banjo that clocks in at less than two and a half minutes. The speedy tempo is something we haven’t seen since “Pigeon Father,” the third track on Lucas’ first album. For a man with a voice and fingers that are so obviously agile its kind of surprising he doesn’t wander into that territory more often.

I’ve made a lot out of Austin Lucas in the past, but perhaps the most important thing I can say is that he keeps exceeding my growing expectations time and time again. The dude just continues to get closer and closer to knocking the entire fucking world’s socks off. It’s downright inspiring.

 

 Austin Lucas - Go West: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Austin Lucas - Live I've Got: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Somebody Loves You and other heartbreaking works of staggering genius can be bought from Suburban Home/Vinyl Collective (just search his name, fools) and iTunes.

Pat entries acoustic, Austin Lucas, country, folk, Somebody Loves You, Suburban Home Records

It took months of having to listen to it before I came around on Kanye West’s 808’s & Heartbreak. My original review was the result of a first impression that failed to take into account the depth and intricacies of every element, every aspect of the album. Its majestic defiance of decades of expectations for hip-hop artists and the genre itself, its need to stand alone as a thing unto itself, its unbelievable emotional singularity within the greater umbrella of the rap community. Its total lack of rap.

Only a few of those things translate into a remix of the album’s big single, “Love Lockdown,” that dropped into my e-mail inbox this morning.

Remixes are a thing that I don’t generally cotton to (as you can probably guess by my use of such an antiquated phrase). I’m not a huge fan of electro- music and I’m even less of a fan of club music, house music, and “dance” music in general. If I wanted to give myself a headache I’d sit in front of a strobe light and hit myself in the skull with a hammer.

That’s where Young Wiz’s remix gets its first strike in my mind. Eschewing the glacial pace of the original, it ramps the beats-per-minute above 120, wiping out what was a cathartic build-up into the clatter of the chorus and replacing it with a constant backbone of thumping bass synth. Kanye’s already-roboticized vocals are now muddled under even more distortion, with one phrase (”You lose”) repeated ad naseum for more than a third of the track’s running time. There are also seemingly-random glitches and drop-outs slapped into the last sixty seconds which keep the listener on their toes, but its hard to say what other purpose they might serve. The repetition lasts long enough that the track seems to go out in a whimper instead of a bang. The original may have as well, but at least the entire thing hit a crescendo of percussion before fading out on the fuzzy bass-line.

There are some attempts to inject new blood into the track. A smattering of fake hand claps and some synthesized strings curry some good favour and offer a bit of freshness to the proceedings. The beat is subtly shifted up two or three times to keep folks stepping, and I’m pretty sure there are some hand drums sampled in there as well. That’s a nice touch.

This is far from my area of expertise, but I guess in some instances as a reviewer you can’t necessarily justify why you feel one way or another about something. This isn’t something I would go out of my way to listen to on a regular basis, but it isn’t bad. If you’re into dancey numbers or re-interpretations of songs this might be up your alley. At the very least, this will sound dynamite coming out of some the car trunk of a dude with arrested development.

 

 Kanye West - Love Lockdown (remix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Young Wiz tells me he’s just getting his feet wet; this is actually his first big remix. I’d recommend you go over to his Sound Cloud page and check things out. I’m sure he’d appreciate feedback from as many people as possible, so drop a comment while you’re over there.

Pat entries dance music, electronic, Kanye West, rap, remix, Young Wiz

There appears to be something happening in Scotland: either their musicians are getting a lot better all of a sudden or people have just started paying more attention.

Last year I was a big fan of Frightened Rabbit’s latest long-player; this year the Twilight Sad has been getting headlines. Both are Scottish, both are on FatCat Records. Now We Were Promised Jetpacks is looking to make the same splash…and they just happen to fit that bill as well.

Their sound is akin to early Bloc Party, a muscular and tenuous rock that relies heavily on dynamic and propulsive drums and tense build-ups that explode into furious tempests of distortion. Lead-off track “It’s Thunder and It’s Lightening” is a perfect example (although not a perfect example of spelling/word use/grammar): the first two minutes is nothing but a few repeated guitar notes and Andy Thompson’s subdued vocal about the tenuous footing of a very, young drunk man. The rest of the band joins in for another minute of rising action before a cacophony of strumming and pounding drums washes over the listener, eventually settling into a groove that serves as the song’s denouement.

The frantic pace propels several of the songs on the record, including “Short Bursts,” “Moving Clocks Run Slow,” and singles “Roll Up Your Sleeves” and “Quiet Little Voices.” The second and fourth show off how keen their pop chops can be, sporting steady backing vocals, occasional disco-like beats, and the catchy vocals flowing from Thompson’s strong, soaring tenor.

“Conductor” is the bridge from Jetpacks to Frightened Rabbit, a band they opened for before signing to FatCat. It starts with acoustic guitar and glockenspiel, the vocals cautious and meek compared to some of the record’s more bombastic performances. Like most of the songs on These Four Walls it is lined with cautious tremors of emotion but avoids the overt, pleading neediness displayed by some Frightened Rabbit tracks and and most post-Silent Alarm Bloc Party. It’s also one of many songs featuring the glock, which leads me to believe this band or possibly their producer employs a full-time glockenspieler. Or is it glockenspielist?

One of the biggest highlights on an album with many of them comes towards the end with the eight-minute “Keep Warm.” Its quite a feat for the still-young band, showing plenty of patience while progressing through at least a half dozen stages. It begins with a full minute of quiet ambiance before the bass emerges, guiding the audience gently towards some lovely glockenspiel and what sounds like keyboards. The guitars and distortion gradually amp up over the next couple of minutes, filling the speakers with what sounds like the culmination of a journey, a summation of the dramatic highs and lows of the previous half hour of music. The rising flood suddenly breaks just after the four minute mark, leaving Thompson to proclaim a simple fact of life: “The chances of being born are so slim/so keep warm/and take some heart/being born quite so young/you can learn to talk and learn to walk/in your own time.” They then spend another three minutes exploring quiet/loud dynamics in a way that would make Frank Black proud. It all comes to a dizzying head before the bass walks us into hushed acoustic closer “An Almighty Thud,” three-and-a-half minutes of sorely-needed quiet contemplation.

We Were Jetpacks’ lyrics deal frequently with being a young Scot; making it home before curfew on a drunken night, realizing that you have years ahead of you to figure out what direction you’re really headed in, the voices in your head that push you into places you shouldn’t go. While some might seem thin or abstract on first blush, Thompson’s repetition and earnest singing imbue them with a certain weight and help drive the point home with more clarity. Be warned though, there is quite a bit of lyrical repetition here. If you have trouble stomaching repeated phrasing then keep your distance.

On its whole this is definitely one of the strongest debuts I’ve heard all year. WWPJ have fine-tuned a well-realized sound that pulls in elements from all those well-known Scottish bands you’re already familiar with and puts its own wailing, frenetic spin on them. This is a band to watch.

 

 We Were Promised Jetpacks - It's Thunder and It's Lightening [4:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 We Were Promised Jetpacks - Quiet Little Voices [4:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Buy, buy, buy the LP, CD, MP3s, or 7″ singles from the FatCat store or the album only from iTunes.

Pat entries FatCat Recordings, Frightened Rabbit, indie rock, rock, Scotland, We Were Promised Jetpacks