Sound Salvation Army

“As we’re waiting for the light to change we see this goth girl run to cross the street. A goth girl, running. You don’t often see goth people run. I think because obviously it spoils the whole image, right? You can’t be in a hurry and goth.”
~ Paul F. Tompkins

Call it what you will: an identity crisis, a marketing ploy, or a gradual evolutionary progression of older musicians that don’t drink as much anymore but are still trying to maintain an edge of darkness and desperation in their music. Old-school Alkaline Trio fans have been lamenting the bands steady slide into faux-Satanic caricatures for years. With a new album on its way it appears we’ve got a ways to go before they leave that affectation behind.

This latest album, This Addiction, was said to be a return to form for the group; they’ve come back to long-time producer Matt Allison and his Atlas Studios for the recording, they’ve pared back the maddeningly thick layers of overdubs and effects that have weighed down their last few records, and they even promised a return to the spirit of their early work. They may have succeeded to a large extent, but you know what they say about close only counting in certain situations and circumstances.

Alkaline Trio’s early recordings were fueled entirely by alcohol consumption, heartbreak, and self-loathing. Their brutal lyrical confessions went hand-in-hand with downright poetic allusions and turns-of-phrase; “Even Christ himself would cringe at the sight of your scars,” went the first song from their first full-length, setting the tone for four nearly flawless albums. But those elements have slowly dwindled, being replaced by an ever-expanding faux-goth sensibility that manifests in a lyrical obsession concerning all things hell, darkness, poison, vampires, death, and gothness. Bassist/singer Dan Andriano seems to be the only member not circling that particular drain, but with only three contributions to this album he doesn’t have the presence to counteract the cloying “darkness” of the other members.

But taken as a whole I would call this record a success, although their attempt to regain the spirit of their earlier work seems to mean re-appropriating elements of older songs in a new context. These things will likely be immediately recognizable to long-time fans: “The American Scream” recycles a guitar riff from “Warbrain,” the band’s contribution to the Rock Against Bush releases from five or six years ago. “Dead On The Floor”’s opening riff is vaguely reminiscent of “Southern Rock”’s, while the rest of the song reads like a more sombre “‘97.” Andriano even lifts a lyric from “Private Eye” and drops it into “Dine, Dine My Darling” (which is a great play on an old Misfits song title).

But those are minor quibbles. There are only so many power chords available to a band and if we’re being honest with ourselves there has always been a familiar thread running through a lot Matt Skiba’s guitar arrangements. It’s punk rock; they’re not reinventing the wheel. On the whole this is a very worthwhile effort and there are a lot of quality songs on here. “Dead On The Floor,” “Dorothy,” “Piss and Vinegar,” first single “This Addiction,” and most of “Lead Poisoning” definitely embody the spirit of their first records. “The American Scream” is the anti-war songs Skiba should have written for Agony & Irony instead of the god-awful cliche horrorfest that was “Over and Out.” “Draculina” is a perfectly serviceable song, although the lyrics are packed to the gills with the goth-lite keywords mentioned above: an Alice In Wonderland reference, knives, a character trapped in their “own living hell,” blood/bleeding, bullets, birds of prey, stinging bees, heaven, angels, demons, dark secrets, teeth “sinking deep” into someone’s flesh, the devil, and exorcism. And yes, an adult put all of those words into a single three and a half minute rock song.

That song aside I would argue there are only two big missteps here. The first pertains to the third track, “Lead Poisoning,” and is the reason I included that quote from Paul F. Tompkins at the start of this piece. It’s a classic four-chord Alk3 stomper with big hooks and a strong vocal from Skiba. But my issue lies in the trumpet solo that comes at the 1:50 mark. It sounds like it was lifted from a NOFX album circa 1996; it’s bright, it’s bouncy, and it’s definitely a playful move from a band that has really opened itself up to experimenting with new sounds in the last five years. But much like you don’t see goths running, there’s a reason you don’t hear a lot of horns on Bauhaus records. It just doesn’t fit the aesthetic of a song when Skiba is singing about getting poisoned, laying his weary head down to sleep, and praying to his dark lord. It’s incongruous, almost comical-sounding, given the context, but at least there is a good song wrapped around that moment.

“Eating Me Alive” isn’t quite so likely. I had previously chastised a song from their last record as Skiba’s most terrible work yet but he’s dug an even deeper hole this time around. The lyrics are simply embarrassing. More importantly they’re lazy, hackneyed, and trite. “You can’t sit there and tell me that I didn’t try/And I can honestly tell you that I never lied”? Really, Matt? Did that need to be said? And the guy can’t even muster up the guster to sing this song with any level of conviction. I’m pretty sure you can hear his own fucking eyes rolling as he’s singing the words, like he’s staring up at the ceiling wondering how it all came to this. I’m pretty sure overly dramatic, suicidal teenage girls will even laugh at this song. It’s just the worst. Skiba probably should realize that its okay to only have 10 songs on your album. You don’t need the filler.

And the song itself! What? I know Skiba said you were listening to The Cars a lot when they recorded Agony & Irony but that really comes through on this number. Everything but the chorus is draped in some pretty gross keyboards. I mean, I’m not a huge fan of keyboards but it just sounds like a different band.

As mentioned, Dan Andriano continues to be a big part of the reason I keep coming back to this band. While he only has three songs on this record (I assume he’s saving more for his new band/solo project, which I’m very pumped for) they continue to be some of the album’s strongest. That goes double for “Fine,” another strong Dan closer on par with From Here To Infirmary’s “Crawl.” It’s also a song about drinking too much and denying how messed up you really are. Talk about your classic Trio! Musically he continues to wear his Jawbreaker influences on his sleeve, something I will never ever ever complain about.

I guess what this all amounts to is the problem most people inevitably run into if they follow a band for a very long time: reconciling new directions with old perceptions. But for the first time it kind of feels like even Alkaline Trio themselves might be getting tired of their blood-dripping, faux-Satanic imagery. It’s been feeling more and more forced over the course of their last three records and I’m kind of hoping This Addiction proves to be the breaking point where they leave that phase behind. Based on the evidence here I’d say that could only be a good thing.

 

 Alkaline Trio - Lead Poisoning [2:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Alkaline Trio - Fine [3:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Pat entries Alkaline Trio, legacies, nice tries, pop, punk rock, the goths

I don’t like big crowds.

I’m not agoraphobic or claustrophobic or any kind of phobic, really. Wait. What’s clowns? I’m that kind of phobic. I just don’t like standing real close in huge groups of people. So a few months ago, I might have said something like “You couldn’t PAY ME to be in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics!”

But, uh… it turns out, you CAN pay me to be in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics. And here I am. The local broadsheet is paying me to edit things and design things and tell people that while bobsleigh is correct, bobsleighers is not. It’s bobsledders. Because. It just is. Don’t argue.

I miss newsrooms. I miss the immediacy and the rush and the late nights where I’m up for a reason. I miss the wire photos (FYI, if you think the video of the luge death was bad…consider yourself lucky that’s all you saw. The photos that DIDN’T run were pretty gruesome). I don’t miss the jawline acne and the unpleasant gutrot that comes from drinking four to six cups of coffee a day. I especially missed all of this happening around some big event where people with black hearts and quick wits push themselves to their limits and put together a newspaper. It feels nice to have this back because I’m pretty sure that soon it’s going to be gone altogether. The newspaper as you know it won’t exist. The job I’m doing now will be obsolete and I’ll have to stop giving it away for free online. But until then: Wheeeee!

Where was I? The Olympics. Yes. Stephen Harper invited himself to address the B.C. legislature Thursday. In his speech, he wanted us to know that it’s OK to be patriotic. That we can be just as loud and proud as our American counterparts. Sure. We COULD do that. But why would we? Stephen Harper can’t even be bothered to govern this country, so I’d really appreciate it if he stopped telling me how to be proud of it.

Fuck that guy.

this guy (gal?) knows what I'm talking about

Of course, I DID see a lot of people literally draped in flags on the SkyTrain when I was going in to work this afternoon. They’re allowed to do that. And I’m allowed to be kind of weirded out by it. Seriously guys. Save your head painting antics for when it matters. Like when football is on and the supermarket is out of watermelons. Or something.

To me, being Canadian means I don’t have to drape myself in a flag and paint my face and sing the anthem in my outdoor voice to prove that I love my country. Canada’s awesome. The end.

So thanks for stopping by to light the cauldron, Wayne. Don’t hurt yourself scurrying back to the states and your losing hockey team.

You guys to the south can keep Gretzky. We’ll throw in Bryan Adams, too. I don’t even know what to say about his shitty performance. So I won’t talk about it. Accentuate the positive. Let’s celebrate something nice. Something meaningful. I am super-pumped that Shane Koyczan got such a huge stage for his poetry.

He and his band, the Short Story Long, performed at Hillside Festival in Guelph last year and they lit the place up. In fact, I wrote about them right here! The song they performed then was this awesome version of their spoem (Song/poem — you can’t make this shit up, people! That’s what they calls these things!) Skin:

During the otherwise predictably lame opening ceremonies, he performed his piece We Are More. You could buy it from iTunes, but, um, you could also watch it on youtube:

You can find out more about Shane Koyczan and the Short Story Long at their website. You may also buy their stuff on iTunes. And buy k.d. lang albums on her website.

 

 k.d. lang - Hallelujah: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 shane koyczan and the short story long - Skin: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tanis entries Canadian content, k.d. lang, Leonard Cohen, mp3, Olympics, opening ceremonies, poetry, Shane Koyczan, spoken word, Vancouver

Thanks for coming out Attack in Black. You sure made things interesting.

Alright, listen: we’ve all been on road trips that have lasted just a bit too long. By the end it’s all you can really do just to keep your car in between the lines without your brain having a complete freakout. I get it. I really do. I’m hoping that’s what was weighing on the minds of Dan Romano, Ian Romano, Ian Kehoe and Spencer Burton when they stopped by the Exchange a couple of weeks ago. Otherwise they may not have engendered themselves to the Regina audience that well.

They took to the stage looking none-too-impressed to be working, faces looking dour as they dryly went through the motions of tuning and checking their monitors. The early part of the set seemed fairly workmanlike, almost detached at times as they ran through several newer songs.

Things started to go off the rails a bit when Romano asked the crowd if there were any requests. Now, just to be clear: Attack in Black doesn’t get played on the radio in Regina, Saskatchewan. Maybe they do in Ontario, but there’s no modern rock radio stations here and what we do have isn’t hip enough to the “scene” to be playing Attack in Black. That’s just a fact. I don’t expect Attack in Black to know that, but regardless they recoiled when several audience immediately shouted out “Young Leaves.” My understanding is that is probably the most popular song they have, released on a first album they’ve stepped back from in recent years (they’ve stated in interviews that the interference of producers and engineers in the studio led to a sound they didn’t intend). Clearly they’ve come to resent this song in particular, as Romano indicated, “This is what you get for asking for that one,” before the band launched into a toned-down cover of NOFX’s “Please Play This Song On The Radio,” a song drenched in cynicism and condemnation for bands that purposefully write accessible songs to gain airplay.

This confused me. This is the guy that wrote, “Young Leaves.” Is he implying that he has an unhealthy dose of self-loathing because he wrote a song that people actually like? Is he condemning a paying audience for wanting to hear a song that he wrote? Is he implying that his audience has poor taste because they appreciate a catchy song? It seemed a little needlessly hostile, especially for a group of musicians that are among the most talented and cohesive in the country right now. And frankly, “Young Leaves” is far from the best song on Marriage, nor is it the most accessible or radio-friendly in my opinion. The sour attitude also popped up during “I’m Going To Forget,” the lead-off track to the wonderful The Curve of The Earth. The line, “Never to be back again,” closes out one of the song’s verses and Romano seemed to find it necessary to stress those words. “I promise you,” he emphasized before launching into the song’s refrain. I guess they didn’t like the reception they were getting? At least they gave us some warning we might never see them in our fair city again.

The open-request format came and went for the remainder of the set, with the band shifting course every few songs to adjust to what the audience wanted to hear. The results, however, were mixed; Romano forgot the words on two or three occasions and the band collectively couldn’t remember how to play at least one requested song.

After an admittedly pathetic curtain call from a rather young audience, the band came back out to tear through some older songs. The conclusion saw a surprisingly adept singer pulled from the audience to perform the vocals from a track on their very first EP; Romano insisted no one in the band could sing it anymore. It was an interesting and mostly successful experiment that actually drew a smile or two from the band members.

I can’t fault their actual performance. Sticking with electric guitars gave a new edge to some of their quieter/acoustic songs and they certainly played with plenty of vigor. Romano strained a little during some of the trickier vocal performances but the band believes in their songs and it’s impossible to argue that their writing is incredibly strong, especially for a bunch of fellows that look to be in their tweens still (that’s a joke, mostly, although their bass player does look like he’s 18).

Now. The band seemed to suggest at one point that they were facing an all-night drive home at the conclusion of the show. Like I said, we all know that an eight or ten or twelve hour drive isn’t a thing you look forward to, especially if you’ve already been driving for a few hours in the day. But this isn’t a band that tours occasionally; they’ve spent the better part of the last four years on the road. Even if you’re feeling miserable to be playing a show I would posit that your audience likely isn’t worthy of open contempt and hostility.

Although, seriously. Could Regina crowds be any worse? YOU DON’T HAVE TO STAND STILL WHILE A BAND IS PLAYING, CONCERT-GOERS. YOU CAN MOVE AROUND A LITTLE BIT. THIS ISN’T FOOTLOOSE, DANCING IS LEGAL.

So in summation: Attack In Black is still awesome, and I’m going to chalk this one up to a rough night. Let’s hope things go a little better next time.

 

 Attack In Black - Young Leaves: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Attack In Black - Let Wander Your Restless Heart: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Cheer these boys up by buying some albums! Everyone likes residuals, right?
Physical (& digital): Dine Alone website
iTunes: Yeah, it’s a thing
Zunior: Has the self-titled EP and the Baby Eagle split tracks

These fellows have a couple more tour dates in the immediate future. Check them out, Ontariarians:
02.11.10 – Hamilton, ON @ The Casbah
02.12.10 – London, ON @ Call The Office
02.13.10 – Toronto, ON @ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern

Pat entries Attack in Black, Canadian content, hostility, live music, minor bummers, rough nights

This blog is only a few years old, but if there’s one thing we’ve managed to establish it should be this: for a multitude of reasons, perhaps too many to count, we love the Burning Hell.

That’s why I’m frankly more than a little surprised that more hasn’t been made out of Mathais Kom’s latest record, released under the name Spring Breakup. That level of surprise roughly doubles when you factor in that Kim Barlow, folk darling of the frozen Yukon, is the group’s other principle member. Surely a meeting of the minds like this cannot be ignored!

The group quietly released a self-titled album in the latter half of 2009 and the muted sound of that record dropping is probably somewhat befitting of its content. I have no way of confirming this, but I have always pictured the two of them sitting in someone’s living room with a four-track recorder, facing each other, with nothing but a microphone or two between them while they pluck away at the 10 songs that make up the record. The recording is the very definition of bare bones, most often nothing but banjo, acoustic guitar, and ukulele propping up two unique Canadian singers.

Nearly every song is framed in the context of dying love or its characters working through a break-up. If you’re familiar with Kom and Barlow’s work you won’t be surprised to hear them pepper many of the tracks with subversively cynical, cutesy, or dark turns of phrase. In fact that’s where the majesty of this simple record lies, in their ability to frame a universal experience in a number of different ways. The emotional tenor alternatively carries a humorous tone (”Spring Flings”), some are emotionally fragile and unrequited (”Hummiah”), some are quietly angry and desperate (”Came Up Roses”), and some are confident torch songs (”Young Love,” “Cosmic Sea”).

I can’t speak much to Barlow’s side of the affair as I’m less familiar with her previous work, but I’m thrilled to hear Kom’s performance on this record. Where his rich, deep vocals can often take on a blanket of cynicism, sarcasm, and depression in his work with the Burning Hell his singing here is emotionally genuine, bright, and convincing. While many of these songs grapple with the dissolution of something beautiful his voice conveys the sense that he still believes in love. He and Barlow are terrific counterpoints, her sprightly alto a picture of earnestness that always has a hint of a smile peeking around the corners of her phrasing.

Anyway, it’s a simply joyous record to listen to, whether you’re lovelorn or not. A friend pointed out today on the Twitter machine that Barlow and Kom are heading out for a short, oddly-routed Western tour next week that includes stops in Regina and Saskatoon. I’m really thrilled to see them perform together. The album may be barely more than a half hour, but even that will be worth the price of admission. You should be there too.

 

 Spring Breakup - Spring Flings [3:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Spring Breakup - Young Love [3:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

They don’t seem to have a label, but their 2009 full-length is up digitally at Zunior and they’re doing a tiny tour. You can be I’ll be picking up a copy. Also, I don’t normally do this but if you’re the least bit curious check out their myspace page, where you can listen to like half the album for no dollars. It will convince you.

Tour dates are with John Wort Hannam, an old-timey Albertan .

Pat entries acoustic, Canadian content, Kim Barlow, Mathais Kom, quaintness, Spring Breakup