Sound Salvation Army

So last night was pretty amazing. I finally got a chance to see possibly the best rock band operating these days — and one of Tanis’ favourite groups — live and I only had to make a four-hour round trip to do it.

I got the tickets a few weeks back but what with some relatively big-time disruption in my life recently I almost forgot it was even happening. I met up with my college buddy Darryl who was getting his first exposure to the band at the show. We drank a beer.

We also arrived just as the set began so no time was wasted. The band was incredible, tearing into song after song after song from all eras of their back catalogue. All the way back to …Almost Killed Me (”the Swish”)! The performances were flawless: Tad Kubler’s leads were note-perfect, Franz Nicolay’s keys and back-ups were punctuated by his on-stage flair (helped by the fact that he was dressed like Sinatra’s butler), and Craig Finn was like a spastic librarian hurtling himself around his microphone with reckless abandon.

The song selection was quite good, although they didn’t play four or so songs that I was really, really hoping for (mostly “First Night,” my all-time favourite Hold Steady song). But we got “Chips Ahoy,” “How A Resurrection Really Feels,” “Your Little Hoodrat Friend,” “Slapped Actress,” and even the awesome b-side “Girls Like Status.” It was a magical set of songs and the rather lively audience totally appreciated it. The encore was phenomenal, including a ripping version of “Southtown Girls.”

So thanks to the band for actually going on a real Canadian tour. Now they’re even awesomer than before. No thanks to the brain dead among the Keith Urban fans that flooded the highways and gas stations while I was trying to make my way home. I don’t mind waiting in line for 20 minutes to pay for my stay-awake juice, teenagers in home-made Keith Urban shirts. I only had to do a radio morning show at 6:00am. Thanks for allowing me to get just three hours of sleep, you absolute nerds. Seriously. Keith would prefer if you bought one of his shirts, you douche barges.
__________________________

Big ups to the hardcore kids in Fucked Up this week as well. They took home the Polaris Prize the other day, instantly causing newspaper editors across the country to not cover the Polaris Prize this year. They deserved it! It wasn’t just the best Canadian record of the year, it was the best record period of the year. Get on it.

 

 the Hold Steady - First Night [4:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 the Hold Steady - Two-Handed Handshake [4:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 the Hold Steady - Girls Like Status [2:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Fucked Up - Son The Father [6:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Get your Hold Steady shit here, dogg. Fucked Up stuff is found at the MataStore, and other places too.

Pat entries Canadian content, Fucked Up, live music, Polaris Prize, the Hold Steady

While recently cruising through the back end and stats rundowns for the site, I discovered that people on the internet are damned perverted.

One of the searches that brings people here the most often is “pink eyes fucked up naked.” There’s really only one thing that search would lead you to (I HOPE) and its the image you see above: Damian Abraham, the lead singer of Fucked Up, one of my favourite bands. I shudder to think about the alternatives people might be looking for.

Or at least that’s what I thought until I realized that if those words weren’t in a post that I had already written then that search wouldn’t point here.

A Folk Festival review(s) should be coming in a day or two. I got a second job and its eating up my evenings like crazy.

 

 Fucked Up - David Comes To Life: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Google safely, friends.

Pat entries Canadian content, Fucked Up, gross people, the interwubs

I’m an athiest, but I swear the decision to go see Fucked Up on Good Friday wasn’t intended to offend Jesus or his brethren. Still, the reward of an amazing presence was overwhelming enough that one could almost start to think that a higher power was looking down on us and smiling.

After a great opening band that was 100% made of metal, Toronto’s greatest hardcore band came on stage all furious ennui. That might not make much sense on the surface, but the duality of the band really comes sharply to light in a live setting.

While there are six members of the band, for 99% of the show five of them looked barely engaged in the performance aspect aside from playing their instruments (which they do flawlessly, I would point out). Disengaged from the audience, to say the least. But that’s fine, because the band’s frontman more than makes up for it.

Mr. Pink Eyes is absolutely an intimidating man: 300+ pounds, great bushy lumberjack beard, huge forehead scar (from an Iggy Pop-like moment when he shoved broken glass into his forehead and the ensuing infection), and constant teetering on the brink of total nudeness. But there’s a reason Fucked Up’s live show belongs entirely to him and that is the overwhelming sense of joy he so clearly gets from being up front. He spent about half of the set wandering the floor of the Distrikt high-fiving, hugging, and in general fucking with people. One dude even got his shirt unbuttoned and a rasberry blown on his stomach (we spoke to him after the set at O’Hanlons and he was pretty okay with it). The next moment he was carrying one of the three guitar players on his shoulders while they performed one of their shorter songs. He walked on top of one of the bars. He inspired one audience member to repeatedly jump off the balcony of the venue. He poured someone’s rye and coke into his boxer-briefs and frequently tweaked his own nipples. In every break he regaled the crowd with anecdotes and jokes, an incredible smile and a twinkle in his eye betraying the potentially-threatening appearance of a guy who bears a passing resemblance to members of Poison Idea.

The music itself obviously loses a fraction of its weight on a stage; as full a sound as three guitar players can create, its not quite the same as layering 70 guitar tracks on a single song. But while the mass of the songs may be compromised, they don’t lose an iota of their power and they gain plenty of urgency and muscle. Oh, and speed. They gain a lot of speed.

So yeah, it was highly amazing. The band was incredibly tight, the singer was ecstatic and hilarious, and the songs are the best-written songs in the whole damn country, as far as I’m concerned. I’m still pumped.

But that was also just the beginning of an incredible weekend of live Canadian punk rock. More to come!

 

 Fucked Up - Son The Father [6:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Fucked Up - Year of the Pig (US 7" edit) [3:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Don’t forget: Fucked Up stuff is still available from Matador Records and What’s Your Rupture?.

Pat entries Canadian content, Fucked Up, hardcore, live music, punk rock

I’m so psyched Fucked Up is finally going to be playing Regina in April. I’ve been looking forward to this since 2006 and my dreams are coming true!

To celebrate, here’s one of the best things I’ve seen in recent weeks: Fucked Up vocalist Damian Abraham appearing on Fox News. The host is clearly a douche nozzle, but at least he’s got good taste in (some) music.

I can hardly wait. I bet he’ll still have the glass in his skull.

 

 Fucked Up - Son The Father: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Fucked Up - Year of The Pig (US remix) [3:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Fucked Up stuff is available from Matador Records and What’s Your Rupture?.

Pat entries Canadian content, Fox news, Fucked Up, hardcore, live music, punk

This thing just sounds legendary.

While Fucked Up have been hardcore’s red-headed stepchild ever since 2006’s Hidden World, they’re on a whole other plane of existence right now. The Chemistry of Common Life is a dense, dizzying pastiche of 80’s hardcore, 70’s rock, and measured bombast and experimentation.

Those that criticized the band’s first full-length may not find much to change their minds on this record, but if you’ve enjoyed any of their work the last couple of years (in particular the flawless, majestic Year of the Pig) the rewards are rich and constant. Detractors will continue to lament the fact that their music is “challenging” simply for the sake of being challenging; that vocalist Damian Abraham has a range that’s too limited even for punk music; that their ideas are more expansive than their abilities. But it’s important to realize that every moment of this album is fully-realized and meticulously planned, that nothing happens without intent.

Whether its intentional or not the band actually does work to address some of their detractors, mostly by throwing more guest vocalists on the album than some bands have members. Right from the flute refrain that opens the first track, a minute’s worth of densely-layered guitars, and the thrilling vocals from members of Toronto’s excellent Lullabye Arkestra, if you aren’t captivated you either don’t have a pulse or are mistakenly writing this record off as noise. Fans of their older, more directly hardcore-inspired material will hate the continued “softening” of their sound, especially considering the two instrumental tracks (one of which consists of nothing more than layered guitars and is quite frankly downright pretty). It’s the best example of everything that’s going on under the surface of these songs. Matador’s press material has trumpeted the fact that the band has as many as 70 tracks on some of these songs, and the three live guitar players often contribute more than a dozen guitar parts to several songs. Each track is bursting with sound in a terrific, complicated way. The aforementioned flutes, Beach Boys harmonies on “No Epiphany,” the incredible melodies throughout and Dallas Green’s (Alexisonfire, City & Colour) vocals on “Black Albino Blues” all augment songwriting that would be captivating enough on its own.

As much as I love the music, on a lyrical level this record speaks directly to me in a very tangible way. The band asks questions surrounding the creation of life as we know it that are complex and genuine. They may come down on the opposite side of the fence as organized religion, but they also realize that too many questions go unanswered for anyone to really know anything and they allow for the wondering. Its an intelligent stance that most people don’t allow for in hardcore music and its a big part of the album’s appeal.

While the advent of auto-tuner, pop country, and Britney Spears’ resurgence prove that popular music only got dumber and lazier in 2008, Fucked Up is the antithesis of everything that was dashed off in an hour-long studio session, pitch-corrected, and soullessly mass-produced.. And if you can’t see it, you aren’t paying attention.

 

 Fucked Up - Son The Father [6:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You can buy one of the best record of the year from iTunes or Matador Record’s webstore.

Pat entries experimental, Fucked Up, hardcore, Matador Records, punk rock, the Chemistry of Common Life

Having never been around as an angry adolescent in punk’s nascent days, I’ve never really embraced the music’s early, heady music. While the early 80’s pop-punk and mid-hardcore groups (Descendents, Hüsker Dü, other SST groups) I’ve come to appreciate, the more abrasive trailblazers have always remained just outside of my grasp. Black Flag, Big Black, Minor Threat, Teen Idles, (early) Bad Brains, Circle Jerks…they just don’t have something I apparently need to gravitate towards the music.But for the first time in a long time, I find myself head-over-heels for bands with middling production, questionably abrasive vocals, (occasionally) unsophisticated arrangements, and plenty of awesome cursing. Coincidentally, it also reflects my passion for vinyl, as all of the releases I’ll reference here are out on wax.At the forefront are two of the most pleasurable releases of last year.

The fantastically-monikered Witches With Dicks’ one and only LP was listed as an “honourable mention” in my recent 2007 round-up, but as one generally does, I’m second-guessing that decision. Manual is a short, fun blast of rage and good humour — so much, in fact, that you could load it into a truck and get Steve Buscemi to drive it around the neighbourhood while he hits on 17 year-old girls. Yes, it’s angry; witness song titles like, “Die Painfully,” “Your Job Does Not Rock Balls,” “How To Cook 40 Humans,” “It’s Not Me, It’s You,” and “Fuck All Lindseys.” Kiss of Death Records has done a great job on the release as well, a nice package topped off with a 45 rpm 12″ slab of vinyl providing maximum sound quality. Abrasive as hell but smart, fast, and unexpectedly catchy.

The second front-runner is Toronto’s Fucked Up. I played the hell out of their first full-length, Hidden World, when it charted for my radio show. After releasing 30-50 7″ and 12″ singles, they put out a “debut” record filled with 5+ minute hardcore punk jams tweaked with piano, strings, organ, mandolin, and other ancillary instruments that don’t often crop up in punk rock. The Year of the Pig single was hands down the bravest and best song of 2007 in my opinion. For practical reasons (it’s 18 minutes long and would never fit on here, not to mention that I think everyone should buy it anyway) you won’t hear the song here, but instead I’m including a track from their latest release, “David Christmas.” They linked to it on their excellent blog, so I figure that’s okay. I encourage you all to buy whatever Fucked Up releases you can, as (to paraphrase Henry Rollins) this is a band riding a wave of sheer creativity and getting a tan.

New Bruises is one of those bands that I know literally nothing about, which is part of why I love them. I got their 7″ Goodbye, Middle Class from Vinyl Collective on a whim, as I try to support the dudes on the message board there that run small labels when I have a few extra bucks. Justin from Underground Communiqué loves the band, and this release is a great example of why everyone should. “Holding Pattern” is a great track, probably one of the finest of last year. Like Witches With Dicks, the band represents a sub-set of punk that bridges the (admittedly tiny) gaps between hardcore, punk, and pop-punk, reflecting what’s come to be known as the “org-core” sound most prominently played by Dillinger Four.

Two of the biggest bands in ”org-core” are O Pioneers!!! and Bomb The Music Industry! Besides their unforgivable abuse of punctuation, they are terribly interesting bands to listen to. BTMI! play a bizarre and sometimes head-spinning combination of ska and hardcore, often playing so fast they abandon human drummers altogether because they just aren’t quick enough. OP!!! began as something of a folk-punk band, but are now just a fierce two-piece with gnarly vocals and ceaseless passion. They two put out a FUCKING BRILLIANT split 10″ that would’ve made my previously-referenced Best of 2007 list if I’d received it before January 7th. BTMI!’s half is three of their most politically-charged songs to date (plus a Regina Spektor cover[?]), while OP!!!! provide their usual fiercely intense and passionate song stylings (along with typically ludicrous song titles like “You Know That Part In Superman III, Where He Is All Badass and Stuff? Yeah, I Bet That’s How You Feel Right Now”). Seriously, I can’t recommend this album enough. I would love it if you all went to Quote/Unquote Records’ website and download the whole thing for free. While you’re there, take note of the fact that it is the world’s first donation-based record label — and it’s been around for a year longer than In Rainbows. The vinyl release is being handled jointly by Asbestos Records and Team Science — both run by very nice and helpful gentlemen who are very nice and entertaining on internet message boards. Team Science has also been behind some exceedingly fantastic releases and is totally on a roll right now.So yeah, I know crusty punk rock isn’t necessarily for everyone, but I’m feeling it hard right now, so I thought I’d share.

 

 Witches With Dicks - How To Cook 40 People [1:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Fucked Up - David Christmas [4:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 New Bruises - Holding Pattern [2:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Bomb The Music Industry! - I'm Terrorfied! [2:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 O Pioneers!!! - You Know That Part In Superman III, Where He Is All Badass and Stuff? Yeah, I Bet That's How You Feel Right Now. [3:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

WITCHES WITH DICKS: iTunes has it, so does Kiss of Death and distros like No Idea
FUCKED UP: iTunes, surprisingly; also check out the blog and Deranged Records and again No Idea
NEW BRUISES: iTunes, maybe, as well as Underground Communiqué and again No Idea
BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY!: iTunes, Asbestos Records, Quote Unquote (free/donation shit), O Pioneers!!! split, No Idea
O PIONEERS!!!: iTunes, the band’s webstore has what’s still in print from various labels, No Idea

Pat entries 7" singles, Fucked Up, hardcore, Kiss of Death Records, New Bruises, O Pioneers!!!, punk rock, Team Science Records, Witches With Dicks