Sound Salvation Army

Get ready, Hillside. Guelph group Green Go are going to blow. you. away. Guaranteed. Hometown heros always make for a great show and these dudes have been demanding their pound of sweat from audiences all over southern Ontario.

I’m not a big fan of electronica. I just have bad memories of terrible 80s songs, I guess. But groups like Holy Fuck, Shout Out Out Out Out and Bocce have been slowly curing me of the shivers I get when I hear a synthesizer.

Green Go joined their ranks last year when I discovered their single “Mad Man Max.” A few songs from their album Borders started to find their way onto my iPod and I wrote about them for the entertainment blog I created for the newspaper I worked at. I said they should have made it onto the lineup for Hillside Inside. They didn’t.

But they DID sign to Pheromone Recordings and release their album Borders in April. Right around that time, word started to spread about their Remix Project, in which they took songs from their favourite Canadian groups and put their own spin on them. They got favourable writeups in the Star and the Globe and various other rags. And now, they ARE playing Hillside! Ahhh, sweet vindication!

Borders is alternately dreamy and funky and gritty. They have risen up out of the basements where they played for years and are coming into their own as a group that you should watch out for or, at the very least, get out of their way. Their album is a sonic smorgasborg and if I, a person who loathes most electronic muisc, loves this, imagine what it will do for you! The thing that sets them apart from most electronic/synth groups are the vocals. Several tracks see accomplished pianists Ferenc Stenton and Jessica Tollefson employing some harmonized shout-singing that is charmingly bossy and frantic. Fun and funky pop is the order of the day for “Brains For Breakfast” and “Danger Bay,” which uses my all-time favourite thing: hand claps. You guys, I am a sucker for hand claps! They’re sassy!

The Remix Project Vol. 1 sees Green Go reinterpreting songs by The Rural Alberta Advantage (not actually from Alberta) and Gentleman Reg (not actually an albino). “Sleep All Day” and “How We Exit” are fantastic in their own right and it takes a great remix artist to do more than put an annoying dance beat under the song. Green Go will not ruin your favourite song. They will rebuild it. They will make it better, stronger, faster. More danceable.

Green Go perform noon Saturday on the Lake Stage at Hillside Festival. Be there. Get funky. Get sweaty. Dance!

Gentleman Reg performs Sunday at 5 p.m. on the Island Stage. The Rural Alberta Advantage play at 6 p.m. the same day on the Lake Stage.

Buy Green Go albums and MP3s on Maple Music and iTunes.

 

 Green Go - Brains for Breakfast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Green Go - Danger Bay: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Gentleman Reg - We're In a Thunderstorm (Green Go Remix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The Rural Alberta Advantage - Sleep All Day (Green Go Remix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tanis entries Canadian content, electronica, Gentleman Reg, Green Go, Guelph, Hillside Festival, live music, mp3, remix, The Rural Alberta Advantage

So there’s some crazy shit going on in the states right now. A bunch of old, rich, white people are protesting a tax increase by… buying tea bags? Sounds like a bunch of somebodies failed history. And economics.

Since, you know, taxes have actually been cut if you make less than $250,000. And if you don’t make less than that? Fuck you, that’s what. Also, the ORIGINAL Boston Tea Party? Was about taxation without representation. Not whatever this ridiculous display of entitlement and misplaced rage is on about.

Just how stupid is this? Well, Shepherd Smith, an anchor on FOX NEWS, is actively calling for people to get a grip and I quote “read a newspaper with a different viewpoint than your own to get some context.” Let me repeat that: FOX NEWS is calling for reasoned debate and context. And reading. Um, is the earth rotating backwards? Is the sky orange? Do I have a great, bushy beard? Things are getting crazy out.

This is all just an excuse to run this photo and talk about the original being better than imitators. I’m not a remix fan. It is rare when I like a remix or a mashup. It’s not my fault that they’re usually lame.

But I’ve seen the light recently. You will recall that I loved the Diplo remix of M.I.A.’s Paper Planes. Which was itself, cribbing from Straight to Hell by The Clash.

I was forced to further examine my prejudices concerning remixes when one of my favourite local groups, Green Go, started their remix project, which saw them take several songs, awesome in their own right, and rework them.

Women, Gentleman Reg, The D’Urbervilles, Born Ruffians and the Rural Alberta Advantage all get the remix treatment on the Guelph group’s remix project.

They wisely steer clear of messing with the songs TOO much, but the remixes all enhance what’s there, rather than slapping a drum track behind it.

Somebody else on another blog said it better than me: The best remix, I like better than the original. I believe that person was talking about the Gorillaz 19-2000 soulchild remix, which was released as a b-side. He argued it should have been on the album and called the original something that better fit his idea of a typical remix, that is: “interesting to hear once, inessential, and in the way of the version I’d rather hear.”

That’s not EXACTLY how I’d classify any of the original songs that Green Go chose to remix. Because I love all of them. But probably the best is the updated version of Women’s Black Rice. It’s just a little tastier the second time around. They don’t slouch on any of the other remixes and their version of the Born Ruffians’ song This Sentence Will Save/Ruin Your Life is inspired.

Their original stuff is pretty spiffy, too. It’s like a kinder, gentler, Shout Out Out Out Out or a raunchier Metric. I’ve written about Green Go before and said publically, before they started doing the remix stuff, that they should be added to a Hillside Festival bill. I have a feeling that the remixes might just do the trick for getting them the notice they deserve. They’ve been favourably reviewed in Exclaim! and the Toronto Star and I’d like to think my own little voice shouting from the hilltops that they’re awesome counts for something, too.

If you live in Guelph, be sure to hop down to the eBar TONIGHT, where Green Go, who just signed to Phermone Recordings, are holding a CD release for their new LP, Borders, which will be available to the masses on April 28. But you should come out to this show anyway. For $5 (or PWYC), they promise a good time. Well, they don’t. I do.

 

 Women - Black Rice (Green Go remix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The Rural Alberta Advantage - Sleep All Day (Green Go Remix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Gentleman Reg - We're In a Thunderstorm (Green Go remix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The D'Urbervilles - Dragnet (Green Go remix): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Born Ruffians - This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life (Green Go Remix) : Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Green Go - Cash Money Gremlins: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tanis entries Born Ruffians, Canadian content, Gentleman Reg, Green Go, Guelph, live music, local music, remix, the D'urbervilles, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Women

I brought a new little kitten into my household last month. So far, so good.

My older cat, The Chairman Meow, has adapted well to miss Imelda Meowcos. And by that I mean, he sometimes pins her to the carpet with his giant jaw. Enjoy that while you can, buddy. She’s getting bigger every day.

Sigh. They grow up so fast!

I’m leaving them alone together for more than 24 hours for the first time tomorrow morning and I’m a little nervous. I’ve been hesistant to go away, but I’ve had these tickets for this show, see. And I don’t like to waste money. Okay. That’s a lie. I do like to waste money, but I like to actually consume the stuff I’m wasting it on. You know. Like liquor and nailpolish. And Calexico shows at the Mod Club. Calexico!

Sometimes, I wish my life was exciting enough to warrant a soundtrack. Can’t you just see me, poised and cool at a cantina, wind whipping my hair as I watch for my man? He appears on the horizon as the sparse, spare notes of Calexico’s cover of Guns of Brixton pluck their way across the desert. As the horns build to a fiery pitch, he stalks closer. Is he an illusion born of the sweltering heat and my long dry spell concerning the gueros? Perhaps. Or perhaps I should look into a career as a Harlequin writer. Lord knows it’d have to pay better than freelancing feature articles.

calexico-guns-of-brixton

I like Calexico in almost all of their styles, but the mariachi/Ennio Morricone/sizzling southwestern flavour they bring to the longer epics are my faves. In particularl, I love Crystal Frontier. Which recently woke up the astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery! So sure, your favourite band is probably pretty awesome, but could they rock in SPACE? I thought not.

Calexico - Crystal Frontier

This show is going to be something to behold. Because I just now discovered that if you’re planning to attend, you should most definitely not skip the opening act to get drinks elsewhere. Because Calexico brought my FAVOURITE Calgary band, Woodpigeon, with them! Hooray!

Woodpigeon played the first show I saw last year in January at Broken City. That show set the tone for a year of amazazing concerts for me. I owe it all to Woodpigeon. They also cleared up my skin and helped me get better grades. Before Woodpigeon, I was a loser. Now, I’m still a loser, but I listen to Woodpigeon on my iPod sometimes. You should, too!

Woodpigeon - Home as a romanticized concept where everyone loves you always and forever

* * *

In other news: I live in Guelph. There are lots of artists here. Lots of musically inclined folk. It’s nice because, I could probably walk to 127 Grange St. and buy up every album Burnt Oak Records have to offer and not be disappointed once.

But if I were to make a couple of recommendations based on my perusal of the catalogue of this artist collective, I would tell you to very seriously consider Elbow Beach Surf Club’s EP Billy Club, released last November. Holy shit, is it good.

Guelph, it turns out, is in Ontario. Guess what’s not in Ontario? A beach where you can surf. I don’t hold it against the province though. There’s plenty of other things to recommend it (I’m canoing the Elora Gorge in August) and besides, Elbow Beach Surf Club’s tune Turf Dream is like, Dick Dale meets Sonic Youth. This music doesn’t make me want to surf as much as it makes me want to get in a Detroit muscle car, strap my surfboard to the roof and drive to Tofino.

Elbow Beach Surf Club - Turf Dream

Burnt Oak also gives Guelph group Green Go shelter from the storm.

Hey, Albion Hotel, I come to your hallowed halls almost every Friday to get my drink on. I can’t say I don’t miss the old, divey Albion, but I don’t mind the decor so much as the music. Every Friday, I am forced to listen to hideous, loud, dance music. I love Michael Jackson remixes as much as the next person, but could you get in gear and play some LOCAL musicians? I promise, Mad Man Max will inspire as much frenetic grinding and flailing as, say, Billy Jean and give you some sweet indie cred to boot! How bout it?

Green Go - Mad Man Max

Tanis entries Calexico, Calgary, Canadian content, Elbow Beach Surf Club, Green Go, Guelph Ontario, kittens, pets, Woodpigeon