Sound Salvation Army

The Perms are die-hards in the Canadian rock scene but there’s a very good chance you might not even realize it.

Since releasing their first album Tight Perm in 1998 (which boasts some of the best cover art OF ALL TIME) the trio has been plugging away, trying to break into the next level of musical recognition. Like most bands with day jobs they were issuing records every four or five years, honing their songwriting chops along the way in search of the perfect hook.

The release late last month of Sofia Nights marks a quicker turn-around for the group, having been just two years since the aptly-titled Keeps You Up When You’re Down. The push for rapidity seems to have served The Perms well; Sofia Nights sees them tweaking their sound in a not-too-subtle manner that really fits with their songs.

Let’s face it: a three-piece power pop band can only write the same song so many times. For their latest round of recordings, however, the group decided to embrace immediacy in the studio. They quickly threw out any ideas that weren’t working and pushed forward with a more “hard-edged sound.” If I’m being honest, though, just like an apple can only be so sour The Perms can only be so roughed-up; they aren’t Iggy and The Stooges. Think a little more C’mon and a little less Change Of Heart.

But a little aggression helps make the songs here a bit more memorable than some of their previous work. The guitars a bit grimier, more aggressive, and the tempos remain on the quicker side. “Live For Today” is a lyrically self-evident homily about carpe-ing the diem, backed up by a Big Star-like arrangement complete with a bend-heavy guitar solo. “Mannheim” is a straight-forward positive rocker (”We’re going down to Mannheim…now we’re gonna have a good time”) that may or may not be about the German city. It’s irrelevant, really; one suspects they just needed a city that rhymed with “time” to fit the scheme. “Make It Through” is a more muscular version of a song you might hear performed at a high school prom in a TV show or movie. “In No Time” bridges the gap between The Perms’ softer side and their more muscular rock sounds, a full-on duet about the pains of leaving a lover.

There are some ill-advised decisions here as well, however. Catchy though the music may be, throw-away first single “High School High” comes off like a Bowling For Soup b-side, the kind of arrested development anthem that university juniors were listening to in 2001.

But on the whole The Perms have crafted an undeniably catchy and enjoyable record with Sofia Nights. However, part of me worries about the viability of their product. Pop music simply isn’t what it used to be; Elvis Costello has put out more roots and jazz albums than rock and roll in the last decade or two. As well-constructed as The Perms songs are I’m concerned there just isn’t much of an audience for their sound. Bands that would’ve been considered contemporaries eight years ago (take past tour mates The Meligrove Band, for example) have headed in more indie/synth/dance directions on recent albums where The Perms have, for the most part, stayed true to their basic template. Of course, this is coming from someone who hasn’t listened to the last three or four Weezer albums, so maybe the pop rock community is just beyond my current realm of understanding.

Regardless, Sofia Nights will make for a great windows-down summer rock album for the next couple of weeks, should Saskatchewan’s unseasonably warm fall persist.

 

 The Perms - Mannheim: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You can find iTunes and Amazon links to purchase all of The Perms’ albums through their website.

The band will also be hitting Saskatchewan for one show this month, apparently. Check them out at Lydia’s Pub on October 21st with openers Fur Eel.

Pat entries Canadian content, pop rock, power pop, the Perms, Winnipeg

I’ve been a Tegan & Sara fan since their earliest national tours. I saw them play Regina’s Exchange stage three times before Canada, Neil Young, and David Letterman decided they were awesome. I’ve lent out my copy of their first album to roughly as many people as I know.

So yeah, I’m buying their new album, released Tuesday. That goes without saying. You probably should to.

They’ve come a lot way from the alt-folk sound that Hawksley Workman helped them shape on their first major label release and Sainthood is about as stark an example of that as they’ve released. It caught me a little off-guard for a few reasons, not the least of which is that Tegan has apparently turned into a disciple of Matt Skiba.

See, the lead single off Sainthood is “Hell,” a song not only using one of Skiba’s favourite lyrical foils as its title but also a chord structure, melody, and arrangement that could be taken from his songbook as well (minus the album-permeating keys). Maybe not directly mind you, but there could definitely be some inspiration happening here. Considering she enlisted AFI’s Hunter Burgan to play on the Con and dueted with Tom Gabel and Against Me!, I think we’re getting another glimpse into her iPod.

Anyway, pick up the new album. It has plenty of synths and is power-poplicious.

 

 Tegan & Sara - Hell [3:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Visit the girls’ web store portal page to access to sales information for your region. Commerce! iTunes is a thing too.

Pat entries Alkaline Trio, Canadian content, pop rock, power pop, Sainthood, sounds like, Tegan & Sara

This is kind of a tough one.

The Perms are a group of — from what I remember of the brief Manitoba days of my previous life — exceedingly nice gentlemen who traffic in a vein of power-pop not dissimilar to the pantheon of Canadian pop-rock bands that have come before them. Comparisons to your Plutos, Gandharvas, Limblifters, Bloody Chiclettes, Starlings, et al are apt, as the entire album is washed in constant harmonies and sweet backing vocals, handclaps, tambourines, and a propulsive two-guitar attack.

Admittedly, I’m a fan of the genre. But for some reason I’m going back and forth on this record. Some spins its a slice of toe-tapping greatness, some spins it seems downright anonymous, almost to the point of fading into the background.

Don’t get me wrong: they do absolutely nothing wrong and do nearly everything right. The songs are the band’s most compelling yet and the energy and enthusiasm is there in spades. The tunes are catchy, well-produced, tightly-written, and radio-ready. They sound like they’ve absorbed and taken extensive notes from their forefathers (a Sloan vibe hits early and often) and worked hard to put their own gruff spin on the sound.

A lot of work clearly went into the album and it has plenty of engaging moments. “Give Me All Your Loving” is a catchy, propulsive opening track backed up with some strong swagger. Closer “Salvation” is a high point, slowing things down before ripping into a chorus that could be just as easily about God as it could be a girlfriend. The ambiguity is nice. I think this genre tends to benefit from a little guile. They even sort-of briefly crib the melody from “Footloose” in “Nightshift,” which really threw me off-balance for a second. The song is one of the better tracks on the album despite that retro transgression, amping up the energy and jangle. Later, on “Big Mistake,” the verse hook is eerily reminiscent of some classic guitar pop that I can’t place but I know I’ve heard dozens of times.

But for some reason there are times when I just don’t find myself that heavily drawn to this release. There’s something ineffable about Keep You Up When You’re Down that, on roughly every second spin, leaves me thinking I’ll probably wind up listening to it a few times before abandoning it to collect dust on my CD shelf. It’s a shame, because I really want to like it. I still have a copy of their self-titled debut I picked up at Arcade Records and Tapes in Medicine Hat and it was a very cute and praise-worthy album.

I have no doubt that it will gain an audience in the power-pop community, possibly a very large one. Its got just the right amount of bubblegum, but it doesn’t always taste so sweet. Listen below and judge for yourself.

 

 the Perms - Give Me All Your Lovin' [2:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 the Perms - the Mess: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Check out the Not Lame Records store for purchase or CD Baby for physicals. iTunes has digitals.

Pat entries Canadian content, pop rock, power pop, rock, the Perms, Winnipeg

We’ve got a special treat for our readers: A he said/she said review of the latest album from Calgary band The Dudes. Pat will take first crack at it because he got his shit together fastest, but Tanis gets the final say.

PAT:

I’ve been listening to an awful lot of Sam Cooke in the last eight months or so and I think he would heartily approve of The Dudes. While they may aim for the aesthetic of Al Green meets the Flaming Lips, I’d wager their obvious passion and enthusiasm for life, love, and soul-affirming music makes them spiritual cousins to the late, great songwriter and many others that have dabbled in “soul” music.

Tanis and I both loved The Dudes’ previous album, Brain, Heart, Guitar, for its energy and sense of fun. The band shoots for the aforementioned vision and in their own, “white-boy soul” kind of way, achieves it. Now they’ve got a new album out called Blood Guts Bruises Cuts and it has been way too long.

While the lead vocals of the nerdily-bespectacled Danny Vacon may not at first (or second) blush be what the average listener might consider “soulful,” he performs the balls off his songs, alternately purring like a kitten and pleading like a sinner for the salvation that only love/sex can bring. Serving as the undeniable centrepiece of the band, he pushes his voice to the peaks and valleys mined by soul singers through the decades, allowing the band to put a downright Costello-ian pop-rock spin on the genre.

There are two centrepieces in my opinion: first is “Mr. Someone Else,” a spiritual cousin of sorts to “Jessie’s Girl” in which Vacon covets a friend’s lady…hard. It is a quintessential Dudes song: it doesn’t take itself too seriously, but the arrangement is taught and muscular and the lyrics are honest and direct, a bald-faced and lustily covetous tale that would likely be considered ribald in polite company. They band is also totally willing to rock a cowbell in a non-ironic fashion.

The rest of the album follows suit, melding proto-rock sentiment and modern power-pop chords while Vacon analyzes, laments, appreciates, celebrates, and embraces love every way shape and form (including the wonder of make-outs and hook-ups).

If “Mr. Someone Else” is the yin of the album, the yang comes with “Ghosts We’re Buried On,” in which Vacon traces the roots of his musical passion back to a beat-up guitar played with fervor on his Grandfather’s porch, the soul of the music intertwining deeply and irrevocably with his own.

I could talk at much greater length of the wonderful and joyous songwriting displayed on Blood Guts Bruises Cuts, the razor-sharp hooks of lead single “Pretty Lies,” the band’s softer side showing through on “Small Mercies” and “Had Enough Of It,” the footloose and fancy-free celebration of life that is “Ever Been To Taiwan?” Instead, I’ll leave it up to you (and Tanis) to do yourself a favour and pick this album up.

At its very least it’s a perfect summer road-trip album; at its greatest, every track is a triumph that deserves to be heard.
_________________________________

TANIS:

When you move across the country to start a new job, the last thing on your mind should be bumping your flight to the next day so you can go see a band rock and roll all night before you leave, but thanks to The Dudes, I have done this. I only slept about an hour before hopping a plane from Calgary to Toronto, but their live show at the Hi-Fi was worth it and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Especially after listening to their latest effort.

The Dudes released Brain Heart Guitar in 2006, so the repeated lines “It’s a long time comin’” from “Pretty Lies,” the first single off new release Blood Guts Bruises Cuts, seem especially fitting. It took awhile, but by God, was it ever worth the wait.

The Dudes have turned this mother out, unleashing waves of jangly guitar, witty lyrics, hooky choruses you can shout along to and generally crafting the kind of happy, energetic songs that make legends out of local bands. They’re everything you want in a great pop act and they kindly ask that you respect their right to rock your face off, too.

Thanks to some tight producing, Blood Guts Bruises Cuts sounds much more complete and explored than Brain Heart Guitar. The band has stretched their legs, done some living, figured out who they really are and filled every corner of this album with their experiences. And they smartly did not slick everything up. This still sounds distinctly like The Dudes. Every song leads you down the corridor of their existence, pointing out pit stops taken and influences found along the way and the resulting album is the pinnacle of their creation.

The guitars are brash and bold – almost overdone – but they’re countered by frontman Dan Vacon’s shy, sweet voice. I wouldn’t be surprised if every word out of his mouth was accompanied with a nerdy shrug like “It’s OK, I guess.” He has this offhanded way of singing the most brilliant lines, just lazily letting slip these witty lyrics like they’re nothing. It’s positively Joel Plaskett-esque! There are also references, some overt, some subtle, to the Blues Brothers, Bon Jovi, the Beach Boys, Aerosmith, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. AND, I hear musical nods to Van Halen, The Cars, Cheap Trick and April Wine, among others.

At first, I thought Blood Guts Bruises Cuts was good. The second time through, I thought it might be better than Brain Heart Guitar. By the third listen, I knew it was. This album is so luscious and ripe, this band so primed for success. It will be so totally bogus if The Dudes don’t shoot to fame on the back of this bad boy.

I love the raucous and rockin’ “Ever Been To Taiwan?” and “Had Enough Of It,” a bright little duet with Calgary singer Lisa Lobsinger, recently of Broken Social Scene fame. And Pat’s mentioned the SUPERB “Mr. Someone Else,” the paen to the best song ever written. But the real standout for me is “Girl Police.” It’s awash with big, happy guitar riffs and power chords, a barely-contained ’80s sound, soaring oooooohs and aaaaaahs and with Vacon’s soulful vocals bobbing over it all. I can’t wait to see how they rock it live. I imagine there’s going to be some Budokan level shit happening there. Not to mention, it has the catchiest listing of names in a song since “Mambo No. 5.” Oh, come on. Like you never sang along!

The Dudes JUST missed the cutoff for Polaris Prize consideration this year, but I’d like to think that next year, they might be nominated for this stellar effort because I’ve already got it on my best-of list for 2009.

 

 the Dudes - Mr. Someone Else [4:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 the Dudes - the Ghosts We're Buried On [5:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Dudes’ website proclaims Blood Guts Bruises Cuts is “available in stores” (DEAD BUSINESS MODEL WHAT?), but is also on Amazon and of course, iTunes. Obviously, we’d rather you contacted your independent retailer (if you still have one) and procured a copy through that means, but we don’t run your life. You’re an adult.

Pat entries, Tanis entries Calgary, Canadian content, pop rock, power pop, soul, the Dudes

I love it when an album that’s completely unfamiliar to you feels like coming home.

A number of years ago I spent two years in the second-largest city in Manitoba, Canada (which is just as small as it sounds). At the time, seven or eight friends rented an old church that had been converted into a coffee shop to live in. The coffee shop had failed, and with that much space just going to waste it seemed like a logical use to have tenants in the basement. Meanwhile the rectory (or whatever you call that big open space where the pews are) sat essentially empty, the pews long since removed. This gang of miscreants decided that they’d throw lavish parties to help cover their rent and bill payments, occasionally booking small touring prairie bands to play a set on the stage while they sold booze illegally to area residents that heard about these dubious events. Once they moved out, the Hell’s Angels would eventually move in and hold similar functions. Apparently college kids are smarter/more discreet than bikers, because they’d eventually get busted by the RCMP. True story.

Anyway, one of the biggest parties was a Halloween party that Winnipeg band Sixty Stories played at. I don’t remember much from that event, aside from the band sitting off in a corner drinking mostly by themselves (I don’t blame them). At the time of the church show the group was somewhere in between having released their only full-length album, Anthem Red, and breaking up, which was a considerable shame given how incredibly good that album is. The power-pop threesome crafted an incredibly engaging, loosely-themed album focusing on the trials and tribulations of growing up as a teenage girl. While the subject matter has the potential to come off maudlin, depressing, or trivial frontwoman Jo Snyder has a knack for painting a realistic picture of how significant the experiences of that era of life are to those living it as opposed to how their reactions are viewed by others.

After disbanding in 2004, Snyder and her bassist/co-writer Sarah Sangster reformed under the moniker Anthem Red, adding the extremely adroit drummer and guitarist that currently grace their new lineup. They managed to write, record, and release the album Dancing On The Dishwasher in 2006 and absolutely nobody noticed. That’s probably because it’s put out by the Company With The Golden Arm, a German label that co-released their Sixty Stories records.

Frankly, it’s pretty fucking sad that nobody is listening to this CD. The new players have opened up Snyder’s songwriting, providing a lusher and more deft backdrop for her observational, slice-of-life tunes. Blurring the lines between Jawbreaker, Elvis Costello, and Vivian Girls/Discount/Fifth Hour Hero/your favourite girl-punk band, there are no bad songs on this album. Snyder’s singing voice is just as unique as her writing voice; where her vocals were once described by reviewers as “androgynous” (and that’s one of the friendlier descriptions) she’s managed to reach a slightly higher register without losing that unique tone. Her focus is more on adult minutia than adolescent this time around: anxiety over flying, reconciling the fact that your parents are getting older with your own aging process, smoking on a fire escape.

Better still, the writing contributions from Sarah Sangster (”Power Lines,” “Broken English,” “Wonder”) rival anything the band has produced in either its present or past incarnations. “Broken English” has caused me to once again go all rubbery over a song; like “Second Hand Tables & Chairs” from Sixty Stories’ Anthem Red it’s a perfectly structured song that exudes genuine emotion and boasts a jaw-dropping performance. Perhaps most impressive is the sublimely-layered three-part harmonies, a trick that never really presented itself in the old band. Equally as jarring (in a good way) is “Diet Cokes & Stethoscopes,” an introspective number about seeing your future in your aging parents eyes.

This album is a more than welcome reminder of days gone by. A release cheaply recorded in another group’s practice space and released on another continent has retroactively become one of my favourite from 2006. In just a week I know this album back to front; several of the songs on it are honestly some of the best I’ve heard in years. Snyder is now a bit closer to actually penning the sixty stories she may or may not have intended to write when she started her last band; here’s hoping she makes it there and beyond before she adds “former” to another band to her resumé.

 

 Anthem Red - Broken English [5:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Anthem Red - Diet Cokes & Stethoscopes [3:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Sixty Stories - Second Hand Tables & Chairs [2:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Dancing On The Dishwasher can be found by internet detectives on iTunes and through the band’s myspace page. The excellent Sixty Stories material is also available from iTunes and Smallman Records webstore.

Pat entries Anthem Red, break-ups, Canadian content, Dancing On The Dishwasher, pop punk, pop rock, power pop, Sixty Stories

Something you’ll likely come to realize while reading this blog (assuming you, dear readers, make a return trip or two along the way) is that I’m a sucker for pop songs. There’s nothing that sells me on a song quite like a beautiful melody and a tightly-structured arrangement. While that can occasionally make me really excited about artists that hurt my “cred” (admitting I own both Justin Timberlake albums on both CD and LP is something I’ve taken more than my fair share of flak for), I’ve never regretted getting really into a solid, catchy number.

Two entirely-female groups have been gradually eroding my musical sweet tooth in recent months: the Pipettes and Sahara Hotnights. Hailing from England and Sweden respectively, both focus their attention on writing razor-sharp pop hooks that evoke different musical eras.

The former is a complete throwback to the girl-groups of the ‘60’s, right down to the matching dresses and synchronized finger-waggin in their videos and live shows. They’ve infused the sound with a little modern indie-rock swagger, thanks to a stellar backing band called the Cassettes.

Sahara Hotnights go the route of ‘70’s power-pop, going the route of the Cars/Rick Ocasek-style rock with a dance-y edge.

A re-worked version of the Pipettes UK debut has FINALLY been released in North America, while Hotnights hasn’t got a domestic release plan (but that doesn’t mean you can’t get ahold of it). Check them out now and make sure you get into them before your parents do!

 

 the Pipettes - Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me [2:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 the Pipettes - Pull Shapes [2:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Sahara Hotnights - Who Do You Dance For? [2:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Sahara Hotnights - Salty Lips [3:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Pipettes should be purchased as readily as possible via:
iTunes: Dig-it-ally!
UK webstore: lots of selection, expensive currency
US webstore: not much at all

Sahara Hotnights can be found through:
iTunes: Only one album, sadly.
Klicktrack: I don’t know what this is, but you can download their new record here.
InterPunk: Search here for the band name and there’s way more stuff.

Pat entries girl groups, pop, pop rock, power pop, Sahara Hotnights, the Pipettes