Sound Salvation Army

What a weekend to not be in Regina.

I’m kicking myself, you guys. I’ll be in Winnipeg this weekend for a very important trip with my special lady to a city that’s not as bad as people (from Saskatchewan) think it is but I have an obligation (as a Saskatchewanian) to pretend like it stinks. But I’ll be missing SO MUCH good music, you guys!

It’s almost hard to keep it all straight but let’s start with Friday night.

Birds Are Dinosaurs are undoubtedly Regina’s most interesting group. The post-rock instrumental group frequently has a lot of members, including two drummers, and creates many-faceted songs that range from ominous to ecstatic, urgent to patient, bright to bleak, and everything in between. They also but on a downright entrancing live show, weaving textured arrangements with a studied expertise. They put out their first full-length back in 2009 and, word has it, they’re going to be working on another one. You’ll likely get a taste of that new material when they headline this month’s chapter of CJTR’s 10th Anniversary Showcase Series at the Exchange on Friday night at the Exchange. Also on the bill is the newly-renamed Sun Zoom Sparx, formerly known as Coelacanthdance. I promise, their music is better than their new name and easier to wrap your head around. Tickets, I believe, are $10 at the door.

HOWEVER, friends, conflict abounds on Friday night as well! Also playing tomorrow at the delightful Creative City Center are Surrey’s Sumner Brothers. Described by our friends over at Herohill as a roots act that even the most ardent Willie Nelson fans would have trouble finding fault in, the west coasters have toured Canada multiple times on the strength of a few criminally underrated albums (so underrated we haven’t even covered them before, in fact). Thankfully they continue to traipse across the country, guitars in tow, playing to ever-larger audiences. If a more traditional type of songcraft is your thing I highly recommend checking them out. Local musical mainstay Cam Wensel’s latest effort Black Drink Crier opens as well! Tickets are just $8 at the door (1843 Hamilton Street above Loggie’s Shoes).

Montreal by way of Calgary act Braids (mentioned all too briefly in our round-up of Regina Folk Festival’s first day) are also visiting the Exchange this weekend. They’re playing Saturday night with Pepper Rabbit and Painted Palms, two bands I literally know nothing about. I mean it; literally nothing. Braids, however, are tearing up the indie rock world right now. Their album Native Speaker has been short-listed for the Polaris Prize and is, according to some, an odds-on favourite to win. It’s layered, twisted versions of pop and rock songs are enough of a head trip to set them apart. Just take the Winnipeg Free Press’ word for it. This one is going to be jam-packed, so get your tickets at Vintage Vinyl if you don’t already.

Sunday is also going to be VERY exciting, as Hollerado roll into the Queen City on their “Meet The Mayor” tour. The concept has been so successful even the band has been surprised by it, but it goes like this: a month or so ago when they announced the show dates for their latest cross-Canada trek, the pop rock band joked on Twitter that they would endeavor to meet the mayor of every city they played. CJTR’s own Indie Insider and I relayed the message to Regina’s own Pat Fiacco and, being the amiable and eager politician that he is, he agreed to greet the group when they arrive in the city. From there, the idea spiraled, as Mayor Nenshi in Calgary also got on board. Odds are good they’ll talk about that meeting during their set, but even if they don’t you still get some of the finest pop rock happening in Canada these days. Young Rival and Wildlife open this one.

So there you have it folks. Way more amazing music than Regina is used to seeing in a month, let alone a week, crammed into a three day span. Please, miss as little of this line-up as you can.

 

 Birds Are Dinosaurs - Tragedy: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Sumner Brothers - Going Out West: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Braids - Lemonade [6:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Hollerado - Americanarama: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Links!:
Birds are dinosaurs Facebook is here, because I can’t find anything else.
Sumner Brothers are on iTunes and they also have a web store.
Braids’ album is pretty cheap on iTunes and they also have a web store.
Hollerado are also iTunes fans, I guess or you can attempt to navigate their, um, unique website for physical purchase links. I sure as hell am not.

Pat entries acoustic, Birds Are Dinosaurs, Braids, Hollerado, instrumental, live music, pop rock, Regina, rock, roots, Sumner Brothers, Surrey, Toronto

Starting fresh is the name of the game for Swift Current’s The Hard Ramblers. The roots music trio provided local colour to the festival roster as well as one of the “folkiest” sounds in this year’s line-up. The group has a decidedly bluegrass feel to it, the kind of bluegrass you’d find on a compilation record featuring the likes of Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, and Earl Scruggs, genuine outlaw bluegrass with rockabilly bass lines and furiously picked guitar and banjo. Call them cousins of a group like The United Steel Workers Of Montreal, with perhaps a little bit less fire in the belly.

When Eliza Doyle (songwriter, singer, banjo-ist) approached us at the CJTR tent during our Saturday broadcast she was a little bit nervous, asking about what kind of questions we wanted to ask her. Our tack was pretty simple; Doyle and her bandmates are starting over after years and years in other groups. Doyle herself had actually appeared at the festival before years ago, as you’ll hear in the interview, with her band The Cracker Cats. But this was her new trio’s first kick at the can and they were eager to show the crowd what they’re made of.

The band’s appearance had a lot to do with the release of their first album, a collection of 14 tracks of fairly aggressive twang. The collection is a mixture of originals, traditional numbers, and antiquated covers that suit the band very well. Doyle, stand-up bassist Paula McGuigan, and guitarist Jody Weger’s voices all come together in delightful harmony, trading off lead and backing vocals as easily as can be. The content is exactly what you expect it to be, tales of romantic longing and prairie scenescapes rendered simultaneously familiar, energetic, and timeless.

Listen to the interview below to hear Doyle’s perspective on introducing a new group to a familiar audience and building from the ground up.

 

 The Hard Ramblers interview: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The Hard Ramblers - Hard Travelin': Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The Hard Ramblers - Flatland Boogie: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Reginans can get another taste of The Hard Ramblers’ medicine this Thursday, August 18th when they return to town for a headlining show at the delightful downtown venue The Creative City Centre. You can find it on the third floor of the old Leader building at 1843 Hamilton Street. Tickets are just $8 in advance, $10 at the door.

Pat entries #RFF11, Canadian content, country, folk, live music, Regina Folk Festival, roots, The Hard Ramblers

At various points in 2009 each of these records have been my absolute favourite of the entire year. Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear be damned, these bands have written truly intimate and affecting songs, not dissonant and disaffected studies in sound. These songs have heart and soul and emotion and enlightenment woven into their very fabric. They are indeed my favourite, if not the best, albums of 2009.

05. Polar Bear Club - Chasing Hamburg
This site has taken a big hit in the last five weeks and it has everything to do with this record. I’ve essentially listened to nothing in all of December except for this album. They sound like a pop rock/hardcore punk hybrid band with a bit of Gatsby’s American Dream-style quirk in their songwriting. There is a huge amount of passion at play here, even if their subject matter runs pretty frequently towards being in band and the experiences and emotions that come along with it. I just can’t get over how good this record is. It’s a shame it took me four months to actually listen to the damn thing.

04. Why? - Eskimo Snow
Yoni Wolf’s songs keep getting more and more interesting. He’s focused like a laser beam on making miserable sound as lovely as possible. The complexity of both the sentiment and the mixed meter arrangement of a track like “Berkeley By Hearseback” is not come upon easily. The imagery of “Against Me” is not something you hear or read every day. An acoustic guitar rarely sounds as full when sparingly plucked as it does on the album’s title track. Misery has rarely sounded so beautiful.

03. the Deep Dark Woods - Winter Hours
This band is so good it’s hard to believe they come from this tiny, insular province. Their songs are a slow walk down a back country road, an afternoon spent staring at the sky as the clouds morph into shapes that evoke the old west, a sad story told around a campfire late at night. These are songs sung by drifters on lonely back roads as they lament how everything’s gone wrong while thumbing for a ride. These are songs plucked on a beat-up acoustic guitar on a back porch as faint solace after a lover/dog has left you. These are ramblin’ men playing ramblin’ tunes of lives lived hard and fast and the consequences that follow. Plus the song found below sounds like Neil Young performing a song written by Radiohead. Fun!

02. Strike Anywhere - Iron Front
Strike Anywhere realized long ago that you can’t start a revolution without a hook and they’ve come out swinging harder than ever with this record. In addition to being the most immediately-catchy album I heard all year it’s also the most hopeful. Sure, the songs alternate between despondent reality-checks and desperate pleas for change but the tone and tenor of the album as a whole is at least mostly uplifting; the melodies are too buoyant, too catchy, too (dare I say it?) pretty for it to be anything else. They can keep promising they’ll return to a more hardcore sound but this sure as hell isn’t Black Flag or Bad Brains or the Germs. This is pop music through an activist, hardcore filter. But damn it, it’s good.

01. the Wheat Pool - Hauntario
I am quite confident I didn’t hear another album all year that boasts songwriting as fully-realized as Hauntario. Their lyrics go beyond vivid, reaching an incredibly admirable level of descriptive and evocative wordsmithery. The overarching themes of the album are not heavy-handed, the emotional elements are honest instead of exploitative, and the undercurrent of absolute misery on some (re: most) of these tracks seems absolutely genuine. They even manage to reprise an upbeat song as a morose closing number without making it seem like a cloying re-tread. In every way this is Canadian music and storytelling at its finest.

 

 Polar Bear Club - Boxes: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Why? - Against Me: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 the Deep Dark Woods - the Birds On The Bridge [6:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Strike Anywhere - Omega Footprint: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 the Wheat Pool - Italy [3:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Polar Bear Club: Webstore and iTunes
Why?: Webstore and iTunes
the Deep Dark Woods: Webstore and iTunes
Strike Anywhere: Label webstore, band webstore, and iTunes.
the Wheat Pool: Webstore and iTunes.

Pat entries alt country, best ofs, Canadian content, Canadiana, country, indie rap, Polar Bear Club, punk rock, roots, Strike Anywhere, the Deep Dark Woods, the Wheat Pool, Why?, year in review

It was a long, long year of self-reflection. This portion of the best-of rundown has changed a lot even right up to the last minute. I had to re-jig a lot of stuff in the bottom top 10 to get the line-up just right. You’ll see a few rockers in this section that have been consistent for years and years and a couple that have gone in the literal opposite direction in 2009. But all remain very, very tasty.

Here we go, jerks!

15. O Pioneers!!! - Neon Creeps
If you haven’t figured it out by now I love this band. Neon Creeps finds Eric simultaneously getting more desperate and harrowed lyrically while taking a bit of the edge of what is normally his extremely acerbic guitar tone. His playing sounds more precise, less hack-and-slash, and while it shouldn’t make that big a difference the addition of bass to the mix really helps flesh out the arrangements and support Eric in the quieter bits. Lyrically it might be kind of a bummer, but these songs are real; the desperation and depression is genuine. This is the sound of a man working through everyday frustrations with dramatic results. Read more here.

14. the Bronx - Mariachi el Bronx
As I previously stated, I’m not the least bit qualified to critique mariachi music. I have zero qualifications. But to paraphrase some old dude, I may not know mariachi but I know what I like and I like this album. It has a relaxed rhythm, shamelessly full arrangements, some great singing, and huge hooks. That Prince cover was a perfect teaser and the album delivered on all of its promise and then some.

13. Chad Price - Smile Sweet Face
This is the opposite of ground-breaking but Smile Sweet Face is both impossibly heartbreaking and improbably beautiful. There’s nothing revolutionary about a sad white dude and his acoustic guitar but the simple fact that Price’s world-weary voice can carry such incredible melodies and devastating sentiments is worth celebrating. “This War” perfectly captures the crushing weight of infidelity and “Peachy Tuscadero” sounds like the opposite of what it is: a mash note to a misfit puppy. This album has everything.

12. Propagandhi - Supporting Cast(e)
Fat Wreck Chords who? The long-running Winnipeg anarcho-punks say goodbye to their long-time associations and deliver what is unequivocally their best album ever, How To Clean Everything be damned. A second guitarist has them sounding huge (the compression helps the loudness as well, of course) and they’re still highly aggressive, but Cast(e) is also their most melodically rich and complex work yet. Aside from the horrifying death knell that starts “Human(e) Meat (the Flensing of Sandor Katz)” they don’t strike a single wrong note.

11. the Thermals - Now We Can See
Hutch Harris and Kathy Foster still writes songs that consist of little more than four chords and a heartbeat, but they’re sounding more at home than ever on Now We Can See. Down-playing the aggression that marked The Body, The Blood, The Machine, these songs are 100% anthemic and still rather thought-provoking. I maintain my assertion that “When I Died” is the best pop song you didn’t hear on the radio in 2009. Read more here.

 

 O Pioneers!!! - Stressing The Fuck Out [2:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Mariachi el Bronx - Quinceniera [3:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Chad Price - With Bleeding Wrists: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Propagandhi - Dear Coach's Corner [4:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 the Thermals - I Let It Go [3:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

O Pioneers!!!: All music physical, some files digital.
Mariachi el Bronx: Get the album (and/or Mariachi el Bronx’s exclusive cologne) from their webstore. Here’s the iTunes.
Chad Price: Smile Sweet Face and a bevy of other Price-related albums can be foundin the Suburban Home/Vinyl Collective webstore. The album is on iTunes, but you’re better off getting it from Suburban Home/Vinyl Collective’s own digital store. It’s cheaper.
Propagandhi: CD/LP/download is available through the G7 Welcoming Committee site, which I didn’t even realize still existd. Surprisingly, they’re also on iTunes. A lot.
the Thermals: Physical purchases can be made through Kill Rock Stars’ website. Old releases are on Sub Pop. iTunes is a thing too.

Pat entries acoustic, best ofs, Canadian content, Chad Price, mariachi, Mariachi el Bronx, O Pioneers!!!, pop punk, pop rock, Propagandhi, punk rock, roots, the Thermals, year in review

I want to preface this post by stating how much I respect Blue Rodeo. I like them very much. If I had to pick a band to accurately represent Canadian Music, I’d pick them over the Tragically Hip any day of the week.

First, and perhaps most important, they are grace and humility personified. They are truly nice, talented, genuine people. In short, they are the total polar opposite of Nickelback, which I think you will agree is a good thing. Then there are all the other reasons to love them:

They’re technically solid musicians. Their albums stand up to repeated listens years later. They have a wide, wide audience appeal (country fans, jaded hipsters, those with more mainstream tastes and my mom can all agree on Blue Rodeo) but they’ve never sold out, either. They seem like mellow, down-to-Earth kind of guys. Jim Cuddy has a great voice. They support younger acts and use their HUGE following to showcase talented musicians by having up-and-comers open for them on tours. They are solid and dependable. And Cuff the Duke could certainly pick a worse band to try and emulate.

Oshawa’s Cuff the Duke are going out on tour with Blue Rodeo in January. They recently (like, last night) played a show at the eBar in Guelph. I wish I could tell you more about it, but I had to take a miss to catch up on some beauty sleep.

Their latest album, Way Down Here, released this past September, reminds me STRONGLY of Blue Rodeo. That’s probably owing to how it was produced by Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor. I missed this album when it first came out. It didn’t exactly blow people away and I can understand why.

The group’s sound on Way Down Here is more lush, but it probably sounds the least like a Cuff the Duke album. It plays out like part of their musical progression, but for me, part of their charm was their spare sound and stripped-down approach to Canadian folk rock.

I think back to “Ballad of a Lonely Construction Worker,” “Surging Revival” and ”If I Live or If I Die” as great examples of their talents. They were poppy without being precious. Jaded, but not disaffected. This a completely different sound, more of a fuzzed out, ’60s vibe — kind of like Blue Rodeo meets The Hollies. It’s accessible and I like it, but I’m not sure I like it as much as I loved Life Stories For Minimum Wage or Sidelines of the City. They always sounded like a band that knew exactly who they were, but now… there’s not much there, there, you know?

If the Interwebs can be believed (and when have they led me astray before?) this is Keelor’s first major effort as a producer. I like the sound he gets from Cuff the Duke, but then, I like Blue Rodeo. And they sound an awful lot like Blue Rodeo here. In fact, Petti sounds so much like Cuddy on “Follow Me,” the whole thing sounds like such a Blue Rodeo effort, that I thought I better check to make sure it wasn’t a cover. I suppose if they’re borrowing a little, they could’ve done far worse.

The album waivers between sweet, jangly, rootsy pop like “Follow Me” and “Listen to Your Heart” and the shaggy, bombastic Dylan-gone-electric chimes of “Another Day In Purgatory.” There are other classic rock nods. The short instrumental, “Farley the Dog,” with its twangy, Ennio Morricone guitar, sounds like a slower, sadder reprise to Led Zeppelin’s “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp.”

Frontman Wayne Petti’s voice is almost unrecognizable on some tracks. I don’t know how I feel about that, but his guitar solos are flat-out better. My favourite song “Promises” features a truly fantastic, fuzzy solo that pours out of your speakers. It’s a standout moment. Together, with the relentless drumming, “Promises” evokes the best of classic rock. They switch back to the familiar haunted folk/country sound that put them on the map with songs like “Rocking Chair” and “Need You.” I think Petti’s been better as a songwriter. He’s walking a tightrope over cliche valley. He teeters sometimes, but doesn’t quite fall in. Maybe by the next album we’ll see what he was trying to get to on the other side.

This album could have been a mess. Actually, it might even be a mess, but it’s a mess that works. In the future, when we look back on Cuff the Duke and their recorded history, Way Down Here will probably be the overlooked classic you wish you’d paid closer attention to. I like my country with a tinge of psychedelia. I think the disparate sounds clash just right. It’s a formula The Sadies have perfected and Keelor knows his way around those boys, too, since he plays with them in The Unintended. I’ve followed Cuff the Duke for quite awhile. I’ve seen them live more than a few times. They’ve earned the right to take a chance or two, so I don’t begrudge them a change in direction, I just hope they don’t get lost on the way.

You can buy Way Down Here on iTunes or at their official web store. Also, be sure to check local tour dates in the new year! Cuff the Duke is comin’ to a city near you!

 

 Cuff the Duke - Follow Me : Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Cuff the Duke - Promises : Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Cuff the Duke - Surging Revival: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tanis entries Blue Rodeo, Canadian content, Cuff The Duke, Greg Keelor, mp3, rock, roots, Wayne Petti

Is our dear friend Corb Lund looking to sell out?

The packaging of his latest album, Losin’ Lately Gambler, reeks of a mainstream reach-around. From the Kenny Chesney-looking candid photo on the album’s cover to the insert in the digipack hawking ringtones to the blurred-out curse word on the gatefold of the CD, it seems like Lund is looking to get a little more Wal*Mart in his sales statistics.

Oh, but ol’ Corb is too gin-yoo-wine for that, isn’t he? The Hurtin’ Albertan, the even-keeled prairie redneck with a winning sense of humour, he’s still as subversive and dark as he was when he fronted the (legendary) Smalls. Look no further for evidence than lead track, “Horse Doctor, Come Quick,” a track about some poor country folk getting hooked on animal tranquilizers. Yeah, put that on CMT and see how the baby boomers react, marketing department at Lund’s new label.

See, I’m assuming that’s the genesis for the shift in presentation: Lund is now a member of the influential U.S. roots label New West Records, a means to increase his profile south of the border. Understandable, I suppose, even if the physical product that comes out is much more commercially packaged. Ironically, however, Lund has written his most overtly Canadian set of songs yet, his new bosses giving him a blank slate upon which to write.

So its basically more of what those that know and love Corb Lund would be expecting: more country than alt-country, more twang than clang, and clever without being too clever by half. An album with Lund’s tweaked, modern take on country coupled with a half-dozen songs referencing places that most Americans likely don’t even know exist. Enjoy, plainsmen of the United States.

There are a few more tracks on here that lean more towards modern country instrumentation (ie. electric guitars) than rootsy acoustic guitar strumming, but that fits Lund’s M.O. He’s an easy-going country rocker and age is only turning him easier. These songs are overwhelmingly sunny, even the odd track about dark addictions coursing through with a subtle vein of optimism. A majority of the songs are odes to the Canadian prairie and the lifestyle tied to it: rodeo dreams and cold Pilsner wishes. Poker stories, warm chinook winds, tales of the good life in Saskatchewan, saying hello to prairie ex-pats in fancier Canadian cities…it’s aimed squarely at his comrades, compatriots, and countrymen.

There is a distinct lack of the dark, dark edge that has run through some of his previous solo work, most notably his last release, Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!. Gone are the impossibly bleak wartime scenarios of “I Wanna Be In The Calvary: Reprise” and “A Leader On Losing Control” and the tweaked-out PTSD veteran in “Student Visas.” Those were powerfully effective, albeit impossibly dour, story songs. Things are significantly lighter this time around.

But I don’t think you can blame Corb for making some of these tunes a little more accessible to “mainstream” baby boomer types. A lot of the success he’s enjoyed since returning to his roots has come from some of his “cuter” tracks getting minor play on country radio and CMT. It seems like this album strikes a very purposeful balance between his iconoclastic nature and his potential mainstream appeal. Why fight it if you’re able to do what you do on a higher level?

In all sincerity, here’s hoping the marketing campaign pans out; I’d really like to see Corb do well. Any Albertan that loves Saskatchewan is a friend of mine.

 

 Corb Lund - Talkin' Veterinarian Blues [3:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Corb Lund - Devil's Best Dress [2:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Get six big releases, including Losin’ Lately Gambler, from Lund’s on-line store. Do it now, please. iTunes has his solo material and his “Corb Lund Band” releases available as well.

Pat entries Canadian content, Corb Lund, country, hillbillies, roots, selling out

Guess what? No, not chicken butt. No, also not chicken thigh. Look, you are really bad at this game. Tell you what, I will just tell you instead of having you guess. To save time. I’m sure you would’ve gotten it eventually.

Carolyn Mark and NQ Arbuckle are putting out an album together! I KNOW! They’re two of the best country/roots artists in a country that is full of amazing country/roots artists. Also, they employed a lot of amazing country/roots artists to come in and play on the album! It’s set for release Oct. 13 on Mint. Yipee kiyay!

I’ve been listening to the most recent albums by both Ms. Mark and NQ and I’m impressed all over again. Normally, I like my country rootsy and rockin’. The more banjo pickin’ and mandolin-strummin’ and standup basses being slapped around, the better. If I absolutely HAVE to listen to a country ballad, I want it to be mellow, not whiney and twangy. Basically, I want it to sound like it’s been soaking in an oak barrel with a bunch of whisky for at least three years.

Mission accomplished, guys.

I feel quite comfortable saying “The Business End” is easily the best song on Carolyn Mark’s last album, Nothing is Free. It has the kind of slow, torturous burn you get from falling asleep in the sun. You shut your eyes for a few minutes cuz it’s so warm and nice, and when you wake up an hour later, your skin is so hot that if you hold your hand close, you can feel the heat radiate like you’re some kind of fragile, white-flaked coal.

NQ Arbuckle’s “I Liked You Right From The Start” is a drunken serenade from a decent guy who’s downed a few too many. He’s not quite sloppy drunk, but he wants to let you know that he’s had his eye on you all night and he thinks you’re sumpthin’ awright *hic* and maybe, just maybe, you’ll be charmed enough by his drunken honesty to let him take you home. And you’ll think about it. Flattery, even drunken flattery, gets you everywhere, after all. Besides, you had a few yourself. This will be a mistake of epic proportions, but it might be a mistake that results in a meaningful relationship. And when the grandkids come along years down the road and ask how gammy and pop-pop met, you will look into the eyes of your beloved and say “online dating site” because it is less embarrassing than revealing that you drunkenly went home with a dude and ended up cleaning up his puke.

If you live in Guelph, you can see Carolyn Mark live TONIGHT at Van Gogh’s Ear! That’s just down the street from me! (Don’t come over. My apartment is such a mess.) She’s playing with Sunbear and one of my favourite Ontario bands, $100.

You want to talk about heart-breakingly sad country ballads, these guys do that. They do that soooo well. They’re achingly good. Singer Simone Fornow’s voice is not pretty, but it is real and raw. It’s Marianne Faithfull meets Maybelle Carter. Her croaky, haunting cry of “I never come but it don’t matter” on “Careless Love” is the resigned suffering of every woman left unsatisfied (or worse) by a brutal man. You would do well to buy their album, Forest of Tears.

I saw them earlier this summer at Wally’s with Deep Dark Woods. That was an amazing show and tonight’s do at Van Gogh’s sounds like it’s also going to be a hot time in the ol’ town as well! So go see it and don’t be dumb like I was last time: Buy your merch early or $100 will disappear into the night and take their albums with them.

Carolyn Mark’s music can be found on Mint Records, NQ Arbuckle calls Six Shooter Records home. You can get $100 stuff at Sonic Unyon and check out all three at Zunior and yes, iTunes.

 

 Carolyn Mark - The Business End: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 NQ Arbuckle - I Liked You Right From The Start: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 $100 - Careless Love: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tanis entries $100, Canadian content, Carolyn Mark, country, live music, Mint Records, mp3, NQ Arbuckle, roots, Six Shooter Records, Sunbear

About a week ago I was basking in an incredible display of raw talent and the love of music at the Exchange in Regina. I was so impressed with both of the bands on the bill that I’ve been thinking about it for eight straight days now and if anything warrants writing about, I’d say that’s it.

Both peddle an alt-country sound, which seems to be the hip genre these days. Regina’s Lazy MKs take a different tack than a lot of bands, incorporating both double-bass and pedal steel guitar into their regular instrumentation. While that might suggest a deeply traditional, rootsy vibe, the band doesn’t go for the obvious. Their material is instrumental across the board on their new EP, A Field Guide To The Lazy MKs, although their live shows are typically peppered with guest vocalists to ensure they don’t lose the intimacy that comes from having a singer present.

The songs themselves are rooted deeply in rock and roll, offering two- and three-minute tunes that bounce and swell with noise, each element cascading over the other. It’s a rough-hewn style that recalls the tumbling fields of the prairies, constantly on the verge of a strong gust of wind and sound that pushes the song in a new direction. There’s also a sense of playfulness to the writing, and especially the live performance, that demonstrates the familiarity among the players. There’s a charm in it, especially from a group of men who list “moose jerky” as an influence in their bio.

It’s also kind of a treat to hear a group emphasize the bass in their writing; when an often-overpowering instrument like pedal steel is included on every track it can be a balancing act to make certain that’s not ALL the listener hears. Switching effortlessly between electric and stand-up bass, Chris Prpich seems to edge in and out of the role of bandleader with ease, naturally leading their stomping, energetic playing in a democratic way.

Incidentally, the group has also come up with one of the most gorgeous CD packages I’ve seen in years. It’s an absolute treat to hold, see, and hear.

But the real treat of the evening was Saskatoon’s Deep Dark Woods. They fall somewhere in between country and rock and roll as well, but usually hew closer to the former. Their sound is punctuated by singer/guitarist Ryan Boldt’s understated baritone, a voice that is equal parts Hayden and George Jones. A couple of years ago they released the widely-acclaimed Hang Me Oh Hang Me on Vancouver-based Black Hen Records, home to SSA favourites Old Man Luedecke and Steve Dawson. That record won “Best Roots Album” at the Western Canadian Music Awards.

Last month they put out Winter Hours, which raises the bar to heights one might not think possible for a lowly Saskatchewan group. Embracing the dark side of singer Ryan Boldt’s songwriting, these tracks lament impending floods, destitution, suicide, and murder. The lethargic, haunting melodies of “the Winter Hours” and “Farewell” will crawl into your head and plant roots, the vocal harmonies echoing the mournful violins and guitars; I haven’t been able to get them out of there since the show. Boldt’s characters embrace the lack of sunlight, money, and love with whiskey and gin; these are tales of outlaws that have lost all hope, women with their backs against a wall, men who have lived right up to the edge of their means and are staring over a precipice.

I don’t think its a stretch in the slightest to say the Deep Dark Woods are easily the finest band operating in our entire damn province. A case could be made that few bands from our slow, cold prairie towns have ever been able to boast songwriting this fine. You owe it to yourself to check them out.

 

 the Lazy MKs - Young Sad [3:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 the Lazy MKs - Burgess Lake [3:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Deep Dark Woods - All The Money I Had Is Gone [4:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Deep Dark Woods - Farewell [3:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Deep Dark Woods - Winter Hours [3:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Deep Dark Woods records are available through Black Hen and Zunior. For the Lazy MKs contact them through their Myspace, since their record label doesn’t really seem interested in acting like a real record label.

Pat entries Black Hen Records, Canadian content, country, Deep Dark Woods, Lazy MKs, Regina Saskatchewan, rock, roots, Saskatoon, Young Soul Records

7. Drag the River - You Can’t Live This Way
There’s probably no other band I’ve discovered in the last three years that has made as enormous impact on me as Drag the River has. Having already been a big fan of most of the member’s previous bands, it was a short leap to make. The story of this band is astounding; they broke up for the second time before this album came out, but it proved to be such an incredible group of songs that caught on so quickly they came back and started touring again to support it. The division between the group’s two primary songwriters is clearer than its ever been compared to their previous releases. Where they previously evened each other out, now they’re following their own tangents: one focuses almost entirely on quiet, sombre back-porch acoustic strummers while the other’s tendency towards weird rock/country hybrids takes over. Despite it’s more scattered nature, the songs are still incredible and I’d take either of these fellows over most bands any day of the week. Luckily, they’ve got four or five releases and some vinyl reissues planned for this year (many of them in February) so it seems they aren’t going anywhere.

8. the Lucksmiths - First Frost
Casual, acoustic-based pop songs from Down Under. After discovering this album a few months ago, I’ve since delved deep into their back catalogue, all the way to their first tape. It’s a bit astounding to me how one band can be so consistently good and still be completely unknown outside their native country, but I guess it happens. There really wasn’t a better album released this year to listen to while walking through a small town on a bright afternoon or sitting next to the window on a rainy day writing in your feelings journal.

9. Old Man Leudecke - Proof Of Love
Even when I thought this album was good, I didn’t realize how good it really was. I enjoyed a half dozen tracks immensely, but after his early set at the Folk Fest in Regina during the summer, seeing his awkward, hesitant charm in person, and realizing how much people I wouldn’t have expected to like him were enjoying his songs the rest really opened itself up to me. Effortless, friendly roots music that isn’t afraid to show its heart.

 

 Drag the River - Tobacco Fields: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 the Lucksmiths - Good Light [2:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Old Man Luedecke - Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier [2:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You Can’t Live This Way is on iTunes and hard copies are put out by Suburban Home/Vinyl Collective.
First Frost might be a bit harder. I mean, iTunes is easy enough. Physical releases may be available through Matinee Records, but we’ll have to see about that.
Proof of Love dominates iTunes and Black Hen Music has his physical releases.

Pat entries banjo music, Drag The River, First Frost, indie pop, Old Man Luedecke, pop, Proof Of Love, roots, the Lucksmiths, You Can't Live This Way

In the interest of once again shamelessly promoting one of my favourite new artists of the last several years, this week’s vinyl spotlight is shining heavily on Austin Lucas.

I’ve featured Mr. Lucas several times before since first hearing his latest LP, Putting The Hammer Down. He’s primarily an incredible vocalist, a great guitarist, and has really tapped into a unique “roots” sound. Up to this point that’s had a great deal to do with his father Bob, a life-long country musician and gifted arranger and instrumentalist.

On his latest 10″ vinyl-only release, At War With The Freak Folk, Lucas steps up to the mic for a truly solo effort; the six songs were recorded in live one-takes, just him and the microphone. Most of his previous releases haven’t exactly been choked with excessive instrumentation, but this presentation really leaves it all laid bare, unflinchingly exposing his songwriting to the listener.

Like his other records, there are faster-paced songs that have a bit of bounce, paeans to departing lovers, countered by excruciatingly slow and pained minor-chord treatises on heartbreak. But the stark presentation shows the seemingly effortless grace that Lucas pulls it off with. He’s proving himself to be a prolific songwriter, and even better than that a prolific songwriter that doesn’t skimp on the quality of his compositions.

Here’s a demo version of the first track (which is really kind of redundant, considering the nature of the final product) and the first track from the b-side. Please pick this business up, you will be won over if you aren’t among the converted already.

 

 Austin Lucas - Go West (demo) [4:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Austin Lucas - She Did [3:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

At War With Freak Folk can be found here. Other material can as well. Also from itunes.

Pat entries acoustic, Austin Lucas, country, folk, roots, vinyl