Sound Salvation Army

This week brought the inevitable conclusion to a contest being run by Rolling Stone magazine, a contest that, by all accounts, will change the lives of four hairy fellows from Saskatoon.

Classic rock revivalists The Sheepdogs have won Rolling Stones’ modern version of Star Search, a contest for one unsigned band or musician to land a spot on the cover of the magazine (paging Dr Hook), a major label recording contract, and some cash to boot. Sponsored by a line of hair care products, the contest put dozens of groups into a big pool and encouraged readers to visit their website and vote for their favourites. Voting was done in several rounds, the number of competitors being pared down each time. The Sheepdogs ended up in the final round, going up against a spunky young singer/songwriter from the U.S.. Their reward was a set at Bonnarroo, a drastically wider audience, and a shot at the top spot, which, it was revealed earlier this week when the cover you see here was unveiled in Times Square in New York City, they won. I would imagine quite handily.

At the risk of sounding obnoxious, I wasn’t really that surprised by the outcome. Don’t get me wrong — I was surprised, just not very surprised.

The Sheepdogs’ sound is probably a dream come true for Rolling Stone, a magazine that hasn’t been relevant in actual music coverage in decades (one arguable low point: the overly effusive “instant classic” five-star review of Mick Jagger’s unholy dump of a solo record Goddess In The Doorway, which featured such rancid, past their prime if they ever had one, flavour-of-the-moment collaborators as Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas, The Fugees’ Wyclef Jean, and Lenny Kravitz). The Sheepdogs’ sound cribs heavily from The Allman Brothers, The Guess Who, and other bands that were staunchly in favour of beards. It’s a sound that will resonate deeply with the divorced dads who keep copies of the magazine laying around their one-bedroom apartments to try and convince the kids they see on every second weekend that they’re still hip.

Moreover, Rolling Stone probably could have predicted this was going to happen. Canada may not be the United States, but we certainly still have a modicum of national pride and identity that can be, and apparently has been, exploited. I haven’t seen any insight into how the bands involved were selected but The Sheepdogs were the only Canadian band in the contest. The ONLY band in a country that has more unsigned bands than people (HYPERBOLE WHAT). It was inevitable that, to an extent, some nationalistic support would be drummed up. The band and its fans did their best to exploit it too, tweeting to the Prime Minister and other notable Canadians to pledge their support to the band.

Now, I have nothing against The Sheepdogs. Their music is well-constructed, hooky, and evocative of a by-gone era in a very genuine, if seemingly somewhat calculated, way. When Tanis sent me their record The Big Stand a couple of years ago I gave it a few listens, played a few tracks on my community radio show, and frankly forgot about it. Again: it just isn’t for me. I wish them all the success in the world; they certainly have worked pretty hard the last five years or so to get where they are.

I do, however, find it more than a little annoying that a magazine that is supposed to be in the business of taste-making is lazy and desperate enough to get some attention that it crowd-sourced it’s content, and that once-upon-a-time most coveted of music industry prizes, a spot on it’s formerly-iconic cover. If you weren’t already dead to me, Rolling Stone, you sure are now.

On the bright side, one has to assume that the attention brought to The Sheepdogs by this mishigas will extend, to some degree, to the music community that exists around them. Assuming they don’t light out for Toronto or some other big city that’s more connected to the music industry, other groups may get some residual spotlight shining on them, hopefully.

For instance, The Deep Dark Woods released their new album The Place I Left Behind on Tuesday, the same day the contest results and The Sheepdogs’ new major label EP came out. The Woods are a band we’ve gushed about here; they put out my third favourite album of 2009, in fact. While I have yet to delve too terribly far into their new release, it promises at first blush to be more of the sombre, engrossing rootsy storytelling that has made them one of the top five bands working in Canada right now, hands-down.

Maybe The Sheepdogs could take them out on tour if they go through America? Spread some of that love around?

 

 The Sheepdogs - Who: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The Deep Dark Woods - West Side Street: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Sheepdogs’ music can be purchased through links found on this page of their website or via iTunes.
The Deep Dark Woods’ material can be found in their web store or via iTunes.

Pat entries classic rock, crowdsourcing, desperation, rock, Rolling Stone magazine, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, the biz, The Sheepdogs

Slow Down, Molasses is not just a clever name. To say that this band’s songs take their time to get where they’re going is more often than not an understatement. Thankfully for music fans, however, they’re not so patient when it comes to putting out new songs.

The Saskatoon group is embarking on a new journey, releasing its new album Walk Into The Sea in digital formats today (CD and vinyl will follow on the 15th). The one-time mostly-folky alt-country act has chosen the perfect title for an album that sees a shift in form that flows naturally from its earlier work. It’s also an album that sets the band apart from other collective groups, which seem to be becoming more and more prevalent in Canada’s independent music scene.

I remember seeing the band live for the first time last year. They played a typewriter on-stage, something that astounded me then and still kind of astounds me now (glad to see it’s still in the mix on the opening track, by the way). But the change in band leader Tyson McShane’s MO is clear right from the start. Lead track “Sometimes We All Fall Apart” establishes the past and the present immediately, opening with a lonesome guitar and mournful, tastefully-reverbed vocals before a hint of feedback leads builds into a full-on, heavily distorted electric guitar build. The song is a sorrowful lament about loneliness, an emotion that’s writ throughout many of the tracks on the album.

The noisy ending dovetails with second cut “Bodies,” which picks up where it’s predecessor leaves off: McShane is standing before a sprawling body of water, remembering his own death. While the band’s sound has been called “as spacious as Saskatchewan,” the vivid imagery presented here seems to suggest that this record is informed as much by all of Canada’s scenic landscapes as a whole, not just our own dusty province. The track’s languid pace is familiar for the band as well, a slow arrangement that is as much shoegaze as anything also serves as the listener’s first taste of what’s to come: gradually-sawed violins, complementary horns, and a patient build-up all lead to a squalling wall-of-sound ending that shows McShane and his large group of players aren’t afraid of venturing into a noisy mix as long as every part continues to serve the song as a whole.

The appearance of more straight-forward rock and roll comes in the form of tracks like “Late Night Radio” and the fantastic instrumental number “Wake Me Up At The Coast” (which is really the only track that justifies the inevitable Broken Social Scene comparisons). Both feature quicker tempos, fearless power chords, and fantastic auxilliary instrumentation, namely the very-welcome presence of a terrific horn section.

The remainder of the album is an incredibly lush and lovely exercise marked by gorgeous, if occasionally sombre, songs. McShane’s fantastic duet with east coast indie maven Julie Doiron is definitely a highlight as the two paint an evocative picture of fall on the prairies, fragile fallen leaves collapsing around them. Their voices are wonderful counterparts, McShane’s breathy delivery blending with Doiron’s as intimately as the trumpets and strings do in the instrumental breaks. It’s a pastoral tune that, like several songs here, brings a tangible, visceral set of images to mind.

McShane’s lyrical scene-setting, combined with the purposeful and creative instrumentation, production, and mixing of this record, creates a remarkable listen that will elicit different reactions and lyrical interpretations from every listener. That open-ended universality can and should make Walk Into The Sea one of the more notable releases from our humble province this year, if not Canada.

The band is heading out on tour soon, which is great for two reasons: you can see them live and they’re taking fellow Saskatchewanian Jeans Boots along with them.

Jeans Boots is the stage name for Jeanette Stewart, a creative rock and roller who has also just issued a new EP of her own, Txt Msgs.

Stewart’s sound could be described as a combination of Best Coast and Eric’s Trip, gritty guitars and playful, occasionally cooing vocals that shove classic pop-rock arrangements ahead full-throttle. The frequently-muscular rock sound that dominates this recording was a bit jarring at first, being that I was really only familiar with some of her older acoustic numbers, but it couldn’t suit her better. She sounds like she’s been playing this kind of music forever.

All in all, it’s shaping up to be the first can’t-miss tour of the spring. Make sure you don’t!

 

 Slow Down, Molasses - Feathers [2:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Slow Down, Molasses - As Meant To Be [5:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Jeans Boots - Dark Forces [4:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Slow Down, Molasses (yeah, I’m capitalizing all the words) albums are available at their Bandcamp page for a VERY reasonable price. If you prefer iTunes for some reason or CD Baby for some fool reason those are there too.

Jeans Boots has a shiny Bandcamp site that is even MORE affordable!

Tour dates, yo:
March 10 - Saskatoon - Caffe Sola Walk Into The Sea w/ Dreaming of Electric Sheep (All Ages album release)
March 11 - Saskatoon - Amigo’s (Walk Into The Sea album release & tour kick off)
March 12 - Edmonton - Wunderbar w/ Jeans Boots and Jessica Jalbert
March 15 - Vancouver - The Biltmore w/ Jeans Boots and Aunts & Uncles
March 17 - Calgary - Broken City w/ Deadhorse and Scars & Scarves
March 18 - Regina - O’Hanlons w/ Jeans Boots
March 19 - Winnipeg - The Lo Pub w/ Jeans Boots, The Empty Standards and The Slow Dancers
March 20 - Thunder Bay - The Apollo w/ Jeans Boots
March 22 - Toronto - The Horseshoe w/ Jeans Boots
March 24 - Halifax - Gus’ Pub w/ Jeans Boots, Dance Movie and Klarka Weinwurm
March 25 - Fredricton - The Capitol w/ Sleepless Nights and Writer’s Strike
March 26 - Sackville - The Royal Canadian Legion (Shotgun Jimmie CD release)
March 27 - Charlottetown - Baba’s w/ Jeans Boots
March 29 - Montreal - L’escogriffe w/ Jeans Boots
March 30 - Ottawa - The Raw Sugar w/ Jeans Boots and The Ethics
March 31 - Peterborough - The Cannery Arts Centre w/ Jeans Boots and Typewriter
April 1 - Toronto - The Garrison w/ Forest City Lovers and Kite Hill
April 2 - London - APK Live w/ Forest City Lovers and Olenka & the Autumn Lovers

Pat entries Canadian content, indie rock, Jeans Boots, Julie Doiron, live music, musical typewriters, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Slow Down Molasses

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