Last spring, around the time things started coming off the rails for The AK, our good friend Rodney DeCroo sent us an e-mail asking us if we were interested in reviewing this new band called Spoon River. After hearing a couple of their tracks we got all excited and said “for sure we will!” Well, always the man of his word, Rodney sent us one in the mail that same day. Then, like a total jack-ass, I never got around to writing the review. This has bugged the shit out of me since it happened because a) Spoon River are fucking INCREDIBLE and b) we’re not flakey! We don’t flake out at this site! Well, today I’m going to make good – hopefully not too late – so here goes!

Oh wait, first click play on the player here.

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Okay, that’s better. Now hear this! Kingdom of the Burned (Northern Electric) is possibly the best album anyone has ever asked us to review. How good is it? It’s so good that it’s actually difficult to put into words. I love bands like this. Band of Horses, The Hawks / The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival…you know, anything with Southern country swing and HOLY SWEET LORD did Spoon River nail it harder than any Canadian band I’ve ever heard!

From the soaring Hammond organ that that lifts “When the Doctor’s Gonna Come” right off the ground to the innovative and ever-changing guitar work to the gorgeous piano that soars from start to finish, Spoon River have really proven themselves to be wonderful musicians and talented arrangers of music. Simply put, these songs sound great and there are no missteps to be found in the production whatsoever. Tavis Triance, fresh from the now-defunct and terribly-missed Royal Mountain Band (and a little Bob Dylan biopic you might have seen called I’m Not There) has never sounded better and that’s thanks in no small part to the collaboration of his eight new bandmates.

The contributions of Jeff Cowan, Jason Kent, Jeff Louch, Seamus Cowan, Chris Young, Jon Wood, Rachel Horkenheimer and Ed Goodine simply can not be overstated. This genre of music really only works with a lush, full sound and Spoon River consistently deliver it while avoiding the pitfall of everything mashing together into a wall-of-sound blur. (I’m lookin’ at YOU Phil Spector!) This is evidenced nowhere better than in the closing track “The Saddest of Hearts”. It’s heavy but not murky and I really feel it shows a careful and skilled approach to songwriting on the part of the band as a whole.

So if you’re looking for a great album to soundtrack your Fall, you really couldn’t do better than Spoon River’s Kingdom of the Burned. It’s a brilliant effort and one that I consider worthy to share shelf space with the recently released Band of Horses’ Infinite Arms AND CCR’s Cosmo’s Factory.

Well it took sweet forever, but we finally made it out to a Needles//Pins show and as luck would have it, our new pals in Juvenile Hall were co-headlining the bill!

First off, we should start by saying that Juvenile Hall are an absolute wrecking ball of enthusiasm on stage. They played so fast and with so much heart that I swear the earth was rotating faster the next morning. For a relatively new band on the scene Sadie, Krissy and Sid sure have built army of loyal followers – myself included! – and there were plenty of shouted requests and sing-along goodness. Like always, we managed to shoot a bit of grainy footage as well, so look for the live video for “Eat Shit and Die” to be posted on our YouTube channel (and this site) later this week! In the meantime, here’s some pictures from the show.

Next up were site favourites Needles//Pins. We’d been meaning to catch a N//P show for a full year now, and Saturday night it finally happened. I know I’ve said it before, but these guys have some amazing songs which, as it turns out, sound about a million times better live. Older material like “Pills” really fired everyone up, but it was their new songs that really impressed me. I absolutely love their new track called “Drop It”, so when they let it fly during their set I must admit that I couldn’t have been more stoked. Through his vocals and Gibson, Adam ran that set like the reincarnated spirit of punk rock while Tony held down the stage with both his bass playing and a coolness reminiscent of Joe Strummer (not a bass player, I know…) Macey, of course, dominated her drum kit like few in Vancouver can. What can I say? Needles//Pins are a fucking powerful force in this town and the sooner you see them live the better you’ll feel. So check out some pictures while we prepare the video we shot for “Tiny Little Tear”.

Well, as you may have noticed the site’s been a little slow in dragging itself out of a late-spring / early summer hibernation. Hey, what can I say? We missed you guys and it’s great to finally get back on the horse after being away for so long!

Luckily for us our good friend Adam from Needles//Pins came along at just the right time to help us out of our bleary-eyed stupor. So how did he do it? By graciously sending us a folder stuffed full of demos they’ve been working on and HOLY SWEET LORD are they good! Macey’s drumming on “Drop It” alone made me remember why I started this site in the first place. Hopefully they’ll get some of these little gems posted on their MySpace page very soon.

No one is really sure when the new material be released, but while we’re waiting, why not head on over to the Needles//Pins site where they’re still giving away their first full-length LP as a free download.

Last night Chez Explosivo/Toshiba hosted Nachopalooza 2010 where one of our lovely guests hipped me to a local band I had never heard before! Well here they are, Aunts and Uncles, and gosh are they great! Formed in 2009 and comprised of members from SSRIs, Like Animals Again, The Barcelona Chair and Friends From School, Aunts and Uncles are definitely one of our bands to watch in 2010. Head on over to their MySpace page to hear a handful of songs and watch more videos!

Aunts and Uncles play Little Mountain Studios on February 27th and The Purple Crab on March 6th.

Hey everybody! Last night we hit up two different shows, one at Little Mountain Studios and one at The Rickshaw. As much as we would have liked to have seen all of the bands who played, we did managed to catch sets by ok vancouver ok, Commander Riker aka Jarrett Evan Samson and Adrian Teacher, The Rain and the Sidewalk, B-Lines, Defektors and some jackass band from Oakland called Nobunny. Here’s some videos we took!

First up, ok vancouver ok performing “A Volcano”(?) with Adrian Teacher (Apollo Ghosts) and Beshele Caron (Greenbelt Collective). This is a pre-show practice demo that we were fortunate to have arrived early enough to see. I don’t think the microphone is even turned on. Go Jeff!

Next, Jarrett Evan Samson and Adrian Teacher as Commander Riker doing the original “Star Trek Theme Song”! Edit: Apparently it’s the Next Generation theme song. I should have know that! I’m a geek too!

Now here’s site favourites B-Lines performing “Social Retards” at The Rickshaw!

And finally, our kids Defektors serving up a track that we don’t know the name of. Anyone? Edit: The track is called “Black Hole”. Thanks Jerome!

Ta-daa! Sorry we didn’t get any video for The Rain and the Sidewalk’s set (I got distracted) or Nobunny (because they’re stupid).

I’ve been listening to East Van superheroes Needles & Pins for quite a while now and I’ve never been able to put a finger on why I love them so much. However, now that they’ve released a seven-song demo (available at shows) I’m gonna give it a try. Here goes nothin’!

This is gonna sound like a strange way to start, but remember back when everyone was freaking out about The Strokes? Do you remember why everyone loved them so much? We loved them because on that first album they didn’t give a rat’s ass about how they were singing and playing. Those songs were great as a direct result of the band being so raw and so obviously unconcerned with anything but channeling their hyperactivity into their music.

So what does that have to do with Needles & Pins? Well for one thing, I truly feel that Needles & Pins are our Strokes insofar as they share the exact same spirit and create the exact same excitement in their recordings. When you hear this EP you get the sense that Adam, Tony and Macey are having a blast and as a result you can’t help but have fun just by listening to it. Every time I hear Best for You and Like and Idiot I grab my red tambourine and bang the living bejesus out of it (while flailing around my living room like an idiot). For me, anyway, the most endearing thing about Needles & Pins is how friggin’ fun they are to listen to.

It should also be noted that the two new tracks appearing on this demo prove Needles & Pins are nowhere near tapping the well on great songs. Failures has an awesome little “Woooo-OOOOO-oooooh!” part that’ll be a riot to sing along to the next time I see them at a show. Even First World Problems remains upbeat and kick-ass while at the same time delivering a solid “Shut your pie-hole!” to our society’s whiners and complainers. “You know I don’t care how your life’s in shambles. / Oh you lost all your money on some stupid gambles…” Right on!

But the most endearing thing about this demo is all the little musical gems peppered throughout. For example, the claps and “A hey hey’s!” in Best for You, the surprising little chorus hidden in Drugs in My Room and the George Harrison-esque solo in Pills. There are far too many great moments in this seven-song album to list them all, so I’ll just suffice it to say this: Needles & Pins are a band could not be closer to our hearts and we sincerely wish nothing but the best for them in the coming year. And hey, let’s have a couple of official releases okay?!

Also check out the interview we did last month with Adam Solomonian!

If I had any irrational concern that Vapid may have come off the rails since their 2007 debut EP Do the Earthquake those fears were buried alive the second my turntable needle hit the clear vinyl Practically Dead LP. “Fuckin’ faker!” snaps lead singer Katie in the opening lines, “Your time is UP!” This album, put simply, is everything I had been hoping for. In the spirit of not being so friggin’ wordy all the time punk rock, were gonna do a fast song-by-song rundown of the new album. So let’s go!

1. Choke: Everyone comes out swinging on the opening track. Guitars, bass, drums, vocals, everything. Katie’s voice sounds better than it ever has, and the addition of Carrie taking on a more prominent role on the back-up vocals seems to be the missing piece of the puzzle. Oh, and this song features the most offensive slur I’ve heard all year. It’s two-minutes and ten seconds of awesome, awesome, awesome.

2. Die: One of three complete re-worked songs from earlier recordings. If you’re used to the version on the E/R Compilation, you’re in for a surprise here. For one thing, the vocals are far poppier and the lyrics a lot more discernible, and Steven’s fuzzy guitar is a lot more in line with the other bands that appeared on the compilation.

3. Sex Stain: The second reworked song. This one is a lot closer to the original (found on the E/R Compilation). The big difference here, again, is that the the vocals are a lot clearer and the words easier to catch. I listened to the original version many, many times and never really caught the words until this version. Haaaaaaarsh, but great nonetheless.

4. Hate You: Not a new song, but new to vinyl. I have a setlist from a show they did at The Railway in early 2008 and this track is listed. Anyway, it’s another barn-burner with an overlaying screechy guitar. Think Nu Sensae, but a little more reigned in. The rest of the track, however, is their vintage sound.

5. Take a Walk, Baby: This is one of my favourites of the new songs, especially the “In my heart and soul! In my heart and soul!” chorus where most of the band is singing along. As much as Vapid really is all about Katie singing on her own, it’s fun to hear everyone else get in on the action too.

6. Bruises: Straight-up, fast-as-shit, old-school punk rock. This track really brings the weight of 1980′s Washington D.C. punk crashing down. It’s sinister as all hell despite the fact that it runs a total of 44 seconds and the complete lyrics are “Bruises all over my body ‘cuz baby, I like to party!” repeated a couple of times. I wish it was a little longer.

7. MRSA: This is the first song I that I really noticed the difference in Katie’s voice. Maybe it’s a change in recording levels, but the vocals sound bolder and unlike on the Do the Earthquake 7″, seem to be a lot more fore-fronted. Again, whether this is an issue of increased confidence, or somebody pushing the lead mic slider up a little higher, the changes are definitely for the better.

8. Septic: Why does this song start with someone growl singing “Rrrraaaarrrrraaaaarrrr! Rrraaaarrrrraaarr! Rrraaarrrraaaarr!”? Because it’s kick-ass! That’s why! Septic is also the best example of how this band can go from sweet to harsh in the blink of an eye. “Don’t look back…” sings Katie in her nice-girl voice “…or I’ll CUT YOUR FUCKIN’ EYES OUT!” Cute AND crazy!

9. Death of Youth: I would definitely say this one is the most commercially accessible track on the whole album. The chorus is sure to get stuck in your head. “And it all goes by so fast. And we wish that it would last. Oh, it all goes by so fast, death of youth.” It’s a rare introspective track that I’d personally like to hear more of in future releases.

10. Total Zero: Again with the great harmonies! And a song about no-good boys? See, this is what I was talking about in terms of new directions. Sure, Vapid have songs about useless assholes but this one is preemptively cautionary, as opposed to other messy after-the-mistake-has-been-made songs like Sex Stain.

11. So Far Gone: We’re already on the record with how much we love this track. Check out our Pick of the Week article from a couple weeks back!

12. Do the Earthquake: Word has it that this song was originally intended to be a much slower version than the one on the EP. I don’t know what happened to that, but this one clocks in at 2:50, whereas the original was 3:00. Keeping in mind that this song was faster than hell originally, you’ve really got to hear the new version. Hint: Much closer to how it’s performed live, with keep-up-if-you-can drumming and rollercoaster vocals. This new version is super fun!

13. Movin’ On: This will forever be my go-to song whenever I’m bored at work, bored at home, or just bored in general. “This party’s OVER!” the girls sing, “It’s NO FUN! I hate everyone!” How can a song be so upbeat and be so crabby at the same time? After infinite listens to this LP Movin’ On is officially my favourite track on an album full of AMAZING tracks.

So that’s it! Go buy a copy because they’re now available at all the independent record stores. Also, the good kids at Nominal Records have included a free download coupon inside for your digital-listening pleasure! Go on, git!

It’s a little known fact that The Aural Kinetic can see into your future! “Oh yeah? Prove it!” Okay, here goes! You will fall in love with Weathered Pines sixteen seconds into their first song, “Solitaire”. Click!

“Last night you were drunk upon my porch,
Wishin’ that the sun would rise again…”

Ta-daa! Done and done. Now I know what you’re thinking. How did they do that? Well I’d tell you but this article isn’t about our amazing and mystical powers, but rather the sheer awesomeness that is Weathered Pines first release The Sky Between the Buildings (Dejlig Records).

Any band claiming to be influenced by Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons and Neil Young had better bring the country in a big way, and in all respects Weathered Pines have crafted an LP that does not disappoint. Not only is this a country music album, but a true and authentic country music album at that! All the major themes that you would expect to find are represented here: Love and heartbreak, good fortune and hard times, hope and despair. The duality of country itself is evident in the music, lyrics and song titles (“Head in the Clouds” and “Can’t Win”, for example) but the real selling point of this album is the voice on Marissa Johnson.

How in the world a girl from Vancouver ended up with such a perfect voice for country singing, we’ll never know. She’s fantastic throughout the album, but it’s tracks like “Head in the Clouds” and “Me and the Sea” – songs with a sparser and quieter musical arrangements – that she really shines. Depending on the song she is at times crystal clear (“Solitaire”) and at other times rough around the edges (“Can’t Win”). It’s an exceptional performance from start to finish, and one which I personally feel shows Johnson’s commitment to the band and the history of the genre. And if her performance on “Sad Song” isn’t every bit as good as anything Emmylou Harris has recorded, I’ll eat my hat.

But what would a country band be without the players? Johnson herself plays rhythm guitar throughout the album and really holds everything together with a style that’ll remind you of Johnny Cash. Bryce Janssens’ lead guitar and old-school solos (“Six Feet Down”) are a flawlessly executed necessity, and Steve Matheson is an absolute gem on the bass guitar. Check out his bump-ba-bump-ba-bump on “Don’t Be Late” in particular. It’s great stuff in the vein of Marshall Grant from the Tennessee Three. And last, but far from least, is Conrad Dykman on percussion. Country bands, almost more than any other genre of music, need a solid man on the kit and Dykman delivers in the grand tradition of “Fluke” Holland from the original Sun recordings.

If not for the fact that The Sky Between the Buildings has an official release date of January 25th, 2010, this would have certainly placed highly in our top five picks of this year. It’s an amazing effort on the part of the band and the newly minted Dejlig (pronounced Dai-lee) Records, and hopefully we’ll be hearing a lot more from both in the very near future. Great job you guys!

For every one good MC there are ten MC’s that should really just put the microphone down. That’s a hard thing to come to terms with when discussing Vancouver hip-hop. Sure, Vancouver locals The Rascalz really lit a fire under Canadian rap back in 1997 with their album Cash Crop but has Van City produced a decent MC since then?

Enter Anami Vice in late 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

Ho-ley crap is this review ever late! I actually forgot to do it until I saw the folder still sitting way at the bottom of my desktop this afternoon. Anyway, let’s do a little review!

First up, Rose Melberg‘s set. I didn’t really know a lot about Rose Melberg before I saw her performance but I have to say that I was absolutely charmed and blown away. I hear this is the standard reaction to hearing Ms. Melberg and I can definitely see why. Her self-professed goal from the outset was to pull everybody down in order to have Chris-a-Riffic build them back up again, however this turned out be a little misleading. Her folksy songs aren’t at all depressing, but quietly understated with thoughtful and introspective lyrics. At the time I remember thinking that if Elliott Smith been born a somewhat happier girl (and not come to an unfortunate and untimely end), Rose Melberg would be the result. Check out this video I took of Rose performing “I Don’t Believe in the Sun” by Magnetic Fields! The picture is absolutely god-awful, but the sound is pretty good!

Second up was Chris-a-Riffic! Like with Rose, I hadn’t ever seen Chris-a-Riffic before and I’m kinda embarrassed to say that I didn’t really get his songs before I saw them performed live. As I’m probably the only person in Vancouver that hasn’t seen a Chris-a-Riffic show, it probably goes without saying that his performance on the night was a wonderful and eclectic, chaotic and good natured free-for-all that included lots of banging of keyboards, crowd interaction and altogether feel-good times. A personal highlight for me was to hear his cover of Apollo Ghosts‘ Shadow Boxing Bruce Lee. Thank goodness Scott Bell was there to record the performance for Geographing Records for an upcoming release. In the meantime, though, you can check out the video we took of Chris performing the Apollo Ghosts cover! Again, the video sucks, but the audio is decent.

If you watched the videos above, you can probably tell that November 8th was a wonderful evening. The folks who run The Shed are a super accommodating bunch, Chris and Rose were very gracious about letting us take a bit of video, and even though the place was jam packed, everyone had a really great time.