Canadian Audiophile's Reviews and News
Whitney James – The Nature of Love
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Whitney James’ gorgeous, lush The Nature of Love almost feels like an album of duets. Her velvet voice mingles beautifully with Ingrid Jensen’s impeccable trumpet and flugelhorn, formulating an easy, smooth combination that weaves through the record’s nine tracks.
The record also features pianist Joshua Wolff, bassist Matt Clohesy and drummer Jon Wikan.
With her exploration of love and affection, James showcases soft, genuine understanding. She clearly gets it, purposely engaging every lyric with poise and richness. Better still, James knows how to live in the open spaces and steps back when necessary to provide the foreground to her band.
Through it all, James scales some truly incredible heights. She soars effortlessly through the high notes of ”A Timeless Place (The Peacocks),” handling the tricky melody with poise. Notes of such angle would be troublesome to most of today’s most gifted vocalists, but James handles it simply and elegantly.
She toys with the beat and swing of Latin and swing on “Long Ago and Far Away,” unleashing a swaying bit of music backed by Clohesy’s consistency.
But it’s when James joins her voice with Jensen’s instrument that really makes this record a thing of beauty.
Check out the interplay on “Whisper Not.” The quartet builds to an awesome opportunity for a solo and the rising tension almost makes things feel like they’re ready to slide off the rails, but Jensen reigns it in with a classy, dignified solo that matches James’ pace. The vocal fun towards the close of the song makes it more than worth a few repeat spins.
The truly compelling thing about this whole arrangement of songs is that this is James’ debut. Having studied with Jay Clayton at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, James’ pedigree for the art isn’t in doubt. But her true command of creating an album, not just a series of songs, is what really captivates. She has that intangible element of performance that cannot be taught in any school.
The Nature of Love is a tender, cohesive, fascinating exploration. It’s a journey worth taking again and again. Highlighted by the beautifully impeccable interplay between two gifted, tremendous artists, this is one record I won’t soon forget.
Priestess – Prior to the Fire
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Priestess has made fans wait a long time for the follow-up to their 2006 debut, Hello Master, but the U.S. release of Prior to the Fire is finally here and it delivers the riff-heavy goods we’ve all come to know and love from this Montreal rock group.
Priestess certainly owes a lot of its chugging retro vibe to the pre-glam metal era, but Prior to the Fire finds the guys solidifying their sound a little to come up with a broader arrangement of tunes. The record swings out like a hulking epic, telling tales of retribution and passion amid a sea of deadly guitars.
The real shame of Prior to the Fire lies in the fact that it was actually completed and ready for release in 2008, but those bastards at RCA were reluctant to put it on the shelves. The fear was that the album lacked a “good single,” so the label put the band back to work at coming up with something for the “charts.” When that didn’t work out, RCA dropped Priestess and the four-piece was picked up by TeePee Records.
The rest, as they say, is fuckin’ history.
Prior to the Fire is the sort of record that requires high volumes and shirtless tees. It coasts through its 11 tracks with ease, all snaking riffs and thrashing drums.
The guitars of Mikey Heppner and Dan Watchorn do battle throughout the experience, scaling towers of melody with ferocity and fearlessness. Drummer Vince Nudo and bassist Mike Dyball fill things out with a harsh, thunderous attack.
Fittingly named “The Gem,” the record’s centerpiece is a furious, dashing sort of epic that revels in tempo shifts, volatile riffs and dramatic vocals from Heppner. Clocking in at a blistering eight minutes, the track bleeds screeching guitar and devastating drums together beautifully.
Album opener “Lady Killer” imposes its will with a surge of metal guitars evolving from the band’s desire to compose music about serial killers. “We set out to write a theme song for Jack the Ripper,” Heppner told Spin magazine.
Prior to the Fire is packed with crisp jams and lean cuts, splitting time squarely between the driving thrill of “Raccoon Eyes” and the surging spaciousness of “It Baffles the Mind.” The songs mesh together perfectly, creating a cloud of loud and fun rock music that any Sabbath or Maiden fan would do flips over.
RCA may have passed on Priestess and Prior to the Fire, but their loss is TeePee’s gain. This is a commanding, dynamic album that does everything but buckle under the load of its own awesomeness.
Tags: priestess, prior to the fire
Native – Wrestling Moves
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Wrestling Moves opens with the crashing barrage of Nick Glassen’s urgent drumming, rising suitably to provoke Bobby Markos’ vocals. “From winter to summer, the climates like costumes,” he shouts. “We paint them depending on spirit.”
So begins “Backseat Crew,” the opening cut to Native’s full-length debut. The Indiana band hasn’t been around that long, but they’re already piling up press accolades and a significant fan base. After touring extensively and releasing a debut EP in 2008, Native put their work ethic to the test making this complex record.
Comparisons to Jawbox and the post-hardcore of the 90s are bound to happen, but Native manages to skirt these while still living up to the legacy of their genre. The quartet presses forward to prove themselves in a new context and, while they never spurn the groundwork laid by current technical bands like Minus the Bear, they’re more than happy to forge their own way in the bottomless pit that is modern music.
One of the drawbacks to acts trafficking in the convoluted complexities of Native’s math-ish style is that the technical prowess of the music can often overpower the soul. Thanks to Markos and his resources of unregulated force, however, these guys manage something beyond mere adulation of pretense.
There’s blistering sincerity in every note and Native’s pursuit of what’s real infuses every passage with a profound sense of innocence. Even as Markos blurts those odd lyrics on “Backseat Crew,” you can tell he means it. Really.
More than that, the honesty and youthful energy of this band carries it through moments when other less honest groups would have struggled.
The gauzy expansiveness of “Marco Polo,” for instance, is never threatened by band members trying to outdo one another. Dan Evans and Ed O’Neill join forces and stay the course, providing a glossy jet stream of music that tells a story and lingers long after the closing notes are played. Even Markos is modest: “Spaces will quell, we’ll quell the shades.”
Shorter bursts of energy catapult tracks like “Members List” and “Shirts and Skins” into almost jubilant territory.
At the end of the day, Wrestling Moves is a record that does indeed move. Despite its musical heaviness, it floats with a degree of ease that will surprise many listeners. The simplicity with which Native communicates and performs is certainly commendable, especially in a genre often filled with pompous, strained nonsense.
Erica Lindsay and Sumi Tonooka – Initiation
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When pianist Sumi Tonooka and saxophonist Erica Lindsay mesh notes on Initiation, there’s a lot more than a simple rite of passage going on. These two musicians, joined by the late and sublimely great Bob Braye on drums and Rufus Reid on bass, construct dynamic strips of soulful jazz without a tinge of pretense.
Lindsay and Tonooka have played together since they first met in 1994, but this record marks their first in-studio collaboration and it’s a doozy. Coated with Trane-like spirituality and raw swing, Initiation builds on the pair’s collaborations at Justin’s in Albany and creates a solidified epic of build, timing and poise.
Lindsay’s tenor is the “vocalist” of the record, pushing through engaging melodies with freedom of form and movement seldom heard. She is a working class player, serving as a faculty member at Bard College and performing with several other groups including the Jeff Siegel Quartet and San Francisco’s Trace Elements.
Tonooka is the philosophical core. Her playing provides more than just support and she is more than capable of bursting forth with a string of impactful block chords or a chunky, deliberate solo. Tonooka tours as part of a sextet that includes Gerald Veasley and John Blake Jr.
A lot of Tonooka’s playing is rhythm-based, so the way she melts together with Braye’s drums deserves special notice. Both offer slinky support on the sleek “Serpent’s Tale.”
“Mingus Mood” finds Lindsay’s sax leading the way with bold, slow proclamations. She tags the ends of each note with soulful shrewdness, allowing for a fluid, gauzy experience that naturally evolves into a beautiful piece of thoughtful music punctuated by a smooth Tonooka solo.
The solemnity of “The Gift” furthers the contemplation of the performers. Braye, who passed away the January following Initiation’s recording date, uses gentle mallet work and light touches of cymbals to add texture to Tonooka’s celebration of her mother’s life.
There’s a lot of emotion tucked into Initiation and, after a few listens, it stands out as a powerful record. There’s a sense of freedom to it, even in some of the more structured moments, and it feels as though Lindsay and Tonooka’s album becomes something that not only allows them room to grieve and celebrate, but something that allows us to do so too.
The Bouncing Souls – Ghosts on the Boardwalk
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2009 saw New Jersey’s Bouncing Souls turn 20. As part of the celebration, the punkers released one song a month for the entire year. The resulting 12-song bombardment can be found on the band’s latest album, Ghosts on the Boardwalk.
For a record composed of songs developed apart from each other, there’s a considerable amount of flow to Ghosts. The album rolls through an impressive gamut of styles, but the Souls keep up their rebellion and old-timey sentiment through it all. The tracks set well, forming one big Jersey jumble while paying duty to every Soulful era over the last two decades.
The Bouncing Souls even pay a little tribute to Springsteen, building on their working-class sentiment while leaving the anthemic fun and exuberance right where it belongs.
Fans of the Bouncing Souls will find a lot to hop around to, as the energy is as contagious 20 years in as it’s ever been. For new fans, Ghosts on the Boardwalk has enough variation to keep things moving.
In filling the longest gap between albums for the band, Ghosts has a lot to make up for in the eyes of the hardened fans.
Making a record filled with 12 songs released throughout 2009 is a bit of a risk, but these guys pull it off due to the sheer likeability of these songs. The quartet stretches out and lingers in the cleverness of tracks like “Big Eyes,” a track that the Boss could have put together.
Standard Souls stuff fills the first bit of the record with the expected frenzy. Cuts like “Gasoline” and “Never Say Die/When You’re Young” should fill pits with reeking moshers and shirtless kids. And the title track grabs for that mid-tempo sweetness the guys are so good at.
Albums like this are tremendous measuring sticks for the progress of a band. With Ghosts on the Boardwalk, the Bouncing Souls prove that they’re a relevant punk act and that they’ve still got shit to do. Songs like “Like the Sun” take guts to pull off, but these Jersey rockers coat the melodies in just the right amount of joy and pain.
In the end, Ghosts is an epic record. It really is the culmination of 20 years of blood, sweat, tears, and other bodily fluids. It is every festival stage, every crowded bar, every empty school gym, every Jersey haunt, every late night, every best friend’s couch, and every dead-end street. It is, to the Bouncing Souls, everything.
Tags: ghosts on the boardwalk, the bouncing souls
Sigh – Scenes from Hell
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Like a depraved symphony performed by demons from another dimension, Sigh’s Scenes from Hell may feature one of the most apt album titles of the year. Its collection of noisy, chaotic pieces overwhelms the senses, forcing themselves into existence thanks to the diabolical minds of Mirai Kawashima, Satoshi Fujinami, Shinichi Ishikawa, Junichi Harashima, and Dr. Mikannibal.
Sigh, formed in Tokyo in 1990, is credited as being one Japan’s first black metal bands. They have since evolved to a wilder style, keeping the architecture and rich riffing of Scandinavian black metal while adding a mesh of brass instruments and creepy effects to the mix. The results are staggering.
I first came into contact with these guys when I was passed a copy of the recently reissued Imaginary Sonicscape. Thrilled with the psychedelic elements, I quickly became a fan of their unadulterated pursuit of all things crazy.
Sigh ably continues their pursuit with Scenes from Hell, a sweeping epic of madness that melds moments of staggering beauty with screeching, powerful segments of crushing metal and screaming noise. It contracts and breathes like a film soundtrack, swiftly flickering from moments of desperation and fear to chasms of soft beauty and sweetness.
Scenes opens with “Prelude to the Oracle,” a massive thud of metal backed by Kawasima’s orchestrations and a dazzling crunch of drums and bass from Harashima and Fujinami. The track bursts through the gate at a breakneck pace, boosted by thundering horns, strings and a brilliant little patch of a guitar solo that fits right where it should.
More chaos bolts through the bizarre “L’art de Mourir.” Creepy as hell, the cut pulls to mind visions of the films of F.W. Murnau and Roman Polanski.
The cinematic gauze is wrapped around most of the record, with little stabs of slasher movie fun infusing the framework of “The Red Funeral” and a broader disaster flick vibe imposing its will on the seven-minute epic “The Summer Funeral.”
As badass as it would be to watch the world end set to this soundtrack of terror, Scenes from Hell pulls out moments of broad beauty as well. The scope of interplanetary travel comes to mind with the expansiveness of “The Soul Grave,” for instance. The song’s exploration of space and rhythm is an album highlight on a record with no shortage of them.
For some, the sheer size of the madness proposed on Scenes from Hell will be enough to have them running for more comfortable ground. But for the rest of us, those with a little bit of musical guts left kicking around, Sigh’s latest is an expansive, complex, chaotic piece of work that will be remembered and replayed for a long fucking time.
Tags: scenes from hell, sigh
Kat Parra – Dos Amantes
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The thought of giving it all up in pursuit of a passion is one of the most romantic notions in human existence. Thoughts of workers in dead-end jobs quitting to play guitar in smoky nightclubs are ripe with the potential for legendary prose, as their natural pursuit of art remains the envy of us all.
Kat Parra embodies that very natural pursuit, having left her job as a graphic designer to pursue her passion for singing and music composition. In the small span of time since, Parra has created two acclaimed records and has performed at a host of venues across the United States, Brazil, and Mexico.
Her third record, Dos Amantes, furthers Parra’s journey by exploring a musical tradition that few have any familiarity with. The album touches on the music of the Sephardic Jews, illuminating the art and history of the group of people from the Iberian Peninsula. The journey of these Jews, who travelled from Spain to North Africa and the New World, is explored through Parra’s dazzling musical interpretations.
Dos Amantes finds Parra interpreting the Sephardic tradition elegantly. Using the language of Ladino, she is able to bring the Spanish Jews to life with a dramatic arrangement of words from Hebrew, Turkish, and Arabic.
Along with Parra’s beautiful rendering of the words, the album features her newest ensemble. The Sephardic Music Experience faithfully intones the style with warmth and colour. Featuring Peter Barshay (acoustic bass), Paul van Wageningen (drums), Katja Cooper (percussion), Masaru Koga (flute), Murray Low (keyboards), and Stephanie Antoine (violin), this ensemble pulls off some incredible things.
Like the travelling Sephardic Jews, Parra’s journey through various traditions and cultures are what makes Dos Amantes strong. She coasts through a snappy David Pinto-arranged flamenco on “En La Mar” and quickly transitions out of it to launch a smooth Afro-Peruvian Lando (“Fiestaremos”).
Traditional Sephardic world jazz is the order of the day on the title track and on “Una Matika De Ruda,” the latter of which is a terrifically arranged traditional piece featuring Ravi Gutala on tablas.
Embodying the pursuit of passion and melding it with the search of the Sephardic Jews for home, Dos Amantes is a delightfully poetic and poignant piece of work. Parra’s voice captures haunting, lasting tones and travels like a spirit over foreign lands, offering tenderness and warmth to every spot she touches.
OK Go – Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
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With an earth-shattering kick drum and bass to die for, OK Go launches into “WTF?” and boots off Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, offering the first of several nods to Prince. Unfortunately, the rest of the record never reaches the glorious heights of its first track and lead single.
Chicago’s OK Go is probably still best known for their Grammy-winning video for “Here It Goes Again.” Taken in a single continuous take, the video famously featured the band dancing on treadmills.
For the all the band’s innovation in the form of music videos, that innovation never seemed to leak on to Oh No and it’s also sadly lacking on their third and latest album. Of the Blue Colour of the Sky has trouble finding its own legs and each song (even the better ones) hovers over the work of other artists without offering signs of OK Go’s own originality.
That’s not to say that there aren’t some fun moments on the record, of course, as the energy of Damian Kulash Jr. (vocals, guitars, programming, percussion), Tim Nordwind (bass), Andy Ross (guitars, keyboards), and Dan Konopka (drums) is well captured thanks to the Dave Fridmann production.
Still, there’s something about Of the Blue Colour of the Sky that just doesn’t catch.
The record claims to be a concept album based on Augustus James Pleasonton’s weird and obscure work, The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and of the Blue Colour of the Sky. Any thread of a concept seems more related to Purple Rain than it does Pleasonton’s work, however.
With this record, OK Go seems convinced that they need to change styles as often as possible to stay relevant. They approach things as a band full in the knowledge of their popularity in the wishy-washy world of music videos and this winds up giving things a gloss of hesitancy and apprehension.
Prince is mined almost relentlessly, with the aforementioned 5/4 time of “WTF?” making for the best track on the record and “White Knuckles” carries the theme to its logical conclusion. Kulash Jr. even reaches for Prince’s renowned falsetto to try to put some weight on “Skyscrapers” but it just comes up empty and bland.
Other cuts find OK Go digging around with Flaming Lips-esque space rock (“Back from Kathmandu”) or U2’s arena anthem shtick (“All is Not Lost”).
This lack of personal identity really winds up hurting OK Go in the end, as Of the Blue Colour of the Sky comes off like an excuse to pile through other, better artists. While the sheer fun of some of the pieces is as distracting as necessary, the bold truth about this record is that it just isn’t inventive enough to be memorable
Tags: of the blue colour of the sky, ok go
Vampire Weekend – Contra
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Vampire Weekend’s Contra finds the New York indie quartet pulling more out of their Soweto vibe and dropping off some of the guitar spikiness found on their self-titled debut. For a second album, Contra is a step in the right direction for this band because it unearths a whole new bag of tricks for Ezra Koenig and the boys to play with.
Being New York’s “big thing” can be hard work (just ask The Strokes) and the scene of the city can eat many a young person alive with its incessant trendiness and gaudy pretentiousness. Yet there’s something entirely effortless about the way Vampire Weekend uses their indie chops to draw African music to the fore. And there’s something outrageously enjoyable about it, too.
Koenig is still every bit the joyously self-satisfied frontman he ought to be, though, and he attempts to draw rhymes out of damn near every bombastic term you can think of. Not every dork would attempt to rhyme “horchata” with “balaclava,” but he does so with satisfaction.
What makes Koenig’s smugness tolerable is the band’s expansive pursuit of fun.
Contra features a smoother sound than VW’s self-titled debut and the four’s use of synth loops and dance hall beats amid the soukous trots and indie pop portions serves to add layers as proof of a desire to grow.
“Horchata” starts things off with lovely use of percussion and volume. Koenig talks of drinking the titular beverage, a concoction popular in Latin America and served in Mexican restaurants in the U.S. The track’s liveliness is captivating, as strings and vibes fill the background with all the energy and colour of a Puerto Rican parade.
Vampire Weekend valiantly toys with synth-guided arena rock on “Giving Up the Gun,” offering a pulsating beat that U2 would be happy to have.
The appeal of Contra is in how uncomplicated this band makes everything sound. As they fluently file from the keen Joe Strummer homage of “Taxi Cab” to the M.I.A. samples found on “Diplomat’s Son,” Vampire Weekend demonstrates their capacity to shift gears without getting trapped in a web of gratuitous particulars.
Like the Sandinista! record that inspired this album’s title, Contra weaves in and out of eventful arrangements and genre mash-ups with the style, ease and poise of a group that’s been at this for ages. This is an album of development and fun, serving as a brisk channel to the vitality and high spirits of Vampire Weekend and solidifying them as a band to keep both ears on.
Contra is streaming now on Vampire Weekend’s website.
Tags: contra, vampire weekend
The Ten Best Canadian Albums of 2009
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2009 was an interesting year in Canada. Vancouver was plagued with a considerable amount of gang violence to start the year, while George W. Bush showed up in Calgary to speak. Barack Obama, meanwhile, became president in the United States and made his first visit to Canada in February. There was the tragic Newfoundland helicopter crash, too, and the first Canadian cases of swine flu that emerged in April.
2009 was an interesting year personally, too. I spent parts of it exhausted by my anxiety and by persistent panic attacks, learning more about my limitations and my expectations day by day. Friends saw horrifying times, with my best friend seeing the hope of fatherhood smashed against the rocks of tragic loss in just a few short, agonizing months.
In instances like these we look for meaning. We look to art, film, literature, music, sports, food, drugs. Some of us have the courage to look within ourselves for the help that we need, but for the rest of us we need the assistance of a well-worded lyric that cuts deep. Or we need the work of a dedicated actor with presence and timing. Or we just need a laugh.
Whatever we need and for whatever reason we need it, it’s always good to reflect back on years gone by and to remember what we needed most. I think that’s why we make year-end lists. I think we like to remember what touched us most and what helped us most and what made us smile most.
And so, for 2009 anyway, I decided to look back on what I found myself returning to most in terms of Canadian music. Year-end lists are, by no means, exact. It was hard to confine my list to ten and it was hard to keep up with everything this year, but time does pass and so, without wasting any more of your time, here are my picks for the 10 Best Canadian Albums of 2009.
10. In-Flight Safety – We Are an Empire, My Dear
This album caught me coming out of a drained period at the end of 2008 and gave me the boost I needed. The Halifax four-piece constructs pure, memorable, anthemic rock music and this record, their third, should help solidify them on the Canadian scene.
9. D-Sisive – Let the Children Die
Morbid and dark, D-Sisive’s rap lurks in the shadows. This Canadian rapper emerged from a six-year absence after his father’s death and after battling depression to turn out hip hop that is as real as humanly possible. Let the Children Die is an astonishing rap record.
This is an album of substance and of experience. The Somalia-born Canadian rapper expresses himself on Troubadour with necessity. He tells stories of Africa and of violence because he must. Troubadourreveals not just the soul of an artist who’s seen it all, but the spirit of a man who wants more.
7. Handsome Furs – Face Control
This Montreal “electro-punk” band surges forward on Face Control, leaving everything on the pavement for an album filled with fun, edgy hooks. The guitars are loud, the beats are solid and the husband/wife duo of Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry effortlessly out-stripe the White Stripes.
6. The Tragically Hip – We Are the Same
This record embodies hope. Gordon Downie comes up with some of his sharpest and most optimistic lyrics to date and the band’s ability to gather ‘round him and offer comfort shines through immensely. It is an easygoing, ultimately listenable record that is one of the band’s best in ages.
5. Timber Timbre – S/T
Spooky. Moody. Scary. Dark. Wet. This is swamp folk, I think, and Timber Timbre (Taylor Kirk) makes magic happen all over his self-titled record. Using a beat-to-shit guitar and deadly atmosphere, Timber Timbre will have you rethinking what blues can do.
4. Megan Hamilton – See Your Midnight Breath in the Shipyard
This is one of those records that stuck with me all year long. Hamilton actually recorded this thing in a shipyard, for starters, and uses all the sounds and textures that brings to tremendous effect. It helps that her songs are magical, touching, and captivating beyond belief.
3. Charles Spearin – The Happiness Project
The most interesting and uplifting record of the year. Ontario’s Spearin, most known for his work with Do Make Say Think, comes up with a brilliant concept and lets it live and breathe with little interference. The use of instruments to shadow human voices in conversation is astonishing.
Garage punk for the ages, Vancouver’s Japandroids nearly topped this list for good reason. This record is blistering fun. Set with screaming guitars and a punk sensibility that leaves a slick of cheap beer and smokes behind, Post-Nothing is your high school prom all over again. Or what you wish it was.
1. Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer
Hands down the most inventive, complex, beautiful record of the year. This is one for the ages. SR present a world that is accessible and yet ultimately self-sustaining, filling us with dreams and challenges that few others would ever subject their listeners to. It’s a challenge. A fucking awesome challenge.
Tags: best canadian music of 2009, best of 2009, canadian music
