Blues Mix

Here's a blues mix I made. We start our journey off with Blind Willie Mctell (May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959). He played in the Piedmont style with a twelve string guitar he picked up because of its volume. Piedmont blues is a finger picking style that also keeps the bass, generally using the thumb.

We stay in the delta for a pair of songs by Kansas Joe McCoy who played with Memphis Minnie. This pair of delta blues songs is offset greatly by shifting into some Art Tatum. Tatum was a nearly blind virtuoso piano player. On his album Trio Days he plays with Tiny Grimes on guitar and Slam Stewart on bass. This is one of the few times Tatum worked with a group and these songs are dizzying in their intensity and freedom of playing.

We go back to the blues with some Brownie McGhee, perhaps best known for his collaborations with Sonny Terry. Here we have some songs that combine the feel and singing style of delta blues but with a finger picking Piedmont style that gives the songs a bounce. The few tracks that have some harmonica cook just as well.

Now we move back to some more Blind Willie McTell. Like our next player Blind Willie used different pseudonyms to get around recording contracts. On this album he was appearing as Pig 'n' Whistle Red, a name which comes from a bbq place he would play outside of. This album has much better fidelity than the previous Mctell songs.

Now we move to a man who is unique in the blues scene. No one sounds like John Lee Hooker. He plays the delta blues but with a primitive detroit boogie that never lets your head stop nodding. The songs keep shifting but never out of awesome.

After a little bit of Howlin Wolf we turn to a few songs by Big Joe Turner. If you don't know Shake Rattle & Roll now is the time to correct your ignorance. Big Joe Turner is one of blues shouting's best singers.

We stick with the Big theme and move on to some Big Bill Broonzy. One awe inspiring  spiritual and a pair of instrumental work outs are all we have before moving on to a single Elmore James track.

Then it's off for a nice bunch of Junior Wells. On the album Calling All Blues there is precious little harmonica but Wells is in fine voice and the band behind him cooks up a storm for him to wail. Messin With The Kid is still in my head weeks later and  Galloping Horses A Lazy Mule is a really interesting song.

 We end our mix this time with a couple of songs from The Blind Reverend Gary Davis. Another spiritual, a pair of instrumentals and a secular blues song round out our mix this time.

Hope you like the blues!

http://www.mediafire.com/?aja4pi7411dz2g8

Mix

Here's a mix I made of the stuff that I've been listening to lately.  http://www.mediafire.com/?145zdob4b9l1olw

There's a song from the brand new demo of a screamo band called ¡Silencio, Ahora, Silencio!

One track from Fred Squire's (he was part of Shotgun & Jaybird and has done lots of work with Julie Doiron)  new LP March 12

There's some melodic metal with some hardcore influences from Canadians Harbour and some sludgy southern metal from Howl.

From the International Screamo Compilation there's a track from I Not Dance and three La Dispute songs from their LP.

There's one track from an American metallic hardcore called Mother Of Mercy and two songs from Panthalassa's debut demo EP.

 
One track each from Shotgun Jimmie & World Burns To Death provide some really interesting contrast and three songs from Złodzieje Rowerów end things on a nice emoy punk feeling.

Julie Doiron & Little Scream Live at the Red Dog

Two ladies played the Red Dog last Wednesday, each with an accompanist. Little Scream from Montreal played some really interesting songs and Julie Doiron from Sackville New Brunswick played her unique version of rock and roll. 

Little Scream, which tonight was Laurel Sprengelmeyer on guitar and vocals and Jimmy Thompson on drums, took the stage at 10:30 and immediately launched into their post rock influenced attack.

Laurel's guitar had a really thick tone right from the start. To make up for the lack of a bassist her guitar had a much fuller, thicker sound with more of a bottom end than I've heard in awhile. It functioned as both a bass and a guitar, especially when she tuned it down for a couple of songs.

Even when the guitar is tuned down the songs have irrepressible melodies that reach out of the controlled chaos and jab at you. She multi-tracked both her guitar and voice live onstage creating the impression of a much bigger band the two piece. 

Julie took to the stage at 11:30 and played for an hour and a half. She brought William Kidman onstage with her to play drums and guitar solo's at various points. 

They started off with Kidman on the drum kit and they played two really up tempo rock songs one of which, Borrowed Mini Vans, was reworked for her latest album I Can Wonder What You Did With Your day. Then the drummer came out from behind the kit and they played a couple of covers in very intimate manner. The energy level dropped but the beauty of the songs became more easily apparent. 

They played Sam Cooke's Bring It On Home To Me then Merle Haggard's Reasons To Quit by way of Phosphorescent. They continued in this quieter vein through Doiron's Tailor. They way they played it was beautiful, very mellow with a nice picking pattern. But Kidman played a solo that came out of nowhere and was entirely to loud for the piece. It was out of place but only for a moment before the mellow mood returned. 

 

Julie's awesome voice came crystal clear out of the speakers and her guitar sounded crisp and clear except when it was noisy and angry. Some of these songs took some unexpected turns into noisy rock and roll territory. With Kidman alternating between the drums and guitars these songs change from the quiet, singer songwriter songs most of them were to begin with. He gives the songs a lot more energy and a bit of an edge. He provides a thumping energy or a usually interesting solo that comes out of nowhere and more power to the turn on a dime music Julie tends to write.

It's really hard to choose a favourite song because they're all so great but Consolation Prize was especially cool. When it was recorded Consolation Prize is a very fuzzy rock n roll tune. They played it unfuzzed and very loudly revealing some quirks and turns that hide beneath the fuzz. When played in such a different manner than how they usually are the songs take on a new power.

Julie remarked onstage how weird the gig felt. She said something about how it was good to get out your comfort zone every so often. They did a two song encore one of which Julie played drums for. If you get a chance to see this great Canadian treasure before she retreats to New Brunswick again do so, you won't regret it.

Two ladies played the Red Dog last Wednesday, each with an accompanist. Little Scream from Montreal played some really interesting songs and Julie Doiron from Sackville New Brunswick played her unique version of rock and roll. 

Little Scream, which tonight was Laurel Sprengelmeyer on guitar and vocals and Jimmy Thompson on drums, took the stage at 10:30 and immediately launched into their post rock influenced attack.

Laurel's guitar had a really thick tone right from the start. To make up for the lack of a bassist her guitar had a much fuller, thicker sound with more of a bottom end than I've heard in awhile. It functioned as both a bass and a guitar, especially when she tuned it down for a couple of songs.

Even when the guitar is tuned down the songs have irrepressible melodies that reach out of the controlled chaos and jab at you. She multi-tracked both her guitar and voice live onstage creating the impression of a much bigger band the two piece. 

Julie took to the stage at 11:30 and played for an hour and a half. She brought William Kidman onstage with her to play drums and guitar solo's at various points. 

They started off with Kidman on the drum kit and they played two really up tempo rock songs one of which, Borrowed Mini Vans, was reworked for her latest album I Can Wonder What You Did With Your day. Then the drummer came out from behind the kit and they played a couple of covers in very intimate manner. The energy level dropped but the beauty of the songs became more easily apparent. 

They played Sam Cooke's Bring It On Home To Me then Merle Haggard's Reasons To Quit by way of Phosphorescent. They continued in this quieter vein through Doiron's Tailor. They way they played it was beautiful, very mellow with a nice picking pattern. But Kidman played a solo that came out of nowhere and was entirely to loud for the piece. It was out of place but only for a moment before the mellow mood returned. 

Julie's awesome voice came crystal clear out of the speakers and her guitar sounded crisp and clear except when it was noisy and angry. Some of these songs took some unexpected turns into noisy rock and roll territory. With Kidman alternating between the drums and guitars these songs change from the quiet, singer songwriter songs most of them were to begin with. He gives the songs a lot more energy and a bit of an edge. He provides a thumping energy or a usually interesting solo that comes out of nowhere and more power to the turn on a dime music Julie tends to write.

It's really hard to choose a favourite song because they're all so great but Consolation Prize was especially cool. When it was recorded Consolation Prize is a very fuzzy rock n roll tune. They played it unfuzzed and very loudly revealing some quirks and turns that hide beneath the fuzz. When played in such a different manner than how they usually are the songs take on a new power.

Julie remarked onstage how weird the gig felt. She said something about how it was good to get out your comfort zone every so often. They did a two song encore one of which Julie played drums for. If you get a chance to see this great Canadian treasure before she retreats to New Brunswick again do so, you won't regret it.

Julie Doiron Mix

She and Little Scream played at the Red Dog last night. It was an awesome show, only $12 and Julie played for like an hour and half. She had a drummer guy with her who also played guitar and sang a little. Awesome, in so many words. I've been listening to her albums in the lead up to the show and made a mix as I tend to.  There are 19 songs from 8 different albums from her 1996 solo debut Broken Girl to 2009's I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day. Really good songs.

Gallagher Tweets Pt. 2

The twitter account that these are pulled from has been deleted from twitter. So, where should we start? Let's start in a relatively neutral position with a tweet that is decidedly a joke that will also position us politically.

 

Another joke perhaps? This one is even topical if a tad misguided

 A third joke rounds out the intro and sounds like something a grandpa who missed his nap would say.

From these jokes we turn to him grappling with some social issues

and trying to "reclaim" his country while in the twitterverse

Now we get a little anti semitic and angry at the character limit of twitter. The latter of which is semi understandable

And in conclusion my favourite Gallagher tweet. Regardless of the veracity of this tweet is nicely constructed. There are random references, fairies and Frank Zappa, the meaningless political slur of communist and a nicely created persecution complex fueling the whole thing. Enjoy.

Gallagher Pt. 1

edit: the twitter account is fake according to Punchline, but who knows....

Anyone remember Gallagher? In the 80's he was well known for smashing watermelons onstage and that's about it. There are a couple of interviews archived around the internet in which he calls out everyone from Bill Clinton & Katie Couric to Michale Keaton, Leno & Letterman. In these interviews and a review of a show published in the Stranger a portrait is painted of a racist, homophobic old man bitter about how show biz passed him by. He recently did Marc Maron's WTF interview and when Maron raised these issues with him Gallagher was defensive and angry and eventually walked out.

His tweets are more of the same. I read through and was amazed. It is full of homophobia and more than a little racism. There is sexism and even some nationalism though most would read it as patriotism. There is a ton of patriarchal thinking and the whole thing is a mess. That said, it's also hilarious.

Before we begin, I'll share Gallagher's warning with you. In order. (Which is not how they now they appear on his page.) These weren't even in the first handful of tweets. This will seem more relevant later.

 Off to a great start eh? What's even better is his first tweet ever.

 

He follows it up with some good old fashion stereotyping and homophobia. Who doesn't know San Francisco is filled with gays...

That is quickly followed by a nice insult at Tracy Morgan, currently one of the funnier bits of 30 Rock, one of my favourite shows. Maybe I'm being sensitive but at the very least Tracy is really funny

 You know what makes a great follow up to racism? Homophobia! It's the same hate feeling with more hate filled undertones!

which is defended a tweet later with this gem:

I love it when old men yell get off my lawn over the internet.

Well that's all for now. Believe it or not there's enough material here for another post so part 2 will be coming soon.

Julie Doiron

Here's an artist that is criminally underrated. She got her start playing bass in Eric's Trip a seminal Canadan indie rock noise band. They were signed to Subpop back in the 90's and made a bit of a name for themselves though it seems like they're forgotten now.

After the dissolution of that outfit she started writing and recording her own music, her first solo stuff being put out under the name of Broken Girl, which rather aptly describes the music. She has been doing her thing solo for 14 years now, having done albums with a couple of other groups along the way. She did an album with Wooden Stars in 1999, was a part of Shotgun & Jaybird till that died and is now part of Calm Down It's Monday with Fred Squire. In which she plays drums.

On her own she picks up her acoustic and writes beautiful, gentle songs about the little things that make up life. Her voice is high and fragile and she writes songs that match it. She's a singer songwriter who knows her strengths and plays to them.

If you like singer songwriter stuff, this will scratch that itch. If you like deeply emotional music that proudly wears it's hearts on it's sleeve you'll definitely like this. And if you like Canadian folk music you'll hopefully like this.

She will be at the Red Dog on Wednesday February 2nd with Little Scream. Tickets are only $10, come down see an awesome canadian artist

Touché Amoré - 2009 - ...to the Beat of a Dead Horse

Touché Amoré is a mostly hardcore based punk rock band from Los Angeles California. One of the reasons I say they're a punk rock band is that their songs average a minute and a half. Jeremy shouts a lot. The guitars are usually raging and the drums sound like the guy is pounding down your door. They released their debut LP  in 2009 and after releasing 3 Ep's this year, two splits and live disc, signed to Death Wish records to record "Parting The Sea Between The Brightness And Me" with Ed Rose. Really looking forward to that.  But this long piece is focusing on their LP "...to the Beat of a Dead Horse".

   ....to the Beat of a Dead Horse grabbed me from the instant it started playing and never let up. It plays with the line between hardcore and screamo the best I've ever heard. There can be clear differences between the two or the lines can be blurred somewhat. Here they seemed to be blurred just a tad with melody and disquiet direct-able  at the society around Jeremy as much as himself

As much as I love hardcore punk there seems to me to be a lack of singers capable of writing lines like "I've got my own brand of patriotism. It comes with nights of emptiness, where I show my true colors. The real meaning of independence" and delivering it like his life depends on it like Jeremy does. The whole band plays like that, like a demon is on their trail. But if you read Jeremy's lyrics the demons seem to be inside us and the battle is somewhat pointless but we'll keep marching anyway.


One of the drawing points for people who care about things like this is the appearance of Thursday's Geoff Rickly and Modern Life Is War's Jeffrey Eaton. Geoff adds a really cool melody to "History Reshits Itself" and kicks into hyperdrive while Jeffrey Eaton doesn't do anything but add a gravelly voiced shout to the end of "Always Running Never Looking Back". 

This started off as a discography post then I started listening to LP again I have to devote more time to this album. It requires it. The emotional investment Jeremy puts in his lyrics picks up your head and connect. I could do nothing but quote his lyrics. Lines like "I've gotten good at hiding, when I feel like hiding. My mouth is great at running, when I feel like running. Now I'm biting the hairs on my arm like I do when I don't know where I am or what I should do. I've been blessed with these eyes that come with innocent questions like where I'm from." and the entire awesome piece that is Adieux really captivate me with cryptic poetic realness. There are layers to his lyrics. They can be read as literally personal but that limits them a little though the obviously romantic songs like Broken Records are among the best on the album. I am more interested in the  social and political implications of what he is screaming and shouting about.

The lyrics are full of disconnection and rage not necessarily aimed at anything in general. As Cadence clearly points out "I am marching to the beat of a dead horse" and like it or not he is a general leading his troops into battle. This touches on another interest of mine that is very understudied and not talked about, men displaying emotion. In order for a man to display emotion like this in a song he has to scream. But that's probably beside the point.

I do have a bit of a bone to pick  because the production completely kills one song. Maybe it's me but I've yet to hear a version of Cadence that's not from this album in which the spoken word piece in the middle is audible. It was not until the "Live At WERS" 7" that I was able to understand the lyrics. It's just too muddy which works for a lot of it but absolutely kills the song. Also, Jeremy does a little suffer from the same problem as the guy from La Dispute. He has a bit of a tendency to have the same tone of shout the entire time which can be a little flavourless. The amount of hooks make up for that though.

the differences between the this and Live At WERS are worth pointing out at least tangentially. What a difference production makes. On the LP the band sounds like a lumbering beast about to crush you with Jeremy darting around in front screaming about how the world is ending and we all carry on. But on the Live At WERS ep the production turns the band into a whiplash inducing hyper hardcore punk band. Their emotion and youth reigns supreme and the sound explodes constantly. You can hear the spoken word piece on Cadence and the turn on a dime nature of the music really becomes apparent. It sounds like someone shoved them into a small room and they have to explode it to get out.

So as you can probably tell I really like this album. To say that it has captivated me would not be an understatement. The replay value and investigation potential make this an awesome release. The emotional investment and the cryptic nature of the lyrics give it the ability to be obsessed over which I may or may not be guilty of. Anyway, listen and have your ass kicked.

Super Hero Hipsters

From College Humor

You'll Live - Things Would Change If You Heard This

I really wish emo wasn't a slur. That if you wanted to describe a band's music as emo it's because they deal with other emotions than the anger of hardcore and the out and out sleazy sexuality of rock n roll. But instead of awesome bands like Fugazi, Jawbreaker or Rites of Spring the term emo conjures up shitty mall punk post-hardcore bands like MCR or The Used. (Don't get me wrong I actually like some post-hardcore, early Alexisonfire and At The Drive-In are astounding)

If emo wasn't a slur then describing bands like You'll Live would be a whole lot easier. It's the kind of emo that usually stays in a rather calm, melodic moments though the singer never does anything close to singing. His voice is too rough for that, he sounds a lot like Gabe from Monument (who are an rough paralel to this band though Monument are a good ways ahead) but able to launch into a hair raising scream chaotic feeling scream.

The music is an interesting combination of that twinkly style of emo guitar mixed with melodic punk feel that owes an obvious debt to the post-punk school of songwriting, in terms of feel anyway. The material here can seem a little simplistic and that's probably because it's their debut ep but there is still quite an intriguing sound here. There is lots of melody in the guitar and almost always a cute little melodic riff nipping at the singer's ragged voice.

I'm not really sure why this grabs me but it does. There are lots of obvious touchstones here that  if I were better versed in this genre I would be more adept at picking. Suffice it to say this is a good coalescing of influences, now we wait and see if they can add some more personality.

found at Carried Out To Sea which is a really cool blog

Mother Of Mercy - IV: Symptoms Of Existence

A little while ago some people fused hardcore with metal, creating metalcore. Now there are varying degrees of the combination, they range from a little metal in your hardcore and a little hardcore in your metal to the two balancing equally. Coming at it from a metal perspective I've mostly listened to the stuff that's really metal with some hardcore thrown for flavouring. Which is why bands like Mother Of Mercy still tend to knock me upside the head. They play what would be some basic hardcore if it were not for the metal elements. That is not to say the metal elements are incredibly obvious but they are crucial to the sound

It's heavy and aggressive but not usually super fast. It's mid tempo without being boring as there are actual riffs. The guitars rip and destroy but always with a riff in hand, never just aimless heaviness. For the most part the riffs on IV: Symptons Of Existence are interesting and varied enough to actually be riffs. While there is still the insistence on rhythmic punishment hardcore brings to the table the riffs are strong and varied enough to not need to rely on simple aggression. I find myself comparing them to Touche Amore in terms of bands that are doing interesting new things with hardcore

This album seems like a good response to something I find myself saying about a lot of hardcore I heard lately. I find myself thinking "Great, you can play hardcore. Now what?" All the bands and songs sound the same. This album on the other hand takes the basic trappings of hardcore and ties them onto metal riffs that work better at mid tempo than a full on blast.

Aggression, speed and volume are all good and necessary but it is so much nicer when a band that has those bases covered can stretch out into some actual songs with interesting riffs that function as more than just anger releases. Thrashy hardcore tends to hit that sweet spot and this fits just right.