vintage

So I was going to do a feature of a tune from the new Joel Plaskett album, which was released today, but so far I’ve heard a good half of it and haven’t been very excited about anything. The track I was most looking forward to (“Wishful Thinking”) has been turned into a stagnating seven-minute thing with drum machine, so that doesn’t really bode well for the rest of the record. REVIEW SOON WHEN I HEAR IT ALL.

Anyway, so rather than post a track I’m not thrilled about, I’ll tie this post in to a mention of the now-distant Canadian Music Week shows I went to at the Mod Club a couple of weeks ago. Sloan played twice in a row, March 11 and 12, and opening for them both nights were the marvelously poppy and upbeat Will Currie & The Country French. Formed at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, the Country French are a large but surprisingly tight-sounding band who play piano-driven pop tunes with serious punch. They are on Sloan’s recently re-launched label Murderecords and released an EP called A Great Stage on it last year. A full-length is in the works.

This song is from that album, and was also on a four-song demo that they sold at a show I saw pre-Murderecords (opening for another East Coaster Rich Aucoin). It’s called “Surprising Me,” and it’s pretty representative of their great sound. Their live show is just as energetic, or perhaps more; they could benefit from a little variation in their sets, as they seem to drag in the middle for lack of stylistic change-ups, but that’s really the only complaint I have about them.

(Oh yeah, and Sloan played too! Ha. They were also great. The first night almost seemed like a rehearsal for the second, in retrospect — though solid, it was a somewhat run-of-the-mill set and show, although we were treated to “Iggy & Angus” in the encore. Night two was really rock ‘n’ roll, including some old favourites like “Before I Do,” “Deeper Than Beauty” and “Underwhelmed”, and shockingly, “The Marquee & The Moon”! The setlist didn’t quite top last CMW’s show, but it would be pretty hard to. They’re still always fun to see live. I’ve done it thirteen times now, though — frequent flyer card yet?)

Anyway, back to WC: this song was also the iTunes Single of the Week sometime in 2008, which was probably extra exciting for this young band. Look for their name everywhere in coming months! Hope you enjoy.

Tunesday 14: Surprising Me

It’s finally here: Sloan’s release of a follow-up to the mammoth 30-track Never Hear the End of It (2006); clocking in at 37 minutes, Parallel Play’s thirteen tracks seem to fly by. More than on previous records, this really showcases Sloan’s four-songwriters modus operandi, and the result is an improbable stew of sounds that somehow still works. I suspect the brilliant production has something to do with it.

Guitarist Patrick Pentland leads the record off with “Believe in Me”, a breezy rocker with stunningly unremarkable lyrics. Though Pentland has never really been known for his earth-shattering wordplay, he usually hits the nail on the head with a solid song, and this is the track’s redeeming factor. It’s fun and singalong-able, but not that enduring; for now, I’ll certainly enjoy belting along with the chorus when no one’s listening. The organ is an enjoyable addition.

Pentland’s other tracks are slightly disappointing. “Burn For It” and “The Other Side,” both under three minutes, have their moments of glory but fail to really hit the mark – the kind of songs you don’t mind listening to but forget about when they’re over. The chorus of “Burn For It” – I wanna walk through fire, walk through the fire and burn for it – is catchy enough, though. I can’t say that I dislike his work on this album, but his songs don’t grab me. It is not Pentland’s worst showing by any means, but he is capable of quite a lot more than he shows us here.

Jay Ferguson (Rickenbacker, denim jacket) provides his usual dose of charming pop with his three offerings, all below the three-minute mark. The second track, “Cheap Champagne,” features some beautifully sly vocal harmony and guitarless verse sections. The shouty “ba ba da”s that lead it off are really too jarring, but they sound much better when they return later in the song, and the rest of the tune with its perfect feel more than makes up for that.

Ferguson’s others, “Witch’s Wand” and “If I Could Change Your Mind,” are no less delectable. The latter is reminiscent of ’60s Motown/Phil Spector, a sure way to my heart. “Witch’s Wand,” a nice little swingy tune, features a chorus so catchy it is maddening. Jay’s been on quite a roll the last few records, and this is no exception; sometimes his tunes can come across a bit formulaic, though his current fixation on making them super-short helps alleviate that, but he’s good at throwing in some handclaps and piano ornaments to get you back to feelin’ the love.

Sarcastic bassist Chris Murphy has, thankfully, improved upon his lyrics since Never Hear the End of It. While we are still unfortunately subjected to many verses about how his life is going lately, at least it isn’t “People Think They Know Me”. Here he weighs in with three pretty solid tunes, the best of which is probably “Living the Dream” – some more of “this is my life!”, but disguised in a happy little song with a cute riff and some delicious placement of D7s.

“I’m Not A Kid Anymore” features good solid power-chording, but is not the most remarkable of songs. The chorus is probably the most exciting feature, but overall it stands around the same place as “Believe In Me” (fun, but not all that enduring). “All I Am Is All You’re Not” is surprisingly understated, giving it a cool, playing-hard-to-get vibe. I’d been listening to All Things Must Pass the day before the record came out, and the lyrics constantly remind me of Harrison’s “I’d Have You Anytime”; lyrical allusions aside, though, it’s a good song. Nice to have you back, Chris.

And finally Andrew Scott (drums/guitar), who rambles all over the map on this album. “Emergency 911″ has a bit of a Stooges/Sex Pistols feel, wherein he yells about bullies and ambulances and firetrucks. The looseness and anger comes off well, but I wish he had left off the Henry Rollins ending part. The rest is a good shouty rant of a time.

“Down in the Basement” is a happy, rolling Bob Dylan blues number, featuring lots of good keys; Scott pulls off the blatant Dylan ripoff well. It’s definitely my favourite of Scott’s tracks on the record. “The Dogs” is slightly ponderous, but grows on you, and even features an Animal Farm reference (Four legs good and two legs bad keep chasing each other ’round my head). Brownie points.

Scott also provides the album’s closer, “Too Many,” a somewhat confusing reggae-influenced loose thing with tons of organ. It is a strange choice for a final track, but then none of the tracks stand out as the perfect closer. It has some great harmony and little nuances, and he shows us quite often that he’s not afraid to play with boundaries and different sounds at every opportunity.

Scott and Ferguson definitely carry this record to great heights; Murphy, though, is finally staging a comeback from the lyrical Someone to not watch The View with rock bottom. Pentland is coasting a little, but manages to redeem himself with excellent instrumentation and some undeniably good hooks. Parallel Play is a solid 9th record, and I can see it sitting in my CD player for a while – or it would, if Yep Roc would bother actually mailing it to me. Well, you can’t win ‘em all.

Listen: Cheap Champagne or Living the Dream

A heads-up for Sloan fans: American label Yep Roc has put the band’s ninth studio album Parallel Play, due for simultaneous Canadian and US release on June 10th, on their website for your ears’ enjoyment. You can listen to the entire album streaming here.

If you do, let me know how it is; I’m going to be old-fashioned once again, and buy it the day it comes out without having heard the tracks beforehand. How revolutionary.

Sloan. If you’re Canadian, you’ve likely heard the clichés; pioneers of Canadian independent music, quintessential Can-rock, etc. But after surveying their previous work associated with the murderecords label, and checking out the new stuff they’ve signed, there’s no denying there’s some truth to them. Clichés kick around for a reason, and Sloan’s still doing what they do over fifteen years into it all.

Toronto is smack in the middle of Canadian Music Week, and as part of it, the aforementioned label put on a showcase at a little bar in Kensington Market to display some recently-signed talent (as well as their venerable, at least in rock & roll years, owners). Murder is expanding again to include bands other than Sloan, which can only mean good things. And, in almost every case, it did.

I missed the first two bands at the actual showcase, but I’ve had the great pleasure of seeing the first, Will Currie & the Country French, before. As many would attest, they are an excellent match for the label. They’re incredibly young, but have great musicianship; their music is full of breezy pop melodies and tight hooks, and the piano work is really well done. I have the demo they sold at that show for the remarkable price of $1, and it’s tighter and better produced than some recent full-length albums. Their EP will be out on murderecords sometime this year, and rest assured, there will be a review here!

The second band, Pony Da Look, is one I’ve yet to experience live; from what I understand, though, “experience” is a fairly appropriate word. Their music is very 80s influenced and awash in synthesizer and strange vocals. I’ll reserve full judgment, but I’ll say here that missing their set was not the disappointment of a lifetime.

I arrived in time to catch the slimmed-down Meligrove Band, now playing as a three-piece after the departure of guitarist/synth player Andrew Scott (yes, he’s heard the Sloan jokes!) of The Bicycles. The last time I saw them was coming off of Planets Conspire, so it’s been a while, and there was a fair amount of material in their short set that I hadn’t heard before. They did add some Planets favourites, including the explosive single “Our Love Will Make the World Go Round”; the arrangements are remarkably different live, and especially without Andrew, but they are an excellent trio of musicians and put on a great show. And they even added a Local Rabbits cover as a tribute to murderecords. Nice work, lads.

Finally came Sloan. There had been some talk that they were going to pull out some “old favourites,” but we hadn’t realised to what extent; boy, were we surprised. Right off the top, their first two songs were both sides of a 7″ from the One Chord to Another era (“Stood Up” and “Same Old Flame”), and the third, “Take Good Care of the Poor Boy” – one of Jay Ferguson’s best! – from Between the Bridges. Truthfully, they could have ended there and I’d have been happy.

They didn’t, of course, and other surprises showed up as well (namely “Before I Do,” somewhat shortened from its album version and sounding great). Each of the four did one of their new songs, as well, from their upcoming record tentatively titled Parallel Play. Unfortunately, bassist Chris Murphy – now finding himself in a comfortable and secure familial situation – seems to have lost the ability to write playful, meaningful lyrics like he used to (see “Autobiography,” “The Marquee and the Moon”); new song “I’m Not a Kid Anymore”, while musically solid, featured lyrics far too much like “Will I Belong?” or similar to be completely great.

However, newly bearded guitarist Patrick Pentland and drummer Andrew Scott – the other one – pulled off a couple of solid ones (“Believe in Me” and “911″, respectively), both rocking rather admirably, and the former conjuring shades of a more driving and uptempo sequel to “I Understand”. Guitarist Ferguson regaled us with a curious number titled “Witch’s Wand,” written in a surprisingly low vocal range, and complete with expected catchy chorus. Certainly all four were a welcome glimpse into the content of what will be their ninth (!) studio album, likely a fair bit shorter than their last effort – Never Hear the End of It was thirty tracks long, plus two bonus!

When all is said and done, Sloan definitely still knows how to put on a tight show, most of the time – and judging by the new murderecords lineup, they know how to find other bands who can do the same. If this is the new face of the label, I’ll be driving the bandwagon.