We’ve got a new Shoegazer playlist up featuring some pretty amazing songs. A few of these have been on a looping repeat in the Step On household. That is when we haven’t been playing Suede songs!
This playlist features Valet, Forsaken Autumn, SeaDance, No Climate, GrowHouse, The Snowy Owls, The Ambient Light, Softt, Eerie Glue, and Rancho Relaxo.
Enjoy!
Dave MacIntyre
Besides being a description for Doctor Manhattan’s unmentionables, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful is the third album from London songstress Florence Welch, singer (and radiant earth goddess) of the group Florence + the Machine. Truthfully, there was a reluctance to pick up this release. Nothing prepared me for how surprised I would be.
Welch has been prone to create songs during bouts of intoxication, which does not surprise me given the whirlpool that is “Ship to Wreck”. A bassline helps restrain the constant water imagery along the rocky paths that are the sustained Ahhhhs. With great production values, the choral bridge helps deliver sonic screeches from sirens that you will love. “What Kind of Man” explores a familiar ethereal sound on the band’s previous release Ceremonials, having an effect that feels as if Welch’s voice is being torn. Rock guitars come at us, a surprise that becomes less of a surprise as they become interspersed throughout the album. Drums throb as Welch’s angry question drives the wedge.
The title track of the record is initially filled with lyrics reminiscent of a Lana Del Rey song. Thankfully, this is remedied with the sharp brass fills that compliment Welch’s vocals. At its halfway point, the track casts an atmosphere that the best mage can amass with their energy at full power. Welch generates an incredible sky, with whales, sharks, and vast other fish in it. Brass and woodwind allow an imagination the size of a Disney classic. Welch does not allow that childhood phantasm to finesse away, instead she gives its remaining energy to “Queen of Peace”, a song that feels like a sunset fuelled by violins and battle-ready brass.
“Delilah” is the lovely mess of what happens when you let a drunk lead a ballroom dance. The call and response introduction does much to hide the track’s true intent. Loud piano keys greet the more upbeat tempo. She utters how she moonlights, and that’s what this song does as she embraces her vocal range. The motif of the mother is explored in a few songs on the album, this and the final track being a couple of them. “Long & Lost” does not feel like the hangover, but instead that feeling of being in a bar having realized the dance you had in “Delilah” was just a fantasy. Melodically, Welch is perfect along the guitar strings, but with the common theme of home and cliché lines about burning bridges, it is clear that one of the album’s low-points are some of its lyrics. For instance, the next song “Caught”, insufferably rhymes the title with “taught”, and though the lo-fi indie sensation, twinkly notes, and drums are great, they do not bandage the sore thumb.
“Third Eye” is like a bonus track on Ceremonials. Welch commands us to “look up!” in a way that reminds me of a hammy school play, while “St. Jude” feels like a track with cringe-inducing lyrics penned by Fall Out Boy.
Like Paramore had done with their post-rock closer at the end of Paramore, Welch explores a classic rock feel in “Mother”, with twangy guitar strings, a clicker, and then a garage rock sound that feels psychedelic at points. Nature, religion, and static course through the song while she lets loose triumphant Ahhhhhs.
Stephen King penned a section in Under the Dome called “Wear it home, it’ll look like a dress,” an apt title for those wanting to exude the charm that Welch has delivered stunningly with this release. Wear tattered newspapers and dance like you are drunk. Make the black sky seem brighter. You control space, time, and love.
Dustin Ragucos is a writer of things fictional, poetic, and musical. His main loves include Death Grips and Indie music. Dustin’s blog is host to a weekly blurb about albums old and new.
Alex Thompson scours the massive universe of SoundCloud to collect and share with you his favourite and sometimes obscure Indie music.
This playlist features Cults, San Cisco, Beach Day, Coastal Cities, Foreign/National, Future Classic, Last Dinosaurs, The Red Lights, and Gardens & Villa.
Enjoy!
It all started with The Cow, a 1969 classic about a man and his beloved animal. Credited by many as the start of the New-Wave of Iranian cinema, The Cow explored Iranian culture and its relationship with the west. Though not as recognized as the Italian Neorealist movement or the French New-Wave, the films that followed The Cow took influence from both, and led to some remarkable examples of filmmaking that would in turn have a massive effect on world cinema. The definitive style of the movement came about through two major influences, the first being a political one.
The revolution of 1979 saw a massive change in the political behavior of the country. The burning of cinemas represented a detachment from the west; film itself was seen as a form of treason. Though eventually films made their way back into the public, censorship was immense. Any film with a political, religious, or social theme was banned from public cinemas. Iranian films were transformed from the mindless sex comedies of the Shah’s era to the mindless propaganda of the Islamic Revolution. Despite this, a few notable movies snuck their way out; none of which had the impact of Abbas Kiarostami’s Where is the Friend’s Home. Winning several prizes locally and numerous awards at European film festivals, it told the simple story of a boy’s struggle to return his classmate’s notebook to him. The film was masterfully crafted, with beautiful photography, and incredible performances from non-professional actors. Most importantly however, the film revealed the true effects of the censorships. Kiarostami’s film had nothing to do with politics or religion; instead it dealt with more profound subjects, making the censorships seem irrelevant. In the years that followed, the world witnessed an explosion in Iranian cinema. Masters of the art were making exciting films that spoke about love, life, death, identity, childhood, friendship and so on.
The second important factor affecting the style of the Iranian New-Wave was budget. Iran had just finished an eight-year war with Iraq, and was in bad shape. Food, water and medical supplies were the top concern of the country, leaving filmmakers with little to no budget for their films. Films were usually shot with a single, hand-held camera, used natural lighting, minimalist scores, and simple story structures. These limitations eventually led to the realism that would visually define the movement. Many films were also shot as mockumentaries or films within films. Mohsen Makhmalbaf was one of the key directors of this style, creating films such as: Salaam Cinema, a documentary about actors auditioning for a fake movie, and A Moment of Innocence, an autobiographical film about a director making an autobiographical film about a his confrontation with a police officer. The minimal budgets of these films gave them a very natural composition, usually thinning the line between film and documentary. This drew audiences deeper into the drama, and emphasized the main statement of the film, which was often summarized by a single powerful picture in the film.
Incredibly, the realism that rose out of low budgets and minimal sets is now gaining huge popularity in the west. Films such District 9 were made in such a way to resemble a documentary. This technique once again made the hypothetical situation seem much more authentic and genuine. Though more extreme, The Blair Witch Project used similar methods, selling the film as a documentary, which resulted in its immense success and cultural influence. Many other films employed these natural filming methods to grasp the audience’s attention and bring them deeper into the drama. Films such as Babel, Children of Men, Being John Malkovich and The Bourne Ultimatum are a few examples.
The visual and conceptual effects of the movement can defiantly be seen in modern western cinema, as Iranian films continue to accumulate high praise at film festivals around the planet. Perhaps the most intriguing part of this movement is that it still lives on. Directors such as Asghar Farhadi (A Separation), Abbas Kiarostami (Taste of Cherry), Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Kandahar), and many others continue to create vibrant films that dig deeper into the human psyche and tell beautiful stories. There is no doubt that we continue to live in one of the most exciting times in cinema, not just in the west but around the world. We therefore need to witness these beautiful moving pictures that continue to affect world cinema, but more importantly continue to teach us valuable lessons about the human condition. By Amir Karimi
With less than 30 days to go before Canadian music festival goers descend on an idyllic camping area in Oro, north of Barrie, Ontario, we thought it a good time to take a look at all the information that we have so far, and think about how best to plan our (hopefully) sunny days and nights under the stars. The Wayhome countdown is on!
It’s been 20 long years since we’ve attempted anything like this close to Toronto. Some of you will remember Eden Music Fest (1996) at Mosport Park, which we attended and wrote about here in the dark days of winter, a daring festival experiment in the 90’s (when Lollapalooza was brand new) that failed by some measures but is remembered very fondly and happily by fans who were there for its stellar line up of Canadian, US and UK acts, its easy going vibe, great weather and old-fashioned fun in a time long before smart phones, selfies and angry tweeting were the order of the day. Since the new “Bonnaroo-style” festival was rumoured and announced in early 2015, and before it had a name or venue confirmed, we’ve waited with anticipation and excitement to finally see it happen again in our midst. There’s since been a barn raised restored to stunning beauty. Some of our best Toronto, regional and food truck offerings are in the plans. Everything is almost in place ( including day-by-day line up schedule but not set times as yet) and creative strategies are being worked out from as far as B.C. and the U.S. for serious festival chasers. History has finally arrived.
With all the competition from the granddaddy European and UK festivals, as well as a now thriving, competitive scene in Canada and the US, there has been some criticism launched at some of the big festival promoters in North America that the line ups are underwhelming. There was also a major criticism made about the lack of gender diversity in many, if not most, of the big line ups (and it would seem, in the music landscape at the current time, itself). Festival promoters, though, relying on all-important word of mouth and the need to operate with magician-like flexibility to pull these massive productions off, tend to have their ear more to the ground for customer feedback than a lot of areas of entertainment, are able to make on the ground changes, and have gone some distance to correct these complaints locally.
But music, while the point of the gathering, is just a part of the big picture. Festivals today, especially the multi-day, camping variety with some out in the country flexibility, know that the discerning festival goer wants to be entertained, dazzled, surprised, and has moved beyond just midway food, (and needs something, or many things, to Instagram) and so in impressive Bonnaroo-style (who’s AC Entertainment has co-produced Wayhome with Republic Live) we can look forward to a precedent-setting array of true blue, heightened festival offerings. Here’s a cheat sheet:
The location: Burl’s Creek Event Grounds: Located just north of Barrie, (about 1.5 hours from Toronto, but prepare for traffic) is an expansive, grassy space surrounded by mature forests.
The festival: Wayhome Arts & Music Fest, July 24th-26th: There are flexible ticket, travel and accommodation options, including full three day event pass/camping ($249.99) VIP event pass/camping ($599.99) or single day VIP tickets ($299.99). Tickets are still available as of this writing.
Site offerings: A daily Farmer’s Market; four stages -Wayhome (Main/Ampitheatre) Waybright: (Intimate second stage) Waybold (Dance tent) and Wayaway (Secluded Forest Stage feature late night performances); A Silent Disco; Wayart: Visual art installations throughout the grounds; numerous premium food vendors including Canadian institution Beavertails, Chevy’s Big Bite, fan pics Food Dudes and Busters and Fresh; and diverse beverage options beyond beer and water including smoothies, cold pressed juices and cold brewed coffee for the a.m. pick me up, and exciting VIP area Food offerings from The Drake Hotel (including a fish camp!). There’s also an Etsy craft market planned. There will be some 24 hour food and beverages available, a must for the night owls who bypass the grocery stop in Barrie, and prefer to live in the moment. For campers, there’s very reasonable camping rules and regulations to allow for economizing and cooking on site, as well as priming with some pre-game beers. Be sure to read the Wayhome site’s FAQ for all the info needed for campers and general rules).
General admission tickets include camping, and there’s a full program of live music from across genres, naturally, with 60 artists over 3 days including: Neil Young + Promise of the Real, Sam Smith, Kendrick Lamar, Alt-J, Modest Mouse, Hozier, Brandon Flowers (of The Killers) Bassnectar, St. Vincent, The Decemberists, Girl Talk, Future Islands, Run the Jewels,Passion Pit, Odesza, Alvvays, Yukon Blonde, Viet Cong, The Growlers (and many more).
The music will likely go all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so anyone who’s hoping to capitalize will probably want to plan to go up Thursday afternoon when the gates open (5:00 pm) or that evening.
See the Wayhome website, and their very detailed FAQ, as well as their Facebook page for information. Line up and other information is per the Wayhome official site and information emailed to ticket holders and is subject to change. Blog TO has a great gallery of site photos as it looks today with the newly restored barn. There’s a very active Reddit thread that is a good place to exchange information and connect with other fans pre:festival.
Read our WayHome Miss Nothing! Music Guide here and here. Check back for our on-site festival coverage (photo galleries, festival reports, and reviews) over the Wayhome weekend. By Step On Magazine Editors
Full line up is below:
Read more of our 2015 Festival Season Coverage:
Riot Fest Starts with You: A Fan’s Diary
“Work with your friends”, exclaimed Chance the Rapper just days before Surf dropped. The album is from Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment, but, it would likely have flown under the radar had Chance not hopped on the project. Nonetheless, Surf evokes fun loving imagery of friends hanging out playing music – and really good music too. Besides being downloaded over 600,000 times in just one week, the music delves into uncharted areas with its amalgamation of brass instruments, rap and vocals and the staple scat singing that makes Chance so unique.
Chance seems determined to steer clear from the spotlight on this album, and he’s hyped Nico (Donnie Trumpet) as being the founder and key component of the project. Many stanch Chance fans were hoping for an ‘Acid Rap 2.0’, another solo Chance album to follow Acid Rap, the rapper’s very successful 2013 album. In the meantime, fans can be more than happy with Surf by Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment. While it lacks an overt Chance the Rapper presence, his influence is felt. If nothing else, Chance’s involvement has exposed hip-hop heads everywhere to his lesser-known band mates in the talented Peter Cottontale, Greg Landfair Jr. and Nate Fox.
As for the music, Surf is already being considered one of the best albums of 2015. Based on 15 reviews from popular music critics and websites, the album has received an average score of 87/100. If you’re looking for an eclectic mix of soul, jazz and hip-hop, this album is for you. Best of all, it’s FREE to download on Itunes for all to enjoy. Review by Marshall Torgov
Marshall Torgov can be found via email at 11mt81@queensu.ca and twitter @marshtwitt3r. Marshall is part of Queen’s University Class of 2016, Political Science.
Few sci-fi films in recent memory have successfully managed to evoke both a sense of dread and awe, while attempting to portray the extent of technological growth our generation has undergone. Throughout recent times science fiction has proved to be one of the toughest genres for any filmmaker to succeed in.
However, in the case of Ex Machina, a British independent passion project, what is made apparent is that bigger budgets do not necessarily mean greater quality filmmaking. Made on a budget of roughly fifteen million, the film’s tone, production design and sheer inventiveness make it stand out over many other, far more ‘’costly’’ projects.
Ex Machina tells the story of Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a brilliant coder working for Bluebook, an extremely popular search engine. When Caleb wins a competition, he is invited to join the company’s reclusive CEO Nathan (Oscar Isaac), at his Alaskan estate. While there, he slowly learns the billionaire’s zeal to develop artificial intelligence to heights never before known to man. Only soon to be revealed, is Nathan’s unconventional, even sickening agenda.
The film marks novelist turned screenwriter, Alex Garland’s, directorial debut. Garland, whose previous work includes films such as the British mega-hit 28 Days Later and 2012’s severely underrated Dredd, presents what is without doubt his most accomplished screenplay to date.
It is a disturbingly plausible story, which carries heavy philosophical questions, but never crumbles under them. Instead, Ex Machina embraces these questions. It tentatively addresses debates like humanity vs. machine, the dangers of playing God, and what it means to have a consciousness. Garland not only manages to make these questions accessible, but also wraps them into what is a genuinely engrossing storyline.
Elevated by some dazzling cinematography by Rob Hardy, Ex Machina exudes consistent visual elegance, yet maintaining a sense of mystery within its tone. Its marvelous interiors, courtesy of production designer Mark Digby, each tell a unique story of their own, while also enhancing the film’s ever-growing claustrophobic nature.
Nevertheless, the true talking point about Ex Machina, lies in its central performances. Although a bit stiff and underwhelming at times, Domhnall Gleeson is solid as the film’s main protagonist. Oscar Isaac delivers an outstanding performance as Nathan. Portraying a character which other actors may have misinterpreted as nothing more than just another megalomaniac antagonist, Isaac achieves the feat of making him both likeable and terrifying, while humour largely underlies his performance; a performance which really blossoms in the film’s most subtle moments.
Despite this, Ex Machina’s standout performance undoubtedly belongs to Swedish actress Alicia Vikander. Vikander plays Ava, Nathan’s artificial creation, who is to become the subject of a Turing Test, performed by Caleb. The Turing Test means to ‘’challenge a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligence comparable to, or indistinguishable from that of humans.’’ What follows is an intricate series of ‘’tête–à–tête’’ sessions between Ava and Caleb, the pair conversing as Nathan sits in isolation elsewhere, observing their interactions. The pair’s conversations are fascinating, starting out simple, but quickly becoming loaded with intimation and heavy philosophical subtext.
Vikander is absolutely remarkable in the role, lending Ava an otherworldly quality that you can’t take your eyes off. Her performance also excels in the more physical aspects of her character, as Vikander manages to fully capture Ava’s stillness, and robotic movements. The humanity that Vikander encompasses in her role is what ensures that Ex Machina works, making it easy to forget that she is actually portraying a machine, and not the other way around.
A feature that is dialogue intense, the film depends heavily on its leading performers, all of whom certainly deliver. The screenplay features smart, sophisticated dialogue, something that epitomizes Garland’s evident interest in his subject matter. The persistent use of scientific terms when addressing artificial intelligence shows that this is written by someone who simultaneously understands, and is paying homage to what others could consider tricky material.
Credit should also go to Ben Salisbury’s and Geoff Barrow’s score, which goes purposefully unnoticed through the film’s first two acts. In the film’s third act, its chilling nature fully kicks in, elevating Ex Machina’s ambiance throughout those final scenes. It successfully accompanies all of the film’s plot twists, and contributes to what is an overall satisfying conclusion.
Where the film shines in its intellectual subtext, it suffers from obvious pacing issues. Some scenes lack the flow of others, and eventually end up running longer than necessary. What is more, throughout these scenes multiple of the film’s themes and thoughts are repeated way too many times.
Ex Machina is a genre-defining, cautionary tale, that’s essential viewing for anyone interested in where technology is taking us. Boosted by a duo of sumptuous performances, the film combines elements from sci-fi classics such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner, with unsettling, claustrophobic horror, in an attempt to exhibit its storyline’s plausibility. As for Alex Garland, Ex Machina is a stunning directorial debut, and yet it feels like the work of someone who has been honing their craft for decades. It is a thought-provoking thriller, with heavy aspects of psychological horror; an achievement that most directors can only dream of. Review by Victor Stasopoulos
Adam Hammond spoke to Andy Came and Joe Hatt of Spectres to discuss their stunning debut album, Dying, and that Record Store Day controversy….
It’s what Record Store Day has become: just another event in the annual music industry circus, co-opted by major labels and used as another marketing stepping stone … U2 have already shat their album into our iTunes, why should they constipate the world’s pressing plants with it too? … Because of the rules and regulations (minimum pressing amounts, no direct to customer sales, blah blah blah) Record Store Day really isn’t fun, and it’s certainly not beneficial to small, backs to the wall labels … but we are still affected by it. Badly.
Amid the echoes of self-congratulatory backslapping and the chimes of overflowing cash registers, another Record Store Day came and went, filling eBay with overpriced excrement and leaving the major record labels wallowing in the cataracts of abundance. As they gorged themselves on plenty, it would have been easy for them to ignore a lone voice of protest from two small British independent labels whose complaints in reality mattered as little as a gob in the ocean, but not so. Any barbs aimed at the most holy cash cow needed to be ruthlessly stamped out and Sonic Cathedral and Howling Owl became the subject of much ridicule as the argument was dragged on to the national stage. Why, reasoned the minnows, who kept the pressing plants in work for 365 days a year, should their business be put on hold while the majors clogged up the chain of production making picture discs of A-ha records that could be bought for a few pence in any local charity shop? A moot point you would think, but there was to be no debate. RSD was the insulin that kept the lifeblood of the music industry stable; to question it bordered upon insanity. This, the majors sneered, was all a publicity stunt by two small labels desperate to sell a few records. Talk about missing the point. Sonic Cathedral couldn’t sell their latest release because they couldn’t get it re-pressed. And they needed it re-pressed because it had sold out on the day of its initial release with barely a whisper of publicity. What they needed were records, and how dare a record label need records in RSD month.
The album that caused all the fuss was Dying, the debut from Bristol-based four-piece Spectres, a record that flew out of the shops as quickly as it arrived. Sometimes it simply seems the time is right for a band who transcend all of the usual hype to find favour with the minimum of fanfare, and that was certainly the case for Spectres whose approach to their career had been anything but high profile. The band had pressed a hundred copies of their Hunger EP on their own Howling Owl label in 2013 and there had been 250 copies of “The Sky Of All Places” single released by the Too Pure Singles Club in 2014, but that had been it. Spectres had played live, and featured in Wire’s DRILL festival, but the sheer impact made by Dying was as remarkable as it was unpredictable.
Andy Came: We were surprised about how much attention the album received, most of the reviews and press were amazing. The first pressing of the vinyl sold out on the day Dying was released and we were genuinely shocked. We were then told it would take three months for the re-press to arrive due to the clogging up of vinyl pressing plants because of the same old shit being reissued for RSD. We toured Greece in early April and couldn’t take any copies of the album with us to sell because we didn’t have any. It was definitely a hindrance. The whole point of the protest against RSD was to raise awareness that the music industry is controlled by the mainstream and was not helping the little guys like Spectres/Howling Owl and Sonic Cathedral get by. We were surprised at how much attention the statement got; they are still making their millions on reissue after reissue so why should they care?
The unusual aspect of Spectres’ success is that their music is by no means accessible, being dark, difficult, dense, and deliberately confrontational. Inspired by a host of No Wave artists, the band fill their songs with sheets of noise, built layer upon dancing layer, and have talked of their desire for their music to drag audiences into their own personal black holes. Hell, the album itself is titled Dying, has a cover picture of a drowning man, and is themed around, well, death. And after the warning sirens of opener “Drag” there is no let up from the dramatic sonic assault. Yet, Dying is no mere attack on the senses and Spectres are not a band to shout in a storm. Their use of noise is considered, textured and shaped to purpose. The incredible “This Purgatory” both hums and howls, veering from the cries of whales in a boiling ocean to full throttle chainsaw massacre. It carries you tenderly before dropping you off a cliff. Spectres don’t use noise as a cudgel as did the noise terrorists in days of old, but as a multi-faceted instrument of torture, intended to break you in a variety of ways; this is creative stuff.
Joe Hatt: I wouldn’t say that bands like us form noise into something more creative as I still think the whole No Wave movement is one of the richest periods of creativity, but I do agree that we harness it in different ways. There are still plenty of ‘true’ noise artists making statements through sheer abrasiveness and don’t care about it being in any way accessible/enjoyable, but we enjoy the tease of lulling people in and then attacking them with feedback and sheets of noise. To be honest I don’t think anyone has done that as well as Sonic Youth, and probably never will.
Well not until now, maybe. Just listen to the looping attack of “Mirror” as it scratches out your heart and it is difficult to imagine even the most committed Youth enthusiast not nodding in appreciation. This really is a monster of a song, searing and penetrating before it passes away abruptly after three minutes with Joe Hatt’s dark vocals echoing in your brain, “Soon this concrete running through my veins will set and leave me in stone.” The lyrics throughout are unremittingly dark and were the last part of the album to be recorded.
Joe: The rest of the band genuinely didn’t see or really hear the lyrics until the album came out due to our writing process. That involves me recording the music on a phone at practice and then playing the songs on repeat in my headphones and writing to them. It definitely wasn’t a conscious decision for the album to have a theme running through it, it is just what came naturally due to scenarios happening around me at the time. My mum asked me if I needed counselling when she read the lyrics, I just told her it was all fiction … ha ha! I think this band is a psychiatrist’s chair for all four of us.
Unsurprisingly, given the craft involved in shaping these songs with their painstakingly interwoven layers of sound, Spectres are not prolific writers, yet when they have discovered something they like they embrace it, nurture it, and guide it to maturity. These songs matter. Dying is not the pick of the crop, it’s the band heart, body and soul, with nothing spare.
Andy: Our songwriting process is a slow one as we only rehearse once a week for about three hours. It usually involves the four of us staring at the floor playing different things and then somebody will come up with something that we all like. We then piece together the song and get a structure from that idea which can take several weeks. When we recorded Dying we only had those ten songs; we aren’t the sort of band who will write and record twenty and then choose the best ten or twelve.
Such intensity not only explains the unwavering quality of this collection but also sets the warning bells ringing. Spectres’ music has grown ever more ferocious over the past couple of years, so how far are the band able to take it? Is it even possible to better the warped fury of “Lump” or the creeping threat of “Blood In The Cups”? If Spectres look to outdo themselves every time they enter the studio, things could easily end very messily.
Andy: I think that is a reaction to what is going on around us and how we have grown as a band. We never say this needs to sounds like this or we have to make this bit sound horrible, it all comes naturally and the four of us all bring our own experiences from the outside world into the practice room.
Joe: I don’t think we’d ever spend enough time in the studio for us to want to kill each other, which is maybe something we should address. The album was recorded in five days as we just do live takes and then the odd extra track but for the next one I think we’re going to try and do the whole clichéd ‘hire a cottage in the country’ and write for a week, away from the internet and ban ourselves from our phones etc… and see what happens. Hopefully something terrible.
As the band continue to promote Dying, they will be appearing at a few summer festivals in the UK and Europe including Incubate, La Route Du Rock, Supernormal and Reverence. These will be followed by a European tour in September and a short UK tour in November of places they haven’t yet managed to reach. If you haven’t caught Spectres playing live, then make sure you do so, as watching them is something you will never forget. That may be because of your mad dash for the door, the consequent purchase of your first hearing aid, or just the thrill of seeing these consummate musicians create such stunningly addictive patterns of sound.
Andy: People can take our live show however they like. We appreciate fans who enjoy our music as much as people who can’t stand it. If it makes someone smile then that’s great, whether that be in a disturbed way or if they genuinely like it. We do like people appreciating what we are trying to create and there will be people who like the darkness and the ear battering. We also smile when someone leaves a show because they can’t handle it or have a look on their face whereby they don’t know what to do with themselves. We want people to pay full attention to what we are doing and not be distracted by anything else around them.
It’s difficult to imagine anyone being distracted when Spectres are playing, even by World War Three. Just put the album on and see for yourself. Dying is great; everyone should try it.
Adam Hammond is the head of Isolation in Sussex, once a small record label and now an independent music website and gig promoter. www.isolationrecords.co.uk
It has been nearly three years since Kelowna, British Columbia’s Yukon Blonde released their sophomore album Tiger Talk, which displayed a band heavily influenced by the shimmering instrumentation popular in the 80’s and 90’s pop scene while at the same time, current with the trends of Indie music. Back then the band admitted that pop music from back then comprised most of what they were listening to and it seems like not much has changed. In fact it appears the band took more influence from the 80’s and 90’s for On Blonde. The album appears to further embrace that vintage sound. It is laced with synthesizers both light and shimmering in songs like “Favorite People” as well as dark and full of bass found in “Saturday Night.” The drums are steady and the guitar filtered through tube amps in order to give the music that vintage authenticity.
Tiger Talk seemed to be another Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix of sorts. An indie album soaked in Pop hooks and catchy choruses that begged you to become a fan. Here the Blonde are just trying to be themselves and make music influenced by what they’ve been listening to. You will still find songs like “Como” and “Confused”, which sound as if they would be right at home on this album’s predecessor but now there are songs like “Hannah” and “Starvation”, which both feel miles away from the band’s sophomore album style.
The lyrical content of this album in most cases drifts towards entering a relationship. This is the case in both “Make You Mine” and “I Wanna Be Your Man.” In the first song, vocalist Jeffery Innes has to get the girl away from her boyfriend. Talk about awkward lyrics! Hands down the best words found on the album appear in “Favourite People”, which finds Innes talking about how sure of himself he is and the liberating freedom of leaving a possessive girlfriend while also poking fun at Rihanna’s “Shine Bright Like A Diamond.”
If there is anything negative about this album it is “Saturday Night.” The drum driven intro is sure to have you tapping along and the darker tone anchored down by deep and rich bass along with synthesizer is all well and good, but the song runs just over five minutes long and becomes a tad repetitive. It isn’t until the fourth minute that it freshens up thanks in large part to the vocal fade out and the bass and synthesizer taking things over.
On Blonde is unlike its predecessor which makes for a hit and miss. The hit being that you appreciate the band stepping into their vintage sounding comfort area. The miss being that you tend to yearn for the more current Indie-Pop sounds of songs like “My Girl”, “Six Dead Tigers”, and “For LA” found on Tiger Talk.
Luke Williams grew up a fan of punk and pop punk in a field of cows just outside of Barrie, Ontario. You can follow him on Twitter @musicwithluke
Paul Weller, more affectionately known as The Modfather to his long-time fans and supporters, stopped by The Danforth Music Hall on Monday night in support of his 12th solo studio album Saturns Patterns. The end-to-end stage setup was mesmerizing consisting of racks of guitars, rows of flood lights, not one but two drum kits, and multiple keyboards. It hinted that something grand was planned for the night but still didn’t fully prepare us for how spectacular the performance would really be.
The best word to describe Paul Weller is impeccable. He’s an impeccable guitar player, songwriter and vocalist, impeccable professionally on stage and much like another favourite, Johnny Marr, an impeccable dresser. It’s no coincidence he fronted The Style Council before going solo in 89.
After an enjoyable opening set by the lovely Hannah Cohen, the house lights went dark and the stage filled with Weller’s formidable backup musicians. The jam-packed fans on the floor and balcony seats, many donning Fred Perry attire in some form or other, hollered and clapped, their excitement no longer contained.
Weller and company opened with “White Sky” followed by “Come On/Let’s Go” and “Long Time”. Pitch perfect and fluid on stage, Weller belted out his vocals with ease and swapped seamlessly through guitars as he moved through the set list. Musically, Weller’s style flows through various incarnations of 60’s style Rock, Punk, Soul and what is coined as Mod Revival. As diverse as those genres may be, Weller’s sound is ever cohesive and the band’s execution of each transition airtight.
Choice selections were pulled from Weller’s 40-year (and counting) discography that included “Into Tomorrow”, “Above The Clouds”, an epic “Porcelain Gods” during which unassuming lead guitarist Steve Cradock displayed his outstanding skill, and “Whirlpool’s End” to close the main set.
But like everything Weller does, the encore was done proper. Or rather make that 3 encores. “Out Of The Sinking”, “These City Streets”, “The Changingman” and The Jam classic “Town Called Malice” that fans happily sang aloud to, helped round out the 6 extra tunes fans were treated to.
Dave MacIntyre
disarmmagazine.com 