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WE HAVE MOVED

2006-11-07T01:19:00.000-05:00

THIS SITE IS NO LONGER FUNCTIONAL

PLEASE VISIT:

HTTP://WWW.AREYOUFAMILIAR.COM/AYF

UPDATE YOUR BOOKMARKS!

Moving

2006-10-14T20:35:00.000-04:00

I am moving. My office is moving. And AYF? is moving.

Where? To our own domain.

When? As soon as we've finished getting Wordpress (our blog software) set up and customized.

In the meantime, Unfamiliar Records have released our first compilation, which includes 8 free MP3 downloads. This co-incides with our recent signings: The Weather and The Two Koreas. We are also working with Toronto's No Dynamics.

NO FORMAT is co-presenting the Shout Out Out Out Out's show at The Horseshoe in Toronto on November 10th with ATG.

I am helping out by moderating the Toronto message board over at Stillepost. If you're in, or interested in the Toronto music scene (or what's up in most other Canadian cities, as there are forums for each) come over and check it out.

For the boys and girls

2006-09-20T01:26:00.000-04:00

Where was I? Don't even ask.

Lana is busy with school. She is also looking for a job, so if you know anyone who wants to hire a pretty girl to file her nails (and maybe do some music marketing and promotion on the side) get in touch.

Stuart is busy with being busy. Actually, Stuart is busy fronting an indie-rock band we've just signed to Unfamiliar Records. They're called The Two Koreas, and you will be able to get their second album from us starting in early November. This is exciting news, as it pushes us one step further towards the ultimate goal of this site: to somehow socially engineer a Pitchfork reviewer into reviewing his own album. Our mandate was outlined in secret, so don't bother searching the archives.

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NO FORMAT presents

THURSDAY OCTOBER 5th 2006

@ Sneaky Dee's (Toronto, Canada)

HARLEM SHAKES
From Brooklyn, New York, this is Harlem Shakes' first time in Toronto. They've already ripped it up in Montreal, and are playing consistently sold out shows in their home town. Now we get to see what it's all about. Indie pop in the vein of The Magnetic Fields, you could also compare them to contemporaries The Spinto Band and Oh No! Oh My!. This is great hook-driven music.

THE BOOK OF LISTS
With their first album released least year on Global Symphonic (home to the wonderful Sunset Rubdown), Vancouver's The Book Of Lists bring jangly '60s guitars to bare against walls of distortion and the distinctive vocals of Chris Frey (ex-Radio Berlin). I saw these guys (and girl) play their first shows in Vancouver a few years ago, and have wanted to bring them to Toronto ever since moving back.

Say thanks to Pop Montreal for giving these bands the perfect excuse for a run across the country -- or across the border.

Local guests to be announced. We will have some sort of DJ type person playing between sets.

(I enjoy writing shit like this about as much as I enjoy writing press releases).

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NO FORMAT is starting our new weekly in Toronto on the second week of October. We have the location, and we'll announce it soon.

The idea is to somehow - magically - try and move away from the standard indie-rock-new-wave-post-punk-electro or disco-techno-electro format just about everyone has been following for far too long. So we're gonna play nothing but bhangra and zydeco. Oh, and Prince. Lots of Prince. And Madonna for Lana.

As an ammendment to this: if you're in Toronto, go hang out at The Beaver on Queen West and listen to Mikey and Jaime play music every Thursday night. They have the fresh shit, and are keeping it real. Fuck the posers -- serious.

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So in the spirit of different, here is some early '80s post-punk for you. OK, not so different (but definitely obscure), Blue Orchids pioneered an interesting mix of Hammond organ, guitar, and off-kilter vocal stylings. Formed by ex-Fall members Martin Bramah and Una Baines, they succeeded in releasing just one album and a series of EPs before disbanding in the early '90s. A few compilations of their work also exist.

One has to wonder if Inspiral Carpets were paying attention to these guys. (And no, I didn't read the Allmusic write-up before putting this together).

Blue Orchids - Agents Of Chance
Blue Orchids - The House That Faded Out

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Blue to pink. Ex-Big In Japan's Jayne Casey formed Pink Military in 1978, and had a pretty good run, moving from a traditional post-punk sound, to something more experimental and electronic. Their music is very hard to track down, and if anyone can find a copy of "Is This The End?" I'd love to get it. "Blood and Lipstick" is almost proto-Glass Candy in it's sound, for those in search of modern references.

Pink Military - Blood And Lipstick
Pink Military - Degenerated Man
Pink Military - I Cry

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Tony and Angela: thank you for the emails.

Shoegaze Cover Night (Part 1)

2006-08-22T22:23:00.000-04:00

Wednesday August 23rd 2006

NO FORMAT presents
SHOEGAZE COVER NIGHT (Part 1)

featuring

THE BLACK RABBIT (11:30pm)
Ian Worang (Uncut / The Two Koreas) - Guitar
Kieran Grant (The Two Koreas) - Guitar
Jon McCann (Nassau / ex-Guided By Voices) - Guitar
Ian Jackson (The Diableros) - Guitar
Derek Tokar (Uncut) - Bass
Pete Carmichael (The Diableros) - Bass
David Gee (The Two Koreas) - Drums
Jon Drew (Uncut) - Drums
Stuart Berman (The Two Koreas) - Vox/Percussion

PLUS

No Dynamics (11:00pm)
The Assistants (10:30pm)
Wyrd Visions (10:00pm)
Fjord Rowboat (9:30pm)

Musical interludes provided by
Chromewaves

Design and visuals curated by
Recesspress
Familiar

@ TRANZAC (292 Brunswick Ave., south of Bloor) (Toronto, Canada)

$8 in advance, and $10 at the door.
Tickets available at Rotate This and Soundscapes until night of show.

(Please note The Diableros will no longer be playing a solo set, but members of the band will be guesting with The Black Rabbit.)

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Direct from my frustratingly slow Hotmail Live Beta inbox to you, are The Isles. A band from New York who - on this track at least - manage to sound almost entirely like The Smiths (without the reference coming off as a diss).

The Isles - Major Arcana

Next, I offer you one track from lost '80s post-punk forerunners, Blue Orchids -- with a write-up, and more music to follow.

Blue Orchids - The Flood

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We hope to see some of you tomorrow night. Thanks for your support.

All in threes

2006-08-19T15:03:00.000-04:00

Fujiya & Miyagi are not Japanese, but British -- though like France's Colder, they sound German. Their new album, Transparent Things, is this year's model of motorik Krautrock precision.

Fujiya & Miyagi - Cassettesingle

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Bossanova is not a bossa nova band; it's the alias of Vancouver's Chris Torrow, a well-connected indie-rocker with members of The New Pornographers and Black Mountain in his Rolodex. His debut album, Hey Sugar (released this past spring on the recently reactivated Teenbeat label) is an analog-synth-slathered update of Scott Walker-ian pop romantique, but the centrepiece track "Rare Brazil" finds him busting out the Teutonic funk moves of Low-era Bowie.

Bossanova - Rare Brazil

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Velocette are not velocettes, nor are they even a band anymore. The long-lost Brit quartet's debut album Fourfold Remedy came out on Wiija Records in 1998 and the band promptly disappeared without incident. But in light of The Pipettes' recent grrl-group redux, it's an appropriate time for a reappraisal. Where the Pipettes proffer a more self-aware synthesis of The Supremes and Le Tigre, Velocette provided a more retro/reverential portrait of Spector producing Stereolab.

Velocette - Get Yourself Together

Heavy Brackets

2006-08-11T02:29:00.000-04:00

So, Stuart took off to Chicago last week for what I think might have been the best weekend of shows Toronto has seen this year. From Land Of Talk last Thursday, to Oneida on Friday, Wolf Parade (with Frog Eyes, and Holy Fuck) on Saturday evening, and The Blow on Saturday night, it was a wonderful time.

Land Of Talk have been consistently great every time I've seen them, and this - an off night by their standards - was no exception. Locals The Ghost Is Dancing (who recently signed to Sonic Unyon) and Foxfire Forest kicked things off in pure indie-pop style. We have a nice little scene going on here, and it's good to see a younger generation of artists representing -- I mean, I don't think anyone in Foxfire Forest is over 21-years-old, to look at them.

Oneida absolutely killed it on Friday night. Amazing performance.

Wolf Parade put on the weakest show of all these bands -- hobbled by limited set time and my own high expectations (they offered up only average performances the last two times I saw them, so I was expecting the third time to be lucky). With the hour nearing 7pm, Frog Eyes began the show at (the college jock magnet that is) The Phoenix, followed by Holy Fuck. Wolf Parade closed things out, rushing through their set before the 9pm curfew. They managed to play a quick encore, much to the discomfort of the promoter -- if you book The Phoenix on a weekend, you have to be out of there before The Edge 102 dance party takes over at 10pm.

Following the oppressive atmosphere of The Phoenix, it was a relief to watch The Blow (see also: Y.A.C.H.T.) do her thing a few hours later. She coaxed the indie-rockers at Sneaky Dee's into dancing and even managed to do a little crowd surfing during her meandering, highly theatrical set. Canadancia is what she called it, and we thank her for that.

Overall a great weekend, capped off by good times at the bars and at home on Sunday night.

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Cobras Cobras Cobras are a couple guys out of Victoria, BC, making (early) Liars-like noise, backed up by synthesized beats. The two tracks they've made available on their Myspace page show great potential, but they have no label, and no tour plans just yet. We'll have some more insider news on this band in the upcoming weeks.

Cobras Cobras Cobras - Best Of The Best
Cobras Cobras Cobras - Payphone Jr.

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A few hours down south (across the increasingly fortified U.S.-Canada border) are Nudge. This sorta-Portland, Oregon-based three-piece also rock the drum machines, but lay a much more delicate set of sounds over top -- managing to create atmospheric electronic music that is actually good (no small feat). Of course, that's not to say they don't get loud or pick up the tempo at times; be sure to check out the live recordings they have on their Myspace page.

Featuring Brian Foote of Audraglint Records (through which they are releasing their next short-format CD), Nudge are currently preparing material for a new album on Kranky, and have previously worked with left-field electro-indie label Tigerbeat6.

With vocals by Josh Blanchard of Plants, "Her Lips" is a real stand-out track here.

Nudge - Her Lips
Nudge - Blon
Nudge - Parade

See also: Strategy, another musical project of Nudge's Paul Dickow.

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The Boggs just offered a new version of Arm In Arm (off their recently-released 12") for download. Excellent production on this one; nice remix from Shy Child.

The Boggs - Arm In Arm (12" Version)
The Boggs - Arm In Arm (Shy Child Remix)
The Boggs - The Passage

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Watch Glissandro 70 live at Tranzac (backed by Jeremy Finkelstein of No Dynamics on drums). Thanks to Aperture Enzyme.

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For those who are unaware of our policy for posting music, we get permission for about 75% of what you can download here, with the rest being (mostly) hard-to-find, out of print, or very obscure tracks. The trend at some "MP3 blogs" to make entire albums available for download (often prior to release) is offensive and inconsiderate to the artists they portend to support.

Please, before you offer the results of someone else's hard work for free over the internet, think twice about the context in which you do it.

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That's it for another heavily bracketed update.

Bedroom Creators

2006-08-08T15:36:00.000-04:00

Now, more than ever, young passionate singer-songwriters are making music in their bedrooms. They lock themselves up for hours, play all the instruments, arrange and record it themselves and pass out CDs to their friends who pass it along to their friends who post it on the interweb. People who would never know about them become fans, and-- you know how it works.

This kind of indie success is what the many dudes I met while living in Brooklyn are quickly realizing. Nothing is stopping them from following their dreams of making quality music (often about sex, girls, parties, drinking and friends) and distributing it themselves.

There's something about recordings like these that can be captivating. Usually intimate and acoustic, one can't help being touched by the priviledge of listening to these seemingly inner thoughts put to music. And even though they may not be able to record professionally, their music is still reaching people by word of mouth. Isn't that the best way? It just makes it feel so much more personal.

Here are a couple artists that stand out to me, I hope you enjoy them too:

Sean Walsh is a 20-year-old New Jersey native who draws from influences like Hank Williams, M. Ward, Elliot Smith and Bob Dylan. Shifting between up-beat bar-dancing, beer-swigging, bro-hugging good times, and songs filled with insightful lyrics about love and relationships, Sean makes music that leaves you with a sense that he really understands the human condition.

Sean Walsh - Halfway Laugh
Sean Walsh - Wild Eyes

With sarcasm and wit matched by few of his peers, Miguel Mendez released his first solo album on I & Ear Records from Brooklyn. Also a member of Love As Laughter, Tiffany Anders, and J. Mascis, he's often compared to Beck, The Magnetic Fields and Neil Young. Close 'bros, Dios (Malos), did a cover of his song “You Got Me All Wrong”, and it ended up on “The O.C.", but don't let that scare you away -- his music is brilliant.

Miguel Mendez - You Got Me All Wrong
Miguel Mendez - Drinking Beers

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I saw Land of Talk last Friday night at the Drake Underground. Looks like Cat Power might have a little competition when it comes to disarmingly awkward feminine appeal.

Whole Lolla Love

2006-08-08T00:13:00.000-04:00

Stuart Berman was in Chicago last weekend for Lollapalooza, and has offered his thoughts on the festival. New posts from Lana and Greg (with music) this week.

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Though only in its second year post-resuscitation, some people are already calling the annual Chicago edition of Lollapalooza the northeast Coachella. But instead of mountains, you’re surrounded by skyscrapers — which, given Chicago’s architectural acumen, ain’t a bad thing. Having never attended Coachella, I can only say that Lollapalooza is among the most well-organized mega-festivals I’ve been to — even with some 50,000 attendees at Grant Park each day, I didn’t have to line up for the Porta-potties once, the beer line never topped 60 seconds, they have attractive on-site staff whose only job is to douse you with super-soakers, and the facing-stage set-up meant pretty much every set started on time (with the exception of Lady Sovereign, who apparently needed an extra 20 minutes to pick out her most regal set of track pants). And even with the likes of Blues Traveler and Matt Costa on the bill, the hippie quotient was remarkably low, which was refreshing following a weekend at Hillside.

If Lollapalooza was short on personal discoveries — most of the newer acts were scheduled pre-2pm and were, therefore, missed by those of us who were busy doing lunch runs to White Castle — it did provide the surreal experience of seeing perennial club-level acts receive stadium-sized receptions that would seem otherwise unattainable given their modest record sales. The prevailing theme at this year’s Lollapalooza seemed to be “respect your elders,” even the ones who once told you to “kill yr idols.” Line of the weekend goes to Kim Gordon, who introduced Sonic Youth’s final song, “Shaking Hell,” with: “this one was written before most of you were born.” The moment was as endearing as the song itself was feral: when Sonic Youth were playing the same track 23 years ago for a crowd of 20 in some East Village scum bucket, did they ever imagine that some day it would go over with a cameraphone-waving festival crowd of 20,000?

If Sonic Youth seem nonchalant in their role as parallel-universe festival gods, The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne is, of course, having the time of his freakin’ life, and the time of yours as well. Save for “Vein of Stars,” the Lips’ set list offered few surprises, and after seeing the balloon/streamers/aliens/Santa/nun puppet routine (if such a procession could be called “routine”) a few times, the old-school fan in me wishes Coyne would delve deeper into the canon rather than use up another five minutes of their limited set time trying to coax an extra sing-along chorus to “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.” However, the man did score the second best line of the weekend: “We first played Lollapalooza in 1994, with all these great bands: The Breeders, Nick Cave, Guided by Voices… shit, even the Verve were pretty good then.”

But moreso than a coronation for alt-rock's ruling class, this year's Lollapalooza represented the complete, end-game convergence of subculture and corporate branding. The early '90s Lollapaloozas proved that various rogue alt-rock factions could be merged into one giant ambiguous mass (read: demographic) of "otherness"; now those "others" are in their 30s with day jobs and can afford wireless service and gaming consoles . Where the old Lollapaloozas simply had a "second" and "third stage," now it boasts the "AT&T Stage" and the "PlayStation Stage" and the "Bud Light Stage." (Can you guess the name of the only brand of beer available at Lollapalooza?) Not that this should come as any kind of shock — we've been inundated with Xtreme! marketing for a good decade now — but the interesting thing is, at this point, nobody really cares. Aside from a few cheeky comments from Built to Spill and Sonic Youth (Lee Ranaldo: "This one's for all the Bud Light drinkers!"), the brands were as much a part of the festival venacular as "beer tent" and "sun stroke." Ultimately, it's the cost of putting on an event of this magnitude (130 bands in 3 days over 8 stages). Much like the Toronto Jazz festival, which lives and dies by whatever corporate sponsor can ensure its existence each year, Lollapalooza's mandate of presenting emergent indie-rock/rap artists in a populist environment requires a lot more than Perry Farrell's utopian intentions to keep it going. "Hey, you gotta pay your dues/ before you pay the rent," Steve Malkmus sang 12 years ago on Pavement's "Range Life." Now, just substitute the second half of that statement with "before you get your complimentary pair of Adidas."

And hey, after standing for 8 hours a day, much of it on concrete, we're not about to turn down some quality footwear. To recap Lolla's top stories: Sleater-Kinney’s set — one of their last before their imminent break-up — was bittersweet, but the repertoire skewed too much to last year's Woods tour setlists to qualify as a career-capper. Cover me: Calexico paid tribute to the recently deceased Arthur Lee with their Nicolai Dunger-assisted rendition of “Alone Again Or”; Ryan Adams pulled off a jam on Sonic Youth’s “Expressway to Yr Skull” that actually didn’t suck; and The Raconteurs made David Bowie’s “It Ain’t Easy” sound like it was written for them, though the band still come off more like Jack White and his pals dicking around in their jam space than a real threat. Memo to Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch: go to a barber, now (but thanks for closing with “Carry the Zero”). Queens of the Stone Age’s “Song for the Dead” still kills even without Dave Grohl or Mark Lanegan. There are more people who care about Death Cab for Cutie than you could possibly imagine. Kanye West looks really short from 50 yards away. Stars’ Torquil Campbell had the best T-shirt of the weekend: “I Miss Grant McLennan.” (Worst T-shirt goes to the one Stabbing Westward fan left on Earth.) Secret Machines should just play "First Wave Intact" for their entire set. And the third best line of the weekend goes to the New Pornographers’ Carl Newman: “You may not realize this, but our songs have more time signature changes than Coheed & Cambria’s.”

But for the final word, we turn to the thousands of Broken Social Scene fans who screamed for 10 minutes for an encore that wasn’t to be, due to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ encroaching start time. Cries for “ONE MORE SONG!” turned to “WE’RE NOT LEAVING!” and then finally “FUCK THE PEPPERS!,” as that band’s tour manager allegedly denied the request for a set-time extension, presumably because the world needs longer bass solos. Really, it’s a metaphor for life: you try to do your best and change the world for the better, but The Man still keeps you down with bad white funk.

We're Imperial

2006-07-27T23:42:00.000-04:00

My last blog post was a bit controversial with some people (and yes, I bow out at the point were it gets personal). I'm going to repost something I wrote a little while ago on a message board:

One of the things I've noticed in Toronto is the prevalence of, "if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all" when it comes to local music criticism. I was discussing this with another journalist on Sunday night, and he put it down to the simple fact that you really don't want to deal with someone you slagged off giving you the evil eye from the other side of the bar every time you go out. Nobody wants to name names, except in private.

While I can understand this sentiment, it seems to me a bit of honest criticism can go a long way towards leveling an uneven playing field. Marketing will give mediocre (or even bad) bands enough exposure to generate the sales and tour support for them to make it (Mobile, Pilate, Metric, Alexisonfire, etc.), while most local journalists run circles around saying any of them are crap. Of course, not everyone listens to reviews, but there are a hell of a lot of people who do, and one can argue that these are the very people who are buying records based around heavy rotation on MuchMusic and The Edge (which is bought, not earned).

If Emily Haines or Amy Millan wants to call you an asshole for saying their new albums are poor, tell them to write something better so you can give them the critical acclaim they want. I mean, why isn't there more local media pointing out that Live It Out is bad, and Bedouin Soundclash are not much better than Bootsauce? It seems to be the consensus elsewhere.

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Although they've already toured with Weird War (ex-The Makeup) and !!!, San Francisco's Seahorse Liberation Army have yet to make a name for themselves outside their local scene. The lack of front-page exposure is surprising, considering they took responsibility for being the source of Paris Hilton's cell-phone leak (which, I suppose, is on the risky scale somewhere between claiming to be an Al Qaeda operative, and drinking a box of expired grape juice). Anyone know what a "conceptual art outlaw" is?

Regardless, take a bit of the aforementioned Weird War, mix in some of that !!!, add self-mocking socio-political commentary, wrap it up in Franco-synth-pop (with English lyrics), and you have Seahorse Liberation Army. I hear their six-member live show is impressive.

Thanks to ESB for the tip on this one.

Seahorse Liberation Army - Stockhousen For Little Girls That Wish [...]
Seahorse Liberation Army - Play Play Play
Seahorse Liberation Army - We Set Paris On Fire (Radio Edit)

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Astute readers might notice Shout Out Out Out Out's full-length album has appeared in our "Best of 2006" sidebar.

Two Years Live

2006-07-24T02:00:00.000-04:00

So, the AYF? two year anniversary passed with little fanfare.

However, it's never too late for a birthday (my father knows this), so I figure we can indulge in a celebratory post of live recordings we were listening to two years ago. Both of these bootlegs have been floating around the internet for - well - two years, but they're still a bit difficult to track down.

Featured here are two of our favorite musicians -- The Shins' James Mercer (thanks, Courtney), and Slowdive's Neil Halstead. The sets were recorded at the (surf/art-oriented) 2004 Moonshine Festival in Laguna Beach, California. Sound quality is great, and Halstead's rough start is endearing. He hits his stride on the last three tracks.

James Mercer live at Moonshine Festival (2004):

James Mercer - Intro
James Mercer - Caring Is Creepy
James Mercer - When I Goosestep
James Mercer - Young Pilgrims
James Mercer - Girl Inform Me
James Mercer - Won One Too Many Fights
James Mercer - Harvest
James Mercer - Pink Bullets
James Mercer - Gone For Good
James Mercer - Sphagnum Esplanade
James Mercer - The Past And Pending
James Mercer - New Slang
James Mercer - Saint Simon

Neil Halstead live at Moonshine Festival (2004)

Neil Halstead - See You On Rooftops
Neil Halstead - Two Stones In My Pocket
Neil Halstead - Driving With Bert
Neil Halstead - Sleeping On Roads
Neil Halstead - Who Do You Love
Neil Halstead - Yer Feet

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Last week Metric curated an outdoor festival here in Toronto. Not being a huge fan of the music, I went to hang out with friends and drink (horribly overpriced) beer. Turns out free tickets and "VIP" wristbands were being given away like so many McDonalds Monopoly playing pieces (no doubt to bolster the relatively thin attendance).

Rather than rip into what I heard that day (I missed Land Of Talk, the only band I'd wanted to see), I'll offer you a glimpse into what kills me about the music industry:

As I left the show, Emily Haines (singer for Metric) dropped into an anti-commercialism/anti-marketing rant during a breakdown in set-closer, "Dead Disco" -- she went on about "not being marketed to," and sounded very teenage and angsty. So, here I am still within earshot of the venue, watching a guy in a Porsche drive out of the parking lot. We're surrounded by jocks and young scenesters, and music industry types, and being handed all sorts of useless merch and flyers -- and she is ranting against corporate marketing? It's like anti-commercialism is part of the m.o. for these fashion/style-driven bands. Ironic? Yes.

To put it in further perspective: this is coming from the same band who has a touring stylist and had bottle service in their VIP lounge at the after-party. Thanks guys.

Here come the Worm hits

2006-07-23T22:57:00.000-04:00

Watching Ladyhawk Friday night at the Rivoli, I was reminded of a band that I had first seen on the same stage some 10 years ago: Silkworm. Both bands favour a form of frayed-nerve indie-rock that balances out the fuzz-pedal outbursts with wide open space, and both deal in the sort of bald, biting lyrics that can sometimes make them sound like assholes, even though we're always on their side of the argument.

For the uninitiated: Silkworm released several albums on such venerable labels as Matador and Touch and Go (many of which were recorded by Steve Albini) and were essentially Pavement's soul brothers, though their pop discord owed less to the Velvets/Sonic Youth school and more to Crazy Horse/Minutemen. Silkworm and Steve Malkmus even formed a supergroup of sorts called The Crust Brothers, ostensibly for the purpose of playing drunken Dylan covers, as documented on 1998's cheekily titled Marquee Mark.

Despite their formidable credentials, Silkworm were a mostly unknown quantity, even by indie-rock standards; the aforementioned gig at the Rivoli in '96 was attended by 50 people (and the 50 quietest people in Toronto at that), which was particularly shocking to me as, at the time, I assumed every band signed to Matador were rock stars. (I even felt compelled to go up to the band after the show and apologize for the muted reception.) The closest the band ever got to superstardom was when guitarist Andy Cohen filled in for Bush's Bigel Pusford for a few stadium gigs. But even if fame (or, heck, even a Magnet cover story) eluded them, you got the sense this band would be around forever, churning out solid albums so long as their day jobs allowed them the time.

Sadly, it was not to be: just over a year ago, on July 14 2005, the band's drummer Michael Dahlquist was killed in the most horrible of accidents -- the car containing him and two workmates was blindsided by a suicidal motorist who struck their car with the intention of ending her life. Dahlquist and his friends, John Click and Dougas Meis, were killed on impact. Crazy driver woman, of course, lived — though her modelling career is probably finished.

Dahlquist became the second person I've ever interviewed to pass on. In tribute to a good man and his band, here's a small sample of Silkworm's greatest shoulda-woulda-coulda-been contenders.

Silkworm - Never Met a Man I Didn't Like
Silkworm - Treat the New Guy Right
Silkworm - Drunk

That Cat's Something I Can't Explain

2006-07-15T02:33:00.000-04:00

You know the drill: rock legend dies; spend rest of week revisiting the catalogue and sifting through assorted ephemera. Like this, Syd Barrett's high school photo (courtesy of Ben Rayner, whose dad was in Syd's class). You'll find the young madcap three rows down from the top, fifth from left.

Syd also had a friend who witnessed his first acid tip, realized it was going to be a historical event, and decided to film it. And in a strange bit of synchronicity, news of Syd's death coincided with the arrival of the new Sadies "live at Lee's" album, In Concert Volume One (out August 8), featuring a cover of the Floyd's "Lucifer Sam," with guest Gary Louris on vocals. That this week also saw the release of Pink Floyd's wholly unnecessary Pulse DVD was not an uncanny coincidence, just merely pathetic.

The Sadies - Lucifer Sam (Pink Floyd Cover)

This World Is A Warm Sunny Park

2006-07-14T00:02:00.000-04:00

First off, I want to thank Greg for inviting me to write for AYF? What an honour, for real. As I get my bearings in a new city (Toronto), you'll be hearing about my observations on an obssessive culture, be privy to my taste in music, and hear gossip stories from my adventures as they unfold. There's no format for what I'll deliver to you, with only one rule: NO MADONNA! (Except, maybe a good remix will come out and I'll be able to pass it along? Please? [No Madonna! No Madonna remixes! Why do all girls love Madonna? -Greg]) Yes you're going to get all this - sprinkled with sarcasm and wit - so here we go.

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Lately I've been reading a lot about a band called Oh No! Oh My! (enter clever joke about their name here) on countless blogs (dating way back to January). Garnering the same type of buzz that brought CYHSY to the lips of every indie-internet-junkie-hipster, this band is not necessarily unique amoung their peers, but they have managed to apply fresh perspective to a tired genre.

Comparible to bands like The Magnetic Fields, The Shins, and Belle & Sebastian, listening to Oh No! Oh My! leaves us noticing the little things in life that so often pass us by. "Walk In The Park" has quickly turned into my very own personal theme song with lyrics like, "nice day for a drive-by shooting," making even the most sadistic actions appear pleasurable. Kind of fucked up, right? Well listen to the song, and you'll be bouncing along the street thinking to yourself, "I wish I had my gat..."

Oh No! Oh My! - Walk In The Park
Oh No! Oh My! - Jane Is Fat

You Ain't No Picasso recently featured Oh No! Oh My!'s WOXY session.

They play Thursday July 13th at the Insound Pre-Siren Fest party at Supreme Trading in Brooklyn (aka The 2nd Annual SHORTS ONLY Party).

The rest of the tour dates are as follows:

07/14/2006 - El Mocombo, Toronto, ON - w/ The Big Sleep, Professor Murder
07/30/2006 - Southgate House, Cincinnati, OH - w/ Camera Obscura
08/03/2006 - Kuyahoga Festival, Cleveland, OH - w/ Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth
08/05/2006 - Lollapalooza, Chicago, IL - w/ about 300 other bands
08/06/2006 - The End, Nashville, TN - w/ Lylas and General Sherman
08/19/2006 - The Opolis, Norman, OK
08/22/2006 - The Independent, San Francisco, CA - w/ Let's Go Sailing, TBA
08/23/2006 - Amoeba Music In-Store & Secret Acoustic show, Los Angeles, CA
08/24/2006 - The Echo, Los Angeles, CA
08/25/2006 - Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA
08/26/2006 - The Casbah, San Diego, CA - w/ Jeremy Enigk
09/06/2006 - House of Blues, Atlantic City, NJ - w/ The Flaming Lips
09/07/2006 - University of Vermont, Burlington, VT - w/ The Flaming Lips

We Multiply

2006-07-13T01:28:00.000-04:00

AYF? covered Birmingham/Rekjavik/London-based (sic) Fields back in January of this year. They recently released a couple new songs for download, both of which live up to the high psych-pop standards we expect from the band. Now if only they'd tour Canada instead of Japan.

Fields - Charming The Flames
Fields - Heretic

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The Boggs' latest 12" came out yesterday. It should be available from their label, Say Hey Records, once they update the site. Remixes from Shy Child and Glass Factory (Chris Zane) are included with this one. See our post from Monday/Tuesday for background information on The Boggs.

Oneida's new LP was also released yesterday. You can catch them live on Friday August 4th in Toronto, as part of the Bummer In The Summer Festival at The Boat. Prepare to be impressed.

Oneida - Up With People

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NO FORMAT presents

THE SHOEGAZE COVER SHOW
(Part 1)

Wednesday August 23rd 2006
at THE BOAT

featuring

The Diableros
No Dynamics
Wyrd Visions
Fjord Rowboat

Musical interludes provided by Chromewaves

More info, and our special guests to be announced soon.

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Future Force consists of two members of the now defunct Electric Badness (see previous AYF? post). TJ and Noah have fashioned some solid motorik-inspired electro-disco for their first couple of releases as Future Force; the percussion has a good low-end thump, and the synths bounce along nicely. I'm posting the slightly more amped Alex Costa remix of "Night Pony" here. It's been floating around on a few other blogs, but it deserves the extra coverage.

Future Force - Night Pony (Alex Costa 8Bitz Remix)

Check out TJ's blog, American Athlete.

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You will notice posts on AYF? are now listed under various people's names. Please be nice to Lana and Stuart.

Time Has Passed

2006-07-11T01:38:00.000-04:00

It has been a month since the last proper AYF? blog entry. A lot has happened in that time.

Our Man Man show was very successful, filling The Silver Dollar with a happy, receptive audience. The Ghost Is Dancing were a great opener, and everything went smoothly. Thanks to all who came out, and a big thanks to the person who recorded a few tracks from Man Man's set and put it up on YouTube. Suckingalemon has some photos of the night.

YouTube: Man Man - Video 1 (Live at The Silver Dollar, Toronto)
YouTube: Man Man - Video 2 (Live at The Silver Dollar, Toronto)

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NO FORMAT and Lipp Service took advantage of our friend Juan MacLean's Harbourfront show in Toronto last Friday, and set him up with a DJ gig the day before. This time it was at The Beaver; a very small bar down on Queen Street West run by Will Munro. Huge thanks to Mikey and Jaime for playing music and helping make this a great night. We had about 150 people in a space designed for 60.

This was the first time Serato gave me problems during a set (partially the result of skipping needles and my own stupidity), but even with some technical difficulties, the dancing didn't stop.

I took off to Montreal with The Juan MacLean for their show at Club Soda last Saturday -- now it's Monday and I'm back in Toronto, still recovering.

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The Paper Cranes debut EP peaked in the top 10 on the Canadian college/indie charts. Their tour was a success, and we'd like to give thanks to everyone for your couches and support. We can now announce our UK 7" release coming up after this summer on Longest Mile Records. US distribution for the Veins EP is forthcoming, as is a full-length CD in 2007.

In the meantime, Vitaminsforyou finished off his remix of "Milk Run" today. The "Milk Run (And A Stick Of Butter Holiday Remix)" comes off like Black Dice meets balearic beat, and is one of my favorite tracks VFU has done.

The Paper Cranes - Milk Run (And A Stick Of Butter Holiday Remix)

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I've been sitting on a couple of bands for the last month. The first to get written up are The Boggs.

Fronted by Jason Friedman (who has flitted between Berlin and New York over the last few years), The Boggs' current incarnation features members from a few respected indie bands, amongst them Enon, and Love As Laughter.

Their sound veers from intense and percussive ("Forts") to dissonant and spastic ("Remember The Orphans"), all while retaining a desperate, tightly wound sense of purpose. This is some of the best new music out of New York.

The Boggs - Forts
The Boggs - Arm In Arm
The Boggs - Remember The Orphans

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Speaking of New York, I had a chance to see TV On The Radio at their free Prospect Park show in Brooklyn (with Voxtrot) a couple weeks ago. The guys have developed their live performance, and are obviously now used to a big stage and a big crowd. Great presence.

We hit Lansing-Drieden and Grizzly Bear at The Bowery after TVOTR; another good show. Funny how people are so split on L-D's secret image thing. I think it's funny. Are the vocals canned? Hard to say, but the mics were definitely live between songs.

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Thanks to everyone who asked when AYF? was coming back -- I told you we would. Maybe more than five of you even stuck around.

Lana is going to help out with some writing, as is Stuart (who is now a regular Pitchfork contributor. Feel free to hate on him for his association. Just kidding. We like PFM and plan to attend their festival this month.)

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If you haven't yet heard the new Jarvis Cocker track, you really should. Accompanying the song here is Billy Childish/Thee Headcoats' vicious rant against the corporate music establishment (thanks to Gary for this one, and congratulations to his band who probably love the music media these days).

Jarvis Cocker - Cunts Are Still Running The World
Thee Headcoats - (We Hate The Fuckin') NME

Under The Covers

2006-06-05T00:33:00.000-04:00

This is a week of dedications.

For Marla, it's Chapterhouse. AYF? already mentioned these guys in the shoegaze retrospective, but there are a few obscure gems I've been asked to post. Two covers, specifically -- the first a cover of The Beatles' "Rain," and the second of Spacemen 3's "Losing Touch With My Mind." Both songs are excellent renditions, and demonstrate Chaperhouse's ability to switch things up, stylistically, while retaining their own aural identity.

I'm throwing in their demo of Kane, because it's just a great song.

Chapterhouse - Rain (Beatles cover)
Chapterhouse - Losing Touch With My Mind (Spacemen 3 cover)
Chapterhouse - Kane (Demo)

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Someone very close to me almost died last night. She is in hospital and she's gonna be fine -- this song is for her.

The Futureheads have proven themselves as the clear leaders in the densely populated post-punk genre with their latest album, News And Tributes. While I've always been a fan, the song-writing and technical skill they're exhibiting these days has pushed them well into the AYF? radar. One of the best albums this year.

The Futureheads - Burnt

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This is for Corrie. It also happens to be one of my favorite songs of the moment. The Legends have been mentioned on AYF? frequently; a full post will happen soon.

The Legends - The Kids Just Wanna Have Fun

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Mean Guy Brian co-stars in Broken Social Scene's new video for Fire Eye'd Boy. Check it out, courtesy of Antville. Toronto indie scene insiders will no doubt find this funnier than the majority of viewers.

VIDEO: Broken Social Scene - Fire Eye'd Boy (MOV)

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Monday June 5th, MAN MAN (http://www.myspace.com/wearemanman) and The Ghost Is Dancing (http://www.myspace.com/theghostisdancing) will be playing at The Silver Dollar. I will be DJing. This is a show I am doing along with Craig Laskey of ATG, and based on ticket sales so far, it'll be a busy one. Celebrate the start of NxNE week or something like that. Heh. Tickets are available at Rotate and Soundscapes or Ticketmaster..

Friday June 9th, THE PAPER CRANES (http://www.myspace.com/thepapercranes), and THE DIABLEROS (http://www.myspace.com/thediableros) will be playing along with Jewish Legend and Andrew Rodriguez at Sneaky Dee's. This is a label showcase for Baudelaire (Even Newman) and Unfamiliar Records (my own label, home to The Paper Cranes). It is NOT NxNE affiliated. Tickets are at Rotate or on Ticketweb.

Saturday June 10th, I am DJing at a Vice party. I agreed to do this because the person setting it up (Nina from Vice in Montreal) is really nice. The details are below. It's free, and it's bound to be nuts -- punky bands, and loud music from me. It's a cool venue, and the bands are good.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Jun 1, 2006 1:08 PM
Subject: VICE NotXNE- June 10th

So its' NXNE time again, for those of you who don't know, NXNE is the crippled little sister of the SXSW Music Festival in Austin. NXNE pretty much sucks except for Dan Burke's nights and like maybe 2 shows.

This year, VICE is putting on another unofficial "showcase" with some of our favourite bands, its' FREE. No guestlist, no wristbands, no bullshit, just come if you like checking out music, we've got rockabilly, rock n' roll, electro, punk, thrash and MORE!!!!!

VICE & Original Penguin Present:
NotXNE

Saturday June 10th
Midtown (552 College st.)
Door: 9pm

Bloodshot Bill: http://www.myspace.com/bloodshotbill
Crystal Castles: http://www.myspace.com/crystalcastles
CPC Gangbangs: http://www.myspace.com/cpcgangbangs

DJ: NNY (No Format/Unfamiliar Records)

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Have you heard the Thom Yorke solo album yet? It's great.

Decompressed and Nostalgic

2006-05-30T02:33:00.000-04:00

So much for keeping up while I was on vacation, but I am finally decompressed and back to writing.

There has been and air of nostalgia around my apartment, and here is part of the soundtrack.

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As of this summer, it's over three years since my last weekly DJ residency (out in Vancouver). Back in those days, it was all about fitting 100 people into a bar made for 60 on a Sunday night. Back alley entrance, and noise complaints from the apartment buildings across the street. Our playlists were dominated by DFA releases, indie rock, disco-punk, italo-disco, '80s new wave, the No New York, Anti-NY, and Young New York compilations, Playgroup, Kitsune, Gomma, and the rest.

Munk was one of my favorite artists at the time, and when he remixed Vivien Goldman for the Anti-NY compilation, it was magical. Not a dancefloor filler, but one you could put on as the crowd arrived. I still play the original from time to time.

Vivien Goldman - Launderette (Munk Version)
Vivien Goldman - Launderette

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So what about that crazy '80s new wave revival? Bands with names I don't even want to mention on here. But there were some good ones, like I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness -- who finally released their album a few months back, after teasing us with their debut EP three years prior. Ah the summer days of '03 reliving the summer days of '83 when I wasn't old enough to give a shit.

Danse Society are a criminally underrated product of the early '80s, and listening to their back catalogue, one wonders why a re-release of their 2001 compilation hasn't come about over the last year or two.

Danse Society - Somewhere

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On to the summer of '04 when Lansing-Dreiden released their first album, a patchy but enjoyable mix of '80s and '90s cliches sewn together with threads of '60s psych. Now, with their latest album, they've managed to pull it together into a well-conceived whole that transcends the cliches; one of my favorites this year. The Mili-Vanilli look-alikes in their latest video (for "A Line You Can Cross") were a master-stroke.

Lansing-Dreiden - Part Of The Promise
VIDEO: Lansing-Dreiden - A Line You Can Cross (MOV)

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The Fever (Lansing-Dreiden label-mates) will be playing at The Reverb tonight (May 30th) in Toronto. Hope to see some of you there.

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Nice to meet you last weekend, Merckeda and friends.

London

2006-05-19T02:10:00.000-04:00

Lukas from Fighting just finished off the poster for the NO FORMAT/ATG presentation of Man Man (in Toronto at The Silver Dollar on June 5th). Another brilliant piece. Thanks Lukas.

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The Ghost Is Dancing will be opening for Man Man at the NO FORMAT/ATG show. Their quirky, tightly wound indie-pop hints at The Shins, with roots extending to their Canadian brethren -- The Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, et al. With one EP already completed (and desperately awaiting a wider re-release this fall), the band plan to put out a full-length early next year; one AYF? is highly anticipating. The tracks here were produced by Tyler DeWitt at Skylight Studios, and they sound great.

The Ghost Is Dancing - People
The Ghost Is Dancing - Running Song

People are asking if Ghost is the new Wolf -- and to that, I answer: I don't really care.

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This is a short post today, as I'm heading to England in four hours (at 6am) for a week. There should be a mid-week update -- plenty of wandering, Tate Modern, Camden Town, and a few shows are on the agenda.

Wet

2006-05-13T22:04:00.000-04:00

My friend Julie sent me a link to a band out of Edmonton, Alberta -- The Wet Secrets. Featuring plenty of handclaps, keys, and percussion through their songs, they stir it up with a wickedly warped sense of humor, and will no doubt find a receptive audience amongst fans of, say, Sunset Rubdown. There is no shortage of talent here; the brooding, 7-plus minute "Karate Space Tiger..." is a testament to this, as it never fails to hold your attention from start to finish.

I'm pretty taken with these guys and girls. Their independently released CD can be found through Blackbyrd, and I urge you all to pick it up.

The Wet Secrets - Boat Gas Death Train
The Wet Secrets - Mr. Rimjob 1999
The Wet Secrets - Karate Space Tiger Vs. The Humpin' Jumpmaster (Swordfighting in the Jungle)

If you found this post by searching for "rimjob" on Google, you're a sucker. Sucker.

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Top 5 songs (downloaded) from AYF? over the last seven days:

1. (433) GoGoGo Airheart - So Good
2. (283) Joy Divison - Isolation
3. (276) Cocteau Twins - Iceblink Luck
4. (206) The Rolling Stones - Too Much Blood
5. (192) Slowdive - Dagger

Dragons of Zynth and The Embassy just missed the top 5 after their recent coverage. Wyrd Visions and The Teardrop Explodes continue to get much love, as do New Young Pony Club.

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Stuberman and I had the pleasure of checking out Sound Team last night (now with Capitol Records). They put on a good set, although I was a bit surprised by the relatively benign sound inherent in a few of their new songs. The band was opening for early Kemado signing, Elefant, who showed absolutely no progress since they first appeared in New York -- over three years ago. Diego Garcia's excessive posturing came off as a cheap impersonation of Peter Murphy (thanks, Michelle), and any energy existent between himself and his backing band was not immediately apparent. Stop practicing in the mirror, guy, and start practicing with your band. We left part way into their second song.

Speaking of Kemado, make sure and check out The Fever's latest. More on that soon.

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My perpetually rainy weather widget is finally right. Yay for technology.

Indulgence

2006-05-11T01:58:00.000-04:00

I'd like to thank everyone who comes to AYF? on a regular basis. The site is approaching it's two year anniversary next month, and in that time it's progressed from being nothing but a few plaintive words to -- a bunch of words and some music.

This continues to be a personal space, and will remain so. If I, or anyone else writing for AYF? want to share our strange experiences between posting songs, videos, and art, that's all part of the fun. We are in a public forum here, in which even ex-girlfriends and overly competitive peers are free to participate. If you don't like it, don't read it.

If you want to read something sponsored by magazines and surreptitiously funded by advertising dollars, go check out Stereogum or subscribe to Tripwire.

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Today, two bands that have already been hit up elsewhere, but are worth the extra coverage.

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Palo Santo is the first Shearwater album I've had the chance to get into. Recently released on Misra, Palo Santo marks a departure from their previous material, and acts to distance Shearwater from that other band with whom they are associated. Obvious Jeff Buckley comparisons aside, Jonathan Meiburg builds a complex musical landscape with his songs, swinging from a newfound drum-heavy aggression, to gentle guitars and quiet melodies. This album is thick with mood, and has been a great companion late at night with the lights low.

A Pitchfork review showed up yesterday.

Shearwater - Red Sea, Black Sea
Shearwater - White Waves
Shearwater - Red Sea, Black Sea (demo)

I owe thanks to Phil at Misra for this one.

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A few weeks ago, a friend brought The Embassy to my attention, by way of Jay at Goldkixx. Since then, I've found myself listening to a few of their songs over and over -- compulsively at times. While their albums are hit and miss - falling victim early/mid '90s dance references - each has at least one or two great tunes. Scandinavian indie pop bands are big on my personal charts right now, and The Embassy have clear markings of their Swedish heritage. I suppose if The Legends and Electronic got together, this is what their kids might sound like (and it accounts for the occasional big miss factor).

The Embassy - Time's Tight
The Embassy - Some Indulgence

Video: The Embassy - Stage Persona (MOV)

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The Diableros' video for "Sugar Laced Soul" is finally done, and it looks great. This is the second video from Toronto's Sara St. Onge -- her first being for Final Fantasy. The animation was done by Jay White.

Nice work to everyone involved.

Video: The Diableros - Sugar Laced Soul (MOV)

Awesome Dragon Man

2006-05-05T21:44:00.000-04:00

Everyone in Toronto needs to check out the line-up for the Over The Top festival, which takes place this week. Put together by Eric Warner, Over The Top is easily the best indie music festival we have in this city -- quality over quantity. Previous AYF? favorites Measles-Mumps-Rubella will be in town this year, as are The Lovely Feathers, Pas/Cal, Asobi Seksu, Saturday Looks Good To Me, Telefauna, Wyrd Visions, and more. Ticket prices are reasonable, and I'm even going to swallow my negative attitude towards The Drake for a few shows there.

Great job Eric. Thank you.

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Three from New York today. AYF? has been away for a while; gotta catch up.

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As part of Over The Top, Awesome Color will be playing a late show at Sneaky Dee's on Saturday May 6th (1am). How many awesome colors are there? Two guys wielding axes, and a girl on skins. The three of them collectively moved themselves to NYC from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and recently signed to Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label.

Their music cruises along -- psych-garage-rock like an open-top muscle car. Awesome Color revel in heavy riffs and solos, the drums and basslines laying a deep undercurrent. The energy is distinctly blues, and it's infectious.

Exclusive MP3 styles:

Awesome Color - Free Man

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The members of Dragons of Zynth all have names I can't figure out how to pronounce: Aku, Akwetey, and Gbatokai. Produced by David Sitek and Kyp Malone (both of TV On The Radio), the sound is like riding on a train through a tunnel with two sets of speakers mounted just outside the windows -- one set is belting you with hip-hop, and the other indie rock. Somewhere in the distance you can hear a punk band and the sounds of the bayou, and there is a drum circle in the next car over. You're trying to figure it all out, and you think you've got it, but then the speakers get sheared off, the lights go out, the amps die, and you're just in a dark train in a tunnel.

Right.

Check the Biggie Smalls on Afro Spliffs. That one is for Brian Kim.

Dragons of Zynth - Abithia
Dragons of Zynth - Afro Spliffs

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I will be covering Mirror Mirror soon. In the meantime, visit their Myspace page.

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NO FORMAT and ATG present

MAN MAN (Ace-Fu)
plus guests

Monday June 5th
at The Silver Dollar (Toronto)

Doors 9pm
$10.50 adv (available next week) $12 door

For those who made it to The Bagel the last time NO FORMAT introduced Man Man to Toronto, this will bring back happy memories. The place was well sold out, Lenin i Shumov (RIP) opened, and we all danced and had fun. Man Man always put on an amazing live show, and their new album (Six Demon Bag) is damn good.

Openers are TBA -- we'll let you know as soon as it's official.

ATG (Craig Laskey) is behind this one as well, so there will be classy stuff like advanced tickets, which you can get from Rotate, Soundscapes, The Horseshoe, or Ticketmaster (as of next week).

A poster courtesy of Fighting is coming soon.

Psychedelic Visions

2006-04-25T03:04:00.000-04:00

There has been a noticeable lack of up-beat dance action on AYF? lately; this trend continues today -- psychedelic rock and magical-psych-folk is where it's at.

Wyrd Visions features Colin Bergh, a Toronto-based artist, and co-founder of the percussively experimental Awesome. Unlike Awesome (who are both loved and hated by the local indie masses), Wyrd Visions play identifiable, if unusual songs (some people argue that Awesome mostly bang stuff, make noise, and chant). With Colin fronting 'Visions as a well-kitted couture elf, it's no surprise their sound bring to mind -- well shit, listening to "Bog Lord," I feel like I'm in a forest. On mushrooms. Or maybe I'm hanging out with my druidic friends, joking about wood nymphs and eating rare berries. And yes, AYF? loves rare berries.

"Freezing Moon" - the first track featured here - is a song originally written by Mayhem, the infamous black metal band. Read their story, because if you haven't, you are missing out on one of the strangest tales in music (yes, stranger than anything even Phil Spector could cook up).

Wyrd Visions - Freezing Moon
Wyrd Visions - Bog Lord

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After a very positive reaction to The Christa Min tracks I posted a while ago, I'm following up with Anemones, another of J. Grimmer's many projects. Working with friends who's pasts have included Pink Mountaintops and The Cinch, Grimmer and Anemones take a tense, quiet approach to psych-rock. Drum machines tick away, guitars hook and wash, soft vocals echo and mingle with synths, and the basslines hold it all together in a thick fog. Spectrum is recalled here, without a doubt, although if you could imagine Pink Mountaintops absolutely looped on valium, while busting out the 'rig for some heroin chasers, this might be what they'd sound like.

Anemones have their first release coming up on 1777rex, a CD-R label out of Vancouver.

Anemones - Candy (Ooh)
Anemones - What's Right

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AYF? is looking into doing a new weekly night. The concept? No promo. No fronting. No self-aggrandizing attitude. We play what we want, and we like it when our friends come and hang out with us. You're into dancing? No? You're into hanging out with your back to the wall? We don't care as long as you have fun.

Put your hand in my pocket. That's the name. See some of you there soon.

Noise

2006-04-19T02:14:00.000-04:00

Whoa. What the fuck. OK. So I spent tonight at a rock show, which was actually pretty good. But then these girls (whom I had introduced - musically - to the band we'd just seen), they were like, "let's meet the band!" The girls, they wanted me to hang out with them and go wherever the the band were going -- and the girls, they were alright (cute, young, enthusiastic). I sat around and waited and chatted, and eventually the band was going to a bar some other friends of mine were at. So I went. But my friends had left by the time I got there -- save for one of them.

I hung out with my remaining friend and watched the hangers on vie for the attention of the band. Actually, there was more than one band, although not everyone knew who the people in the second band were, because they had been playing a different show -- so they got left alone, for the most part. One of the girls asked me who the second band was, but I think she was too drunk to see who I was pointing out.

But anyway -- these girls, they were all over the band they could discern. It was embarrassing. I got drunk and avoided the antics. I played pool for a bit. I chatted with my friend. I watched the night unfold, and I felt kind of weird. I left and said bye to one of the girls who was trying to attain some form of physical contact with a band member. Didn't matter which band member -- just... a band member.

What's the deal? Am I getting old? Why is it that I just don't care?

I came home and I wanted to listen to noise. Good noise. Really fucking good noise. Repetitive, heavy, psychedelic noise.

I put on Indian Jewelry.

This is the right kind of noise. It swirls and repeats, and it has a soul to it, and it screams and yelps. Fuck. This is the noise I wanted to be listening to all night.

Indian Jewelry - Lost My Sight
Indian Jewelry - Health And Wellbeing

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Bonus track. The Rolling Stones do it up in the early '80s post-punk disco, singing about bloody murder -- literally. Listen all the way.

The Rolling Stones - Too Much Blood

Dear Seattle

2006-04-15T18:01:00.000-04:00

I miss you Seattle.

I miss Capitol Hill, I miss Queen Anne. I miss driving to Mount Rainier, and I miss all my favorite places to sit around and drink coffee. I also miss the good friends, the shows, and the attitude.

So here is a post about three bands from the Emerald City (for real, that's what it's called for those who aren't familiar).

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The Beakers formed in Seattle in 1980, opening for the likes of Gang Of Four and XTC, and igniting the interest of post-punk fanatics around the world (which, initially, was like 50 people, all of whom were in bands of their own). After a flare of real popularity in 1981 and some posthumous love, they have attained the status of local legends. At least, legends amongst those who care enough to do some reading and digging.

Yes, on first listen, they could easily be mistaken for James Chance & The Contortions at their most accessible.

Check out what Just For A Day had to say about them (with more MP3s after the jump).

The Beakers - Dinosaurs Mambo (live at The Showbox)
The Beakers - Thinking Postmodern

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Welcome are a far more recent product of Seattle. I know little about them, except that - for the most part - they fuse Pavement and hook-driven discord with '60s psych to great effect. Offering equally solid male and female vocals, and a fair amount of exploration within the confines of their sound, a full album would no doubt be an interesting listen. You can download 10 songs from their website; the mastering is a bit heavy on the low-end but they still sound great.

Welcome - All Set
Welcome - Bunky
Welcome - Sirs (Small Set)

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So the AYF? Shoegaze Retrospective still isn't finished. One day. One day.

Until then, check out C'est La Mort. These guys and girls manage to reference Cocteau Twins and The Chameleons in the most direct of ways without sounding like a poor rip-off of either. That's tough to do, and has earned them that rare distinction of being a worthwhile modern shoegaze band. As if they could be anything else with a name like that.

C'est La Mort - Stand Fast
C'est La Mort - Collapse (With Silence)

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Allmusic is back to HTML and no more forced registration. Rejoice.

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Unfamiliar Records now has a website. Come say hi. There is a compilation in the works, which will be an online-only experiment. Further CDs will be released once details have been worked out with potential bands.

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Fuck grunge.

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When discussing Seattle you can't forget to mention: Smoosh are the cutest. Awww...

We dance weird

2006-04-11T22:39:00.000-04:00

Quick update, and no easy listening today. Get your head around this shit.

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Last year, Adam Sparkles caught our attention with a brilliant remix of Man Man's "Tear Of Octopus." With their new album - Six Demon Bag - recently released, Man Man have again enlisted Adam to put one of their tracks on the dancefloor. And what does he do this time? As with the "Tear Of Octopus" remix, it's a strange beast -- the song pulses along with a vaguely tribal feel, punctuated by Honus' chants, and a repetitive synth squelch that - if this were '92 - would no doubt have been pitched up to a signature cricket chirp. Yeah, this sounds like a modern interpretation of the old school rave. Heavy, but with a sense of humour.

Also check out Sparkles' recently completed Of Montreal remix via his Myspace page.

Man Man - Tunneling Through The Guy (Adam Sparkles Remix)

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Going back to the early '80s, we have a track from New York's Material, complimented nicely by some Liquid Liquid. This is like the sonic realization of New York City as a jungle.

Material - Reduction
Liquid Liquid - Groupmegroup

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What you should be listening to, what you should be wearing, and what - in conversation - will ellicit squeals of delight or nods of approval from the ladies and the boys as you chat them up back stage or behind the booth: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Hot Chip, Revel9n, Cadence Weapon, MSTRKRFT, '90s parties, semi-ironic grunge, semi-ironic bling, Karen O now living in LA and how it impacted the latest YYYs record, Uffie, Gnarls Barkley, The Knife, where Steve Aoki is DJing next, Diplo, Justice, sebastiAn, Headman, how you noticed that so-and-so wasn't in so-and-so's Top 8, Madonna at Coachella, whether Vice curating Intonation is cool or not.

Well, that sure could come off as a cheap bid for hits, couldn't it?

We are busy

2006-04-11T02:09:00.000-04:00

AYF? is taking a few days off in order to finish up the Unfamiliar Records website. We'll be back by the end of the week.

Code Pie

2006-04-05T23:27:00.000-04:00

There was no Monday update here, because - well - I did a post for the guys at One Louder, and haven't had a chance to write since then (being sick and all).

This isn't a regular thing for me, just a one-off as part of their new Jukebox Jury feature: One Louder NYC - Jukebox Jury #1

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Unfamiliar Records is happy to announce we now have Canadian distribution for The Paper Cranes via Scratch Records (Black Mountain/Pink Mountaintops, Destroyer, etc.) out of Vancouver. The Canadian release for the Veins EP is April 25th, and the band will be doing a cross-Canada tour shortly thereafter.

Pitchfork Media recently wrote about The 'Cranes single, "I'll Love You 'Til My Veins Explode," and gave it a very positive review.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us so far -- here is a list of tour dates:

May 26 2006 @ The Gary Oak Room (Victoria, B.C.)
May 27 2006 @ Pat's Pub (Vancouver, B.C.)
May 28 2006 @ -TBA- (Kelowna, B.C.)
May 30 2006 @ Broken City (Calgary, AB)
May 31 2006 @ Tounge 'N Groove (Lethbridge, AB)
Jun 1 2006 @ O' Hanlan's (Regina, SK)
Jun 2 2006 @ The Bassment (Saskatoon, SK)
Jun 7 2006 @ The Downbeat Lounge (Sault Ste Marie, ON)
Jun 8 2006 @ The Townhouse (Sudbury, ON)
Jun 9 2006 @ -TBA- (Toronto, ON)
Jun 12 2006 @ The Casbah (Hamilton, ON)
Jun 13 2006 @ Call The Office (London, ON)
Jun 15 2006 @ The Coach and Horse (Windsor, ON)
Jun 16 2006 @ -TBA- (Montreal, QC)

We have some additional dates in the works (Ottawa, Edmonton, and a return stop in Vancouver). I will post a finalized schedule within the next few weeks.

If you're in one of these cities, and you'd like to help out, please call your local radio station to request a song by The Paper Cranes, or visit your local record store and buy the CD (after April 25th).

Again, thanks to everyone for helping make this happen.

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Along with The 'Cranes, Jay Watts (Goldkixx) has been touting Montreal's Code Pie as front-runners in our Canadian baroque pop movement.

Well, AYF? is in agreement. From the horns and plaintive melodies, through to the non-standard track arrangements, Code Pie are well worth your attention. Their sound ranges freely from orchestral to stripped down and tight, without losing step -- and it really is beyond simple comparison. Just listen:

Code Pie - Cement Truck
Code Pie - Gala
Code Pie - A Round For The Boys

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We don't wanna know who you know -- we wanna know what you did.

No, we don't get paid for this

2006-03-31T02:26:00.000-05:00

Chicago's TENKI have been around since 2000, with their first album published in 2003. Their two upcoming EPs - both being released on Future Appletree Records - seem to demonstrate increasingly dense pop compositions. A big, impressive sound filled with subtle nuances and hooks. The old-world-inspired horns are wonderful.

"Kiss Of Millions" and "Do You Think" are older material, but both worth a listen. You can also visit the band on Myspace, of course.

TENKI - Etaples
TENKI - Big Bang
TENKI - Kiss Of Millions
TENKI - Do You Think

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Jason from One Louder wrote a great post on the tendency of bloggers to champion certain causes in the name of self-interest. Titled, "Full Disclosure: Who's Being Promoted and Who's Promoting It," Jason manages to give the subject an objective and honest assessment. Check the comments for more dialogue.

For those who wonder where AYF? stands on this -- we take the free tickets and any additional mail-outs, and scalp it all on eBay. OK? So send more tickets please... this whole Mac & Cheese diet is getting kind of old. I'd love to step up to Queen Street veggie dogs just for a few days, and perhaps take a contributor out for dinner every so often (or maybe just be able to buy AYF? alumni Stuart a drink).

The Payola Reserve - Seasick On Shore Leave

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Speaking of unsolicited advertising, would Lady Sov's marketing department please stop emailing me? Sometimes I wonder if people even read this site before sending shit: For all the bagging I did on the L-Sov, and my feelings on the transient nature of Grime as a genre, you'd think this stuff wouldn't end up in my inbox on a weekly basis. Or maybe they figure if I listen to it enough it'll grow on me (no).

Huge thank-you to everyone else who is more personal about sending material over; if it's going to be posted, you'll get an email letting you know.

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My comments on the Village Voice vs. Nick Sylvester vs. Pitchfork Media mess are put off until I can provide some information which doesn't rely too heavily on conjecture.

Are we indie?

2006-03-28T01:32:00.000-05:00

The Sunday Star featured a large - two page - feature on Canadian indie music. The premise? Canada is/is not the next Seattle (written by someone who has obviously never lived there). The article focused on trying to refute the comparison from both sides, and in doing so displayed an interesting lack of understanding regarding the sociological aspect of indie rock popularity. A key substantiating quote comes from some guy at Exclaim! who quipped, "the idea that you need someone with a lot of power to come along and dub you the next big thing with their magic wand is gone."

AYF? went out and found our own expert on the subject - the infamous Ian Worang of Uncut. His quote was better: "I understand the pride for the Canadian music and all, but I think we need to stop talking about it so much. Not specific to this article or anything, but I mean, fuck, if I have to hear about another band from Canada, with a review that says 'there must be something in the water up there' I'm going to shit through my mouth."

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Wilderness' self-tited album on Jagjaguwar was one of the AYF? favorites of 2005. They're set to release their follow-up this year, which, from the sounds of it, continues with much of what made their first record so enjoyable. April 15th is their tour date in Toronto (with The Two Koreas and Parts and Labor), and I have an extra ticket. So who's gonna be my date?

Wilderness - Emergency

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From favorite albums of last year, to a new favorite for 2006. The Weather's Stolen Billions is - as we've mentioned before - an amazing listen. Easily an 8.7+ on the AYF? scale, they capture the off-kilter circus-punk vibe perfectly, winding their pop hooks around all kinds of weirdness. Here is another exclusive from the album:

The Weather - Hope And Maybe

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The suspension of Nick Sylvester from the Village Voice has meant the neglect of his Riff-Raff column. Sad and unnecessary. More on that, and some follow-ups regarding Nick's post on offering entire albums via MP3 blogs in the next update.

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I finally bit the bullet and bought myself a copy of Serato. After taking an extended hiatus from my weekly DJ schedule of a couple years ago (catalyzed by the majority of my vinyl collection disappearing), my living room has again been transformed into the "DJ room," and I'll be recording mixes soon. This Friday, myself and some friends are doing it house party style in Bloor West Village. If you're in Toronto and you know me, drop me a line for info on this.

Bonus tune:

Tubeway Army - Are Friends Electric?

Treason

2006-03-23T01:50:00.000-05:00

Gang Of Four, ESG, James Chance and The Contortions, Liquid Liquid, Wire, PiL. Look at the typical indie rock DJ's record bag (or CD case) and you'll find it stocked with at least a few key tracks from these bands. After twenty years, '80s post-punk in all it's variations made a huge comeback, and music fans were scouring used bins (and P2P directories) to track down the latest cool old shit.

While there aren't many stones left unturned, AYF? has a couple old tricks you might not have caught onto yet.

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Smiling to myself at the Love Is All show last night, it struck me that there were some real similarities between what they're doing now, and what Pylon did back in 1980. Coming off like a mix of ESG and Gang Of Four, Pylon bring the quirky guitar hooks and the pop bass-lines. Add predominantly throw-away lyrical interjections ("2-4-6-8 why do we Gyrate!?") and the solid kick/snare(open hi-hat) drum patterns, and you have a nice mix for the dancefloor, with just enough left over to keep them interesting in your bedroom.

R.E.M. are often mentioned as being heavily influenced by Pylon.

Pylon - Gyrate
Pylon - Gravity
Pylon - Working Is No Problem

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The Woodentops almost didn't make today's post because - for the most part - they produced some marginal music and they're definitely not seminal. Worse than their original tracks in some cases, were the myriad (Balearic) remixes which began to crop up towards the end of their career. Sure, they were championed by the legendary DJ Kid Batchelor, but time has not been kind to songs like "Tainted World" and "Why Why Why." At their best, however, they have a unique and up-beat pop demeanor, exploring plenty of obscure instrumentation, and benefiting from excellent production values.

This is one of those bands who were big in Japan. Unfortunately, that didn't pay the bills.

The Woodentops - Get It On
The Woodentops - Special Friend

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Julian Cope was the primary creative behind The Teardrop Explodes. Of his work, The Teardrop's Kilimanjaro stands above all else as a pop masterpiece (and it's one of my top albums of all time). From "Ha Ha I'm Drowning" on, there is not a sour note -- and indeed, the band managed to crack the UK top 10 with this one ("Reward" being a popular favorite). To me, the standout is "Treason," a majestic, hook-driven tune that hasn't lost a thing over the years.

Stories of Cope chasing band members across the English countryside with a shotgun only make the whole thing that much more interesting.

The Teardrop Explodes - Ha Ha I'm Drowning
The Teardrop Explodes - Treason
The Teardrop Explodes - Reward

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The AYF? update this weekend will include new exclusive tracks from The Weather.

Exclusive

2006-03-21T01:06:00.000-05:00

Two exclusive MP3 offerings today. Thanks to Jason from The Christa Min, and Jeremy Warmsley for handing off these (excellent) pre-release tunes.

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The Christa Min were one of the first bands posted on AYF?. Their sound sits somewhere between The Jesus & Mary Chain (JAMC) and Spacemen 3 -- and yes, you could easily compare them to contemporaries like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC).

However, with BRMC faultering after their first album, no band has filled that post-JAMC hole the way The Christa Min do. While potential candidates like Austin's The Black Angels and The Black are both solid bands in their own right, it's the seven (musically experienced) Vancouverites of the 'Min who manage to pull the sound off best -- effortlessly and consistently.

Almost a year since we first heard their initial studio work, this is the lead track from The Christa Mins' self-produced demo; unmastered, but already sounding polished. There is no label attached to this yet, so A&R guys/girls listen up.

The Christa Min - Stockholm

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Last week I posted the video for Jeremy Warmsley's most recent single, "Dirty Blue Jeans." A mix of fey pop (C86?) influences, coupled with introspective - and occasionally angst-driven - lyrics, Warmsley's latest 5-song EP (Other People's Secrets) is a bit like England's answer to The Legends.

This has been in rotation for me since picking it up; dense, interesting, and with some great hooks. If Jens can succeed amidst the European post-punk frenzy, why not Jeremy?

Jeremy Warmsley - Modern Children

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Coming Wednesday, coverage of three seminal '80s post-punk bands who's names have managed to remain surprisingly unchecked over the last four years -- one of them even produced an album which would slot into the AYF? top ten of all time. Strange how popular culture can have such a selective historical memory.

Surf, Poni!

2006-03-16T23:48:00.000-05:00

Tigersushi just coughed up a couple new Poni Hoax tracks for download. Solid stuff in the vein of the current indie/electro/dance flow. They make a good go of it with the clean '80s production and hook-driven nature of the "She's On The Radio" Radio Mix, backed up by the ice-tinged horror remix of "LA Murder Motel". Nice percussion.

Poni Hoax - She's On The Radio (Radio Mix)
Poni Hoax - LA Murder Motel (Letom Redrum Remix By Principle Of Geometry)

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Ungdomskulen were on Datarock's last tour. This track is indescribable and great -- like, what the fuck??

Ungdomskulen - Surf's Up

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Heavy vitriolic cynicism. Read at your own risk (and you have to select it to view it):

This world feels way too small, and I am questioning my direction.

Too many people are plugged into the same antiquated line. All this indie bullshit -- it's not real anymore. When certain people - people with what I consider to be suspect agendas - front and influence and are involved, I have to question what it's about, and I wish there were a real alternative.

I'm not interested in it being cool and popular. I just want something different, and I want people who are trend-followers, or scenesters to be ostracized and excluded.

I want the vultures who prey on the popularity of others to be shown up, and eliminated. I don't like it when someone comes in and wants a piece of the action only after they can confirm that others think it's cool. No risk. No progress; just picking up on someone else's work and using it to make cash.

And I hate the lack of critical assessment between all those people, and the way they just big up their pals without batting an eyelid, even when the work they're giving props to doesn't necessarily deserve it.

I hate the money involved and the way the product is marketed and packaged and sold via glossy magazines and trendy festivals -- purely style over substance.

I wish there were an artistic and musical revolution which rebelled against that kind of shit.

This one goes out to the artists and musicians and directors and stylists riding in the train. This one goes out to your pretentious friends, your bullshit interviews, and your boring dance music and your underwhelming parties. I know I'm far from perfect, and I may be an idealistic asshole -- but fuck you.

For those who weren't offended - for those who know the score - you have my respect.

End.

Audio/Visual Expression

2006-03-15T20:14:00.000-05:00

Last week I covered Bobby Birdman, and briefly mentioned both States Rights Records and YACHT. With connections to LA's Copy and E*Rock of Audio Dregs, YACHT (Jona Bechtolt) is part of an interesting music scene out in Portland, Oregon. Pushing the 8-bit sounds and a cool visual aesthetic, he fits in neatly with contemporaries like Crystal Castles, although with a less aggressive feel. You can find his CDs through States Rights' site.

Check out the video game-based promo for SHTML by E*Rock, along with some photos from a show at The Boat in Toronto (thanks to Kidwithcamera).

YACHT - Remember What This Feels Like

Bobby Birdman - I Will Come Again (YACHT Remix)
Bobby Birdman - And Then It Begins (YACHT Remix)

(Oh, and I should mention he plays with Devendra Banhart, is half of The Blow, and part of Little Wings. Nice credentials.)

(VIDEO: MOV) - The Blow - Knowing The Things That I Know

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London's Ben Rollason (of Fink-Base) directed two of the videos which made it into my Top 5 Videos of 2005 list (both sharing the #5 spot). He recently completed a new promo for Jeremy Warmsley, and has succeeded in completely out-doing himself. Combining some great in-camera and post-effects with a well-timed set of disconnected narratives, this is my favorite video of the year so far. Highly polished and engaging.

(VIDEO: MOV) - Jeremy Warmsley - Dirty Blue Jeans

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I walked with Jesus and he would say, "oh you poor child, you ain't comin' to me no way. You've found heaven on earth, you're gonna burn for your sins." Well, I think I'll be in good company down there with all my friends.

The Weather

2006-03-13T21:37:00.000-05:00

My bedroom has dark blue (almost black) curtains to block all traces of light. This is good for waking up after 1pm, but bad for figuring out what it's like outside -- and who the fuck leaves their computer to check the weather these days anyway? So, according to my computer it was raining last Saturday; I was really surprised when I left the building and entered blinding sunlight with no sunglasses. And, according to my computer it's been raining for the last week, but I don't think it's been nearly that bad. Maybe one or two days of rain.

I feel all confused. My computer is lying to me, so I will listen to Suede assist Tom Waits in trying to squeeze the corpse of Joy Division through a spaghetti-western-shaped tube. From Vancouver.

The Weather - How
The Weather - Unloveable
The Weather - Wherever There Is

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Unsolicited emails from bands sometimes turn up gems. My guess is that Australia's Gotye will be popping up on blogs again, as others take a chance and give him a listen on his latest mail-out. Pronounce it Gaultier. Rhymes with really fey. But this is actually pretty soul (as in Motown).

Gotye - Thanks For Your Time
Gotye - Learnalilgivinanlovin

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If you really want to piss me off, go ahead and ignore someone until they become useful to you. Then, when you notice their worth, make a valiant effort to extract their usefulness and exploit their naivité.

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Check out the guys at Fighting.

The new Fields video for "If You Fail We All Fail" is excellent. By Minivegas.

Yes I was supposed to be at SxSW. No, I will not be at SxSW.

Two Weeks (Repeat)

2006-03-09T23:15:00.000-05:00

News on Unfamiliar and The Paper Cranes, which has been taking up a good deal of my time lately. The NeXT showcase last Friday night was interesting, to say the least. Ryan (lead singer) was sick, and by the end of the set, had no voice left. The 'Cranes had to cancel the Montreal show as a result.

Sorry to everyone in Montreal who was looking forward to it, and thanks to those who wrote in wishing Ryan better. The Paper Cranes will be back out here before their Pop Montreal date.

Insound recently updated their newsletter, which included a write-up on The Paper Cranes debut EP. Zulu Records in Vancouver did the same, and have the band featured on their website.

The first review for the CD was from NOW Magazine. 4/4 and Pick Of The Week.

The Veins EP is on Insound's Top Sellers list. Thanks to everyone who has purchased the CD, and for those who haven't, we'd love it if you did.

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CMW was a shit-show as usual. Drama included.

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Bobby Birdman is from Los Angeles, California. Signed to the quirky States Rights Records, and with ties to soon-to-be-featured Yacht, he produces catchy electro-pop that will likely find it's way into your iTunes playlists on a regular basis.

See also: Fryk Beat Records, who AYF? enjoy checking out regularly.

Back in 2004, Bobby had a solid video put together by the outspoken Terri Timely crew.

Bobby Birdman - I Will Come Again
Bobby Birdman - I Said "OK." The Wind Said "No!"

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I ditched Winamp on my PC at work and am now completely tied to Apple and iTunes. Good or bad, at least my music databases are consistent -- now if only I could share music between iTunes libraries on different machines without resorting to third party software.

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More of the wickedly catchy electro-pop here, which has been dominating my listening time lately. Back out east we have Plane, from Chicago. They write and produce all their material in their own studio, and are signed to -- well, check this out from their Myspace page:

"So we have a distribution deal through Future Farmer. They've disappeared with all our product. Dirigeable, our label, has disappeared with our record and our licensing deals. 2K Sports is using our song Heart and Soul on their NHL 2k6 video game without acknowledging that they owe the band any money. Now Planetary Group is charging us for radio promotion, which they never did, and for which Dirigeable never paid for."

Yeah, the music industry can really suck sometimes.

Plane - Western Avenue
Plane - Heart And Soul
Plane - Please Save My Body From The Modern World
Plane - Rope

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Linking back to Ryan at Catbirdseat: thanks for all the support. Thanks also to Tyrone at A Soundtrack For Everyone.

Make sure and check out Guy's Eclectic Sound Basement, which is the blog behind his radio show on CIUT FM (12pm Fridays). If you're in Toronto and you want to hear music from AYF? on the radio, this is the place to tune in.

The Prettiest Pony now have a links section, and AYF? is in it.

Unfortunately, it looks like Adele has left her radio show in New Zealand, which was previously giving airplay to bands featured here. Hey Adele, are you going to turn up somewhere else?

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No more promising from me that updates will increase in frequency, but I will try. Burn-out has obviously taken it's toll.

Once A Week (Repeat)

2006-02-26T17:22:00.000-05:00

Unfamiliar Recordings have released our first CD; the Veins EP from The Paper Cranes. It is currently available online, exclusively through Insound. Reviews will be coming in soon, and from preliminary reports, they're all sounding excellent (as well they should be; The Paper Cranes are awesome).

If you're in Vancouver, Canada, you can also pick up the CD at Zulu Records, or from Ditch in Victoria. Sales have been good so far -- thanks for all the support.

I have my eye on a second band to bring up through the Unfamiliar imprint; more word on that as soon as they've given me the OK.

BUY THE PAPER CRANES' EP FROM INSOUND

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Polytechnic are from Manchester -- a city that holds a place in the hearts of many for it's musical contributions (Joy Division, The Stone Roses, etc.). Combining the best elements of the post-punk explosion with amazing pop hooks (and at times recalling the dissonance of the early '90s North Carolina tri-city scene), these guys have been on my playlist constantly for the last few weeks. You know, when bands like Maximo Park and The Arctic Monkeys hit it big, I find myself wondering why on earth it wasn't an artist like Polytechnic instead -- superior in so many ways, and nowhere near as trite.

Polytechnic - Penguin
Polytechnic - Pep
Polytechnic - Running Out Of Ideas

(Yes, I tried giving The Arctic Monkeys another chance, but as soon as I flipped into the middle of one of their tracks, and the first thing that came out of the spotty lead singer's mouth was, "Reebok trainers" I shut it off. Haven't we had enough of such blatantly transient, self-referential bullshit? Put these guys in a time capsule and dig them up in 20 years when they can be retro.)

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Femme Generation recently played their CD release show with The Diableros in Toronto. I've heard them referred to as post-Rapture dancepunk, but I think that label is a bit constraining for them. Once again, it's all about the hooks -- and while their live show doesn't necessarily match the relative polish of their recorded material, I do like some of what I've heard so far. Also -- it never hurts to have your picture on the cover of NOW.

Femme Generation - Hearts In Stitches
Femme Generation - The Good Life 77
Femme Generation - The Nations Birthday

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I was introduced to Montreal's Land Of Talk by Tanya Coghlan (who produces her own music under the name Astral Is Annie). She described them in terms which had her giddy with excitement, but made me think twice about checking them out (there was an Eddie Brickell reference in there). Anyway, suffice it to say they are excellent, and manage to transcend the adult-contemporary-indie vibe I expected of them. They recently played here in Toronto, and I believe they'll be back for CMW.

Land Of Talk - All My Friends
Land Of Talk - Breaxx Baxx
Land Of Talk - Sea Foam
Land Of Talk - Speak To Me Bones

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The St. Just Vigilantes are two guys from Vancouver. Unfortunately, I know little else about them, except that they make some nice music with this side-project. Since I happen to know one of them, I'll post an update when I get some answers regarding where this is going.

The St. Just Vigilantes - Rose Grenade
The St. Just Vigilantes - The Color Of Pomegranates
The St. Just Vigilantes - The Shallows

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I was recently asked to be - um - featured in the first music video for The Diableros (directed by Sara St. Onge). This is nothing I'd usually do, but I love the band, and the director. So yes, the primary news poster on AYF? is now on film, and the results, so far, are a testament to Sara's abilities. Animation on the video will be done by Jay White, who is talented enough to make his living off government art grants up in the Yukon (when not lending his expertise to projects like this one). Looking forward to seeing the end results.

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AYF? is now serving up over 100 gigabytes of data per month (so I need to upgrade my hosting plan). Huge thanks to everyone who has supported this site over the last couple years. Special shout out to David (Shit La Merde) who joins the Toronto blog scene this month, and to Carl Wilson (Zoilus) who recently mentioned AYF? as one of Toronto's top MP3 blogs.

A Slight Return

2006-02-16T21:56:00.000-05:00

If I were to try explain exactly why the last two weeks were exceptionally shitty, I'd end up sounding - well - whiney. So whatever. AYF? is back.

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The xxJFG have already shown Crystal Castles their love (and thanks for the well-wishes, guys), as have The Daughters. The concept behind Crystal Castles' music interests me at least partially because of the obvious focus on video game sounds -- after all, making games is what allows me to afford everything else I do (that, and my mysterious financial backers, who I need to take some time to thank again).

Are we at a point where "video game music" in the most literal sense (sounds and samples from the 8-bit/16-bit eras) has enough respect to actually gain some kind of audience? Nerdy freaks have been putting out weird shit via their Gameboys for years now, and groups like 8-Bit Peoples have been pushing the conventions established against critical acceptance of the genre. Indeed, in the last few years, bands like Tree Wave and Mixel Pixel have brought some of the ethos towards the mainstream, but Crystal Castles is the most literal interpretation of the sound yet to find a receptive audience.

No, I don't think this is the next big thing. It's not gonna wipe grime off the map, nor will it supplant the constant deluge of perky post-punk being shovelled off English shores. But it's really cool, and it's mining such a marginalized sound that - when searching for descriptors - rattling off the typical sonic references is next to impossible.

Listen with an open mind, and enjoy the music, not just the image. Because I am pretty sure the image associated with guys like Crystal Castles is enough to attract the attention of fashion conscious followers.

Thanks to CC for providing some original MP3s for AYF? to post. He will be playing this Saturday (February 18th) at The Boat (as part of Mikey Apples' new Lipp Service monthly).

Crystal Castles - Mother Knows Best
Crystal Castles - xxzxczx
Crystal Castles - Bitter Hearts
Crystal Castles - Dolls
Crystal Castles - No Skin
Crystal Castles - Air War

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More from Toronto with 100% Wool, a two-piece electro-punk outfit who are on the verge of releasing their first album (at a party on March 31st at The Boat). Serge and Vivi are both really nice and surprised the hell out of me with their music -- it's damn good.

100% Wool - About Time

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A single interesting track from DC Recordings' Stromba. While the horns and the wah in this tune sometimes conspire to derail the groove - to push it into the martini lounge - the percussion holds it together, and the results are hot. Unfortunately, the rest of their material left me non-plussed.

Stromba - Giddy Up

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Lots more to post this weekend in the rock'n'roll vein. I will also have to check my log files and see where hits have been coming from so I can send some traffic back. Thanks to everyone who has continued to visit the site during this short break.

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NeXT has been announced.

Dan Burke, Dan Seligman (Pop Montreal), Greg Ipp (NO FORMAT), Emerge, and other commotional rock vets present a three-night, LIVE! offensive during Canadian Music Week (CMW).

All shows at THE COMFORT ZONE -- 484 Spadina Ave. (n. of College)

THURSDAY, MARCH 2
The Adam Brown (Montreal) 11:00pm
Magnet (Norway) 10:00pm
Frontier Index (Toronto) 9:00pm
Basia Bulat (London, Ont.) 8:00pm

FRIDAY, MARCH 3
The Donkeys (Montreal) 12:45am
Rock Plaza Central (Toronto) 11:45pm
The Paper Cranes (Victoria) 10:50pm
Sweet Thing (Toronto/Ottawa) 10:00pm
Permafrown (Toronto) 9:15pm

SATURDAY, MARCH 4
The Sunday Sinners (Montreal) 12:50am
Horsey Craze feat. members of The Constantines (Cambridge, Ont.) 12:00am
Rick Of The Skins (Halifax) 11:00pm
The Brown Hornets (Newcastle, Ont.) 10:00pm

$8 Advance
$9 Door
$5 With CMW wristbands/laminates

Run-Roc vs The Paper Cranes

2006-02-05T18:50:00.000-05:00

Run-Roc are D. McNany and Dave Zero -- operating out of their recording studio in New York, they hold it down as one of AYF?'s favorite production teams. For this reason, we chose them to remix a track for The Paper Cranes' debut EP. The result is "Deus Ex Machine Gun (Run-Roc Remix)," which features Ryan McCullagh's signature vocals over top a completely re-worked version of the original track (recorded last summer in Vancouver by Howard Redekopp). The Run-Roc guys went at it with the intent of creating a remix which felt as though it were still being played by the band, and they succeeded.

Impressive credentials: Run-Roc were responsible for production on The Rapture's demo sessions (subsequent to the release of Echoes), Jonathan Vance's 12" debut on their own Run-Roc label, their Neutral Mute and SKIZM side-projects, as well as a host of remixes. They've also worked with the DFA on some tunes, and had their share of DJ nights.

Look for a future NO FORMAT show featuring Neutral Mute along with a Run-Roc DJ afterparty in Toronto. Not sure when, but it will happen. The guys will also be our next featured blog guests.

As a teaser for the upcoming Veins EP from The Paper Cranes, here is the remix. Feel free to re-post and distribute this one.

The Paper Cranes - Deus Ex Machine Gun (Run-Roc Remix)

The EP version of "I'll Love You Til My Veins Explode" is also available as streaming audio on The Paper Cranes' Myspace page. Check it out and add them as your friends.

Some related songs:

Jonathan Vance - Sylvia The Eagle *repost
Jonathan Vance - Lycanthrope *repost
Neutral Mute - Doo-Right *repost
Neutral Mute - No No No *repost
Let It Burn - No No Tremolo (Run-Roc co-production) *repost

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Pete And The Pirates are an English band who have been kicking around under the radar for some time now. Aside from witnessing their website go through at least three iterations, I don't know a hell of a lot about them -- except that they make some great music. Their Myspace page refuses to yield much additional information, and right now - at 3:15am on a work night - the inclination to email them just isn't there.

So this band can't be called another Arctic Monkeys -- they stand out from the current crop of NME front-pagers by way of writing songs that don't all sound the same. This, to me, is a good thing.

Pete And The Pirates - Nuana
Pete And The Pirates - This Thyme
Pete And The Pirates - I'll Love
Pete And The Pirates - What's On?

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Congratulations to The Diableros, along with their director (Sara of Awesomology) for securing the VideoFACT funding for the band's first video. I can't wait to see the results.

The Diableros have a new website which includes streaming audio of their album. Their label, Baudelaire also has a new site up.

Disco Padding

2006-01-31T03:16:00.000-05:00

Indie disco beats meet psycho thrillers in Dublin, Ireland. Padded Cell are Richard Sen and Neil Beatnik, both experienced producers who put this project together back in 2002 (remixing the excellent Big 200). Out on DC Recordings (The Emperor Machine), these guys exist within the same sonic circle as Measles-Mumps-Rubella, Out Hud, and Tussle. They manage to fuse a live feel with electro precision, hand claps, and synth snaps, and they do it with a dark twist. Thanks to Neil for sending us some MP3s to post.

Padded Cell - Unknown Zone
Padded Cell - Theme From Friday 13th

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Having already been written up positively and recieved props from 20 Jazz Funk Greats, Copy is deserving of the praise. Here we have the 8-bit ethos rubbing up against the dancefloor in a way that'll make both the ladies and the geeks move. The beats through "See You Around Maybe" are fucking hot; hell, the entire song kills it (that means it's good).

Copy - See You Around Maybe
Copy - A Slight But Delicious Warble

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I've been holding off on writing about Electric Badness for a while. They run the ragged edge of dancepunk vs dance, but after giving them time to sit, I find myself going back and listening to their tunes and -- you know what? They still feel fresh. The guys pull it off, and that's no small feat. Dancefloor killers sporting enough tricks to keep the jaded among us from flipping channels.

Electric Badness - Take That Beat Beat
Electric Badness - Fingers In Space
Electric Badness - Get Down Dexter (Madrone Mix)

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I am currently working on a website for Unfamiliar, which is the new label we're starting. Our first release will be The Paper Cranes' debut EP, out February 23rd. There will also be a free online compilation available when the site launches next week. Initially, sales and distribution will be handled exclusively through Insound -- yes, this is the route Clap Your Hands Say Yeah went, so when given the option, we figured we'd test the waters.

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Dreams of Horses is a blog I've been reading for a while now. Quality stuff.

Psych-Pop

2006-01-27T11:52:00.000-05:00

Good psych-pop can be hard to find -- striking that balance between stoned and happy and sad is not easy. From England, Fields (not The Fields, or Field Music, or whatever) have managed to hit it on the head. With these tracks rivaling one of my favorite records of the last few years - The Legends' 2004 release, Up Against The Legends - I am excited by the prospect of a full album from Fields.

Fields - Song For The Fields
Fields - If You Fail We All Fail

On a similar tip, Seattle's Wonderful were one of the bands I used to see play on a regular basis back in '99. A few years on they're still at it, and this track, "Adrianne," is an example of near-perfect psych-pop. The production is excellent, a key element when it comes to orchestral, multi-layered music like this.

Wonderful - Adrianne

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Blitzen Trapper aren't easy to describe, although they have a definite garage-blues-rock edge to them, and they do it with style. A real quirky style, sometimes fusing a bit of Brian Wilson into the mix. It keeps it interesting and prevents direct comparison to anyone.

Blitzen Trapper - Cold Gold Diamond
Blitzen Trapper - 10-Cent Slut

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Hey, we've been permanently linked by Flaky Disco and Molars. Thanks. Also check out the Italian site, Weekendance.

20 Jazz Funk Greats have a new writer on board, with Steve from now defunct To Here Knows When joining Stuart and Juan. They're my favorite blog, and just got even better.

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Blogshares is super nerdy, and I don't even entirely understand it. But AYF? stock has been going up like crazy lately, and I've just issued another 4000 shares. So if you're into that shit, check it out and buy them up.

Transformer

2006-01-23T11:13:00.000-05:00

A mini update with a few words from Pascal over at Metrohead out of Germany:

Metroheadmusic is a record label and a DJ team for electronic entertainment from Hamburg, Germany. So far we`ve released three 7"s featuring Kissogram, Novack, The Why, Chips and Bierbeben. The most recent release is our first 12" with Namosh & Angie Reed and Transformer di Roboter. [ ... ]

Transformer di Roboter - Hi-End (Metro B & Maszlope Remix)

DJ team is right. Check out the Metrohead playlists and you'll find some excellent selections (although I will never understand the whole Viva la Fete fascination; sorry guys.) They also have a label compilation coming out featuring old AYF? favorite Whitey, along with deep dark electro bangers Nid & Sancy.

Due to limited distribution, you won't find their releases outside of Germany and Spain, but you can find out how to order them via their website. Yeah, this is dance music, and I wasn't going to post any this week, but I didn't want to sit on this song longer than I have.

Coincidentally, Pascal is good friends with one of the guys from Egoexpress and the director for the Aranda video (see yesterday's blog), so it all ties in.

This House (Those Homes)

2006-01-21T21:32:00.000-05:00

When I was young, living in South Africa made all kinds of impressions on me -- the colour of the grass, the way the trees and the sidewalks and roads looked, the smells and the sounds. It was an indelible impression, and every so often something comes by that triggers inexplicable nostalgia.

The video for Aranda by Egoexpress turned out to be one of those triggers. I don't know why, because it is obviously not South Africa, but it's still a shot of a very nice street.

Egoexpress - Aranda
WATCH: MP4

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Chromewaves referenced the AYF? shoegaze retrospective, and linked to a bulletin board post about a story in Playboy which calls for a resurgence of interest in the genre. Surreal.

I will try add parts six and seven to the retrospective next week (but I always say that).

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Another solid music resource, My Old Kentucky Blog linked here last week. They were covering Man Man and quoted AYF? for the band's description. Head over there for a few MP3s from Man Man's new album.

Dancing in Harlem

2006-01-20T23:04:00.000-05:00

The last couple years have seen some amazing genre-bending dance music come and go; so much so that the vast majority is overlooked. This is part of the reason for my last couple posts; the shit that gets all the attention - all the hype - can unfortunately drown out the sounds of the underground.

Some of the tracks I'm going to post are very difficult to track down digitally, never mind on vinyl, which is part of the attraction -- chances are you haven't heard most of these songs here in North America. Ironically - hypocritically? - if they had been played to hell around here when they were released, I wouldn't be hitting them up now (as Tareh so rightly pointed out in one of the comments this week).

Ajello produces some hot genre-mixed Italo electro on Mantra Vibes out of (yeah) Italy. He is hit-and-miss, but when he's on, it's magic. These tracks were released throughout 2005; the David Gilmour Girls Remix was posted on AYF? a while ago.

Ajello - Harlem USA
Ajello - Harlem USA (David Gilmour Girls Remix) (repost)
In Flagranti (Feat. G Rizo) - Bang Bang (Ajello Remix)

This is cheating; I'm going way back now. Drinking Electricity had their start in the early '80s, releasing a series of singles and an album; most of their catalogue was critically dismissed, and with good reason. However, when it worked - like Ajello - the results were worth it. Glass Candy vibes all around, and check out that "Loco-Motion" hook in "Good Times."

Drinking Electricity - Good Times (Dance Mix)
Drinking Electricity - Breakout (Long Version)

The first album by Grand National was generally forgettable, except for - in my opinion - "Playing In the Distance." There is a new album slated for release within the next few months on Sunday Best. This remix, by The Glimmer Twins, stays true to the original, but strengthens the kick, adds hand-claps, and draws the whole thing out to an epic 8 minutes.

Grand National - Playing In The Distance (Glimmers Remix)

As a label, France's Kitsune has a pretty good track record -- so when they drop a new name, it's worth a listen. I can't remember where I found this one (NYC or Seattle in early '04), but it was a white label and I had no concept of who was behind it -- so I was surprised when it turned out to be really good (The Things being a project of Joshua Harvey, about whom I know very little). When all my records were ripped off, this was one of the gems I shed a tear over.

The Things - I Don't Care
The Things - Stupid

Bonus track:
Spector - ~~Elektrify~~ (Removed by request)

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OK, so that's all the dance music I'm sourcing for a little while. There are a few rock bands to focus on over the next week -- my inbox has been buzzing lately with some good stuff. Thanks to everyone who emails me, particularly the ones who send good music.

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The Paper Cranes debut EP will be released on February 23rd, with shows in Victoria and Vancouver, and a trip to Toronto to follow. More news on that (including dates) when everything is official.

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Linking out to The Underground Express, as well as Comp Book, who posts cultural links actually worth reading.

Minimal Attitude

2006-01-14T15:29:00.000-05:00

I wanted to present some relatively un-discovered '80s and '90s new-wave, techno, and electro tracks. It's not so hard to find the shit - it's everywhere - but finding the tunes that aren't difficult to listen to, that is the key.

These days, my appreciation for the typical ironic hits is failing. Used to be that I could go out to one of the myriad hot spots in Vancouver and actually get into dancing to shit. There was a guilty pleasure in Madonna and Salt'n'Peppa and bad rap and hip-hop, in Duran Duran and Flock of Seagulls, or the latest throw-away R&B hit. It all took a turn somewhere, the irony has left, and I get dubbed a snob for throwing out the odd derogatory comment when a particularly bad song comes on.

This blog has always been about my opinion, and that's not going to change. So basically, I'm calling the crew out on this: I want to go out and dance to music that surprises me; that blows me away by being simultaneously fun and good, and somehow not played out.

Recently, at a club, I walked into a sonic wall of relatively staid, typical house and electro peppered with indie-rock yelps and appreciated by all the trappings of Vice-inspired culture. Where has the sense of something unique gone? And am I being that much of an asshole for feeling this way? I mean, yeah sure it's like, "oh so three years ago," and on mentioning this everyone will dig into me and tell me to chill out and just have fun. Thing is, it's difficult to do so when I feel like I'm surrounded by a lot of people who are there for what that scene now pretends to be, rather than for the reasons it came about.

An attitude like that leads to alienation and exclusion; it leads to hurt feelings and strained relationships within a music community where - really - everyone knows everyone else. Well, too fucking bad. It is what it is -- all of it. If you read the huge section of comments from Monday's post (all 30-something of them) you'll see a clear illustration of this, as Jaime (Daughter of Invention) rips into my view of things right now. I am in no way taking a shot at anyone on a personal level -- except for those who display a dogmatic attraction to being seen. This is, afterall, just about our own opinions, and you can't love everything.

Here we go from 1981 to 1989:

A Popular History Of Sign - Guernica
Mathématiques Modernes - Disco Rough

(See also: Flexipop)

Killing Joke - A New Day
Minimal Compact - Nil Nil

Move ahead twenty years:

Pink Mountaintops - New Drug Queens
Sound Team - Don't Turn Away
Sound Team - It's Obvious What's Happening Here

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All of this Guernica searching turned up a band from Ireland, around in the mid '80s, who borrowed the name from Picasso, and released some wicked Joy Division meets C86 tunes. Unfortunately, I can only find this one as an MP3, and additional information on the band is very sparse. Anyway, enjoy it and hopefully someone can give me some answers.

Guernica - The Queen Of Our County

Dance, Austin!

2006-01-09T21:56:00.000-05:00

Memory lane.

Hey remember that shit we called dance-punk (né disco-punk)? And like, The Rapture were all cool and the DFA were on top of it from day one, and you know, Liars were rockin' NYC, Radio 4 still had us fooled into thinking they weren't a bunch of twats, Moving Units were holding it down on the west coast with !!! -- and some wanks were cashing in calling themselves Paradise Boys even though they were still total shit (but not as shit as The Calculators), and ... and and. And what the fuck? Oh right. And then Franz Ferdinand and The Futureheads happened, the followers followed - bless them - and the UK music scene still hasn't recovered.

Anyway, down in Austin, Texas they knew what was up, and - somehow - they existed in a vacuum creating some badass shit with the open hi-hat disco beat and songs about the club and the line and that hot girl and those gay guys getting each other off in the bathroom or whatever. And eventually they made songs about how it was all shit, but still with the open hi-hat disco beat and a scarf in hot weather and irony in full effect. We'll get back to the irony in a minute.

But first, let's appreciate what they did, right? The Arm and This Microwave World shared members (primary members) and have an association with Zykos (for the sake of credibility). The Arm are still around, and still rockin' it. In fact, I still like them, what with their Fall-ishness and that.

Maybe one day tunes like this will be the equivalent of the solid gold we mined a few years ago in the form of undiscovered or under-appreciated early '80s post-punk. Time will tell, but "Vile Lives" is a great song, with some wicked lyrical action.

The Arm - To Your ID
The Arm - Get Down With The Death Of The City!
The Arm - Vile Lives
This Microwave World - The Party Line
This Microwave World - You Are A Riot

Hey Austin, see you at SxSW.

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Anyway, on with the irony. I can only hope the cheesy motherfuckers down with the house music meets rock'n'roll are self-aware enough to appreciate the lameness of it all at this point. Pink and cyan '80s references, the post-electroclash fallout we're still suffering from, the attempt to meld all of it with conceptual art, or trendy new-school design aesthetics, taking yourself oh-so-serious. The big budget bullshit. OK, the sorta big budget bullshit. Well, the stuff that has at least some money behind it. You know?

This 21-year-old guy named Calvin Harris in Scotland sure gets it. He turns the music out with a deft hand, and he lays the irony on thick and unpretentiously. It's wonderful, and it makes his work both timely and - well - timely. But he seems to know this. Talent, for reals, and is it just me, or does he take a serious dig at Louis XIV, which is enough to have him crowned a prince in some circles.

Calvin Harris - Acceptable In The '80s
Calvin Harris - Rock Band
Calvin Harris - The Girls

... in closing, the DFA are still at the top of their game, and that is no off-handed sarcasm.

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This update was brought to you - in part - with a nod towards Howard Stern's controversial move over to Sirius radio in the USA (but not Canada).

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Huge thanks to everyone who came out last Saturday for the Probably Vampires/Two Koreas show. It went really well (having to turn people away due to capacity is a good/bad thing -- sorry if this happened to you). We have a couple other events in the works over the next few months. More info soon.

Demo

2006-01-04T19:27:00.000-05:00

Demo-Design is Justin Fines. Back in 1997, he started Demo down in Detroit, and has subsequently produced some original and technically stunning work through print, and more recently, broadcast design. The guy has art directed for, and produced spots with Psyop (one of my favorite boutique design firms), which is what switched me back onto Demo earlier in '05; turns out Justin has also been working with Someoddpilot Records along with various advertising heavyweights (Nickelodeon, HP, etc.). Hit his site for more samples. He now lives in New York with the rest of the designers in the world.

Justin Fines - Salvo Beta (image)
Justin Fines - Syndrome (image)
Justin Fines - Battlezine (image)

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Check it out. More hot six-piece action from Canada. This band is called Doris Day, they're from Barrie (I don't expect anyone outside of Southwestern Ontario to know where that is) and they've let me put up a couple tracks from their self-released EP. Their live show is excellent; they completely surprised me when my friend Jessica took me out to see them. Anyway, I refuse to make comparisons here, 'cause it's just too easy to do that with Canadian indie rock these days.

Doris Day - Quarantine Girl
Doris Day - My Hands, My Plans

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What up to the XXJFG and Goldkixx who both put AYF? on their favorite blogs of the year lists. Seriously nice. Jaime has had some hot link action from these guys too -- feels all friendly like. I'm warm.

Also hello to everyone coming through from Banana Nutrament and Motel De Moka.

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Before I have someone else call me gay because I think grime/dubstep is all flash-in-the-pan styles and for deeming the track behind a Lady Sov. video sub-par, think about it: for all it's attempts at commercial success, how big is UK garage/2-step these days? Miles away from all those famous London champaign parties, I'll tell you that. And hell, at least that scene didn't take itself so seriously.

Various

2005-12-31T17:32:00.000-05:00

It's one of those moments where AYF? goes off about something new. Not so new as to be undiscovered, but still pretty new. This collective out of the UK is called Various Production, and they're making people notice with an eclectic set of releases on 7" vinyl ("Hater" being the big hit). Their music is all over the place, from well-produced dub-step (yes, grime still sucks) derivative indie/electro/R&B to lap-folk, to straight folk (check their rendition of "Byker Hill" renamed as "Biker Walk" -- bizarre, yes).

What blows me away is their originality in sound, technique, and feel. Sure, "Sir" hits up Suicide, but fuck that; these guys and girls can sing, and they can make their tracks interesting beginning to end, regardless of the lazy tempo. It puts the pretenders to shame.

I can only hope 2006 brings us more of this. More eclecticism, and more of the thick atmosphere from the wholly original, R&B-spiced likes of Various Production and Velella Velella. See also: Jackson & His Computer Band who come in on the techno end of this equation, and Jamie Lidell who does the scruffy white-boy R&B thing.

Various Production - Sir
Various Production - Hater
Various Production - Home
Various Production - Foller

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Shout outs to Oh No! who have linked us up, and To Here Knows When (named after a My Bloody Valentine track, which is always a good thing).

In Review

2005-12-30T19:38:00.000-05:00

This post is in preparation for New Years.

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Some of the more journalistic moments we've had over the last year at AYF?:

Reviews
10/2005 Faunts - High Expectations/Low Results
08/2005 Broken Social Scene - S/T
07/2005 Brakes - Give Blood

Interviews/Articles
10/2005 The Paper Cranes
10/2005 Measles-Mumps-Rubella
09/2005 Jonathan Vance
08/2005 The Juan MacLean
07/2005 No Dynamics
06/2005 Final Fantasy

Shows
11/2005 The Juan MacLean, James Murphy, Sh*t Robot DJ sets
10/2005 Man Man w/Lenin i Shumov
09/2005 My Project: Blue w/Kat Burns, The Zoobombs, Members of Broken Social Scene
09/2005 Bush League w/I Am Robot And Proud
08/2005 The Two Koreas w/The Republic Of Safety
08/2005 Hank w/Vitaminsforyou
07/2005 The Empires w/The Diableros

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My top 10 albums for 2005 (since everyone else has done it):

The Shocking Pinks - Mathematical Warfare
Love Is All - Nine Times The Same Song
The Diableros - You Can't Break The Strings In Our Olympic Hearts
Serena Maneesh - S/T
Spoon - Gimmie Fiction
Wolf Parade - Apologies To Queen Mary
Datarock - S/T
Wilderness - S/T
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - S/T
Broken Social Scene - S/T

Runners Up: The Ponys, Matson Jones, Isolée, Gogogo Airheart, Man Man, The Book Of Lists, Samara Lubelski, Cass McCombs, Jens Lekman, The Juan MacLean, LCD Soundsystem, Final Fantasy, The Arcade Fire, Jamie Lidell.

I know most of you haven't heard my top pick -- The Shocking Pinks' label, Flying Nun (of New Zealand), was recently purchased by a major, so we can only hope distribution will improve.

Yes, I have sucked at updating my "Top Picks for 2005" section.

Information and audio samples for almost all of these bands can be found by using the search function in the right column of this site, under archives.

This girl, she's so dark.

2005-12-29T18:55:00.000-05:00

Hey so I have this thing for goth girls. I'm not talking PVC and six inch platforms, I mean the real thing -- like in the movies as played by Angelina Jolie or Winona Ryder. So naturally, this means I have a soft spot for bands like Glass Candy, The Vanishing, and Veronic Lipgloss and The Evil Eyes.

Unfortunately, The Vanishing split a while back, but Ms. Lipgloss still holds the torch, and by all accounts, Glass Candy are going strong. Someone really irritating will probably call this stuff death disco or try compare these bands to say -- The Metric. But they'd be wrong, and you should insult that person all the way back to the Casby Awards where they belong.

For the sake of comedy, I'm going to throw Neon Blonde into this section as well, mainly because of their name and that wicked falsetto vocal (The Blood Brothers spinoff, once-removed Chromatics cousins). It's a bad name, but completely unsurprising for a band on Dim Mak (who, by way of genetics, are gracing their website with images of a young Aoki supermodel in a bath of merch. Fuck dude, it's just plain whack is what it is). So yeah, no girls here, just a girly name and a guy who sings like a girl. No, you won't catch me in bed with this record with my eyes open.

This sound isn't new, nor are long, weird, and subsequently shortened band names. We've Got A Fuzzbox & We're Gonna Use It (also: Fuzzbox) were around decades ago (try the '80s).

We've Got A Fuzzbox & We're Gonna Use It - Console Me
Glass Candy - Sugar & Whitebread (Vocal)
Glass Candy - Iko Iko
The Vanishing - Lovesick
Veronica Lipgloss and The Evil Eyes - Unicorn Song

Neon Blonde - Barbados Nights
Neon Blonde - Headlines

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In response to the international readers we've been getting, I'm going to post a few songs from Los Planetas -- a band who have been around since the early '90s, and are - at least in the Spanish-speaking world - indie-rock heroes. When I stumbled on these guys a couple years ago, I was surprised they weren't a big deal in North America, given the strength of their sound, their musicianship, and the fact that they have been known to sing in English -- sometimes (I'm posting a taste of this in the form of a few cover songs). What with Sigur Rós and - more recently - Dungen making major impacts, maybe the English-speaking indie crowd is ready for Los Planetas. Or maybe they can just continue outside our radar; it's worked for them so far.

Los Planetas - Disorder (Joy Division cover)
Los Planetas - Baby Lemonade (Syd Barrett cover)
Los Planetas - Apple Boutique (Felt cover)

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Jay over at Goldkicks posted a couple Daddy's Hands MP3s. Go check them out, because they're worth it.

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So I was visiting my parent's place over the last week, and my mother mentions something to me along the lines of, "hey, your uncle says you should visit Chicago instead of bringing the band here [to Toronto]." I was confused. Then I figured it out -- my uncle - who lives in Chicago, where Probably Vampires are from - reads my blog. Not only that, he pays attention to what I'm writing about. Crazy. Now if my mom starts reading this, it'll be really weird.

The Juan MacLean's mom watched him in the video for "Every Little Thing," where he runs around on set in his undies having pretend-sex with a couple hot ladies. No uncomfortable explanations like that for me, please.

Anyway, hi Hilton.

NO FORMAT: 01/07/2006

2005-12-25T12:20:00.000-05:00

NO FORMAT presents

PROBABLY VAMPIRES (Chicago)
The Two Koreas

Saturday January 7th
The Bagel (On College west of Spadina)

$8

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This is our first NO FORMAT show since we brought Man Man in from Philly, which was awesome, and saw The Bagel at capacity (on a weeknight, no less).

We expect this to sell out, so come early. Advance tickets are unlikely.

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As I've said before, Probably Vampires are like an up-beat version of The Zombies. They're also a bit like The Doors, and '60s west-coast pop, with some blues and Motown thrown in. Like T2K, they're about the dance.

You should be friends with them; they're from Chicago and they rock out.

Probably Vampires - Every Single Time (repost)
Probably Vampires - Yes I Do (repost)
Probably Vampires - One More Night (repost)

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You guys know all about The Two Koreas; this is your chance to see them in a tiny venue where we can all hang with (singer) Stuart Berman in front of the stage.

The Two Koreas - Borrowing From Petra To Pay Pauline (repost)
The Two Koreas - Retarded Architect (repost)

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Big shout out to Zoilus for the props on our year-end list, and hello to everyone visiting here from his site.

Also a hello to the Italian readers coming from Pigmag (who denounce the exclusion of Stars from our list, and think Arcade Fire should rank higher) and the French-language readers from Blogotheque. Both of those are cool sites; run them through a translator if you can't understand them.

Vacation?

2005-12-24T23:58:00.000-05:00

Whoa there. Everyone take it easy; leave something for me. All of a sudden wherever I look there are people jamming on a couple amazing bands -- a couple of my top bands to flog. Man Man and Psychic Ills. And what else? Plenty of other material from The Social Registry, one of the strongest labels around right now, and home to Psychic Ills, who have - depending on when the album officially comes out - put together one of the top releases of either '05 or '06.

A few weeks ago I mentioned the What's Your Rupture? label, intending to post a couple tracks, including one from Cause Co-Motion, but Pitchfork beat me to it. Not only that, but good old PFM even posted some interesting singles reviews with tracks from Man Man and Australians The Grates (featured previously on AYF?).

What's Your Rupture? have a formidable roster right now, including Comet Gain, the previously mentioned Cause Co-Motion, and Love Is All, who I went on about last week.

Psychic Ills - Another Day Another Night
Man Man - Van Helsing Boombox
Cause Co-Motion - Baby Don't Do It

Comet Gain have been around for some time - since the early '90s - and have released tracks on a few different labels (Kill Rock Stars being the most recent). The male/female vocalist thing has worked well for them, as did their early focus on heavy guitar attack bolstered by a great rhythm section. After a few roster changes, David Feck - the sole original member - has diversified his sound with alt-country and college rock meanderings.

Comet Gain - Skinny Wolves
Comet Gain - Why I Try To Look So Bad

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The Diableros, who I've been a huge fan of since first seeing them play - what - almost a year ago, have recently signed a Canadian distribution deal with the new Baudelaire label (home to Tangiers). You can expect to see their debut album showing up in stores across the country; do yourself a favour and pick it up -- it's one of the best this year.

Recently, the band was nice enough to send me a live cover of The Wipers' Telepathic Love to post. For the sake of the uninitiated, I'm also including the original, although - and this is saying a lot - I prefer their cover.

The Diableros - Telepathic Love (Live)
The Wipers - Telepathic Love

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Doloroso are from England but - thankfully - are not just another post-punk contender to the Gang Of Four throne. Their songs are dark, in the way Bowie or Echo & The Bunnymen are dark -- their dense instrumentation offset by airy production.

Check out their Myspace page for more tracks.

Doloroso - The Killer Calm

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Tareh pointed me to Other Music's list of top picks for 2005. It's good reading. So is the list compiled by Metacritic.

Fleeting

2005-12-15T01:35:00.000-05:00

My love for Victoria's indie-pop scene keeps growing stronger. Shapes and Sizes are a quartet who seem to be holding the torch high, mixing disparate sounds and influences into quirky pop music. A combination of female and male vocals share duties, offering us some personal reflections which sound heart-felt, if allegorical at times. The music shifts rapidly, from hook to drone and back again -- it's hard to pin down, which is part of the appeal here (OK, they can hit Frog Eyes with a good throw from where they're at). "I Am Cold" is my soundtrack tonight, as I nudge the thermostat another degree upwards.

Shapes and Sizes - I Am Cold
Shapes and Sizes - Weekends At A Time
Shapes and Sizes - Wilderness
Shapes and Sizes - Island's Gone Bad
Shapes and Sizes - Taste In My Mouth

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The female vocal kick continues with The Social Registry's Samara Lubelski (of Hall Of Fame). I think the most direct comparison here would be to the folk/psych wanderings of Neil Halstead, with similarities not only in her songwriting and the production quality, but also in her vocal inflection. These two tracks - "The Fleeting Skies" being the title track to Lubelski's 2004 solo debut, and "Sister Silver" from her latest release, Spectacular Of Passages - are so on target it's hard to imagine an entire album. Where the hell have I been for these? I need to visit Rotate tomorrow.

Samara Lubelski - Sister Silver
Samara Lubelski - The Fleeting Skies

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I have been coaxed into helping out tonight with Shack Up's ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY at The Queenshead. I'm sure I'll see some of you there.

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The death knell for house music with rock'n'roll production is nearing. Freshness is hitting a factor of zero, and whether or not it's another motherfucking remix, it's all starting to sound the same.

I scare little kids

2005-12-13T16:51:00.000-05:00

Last week I promised some dance music ("tomorrow"). Velella Velella are one of the bands I've been listening to a lot of over the last while, to the point where I am convinced that they're way bigger than they are. Like, when I drop one of their tracks, I expect to see the ladies pack the floor and everyone grinding the leg of the person next to them.

These guys produce some next-level dance funk, and they do it with soul. I love this shit. DJs: play it right after some Jamie Lidell and give everyone the impression you're the number one lover.

Velella Velella - Hunter
Velella Velella - Do No Fold/Do Not Bend

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Digging back a few months, David Gilmour Girls released a 12" on Headman's Relish Records last August. The A side is Heavy Metal Music Magazines -- a ten minute opus that traverses rock and electronic genres, eventually settling into a Moroder/motorik groove, which in turn gets ripped apart by a rock'n'roll chainsaw. I listen to this, and it's like summer all over again (right).

David Gilmour Girls - Heavy Metal Music Magazines

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Ana Lola Roman is not dance music. Not even close. I've been on this female vocalist kick over the last couple weeks, and Ana has provided a great working soundtrack. She writes bizarre musical fairytales, driven by off-kilter piano, synths, and her unique vocal style. Her music is very unusual -- for me, it conjures mental images reminiscent of Jan Svankmajer's Alice, one of those visually abstract films which has seared a couple great scenes into my mind. We're talking sawdust-filled bunnies with over-sized teeth, and jars of formaldehyde-soaked somethings (yes, somethings).

If you're into these tracks, also check out Ana's other project, Roar On Ivory (released through Touch It Movement records).

Ana Lola Roman - Brothers Grimm
Ana Lola Roman - Modern Day Nursery Rhyme
Ana Lola Roman - Candy Coated Lithium

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Big thanks to For The Records and Chromewaves for linking our Top 35 Canadian Bands list. We've been getting a lot of traffic and some nice responses.

We've also been hooked up by The Big Ticket recently. Check them out.

And hey - Ashley - you're hot. For real.

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I'm noticing that some people still think direct-linking MP3s from AYF? is cool. It's not, and you will soon be unable to do it (this will only affect about three of you -- literally).

Just switched over to Technorati for archive searching. You will now find the search is way more reliable -- like you can actually find what you're looking for without tons of duplicate posts in the way. Check it out on the side panel.

I also cleaned up our Feedburner feed, if you're into the RSS thing.

Silence please

2005-12-10T23:33:00.000-05:00

It's that time of the year -- the time when all the blog people make their lists. I promise I won't make many (this is only my second), but it seems the "Top Canadian Bands by Canadian Bloggers" list is essential in 2005. Oh fuck, no it's not... I just wanted to make a list, some of my friends said they'd participate, and this is the result.

"The Alternative List of Canadian Bands By A Few of The Other Canadian Bloggers," is put together by myself (AYF?), Jay Watts (Goldkicks), and Stuart Berman (Eye Magazine).

35. The Creeping Nobodies
Stuart -- Earlier this year, for a first date, I took a girl who hadn’t been to club gig in, like, 10 years to the Wavelength anniversary at Lee’s. The first thing she saw was an epileptic Derek Westerholm swallowing his microphone and screaming into his guitar pick-ups. She and I haven’t spoken since.

34. Ghislain Poirier
Jay -- Montreal-based hip-hop producer who's done remixes for Lady Sovereign, and worked with Beans. Fool that I was, I didn't really pay much attention to his work until recently, and now I'm snapping up everything I can find by him, and downloading everything I can't.

33. Despistado
Stuart -- Their debut album turned out to be their swan song, so the Regina-is-the-new-Seattle articles will have to wait. They coulda been contenders, or at least as good as At the Drive-In.

32. Great Lake Swimmers
Stuart -- I don’t believe in heaven, but “Song for the Angel” makes me wish I did.

31. The Two Koreas
Greg -- They are kind of like the Canadian Art Brut, except not at all. I don't know why people keep making that comparison. They're fronted by a music editor (who wrote part of this list and didn't even vote for his own band), and half their rhythm section (er... the bassist) is from Toronto's Uncut. Show highlights include Dan Burke - infamous local promoter - doing karate style kick-dancing to impress the ladies.

30. Faunts
Greg -- Shoegaze hasn't exactly made a stunning comeback, but the sound is being realized again in fresh, interesting ways. Faunts do it well, and so far without a hell of a lot of hype.

29. No Dynamics
Stuart -- The band Beyonce would front if Jay-Z was Jon Spencer in 1993.

28. Frog Eyes
Jay -- Cary Mercer has been called, at various times, a demented drunk bear, or alternately, Boris Yeltsin on a weekend bender at the dacha. Half-Birthday Party battling against Captain Beefheart.

27. Republic of Safety
Stuart -- The band Molly Ringwald would front if John Hughes had taken his cue from The Ex instead of the Psychedelic Furs.

26. Chet
Jay -- If Jeff Buckley had written more songs that sounded like that "Hallelujah" cover, instead of the random grunge-rock nonsense that I can't tolerate, he might have won the adoration of more people and not waded into that river. Ryan Beattie and his feuding half-brother Patrick are on it, though, and I'm going to go out and say that they're better than anything Buckley wrote, or could have written. Patrick's mother is writing her master's thesis on the presentation of dead children in the 19th century.

25. Silver Mt. Zion
Stuart -- Efrim Menuck’s most atypical SMZ release, Horses in the Sky, also turns out to be the best thing he’s done since Godspeed’s Lift Your Skinny Little Fists…, countering his day gig’s imposing grandeur with tender and tortured spirituals for a world with no soul.

24. The Besnard Lakes
Jay -- Jace and Olga are studio masterminds, and a married couple that don't, as per the blueprint, craft that sort of schmaltzy, heavily contrived and coy brand of indie rock that characterizes what married musicians get up to (in response to Ike & Tina's violent partnership, I assume). Nay, hallucinogenic dispatches from the dark recesses of the universe.

23. Hank
Greg -- This band has been sitting atop my last.fm playlist ever since I put their CD on repeat overnight once, like eight months ago. Short songs, so they can fit lots on a disc. Ultra-catchy pop/soul/rock with some electronic beats thrown in.

22. Holy Fuck
Jay -- I slept on this. After an allergic reaction to Brian's other project experienced at a Wintersleep show, I wasn't keen to check them out. It took me a couple of months and some serious prodding from friends before I saw them at Pop Montreal, and realized that it wasn't going to be that necessary for Faust to re-unite; but if they did, they'd have a great touring partner.

21. Destroyer
Jay -- A genius Spaniard, one-time babysitter, and (I swear) Volvo station-wagon owner. He's friends with Rodney Graham!

20. Final Fantasy
Greg -- The most annoying thing about articles on Owen Pallett (aka Final Fantasy) are the frequent Arcade Fire references (yes, he tours with them), because his own music is more than strong enough to escape their massive gravitational pull. Violin wizardry is what it is, and yeah, Final Fantasy is all about video games. And D&D.
Stuart -- Voice of an angel, mouth of a sailor, our Owen could play The Boat or Royal Albert Hall and bring both houses down just as handily. And then play us a charming song about how everyone perished in the rubble.

19. Dandi Wind
Jay -- This is usually the sort of stuff that I begin secretly loving, attempt to convert everyone else to - failing miserably - then tucking my tail between my legs and enjoying only in the confines of my room. Except, for a lot of good reasons, people ended up responding well to a duo that weds experimental/conceptual art to synth-stabs and Moroder-through-the-meat-grinder beats, as if Throbbing Gristle were as accessible as the Beatles.

18. The New Pornographers
Stuart -- The more expansive Twin Cinema may have a lower hook-per-second ratio than the first two albums, but “Sing Me Spanish Techno” and “Use It” keep their career batting average in the high .900s (thereby fulfilling this list’s quota for baseball metaphors).

17. PRIMES
Jay -- Jack Duckworth, a former member of Radio Berlin, formed this duo out of A Luna Red, and like A Luna Red, he's remained the only constant throughout a couple of line-up changes. Notable Vancouver musical history beyond the Subhumans or that band that Tommy Chong and Jimi Hendrix played in is a scarce commodity, but Jack knows his shit. He taps into and updates the early experimental and industrial sounds that were coming out of that city in the early 80s before being codified and standardized. There's something about the ahistorical nature of Vancouver that makes PRIMES' future-gazing post-apocolyptic vision work.

16. Duchess Says
Jay -- I don't know how my friends Victoria, Krzysztof, JRC and myself ended up stumbling into Casa Del Popolo last year and catching them, but it was a life-affirming moment for me. Stylistically, they've armed themselves with all the right weapons in the post-punk and new-wave arsenal that post-hardcore musicians haven't been able to find, including a mammoth Six Finger Satellite cover, and they've accomplished something far beyond referencing. I'm just incapable of explaining; I'm too awestruck.

15. Pink Mountaintops
Stuart -- The best thing about Black Mountain’s breakthrough is that it will divert more eyes (perhaps even those belonging to Chris Martin) to Steve McBean’s even more immaculately stoned satellite band. Black Mountain may bring on the boogie, but McBean’s honey-slide drawl sounds prettier in Pink, even when he’s singing about fucking mountains. (Hope he’s using protection.)

14. Love And Mathematics
Greg -- Love And Mathematics would've placed higher on this list had I been living out in Vancouver, where I could actually see them play. As it is, the few dodgy demo recordings I've heard show huge indie-pop potential; I'm betting they will be signed and touring by the time we get to write next year's list.

13. The Arcade Fire
Greg -- I keep thinking I'm sick of The Arcade Fire, but then I'll be somewhere, and hear one of their songs, and go, "oh man... this is good." Then I'll go home and listen to their record again.

12. Book of Lists
Jay -- Headed by another Radio Berlin member and an accomplished photographer (that's all they used to make in Vancouver - Jeff Wall to Rodney Graham and on - up until a couple of years ago), they contribute to a musical dialogue that never quite made it across the pond - taking up where Felt left off, and at the point when Mark and Andy of Ride stopped talking to each other.

11. The Deadly Snakes
Stuart -- Older, wiser, a little quieter and slower, but Andre Ethier and Max Dangers still corner the market on soul. And they ain’t sellin’ any.

10. Islands
Jay -- Nick and Jaimie have matured, grown leaps and bounds, and while some people might espy a certain underhanded slight when one compliments the song-writing chops and instrumentation on their soon-to-be-released album, I'm god-damn serious. Songs and the production like this are something that people haven't heard in a long-time, and certainly not in the calculated melodramatics or stale hi-hat posturing of the much-dreaded indie-rock ghetto. They also happened to be 2/3s of the Unicorns.

9. The Diableros
Greg -- They recently put on one of the best live shows I've been to this year, with an album soon to be in wide distribution through Canada; watch for them, and check the AYF? archives for previous coverage.
Stuart -- They just put out their first album last week, but man, the rookies hit it right outta the park with two outs in the ninth (while Anton Newcombe and dude from The Walkmen start a brawl in the bleachers over who gets to keep the ball).

8. Caribou
Jay -- Ronald Reagan had it all wrong on trickle-down. The theory is improperly applied to socio-economics, but works marvellously in musical circles. People know about the Silver Apples, ya know... and Dan Snaith does, and now maybe some kid in a university dorm as well.
Stuart -- He was born in Ontario, lives in the UK, but Dan Snaith’s heart belongs to the autobahn. This is Krautrock you can cuddle to.

7. Black Mountain
Jay -- Ever since I saw a grainy video of Ex-Dead Teenager, I've followed with great interest whatever project Steve McBean takes up, and it's a damn immense pleasure to see him involved in a psych-heavy band with such illustrious alumini; including Joshua Wells, formerly of Radio Berlin and hands-down the most enjoyable drummer to watch, and Jeremy Schmidt, formerly of the Orphan and Pipedream.

6. Colourbook
Greg -- What's up with Victoria these days? Colourbook are yet another amazing young discovery without a label. Here, there are shades of Broken Social Scene in their sonic textures and song structures; the quiet chats in the background of their demo and the way in which the tunes intentionally fall apart and reform, are particularly endearing. Live instrumentation coupled with synths, loops, and hand-claps. Sounds great.

5. Constantines
Stuart -- [Stuart's top choice was Broken Social Scene, with Constantines second. He wrote both capsules together, just to be annoying.] Obvious choices, yes, but still the Toronto indie-stry’s gold/silver standard. It’s like “Stairway to Heaven” finishing No. 1 on every Q107 Best Songs of All Time countdown ever— an outcome that’s both inevitable and indisputable. But classic-rock analogies aside, these are two bands that refuse to fossilize, releasing brave new albums to suit their brave new worlds; BSS responded with chaos, the Cons with clarity. It’s Sgt. Pepper vs Beggars Banquet and everybody wins.

4. Daddy's Hands
Jay -- Dave Wanger's first group was called Moral Decay and received glowing reviews from magazines like Metal Maniacs, which lead to a bizarre and constraining contract with Earache Records, all when he was still in high school, (like) in the 80s or something. He was all set for hair-metal stardom, and then something happened, and instead he ended up writing dark, fucking that are (I SWEAR) directly responsible for the tone, timber and songwriting of groups like Frog Eyes and Wolf Parade and beyond. (Members of which played, at various times, in bands with Wanger). There's a new album already recorded, waiting for release, which will make writing music for any of his former protegés or current friends a very daunting prospect indeed.

3. The Paper Cranes
Greg -- Five friends from Victoria who completely blew me away six months ago with a series of self-funded demos. Since then, I've worked with them on recording their first release, and involved myself in the band's future plans. Yeah, I have a vested interest here, but only because The Paper Cranes really are that good. They've been compared to everyone from XTC to The Cure to The Smiths to Canadian alumni Wolf Parade and The Arcade Fire.

2. Broken Social Scene
Greg -- Still holding it together and actually moving forward after all these years. Congratulations to the BSS collective for their latest release: an album that is actually challenging and rewarding to listen to from a band who could've easily given us more of the same (because everyone wanted it).

1. Wolf Parade
Stuart -- The catchiest band that doesn’t even try to be: Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug shriek, yelp and croak their way through their circus-freaked psychedelia but still prove they were born to run.
Jay -- I've already trademarked that "Best Band in Canada" line...
Greg -- Oh look, it's someone else writing something about Wolf Parade.

Felt Tip Techno

2005-12-08T01:57:00.000-05:00

Time to play catch-up for the last week.

Got some dance-oriented shit to drop tomorrow, but tonight, what about some of the latest from the Pitchfork hyperbole? Nick Sylvester just lauded the Love Is All album, Nine Times That Same Song, with Best New Music honors and an excellent review. They've already been filtering through the blogs, what with an unusually forward-thinking appearance on Fluxblog last year, and I'm sure they'll take off with the more mainstream State-side indie heads soon enough. Besides, their music is very good; they've got that echoing high-school choir shout-along thing down (hey, just like Bodies Of Water).

Love Is All - ~~Make Out Fall Out Make Up~~ (Removed by request)
Love Is All - Talk Talk Talk Talk
Love Is All - Felt Tip Hip Kids

This weekend, I'll have some coverage of a few of the other offerings from their label, What's Your Rupture?.

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Jaime posted the new Liars track last week. I'd been meaning to get to it, but now I guess I'll do something a bit different, and offer up a face-off between three indie-techno-guitar tunes that you can shuffle, but not dance to.

First up are - yes - Liars. They've copped the "Don't Techno For An Answer" name, they've wobbled their bassline in a pleasantly post-'Room On The Broom way, and they gurgle and chant some words between hyperactive drum fills and repetitive vocal loops. Can you dance to this? Hey, xxJFG, do people dance to this when you play it?

Liars - It Fit When I Was A Kid (Don't Techno For An Answer)

Speaking of the xxJFG, they've been giving coverage to Pro Forma lately. Nice one, as Pro Forma certainly rock it like Factory-does-techno-but-well. "Sexual Design" comes up big on the bass and the techno grunge; all squelch and blip. It trumps Liars as the reverbed percussion stabs come in -- the industrial edge of the vocal fades away into synth sweeps and then doubles back. Oh yes, and what is that girl doing here? Sure baby, you can stay.

Pro Forma - Sexual Design

So here we go digging back into what, 2003? Blur. Yeah, fucking Blur. This little-known 1000-copies-pressed 7" comes out, co-produced by William Orbit, with some vaguely offensive Arabic text on the front and no credits. But you can't miss Damon's vocal, can you? When I heard this I couldn't believe it was Blur; I wanted so badly for their upcoming album to be nothing but music like THIS. And no, it wasn't, it was crap. But there was still that time where I thought - magically - Blur were good again, and what did it take but a moment of sheer brilliance to bring it about.

Blur - Don't Bomb When You Are The Bomb

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Thanks to the people who commiserated with me on my hectic work schedule. It's getting back on track now.

Hello to the nice girl who came up to me while I was DJing on Tuesday night.

And what the hell -- thanks to everyone who checks the site out and participates. I'd do this anyway, but it's nice to know someone else is listening.

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Right, and who else would like to buy a motorcycle after watching this? Or at the very least pick up one of those jackets. Or maybe just visit Niagra Falls?

80 Hour Weeks

2005-12-06T15:07:00.000-05:00

Slept at work last Tuesday night

Slept at work last Sunday night.

Been doing 12 hour days otherwise. Spent one 40-hour stint in the office without leaving.

Almost done. Product info: http://www.segalabs.com/

Regular updates starting again this week.

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I am going to be nice and give one warning: please do not direct-link to music on my site for the purpose of streaming audio (that means YOU, Livejournal and Myspace users). If this keeps up, I will have to block all referring sites that are picking up MP3s directly from AYF?.

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Myself (NNY) and Mikey Apples are DJing at Supermarket, in Toronto tonight. It is our friend Kim's going away party. $2. It'll be fun. I'm gonna play some music to have sex to on the dancefloor. That's right. Sex on the dancefloor.

Watch me

2005-11-29T00:12:00.000-05:00

It's kind of funny how everyone who writes a blog feels compelled to compile lists, and no time is this more obvious than just before the new year. Is it because we're so full of self-importance? Is it such vanity? Or is it the result of the same obsessive-compulsive behaviour which spurred some of us to begin keeping regular, sometimes painfully detailed online diaries to begin with?

Tonight I am going to post my five favorite music videos this year. My artistic criteria involve both the quality of the music, and the visual appeal of the imagery. I'm not the type to love a video for a bad band, nor am I a huge fan of pointless abstraction unless it's the next level shit, and there isn't much of that next level shit out there. This year, even Chris Cunningham and collectives like The Designer's Republic and Associates in Science have become less progressive or innovative. Fortunately, big-budget mainstays like Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze have continued to impress (Jonze with his Gondry-esque Adidas commercial, and Gondry with his ultra-Gondry White Stripes video). But this isn't really about the big budgets for me -- it's about innovative and interesting.

5. Jeremy Warmsley - Verses / Drinkme - Manifesto | Dir: Ben Rollason
Isn't that the worst when someone says top five and they sneak in a sixth choice? Whatever, both of these are directed by Ben Rollason, and are excellent videos. Rough edges show; the digital effects in Manifesto are loosely polished, which makes them that much better, and the acting in Verses is quirky enough to be good. Each of these pieces holds you from start to finish with a cohesive story, and consistent feel. I covered Drinkme a while ago, and still find Manifesto will work a dancefloor with it's Elastica-like hook.

Watch: Verses MOV / Manifesto MOV (Both of these require a click-through.)

4. Tom Vek - C-C (You Set The Fire In Me) | Dir: Adam Bartley
Hey Tom, you're a fucking muppet. Yeah, you're a fucking muppet but you sure can play those drums, and I hear you bring a solid live show to back it up. Oh and your little friend -- he's a muppet too.

Watch: WMV

3. Sigur Rōs - Glōsōl | Dir: Arni & Kinski
Takk is an excellent record, and this video captures the feeling of the lead track perfectly. The colours are lush, and the atmosphere heavy -- it's a slow song, but watch this to the end; it's well worth it.

Watch: MOV (Must click-through)

2. Man Man - The 10lb Moustache | Dir: Adam Carrigan
I've watched this video countless times, and I never get sick of the surreal dialogue with it's non-sequiturs making a kind of strange sense, as the story moves forward. LIFE, YOU DOG. YOU SALT MY TEA!

Watch: MOV

1. Doves - Sky Starts Falling | Dir: Reuben Sutherland
This video is just stunning. From the extensive use of 3D, to the wonderfully composited effects work, the whole thing is beautiful to watch just from a technical standpoint. Add in the surreal storyline - surprisingly emotional given it's loose presentation - and you've got what I think is the best video of the year. Nice work.

Watch: MOV

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Shout out to For The Records, who've linked AYF? permanently. He is another Toronto-based writer who spends a lot of time covering shows in this city, including The Diableros' CD release last weekend, which was one of my favorite concerts this year.

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Watch the next issue of Eye Magazine for a mention of Daughters Of Invention. Way to go Jaime, NOW you're bigtime.

I bet I get to say that again soon...

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I seem to run into Rory a lot; last week, I found him in a book store killing time before one of his DJ gigs. Yeah, the guy actually reads -- well, magazines at least.

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Popsheep also like Colourbook (and get a permanent link as I add yet more people from Toronto to the right hand column). Nice to see Colourbook is getting picked up on, and in response, I'll drop three more of their latest tracks:

Colourbook - Never Get Old
Colourbook - Older, Wiser
Colourbook - A Long Line Of Men

Intelligent design

2005-11-26T16:50:00.000-05:00

This is not the post I intended to make today. I have a big article waiting as a draft -- waiting for someone (JAIME!) to add to it before it can be put up. But hey, it's been a few days, so here we go...

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Last week I was invited by a friend of mine to something called the Casby Awards -- an event put together by local radio station 102.1 as both a publicity stunt, and an excuse to give awards to their listener's favorite bands. The girl who invited me is really nice, and I figured it would be fun to go, at least for a laugh. There was a very small red carpet in front of the venue (a horrible 2400 capacity club called Kool Haus), tons of security, and lots of fans there for bands like Metric, Hot Hot Heat, Sloan, and uh... Th3ory 0f A D34dman, Tr3ws, and B0y (there, that should confuse the search engine seekers).

It was terrible. Not the poor selection of beer (I can live with Molson), not the awful sound (I wasn't there for the bands), or the Molson girls wandering around in their halter tops (that was a high point). It was the general feeling; the posing and the fronting. And for what? Just lame, and embarrassing enough to preclude enjoyment of the spectacle. So I was ecstatic when my friend let me know she could get me into the Echo & The Bunnymen show happening across town. I left The Casby's quickly.

The Echo & The Bunnymen show was great -- far better than I expected, given what other people have experienced with their tour. Ian McCulloch wasn't so fucked as to be unable to sing, which was a nice surprise, and the sound was good. Thank you to Jacob from Emerge for putting that together, and for letting me know about some upcoming events I'll drop on this blog when I'm allowed to.

I watched Donnie Darko again a few weeks ago:
Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon

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So now - for some reason - I am in a Creation Records mood. Tareh pointed out that an old Creation band called The Loft have been getting a good deal of posthumus attention lately, and deservedly so. I've also been listening to Adorable, and thinking about The House Of Love; two of the post-shoegaze, pre-Brit-pop bands that were overshadowed by grunge.

The last two installments of the shoegaze retrospective will be up next week (including more Adorable tracks).

Adorable - Homeboy

The Loft - Up The Hill And Down The Slope
The Loft - Tuesday

The House Of Love - I Don't Know Why I Love You
The House Of Love - Marble
The House Of Love - Beatles And The Stones

The truth

2005-11-21T17:06:00.000-05:00

In an effort to receive more referring links, I thought I'd let you all know that I am, in fact, a very hot girl.

VERY HOT.

Vampires are the new wolves

2005-11-20T22:40:00.000-05:00

My friend Ryan says Probably Vampires are like an up-beat version of The Zombies. I kind of agree. They're also a bit like The Doors, and '60s west-coast pop, with some blues and Motown thrown in. Their name is really cute, but if we suddenly see a rash of vampire-named or themed groups, I'm going to start calling it the apocalypse.

You should go make friends with them; they're from Chicago and they rock out.

Probably Vampires - Every Single Time
Probably Vampires - Yes I Do
Probably Vampires - One More Night

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So this guy Ian came up with a brilliant idea; an indie-rock version of fantasy football. I had to tell him that Pitchfork came up with the idea already, but that didn't stop us from drunkenly formulating some basic rules, and then... forgetting about it.

But yeah, I still want to do it. Make it happen, Ian!

Speaking of Pitchfork, they don't like The Howling Hex's new DVD/album as much as I do. I say it clears 70 by a couple percentage points.

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James Murphy, The Juan Maclean, and Sh*t Robot (that's how he spells it, not me) all played at Shack Up last Thursday with Mikey, Jaime, and myself (well, I played two records and worked the door). It was an experience that re-instilled my faith in small DJ parties. The Juan is coming back, and we'll do something like that again. I can't wait.

Keep your ears open for the Sh*t Robot 12" releases coming up on DFA. Great stuff.

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The video game I'm working on can be found at "Segalabs." When we saw the original concept for this promotion, some of us freaked out -- and not in a good way. We couldn't imagine it being alright, but it is. In a video game way, you know.

The Juan Maclean at Shack Up NOV 17th

2005-11-16T13:05:00.000-05:00

THE JUAN MACLEAN COMES TO SHACK UP

What is The Juan into?
Throbbing Gristle, Basic Channel, Maurizio, Juan Atkins, Derreck May, Carl Craig (Paperclip People, etc), Chrome, DAF, Frankie Knuckles, Adonis, Phuture, Chris and Cosey, Arthur Russel, Public Image Limited, Can, Gang of Four, Black Flag, Giorgio Moroder, Italo Disco, Disco Disco, Godflesh, Hawkwind, The Human League, Kenny Larkin, Manuel Gottsching, Moodyman, Larry Levan, SalSoul, Alexander Robotnik, Gary Numan, King Tubby, Scientist, Birthday Party, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Einsturzende Neubauten, Underground Resistance, Andrew Weatherall, Metro Area, Ghostly International, Kompakt, Vladislav Delay, Aphex Twin, Man II Man, Mann Parrish, Newcleus, Paul Johnson, Cerrone, Boney M, Gil Scot Heron

Who does he release for?
DFA - www.dfarecords.com

What does he have to say?
http://areyoufamiliar.blogspot.com/2005/08/interview-juan-maclean.html

$2 COVER (can you handle that?)

Resident DJs Mikey Apples and Jaime Sin

Expect this to be pretty rammed, so come early. We plan to have some serious fun rockin' out and all that shit.

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Shack Up as at The Queenshead in Toronto, on the south-west corner of Queen & Bathurst. Things get started at 10:30pm.

I might play a few records depending on how things go with working the door.

Tirade

2005-11-15T23:36:00.000-05:00

When this blog started, it was all text. It was me bitching and moaning and ranting about things, and making fun of people and myself. A few friends read it. When the songs started being posted, more people read it, and now here we are.

Anyway, with the amount of energy my day job and some other projects are taking up, I haven't had the time I like to spend on the strictly musical aspect of this site, so I'm going to write a bit more without posting tunes. I can hear the moans already. It's OK, you can always just skip to the music in other posts, and that search function actually sort of works, you know.

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Last week on Stillepost, I managed to get into an argument with the promoters for the upcoming LCD Soundsystem/Juan Maclean show in Toronto. I bitched about the venue, the ticket prices, the enormous poster, and the rave-like vibe. Admittedly, this was an asshole move, but it did catch the attention of Maclean (whom I have interviewed before), and ellicited a solid response on his behalf which, was in agreement with my own viewpoint.

The whole thing was kind of ridiculous, and I am a bit embarrassed at having engaged in the dialogue, but you can find it here: http://stillepost.ca/boards/index.php?topic=25040.0.

The Juan is a nice guy, and we're hoping to work something out so he can play to a small crowd in a small room as part of this tour. More on that soon.

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NO FORMAT is going to be doing a Neutral Mute/Run-Roc show in Toronto within the next two months. Venue and date TBA.

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The Liars have a new song and video out. It's highly homo-erotic. I think that's why Jaime likes it so much.

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The new release from The Howling Hex? Amazing so far.

The new GoGoGo Airheart is great too, and their show last night was big fun. Be their friends and buy Rats!Sing!Sing!. The only reason I'm even posting this music is so people will hear these bands and pick up the CD/vinyl.

The Howing Hex - Now, We're Gonna Sing

GoGoGo Airheart - So Good
GoGoGo Airheart - Heart On A Chain

Let's be friends

2005-11-11T19:48:00.000-05:00

Another wonderful week of 12 hours workdays, and two wicked bands to listen to:

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Bodies Of Water emailed me today; they wrote me a nice, unassuming message, and offered to send me a CD. I listened to a couple of their MP3s, and was impressed.

With "Here Comes My Hand," these guys and girls belt out amazing vocal melodies, coupled with a dense, sunny, well-produced pop backdrop, the occasional yelp, and quirky breakdowns. "Roar, Roar, Roar," sounds a bit like Grandaddy meets Queen -- what the hell? And then we have a "Guess I'll Forget The Sound, I Guess, I Guess." It's a dusty, melancholy offering with frenetic bridges, a nice organ and synthetic-sounding horns.

I have high hopes for this band. Looking forward to getting the EP.

Bodies Of Water - Here Comes My Hand
Bodies Of Water - Roar, Roar, Roar
Bodies Of Water - Guess I'll Forget The Sound, I Guess, I Guess

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The hoof hearted DAS brought Celebration to my attention. The guy seems hard to please, so when he's all over over a band, you gotta assume there is at least something to be said for it.

Celebration are from New York, and, like Bodies Of Water, they have a very unique sound. Off-time, off-kilter beats, killer organ, and catchy-as-hell basslines clash in something that sounds vaguely like The Liars but hell, I can't really come up with adequate comparisons.

Listen to these guys. They've got it -- that special thing. They're amazing.

Celebration - War
Celebration - New Skin

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The Paper Cranes' EP is now going to mastering (which is what we do after mixing). Their track titled "Deus Ex Machinegun" is heading down to the guys at Run-Roc for a remix treatment. How rad is that? If you don't know who Run-Roc are, they just finished work for Annie and Supersystem, produce Jonathan Vance, and are doing some new work for The Rapture. Things are looking good.

Just For A Day (Shoegaze Part 5)

2005-11-06T21:40:00.000-05:00

My PC pretty much packed it in. Fortunately, I had a really nice workstation donated to me by a wealthy relative (not exactly, but something like that -- I can't afford this shit), so I've spent the last few days converting myself over to the new Mac. It matches my older G4 laptop nicely.

You'd think these infrequent updates were becoming a habit or something. No, there's always an excuse.

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The early '90s saw an influx of new shoegaze bands. Of these, Slowdive, Lush, and Chapterhouse were the three who best defined the sound for me.

With three well-received EPs published through Creation Records in 1990, Slowdive released Just For A Day - their debut full-length - the following year. Propelled by the excellent songwriting skills of Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell, they gained a die-hard audience who appreciated their (hack) shimmering guitars and (ugh) ethereal vocals. This sounds contrived to hell, but it's an accurate description. I apologize for the phrasing of this paragraph; I feel like I've read it so many times before, and indeed, it's been said in just about every interview and review of Slowdive since they formed. Shimmering and ethereal.

The band actually managed to break the UK Top 50 with Just For A Day, but with the rapid decline of shoegaze in the popular media, and the inevitable onslaught of grunge, their subsequent releases sold poorly. Slowdive was dropped by Creation after their last album, Pygmalion, in 1995.

Looking back, both Souvlaki, their sophomore album, and Pygmalion are great records, the latter perhaps one of my favorites of all time. Both are deeply emotional and sonically interesting -- and were also fairly unique when released (a double edged sword, given the public's lack of acceptance).

Slowdive regrouped as an alt-country-inspired act, under the name Mojave 3 -- adding, amongst other members, Simon Rowe from Chapterhouse. They're still around, and both Halstead and Goswell have produced solo albums on top of their combined work. Halstead also has his own record label, although I haven't had a chance to properly check it out yet.

There are way too many good Slowdive songs. I'm going to post a few classics along with some hard to find tracks. The cover of "Some Velvet Morning" is amazing:

Slowdive - Slowdive
Slowdive - Morningrise
Slowdive - She Calls
Slowdive - Catch The Breeze
Slowdive - Some Velvet Morning
Slowdive - Dagger
Slowdive - Blue Skied 'An Clear
Slowdive - J's Heaven
Slowdive - Crazy For You

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Early Lush can come across as a sort of pop-Slowdive. Gala, a 1990 EP-compilation album released in the States on Reprise, was, to an extent, their high point. Their debut album, Spooky - produced by Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie - was reasonable, but unable to live up to the hype established by their early singles. A bit heavy on the chamber influence, maybe.

As grunge and Brit-Pop took hold, Lush focused more on the pop and less on the shoegaze, neutering the impact of their vocal harmonies and the swirling guitars of their female leads. They released two forgettable albums (yes, Lovelife was pretty successful, but still) before breaking up after the suicide of band member Chris Acland.

Someone asked me about Cocteau Twins in a comment - a band who both influenced and were friends with Lush - and while I don't think they fit into a shoegaze retrospective, I will give them props for their influence as a dream-pop band. "Iceblink Luck," one of their more popular singles, was a nice dip into the world of shoegaze.

Lush - Breeze (Peel Session)
Lush - Sweetness & Light

Cocteau Twins - Iceblink Luck

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Chapterhouse are a horribly frustrating band. Whirlpool, their first album, was intense and viceral and could - for a while - almost bring a tear to my eye. From there it went straight downhill into a mix of contrived dreck ("We Are The Beautiful" from their second album, Blood Music), boring ambient pieces (with the exception of "Summer Chill"), crappy techno remixes, and eventually the rapid demise of the band.

So what the fuck is there a best of Chapterhouse compilation for? And how could it be so damn good? Where did that Beatles cover and all those studio demos come from? It's called Rownderbowt, and if you ever see it for sale used, buy it. I've been told it goes for $80US on eBay. My ex-wife has my copy (yeah, I bitched about this before in the Ride section). She says she'll rip it for me, but that hasn't happened yet, has it? So I'm bitching again.

Chapterhouse - Sixteen Years
Chapterhouse - Breather
Chapterhouse - Treasure
Chapterhouse - Autosleeper
Chapterhouse - Mesermise
Chapterhouse - Summer Chill

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I know nothing about Drop other than they were on Chapter 22 in 1991 and they liked The Designers Republic (but had horrible CD artwork of their own). Can anyone fill in the blanks? I acquired their CD - Within And Beyond - from an old friend of mine who knows as much about them as I do.

Drop - Drone 1
Drop - Mirrored
Drop - Be There

From Seattle to New Zealand

2005-11-02T23:06:00.000-05:00

Seattle is a fun place to hang out. They have bars like the Cha Cha and Linda's where you can go and be surrounded by a scene without feeling like you need to dress up -- most of the time. There are lots of live shows, and until it was shut down a few years ago, my favorite concert venue: the Sit & Spin (a laundromat/restaurant/club). On the weekends, you can drive to fun spots like Mt. Rainier in less than two hours.

The Dead Science are from Seattle, and have a new album out on Absolutely Kosher, from which Dirty Magneto is sourced. The other two tracks date back to 2003.

This is not easy listening; take your time.

The Dead Science - Dirty Magneto
The Dead Science - Threnody
The Dead Science - Ossuary

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I covered New Zealand's The Shocking Pinks a few months ago, but here they are again, because I finally tracked down their (almost) most recent CD, "Mathematical Warfare," and it's excellent.

The guitars on this record swirl in the most pleasant of shoegaze melodies, but it's the crunchy drums, and dense - muddy - production that really sells it. MBV comparisons are inevitable; just listen to how they've re-interpreted the sound on Roquaril -- it's wonderful. And check the Liquid Liquid beats through I Want Ice Tornado, coupled with sparse, echoed and flanged guitars. This is exactly what I've been looking for lately.

The Shocking Pinks - E-Haired Girl
The Shocking Pinks - I Want Ice Tornado
The Shocking Pinks - Roquaril

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Tomorrow night (Thursday) I am DJing at The Queenshead in Toronto, with Daughter Of Invention, Jaime Sin. Come by and drink cheap beer and dance with us. It's always fun.