DVD Review: NOFX – “Backstage Passport”

Have you ever wondered why your favourite band cancelled that gig in your town? This DVD will answer that and so much more.

Backstage Passport is an eight-episode reality show that originally aired on Fuse TV and was meant as a document of California punk band NOFX’s 2007 world tour. But rather than mount another tour across North America, the band chose to play gigs in countries that they’ve never played, including Chile, Singapore, Israel and South Africa.

Familiarity with NOFX is by no means a requirement for this show. In fact, their music is hardly featured at all. Instead, Backstage Passport is a surprisingly revealing look at the mechanics of a touring band and focuses on the dynamics between group members, their (often very drunk) manager and crew. The band are faced with sketchy promoters, shifty club owners, cancelled gigs and foreign cultures and customs as they criss-cross the globe.

Longtime fans will also appreciate the chance to see a band that rarely gives interviews laid bare. Despite remaining vehemently independent, the band behave more like rock stars than they’d like to admit. This is particularly the case with singer/bassist Fat Mike, whose mood is easily sullied by bad sound or crappy venues.

The band’s typical “ugly American” lack of cultural sensitivity is also revealed. Guitarist El Hefe wrapped a hijab (Muslim headscarf) around his head as a joke after it was thrown on stage in Malaysia. But it’s amazing that the group’s four members — Mike, El Hefe, guitarist Melvin and drummer Smelly — remain good friends after beng together for so long and are capable of mounting such a cramped, stressful tour without any major blow-ups.

This review originally appeared at Chartattack.com

Record Review: The Juan Maclean – “The Future Will Come”

The Juan MacLean are often overlooked in the DFA oeuvre and are overshadowed by higher profile acts like The Rapture and LCD Soundsystem. But where those two are rock bands appealing to a dance music crowd, MacLean have always been the dance act that wins over the indie kids.

The duo continue this trend on their sophomore record, a booty-shaking journey into the heart of dance music. Four years after their debut, MacLean continue to mine European and North American dance influences (giving a nod to the former with closing track “Happy House“) to create a surprisingly captivating and unique-sounding record aided by partner in crime, vocalist Nancy Whang.

While MacLean’s music would certainly hold up on its own merits in the dance world, Whang’s lyrics anchor the duo in more traditional pop music structures even in the face of 10-minute-plus jams. Her voice keeps the music accessible for suburban white kids who’d otherwise never be caught dead clubbing.

The Future Will Come is rare in that it works both as a headphone masterpiece and a visceral dance floor experience. Dance music would be a much bigger deal in North America if there were more records like this.

This review originally appeared at Chartattack.com

The Juan Maclean – “One Day”

Live Review: Lily Allen @ Sound Academy, Toronto 04/22/09

The live setting is a rough go for any artist, but it can be a career killer for pop stars whose work hinges on crystal clear hooks and vocals. Just ask Ashlee Simpson.

As a symbol for the online social networking generation, Lily Allen needs to do little more than live her life and tell the world about it. Seriously, she could never release another note of music and fame alone could carry her for years.

But as one of the few pop starlets who has chosen to actually support her music career with a full-blown tour, Allen proves she can put her money where her mouth is. The real question now is, can she pull it off?

A true mish-mash of fans were on hand to see on which side of the fence Allen would fall at her gig on Wednesday night. Hipsters, party girls and middle-aged yuppies all made the trip down to the Sound Academy. Most managed to catch at least part of openers Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head and were treated to a strange mix of Radio 4 meets the Jonas Brothers singing songs about beards and ponytails. As that description suggests, it wasn’t very good.

Allen hit the stage in prime form soon after with “Everyone’s At It,” and stalked around like a less magnetic M.I.A. in a black and white hoodie. The set was extremely heavy on tracks from her new It’s Not Me, It’s You, with Allen and her four-piece band playing only a trio of songs from her breakout album, Alright, Still. One of those songs, “Everything’s Just Wonderful,” was prefaced with a verse and chorus of “Oh My God” by fellow Brits Kaiser Chiefs.

Allen’s decision to go so deep on the new record worked against her. The sameness of the album’s tunes are saved by some savvy studio production, but they bled together live, which dragged down the entire set. Despite Allen having a surprisingly strong natural singing voice, a back-up singer or two would have helped make the choruses soar.

The night was saved by the one thing everyone can agree Allen has in spades: sass. Her between-song banter was top-notch, off-the-cuff and hilarious.

“If he can’t fuck right, then it’s over,” Allen quipped while introducing “Not Fair,” a song about a man who can’t get her off. In fact, the night’s lesser tracks seemed like obstacles in the way of her comedy act.

The set ended on a high note with the Bush-baitng “Fuck You” before Allen returned to sing “Smile” and audience favourite “The Fear.” Allen ended her set with a cover of Britney Spears’ “Womanizer.”

While Allen didn’t exactly knock the socks off anyone at this show, her high points proved she’s a singer first and celebrity second. Now she just needs to weed the duds out of her set.

This review originally appeared at Chartattack.com

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Record Review

Record Review:Silversun Pickups – “Swoon”

Silversun Pickups still sound a hell of a lot like the Smashing Pumpkins, especially on opening track “There’s No Secrets This Year.” Did they even have to rip off the guitar tone?

But the Los Angeles-based group are far more than a tribute act, and Swoon proves they’re a band with My Bloody Valentine-sized ambitions. Ambition is a plentiful commodity in music, however, and it’s the execution that makes or breaks bands.

Swoon holds your attention long enough that you probably wouldn’t turn the dial if one of its tracks were to come on the radio (which lead single “Panic Switch” often does). But there’s little new on offer outside the world of mainstream modern rock, as the band charts the same shoegaze-meets-alternative rock waters that Catherine Wheel occupied some 15 years ago.

Like all too many records these days, over-production and overzealous mastering have rendered Swoon stale, and any enjoyment garnered from listening feels fleeting. While it ups the ante from the band’s debut, Silversun Pickups seem destined to live in the shadow of their own influences.

This review originally appeared at Chartattack.com

Record Review: Doves – “Kingdom of Rust”

Doves have never made a bad album, and while they enjoyed steady interest since their debut, Lost Souls, they never experienced the ubiquity of turn-of-century contemporaries Coldplay. Both groups shared common points or reference but Doves were unable (or more likely, unwilling) to write stadium-filling anthems. But while Chris Martin and company painted themselves into a corner, Doves remained free to chart more far-flung sounds and structures, at least as far as Bends-era Radiohead aping goes. Kingdom of Rust sees the trio picking up where they left off four years ago, playing to their strengths of intricate arrangements and sweeping, melodic vocals. If Kingdom sounds less ambitious than its predecessors that’s because the field the band operate in has become a lot more crowded than when they dropped high-watermark “There Goes the Fear” seven years ago. But long-time fans or even nubes shouldn’t take that as their cue to ignore this record, as each track contains smaller movements, ensuring that there’s something new to discover on each listen. The group continue to create a sound that belies the expectations of a three-piece band. By charting their own course in familiar waters, Doves remain a unique and exciting presence in pop music.

This review originally appeared at Exclaim.ca

Record Review: Flowers of Hell – “Come Hell or High Water”

After Arcade Fire brought elements of orchestral music to the indie mainstream, a slew of groups jumped on the bandwagon, incorporating string or horn sections into their music. Rarer were actual pop music-inspired orchestras capable of creating music that came off as anything beyond an experiment in genre hopping. Greg Jarvis’s behemoth cross continental group Flowers of Hell are one of those few. The 16-piece space rock band, half of which are based in Toronto, the rest in London, UK, create modern urban industrial music made in decidedly non-urban ways: brass, strings and woodwinds interloping with guitars and drums. Think of it as the instrumental answer to the Polyphonic Spree’s choral pop. Aided and abetted by a slew of guest musicians and partially mixed by Spaceman 3 axe-man Sonic Boom, Come Hell or High Water looks like some kind of experimental art cluster fuck on paper. That the record’s best tracks — like the beautiful and catchy “Darklands” — are as much pop masterpiece as sonic experimentation is a testament to Jarvis’s skill as an arranger and most likely the reason FOH were hand picked by Kevin Shields as the support act for My Bloody Valentine’s Toronto show last fall.

How did you land the opening slot for My Bloody Valentine?
Jarvis: Kevin Shields had seen us play three times in London. We opened for a band he was working with and we talked after the show. When they were looking for someone to open, he got in touch. It was great. At last we had a stage we could all play on, and what a sound system.

What’s it been like for you to be able to work with so many of your heroes?
It’s been great. Sonic Boom and I have been friends for three years now, so he’s more of a friend. But when you see him play live it’s tough not to think, “Oh, fuck, it’s Sonic, the Spaceman!” But the knowledge these guys have; Sonic’s been making music since he was in his late teens. There’s so much to learn from them.

How did you end up in a situation where half the band are in Europe and half are in North America?
It’s never been an intentional plan. It unfolded rather naturally. I end up all over the place, be it Prague or Detroit, where I know people with my laptop. They come by and add stuff to [the record]. When we happen to be together, we just nail stuff down.

This review and interview originally appeared at Exclaim.ca

Record Review: Strange Boys – “And Girls Club”

The Strange Boys feel like record label In the Red’s attempt to fill the hole the Black Lips left when they defected to Vice Records. Like the Lips, Strange Boys dabble in 13th Floor Elevator-style psychedelic blues and garage rock, heavy on reverb, with wavering vocals buried somewhere in the background.

And Girls Club sees the Austin, TX natives blast out 16 tracks in 38 minutes. Of course, a blitzkrieg like that is going to create some overlap and despite a strong opening and some clever song titles (“Should Have Shot Paul” and “Heard You Wanna Beat Me Up”), the last ten songs bleed into one long out-of-tune track. The quartet have carved out an identifiable sound but they haven’t developed the writing chops or personality (at least on disc) to elevate them beyond the ’60s garage revival margins.

This review originally appeared at Exclaim.ca

Record Review: Mike Evin – “Good Watermelon”

All right, it might seem lazy to say, seeing as he’s a pop singer that plays piano, but Mike Evin sounds a hell of a lot like Ben Folds. The voice, the clever lyrics and yes, the piano — you’d swear this was some aborted record from back when he was with the Five. And it’s not bad either. But what sets Good Watermelon apart is the way it was recorded. Evin gathered friends, including former Barenaked Lady Andy Creegan, and members of the Ideal Lovers collective in a Montreal studio, and recorded the whole damn thing live-off-the-floor. You can hear Evin calling out to his band and listen to the sounds bounce off the studio walls. It’s a major statement in a world where modern mixing and mastering techniques have sapped all the energy and spontaneity in music.

This review originally appeared at Exclaim.ca

Record Review: Trembling Spheres – “The Ghost of Sleepwalk Town”

Reaching a point of transcendence in music is a lot harder than it sounds. For every band looking to best U2’s most emotionally earnest moment (probably the “And you give yourself away” line in “With or Without You“), nine out of ten fall flat. And that’s why it’s so special when a band like Vancouver’s Trembling Spheres can. Group mastermind Christopher Yip wrote all nine songs on the quintet’s debut, blending hometown shoegaze legends Daytona with ambitious late ’90s emo group Elliot. Yip sings with a purity most singers lack — he’s able to reach those emotional high points without straining his voice — and the simplicity of his melodies and music push The Ghosts of Sleepwalk Town over the top. Other bands show more ambition or originality but few are this damn catchy.

This review originally appeared at Exclaim.ca

Record Review: Dan Deacon – “Bromst”

Dan Deacon makes dance music for hippies. Just slip this record on at a party and, guaranteed, a half-dozen stinky long-hairs will come out of the woodwork to shake their tail feathers. It probably helps that Deacon’s trying to make his way across North America in a bus powered by vegetable oil.

Of course, that’s not to say those of us who like soap can’t enjoy Bromst, too. Deacon’s chants and looped vocals over a barrage of frenetic beats and synths might even inspire you to join a drum circle, or at least recreate one on your computer.

“Surprise Stefani” channels Underworld’s “Born Slippy“’s bouncy dance-music-for-the-pub vibe while “Of The Mountains” recalls the halcyon days of U.K. rave when the idea of a few thousand kids dancing in a field was considered a utopia rather than a drug bust waiting to happen.

But if there’s one unifying element to the album’s 11 tracks, it’s the idea of the collective experience. Bromst is a record meant to be heard loud and in a crowd.

This review originally appeared at Chartattack.com