DVD Review: Llik Your Idols

Art films by definition are weird, indulgent enterprises that rarely make an impact beyond a director’s group of friends. But when those friends go on to spark a cultural movement, the films become a visual document of a unique place and time.

Llik Your Idols documents the Cinema Of Transgression, a group of ’80s New York-based filmmakers who charted a bizarre and twisted course. Directors like Richard Kern and Jon Spencer inspired and were inspired by the city’s concurrent no wave musical movement.

Like the films, no wave was a direct attack on the audience and is described in the documentary as both “fast Chuck Berry riffs” and “punk without the commercial crap.”

Music and film began to intersect when acts like Foetus and Lydia Lunch (who also starred in many of the flicks) began providing soundtracks for directors. Together, these artists lit the fuse that exploded and quickly became ’90s cliches through the work of Larry Clark and Natural Born Killers.

Sonic Youth, whose Thurston Moore is interviewed in the film, are hands-down the most successful group to come out of this scene. But as Moore points out, they were a product of the other bands and the films surrounding them. They’re an easy entry point for the uninitiated, but, for those inspired to delve deeper, the DVD includes two films from current scene practitioner Nick Zedd.

This review originally appeared at Chartattack.com

Incoming: Malcolm Middleton – “Carry Me”

Via Exclaim.ca’s Click Hear.

Malcom Middleton’s been a busy man since he and Aidan Moffat parted ways as Arab Strap back in 2006, releasing a pair of solo records with a third, Waxing Gibbous set to drop on June 1 in the UK.

While much of what’s up from Waxing…on his MySpace page follows in the mould of his previous band’s latter day records, “Carry Me” is far more reminiscent of Arab Strap’s earliest releases. All the elements are here: the delicate acoustic guitar, weird back ground electronics and the thick Scottish brogue in the spoken word verses. It’s the perfect, sober grown-up bookend to Arab Strap’s first hedonistic blast of brilliance “First Big Weekend.”

Middleton has hinted that this might be his last solo record for some time. And while we look forward to his future output in whatever form it materializes, “Carry Me” seems like a perfect closing track for this chapter in his career.

Stream and download “Carry Me” via Stereogum

Record Review: Meat Puppets – “Sewn Together”

Despite a revolving door of band members, Curt Kirkwood has retained the Meat Puppets moniker for the entirety of his career. No matter the musical turn — sunburnt indie freak, hit-making alterna-rocker or O.G. indie godfather — Meat Puppets were his band.

They find a through line between the southern rock experimentalism of 1984’s Meat Puppets II and 1985’s Up On The Sun and the straight-ahead alternative rock of 1994’s Too High To Die.

Sewn Together might make Meat Puppets newbies question what Kurt Cobain ever saw in these guys, as it’s hardly a groundbreaking record. But the album sounds inspired, like these guys are still excited to be making music.

Meat Puppets’ continued existence isn’t born out of financial necessity (though their reputation surely still helps sell some discs), but rather a continued need for self-expression.

This review originally appeared at Chartattack.com

Record Review: The Darling DeMaes – “A User’s Guide to Raising the Dead”

Drama is the name of the game on the debut album from Montreal’s Darling DeMaes. The way lead guitarist and group mastermind Erik Virtanen sings, you’d swear that even the dull act of grocery shopping was wrapped in dilemmas and catch-22s. Luckily Tasha Cyr is there to talk him down, creating a calming foil to Virtanen’s passionate falsetto.

The album’s 12 tracks are wrapped in tension – not the kind you’d find in emo or nu metal chugga-chugga breakdowns, but the kind derived from taught, rhythmic playing from a crack group of musicians.  It’s a perfect backdrop for a band named after a dead porn star singing twisted tales of blossoming love, grizzly murder and the impending darkness of winter.

Grizzly Bear: Under Pressure

This story appears originally in the June 2009 issue of Exclaim! and at Exclaim.ca

Following up to a successful record is a delicate process, even for the most seasoned bands. The pressure — self-imposed, from labels or fans — can break a band in half. But how do blog-rock darlings keep it together after one of their favourite artists drops them the ultimate compliment?

It’s a dilemma Grizzly Bear faced last summer. On tour with Radiohead in Toronto, guitarist Johnny Greenwood took a moment to thank their openers, and drop a bomb on the band, proclaiming Grizzly Bear his favourite band. “That was pretty insane,” says the Brooklyn-based group’s drummer Chris Bear, just a hint of understatement in his voice. “He doesn’t really talk that much onstage, if ever.”

Their new album, Veckatimest (pronounced vek-a-tim-est), is the group’s attempt to break new musical ground after their 2006 album Yellow House received near unanimous praise. It’s the first time all four members — Bear, singer-guitarists Ed Droste and Daniel Rossen, and multi-instrumentalist Chris Taylor — have worked as a group. “With Yellow House we were trying to figure out what we were doing, trying to explore a bunch of different territories,” he explains. “I think it ended up coming off more atmospheric. This is slightly more influenced by what we became as a live band.”

Grizzly Bear spent much of the two-and-a-half years following Yellow House’s release on the road, from playing for five people at a poetry night above a pub to sold-out amphitheatres with Radiohead and pretty much everything in between. La Blogotheque even convinced the guys to perform an acoustic set in a Parisian washroom for the weblog’s Takeaway show. “That’s probably the weirdest place we’ve played,” says Bear. “We didn’t really have any versions worked out.”

Somewhere in between lavatory gigs and rocking arenas, the band found time to write Veckatimest’s 12 songs. Recording began in upstate New York last July before breaking for the Radiohead tour, where they road-tested some of the new tunes. “They drastically changed from how the original demos were,” says Bear. The quartet reconvened at Droste’s grandmother’s house in Cape Cod before finishing up at a church in New York City. “We tried to not force any ideas to happen if it wasn’t feeling natural,” he says, noting that they gave neither themselves, nor their label any sort of deadline.

The intricate vocal melodies and interplay between instruments that make up the backbone of Grizzly Bear’s sound don’t come quickly or easily. A willingness to smash and rebuild their songs from the ground up was key to the band’s songwriting process. “That’s probably what we spend the most time on.”

A gap-bridging 2007 EP called Friend, featuring alternate arrangements of songs from their first two records, is a prime example of this method. The band has also proved eager to get others in on the act, recently commissioning French house music producer Fred Falke to remix “Two Weeks.” “I think its cool to hear,” says Bear. “Now we have a crazy Euro-’80s aerobicize remix!”

He says the process never really ends; even though Vekatimest in the can, the band is still trying to figure out how they’re going to play the record live. And though he’s anxious for fans to hear the new album, Bear doesn’t posit any opinions as to what Greenwood might think of the album. “I just hope we can continue to live up to his expectations.”

Record Review: Dog Day – “Concentration”

Halifax’s music community is extremely tight nit, a factor that both bolsters and hinders the artists that operate in it. Coming from the other side of the country (Vancouver) and attending shows and writing about the bands over the two and a bit years I lived their I feel confident in saying that no scene is as supportive as Halifax’s. But it was frustrating to see so many fantastic bands never make it out side of Atlantic Canada, due to both geography and a somewhat insularor regional focus.

So it’s a minor miracle that Dog Day were able to just drop a record and burst out internationally. And deservedly so – their debut LP Night Group, chock full of pop-rock hooks and melodies was a breath of fresh air in with so many indie bands with big ambitions but poor execution.

The group’s follow up, Concentration is unsurprisingly bigger in scope and sound than its predecessor. Of course “bigger” is a double edged sword, with say, The White Stripes Elephant on one side and Chinese Democracy on the other. Thankfully, the quartet fall on the pachyderm side of things, augmenting their sound with keyboards and some nice, warm reverb.

Main Dog Seth Smith has really come into his own here, penning a group of tunes that match or exceed “Oh Dead Life” Night Group’s best track. The record feels less frantic as months on the road have obviously left the group comfortable enough to stretch out, even in the studio. Concentration grabs you on the first listen, but there’s more than meets the eye (and ear) here; keep listening and find out just how complex and engaging this band’s little pop songs are.

DVD Review: Arctic Monkeys – “At the Apollo”

With two solid albums and an excellent side-project under their belts, Arctic Monkeys have far outlasted whatever post-”I bet you look good on the dance floor” goodwill most gave them back in ‘05. But while we wait for album number three, the Sheffield-quartet offer up this stop-gap cum money grab live DVD/CD set as their way of saying, “hey, don’t forget about us.”

Directed by Mighty Boosh alum Richard Ayoade, the DVD is a beautifully shot set from the last date of their 2007 tour in Manchester. A multitude of cameras were used, capturing unique angles — the moving wide-angle shot from behind drummer Matt Helders is a particular beauty — and employing split screens. Unfortunately, the band look and sound absolutely burnt out. Once you get over the visuals it’s hard to keep watching.

On the other hand, the show captured on the CD is a blistering set from the middle of 2006. This is the Monkey’s at an energetic peak; they had just conquered England and sound hell-bent on proving their mettle in America. Hopefully they’ll regain this passion when they drop their new record later this year.

This review originally appeared at Exclaim.ca

Good idea/bad idea starring White Lung and Mutators

Does anyone else remember the in between vignettes they used to do on Animaniacs? They were great. Especially the good idea/bad idea ones.

Good stuff eh? Well, here’s one that applies to music.

Good idea – interviewing the excellent Vancouver band White Lung. Cudos to Uptown Sound blog!

Bad idea – Mutators, an awesome punk/noise band also from Vancouver breaking up. Minus points for doing so before I got a chance to see them. sigh…

Related Post:

Incoming: White Lungs, Nu Sensae, Shearing Pinx – Three Great Vancouver Bands

Pains of Being Pure at Heart Live in Brooklyn

My friend Godfrey had this concert on his blog so I thought I’d post it here as well, seeing as I’m a pretty big fan of Pains… I’d never heard of Baeblemusic.com before now, but it seems like a pretty nifty place to check out high-quality live shows. Hit the “setlist” button to skip tunes.

Related Post:

Live Review: Pains of Being Pure at Heart @ Lee’s Palace

The Onion strikes down indie rock hubris

As a bastion of printed satire, pretty much no one touches The Onion in terms of quality and relevance. No one is spared their sharp pens be it politicians, celebrities, athletes and yes, even musicians.

The Onion has waded into the music realm before, chronicling a fatal stampede at a Yo La Tengo Concert, Marilyn Manson’s latest promotional efforts and P4K’s final word on music.

The website is once again stirring the pot, this time taking aim and Radiohead and the many wannabe bands that were spawned in it’s wake. Check out “Radiohead Denies Influencing Local Band“