Sunday, May 31, 2009

The new Think About Life album is totally crazy. Holy smokes. Andrea described it well saying that it feels like falling into a giant pool of lemonade. It is the silliest, cheesiest, most fun summertime album I could image. Let's hope they can finally make it out to Victoria sometime soon so we can have fun like this:



Playlist:

Artist - Album - Song
Gun Outfit - Dimlight - Work Experience
Gun Outfit - Dimlight - Troubles Like Mine
Brides - Queens - Play Glass
Aidswolf - Demo - Pantymind (extended)
Nadja - When I See The Sun Always on TV - Only Shallow
ii - Landlakes - We Ate Everyone
Think About Life - Family - Havin' My Baby
Miracle Fortress - Watery Grave EP - Eschatology
No Kids - Come Into My House - Listen For It / Courtyard Music
The Dirty Projectors - The Getty Address - I Will Truck
Deradoorian - Mind Raft - Holding Pattern
Barr - Summary - This Song is the Single
Abe Vigoda - Reviver - Don't Lie
Blanck - 13 Songs - Jadded Lovars
Almonds, Cohen - Amazing Grass - Baseball
Thee Oh Sees - Help - Ruby Go Home
Woods - Songs of Shame - The Hold
Magik Markers - Balf Quarry - Jerks

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I played Operation Ivy today. "I know that things are getting tougher when you cant get top off from the bottom of the barrel. Wide open road of my future now...Its looking fucking narrow!" Woah man!

I also played a Jay Reatard song, mostly so that I could talk about him punching people. Last summer in Toronto, Jay Reatard got really mad when a drunk dude jumped up on stage, so he punched him in the face and stormed off. Luckily, this was all documented...

The venue the show was at - The Silver Dollar - is home to the somewhat infamous, sporadic, drug addicted booker Dan Burke. After Jay Reatard and co. left the stage, Dan jumped up and taunted the band and the audience, making the whole show into a pretty good punk viral video...

After this all happened, Jay Reatard began to attack Dan Burke and the Silver Dollar in interviews, saying lack of security, etc was the reason for the incident. This image shows just how threatening Jay Reatard's attacker was...
Perhaps the only winner from the night was David Waldman (aka Kid With a Camera) who managed to capture the amazing photo above.

The Youtube user citizenbirdtube was obviously enraged by the incident:

"Real punks don't give a shit if a fan dances or spoofs a bit on stage as long as there is no threat to the band. That's what real punk and hardcore is all about - the close connection to the people.

Fuck JR. Just another MTV corporate whore."


Playlist:

Artist - Album - Song
dd/mm/yyyy - The Blue Screen of Death - We're Not Perfect
dd/mm/yyyy - The Blue Screen of Death - Teenageartfagcancerfanclub
Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country - 100 Years Ago
Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love - Axis: Thrones of Love
Wooden Shjips - Dos - Motorbike
Colourbook - s/t - Spout/Bec
Joan of Arc - 7" - My Summer-long High Wipeout
Cap'n Jazz - Analphabetapology - We Are Scientists!
Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted - Zurich is Stained
Cause Co-Motion - It's Time - Don't You Know
Jay Reatard - Matador Singles '08 - An Ugly Death
Condo Fucks - Fuckbook - So Easy Baby
The Kinks - Kink Kronikles - Did You See His Name?
Charles Spearin - The Happiness Project - Mr. Gowrie
KC Accidental - Anthems for the Could've Been Pills - Them (Pop Song #3333)
The Hunches - Exit Dreams - Deaf Ambitions
Times New Viking - Rip It Off - Drop Out
Operation Ivy - Energy - Knowledge

Sunday, May 17, 2009

The new Almonds, Cohen CD is out! It is called Amazing Grass. Brock spent a full year chipping away at recording these songs with Macadamia Brother Scott, leaving us all with a fantastic record that combines beautiful arrangements with really accomplished songwriting. Lots of people are very excited! You can find Amazing Grass at Ditch Records, or through the Old Life Records mail order.

Almonds, Cohen played in a tunnel on the Galloping Goose on a rainy Wednesday to celebrate the release of the record. It sort of looked like this:

Almonds, Cohen - Hexcuses, Hexcuses Live from Nevin on Vimeo.


Click here to also watch Two Magpies Live!
Digging For Clams soon to come!

Playlist

Artist - Album - Song
Mika Miko - We Be Xuxa - Totion
Mika Miko - We Be Xuxa - On the Rise
No Age - Nouns - Eraser
The Defektors - 7" - Torn to Pieces
Dog Day - Concentration - Wait It Out
Clues - Clues - Remember Severed Head
AC Newman - Get Guilty - Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer
Woods - Songs of Shame - Gypsy Hand
The Oh Sees - Help - Destroyed Fortress Reappears
Liars - s/t - Pure Unevil
The Torrent - Leonora Moreno - Pairs
Experimental Dental School - Forest Field - Basement Fever
Crocodiles - Summer of Hate - Summer of Hate
Women - s/t - Black Rice
Elfin Saddle - Ringing For the Begin Again - Muskeg Parade
Almonds, Cohen - Amazing Grass - Perpetuum Terrace
The Macadamia Brothers - Travel A Fair Distance - Finger Time
The Hunches - Exit Dreams - Ate My Teeth
Double Dagger - More - Vivre Sans Temps Mort
Japanther - Dump the Body in Rikki Lake - Critical

Sunday, May 10, 2009

I was away in Vancouver and America for a bit. Thanks to Johanna and Nathan for filling in for me the past few weeks.

While I was away the Victoria city council decided to stop Camas and the Brickyard from hosting shows. Andrea already articulated how I feel about this, but I wanted to mention it on here as well. All ages venues are important to local music scenes; they allow for the entire community to participate in shows, regardless of age. I spent a large part of my underage high school years at all ages shows. I always dreaded seeing my favorite bands come through town with the '19+' tag attached to the listing.

Camas made it easy for anyone to put on shows. Andrea and I used to complain about the lack of affordable all ages venues in Victoria. Camas stopped our complaining for a year and a half. The space supported several music communities in Victoria for that period, hosting local punk, hardcore, noise and indie rock shows on a weekly basis. As of this Friday, May 15, Camas will no longer be having shows. Luckily, the Fifty Fifty Arts Collective stepped back into the picture right before we lost Camas and the Brickyard as venues. Vancouver has been having similar issues with all ages venues being shut down recently. It is a problem that will recur, and Victoria is not the only place this happens. Technically, these venues were illegal, operating outside of their zoning designations. I'm not sure what needs to happen to ensure that a venue can operate 'legally,' but at least we had those spaces for the time that we did.

Some good things that happened there:

Sat, April 17, 2009: Ghosts, ‘It It, Woolworm at Brickyard

Fri, March 6, 2009: Slam Dunk, ‘It It, Rooney & the Minglers, Old Gospel at Camas

Thurs, January 29, 2009: Listening Party, Slam Dunk, Almonds Cohen, Giant Wood Chipper at Brickyard

Sat, January 17, 2009: Elenora Thompson, Giant Wood Chipper, Walter TV, Fuji Hakayito at Camas

Sun, Nov 16, 2008: A&R Presents - The Bicycles, Hot Panda, Prairie Cat, The Secret World of Animals at Camas

Sat, Nov 15, 2008: Balacade, The Joe, Doug Hoyer, Nail Salon at Camas

Wed, June 18, 2008: Slam Dunk, Women, Mt Royal at Brickyard

Sun, May 18, 2008: A&R Presents - Laura Barrett, No Gold, The Macadamia Brothers at Camas

Thurs, May 1, 2008: Balacade, Nail Salon, Bear’s Lair at Brickyard

Fri, April 25, 2008: Oldlife Presents - The Blankket, Almonds Cohen, Blanck at Camas

December 30, 2007: A&R Presents - Endless Bummer, The Desks, Panty Boy, Balacade at Camas

...


In happier local music news, the Almonds, Cohen full length record is DONE! It is called Amazing Grass, and there is a special release show happening on Wednesday. Almonds, Cohen doesn't even need venues. This event is outside, in a semi-secret (okay, it's a tunnel) location. Meet at Recyclistas at 8:30. Bring a flashlight. It's outside. It's free. Macadamia Brother's are performing as well. Boom box amps.

More info at Old Life.


Playlist:

Artist - Album - Song
Wavves - Wavvves - No Hope Kids
Future Islands - Wave Like Home - Old Friend
Double Dagger - More - No Allies
Crocodiles - Summer of Hate - I Wanna Kill
The Magnetic Fields - The Wayward Bus - The Saddest Story Ever Told
Apollo Ghosts - Hastings Sunrise - Shadow Boxing Bruce Lee
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Natural Light
The Vaselines - Enter the Vaselines - Molly's Lips
The Torrent - Leonora Moreno - Unpopular
Anagram - Split 12" - Manic Indulgence
The Blankket - Pegatively Nositive - 2003 (clean)
Telepathe - Dancemother - Can't Stand It
Woods - Songs of Shame - The Hold
Almonds, Cohen! - Amazing Grass - Ring Finger
Clues - Clues - Haarp
Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country - 200 Years Ago
Years - Years - Are You Unloved?
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam - Derek