Articles posted in July 2012

Mac DeMarco – “My Kind of Girl”

July 31, 2012

Ex-Makeout Videotape dude Mac DeMarco’s recent show at Vancouver’s Khatsalano! Music + Art Festival was truly one of the weirdest performances I’ve ever seen. It started off fantastic but ultimately devolved into a ten-minute jam with intentionally shitty solos and spoofs on Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and Joni Mitchell’s “California.”

Here’s “My Kind of Girl,” which is a retro schmalz number reminiscent of his Rock and Roll Night Club EP. It comes from Mac DeMarco 2, due out October 16 on Captured Tracks.

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La Sera – “Break My Heart”

July 30, 2012

La Sera, the solo project of Vivian Girls member Katy Goodman, swung through Vanouver on Saturday. It was an excellent show, which I reviewed for the Georgia Straight.

Below, listen to “Break My Heart” from her recent La Sera Sees the Light. It’s not the best song from the album, but it’s still a winner.

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Calamalka – “Bad Scene”

July 28, 2012

Calamalka previously hadn’t released an album in eight years, but that changed this past week when he dropped All the Way Up through Hybridity Music.

Below, listen to “Bad Scene,” an electro number that blends spaciously pretty synth tones with dense, claustrophobic beats for an experience that’s sure to inspire a contradiction of emotions.

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Benjamin Gibbard – “Ichiro’s Theme”

July 24, 2012

Before I was obsessed with music, I was obsessed with the Seattle Mariners. I still try to go to a couple of games a year, so I’m pretty excited that Benjamin Gibbard just released a song about the recently traded star Ichiro Suzuki called “Ichiro’s Theme.” I’m not a huge fan of Death Cab for Cutie or the Postal Service, but maybe I would be if all of the songs were about the Mariners.

I wrote an Exclaim! story about Gibbard’s upcoming solo album, Former Lives.

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Jay Arner – “Bad Friend”

July 22, 2012

Local boob Jay Arner just released a new 7″. It feels a little strange to write about it here because I play bass and sing backup on the track, and even appear on the artwork (I’m the weird-looking one). So I have zero objectivity when I say that it’s a good track.

Get it on Bandcamp.

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Dbl Dragon – “Wicked Game”

July 18, 2012

As far as I know, Vancouver synth pop ensemble Dbl Dragon hasn’t been up to much lately, but evidently the band isn’t completely dead, since it just released its EP Tiny Disasters digitally. Below is the EP-closing version of the oft-covered Chris Isaak classic “Wicked Game,” which gets an electro-leaning makeover.

Get the whole EP at Bandcamp.

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Nü Sensae – “Swim”

July 14, 2012

Vancouver’s Nü Sensae is now a trio, having added a guitarist to the mix. The band’s album Sundowning comes out on August 7 through Suicide Squeeze Records, and you can hear the grungy punk number “Swim” below.

Not too long ago, I reviewed the band for Exclaim! when it opened for Best Coast.

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Matt & Kim – “Let’s Go”

July 5, 2012

Matt & Kim have a new single that I hadn’t gotten around to listening to until just now, and it’s great. “Let’s Go” is a bouncy pop number and the video is another one of the duo’s patented eye-grabbing (yet simple) clips. Check out the fancy basketball tricks below. I have to close my eyes in order to actually listen to the song, since I just get caught up in the dribbling.

Go to Exclaim! to read my story about what the band have coming up.

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DIIV – “How Long Have You Known?”

July 2, 2012

DIIV’s Oshin is probably my favourite album so far this year that’s not by a Vancouver band, and it sounds especially awesome while walking the dog around the lake late at night. I reviewed Oshin for Exclaim! and also interviewed frontman Z. Cole Smith.

“How Long Have You Known?” is one of the album’s many echoing jangle pop delights. See the video for that track below.

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Polaris picks 2012, second ballot

July 1, 2012

Here is my second ballot for this year’s Polaris Music Prize, which I submitted a couple of days ago. My numbers one and three both made it through (Handsome Furs, PS I Love You) and they remain in the same spots here, along with three new picks.

2. Japandroids – Celebration Rock

I made a big mistake by not including this album on my first ballot. Celebration Rock ups the ante from 2009’s Post-Nothing in every possibly way, with carpe diem yell-alongs and explosive rock ‘n’ roll fireworks (literally, since the album in bookended by the sound of booming fireworks).

4. The Weeknd – Echoes of Silence

I regretted leaving the Weeknd off my 2011 ballot. I’m not making that mistake this year. Echoes of Silence caps off the Toronto singer’s mixtape trilogy on a fittingly unsettling note.

5. Dan Mangan – Oh Fortune

Dan scaled back the man-with-guitar intimacy of his past work and concocted something a little weirder and more atmospheric without losing the folksy charm that made him appealing in the first place.

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