Articles tagged with Chad VanGaalen

Burning like a hole in the night

May 19, 2010
The mad scientist in his laboratory
I recently interviewed Calgary pop experimentalist Chad VanGaalen, whose Soft Airplane is one of my favourite albums of the last few years. Head over to Exclaim! to read the article, in which he talks about the five new albums he has waiting in the pipeline.

Here’s a song you’ve probably already heard, “City of Electric Light,” which comes from the folksy, Neil Young-influenced back end of Soft Airplane. It’s not one of the more upbeat, catchy songs from the album (that would be “Bones of Man”), so it’s a slightly strange choice of single. Then again, Chad has always been one for unconventional singles.

MP3: “City of Electric Light”
 
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Chad VanGaalen opens the vault

September 22, 2009
Chad VanGaalen
Last night, Fucked Up’s The Chemistry of Common Life won the Polaris Prize. It wasn’t an entirely surprising choice, although I was rooting for Chad VanGaalen. His album, Soft Airplane, came out last September, and its seamless blend of experimental electronica and Neil Young-indebted folk pop made it both sonically adventurous and immediately accessible. It covered a broad range of styles, but seemed cohesive nonetheless, largely thanks to its structure. The songs were loosely arranged into three movements: it began with catchy pop rock, moved into heavier-hitting electro rock, and wrapped up with a series of mellow acoustic strummers (followed by a dissonant sound collage).

Last week, VanGaalen released Soft Airplane – B-Sides EP, a free download that compiles 9 outtakes from the album. It sounds more or less as you’d expect a collection of b-sides to sound, with sloppy arrangements are bizarre stylistic forays. Opening track “Stuffed Animal” features a glitch beat, warped vocals and sampled dog barks, coming off like VanGaalen’s own “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” (Radiohead’s oddball electro track from Amnesiac). Track two, “Are You Sleeping?” pairs lo-fi keyboard blips with ramshackle acoustic guitars and lyrics cribbed from Modest Mouse’s “Satin in a Coffin” (”Are you dead or are you sleeping?”).

After the first two tracks, however, things get more straightforward. “Soak in Visions” is based around simple blues guitar groove and high, quavering falsetto. “Twisting Magic Up” is a mid-tempo rocker that could have fit comfortably on Soft Airplane alongside “Old Man + the Sea” and “City of Electric Light.” “I Wish I Was a Dog” is a rumination on reincarnation that includes the lyric “I wish I was a poltergeist / Moving through solids and spying on lesbians.”

Although it’s usually clear why the songs were relegated to B-sides, the EP is nevertheless an effective reminder of the qualities that made Soft Airplane one of the best album of 2008. Head over to VanGaalen’s website to download it for free.
 
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Chad VanGaalen breaks the Mold (pun!)

August 27, 2009
Black Mold - Snow Blindness Is Crystal Antz
Calgary singer-songwriter Chad VanGaalen specializes in quirky bedroom pop, a style which earned his 2008 album Soft Airplane a short-list nod for this year’s Polaris Prize. But as fans know, his albums also feature twisted instrumental set-pieces and bizarre stylistic left-turns. Soft Airplane ended with “Frozen Energon,” which was nearly four minutes of guitar feedback, pulsing synth noise and directionless drum pounding. “JC’s Head on the Cross,” which appeared on his debut, Infiniheart, was a similarly wonky instrumental, with barely-in-tune guitar plucking and a stuttering electro beats.

On previous albums, such moments were oddball interludes; on Snow Blindness Is Crystal Antz, released under the moniker Black Mold, they’re the main attraction. The album is entirely instrumental, and there’s nothing here that remotely approaches a structured pop song. Rather, nearly every track features glitchy drum loops and squelching, buzzy synthesizers. Even melody is hard to come by, with “Dr. Snouth” being made up of nothing more than R2-D2-style blips and bleeps.

The fact that VanGaalen chose to release the collection under the alias Black Mold, rather than use his own name, is indication enough that this is more of a self-indulgent experiment than it is an attempt to recreate the magic of his previous albums. Still, it has plenty of moments of prettiness, from the purring clarinet of “Metal Spider Webs” to the meandering keyboard leads of “Wet Ferns.”

mp3: “Metal Spider Webs”

The album isn’t likely to appeal to the same CBC Radio 3 crowd that voted “Willow Tree” the “future classic” of 2009. Still, as a document of a restless artist at his most unhinged, it’s well worth a listen.

Snow Blindness Is Crystal Antz is out now via Flemish Eye.
 
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VanGaalen lets his freak flag fly

July 13, 2009
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So long as logic prevails, Chad VanGaalen is a lock for this year’s Polaris Prize. He’s up against a strong set of nominees (most notably Joel Plaskett and Hey Rosetta!), but it’s tough to deny the brilliance of his 2008 release Soft Airplane. The album is sonically fascinating, with ramshackle acoustic instruments set against fractured, squiggly electronics. But it’s VanGaalen lyrics and melodies that are the real focus, with timeless songs like “Willow Tree” and “Bones of Man” transcending the limitations of lo-fi bedroom pop.

This August, VanGaalen will release another album, this time using the moniker Black Mold rather than his own name. The album is called Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz and is intended to emphasize his experimental leanings. The album is entirely instrumental, and based on the two tracks that have already been released, it covers similar ground to “JC’s Head on the Cross,” a track from 2004’s Infiniheart. “Metal Spider Webs” begins as a baroque dirge, with haunting horns, strings, and a gently tinkling glockenspiel. Futuristic electronics soon take over, with feedback swells marring the prettiness of the intro.

mp3: “Metal Spider Webs”

“Tetra Pack Heads” features a frenetic glitchy beat and vaguely tropical synth riffing, recalling the madness of Dan Deacon without the dancefloor-ready payoff.

mp3: “Tetra Pack Heads”

Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz is due out August 11 via Flemish Eye.
 
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Savidge Love

April 7, 2009
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I’m flying high over Tupelo, Mississippi with Britain’s hottest band, and we’re all about to die. Okay, that’s not entirely true. In fact, I stole that line from Almost Famous. (”Mmm. Dark. Lively.”) But I did interview Jack Savidge, of the English electro-rock trio Friendly Fires, for BeatRoute. You can read that here.

I also covered Chad VanGaalen’s February 27 concert for this month’s Discorder. Read that here. In the same issue, I reviewed the new albums by Mt. St. Helens Band (here) and the Perms (here).

In an hour, I’m leaving for the airport to spend a week in New York. I probably won’t have time to blog while I’m there, but be sure to check out Crystal Antlers‘ debut full-length, Tentacles, which came out today.
 
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