Basement Galaxy

What else to add?

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:47:00 EST

Well, everyone and his dog is opining on the whole Jacko thing, but I don't have too much to say on the matter, other than it's a sad end to one of the most extraordinary, sad celebrity lives ever. It has yielded some very good writing, though, and the best pieces I've read in the wake of the tragedy are Lisa Marie Presley's shockingly forthright, heartfelt blog post, and the remembrance by the LA Times' Robert Hilburn, which is utterly heartbreaking. And say what you will about the guy, his music from 1979 to 1982 was unfreakindeniable. There was a reason Off the Wall and especially Thriller sold a bazillion records...they were great. "Billie Jean" still cooks, and Eddie Van Halen's solo in "Beat It" is one of the all-time great hard rock shred fests.

Someone on a message board mentioned just how extraordinary a period 1982 to 1984 was for pop music, where you had a collection of music superstars who were so incredibly diverse: Michael Jackson, Madonna, the Police, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran, Prince, Def Leppard, ZZ Top. Couple that with hip hop in its nascent stage, the ascent of the music video, and heavy metal's explosion, and it's easy to understand just how special a time it was for music back then, and how fortuitous I was to have begun my obsession with music during that period. Compare the sales numbers from that year to 25 years later, it'll dash any hopes for the future of the music industry.

Out of all the retro-thrash bands that were signed a couple years ago, Southern California's Warbringer seemed like one of the better ones, as their demo EP impressed me in 2007, as did their debut album last year. With their new one, though, they're starting to separate from the aviators-and-high-tops-sportin' pack...stylistically it still adheres faithfully to the thrash template set back in 1984, but throughout Waking Into Nightmares there are little hints of growth, whether it's a catchy melody that sneaks in, or subtle little progressive elements that pop up every so often. If you like the old-timey metal like I do, you should dig this one. My review is here.

Last month I did a little spur of the moment email interview with Simone Simons and Mark Jansen from the Dutch symphonic metal band Epica. Holland has really cornered the market as far as female-fronted melodic metal goes (The Gathering, After Forever, Within Temptation, Stream of Passion, impressive up-and-comers Delain), and Epica has been on a steady rise over the last five years, starting out as a strictly symphonic, operatic band (example), but has been slowly moving into more accessible territory (example), with Simons leading the way, quickly becoming one of the most recognizable female artists in the genre. Despite the fact that symphonic metal places great emphasis on grandiose orchestration, whether it's organic or sampled, few bands get the chance to play a live show with a full orchestra, and Epica recently had a chance to do just that. The end result is The Classical Conspiracy, an one-off performance in Hungary whose balance of classical pieces, popular movie scores, and original material had me rolling my eyes at first, but the concert turns out to be engaging, not to mention very well-executed. Anyway, it's quite a likeable stopgap release before their next album hits stores, and the interview made for a nice little feature piece, which went up at Hellbound.ca yesterday.

Pure flippin' METAL.

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:45:00 EST

Metal in 2009 got off so such a blazing start that by the time April rolled around and the first wave of stupendous releases started to taper off, it was very hard to get enthusiastic about most of what was coming out. That happens from time to time, you hear a few new releases that are so good, all you want to do is spin them over and over and not waste your time listening to anything that's inferior. But when you write about music, you have to keep your sights set forward, even if it means not being able to find the time to play the stuff you know is killer. It gets to the point where you're hoping like crazy that something will come along to re-ignite the passion for this music you know you have but has been smothered by lame deathcore bands and overbearing Christian metalcore. Some rejoiced upon hearing the new Coalesce album, others went nuts over the fine return to form by Suffocation, but while I think the Coalesce is good but a bit overrated (I don't care how venerable the band is, their arrangements might be brilliant but the hardcore vocals bore me to tears, like a monochrome guy walking amidst a Technicolor landscape) and the Suffocation is their best effort in years, the one new summer album that absolutely blew me away was by a band I wasn't expecting at all.

To me, Goatwhore was always a band that was very easy to like, but not really something that compelled me to become a total fan of. Their hearts were in the right place, they've been improving steadily with each album, and they have a very likeable, blue-collar approach, but aside from the odd track, I needed more of their songs to truly stand out. Enter their fourth album Carving Out the Eyes of God, an exercise in old school metal so punishing, so impeccable, so undeniably fun, that it's not only one of the best metal albums of the year, but the best thing Goatwhore has ever done, hands down. Although they often insert black metal blasting and picking as well as brutal death metal touches, the band has never shied away from the fact that they draw heavily from the early albums by Celtic Frost, Bathory, and Venom. Now, though, the blackened death is toned down considerably in favour of a flat-out, full-on assault of Celtic Frost riffs and tempos that alternate between double-time thrash and wicked mid-tempo grooves. In other words, right up my alley. Front to back, the ten tracks on the album are metal at its purest and simplest...you cannot say you love metal and not go absolutely loopy over this disc. There are always discussions and quarrels about what constitutes "true" metal and "false" metal...Carving Out the Eyes of God is metal in the truest sense, and when it hits stores next week, seek it out at once. You'll be bouncing off the walls in no time.

Anyway, it was when I was listening to the album two weeks ago that I figured the timing was perfect to do my June column about the band, and ten days after my very enjoyable conversation with vocalist Ben Falgoust, the piece has been published today at PopMatters. So go ahead and give it a read for an in-depth look at the album, the band, and the dude.

The Polaris Music Prize Long List was released on Monday, which is basically the first round of nominees, from which the Short List of ten albums will be culled in the next couple weeks. And it was cool to see all five of my choices make the first cut! Granted, my selections were of the Sorta Obvious variety, including Fucked Up (slam dunk for my #1), Handsome Furs (a huge, pleasant surprise at #2), Metric at #4 (say what you will, this is their best album to date), and old reliable (not to mention woefully underrated by Polaris) standbys Junior Boys rounding it out, but try as I did to hear as many new albums as I could, it was clear nothing was going to topple my five choices. At #3, though, was my more esoteric pick, that being Bison B.C....metal bands are always ignored by indie writers, the closest things to metal to make the Long List in the past being Protest the Hero and Cancer Bats, but with Bison B.C. getting enough votes, it marks the first time some real, actual (here comes that word again) TRUE metal has ever been nominated. Quiet earth won't make the short list, but this is still a small but very significant victory for both the band and Canadian metal. As for Long List surprises, the absence of A.C. Newman is a total shocker, the popular and affable Sebastian Grainger didn't make it, and neither did West Coast faves Mother Mother and the critically popular Jenn Grant. Propagandhi was passed over (Fucked Up being the token punk inclusion, I suppose), as was Saskatoon's Pitchfork-approved Deep Dark Woods. Dicey inclusions are the Stills, Patrick Watson, Joel Plaskett (I just don't get that guy's solo stuff at all), and Great Lake Swimmers (who bore me to tears). My short list predictions? I'll say Coeur de Pirate, Fucked Up, Great Lake Swimmers, Japandroids, Junior Boys (they're due), K'naan, One Hundred Dollars (great band), The Ubiquitous Joel Plaskett, Chad van Gaalen, and Women...

Moooooth-raaaaah!

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:00:00 EST

Some great news on the Decibel front, at least partially so, as they've begun posting album reviews in their entirety once again. I wish the same could be said for the feature articles, like they used to do, but this is definitely a step in the right direction...Decibel will undoubtedly be the last American metal print mag standing when all's said and done, but to stop developing a big web presence was a big mistake. The Deciblog has held its own very well, but you have to have some of the magazine writing online, at the very least. Anyway, the new issue has been out a while (but I only just got it last week), the one with the rather baffling Suffocation/Ensiferum/Necrophagist cover promoting the Summer Slaughter thing, and along with a feature piece on Daath (whose new album is ace and whose leader Eyal Levi is a mighty cool fella), which you can't read in full, I also have four album write-ups. I tackle the newest by Finland's great Amorphis, who've been on one heck of a roll ever since hiring new lead singer Tomi Joutsen, and whose new record is really, really good, highlighted by the killer single "Silver Bride". Then there's the much-anticipated new one by my beloved The Gathering, in which they emerge after the departure of the incomparable Anneke van Giersbergen with a new singer in former Octavia Sperati frontwoman Silje Wergeland. She does a good job, in fact she's never sounded better, but too many songs slip into sleepy, Pink Floyd style meandering. I don't hate it, but for a band that thrives on reinvention, it feels a little too predictable. Then there's Lazarus A.D., who along with Mantic Ritual is one of the finer thrash metal discoveries of the year so far. Not much to their new record, but it's quite catchy and fun, which is all you ask for when it comes to retro-thrash. I look forward to seeing them open for Bison BC next month. Lastly, there's Old Man's Child, the melodic black metal project by Dimmu Borgir guitarist Galder. It's not much of a departure from what he does with his main band, but what's cool about this project is that we get to hear just how versatile a musician he is, as opposed to playing strictly a supporting role. He's a good vocalist and strong songwriter, and there are times on the new album where his keyboard arrangements actually put his Dimmu bandmate Mustis to shame, smartly eschewing bombast for actual subtlety.

Meanwhile, over at PopMatters, my review of the blisteringly good new album by Agoraphobic Nosebleed appeared late last week. I'm extremely picky when it comes to grindcore, and I'll never hide the fact that the grind bands that interest me the most are the ones that constantly think outside the genre's very limited box, and first and foremost among those artists is guitarist Scott Hull, who has already transcended grindcore with the great Pig Destroyer, and is looking to achieve a similar feat with this long-running side project of his. And it's tremendous, the songs actually go somewhere, the riffs catchy, the lyrics sometimes perceptive and always hilarious, the artwork lavish and vulgar. While other folks are raving about the new Brutal Truth album, in all honesty, I greatly prefer Agorocalypse.

At Hellbound, I reviewed the latest by classical-inspired death metal band Fleshgod Apocalypse. While plenty of folks are raving about the supposed blend of classical and br00tal, I don't think it works at all. It's like oil and water; the band launches into a capable imitation of tech-death dudes Beneath the Massacre, there's a little piano interlude, and then it's back to the shredding and blasting. if you're going to make the Classical Thing a major part of your shtick like these guys have, you've got to combine both sides, and it's just not happening at all. As a technical death piece, it's good, but as a classical/death hybrid, it's a failure.

it was about two years ago when I first heard that Canadian metal veterans Anvil had made a documentary, and since then, it's been fun to watch the old geezers' career slowly snowball from tiny internet buzz on metal boards, to a very successful showing at Sundance in 2008, to some tremendous word of mouth in the fall, to an extended run in 2009, to mainstream magazine spreads, to a glowing review from Roger Ebert, to a whopping 82 score on Metacritic, to snagging the same managers as Metallica, to playing stadiums alongside AC/DC this summer. What a ride it must have been!

Anyway, Anvil! The Story of Anvil finally made it to my city this past weekend, and after such a long wait, it didn't disappoint. You can't make this stuff up...they go from garnering universal praise for their first three albums to working as caterers and contractors 25 years later, and when an Italian fan tells them she's able to book them a tour across Europe, the trip quickly goes from good, to bad, to worse, to utterly catastrophic. Still Lips Kudlow and Robb Reiner keep plugging away, scrounging up the cash to record their thirteenth album and desperately trying to find someone to put the record out. All the while their wives and families wonder just when enough is enough, when they'll realise this dream of theirs is unattainable, and there are times when the pair have their own serious doubts, but they remain defiantly enthusiastic, and the final moments of the film turn out to be triumphant, and rather sweet too. Though I do wonder why they are so bent on getting a major label to put out the album...that's clearly a deluded way to shop your album, especially when there are plenty of metal indie labels who could bite, like Century Media, Nuclear Blast, Cruz Del Sur, etc. At any rate, it's nice to see them putting the album out by themselves, with all the profits going to them. It's funny, though, their website looks like it's straight out of 1995, and you have to wonder if they were advised to keep it looking that hokey, sort of in keeping with the "lovable losers" image that the movie is banking on. Well, whatever works for you, and it sure seems to be working, at long last.

I'm also reminded how my one big regret from my days with Metal Edge was that I wasn't able to do a big piece on the band before it all exploded...all my pitches from early last year were all for naught, unfortunately. But it was great to do a little write-up on Metal on Metal in the Forgotten Classics feature!

Need to know more about Anvil? Try out "Metal on Metal", the title track from their classic 1983 album...I've said it before, if you were a Canadian metal fan in the 1980s, you knew this metal anthem by heart. Then there's the instrumental "March of the Crabs", a brilliant piece which predates the entire American thrash movement and highlights the musical dexterity of this young band...you hear this song and you understand why people like Lars Ulrich, Scott Ian, and Slash speak of Anvil with great admiration. If you want a specific moment where things really started to go bad for Anvil, though, look no further than Mad Dog", which despite tons of publicity and loads of airtime on Much Music, failed to fuel the sales of 1987's Strength of Steel album. Plus the video is quite silly, kind of making the band look like a joke. Not a bad tune, though.

Epic post!

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:22:00 EST

It's been a busy week of listening, writing, and interviewing, so there's quite of bit of catching up to do here.

First off, the amazing new record by drone metal dudes Sunn O)))...they're a polarizing band, with some people lavishing praise upon everything they put out, and others not buying into their minimalist shtick at all. Personally, I fully acknowledge that the work of Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson is completely over the top in its pretentiousness, but in Sunn O)))'s case, or in metal in general, being full of yourself isn't exactly a bad thing. I've liked their past albums (I'm talking official full-length CD releases, not including all the special vinyl-only stuff they crank out), especially the pitch black feel of Black One and the superb collaboration with Boris Altar, but I think they've clearly outdone themselves on Monoliths and Dimensions. Not only is this four-track, nearly hour-long album their most ambitious to date, with about three dozen guest musicians contributing, but they step back just enough to let a little subtlety do its work. Sure, we get a track of massive distortion and scaaaary Attila Csihar vocals in "Aghartha" and a cool recycled Celtic Frost riff on the menacing "Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia)", but the surprising "Big Church", with its classy Eyvind Kang arrangement and the prominent use of a women's choir, and especially the shockingly beautiful, 16 minute "Alice" are total revelations. So slowly does Julian Priester's jazz trombone solo start to dominate the latter track, that we feel a thousand miles removed from the evil tones of "Aghartha" 40 minutes earlier. Another year-end contender, one that sounds even better in vinyl (sending writers just the 2xLP promo was an inspired move by the band), and one that will easily rank as my favourite album by this enigmatic band. Read my review for more.

Speaking of Sunn O))), the Richard Serra artwork got my attention immediately, or rather the artist's name...I kept thinking, why do I know that name? Then I remembered, he's the sculptor responsible for the wickedly cool Tilted Spheres piece, the massive steel sculpture in Terminal 1 at Toronto's Pearson airport. It always grabs my attention, and I can never pass it without walking through it. So naturally, that inspired the first bit of my Sunn O))) review.

Also up today is my short-ish review of a great new Brooklyn band called Blacklist. A discovery of the always reliable Jon Garrett, Blacklist is 80s goth through and through, but unlike all their hipster peers, they remember that late-80s goth was almost as pompous as metal, and Midnight of the Century brazenly goes for broke with big riffs, big drums, and big choruses, led by standouts like "Still Changes", "Shock in the Hotel Falcon", and ACE single "Flight of the Demoiselles", a song that would have been huge 22 years ago, but will likely be glossed over by indie kids who are unable to appreciate big guitar rock on an unironic level. Bit of a shame, because this is one great new band. But don't listen to the detractors, give this album a listen.

Back in March, I got the new Funeral Mist album Maranatha in the mail, and was absolutely floored by what I heard. Anti-Christian black metal is certainly nothing new, but this project by Marduk vocalist Arioch is so overblown, so malevolent, so mocking in its approach that you can't peel yourself away. Not to mention the riffs are incredible, whether on "Jesus Saves" or the 11 minute jaw-dropper "Blessed Curse", the lyrics turn out to be smarter than your average shtick, and Arioch's vocals have to be heard to be believed. This'll the the Watain of 2009, the one Scandinavian black metal album that will place prominently on the year-end lists of all the mags, just watch. Anyway, my review went up at long last.

Are you visiting Hellbound daily yet? The site's first week went well, the content is solid, and I continue to churn out the reviews. The latest includes a piece on the debut by Toronto deathcore band Starring Janet Leigh, which shows some promise but can't seem to find any hooks or passages that are actually memorable. Much better is the new one by Viking faves Tyr, which not only is as consistent as you'd expect, but is also willing to crank up the tempo now and again. My only gripe is that there are only two songs sung in Faroese...Tyr is always better off when singing in their native language, with this album's "Tr�ndur � G�tu" a prime example. Norwegian, Faroese, Icelandic, and Danish all sound AWESOME in metal songs...metal and Vikings go hand in bloody-gloved hand. English, not so much.

I don't normally run out and buy a box set on the day it's released, ideas like that are often good birthday or Christmas suggestions, but with Neil Young's Archives Vol. I, an exception had to be made. Incredible to believe that I first heard of Young's project nearly 18 years ago, but at long last, after innumerable delays, the first installment is actually out. In order to get the full impact of the Archives project, the blu-ray format is clearly the way to go, with its astounding interactive capabilities and many free downloads to come in the future, but seeing that a) I don't have a PS3 and b) the blu-ray edition costs somewhere in the vicinity of $340, I'm more than happy to go with the considerably more straightforward CD version. Like AMG says, compared to the immersive experience that the blu-ray offers, the eight-disc CD set skims the surface, but that's not to say it's anything but tremendous.

Some folks might be flabbergasted at how Archives doesn't fill out the CDs to capacity, but in addition to the fact that the definitive version is the blu-ray version, the key thing to remember here is that Archives was originally intended to continue where the triple-LP best-of Decade left off. So it's not a complete collection of albums, it's not a complete collection of rarities; it's more like a combination of the two, a way for us to witness firsthand the musical evolution of this Canadian genius. And the growth we witness on disc one, Early Years (1963-1968) is fascinating. Compared to Bob Dylan, who left Minnesota determined to be a folk troubadour, Young was a pure rock 'n' roller, his Winnipeg-based band the Squires sounding a lot like the Ventures. In fact, when you hear his fuzzed-out lead guitar on "Aurora", recorded in the summer of 1963, though it's a lot tamer, you can hear what would be his signature electric guitar sound. What's so impressive about this disc is just how good a songwriter Young was at the age of 18. Compare that to, say, Lou Reed's Velvet Underground demos, which sound amateurish, pretentious, and just plain unlistenable at times, Young sounds so well-developed. There are no throwaways, this stuff is actually good. He'd soon start coming up with classic acoustic tunes like "Sugar Mountain", and then he truly starts to come into his own with the songs he wrote and sung on with Buffalo Springfield. All those essential tracks are there, including a wicked mono version of "Mr. Soul" I had never heard before, with one rarity, "Down, Down, Down", offering a tiny snippet of what would eventually become his Jack Nitzsche-produced masterpiece "Broken Arrow". And after those four years of musical development, we're hit with his wonderful "I Am a Child", the first time we hear that classic Neil Young voice and arrangement, feeling as comfy and familiar as an old pair of shoes.

The other discs are phenomenal. The remasters of all the album cuts are glorious, while the three live CDs are all excellent. I already has the Fillmore East CD (a blistering recording of Crazy Horse circa 1970), but hadn't gotten the Massey Hall disc when it came out, which was a good move in retrospect, as it was cool to hear that performance for the first time as part as the Archives chronology. Of the eight CDs, it's tough to pick a favourite, but right now, Topanga 3 (1970), which covers the After the Gold Rush period, and North Country (1971-72) from the legendary Harvest sessions are both glorious. So contagious is this wonderful box set that you just want to keep going, starting with the Ditch Trilogy and zipping all the way through the 70s. Here's hoping that a) now that he has his desired format, Young will release Volume II in a much more timely manner, and b) that Time Fades Away will at long last see the light of day once again. In the meantime, though, Vol. I is a slam dunk for best reissue/compilation of 2009. Although it's a bit suspicious how we Canadians have been gouged for 25% more than the US catalogue price, when the loony is only about 9% cheaper than the UD dollar. Ah well, it's still easily worth it.

I watched the Criterion edition of Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot Le Fou the other night, and while the film is at times a little too smug for its own good, a little scene like this one would come along and crack me up. They might be in a gangster hideout with guns all over the place and a dead body in the other room, but that doesn't stop Anna Karina from singing a cute little chanson tune to Jean-Paul Belmondo. And if that wasn't enough, long after the movie was over I couldn't get this song out of my head.

Lastly, this literal interpretation of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is the funniest musical YouTube parody I've seens since the infamous Trivium "twigadee" clip.

HELLBOUND.CA

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:32:00 EST

One can never have too many freelance opportunities, and I'm very proud to be a part of the brand-new Hellbound.ca, a brand-spankin' new, Canadian-based metal webzine. As I mentioned earlier this year, the unfortunate demise of three long-running, major metal print mags, Metal Edge, Metal Maniacs, and Unrestrained! left a huge hole as far as metal coverage goes. From a Canadian perspective, it's an especially dark time, as the tragic passing of our bud Adrian Bromley forced the abrupt end to Unrestrained!, while Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles is now reduced to a limp web presence where the message board is read a whole lot more than the actual main page and reviews. Someone had to pick up the slack, and that's where Hellbound comes in, as Sean Palmerston has enlisted the services of the Canadian alumni of the aforementioned three magazines, including my fellow Decibel scribe Kevin Stewart-Panko, Laura Wiebe-Taylor, Laina Dawes, Tate Bengtson, and yours truly, with more to come, so you can guarantee we'll be working hard not only to cover as much metal as we possibly can, but to also serve up plenty of good writing to boot. So bookmark it, RSS it, whatever, just make sure you make Hellbound one of your daily reads.

As it so happens, my first Hellbound piece appears today, in the form of a review of the swanky debut album by Toronto's Cauldron. One of the better discoveries from Earache's Heavy Metal Killers compilation from early this year (along with Sweden's Portrait), these guys clearly know a thing or two about classic heavy metal from right around 1984, when Banzai and Attic were the go-to labels for Canadian metalhead teens. It's a corny thing to say, but hearing something like "Chained up in Chains" totally takes me back to that era...heavy, but also incessantly hooky. As much as I enjoy the album, the clincher for me was the cover of Black 'N Blue's 1984 tune "Chains Around Heaven"...a faithful, note-for-note rendition, it encapsulates perfectly what Cauldron is all about. Old school all the way: fist pumping instead of moshing, racy album covers instead of garish depictions of violence, studded wristbands instead of overpriced hoodies, genuine songwriting skill instead of repetitive deathcore shredding. In other words, a total breath of fresh air compared to a lot of today's metal.

Rhubrb, custard, and disturbed priests

Wed, 27 May 2009 05:22:00 EST

When Black Sabbath's Mk III lineup reunited in 2007 (in case you're living under a rock, that's Iommi, Butler, Dio, and Appice), they looked and sounded so energized, that you just knew that if they could channel that energy into making a new album, the results would be great. Well, at least we hoped it would be the case, anyway. Fact is, the new Heaven and Hell album is awfully disappointing. it doesn't help, either, that the album's first single "Bible Black" turned out to be so good...aside from that one moment of inspiration, the rest of The Devil You Know absolutely pales in comparison, stuck in a horrible rut of plodding tempos, half-baked ideas, and some of Ronnie's dumbest lyrics to date. "Eating the Cannibals" just makes me cringe. Terrible. Anyway, if you need more convincing, go ahead and give my review a read. Then go listen to the new Candlemass album, and brace yourself for some top-notch, old-timey doom metal.

I've been revisiting Sabbath's 1983 album Born Again a lot lately, which has curiously never been released on CD in North America. Critically reviled when it first came out, it ushered in a very strange era for Sabbath, in which band members came and went at a Spinal Tap-esque rate, but this in retrospect was a mighty fine last hurrah, Ian Gillan stepping in nicely after the acrimonious split with Dio the year previous. It's not without its inconsistencies, but I'll go out on a limb and say that Side One, even though it consists of only three songs and two ambient pieces, it's as good a side as the band pulled off since Sabotage. "Trashed" is a rampaging opener (never mind the bizarre keyboards) infused with Gillan's trademark humour, "Disturbing the Priest" boasts an undeniably wicked, uncharacteristically atonal riff by Iommi that boggles the mid to this day, predating Sonic Youth. And oh my, if "Zero the Hero" isn't the most gloriously HEAVY heavy metal song ever. That song has been haunting me since 1985, it's so murky and unsettling, the mix so soupy, that guitar/bass groove during the verses slithering and lurching at the same time, a dead-on perfect encapsulation of menace, Iommi's great baroque masterpiece. The Gillan era was short-lived (watch this hilarious clip of Gillan reminiscing), as he'd quickly bolt back to Deep Purple to record the masterpiece Perfect Strangers, but Born Again went on to show surprising legs over the years, gaining a wider audience that could see with more clarity than we did in the mid-80s when the band was a walking joke. It's an album that begs for the re-release treatment...here's hoping the Sabbath camp eventually does so.

If you ask me, British rock music between 1991 and 1996 was one of the greatest eras in the history of popular music, and my new favourite song, "Rhubarb and Custard" by the all-girl band Poppy and the Jezebels dives into those old sounds with relish. Like the Stone Roses, it boasts a contagious dance beat with swirling psychedelic touches flitting about. Like early Blur, the band relies so heavy on their English affectations to the point of nearly sounding exaggerated (can you find a title more English than "Rhubarb and Custard"?). Like Belle and Sebastian and Camera Obscura, the song is hopelessly twee, but never cloyingly so. And like Sleeper frontwoman Louise Wener, singer Molly Kingsley can barely carry a tune, with that kind of oddly flat voice that can make certain singers so darn endearing. If you were a 90s Britpop nerd like I was (and still am), you'll dig this track, no question. Besides, with a title like that, how can I not love this song? I love custard, and I looooove rhubarb. My song of the summer right here.

Everything seems to seem better when interpreted through Lego, and this "performance" of Metallica's "Whiplash" is no exception. So awesome, from the perfectly timed drumming, to the pyro, to the synchronized headbanging, to the killer guitar solo, to the crowdsurfing dude. Perfect.

Speaking of snappy pop rock sung by girls, the Sounds' new single "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake" is a classy slice of 80s style pop, as those likable Swedes are wont to do.

Wrasslin' bars.

Mon, 25 May 2009 04:10:00 EST

My latest column appeared last week, and I think it's a good one, as I profile the great french band Amesoeurs. I'd been waiting eagerly for their debut full-length since late 2007, as my introduction to Alcest (my favourite album of that year) led me to explore the other musical projects of singer/songwriter Neige. While Alcest tends to focus on themes of innocence and nature against a blackened shoegaze backdrop, his band Amesoeurs is almost the complete opposite, focusing more on arrangements that mine the bleaker side of post punk (Joy Division, Chameleons, Virgin Prunes three huge influences) and lyrics centred around our increasingly urbanized world. And the self-titled new album doesn't disappoint one bit...I've been listening to it since february and have yet to tire of its classy blend of darkwave and black metal. The harsher tracks like "Trouble" and "Recueillement" are fantastic, but the album is truly at its best when Neige steps aside and lets bassist Audrey Sylvain take over on lead vocals, and as I say in my Decibel review, her dreamy singing reminds me a lot of the great dreampop/shoegaze sirens that used to dominate the roster of 4AD twenty years ago. It's bleak, it's sombre, but it's also drop-dead gorgeous at times ("La Reine Trayeuse" always gets me), a lock for my year-end top ten. Anyway, I interviewed both Neige and guitarist Fursy Teyssier and came away with plenty of outstanding responses, so give the piece a read, they're interesting, insightful guys.

Ironically, in a column where I write at length about one of the coolest bands of 2009, I completely wipe away any semblance of Metal Cred I still had (if at all) in the sidebar. Yes, it's true, I like IWRESTLEDABEARONCE. They're without a doubt the most polarizing metal band to come our way in quite some time, and it doesn't take long to figure out why so many people absolutely hate them. They play an ADD-riddled mess of electro, grindcore, jazz fusion, and metal. They have a ridiculous habit of inserting arbitrary pop culture references in their arrangements and their song titles. They scored one of 2008's most inexplicable sleeper hits with "Tastes Like Kevin Bacon", which in turn started a bidding war between labels, with Century Media ultimately emerging victorious, which led to a groundswell of hype well before the band's first album was even recorded. And to cap it all off, heaven forbid, they look like scene kids, and not like a metal band at all. I heard their debut EP last year, and while it didn't exactly blow me away (its lack of focus often distracting), there were parts that had me mildly impressed, namely the insane guitar chops and the surprising range of vocalist Krysta Cameron. It's All Happening, though, was quite impressive. The eclecticism is still there, but it's been harnessed enough to let the hooks emerge, whether it's a hardcore riff, discordant passage, or catchy vocal melody (as on "You Ain't No Family" and "The Cat's Pajamas"). Above all, it's fun, I've been listening to it a lot these last three weeks and get a real kick out of it. That said, I've seen a few video interviews with them, and they seem too preoccupied with being funny, which is incredibly annoying, so I'm curious as to whether these kids can actually give an actual, serious interview, or if they're complete frauds who just lucked out with a chaotic yet compelling album. For now, I just give them credit for at least attempting to set themselves apart from the rest of the young sound-alike deathcore hacks out there, which in my opinion is far more painful to listen to.

Shifting gears completely, it was sad to read the news of Jay Bennett's passing on Sunday night. I'm not going to be one of those dummies who pompously declares that Bennett was what made Wilco great, but but I will say that it's not much of a coincidence that after he left following the making of the undeniable classic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco's music has been on a swift decline ever since. The dude's multi-instrumental prowess brought an intangible to Wilco that they could never replace, something you can hear on a track like "Pot Kettle Black", which Idolator points out that Bennett contributed feedback, electric guitars, mellotrons, synth, B-Bender electric guitars, and manual keyboard effects.

Just let Cristina sing!

Tue, 19 May 2009 05:25:00 EST

Three new albums have been reviewed for PopMatters, and all three, for the most part anyway, are well worth checking out. The one iffy title is the latest by the chronically inconsistent yet confoundingly likable Lacuna Coil. They've been taking a fair bit of heat for 'Americanizing' their sound after helping popularize early-2000s goth metal, but as I say in my review, and always have been saying, no matter how many Big Dumb Nu Metal Riffs they bring in, the hooks almost always redeem the songs. But how does Shallow Life compare to 2006's Karmacode, you might be wondering? Well, it's a lot more streamlined and pop-oriented, with Linkin Park producer Don Gilmore playing a significant role, clearly aimed at modern rock instead of mere metal, as evidenced by such tracks as "I Won't Tell You", "I Like It", "Not Enough", and the grower of a lead single "Spellbound". Whether you prefer this album or the last one depends solely on what you like in your guitar rock...Karmacode was heavier, but the hooks on the new CD are slicker and well-developed, and both Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro sound stronger than they ever have. However, why the band continues to give the flat-voiced Ferro just as much lead vocal time as the infinitely more talented Scabbia remains the most frustrating aspect of this band. Of course there are the ubiquitous hiccups, as the middle of Shallow Life bogs down, but overall it holds up decently. Sure, their metal cred is nonexistent by now, but if they don't care, why should we? Besides, I'll take Lacuna Coil over Disturbed or Linkin Park in a heartbeat.

Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Norwegian singer-songwriter Hanne Hukkelberg and being treated to a mind-bogglingly powerful, intimate little concert at Propeller Studios in Oslo. When I heard her songs, they defied description, falling somewhere between Jon Brion, Kurt Weill, the Pixies, and adorable Icelanders Mum, the instrumentation eclectic but very tastefully arranged, with Hukkelberg's affable, unpretentious, almost playful voice drawing us in. Since then, her first two albums have gotten the chance to settle in nicely, preparing me for her new one, which is absolutely her finest work yet. The formula is similar on Blood From a Stone, stark yet warm, with cool found objects serving as percussion, but the songs themselves are a little more extroverted, some even bearing a rote rock format, with nearly every track coming with an undercurrent of doom that threatens to sweep us under. It's an extraordinary album, and my full review is here.

Also up is my piece on the new covers album by the insanely prodigious Toronto drone duo Nadja. Covers albums rarely if ever work, but this one does, very well at times in fact. Most of the song selections are very obvious (My Bloody Valentine, Swans, Codeine), but it's the surprises that end up being the most rewarding tracks, from Elliott Smith's "Needle in the hay", to the Cure's "Faith", to Slayer's "Dead Skin Mask", to the masterful reading of a-ha's "The Sun Always Shines on TV". I actually wrote about htis album for the special issue of Decibel that I mentioned a short while back, and although I prefer that review to this one, give either a read and try the album out, you might be surprised. I know I was.

I have some interesting piece in this month's issue of Decibel, as well. First up is my piece on the underrated progressive thrash band Believer, whose new album is not only their first since the early-90s, but turns out to be a very worthy comeback effort, one well worth seeking out. Oh, and that makes it two times in a couple months I've interviewed guitarist/vocalist Kurt Bachmann...he's a really nice guy, a pleasure to talk to. In addition, I have a shorter article on Italian progressive black metal band JANVS, whose recent album floored me a few months ago, a record good enough to qualify for my 2008 metal albums list, had I been savvy enough to hear it on time. At any rate, it's a great album, and band leader Vinctor is an interesting fella. Review-wise, I only have two appearing for some reason: first, the excellent first (and last) album by France's Amesoeurs, which is one of my most-played albums of the year so far, and secondly, the debut album by Swedish retro-metalers Portrait, which those who grew up with old school early-80s, Banzai Records metal like I did, will totally appreciate. Two KILLER, not to mention completely OPPOSITE albums that you really must hear.

It's hard to believe that the release of Neil Young's Archives Vol. 1 is actually imminent after all these years, but it's happening, and we can now sample one of the discs here. It's enough to make me wish I had a blu-ray player, but as long as I have the CDs and accompanying book, I'll be more than happy. This set is going to be incredible.

Beer! Beer!

Tue, 12 May 2009 05:05:00 EST

It can happen when you least expect it, you do so much music writing and listening to new tunes, especially a lot of mediocre ones, that the passion for new music suddenly dissipates. After such a strong start to 2009, April started to stagnate really quickly for yours truly, with not very many new albums even coming close to the good stuff that had appeared during the first quarter of the year. When this rut sets in, I always find myself looking for that one moment to reignite the spark, and while things have definitely been on the upswing as of late with the new albums by Camera Obscura, Isis, and Hanne Hukkelberg (more on her in my next post), I just knew that if there was one great chance to bring the fun back, it was Paganfest.

I love going to metal shows, but lately no matter how good the bands, it's started to feel a little like a chore, with ugly venues, unforgiving concrete floors, and crowds that were more angry than exuberant, and a couple weeks ago I said to a bud, "I just want to smile at a metal show again." Well, enter the lovable yoiking Finnish humppa kings Korpiklaani, headliners of the second (hopefully) annual Paganfest tour. Witnessing the pagan metal phenomenon while traveling with the 2008 tour was a revelation, and this year's lineup was so good that I would have really regretted missing out, so when a scheduled visit to Edmonton coincided with the date of the show, it was perfect timing. As it turns out, this was one long show that didn't feel long at all.

I was quite shocked to learn at about 5:30 that the first band band, American pirate metalers Swashbuckle, was going on at 6:15, which probably has something to do with the weird location of the Starlite Room, which is right next to a seniors' high-rise. So there must have been a curfew or something, because that's just a completely bizarre time to start a raucous, beer-fueled show. I was nowhere near ready to go, and I wasn't overly excited about the band anyway (first, I think Alestorm is a much better pirate metal band, and also I was a little annoyed that they were chosen to replace Eluveitie, who would have really rounded out an incredible bill). So by the time I'd made my way downtown and found a parking spot, Montreal band Blackguard was well into their set. I've been a fan of the band going back to their days when they were called Profugus Mortis, their first album really blowing me away back in early 2007, so it was nice to finally see them live, even if it was only three songs. I think I prefer the early stuff with the original violin player as opposed to the synths they use now, but still, their blend of black metal and folk metal was cool in a predictable, Ensiferum kind of way, the set capped off with soon-to-be signature song "This Round's on Me". Oh, and their drummer Justine is quite incredible.

Travelling with last year's Paganfest tour, everyone kept telling me how great Moonsorrow, Primordial, and Korpiklaani all were live (by the way, it was great to say hi to a couple of the guys in the crew who remembered me from last year's tour), and their descriptions were dead-on. Moonsorrow was quite workmanlike during their 45 minute, five-song set, but after starting out sounding rather thin, things came together very nicely, the set highlighted by the epic (and do these Finns know a thing or two about sounding epic) "Jotunheim". I recall reading about how they had only one guitarist when they played in Toronto and Montreal, so it was very cool to see them with a full band lineup a few weeks later A very good set when all was said and done, and the night was only just getting started. The set list:

Raunioilla
Kyl�n P��ss�
Jotunheim
Pakanajuhla
Sankaritarina

Primordial's last two albums were incredible leaps forward after a long period of musical evolution, and although I was aware of the Irish band's sterling reputation as a live act, I didn't exactly know just how good they'd turn out to be. No, make that great. Vocalist Nemtheanga is a dude I admire a lot, his lyrics are always thoughtful, his editorials always eloquent, and he's got one heck of a voice. But wow, does that tall fella ever cut a striking figure onstage. His shorn head covered in creepy corpse paint, he strode onstage in a big black trenchcoat, his combat boots giving him a decidedly militant look, and from the second he declared, "We are Primordial from the Republic of Ireland,", the venue was his, as he sung, bellowed, roared, gesticulated, and commanded over the audience. It was a revelation, he's as powerful a metal frontman as I have ever seen, and the 45 minute set was thrilling to witness, highlighted by "Empire Falls" and the downright gorgeous "The Coffin Ships", two of my favourite songs of theirs. This is one band I would love to see again and again. Here's hoping we get a new album soon. The set list:

Empire Falls
Gods to the Godless
As Rome Burns
Sons of the Morrigan
The Coffin Ships
Heathen Tribes

A lot of folks tend to think that metal music should be only centered around doom and gloom, but I beg to differ. The first time I heard Korpiklaani, back in 2005, I loved it instantly. The music celebrated the band's Finnish heritage and the band tastefully incorporated native instrumentation, but above all else, they clearly knew how to have fun, given such booze-fueled anthems as "Happy Little Boozer", "Wooden Pints", "Let's Drink", and the aptly named "Beer Beer". Their devotion to Finnish humppa, which itself is derived from German polka, makes their style of music quite nerdy (what with the accordion, fiddle, flutes, and who knows what else), not to mention a bit off-putting to some more extreme metal fans, but I find it impossible to dislike, and although the band churns out albums at an annual rate, each sounding just like the last one, it's a shtick that never gets old. And it was very nice to see I wasn't the only one who thought that way, as the floor quickly filled up with revelers. This was one show where there was no negativity among the crowd, it was very, very energetic but happy and respectful, completely devoid of thuggish behaviour. Just a great vibe of positivity, reflected in the faces of the band, led by the diminutive, dreadlocked, hobbit-looking guitarist/singer Jonne J�rvel�, who, in addition to resembling a younger version of the band's forest-dwelling mascot, was all smiles, bouncing around, jigging unashamedly. At first the mix was a bit dicey, but a couple songs in the accordion and violin were easy to hear in the mix, which, thankfully, was loud but not loud enough to destroy my hearing (I'd forgotten to bring my good earplugs). It was cool to see this band is unafraid to perform instrumentals, as they played around four or so, but the folks were there for the alcohol songs, which the band all dutifully delivered, including the new single "Vodka", off their upcoming album which I am eagerly anticipating. "Happy Little Boozer" was my fave, but "Beer Beer" got the craziest response, the booze literally flowing during that tune, the pit a gleefully bizarre combination of moshing and dancing. They're the metal equivalent of a pub band, the epitome of pure joy, the perfect capper to a night that saw metal music become fun again, instead of being merely a chore. Happy little, happy little, happy little boozer, happy little, happy little, happy little boozer... The set list:

Journey Man
Korpiklaani
Cottages And Saunas
Viima
Tuli Kokko
Vodka
Pellonpekko
Paljon On Koskessa Kivi�
Pine Woods
Wooden Pints
Happy Little Boozer
Hunting Song
Beer Beer

Encore:
Let's Drink
Tervaskanto

Hot Topic Deathcore Must Die.

Fri, 08 May 2009 04:38:00 EST

Deadline week's always busy, but this month's was particularly crazy. It certainly didn't help things that I had unwittingly volunteered to review what would turn out to be one of the worst metal albums of the year. Want a hint? The band's name rhymes with Smuicide Smilence. That's exactly the kind of garbage that just kills your enthusiasm for new music, but you're stuck spinning it over and over to try and get a handle on it enough to write a lucid, well-informed review. Well, with this album, I thought enough is enough. Sometimes you just have to toss 'being nice' out the window. But anyway, more on that in a couple months when the review appears in Decibel. On to some housekeeping before I head out west for a few days.

In the meantime, the reviews just keep piling over at PopMatters. First and foremost, the amazing new slab by post metal icons Isis, which has been blowing me away for the past three months. I've always admired this band, but to be honest, I never really felt a true emotional connection to their music until this one. You're probably thinking, is this dude saying what I think he's saying? Basically, yes...this could be, in my own blaspheming opinion anyway, Isis's best album to date. Like I mentioned back in February, Wavering Radiant is all about song dynamics instead of that same old ebb and flow they relied so heavily on in past years, there's more texture, more fluidity, stronger melodies, better production. An enthralling, beautiful album that is slowly turning into (here we go again) one of the year's best albums.

Also appearing at PopMatters is my piece on the new CD by Victoria's indie darlings Immaculate Machine. At first I was a little put off by a) the album's rather odd musical direction and b) the noticeable absence of Kathryn Calder on lead vocals, but its relaxed, comfortable vibe (it was recorded in guitarist Brooke Gallupe's parents' house, apparently) grew on me pretty quickly. Although I still prefer the more polished indie pop of their last album, there's no denying that it's a fun, lively, surprisingly eclectic little record, definitely a much better than average indie disc. But you might want to try before you buy.

Back in March I spent an absolutely crazy couple days writing six full reviews for a special free issue of decibel that was put out last month on Record Store Day, including Karl Sanders of Nile, Hull, Goes Cube, Nadja, Reign Supreme, and Thick as Blood. Out of all those albums, my favourite was the debut by Brooklyn's Hull, who fit somewhere between the bruising sounds of Neurosis and the more economic style of Tombs. The album shows a ton of potential, they show a lot of musical versatility, and they also boast a total of four different lead singers, which adds a cool bit of diversity. The little Decibel issue turned out to be real cool, complete with a wicked sampler CD (no Hull, though), but if you never got out to Record Store Day (nobody in Saskatoon participated, much to my shock, but then again, it's always Record Store Day in my goofy insular little world), the boys in Hull have posted my review on their MySpace page. So head over there, read my review, and give a listen to their tunes posted there. If you miss the sludgy riffs of early Mastodon, you will really dig these guys, I think.

One other quick note, the new album by Canada's beloved metal legends Voivod is really, really good. I've been listening to it for the past week, and was initially finding it to be a much darker album than 2006's exuberant Katorz, but when I talked to drummer Michel "Away" Langevin on Wednesday he interestingly enough explained how he sees it as the total opposite, how Katorz was a difficult, depressing album for him (coming months after guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour passed away) and how Infini actually feels like a rather sunny record to him. It's all about perspective, something I found fascinating enough to base my Decibel story on, so watch for that one in July. Well, I think July. Anyhoo, Infini is a ripping good album, and I'm especially enjoying three tracks right now, the slow, menacing "Destroy After Reading", the punkish "Global Warning", and the awesome album closer "Volcano", which doesn't hide its Discharge/Motorhead influence one bit. The album's out in June, but you can sample "Earthache" and the aforementioned "Global Warning" here.

Ascending the Tower of Song

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:36:00 EST

Heading out to Credit Union Centre for the Leonard Cohen show, and in the days leading up to it really, I found myself the most excited for a concert since seeing Iron Maiden and Rush last summer. It had been a very long time coming, that's for sure...when I missed Cohen's last Canadian tour in 1993 I was absolutely crushed, and in recent years I didn't even consider the notion of ever getting to see the man in person. Funny how things work out, though, as after Cohen's former manager bilked the Canadian bard out of millions of dollars, he was forced back out on the road to recoup some of those losses, which has not only been hugely successful when the tour started in 2008, but seems to have lit a spark in the guy, shows earning unanimous rave reviews, the tour yielding the superb Live in London CD and DVD. It was especially cool to see Cohen book an extensive tour straight across Canada, but to be honest I was a little skeptical of how it would come off in hockey arenas. He's a beloved Canadian, but is Leonard Cohen arena-worthy? When I saw just how full the parking lot was, the answer was a resounding YES.

The place was packed. The upper level was curtained off, but the lower bowl and floor were filled to capacity, so there were at least 6,000 people there. Which, for a city of a quarter million, is pretty good. The good thing about this show was that there was seating on the floor, but because the best seats were so horrendously expensive, the best I could do was an end seat on row 34 on the stage left side. When the show started promptly at 8:00, seat location was hardly a problem, as Cohen and his eight-piece backing band created quite an intimate feeling in the large venue, the simple but tasteful stage set-up beautifully and subtly lit throughout the three and a half hour set. Plus the impeccably shot video screens didn't hurt, either. When they kicked into "Dance Me to the End of Love" (shades of Serge Gainsbourg--see yesterday's post), it was actually alarming how quiet the band was, especially coming off a couple of raucous shows by Neil Young and Mastodon! Everyone else, noticed, as after the initial ovation, the place fell to a respectful hush, and thankfully for the most part the audience was respectful. It would have been completely perfect if it were not for the hipsters two rows behind me talking to each other during "Ain't No Cure For Love"...they're lucky I didn't stab each of them in the eye. Plus a poor fella behind me had the most brutal recurring cough, similar to what we in my family refer to as The Erin Cough, so that didn't help during the mellower songs, but that's excusable. Anyway, nothing could put a damper on this night.

Although I was already very familiar with the live album, the power of Cohen's material live was staggering. The first time we heard that cigarette-ravaged voice, a massive cheer. The first line of every song, massive cheer. A famous lyric, massive cheer. An expressive solo, be it from saxophonist Dino Soldo or bandurria virtuoso Javier Mas, massive cheer. Cohen removes his hat and smiles, massive cheer. And I don't know how many standing ovations there were. This was as adoring an audience as I have ever seen, and Cohen and band responded in kind. The crowd was nicely divided between baby boomers and Gen X-ers, as one would fully expect, as Cohen endeared himself to both generations, first in the late-1960s and then 20 years later to my age group, but interestingly, I don't think I saw anyone from the new under-25 generation at all. Fine by me, they would have just obnoxiously thrown water bottles, anyway (I'm kidding...okay, half kidding). So it's a bit obvious the songs from 1988's I'm Your Man and 1992's The Future were the ones most special to yours truly, and wow, did they ever hit home hard. "Waiting For the Miracle", "First We Take Manhattan", and "Everybody Knows" were the biggies, followed by "The Future" (the cartwheels by singers Hattie and Charlie Webb were adorable), "Anthem", "Tower of Song", "Take This Waltz", "Closing Time", and "I'm Your Man". As for his older material, the songs that blew me away the most on this night were the devastating "Famous Blue Raincoat", the dark "The Partisan", and "Chelsea Hotel No. 2". If you ask me, I think "Bird on the Wire" is one of his most overrated songs, but the arrangement was fabulous, with plenty of Garth Hudson-style Hammond B3. Though I knew what to expect to hear, it was really fun to see the reactions of the 50-+ crowd to each song, so many people were beside themselves with joy when each new song started up. The ubiquitous "Hallelujah" got a massive ovation, not surprisingly, but interestingly, the beloved "Suzanne" got a rapturous but polite response, with "So Long, Marianne", "Sisters of Mercy", and "Chelsea Hotel" seeming to go over bigger. By far the biggest response, though, went to "Closing Time", with everyone standing and getting pretty darn raucous (for a Leonard Cohen crowd, anyway). The shouldn't be surprising, as that song was a very popular single back in 1992, and I too have always been a huge fan of the track, so it was nice for Cohen to pull it out on this leg of the tour.

One thing I can't get over is just how gracious Cohen is. Not only is he deeply appreciative of the support, but he's also kind enough to introduce his band members multiple times, and whenever anyone had a solo, he'd respectfully doff his fedora. He also thanked his entire crew, mentioning the names of everyone, something I have never seen at a concert. Plus his stage patter was charming and at times hilarious, with many of his acerbic, often self-deprecating and ironic lyrics getting laughs as well ("I was born with the gift of a golden voice"). It was simply a sublime show, everything I'd expected it to be. I doubt Cohen will have any more tours of this scale left in him after 2009, so you'd have to be nuts to miss him this year. One of the most rewarding concerts I have ever seen. The set list:

Dance Me to the End Of Love
The Future
Ain't No Cure For Love
Bird on the Wire
Everybody Knows
In My Secret Life
Who By Fire
Chelsea Hotel No. 2
Waiting for the Miracle
Anthem

Intermission

Tower of Song
Suzanne
The Gypsy's Wife
The Partisan
Boogie Street
Hallelujah
I'm Your Man
A Thousand Kisses Deep
Take This Waltz

Encore:
So Long, Marianne
First We Take Manhattan
Famous Blue Raincoat
Sisters of Mercy
If It Be Your Will
Closing Time
I Tried to Leave You
Whither Thou Goest

A pretty eclectic post, come to think of it.

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:57:00 EST

Back in march of 2006 I got a CD in the mail with a really gorgeous cover by a band calling themselves Wolves in the Throne Room. and when i popped it into the stereo for a quick cursory listen, I was floored by its majestic, atmospheric black metal. The long songs would launch into these insane extended jams in which the band would create an absolute maelstrom of discordance, primal aggression, and stately melodies, the overall effect seemingly more indebted to shoegaze than traditional black metal. Since then, the Olympia, Washington band has created quite a reputation for themselves, not only for their stunning compositions but also for their uber-environmentalist views. Some black metal purists don't exactly dig the band's talk about ecological concerns, their rural life, or the use of the black metal form as a sort of springboard to some sort of spiritual transcendence, and believe me, when you get a bunch of bearded hipster-looking fellas nattering on about such topics, there will be those in the metal crowd who will immediately dismiss them as unequivocally false. But the bottom line is, the music is undeniable, so much so that it's impossible to let their message get in the way of the music. Besides, who can understand what they're screaming about, anyway? Anyhoo, their third full-length Black Cascade has just come out, and I think it could be their best work to date. The approach is much simpler this time around, ditching the female vocals and strong folk element that highlighted the last two records, the production considerably more raw than the warmer tones of 2007's excellent Two Hunters, and it all works to the band's advantage. The formula's still the same, but the four songs are enthralling, and the end result is another title to add to the year-end contenders list. As the new metal releases have slowed down as of late with very few amazing albums, this is one disc that I simply could not put down. Splendid stuff. For more details, my full review can be read here.

Also up at PopMatters is my review of the new album by Northern Ireland alt-metal veterans Therapy?. In preparing to assess the new record, I went back to revisit their most popular album Troublegum, and I was instantly struck by just how well those songs from 1993-94 still hold up. Arrangement-wise it's a little dated, with those Godflesh/Fear Factory influences, but infused into those heavy tracks are some incredible hooks, often reminiscent of the Buzzcocks. I was so thrown by hearing that stuff for the first time in ages that it made getting into the new album a little difficult, but before long I came around, and ultimately quite enjoyed Crooked Timber, in spite of its inconsistencies. Interesting aside about Therapy?, every time I see the name mentioned I think of that scene in Mike Leigh's Naked, one of my favourite movies of all time, where Johnny has a rather odd exchange with a dude putting up "CANCELLED" posters across a bunch of posters for a Therapy? show. I can't find that clip on YouTube, so here's that film's most engrossing scene, just because I adore that movie so durn much.

One band that's impossible for me to hate is Camera Obscura, who just continue to get better with each new record, and their latest My Maudlin Career is pretty much flawless. The pretty "French Navy" is turning out to be one of the year's finer singles, too.

It's not exactly the luxurious heavy vinyl edition that's recently come out, but the brand new, swanky re-release of Serge Gainsbourg's landmark Histoire de Melody Nelson is the next best thing. I can't recall the first time I ever heard of Serge Gainsbourg, but it was back in the 80s during his, erm, rather lecherous period...in addition to playing the usual MTV fare, Canada's Much Music also liked to get artsy every once in a while, and I remember seeing some clips featuring the weird little French dude. Anyway, it wasn't until about six or seven years ago when I started exploring his music a little, starting with that obscure 1971 album, which people kept recommending. For a concept album it's surprisingly brief, at about 28 minutes, but what a perfect 28 minutes it is, as we explore Gainsbourg's protagonist's obsession with a 14 year old girl he practically runs into with his car. The parallels to Lolita are undeniable, of course, but Gainsbourg's take is far more melodramatic, and while the ending is a bit, erm, abrupt, it's not supposed to be a deep story anyway. It's just a simple, short tale of one man's obsession and subsequent unraveling, told with restraint and poeticism. Better yet are the arrangements by producer Jean-Claude Vannier, which combine some very cool funk rock with sweeping orchestral parts similar to that of John Barry (who, coincidentally, was once married to one Jane Birkin, who graces this album's cover and to whom the album was dedicated), the influence of which can easily be heard in the work of both Air and Jarvis Cocker. It's a short album, but completely absorbing, and the new remaster sounds fabulous, plus it comes with a lavish booklet featuring some very well-written essays and lyrics in both French and English. Anyway, take a look at this terrific vintage clip of the incredible, tantalizingly brief "Ballade de Melody Nelson". And then watch Flight of the Conchords' "A Kiss is Not a Contract", which ingeniously pays homage to that very video. And when you're done that, watch this, because, well, Gainsbourg + Y�-y� = Tr�s Cool.

And speaking of elder statesmen of poetry and music, tonight's the night of the big Leonard Cohen concert, a show I've been waiting for ever since missing his last go-round across Canada in 1993. Full recap will be posted late tonight/early tomorrow...

Consider that sky cracked.

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:56:00 EST

How intense was the Mastodon show tonight? Fat dude in the pit picked up The Ubiquitous Lost Shoe and started whapping the sole as hard as he could into his face during the mellow part of "The Czar". Needless to say, it was rather fitting that the rubber hand stamp used by the Odeon tonight said, in big bold, blue-ink letters, SURREAL.

Aprils are always a bit dicey in this part of the country, nice, warm daytimes giving way to icy evenings, and when I made my way downtown to wait in line to get in, everyone outside was shivering half to death, whipped by a nasty wind that reminded us that even though it says "spring" on the calendar, no such thing exists here. There might not be any snow on the ground, but it's still winter, make no mistake about it. When those of us who were brave enough to remain in line and not scurry into the pub across the street got into the building, we could stop forgetting about our rapidly diminishing core temperatures and focus on the METAL at hand. Mastodon. Kylesa. Intronaut. As formidable a triple bill to come out here in a very long time, and although the show didn't sell out (apparently the only city on the current North American tour to not sell out, a credit to this city's notorious apathy towards metal), it was still nicely full, and the folks who were there sure were, erm, lively to say the least.

"Who're you?" yelled someone to Intronaut as they were doing their line check. A half hour later, everyone would know who these four guys are, as the Los Angeles band performed a flawless, jaw-dropping five-song set that deserved to be twice as long. I've been into the band ever since their first demo Null, and with each new record they continue to improve, last year's Prehistoricisms making my year-end metal list. All this time, though, I had never seen Intronaut live, and now that I have, I get them more than I ever did listening to their CDs. Even though I'm familiar with their music, I for the life of me couldn't tell you what they played, and normally that would really stick in my craw, but standing there simply absorbing their performance, so amorphous, so fluid, so multi-layered, I was more than willing to dig every ebb and flow they tossed our way. Their set-up is a very unique one, as the two guitars focus more on texture than simple riffing, with the rhythm section often carrying the songs. So it makes for a very compelling combination, with these expansive, gut-rumbling guitars atop jazzy drumming and basslines. It's rare that the first band of a triple bill comes off sounding this classy, but that was the case. By the end of their set, they'd won over everyone.

Mastodon aside, I was very excited to finally see Kylesa, who after putting together a series of consistently good albums this decade have knocked one out of the park with the masterful Static Tensions. I staked out a terrific, unobstructed spot in front of the mixing board, and watched the Savannah, Georgia band blow the roof off the place with their two drummers and the crusty, sludgy riffing of the tall Philip Cope and the comparatively petite Laura Pleasants. Actually this was a case where the band benefited hugely from the extended set time, as it took about three songs for both the band and the mix to settle in, but once they did, right around the time they played the stoner scorcher "Scapegoat", it was unreal, and the crowd responded in kind with a surprisingly spirited moshpit. Aside from Time Will Fuse its Worth nuggets "Where the Horizon Unfolds" and the rippingly good "Hollow Severer", the set revolved around the new record, and considering how good it is, that was perfectly fine by me. It's clear that the band is winning over a lot of people, because their merch table was already seriously depleted. One of the things I learned while out with Paganfest was that American bands have the carefully guesstimate how much merch they think they can sell in Canada, as they have to pay rather exorbitant taxes bringing t-shirts into the country, so it's good to see it's not going to be much of a waste at all (though crummy for me, as all the nice John Baizley designs were sold out in my size). Anyway, Kylesa was fantastic and the kids were mightily impressed, as was I. The setlist, as far as I can remember:

Running Red
Perception
Scapegoat
Unknown Awareness
Said and Done
Nature's Predators (I think)
Only One
Where The Horizon Unfolds
Hollow Severer

The last time I saw Mastodon was in 2006, when they opened for Slayer and absolutely obliterated the other bands. Then, they just had a couple albums under their belts and were a few months away from the release of the masterpiece Blood Mountain, so they were out to win people over, which they did with authority. Three years later, though, its a totally different story. They have their fanbase, they are now regarded as one of the leaders of American metal, and they've put out a stunner of a fourth album crammed with more progressive rock than flat-out metal, and still it debuted in the top ten. They have conquered, and they know it, as the foursome strode onstage on this night and hammered out a jaw-dropping, epic, 100 minute set with the precision of craftsmen and the thunderous, brute force of their prehistoric namesake. No between-song banter, no encore charade, just song after song after song, performed with incredible precision. Much has been made of the fact that Mastodon has chosen to start their set off with Crack the Skye performed in its entirety, and while on record the opening cut "Oblivion" might have you wondering if it's not exactly the kind of live barnstormer you'd expect from such a band, the crowd couldn't care less that it's a languid, midtempo rocker, as they went nuts from the get-go, moshing furiously during the slow parts, and going totally berzerk once the pace did pick up.

I kept the same spot I had before Kylesa, so I was afforded an incredible view of both the band, their very snazzy digital screen dealy with trippy visuals, and the carnage unfolding ten feet in front of me, and I was able to withstand the chaos during the spectacular run of "Oblivion", "Divinations" (that surf guitar solo is awesome live), "Quintessence" (the pit went positively primal during the climax), and the great "The Czar", which will go down as my favourite all-time Mastodon track, and which was performed impeccably. However, during "Ghost of Karelia" the three-person-deep barrier between yours truly and the pit insanity couldn't hold, and a massive pile-up involving a bunch of dizzy thugs was a little too close for comfort, and I split. I hate having to watch the people around me instead of listening intently to the music, I have little patience for out-of-control metal show thuggery, so I was more than happy to head to a corner and dig the show from there. The long "The Last Baron" was fantastic, and after that, the band launched into a four-song mini-set culled from Blood Mountain, highlighted by a blistering version of "Crystal Skull". Leviathan's "Megalodon" killed, as you'd expect it to, the song's so durn good, while the segue between "Iron Tusk" and "March of the Fire Ants" (ah, that opening riff gets me every time) was downright thrilling. If there was one gripe, it was that Brent Hinds' vocals weren't mixed high enough. His singing was spot on, when you could hear it, while Troy Sanders' mic was much clearer. Other than that, though, flawless. Brann Dailor is an astonishing drummer, his beats tourniquet-tight, while Hinds and Bill Kelliher, the latter sporting quite the white trash fu manchu, delivered those fluid guitar melodies with ease. By the time they concluded with the classy Leviathan opus "Hearts Alive", I was more than spent. Five hours, three incredible sets, as exhausting yet exhilarating metal show as you will ever witness. The setlist:

Oblivion
Divinations
Quintessence
The Czar
Ghost of Karelia
Crack the Skye
The Last Baron
Sleeping Giant
The Wolf os Loose
Crystal Skull
Capillarian Crest
Megalodon
Sea Beast
Iron Tusk
March of the Fire Ants
Hearts Alive

My my, hey hey...

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 05:03:00 EST

As a Canadian, it's impossible not to be impacted by Neil Young in some way, shape, or form sometime in your lifetime. For me, it came in several stages. As a pre-teen in the 70s I knew "Heart of Gold" and "Old Man" from AM radio. In third grade we had to sing "Four Strong Winds" (Young's cover of the Ian & Sylvia standard was wildly popular) in music class. I watched Young's weird years unfold via music videos in the 1980s: "Computer Age", "Wonderin'", "People on the Street", "This Note's For You" (needless to say, not a good artistic period). I saw how cool Neil Young could be when he appeared on Saturday Night Live and blew the roof off the place, and subsequently learned for the first time that the guy had a much richer discography than I'd imagined. His 1990-92 period showed he could rock as hard as anyone (the period where I became a major, major fan), Harvest Moon was gorgeous country, Sleeps With Angels was a crazed Crazy Horse opus, and Mirror Ball would be the last good album Pearl Jam would make. Fast forward to today, and he's still chugging along, cranking out the new material, going through various peaks and valleys, but never short on inspiration. After a near lifetime of living with Neil Young's music, the last big thing I had to do was see him live for the first time, which I did last night.

And the experience was incredible, exceeding all expectations, easily an all-timer. I got to Credit Union Centre on time, without hassles, and staked out a spot on the floor along a side rail...a smart move, since opening band Everest was pretty forgettable. They're certainly competent in a Do-Everything-Like-Wilco sort of way, but a little too mopey, a little too watered-down, a little too Wallflowers, sans the hooks, to hold my attention during their 45 minute set. They actually did one cool thing, covering the Danny Whitten tune "Look at All the Things" from the first Crazy Horse album, but other than that, snoozeville. During the changeover, I made my way a little closer to stage right and when the guitar tech brought out Old Black and started the line check, it was goosebump time.

Striding onto the ramshackle stage set-up, with a bunch of standing old-timey studio lights, upright piano, organs, vibraphones, ancient-looking amplifiers, a cigar store Indian, and a backdrop of random letters and numbers, Young and his five-piece backing band (including his legendary pedal steel player Ben Keith) launched immediately into a raucous "Mr. Soul", one of my all-time faves, taking me back to when I first heard the tune listening to side one, record one of Decade. At first it felt like the band could be louder, but as the show went on, the sound began to intensify. The opening run of songs was incredible..."When You Dance I Can Really Love", "Are You Ready For the Country", "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere", "Pocahontas". Near perfect. "Cortez the Killer" was epic and solemn, while "Cinnamon Girl" had the place jumping. "Mother Earth" is one of Young's shamelessly hippy-dippy songs, but the Ragged Glory track sounded pretty on the pump organ. The acoustic set was both eclectic (including the rarity "Lost in Space") and crowd-pleasing, Young and his wife Pegi doing the Ian & Sylvia thing on "Four Strong Winds" (how apt for yours truly that they dragged this song out, conjuring memories of seeing the lyrics from an overhead projector), going into the gorgeous "Unknown Legend", and nailing the crowd-pleasing trifecta of "The Needle and the Damage Done", "Heart of Gold", and "Old Man", with the audience singing every word.

By the midway point, I had made my way closer to the front thanks to some fortuitous exits by some tall dudes, so after that I had a fabulous vantage point for the rest of the show. Also, this wasn't like the Tragically Hip at Bessborough Gardens incident, where the boozed up crowd got aggressive...instead, the overall mood was convivial and celebratory. You felt safe instead of claustrophobic. And after the acoustic set, Young really started to cranking things up. The Tonight's the Night one-two punch of "Speakin' Out" and "Tonight's the Night" was a major thrill, that being my favourite album of his, and both songs were transformed into murky, blues-drenched performances. Then came the show-stopper. I've always been the biggest fan of Young's epics, and after "Cortez" I was hoping for one more, and as soon as the opening chords started, I knew we were in for a doozy, as "Down By the River" was a monumental, 15 minute monster of a performance. The build-up from the romantic verse, to the sugary bridge, to the devastating chorus translates so well love, and Young's extended solos were enthralling. It would be tough to top that, but the encore came awfully close, first with the hilarious addition of "Roll Another Number" (Young was certainly aware of what day it was), and then with a scorching rendition of "Rockin' in the free World", which was extended to a good ten-plus minutes, the arena going loopy over the classic track. It was as close to a perfect show as one could get (even the four newer songs were fun), and it wasn't until it was all over that I found out just how sweaty and sore I was. It was just too exhilarating an experience to notice. This was one show that was easily worth a lifetime waiting for. The set list (all the songs are there, but order-wise it's probably 90% accurate:

Mr. Soul
When You Dance I Can Really Love
Are You Ready For the Country
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
Pocahontas
Spirit Road
Cortez the Killer
Cinnamon Girl
Mother Earth
Light a Candle
Lost in Space
Unknown Legend
Four Strong Winds
The Needle and the Damage Done
Heart of Gold
Old Man
Speakin' Out
Tonight's the Night
Down By the River
Get Behind the Wheel
Just Singing a Song

Encore:
Roll Another Number
Rockin' in the Free World

duhduhduhduhduhduh DUH DUH DUH

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 05:27:00 EST

Last week my latest column appeared over at PopMatters, and it's a pretty good one, i think, focusing on Georgia band Kylesa, who for years has been a pretty reliably good band, but with the recent release of their fourth album Static Tensions, they've finally made the big leap from good to exceptional. The CD is phenomenal...on one hand, it's more of the same crusty stoner sludge that they've been doing all along, with the dual lead vocals of Laura Pleasants and Philip Cope and the awesome dual drum set-up, but on the other, it's by far their most disciplined, focused album to date. best of all, though, the songs are wickedly catchy. It was interesting talking to Cope; he openly admits to not having a clue how to record two drummers properly, but his trial-and-error approach has yielded quite a cool result, as the new record has the drumming panned to the far left and right, with the rest of the band in the middle. A simple enough arrangement, but plug in your headphones, and the way the drummers feed off each other, interweave, and at times compete quickly becomes mind-blowing. It's easily one of my favourite albums of the young year, and I greatly look forward to seeing the band hammer this stuff out live in six days, when they're in town opening for the mighty Mastodon.

When I first tried Guitar Hero three years ago, one of my initial thoughts was that this game was totally made to be played to Metallica songs. I like the variety the game has always brought, but there's something about those massive metal riffs that makes the game so viscerally satisfying (Accept's "Balls to the Wall", for instance). Well, nedless to say the franchise has hit one out of the park with Guitar Hero: Metallica, easily the best version of the game to date. It's bad enough that the guitar parts are addictive (especially "Am I Evil?", "Creeping Death", and "Seek and Destroy" on expert), but on drums it's a total blast. Anyone who plays this game on the plastic drumkit looks like a blithering idiot, but I tell you, finally getting a chance to throttle away on "Disposable Heroes" is incredible fun for this unapologetic old school metal nerd. It's great to see the amount of pre-1988 material on there, but if there was one gripe, it's that "The Four Horsemen" and "Ride the Lightning" weren't included. At any rate, the GH folks have outdone themselves: great animation, easy navigability, and some phenomenal tunes. Though the Foo Fighters' "Stacked Actors" is one of the stupidest songs I have ever heard...

Three months in, and the Fever Ray album just keeps getting better. It's so sparse and minimal, that it needs the time to sink in, and now that it has, it packs an emotional wallop I wasn't expecting. "Keep the Streets Empty For Me" is the latest revelation on a record that is, right now anyway, the best album I have heard so far this year.

Tonight's the Night. Or so to speak. I had a chance to see Neil Young & Crazy Horse in October of 1996, when they played in Regina, but instead of making the four hour trip south, I waffled and ended up saying, "nah," even though I really wanted to. Last year, Young returned to Regina, but I was adamant that I wanted to see Electric Neil a whole lot more than Acoustic Neil, and by the time I learned he was playing a cool, career-spanning set with a full band, the show had sold out. I really though I had blown my chance to see the dude in person, but lo and behold, he's returned to Saskatchewan six months later, and this time instead of a two and a half hour drive, it's a 15 minute trip. Got my floor ticket, and I am ready after many, many years of waiting. It could be interesting, not to mention a little, erm, hazy, what with it being 420 and all, but you can bet I'll have a full recap in the hours following the show.

How big an idiot does one have to be to lose a shoe at a concert?

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:20:00 EST

Nothing makes you feel older than having to stand for five hours on a concrete floor with nowhere to sit. It's murder. Interestingly, though, at last night's Lamb of God show at Prairieland, many of the kids couldn't last either, as the later it got, the less enthusiastic (read: violent and idiotic) they became. Package tours are great, especially this one, which gave the punters good bang for their buck (though the $40 t-shirts went way too far), but wow, either shorten the changeover times or lose a band, because in spite of a very good line-up, it got downright oppressive last night.

The festivities did begin right on time, as God Forbid hit the stage promptly at 7:00. They were the big draw, for me anyway, as they've been around for ages, I'd never been able to see them live, and their new album is outstanding, and although they played for only about 25 minutes or so, they were consummate pros out there, tight, energetic, and fun. Dallas Coyle's abrupt quitting of the band practically on the eve of their big tour was quite a blow, but brother Doc and temporary replacement Kris Norris (former shredder for Darkest Hour) did quite well. However, I have a hunch that the loss of Dallas's clean vocal talents played into the song selection for this tour, as a tune like "To the Fallen Hero" was left out. They did play a couple of new tunes, which was good, and vocalist Byron Davis proved to be very charismatic...by the time they got to the final song, they had the full attention of the crowd, and "The End of the World" destroyed, getting everyone going. It's a real shame they were limited to five songs, but that's how it goes, this well-respected band continues to be underrated and tragically undervalued in metal circles. The setlist:

Anti-hero
War of Attrition
Shallow
Force Fed
The End of the World

Municipal Waste was next, another band I was looking forward to seeing for the first time. A lot of people gripe about how they seem to use retro thrash merely as shtick, but as they've proven on their albums, they do so convincingly. Plus, they're hilarious, and who says a metal band has to take itself seriously all the time? Lead howler Tony Foresta had a lot of trouble with his mikes, but that didn't stop them; in fact, they couldn't care less, as they ripped into song after song of blatant DRI rip-offs and Anthrax gang choruses, ending it all with their now-trademark shout-along. The setlist:

Sadistic Magician
The Thrashin Of The Christ
Headbanger Face Rip
Divine Blasphemer
Mind Eraser
Beer Pressure
Unleash The Bastards
Bangover

As I lay Dying is one band I just cannot get into. I find them horribly mediocre on record, and just plain boring live. This night was no exception, either, as they did their usual watered-down Swedish melodic death guitars and chugga-chugga breakdowns while monotone-voiced vocalist Tim Lambesis added zero charisma to the already pedestrian arrangements. The fact that they played for twice as long as God Forbid was criminal.

While touring with Paganfest last year, the guys in Turisas kept telling me that they were thrilled to be playing second to last, because according to them, on multi-band tours, the second last band gets the crowd at its most energetic. They proved it then night after night, and the raucous reception for Children of Bodom on this evening hammered the fact home as well. I've been warming up to the Finnish band in recent years (I'll admit, seeing them go on after Mastodon is not a good way to experience Bodom for the first time), and coming out to the hilarious YouTube condensed version of The Big Lebowski, Alexi Laiho and his mates were as good as ever, delivering some good variety during their 45 minute set. The usual suspects were there ("Angels Don't Kill", "Downfall"), Blooddrunk track "Hellhounds on My Trail" continues to scorch live, and "Bodom Beach Terror" was a nice left-field choice. And the kids went completely loopy for these guys...they've very much loved around these parts, and really should do an extensive headlining tour. The setlist:

Silent Night, Bodom Night
Hate Me!
Hellhounds On My Trail
Living Dead Beat
Angels Don't Kill
Bodom Beach Terror
In Your Face
Blooddrunk
Downfall

I could barely stand by the time Lamb of God came on, and while it wasn't exactly the "greatest hits" set we got back in December (which was a GREAT show), focusing heavily on material from Wrath, it was still as dependably good as you'd expect. Of the new tracks, "Dead Seeds", "Contractor", and "Broken Hands" really went over well, but the big ones remained "Ruin", "Laid to Rest" (both of which I'll never tire of hearing), "Now You've Got Something to Die For", "Redneck", and live staple "Black Label". It would have been nice to hear "11th Hour" and "Faded Line" again, but what are you going to do, the boys still played a terrific, very energetic set, and it was cool to hear the new stuff. So tired were the kids in the pit, though, that the patented Wall of Death during "Black Label" was awfully lethargic. The moshers were plum tuckered. As was I, that night took a lot out of me. At any rate, here's the setlist:

The Passing
In Your Words
Set To Fail
Walk With Me In Hell
Hourglass
Now You've Got Something To Die For
Ruin
Dead Seeds
Blacken The Cursed Sun
Grace
Broken Hands
Laid to Rest
Contractor

Encore:
Reclamation
Redneck
Black Label

When metal renaissance man/overall awesome dude/friend to everybody Adrian Bromley passed away suddenly last December, his magazine Unrestrained! sadly died with him, which, along with the shuttering of Metal Maniacs and Metal Edge, left a massive void in the metal media. However, thanks to his loyal surviving staff, which includes several very talented writers, they managed to slap together the final issue, which has been kindly made available as a free download. A fine, final tribute to a swell fella, and a nice swan song for one of the better metal mags out there. Don't hesitate to give it a read.

I was never a fan of those hipster-pandering retro t-shirts you get at places like Urban Outfitters and whatnot, but the folks at Worn Free actually put a clever twist on the idea, taking t-shirts made famous by famous musicians and faithfully reproducing them with the permission of the artists' estates. So you've got designs synonymous with John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Debbie Harry, Frank Zappa, and loads of others...a cool tribute to the artists, and kind of appropriate for this meta, self-referential age we live in. The Jeff Buckley one is particularly great (overrated as the late singer always was), but not surprisingly, the one I was immediately drawn to was this one.

It's always fun to be blindsided by a new album by a band you had only minimal expectations from, something that makes you immediately think, "I didn't know they had it in them." It's especially rewarding in indie rock, as the last few years have seen the quality of new music declining exponentially it seems, so when an indie record comes out that's actually (gasp) good, I'm elated. Such is the case with Handsome Furs, whose new album is so stupidly good that it's almost baffling. A side project of Wolf Parade guitarist Dan Boeckner along with his wife Alexei Perry, their first album was alright, but it still had that side project whiff, the feeling that the songs were tossed-off and not fully developed. Face Control, though, has them sounding like a fully-realized band, and the end result is so impressive, that its blend of electronic elements and guitar rock is actually better than the last Wolf Parade album. "I'm Confused" is getting all the play on XMU right now, but look out for "All We Want, Baby, is Everything", which, if released as a single, seems destined for my year-end list. A great album, one of the better indie releases of 09 so far, and a big-time contender for my Polaris Prize ballot.

Omnomnom.

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 04:22:00 EST

A big reason why I haven't posted in a while is that I've been focusing much of my time on getting my head around some new albums (well, that and trying to survive the intensity of my fantasy hockey playoffs, which is now entering the last six days of the 14 day final round), and over the past month or so, the fourth full-length by the great Doves needed spin after spin, listen after listen for it to sink in. And still there's something about Kingdom of Rust that feels slightly off. First of all, the gigantic hooks that made 2005's Some Cities better than it deserved to me weren't exactly on the new one, the songs a little more innocuous and somber. That said, though, the Doves we hear on the outstanding first six tracks sounds a lot more inventive than the comparatively straight-laced last album. You've got the clever dance element of "Jetstream", the surprisingly effective integration of country influences on the title track (the video is outstanding), the propulsive, Swervedriver-esque hard rock of "The Outsiders", the more pastoral, mellotron-driven feel of "Winter Hill", the very cool, atmospheric "10:03", and the tense "The Greatest Denier"...what a way to start a record, truly a return to the form of their classic first two albums, right? Unfortunately no, as from that point on Kingdom of Rust starts to sag, "Spellbound" and "Lifelines" sounding like tired attempts to capture the feel of "Caught By the River", while the dub-funk of "Compulsion, a complete rip-off of Blondie's "Rapture", mind you, coming off as awkwardly executed and ill-timed. So while the majority of the British music press salivates over this album, I have to say that while I greatly admire more than half of the record, for a band like Doves, such inconsistency is inexcusable. A bit of a disappointment. For more, take a peek at my full review.

I've been revisiting Doves' classic 2000 single "The Cedar Room" a lot lately...it doesn't get much better than that track, I tell you. I thought I knew what to expect when I bought Lost Souls nine years ago ("Catch the Sun"'s appearance on the Anti-Hit List was what got me into the band), but coming late in the record (track ten), this seven and a half minute song knocked me flat. This is the kind of track Noel Gallagher has tried to pull off but never could. It out-Oasises Oasis.

You know what's not a disappointment? The new Leonard Cohen live album, that's what. I'd heard the live clips before, so I knew full well that his upcoming show (three weeks!) would not disappoint, but Live in London is just plain lovely. The man sounds fantastic, his voice full and passionate, and the energy he projects belies his age. And his nine-piece band sounds immaculate, transforming the generic, 20,000 seat O2 Arena into something far, far more intimate. Interestingly, on his older, classic songs like "Suzanne" and "So Long, Marianne", Cohen sounds polite, almost formal, his band's arrangements understated. However, on the darker material from is classic albums I'm Your Man and The Future, the band is more adventurous, and best of all, Cohen seems to brim with passion. The two and a half hour, 26 song (!) setlist mines nearly every facet of Cohen's vast discography, and the album never feels tedious, the performances are gorgeous, poetic, and just plain thrilling. And his between-song patter is warm, appreciative, and at times hilarious (his sense of humour always seems to be greatly underestimated). It's very cool to see that he's not only tweaked the setlist on the current tour, but has also added a couple more tracks, so I'm hoping like crazy it stays the same! It's sure to be an incredible show. Anyway, my review of said live album is here.

Meanwhile, over at Decibel the new issue is out, as as usual I have a few tidbits in the mag. I have a short feature piece on Irish black metal band Altar of Plagues...their new album (out on the ever-reliable Profound Lore) is excellent atmospheric black metal (not unlike Wolves in the Throne Room) infused with some spacious, epic Isis-like departures. Interestingly, the band is really into nature and their Irish heritage, and the email interview was fun to do, they seem very bright. As for reviews, my much-delayed piece on the cool new DVD by Arch Enemy has surfaced, I tackle the excellent new album by Swedish retro-gods Wolf, and I also have a piece on the new album by Swiss pagan standouts Eluveitie...I wasn't expecting much from the Eluveitie album, what with it being an acoustic album sung entirely in Gaulish of all things (that's Gaulish, not Goulash), but not only do the unplugged arrangements still come across as pretty darn pompous and heavy, but there's some very catchy stuff on there, namely the track "Omnos" (that's Omnos, not Omnom), a song good enough to make you forget that they're singing in in a dead language. The video's not too bad, either.

This portrait of your typical audience at a rock show is pretty much dead on. When I'm forced to wait out an interminable set by an awful opening band (hello, The Most Serene Republic and Tokyo Police Club), I admit to being #6, but most of the time I'm #16, trying to avoid the #15s and wanting to punch out the #10s.

And who said you couldn't summarize all of World War II in one quick pencil doodle? This guy's attempt is hilarious. Nice of him to acknowledge Canada, but we still deserved a little more credit. Still, though, it's brilliantly done.

Skycracking

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:14:00 EST

So. Mastodon.

The guys certainly threw us all quite the change-up with their fourth full-length, and it's taken me quite a lot of listens to get my head around it. Although it's not on the level as Blood Mountain and Leviathan, it's still a very, very good piece of work, and for all the talk about it's progressive rock leanings, it's surprisingly consistent and cohesive. Here's a band that absolutely loved to show off, whether it was monumentally heavy riffing, clever dual harmony arpeggios, stylistic shifts on a dime, and crazed drum fills, and without question that ambition made their previous two albums great, so when they returned with an album that showed as much restraint as ambition, it's kind of jarring. When I say the overall effect is like hearing ...And Justice For All for the first time 21 years ago, it's not that the mix on Crack the Skye is as dry and bass-less as that album is, it's that after years of becoming accustomed to a huge, gargantuan sound by Matt Bayles, we're instead given a slickly produced record courtesy Brendan O'Brien, who focuses not on the weight of the riffs, but the frills around those riffs, namely the melodies, from both guitar and vocals. And coupled with the band's disciplined approach, it couldn't be more fitting. The way the band holds back on this album is remarkable..."Oblivion" and "Crack the Skye" are terrific examples, the former letting the three lead vocalists carry the song, the latter slowing down to a Neurosis-style crawl.

As I say in my review, though, the key tracks are the two epics. "The Last Baron" at first sounds haphazard, but when allowed to sink in, there's a flow to the song that Leviathan's equally long "Hearts Alive" can't quite equal, each of the song's many movements feeling natural, Zappa/Rush style jams giving way to a very cool groove riff eight minutes in. "The Czar", on the other hand, is probably the best thing I have ever heard from them, starting out as a spaced-out, murky ballad a la Zeppelin's "No Quarter", and then shifts into a simple, undeniably wicked riff and funk rhythm, guitars and drums just letting the song flow, with no unnecessary window dressing whatsoever. When it comes to good progressive rock/metal, less is often more, and the most significant thing that Mastodon accomplishes on this album is that they've learned that, and proved it to be very true. Not many bands can pull off such a "transition album" and make it sound this great.It'll be interesting to hear how this album translates live, seeing how Crack the Skye will apparently be performed in its entirety next month.

For such an ostentatious album, it is a little disappointing that the best Warner could do is slap together a cheap, three-panel jewel case insert. Paul Romano's amazing artwork deserves something a little more lavish, like either a swanky digipak or something on the level of a Tool album. So it goes, I guess...the record industry isn't exactly booming, so creative album layout isn't exactly a priority.

Shakey finally did it.

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 05:32:00 EST

The new writing continues to pile up at PopMatters. First and foremost is the latest installment of The Column, in which I give a thorough dissection of In Flames' crucial four early albums, all of which were re-released this month: 1996's The Jester Race, 1997's Whoracle, 1999's Colony, and 2000's Clayman. It's interesting delving into the band's early catalogue these days...you'd think that with all the Swedish melodic death metal imitators that have sprouted up like weeds this past decade, that those old In Flames albums would seem to lack freshness because we've been subject to that same old stuff over and over and over again, but those songs still deliver, they're still far more classy and catchy than any young metalcore band could ever hope to match. Jesper Stromblad was ingenious when it came to flashy guitar melodies, and it was great fun chronicling the band's progression. You really should own them all, the reissues are very swanky (consider me a fan of the super jewel box), but if you can't get all four, make sure you get either The Jester Race and Colony first. Though I do have a particular soft spot for Clayman...it was a bold but inspired move by the band, in my opinion. Just how, you might be wondering? Well, give the article a read for more!

Nearly a year and a half since I started collecting her demo tracks, a year after I saw her bring the house down in Oslo, ten months after the European release of her hotly anticipated debut album, and eight months after it came out in the UK, finally Ida Maria's Fortress Round My Heart is coming out in North America. And at long, long last, I've written a full review. The verdict? Not quite as scorching as her live show, but not too overpolished either, a simple, straight-ahead rock 'n' roll record loaded with some terrific singles. led by this one, which was one of the finest singles of 2006. great fun, don't miss out on this one.

I'm always interested in what Profound Lore Records is putting out next, as that label is specializing in exactly the type of metal music that I'm craving these days: brave, forward-thinking, smart, artfully designed and composed, uncompromising extreme music, and along with Cobalt, Amesoeurs, and Altar of Plagues, San Francisco band Saros is part of a very strong run by Profound Lore in 2009. Like Altar of Plagues (who I interview in an upcoming Decibel issue and which I'll try to review this week), Saros is rooted in black metal, but is also willing to broaden its sound, at times evoking such bands as Lush and Ride. But believe me, Acrid Plains is still metal as all get-out, a very strong album with some gorgeous art design. And yes, the review's here.

I'm very picky when it comes to instrumental metal. However, while I think Pelican is one of the most overrated bands of this past decade, one band that's been able to hold my interest through an entire album is Boston outfit Irepress. I very much liked their first album, and their new one, the weirdly titled Sol Eye Sea I is just as good, if not better. It sort of falls somewhere between the lazy post-metal of Isis and Pelican and the intricate stylings of King Crimson and Frank Zappa...arrangements are decidedly nonlinear, but at the same time the tempo shifts and whatnot that are scattered throughout each track never feel arbitrary. It's all about flow, and this album does so gracefully, the band showing as much discipline as chops. Anyhoo, read the review for more details. And samples!

Sort of in the instrumental metal vein, but not really, is Pittsburgh duo Zombi, whose new album Spirit Animal is out on metal label Relapse, but is more like a combination of Tangerine Dream and Trans Am. My Can obsession over the past five or six years has really opened up a craving for good, disciplined progressive rock, and this album is just that, very restrained (synths, drums, lead guitar), challenging, and beautiful.

I first heard of Neil Young's big Archives project back around 1992 I think, he was on Rockline or somethnig mentioning this big project of his where he was going to make available tons and tons of unreleased material. Well, this project kept stopping and starting and stopping and starting over the years, thanks to Young's notoriously fussy approach to sound quality, that it became almost farcical. After teasing us over the past year or so saying that the first installment was ready to go, at long lat there's FINALLY a hard release date set. June 2nd, to be exact, and it's going to be incredible. Jim DeRogatis says its blu-ray format is going to revolutionize the way music will be reissued, and I believe him. But until I make the jump to blu-ray, which certainly won't be happening anytime soon, I'll be perfectly happy with getting the CD set. In addition, if you can't afford any of the packages (ranging from $99 to $299 US), you can but the discs (blu-ray, DVD, or CD) separately, as well as the hard-bound books that come with the DVD and blu-ray sets. Whatever format you get it in, it's going to be glorious (look at the tracklisting!), and totally well worth the money. I usually leave box sets and the like for birthdays or Christmas, it's a great gift idea, but not this time. I'll be running out like a total nerd first thing that day.

We're only one week into Sirius Liquid Metal's pre-emption in favour of the all-Metallica Mandatory Metallica channel, and I'm already sick to death of it. They're one of my favourite bands ever, but I don't like having them crammed down my throat. I did that when I was 16...these days, I tend not to gorge, I love variety, plus those first four albums are so ingrained, that I don't really have to listen to them much anymore. If that makes any sense. That said, some observations from the past seven days:

- "Fade to Black", "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", and "Harvester of Sorrow" are still my three favourite tracks ever.
- "Don't Tread on Me" is still their worst song of all time.
- Their cover of Nick Cave's "Loverman" has not aged well at all.
- To this day I still like "Some Kind of Monster".
- "The Memory Remains" is hugely underrated.
- Overall, Load is still surprisingly decent, while Reload is horrendous after ten-odd years.
- "Helpless" is their greatest cover, not "Am I Evil?", not "Last Caress".

And tomorrow you'll be heading out to buy the new Mastodon album, right? Because it's a good 'un. But more on that tomorrow!

Possible album of the year, and it's not even the year yet.

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 05:18:00 EST

When Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion leaked in december and hit stores less than a month later, it was funny seeing the reactions from music geeks who live for compiling year-end lists, as if they were all saying, almost disappointedly, that the best album of the year had come out before the year had any chance to start. When you spend all your time searching for that once piece of new music that's going to define your year, to come across it so early on can be a little deflating. After all, if you know you're not going to hear a better album all year, what's the point of even trying for the next eleven months? It's a stupid mindset to have, but it does happen to some of us, yours truly included.

See, while the indie hipsters were all agog over Animal Collective in December, I was just as floored by the new album by Denver, Colorado band Cobalt. Expectations surrounding this album were very high...I'd done an interview with guitarist/drummer Erik Wunder in December 2007 for Decibel as he and vocalist Phil McSorley were getting set to record the follow-up to that year's excellent Eater of Birds, and the Landfill Breastmilk Beast EP, released about six months later, turned out to be quite an effective teaser. So I was primed. Once I got the final master from Profound Lore, I was awestruck, and I remain the same three months later. It sounds huge, Wunder's riffs more crust punk than black metal, his drum fills meticulous and expressive. Lyrically, it's even more devastating, as McSorley unleashes rants so maniacal and seemingly so intensely personal, that it's unsettling. Stylistically, it's exactly the kind of metal music that I've been craving since the late-80s, music that pushes the boundaries of the genre, that refuses to remain confined within a specific template. The songwriting itself is exceptional...this isn't just a collection of gigantic riffs; the songs actually go somewhere. For all their brutality, there's an ebb and flow that's almost graceful. On the other side, while the arrangements do lean on the more "progressive" side, there's a deliberateness to the album, as every single transition in the song leads to a specific point. Nothing's arbitrary. It's a ferocious, visceral, primal album, yet at the same time it's so obviously crafted with incredible meticulousness and attention to detail. Such an impeccable balance between two seemingly disparate characteristics is rarely seen in extreme metal, but Cobalt has pulled it off with astonishing ease. Anyway, my review goes into further detail. Needless to say, we have a major year-end list contender here.

Anyway, in doing the article for this month's issue of Decibel, I talked to both Wunder and McSorley, and ended up with an absolute wealth of quotes and was able to use only a fraction of them, so why not post a whole bunch of excerpts here? First off is the complete email interview I did with McSorley in December, who wrote back from right smack in the middle of Iraq, where he's serving in the US Army. I didn't know how much time he had to write back, so I had to keep the interview short and concise:

Nearly every song has a reference to liquor�is there any specific reason for that?
Eater of Birds was a very introspective piece about total loss and depression. It was a very bleak time in my life. Erik and I worked from different angles on this. I was secluded in a town where I knew no one and stayed in my one bedroom apartment by myself for a very long time reflecting and pushing myself to the edge of a very real breakdown. With Gin you can feel and experience the natural outlash that occurs after so much self hatred and seclusion. Gin in its simplest definition is an album about excess; fucking, hallucinations, animal behavior, fighting and of course ritualized alcohol intake. The album is meant to edify the spirit in man that seeks to consume and take and feel absolutely nothing. Alcohol was a major factor in our forward movement as mammals and beasts, and it is accurately reflected in the lyrics and aura of Gin.

Is that the only thing linking the songs together, or do they all follow another theme altogether?
I wouldn't say that alcohol is the one thing that holds anything about this album together. The name will of course throw off many people, but that has been our way for a long time now, throwing people off the easy track. Gin is an aesthetic masterpiece on many levels, find them for yourself.

Is 'Two Thumbed Fist' a reference to Hunter S. Thompson? Can you explain what that song is about?
Naturally. Thompson as well as Hemingway are referred to in the album. Both were excessive writers who believed in moral inhibition. Both were very alike to both Erik and I's personality as young carnivores. The song itself is a rejection of religion. The words 'No Man, No Dog' represent our status as beings who have realized the truth about life. We are Beasts, Mammals.

The album's lyrics seem so tortured, even by black metal standards�were you exorcising any personal demons while writing the album? Was it a form of catharsis for you?
Vocals are always a very important time for me. No one can understand my life. I hate most people and I am in the middle of a war. I have no one and no one needs me either. I am the embodiment of impulse and excess. Catharsis would accurately describe the feeling. Erik and I think deep and hard about the music and the aura of it all, and we have long and very meaningful conversations about it. What you hear is crystallized ideas. Don't make the mistake of thinking that I do my vocals in any certain manner so as to appear in any sort of genre, the idea is paramount.

Swans and Neurosis are the two big influences that jump out when hearing the new album�was this the case?
I don't own a swans album, but I respect Michael Gira's writing and Jarboe's music very much. I would say that while we were doing many 'things' that made up the soul of our work, Neurosis' Sun that never sets was an album that I related to in many ways. As far as influences go though on Gin I was listening to Filth, Nausea, Loss, Beherit and Rod McKuen a lot.

Do you have any input in the musical arrangements, or do you just let Erik go nuts?
This is the first album Erik completed without my musical input. Erik is a genius with music and my best contribution can be made by living the life I do, which forms a lot of the feeling. I put that feeling into the music fully with my voice and word.

Can you explain the hidden track that appears at the end? Is it a real chain gang field recording? How does it relate to the rest of the album?
As far as I know it is a real recording, and the feeling of that song is just fucking intense. I love the birds in the background and dogs barking. No it doesn't necessarily relate to everything else, but nothing really does anyway. This is a very layered experience. You can feel the anger, sadness, hopelessness and triumph in the album that no one thing can create.

Do your peers in the Army know you're in a critically acclaimed metal band? What kind of reactions do you get when they find out?
My peers know about the band, but I don't push the band on anyone, military or not. People have known me for years before they know about Cobalt. My life is what's important in the military, not my music. I live that ethos strictly.

Are there a lot of metal fans among the US military in Iraq?
Not many that I've met. If you meet anyone into any kind of metal its like Lamb of God or stuff like that. I usually just don't go on with the conversation at that point. Anyway one time a guy I know was in Korea on a bus with a bunch of Soldiers. He was talking to the guy next to him who was into metal. They were looking through his iPod and he had eater of birds. The guy with the iPod was really into the album and was pumped to hear about me being in the same unit as my buddy. Also I went to Airborne school with a guy who knew and loved Cobalt, so it happens sometimes.

The last time I talked to Erik, about a year ago, he mentioned that you had about a year left in your time with the Army. Are you indeed close to being finished, or will you be serving for longer?
I reenlisted for 5 more years. I fucking love the Army and I am an excellent Soldier. This is where I belong, in another country with a gun in my hand.

What has been your specific job during your time in Iraq? Or are you not allowed to divulge that?
I am a Sergeant in the US Army. I am a Scout, which is a forward type of combat arms element. I am stationed in Baghdad and it is a great place to be if you like explosions. Other than that I will keep my details to myself in the interest of operational security.

Just how dangerous has it been for you over there?
I will put it this way, 90% of people in Iraq are on huge camps called FOB's with huge intertwined security systems and people there don't have a thing in the world to be worried about. I, on the other hand, have spent 3 days on a FOB in the last few months and am living IN the population and gunfire and explosions are heard every day where I sleep. The threat is very real but we are prepared.

How rewarding has your time with the Army been overall?
It is the best decision I ever made in my life. Politics aside, this is the natural state of man. Fighting the enemy, combat to survive. I have put my money where my mouth was when I named our first album War Metal. I don't have any politics, I don't care. This is reality, everyone else is living in Pepsi-land.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to answer, congrats on an incredible album, and best of luck during the rest of your stay!
Thank you very much, I hope our album contributes to your life in a way we couldnt have predicted, that was its intent.

***

I talked to Erik Wunder on the phone nearly a month later, and here are some excerpts from our long conversation:

On the recording of Gin:

The way we work usually is there's a big time gap between where I actually record the music and when Phil puts the vocals down. I did all the music last December, and then Phil was here at the end of January, and we didn't finish mixing until May or June. We kind of split it up, we'd have three days of final mixing, but they're split up over a period of two or three weeks. It's really cool, because we're able to take it home and really critically listen to it instead of doing it three days in a row. After listening to a mix for a week, sometimes things start popping out that you don't immediately notice. I like that process a lot, and I enjoy not being pressured by a deadline to put out an album like that.

I come up with guitar parts and kind of run them through my head. I write drum parts too by playing them in my head. I don't really have any kind of demo equipment or anything. I know a lot of guys have a digital recorder where they can play back while they're playing, but I've always kind of gone by memory. Sometimes I'll come up with a drum beat first, and then write a guitar part to it, especially if it's a really unique rhythm that carries it. I think the overall vibe of the albums, especially the last two, are really concentrating on rhythm and shifts of sound, a big build and explosive releases.

I'm really excited about this new one, and Dave Otero is really stoked on it too. I don't know what he's recorded since then, but when we finished it he said it's his favorite thing he's done so far. I tracked the drums where Cephalic Carnage rehearses, which is downtown Denver, the industrial district, with all these warehouses and shit. Their place is this place with these huge ceilings, and I think that really helped add to the overall power of the drums, because when you've got a big room you've got a more expansive sound. We ended up actually finishing the guitar parts and all the rest of the tracking, music-wise, in my basement here in Denver, because Dave at the time was in between studios, he was moving buildings, so this is one of the only albums he's ever done without having his studio be the whole part of it. So we actually ended up tracking it in three different places, the drums in that rehearsal warehouse, and then all the guitars here, and then by the time Phil came back a month later, Dave had set up his new studio, so we went in there for the vocals. It was really cool recording in my own basement, because there's a lot less pressure when you can get up, walk a couple rooms over, and you're set to go for the day. I've never recorded in a huge, Los Angeles type of studio, and sometimes I wonder if it could take away from the authenticity of the music, or if it could be a distraction. But I like the down home experience, it's kind of unique.

On McSorley re-enlisting in the Army for another five years:

I think it's a good career move for him. He's extremely good at it. We discussed him coming out and doing the band thing, but that seems that's where his heart is right now, to continue with that career. And he's not in it for any political reasons, he just likes the lifestyle, the discipline and the regiment of it. We have discussed the possibility of trying to work out some kind of small tour when he gets leave at some point, but I think he's going to be staying in the army for a career. But you never know. It kind of makes Cobalt what it is. The whole separation thing gives me time to concentrate and come up with the music without any distraction. That can also be a hindrance sometimes, because you like to hear other people's opinions, and when you're working on songs with someone else, they might come up with some other idea that you actually like better than what youi wrote. So that's always a concern. I spend late nights writing guitar parts and afternoons writing drum parts, and when they finally come together I record them. And that's when Phil first hears them. [laughs] It's kind of a cool process because I've been hearing these songs for two years as I'm writing them, and he doesn't hear them until they're in the final stage. He kind of feeds off that, because he only has a couple weeks to a month to hear the rough mix and come up with vocal patterns. So in that sense it is kind of a deadline because he has to get it done while he's on leave. The days he's in the studio, that's it. On eater of Birds he spent one day in the studio, did the whole album in one day. And on this one we had two days. Once he's gone, we can't go back and change a vocal part, that's all that's there. It all kind of brings it into what the Cobalt thing is. It's always weird describing it to strangers, what Cobalt is. They say, You're in a band? Where do you play? And it's not anything like that, but it's still something, we're putting out what we think is very good music.

We fought about that before a long time, before he actually heard Eater of Birds. We recorded that album during the time he was joining the army, and his head was in a different space, he was making this big life change, and I was still extremely excited that War Metal had come out on a label. I said, We have to make another album. He said, 'Well, I'm going to join the army, so he joined the army and I still recorded the album. So he came back on leave, and was totally blown away that I had actually gone in and tracked it all. There was definitely animosity, because Cobalt is something that's almost sacred to him and I, because it's our true voice. When we die, it's going to be what's left of what we said to the world. I guess he was afraid I might bastardize it or something like that. At first he was angry that he wouldn't be doing the guitars, but then again, he was at a space in his life where if I would have given him all that, I don't know if it would have gotten done. After our success, I think he's definitely become a lot more trusting in my ability, and my place in our vision.

On the jaw-dropping tracks "Dry Body" and "Two-Thumbed Fist":

[Swans' Michael Gira was] definitely one of the influences when I was writing that song, and I always like the deep richness of his voice. It was reminding me of a more sadistic, darker Johnny Cash. I've always liked those type of guys that can sing low, but it's still rich. That was one of the first songs I ever wrote and tried to sing, and then after that was when we started this other folk band Man's Gin, which I sing clean, there's a lot of that kind of stuff in it.

Lyrically it's about a loss of faith, when you find out that every religion is trying to define what God is, but no one has it down. Ultimately, there's no hope in anything like that, it's all personal growth, it's all about what you make for yourself. 'The prophet is dead and I can't see�" It's not necessarily anti-religious, but sort of a sarcastic jab at it. The whole end part of it, with the crashing drums, is one of my favorite parts on the album. I think that one builds really well. I'm hoping that people listen to it. It has the clean vocals, so some extreme black metal people might skip that track just because there's singing at the beginning. We thought about that, but fuck the people with small minds like that. We're going to do whatever the hell we want.

The drum parts on that song are definitely the most meticulous. It's easy to just put a beat to a song, but I'm extremely critical of myself with regards to the drums, and I do think it makes a huge difference if the drums complement the guitars rather than just holding the rhythm. So I'm really meticulous about every note I'm hitting, and it's all mapped out exactly.

I love Phil's role. He always throws me a curveball whenever he comes back because I never know what kind of mood he's going to be in or what he's going to be singing about. On Eater of Birds I felt the lyrics were more dark and depressed, and this one, they're a drunken rage almost. He's definitely a big part of the band, and I'd like to lend vocals, but I have to do it tastefully, I don't want to step on his shoes.

After Eater of Birds, when I was writing Gin, a lot of the stuff musically I thought would be a little more progressive sounding. I hate that phrase prog rock, because people think of dream Theater or some bullshit like that, but we are trying to further music, so I guess by that we are being progressive. When I recorded the music, I thought it was going to be a step past eater of Birds, not psychedelic, but interludes and shit, interweaving. And he came back and I think his vocal approaches on this album are a little more straightforward in the mix. It's always crazy to hear just the album without vocals and then compare it with, it's a wholly different animal.

My other favourite is Two Thumbed Fist. I love that one, man. I love the beginning part, I got a lot of that from Danny Carey, who drums for Tool. I'm a huge fan of that band, Danny Carey especially has been a huge influence, not necessarily on our music as a whole, but my whole drumming style. He's also a guy who took drums and made them an instrument rather than a rhythm keeping thing. I love that interlude and the huge build-up in the middle of that song where it's just the toms going. I like the challenge of creating these big long songs and still being able to keep people's attention. You should never write an eight minute song just because you want it to be eight minutes long.

It's all about coming to grips with death, but squeezing the juices out of life while you're still around. Living fearlessly and basically kickin' ass with a two-thumbed fist. I wrote it after some bad news about someone I knew. When tragedy occurs, you always reassess why you're here and where your life is at the time, so that song is all about standing strong, having some balls, and shooting a rocket into the sky.

On the instrumental "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place", and the involvement of Swans vocalist Jarboe:

That was a telephone message that Jarboe left me. She was kind of going through some bad things at the time, so it was a message that I'd saved, and we kind of snipped it up. I sent it to her, and she sent me back what she was willing to have put on an album for everyone to hear. I thought that was kind of a unique idea to have a staticky phone message. And that song anyway was meant to be just a jam song. We thought of putting vocals to it.

I forget the guy's name, but he's the guy that used to record with Swans, and she went into his studio in Atlanta to do the tracks, whereas on our last album she did it just in her home studio, on her laptop. So the quality of her vocals sound-wise on this one are much better. I came up with the guitar part where she comes in there, and about a half hour later I realized that it was almost the exact same as 'Mother Father' from The Great Annihilator. But then, I thought why don't I just embrace it. And I don't know who's ever done it, to put a snippet of a tribute in one of their songs, not necessarily cover a song. So our song breaks into that short little interlude, just like on The Great Annihilator. I asked her, I said I don't want to step on your shoes or make you uncomfortable or anything like that, but I want you to sing this part just like you do on Mother Father. She's a real stoic lady, I just love her intensity, and it's real cool to have a female vocalist singing one of the more brutal parts of the album.

On the album's hidden track:

It's an old Negro spiritual, it's an actual recording of slaves hammering on the railroad, somewhere in the early 1900s. This old professor I had in high school was this black guy and he was big on African American history, and he had all these Negro spirituals and field recordings that he played one day in class. And me and my buddy Brandon who were in a band together at the time thought that was really cool, and we asked him to make a recording of it for us. So he gave us it, that was something like ten years ago. And we always like to put something weird at the end of the album, or finish it off some way, and I just had the idea, what if we used one of those recordings at the end? So I borrowed the tape back from my high school buddy and listened through it. It's an awesome left turn at the end of a brutal album. It's a powerful song on its own, there's a lot of spirit there. And that's the 61st track, because there's all those blank tracks, and Hemingway committed suicide at the age of 61, hence the 61 tracks.

They taught us that you can be a rebel and be an individual, and basically pave your own path and say fuck off to the system, or whatever you're going to say fuck off to, and still be successful. They were the ultimate individuals, and never sold out or compromised. And we're at the point where we're almost becoming just as influenced by literature and such as we are from musical sources. We thought it was a really interesting thing to be able bring in some of that stuff that's never really talked about in extreme metal. The spirit those guys had, we feel very close to.

On the influence of Hunter S. Thompson and Ernest Hemingway:

That's Ernest Hemingway when he was an ambulance driver in the Italian army. We don't necessarily want to try and make this a theme album, it's just what we were into while we were making it, and we thing it's something that's different. Phil made that cover while he was here last year. I came home from work one day, and he had made that in the afternoon drinking some whiskey. I think it's a really cool cover. When he got here I had a big box of the Landfill Breastmilk Beast EPs, and we went in the back yard one night and torched a bunch of them with gasoline, and there's a bunch of those pictures in the layout for Gin, of us torching our own CDs. Kind of how Thompson would shoot his own books. We're totally proud of what we've done, but we're not taking it too seriously. We're kind of anti-materialist, so that's the impression we're trying to create there.

Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up.

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 05:03:00 EST

Well, Metal Edge's run has officially come to an end, as the final issue has hit the newsstands. As I said before, the turnaround the mag went through over the past year and a half is something I'm immensely proud to have been a part of, and the last five issues or so have really been strong. The final one's no exception, and I have some cool pieces in there, namely a big profile on Los Angeles crust/grindcore band Resistant Culture, who is arguably the only prominent Native American extreme metal bands out there. Their music is really good, a cool combination of aggression and aboriginal instrumentation, and it was a pleasure interviewing them. Smart, classy band. Also, I have a piece on Ohio band Woe of Tyrants, whose new album is a surprisingly good bit of deathcore infused with flashy power metal harmonies. As for reviews, I have blurbs on new ones by Edguy (I've already mentioned how disappointing this one is), Finnish pagan metal band Kivimetsan Druidi (too bland), and Satyricon, which you really should own.

Over in Decibel Land, this is an issue I've been looking forward to, because my big article on Cobalt is in it. This was a very fun piece to do, both band members are quite different but equally intense and their new album Gin is the best metal album of the first quarter of 2009, and all that added up to an article I'm very proud of, it's one of the best things I've done for the magazine. I'm going to go into the new album more next week when my PopMatters review appears, and I'll post some unpublished interview quotes as well. Back to the new issue, I also have a shorter piece on Wisconsin band Luna Mortis, whose new album is quite enjoyable. Review-wise, I cover the new ones by the always excellent Across Tundras, overbearing German vegans Deadlock (they mean well, but they get this album wrong on so many levels, it was infuriating), the fun comeback album by Canada's The Exalted Piledriver (this despite the fact that the label rep somehow couldn't figure out how to mail a CD from Toronto to Saskatoon), and the very good new one by Italian avant-garde band Zu, who really sound right at home on Ipecac records. So all in all, a nice bit of writin' output after barely being in the previous one!

Nearly two years after Anneke van Giersbergen shocked her worldwide fans by announcing her amicable split from the band, the Dutch standouts have finally announced her replacement in Silje Wergeland, from Norwegian band Octavia Sperati. I've been an admirer of Octavia Sperati for years, so I like this match-up, but that said, it's going to be tough to get used to this band without one of my all-time favourite singers. Their new songs sound solid, but also a little pedestrian, continuing in the indie rock direction they've been heading in over the last five years or so. But I'll reserve judgment until I hear The Western Pole in its entirety.

One of the more interesting quirks about being a Canadian music writer is that I'm privy to a lot of digital advance streams by high profile mainstream acts that I would never pay any attention to in the first place. In other words, an opportunity to listen to a ton of albums out of mere curiosity. There had been a lot of rumblings about Scream, the new album by Chris Cornell, which was made in collaboration with none other than Timbaland and hit stores on this week, so on Tuesday I opened up the DMDS streamer and gave the album a listen. And what I heard was the most catastrophic big budget trainwreck to come out in years. At least Chinese Democracy had some redeeming songs...this on the other hand, is unbelievably bad, Cornell attempting to be an R&B singer, his vocals given the vocoder treatment like any other anonymous pop singer or rapper, the hookless songs backed up by stiff, bland electronic arrangements. A spectacular flameout, this coming from the guy who wrote "Ugly Truth", "Loud Love", "Rusty Cage", "Outshined", "Say Hello 2 Heaven", "Hunger Strike", "Black Hole Sun", Fell on Black Days', "The Day I Tried to Live", "Ty Cobb", and "Pretty Noose". From so many classic songs to something like "Pick it Up". Wow. Anyway, this shambolic album attracted even more attention on Wednesday when none other than Trent Rezmor hilariously commented on the album on his Twitter page. He couldn't have said it any better.

The best movie of 2008 was released on DVD this week. People like to talk about how Let the Right One In revolutionized the horror movie genre, but I found it not so much scary as simply a touching, poignant tale about two young outcasts who find each other. For anyone who was bullied in school, the climactic scene at the swimming pool is one of the most viscerally rewarding scenes in movie history. How we've dreamed of doing that to our school oppressors...

Peanuts, as drawn by Frank Miller, parts one and two. Absolutely brilliant.

And Neko Case debuting at #3 in the US? Can this really be happening? Well, if anyone deserves it, it's her. Congrats to the lady...hopefully she doesn't forget about us in Canada. We were the first to hop on her bandwagon.

This post took three days to write.

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:11:00 EST

God Forbid has always been a consistently good band, gradually improving with each new album, their last album Constitution of Treason turning out to be a real breakthrough thanks to the superb single "To the Fallen Hero". That said, it was more than apparent that the band had taken their hardcore-meets-melodeath sound about as far as it could go, and after a decade of plugging along while many of their peers became huge, their fifth album had to be the one to catapult them to the upper tier of new American metal. To their credit, the New Jersey band was fully aware they had to make an impact on this record as well, and have they ever come through on Earthsblood, an album that, unlike the new Lamb of God I mentioned last week, dares to take some chances, and the results are triumphant. God Forbid is now a heavy metal band in the classic sense, drawing from influences far beyond metalcore. I actually liken their metamorphosis to that of Machine Head, whose The Blackening from two years ago was a similar revelation. Earthsblood is good, honest metal, plain and simple, with great riffs from Doc and Dallas Coyle and some tremendous lead vocals from Byron Davis (see "Empire of the Gun"). The second half of this album is particularly strong, highlighted by the epic tracks "Walk Alone", "Bat the Angels", "Earthsblood", and "Gaia (The Vultures)". Awesome stuff. Anyway, my review of the album was published on Monday...if you like Lamb of God, you'll dig this one for sure. I'm really looking forward to seeing them open for Lamb of God in April.

April is always a good concert month where I live, and the good shows keep piling up this year...the latest features the great Mastodon on their headlining tour in support of their new album, which comes out in a few weeks. And if that wasn't good enough, they're taking along Kylesa, whose new CD is incredible, and the very talented Intronaut, who I've been a fan of for a few years now. Late April is going to be busy!

One thing I like nearly as much as the films of Krzysztof Kieslowski is reading analyses of his work, but one piece that always stuck in my craw was Roger Ebert's original review of the classic The Double Life of Veronique from 1991. It read like it was written by a guy who genuinely loved the movie, but couldn't really explain why. I can empathize...it was the movie that first got me into Kieslowski's work, and the first few times I watched it in 1992, I found it as baffling as it was entrancing. 15 years later, though, it resonates even more deeply, it's one of those movies that begs repeated viewings, and it appears Ebert feels the same way, as his recent Great Movies piece on the film does a far better job of explaining just what makes this pretty little movie so special. If you haven't seen it, go get the Criterion edition at once...it's a drop dead gorgeous piece of work, and not only is it great to finally have it on DVD for the first time ever, but that it's been restored by folks who always go a classy job of it.

Oh, and for the record, is the new U2 album ever mediocre. Boring and completely forgettable.

The other day at Invisible Oranges Cosmo Lee listed the albums that changed his life. As he puts it, there's a difference between "life-altering" and "favourite", and I figured, why not see which albums I can think of that had that kind of profound effect? So here goes...

Ratt - Out of the Cellar (1984):
I was slowly getting into music at the age of 13, but it wasn't until the summer of 84 when Ratt's classic single "Round and Round" (and its equally memorable video) convinced me to give the cassette a try. It was the first album to really floor me all the way through, igniting an obsession that has yet to abate.

Slayer - Haunting the Chapel (1984)
I bought this cassette in the early fall of 1984 for a couple of reasons, and having heard this new young band wasn't one of them...first, I'd read a blurb on Slayer in Hit Parader's "hot new bands" page, and secondly, the cover art was awesome. When "Chemical Warfare" assaulted my innocent ears with its pure speed metal, I didn't know what to make of it, but ever so slowly, that song and the rest of the six-track tape grew on me, introducing me to underground metal, exposing me to the incredible world of Canada's Banzai Records, and teaching me to give the more difficult-sounding music time. Not everything clicks instantly.

Iron Maiden - Live After Death
1984's Powerslave was my first Maiden album, which I loved, but released a year later, this double album made me a mega-fan. So many classic songs, all performed impeccably, their energy often better than the original versions. I played that old tape to death...five years later, it was little more than a tattered ribbon in a faded black shell, the tracklisting rubbed off. I still keep it nearby.

Ramones - Leave Home (1989)
I'd long been curious about the Ramones, and by this time I was starting to broaden my musical horizons more and more. The local library, of all places, has the first seven Ramones albums on LP, and while I fell in love with every one of them, it was the band's 1977 second album that really got me, to the point that it was pretty much all that I listened to that year.

Juliana Hatfield - Hey Babe (1992)
It's hard for me to pinpoint exactly when my obsession with early-90s indie rock started, but the day I bought the very charming first solo album by a girl I'd never heard of (after fronting a band I'd never heard of), I was a full-fledged convert, my metal days now a distant memory.

Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)
My introduction to Pavement was actually via radio, back when I was obsessively making mixtapes from late night recordings of CBC's Brave New Waves. By late-93/early-94 I'd amassed a big mixtape of Pavement stuff, from "Box Elder" to "Summer Babe" to "Frontwards" to "Greenlander", but I lived nowhere near a record store that carried their albums, which were only available as overpriced imports. So I had to wait until their second album came out, which I bought for 16 bucks on measly cassette, and I played this album over and over and over, obsessing over the entire thing.

OST - Trainspotting (1996)
By this time I was a full-fledged, Q reading, Oasis b-side collecting, Britpop nerd, and like every other fan, I was eagerly anticipating Danny Boyle's new movie based on Irvine Welsh's uber-cool book, which I'd read well in advance, of course. What I expected was a cool flick with tons of cool music on the soundtrack, but what I wasn't expecting was New Order's "Temptation". I was no stranger to New Order, you couldn't live in the 80s and not know their singles, but somehow the 1987 version of "Temptation" had escaped me, and it was eye-opening. I was a little late to the party, but they nevertheless became one of my favourite bands right then and there.

Rammstein - SehnsuchtI hadn't completely ignored metal in the 90s, I knew the popular bands, knew that Maiden without Bruce Dickinson sounded awful, and knew about those mysterious church burnings in Norway (actually I really dug White Zombie back then), but I was too busy exploring other sounds to really care about the music of my teens anymore. That all changed in 98, when MTV2 started playing the video for a bracing single by a German band in heavy rotation. It was addictive, and when I sought out the album, I wound up playing it louder than anything I'd listened to in nearly a decade. I was a metal fan again...but had no idea how much catching up I'd have to do.

The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic (2000)
Aside from Sloan and various individual tracks, for the longest time I never really was all that crazy about Canadian indie rock. It never grabbed me. Then in early 2000 I read about a seven-inch single put out as a side project by a bunch of Vancouver musicians (including the dude from Zumpanao, one of those bands that never really grabbed me), I heard an excerpt, and well, was subsequently enthralled. I got the CD in Vancouver right after it came out, I ended up playing it to death, and so would begin a genuine appreciation of the exploding Canadian indie scene.

Can - Anthology (2002)
In 2002, I kept coming across references to German band Can everywhere: Clinic was repeatedly compared to them, the Mooney Suzuki took their name from Can's two lead singers, and people on the net kept mentioning how good Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi were. I had no idea who these guys were, their albums were all impossibly obscure, but after doing some research in my always trusty Spin Alternative Albums Guide (thanks, Simon Reynolds), I was intrigued, and I was able to track down the only Can recording I could find, a two-disc compilation at the library. Seven years, thirteen remastered albums, and one DVD later, they're one of my favourite bands of all time.

Therion - Lemuria/Sirius B (2004)
This is a weird one to mention, but its impact on me was crucial. I'd been doing reviews of whatever metal albums I could manage at PopMatters, whatever they were sent, but I knew it was just the tip of the iceberg. When I bought this album by Therion, all of a sudden it just hit me: I started emailing record labels left and right, developing good relationships with publicists, and before I knew it, I had a lot more metal credibility, a monthly metal column, a cool magazine writing gig, and the kicker, found myself enroute to Sweden to meet, you guessed it, Therion.

Of Gossamer and Grapes

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 04:58:00 EST

The cool thing about being a music writer is having access to so much new music all at once. On the other side of the coin, however, one bad thing about being a music writer can be having access to so much new music all at once. Simply put, no matter how much effort you put in, it's next to impossible to fully keep up with the albums you get. In some cases, it can simply be chalked up to crummy timing. Take Brooklyn band Tombs, for instance. Their debut album arrived in the mail sometime in late 2007, right when I was inundated with writing assignments and the usual year-end stuff I'm busy with at that time, so I wasn't able to give that CD the proper attention it deserved. So a little over a year later, this time I have a chance to redeem myself somewhat and talk about Tombs' new album Winter Hours, which, conveniently, turns out to be really good. In fact, quite a lot better than their first record. There's a lot of buzz surrounding the trio (very strong reactions from the Decibel set as well as indie scenesters in NYC), and for good reason, as they put an interesting twist on the current "post metal" trend, following the examples of Godflesh, Neurosis, and Jesu, blending punishing riffing and tribal drumming with shoegaze-like melodies, but adding a distinct black metal touch to the music, from blastbeats to tremelo picking. Although a very strong album, not to mention a rare case where such an experimentally inclined band keeps things shockingly short and sweet, its only drawback is that it's a little top-heavy, thanks to the lead-off track "Gossamer", which is absolutely, flat-out brilliant. The other nine songs are good, but not as towering as that one track, but Winter Hours is still a buyer. And you just know that this band is going to get even better on their third album. My review is up today (my renewed push for more metal reviews at PopMatters continues!), so give 'er a read, and go find that album, pronto.

Although this time of year is as dead for concerts as the winter outside (ten degrees below seasonal right now...sheesh, what a brutal winter it's been), this is also the time of year when the spring concert announcements start to create some excitement around these parts, and Saskatoon got a couple real doozies this week. First is Leonard Cohen, who is touring Canada for the first time since he went in support of his masterful The Future...I was crushed when I missed that show (1993, was it? Something like that), and seeing that he's now 74 (but a spry 74, judging from the clips from last week's triumphant show in New York), this is a tour that I clearly cannot miss. It's going to be a massive thrill. And speaking of which, the other big show announcement is that of Neil Young, who's extended his arena tour after the first leg went over so well. I knew that it's been a minimum of 20-odd years since he ever played here, but when I did a search at a Neil Young tour archive, it has no listing for Saskatoon at all. Which is mind-boggling. Can it possibly be true? Anyway, this show is bound to be incredible, I'd been kicking myself for skipping the drive to Regina last year, so I'm not missing this one.

Also, interestingly, 2009 Pazz & Jop winners and perennial hipster darlings TV on the Radio are here in May. I'm still lukewarm to their recent album, but I've always been interested in seeing them...that said, 30+ bucks for a ticket? Come on. What kind of production values can you cram into Louis' that warrants you gouging 500 people? Ah well, when you know a show is going to sell out, might as well jack up the price a little.

I loved the last album by Winnipeg uber-left punk legends Propagandhi, and their new album Supporting Caste is now available for download for a mere donation. Although it sounds as great as expected, I simply can't get past one particular song, which is easily the best Canadian rock 'n' roll song I've heard in a long while. Now, a song named "Dear Coach's Corner" might sound like it's pandering to the hockey crowd, but trust Propagandhi to use that premise to create an open letter to Mr. Cherry and boldly question his ultra-right proselytizing on Hockey Night in Canada when he should simply be sticking to hockey and not trying to indoctrinate kids with his own political agenda, and that young people should know that, as both Sleater-Kinney and Steve Earle said in the wake of 9-11, it's never a bad thing to question authority. The song is eloquent, powerful, and on a much more simple level, some of the most bracing punk rock you'll ever hear. Listen here, and follow along:

Dear Ron McLean, Dear Coach's Corner,

I'm writing in order for someone to explain to my niece the distinction between these mandatory pre-game group rites of submission and the rallies at Nuremberg. Specifically the function the ritual serves in conjunction with what everybody knows is, in the end, a kid's game.

I'm just appealing to your sense of fair play when I say she's puzzled by this incessant pressure for her to not defy collective will and yellow ribboned lapels, as the soldiers inexplicably rappel down from the arena rafters. Which, if it not so insane, they'll be grounds for screaming laughter.

Dear Ron McLean, I wouldn't bother with these questions if I didn't sense some spiritual connection. We may not be the same, but it's not like we're from different planets. We both love this game so much we can hardly fucking stand it. Alberta-born, and Prairie-raised. It seems like there ain't a sheet of ice north of Fargo I ain't played. From Penhold to the Gatineau, every fond memory of childhood that I know is somehow connected to the culture of this game. I just can't let it go.

I guess it comes down to what kind of world you want to live in. And if diversity is disagreement, disagreement is treason. Well, don't be surprised if we find ourselves reaping a strange and bitter fruit that that sad old man beside you keeps feeding to young minds as virtue. It takes a village to raise a child, but just a flag to raze the children till they're nothing more than ballasts for fulfilling a madman's dream of a paradise. Complexity reduced to black and white. How do I protect her from this cult of death?

Is "good" good enough?

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:30:00 EST

After nearly a three year wait, the new Lamb of God album comes out today, and for the past few weeks, my opinion of it has been wavering back and forth. On the optimistic side, Wrath gives the fans what they want, plenty of good Dimebag riffs and super-tight performances, not to mention the usual vitriol from Randy Blythe, who in his own right has developed into one of the better lead vocalists in metal. On the pessimistic side, however, this record is basically More Of The Same, to the point where they start ripping off songs we've heard them do six years ago. So when is being formulaic a good thing, and when is it a bad thing? This question hung like a thundercloud as I tried together to piece together a review and form some sort of definitive opinion. There's nothing wrong at all with bands who churn out the same stuff well, but as good as Lamb of God are at it, they keep hinting at potentially transcending the sound they've created over the last five albums. Are our expectations too high? Is Ashes of the Wake as good as Lamb of God will ever get? Or can they put together an album fully deserving of canonical status alongside other recent classics as We Are the Romans or Terrifyer? The bottom line is, if you dig this band (as I do), you will most likely enjoy Wrath (as I do). If you're still waiting for Lamb of God to win you over, you might as well give up, if it hasn't happened yet, it probably never will. The band has its niche, they're comfortable in it, and despite the fact that many of us feel they're playing it a bit too safely these days, they'll continue their ascent in the metal world. Wrath is a good album, but far from a great one, which my review goes into greater detail trying to describe. Successfully, I hope.

Although it's not out for another couple months, I've heard the new album by the great Isis, and just like in 2006, Wavering Radiant is sure to polarize fans. Although it's clear the band has long outgrown the sound on albums like Celestial, Oceanic, and Panopticon, opting for more subtle melodic touches, there are plenty of listeners who have not, and the griping about how Isis has "lost it" can get tiresome. If you ask me, this is one band that would greatly suffer from being formulaic, and I applaud their forward thinking. And interestingly, the new album is a tremendous piece of work. Joe Barresi's production is phenomenal, pretty much what you'd expect from the guy (see Tool's Lateralus, Clutch's Beale Street, and Enslaved's Vertebrae). Warm and cozy analog tone, the heavy parts sound crushing, the mellow parts sound delicate. I don't know if it's my promo rip or what, but the bass tone is very prominent. The screamed vocals are still there, but only brought out for effect, the clean singing not only dominates, but sounds far better developed than on In the Absence of Truth. Keyboards are surprisingly prominent on several tracks, organ and such. The pace is as deliberate as expected, but never meandering. It's not just piling stuff on top of each other anymore, not just ebb/flow/ebb/flow, there's real songwriting going on here. It's a long-ish album, seven tracks in 54 minutes, but it's never dull. Yes, it's mellow, but like I said, the heavier passages offset that nicely. Standouts after first listen are "Hand of the Host" and "20 Minutes/40 Years". I see this one growing on me even more in the coming months...

What's not so hot is the new song by Lacuna Coil, the tepid "Spellbound." I've never minded whenever the band decided to pop things up a little bit, it all went well with their goth metal shtick, but this song sounds far too upbeat, as if In This Moment recorded a song for the Twilight soundtrack. The bad has said they went out of their way to "Americanize" their sound, and for those of us who swooned over their decidedly European style over the years, this can't possibly be good. I just hope I'm wrong.

And although three quarters of the new Mastodon album leaked over the weekend, I can't possibly evaluate it quite yet. Although its focus on texture instead of heaviness will surprise many, but that's nothing compared to the astounding improvements they've made in the vocal department. "Oblivion" and "The Czar" sound incredible, but as with every other Mastodon record, there's a heckuvalot to digest.

I was mentioning Fever Ray last month, as their album is shaping up to be one of 2009's finest, and they've quickly returned with a follow-up to the astounding imagery of "If I Had a Heart", and the clip for "When I Grow Up" is just as haunting.

Before yesterday I knew absolutely nothing about Brooklyn hipsters These Are Powers, but their new CD All Aboard Future really got my attention. Catchy, somewhat dancey noise rock, quite nice. Cacophonous but accessible, very well done.

And although I've only heard it once all the way through, I'm not exactly feeling Neko Case's hotly anticipated Middle Cyclone. A little too tame, a little too drowsy. Some gems, that's for sure, such as "People Got a Lotta Nerve" and "This Tornado Loves You", but it seems to lack the fire of her past five records. For this album to be subpar would be a major disappointment from one of my absolute favourite artists of the decade, so I'm going to try to exercise some patience, but right now, I'm sadly underwhelmed.

I can't stop writing about Cannibal Corpse.

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:39:00 EST

Things keep motoring along at PopMatters, as I've had a number of pieces appear over the last couple days. two of which centre on Cannibal Corpse, as it happens. And for good reason, too, as their new album is outstanding. They've been on one heck of a roll ever since partnering with producer Erik Rutan, and I honestly think they haven't sounded this good since their mid-90s trifecta of Tomb of the Mutilated, The Bleeding, and Vile. As I wrote back in 2006, the Kill album was a bit of a comeback for the guys (this despite the fact that they hadn't gone anywhere), and now, three years later, the brand-new Evisceration Plague is even better. Better sound (that guitar tone is thick), and best of all, better songs, which really run the gamut this time around, from wicked, two-minute bursts of brutal death metal to the standout title track. If you need more convincing, my new review goes into greater detail. In addition, I talked to drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz a couple weeks ago, and our fun conversation formed the basis of my latest column, which went up on Wednesday. If you've ever seen the Centuries of Torment DVD, you'll know that the dude's a real talker, and he left me with no shortage of good quotes about the new album and the challenge to stay relevant after 20 years. Smart, friendly guy, and it made for a good article. Cannibal Corpse is coming back to these parts in April, and I really should head down to Regina to catch the show...they're an amazing live band, probably my favourite death metal band to go see. Oh, and the new issue of Metal Edge has a good piece on the band...well, to be more specific, the band's wives, who offer a different perspective than the usual bandspeak. If you didn't already love this band, the notion of Corpsegrinder singing along to Barney in with his little girl will cinch it.

Also published this week was my review of the new Ladyfinger (ne) album, which, as I mentioned here a short while back, really surprised me. Bands that straddle genres like that might come off as versatile, but it can come back to hurt them, as they don't specifically pander to one particular audience, and Ladyfinger (ne) (suffix added to avoid litigation by other Ladyfingers out there) is no exception, delivering a mix of Queens of the Stone Age and Cursive, produced by great metal producer Matt Bayles, and signed to Conor Obert's Saddle Creek label of all things. So hopefully this new CD clicks with people, because it would be a real shame to see it passed over. As I say in the review, if the Gaslight Anthem can pull off a crossover success like they did last year, there's no reason why Ladyfinger (ne) can't. The songs are that good.

If I was to predict the albums I would expect to challenge for my Best of 2009 list, one of them would be the new one by French band Amesoeurs. They're led by Neige, the mastermind behind Alcest, whose album topped my 2007 list, but have two distinct differences: first, the presence of co-lead singer Audrey Sylvain, and secondly, a very, very strong inclination toward classic early-80s darkwave, and French Coldwave, which is mixed with some ferocious, atmospheric black metal. And the new, self-titled album is set to really raise the bar, with plenty of gorgeous moments featuring Sylvain's singing. I can't divulge too much yet, but I can guarantee this won't be the last time I'll be talking about this album. I know I'm going to like it, but as for just how much, we'll see. In the meantime, you can hear a quick teaser for the album here, which highlights the band's more mellow, seductively feminine side. It's out in April on Profound Lore.

And I probably shouldn't be blabbing too much about this, but I'll just say the new acoustic album by pagan/folk metal band Eluveitie (out in April) is shockingly good. For an all-acoustic record it sure packs a punch...

So long, Metal Edge.

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:24:00 EST

Last week wasn't a very good one, as it was announced that both Metal Edge and Metal Maniacs magazines would be folding as of immediately. Of course, on a selfish level, this is a huge blow to yours truly, as I was having a great time writing for Metal Edge, with no shortage of cool assignments, but the bigger picture is even sadder. In the last two months, three major North American metal magazines have been shuttered (including Unrestrained, in the wake of the sudden passing of Adrian Bromley in December), which now leaves a huge hole as far as metal print media is considered. It shouldn't be a surprise that this happened, as the music industry is set to implode, but I'd always figured the metal scene was a little more resilient. It's a musical form where people still obsessively buy CDs, greatly preferring the physical product (CD, artwork, lyrics) to tacky mp3s, and from day one, metal magazines have played a vital role in, as Deena Weinstein wrote about in her excellent book, bridging that gap between the artist and the fan. Part of being a young metal fan is buying those magazines, obsessing over the articles and reviews, and keeping them around for future reference. I did it, and kids still do it today. But not enough of them, I guess...not enough kids are buying CDs, which makes it harder for labels to pay for advertising, which makes it harder for magazines to stay afloat, which makes that important connection between artist and fan all the more tenuous. Your typical vicious circle. I just didn't think it would happen so soon.

At any rate, I'm extremely proud of what we did at Metal Edge in just over a yeah and a half. When editor Phil Freeman asked me to join, I bought a copy of the magazine just to see what it was like these days, and it was awful, a sloppily assembled hodgepodge of fluff articles and reprinted press releases. 18 months later, though, it's a mag with a real identity, fitting neatly between the mainstream appeal of Revolver and the more cutting-edge inclinations of Decibel. And I was able to do some cool stories on well-known bands like Machine Head (Robb Flynn remains my favourite interview ever), In Flames, Katatonia, and Gojira, as well as my wild and wacky Paganfest assignment last April, last summer's massive oral history of Manowar, and my pride and joy, last month's cover story on In This Moment. In addition, I just got this month's issue, which has my interview with Rob Halford, which was a huge thrill and a real blast to do. He's a very nice guy, quite down to earth ("Hi, Adrien. This is Rob."), and the conversation yielded a cool piece as part of the list fo the 50 greatest frontmen in metal. I also have a shorter piece on the good Italian deathcore band The Modern Age Slavery, as well as reviews of new albums by Trap Them (awesome!), Edguy (not awesome! more on that below), Luna Mortis (a good debut album), and the surprisingly good new one by Tolkien geeks Battlelore. There's still one last issue on the way, and I'll mention the cool stuff I have on there in a month's time, hopefully. R.I.P., Metal Edge. Phil, you ought to be proud.

Thankfully, Decibel is still standing, and considering the sudden lack of competition, will easily continue to be the standard bearer for all metal magazines, and I's still honoured to write for them. This month's issue, though, has the fewest articles by me since I first joined. Which is fine, I have some cool stuff in the works in upcoming issues. And besides, I'm more than glad to let other folks take care of this month's all-grindcore issue. I appreciate grindcore, but of all metal subgenres, this is the one I listen to least. I'm just very, very picky when it comes to grind, and something has to be absolutely amazing to get me into it. Like Pig Destroyer (my favourite, hands down), Graf Orlock, Fuck the Facts, Discordance Axis, Nasum, Brutal Truth, Repulsion, etc. And Napalm Death, of course (their new album kills). That's just me. But I did at least write a few blurbs in the top 30 grindcore albums list, namely Pig Destroyer's Phantom Limb, Discordance Axis's superb The Inalienable Dreamless, and Brutal Truth's underrated Sounds of the Animal Kingdom. As for reviews, I have only two, but I really like how they've turned out, one being the very good new one by Ottawa's Buried Inside, the other a gorgeous little album by another Canadian called Musk Ox. You really should hear both, but the Musk Ox is the most accessible, a lovely, mellow, elegiac bit of minimalist neo-folk with a strong melancholic black metal influence. Sort of like Devendra Banhart if he was into Ulver. Highly, highly recommended.

But enough moping about the dismal state of the music press! The web's clearly where it's at, and I'm still going strong at PopMatters. Well, even more so these days, since I have more time freed up, and today my review of the new Edguy album is up. I'm a big fan of this German band, especially their last two albums, which brilliantly balanced cornball 80s pop metal with extravagant, gallopy power metal, but after a rousing start, Tinnitus Sanctus falls completely flat, awash in hammy lyrics (including a song about an aardvark), uninspired riffs and melodies, and tasteless novelty songs. It's just a big, undisciplined mess, you're left wondering what happened. There are two very good songs, the rockin' (did I just say rockin'?) "Ministry of Saints" and the totally straight-faced power ballad "Thorn Without a Rose", but in all honesty, that's about it. Like I say in the review, these fellas should have known better. Bah.

Two albums that have grown mightily on me in the past week: the new slab of primal metalgaze by Tombs, and the new God Forbid, which you can actually stream right here...the second half of that album scorches.

"I don't imagine that he's ever been suicidal/His favorite band is Creedence Clearwater Revival"

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:55:00 EST

New review at PopMatters, as the good new Satyricon album gets a write-up. I was never a huge fan of the band, but The Age of Nero got its hooks in me back in December, and despite the complaints from purists that they're not "true" black metal anymore and complaints that the mix on the record is too flat, I on the other hand continue to really enjoy it. Solid, consistent, fist-pumpin' metal, nothing more. Sometimes all you need is a simple riff and you're set. Something this album has in spades.

And speaking of black metal, I'd been keeping my eye out for Peter Beste's True Norwegian Black Metal book since about last April, quite surprised that my otherwise awesome, hip, and reliable local bookstore didn't carry it. But in December, after hearing a good interview with the photographer on CBC Radio Two, and then seeing Cosmo singing the book's praises a day later, I was finally compelled to do something about it, so I used a gift card and ordered online. And egads, it does not disappoint. What struck me first was the sheer size of the thing. I knew it was a coffee table book, but when you sit with that massive four pound book in your lap, the images are so big, you get lost in them. Metal's always been about coming off as larger than life, and Beste's arresting photos accomplish just that. Not only that, though, but the book also puts together a very nice chronicle of the history of black metal, as well as loads of archived material from the legendary Slayer fanzine. It's a tremendous, truly epic piece of work, and although you can look at sample photos online, they still don't compare to the impact the same images have in the actual book. It's a spectacular work of art.

How's this for a feel-good story? Acrassicauda, the tenacious Iraqi metal band made famous by the superb documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad, has not only made it to America as refugees, but last night in Newark they got to meet their heroes Metallica, and James Hetfield gave them his guitar after the show. The New York Times has a terrific article about their current situation...they can apply for green cards in a year, and here's hoping things work out for them. They deserve it.

A couple weeks ago I forgot to mention that Eye Weekly's annual Canadian Critics Poll was published. Like the Pazz & Jop, it's one that I really enjoy participating in, and I would have contributed some comments, but I put my ballot together right when I was horribly sick, and just couldn't muster the energy. Anyway, no real suprises, but Portishead is a far better winner than TV on the Radio on the P&J poll. The usual indie suspects, the ubiquitous Lil Wayne (might as well confess, I have only heard one Lil Wayne song ever...I have no idea what the big deal is with that guy), and plenty of token Canadians led by the great Fucked Up (yay). You can see my ballot (as well as everyone else's) here.

The most interesting result in in the "Destined For Greatness in 2009" category, where One Hundred Dollars got the most votes. It's a bit odd that one of Canada's best new country bands has to come from Toronto, as opposed to here out West (though I guess a Toronto country band has a lot more hipster cachet, while a Saskatchewan country band would be perceived as being hokey), but in all honesty, their album Forest of Tears delivers. Produced by the talented Rick White, it's a cozy, intimate album full of acoustic guitar, brushed snare drum, and weeping pedal steel, led by singer Simone Schmidt, whose old-timey style reminds me a little of Melissa Swingle from Trailer Bride. Though her faux-Southern accent and marblemouthed delivery sounds a bit forced at times, but her lyrics are so powerful and the arrangements feel so genuine, I can let that little bit of phoniness slide. Good little album overall.

It's been a really, really quiet month for CD arrivals, which has been a bit puzzling. The trend among a lot metal labels seems to be leaning heavily towards advance streams and MP3 advances, so there's actually been no shortage of good new albums, namely Cannibal Corpse (amazing new album out today!), Swedish retro dudes Wolf (whose new CD is their best in years), the comeback album by the great thrash band Believer, and the new one by sludge stalwarts Kylesa, whose new one might be the best of the lot. Oh, and the new Lamb of God delivers, big time, as does the new Mastodon track. I'll have more on these over the coming weeks, hopefully.

I've been a big fan of Doves since their first album, but at the rate they put out new records, I tend to forget about them for a while, and when they come from whatever rock they're hiding under and put out new music, I'm instantly reminded of why I like this band so much. Case in point: new single "Jetstream", which has the trio sounding reinvigorated after the considerably safer (but still rewarding Some Cities), the song going for more of that dance element that they've often done in the past, thrumming synths and sequenced beats forming the backdrop for a subtly propulsive, dreamy yet energetic track. In addition, BBC Radio premiered the new album's title track yesterday, and it's lovely, sort of a rockabilly-infused "There Goes the Fear", with some great vocal work by Jimi Goodwin. This is the most adventurous they've sounded since Lost Souls, in my opinion, and if the rest of Kingdom of Rust holds up as well as this song, I'll be thrilled.

It's no secret that I'd been growing more and more disillusioned with indie music over the last five years, as the diversity and excitement that metal so consistently provides has been easily the most exciting thing musically this decade, but that said, 2009 is really looking to be a resurgent year for hipster music. Already we have excellent new albums by Animal Collective, Fever Ray, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Franz Ferdinand, AC Newman, and this weekend the internet world was treated to two more good ones. I admired Lily Allen's debut album for its smarts, her charisma and overall cheekiness, but I wasn't expecting It's Not Me, It's You to be quite this good. Not only are the songs more consistent (thanks largely to producer Greg Kurstin of the likeable LA band The Bird and the Bee), but this is also one dark, murky album, as Allen gripes about life and fame. But this isn't vapid whining, it's more in the vein of Jarvis Cocker on Pulp's classic This is Hardcore, but the clincher here is Allen's mannered vocal style, which when spewing her venomous lyrics sounds wickedly tongue in cheek. First single "The Fear" is phenomenal, but the other track that grabbed me immediately was "I Could Say", a gorgeous little song that sounds reminiscent of Technique era New Order or Saint Etienne. We knew Lily Allen was for real when her first album lived up to all the hype, but like MIA's transformation two years ago, she's made the leap to something even more special altogether.

The other big album to surface this weekend was the hugely anticipated (by myself, anyway) new one by Canada's great Junior Boys, and while the songs are as understated as ever, the contrast of chilly, sparse electronic arrangements and smooth, gentle lead vocals that dominated the previous two albums has been replaced by a much warmer sound, the beats big and pillowy, the mix more intimate, the songs themselves more immediate. It's still a JBeez album, there's no question about that, but it's cool to hear them move beyond a sound that would have felt played out on a third consecutive release. Like any Junior Boys album, this needs to sink in a little more, but it's apparent right away that lead single "Hazel" is the best track, a gentle dance tune that towers over anything Hot Chip has ever done (and the crazy synth solo at the end is glorious). Last Exit and So This is Goodbye were near perfect, and so is Begone Dull Care...consider this both year-end list and Polaris ballot bound. I can only see this getting better as the year goes by.

Enjoy the album, ignore the fanboys.

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:36:00 EST

PopMatters' annual Slipped Discs feature went up this week. It's always a favourite of mine, as we writers get to rave about some of the titles we loved but didn't make the final cut in the Best of 2008 poll. This year, it was a chance for me to also plug a couple albums that arrived far too late in the year for me to vote for, yet fully deserved some recognition. I blurbed about Katzenjammer once again, just because the album's so good, as well as the new one by grind/crust band Trap Them, which I got in early December, and turned out to be even better than their last one, which I loved. And I also wrote about Glasvegas yet again. I was very surprised that their album didn't make the best-of list...some will say that it's because it didn't hit stores until early this month in the States while the rest of the world had it for months, but any savvy indie writer (and let's face it, the majority of writers at PopMatters are of the indie-leaning variety) should have been on top of things enough to hear this album well before the end of 08. Well, better late than never. All three albums are well worth investigating.

People say it gets less and less relevant with each year, but as I always say, I don't care, I thoroughly enjoy contributing to the Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' Poll every year, and after many years of reading the results, I'm still very proud to have been able to vote in it for five years now. It's nice to see them speeding up the process finally, as the annual February publishing date has been horribly passe for the last 15 years, and this year, the results are interesting. I'm not a fan at all of album of the year winner TV on the Radio's Dear Science, which I found to be a drab, disappointing follow-up to the very good Return to Cookie Mountain, and #2 Vampire Weekend is hands down one of the worst new bands of this decade...their Ivy League Paul Simon shtick will go the way of Hot Hot Heat in a matter of years, just watch. And in an interesting twist, MIA's "Paper Planes" won best single thanks to a 50 point bump provided by the votes it got in 2007 (including mine...you're welcome, Maya), which were rolled over into this year's poll. Metal did really well, though, with Torche (an amazing 31), Metallica (37), Guns 'N Roses (67? guh?), Opeth (82), Nachtmystium (104), The Sword (115), and Harvey Milk (121) all placing well. In addition, Metal Edge editor Phil Freeman has some more terrific comments on the continued lack of respect metal music gets from the perpetually indie-centric webzines that claim to be open to all genres, but always turn a blind eye to the heavy stuff come year-end time. Anyway, my ballot is here, and it's not any different from the top ten albums and singles I posted here a month ago. Though I really should have snuck the Juan Maclean's spectacular "Happy House" into my singles list...

Two weeks after calling the new Animal Collective album "pretty darn likable" and "sure to be one of the year's bigger growers", what happened, but the kooky little album clicked with me, big time. I was stuck waiting 45 minutes in line for a car wash on an unseasonably pleasant, sunny day, and had the CD playing nice and loud, those buzzes and drones and harmonies happily blaring away, and the cute little chorus of "In the Flowers" kicked in three minutes into the track, and it clicked. "My Girls" followed, and it clicked. As did "Summertime Clothes", "Daily Routine", "Lion in a Coma", "Brother Sport"...in other words, the whole shebang. The songs all have a roundabout, meandering way of getting to their destination, and as is often the case with bands that rely heavily on improvisation and jamming, it sometimes doesn't happen as consistently as they intend. But these guys really pull everything together beautifully on Merriweather Post Pavilion, and as much as I am turned off by Animal Collective's fawning, highly annoying fans, this album is undeniable. I love it.

One track that's also really grabbed me this week is "Little Things", by Ladyfinger (ne) This Omaha band used to teeter awkwardly between QOTSA desert rock and the more Fugazi-centric side of today's hardcore, but the first single from their upcoming album is a major step forward. You've got a choppy punk intro backing up a crooning, Parachutes-era Coldplay vocal melody (really), which then gracefully shifts into something out of the Constantines' book of tricks, exploding into a wickedly catchy riff at 1:23. Brooding yet hard charging, this deserves the kind of crossover punk-to-mainstream success that the Gaslight Anthem had. Great little song, which can be downloaded (legally!) here.

Dark thrones! Black flags! And tons of new music...

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:29:00 EST

One of my favourite discoveries during my trip to Norway last year was the all-girl band Katzenjammer, who played in a gigantic tent in Youngstorget square, in front of a packed house, and absolutely blew everyone away, including yours truly. They were relatively obscure, having just signed to Propeller Records, but were steadily building a following thanks to their enormously energetic live shows, which saw the four ladies switching instruments in between songs and trading lead vocals, as they'd play a weird but undeniably charming blend of Balkan folk, sea shanties, country, and cabaret. When I got back home I was able to track down a pair of demo tracks, excited at the prospect at a full-length album, which was being recorded that spring. The resulting record Le Pop came out in Norway in October (and on iTunes worldwide), and the folks at Propeller were kind enough to send me a copy, which arrived in December. And it turned out to be so good, that I was disappointed I couldn't include it on my year-end list, which was already well underway. But it's never too late to get into an album as lovable as this, and I'm glad to say it sounds as raucous as the live show did. In fact, so catchy are the tunes, that I instantly remembered much of what was played that night in February, highlighted by the murky Hey Ho on the Devil's Back" and the ebullient "A Bar in Amsterdam". My full review of the album is here, and I highly recommend you seek it out, either via iTunes or Amazon, which also has the MP3s for a nice price.

Also up at PopMatters is my review of Rush's Snakes & Arrows Live DVD, which I also raved about last month. I'm particularly attached to this DVD because it's a perfect little memento from the show I saw in June, which was on the same tour, but if you're a fan of the band at all, you need this, as I think it's the best filmed and recorded live document to date by the band, which considering their wealth of videos and DVDs over the years, is saying something. And if you're into the whole Blu-Ray thing, apparently the picture quality on this concert is stunning. And no, I never tire of writing about Rush...in fact I'm slated to review their upcoming retrospective 3 compilation, which looks to be a good one, compiling the finer moments from the last 18 years of their career. Am I the only on ewho feels the need for a remastered version of "The Pass"? One of my favourite Rush songs...

I'm a bit late getting the new issue of Decibel, but as Cosmo Lee said a few days ago, this month's issue is a good one. In fact, I think it's front-to-back the best issue the mag's put out in a long time. Fantastic stories all around, highlighted by the absolutely awesome cover story on Darkthrone (including photos shot at Neseblod Records, which had me going smugly, "I was there!"). And as for my own writing, they kept me busy for that issue, and I'm very happy with how everything turned out. I have a piece on Swedish band Marionette, which, hilariously, contains probably the stupidest photo Decibel has ever run. But as silly as these kids look (they take their image from visual kei), their debut album is actually pretty darn ferocious melodic death metal, and their singer was a real pleasure to talk to, quite a bright guy. They have a new album coming out soon, I read the other day. I also have a short news piece on thrash greats Believer, who have a reunion album coming out in March, which is sure to sound amazing. I had a great chat with leader Kurt Bachman, but I had to keep the article simple. However, a bigger Decibel piece is in the works for the May issue, so I'm looking forward to following that first piece up with something more substantial. As for reviews, I wrote a cheeky little two-in-one piece on Architects (awful!) and Architect (really good!), another two-in-one review of the two albums by criminally underrated NWOBHM band Ritual, which were re-released by Shadow Kingdom Records, a piece on Miseration, the middling side project featuring the former lead singer for Scar Symmetry (his old band is better), and rounding the month out, Danish band Exmortem that created a lot of confusion with US thrashers Exmortus, which was quite funny. Busy with the writin', that's how I want to be.

And speaking of Darkthrone, I was a bit late getting to their new album Dark Thrones and Black Flags (plus the first time I heard it was right when I was on the verge of being the sickest I'd been in 22 years), but it turns out it's a very, very fun metal album. Just as with their last two, this couldn't be any further from the black metal of their early work, as Fenriz and Nocturno Culto continue to focus on their more thrashy, crust punck direction, but simple and quickly hammered out as these albums seem, it really feels like the duo is going through a bit of a creative renaissance, and the new CD is pure, lo-fi metal, plain and simple, highlighted by "The Winds they Called the Dungeon Shaker" (whatta title!) and the stupendous battle cry/campfire tune "Hiking Metal Punks". And not only should you be listening to this album, but the Deciblog has tons of Darkthrone bonus tidbits this week, including some hiking tips courtesy the perpetually outdoorsy Fenriz and a chat with cover artist Dennis Dread, who, amazingly, does all his work with a Bic ballpoint pen.

The new album by Franz Ferdinand is one of the bigger releases of the first quarter of 2008, and lo and behold, it leaked nearly a week ago. Although I dug the last one quite a bit, I was a little wary of the new CD...they're a very smart band, but sound-wise, they always seemed a little limited, and I couldn't help but wonder if their style was getting a little played out. Thankfully, we have nothing to worry about...sure, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand continues to base itself in that distinct sound made famous by "Take Me Out", but this time, there are plenty of small tweaks that keep things interesting, namely a strong dance element that continually creeps into the music, starting with the terrific, sneakily catchy single "Ulysses" and climaxing with the extraordinary, eight minute "Lucid Dreams". Another very good album by one of the UK's finest rock bands.

Another biggie coming out in March is Neko Case's Middle Cyclone, her first new album in, well, ages, and judging by the gorgeous, not to mention painfully short new single "People Got a Lotta Nerve", it's going to be a good one. The jangly direction of the new tune is hopefully an indication that she's finally moving past the retro, heavy reverb sounds of Blacklisted and Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, which, as darkly beautiful as they were, were starting to get a touch predictable.

One new band that's going to get a lot of attention from the hipsters in coming weeks is New York's horribly named, but surprisingly talented The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. First off, there's nothing at all original about these kids, as they shamelessly milk the twee sounds of early Belle & Sebastian and smoosh it all into a circa 1993 shoegaze package, often bearing a great resemblance to Velocity Girl, one of my favourite bands of the early-90s. Total '93, no doubt about it, but considering how awesome music was in 1993, it's perfectly fine with me, and this self-titled album is a charmer, led by the tracks "Come Saturday", the Stars-like "Young Adult Friction", and lead single "Everything With You". So when the hype arrives, and it will, don't be dissuaded. Acknowledge that it's good at what it does, and embrace it.

And remember that Knife side project Fever Ray that I wrote about last week? (Don't be lazy, scroll down) Well, that album has surfaced on the internets as well, and it's as good as the brilliant single (and equally brilliant video) "If I Had a Heart" indicated. Musically not much variation from that one song, just a lot of subtle drones and tones, but I'm an absolute sucker for Karin's voice, especially when juxtaposed with music so dark and gloomy.

Brave!

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:54:00 EST

Over the years I've developed a bit of a soft spot for Oakland trio Totimoshi, starting with their 2002 album �Mysterioso?, and it's been a pleasure to see them develop from a strong stoner rock outfit to a truly original hard rock band. 2006's Ladron was a huge step forward, melding catchy riffs with a decided Cuban/Latino influence, and now their new disc Milagrosa sees the band continuing to strengthen that sound, Tony Aguilar's guitar work really excelling on this disc, benefiting hugely from the production by Helmet's Page Hamilton. It's accessible, it's smart, and it's catchy guitar-based rock...if you need more convincing, download "Sound the Horn" and watch the clip for "Gnat". You won't be disappointed.

One album to watch for in 2009 si the upcoming CD by Fever Ray, the new solo project by karin Dreijer Andersson, best known as the enigmatic, entrancing singer fro Swedish electronic geniuses the Knife. It's out in March, but this week we got an absolutely jaw-dropping teaser in the form of the spooky new video for the lead single "If I Had a Heart". What it's actually about is anybody's guess, but wow, does it ever capture the dark ambient mood of the track perfectly, and featuring Karin sporting corpsepaint scarier than most black metal bands out there. The dark interior of the house in the clip reminds me of the mansion I stayed in in Sweden, how serene and creepy the candlelit great room got as soon as the sun went down. Anyway, it's an astonishing video for an excellent song, and expectations for the album will be justifiably high.

And speaking of buzz, there's a fair bit surrounding UK electropop act La Roux, and for good reason, as their current single "Quicksand" is one of the cooler new songs I've heard in the past month. Stylistically it's nothing new, but with a hook this strong, who's complaining?

Meanwhile, shifting gears completely, the folks over at Idolator have posted the transcript of a fascinating little chat about the current state of metal music, including a topic I always find interesting, the uneasy relationship between metal and indie rock. In particular, Pitchfork's role in bridging the gap between headbangers and hipsters, which according to the anonymous interviewee (though it's not hard for me to tell who it is!), has been completely bungled by the website, to the point of inadvertently disrespecting metal as a whole. And I couldn't agree more, actually. If they focus strictly on indie releases as they used to do, that's fine, but seeing how they're continually trying to broaden their sound, that must be reflected in the year-end albums list, otherwise it's just pointless. But then again, these sites poll writers for their EOY lists, and seeing how most indie critics don't want to have anything to do with metal at all (a problem I know all to well at PopMatters), it's tough to get such staunchly opinionated folks on board. Sometimes it can seem that indie and metal are closer than you'd think, and other times it's like they're separated by a massive gulf. So it goes...

And speaking of metal crossing over into the indie realm, CBC Radio Three has launched a very cool podcast that focuses on Canadian underground metal. It's somethnig Canadian metal really needs...aside from small local cliques scattered across the country, there's no real Canadian "scene" to speak of because of the sheer size of Canada, so it's a good way to both unite the Canadian metal crowd and to get the word out. Hopefully this becomes a regular podcast, because they've done a tremendous job thus far. And check out that killer Woods of Ypres song about an hour in...good stuff!

Getting as many CDs as I do in any given year, some titles are going to be lost in the shuffle, and one from 08 that I'm a bit late catching on to is Monuments, by Virginia band Brave. Cosmo Lee plugged the album back in June, and I wound up getting it in November, right when I was too swamped with writing assignments to remember to give it a spin. When I did finally get around to listening to the album, it had me wondering why the heck it took me so long to get into this band that had been around for ten years...after all, their stuff is right up my alley, melodic progressive metal in the vein of the Gathering, featuring an astounding female lead singer in Michelle Loose. But better late than never, and Monuments is not only the finest female-fronted prog album I've heard since White Willow's gorgeous Signal to Noise, but the melodies are so tasteful, it's actually jarring. Unlike her European peers, Loose doesn't over-sing her melodies, and when she does add little accents to her phrasing, it doesn't sound ostentatious or pretentious, it just sounds pretty. No "prom dress metal" histrionics here whatsoever, just good songs delivered by a singer who actually knows how to sing. Toss in a couple of very creative guitarists and an electric violinist who adds a very unique sound to the band, and you've got one of the past year's true hidden treasures. If you love the Gathering as much as I do, do not pass this one up. It's a stunner.

Some housecleaning...

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:02:00 EST

Well, it's about time I got my head out of 2008 and into the swing of things, 2009 style. But before I put last year to rest, I should mention a couple of top-notch concerts I saw in December, which was quite odd, because that month is normally a very dead time of year. Anyway, after hearing people raving about Nine Inch Nails' spectacular show on their current Lights in the Sky Tour, and seeing how there were still plenty of cheap seats available for the show here in Saskatoon, I thought what the heck, and decided to go. This despite the fact that I haven't cared for Trent Reznor's music since 1994. The newer material he and his band played, while unmistakably Nine Inch Nailsy, were secondary to the visuals, which were absolutely stunning. The whole "stealth screen" setup is ingenious (and best explained here), just a marvel to behold, with many effects that had folks going, "How'd they do that?" However, it was when they carted out the Old Stuff that the show truly started to cook, as on "March of the Pigs", "Closer", "Wish", "Piggy", and "Head Like a Hole". Despite that, though, we were left without the band's usual five-song encore thanks to an apparent technical glitch, so that abrupt ending left a particularly bad taste in my mouth. I got good bang for my 35 bucks, but if I'd paid for a high priced ticket, I would have felt a little cheated. Oh, and I was very interested in seeing The Bug, considering how I'm a huge fan of London Zoo, and while Kevin Martin's mixes sounded very cool, ragga MC Warrior Queen's shrill delivery got old pretty fast. The album is far, far better.

Also, on the 16th I splurged and went to Metric's big charity Jingle Bell Rock show. Metric's one of those bands I try to never miss, and my fourth time seeing them was probably their best set of the lot. I got there in time to see the Dears do their Anglophile/adult contemporary thing ("Lost in the Plot" is still far and away the best thing they've ever done), as well as witness the exercise in futility that is Tokyo Police Club. Has there ever been a band that projects so much energy onstage but delivers so little payoff? They sound tight, there's lots of jumping around and whatnot, but someone, anyone, please write these boys a hook or two. Because right now it's just plain embarrassing. I missed Sebastian Grainger, sadly, I was interested in hearing his new project. As for Metric, here's a band that, as much as I like them, has looked a little chilly onstage the last couple times I'd seen them, a little tense. Always good performances, but devoid of the hunger to steal a show like I'd seen them do four years prior. On this night, though, they looked relaxed and happy, thrilled to play their new material, which was a real treat, as they performed eight tracks from the new album (due out in April). The usual fan-pleasers were there, but the new stuff sounded fantastic. Plus the light show was snazzy, and they had a cool surround set-up, with additional PA set up in the rear, allowing the sound mixer to add cool rear channel effects throughout the show. A nice touch.

As for the magazine writing, it's a big issue of Metal Edge for yours truly, as my cover story on In This Moment is in this month's issue. It was fun talking to the three members of the band...instead of having that sense of entitlement that a lot of successful young bands feel after a successful debut album, this band is quite well-grounded and humble. They're a smart bunch, and their new album is terrific, high-gloss melodic metal/hard rock of the 80s variety.

In addition, I have a shorter piece on Quebec death metal guys Beneath the Massacre, whose new CD is a heckuvalot better than their previous once, as well as reviews of new albums by Adversary (really good young band), Bloodbath (excellent!), and Gamma Ray (meh). In the year-end piece, I wrote blurbs for Metallica (#2), Gojira (#5), Nachtmystium (#8), and Cavalera Conspiracy (#11).

Over at Decibel, I have an article on Chicago hardcore band Suicide Note, whose recent album is very good, as well as an In the Studio report on Canadian band Buried Inside (I've since heard - and reviewed for Decibel - said album, and it's a huge step forward for the band). As for the reviews, I have pieces on the AWESOME Bison B.C., Hammers of Misfortune's excellent double album, and Winterfylleth's superb slab of black metal. And in the year-end feature, I wrote blurbs for Amon Amarth (#13) and Cynic (#33).

It sure didn't take long for me to come across a highly acclaimed album that made all the top tens (including both Pitchfork and PopMatters), yet completely sneaked by me. Simply put, Cut Copy's In Ghost Colours is a wonderful pop album, and nothing more. It's by no means innovative, in fact it's so shameless in its retro leanings that you could easily toss this on a John Hughes movie soundtrack and no one would tell it's from 2008, but the songwriting is fantastic, perfect four minute blasts of hooks and synths, while the production by DFA dude Tim Goldsworthy is great, at times bringing out a cool little New Order feel. If you like the pop, there's no way you can't love a gorgeous tune like "Hearts on Fire". Don't miss out on this one like I did!

Lastly, we're six days into the new year, and it looks like we've already heard Pitchfork's top album of 2009. I've always been on the fence when it came to Animal Collective, I find them tolerable in small doses, and am nowhere near the slavering fanboy that many critics and indie scenesters are, but I have to admit Merriweather Post Pavilion is pretty darn likeable, coming off as quite a modest, cohesive piece of work instead of a pretentious, haphazardly arranged assemblage of musical clutter. This could be one of the year's growers.

2008's Album of the Year

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:25:00 EST

The Power, the Ecstasy, the Grace

Album of the Year:
Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
Hands down the worst band name to ever get my #1 nod, but when a band is as great as these Torontonians are, what are you gonna do? The plain fact of the matter is, Fucked Up has been on an enormous run over the last three years, emerging from the Canadian hardcore punk scene only to proceed to blow the whole thing to smithereens by defying convention, shattering expectations, flabbergasting listeners left and right, and creating some of the most exciting, bracing rock music of this decade. Had I heard it in time, I just might have named the epic double album Hidden World my favourite record of 2006, and last year's Year of the Pig EP was a bold, exceptional piece that took the band's core punk sound and inexplicably melded it with progressive/psychedelic rock elements, blowing it up to a decidedly anti-punk 18 and a half minutes. Based on those two extraordinary releases alone, you knew something big was in store for the next full-length, but the most interesting thing was the kind of unexpected turn the band would take.

I'm not an expert in recording engineering in the least, so I can't comprehend just how difficult it is for a producer and mixer to create an album that consists of layers and layers and layers of tracks, but it's got to be a nightmare to rein the whole mess in. Listening to Broken Social Scene's otherwise amazing self-titled album from 2005, it not hard to tell that producer Dave Neufeld didn't quite get the rather dense mix just right, but when you compare the sound of that album to Jon Drew's work on The Chemistry of Common Life, it really hammers home just how incredible a job Drew did. Of course, the songs make the album, and the band certainly delivers, but Drew's work is inspired, as he takes the basic band recordings and adds layer upon layer upon layer of instruments, from guitars, to synths, to percussion, to vocals, to flute, to French horn, to backwards-masked guitar solos. The end result is one of the best "headphone albums" to come along in years, a veritable feast for the ears.

Again, that overblown production style once again flies right in the face of what people perceive to be the classic, DIY punk aesthetic, but Fucked Up has become such a hybrid of styles, that you can't exactly categorize them anymore. Hardcore, indie, hard rock, whatever you want to call it, you can't deny that it's furiously performed, intelligently written ("It's hard enough being born in the first place / Who would ever want to be born again?"), and brimming with hooks, the entire package appealing to music fans straight across the board. Every single song delivers, whether it's the raucous "Son of the Father", the rampaging "Crooked Head", and the surprisingly contemplative "Black Albino Bones", but "No Epiphany" is the clincher, swiping a riff (that riff!!!) straight out of the Dandy Warhols' oeuvre and creating something far more exhilarating, the album's true defining moment coming in at the 3:14 mark, a scream that would make Roger Daltrey proud. No, this ain't punk. This is rock 'n' roll at its most pure and incendiary.

1. Lykke Li � "I'm Good, I'm Gone"

5, 4, 3, 2...

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:00:00 EST

5. Opeth - Watershed
Just how strong a year was 2008? I consider Opeth's ninth album Watershed to be even stronger than Ghost Reveries, which I named my 2005 album of the year. But that's how it goes; this year's top five is as strong as any I've put together, and it was very difficult to rank them. As for Opeth, I consider them, as well as Mastodon, Meshuggah, the Dillinger Escape Plan, Enslaved, and Pig Destroyer to be the standard-bearers for metal music in this decade, and for good reason. After emerging as one of the most important metal bands of the 1990s, the band simply continued to raise the bar with each album since the turn of the century, continuing to refine that sound, always evolving, always tweaking things. Like Meshuggah, it's that constant desire to break new ground that makes every new Opeth album an event. And Watershed more than lived up to the massive expectations.

This album was especially crucial. The longer a metal band carries on, the more difficult it is to please the fans, and when longtime lead guitarist Peter Lindberg parted ways in 2007, many thought he would be irreplaceable. And the same was said of drummer Martin Axenrot, who was also making his debut with the band after martin Lopez left in 2005. Asinine thinking by those fans, of course, because this has been and always will be Mikael �kerfeldt's baby, and the singer/guitarist is in fine form on Watershed, his growling vocals ferocious, his clean singing more confident than ever, as heard on the lovely "Burden". Lindberg's replacement Fredrik �kesson is a very different performer than his predecessor, but his flamboyant, shredding style is the perfect foil for the more contemplative �kerfeldt, while Axenrot is phenomenal, especially on scorching tracks like "Heir Apparent" and "The Lotus Eater. However, it's keyboardist Per Wiberg that puts in the finest supporting performance, his organ, synths, and mellotron adding richness to a sound that was already a feast for the ears.

5. Goldfrapp � "A&E"

4. Portishead - Third
Portishead will always be remembered for their groundbreaking debut album Dummy, but for the last decade I've been of the opinion that their second album Portishead is even better. From the very start, the trio's music has always projected a dark, creepy vibe underneath all the sleek beautiful arrangements, but on that second album in particular, the darkness was emphasized even more, sounding so stark, so haunted. Like Tricky, like Massive Attack, Portishead captured an incredible, original sound that, despite all the imitators that emerged in their wake, was completely, irrefutably, inimitable. They refused to pander to anyone craving a "Glory Box Part 2", making music completely on their own terms.

Skip ahead eleven years later, and we found ourselves desperately needing to hear such an original voice yet again, from somebody, anybody talented enough and brave enough to do it, so when Geoff Barrow, Adrian Utley, and Beth Gibbons shocked the music world by abruptly and enigmatically announcing their long-awaited return in early 2008, it generated the kind of excitement that would top any orchestrated Chinese democracy hype, only because this was an album we all knew would deliver. And did it ever, as Third delves into even darker territory than ever, defying everyone's expectations. At times wildly varied, the songs going from electronic to acoustic guitar, its cohesiveness is astounding. By no means is this an album made for iPods, these are eleven tracks that demand listening in the intended sequence, the music ebbing and flowing gracefully, whether on the tender "The Rip", the ominous "Plastic", the melancholy ukulele tune "Deep Water", or the spectacular trio of "Silence", "Machine Gun", and "We Carry On", which use German legends Can as the starting off point and take that idiosyncratic sound into the 21st century, putting every one of their progressive-minded peers to shame in the process (I'm looking in your direction, Radiohead). Even after such a prolonged period of activity, Portishead is still on top of their game. Gloriously so.

4. Sambassadeur � "Subtle Changes"

3. Glasvegas - Glasvegas
If you take a look at my lat few End-of-Year lists, you'll notice that there's a conspicuous absence of British rock. After being a huge fan of 1990s Britpop, the last half decade hasn't exactly lit the world on fire, in my opinion. Sure, there have been exceptions like Franz Ferdinand, the much-missed Libertines, and the always great Doves, but guitar-based rock music from the UK, much like American indie rock, has stagnated as of late, and it's had me looking back at the glory days of 1994-1997 and wishing that spirit would somehow be rekindled. Throughout 2008, one band from Glasgow kept being mentioned, and although their name was just as stupid and forgettable as Arctic Monkeys and Test Icicles, in fact one of the stupidest puns in history, this foursome would niggle their way into my head to the point where there was no way I could give in.

I've said this before, and it begs repeating: there's nothing original about Glasvegas whatsoever. But then again, the same went for Oasis, and look what they accomplished ten years ago. Glasvegas simply co-opts an already bastardized sound, that being the Jesus and Mary Chain's cacophonous twist on the music of Phil Spector, not to mention that band's image and presentation, but a couple of factors elevate this extraordinary debut above, say, the loveable Raveonettes. The lyrics are so shamelessly melodramatic, and so convincingly sung by James Allan in his thick Scottish burr, that he sells it brilliantly, whether it's a heartfelt pledge of friendship ("Geraldine"), tales of childhood innocence lost ("It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry", "Daddy's Gone", "Go Square Go"), an inexplicably sad elegy ("Flowers and Football Tops"), or an unapologetically rosy-hued plea for a sense of community in a divisive Britain. We even buy into his sappy ode to an abandoned pedal boat, for crying out loud ("Lonesome Swan"). But the key element on this album is Rich Costey's production, which takes the melodrama of the music and lyrics, and blows it up to wonderfully bombastic, Oasis-level, stadium-sized proportions.

3. Gang Gang Dance � "House Jam"

2. Harvey Milk - Life�The Best Game in Town
Ever since Black Sabbath played that genre-spawning tritone riff at the beginning of their first album, heavy metal bands have been constantly trying to outdo each other with each passing year, to sound more extreme, louder, heavier, and most crucially, more imposing. When you boil it all down, metal is all about sounding larger than life, and if a band can't even get that right, they might as well pack it in then and there. You can be as cutting edge as you want, but in this vast genre, whether it's black, death, doom, thrash, symphonic, or in Harvey Milk's case, sludge metal, your music has to sound epic. Towering. See, Harvey Milk gets it. They not only know how to obliterate the listener with a simple riff, they always have in fact, but their fifth album is so infused with an astonishing, oddly ironic combination of catchy hooks and anguish that you don't know whether to start a mosh pit or crawl into a hole in the ground.

Not since Eyehategod's sludgy, masterful 1996 album Dopesick has a band come along with such a devastating album. It's not pretty; in fact, it wallows in its ugliness, its gargantuan guitars and lumbering basslines underscoring ragged vocals that sound highly unstable, but at the same time, it's not a depressing album in the least. Like I said in my review, bad music is depressing; this stuff is exhilarating, whether you're listening to the oddly melodic "Motown", the Zeppelin-esque drumming on "Decades", the hardcore cover of "We Destroy the Family", the deranged ballad "Roses", the Southern rock of "Barn Burner", or the brilliant, aptly titled "Good Bye Blues". In the end, though, opening track "Death Goes to the Winner" sets the pace immediately, morphing from a morose tale of a desperately lonely Christmas into a jaw-dropping reading of the Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting For the Man", and climaxing with a savage, darkly comic quote of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life". It's vicious, it's adventurous, and best of all, ingenious.

2. Glasvegas � "Geraldine"

#6...

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:22:00 EST

6. Lykke Li - Youth Novels
My trip to Norway back in February couldn't have been more timely, as right then I had been right smack in the middle of a major obsession with one Lykke Li Tomotej Zachrisson since early January. In addition, my journey to the By:Larm conference coincided with her album topping the charts in Scandinavia, as well as a couple shows in Oslo, the first of which was on the night of my arrival. Severely exhausted, I wound my way through the dark, weird, winding streets to a cool little club along the river, and snagged a front row spot, right before the place suddenly got extremely packed. I'd seen her live performances online, but she and her band tore the place up, Lykke Li gregarious, passionate, and just quirky enough to set her apart from every other pop singer out there. It was the first of around 30 live sets I'd see over three days, and nothing else quite measured up to that show, and not only was Youth Novels buzzing through my head the entire four days, but it would go on to be my most played CD in 2008.

Strangely, there's not much to it. Ingeniously produced by Bjorn Yttling of Peter, Bjorn & John, it bucks convention left and right, too poppy to be indie, too acoustically based to be considered your usual pop. The arrangements are actually very clever, acoustic guitar and percussion dominating, but utilized like dance music accompaniment, as opposed to synths doing all the work. Charmingly organic, in other words, completely devoid of pretentiousness. The perfect example is the breakthrough single "Little Bit", which, save for a subtle little synth, is comprised basically of various percussion instruments and mandolin. That's it. And it's the perfect backdrop for Lykke Li's singing, whose playful, girlish quality masks a sadness that's decidedly adult on such great tracks as Dance Dance Dance", "I'm Good, I'm Gone", "Hanging High", and "Breaking it Up".

6. Lykke Li � "Little Bit"

#7...

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 01:02:00 EST

7. Disfear - Live the Storm
When it comes to extreme music, I've never hid the fact that the new stuff that tends to get the most play from yours truly is the music that pushes boundaries, heavy music that defies convention. However, that's not to say that formulaic metal and hardcore can't be thrilling as well, but considering how I have to wade through hundreds of formulaic albums every year, the fresh-sounding records become scarcer, so it's no surprise that I gravitate towards the more audacious bands. But every so often, a band will come along, stubbornly refusing to reinvent the wheel, and unleash a spectacular piece of work. In metal, there was no shortage, as bands like the Gates of Slumber, Amon Amarth, Origin, Bison, and Sahg all put out some terrific subgenre-specific metal, but it was Swedish veterans Disfear who topped them all, delivering easily the most satisfying, no-frills heavy music of the year.

With all respect to Lemmy and the boys, who put out the splendid Motorizer this past year, Disfear out-Mot�rheaded Mot�rhead with the psychotic Live the Storm, which sounds like Mot�rhead on bennies, Red Bull, and Pixie Stix. Longtime fixtures in Sweden's hardcore punk scene, Disfear has always specialized in the "D-beat" style pioneered by UK greats Discharge, and although those distinct tempos are present throughout the entire album, a huge metal influence takes this record over the top. Guitarist Uffe Cederlund, formerly of death metal legends Entombed, is on board, delivering lacerating solos, while the great producer Kurt Ballou not only adds a massive tone to the guitars, but cleans up the band's sound, giving us clear separation between the music instead of one crazed morass of punk sludge. The end result is absolutely relentless, as "Get it Off", "The Furnace", "In Exodus", and "Phantom" highlight an exhilarating, 35 minute exercise in pure aggression and energy. Rock 'n' roll doesn't get any better than this.

Paramore � "That's What You Get"

#8...

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:28:00 EST

9. Glasvegas - "It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry"

8. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Although I really enjoyed Goldfrapp's third album Supernature, the one thing that stuck in my craw was how after the audacious self-reinvention of Black Cherry, Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory chose to stay the course on the follow-up, continuing to combine electronic dance music and early-70s glam rock. That was all well and good, but although it made for a mighty nice batch of singles, helping Supernature become a commercial breakthrough in the UK, it still felt complacent, if not formulaic. Goldfrapp is far better when they're unpredictable, and in late 2007, when album number four surfaced in the internet, unpredictable is what we got, as the duo pulled the rug out from under us yet again. But not in the way we could ever have imagined.

The notion of Goldfrapp going all acoustic and folky makes it seem like they're pandering to the Starbucks crowd in search of the latest drab adult-contemporary dreck, but while I did hear Seventh Tree in a Starbucks, horror of horrors, the album is cleverer than that. Gregory's electronic elements remain, but this time the touches are far more subtle, the understated synths and beats actually enhancing the pastoral feel of the acoustic guitar-driven compositions. There's a lot of Kate Bush going on here, but also a lot of Nick Drake, and it makes for a terrific combination on tracks like "Clowns", "Little Bird", and "Some People". The bubbly "Happiness" is a wry little satire of Scientology, the buoyant "Caravan Girl" is the most upbeat, pleasant, downright sunny song Goldfrapp has ever recorded, but the one track that takes the proverbial cake is the drop-dead gorgeous "A&E", in which Goldfrapp eschews her usual enigmatic poetry for a genuinely heartbreaking character sketch of a woman who wakes up in an emergency room, a perfect encapsulation of this album's luminous quality.

8. Lukestar - "White Shade"

#9...#9...#9...

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:38:00 EST

9. Black Mountain - In the Future
I'm a sucker for a lot of certain niches in music, from metal music that dares to rewrite the rules to smart Scandinavian pop, and one that never fails to grab me is impeccably executed retro heavy/progressive rock, the type of stuff that feels like it came straight from 1972. Bands like Witchcraft and Dungen are among the best at it, and the Devil's Blood, Dead Man, and Blood Ceremony are three other notable titles from 2008, but when it came to Vancouver band Blood Mountain, prior to this year I wasn't a huge fan. In fact, I had them pegged as hipsters more than anything, a bunch of indie kids playing stoner rock, getting all the critical accolades while other, better bands were out there doing basically the same thing. But then one day in January I decided to give their second album a try without having heard a note of it. Why? The cover. That amazing, pompous, pretentious-looking cover that looks like it was designed by Hipgnosis 35 years ago. One look at that cool image, and I was thinking, now here's a band that appears to get it after all.

And from the stomping opening riff of "Stormy High" onward through the sinister "Wucan" and the grandiose "Bright LightS", I was not disappointed one lick, guitarist Stephen McBean singing like a craggy old hippie, vocal counterpart carrying on like Linda Thompson ("Queens Will Play" a superb showcase), the two trading lines and harmonizing maniacally, as Jeremy Schmidt channeled John Lord and Hawkwind at the same time with his Hammond organ and swirling space rock synths, everything recorded in such a way that it reflects the warmth of the analog days of yore. Loud and mellow, intimate and absolutely epic, Black Mountain packs a lot into nearly an hour, but on a wickedly cool album like this, you want the band going for broke, which they do in spades.

9. Glasvegas - "It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry"

Into the top ten...

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:33:00 EST

10. Lukestar - Lake Toba
Most often, when I hear an album early in the year that I think is pretty good, that I end up getting so busy over the course of the rest of the year catching up with the other new releases that come my way, that many just get lost in the shuffle. Of course, the really special ones always be returned to, but on the other hand, there's the odd time that a CD will hang around and hang around, growing on me over the months to the point where it actually plays a significant role in shaping, for lack of a less pretentious term, the soundtrack to my year. This year it happened with Norwegian obscurity Lukestar. I first learned of the band when I was researching Scandinavian acts prior to my trip to Oslo in February, as the band kept being mentioned on other websites and forums as one of the shows to catch at the conference.

The single "White Shade" was immediately intriguing, a rather simple take on the proto-emo of Sunny Day Real Estate, with a singer who could pull off an unreal, Sigur Ros-like falsetto. I tracked down the album online, and at the time it sounded alright. When I saw them in the absolutely jam-packed John Dee club a couple weeks later, exhausted and somewhat sick, leaning on a table by the back windows, I was mildly impressed, but thought that they played the hard rock card a little too heavily, not letting those gentle vocals dominate like they do on the record. It was a great show, though, which left a big impression, and my opinion grew immensely since, as the album's shameless sentimentality, led by those gorgeous, undeniable hooks on songs like "Shape of Light", "Lake Toba", "House of Orion", and "In a Hologram". What sounded "alright" eleven months ago now sounds awfully darn special.

10. Veronica Maggio - "Stopp"

#11...

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 04:47:00 EST

11. Dungen - 4
It's amazing how Dungen just keeps getting better and better, but what's even more astounding his how, despite being to firmly entrenched in the psychedelic rock sounds of the late-1960s and early-70s, the Swedish band always manages to put out an album that sounds completely different from the one before. Part of it has to do with the fact that it's no longer the project of multi-instrumentalist Gustav Ejstes; instead, for the first time 4 is a completely collaborative effort by all four members of the band. As opposed to the guitar-heavy arrangements of past albums, this one centres on Ejstes' piano, which in turn has the foursome holding back on the raucous jams and letting the melodies dominate. Consequently, the melodies are arguably Dungen's catchiest to date, as we hear on standouts like "Fredag", "M�ler�s Finest", "Mina Damer och Fasaner", and "S�tt Att Se". We do get the odd blast of the loud Dungen we know and love, as on the excerpts "Samtidigt 1" and Samtidigt 2", with ace lead guitarist Reine Fiske leading the way with his scorching solos, but for the most part, Ejstes and his mates focus on the more understated, subtle sounds, which in turn has Dungen showing even more potential for greatness than they ever have.

11. Metric - "Help, I'm Alive"

#12...

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 03:00:00 EST

12. Krallice - Krallice
I find it so interesting how the genre of black metal can be one of the most rigid formulas in all of extreme music, with countless bands adhering to the exact same template, yet at the same time, there are artists who are daring enough to try to take such a seemingly strict formula and advance it further than anyone ever though possible. Although Europe has no shortage of avant-garde black metal acts, it's in America where the real paradigm shift is happening, and led by the likes of Wolves in the Throne Room, Nachtmystium, Agalloch, Cobalt, Leviathan/Lurker of Challice, it's the most exciting movements in metal music in general right now. And interestingly, it's a project by progressive metal guitar noodlers Mick Barr and Colin Marston that ranks at the top of the black metal heap this year. Normally known for his fast, repetitive, free-form style, Barr especially benefits from working within the confines of the genre, the songs often building to towering, melodic climaxes reminiscent of Burzum (just listen to the spectacular epic "Forgiveness in Rot"), while at the same time bringing a level of technicality and artistry to black metal that had hasn't been heard since the days of Emperor. An astounding metal album.

12. Marit Larsen - "If a Song Could Get Me You"

#13...

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:32:00 EST

13. Gojira - The Way of All Flesh
Though I've always considered Gojira a good band, I've found it tough to jump as enthusiastically on the bandwagon as others have in recent years. When it came to their breakthrough album From Mars to Sirius, it could never really captivate me from start to finish, it seemed to meander despite plenty of truly inspired moments. It was clear, though, that this French band was truly on the cusp of something major, and it was only a matter of time before all the pieces fell into place. We sure didn't have to wait long for that to happen either, as their fourth album is exactly the step forward they needed to take, not only their most consistent work to date, but good enough to elevate these guys to the level of a major, upper-tier metal act in the world. Interestingly, Gojira achieves that by not making their music slightly more accessible, but by focusing more on the muscular, punishing aspect of their music, which is quite a unique hybrid of post-thrash, death metal, and the progressive tones of Voivod. And not only that, but the production, like Enslaved's Vertebrae, is absolutely stellar, especially on standouts like the epic "The Art of Dying", the pulverizing "Vacuity", and "Yama's Messengers".

13. Ladytron - "Ghosts"

#14...

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:51:00 EST

14. Enslaved - Vertebrae
They've been around for 17 years and have put out ten albums, but Norway's Enslaved only now seem to be hitting their stride. After focusing primarily on black metal in the 1990s, things changed in 2003 as the band started to move away from the harsh sounds in favour of a form of extreme music that, while still rooted in the atmospherics of black metal, would also allow for more subtle melodies reminiscent of 1970s progressive rock. Since then, Enslaved's graceful metamorphosis on record, which is so reminiscent of Voivod circa 1987-1991, has been thrilling to witness. Past records like Below the Lights, Isa, and 2005's Ruun, though all remarkable, still felt like transitional albums, but Vertebrae, on the other hand, feels like the quintet is as close to achieving that much sought-after sound as they've ever been. Hints of black metal remain, but the mix is so warm, so sparse, so organic, that it goes against much of what defines that icy and grim subgenre, harshness and aggression giving way to soothing, Pink Floyd-inspired vocal melodies and contemplative guitar solos, as heard on "To the Coast", "Ground", and "Reflection". Juxtaposing such disparate sounds with one another with the ease and confidence of a veteran act, Enslaved has never sounded better.

14. Lykke Li - "Breaking It Up"

#15...

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:38:00 EST

15. The Bug - London Zoo
In 1995 I was instantly drawn to the murky, sinister, dark tones of Tricky's classic Maxinquaye, it was the kind of urban music from the UK that seemed alien to someone like me, but was so engrossing, so incredibly vicious. Since then I have never heard an electronic/hip hop album that has been able to match the mood of Maxinquaye, but much to my surprise this past summer, The Bug came as close as anyone has. A project of London DJ Kevin Martin, whose studio was located smack in the middle of one of London's shadiest neighbourhoods, Londoon Zoo oozes dread, tension, and paranoia, dub beats creeping along ominously, jarring sounds lurking around each corner. Adding to the air of menace are the varied but equally powerful dancehall vocals provided by the likes of Flowdan, Warrior Queen, and Tippa Irie, which either seethe with pent-up rage ("Angry"), despair ("Murder We"), or command our attention with forcefully delivered, indelible imagery ("Skeng"). It's martin's bleak, cacophonous sonic backdrop that makes this album, however, the percussive tracks sounding minimalist, but loaded with enough gut-rumbling bass, clattering, machinegun-like percussion, and discordant synth blares to sound deceptively rich. If you're looking for post-millenial tension, you need not look any further.

15. Fucked Up - "No Epiphany"

#16...

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 04:08:00 EST

16. Meshuggah - ObZen
To say that 2005's Catch Thirtythree was a disappointment is an understatement. After four spectacular albums, including the masterful Nothing, which I still consider my favourite metal album of this decade, it was a massive mis-step, an experiment gone wrong, the continual "single track" album a little too formless, the programmed drums denying us the presence of the supremely gifted Tomas Haake. But when it comes to Meshuggah, mavericks that they are, you know they're going to only shift gears on their next album, and egads, did they ever return to form on their sixth record. Interestingly, though, obZen isn't preoccupied with breaking new ground. Instead, they dip into their past while continuing to look, steely-eyed, to the future. Aspects from early albums are discernable throughout this CD in some way, shape, or form, be it the thrash of Contradictions Collapse, the complexity of Destroy Erase Improve, the aggression of Chaosphere, or the gargantuan tones of Nothing, the chilly, mechanical fury offset by the contemplative tones of Fredrik Thordendal's free-form, fragile, Alan Holdsworth-inspired solos. And yes, that's Haake tearing it up on drums, the highlight being his inspired, jaw-dropping performance on the throttling "Bleed". A very exciting return to form by one of the world's greatest metal acts.

16. Goldfrapp - "Caravan Girl"

#17...

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 01:00:00 EST

17. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
The punk rock of today's Warped Tour-fueled scene is so repetitive, so often uninspired, that it's easy to miss the true talents that emerge from within it. Take New Jersey's Gaslight Anthem, for instance. They're on a punk label (the same as Bedouin friggin' Soundclash, for crying out loud), they play the usual punk tours with punk bands, but it's impossible to call these guys punk. Just like Social Distortion, their music is not so much punk as simple, straightforward rock 'n' roll music. But considering how few young bands actually know how to play simple, straightforward rock 'n' roll, when do you hear something as inspired as The '59 Sound, it comes as quite a shock. This is teary, bleary-eyed barroom rock on the level of the Hold Steady, singer Brian Fallon shamelessly flaunting his Springsteen fandom, but unlike Brandon Flowers of the Killers, it feels far more convincing, even when he quotes "I'm on Fire" and sings of cars, Saturday nights, amusement parks, rivers, not surrendering, and girls named Maria and Bobby Jean. Born to Run this certainly ain't, but that's not to say that we should discount the unapologetic, puppydog-eyed romanticism of such wonderful tracks like "Great Expectations", "Film Noir", and "High Lonesome". The only thing missing on this album are several climactic tenor sax solos by a big dude named Clarence.

17. Glasvegas - "Daddy's Gone"

#18...

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 04:36:00 EST

18. Ladytron - Velocifero
Every few years you get a new music scene that emerges from some large cosmopolitan locale and becomes trendy. And while much of the music comes and goes, artists forgotten as quickly as they've arrived, every so often you get the odd band that gains notoriety within that scene, but is clever and creative enough o use that label as a springboard toward ultimately transcending the fad. Such is the case with Ladytron. Initially linked to the electroclash sound of the early 2000s, their single "Seventeen" a crucial commercial breakthrough for both the band and the genre, the Liverpool has since long outlasted the Fischerspooners and Chicks on Speeds out there, continuing to gradually reinvent itself with each subsequent release. With album number four, the electropop element remains, as well as the enticingly detached vocals of Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo, but the arrangements and production continue to progress past simply aping Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder, turning into something sonically rich and surprisingly warm, exemplified perfectly by "Runaway", "Burning Up", "Deep Blue", and especially the seductive yet vicious single "Ghosts". Not so much going through a bold metamorphosis as a beautifully subtle evolution, Ladytron has become one of the decade's most enduring pop acts.

18. Weezer - "Pork and Beans"

#19...

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 03:27:00 EST

19. Frida Hyv�nen - Silence is Wild
Although Frida Hyv�nen has a lot of the characteristics of so many other piano-based female singer-songwriters out there, her music is actually far more entrancing than cloying, more sincere than precious, and more dryly funny than melodramatic. In fact, it would be easy to say that she's following the lead of fellow Swede Jens Lekman with all her eloquent, memorable, self-deprecating songs, but make no mistake, she's got quite a deceptively original sound going on her second album. Sure, there are a few sparse piano ballads, but that's when her lyrical skill takes over, be it quirky ("Why Do You Love Me So Much") or harrowing ("December"), but Silence is Wild really takes off when producer Jari Haapalainen adds more variety into the mix, as on the rollicking "Scandinavian Blonde", the late-60s feel of "London", and especially the very charming "Dirty Dancing", which milks the early-60s girl group sounds to the hilt as Hyv�nen describes her childhood in the late-80s. Her lyrical phrasing is unusual, songs often carrying on like gigantic run-on sentences, but that's all part of what's a very winsome package, adding an air of honesty. Besides, when a singer rhymes "sandwich" with "kiss in which", what's not to love?

19. Ida Maria - "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked"

The Countdown Begins...

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 03:02:00 EST

20. Torche - Meanderthal
Built from the ashes of Florida cult faves Floor, Miami's Torche made quite a splash three years ago with their self-titled debut, which dared to combine some absolutely crushing stoner metal with an equal amount of strong vocal hooks. Led by singer/guitarist Steve Brooks, it wasn't exactly an ingenious idea rather than someone coming along and doing the obvious, making music that was every bit as catchy as it was heavy, and judging by just how good that 2005 album was, we knew that Torche was definitely on to something very cool. Which brings us to Meanderthal, which came along and did not disappoint in the least. In fact, Brooks's knack for vocal hooks is even stronger, his singing now greatly resembling Helmet's Page Hamilton, his band now venturing into Fugazi-esque forays, his hooks now good enough to trounce anything the Foo Fighters, or any American hard rock band of the last ten years for that matter, could only dream of coming up with. "Sundown" is remarkably reminiscent of mid-90s faves Jawbox, the climactic riff in the title track is indescribably massive, and the brilliant "Across the Shields" fully deserved to be a crossover success. At the rate these guys are going, it just might happen yet.

20. Amanda Palmer - "Astronaut"

Honourable Mentions of 2008

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:54:00 EST

Honourable Mentions of 2008:
(The best of the rest, in alphabetical order)

Amon Amarth - Twilight of the thunder God
The Swedish Viking metal band has always been reliably good, but they made the leap from good to great, releasing an album befitting the title, boasting massive production and enough catchy metal tunes to get the most jaded crowds roaring.
Essential tracks: "Twilight of the Thunder God", "Free Will Sacrifice"

Boris - Smile
Every Boris album is a grower, and this one was no exception, but in the end it turned out to be a very worthy follow-up to Pink and Rainbow, the trio always at their best when they downplay the drone and focus on the rock influence.
Essential tracks: "Laser Beam", "My Neighbor Satan"

Ca�na - Temporary Antennae
The follow-up to last year's surprising Mourner turns out to be better, singer/songwriter Andrew Curtis-Brignell continuing to test the limits of modern black metal, incorporating such influences as shoegaze, darkwave, 1980s goth, and even a little Mark Kozelek style indie rock.
Essential tracks: "Willows and Whippoorwills", "Tobacco Beetle"

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
The great Nick Cave keeps motoring along, producing album after quality album, and this raucous disc is no exception. In a way continuing where last year's Grinderman project left off, it's as dark, manic, soulful, and poetic as you'd expect.
Essential tracks" "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!", "We Call Upon the Author"

Cynic - Traced in Air
Cynic's 1993 debut Focus influenced a generation of progressive-minded metal musicians, but their long-awaited follow-up is actually the better album, guitarist Paul Masvidal and his mates toning down the death metal enough to let the jazz and prog rock sounds emerge. Adventurous and gorgeous.
Essential tracks: "King of Those Who Know", "Evolutionary Sleeper"

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
It's easy to call the Seattle band the most over-hyped indie band of the year, not to mention their obvious ripping off of My Morning Jacket, but you can't deny the impact of their songs, which are so rich in textured vocal harmonies.
Essential tracks: "White Winter Hymnal", "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song"

Genghis Tron - Board Up the House
Two full-lengths in, and Genghis Tron is already starting to rewrite the rules of extreme music, ingeniously meshing grindcore with electronic music and avant-garde noise rock, but most importantly, evolving into a bunch of very talented songwriters. The sky's the limit for them.
Essential tracks: "Things Don't Look Good", "Relief"

Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart
The wait for the Norwegian rocker's debut album was a long one, but it was worth it, as she and her terrific band tear through ten quick, snappy, uproariously catchy rock 'n' roll songs, propelled by the charismatic, energetic Ms. Sivertsen.
Essential tracks: "Oh My God", "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked"

Jucifer - L'Autrichienne
Putting out a double concept album about Marie Antoinette is one thing, but the fact that Jucifer does so while constantly shifting gears from folk, to crust punk, to Southern rock, to sludge metal, to everything in between, is mind-boggling, not to mention exciting.
Essential tracks: "Blackpowder", "To the End"

Anna J�rvinen - Jag Fick Feeling
The Swedish singer-songwriter might sing exclusively in her native language, but her warm, 1970s pop-infused compositions are very easy to give in to, her lilting, Harriet Wheeler-like voice backed up wonderfully by fellow talented Swedes Dungen, who serve as her backing band.
Essential tracks: "G�tgatan", "Kom Hem"

Made Out of Babies - The Ruiner
The Brooklyn band's ascent has been swift, but their thrilling third album is a major breakthrough, their sound no longer a Jesus Lizard and Big Black rip-off, but instead a multi-layered backdrop for the astonishing vocal talents of singer Julie Christmas.
Essential tracks: "Invisible Ink", "Cooker"

Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle Vol. 1
After challenging the black metal underground by adding progressive elements on 2006's Instinct: Decay, Nachtmystium's fourth album starts to shed the tag altogether, as the Pink Floyd influence is shamelessly played to the hilt. It's a little obvious, but ultimately a stirring combination.
Essential tracks: "Ghosts of Grace", "Code Negative"

Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer
Palmer's solo debut turned out to be not much different from her work with the Dresden Dolls, which is a good thing, the album nicely produced by Ben Folds and showcasing Palmer's sharp, witty, piano-driven songst hat walk the line between sincerity and satire.
Essential tracks: "Astronaut", "Oasis"

Mike Patton - A Perfect Place OST
If there ever was a guy best suited to soundtrack a movie, it's the great Mike Patton, and not only does the demented genius deliver, but working under the restraints of a film score, he's put together some of his best work to date.
Essential tracks: "A Perfect Twist (Vocal)"

Wetnurse - Invisible City
It's only their second album, but New York's Wetnurse made a big splash with as daring an extreme record as anyone's put out this year, combining the sounds of Voivod, the Jesus Lizard, Sonic Youth, and Unsane, emerging with a sound completely their own.
Essential tracks: "Life at Stake", "Missing Lion Returns"

The Best Ineligible Releases of 2008: #1-5

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:00:00 EST

1. Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8
Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series ranks as one of the greatest, nay, the greatest archival project popular music has ever seen, and each time a new release is announced, it's a major event. Volume Eight is particularly interesting, as it chooses to focus on the period between 1989 and 2006, as Dylan resurrected himself from a mid-80s baby boomer has-been to once again a crucial, vital artist. There was never any shortage of tracks to choose from, and the 27 presented here are revelatory, as we're treated to alternate versions of well-known songs like "Dignity", "Series of Dreams", "Everything is Broken", and "Mississippi", live tracks from his still-going Never Ending Tour ("High Water (For Charley Patton)"), unreleased material (the staggering "Red River Shore" and "Born in Time"), and compilation/soundtrack contributions. So good is this installment, that it actually overshadows 2006's Modern Times, and like Live 1966 (Volume Four) and Live 1975 (Volume Five), will go down as an absolutely essential addition to an already insurmountable discography. Once again, Bravo.

2. Rush - Snakes & Arrows Live CD/DVD
2008 was pretty darned special for this longtime Rush fan. While they've seemingly performed everywhere, I'd never been lucky enough to be anywhere near a city they played, but sometimes miracles do happen, as I finally got to enjoy my first ever Rush concert, fortunate enough to score a fifth row seat, dead centre. And it was one of the best shows I have ever seen. Interestingly, that May concert was bookended by a pair of live releases. Recorded on the same tour in support of the excellent Snakes & Arrows album, the live album primed me for the show (listening to it all the way through on the drive south to Regina), while the DVD is the perfect memento. Rush's live DVDs have always delivered, but this one might be their best yet, as the song selection is terrific, and the entire show is immaculately shot and tastefully edited. So now, instead of watching them play, mouth agape, not believing that I was finally seeing them, I can sit back and savour it all.

3. The Replacements - Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out The Trash / Stink / Hootenanny / Let It Be / Tim / Pleased To Meet Me / Don't Tell a Soul / All Shook Down
The first time I ever heard the Replacements was when I saw their video for the classic anthem "Bastards of Young" on tv in 1985, the clip's simple image of a turntable and speaker leaving an indelible impression. However, it wasn't until around 1992 that I began seriously exploring the Minneapolis band's back catalogue. Trouble was, while their post-85 releases were easy to find, their Twin Tone stuff was next to impossible where I lived here in Canada, and when I did manage to track down a copy of Let it Be, it was far too expensive to be worth shelling out for. Although I finally picked up a copy of the 2002 remaster, it wasn't exactly the snazziest reissue. But thanks to the folks at Rhino, their complete discography was not only re-released, but completely overhauled sonically and loaded with bonus tracks. Tim and Let it Be remain my all-time Mats faves, but 1981's Sorry Ma is a revelation, right down to the band's incredible 1980 demo recordings. As Westerberg jokes at one point, if the Pixies are seven, the Replacements are eight.

4. Iron Maiden - Live After Death DVD
Iron Maiden has done a fantastic job offering their fans plenty of DVD releases, but the one we'd been waiting for the longest, and with the most anticipation, was the classic 1985 concert film Live After Death. It was a title I'd long obsessed over, seeing how the original VHS was unavailable in Canada, and I'd only seen a bootlegged copy once when I was 16. Buying an original copy off EBay was immensely satisfying, but the DVD release takes the cake. Not only do we get the original concert, recorded during the World Slavery Tour when the band was on top of the world, but also an expanded Behind the Iron Curtain documentary (replacing another VHS of mine!), selections from their legendary set at Rock in Rio, and an enormously enjoyable documentary follow-up to The History of Iron Maiden Vol. 1. Considering how Maiden treated us all to a world tour of only 1980s classics, it was a great year to be a fan of this band.

5. Robyn - Robyn
The North American release of Robyn's superb comeback album was a unique situation. Although it had never been available domestically, it had been out everywhere else and had generated enormous online buzz as far back as 2005, so while it was great to see such a flawless slice of Swedish pop benefiting from some massive hype beyond the usual hipster blogs, Robyn was, by today's internet-sped standards, was pretty darn old. That said, this record will go down as one of the finest pop albums of the decade, ranking right up there with Kylie's Fever, so why not return to give it some more accolades, this time as a reissue? Besides, the album was actually made better, thanks to some fantastic extra tracks, namely the Christian Falk-helmed "Dream On" (one of my favourite singles of 2006), and the stupendous Kleerup collaboration "With Every Heartbeat". I can't recommend this album highly enough, even three years after the fact. Besides, if you still haven't heard it, better late than never!