Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
Review of Superchunk’s Majesty Shredding
Jason ArthursIf you’ve not yet read Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, the Indie Label That Got Big and Stayed Small, then get up right now, go out, buy a copy, and read it cover to cover right now. It’s okay, I’ll wait. And when you’re done, we can discuss plans to road trip down to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to give Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance big hugs, because the story of Merge is as much the story of them, and as such, is the story of Superchunk.
And though they’ve almost always coexisted, the arcs of each story don’t necessarily run concurrently – Superchunk’s heyday was the 1990s when they were one of the prototypical college rock bands laying the blueprint for what the kids now call indie, and though they’ve been around over 20 years, Merge only really became a powerhouse label in the past eight or nine years, after Superchunk went on hiatus following 2001′s perhaps prophetically titled Here’s To Shutting Up. If that were the final word, from the band, it would have been a fitting one as it found the once fuzz-coated pogo-tastic rockers in a relatively gentler frame of mind and while their songwriting was still in top form, it felt like they were looking forward to a break. And a break they took, with McCaughan taking his solo project Portastatic into rockier, full-band realms accompanied by guitarist Jim Wilbur, drummer Jon Wurster becoming both Mountain Goat and comedian and Ballance shepherding Merge to greatness. If the ‘Chunk were done, they should have had no regrets.
But sometimes a hiatus is actually a hiatus. Although they’d done sporadic shows since taking Shutting Up off the road, starting with the Merge XX anniversary celebrations last Summer, Superchunk began edging back into active status and following the release of the Leaves In The Gutter EP last year, there came word of a new album, their first in almost a decade. That record – Majesty Shredding – arrives next week and when I say it sounds just like a Superchunk record, I mean that with the highest possible praise. It fuses the pop perfection they’d reached with Shutting Up with a consistent level of energy, excitement and volume that you’d have to go back over 15 years in their discography to match. From the whine of feedback that opens “Digging For Something”, Shredding collects everything great about all that is Superchunk into eleven great, pogo-worthy tracks that individually might not measure up to the very best songs the band has ever written but as an album is as satisfying a listen as anything in their discography. It’s probably unrealistic to hope that this will be the start of a run of equally good records every year or two, but considering that I wouldn’t have even expected this record to exist as recently as a year ago, it’s kind of the best gift ever.
Majesty Shredding is streaming at NPR a week ahead of its release. I had previously hoped that the September 23 date in Montreal would imply a Toronto one the following night, apparently it’s not to be. I finally got to see them at SxSW in March and will do so again in a month at Matador 21, but still have my fingers crossed that a local show will appear on the books sooner rather than later.
MP3: Superchunk – “Digging For Something”
Stream: Superchunk / Majesty Shredding
Also up for stream at NPR and out next week is Blonde Redhead’s new long-player Penny Sparkle. They’re in town at The Phoenix on October 17.
Stream: Blonde Redhead / Penny Sparkle
NPR’s album stream slam continues with Of Montreal’s False Priest, out next Tuesday. Spin also gets in on the act with a new MP3 from said record available to download.
MP3: Of Montreal – “Sex Karma”
Stream: Of Montreal / False Priest
And out this week and streamable is Interpol’s latest Interpol. JAM, The National Post and Spinner have conversations with guitarist Daniel Kessler, presumably conducted when they were in town last month.
Stream: Interpol / Interpol
Deerhunter have put out a video from their forthcoming record Halcyon Digest, due out September 28. They’re at the Opera House on October 19.
Video: Deerhunter – “Helicopter”
Both NYC Taper and Bradley’s Almanac are sharing live recordings of Built To Spill shows from the past month or so.
Spin finds out how The Thermals got their name, while PopMatters turns in a regular old interview. They play Lee’s Palace on October 9.
Ra Ra Riot explain their cat-powered new video to Chart.
Black Cab Sessions runs the gamut with featuring Lissie, in town at the El Mocambo on October 19, and this one with The Flaming Lips – no bubble walk.
Rolling Stone takes Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy back to the days of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot for some insight on what that tumultuous period was like while Muzzle Of Bees has assembled a tribute album to Summerteeth recorded by all Wisconsin artists.
JEFF The Brotherhood are in town on October 20 at The Horseshoe.
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Peelander-Z at The Silver Dollar in Toronto
Frank YangPeelander-Z means many things to many people – Japanese Power Ranger-suited comic punks to some, incomprehensibly entertaining novelty act to others, and plain incomprehensible to the rest. To me, they mean the Hot Freaks! shows at The Mohawk in Austin, Texas, which were the highlights of SxSWs past. Those days are probably over and gone, however, so it was very obliging of them to come up to Toronto for two shows last week and help craft some new memories.
This was their first time back in town in a decade – a fact I found remarkable because it meant they’d been DOING what they do for 10 years plus – and while I’m a double-dose of Peelander would have been doubly entertaining, I opted to go to the second of the shows at The Silver Dollar simply because it was closer to home and seemed like a more climbable venue than The Velvet Underground and with better human bowling lanes. Besides making up for an extended absence from Canada, they were previewing their new record P-TV-Z, due out September 28, and really – do you need an excuse to dress up and engage in the sort of bedlam that Peelander do? No, I don’t think you do.
As far as the performance went, it was pretty much everything you could hope for. For the hour that they were on stage (and off the stage), there was the giant squid costume, nose picking, human bowling, replacing the band with audience members, singalongs, limbo, jump rope, conga lines, so many Mikes, and while the Silver Dollar isn’t nearly as conducive to scaling and surfing as The Mohawk, Peelander Red still managed to crowd surf upright onto the bar and back to the stage. Very impressive. And while there’s a temptation to assume the music comes secondary to the antics, just a little attention reveals that they’re capable and versatile musicians. I mean, YOU try playing bass while dressed as a giant squid guitar. Not that easy, is it. But most importantly, Peelander-Z are fun beyond words and utterly unique. And this show was better than the last one at the Mohawk in that Peelander Green didn’t feel compelled to chuck a drumstick at me this time.
Photos: Peelander-Z @ The Silver Dollar – September 2, 2010
MP3: Peelander-Z – “E-I-E-I-O”
MP3: Peelander-Z – “S.T.E.A.K.”
MP3: Peelander-Z – “Rocket Gold Star”
MP3: Peelander-Z – “Champion”
MP3: Peelander-Z – “Panda Punk”
Video: Peelander-Z – “E-I-E-I-O”
Video: Peelander-Z – “Ninja High Schooool”
Video: Peelander-Z – “S.T.E.A.K.”
Video: Peelander-Z – “Mad Tiger”
MySpace: Peelander-Z
Belle & Sebastian are previewing two songs from their new record Write About Love via a 30-minute talk show webisode; sounds like it’s going to be a winner, folks. The album is out October 12 and they play Massey Hall the same evening. The first MP3 from the album is supposed to be made available today as well. Update: The track is now available email-widget-swapsies-style.
The Telegraph and The Guardian talked to Laura Marling about being nominated a second time for the Mercury Prize, which is being awarded tonight.
Clash interviews Richard Thompson about his new album Dream Attic.
Billy Bragg talks to Billboard about teaming up with Roseanne Cash and Joe Henry for a new album due out in late 2011.
Unbelievably, The Charlatans’ North American tour in support of Who We Touch, out next Tuesday, is due to begin tonight in Atlanta and they still haven’t cancelled it. They might even already be on this side of the Atlantic! Perhaps flush with confidence that the apocalypse isn’t imminent, they’ve scheduled an in-store at Sunrise Records on Yonge St at 7PM next Friday, September 17, before their show at Lee’s Palace later that evening. And they’ve just released a new video from said record, which is apparently quite decent.
Video: The Charlatans – “My Foolish Pride”
Beatroute interviews The Dø, in town at the Mod Club this coming Sunday night, September 11.
The Guardian interviews Nick Cave of Grinderman. Grinderman 2 is out next Tuesday and they’re at The Phoenix on November 11.
I didn’t pay much attention to Pitchfork’s Top 200 Tracks of The ’90s series last week, save for skipping to the end on Friday and going, “huh”, but their just-posted ’90s In Lists piece was equal parts hilarious, nostalgic, depressing and terrifying – the last one mostly because that, right there, is my high school and university years and it was so so so so long away. The only thing that’s going to be more depressing today – god willing – is biking to work past the hordes of 17-year old frosh starting at the University Of Toronto who have no clue about 90% of the stuff in those lists. Hello, kids! I’m twice your age! Get off my lawn!
Sunday, September 5th, 2010
Manic Street Preachers cover Rihanna
WikipediaOne of the perks, if you could call it that, of not having cable or a working terrestrial radio, is that it’s very easy to be completely tuned out of mainstream popular culture and whatever the inescapable song du jour might be. The only time they seep onto my radar is when they’re slowed down 8000% and become internet memes or are covered – ironically or not – by artists I do like. And so it was that the first time I heard Rihanna’s “Umbrella”, which was apparently one of the monster jams of 2007, was when Coeur De Pirate covered it beautifully at Virgin Festival last year (her version).
The second time was when I found this version by Manic Street Preachers, recorded for an NME CD released in conjunction with the NME Awards in 2008, wherein they got artists of the moment to cover other artists of the moment, the Manics’ moment at that point being their 2007 album Send Away The Tigers. It’s a typically Manics big rock treatment, trading the original’s slinkiness for stadium scale, but you can still hear James Dean Bradfield smile as he gets to that chorus. Who wouldn’t?
The Manics’ new record Postcards From A Young Man is out September 28. Rihanna is set to release a new album, as yet untitled, on November 2.
MP3: Manic Street Preachers – “Umbrella”
Video: Rihanna – “Umbrella”
Saturday, September 4th, 2010
Abbey DruckerWho: School Of Seven Bells
What: New York outfit working the time-honoured two-twin-sister and one boyfriend formula to create heady and gorgeous dream-pop
Why: Having toured their debut Alpinisms relentlessly but not having been back to Toronto since last October, their sophomore effort Disconnect From Desire finally gives them the excuse to return
When: Wendesday, September 15, 2010
Where: The Mod Club in Toronto (19+)
Who else: Highly-touted locals Bishop Morocco and highly-touted Los Angelenos Active Child round out the bill
How: Tickets for the show are $20 in advance but courtesy of Embrace, I have two pairs of passes to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to attend School Of Seven Bells” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, September 12.
What else: The Fader has got videos from an acoustic session with the band
MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “Windstorm”
MP3: School Of Seven Bells – “Babelonia”
Saturday, September 4th, 2010
FacebookWho: Dirty Projectors
What: Critically-acclaimed but polarizing Brooklyn collective known for their musical and vocal prowess and willingness to show it off
Why: If the impending September 26 re-release of 2009′s Bitte Orca in double-disc deluxe form isn’t reason enough to tour, then I don’t know what is
When: Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Where: The Opera House in Toronto (19+)
Who else: Vermont-based, Sub Pop-signed Happy Birthday support
How: Tickets for the show are $24.50 in advance but courtesy of Domino Records and Union Events, I have a grand prize consisting of a pair of passes to the show and a copy of the deluxe edition Bitte Orca on CD and two additional pairs of passes to the show to give away. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to be a Dirty Projection” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body. Contest closes at midnight, September 12.
What else: The Washington Post talks to Dirty Projectors main man David Longstreth.
MP3: Dirty Projectors – “Stillness Is The Move”
MP3: Dirty Projectors – “Useful Chamber”
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