Off the Dial

The interweb is a strange and spectacular place. The same conduit that provides endless amounts of drivel from the LOL/OMG/BFF generation, at times provides a peek at something or someone truly unique and impressive.

Zoë Keating is an example of the latter. Canadian born and world traveled she took up music early in life and gave it up at times due to crippling stage fright. Her website offers a very full and candid outline of her life and how she ended up where she is today. Check it out at http://www.zoekeating.com/index.html

The genre she specializes in is billed as Avant Cello; a genre that does not conform to traditionalist standards of classical music. Most would assume she does something along the same lines as Apocalyptica, in which she creates or covers contemporary music on the cello, but that doesn’t give her enough credit. What she does accomplishes much more.

She creates her unique brand of music with a midi controller to sample over 16 layers at a time using her feet, which is fed into a computer to create very intricate, haunting & beautiful songs. Her ability to manipulate the sounds she creates is impressive enough, but what is even more impressive is that during her songs you forget it’s one person making the sounds that would normally be handled by several musicians.

As a sample of Zoë’s work, I offer a video of her taken at the Pop!Tech 2007 conference. Enjoy!

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Part of what I love about music is the discovery process. Some of the most interesting bands/artists I now listen to showed up on my playlist by chance, or by some random event.

Take the Fleet Foxes for example. There I am sitting at work a few weeks ago when a colleague wanders past and makes an off hand comment about the band.

“Blah, blah, blah…Fleet Foxes…blah, blah, blah…supposed to be the next big thing…blah, blah…should have caught them out at the festival I was just at…blah, blah.”

So I decide to check them out and end up pleasantly surprised at what I find (unlike that time I took Perez Hilton at his word and downloaded Robyn…stupid, stupid Perez Hilton).

For those of you who don’t know about the band, here’s the Coles notes version. Fleet Foxes are a five piece band out of Seattle signed to the Sub Pop and Bella Union labels. Led by front man Robin Pecknold, the band decided a change in sound was needed and produced an album based on the music of their parents, bands like The Zombies, Crosby, Stills & Nash…that sort of thing.

By using these bands as a blueprint, the Fleet Foxes produced an album which focused on simple harmony. Getting rid of the clutter of their past songs, and creating music with more emphasis on vocals and instrumental sections. Think The Beach Boys meet The Shins and you’re pretty close to what the Fleet Foxes sound like.

What came out of this new direction is something quite remarkable in its simplicity. Having no preconceptions around the album let me enjoy the music more than I would have otherwise. It’s an album that has been in regular rotation on my iPod and in the car. Well worth the time.

Check them out for yourself…

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The setting couldn’t have been more appropriate. After waiting out an afternoon thunder-shower the sun had set, the air was muggy and Radiohead took to the Molson Amphitheatre stage. Their elaborately lit set-up was accented by the CN Tower to the East and the lights of the Canadian National Exhibition to the West, which opened earlier that day.

Naturally, the U.K. monsters of progressive/art rock launched their set with “In Rainbows” lead track “15 Step” followed by “Reckoner“. However, they quickly proved this wouldn’t primarily be an “In Rainbows” live show, continuing with “Kid A“‘s “Optimistic” and “Hail to the Theif“‘s “There There“. Radiohead have become well known for omitting their earliest work and biggest commercial successes from their sets. Although this show was filled with plenty of music from their more experimental and artistic last four albums, fans were treated to “OK Computer” and “the Bends” cuts.

When it came time to play “Pyramid Song“, guitarist Jonny Greenwood sat down with his guitar and played it with a bow, a-la Jimmy Page, which provided a cool addition to the song’s sound. Singer Thom Yorke was often found dancing frenetically when the moment seemed right and was absolutely stunning when playing his piano pieces. It’s not certain if this was intentional or not but he abruptly stopped singing during “Morning Bell” but carried on without missing a step.

They finished the main set with “Bodysnatchers” and after a short break returned to play the always too short “Like Spinning Plates“. It was during the first encore that Thom finally spoke to the crowd. It was also when Radiohead proved that only a band this good can go from playing keys, piano, syth and effects on one song (as in “Videotape“) and all four playing guitar in another (on “Airbag“). The encore wrapped with “Street Spirit” but they returned again with “House of Cards” and “Planet Telex“.

The light show provided a perfect combination of vivid lights and flowing music that really brought everything to life. A screen displayed live images of the band from the stage while five circular LED spotlights repositioned themselves above. There also were several pendulum-like light-sticks that displayed vibrant colours and effects that would captivate anyone with eyes, especially when they began ‘raining’ on the stage right when Yorke sang the line “It should be raining” during “the Gloaming” . The most impressive display came during show finale “Everything in its Right Place” when lyrics scrolled across the light-sticks as they were being sung by Thom. It proved to be an outstanding finish to an outstanding concert, one that will surely stick in the memories of those in attendance.

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This quartet from Syracuse, NY formed in 2006 and quickly gained notoriety for their enthusiastic live campus performances; So much so that they landed a CMJ Music Marathon gig mere months after their inception.

“The Rhumb Line” seems to capture that exuberance with its soulful melodies, smooth, heartfelt vocals and often upbeat tempos. Lead track “Ghosts Under Rocks” sets the stage for the entire album although “Too Too Too Fast”, with its extremely ‘80s sounding synths, mixes things up. It also happens to be one of the most energetic contributions to the record.

Similarities can certainly be drawn to NYC act Vampire Weekend (who formed the same year) but Ra Ra Riot hold their own ground on their debut full length. Indie rock fan should not be disappointed.

“the Rhumb Line” is set for release on August 19th, 2008 via Barsuk Records. Sample three tracks from the record on the Ra Ra Riot MySpace page.

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Milton, ON’s the Most Serene Republic have just release a live acoustic EP via iTunes. The band recorded the session at the XM studios in Washington D.C. after being invited there by Tobi and the XMU crew last December.

The EP, titled “Live at XMU“, contains four songs; “Compliance“, “Sherry and Her Butterfly Net“, “Present of Future End” (all from their 2007 album “Population“) and “Anhoi Polloi” (from their 2006 EP “Phages“).

“Live at XMU” is available for just $3.96 and you can hear “Sherry and Her Butterfly Net” on the Most Serene Republic official MySpace page.

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It has been a lengthy 8-13 year journey for Montreal indie rockers the Dears. Having formed in 1995 by Murray Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak they released “End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story” in 2000 on Grenadine Records.

Since then they’ve released two more albums; 2003′s fantastic “No Cities Left” and 2006′s “Gang of Losers“, both of which were released on MapleMusic although the latter was also released in the U.S. through Arts & Crafts. Both received good reviews but the Dears remain largely indie in many aspects. Their next release (which Lightburn announced on the band’s MySpace blog is titled “Missiles“) was slated for an April 2008 release but things haven’t panned out.

Lightburn revealed in said blog entry that “Missiles” has been complete since April and that they’ve been “trying to secure a release date for the fall. It’s getting pretty f***ed out there.” He goes on to add, “We thought very seriously about doing it ourselves. But that just wasn’t realistic at all. Not in the least. And our relationships with Bella Union (U.K. label for “Gang of Losers”) and Arts & Crafts had run their course. So at the 11th hour, in walked Dangerbird. Our beloved MapleMusic Recordings is still there for us and will release the record in Canada while Dangerbird Records will release it everywhere else. Should be an interesting/entertaining journey.”

Described as “beautiful” and “a blues album, essentially” Lightburn also states that it’s “long and kind of paced for love making, because that really makes everything better.” He also hints at an October release for the 58 minute, 10 song Dears record.

Much like when they recorded their debut album, the recording of “Missiles” resulted in the line-up being whittled down to just the two of them and Lightburn assures fans “it is for the best”. In fact, there really isn’t anything to worry about since they’ve already amassed a seven piece line-up, rehearsing a couple of times a week for future live dates.

Until then, fans can hear “Meltdown in a Major” on both their MySpace page and on the Dears’ office web site.

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In an interview with MTV.com last winter, singer/guitarist Daron Malakian proclaimed that Scars on Broadway is “my band right now” and that there are no plans for his and drummer John Dolyman‘s former group System of a Down to re-form. Serve that as your notice and keep that in mind when listening to this new self titled album.

Now that Serj Tankian has released his solo and Scars on Broadway has arrived, you can finally pinpoint which aspects of the wonderfully weird SOAD sounds came from. Just like with Tankian’s solo debut, fans of the former group should not expect to hear the new SOAD in Scars on Broadway; rather an extension of the individual artists and what they contributed.

Consisting of 15 tracks, there’s an obvious familiarity to SOAD, what with Malakian’s increased vocal presence on that group’s later albums. However, there is a distinctiveness to these songs that makes them Scars on Broadway. Where the former was erratic, smashing and eclectic, the latter is very melodic, grinding and (in places) strange beyond words.

Things start off fairly subdued with “Serious” and “Funny” but pick up significantly with the quirky keys and rapid-fire lyrics of “Exploding/Reloading“. From there things continue to spiral into a beautifully orchestrated and well contained chaos on “Stoner-Hate” with it’s Mary Poppins plagiarism. Although every track is solid, stand-outs worth mentioning include “Kill Each Other/Live Forever” and “Chemicals“, a song with the most crude and hilarious lyrics heard in quite some time.

Naturally, there are plenty of social and political messages in this album. With lyrics like “Maybe I don’t know, how many people are starving” (from “World Long Gone“), “I know it’s really hard to see that we are the enemy of the earth” on “Enemy“, and “We don’t wanna believe, that the world can still move on” (from “Kill Each Other/Live Forever“). Perhaps the heaviest hitting lyrics come from “Exploding/Reloading” where Malakian sings “I am, I am genocide, mixed with Turkish lies”; a blatant reference to Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge the death of a million Armenians during and following World War I.

Don’t let the apparent death of SOAD sway you. With no song exceeding five minutes, this album flows incredibly, makes for a fantastic listen and is worth every second.

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…and on Warped Tour?!

On two occasions since Calgary got it’s very own “alternative” radio station in January 2007, I’ve called up the station requesting to hear …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. The first attempt was responded with a “Who?” On the second attempt, the DJ at least knew who I was talking about but apparently their catalogue was completely devoid of any of the Austin, Texas groups music.

Granted, I know that the Trail of Dead are a fairly obscure group but my idea of an alternative station was to sometimes play music that isn’t part of the mainstream. Trail of Dead‘s obscurity is in part due to their artistic and non-conformist approach to music and in larger part due to the shameful lack of promotion by their former record label, Interscope.

So again, I beg the question to Lynch (Program Director) and the upper echelon at x92.9; Why the fuck are you playing Katy Perry on your station when you seemingly won’t even consider playing a band like Trail of Dead? Plus, trying to get you to play local independent acts outside of your contest and weekly one-hour show is a near impossibility. Is it because her song condones lesbian-curious attitudes and you’re just hoping that by playing said song on your station, your female listeners might take the cue and suddenly Calgary will be awash with girls kissing each other? If so, don’t hold your breath.

Honestly, “I Kissed A Girl” is a pop-song at best and a bad joke at worst. I don’t care if her cool factor went up a notch when she uttered the work “fuck” live to air during an interview at the Warped Tour yesterday. Leave that shite for VIBE 98.5 to play. Please?

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For this episode, we focus on all things heavy, from rock to metal to thrash featuring Calgary acts Truck, Caveat, Inner Surge, the Turrettes; U.K. act Thunderbird 13, Epitaph artists Death By Stereo, Nine Inch Nails, Rollins Band, Toronto’s Tripchord (Cyclone Records), Newfoundland’s Bucket Truck and Quebec’s Priestess (INDICA Records) plus a bonus track!

Download: MP3 Format ~ M4A ENHANCED Format; iTunes ; RSS Feed

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