Hey Operators! Big Fun!

Remember that Coney Hatch song Hey Operator? No? It was brilliant. "Make the telephone talk to me," belted Carl Dixon. Anyway, I hope someone does a synthy version of it of it called Hey Operators in honour of synth-pop purveyors Operators, who are coming to town as part of the Big Fun Festival Thursday January 29th 2015 @ The West End Cultural Centre with Hana Lu Lu and Will to Power. Operators is the new band from Dan Boeckner, who has also created heavenly sounds in Divine Fits, Handsome Furs, and Wolf Parade. Four great bands already? Boeckner must be some kind of genius. With Devojka and Sam Brown, Boeckner is whipping up more aural joy.  


You can purchase Operators stuff here.


Start Again

True

Cruel


Cold Light


Live at KEXP
Tour
1/6 - Boston, MA @ Royale w/ Future Islands
1/7 - Boston, MA @ Royale w/ Future Islands
1/8 - New York, NY @ Terminal 5 w/ Future Islands
1/9 - New York, NY @ Terminal 5 w/ Future Islands
1/10 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer w/ Future Islands
1/11 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer w/ Future Islands
1/14 - Chicago, IL @ Schuba's - Tomorrow Never Knows Festival
1/29 - Winnipeg, MB @ West End Cultural Centre
1/30 - Vancouver, BC @ The Fox
1/31 - Vancouver, BC @ The Fox
2/4 - Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre w/ The New Pornographers
2/5 - Toronto, ON @ The Danforth Music Hall w/ The New Pornographers
2/6 - London, ON @ London Music Hall w/ The New Pornographers
2/7 - Guelph, ON @ Hillside Inside w/ The New Pornographers
2/8 - Hamilton, ON @ Molson Canadian Studio w/ The New Pornographers

Crooked Brothers - Thank You I'm Sorry

The Crooked Brothers will be celebrating the release of their newest album, Thank You I'm Sorry, at the West End Dec. 12. Is that the most Canadian album title ever? When the Winnipeggers put out the deluxe version with demos, remixes and live versions maybe they will just tack on "Eh". In the meantime, it's a tasty roots album, even without back bacon and stubbies of Canadian. What do you get on Thank You I'm Sorry Excuse Me? Beautiful, mournful guitar (Blackbird in the Snow), up-tempo footstompers (Pass You By), dark Tom Waitsian storytime (Organs on Demand) and roaring Waitsian growls (Lightning in my Chest), forceful blues (Mean Mean Baby), and pretty restrained harmonies (Sittin True, North of the Border). You're welcome, no apology necessary.


Thank You I'm Sorry


Postcard EP


Lawrence, Where's your Knife?


Deathbed Pillowtalk


Dec 2 - Kelowna, Minstrel Cafe
Dec 3 - Sicamous, House Concert
Dec 5 - Edmonton, Artery w/ The Whiskey Sheiks
Dec 6 - Lloydminster, The Root
Dec 7 - Saskatoon, The Bassment
Dec 12 - Winnipeg, West End Cultural Centre

Matt Epp - Promised Land

Winnipegger Matt Epp's Luma ep came out in October, but that's no reason you can't get into it today. Promised Land bristles with crackling energy, barely restrained.




Some older Matt Epp songs for ya.

War


When You Know (Featuring Serena Ryder)


They Won't Find the Bodies


Photo at top of post by Jen Squires

The Besnard Lakes Are No Barenaked Ladies

Listening to the radio recently, and the on-air personality told me that Sam Roberts Band is playing at the Burton Cummings Theatre Nov. 21. Also, Barenaked Ladies are opening. I thought I misheard, but the guy said it again. That' a weird bill, I thought. So I checked as soon as I could, and sure enough, no Ladies, it is The Besnard Lakes.


The Besnard Lakes do not deserve this kind of treatment. Maybe the band hasn't put out the radio/video hits that BNL did, and perhaps the goofy wisecracking thing isn't part of The Besnard Lakes image. But The Besnard Lakes make an intoxicating blend, with My Bloody Valentine, Beach Boys, Spiritualized and Neil Young all serving as touchstones for an epic sound.


People of the Sticks


Colour Yr Lights In


And Her Eyes Were Painted Gold


At Midnight


The Specter


46 Satires

Catalina


Alamogordo


Devastation


For Spy Turned Musician


Albatross


For Agent !3


I've Got A feeling


You Mke Loving Fun (Fleetwood Mac cover)


We're Here For A Good Time (Not A Long Time)


Some Sam R0berts Band for good measure.

We're All In This Together (Free download)


Them Kids


The Canadian Dream


Hard Road


Don't Walk Away Eileen

Conduct - A Figure, Contract Killer, Fear and Desire

Winnipeg's Conduct are unleashing a stormy, desperate post-punk maelstrom. The album is entiled Fear and Desire, it's out November 4 on Public Tone, it was recorded by Steve Albini and is being mastered by Bob Weston.


A Figure


Contract Killer

Royal Canoe - Exodus of the Year

Royal Canoe's newest video is a brilliant piece of work clarifying that Winnipeg is a land of potholes, bargain stores, parking lots, guard dogs, tanks, tributes to Louis Riel, and love. As a band that are becoming our ambassadors by default ( as The Weakerthans were for a while, and Propagandhi too!), it's one of the most perfect homages ever. Funny, odd, outdated and a little bizarre, the video is just like Winnipeg.




Here's a live version for ya, with real strings!


Royal Canoe is often doing something noteworthy, like performing Beck's SongReader (you can hear a few track here), and here's some video.

Button Fumbla (Live)


The band also does a truckload of shows. Yeah, they've played your town. Twice. Here's the next few dates, find the rest here, ya lazy bugger.

Sep 13 Harvest Moon Festival Clearwater, Canada
Sep 20 Scotia Bank Stage - Rightsfest Winnipeg, Canada
Sep 30 The Exchange w/ Close Talker Regina, Canada
Oct 01 The Capitol w/ Close Talker Saskatoon, Canada
Oct 02 Pawn Shop w/ Close Talker Edmonton, Canada
Oct 03 Bo's Bar & Grill

Slow Leaves - Beauty So Common

Winnipeg's Slow Leaves (Grant Davidson) are (is) releasing a brand-spankin' new album entitled Beauty is so Common on September 6 at the West End Cultural Centre. Beauty is so Common should park Slow Leaves in the same field as singer-songwriters such as Ron Sexsmith and Scott Nolan, fellas that somehow manage to create fresh songs that already sound classic, gimmick-free and devoid of any need to be pigeon-holed into genres such as alt-country. Is it folk? Is it pop? Country? Who cares? My favourite tracks so far are Life of a Better Man, Neighbourhood Watch, and Second Chances.


 Everybody Wants to be in Love


Second Chances



Life of a Better Man (free download!)


And the amazing video for the same song created by Davidson himself.


Careless and Serene (with Rob Pachol on ukelele)

Art Bergmann - Drones of Democracy

Art Bergmann is back with a new tune called Drones of Democracy, taken from an ep entitled either Songs for the Underclass or Slogans for the Underclass, I'm not sure which. The 4-track ep should be out in the fall on Weewerk Records.

"The making of a sleeper cell. Drones manufactured in the heart of America. How to explain the use of advanced weapons, cluster-bombs, made to shred tanks. Weapons used on innocents, man, woman, and child alike. If you think Neil Young wrote this, well yeah, I wanted my own Cortez." -Art

So we are finally treated to some new Artmusic, the first since 1995's What Fresh Hell Is This. If you've been paying attention here, you already know how highly Scruffy treasures Bergmann. Clearly he still has things to say, can't wait to hear the rest.

Drones of Democracy


Some older ones from back through the ages to refresh your memory.

My Empty House


Stop the Time


Hospital Song


Contract


Faithlessly Yours


Dirge No. 1


Young Canadians - Hawaii


Message From Paul


Our Little Secret


The K-Tels- Don't Tell Me


Poisoned - Yeah I Guess


Bound for Vegas


Tour dates:
07/25-27 Calgary, AB - Calgary Folk Music Festival
09/06 Vancouver BC - Commodore Ballroom

Artwork at top of post by David Cran.

Blunderspublik - Reason (Hushfeed cover feat. Jay Churko)

Blunderspublik's new ep Kittens & Shit: Blunderspublik's Homage to '90s Winnipeg is now out for your listening pleasure and edification. Hushfeed, Kittens, Mikimoto, Bonaduces and Shit covers/reimaginings. You can download here, physical copies should be available soon from Sfeericle Records.




 I love the idea of paying tribute to your own hometown.

Here's a few originals from the originators. It would be fun to hear newer acts like Greg MacPherson, Sons of York, Cannon Bros., Attica Riots, Warsaw, etc. do Streetheart, Stretchmarks, Breath Grenades, Harlequin, Liquid Bone Dance, QCK, or Grand Theft Canoe etc. and vice versa. Who can make this happen?

Hushfeed - Reason


The Bonaduces - Judy Blume Weekend

Newer Bonaduces:


Kittens - Butterfly

Sloan - Keep Swinging (Downtown): Is Sloan the Canadian KISS?

New Sloan? Yes. The album is called Commonwealth, there's a side for each guy (like the KISS solo records!), out September 9. Kiss made a concept record (The Elder), and Andrew Scott's side is an 18-minute suite called Forty-Eight Portraits. It's possible the band will be doing a Vegas residency instead of KISS, I don't know.



Diamond Side (Jay):

1) We've Come This Far 2) You've Got A Lot On Your Mind
3) Three Sisters
4) Cleopatra
5) Neither Here Nor There

Heart Side (Chris):

6) Carried Away
7) So Far So Good
8) Get Out
9) Misty's Beside Herself
10) You Don't Need Excuses To Be Good

Shamrock Side (Patrick):

11) 13 (Under A Bad Sign)
12) Take It Easy
13) What's Inside
14) Keep Swinging (Downtown)

Spade Side (Andrew):

15) Forty-Eight Portraits

How about a free download of recently-released cover of The Good In Everyone by The Almighty Rhombus?


Another freebie. choir! choir! choir! do Everything You've Done Wrong.

Dominionated: Free Album! Canadians Cover Canadians

In time for Canada Day, Quick Before it Melts has launched a free download of Dominionated, 22 songs created by Canucks and covered by Canadians. My favourites so far are The Provincial Archive`s G Turns to D (Sloan), Canvas doing Zuckerbaby`s Andromeda, and LeE HARVeY OsMOND`s Black Velvet (Alannah Myles).

Canvas - Andromeda


DOMINIONATED TRACK LISTING:
THE ALMIGHTY RHOMBUS Violent Dreams (Thrush Hermit)
ARCHERY GUILD Hold Tight (Gino Soccio)
CANVAS Andromeda (Zuckerbaby)
EXPWY featuring Julia Pessoa All Uncovered (The Watchmen)
FARRAGOES Lust For Love (Images In Vogue)
GDANSK All the Things I Wasn’t (The Grapes of Wrath)
KASHKA Curious (Sandbox)
LEE HARVEY OSMOND Black Velvet (Alannah Myles)
JERRY LEGER Wonderin’ (Neil Young)
[MP.G] The Criminal (Sons of Freedom)
EAMON McGRATH Young Offenders (Constantines)
MEEKO CHEECH Two Lips, Two Lungs and One Tongue (NoMeansNo)
OLD ENGLISH featuring MERIVAL Coming Back To You (Leonard Cohen)
PENNY BLACKS Tinfoil (Limblifter)
THE PROVINCIAL ARCHIVE G Turns to D (Sloan)
NO ALOHA Fountains (The Nils)
SOME MINOR NOISE Broken Bones (Love Inc.)
STONETROTTER Eyes of a Stranger (Payola$)
TWIN LIBRARY Doesn’t Really Matter (Platinum Blonde)
TIMMINS&BLOOD The Ballad of Jacob Peck (John Bottomley)
VENUS SANS FUR Behind the Garage (Eric’s Trip)


 Here's a few of the tunes from the original artists, if you have forgotten.

 Limblifter - Tinfoil

Neil Young - Wonderin' - One of my favourite videos of all time.

 Constantines - Young Offenders (Live)

The Watchmen - All Uncovered


Sons of Freedom - The Criminal

Sloan - G Turns to D

The Grapes of Wrath - All the Things I Wasn't

Sandbox - Curious

Images in Vogue - Lust for Love

The Payolas - Eyes of a Stranger

Platinum Blonde - It Doesn't Really Matter

Nash the Slash Passes

Supposedly Nash the Slash passed away yesterday. There's a fine letter from Nash on his website explaining his retirement in 2012, which serves as a fair epitaph. I met the man once, shook his white-gloved hand, and marvelled at the wonder of Nash the Slash. I don't think we will ever see another just like him. He took chances, made unique sounds, revealed a sense of humour, and recorded some inventive covers.


19th Nervous Breakdown


Vincent's Crows


Dance after Curfew


Tension


Wolf


Swing Shift


It's a Novel Romance


American Band


Dopes on the Water


Normal


Psychotic Reaction


Baba O'Riley


1984

D.O.A.'s Dave Gregg Passes Away

I only got to catch D.O.A. with Dave Gregg once. But I have always loved those early D.O.A. records. To me, Something Better Change and Hardcore '81 meant punk rock. I knew next-to-nothing about the Sex Pistols or Ramones or whatever you call punk rock. But I knew D.O.A. When I first heard The Dickies, I thought, "That's not punk rock! They sound NOTHING like D.O.A.!"

Gregg played guitar with D.O.A. from '80 to '88, opening my ears and mind and heart to a whole new strain of music I didn't know existed.

Sadly, Gregg died yesterday.


 The Enemy

General Strike

The Prisoner

Waiting for You

Watcha Gonna Do?

Slumlord

Unknown

War

Photo at top by Alex Waterhouse-Hayward.

Sanford up for Ukelele Video of the Year, Vote Now!

Winnipeg's Sanford is up for Ukelele Video of the Year for 2013 at Ukelehunt.com. Sanford's collaboration with Adrian Sala and Tesia Rhind is in the lead, if you like it, you can help take it over the top . You can vote here, you only have one more day to get this local boy his own gold medal.



Here's an old Sanford tune for ya, maybe it'll help ya see how diverse the guy is.

Justin Rutledge gets Tragically Hip, Covers Courage and 9 More

I have been thinking for quite a while about getting some artists to cover some particular Tragically Hip songs. Since Sarah Polley reeled off a haunting version of Courage so many years ago, I figured it would be a fun exercise. Well, wouldn't ya know it, someone beat me to it. On April 22, Justin Rutledge is releasing 10 Hip covers on an album entitled Daredevil, with people like Skydiggers' Andy Maize, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Brendan Canning, and Jenn Grant. Here's one song as a sample with Andy Maize chiming in on vocals.

Courage (for Hugh Maclennan)


Daredevil:

1. Looking For A Place to Happen
2. Springtime in Vienna
3. Thugs
4. Escape Is At Hand for the Travellin' Man
5. Grace, Too
6. Locked in the Trunk of a Car
7. Courage (for Hugh Maclennan)
8. Long Time Running
9. Put it Off
10. Fiddler's Green



Tragically Hip versions of songs Rutledge has recorded:

1. Looking For A Place to Happen


2. Springtime in Vienna

3. Thugs


4. Escape Is At Hand for the Travellin' Man


5. Grace, Too


6. Locked in the Trunk of a Car


7. Courage (for Hugh Maclennan)


8. Long Time Running


9. Put it Off


10. Fiddler's Green


Aaaaand some Hip covers for ya:

Sarah Polley - Courage


Blow at High Dough for Orchestra


c!c!c! - Ahead By a Century


Justin Rutledge has been unafraid to cover popular artists in the past, here's a cover of a Bob Dylan track you might know.

Tomorrow is a Long Time


Your reward for making it this far down the post is a couple of free mp3s, and the first is a cover of the Pogues' Dirty Old Town.

Kapuskasing Coffee.

Inbreds - Best Canadian songs of all Time No. 9

This series of posts will be offering the definitive list of the best Canuck tunes ever recorded, scientifically tabulated, collated and obfuscated by the Brain of Scruff, in absolutely-not numerical order. Check out the list so far here.


How amazing can a rock band become with only two instruments? Clearly a lot of people jumped on The White Stripes bandwagon. But years before that pair managed to pull off garagey hits, The Inbreds were a duo that made their mark primarily featuring only bass, drums and voice. Joyrides of fuzzy bass propelled bittersweet choruses, oft-restrained percussion gave way to cymbal-crashing waves, voices straddled an invisible line between euphoria and melancholy.

The Inbreds - Any Sense of Time

Haunter Gives Up the Ghost, Offers Rarities, Demos, and a Devo Cover

Winnipeg's Haunter just played their last show the other night, which is a downer. However, I am confident the bandmembers will continue to make amazing sounds with their other projects such as Cannon Bros., so everything will still come up roses, right?

You can name your price at the band's bandcamp page. At the very least, check out the demo of Blood and Thunder, which is as brilliant in its own way as the final studio version (which can be heard below on Rivers and Rust).



July 2005



Montreal

hHead - Best Canadian Songs of All Time No. 8

This series of posts will be offering the definitive list of the best Canuck tunes ever recorded, scientifically tabulated, collated and obfuscated by the Brain of Scruff, in absolutely-not numerical order. Check out the list so far here.


hHead filled a void in Canada which was taken up in the States by bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Meat Puppets. Guitar-based rock, laconic vocals, the ability to veer towards weirdness without always falling into a pit of bizarre ridiculousness. hHead had some catchy songs, and though the band's presentation included some fine harmonies, pop wasn't really in the guys' vocabulary. There also weren't easy signposts for punk and metal in their tunes, so listeners had to really pay attention to find the hooks to hang on to. Remedial is indicative of hHead's ability to write a pleasureable tune, then let it slide into slacker-rock, with Mintz's laid-back vocals intoning, "Welcome to special ed, get your education spoon-fed, now I think that I suck...do I have to be so well-rounded?"

Remedial

Crash Test Dummies - God Shuffled His Feet is 20!?!

Crash Test Dummies' God Shuffled His Feet recently celebrated its 20-year old birthday. That album really put the band on the musical map. I remember interviewing Michael Stipe and him talking about the band because CTD and I shared a hometown. Prior to that time, most non-Canadians usually had to reach back to the Guess Who or Neil Young if pressed to name a Winnipeg-raised artist.

I first saw the band at the Winnipeg Children's Festival. The kids I was supervising were fascinated by some performer (a juggler, maybe?), but the Dummies were making music a few feet away. I stepped over and watched while my co-worker sat with the children, and I was slowly mesmerised, a fascinated audience of one. The cobblestones behind Portage Place made the perfect ground for old-fashioned busking. The voices of Brad Roberts and Ellen Reid together sounded like nothing I'd ever heard. Ben Darvill always looked like he was having more fun than you could imagine - and did you want to join him? I couldn't watch and listen too long, but I was intrigued. I couldn't peg the sound - was Spirit of the West a reference point? The Pogues? All I knew for sure was that Brad Roberts was much better as a songwriter/singer/frontman than a bartender.

In fact, Roberts was a better interview too, as I ended up writing stories about the band around the time of the first album and then the second. Intelligent, serious, and confident are words I would ascribe to him. Reid always seemed nice and grounded, and Ben Darvill was serious about music but a pretty funny fellow otherwise.

At any rate, God Shuffled his Feet definitely shuffled the band out of any folk-rock category and into the wider pop world. Just listen to the guitar on that album - sounds to me like a couple of XTC's records were spinning regularly somewhere in Winnipeg. Anyhow, I think the guitar o the album is the bee's knees - for example, the bright shimmery bits in Swimming in your Ocean, the cyclical chunky chords in Here I Stand Before Me (bonus tasty mouth harp too!), the exquisite solo in I Think I'll Disappear Now. Nobody was making SOTW comparisons anymore. Kevin Mutch's clever album cover stood out, and clearly Brad's songs did too, because the album became popular pretty quickly.

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm became big enough for Weird Al Yankovic to parody, for gosh sake's. CTD performed on Saturday Night Live in a year dominated by bands some joker termed "grunge" - Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Punkins, and Stone Temple Pilots all hit the SNL stage that year (Don't know why Soundgarden didn't get invited to the party, I guess Tony! Toni! Toné! was more important. Or something.) At any rate, the only loud distorted guitar I remember on God Shuffled... appeared on How Does a Duck Know, and it seemed ironic to me somehow - it certainly wasn't related to anything Mudhoney or Tad hatched. And that's the point - Crash Test Dummies didn't sound like anyone else. Who else was titling tunes "When I Go Out With Artists" or throwing T.S. Eliot's name out there? (For more on this period of time, hunt down Kiva Simova and her book Crash Test Passenger: Tour Diary of a Hired Gun (try Facebook or Twitter) written from the point of view of a keyboard player and backing vocalist hired to fill out the band's sound, or Stephen Ostick's Superman's song: The Story of the Crash Test Dummies.)

In the years since its release, God Shuffled His Feet seems to have become an album that has polarized listeners. Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm especially has made a few "worst" lists, but others still love it. In the band's original hometown of Winnipeg, which has a love/hate relationship with everything including itself, I'm not sure that the record's success has ever been recognized. I can't think of an artist that has captured people's ears all over the world in the years since - maybe The Weakerthans have come the closest. Give a listen and tell me what you think after all of these years.

God Shuffled His Feet

Afternoons and Coffeespoons

Mmm Mmm Mmmm Mmm Mmm

In the Days of the Caveman

Swimming in Your Ocean

Here I Stand Before Me

I Think I'll Disappear Now & How Does a Duck Know

When I Go Out With Artists

The Psychic

Two Knights and Maidens

Untitled"

Slow Leaves - Second Chance EP and a FlyAway Video

Winnipeg's Slow Leaves (Grant Davidson) recently released an EP entitled Second Chances, as well as revealing an arresting video for a track called Life of a Better Man. I think Davidson made his own video, which makes me wonder if he's one of those impossible creative people who can do anything. If you like Ron Sexsmith or Dawes (and you should), you might enjoy Slow Leaves' mellow folk-pop, and Life of a Better Man has a rollicking vibe, a toe-tappin', hand-clappin' joyous feel.

At any rate, the three tunes on the EP were all produced by Rusty Matyas (Imaginary Cities, The Waking Eyes) in sessions that produced an entire album's worth of material (the forthcoming Beauty Is So Common has no release date - I'm going to guess sometime in 2014). Slow Leaves play November 16 in Winnipeg at the West End Cultural Centre, in a new series called Now Introducing: Veteran Manitoba Musicians Present Their Favourite New Local Artists. Romi Mayes will play and introduce Jamie Buckboro and Rusty Matyas will perform and introduce Slow Leaves.

Slow Leaves - Life of a Better Man


Careless and Serene

Second Chances

Buy Slow Leaves at iTunes.
Buy Slow Leaves at Amazon.
Buy Slow Leaves at Bandcamp.

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