That pic above is the end of Yak. And right now it looks like this might be the end of Scruffy the Yak, or at least for an indefinite period of time. My laptop died, making it almost impossible to put this thing together. So here's a round up of a bunch of artists I didn't get the time to post about, some of which are my favourites for 2014, and some newer stuff. See ya 'round.
Ryan Adams finally embraced his inner Bryan Adams, Tom Petty, even Rick Springfield. Top 5 album last year.
Gimme Something Good
The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen
Champagne Years - Skinny Jeans
Duotang came back from the dead like Walkers, except with more emotions. Get Duotang Unreleased EP from the Winnipeg Free Press's Anthony Augustine and the band, go here.Grab the audio from Duotang's Triumphant return to the Winnipeg stage from the always-insightful Teenage Dogs in Trouble.
Live at the Mint Records 2014 Xmas party
Failure - Come Crashing
Faith No More - MF
Bryan Ferry - Loop De Li
The Hours - Miss Emerald Green
jeff the brotherhood - What's A Creep
Jet Set Satellite - Ashes From the Fire
Junior Gone Wild got back together for a few shows, and Mike McDonald released a solo record. Here's hoping some new JGW songs are on the way.
Split Single is the new project from Jason Narducy (Verbow, Telekinesis, too many others to mention), Britt Daniel (Spoon, Divine Fits), and Jon Wurster (Superchunk, also too many others). The debut album Fragmented World will be released April 1st. Singer/guitarist Narducy's songs seem to run the gamut from Superchunky punk (Monolith) to hazy cinematic dream pop (Last Goodbye) to peppy new wave (Waiting for the Sun), at least from the three you can hear below.
EDIT: According to Pitchfork, Narducy will be doing some shows with a couple of other fellas backing him up, so Split Single might have an evolving lineup of whoever the heck Narducy feels like playing with.
1 Waiting for the Sun
2 Monolith
3 Last Goodbye
4 Searches
5 Fragmented World
6 Made For Breaking
7 Love Is You
8 Never Look Back
9 My Eyes
10 My Heart Is Your Shadow
A b-side from Divine Fits, sounds rockin' and raw, "just liiiike...the queen of the trailer park", with layered fuzzy guitar skronk. If you liked when Spoon played gutbucket rawk, you may enjoy this one as much as me.
And hey, that gigposter above by artist Kii Arens is so good I do't need any more eye candy for the rest of the week.
However, the album teasers seem to hint at much more atmospheric tunes than the above.
Remember the album entitled A Thing Called Divine Fits, will be released in Europe and the UK on August 27 and in the US and Canada on August 28. You can pre-order now on the band's website.
The second song from the upcoming Divine Fits album we are being allowed to hear is Would That Not Be Nice. It ups the energy from the previous release My Love is Real (listen here), which sounded a bit like awesome new wavey Handsome Furs to me. Would That Not Be Nice focuses on snappy percussion, ethereal keyboards, and the always-brilliant Britt Daniel vocals.
The album will be called A Thing Called Divine Fits and is out in Europe/the UK on August 27 and in the US and Canada on August 28.
Tracklisting:
My Love Is Real
Flaggin A RIde
What Gets You Alone
Would That Not Be Nice
The Salton Sea
Baby Get Worse
Civilian Stripes
For Your Heart
Shivers
Like Ice Cream
Neo-politans
A limited-edition 7-inch single of My Love Is Real will be released July 31 and will feature the non-LP B-side cover of Camper Van Beethoven's "I Was Born in a Laundromat."
Divine Fits is the band comprised of Britt Daniel (Spoon), Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade) and Sam Brown (New Bomb Turks), and the trio will release their debut single “My Love Is Real” July 31. If the new record (no release date yet) is anything like the first single, my faith in modern rock music will be restored. Here's to hoping.
Side A: My Love Is Real
Side B: I Was Born In A Laundromat
Comments make the world go 'round, please leave one below.
Scruffy the Yak's 100th post. I wanted to get all hot and bothered about this, do something big and splashy and celebratory. But I'm not. A blogger I read regularly wrote that without engagement, blogs die. He's right. I'm a little weary of not receiving any comments on my posts. I'm not looking for self-congratulatory, ego-stroking nonsense, just the occasional discussion, opinion, or even argument. Try to leave a comment below a post sometime. Like most bloggers, I'm not getting paid, so your feedback is meaningful. If Soundcloud's not working, or you can't download from the widget, let me know. Disagree with something on this page? Voice your opinion, please.
Anyhow, no special birthday celebration came to mind, so the only difference with this post is I'm hawking a book I read recently. Rest is the same, new and old music I'd recommend you take for a spin.
Kids on Fire I haven't been able to learn a lot about yet (Mr. Transistor 66, send more updates!). The Winnipeggers released their debut cd in January and will be playing Canada Day in front of Music Trader at 8:00.
This is not a fresh new video, but Spoon is one of my top three bands throughout the last decade, and I haven't given them much notice here. That's only because the band gets hyped enough. However, if you've never paid attention, the following is from Transference, the new one. For an intro to the band, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga should make you a beleiver, and I sincerely urge you to try Kill the Moonlight as well; you can hear them at the band's site.
During the Stanley Cup playoffs, I heard a Pride Tiger song (Fill Me In) used as the rock and roll soundtrack to stir up viewers and I remembered how much I liked the band. I just discovered the band broke up. Too bad, our loss. Here's The Lucky Ones.
I only knew Buck Owens as a bad joke guy on Hee Haw as a kid, but I've recently discovered he made some cool music, not necessarily the cheesy country I associated him with. I'm still learning. For example, what genre does this tune, Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass, fit into?
I really enjoyed Donald Westlake's Memory, in which the protagonist loses his memory and never regains it. Here's the beginning of the book:
After the show, they went back to the hotel room, and to bed, for the seventeenth time in three weeks. He had chosen her because, being on the road with him, she was handy; and additionally because she was married, had already clipped the wings of one male, and could therefore demand nothing more from him than he was willing to give. Why she had chosen him he neither knew nor cared.
And the nurse dressed all in white said, "Ah, there you are!" She was smiling, looking down at him, pleased by his presence. Her teeth were wide and shiny, like enamel kitchen cabinets all in a row. The pale lips were an oval smile around them, but then the oval reversed to the comic exaggeration of a frown, and she said, "Oh, no. Don’t fade away again."
The teeth aren’t real, he thought.
There was nothing between the two thoughts, what are you doing and the teeth aren’t real. No transition, no time lapse, no going to sleep and waking up, no explanation.
The nurse had a face of leather, like a cowboy, but with a soft round nose. She said, "The doctor will want to talk to you. Now don’t fade away again."
David Byrne recently released his cover of Peter Gabriel's I Don't Remember, which might be a fitting cover for Westlake's book (which, by the way, is very different from many of his humourous crime caper novels). Byrne says his version "might imply a willing sublime surrender to memory loss.”
The The made increasingly less accessible music in some ways after having some form of hit with Infected, but I think a lot of it has aged pretty well.
On to other covers, You Ain't No Picasso has continued to share some interesting artists doing other artists, recently unveiling an Arcade Fire collection including their covers of Springsteen, Pixies, Violent Femmes, The Clash, Lennon, and so on. Check out YANP's covers archive for more collections for Spoon, Decemberists, and of Montreal. Some of them are live and the sound quality is not for audiophile purists, but there's definitely some cool and unusual song choices. Hearing The Decemberists and/or Colin Meloy solo doing Robyn Hitchcock, Heart, Bjork, Cheap Trick, Squeeze, The Soft Boys and more makes me appreciate The D's even more. And I love Spoon, so anything's appreciated, but Guided by Voices, The Kinks, Wire, Julian Cope covers, among others? No wonder Spoon turned out so durned good. And included in the My Morning Jacket collection? INXS's Never Tear Us Apart. Is INXS cool these days?
Halloween. I remember being dressed as the devil at the first, last, and only performance of a band I was in one Halloween; we went down like a lead balloon. We enjoyed ourselves anyhow, and thankfully no one recorded it. Remember when you could do goofy things without fear of someone pulling out their phone and uploading to YouTube? I don't think every mistake you make in public should be immortalized, but we are voyeurs, aren't we? Anyhow, I tripped across one of Steve Chasmar's Halloween photo series, and these pics deserve to be looked at.
Band of Horses - Is There a Ghost (download mp3 here)
This song by WWP is my favourite tune this month, pretty melody and harmonies, restrained chiming guitar, solid drums, funny lyrics. Dress up as a pirate or a wolf, either way is good.
The verses of this song always seemed spooky to me, as if paranoia, claustrophobia, and naked fear bubbled and percolated in the studio when the track was created. I'm not necessarily in love with the chorus, but I've always loved when Mr. Hine intones "Halloween...without a pumpkin, Halloween" and later "Trick or treat..or lies".
This tune is not scary or spooky at all, but maybe Ryan Adams collectors will be able to tell us why it is subtitled Sad Dracula demo and why it cuts out after 1 minute 20 secs. But maybe many songs in this world would be better if they cut out at that point, cut out the filler and the fat. Huh?
Crooked Fingers have released a digital-only ep available from CrookedFingers.com or iTunes. It contains the flavourful Your Control featuring Neko Case, as well as Run, Lieutenant, Run (Britt Daniel of Spoon doing a CF tune), Sweet Marie (Lambchop also doing a CF song), as well as Your Control (The Mae Shi Remix). Crooked Fingers are also heading out on a spring tour with Ms. Case.
Listen to Your Control at the band's MySpace page, or check out one of Scruffy's favourite tunes below.
mp3s will be posted for a limited time and are for promotional purposes only. If you like it, buy the albums, go to the shows, buy the t-shirts - support the artist so they can keep on keepin' on. Artists - if you would like an mp3 or video removed, please contact me directly at chrisyakchart@hotmail.com.
If you've got something Scruffy should hear, same email. Snail mail is cool too.
Scruffy the Yak 34 Allenby Cres Winnipeg Mb R2C 3J4
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