Hamilton's Young Rival have a new platter, Stay Young, which they are peddling on Bandcamp for a name-your-price fee. It's a fine garage power pop record - the members of Young Rival are not afraid to make their songs short and sweet, and we're a sucker for choppy guitars, punchy drums, and bittersweet melodies. You can buy the physical version from Sonic Unyon starting October 23. The band is also garnering some attention for a pretty cool video for Two Reasons. If you've been here many times before, you know I am not big on video, but this one is pretty darn creative, don't you think?
Dig in and stream the whole album below.
Tour Dates:
2012-11-01 Hamilton, ON - The Casbah
2012-11-08 Windsor, ON - FM Lounge
2012-11-09 London, ON - London Music Hall
2012-11-10 Sarnia, ON - Paddy Flaherty's
2012-11-16 Montreal, PQ - Cafe Campus (12:30 PM, M is For Montreal)
2012-11-16 Kingston, ON - The Grad Club
2012-11-17 Montreal, QC - Le Divan Orange (Club show, M Is For Montreal)
2012-11-20 St. Catharines, ON - The Mansion House
2012-11-21 Guelph, ON - E-bar
2012-11-22 Toronto , ON - Horseshoe Tavern
2012-11-23 Peterborough, ON - The Red Dog
2012-11-24 Sudbury, ON - The Townehouse
2013-02-07 Chicoutimi, PQ - Le Sous Bois
2013-02-08 Joliette, PQ - L'Universe Rock
Everyone's got a best of the year list. Sorry, not here. But you do get a bunch of music that I loved in the past year (some of which may have been released prior to 2010, I don't care), some of which I've blogged about already, and some of which I didn't get around to sharing with you. So here it is, Part Four (and of course by This Year I mean last year).
One thing I listened to a lot is various stuff from captains dead. The guy who blogs under the psychedelic skull with the vinyl halo doesn't try to dazzle with words, just speaks his mind briefly and lets the music do the talking. And singing, whispering, screaming, humming, crying, and so on. Guided by Voices, Twilight Singers, The Replacements, Matthew Sweet are mixed with newer acts I've come to love like Ox. No hipper-than-thou vibe here, the same tunes and artists hyped on every other blog won't be found here, but oftimes a rock combo you don't expect shows up.
The Dodos'Fables is not a new song, in fact their new album will be out March 15, but it's still rattling around my head.
Gord Downie & the Country of Miracles'The East Wind threw quickly-strummed percussive acoustics at us, added snappy drums, topped it with a tasty twangy guitar line, then layered on some more shimmery, shaky sounds (I know not what, exactly), covered it with a short, sharp chorus that may be the catchiest in Downie's repertoire, and ended up with a shivery, danceable radio hit. Or a drunken sea shanty for landlubbers and pirates alike. Huh.
Adam Franklin and Bolts of Melody gave us the sublime Yesterday Has Gone Forever (from the album I Could Sleep for a Thousand Years), which nods back to his days fronting shoegazers Swervedriver, but also winks at Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque era, too. Get it free by going to his site. Beauty.
'Nother cool blog Herohill put together Herohill and Oates, which ain't Christmasy at all but is all about artists (mostly Canadian?) covering Hall and Oates. Scruffy faves Brian Dunn and Ox contributed tracks.
Saw some lukewarm reviews for the Freedy Johnston single Don't Fall in Love With a Lonely Girl, but it's prime powerpop to me. Get it free by going here.
La Roux might be the artist most unlikely to be suggested by Scruffy, but that chorus is the catchiest thing going, acoustic or not.
Music Ruined My Life is a meticulously-researched, impassioned blog, mostly about artists of yesteryore, but sometimes featuring newer troubadours. More punk than you can shake a stick at, more power-pop than you can eat at once, still managing to unearth hard to find boots or rare treats from Springsteen, Dylan, Strummer, Graham Parker, Billy Bragg, DOA, Jerry Jerry, Jason & the Scorchers, Elvis Costello, and so on. Consistently one of the best blogs out there.
The Soft Pack. C'mon! I still haven't decided if I like the band name The Soft Pack, but I definitely enjoy the hurry-up-and-get-down vibe, and the chorus says it all. Two minutes thirteen seconds of fuzzy energy and crashing cymbals bliss, who needs Red Bull?
Call Superchunk's Digging For Something a comeback if you want, it's even more hooky, well-produced angsty lovable yelps. Dancin' on the propane tank, indeed. Oh oh oh!
So there you have it. Honourable mentions go to Hanson for their cover of Radiohead's Optimistic, Jason & the Scorchers return with Moonshine Guy, The Afterbeat's Unity, Alex Gruenberg's Hey Katy Hey, and Luke Doucet's The Ballad of Ian Curtis. If you didn't like anything Scruffy recommended in this series of four posts, you are in the wrong place. Go print out the yak at the top of the post and get your crayons out, there won't be anything for you here. If there was anything for you, feel free to leave a comment, that's what the comments section is for, and my dogs appreciate it.
For 2011, Scruffy's looking forward to (or hoping for) new R.E.M., Sons of York, The Cars, Scott Nolan, Urge Overkill, Apex Manor, Crooked Fingers, Buffalo Tom, Quinzy, Robyn Hitchcock, Rupert Hine, Wilco, Matt Epp, Ox, JP Hoe, Pixies, and The Watchmen. Okay, so we'll probably never see the last two, but I can still hope.
While we were sleeping, Young Rival has been steadily building its following from its evil mastermind lair in Hamilton. Hooking up with Hamilton neighbour Sonic Unyon was a good move in my book, I've always had a soft spot for that little label - Tricky Woo, Thrush Hermit, Treble Charger, Kittens, Smoother, and Crooked Fingers in the past, now Young Rival will maybe signal a renaissance for S.U.
Young Rival seems to be a band without a gimmick. No ridiculously stupid name, no outrageous outfits, and above all, no songs that make you dig a hundred kilometres before you find a melody or a hook. There's a bit of range there too, from short, jangly bobble-head tunes, scrappy garage rock, and wistful, shimmering dream-pop. The video below shows people's reactions to live performances of Authentic from the band's album released a few months ago. I especially like the last guy's response.
A little quartet called R.E.M. covered this song just before the band hit the big time. Coincidence? We'll see.
Okay folks, for your Valentine's pleasure, here's a short list of favourites's I've been listening to for the past year. Almost all of them are available for free download at Stereogum - coool, huh? Just go to their mp3 downloads page, view by artist, and scroll down to the artist you want.
Blitzen Trapper - Furr - A mix of Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, and indie folk/alt country would not be the thing I would expect to love - but I do.
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Counting Crows - 1492 - I know, I know,Counting Crows! The band's been slagged beofre, especially Adam Duritz - his voice on their live album was hilarious. However, this song is not wimpy music fopr coffeeshops, but a noisy barrage of welcome oddity. Including Duritz taking a self-deprecating jab at himself: "I'm a Russian Jew American/Impersonating African Jamaican".
Friendly Foes – Not free on Stereogum, but free on rcrdlbl.com, this noisy pop band will give you good music. All short tunes full of piss, vinegar and melody. Free. Full Moon Morning is a great tune, as is Get Yr Shit Together.
The Broken West – Perfect Games & Auctioneer. I couldn't just pick one song from this band, they are my new favourites hands down. ___________________________________________________________________________________
Old 97’s - Ride - Taken from their fine album Blame it On Gravity.
Rowdymen – Rode Hard (and put away wet)- Still unreleased, this country gem sounds like Yoakam, Springsteen, and Steve Earle got drunk and then got lost and left a tune in the back of a taxi for a former rockabilly hero to resurrect. Will it come out this year? Ask Jason "Axl" Allen.
Western States – The Road is Dark as the Night - Okay, this isn't officially out until sometime in the near future, but you can hear a couple of new one's from our cosmic Canadian purveyors at their MySpace page. Full review to follow nearer to release date.
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
Posts
