A friend of mine recently suggested that rock was dead. Well, maybe some rock. But on this day, I want to give thanks for those who still rock that I haven't got to sharing.
Crocodiles - Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9). These guys' fuzzy brilliance knocks me down every time.
Redd Kross's triumphant return Researching the Blues, pounding, slap-happy, scowling, excellent distortion control. Nice Gil Morgan, too. Stay Away From Downtown is here as well so you don't think the album is a one-trick pony when it is actually a whole race-track full of trick ponies.
Social Distortion 's Gimme the Sweet & Lowdown. SD have been epitomising rock and roll since you were digging Olivia Newton John or Corey Hart or whatever, diving into your Lik-m-Aid, Twizzlers and Mr. Big bars, and the band hasn't swerved much from their thing. Why should they?
The Disciplines, Emily. Just one of Ken Stringfellow's fine projects, one for which he lets out his inner rocka rolla man.
Big Dipper is back! With a tune named after the prolific Guided by Voices mainman! Yowza!
King Tuff - Screaming Skull: The singer's voice reminds me of Mitch Easter (Let's Active), and the simple guitar and garbage-can drums are a perfect backdrop.
An old classic by Lloyd Cole gets the rock treatment by...Lloyd Cole and special friends.
Gloryhound's TKO Tokyo. Because we all need big dumb rock sometimes.
I know people have picked up on Japandroids, but some of you may have missed this older nugget, Art Czars. Perfect snotty noise.
Les Sexy - a double-shot of francophone punk from Winnipeg, St. Boniface to be more specific. "Fables" and "Chasseur" are simple, raw and have no need for backing tapes or auto-tuning. They remind me of my youth, before punk became pop, over-produced and weighted down with style and fashion. The album versions sound even better, seek them out.
Ruby by Cheap Girls, fine power pop + garage rock = perfect rock and roll.
Deer Tick's Born at Zero reminds me of the Replacements, not so much the sound as the attitude.
Cloud Nothings - Stay Useless. A primal chorus, a great bridge.
No Age - Fever Dreaming and You're a Target. Like Japandroids, I like to go backwards with No Age. Scuzzy gut-bucket ferocity with one, sped-up shoegaze with the other?.
Peter Buck's 10 Million BC might not be what one would expect from the former R.E.M. guitarman, but that's good, innit?
Awards and awards shows come and go, I don't pay much attention. It's music I love, not the hulabaloo surrounding it. However, this year the Echo Songwriting Prize somehow has ended up with 5 nominees that I think are great. That has never happened before. Maybe the world IS ending this year.
Anyhow, SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) is supposed to spotlight "the most creative and artistic songs" with this prize, which you, the public, can vote on here. You can win an iPad, which might not help if that new tv show Revolution foretells our future.
You have until October 10 to vote, which you can do everyday if you want your favourite artist/band to receive $5000 (or you want that iPad). This year's nominees for the 2012 English SOCAN ECHO Songwriting Prize are "House that Heaven Built" by Japandroids, "Post-War Blues" by Dan Mangan, "Soft Place to Land" by Kathleen Edwards, "Unkind" by Sloan and "When I Write My Master's Thesis" by John K. Samson.
John K. Samson - When I Write My Master's Thesis
Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built
Sloan - Unkind
Dan Mangan - Post-War Blues
Kathleen Edwards - Soft Place to Land
Hey! Try leaving a comment below!
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.
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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