Photo by Anne Marie Slater
On June 25, The SLAB 5 Experimental Theremin Orchestra made their debut at the 2011 Signal and Noise Festival held at VIVO Media Arts. Read More
Yung Mums are definitely not of the stay-at-home variety. An all-gal trio from Vancouver, Yung Mums are a brash bunch with lo-fi leanings and their sparkly new five-track EP is a short-lived shout down that ends all too soon. Read More
This five-track, 45 RPM seven-inch sounds more like Disclose or Anti Cimex than it does four young drunk punks from Vancouver. There is so much force and aggression in this record; nothing is slowed down and nothing is easy about it. It’s hard and fast and indigestible d-beat, fronted by the angry Sam Risser. Read More
Illustration by Tyler Crich
Submerged somewhere in Samuel T. Herring’s bosom beats a nostalgic musical adventurer. Herring, ringleader of the playful Baltimore post-wave trio Future Islands, is suggestive of a brainy Jack Black by way of Captain Beefheart. It isn’t so much that Herring looks like Black—though he does—but he also seems to inhabit the same physical space, delivering in concert a comparable, sometimes comic intensity. He also posseses a poetic whimsy most artists only daydream about. Read More
As I’m writing the first draft of this review, I am sitting on the patio of a fancy East Vancouver pub. I am on my lunch break from a dead end job and the beer I am rapidly consuming (my second) is more than I can afford. To my direct right, a pair of well-to-do women are swapping stories about their teenage offspring, while directly behind them, three middle-aged business men discuss wireless surveillance and what an acceptable number of lay-offs might be for the coming financial quarter. They are drinking the expensive beer too, but their table has many more empty pints than mine. Meanwhile, across the globe, people drag out their lives in complete misery. Tanks roll over innocents, crushing them into nothing, and bullets explode skulls. Women are stoned to death, homosexuals executed. People slip deeper and deeper into apathy, escapism and debt. Across the board, things are bad. Of course you’ve heard it all before, but that doesn’t make things any less horrible. Read More
Elevator Music is what happens when you lock five Vancouver bike couriers in a room with a pile of ragged instruments and a couple flats of Pacific Pilsner. There is nothing brilliant or revolutionary about this album; nothing new or progressive. Elevator Music is exactly what it is supposed to be, simple, rambunctious party punk composed by guys with names like Newfie Mike and Crash Campbell Kid. The songs are laden with keyboards, punchy riffs and gruff, snotty vocals, all ripped out faster than a courier on a fixie weaving through downtown traffic on the last delivery on a Friday afternoon. These rowdy punks sound like they are having a blast, belting out songs like the posi-core anthem “Red Light Go,” the heartfelt opener “First Girl at the Alley Cat” or the ranting “Jaywalker.” Even the obnoxious cover of Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” is somehow endearing. Elevator Music is far from mundane and definitely won’t allow itself to get lost in the background. It is the perfect soundtrack for a rambunctious, slaphappy summer night. The best part is they are staying true and giving it all away for free at http://thereceptionists.bandcamp.com.
advertisement
advertisement
advertisement
advertisement
follow us
Return to Top ▲
Pure X
Pleasure (Acéphale)
Review By David Nykyforuk
Easy
Following a name change and a grip of interest-piquing seven-inches, Pure X (formerly Pure Ecstasy) finally blesses us with their debut full-length, Pleasure. Out on acclaimed tastemaker Patrik North’s boutique label Acéphale, Pleasure finds the Austin three-piece seeking to nourish the parched-twang mood that made their earlier efforts so captivating. North has anticipated the “it” sound before (see: Salem), but can he do it again? Read More »