Get your dancing pants on! Vancouver’s electro-disco duo Fan Death have released the video for “Reunited,” from their forthcoming EP A Coin For The Well c/o The Pharmacy Recording Co.
It was conceived and directed by Dandilion Wind Opaine, one half of the female duo. The other half is Marta Jaciubek-McKeever, who you can also find in e.s.l. and the now-defunct Girl Nobody.
For a free download of “Reunited,” click HERE.
Holden Daniels and Eugenio Pacileo of My Sister Ocean
If you’ve ever lived in Edmonton, then you know the city only ever experiences two seasons: summer and winter. One day it’s sunny and 30C, and the next there’s a blizzard outside your window.
Now, you can either complain about the harsh prairie winters or welcome them with open arms. Holden Daniels and Eugenio Pacileo, also known as Edmonton’s bass/drum rock duo My Sister Ocean, prefer the latter.
They’re set to release an original holiday (yup, it’s almost that time of the year again) single aptly titled “The First Snow” on iTunes November 10. Technically, the first snow in Edmonton happened, like, two months ago, so really, My Sister Ocean aren’t really jumping the gun on the Christmas season.
“It was partially inspired by the first snow this September,” Daniels says about the song via Facebook message. “My four-year-old’s reaction to it was one of wonderment and excitement. She remembered how last year we made snowmen on the day of the first snowfall and wanted to immediately go out and play.
“I already had an idea that I wanted to write a snow themed song, but seeing her reaction reminded me of being a kid and being so thrilled about the newness of my environment. I wrote the words pretty quickly and recorded the song a few days later. I kept the tempo relatively slow because I thought it suited the visual of large, slowly falling snowflakes.”
From my perspective, “The First Snow” is a mellow, hypnotic electro-rock track that sounds like Frosty The Snowman’s been given a Fender and some magic green grass. Pretty awesome, I know. The beginning almost sounds like John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas (War Is Over),” but then it expands into a sleek song that makes you want to whip out some shades and strut in front of the Christmas tree whilst still in your pajamas.
Although “The First Snow” is definitely a holiday tune, Daniels says it’s one you can listen to well into the new year—and if you live in Edmonton, you can probably listen to it right up until summer comes in May.
“We’re thinking it’s right in there as a Christmas/Holiday song. I kept Christmas out of the lyrics though because I wanted it to be like ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland’ or any other Holiday song that isn’t Christmas specific.”
Listen to “The First Snow” below, then buy it on iTunes November 10:
Here’s the video for “Robots” by Dan Managan, directed by Mike Lewis.
I love everything about it. The outfits are outrageous, the “robot fight” is hilarious and underneath all the funny business, there’s a simple, telling truth about humanity.
“Robots” is off of Vancouver musician Dan Mangan’s album Nice, Nice, Very Nice, which was released August 11 this year. Below is another favourite song of mine (off the same album), called “The Indie Queens Are Waiting.”
Here’s the brand new video for Great Lake Swimmers‘ “Palmistry,” off their Polaris-nominated album Lost Channels.
Thanks to @kn0ttyn3rb for bringing this to my attention!
Photo courtesy of Exclaim!
November cover story for Exclaim! Magazine
By Amanda Ash
“For people to trust you and believe you, they have to see you a little bit. I’m not afraid to expose myself in that way,” says Sara Quin, of sibling duo Tegan and Sara. The petite brunette has just led me into the heart of the east Vancouver jam space where she and her identical twin Tegan are rehearsing for upcoming tours. The room we’re in is expansive, chilly and draped in darkness aside from a single strip of light in the middle of the room; she drags a sofa under the wimpy illumination and offers it to me, taking a straight-backed chair opposite for herself. “If we were a genre film,” she continues, “we’d be a documentary.”
Formed in the basement of their stepfather’s home in Calgary when they were in high school, Tegan and Sara’s charming blend of garage rock and acoustic pop melodies have led to their slow-burning success in both the indie and mainstream spheres. Side by side, they broke through their local scene when they earned one of the highest scores in a Calgary battle-of-the-bands competition. By 1999, the teenaged Tegan and Sara were shoved into the spotlight when asked to play Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair. Soon after that, the Quin twins’ witty personalities and musical prowess caught the attention of Neil Young who signed them to his Vapor Records label in 2000.
Since 1999, Tegan and Sara found themselves sharing stage space with each other and with acclaimed acts like Ryan Adams, Ben Folds, the Killers, Cake and Death Cab For Cutie. They’ve made six full-length albums: Under Feel Like Ours, released independently in 1999; This Business Of Art, produced by Canadian musician Hawksley Workman, came out in mid-2000; when 2002’sIt Was You was followed by So Jealous in 2004 it garnered much critical acclaim, as did The Con when it hit the shelves in 2007. Their new album,Sainthood, just arrived.
Today, at the age of 29, Tegan and Sara have become two of the most popular Canadian female musicians, spawning a handful of fan sites and YouTube cover songs in their honour. Tegan and Sara are a package deal ― they’ve accomplished everything together. But talking to the twins it’s evident that underneath their joint “brand” and the many clichéd labels they’ve had to endure, Tegan and Sara haven’t melted into a boring single commodity. They’ve held dear to their witty personalities and quirks; it’s their character as individuals that make Tegan and Sara less bland twin punch line and more unique partnership. Like a good documentary, the twins prefer to illustrate the reality of their relationship over some cheesy, predictable narrative that screams “OMG, BFF!”
Tegan finally joins us but the twins opt to be interviewed separately. “We’re more fun that way,” Sara, the staid adult of the two, asserts. The similarities between the two (aside from looking identical) are striking: both sport a short, choppy cut that curls off to the side of their faces. Both speak in the same rushed, attitude-driven manner that makes their performance banter so entertaining (If you’ve ever seen them live, you’re bound to hear Tegan cheerily chatter on about the precise evolution of her songs while Sara stares at her with incredulity, and vice versa.) But then there are the differences: Tegan prefers to wear her hair with that straight-outta-bed look. Sara’s tone is a bit mellower. And Tegan has a small piercing in her chin, which is probably the best way to physically tell the two apart.
In the media world, it’s been hard for the Quins to be distinguished as separate voices ― clumped together, they’re “Tegan and Sara: the novelty,” commonly referred to as “those queer twins from Canada,” according to Sara. It’s led to a lot of superficial questions, like “How do you manage to work with your sister?” and “Do you fight?” “If I didn’t like working with her, I wouldn’t be!” Sara exclaims.
“The first couple of years we were in the business, all people ever focused upon was that we were twins or that we were lesbians or women,” Tegan offers candidly. “It’s surprising how big magazines will still write stuff that’s homophobic or sexist. Like, a woman was reviewing us in Pitchfork, and she said [the 2007 album] The Con was ‘moving us away from the “tampon rock” we used to be.’ And I was like, ‘What, because we have lots of girls in our audience we’re tampon rock?!’ It was so offensive.”
The Quins turned to a personal blog to ensure their true voices were heard beyond glossy print, constantly writing, uploading photos and recording video diaries, often about completely random subjects and squabbles, like how to pronounce “Moog.” “The only way we could communicate with our fans in the beginning ― and by fans I mean, like, six people ― was to use the internet,” Sara says. “The more press we got from TV and magazines and online, the more compelled I felt to put up my own views and opinions because when you let your band and your image and your words go through the filter of journalism, you’re relying on a lot of people’s hang ups and preconceived notions. The way to combat that was to continue to put our opinions and the image of ourselves that was more real and authentic so the kids out there had that to balance the views of Joe Blow who was writing for whatever.”
Being twins, there’s an assumption that Tegan and Sara’s personal gossip gets turned into songs. In reality, they’ve almost always written separately; whichever twin pens the song performs it while the other supports her live. Today, Tegan lives in Vancouver while Sara’s in Montréal, and the same solitary writing process holds true. Sonically, Tegan’s songs tend to take on a rough rock edge, while Sara’s maintain a silky pop aura, giving their albums a sense of variety and perspective while remaining thematically linked.
But during the fall of 2008, Tegan and Sara jetted off to New Orleans to attempt a songwriting experiment for their new album: writing side-by-side in the same room, at the same time, something they’d never really done. “It was messy,” Sara laughs. “The music was way darker with just Tegan on drums and me on electric guitar.”
They wrote seven or eight songs together, later sending them ― along with a handful of individual songs ― to their producer, Death Cab For Cutie’s Chris Walla, back on board after producing 2007’s The Con. He cut the list down to 17 and only one New Orleans track escaped the chopping block. “As an ensemble [the New Orleans songs] would work really well together, but trying to put [them] into the current record would’ve felt awkward,” Sara says, while noting the possibility of an EP of the New Orleans songs.
When Walla produced The Con, the twins held the decision-making power. Tegan and Sara had a specific plan for The Con: the exact demo songs, even the precise track order, and it ended up a dark, dense and intimate headphone record that was also very formulaic. For Sainthood, Walla took control. He wanted the album to be more organic and collaborative, in the vein of their New Orleans experiment, retaining the intimacy of The Con but with an in-the-moment spark. He insisted Tegan and Sara play their demos with a band, live off the floor, 50-plus times, letting them evolve into true-blue band songs. It was the first time Tegan and Sara recorded as a five-piece, singing and playing on each other’s tracks. Both twins coped differently. According to blog posts, it was common for Tegan to wear a bat mask and call herself “Bategan.” One post had Sara discussing her latest read, J.M Coetzee’s Diary Of A Bad Year, where she quoted a telling line: “Rene Girard’s fable of the warring twins is pertinent: the fewer the substantive differences between the two parties, the more bitter their mutual hatred.”
Walla wanted the lone New Orleans composition, “Sainthood,” to be the title track. The problem was, it borrowed lyrics from a 1979 Leonard Cohen song called “Came So Far For Beauty” ― when they couldn’t clear rights to the lyrics, they had to scrap the song. Walla suggested they name the album in its honour, seeing how the track’s theme connected the twin’s individual songs that would end up on the album. “['Sainthood'] resembled how we were both feeling about ourselves,” Tegan says. She describes the idea of sainthood as embodying the secular themes of admiration, delusion and obsession we exhibit during the pursuit of love and relationships. According to Tegan and Sara, sainthood is romantic fanaticism, emotional longing, and the practice of being perfect so that we may be adored by the object of our fascination.
But Tegan makes a point of explaining that they haven’t gone batshit religious. “We’re really reluctant for people to mistake the title for a religious thing,” she says. “We’re not dictating what religion is. But there are parallels between faith in God and faith in religion and faith in relationships.”
The decidedly un-acoustic Sainthood ended up becoming fiery, unhinged DIY pop rock with a stripped-down approach to unrequited love. “I feel like this record for me is analyzing the past,” Tegan says, noting that some of her strongest Sainthood songs were written three or four years ago when she was writing for The Con. “For Sara, Sainthood is her present. This is her Conin a way, her very ripped apart analyzing record.” For Tegan, most of The Con’s material was about her pursuing a girl who didn’t feel the same way.
For Sara, Sainthood became that emotional outlet, channelling a recent break-up that left her feeling hysterical. “I always say that anybody who’s single ― like Sara ― their love is the most intense love,” Tegan says. “The heartbreak they’re enduring is the most intense heartbreak. We cannot understand what Sara’s going through. When it’s love, it’s my love, you can’t understand it. You can’t compare. But I really related to where Sara was on this record. When she was writing these songs and coming to me like, ‘You don’t understand,’ I was like, ‘You’re right, but I also do.’”
Looking back on the finished product, both Tegan and Sara are happy withSainthood and the snapshot of crazed romanticism it captures. According to Tegan: “It can be psychologically abusive to yourself to recount the same fucked-up shit over and over again. That’s music ― you can instantly tap into that feeling again. I have to be careful sometimes when I’m on stage that I don’t go to my dark place and remember every detail.” And, of course, Sara offers a whole other solution: “Xanax and whiskey work well,” she deadpans.
Revealing personal truths in song is the bread-and-butter of many ― perhaps most ― songwriters, and given their “documentary” approach, it’s natural that Tegan & Sara continue to be open with fans, as they have throughout their career. Just don’t look for Sara to be doing it on Twitter, where she draws a personal line in the sand. “If I wrote [on Twitter] that my favourite colour was yellow, there’d be a blog about it and people would be like ‘Can you believe she likes yellow? I can’t even believe it!’ And I’d have to be like, ‘Oh my god, fuck off.’”
Courtesy of Exclaim!
Aaron Schubert, bookings and promotions manager for the Biltmore Cabaret.
No matter the city, Canadian live music venues have had a tough time keeping their doors open.
Vancouver, specifically, has seen The Cobalt close down, along with one of my favourites Richard’s On Richards (RIP old buddy). Live music venues are where the magic happens; yeah, you can buy a record and blare it in the comfort of your bedroom, but music’s real charm can only be experienced in those cozy, dimly-lit clubs where beer flows and hipster scarves flail.
The Biltmore Cabaret is one venue that’s held its own over the past couple of years. Thanks to elbow grease and one great vision, it’s moved away from being a stabbing hotspot and towards a suave little club. I love it for a couple of reasons: For one, many big-name indie acts choose to play the Kingsway and 12th room, and secondly, it sure as heck beats venturing downtown to the insanity of Granville Street.
I took the time to sit down with booking and promotions manager Aaron Schubert to get the scoop on the venue’s history, why it’s such an attractive place (hint: think sexy red velvet!) and where the Biltmore sees itself in five years.
Listen to the audio interview below.
Amy Millan performing at the Biltmore. Photo by myself.
Even though Amy Millan’s songs are solemn little tunes about love and loss, they somehow managed to put a smile on everyone’s faces last night at the Biltmore Cabaret. Millan’s sweet, honest-to-goodness personality and her lightning-fast wit made everyone there wish she was his/her best friend. Throughout the night she played an assortment of songs from her previous solo album Honey From The Tombs, and from her new release Masters Of The Burial.
We even got an extra special treat when local Vancouver musician Jesse Zubot got on stage to contribute his mad violin skills and when Stars bandmate Torquil Campbell added his vocals to Millan’s performance.
Back in September, I got a chance to talk to Millan about Masters Of The Burial, her writing process and her continued obsession with death and love. You can read it HERE.
Here is a video of her performing “Skinny Boy” (one of my personal favourites) off of 2006’s Honey From The Tombs. The quality isn’t great, so I apologize. I really need to get myself one of those awesome Flip cameras.
I’m also including Masters Of The Burial track—and Death Cab For Cutie cover—”Into The Dark” below.
Team Canada DJs‘ upcoming release Canadian Club is like a portable party (also know as a porta-party, ha!). The Montréal duo (DJs Grandtheft and D.R. one) have an intense passion for procreating oldies classics with today’s top 40 hits, and when you cram these mash-ups onto one shiny disc, you’ve got a major dancestravaganza waiting to happen.
Unlike their previous works, Canadian Club is more of a straight-up remix album. It isn’t jam-packed with filthy, juicy mash-up purées, but you do get the same awesome classics laced with original beats. Some notable remixes include David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel,” Steppenwolf’s “Born To be Wild” and Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World.”
You can purchase the album for yourself on October 20.
By the way, I’m in the process of getting DJ Grandtheft to do a quick Q&A with me on Twitter (he’s a Twitterholic, by the way) in advance of their October 22 and 23 shows in Vancouver. I’ll post the interview on here afterwards.
In the meantime, here are a few tracks from Canadian Club. In this order they are: Drake’s “The Best I Ever Had (Grandtheft Remix),” Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ “By The Way (Grandtheft Epic remix)” and Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven Is A Place On Earth (Grandtheft Edit).”
Canadian country/folk musician Rae Spoon has been doing some pretty amazing things since he swooped off to Berlin.
For those familiar with his 2008 record—and Polaris long-list nominated album—SuperiorYouAreInferior, electronic music was a big influence on the Calgary-born musician. Spoon even incorporated crazy stargazing loops on tracks like “I Can’t Wait To Hear The Noise.”
Now, he’s collaborated with sound artist Alexandre Decoupigny in Berlin for a project titled Worauf Wartest Du?/What Are You Waiting For?
Folk and electronic music have never made a more beautiful love child.
As part of an international public art competition, eight projects have been selected to explore the Berlin underground as a social environment and as an imaginary world. Spoon’s is one of them.
The opening of the public art project on the BVG Berlin Underground network happens tomorrow, October 15, 2009. According to the Facebook event, “The collaborations between the selected artists, workers from different departments of the BVG and other Underground experts sets U10 within the context of an art practice acting in the interest of society and bringing art discourse into new social realms … Routine yet full of secrets, the Underground acts as a mirror of Berlin’s history and as a seismograph of the city’s current feel.”
Decoupigny and Spoon will be playing songs at Schlossstrasse Station from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. about the dreams and ambitions of Underground passengers. Their performance and CD What Are You Waiting For? is the result of a careful inquiry into the desires and wishes of those waiting on platforms.
Above is a video of Decoupigny and Spoon performing “I Won’t Get Lost (Berlin Fever)” in Kleistpark U bahn station in Berlin at 8 a.m. on October 13, 2009. Here’s the album version:
You can also download the album (for free!) HERE.
Oh, and a few days ago, my Facebook feed informed me that Spoon had written another new song in Berlin. The song (below) is called “Monsters.”
Edmonton folk-punk musician Eamon McGrath
Hello, Edmonton! I’m back for the next couple of days to visit family for Thanksgiving. Although I’d hardly call this cold, barren city a relaxing vacation destination, it’s nice to be back in the place where I grew my roots, especially as a music journalist. I have so many fond music memories here: shows at the Starlite, DJs spinning at the Black Dog, random run-ins with local musicians on Whyte Avenue …
That being said, I’d like this post to be a tribute to the local bands that continue to put Edmonton on the map. You all hold a magical place in my left ventricle.
“Welcome To The Heart” by Eamon McGrath:
“Coming Home (Feat. Cadence Weapon)” by Shout Out Out Out Out:
“This Is It” by The Wheat Pool:
“Woman Woman” by The Secretaries:
“Palm Trees & Postcards” by Tim Gilbertson:
“After The Morning After” by Ayla Brook:
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