I Disconcur...

I borrowed two albums from the radio station last week. Both were bands from Alberta. Both were bands I first heard about when I missed their shows in Edmonton. I thought the similarities ended there. Two very different styles of music. Vailhalen are a super group from Calgary they play the kind of rock guitar riffs that you like and instead of pyrotechnics they add tasteful percussion and sulky synth lines. Their songs are well written and thouroughly enjoyable. Jay Crocker is something else. Hailing from Edmonton his live band might also be considered a super group (some of the members play in band called Superband) but he doesn't really play what you're expecting. He has a big band sound with a taste of Tom Waits-ian supernatural. The thing that is really amazing is that Jay Crocker not a multi-instrumentalist wrote all of the parts himself. Now what really really draws these two bands together is that they are both on the same label. Saved By Radio. There completely by accident I recognised the logo that had the cd cases not been stacked in just the right way I wouldn't have. And I wouldn't have known who to thank but now I do. Thank you saved by radio so far you're doing a good job of your stated goal to bring excellent Canadian music to my attention.

The General - Vailhalen

Wake Up Honolulu - Jay Crocker

Saved By Radio

It is an instrumental track. So I'll let the guitars talk for themselves:
Rodrigo y Gabriela' s website

Rodrigo y Gabriela - Mr Tang

They call him King Ralph, he likes it. He's Premier.

Today I bring music from Australia. They brew good beer (at least it isn't coors), they are the continent that lays claim to nearly all the marsupials on earth and...apparently they can make beautiful syrupy electro-pop. Cut Copy are from Melbourne and will be touring with the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Tv On The Radio. Coming to a town near you. Cut Copy. Listen, love, buy the record, see the show.
cut copy - future

Okay so a few weeks ago I had the privilege of seeing Xiu Xiu live in the masonic hall downtown Edmonton. The whole show was most excellent but what really took the cake was this transcendent moment, Xiu Xiu was playing a mellow song and you could here the rain tapping on the roof and the floor creaking from people shifting their weight from foot to foot. At any rate. I was also impressed by the openers.

This song is a mess but so am i-parting sea

This guy was off the hook. This skinny guy gets on stage sporting this t-shirt for some LA radio station and it's just him and a synthesizer. Ok. He starts pacing back and forth all nervous and twitchy and the music starts and it's all electro-noise and he's spazzing out. Too cool. I'm not sure how well exactly the music plays away from the live setting but this song was most representative of the energy and excitement of his performance. Cool guy. He's got a website www.thissongisamess.com so check him out.
The first band on stage though was actually junior bloomsday. He makes quite pleasant music, made me think of Chad Van Gaalen. He has two demos on the web. When he played the song marygold live I thought he was singing "I'm not in tune" (which was ironic because he wasn't ever quite perfectly in tune) but actually it was "I need you" not as funny but makes more sense.

This is a test.