i (heart) music

I was a little reluctant to listen to 13 Songs of Whiskey and Light, the White Whale debut of Eamon McGrath. After all, even though it's McGrath's first album on a label, it's actually something like his nineteeth release ever, with the tracks on 13 Songs... being those that the fine folks at White Whale thought were the best from his past eighteen albums. It probably sounds stupid in this day and age, but I'm generally reluctant to listen to compilations, even single-artist ones (this week's feature being a rare exception), for the simple reason that I've always believed that artists have some sort of rhyme and reason to the way they order songs on an album. Listening to songs out of that order just seems like you're cheating yourself out of the experience that the artist intended for you to have.

Even now that I've listened to 13 Songs... all the way through, I still can't help but feel as though I haven't heard the songs as McGrath wanted them to be heard. I mean, the Springsteen-esque "Land Of Dogs" was very obviously meant to be heard in a different context than the anthemic "Holy Roller", while both are different beasts entirely than the desolate folk of "Welcome To The Heart" or the Contantines-y rock of "Machine Gun Cowboy".

Of course, jarring though the sequencing may be, I should note that it's not as if there's the album is completely lacking in common threads. McGrath has a fairly distinctive throaty howl, and even if the styles are different there's no mistaking his voice from song to song. Moreover, he's clearly a talented songwriter, and while I'm not sure whether the songs here represent him at album #1, album #8 or album #18, whichever it is he's definitely someone I'd really like to hear more from. 13 Songs of Whiskey and Light may not quite work as an album, but as a way of introducing a a promising new (if someone on their nineteenth album can be called "new") artist, it does the job.

It's Canada Day, so it seems like a good time to post songs from a band that's quintessentially Canadian: Great Big Sea. I haven't listened to them for well over a decade, but I woke up a few days ago with one of their songs in my head, and I realized that they'd make for a perfect July 1st post. As such, here's a concert they recorded for CBC Radio 2 in their hometown of St. John's.

1. When I'm Up I Can't Get Down
2. Lukey
3. Walk On The Moon
4. Ferryland Sealer
5. When I Am King
6. England
7. Run Runaway
8. Here And Now
9. Gallows Pole
10. Consequence Free
11. Mari-Mac
12. Ordinary Day
13. Sea Of No Cares

Enjoy!

For the last few months, I've been getting regular e-mails from The John Punch Band about their soon-to-be-released debut EP, Fences Have Been Planted, Thorns Have Been Built. Questions about cover art preferences, thoughts on the quality of certain songs, info about the recording process -- frontman Cory Thibodeau has done his best to keep me in the loop, even though I'm fairly certain that I consistently failed to give him any kind of worthwhile feedback.

Now that the EP is out and I've had the opportunity to get a measure of the thing in its entirety...I'm even more baffled as to why he thought he needed my opinion. Simply put, it's an excellent debut. Thibodeau and his bandmates have put together five extremely well-crafted folk tunes that, as others have noted, are sure to garner the band significant attention from the usual suspects...but also from beyond those communities, if there's any justice. The band is extremely tight-sounding, while the presence of an upright bass gives songs like "One Design of Teeth" and "Tippin' Boats" the hint of a jazzy swing.

About the only thing wrong with Fences Have Been Planted... is the relative lack of political content. Given their name (borrowed from the first black slave in North America) and my own knowledge of Thibodeau's political leanings, I was expecting The John Punch Band to be a little more outspoken in their views, but outside of "Stars and Stripes", this is a fairly apolitical album.

That's not even a flaw, really -- after all, music that tries to put its politics first tends to not be that enjoyable. And if there's one thing that Fences Have Been Planted, Seeds Have Been Built most certainly is, it's an extremely enjoyable listen.



People in Ottawa will have the opportunity to find out just how enjoyable first-hand, in fact, when The John Punch Band open up for The Rural Alberta Advantage on August 6th at Mavericks. The RAA will be touring in support of Hometowns, an album that was one of last year's best and that is sure to garner a lot more praise south of the border now that it's being re-released by Saddle Creek. Anchors will be rounding out the bill, and it's bound to be one of the best -- and most well-attended -- shows to come through Ottawa this summer. Grab advance tickets now from this site (or wait a few more days to pick some up from stores), because realistically, they're probably going to go pretty quickly!

Royal City, Royal City: 1999-2004 (Asthmatic Kitty)

WHO

Disbanded Guelph folk-rock foursome.

DISCOGRAPHY

At Rush Hour the Cars (Three Gut, 2000)
Alone at the Microphone (Three Gut, 2001)
Little Heart's Ease (Three Gut, 2004)
Royal City: 1999-2004 (Asthmatic Kitty, 2009)

IN A NUTSHELL

As outstanding as it is -- and it really is excellent -- it's impossible not to listen to Royal City: 1999-2004 and think about what could've been.

THE STORY

I really don't know where to begin talking about Royal City. I mean, what do you say when you're talking about one of your all-time favourite bands? I could start off by talking about how, over the span of a few months in late 2002, they were partially responsible for two of the best shows I've ever seen -- first in Ottawa with The Constantines and Recoilers (known locally as "that band that Rolf Klausener was in before he started The Acorn"), then less than two months later in Montreal, when I saw them on a bill with Broken Social Scene and a then-unknown Arcade Fire. I could write about how they're responsible for two of my favourite albums ever, with At Rush Hour The Cars and Alone at the Microphone. I could also write about how sad I was when I bought their last studio album, Little Heart's Ease, since by the time it reached stores it had already been announced that the band was breaking up and wouldn't be supporting it with any kind of farewell tour. And, of course, I could go the route of talking about how they broke up right on the cusp of massive international success -- not only did the band occasionally feature the likes of Feist, Owen Pallett, Sufjan Stevens and Bob Wiseman, they'd also just signed to UK label Rough Trade (and had recorded an amazing cover of The Strokes' "Is This It?" -- which, it should be noted, also appears on this compilation, and sounds just as wonderful now as it did when it first appeared six years ago).

More than any of that, though, maybe it's best just to say how amazing it is that Royal City: 1999-2004 even exists. After all, it's been a fairly long time coming. When the band broke up in 2004, there was a promise that they'd be releasing some kind of compilation in the not-too-distant future, but when their label, Three Gut Records, closed its doors two years later there was no sign of it. The year after that I was lucky enough to find myself working in my current job alongside the band's bassist, Simon Osborne, but that just led to hearing of more delays for an album that never seemed like it'd actually see the light of day. Even when news came that Asthmatic Kitty had offered to release the compilation, I'd reached a point where I was only going to believe the album was coming out when I had a copy in my hands.

Then one day, a few months ago, I came into work and found a copy sitting on my chair.

Even now that it's actually out, I still have to say that the best way to think about Royal City: 1999-2004 is to marvel at its existence. Not in the way described above, though. No, the album is a marvel because, even though it's comprised of alternate versions of previously released songs (a plugged-in version "Bad Luck"), covers (the aforementioned "Is This It?", along with the band's surprisingly up-tempo version of Iggy Pop's "Here Comes Success") and other B-side rarities, it's still both an outstanding album and a pretty accurate representation of what made Royal City so wonderful.

A great deal of that wonderfulness had to do with frontman Aaron Riches. With all due respect to bandmates Jim Guthrie and Nathan Lawr -- both of whom have shown their respective mettles with outstanding solo releases -- Riches really defined the band with his twangy deadpan and his dense, Biblically-infused lyrics. Both of those traits are on full display here -- the former on tracks like "I Called But You Were Sleeping" and "In The Autumn", the latter with songs like "The Nations Will Sing" and "A Belly Was Made For Wine".

One of the most interesting things about Royal City: 1999-2004, though, is that it reveals a louder side to the band that wasn't really present on their proper releases (apart, maybe, from Little Heart's Ease). On both the Iggy Pop cover and the electric version of "Bad Luck", you can really hear Riches' roots in punk music. It's hard to know now whether the songs were shelved for being so different from the band's normal fare, or if they represent a direction that they may have taken had they decided to stick around, but, whichever is the case, it's nice to know that it's a side that was there and that Royal City could've drawn from if they'd really wanted to.

That said, I'm kind of glad they didn't, and even more glad that these louder songs are the exception on Royal City: 1999-2004 rather than the rule . After all, it was albums like Alone at the Microphone and At Rush Hour The Cars -- in all their lo-fi, low-energy glory -- that drew me to Royal City in the first place, and it's what has kept me going back to those albums even now, years after the fact. I'm pretty confident that it's that same quality that will make this compilation just as essential as those two albums...and, hopefully, win the band a couple of the fans that missed out on them because of their unfortunately-timed dissolution.

Want to win Royal City: 1999-2004? Thanks to Asthmatic Kitty, i(heart)music has a copy to give away. To enter to win, just e-mail me your name and mailing address, and I'll pick a winner randomly!

Kate R. wins a copy of Think About Life's latest. Thanks to all who entered!

As I said a few days ago, I had to think long and hard about which album to choose for the fifth and final spot on my Polaris ballot. In the end, I'd whittled it down to Leonard Cohen and Woodpigeon; the former, obviously, being one of the greatest songwriters of all time, the latter a band that I felt deserved a Polaris nomination a few years ago for its first full-length, Songbook.

Ultimately, I went with Treasury Library Canada. As beyond-words-incredible as Cohen has been for the last half-century or so, the fact is a Polaris nomination means very little for his career. I know that jurors were only supposed to take into account the strength of the albums themselves, but when considering someone so iconic, it's impossible to do so. And on top of that, Woodpigeon had just come up with a very lovely album that deserved to be recognized for its brilliance.

They also deserve recognition for how well they're able to translate Mark Hamilton's incredibly ornate compositions to a live setting. As the songs below demonstrate -- from the band's outstanding NxNE set -- Woodpigeon are able to take complex orchestral pop songs and recreate them on stage, which is never an easy thing to do.

1. I Live a Lot of Places
2. Oberkampf
3. Edinburgh
4. Jonathan Ashworth Rollercoaster
5. As Read in the Pine Bluff Commercial
6. The Allison Yip School for Girls
7. Knock Knock
8. Saddest Music in the World
9. ... And as the Ship Went Down You'd Never Looked Finer

Enjoy!

Of all the bands I wished I could've seen at NxNE last week, there's one I'm especially kicking myself about missing: Red Mass. Even though I hadn't actually heard them beyond a few snippets on Myspace, I'd still heard plenty about them, and all of it was overwhelmingly positive. Besides, they were headlining three straight nights at the Silver Dollar as part of the NEXT @ NxNE series, which is usually a pretty good indicator of quality, if years past can be used as a guide.

In any case, for a variety of reasons, I ended up missing all three shows. I was mildly bummed about it at the time, but now that I've heard more of them -- thanks to their recent Radio-Canada (Quebec's CBC) -- I'm regretting my decision to skip them a whole lot more. The band could loosely be classified as garage-rock, but as the songs below demonstrate, they play it with a distinctly arty flair. You don't often associate flutes and some sort of handheld electronic noisemaker (check the video to see what I'm talking about) with garage-rock, but Red Mass are talented enough to work those things into the music without it seeming strange or out-of-place at all.

Of course, barring an international revival of interest in the genre, I have a hard time imagining the band following in the footsteps of other Montreal bands who've hit it big. But stranger things have happened...and, quite frankly, Red Mass are good enough that they might be able to spur a revival all on their own.

1. Success For Crime
2. Saturn
3. Skater
4. Cadavre mécanique
5. Male Models

Enjoy!

Perhaps the most interesting thing about It's Easier To Be Somebody Else, the debut full-length from Hey Ocean, is that it vividly demonstrates the massive difference a good lead singer can make.

After all, when Ashleigh Ball is on lead vocals, the album is outstanding. She's got an exceptional voice, and the way she jazzily slurs her way through every lyric gives the album a light, carefree feel. When you couple those vocals with equally breezy-sounding acoustic guitars, you get songs like "Alleyways" and "Fish" -- in other words, the sort of music that's ideal for hot summer days when you don't feel like doing (or listening to) anything too intense.

By contrast, David Beckingham has a breathy, whispery voice (as demonstrated on tracks like "Fifteen Words" and "Mama Cries. Combine that with acoustic guitar, and the results suddenly get a lot more douche-y, as if the band has suddenly decided they want in on the fanbases of Jack Johnson or John Mayer. It's a style that seems completely at odds with Bell's more interesting style of singing, and it's a mark of how horrible it can be that it even manages to make the songs where the two duet (i.e. "Moving On") a significantly less enjoyable than they would be if Bell were leading the way.

But really, that's why they invented the "skip" button and why it's so great you're allowed to buy individual tracks on iTunes/Zunior/your mp3 store of choice. As long as you listen to only the Bell half (or two-thirds) of It's Easier To Be Somebody Else, you'll probably find Hey Ocean to be a band well worth your time.

I seem to have some sort of block when it comes to writing about Cam Malcolm. After all, even though I liked his last band, The Sweet Homewreckers, it still took me about ten months to go from listening to their debut, From The Let Down To The Come Around to actually writing about it...by which point they'd broken up. Then, last fall, I heard his solo EP, A Little Bit of History, and I resolved to write about it as soon as possible...and now here we are, about nine months later, and I'm only now getting around to it. On the upside, he's still alive and making music, so this review isn't as totally overdue as it could be.

I'm really not sure why it took me so long to get around to writing about Malcolm. As others have noted (albeit in a much more timely fashion), A Little Bit of History is a pretty straightforwardly simple collection of songs. There's no studio trickery (apart from a bit of synth lurking in the background of "Empire Corners"), nor does Malcolm allow any of his songs to overstay their welcome. As tracks like "My Hands" and "The Thing About Us" show, he seems content to just come up with a catchy riff and see where that takes him.

More often than not, it's a fairly interesting place. Even when he strips the songs down to their bare essentials (that is, on closing track "Basement Rock"), it's still plainly obvious that Malcolm's got a lot of talent, and doesn't feel the need to try and hide behind making everything sound too complicated. It makes for a strong solo debut, and it suggests that as long as he keeps doing what he does best (at least as far as his best is represented by A Little Bit of History), then he should be an artist to watch.

I'm currently in the process of narrowing down my ballot for the next stage of Polaris balloting. With three of my five votes already locked in (Handsome Furs, Jill Barber and Coeur de Pirate) and a fourth -- Charles Spearin -- all but guaranteed a spot, I'm basically trying to listen to everything on the a href="http://polarismusicprize.ca/2009longlist/" target="_blank">Long List that I haven't yet listened to, and then choosing the best of those for my fifth and final vote. As such, here are a few thoughts...



I've never listened to K-Os beyond his singles, so I didn't really have many expectations for what his latest album, Yes!, might be like.

That said, I somehow thought it would be different than this. Based on his public persona and his singles (not to mention the exclamation mark of the album's title), I figured that Yes! would have some element of joyfulness or passion to it. But there's none of that, at least as far as I can tell. From the boringly auto-tuned vocals of "Astronaut", to the plodding beats of "4-3-2-1" , to the poor man's Outkast vibe of "I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman", there's something joyless and detached about the whole affair. It's kind of ironic that he sings (on "Whip C.R.E.A.M.") that someone needs to learn how to have fun, since, judging by Yes!, it's advice K-Os really should've taken to heart.



Switching genres entirely, I can't imagine I'll be using that fifth vote on Wooden Arms, the newest release from Patrick Watson, either. Completely disregarding their win two years ago -- which I unwittingly called! -- I just can't imagine voting for an album that left me feeling...well, not much of anything, really. Watson himself has an outstanding voice (in case you haven't heard him before, think of a slightly more restrained version of Jeff Buckley), and songs like "Beijing" and "Man Like You" show that he and his band (which, collectively, is also known as Patrick Watson) know how to craft fairly ornate orchestral pop arrangements, but the album basically just sounds pretty without ever doing much of anything.

Now, I'll admit that sounding pretty is an achievement in itself. But Wooden Arms would've been a lot nicer if it had sounded pretty and actually gone somewhere. In this respect, I guess, Watson's past does come in to play -- even without getting into debates on whether Closer to Paradisereally deserved to win, that debut album is undeniable proof that Watson is capable of making pretty-sounding songs that actually go somewhere. This time out, he doesn't do that, and I can't say that what's left without that structure is enough to squeeze into my top 5.



Lastly, I haven't the faintest idea what to make of Live in London, the kinda-sorta greatest hits collection from Leonard Cohen.

After all, in terms of the songs on the album, there's absolutely no denying that he's almost certainly the best artist nominated for the Prize -- and that's of all time, not just this year. With all apologies to albums like Parc Avenue, Five Roses and Face Control, there's just no way they can compare to a collection that includes songs like "The Future", and "Everybody Knows", and "Suzanne", and "Sisters of Mercy". It's such a lopsided fight that calling it "unfair" doesn't do it justice.

And yet...it really is unfair, since greatest hits collections are disqualified from contention, and Live in London only gets around that by being a live greatest hits album, comprised entirely of new recordings of the songs. While technicalities are certainly valid counterarguments, it still doesn't seem like it makes for a level playing field. After all, bands like Wolf Parade or Arcade Fire or Broken Social Scene or The New Pornographers could all release live greatest hits collections, and even taken collectively they'd be lacking the kind of history that a song like "Hallelujah" has built up in the decades since its release. Even if the recordings themselves are new, the songs aren't, and it's completely unfair that the other Long List nominees -- whose albums came out at some point within the last thirteen months or so -- should have to compete with songs that people have had decades to hear and internalize and make part of their own personal mythologies.

Then again...it would also be unfair to penalize Cohen for something over which he has no control. Live in London qualifies for the Polaris Prize under the rules as they currently stand, and so to debate whether it should be up is missing the point entirely. I think...though I'm far from sure. So if anyone out there reading this has any thoughts one way or the other, I'd be completely willing to entertain them.


. It hardly seems likely that he released Live in London with any intention of getting a Polaris nomination (or win)