Vernal, Not Venal

Tonight, at 7:07 p.m. in my time zone, it’s the vernal equinox! Happy Spring to all, and Happy Birthday (tomorrow) to sister Christie.

Buckets of rain, buckets of tears

I upgraded my journalling / blogging software today, so I need to put something up here to see if it works again! I use MacJournal, which I highly recommend. I use it for my work logbook, my personal journal, my index for guitar tabs, and for all my blogging. Apparently I’ve written 52,000 words in journals so far this year. Uh, yeah.

And while I’m here, I’ll just say that we’ve had two days in a row of rain here in Montreal, and it’s been reminding me a lot of Vancouver. No more skiing for me, but I can go to sleep with the windows open again.

Also, I don’t have much to say about the TV on the Radio show except that it was really good. Heading to see Great Lake Swimmers tonight, and tried to recruit friends by telling them that they’re “pretty good if you're into the whole ‘guys with banjos and guitars singing in quiet voices about how sensitive they are’ thing”. Which of course I am, but maybe isn’t the most enticing way to invite people to a show.

Of Course This Is A Good Idea

"Of course this is a good idea - why wouldn't this be a good idea?"

I Just Want To See His Face

I broke down and joined Facebook, along with seventeen million other people. I was skeptical at first, but it’s really pretty fun seeing old friends and new turn up.

So, if you’re in the presumably miniscule group of people who (a) read this blog and (b) don’t already have me on Facebook - here’s a link where you can add me.

p.s. Hooray for Drew and Cara!

Where Were You?

And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin' you to defy it

Inspired by my Anonymous, Bob-Dylan-quoting commenter, here’s a post after a long hiatus!

The Midlake show was pretty good - the band were obviously all physically ill, but they still put on a good show. Not too much deviation from the album, but a lot of really nice playing - a lot of their songs seemed to be in open tunings for the guitar, which I’m really fond of lately. It was also fun to go to a show again where there’s a delay because the band got stuck at the border, then came and hung out at the Green Room for awhile.

I ended up not going to Sparklehorse, even after describing them to my friends as “the aural equivalent of walking up to an old Southern mansion, only as soon as you enter, it's suddenly twilight, all the leaves have fallen from the trees outside, your friends are gone and there's a rabbit talking to you asking where all the stars went to”.

Last night I went to another show at Main Hall. How did the world know that just what I needed was to see skinny Norwegian dudes in tight pants and sunglasses shimmying around to drum machines and synthesizers? 120 Days were totally awesome. The main act, Shout Out Out Out Out wasn’t quite as good - kind of like a gang of happy robots with bass guitars breaking into your house while you’re trying to read, and playing the same song for an hour. Anyways, I still don’t enjoy dance music that much.

Tonight is TV on the Radio. I saw them before, opening for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, so we’ll see how they’ve transitioned to being headliners and critical darlings. I was initially skeptical about the new album, but I’ve come around a lot today, based on some re-listening, watching them on Letterman, and lyrics like these:

Hold these hearts courageously
As we walk into this dark place
Stand steadfast beside me and see
That love is the province of the brave

Happy Birthday, Charles

Hey, today is Charles Darwin’s 198th Birthday! So happy Darwin Day to all. There’s events all around, including at our own Redpath museum. Meanwhile, I’ll be trying to think of an appropriate caption for this image, and trying to write a review of last night’s Midlake show.

Oh You Yeasties, You Frightening Beasties , Sleep Tight In Your YPD

How easy it is to let half a month go by without adding anything here! Here are some scattered thoughts from a Thursday night in the lab, spent stealing DNA from yeast.

• When I walk to work, it’s about 1.8km. When I ski, which I’ve been able to do just about every day for the last few weeks, it’s around 2km, but seems to take a while longer because of the long underwear involved.

• Note to any roving ninja gangs: please don’t use that information to ambush me.

• My Morning Jacket’s studio albums are great, but are really only just a set-up for their live shows. This is something I hope to come back to, but for now I’ll just say that Jim James really knows the value of a well-placed random scream.

• I’ve started anthropomorphizing my yeast populations, and now sing them lullabies before letting them grow overnight. I’m not sure what this means.

• I picked up Jeff Tweedy’s recent live DVD “Sunken Treasure: Live In The Pacific Northwest” the other day. It’s pretty great, needless to say, but one thing I thought was cool was that the DVD had a special link to the Wilco website that lets you download MP3s of all the songs on the DVD, and some extra ones as well. Cool.

• I’ve decided to steal an idea I first saw at Neil Gaiman’s place, and start giving all these posts labels, which seems to be a newish Blogger feature.

• That is all

Il Neige!

We had our first big snow of the New Year - it snowed last night, and all throughout today.

A small dog came up to me on my way to work, and let me know that he would like it very much if I’d throw a tennis ball into the snow-bank for him. I did, and he followed me most of the way to work.

On the way home this evening, I decided to break out my cross-country skis, since they’d been sitting in the office all year. My new place is just on the other side of the mountain, so I can ski the whole way home. The snow was perfect, and there were already good tracks the whole way back. Just as I got close to home, I ran into a bunch of people sledding and snowboarding down Mont Royal in the fresh powder.

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

What Comes After 'Y' Again?

Something More Productive, Like Roscoe

After a brief bout of actual original and not-so-original content, “Saturday Is YouTube Day” returns.

First up is current obsession Midlake. People should probably judge for themselves here, since I’ll have to recuse myself from this on on the grounds that I’d basically like any band that has 5-part harmonies, and songs about hunting for rabbits and oxen. For any Montrealers, they’ll be at Sala Rossa on Feb. 11.



Next, for something a bit older, here’s some Neil Young - a great acoustic version of “Cortez the Killer” from one of the Bridge School Benefit concerts.



Finally, I just don’t get speed metal, at all.

In Which I Am Immortalized in Prose

One of her hands went to her lips. “I’m Cladis. Jimmy, I have terrible news for you. Someone came through that gate earlier today but he was killed by a rabid Boon almost as soon as he landed.” She lay a hand on Jimmy’s shoulder as she spoke. “I’m sorry.”

Jimmy was silent, stunned. The world seemed to lurch. “Rod?” He asked softly but Cladis went on, confessing.

I came across this story while doing some self-Googling, and wondered if it was coincidental that one of the characters shared my first and last names. It wasn’t, which I think is pretty awesome, actually, especially considering I die a gruesome, deserved death in the story.

Watch Out

Year End Wrap-Up Thingy 2006 (Introduction)

Since this seems to be the season for end-of-the-year weighing and judging, I thought I’d write a bit about some of my favourite music this year. This post has grown a lot more long-winded in the writing, so I’ve decided to separate things into five parts, with the standard caveat that this introduction may be the only thing that actually gets posted.

As in most years, I started listening to a lot more albums not released in 2006 (~90) than actually released in 2006 (~20). This is a bad habit of mine that I have decided to call my “Bob Dylan’s 49th Album” syndrome, i.e. “How can I listen to anything new when I still haven’t listened to Blood on the Tracks?”. I’ll consider the “new” albums (released in 2006), and the “new to me” albums in separate posts. After that, I’ll reminisce about some of the live shows I saw this year, and finish up with some New Year’s music-listening resolutions.

I’ll try to keep this post floating at the top, and new ones will appear sporadically over the next few days, with handy hyperlinks below!

• Sometimes I Do Listen To New Music
• Don’t Tell Anyone You Don’t Own Blonde On Blonde
• You Had Me At Track 1
• Hello Montreal! Merci Beaucoup!
• Hey, Hey, My, My

Hey, Hey, My, My, Year End Wrap-up Part Number 5

Here are some 2007 Music Listening New Year’s resolutions (not to be confused with my 2007 Get My Life Together New Year’s Resolutions, or my 2007 Music Playing New Year’s resolutions).

• Listen to more music

Specifically, I’d like to branch out a little bit more. A lot of the albums from this year’s lists are ones that I pretty much knew I’d like before I started listening to them, given their reputations. And a lot of them are fairly similar in style and approach - guitars, singer/songwriters, “Dude, Why Do You Still Love Her” music as JB calls it. So I’d like to listen a little more outside my comfort zone - more hard rock, more classical, more jazz, more weird.

• See more live music

This one is as perennial as the “exercise more often” resolution on my other list, but this is the year, dammit! Most of the shows I go to are artists I already know, so I’d like to go see more smaller shows, and more awful shows.

• Write more about music

This series of posts was fun, but a bit long to write! So I’d like to write more often about music, rather than let everything pile up til the end of the year.

OK, now to get to breaking these resolutions as quickly as possible.

Bonjour Montreal! Merci Beaucoup! (2006 Wrap-up Part 4)

For part four of the year end wrap-up, here are some of my favourite live shows of the year, in chronological order. Apparently I saw no good shows in the first half of the year.

• Martha Wainwright / Andrew Bird - July 2, Metropolis

Martha Wainwright in a totally packed hometown show, part of the Jazz Fest. The opener was Andrew Bird, who did some amazing things with voice, guitar, and violin - he’d create backing tracks by recording his own performance, then playing it back to gradually build songs.

This was the second Martha Wainwright concert I’d seen. I thought the first time was seeing her opening for Neko Case, but I think it was actually her opening for Cyndi Lauper. And that is a story for another time. But anyways, this time Martha was with her full band, and it was totally excellent - Stones and Leonard Cohen covers, as well as surprise guests the McGarrigle sisters. Out of all the shows I’ve seen at Metropolis, this was probably the most packed, with the loudest audience.

• Calexico / Mariachi Luz de Luna - July 9, Metropolis

My second time seeing Calexico, who fortunately overcame the second-show curse by playing with a great mariachi band for a lot of the evening. A really fun, albeit somewhat sparsely attended show. Calexico played mostly material from their recent album Garden Ruin, and it was nice to see the changes since the last time I saw them (last year with Iron & Wine). All I have left to say is that Joey Burns’ guitar looks like some sort of aircraft carrier.

• Wilco - July 10, Metropolis

Fourth summer in a row for Wilco and me. The first time (2003, Metropolis), they were playing mainly material from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but also the not-yet-released A Ghost Is Born. The second time (2004, Theatre St-Denis), they played material from the then-just-released A Ghost Is Born. The third time (2005, Metropolis), they played mainly material from... A Ghost Is Born.

So this year, with no new album still, I’m not quite sure what I expected for the setlist. What we got (2006, Metropolis) was, lots of songs from A Ghost Is Born! Plus a few new ones. I shouldn’t really complain, because I knew what was coming, but it was a little harder to get excited the fourth time around. Having said that, though, I always enjoy seeing Wilco, and always like Metropolis, so I had a really good time.

The day before the show, I was riding around on my bike, singing “On a Sunday morning sidewalk, Lord I’m wishing I was stoned”, when I passed a dude with crazy hair, an unkempt beard, a walking cast, and a Subway sandwich. As is always the case with me in these situations, it took me another ten seconds to realize that of course, it was Jeff Tweedy, and that I was now too far away to go say hello. I think he did give me a “Is that dude really singing Johnny Cash on his bike?” look though.

• Rancid (twice!) - August 30, Spectrum, and December, Metropolis

Rancid, kings of early 90s punk. I actually saw them twice this year, in two different venues. The first time was much more exciting - smaller venue, first time seeing them, etc. But Rancid definitely realized what most people were there to hear - at least half the setlist each time was devoted to material from And Out Come The Wolves and Let’s Go. Both shows were really high-energy - I’m glad I got to see these guys while they’re still around.

• M. Ward - September 12, Sala Rossa

I wrote about this the other day, but I came in knowing almost nothing, and left a big fan. This was also the show where I realized just how many indie-rock dudes in Montreal were wearing beards (as I was at the time). But I think the Autumn is an ideal time to see M. Ward, as lots of his songs seem slightly spooky.

• Sparta - October 13, Le National

Second time around for Sparta and I. As always, I’m amazed at just how much rock these four pack into each song. Not quite as good as the last time we saw these guys, mainly because it was the second time for me, and because of the venue. Le National is a new club here, and it felt much too well lit and clean for a rock show, with weird spaces off to the side of the show making the place feel emptier than it was.

The first time we saw Sparta, at Club Soda I think, was one of my favourite shows of all time, simply because it was such a communal experience - everyone in the audience collectively lost it. At this second show, it felt like fewer people were really into it.

• The Decemberists - November 5, Metropolis

The Decemberists, perfectly executing almost the entire The Crane Wife album - even the ten-minute-plus “The Island”. It’s hard to describe the Decemberists well, so I’ll just say that this concert featured 4/6 band members re-enacting the founding of Montreal in the middle of the audience, only to be interrupted by a meteor.

• The Tragically Hip - November 10, Metropolis

I’m including this show here even though I didn’t have a spectacular time, because it wasn’t really the band’s fault. They played really well, I just never seemed to get into it. The band adhered strictly to the formula of “quickly follow the unknown with something familiar”, alternating songs from the new album with older material. And while I think Gord Downie’s antics suit the new material pretty well, pretending to be a chicken during “Long Time Running” doesn’t work so well. It also may have been the first time where I actually enjoyed a band more in an arena than a club.

OK! Back sometime with New Year’s Music resolutions.

Say What Again

You Had Me At Track 1 (2006 Wrap-up Part 3)

Next, in the “You Had Me At Track 1” category, trolling through the back catalogues of artists I’ve recently gotten into:

• Neko Case - Furnace Room Lullaby / Blacklisted
• The Decemberists - 5 Songs / Her Majesty The Decemberists
• Iron & Wine - The Creek Drank The Cradle / The Sea And The Rhythm EP
• My Morning Jacket - At Dawn / It Still Moves / The Tennessee Fire
• M. Ward - Transistor Radio / Transfiguration of Vincent / End of Amnesia

Three of these artists were mentioned back here. These were all cases, though, of hearing an album, and immediately wanting to hear more from the artist. Luckily, in all of these cases, the back catalogues were equally rewarding. I managed to see all of these artists live over the past year or so, and all put on awesome shows (although I only saw part of My Morning Jacket’s set when we arrived late to a Wilco show).

And finally, albums that don’t fit in any of the previous categories, but that I first heard this year and really liked:

• The American Analog Set - Set Free
• The Be Good Tanyas - Blue Horse
• Hayden - Live At Convocation Hall
• Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
• The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
• Martha Wainwright - Martha Wainwright
• Rufus Wainwright - Want Two

Looking at this list, and some of the previous ones, makes me realize that I’m listening to a lot of “quiet” music, and not nearly as much balls-out rock as I used to. I’m not quite sure why that might be.

Don't Tell Anyone You Don't Own Blonde on Blonde (2006 Wrap-up Part 2)

I actually do own Blonde on Blonde, but I liked that line from “High Fidelity”. These are some albums that I really should have listened to before, but somehow managed to avoid until this year. It’s gonna be okay, it’s gonna be okay.

• The Allman Brothers - Eat a Peach
• The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo
• Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison
• John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
• Sam Cooke - Portrait of a Legend
• Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks / Highway 61 Revisited
• The Everly Brothers - Twenty Greatest Hits
• Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
• Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On?
• Joni Mitchell - Blue / Court & Spark
• Talking Heads - Remain in Light
• The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers / Let it Bleed
• The Who - Live at Leeds
• Hank Williams - 40 Greatest Hits
• Neil Young - After the Goldrush

My favourites from this list, or at least the albums that meant the most to me this year were of course Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks Joni Mitchell’s Blue.

More “new-to-me” albums tomorrow, and oh yeah, Happy New Year!

Sometimes I Do Listen To New Music (2006 Wrap-up Part 1)

So of albums that were actually released in 2006, these are some of my favourites.



Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood

Neko Case was one of those artists that I kept managing to see live somehow, without ever really digging into her recorded work. Now that I have, I’m a big fan. Her new album is really rewarding as well, not just because it continues her tradition of great songwriting and singing, but because of the detours it takes. For example, one of the main pleasures of her albums is just the visceral pleasure of her voice, hearing her crank it out. But on the first track of Fox Confessor, she stays low in her vocal range, letting the words and instrumentation gradually build the mood. The understated nature of the first track makes the second track, “Star Witness”, even more effective, with its multiple, soaring vocal lines.



The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

I’m going to steal a line from Pitchfork’s year-end wrapup: “The Decemberists have always been an interesting band, but with The Crane Wife, they became a great one”. I think I listened to this album probably more than any other this year, which is probably untrue since I got it at the end of October.



Joanna Newsom - Ys

This was an album that came heavily recommended by a lot of the hipper-than-thou indie music publications, but I couldn’t decide for a week whether it was totally awful or totally awesome. It’s definitely not the most accessible of albums: five songs, each longer than seven minutes, sung by a frantic pixie in a child-like voice, accompanied only by her harp and a string section. Singing songs about meteorites, monkeys and bears, being milked from thistles at twilight, etc. Then one night when I was kind of lost in multiple ways, it all started to come together, and I decided on totally awesome.



Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam was my favourite band for a long time, and are definitely the band that I’ve invested the most in emotionally over the years. I was pretty disappointed with their previous album, Riot Act. I’ve always been willing to follow Pearl Jam down interesting detours (I still think No Code is their best album), but Riot Act was their first release that didn’t feel like it had been really worked on and polished. It felt rushed, and half-baked, and for the first time Eddie Vedder’s lyrics weren’t up to his usual standards (“Thumbing My Way” and “Green Disease” are the worst offenders).

But the new album, Pearl Jam, is a huge statement about everything that makes the band, and rock music in general, great. The first half of the album is filled with unrelenting rockers, capped off by the best song on the album, “Marker In The Sand”, while the second half steps back a bit, and thinks deeply about living. I think Pearl Jam’s best work is always when they’re in transition. Dealing with sudden fame on Vs. and Vitalogy, dealing with adulthood on No Code, and now figuring out how to still rock out, and still make a difference, when they’re all in their forties. It’s nice to have them back, and so vital, after so long.



M. Ward - Post-War

I went to see M. Ward at Sala Rosa earlier this year, and immediately became a fan. His most recent album careens between rock stompers and slow crooners, telling a series of stories about lovers, losers, dreamers, and dead men. One thing I like about his work is the amount of space he gives the slow songs to breathe, and the way his guitar dips in and out of things, commenting briefly then fading out again. This album will also be forever notorious to me because of the impromptu dance party it inspired at a family reunion, featuring pogoing Uncles and ten people with ten different ideas about just when the semitone bend happens in the chorus of “Chinese Translation”.

Honourable Mentions:

• Sparklehorse - Dreamt for Light Years In The Belly of a Mountain
• Bob Dylan - Modern Times
• Calexico - Garden Ruin
• Cat Power - The Greatest
• Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther

These are mostly albums that I just started listening to recently, or don’t really have much to say about except I like them a lot! Also, I can’t believe I waited for five years for a new Sparklehorse album to come out, then didn’t hear about it at all until a few days ago.