My Indie World

Thursday, July 27, 2006

She's Normal, Please Listen To Her

Please excuse Charlotte Martin's ghetto-looking interim website; she probably lost the nice, Flash-y one when she was dropped from RCA. I don't think she'll be rocking the nice, glossy posters either when she's promoting her new record, Stromata, out on September 12th. It will be released by Dinosaur Fight, an outfit run by the co-producer of her one and only major-label full-length, 2004's over-produced On Your Shore. Yeah, I don't think fancy promo material is in her label's marketing budget.

If 2005's 33-minute Veins "EP" is any indication, the new album should be excellent. Gone are the overdone layering of gloss on her piano-pop -- think a less theatrical Sarah Slean circa 2005, and a less timid Sarah Slean circa 1997. In place of the wholly unnecessary overproduction are tasteful beats that complement her existing skill set -- voice, piano, and songwriting -- which is really all she needs. She's one of the few artists who is compelling even if she just sat in front of a piano and played. Her fundamentals are just that good.

I hope she comes back to Vancouver again. And soon. I can't wait to see her again, in the flesh!

Download: Charlotte Martin - On Your Shore (live)
Download: Charlotte Martin - Veins
Download: Charlotte Martin - Four Walls

NP: Charlotte Martin - I'm Normal, Please Date Me

posted by Hanson | 1:06 AM |

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Biggest and Bluest What?

I have finally reached it, the point when the sheer size of my music collection has made me forget records that I own, records that I love, even. Let me share this story of ridiculousness with all ya'll that unfolded at tonight's Camera Obscura show.

So, before Camera Obscura's set, I was up in the front as usual, just chilling after a pretty disappointing set from Vancouver's own Shapes and Sizes. (While I enjoyed their self-titled record, their live show is a bit messy, especially the drumming.) I was talking to this girl I've met at shows before about this and that. She asked me what I thought of Lets Get Out of This Country, and I promptly told her that I loved it way more than their first record.

And by their "first record", I had sincerely meant Underachievers Please Try Harder. I forgot how it went down exactly, but when she found out what I had meant, she told me that Underachievers wasn't their first record. I was incredulous. Really, I asked rhetorically . I thought they had EPs but only two full-lengths, I added. No no, she said, they have a three full lengths, the first of which was called Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi.

But of course, I exclaimed! "Happy New Year," "Eighties Fan" -- I know that record! But even then, I couldn't fully shed my ridiculousness. At that point, I told her that I only had Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi downloaded, which was probably why I had forgotten about it. It wasn't until I got to the merch table and had a look at the CD cover when I realized that I actually own the bloody thing -- and I even have a blog post to prove it!

Shit. I've been listening to and loving Camera Obscura since early 2003, almost a year before Underachievers Please Try Harder came out. How can I forget that I own -- and love -- their first record! And tonight wasn't an isolated incident. Earlier this month, I pulled the same shit in a post, completely forgetting about Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi. WTF? Seriously, this is fudged up.

If I think about it, this doesn't even make sense. I mean, I liked Underachievers, but except for "Suspended from Class", I didn't love it. Certainly, from that record alone, I wouldn't be as excited about a new Camera Obscura record as I was earlier this year. And "Happy New Year" -- how can I forget that I once loved the fuck out of that song, bordering on obsessed with it, even! This seems unpossible, unless you factor in aliens or the dark arts.

Truly, this is one of my most fucked up experiences in recent memory. But then again, with my track record, maybe I've forgotten my other fucked up experiences....

NP: Camera Obscura - Happy New Year

posted by Hanson | 1:25 AM |

Friday, July 21, 2006

One Misstep and You're Dead to Me

Juliana Hatfield's Some Girls project has a new record out. Stream stuff from the new record,Crushing Love, on their MySpace. I found out about it yesterday and picked it up today, though I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. When I do, I'll surely tell the blogosphere about it -- even though it has let me down. The next time one of my mid-90s pop idols release a record, you better tell me about it well in advance. Blogosphere: you're on notice!

I choose to believe Film Threat's glowing, five-star review of Clerks II. I guess I'll find out for myself when I see it tomorrow.

NP: (nothing)

posted by Hanson | 12:46 AM |

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Melissa's One Night Stand

Melissa McClelland is at The Media Club on August 3rd. Finally, she comes out west to play a show. Five bucks says Luke Doucet will be there too, playing guitar or otherwise.

Rogue Wave is at Richard's on September 3rd. Too bad I'll be down at Bumbershoot, though I suppose they're playing there too.

NP: (nothing)

posted by Hanson | 12:10 AM |

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Come On Hear the Illinois

Cooler-than-thou hipsters rejoice! The backlash against Sufjan Stevens is in full force. This will surely buy him a few more years on top of the cool-to-name-drop list. The recent barrage started with an article on All Music Guide, one that's been circulating around the blogosphere. The writer argues that Sufjan's brand of folk-pop is boring, pedestrian, and overly-pretentious, the heaps of critical acclaim undeserved. Even his thorough research on the subject matters of his songs was thought to be high-school-y; apparently, this writer thinks art shouldn't be mixed with a methodical process. Picking up on the article, other blogs -- even Zolius -- nodded their heads in agreement.

Of course, I can defend Sufjan. (I like The Avalanche, though not as much as Seven Swans.) But I choose not to, as I'm sure you've read plenty of those kinds of posts already. What I am going to say is that this has extended his shelf life on the Hipster-Approved List of Cool Music.

Let me first differentiate between Hipster Cool and Indie Yuppie Cool. The former refers to Pitchfork-like taste-masters and their devote followers, while the latter refers to people who take their music cues from The OC (at least up until last season). Bands like Death Cab are still cool for the latter though not for the former, and bands like Les Savy Fav are cool for the former, but not even on the radar of the latter. We're on the same page now, right? Good.

Now, when a band gets too popular without a significant backlash, their popularity among hipsters will inevitably decline (not among indie yuppies though). Even the band that can do no wrong -- Radiohead -- took some major hits with their adventurous Kid A record. A lot of people hated it, which made people who loved it even more vocal in professing their affection for it. That bit of backlash allowed their future works to be praised, since no band can carry on indefinitely without a goodly amount of hatin' from time to time. Even in the world of critical acclaim, there is such a thing as "too much."

With Sufjan knocked down a peg, tastemakers like Pitchfork will be free to laud the next instalment of his 50-State project. They won't feel compel to bash it since someone's already done the work for them. The praise will serve as the counterpoint to all the haters, a staunch defence of a cooler-than-thou artist. It won't sound like the same-old tune. Likewise, hipsters will allow themselves to love it too since he won't be overexposed. I, of course, will adore it too as long as the quality of the music stays high. I classify myself as an unabashed music geek because I love music, not hipster points. That's why mine is one of the few blogs that can't stop talking about Nina Gordon.

But for The Arcade Fire's future as hipster darlings, someone needs to bash Funeral. Like, now.

NP: (nothing)

posted by Hanson | 12:54 AM |

Friday, July 14, 2006

YouTubing: Straight Outta Chicago

Like many, Nina Gordon's surprisingly sincere cover of "Straight Outta Compton" served as my blog-fodder ages ago. But this time, I've got one better: a video. Some guy posted on YouTube a re-dubbed version of the original NWA music video for the song -- with Nina's cover serving as the backing audio. It's not perfect, but it's not a bad way of spending two minutes of your day.

Nina's new album, Bleeding Heart Graffiti, is out on August 8th. Stream her new single, "Kiss Me Til' It Bleeds," at her MySpace.

NP: Sufjan Stevens - Adlai Stevenson

posted by Hanson | 12:48 AM |

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Brighter Eyes

On October 24th, Saddle Creek will be releasing a rarities collection from Bright Eyes called Noise Floor, comprising previously-unreleased recordings from 1998 to 2005. I got this pretty cool tidbit of news from Saddle Creek's newsletter, buried deep inside it, in the middle of item five. It's like they went "blah blah blah, and oh yeah, by the way, our best-known act, the one that had 2 Billboard Top 10 albums on the same week last year, will have a new record of unreleased song out in 3 months. See you next month!" Ha ha. I get the joke.

All kidding aside, I'm always happy to hear of a new Bright Eyes record. Conor's got so many songs in his pocket, he could probably release 3 of these suckers and not delay his next proper album release. I give it a month and a half before it leaks onto the interwebs.

NP: Melissa McClelland - Passenger 24

posted by Hanson | 10:41 PM |

WTFBBQ?

I just got a piece of spam that said the follwing:

it was far enough away from us. It seemed OK, we could get on with our work.
here. Help the new gulls here, the ones who are high enough to see what
"But you'll go down in science. That's what they'll call it,
as though the formation were a giant knife, and eight thousand gull-eyes

Now I ask this: why? I understand all the phishers and scammers, but this serves no conceivable purpose whatsoever. It doesn't even offer up a link to buy Vi@gr@ or nothing. Seriously, people. The least you can do is thrown in an offer for a 110% all natural pill to lengthen Ho Jr. Gees, spammer these days...

Late September, early October proves to be prime show-going season once gain. Final Fantasy, Amy Millan, Andrew Bird, The National, and Sufjan -- and those are just the shows SWAK is bringing to town. Save up your money, kids. It's going to be an expensive autumn!

NP: (nothing)

posted by Hanson | 12:34 AM |

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Bumbershoot++

Bumbershoot 2006 has added a few more bands that I like: Spoon, The New Pornographers, The Thermals, and The Like will be joining a bill that already includes Feist, Metric, Laura Veirs, Rogue Wave, Rocky Votolato, P:ano, Jose Gonzalez, CocoRosie, and Mates of State. Originally, the line-up for the now-only-3-day Labour Day weekend music/art festival was a bit underwhelming, but the addition of those four bands took it up to the level of "pretty damn good." No act completely knocks it out of the park for me this year, but all in all, this ain't bad.

From Blown Speakers, I heard that Amy Millan will be making a solo jaunt to Van City on Sept. 20th, doing Richard's on Richards. You know what'd be really cool? If that show were a double-bill with Emily Haines, whose own solo effort will be released around that time.

Heard the snippet of the new Killers track yet? Stereogum has it. Based on that, Sam's Town won't even be one of the best albums of the last 20 days, let alone 20 years.

NP: (nothing)

posted by Hanson | 1:40 AM |

Thursday, July 06, 2006

DL Doesn't Just Stand for Download

So I'm sitting on Danica's bed, typing away on her laptop right now, preparing to get to sleep really soon. The reason why I'm not doing this at my own place is because my calf is totally fracked up right now, and I can't drive without risking serious pain. At softball tonight, I nimbly stabbed to my right to stretch for a ground ball, only to pull my right calf muscle -- bad. I had felt it immediately, and I dropped down to the ground in pain -- but not before botching my throw to first. Other than that time when a baseball split my hand open (and I guess that time when I lost a tooth during a floor hockey game), I've never been taken off the field with an injury. Never. Damn, I really am out of shape...

I'm totally digging the hell out of the new Camera Obscura album. I mean, I dug their first record, but this one blows that one out of the water completely. The show later this month -- I can't wait!

Immaculate Machine at the Media Club on July 29th. Who wants to join me?

If you're a Canadian and are reading this blog, you probably know that The Polaris Prize nominees were announced yesterday. I'll save my bitching about that for tomorrow.

NP: (nothing)

posted by Hanson | 12:45 AM |

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Star Witnessed

Neko Case was pretty fucking on last night. She played at the Centre as part of the Vancouver Jazz Festival, and as the guy in front of me in line at will call pointed out, she's not very jazz. While I can't disagree, she can play the Brazil Minimalist Trip-Hop Festival for all I care -- if Neko's singing songs, I'm probably going to be there.

The last time I tried to see her, the sky opened up and dropped pellets of nice on us. I blame Sarah and her Neko-hating for that. This time, with a roof over our heads, not even she can jinx it. A new-album-heavy, 16-song set with a 3-song encore (thanks to Alicja for counting) provided good value for my money, her booming voice alone would've been worth it, even if she were singing Billy Ocean covers. I would love to see her in a small, more intimate place where she wouldn't need a microphone. At times, she overpowered the sound system, and at her loudest, she sounded a bit boxy. I guess her voice is just too awesome for technology to handle.

Sonny Smith, a folkie from Oakland, opened up the show. He sang many songs about that city -- he prefaced half his songs with "this is about Oakland" -- and from the way he made it sound, Oakland sounds like a place filled with pimps, hos, and drug dealers. Nice. Maybe that's why the A's can't keep most of their star players.

For me, The World Cup is really over, but I'll still watch the remaining games, since high-calibre international football that matters only comes around every two years. I'm begrudgingly cheering for Portugal now, bastards that they are, since they are the team I hate the least at this point. How ironic that I'm cheering for the team that /beat/ my team. Sad...

NP: The Pipettes - Sex

posted by Hanson | 12:56 AM |

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Three Down

England: Out. Brazil: Out. Ed Jovanovski: Signs with Phoenix. Man, this Canada Day is sucking some major-sized balls...

NP: (nothing)

posted by Hanson | 2:01 PM |

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