Archive for May 2008
Toronto - De Novo Dahlis a band from Nashville, Tennessee - a place known more for country music, bbq’s, pulled pork sandwiches and the Predators (to Canadians) then for producing fine bands. Well, I was able to get a hold of this band’s new LP (”Move Every Muscle, Make Every Sound”) not too long ago and I am happy to report that yes, it is a pretty good album.
De Novo Dahl is a 5 piece band featuring duel vocals of Joel Dahl and Serai Zaffiro. Now I know what you are thinking - cool way to spell Serai. Makes me wonder if she’s middle eastern or something. I can’t really tell from this picture I have for the post. Anyways, its quite exotic spelling. There was in a time in grade 8 or so when I tried to spell my name more uniquely, but really, I couldn’t up with anything cool - Ricke, Rike (rhymes with Nike ..but not Ricky)..Reeke . yea. FAIL.
So what does this band sound like? I would say its got your classical blend of male/female vocal interaction layered over some pop melodies, with some shouting/chanting choruses. Sometimes I think of Los Campesinos, but I probably classify this as “Wade Music”. Give it a listen yourself, its all pleasant shit and that’s all you really know.
Oh yeah, it’s also Pitchfork approved.
Do yourself a favour and watch this.
Toronto - If you have read the Panic Manual at all in recent months, you will know that I am a massive fan of British Sea Power’s new album “Do You Like Rock Music?”. So it was no surprise that I was anxiously awaiting the band’s show at Lee’s Palace on Friday night. I had missed the bands prior outing here at the Berkeley Church as part of the Beautiful Noise tapings. Damn you Tokyo!
The show at Lee’s Palace was actually a double bill, with the Rosebuds opening for BSP. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to attend the Rosebud’s showing although a friend of mine said it was ‘good’. That is no surprise. I arrived just as they were finish setting up the stage - the typical BSP stage, that is - foliage and all. There was definitely more greenery here then last time. The show was sold out, which goes to show the enthusiasm of people towards the new album.
At around midnight, the chimes of “All in It” signaled the start of the show. Kay Von then came out and introduced the band. He did this last time too, I believe. I am actually not sure which came first, the intro or the song ‘all in it’. Alcohol - bad effects on memory at times. It doesn’t really matter since that tune was just a recording/intro song. Once the band took on stage, they started to rip into “Atom”, off their most recent album. The normal four piece band was also joined by a lady on the violin and did little talking through out the eighty minute set.
The set consisted of songs mainly from DYLRM and some songs from “The Decline of..” (”Carrion”,”Remember Me”,”Fear of Drowning”, “Blackout”). The sophomore album - “Open Season” got mostly ignored, except for “Oh Larsen B”. I believe. Having seen them tour for each of the three albums, I found that the band seemed extremely polished now. The sound was crisp, the vocals were clear and breathy and unlike the past two shows, there was little shenanigans this time around - maybe because Eamon left for Brakes, or maybe because the band has now matured to the point where they can rely on the strength of the music to carry the show and not having marching drummers run thru the crowd or nearly getting decapitated by a ceiling fan when hoisting the guitar player on your shoulders to play a solo. I am not sure.
Overall, I enjoyed the show quite a bit - DYLRM translates nicely in concert and the older material is still strong. I was kind of disappointed they didn’t play “Apologies to Insect Life” or “Please Stand Up”, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be there the next time they visit, so it is not a big deal.
4/5
(Toronto) Mates Of State could shit in a box and I would give it a good review. I guess everybody has that one band or artist that they consider their own. Like you were the only person listening to them and going to their shows when you couldn’t even find their show listings in the weekly paper. I am that way with Mates Of State. It seems that over the past seven years, MOS have been playing, if even at the lowest decibel, somewhere in the background of my life. Work parties, road trips, birthday parties, house warnings, cottage retreats, you name it. Would you believe that a woman told me she was leaving the country to be with another man on the night of a MOS show? For some weird reason, I think the situation made my adoration for MOS them even stronger.
Mates of State are husband and wife duo Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel. Both lend their talents in the vocal department, with Kori mainly on the keys (B-3 electric organ, Casio synthesizer, Rhodes electric piano and the plain old boring piano) and Jason on percussion (drums, glock and triangle). The two have been making music since 1997 and are from the booming metropolis of Lawrence, Kansas. This latest release is very piano heavy. Gone is the characteristic MOS Casio synthesizer and electric organ that molded their sound on their early records. In their place is a pounding piano with the typical strong drum line and pop harmonic melodies.
According to Pitchfork, MOS “…have basically made an album to cook dinner and do the dishes to (5.1).” I would agree with them, but I would like to add that while you do your dishes and cook dinner, you can also make coffee, tap your feet, consume alcohol, throw a party, dance, make love, sudoku, print out your resume, jog, finish your taxes, punch somebody, feed your cat, repair your lawnmower, compliment somebody, get a tan, eat rice, change a light bulb or write a dirty word on the mirror when you come out of the shower.
The only thing I find missing from this release is the bare naked slow ballad that will make your eyes water up. For example, Bring It Back had Nature and the Wreck and Team Boo had Separate The People. Even the All Day EP had Drop The Anchor. For Re-Arrange Us, the closest that they come to this is on Lullaby Haze (Blue And Gold Print comes a close second/maybe first?)
4.5/5
» Read the rest of the entry..
Taken from www.johanheltne.se:
2008-15-12
I dag skickas singeln “Hjärta. Instinkt. Principer.” ut till radio- och tv-stationer. Sedan tidigare finns videon att kika in. Särskilt Jonathan ser tuff ut.
2008-03-14
Nu är det klart. Vetenskapliga bevis för att Jesus lever släpps den 26 maj. Det är sisådär två och ett halvt år efter första inspelningen. Två och ett halvt år! Det som från början var ett litet kompisprojekt blev till slut ett stort kompisprojekt. Jag har till och med släppt in ansikten jag aldrig sett, nu när slutet och början är nära. Skivan distribueras av underbara dotshop.se, där går det att förbeställa. Och pr görs av göteborgare, vilket känns helt logiskt. Det ska bli spännande att se om människor som till exempel du tycker om. Hur som helst tycker Rickard om, det är skönt.
Johan Heltne - Hjärta, Instinkt, Principer
Give it a chance
