Norman’s Summer Music

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 I finished reading David Bowie’s biography by Marc Spitz. It was a good read with plenty of references to songs that I liked listening to while reading the book, which is tricky because I only read the book in my car and I don’t distract and drive. Anyhoo, that’s another story for another day, let’s just say for now that I listened to Bowie over the last couple of months which brings us to the topic of this posting. Namely, what have I been listening to lately?

summer-songs-gathering-beauty

 Bowie, mostly his early to mid-career tunes. Space Oddity from his eponymous second album is still a great listen. Aladdin Sane is such a nice play on words, and The Jean Genie is as catchy today as it was in 1973, which is saying a lot because 1973 was the year I became a Drooling Fanatic (page 7 of Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life by Steve Almond).

 I think I started into Bowie in July, just back from a jaunt to London where I scored Alladin Sane on vinyl.

 These lads are insane. black midi, with their album Schlagenheim. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc3LSW_XTwI. 

   I also scored Sons of Kemet, Your Queen Is A Reptile. Fresh sounds from the London jazz scene, thanks to Rough Trade Records.

 What else have I been listening to? Lots of New Wave (ish) music. Nick Lowe, Soft Cell, The Psychedelic Furs, That Petrol Emotion, etc. The mid to late eighties new wave scene has been on my playlists since, well, the mid to late eighties.

 Another band that never leaves my playlists are The Pink Floyd. I saw David Gilmore Live at Pompei on the big screen and then Roger Waters Us and Them on tour, on the big screen again, and in between those two stellar movies I read Nick Mason’s book, Inside Out. Which was as good as the movies, just a slower format.

 Another perennial favourite of mine is King Crimson, who I was very fortunate to see live at The Royal Albert Hall in London. And of course, I came home with hard copies of their music so I can keep listening to them.

 The Barr Brothers, saw them live and bought their CD’s and would pay to see them again.

 Flash And The Pan, a group from Australia that I keep playing at least once a year. The song Hey St. Peter is a favourite of mine.

 Talking Heads, Tom Waits, Joy Division, Tonio K., Van Morrison, Decemberists, Lifesavers, Michael Knott, The Swirling Eddies, Frank Zappa, … and the list goes on. A good chunk of this music dates me but I am comfortable with that.

 We Are The City, I liked them live. Spiritualized, And Nothing Hurt, a great piece of music. Nuella Charles, some very good homegrown talent on our homegrown vinyl plant, https://moonshotphonographs.com/.

 Low Roar, one of the best live shows I have ever seen and a darn good recording to boot. 

 Syd Arthur, tough to find hard copies of anything they have recorded but I managed to score Apricity on CD this summer.

 Godspeed You! Black Emperor, an amazing show, simply amazing. Their records are good but live… I don’t have enough superlatives.

 Russian Circles, a really good show that satisfied my heavy metal craving for that month. Best crowd award goes to the metalheads that were there that night.

 The Needs, some good Scandinavian power pop. Völuspa, aka Kirsten Knick delivers some Scandinavian synth-driven pop music.

 Rhye. I don’t know where to start. The spelling, yes that is spelled correctly, Rhye. The show, it was mesmerizing. I love it when all the ingredients come together and make the two hours fly by so fast it seems like the show just started, please don’t stop now!

 Cody Jinks. His new album, After The Fire, got me hooked on him and I went on a binge listening to his back catalogue. I am hooked on him now and I hope he tours up here in the great white north much like another country rebel, Sturgill Simpson, who also dropped another great album.

 Last but not least, The Lumineers, III. This album struck a chord with me due to its subject matter of addiction and messy lives.

So, that’s my summer and early fall listening, a new blog will be coming out early next week. Snapshot reviews. Until then, happy listening my friends.

Misplaced

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Smooth as a field of freshly fallen snow and everywhere you look silver gems are twinkling. From Stockholm to the woods of northern Sweden boerd, aka, Bård Ericson, has hewn a delightful album, Misplaced, with vocals contributed by Stella (Brödet, Stella Explorer) that add a really nice element to the album.

boerd Misplaced

boerd may have felt misplace but he has crafted a nice laid back album of chill that I felt compelled to listen attentively to, more than once, in an attempt to catch all the nuances that fill the spaces between notes. There are a nice mix of electronica, Musique concrète, as well as “real” musical instruments, boerd masterfully weaves between the worlds of digital and analog, where we find boerd playing the guitar and cello.

As a regular member of the Royal Swedish Opera, Swedish Radio Symphony, and Stockholm Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ericson has also proven himself as an accomplished double bass player for numerous ensembles around the world. His involvement is these classical ventures only adds to the otherworldly sound of his new album, Misplaced, which will be released

I highly recommend this for anyone who likes chill, ambient, shoe-gaze, contemplative, thoughtful, intelligent music. I am going to stop gushing superlatives all over this and go listen to it again. By the way, I give it a 9.5/10.

boerd released the single ‘Before We Drown’ ft. Stella Explorer on the 4th October via Anjunadeep, and the single “Look” dropped on October 29th, the full-length debut album ‘Misplaced’ arriving later this year.

‘Misplaced’ is available to pre-order now, digitally and on 12” vinyl through Anjunadeep.

https://music.anjunabeats.com/release/142271-boerd-misplaced

It is available for streaming on Soundcloud and iTunes.

https://soundcloud.com/anjunadeep/sets/boerd-misplaced-dns/s-xkLRK

 ‘Live One Life’ 

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Völuspa, aka Kirsten Knick, channels myth and magic on her spellbinding new single ‘Live One Life’ , which Paper Mag described as “catchy pop tunes that sound like fever dreams starring a coven of witches led by Stevie Nicks”.  Völsupa returns with the first single from her debut album due for release January 2020 via Icons Creating Evil Art

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‘Live One Life’ is like walking in a dream with a mesmerizing soundtrack and vocals that pull us deep into a catchy pop song that takes on the tough questions of life and death. Driving beats and swelling synth arrangements propel the song forward while Völsupa poses an eternal question on the song’s refrain – ‘Do we ever really die?’

There are no easy answers to such big questions, but ‘Live One Life’ remains hopeful and philosophical, and it is here Knick fully embodies the persona of Völsupa – all-mighty, all-knowing, eternal and omnipresent, as she announces to the listener ‘My love for you can never die.’

On her new single ‘Live One Life’, Knick submerges herself entirely in her alter ego as she looks directly to the Nordic mythical legend of ‘Völuspa’ for divine inspiration.

https://soundcloud.com/iconscreatingevilart/voluspa-live-one-life-1

The Line of Best Fit: “Tinged with delicate dream-pop, Völuspa’s calm pacing translates into a lullaby with the airy instrumentals that softly echo into the horizon.”

Paper Mag: “cerebral, but undeniably catchy pop tunes that sound like fever dreams starring a coven of witches led by Stevie Nicks.”

As Knick explains: “Völuspa speaks to your subconscious realm. The dreams, the nightmares, the old lovers, the future self, the past self and to the holiness inside of you. It haunts you and comforts you at the same time.” 

https://soundcloud.com/iconscreatingevilart/voluspa-live-one-life-1

https://open.spotify.com/track/1mqXnJs0wfArfvciRDGxau?si=njuY6amkRHOM35vS7fETrA

L I S T E N

https://soundcloud.com/iconscreatingevilart/voluspa-live-one-life-1

D I S C O V E R

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5z9RPGhAVZe8c6ki0MRIgX

https://www.voluspamusic.com/

https://www.instagram.com/kirstenknick/

https://twitter.com/Kirsten_Knick

https://www.facebook.com/voluspamusic

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4ChtTBF8lU2YYsuoTrquYn?si

https://soundcloud.com/saturday-monday

https://www.facebook.com/satmon/

Press enquires please contact james@mysticsons.com or dan@mysticsons.com 

You Need The Needs

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You need The Needs. You really do, the Needs make great music. Pop-punk according to Apple Music. I lean a bit further towards pop than punk, although some songs cross the line that I drew in the shifting sands of genre naming.

The album, You Need The Needs, starts with a genuine pop-punk offering in the form of their radio-friendly single Summerbore. I Regret It and I’m Doing Fine are the next two songs which could be a statement of how I’ve been living my life, I regret it but I’m doing fine. After that sentence, I need a wake-up call, so we get the very pop easy listening of “Hey Wake Up”, in contrast to the slightly punk feel of the first three tracks.

Summerbore//2000 Clubmixx is a 28-second introduction to the guitar-driven She’ll Never Know, Do You Think, and I Believe In Sunday/Someday. This is followed by an interesting filler track called (love has moved on) that offers something of a bridge to the final songs “First to Go” & “Stay Home Friend”. Those are the final songs, there is however a final track, “Revisited”, which is a short instrumental that sounds like a mike got left on after the jazz club closed.

Lyrically The Needs are closer to ABBA than they are to The Clash, with more unrequited love than angst. If you want a fun album to listen to while driving with the music on and the windows down, You Need The Needs is all you need.

The Needs drop fun music from Noway on Jansen Records.

The Needs are:

Bendik Brænne – Guitar / Vocal

Maciek Ofstad – Guitar / Vocal

Mattis Brænne Wigestrand – Guitar

Knut Oscar Nymo – Bass / Vocal

Nils Jørgen Nilsen – Drums / Vocal

You can find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/youneedtheneeds/

And you can purchase the music and support working musicians on Bandcamp https://youneedtheneeds.bandcamp.com/

Nashville Skyline

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nashville skyline

This is the first in what I hope to be a series of album blogs. These will be album reviews in a relaxed and informal manner. My observations are not intended to be critical of the artists or their art, merely comments and observations and reconsiderations of albums that meant something to me at some point in my life, which is obviously why I bought the recording in the first place. I am using the Discogs randomizer to pick the albums for me and I hope to do one review per week. I will do multiple listens of the recording and probably on more than one format if they are available. I will also do some research on the history of the recordings and what relevant information that entails, at my discretion. I am trying to avoid reading other reviews because I feel that may taint my observations.

First up is a recording from 1969, which was a very good year in my life and in my music collection, the album is Nashville Skyline by Bob Dylan. This is the ninth studio album by Bob Dylan and shows a departure from the stylings of his previous recordings. The album that preceded Nashville Skyline was John Wesley Harding, an album that was well received by critics and fans alike and had a distinctly folk feel to it. The album that came after Nashville Skyline was Self Portrait, an album that alienated both fans and critics alike but has weathered the turbulence and has come to be fairly well regarded in the lexicon of Dylan. Nashville Skyline is between these two, it has elements of folk simply because it is very difficult to pigeon hole music like this, and it has a distinctly country and western feel that is different from the explosion of country rock that was flooding the world.

First off is the title that grabs me. I have seen the Nashville Skyline, walked it’s streets and listened to its music. So I have a connection to this recording before I hear a single note of music. I also have expectations because of the many, many C&W records that I have heard, Nashville Skyline does not disappoint.

The first note of music is Girl From The North Country, a duet with Johnny Cash. Their voices mesh interestingly. At times I can hear Johnny trying to match the cadence of Bob Dylan, a cadence that suits him well but is different from most other singers, including the very versatile voice of Johnny Cash. I can also hear Dylan holding back to allow Cash to come along with his voice and Cash does, sometimes better than others but on the whole, it is a well-done interpretation of Olde English folk tune with an interesting pairing of musicians in Cash and Dylan.

The rest of the album seems to flow seamlessly with no further duets but extremely competent accompaniment by the musicians behind Dylans singing and playing, talented artists like Charlie Daniels on bass guitar, Pete Drake on pedal steel and Bob Wilson on keyboards. Having this level of veteran Country and Western musicians allowed Dylan the freedom to concentrate on singing in 4/4 time and playing a variety of instruments in accompaniment but not aggressively out front.

The lyrics speak of the basic human conditions, such as love that everyone sings about, especially C/W artists. They are either singing about being lonely and searching for love, being in love, or falling out of love. Dylan does not disappoint, Nashville Skyline is full of references to love, love lost, and a goose, but no dog.

Lay Lady Lay is arguably the most well-known song off the album, although I Threw It All Away and Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You were also released as singles. Lay Lady Lay hit 7 on Billboard and has been covered by a list of musicians that would fill this page.

A litmus test of music for me is how well the recording stands up to repeated listens and how well it ages. This recording has been in my collection for a long time, I do not remember when I bought the record, but I know it wasn’t in 1969, which is when the record came out. It must not have been too long after because the copy I have is a 1969 pressing, so it is before the reissues came out in the mid-’70s.

Regardless of when it came out, I have been listening to it for a good number of years and still enjoy it. For this blog, I listened to it multiple times on vinyl, CD and digital. Nashville Skyline passes both of the tests with ease. In fact, I think I’ll listen to it again today just for the pure enjoyment of listening to it again.

Take away observations; this is a very good record with some stellar musicianship, just listen to the instrumentation and try to block the lyrics in your head. The pedal steel and drumming blow me away. For another listen ignore the interments and focus on the lyrics and what they say to you or interest you. And then listen to it in a relaxed manner, such as reading a book or doing a hobby, and just bask in the pleasure of hearing music and singing at a level that many strive for but few attain.

Album Review: Alice Phoebe Lou – Paper Castles

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On her second full-length release, fire dancer turned singer-songwriter Alice Phoebe Lou seamlessly combines cool jazz vibes and light indie tones to create a laidback yet intriguing album.

Across the entirety of Paper Castles, South African born Berlin-based Alice Phoebe Lou’s captivating vocals soar over atmospheric and lushly textured instrumentals. With evident influence from relaxed, lounge-friendly jazz, the steady percussion and electronic piano accompaniment on tracks like “New Song” mingle fluidly with Alice Phoebe Lou’s voice and flatly intonated guitars. While jazz is a dominating force for Paper Castle‘s sound, it also blends with distinctly indie ideals. Many tracks on Paper Castles veer towards the jangly guitars and softly textured synthesizers of bedroom pop. On “Galaxies” a muted guitar blends with synth textures to create a spacious indie track that is reminiscent of other bands such as Lowly.

Lyrically, Paper Castles maintains poignancy by relating tales of nostalgia, femininity, and maturing. On the previously released single “Something Holy” Alice Phoebe Lou relays her moment of overcoming “past traumas with sex, with men” and her more in-depth understanding of intimacy with one of the album’s most haunting mantras “It hasn’t been so easy being lonely.”

Overall, the Noah Georgeson-produced Paper Castles is a cohesive, well-textured album that nicely showcases Alice Phoebe Lou’s vocal capabilities and writing skills. Its calming combination of jazz and indie conveys a sense of ataraxia while still maintaining enough momentum to keep one interested.

4/5

-Joel Weatherly

Originally written for The Spill Magazine

Album Review: Cochemea – All My Relations

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With nearly fifteen years of experience touring the world as a saxophonist with Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Cochemea Gastelum is no stranger to the musical world. Within his solo full-length All My Relations, Cochemea delves into spiritual jazz, varied percussion, and of course soaring saxophone.

One of the most initially apparent features of All My Relations is the heavy use of percussion and rhythm. Whether it’s the Indigenous-inspired “All My Relations” or the grooving “Song of Happiness”, percussive and enchanting rhythms are found throughout. Adding exta depth to the sound is the excellent use of stereo separation that helps to draw in the listener and add impact to the drums felt across the album. On “Asatoma”, percussion takes complete control which leads to a very atmospheric and minimalist sound that nicely offsets some of the album’s busier moments.

With Cochemea you expect excellent saxophone performances and All My Relations certainly delivers some pleasing sax solos and riffs. Of particular note is the song “Seyewailo” in which the saxophone has effects laid upon it allowing for some unique tones and cosmic jazz textures.

With such varying influences and textures, All My Relations is an undeniably interesting spiritual jazz album that should fit perfectly within Daptone’s stellar catalogue.

4/5

-Joel Weatherly

Originally written for The Spill Magazine

2018 In The Rear View Mirror

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The list below is my attempt at emulating the Juno Awards. I usually shy away from best of lists, but I had the privilege of attending the 8th Annual Edmonton Music Awards Gala at The Winspear Centre on June 28, and like them, I wanted to give nods of approval across a broad spectrum of music and to use categories, like the Juno Awards do. So here is my best of 2018 list that isn’t a best of list, it is, however, music that made me smile during twenty-eighteen.

Live performance in a large venue:
David Byrnes – American Utopia * Live at The Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium

Live performance in a medium venue:
Reverend Horton Heat, Unknown Hinson & Igor & The Red Elvises @ The Starlite Room

Live performance in a small venue:
Rosie & The Riveters w/VISSIA @ The Aviary

Classical music performance:
Late Night Soundscapes, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Alexander Prior

Classical Music Recording:
re:member by Ólafur Arnalds

Edmonton Artist and Recording:
starlight by nêhiyawak

Canadian Country and Western Performance (The Atrium) and Album:
Cold Beans & Broken Eggs by Sean Burns

International Country and Western Album:
Mr. Jukebox by Joshua Hedley

Country and Western Live Performance: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at The Jube

Vintage Country Album:
Wanted by The Outlaws

Vintage Reissue Recording:
Pink Floyd – The Pipers At The Gates Of Dawn (Remastered Reissue)

Roots Music Album:
Vanished Gardens by Charles Lloyd & The Marvels & Lucinda Williams

Jazz Album:
Your Queen Is Dead by Sons Of Kemet

Dance/Electronic Album:
Shape The Future by Nightmares On Wax

Alternative Album:
Rebound by Eleanor Friedberger

R&B/Soul Album:
Chris Dave and the Drumhedz by Chris Dave and the Drumhedz

R&B/Soul Performance: The War and Treaty at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival

Album Still In Rotation From Last Year:
Once In A Long, Long While by Low Roar

Rock Album of 2018:
Offerings by Typhoon

Canadian Rock Album of 2018:
Earthtones by Bahamas

Spiritual Album of 2018:
(untitled) by mewithoutYou

Live Performance of 2018:
David Byrne at The Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium

Live Review: Yukon Blonde / The Zolas

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On the evenings of Friday, November 30 and Saturday, December 1 we had the pleasure of listening to Yukon Blonde and The Zolas do back to back shows at The Station on Jasper. This repeat was a first for both of us although we had seen both bands previously, this was the sixth time for Yukon Blonde and the seventh for The Zolas. Listening to two groups do back to back shows presented us with an opportunity to make some observations on band dynamics, set lists, crowd demographics and dynamics, how the music and lights were mixed and the overall vibe from each show.

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The Zolas hail from the Vancouver area but make numerous tours that include Edmonton, where it is evident that they have a lot of fans. Currently, the core of The Zolas consists of Zach Gray on guitar and vocals, Dwight Abell on bass, and Cody Hiles on drums with a touring pianist rounding out their sound.

Over the years I have heard The Zolas grow and spread their playing into new and exciting sounds while they have also developed and matured as a cohesive unit, they sound better with each listening. They are more confident and they are using new sounds and arrangements that make their older songs sound fresh. They have always been a band that had a good on stage presence and that did not change with these two shows. Zach is good at banter and engaging the crowd and the band as a unit kept the energy moving forward with a minimum of dead spots such as guitar tunings.

The Zolas are adding more nuances and textures to their music through the use of synthesisers and trigger pads. This was most notable for Zach as he played both synthesiser and guitar in which he used the headstock of his guitar to tap trigger pads. The band generated good energy with the crowd and were able to sustain that energy through their set, although I think it was a better crowd on Friday than Saturday and the crowd energy was different. The Zolas traditionally close with Zach taking his mic stand, guitar and a small synth into the middle of the crowd on the floor and play Escape Artist. Zach asks the crowd to turn on their phone flashlights and it creates a cool dynamic.

Over the years I have seen this done several times and the audience reaction isn’t always the same. On Friday night it was good, not as good as a previous show at a different venue and a different crowd, but it was darn good. Saturday night, on the other hand, had a very different crowd that didn’t engage as well from my perspective.fullsizeoutput_d6dfAs always, The Zolas meet and greet with the crowd after the show and are good at it. We didn’t get a setlist from the Zolas this time around, but we got a selfie with Zach which is a tradition he does with us. My appreciation for this band goes up every time I see them live or listen to them at home. They are a highlight band for me. My favourite song is Frieda On The Mountain:
“Freida on the mountain
What do you see on the other side?
Freida on the mountain
What do you see on the other side?”
I’m sure that my family and friends will understand why it is a favourite.

Yukon Blonde is a band that started in Kelowna but work out of Vancouver nowadays. The band is made up of Jeff Innes on vocals and guitar, Brandon Scott on guitar and vocals, Graham Jones on drums and vocals, James Younger on bass and vocals, and Rebecca Gray on keyboards, synths, and vocals.fullsizeoutput_d6f5

Wikipedia classify them as an indie rock band although I can hear the influence of psych, disco, 80’s easy listening, and straight ahead power rock. They are a tight band that can are comfortable playing with a variety of sounds. Having the luxury of 3 band mates that can sing lead, all 5 of them singing backing vocals, 3 of them that play synth and two lead/rhythm guitar players, they can spread the sound around and add layers and textures that compliment each other and build a big sound.

The highlight for me of both shows by Yukon Blonde was their long jams on the song Radio. I didn’t time it because I was so mesmerised listening to it, but it went around, up, over and then back for more than the traditional 3 minutes that they would get on a radio edit. It then it segued into Saturday Night which was another high energy stretched out anthem. The closing song both nights was a tribute to George Harrison and the Travelling Wilburys, in which both bands took the stage, and they did a rendition of Handle With Care.

 

fullsizeoutput_d6e6The Station on Jasper is a good venue, the staff are polite and courteous and the sound is usually pretty good. They have a decent menu, we had the nachos and they were tasty. Like I said earlier, the crowds were very different for the two shows. Friday night had a lot of happy people that were there because they wanted to hear the music. Saturday felt like it had a lot more intoxicated people who came to the venue to get drunk and either socialise through the whole show or spend the entire night texting. Very different crowds that I am sure the bands could sense as much as we did.fullsizeoutput_d289

The sound was muddy, very bass heavy and very loud on Friday night, which was a shame because so many people were there to hear good music. Saturday night had a better mix although it was still very, very loud. At least the bass wasn’t as bad as Friday night, it was still too much, but it was better. Heavy bass is a trend that we have noticed at a lot of shows, so it isn’t confined to one venue. The excessive volume is also at epidemic proportions, and it’s everywhere even in stores.

Conclusion: I thoroughly enjoyed both bands both night and would gladly return to The Station on Jasper.

-Norman Weatherly

Photos by Joel Weatherly. More Photos at Joel Weatherly Photography.

Yukon Blonde setlists: Friday, Saturday