Music, musings and miscellanea

Nardwuar the Human Serviette is well known for his off-the-wall interviews, but dude’s also in a long-running band called the Evaporators who have just dropped a new video for their song “I Hate Being Late (When I’m Early) featuring none other than professional party starter (and Nardwuar superfan) Andrew W.K.

The video was shot at Vancouver college radio station CITR at UBC where Nardwuar hosts a program on Fridays. He even gives a shout out to former music director Luke Meat and a number of bands including Needles//Pins and features a ripping guitar solo from New Pornographers member and the “JC” in “JC/DC Studios” John Collins, who’s played with Mr. the Human Serviette for years. Admittedly, the song isn’t the best, but it’s a nice reminder of my hometown and where I got my start in community radio.

Kathryn Calder turned a lot of heads with her own change of direction on sophomore outing Bright and Vivid. Second single “Turn  a Light On” gets a rustic video treatment courtesy of Vancouver filmmakers Leif Parker and Geoffrey Tomlin-Hood, who helped bring to life the video for “C’Mon Sea Legs” by Calder’s old band Immaculate Machine. Check the scenery below.

I’ve written a lot about Haligonian Rich Aucoin over the years, most prominently in last month’s issue of Exclaim! Some might accuse me of boosterism – and that would be fair – but in my defence, he’s just a hard guy to dislike.

Anyway, rather than go on about Aucoin, his live show, and his new full-length We’re All Dying to Live, I’ll just say watch the video below for his track “It.” You won’t regret it.

This review originally appeared at Chartattack.com

We’ve known for quite sometime that J Mascis was capable of more delicate musicianship than the fuzzed-out bombast of his guitar histrionics in Dinosaur Jr., but we rarely get a chance to hear the alt.rock legend unencumbered from some form of backing band.

Freed from the guitar squalls that accompany his day job, Several Shades Of Why offers a rare glimpse into Mascis’s soul, since we can actually hear him emoting in his singing. Though he’s invited several high-profile guests to help out, including current muse/sideman Kurt Vile, Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew and Sophie Trudeau of Godspeed/Thee Silver Mt. Zion fame, there’s not a drummer in the bunch. Instead, these guests help bring Mascis’s stark acoustic numbers to life while keeping his laconic drawl front and centre.

Each of these songs could have sat comfortably on the next Dinosaur record. But rather than offer another blast of thundering alt.rock (and don’t get me wrong, I’m very excited for that next blast) Mascis cleverly flipped the script while offering a different piece of himself. And despite his lengthy run in the biz, that’s a seldom-heard treat.

“Not Enough” directed by Chad VanGaalen

This review originally appeared at Exclaim.ca

After laying out his M.O. with last year’s seven-inch collection,Gay Singles, Jay Reatard and Nobunny affiliate Seth Bogart took the next logical step and recruited an all-female backing to help him recreate the sounds of ’60s girl groups. Hallmarks of acts like the Ronettes and the Shangri-Las are filtered through his queer punk lens, putting a fresh spin on a tried and true formula. The Ramones tried to create a similar aesthetic on End of the Century, but got lost in the album’s overblown Phil Spector production. Bogart, though, keeps with the lo-fi garage sound of his previous work, to terrific effect. Most importantly, he’s able capture the vulnerability that lays at the heart of the best girl group music, which is often lost on imitators. The Ramones were always too tough to tap into that. Among “the Punkettes” backing Bogart is Shannon and the Clams’ Shannon Shaw, who plays bass and wrote a trio of the record’s tunes. Her voice creates the perfect counterpoint for Bogart’s nasal drawl and the album’s best tracks find the two trading lines. Moving forward while looking back, Too Young to Be In Lovefinds the sweet spot between classic pop sweetness and garage rock fury.

“Too Young to be In Love”