Music, musings and miscellanea

Damian “Pink Eyes” Abraham may get most of the attention but third guitarist Ben Cook is certainly the busiest member of Toronto psychedelic-punks Fucked Up.

In between the steady stream of singles with his day job, Cook has released his own army of EPs and seven-inches as Young Governor, the Bitters and Marvelous Darlings, the latter of whom gets the compilation treatment on Single Life.

Formed in 2007 and rarely playing live, the quartet released half-a-dozen seven-inch slabs of punked up power pop, in the vein of the Exploding Hearts and White Wires, each performed with the abandon of a band playing for its life. Cook proves to be a formidable singer; opener “I Don’t Want to Go To the Party” bubbles over with bratty energy while “Teenage Targets” shows-off his knack for complicated arrangements without losing the band’s visceral edge.

Cook and co split the record in half, with A-sides at the beginning and B-sides at the end, meaning that the Single Life’s back half is a tad weaker (emphasis on “a tad”) than its front. But the overall quality of material will leave listeners hoping this isn’t this group’s swan song.

“I’ll Stand By Her”

This review originally appeared at Exclaim.ca

Evan Dando’s reconstituted Lemonheads line-up haven’t sparked his creative juices. Instead of new material, this latest release offers a collection of demos from the height of the band’s early ’90s popularity.

Recorded to four-track while on tour in Australia, Hotel Sessions is billed as the Lemonheads at their most stripped down. These 14 tracks find Dando, then still riding the first wave of alt-rock fame, laying down demoes for what would becomeCome on Feel… for the band’s manager. Come on Feel… would be their most elaborately produced effort, but its glossy style isn’t far removed from these surprisingly fleshed out sketches.

More than two-thirds of the final record is already here and most of the tracks sound more or less as they appear on the finished product. Dando delivers two songs that didn’t make the cut (“Superhero” and a track written by at-the-time bass player Nick Dalton, “And So the Story Goes”), while “Dawn Can’t Decide,” which Dalton also wrote, “Rick James Style,” “Favourite T” and “The Jello Fund” are all missing. More than anything, Hotel Sessions sounds like one of Dando’s solo acoustic tours of recent years.

What’s of value for fans is Dando’s commentary, as he intros each song, describing what each is about or his plans for it in the studio. Far from essential, Hotel Sessions is a glimpse of a once great songwriter in mid-process.

“Into Your Arms” (Come on Feel… Version)

This post originally appeared at Exclaim.ca

It’s a sad, but true fact that bands often have to seek recognition south of the border before finding success at home. For Toronto, ON, by way of Montreal, collective Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, a recent endorsement from Pitchfork has bolstered the small, but growing number of listeners ready to go to bat for them.

Blending the sonic experimentation of the Boredoms and Sonic Youth, heavy riffs of Black Sabbath and vocal harmonies inspired by Japanese opera ― they call it “noh wave” ― the eight-piece unit have crafted a unique sound for their debut, YT//ST. The band’s secret is their accessibility in the face of such esoteric influences ― few would believe that you could hum along to anything influenced by 77 Boardrum. The noh melodies, sung in both Japanese and English, suck you in, but it’s the crack production from drummer Alaska B that makes the album.

Singer Ruby Kato Attwood’s vocals remain crisp and clear amidst the pulsing organs, thundering drums and slabs of sludge-y guitars riffs as the record progresses in intensity. It culminates in the rhythmic groove and sonic freak-out of “A Star Over Pureland” before they finish listeners off with “Crystal Fortress Over the Sea of Trees,” the album’s most accessible tune.

An original record blending beauty and brutality, YT//ST should only find more supporters as its reputation spreads.

“Crystal Fortress Over the Sea of Trees”

This review originally appeared at Exclaim.ca

Yuck’s self-titled debut was a refreshing blast of fuzzed-out ’90s slacker rock. But like Teenage Fanclub, to whom the London, UK quartet are often compared, it was their songs that helped the record rack up year-end list accolades. So while tacking on a second disc of B-sides is a crass move, the extra tracks are a welcome companion to an album many of us have had on repeat all year.

The extra songs won’t do away with the constant comparisons to squelch-y ’90s groups, with “Georgia” B-side “The Base of a Dream is Empty” the closest they’ve come to reproducing My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. None of the six tracks best the material on the album proper, but they come a very close second with “Doctor’s in my Bed,” the clear standout.

Cleaning house this early in a band’s career looks a bit overzealous, but when the material is this strong, we’ll take it.

“Georgia”

This reveiw originally appeared at Exclaim.ca

For anyone who fell in love with Said the Whale’s sophomore record, Islands Disappear, first spins of their new four-track EP will come as a bit of a shock. While that album’s specificity of place is what drew many in, New Brighton refuses to saddle any of its songs with a set location. But if the novelty of hearing the changing landscape of Vancouver’s False Creek set music was all Islands Disappear had going for it, the record would never have been the slow burning sensation it was.

New Brighton sticks with the rest of Said the Whale’s hallmarks – the savvy mix of indie and folk rock, soaring harmonies and quirky, observational lyrics – seeming to indicate that their third effort won’t veer too far from the formula that brought them national acclaim. Their songwriting, which was already top-notch, has improved, creating a tight quartet of indie pop gems. The sprightly pace and sunny demeanour of “Lines” is the clear highlight, while the start-stop rhythm of “Sandy Bay Fishing Song” shows that the group aren’t afraid to venture into relatively foreign sonic territory while retaining their innate tunefulness.

New Brighton comes across as lightweight at first, but repeated listens reveal these songs’ nostalgic depths.

“Lines”