From their home in Peterborough, ON to a recording destination in Paris, the ever-expanding universe of Fire Flower Revue has effectively captured an exciting essence on their newest album. There’s a lot of experimentation in their 13 songs, ranging from bongos to accordion to opera samples to Bollywood. The tinkered with electro-pop bits and bites are present, tying everything together, lest it feel confusing. “The Structure,” “Doo Wap Hearts,” “You Are Only Good at Leaving” ― faster dance songs just waiting to be remixed ― and the romantic “Hedge Rows” are strong, while “Larger Dogs” is slower and pleasing to the ear, but not as pleasing in meaning. And yet, Jarret Prescott, Meg Kendrick and company find their playful side in 54-second breather “Whirley” and the toy piano-based “Gloc.” The album features a wide range of guest vocalists and, at times, feels tired, but is an imaginative, trippy, valid achievement. (Independent)
When Scott Sosebee moved to NYC, he most likely didn’t know that in six years, the move would affect him enough to write an EP subtitled “a comedy in five parts.” The notion of his band has been around for about ten years now, but Sosebee had been busy with countless bands in Georgia, as well as tragic injuries after falling from a trapeze rig. Now, he’s better than ever and has focused on his boy problems for this EP. Sosebee turns problems into play in songs such as “The Perfect Guy,” which jauntily details fictional romps around the city, and the collar tug of “How to be a Stalker.” Sosebee brings a light baritone, one he’s still finding ways to push to its limits. Trumpets, trombones, “sha la las” and a common beat from a list of backup musicians definitely help the EP. Together, they’ve all found a way to laugh at the past and make enjoyable music out of it. (Independent)
Woodhands has released their video for their second album’s first single, “CP24.” While the album isn’t out yet, this is all we have to enjoy, and I’d say it’s a great amount on its own. It’s hilarious, witty and bouncy. Dan Werb and Paul Banwatt should anchor on CP24, no doubt.
I found myself laughing through the entire thing, but that might just be because I am a journalism student… ah well.
There comes a time in any rock critic’s life when a band that they used to look upon fondly, who had since broken up, moved around but brought two of the members back in a new light. In my case, this comes to The First Joke. (Ironic, no?)
I grew up in Buffalo, New York. Halfway through my high school years I found my place in the local music scene as a reporter for NeXt inthe Buffalo News. I interviewed a ton of bands (and pretty much all of them have since broken up as well, but I’ll occasionally see people when I go back home, everyone’s doing well) but every single band looked up to the slightly older band, This Day & Age. Everyone was so charmed in their presence. I knew a girl that listened to their album every night before falling asleep. I found myself at many of their shows singing along with more oomph than I usually do at live shows. (Once, they played at Media Play-ha!- and they stopped short. I was still singing. Embarrassing.)
This Day & Age broke up a year into my university life, at the cusp of becoming something really big right after the release of their second album, The Bell and the Hammer. I don’t think I saw their last show (although memory is failing me right now, anyone care to fix this?) but I did make it to a show of theirs at Club Infinity in October 2006. It was bittersweet.
In the past few years, three of the members ended up in a band called the Reign of Kindo. I never really followed them. I was so busy learning new Canadian music. I regret such, but I am redeemed in the formation of The First Joke & Other Matters. Made up of the singer and drummer of TDAA, Jeff Martin and Steven Padin, they bring back what we all loved: the low-key late-night coos. What they didn’t bring from TDAA was the gut-wrenching yet still subtle wails, but you know what? That’s perfect. The First Joke shows how they’ve grown in music and their life paths, and those of us who knew TDAA still have those great memories.
The First Joke will be releasing their first album independently on January 19th. All of me wishes that it was just a few weeks earlier, when I’ll be home for the holidays. To have that kind of reunion would be great, and I’m sad I’ll miss out when it finally does happen in Buffalo. Hopefully Jeff and Steve will take this far or at least really put their love into it. These new songs show a lot of promise, like “Runway,” which will encourage your humming reflex to pick it up immediately and “Page in Book” is an example of the sweet harmonies Jeff & Steven have created for years now. It’s good to hear Steven taking more singing leads, such as in “Winston Was Here.”And in “Perelanra,” they’ve got a lil Latin flair.
Jeff revealed this information about the few of the songs on their blog: “a fun little fact about a couple of the songs.. i wrote the song “page in book” about this guy who realizes a bit too late of the damage he has done to his relationship. steve then showed me the music to what is now called “winston was here” and asked me to write lyrics for it.. (i did).. it then became the hopeful outlook of winston (the character from “page in book”) on the day after his wife leaves him, as he begins his new life.”
But hey, I’ll like just about anything these guys do if you couldn’t tell already. Definitely check The First Joke out, and pray they’ll get bigger and come to Canada one day.
The Reign of Kindo are still in formation, even making a new album, and you and I will do well to check them out too.
Hey readers! If you’ve been wondering what’s been going on with me lately, well I’ll tell you. I’m currently working on the Ryerson Review of Journalism full-time in school where I am putting together two feature articles, blog posts and filling my role as the Spring masthead’s Visuals Editor. Besides this, in the past month I’ve helped Homemakers.com move over to their soon-to-be-launched new site, write an article about female music journalists for the Winter issue of McClungs magazine, write an article about Le Cyc for the latest issue of Broken Pencil and another one about something else in the upcoming issue and finally write tons of reviews and do some interviews for Exclaim!.
That sounds like a lot, right? Yeah… but hey, I’ve taken on something new! I now have writing up on Spinner.ca, which is a music website across the world run by AOL.
My first article is a short profile piece on that cute band I keep talking about from Vancouver, Said the Whale. Please do check it out! Here’s a taste for you:
Vancouver pop-rockers Said the Whale might be named after the large mammals that cruise up and down the West Coast but their music has been indelibly shaped by the entire country.
Their recently-released sophomore album, ‘Islands Disappear,’ is a musical reflection on Canada, following a Vancouver-inspired debut marked by intensely moving songs about sailing in ‘Howe Sounds’ and losing a loved one in the same waters in ‘Curse of the Currents.’
“The first was Vancouver because it was where we had been during writing,” singer/guitarist Tyler Bancroft tells Spinner. “This one, we’ve been on the road for two years, six cross-Canada tours, so we’re influenced by lots of Canada now.”
I really do miss updating this blog as often as I did over the summer. It will be back and running in the future … just not for a while, so I at least hope you’re enjoying yourself here on RoundLetters with my clippings!
Gossip’s fourth studio album is the kind of record that makes you kick yourself if you haven’t listened to the other three. With flashy, trash-talking disco, funky guitar riffs, fast drum beats and Beth Ditto’s range ― from tiny, almost hidden hums to loud, powerful, soulful howls ― it’s anything but boring or bland. The power is on high, pulsing through veins, as Ditto puts everything into phrases like “It takes two; it’s up to me and you to prove it,” on exciting single “Heavy Cross.” If there’s a lesson to take away from this album it’s that you don’t want to make Ditto mad. Armed with a strong, genre-mixing backbone, provided by Brace Paine and Hannah Blilie, Ditto spits comments destined to inspire guilt in past partners, as on “Love Long Distance.” The lyrics aren’t particularly complicated but the fact that Ditto puts it so simply is more of an excuse to quickly learn how to sing along when you need that perfect break-up song. (Columbia)
We might as well have the ’90s brought back to us right before the end of the decade, and who better than the ladies in Japan’s 28-year-old, yet newly reformed, Shonen Knife? They’ve got the formula down, from the individual instrumentation (great for Rock Band) to the lyrics, as in “Deer Biscuits,” where new vocalist Naoko sings that they smell like soy bean flour, or “BBQ Party,” which encourages a healthy dose of junk food. You can see the kids bopping around in their Hawaiian T-shirts and razor caps covering up iced tips. However, there’s an undertone of grunge, with Naoko grating her voice in “Pyramid Party,” and her electric guitar. But there’s also the friendly driving force of Ritsuko’s bass and Etsuko’s drumming right from the get-go in first song “Super Group.” Finally, it’s worth mentioning that they have a fun, beach-flavoured cover of a Paul McCartney and the Wings song, “Jet.” (Good Charamel)
Hey guys – this weekend marked the debut of my new monthly music column on DorkShelf.com. My friend Will Perkins and his buddies started this site for games and movies and the like around Toronto, and he asked me to be their music guru, if I could! So, here’s my first effort.
I feature three bands that you should already know, three up-and-comers, and three shows you should not miss.
As if I didn’t need convincing on how cute everyone in the BC-based band Said the Whale are, and how they are ridiculously cute as a whole, today sees the release of their new video for “Camilo (The Magician)”.
Really, guys? Are you just asking for me to come over there and pinch your cheeks and ruffle up your hair? Because I will. Or at least, you know, maybe at your Toronto show.
However, this is interesting. What happened to the idea of fans submitting magic tricks? I guess those tricks weren’t too jaw-dropping. And I don’t mind much, seeing as I’m obviously squealing with glee over here for the song pairing of the sad little magician (and partly because I’m kind of delirious due to my insanely busy life these days).
Watch and squeal for yourself:
Said the Whale also saw the release of their album this week, Islands Dissapear. They will be playing Toronto again on October 28 @ the El Mocambo.
For any RoundLetters updates that came before May 09, go here.
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Hey guys – this weekend marked the debut of my new monthly music column on 
