andPOP » new music

Under The Rock: Ryan Gosling Makes Weird, Beautiful Music

Emma Renda — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:55:42 +0000

Just when I thought Ryan Gosling couldn’t get any sexier. Well, he’s in a band now. Not just any band – a duo with his best friend (and sister’s ex-boyfriend) Zach Shields called Dead Man’s Bones featuring, throughout the entire album, the Silverdale Conservatory Children’s Choir.

The result: songs with titles like “My Body is a Zombie for You” (the chorus of which is shouted by the aforementioned children), set to ominous piano-folk and the Roy Orbison-esque voice of Gosling. The mood is something like the Billy the Kid scene from I’m Not There, and if that reference is too obscure, let’s just call it Halloween. In the video for the band’s first single, “In the Room Where You Sleep”, the choir is outfitted in an array of costumes from skeleton to pirate to ghost.

Gosling has clearly gotten into character yet again – he and Shields created their own label, Werewolf Heart, that will release the debut Never Let a Lack of Talent Get You Down this summer. (Werewolf Heart has also taken on upcoming releases from Ima Robot and The Goat.) And just this week, Dead Man’s Bones announced plans for a North American tour in October, with stops in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, and will include a local talent show before each performance.

Dead Man’s Bones has apparently been a work in progress for a few years, according to Gosling’s first ever interview for the band with Pitchfork.com. And the children’s choir have been there from the start.

“We’d rather see a high school play as opposed to a Broadway show any day,” Gosling told Pitchfork. “Not that Broadway shows aren’t great, but there’s just something about a high school play…you’re not distracted by the achievements, you get to watch the process, the will to make something.”

Incidentally, the Silverlake Conservatory is a Los Angeles-based institution co-founded by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The choir joined Gosling, Shields and producer Tim Anderson (of Ima Robot) in the studio every Sunday afternoon for several months. On their own, Gosling and Shields followed a strict regime in an effort to maintain the rawest feel possible for the album. Besides a three-take limit and the outlaw of electric guitars, the duo tackle instruments for their first time, including piano, cello and drums.

The stripped-down approach comes in the wake of Gosling ’sand Shields’ past encounters with industry execs trying to tweak their incongruities and refine their production styles.

“There was always some kind of function on the computer, a filter that would assimilate the thing that you wanted, and we didn’t understand why you couldn’t just record the thing that you wanted,” Gosling told Pitchfork. “Like, why you had to do the computerized version of it, why can’t you just record it? It’s more fun that way anyway, because you have to design a way to get that sound. For instance, if you want something to sound like it was on a PA system after a wedding and there’s a few people dancing, why not just create that situation and record that?”

The songs so far available on their MySpace page maintain an untreated vibe, with snippets of children’s laughter, instrumental falters and lopsided clapping rounds. But there is an element of polish coming from a couple of guys who know what they want their music to do. “My Body is a Zombie For You” has a haunting hook the Arcade Fire could have been responsible for, and “In the Room Where You Sleep” evokes a meeting between Morrissey and Tom Waits.

It all sounds a little weird, and it is. But Half Nelson was weird and Gosling landed himself an Oscar nomination for that one.

Under The Rock: Once Upon a Passion Pit

Emma Renda — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:45:55 +0000

Passion Pit are a lesson in modern romance. Ever since I heard their backstory – lead singer Michael Angelakos crafted the EP Chunk of Change as a Valentine’s Day gift for his girlfriend – I knew they would be more to me than just a fling in my musical lifetime. But I never imagined my first close encounter with them would pan out like a fairy tale of its own.

The show was sold out when my companion (I’ll call her Merv) and I arrived at Zaphod Beeblebrox, Ottawa’s go-to live music club. It was shocking enough that a band this sought-after detoured so far into Canada, and even more surprising that the resident’s of Ottawa had enough forethought to buy advance tickets. Not about to give up on our night, Merv and I stuck it out in line until a lush pair of hipsters were escorted from the premises, freeing up some elbow room for the two of us.

The timing could hardly have been more perfect: Passion Pit hit the stage the moment Merv and I were safely inside. They played “Moth’s Wings” and “The Reeling”, and captured the layered essence of their recordings by cramming the stage with a drum kit, synthesizers and more than one stringed instrument. Angelakos sauntered about the clutter, exuding a sort of romantic sex appeal that comes only from a hairy-chested twenty-something singing love songs in falsetto. He hardly spoke a word to the crowd until he announced the last song, “Sleepyhead”, and yet the crowd was hanging on every pulse of the music.

During the beat-heavy intro, I was struck by a cold drop on the back of my neck. It wasn’t the warm sweat trickling from my hairline, nor the condensation from the beer bottle being waved above my head by the girl behind me. It was a drip from the ceiling, releasing its own blend of perspiration - the sort of moment John Hughes would have orchestrated.

On our way to the dingy bathrooms to clean up after the show, we bumped into Jeff (bass) and Ayad (synths/samplers) who informed us Nate (drums) was hosting an after party at a yet unknown venue downtown. In our individual stalls, Merv and I stressed how on earth we were going to find this mystery location. Because after seeing Passion Pit, the only thing you want is more. Then a voice floated under the door: “Cafe Dekcuf.” And I kid you not, when we emerged to the sinks, the bathroom was empty. Spooky.

Dekcuf yielded little more than one dedicated V-necked dancer, but the bar was lined with drenched showgoers desperately trying to rehydrate. Not much of a climax, just a welcome rest following the show. But the state of the audience certainly spoke to the calibre of Passion Pit’s stage presence – all sweat, smiles and perhaps a stumble here or there – it was one of the most successful dance shows I’ve ever attended.

And here I was doubting Passion Pit would mean anything to me in two weeks time. I’m not being facetious when I say there’s a happily ever after here.

Three For One: Albums Of The Summer So Far

Emma Renda — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:02:53 +0000

It’s been a long time since I’ve purchased a brand new album on a whim. As a student, I have little disposable income so you had better believe I expect purchases such as this to pay off.

Well, my friends, I may have hit the proverbial jackpot. In the last two weeks or so, I’ve been carelessly shelling out my rent money for records, yet the return turned out to mean more to me than a roof over my head.

My purchases?

Regina Spektor’s Far. Manchester Orchestra’s Everything to Nothing. Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest.

It wasn’t planned in advance, I didn’t wait in line outside the doors of HMV the day Grizzly Bear’s third album was released, and I actually didn’t even know Regina had been in the studio. As for Manchester Orchestra, it was more peer pressure that led me to buy it. Peer pressure and a steal of a deal at Sonic Boom.

The moral of the story, though, is the pleasant surprise that quickly followed the first few listens of each.

In a bold move, I declare Far my album of 2009. It is everything Regina Spektor has made herself – quirky, mouthy, melodramatic – but with the solemn edge that briefly reared its head on “Begin To Hope”, now fully-formed and reckoned with. “Laughing With” is an interesting choice for a single – a friend of mine has tried to call it her “What If God Was One of Us” – yet the lyrics miss soppy altogether. Its Regina’s artistic accuracy that take her piano pop to a different stratosphere than the Vanessa Carlton’s of the world. Like Ben Folds, this generation’s piano man, Regina has lip and a throat to back it up.

But before this blog turns to an album review, or an all-out love fest for my favourite Soviet songstress, let’s move on.

To the next big thing in scene-rock, a genre from which I had distanced myself after The Format broke up and phrase band names came in vogue. Listening to Manchester Orchestra, though, I was reminded of all the reasons I became a scenester in the first place.

Not only is this record positively drenched with angst, vocalist Andy Hull gets the point across without shredding his vocal chords. His pleading wail gives them an indie tinge, reminiscent of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, probably due in part to producer Brad Fisher who has been in the studio with ambient rockers The Shins and My Morning Jacket.

The album flits between dance-rock and epic ballads, all the time grungy but delicately so. (See “I Can Feel a Hot One”, almost a capella complete with an obo’s mourn drifting behind the sluggish tempo.)

It’s a rounded listen, addictive from front to back with lulls in all the right places.

And there is Grizzly Bear, almost all lull but a captivating kind of quiet. I hadn’t heard of this band until reviews for their latest album speckled every inch of my computer screen and magazines. When it was finally released, I was drawn like a moth to the beautiful flame of the album cover. Of course, I had heard “Two Weeks” and was totally enraptured by the percussive hook, which is incidentally the best example of the band’s penchant for genius rhythm, even if it’s not always danceable.

Now, I can’t say I actually love this album. It has its moments, “Two Weeks” is undoubtedly my song of the summer. And sure, there are other single potentials, but I prefer to listen to it in one sitting, allowing my imagination and attention to wander through its hazy soundscape. It’s the kind of album you would enjoy on a rooftop patio in mid-afternoon, possibly sitting next to a four-hosed hookah pipe and weaving a hemp bracelet. And while I can’t say that opportunity has yet presented itself, I’ve been enjoying Veckatimest all the same.

Obviously these albums are worlds apart from one another, but they share a common thread of roundedness – from front to back they flow, unwavering in each of their respective traits.

Maybe I’m only getting this impression because it’s the summer and I have the time to sit around and appreciate whole albums at a time. But I think even if it were the dead of winter and the very real potential of sleeping in the snowy streets of Ottawa lay before me, I would still have handed over my hard-earned pennies for all three of these albums.

Norah Jones’ Indie Band Signed

andPOP Staff — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:27:30 +0000

Get ready for a new sound from Norah Jones.

Jones’ indie rock band, El Madmo, has just been signed to the label Team Love. According to Exclaim!, the band will be releasing an album on May 20.

Jones adopts a pseudonym and blonde wig when performing with the El Madmo. On their MySpace, the band has written this colourful description of themselves: Born of social ineptitude and an ageless belief in trick-or-treatery, EL MADMO offers escape, justice, karmic postulation, and that feeling you get when you know something that no one else does. Starting out as a garage band trapped in the basements of various hockey arenas, their is a powerfully raw sound that could only be inspired by the smell of Zamboni fuel and sweaty skates. The band consists of guitarist/singer, Maddie, bassist/singer, El, and majestically afroed drummer, Mo. Their self-titled debut album is a solid piece of body rocking ear-munition revealing a musical labyrinth that challenges you to, “Choose your own adventure.” From the Aeolian darkness of “Vampire Guy”, to the sassy cha-cha of “Fantasy Guy”, to a song that simply asks, “What good is a smile when your head’s in a vise?”, EL MADMO serves up a hot and tasty meal that’ll fill you up and also “Rock Yer Balls Off.”

Fans can listen to three tracks at MySpace.com/elmadmo.