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P:ANO
Attention indie rockers: don't let this local outfit's understated slow-pop escape your attention. Sure, When It's Dark ... might sound dour to lazy ears but given the attention it deserves, P:ano's debut album reveals itself as a gloriously subtle, prodigiously accomplished classic in waiting that evokes a startling range of ideas and emotions. Packed with memorable tunes, imaginatively arranged and beautifully recorded this is an impressive debut release from the Hive FI imprint - a label that seems set to take the North Western Scarf-Rock aesthetic to a world that doesn't yet know how lucky it is. Features appearances by Veda Hille and members of Jerk With a Bomb, Radiogram and The Beans. CD 12.98 |
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ROOTS
MANUVA
Dub Come Save Me CD
Nominally a remix of his acclaimed album Run Come Save Me, Root Manuva's latest release is, in fact, a vast improvement on anything the UK's premier (only?) rap icon has produced thus far. An invigorating mixture of abstract hip-hop, digital reggae and laptop tinkering, Dub Come Save Me manages to encompass everything that has been good about British music and society in the last decade (including the Super Furry Animals!). Brittania waives the rules, old chap.
CD 16.98
Various
SURVIVE AND ADVANCE VOLUME 1 CD
Music for interventions ... I admit I was curious. At the bookstore, leafing through a copy of some "worse case scenario" chapbook, I skimmed the index looking for a solution to my rash of sonic doldrums - but sadly, no relief presented itself. I knew the contours of this darkness intimately. No amount of hope wagered could summon a new tune to the horizon, and so I became remote. Luckily, my intervention came at the hands of Merge Records: salvation from Destroyer, Gothic Archies, Imperial Teen, Radar Brothers, East River Pipe, Lambchop, Portastatic, Crooked Fingers, Ladybug Transistor, and others. Survive and Advance!
CD 9.98
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THE
SECRET THREE Nights for rambling need no invitation. You walk on through the corridors of the city's abandoned warehouse district. During blue-collar hours these streets are animated with the sparks of machinery, but now under the magical dusk, a cool, welcoming air hangs. When will the street rats come out and play stickball? You continue until you come across a suitable partner for dialogue: an enormous elephant that shows it's wear; the elements have transformed this discarded film prop. When questioned, its replies take the form of music - light, lyrical passages of guitar, bass and batteria, offset by near-imperceptible organ tones and vibes. Clearly, the elephant has sway with The Secret Three! Matching the meditative sensibilities of Bedhead with the jazzier elements of mid-period Sea and Cake, Northern & Industrial is a handsome debut from these Sugar Refinery regulars. Go forth and take the magical dusk! CDEP 9.98 |
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ALEJANDRO
ESCOVEDO
By The Hand Of The Father CD
Well known in this neck of the woods, Alejandro's brand of Americana road songs has earned him a reputation for amazing intimate live performances. The ever-charismatic storyteller entertained local audiences just last month, giving them a sneak preview of his recent recordings for this theater project. These aren't heady compositions, just a group of songs bound by a united theme, cast and story - and in the typical Escovedo voice, incredibly compelling! We've had many requests for this title; we did what we could. Hope you like it.
CD 19.98
AUTECHRE
Gantz Graf CDEP/12"
We tend not to throw the term "Bad Boys" around. When we say it, we like to mean it. To us, it has a kind of metaphysical potency, an Absolute-ness (although, to be honest, we're also joking - we'd never succumb to that Idealist dead end). However, Autechre receive the title completely. For example, it seems like their past few releases could've been alternatively named, "Fuck You," "Fuck Off," and "Go to Fucking Hell." What we mean is that each one has been a challenge: to listeners, to critics, and to the tradition they're clearly disrespecting. Musically speaking, the latest EP could've been fairly called, "Fuck This - We Fucking Mean It." It's good, and it's also unexpected - there's singing (no really, listen for it)! Plus, there's a DVD with some pretty impressive animation. So turn the laptop off, pal, and come on over.
CDEP/12" 12.98
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VEDA
HILLE You know, Veda Hille is a pro. It's only too bad she'll probably have to wait for her retirement years before the Vancouver City Council smartly renames a street after her. Oh well, they'll catch up, and they should. Her Jane Siberry mixed with Tom Waits (or is that Sandy Denny and Tim/Jeff Buckley) songs are so completely competent and full of ideas that, well, we can do little more than happily shake her hand and exclaim, "Great work, Veda, keep it coming!" And this recording captures what some feel is the ultimate test of any performer: live performance. Or, in this case, two of them, actually, both recorded at the always-lovely "wooden box," the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. As they say, it's "all good." Now, to whom do we send our "Veda Hille Boulevard" petition? CD 16.98 |
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PEGGY
LEE
Songs From the Big House CD
The noir aesthetic - typically conjuring visions of overwhelmed detectives, worn down by the cynicism of crime and the complexity of vast urban sprawl - is in fact something extra, something independent of any specific genre. Although, like a virus, it always needs a host to inhabit, the detective genre is only one of many. Songs From the Big House (coincidentally, older slang for jail?) seems imbued with the dark spirit of noir. Not as a possible soundtrack, or as 50s cliche, but as noir itself. There's a narrative continuity to this recording, an arc, a subtext of anxiety. It has humidity, a thickness, weighed down by a heavy midnight sun. The big band is well used, the songs advanced, the playing sophisticated, and like all good noir, it burns slowly beneath the surface with a heat that could set fire to the world. Recommended.
CD 16.98
