i (heart) music

Even though I wasn't a fan of Trevor James' last band, my expectations for his self-titled debut with backing band The Perfect Gentlemen were actually pretty high. After all, his former bandmate produced last year's best album, and the fact they're now labelmates should, in theory, mean that James inhabits roughly the same musical terrain.

Sadly, this isn't the case; whereas Jon Chandler uses Amos the Transparent as a vehicle for producing some truly amazing, magical music, James is a pretty straightforward (and generally generic) rocker. In fact, I don't know what led to the break-up of James' previous band, but it surely couldn't have been a dispute over its musical direction; the stuff here is basically the same kind of radio-friendly "modern rock" that The Architects came to be known for, at least around Ottawa. While this eye for potential commercial success definitely produces one or two great singles (in particular, it's incredibly easy to imagine huge crowds singing along to every word of "Louder Louder"), it doesn't make for a particularly compelling album. Most of the songs here are interchangeable, without any sort of hooks that make them particularly memorable. For sure, it's expertly produced and competently executed, but when there's someone in James immediate circle of friends/contemporaries creating music that's infinitely more than that, you'd think -- or at least hope -- that James and The Perfect Gentlemen might push themselves a little.

I'm wracking my brain for some interesting way of writing about After The Weather, but the more I listen to their self-titled debut EP, the more it all comes back to this: they sound a lot like Muse.

Not that this is a bad thing, mind you. It may not say much for After The Weather's originality, of course, but it's not as if Muse are your average, run-of-the-mill rock band. For ATW to capture the same kind of Queen-goes-classical, stadium-ready prog-rock spirit shows that they have both ambition and talent in healthy doses. Throughout the album, frontman Matthew Hills frequently ventures into Matt Bellamy/Thom Yorke territory with his vocals; as songs like "...And Montreal Was Gone" and "Shark Song" show, he can really sing. Just as importantly, as both of those tracks amply demonstrate, his vocals are matched in their epic grandeur note for note by the music. While it's not exactly a sound that After The Weather can call their own, they certainly do it well enough to be worth checking out.

Relief Maps, Graveyard Smash (Self-released

WHO

Riff-happy Ottawa quintet.

DISCOGRAPHY

Sunrise Seaport (Self-released, 2006)
Graveyard Smash (Self-released, 2008)

IN A NUTSHELL

With Graveyard Smash, Relief Maps succesfully make the jump to a full-length without losing anything that made them worth checking out in the first place.

THE STORY

As much as I loved Relief Maps' debut EP, I've got to admit that I was a little pessimistic about how they'd follow it up. After all, they basically went underground for a year while recording it, abstaining from live shows and releasing nothing online that suggested they were working out new material. While that's to be expected from, say, a band who can afford the radio silence, from a band that's virtually unknown beyond Ottawa's borders, it didn't seem like a reason for optimish. On top of that, SUnrise Seaport could pretty much be summed up as "Tokyo Police Club with a female lead singer", and TPC's recent attempt at a full-length showed that the sound doesn't work so well when stretched out over a full album.

Then again, maybe TPC just did it wrong. After all, Graveyard Smash is a significant step up from Sunrise Seaport, and it's not as if there's a substantial difference between it and Sunrise Seaport. It keeps up the catchy riffs and happy-clappy attitude (as my girlfriend calls it) that made Relief Maps so promising in the first place, and just expands the template out over a full album. They even borrow a song from their first release -- Seaport's standout track, "Stamp Out Fatigue" -- to make the transition from the EP to the LP all the more seamless.

That said, Relief Maps have definitely evolved as a band. First and foremost, Katie Duross has become a pretty strong lead singer. Whereas before she often seemed to be arual wallpaper (for lack of a better term), content with sitting back and being swallowed up by the music, here she seems to have embraced her status as the band's frontwoman. In part, this can be attributed to better production, and the fact the band recorded the album themselves. But an even bigger part of it is that Duross is a lot more confident now than she was before. Rather than settling for being pleasant, here she seems to push herself, as if she's realized that hitting the right emotion counts for as much as hitting the right notes. Her voice is as nice as ever, but songs like "Shark Into Gold" and "Hair Play" show that she's also figured out that one or two off-key notes go a long way toward weaving in just the right amount of vulnerability.

Of course, in the end, Graveyard Smash's strength all comes down to the fact that each of the songs have irresistable riffs at their cores. That "Stamp Out Fatigue" stands out should be no surprise, given that it did on their EP as well, but it gains something from the presence of "The Water Song" leading into it. Further, it's followed up by "Young Typist", which may just supplant it for the title of the band's best song -- helped, undoubtedly, by the fact it has just a hint of Wolf Parade to it. Other songs, like "Frontier Stew" and the opening title track, may not make as immediate an impression, but if you listen to the album enough, they'll eventually work their ways into your subconscious.

And this is probably Relief Maps' biggest achievement: that a band that builds songs around deceptively simple, incredibly catchy riffs has made a full-length that's actually a bit of a grower. Undoubtedly, individual songs on Graveyard Smash will grab you right away. But give it a concentrated listen (preferably on headphones), and you'll come to realize and appreciate that it's actually a pretty great whole.

Want to win Graveyard Smash? Thanks to Relief Maps, i(heart)music has a copy to give away. To enter to win, just e-mail me your name and mailing address, and I'll randomly select a winner!

Penelope S. wins a copy of Black Hat Brigade's amazing self-titled debut. Thanks to all who entered!

To the best of my knowledge, I've never heard any of Courtney Wing's albums (though I have a vague recollection of possibly hearing him in a store once a few years ago). That said, if his recent Radio 2 performance from Montreal's Breakglass Studio is any indication, he's someone worth checking out. The songs below demonstrate that he not only fits in squarely at the point at which Dylan and Springsteen intersect, he does so without sounding like a blatant rip-off of either of them (which isn't something many musicians of a similar ilk can say).

1. Celebration
2. Weather
3. Chance
4. Holler
5. Social Grace
6. Bluffing Face
7. Tragic Blonde
8. Chloe
9. Cruel of Fair
10. Jolie in July

Enjoy!

This year's i(heart)music fest winds down tonight with...



Katie Stelmanis (download her cover of Roy Orbison's "Crying")
Ghost Bees
Culture Reject
Ennuie

There's still time to get $8 advance tickets right here, or it's $10 at the door. Either way, it's going to be a pleasantly weird way of winding down four days of shows that have been incredibly fun!

This year's i(heart)music fest continues tonight with...



Handsome Furs
The D'Urbervilles (download "National Flowers")
Black Hat Brigade
The City Above

There's still time to pick your tickets up from right here, so get them now, before it sells out!

It's i(heart)music fest Day 2, which means...



Woodhands (download "Dancer")
Ruby Coast
Blazer
The Gales (download "Cellophane")

There's still time to buy $8 advance tickets right here, or you can pay $10 at the door. Either way, it's going to be an amazing show, and a great way to spend a Friday night!

Tonight marks the start of the third annual i(heart)music festival. The big difference this year is that, rather than being out in the middle of (a very beautiful) nowhere, all four nights of shows will be held in town at Mavericks.

We're getting things started with...

The Love Machine (download "Love Is On Your Side")
Amos The Transparent
These Electric Lives
Bad Flirt

Doors are at 8 or so, the first band hits the stage around 9, and it's 19+. There's still time to get tickets for just $8 advance from here, or you can get a pass for $20 that'll also let you see Handsome Furs, Woodhands, Katie Stelmanis and more over the rest of the weekend!

(And to ensure today and tomorrow aren't isn't content-free for everyone out of town, I'll do my best to post something non-fest related at some point!)

If nothing else, The Eatons are a pretty methodical bunch. After all, even though they've been around since 2005, the Firestarter EP represents their recorded debut. Compared to a lot of bands that seem to run into a studio moments after they've formed, the band is either a) showing an impressive amount of restraint or b) failing to strike while the iron is hot, depending on your point of view. And that's without even considering the fact the EP has only three songs.

Regardless, the waiting seems to have paid off, since all three tracks here are the work of a band that knows exactly who they are and how they want to sound. Specifically, they know they are/want to sound like a punk-tinged pop band with an ear for hooks, and they succeed at this beyond any shadow of a doubt. Frontman Boris Chan has a nasal whine that's just on the right side of acceptable, and it's helped by the fact he has a bit of a Destroyer thing going on at times during the EP's title track. Each song sounds like it was written and recorded and rewritten and rerecorded until every moment was perfectly tight, which is the sort of perfectionism that sometimes goes by the wayside when bands are just trying to get something out there. Admittedly, the downside of this is that the band loses a bit of spontaneity; each song here sounds exact and precise, to the point that you can see each hook and chorus and bridge coming a mile away. But when those hooks and bridges and choruses are as catchy as the ones The Eatons have here, that's a pretty fair compromise to make.

I don't often feel compelled to parrot a press release, but in the case of Pony Da Look's Shattered Dimensions, I really don't think it can be avoided. As many bloggers have noted, the band is described by their label as "witch music". Given that "Kate Bush singing dance-pop songs about monsters while traipsing about in a graveyard" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, I think I'll go with that as well.

That said, I still don't think it fully captures the weirdness that is listening to Pony Da Look. It's basically four girls howling demonically about sorcery (on "Sorceror") and murder ("Ravenous"), over top of extremely gothy '80s synths for half an hour. Every so often they throw in a dance beat to liven things up (as is the case with "Ditch, which sounds like Michael Jackson pushed through a meat grinder of eeeeeevil). It definitely sounds like nothing else out there, so if that's your main criteria for selecting an album -- or, alternatively, if you just want to spend half an hour staring at your speakers incomprehensibly -- then Forbidden Dimensions is most definitely something you should check out.

Black Hat Brigade, Black Hat Brigade (Self-released)

WHO

Apocalyptic-sounding Toronto quintet.

DISCOGRAPHY

Black Hat Brigade (Self-released, 2008)

IN A NUTSHELL

Black Hat Brigade is like listening to perfection in musical form for twenty-six minutes.

THE STORY

The reference point that most people will notice when they first listen to Black Hat Brigade's self-titled debut is obvious, so I'll get it out of the way right off the bat: there are definite similarities between them and Wolf Parade. They have the same kind of prog-tinged, keyboard-driven, humanity-marching-to-the-apocalypse sound that defined Apologies To The Queen Mary, right down to the fact that one of the band's lead singers (either Justin Myler or Rob Haughey; I'm not sure who sings lead where) has the same kind of hiccuping vocals as Spencer Krug.

That said, the fact they've captured the same vibe as a masterpiece like Apologies... is pretty impressive in its own right. Heck, Wolf Parade themselves couldn't manage to pull it off a second time, so for a band to come out of nowhere (or, technically, Brampton) and sound at least as good as as they do, with barely a year of experience as a band, blows my mind.

Of course, it should go without saying that the album blows my mind, too. No matter how many times I listen to the EP (and since I first heard it back in March, there's been a lot of times), I'm amazed by just how great each of the five songs here are, both individually and as a cohesive whole. Each track is given the room to define itself as an isolated entity, whether it's the handclaps in "On Leave", or the way the drums kick in on "Swords", or even the improbably catchy instrumental piece that is "Pictorial History". At the same time, however, the songs flow together seamlessly, making it sound like you're listening to some of the most perfect twenty-six minutes of music you're ever likely to hear.

For me, though, it all comes down to the fact that the album always lives up to the expectations created by my first time seeing the band (and thus far only time, though that will change this weekend in Ottawa, when the band performs with Handsome Furs and The D'Urbervilles): even though I walked through a blizzard to see them perform a relatively short set, and I came down with a cold even as I was watching them play, every moment they played seemed like a truly transcendent moment. I think the highest compliment I could pay Black Hat Brigade, then, is to urge everyone reading this to go out and get a copy of their debut EP, regardless of the difficulties you may face in obtaining it. No matter what the obstacle, it'll totally be worth it.


Want to win Black Hat Brigade's self-titled debut? Thanks to the band, i(heart)music has a copy to give away. To enter to win, just e-mail me your name and mailing address, and I'll select a winner randomly!

Laura T. and Geoffrey B. win copies of Brendan Canning's solo debut. Thanks to all who entered!

Even though I like The Healing Power Of Injury, this won't be a very long review: officially it's not out until next year, and Smothered In Hugs wanted me to hold off on writing about it until then.

Nonetheless, it's good enough that I'd feel bad not saying something about it before then, seeing as it's been on my iPod for the last month or so. Songs like "Blank Test" and "Visa Problems" show how well the band add a touch of The Replacements into the usual East Coast pop sound. It adds up to make them a band to watch...but, apparently, not until 2009.

It's not often you hear the phrase "Man, that album was awesome, except for when Cadence Weapon showed up", but that's the feeling I'm left with after listening to Rock Fantasy, the debut album from The Wet Secrets. Everything is going along fine, the album is flying by in a blur of awesomeness, and then Mr. Pemberton shows up to add a pointless remix an otherwise great song "(The Chinball Wizard"), and he completely drops the ball.

Luckily, the remix doesn't show up until the album's penultimate track (and it's a bonus one to boot), by which time the album has established that it is, as previously stated, pretty awesome. Without any noticeable nod toward any other bands, The Wet Secrets throw together previously unimagined insults (in the titular chorus of "Grow Your Own Fucking Mustache, Asshole"), demonic organs ("Boat Gas Death Train"), howled, DFA79-tinged vocals ("Get Your Own Apartment") disturbingly catchy choruses ("I Tea Bagged Myself") and, most importantly, horns. Lots and lots of horns. It all adds up to make the band sound like Hell's marching band, but in the best way possible. Some, of course, may see that as a bad thing, but as far as I'm concerned, it makes for one of the most enjoyable listening experiences I've had in a long, long time.