Warpaint live @ The Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver B.C. March 19, 2011

As I stood in the lineup outside the Biltmore Cabaret in one of the dirtier areas of Vancouver, I casually conversed with other Warpaint fans about music and skanky bar chicks.  The curly haired lanky guy next to me took a drag from his cigarette while some meatheads a short distance ahead of us shotgunned some Luckys (you know you’re in BC when…).  It felt like a pretty casual night out.  Little did I know that I was about to experience one of the best live shows of my young life.

PVT

Sharing the bill with Warpaint were New York’s Family Band, and Australia’s PVT.  Family Band kicked the show off with some droning, hypnotic indie jams.  The music was great, but the lead singer’s demeanor was extremely off-putting.  To be blunt, she looked like a heroin junkie, and acted like one too.  When she spoke to the crowd, it was clear that she wished she was elsewhere, possibly scoring some dope.  Near the end of their set, the sound guy’s voice came on and told them they were out of time.  “Oh,” the lead singer blandly exclaimed, “we only have one more song, it’s like a minute.”  I kind of wish that they had obeyed the sound guy, because what followed could barely be considered a song.  The crowd anxiously shuffled their feet as the boring front woman clicked together two drum sticks and lead guitarist set down his axe and circulated around the club.  It was weird, and not a very good ending to their set.

PVT

Next was PVT who played an interesting hybrid of indie-rock and dance music.  Unlike Family Band, PVT actually looked like they were happy to be playing some music for us all, and their set was all the better for it.  They worked their way through a 30-minute set filled with catchy and danceable tunes that the whole crowd seemed to enjoy.

                                                           

                                    

                                                                                              

Marry me

As PVT finished and began taking apart their gear someone closed a set of curtains to separate the audience from the stage where Warpaint where presumably setting up their gear.  The Biltmore Cabaret is a nice little venue, but it’s no Royal Albert Hall.  The stage is about two feet off the ground and the “V.I.P. area” has no door and is on the way to the men’s bathroom.  But somehow, when the curtains were drawn, there was a palpable sense of big-concert anticipation in the air.  I elbowed my way up to the front in the anonymity of the darkness and peered through the crack in the curtains.  And that’s when I spotted my future wife, the drummer from Warpaint, Stella Mozgawa.  There she was, casually chatting with her bandmates, sipping on a bottle of domestic beer, and checking the volume levels of her snare drum.  As I gawked at her, one of the roadies noticed me and pulled the curtains further together, eliminating my view.

Emily Kokal

About ten minutes later (though it felt more like hours) the curtains dropped and the crowd exploded into cheers and applause as Warpaint took the stage.  Guitarist Emily Kokal strapped on her distinctive white Fender Jaguar and began playing the opening notes of Set Your Arms Down, the lead track from their 2010 debut LP The Fool.  Much to my surprise (I must have underestimated their popularity) the crowd sang every word with the band.  I jumped at the opportunity to share my horrendous voice with the room and as the first verse was coming to an end I was belting it out loudly and horribly: Out on the back porch/ you say tonight/ we bring our pocket/ our pocket knives.

Lindberg and Mozgawa tearing the place down

Mozgawa and guitarist Theresa Wayman then switched places (Wayman was on the drum kit while the love of my life was playing guitar) and almost immediately Mozgawa’s eyes lit up with a sense of passion that communicated how much she loves to play the drums.  As a fellow musician and drummer it was really nice to see someone get that much joy out of their instrument, but more importantly, it was great to see that their long North-American tour wasn’t wearing on them and affecting their performance.  Much to my pleasure, they continued on with their debut LP with their next song.  A delicate snare beat slowly built up as they began playing Warpaint, one of my personal favourites if only for the explosive drum beat.  Just watch this video; the performance was truly fantastic and just watch how Mozgawa just seems so, so….into it.

Following pretty much every song, after the uproar of the crowd had died down, the band spoke to the audience in a very engaging way.  They were charming, witty, and extremely modest; everything about them was likeable.  Sometimes at concerts or shows you find yourself ignoring the performer’s narcissistic personality traits, but I didn’t have to for Warpaint.  They came across as a group of friends having a great time playing together.  Whether cracking jokes about naming their guitars or conversing about the gorgeous Vancouver scenery, the band was engaging. 

With only one LP and one EP released, Warpaint were able to play almost all of their songs.  The crowd favourites were probably Undertow and Bees (with good reason, Undertow was my favourite performance of the night), both from their LP. But the audience still grooved along to lesser known cuts from their debut EP, 2010’s Exquisite Corpse, such as Stars and Elephants.  (Just a little side note here: the drugged out hippie beside me was losing his mind during Elephants. "THIS IS THE BEST SONG EVER!!!")

Again, please marry me

While the music is generally intended to be the focus of a concert, I couldn’t help but be impressed with the genuine personalities that the band displayed.  They exuded confidence and excitement.  There were good times in the air and the crowd loved every minute of it.  And of course, if I hadn’t made it clear already, the show was phenomenal. The gang vocals were harmonized beautifully and on a musical level, each song was executed with the perfect mix of precision and personality.  Just when I thought they were approaching a point in one of their songs that they couldn’t possibly replicate without the use of studio wizardry, one of two things happened: they either a) proved me completely wrong or b) took it in a unique direction that was just as good as, if not better than, the sections on the studio album.

After their final encore ended they introduced us to their crew and told us how gracious they were for the warm reception.  Bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg left us with a prayer for the victims of the recent earthquake in Japan. 

When it was all over, as I retrieved my recently purchased Warpaint records and T-shirt from the table where I had stashed them, I couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear; I had just seen one of the best concerts I could ever hope to see.

Who knew chicks could rock out?

At The Soundawn - Shifting

Italian experimental metal band At The Soundawn are a pretty hard group to pigeonhole, and their sophomore release, Shifting, does little to clear the water.  For the most part, their sound can be classified as metal: the guitars are distorted, the drums are bombastic, and the growls are….um…growly.  What stands out on Shifting though, is the phenomenal level of variety.  Make no bones about it, this is definitely a metal album, but the musical diversity found in nearly every crevasse and around every corner is nothing if not astonishing.  At any given point, the listener could find themselves in the middle of a post-rock build up, or a jazzy interlude, or a winding polyrhythmic section with clear Latin influences.  Luckily for At The Soundawn (and their listeners), they have the chops to pull it off.  The rhythm section is especially notable.  No matter which genre At The Soundawn foray into, it never feels forced or awkward thanks to the skills of their absolutely amazing rhythm section.  Whether it’s a punishing tirade of guitar riffs, or a slowly building crescendo, At The Soundawn always sound right at home thanks in large part to the ability of their rhythm section to change styles at a moment’s notice.  Their drive keeps the album from ever sounding stale or generic.  The penultimate track, “Hades” stands out in particular.  The song begins with a soothing vocal line, clean delay guitar, and an unassuming drum beat.  Before you get settled in though, the clean vocals turn to growls, the guitar line fades, and the drummer explodes into an earth-shaking, drum pattern.  But don’t get too comfortable, here comes the trumpet solo with accompanying rim shots.

Every track on this album will take you on a journey, whether it’s the building ambience of “Drifting Lights,” the alternative rock stylings of “Hades,” or the epic voyage through the many dynamic changes of nine minute album closer “Prometheus Bring Us The Fire.” Casual fans of metal need not be deterred by the band’s “proper” genre; Shifting is not an album that can be easily described by picking a couple of your favourite musical buzzwords (dude, this is like, post-progressive-sludgecore).  There is truly something for everyone on Shifting.

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CunningLynguists - Oneirology

Holy shit.  I'm not a huge hip-hop fan.  Kanye's new album was my album of the year for 2010, but that was a huge shocker.  Well, it looks like 2011 might be pulling the same gag.  This album is absolutely phenomenal.  

Stream/Buy The Album

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Panic! At The Disco - Vices & Virtues

Finally, it leaked.  I would call these guys a guilty pleasure band but fuck you, they rule.  I haven't listened to the Vices and Virtues yet, but I just know it will kick undeniable amounts of ass.

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The National - Boxer

 

This album is so good, but pretty much everyone knows that by now.  Ever since High Violet was released in 2010, I declared it the best The National album, but now I'm not so sure. Apartment Story is just incredible, and the music video somehow does it justice.

 

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Review for Guts N' Teeth by Old Man Markley

Old Man Markley - Guts N' Teeth

9/10

Guts n’ Teeth is not the sort of album I’d usually enjoy. Judge if you must, but I think that we all have certain musical turnoffs that are just impossible to move past. One of mine is the vocal style so prevalent in country and bluegrass music that is referred to as the “southern drawl”. At best, I can tolerate it. At worst, it annoys me to the point that I can’t even appreciate the music for what it is, based on its merits. I’ve undoubtedly missed out on quite a lot of great music because of this, but I don’t care. I’m not exactly sure why, but when I hear a drawl, I see red. Plain and simple.

Enter Old Man Markley.

Hailing from Los Angeles, Old Man Markley is a nine-piece band that plays what can best be described as a hybrid of punk and bluegrass music. At any given moment of Guts n’ Teeth, the listener will find themselves in the middle of a smorgasbord of (perfectly executed) bluegrass clichés. The fiddle player saws away with her bow, the banjo player chicken-picks like a madman, the mandolin strings click away in the background, and a harmonica line soars overhead. And then there's the vocals. Oh dear.

But wait! I’m not seeing red! My head isn’t becoming clouded with thoughts of massacring the entire “deep south” of the USA! Instead of punching holes in my drywall, I’m tapping my toes and slapping my knee uncontrollably. What’s going on!? It’s not that the band avoids the use of the dreaded drawl, far from it; some of the vocals have me reaching for the XXX moonshine and calling up my first cousin to ask her what she’s wearing. The thing is, Old Man Markley’s music is so full of energy, it’s nearly impossible to not be swept away into the upbeat atmosphere that the album creates. This is where the punk influence really starts to show. At times, frontman Johnny Carey’s vocals are closer to a gruff punky yelp than a bluegrass drawl. The variation in this area stops the album from ever feeling stale, or from feeling like the band is just recycling the same handful of ideas over and over.

Some of you may be like me. Maybe the drawl isn’t your thing. Maybe it reminds you of Jeff Foxworthy and his stupid fucking “You might be a redneck…” jokes. Well, sure, I was skeptical on first listen. But even the most cold-hearted of hipster elitists would eventually break down and start singing along at some point while listening to this album. Whether it’s during the catchy and relatable chorus of Running Weight (I’m paranoid/ When you’re running this much weight, you can’t avoid/ getting paranoid/ Worries crash into me like an asteroid) or the fast-paced romp that is Do Me Like You Do, trust me, it will happen, likely sooner rather than later.

The most probable point of infatuation with this record however, lies within the title track. The song Guts n’ Teeth begins with a simple chord progression on an acoustic guitar before Johnny Carey’s voice comes in and takes centre stage. Carey’s lyrics on this cut stand above the rest of the album, and his vocal delivery supplements the sparse instrumentation perfectly. I challenge you to listen to this song, if nothing else from the album, and not be touched by his lyrics:

I still see my actions ripple/ Grinding hope stones into sand/Losing too much kills the lion/ Makes mice of many men.

I watched you suffer too/ Stuck steadfast to beliefs/ And I’m apart from it/ But woe is me.

And after all underneath/ Ain’t we all just guts and teeth?/ Ain’t we all just reflections?/ Moving in separate directions/ In our heads, out of our minds and out of time…

Old Man Markley’s debut is a stunning achievement. The marriage of the instrumentation of bluegrass music with the attitude and desperation of punk on Guts n' Teeth is not only perfectly executed, but relatively unique. (I’m clearly no expert, but think Against Me! plus a banjo player, with Larry the Cable guy sharing lead vocals.)

And as for my pre-conceived notions about country/bluegrass vocals, well, aren’t we all just guts n’ teeth? It’s all just music, and Old Man Markley’s speaks for itself.

Recommended Tracks
For Better For Worse
At The Bottom
Guts n' Teeth
Do Me Like You Do
Letterman
Living and Learning


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Review for Empty Days and Sleepless Nights by Defeater

Defeater - Empty Days and Sleepless Nights

10/10

The hype around this band, both good and bad, is overwhelming.  So let’s be quite clear about this. This review will not dissect and analyze Defeater’s 2011 album Empty Days and Sleepless Nights.  I’m not going to tell you that “the guitars are crushing” or say “it’s overflowing with so much emotion that my brain hurts” and go on and on and on and on making hyperbolic, ridiculous claims about how Defeater are “peerless” and how Defeater are “the best”.  Nobody likes that, and it’s been done.  Instead, I’m going to focus on the concept, and why I like it.

For the uninitiated, Defeater is a melodic hardcore band from Boston.  Their debut LP, 2008’s Travels, introduced us to the conceptual lyrical approach that Defeater would later become defined by.  The lyrics from both Travels and their 2009 EP Lost Ground tell detailed wartime stories.  Lost Ground is about the Second World War and is told through the eyes of a few characters (none of them have names, or they aren’t known): the father, who fought for the United States in the Second World War, and his two sons.  I won’t go into the story of Lost Ground here, but just know that it exists.

Empty Days and Sleepless Nights is the follow-up to Lost Ground and has a concept of its own, sort of.  Empty Days is told through the eyes of one of the sons, let’s call him Gus.  I’m not quite 100% on the some of the details, but the story goes like this: Gus’ brother, we’ll call him Günter, has just killed their alcoholic, abusive father, we’ll call him Ganondorf, and run away.  Gus can hardly stand the shame and rage he feels.  He is left alone to care for his mother, let’s go with Gertrude for her, whose heroin addiction grows worse after Ganondorf’s funeral. Gus swears revenge on Günter, if he ever returns.

Time goes by and Gus grows more bitter and angry.  He “grows up,” but starts to drink way too much, mostly to cope with his Gertrude’s addiction.  He meets a girl, we’ll call her Gaga, and marries her. They settle down, but he is never happy.  His drinking gets worse and his relationship with Gaga deteriorates.  Meanwhile, a bookie, we’ll call him Garfield, continues to harass Gus about Ganondorf’s debts which were unpaid at the time of his death.  Gus dismisses Garfield, telling him that his father’s business is none of his problem.  Well, Garfield doesn’t like that too much.  One night, after a particularly bad drunken rage, Gus returns home to find Gaga in a pool of blood.  Garfield has taken her life as a punishment for Ganondorf’s outstanding debts. 

So more shame, more rage, Gus is in pretty rough shape.  Then, Gertrude dies and Gus is left completely alone, waiting for his brother to return or death, whichever comes quickest. 

One day, Günter finally returns and Gus greets him with the barrel of his shotgun.  He marches him down to the same train tracks where the two brothers used to play as kids, screaming at him the whole time about what he has done and the pain he has caused.  He forces Günter’s head against the train track and points the shotgun at his skull, waiting for the train.  The train is coming fast, it’s almost there, when Günter mans up and pulls the ol’ switcheroo on Gus.  The roles are suddenly reversed, and Gus finds his own head pressed against the cold hard steel.  At first, he is terrified and nervous, but as the train approaches even closer, the deafening roar calms him and he accepts his fate.  A fitting end to a life filled with bitterness and regret.

At this point, we’re near the end of track 10 of 14, White Oak Doors.  The song cuts off, in mid-sentence, mid-bar, riff, jam, mid-everything, as the train hits and kills Gus .  Like it or hate it, that’s the end of the story.  Well, that's the end of Gus' story.  2008's Travels is actually the sequel to this story, told through the eyes of the surviving brother, Günter.

The acoustic tracks, titled Sleepless Nights, show that Defeater has an accessible side to their music, in that many people who don’t enjoy hardcore at all can still enjoy them.  The songs provide some background information about the two brothers, mostly stories of them growing up together.  Some see Sleepless Nights as a supplement to the “main album,” Empty Days, but I look at it more as the resolution after the climax of a story, four easy-to-digest, breezy acoustic songs.  Just what the doctor ordered after a brutal train murder scene. 

The music that accompanies the story (or perhaps it’s the other way around) is what one would expect from a Defeater album.  It conveys the emotion of the lyrics very well, becoming more aggressive during Gus’s several rages, and more melodic during the calmer parts of the story, such as in Empty Glass, when Gus and Gaga meet each other.  Defeater’s musical side is equally as engrossing as the story it is set behind.  One aspect that stands out in particular is the superb drumming, notably on Empty Glass.  The guitar lines throughout are driving, and melodically structured to go fit the shifting tone of the album.

But in the end, the concept is the divisive factor with this album.  Some have accused Defeater of beating a dead horse with this, their third war-themed concept album, and they aren’t exactly wrong.  But why mess with a winning formula?  Forgive me for the terrible reference, but if Amon Amarth can get away with telling the same cheesy-yet-epic tales of Viking war and mead-drinking, why can’t Defeater stick with a theme? If it’s well-executed then who cares?

And that seems to be the only question for you, the individual listener.  Are you on board with Defeater’s whole gig? I’m the last person to say that this is the second coming of Jesus, the pinnacle of hardcore music, blah blah blah.  Personally, I think this is a phenomenal piece of music with a gripping concept.

But what about you? Do you like the story?  Do you think the concept is well executed?  Does the music make you want to dance in the middle of a crowded street?  If your answer is yes, come join the fanclub.  It’s great; we’ve got fruit punch.  If your answer is no, go away, I’m listening to Defeater. 




Recommended Tracks: 
Empty Glass
Cemetery Walls
White Oak Doors
I Don't Mind

Download Empty Days and Sleepless Nights