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Seb Black on The Commonwealth Conundrum
Emery Street anti-hero Seb Black is playing his first gig since his album track “No Friend of Mine” made it onto the new documentary film about the mixed martial artist, Georges St-Pierre, TAKEDOWN: The DNA of GSP.
Tune in to The Commonwealth Conundrum this Friday. Your hosts, Danny and Rebecca will be interviewing Black, and talking about his upcoming show at Casa Del Popolo with fellow Emery Street Records’ artist Eddie Paul.
The Nostalgia Factory - Wednesday on Champs
Tune in to Champions of the Local Scene Wednesday, March 12th at 6 PM for a live session and interview with up-and-coming Montreal act The Nostalgia Factory!
The Nostalgia Factory, the moniker used by 21-year-old Montreal musician/composer Jessie-Jamz Ozaeta, is a solo project that started as a hobby, but later evolved into a more serious and personal journey of self-discovery. "I like to describe much of my music as cinematic and instrumental because I find my strong point musically is providing textures of sound that they can be interpreted both sonically and visually." Jessie has experimented with many genres, recording music ranging from metal, ambient/drone, folk, instrumental hip hop, post-rock, and shoegaze. His work includes a concept album based on Dante's Inferno, summer, autumn, and winter (that's SO Montreal!), and the score for the short film entitled A Collection of Failed Love Stories (2013), directed by Concordia film student Terry Chiu.
CJLO News - March 12 2014
Hosted by Saturn De Los Angeles
Stories by Taisha Henry, Alexa Everett and John Toohey
Produced by Marilla Steuter-Martin
Chapel - Satan's Rock 'n' Roll
Dust off those leather chaps, it's the '80s again. Last month saw the vinyl re-issue of Chapel's first and only full album Satan's Rock 'n' Roll (originally released in summer, 2012), which seems like an appropriate opportunity to look at the album itself, as some of us might have missed it the first time around *cough*.
Hailing from the distant paradise of Vancouver, these committed thrashinators disgorge a by-the-books brew of what I like to call the "new oldschool", the sort of thing that would drive blind taste-testers mad. We sure love our labels in this scene, and bands like Chapel and Toxic Holocaust love to sh*t all over that. Hey! This is some groovy rocky black metal, still moist with the touch of NWOBHM! Oh wait, this came out last year, file under retro thrash. Thrash, thrash, thrash. Get ready to read that word a lot.
At this point you're probably thinking "who cares if you have to check the date to even know the genre, what's the f*cking MUSIC like, ya dipsh*t?" To which I would reply with an exasperated fart noise.
See, I like Chapel, and I like this album. It is speaking my language, "totes my jam" and so on. The problem lies in the fact that I like it because I also like Venom and Motörhead, who were doing the exact same thing 30 years ago. Aye, there's the rub. As much as I'm of a mind that too much of a good thing is an awesome thing, one might dare call Chapel derivative if one were a perceptive asshole. With a title track consisting of a lively mishmash of references (if not direct quotes) to the aforementioned pioneers of the genre, one might safely call it homage... maybe?
I'm over-thinking this.
Satan's Rock 'n' Roll is the product of a blind, seething love for all that is leather and hell, if not any impetus to improve on the formula, but what do you want? Thrash is as thrash does, or some such equally vapid platitude. If you want innovation, that's what prog is for. My gut and boots recommend this band, because somebody has to be Venom, and they sure aren't stepping up these days (2011 was forever ago, shut up). If Chapel ever come out east, you can bet your sweet buns I'll be there, and if you're tired of listening to the same dozen or so albums over and over again, and want something new but by no means different, boy do I have more of the same for you!
--DJ Spacepirate hosts Burnt Offerings, Sundays 6-8PM
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks @ Café Campus
Show review by Damaris Baker, CJLO Production Team
The first time I heard Stephen Malkmus was in Melbourne, Australia around nine years ago. "Post-Paint Boy" was the track, part of a compilation entitled La Revolution de Spunk. It snuggled up nicely with tracks by Sufjan Stephens, The Books, Akron Family, Anthony and the Johnsons, and Holly Throsby.
Here I am on the other side of the world, nearly a decade later, watching the colored lights at Café Campus, as Stephen Malkmus walks on stage, his lanky figure fluid and ready to warm to Montreal's attentive crowd. They started with one of my favorites, "Cinammon and Lesbians", lilting through the lyrical and playful song, playing with words, shifting rhythms and guitar riffs reminding me of the music of the 1960s. Strong melodies, simple one minute, epic the next, with psychedelic moments and tinges of indie folk rock to sweeten the effect.
My head is bopping and the band is swaying to the rhythms as the crowd warms up. The third song is "Lariat", the sweet and surprising indie pop that Malkmus is so good at, double-guitar lines echo the tune but harmonise like a conversation full of images and memories.
We lived on Tennyson and venison and The Grateful Dead
It was Mudhoney summer, Torch of Mystics, Double bummer
You're not what you aren't
You aren't what you're not
You got what you want
You want what you got
Feels so great in the shade
I look down from the balcony and the crowd is dancing, swaying with the band, singing along to the songs. The lights create a polka dot effect on the stage, shifting colors of green, blue and red lighting on Mike Clark (keyboards and guitar), Joanna Bolme (bass), and Jake Morris (drums).
The set was dominated by the new album, Wig Out at Jagbags, including "Shibboleth", "Houson Hades", and "The Janitor Revealed", with the set ending on the epic "Surreal Teenagers".
The crowd cheered, refusing to let the band go, bringing on the encore with "The Hook", from Malkmus' first solo album, a new song, and a Pavement song "Father to a Sister of Thought". The energy was high and the crowd loving the show as Malkmus danced with the microphone stand, delivering with the band a delightful rendition of "Swing Town", a Steve Miller Band cover, to finish the show.
Slowly, the crowd thins out, as we are left savoring the echoes of the songs as we leave Café Campus, walking out onto the snowy Montreal streets. I wonder who is listening to these tracks in Melbourne right now, wishing they were here.
Jay Malinowski & The Deadcoast
Want to see Jay Malinowski & The Deadcoast in Montreal on April 5th? Want to win tickets to said show? You can either tweet or post to the station using the hashtag #MeetMeAtTheGate and we will enter you in a draw! SWEET ACTION JACKSON!
CJLO News - March 11 2014
Hosted by: Danny Aubry
Stories by: Sam Obrand, Milos Kovacevic & Kalona Laframboise
Produced by: Sam Obrand
CJLO News - March 10 2014
Hosted by: Catlin Spencer
Stories by: Catlin Spencer, Saturn De Los Angeles & Danny Aubry
Produced by: Jenna Monney-Lupert
CJLO News - March 7 2014
Hosted by Jocelyn Beaudet
Stories written by Nathalie Laflamme, Candice Yee, and Marilla Steuter-Martin
Produced by Saturn De Los Angeles
Natural Child - Dancin' With Wolves
After four years and numerous tours criss-crossing America, Nashville, Tennessee's Natural Child have grown, both musically and in size, with the release of their latest album, Dancin' With Wolves. By adding Benny Divine on keyboards and Luke Schneider on pedal steel, they have reinvented themselves with a much more pronounced twang than ever before. All the old themes of past albums are still here; boozin', getting laid, and copious amounts of weed, but now they are all dressed up with a honky tonk sound rather than the big riffed, stoner rock they had perfected on 2011's 1971, and 2012's one-two punch of For the Love of the Game and Hard in Heaven.
The ghost of Gram Parsons haunts this album, as it conjures up images of The Flying Burrito Brothers' The Gilded Palace of Sin, especially on the ballads "I'm Gonna Try" and the title track. However, there are other reference points here as well, most noticeably the Outlaw Country of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. The song "Country Hippie Blues" calls out to both sides of the country and rock divide, and is reminiscent of the gap between rednecks and hippies that Waylon and Willie bridged back in Austin, Texas in the early 70s, while the more rocking numbers like "Firewater Liquor" and "Saturday Night Blues" draw from the same pool as Waylon's classic 1973 albums Lonesome, On'ry and Mean and Honky Tonk Heroes.
This might seem like a radical departure, but the country barroom has always been part of the band's DNA, buried beneath all the smoke and boogie. Bringing it to the forefront is only, if you'll pardon the expression, the natural progression for Natural Child. Sure it might cause a little friction with some fans who are opposed to change or afraid of the emotions the sound of the pedal steel stirs up inside of them, but one listen and it is clear that this was the only way the band could go if they wanted to remain true to themselves. And it does not mean that they can't still rock like they did in the past. Check out the session they did for the Los Angeles music blog Rollo & Grady to see them do old classics like "Blind Owl Speaks" or "Derek's Blues" as a five piece to see just how much the new members add to them.
Hillbilly music, as distinguished from the slick country that most non-fans think of when they hear the words 'country' and 'music' put together, always seems to have someone come along every seven years or so to open the minds of a new wave of music fans to its rich and beautiful tradition. Country rock in the 60s, the outlaws in the 70s, the cow punk bands of the 80s and the alt.country bands of the 90s and 00s. Maybe this album is the first shot in the next round of a hillbilly revival movement within a rock and roll audience. At the very least it is the best album Natural Child has made, and since that is as much as they can control, that is as much as we can ask and the most any band can strive for.
Black Lips w/ Natural Child and Red Mass
April 21 @ Theatre Corona
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