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CJLO News for October 4th 2010

News read and produced by Drew Pascoe

 

Stories written by Chris Hanna, Emily Brass, and Sarah El Fangary

Review Thursday: Helmet and This or The Apocalypse!


This or the Apocalypse

Haunt What's Left
Good Fight Music

So This or the Apocalypse, hereby to be referred to as TOTA, put out a new album recently called Haunt What’s Left. Full disclosure, I know this band on a personal level... sort of. They’re from my hometown, I knew them before they had a couple of line up changes, and even last year at CMJ, the lead singer of the band asked when we could do another "crazy interview", so its like I’m an acquaintance. That being said, I have nothing to gain from giving a positive review of their album... Yet that’s what I’m going to do, of course with some qualifiers.

To someone who listens to hardcore, this album really won’t stand out to much. It has that "hardcore sameness" which I think we’ve all come to expect from the genre. However, as someone who has listened to this band from their first EP, this album is leaps and bounds above previous efforts.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that they’ve had two years to craft this particular album. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that they’ve now released three albums and they have a certain amount of maturity that they hope to channel into albums. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Lamb of God drummer, Chris Adler, helped produce the album. Whatever it is, the album is pretty fantastic. This album sounds well polished, and at the risk of alienating their 14 year old audience, sounds suprisingly mature.

Now, I know, just because both of the bands are from Lancaster a bunch of people are going to compare them to August Burns Red, hence forth to be known as ABR. While both of the bands are both hardcore/metalcore/"insert word here"-core, they don’t really have the same style. For this album, TOTA has actually put some melodic elements in and introduced clean vocals on some of the songs. Of course, this gets flak from hardcore fans saying they’re selling out or whatever hardcore fans say about bands, but the truth is that it makes them sound different from bands like ABR who have no clean vocals and are really sparse on melodic stuff. This seems positive to me, but that may be because I’m desperately looking for something that’s not always the same within the genre, and though clean vocals are not unique, the addition of them makes it seem like the band is evolving and could, potentially, do something that isn’t just breakdowns and screaming for thirty-five to forty-five minutes.

So, while I wait for something truly creative to come out of the hardcore family of music, I can listen to Haunt What’s Left. If nothing else, you should listen to their song "Hayseed" off the album, because... well... goddamn, it’s pretty fantastic. I’ve had it on repeat for a bunch of times while I listen to the album, and if I can’t hear anything original, at least I know that TOTA can write a damn good song that manages to be catchy, a skill which most bands within the genre either can’t or refuse to master. Keep up the good work gents, and I will expect the next album to have something that makes my head explode. Anything else and well... it’s not that I’ll be mad... just... disappointed.

Fan mail, hate mail, snail mail: gradeaexplosives@cjlo.com.

(Andrew Wieler)

---



Helmet

Seeing Eye Dog
Work Song

Ever since Helmet mainman Page Hamilton's resurrection of the band in 2004 after calling it quits some years before, he's managed to release a pair of albums of so-so material that if condensed would make one stellar offering, and newest entry Seeing Eye Dog is of the same pedigree. After terrible opener "So Long", the record picks up steam with the title track and Hamilton's all about the gruff vocalizing, random bursts of clean vocals and muscly riffs that he seems to crank out with surprising speed. The first half of the record contains songs that all seem vaguely familiar yet completely new, as per the normal Helmet way. Eight tracks deep, however, and things turn back for the worst. Hamilton, for whatever reason, has decided that Helmet is the perfect vehcile for a Beatles cover, and has chosen 'And Your Bird Can Sing', which doesn't really work well in this genre of music. Terrible flashes of nu-metal acts covering rap songs come to mind, before floating away as subsequent track 'Miserable' tries to admirably pick up the pieces and go on.

(Brian Hastie)

CJLO Wants To Send You To Zurich!

 

A whole lot of Jackass-ery on BVST!

Nudity, stupid pranks and dangerous stunts... it's just another episode of BVST! No, just kidding. Tune in on Wednesday, October 6th from 7 to 9 pm ET for a very special episode dedicated entirely to Jackass 3D, which opens nationwide on October 15th. Tune in and hear Angelica interview her favourite Jackass, Johnny Knoxville. Will they talk about his penis? Probably! Then call in and share some of your best Jackass stories and you could win a Jackass Survival Kit and passes to the advanced screening on October 14th. Angelica will be joined by special guest host Alex Robot of Charts & Crafts, in a magic radio pairing last heard on Umlauts Porno Theatre. Remember that? Neither do we! Anyways, BVST goes Jackass 3D - don't miss it!

CJLO And The Pillow Fight League Join Forces


OUI OUI OUI! The Pillow Fight League returns to La Belle Province and CJLO will be DJing before and after the event! Hometown fighter Charley Davidson fights in the #1 Contender Series for the FOURTH time against nemesis Apocalipstick! Our loyal fans in Montreal will be rewarded with a fight card featuring Shady Godiva! Eva Dead! Rose Thorne! Napalm Dawn AND MORE! It's a full night of live fights! Sunday Oct. 3, 2010 Cafe Campus 57 Prince-Arthur East Montreal, Quebec $12 at door, or $10 in advance at L'Oblique and Sound Central Doors 8:30 pm, fights 9:30 pm

Autolux @ Sala Rossa

Everyone at CJLO is aware of my great love for LA noise pop/psych/post-shoegaze/whatever-you-wanna-call-it trio Autolux. Having been a fan of the band since their fantastic debut record, Future Perfect, a veritable groove-oriented sonic wallop of pop songs ensconced in at times aggressive, at times soothing white noise freakouts, I've pretty much been singing this band's praises for years.  Future Perfect came out in 2004, and their follow-up only appearing now in 2010...An entire lifetime in musical years. Having seen them twice live before, I was expecting the same sort of sonic annihilation, and after talking them up to fellow CJLOers and converting them to ardent Autolux-ites (Autolux-ians?) as well, I was hoping the nicely packed crowd at Sala Rossa would be in for a treat.  They definitely got their money's worth, but a little something was missing.

After a set of paint-by-numbers post-rock from openers This Will Destroy You (which it most certainly did not), and a bit of a longer than usual wait between sets, the lights dimmed, and the LA trio walked on stage as guitarist/vocalist Greg Edwards sat behind a keyboard set-up near center stage to start off the show with Transit Trasnit's opening title track.  Over the course of the show, Transit Transit was played in its entirety,  which a good helping of Future Perfect songs peppered in. Unfortunately, no new songs, or older songs that still remain unreleased (like the amazing "23 Watt Apple Juice" or "Reappearing" that I'm still waiting on a release for...come on!), but it gave a good night's worth of songs that people in the crowd were familiar with to enjoy, and the Transit Transit songs have a more raw (and extremely loud) feel live. Even the polarizing, "atypical of Autolux" tracks like "Spots" and "High Chair" had a new breath breathed into them in the live setting, and drummer/vocalist Carla Azar moved to the front of the stage to sing Transit Transit standout "The Bouncing Wall" while a staticy programmed beat backed her.  "Census", oddly enough the most aggressive track on the record, seemed to lack a bit of the sonic wallop it packs on the record during the noise breakdowns.  Latest Transit Transit single "Supertoys" was a complete monster live, as was my current Transit Transit fave, "Kissproof", and Future Perfect favourites like "Blanket" and "Turnstile Blues" were also standouts.

Being the third time I've seen them, I had some pretty lofty expectations following those past two shows which were mindblowingly amazing, so while I can still safely say that this was an all-around great show, it didn't match up to my expectations for a few small reasons. While the band was ridiculously tight on stage, especially drumming phenom Azar, there definitely was a distinct lack of intensity to their performance.  Known for not much small talk, this was a welcome change as Goreshter was engaging with the crowd in a charming sardonic manner to their shouts of "oh my gaaaawd, you guys are sick!" Though they usually lack much movement on stage (one fellow CJLO DJ remarked that Edwards looked like "the most unhappy" he'd "ever seen a person look while playing music"), the band has managed in the past to capture this sense of urgency and intensity with their performances, and tonight it was somewhat lacking. Maybe it was just general tiredness or road-weariness, but it was noticiably absent and in my mind set the performance back a bit. Even so, the band was pretty on, it just seemed they lacked any sort of edge, rarther than any mechanical efficiency.  A small complaint also was the lack of stage lighting; the trio was known for fancy, homemade lighting rigs that added to the stage presence and ambience of the show in general, and though I know they sold off their old lighting set, I was expecting something new to go along with the new record.  Ah well...

By the time the encore came on though, the band was completely on.  Going through "Plantilife" and "Headless Sky", the second-to-last tracks of both their debut and follow-up, it seemed like the band had brought back that intensity I was hoping for and used to seeing of them, playing with a sense of urgency. Or maybe they really wanted to plow through the songs to finally finish the long set, who knows. Whatever the motivation behind it, the encore was fantastic, and if the show was a bit more like this, then we'd really have a winner on our hands.

All in all, it was a solid performance that, while it left a bit to be desired on my part, it seemed to have pleased a crowd that was full of first-time Autolux showgoers.  Afterwards, in passing, Goreshter mentioned to me they were extremely pleased with the reaction and that they'll be on tour pretty much for a full year and will definitely be coming back. So Autolux live-newbies, if their return is going to be like anything I mentioned I was expecting, expect to be floored further.

Also, please, for the love of God play "Sugarless".  I can only dream of how my head would explode if I could hear those feedback squalls live...

Tonight On Acetate Gratified: Caribou

Tune into Acetate Gratified at 5:00PM on Monday, September 27th on CJLO 1690 AM and CJLO.com to hear your humble and awkward-in-a-hopefully-endearing-way host Lachlan Fletcher interview Dan Snaith, aka Caribou. The two sat down prior to his show at Le National on the 16th, co-presented by CJLO and Blue Skies Turn Black. The conversation spanned such topics as collecting music, Dan's former life in academia, the nationality of Kieren Hebden, and how he goes about crafting the identifiable sounds on each Caribou record. While you're at it, tune in every Monday from 4-6 to hear the finest in acititular gratification, music that makes one feel as if one is on the receiving end of affection from a sonic Wookie.

Superchunk's Jon Wurster phonercizes with Omar from "Hooked on Sonics" (part 2/2)

*Closing out CJLO’s Disorientation 2010 is influential Chapel Hill, NC indie rock band  Superchunk, back after a nine year hiatus. Hooked on SonicsOmar Goodness finally got to cross the band off his interview wishlist when he had the chance to discuss the band’s changing fanbase, how nine years away may have reinvigourated the band, Master Cleanse diets, and the legend of canadian MOR rock songsmith Kim Mitchell with Superchunk drummer and all around funnyman Jon Wurster the morning of September 16, 2010.

*ALL SONGS taken from Superchunk's latest record, Majesty Shredding.
NOTE - Audio for the interview is available below - produced and edited by Omar Husain.

[SUPERCHUNK] [HOOKED ON SONICS]

[INTERVIEW PART 1] [INTERVIEW PART 2]

 

---------------"My Gap Feels Weird"---------------


I met Laura and Mac when they were doing the booksigning at CMJ last year for Our Noise and I was telling them how I was looking forward to a new tour, and I'm actually really excited that our station is putting it on cuz, I mean, I grew up listening to college radio when I was 14 or 15 and you guys were one of the bands  that got me into music...

Oh, thanks.

...and the fact that we're putting on the show means a lot to me because of the fact that you were one of the bands...

Oh, nice!

...and to be involved in college and community radio, this is pretty cool. And this'll be the first time I've seen you. Every time you guys played Montreal when I was younger, I was either too young to get into the venues, or when I was a little bit older, I always had exams one those nights, so this is gonna be pretty cool.

Now, the new record, people keep calling it a "return to form". Is that kind of aggravating to hear in that it seems that people seem a little bit more interested in hearing your older sound as opposed to the sound that you guys were, I guess, sort of experimenting with on the last few records?

I think that's how it goes for everybody. It's kinda weird, I think the longer a band is around, the more people do sort of gravitate to the early stuff. I'm sure I do that. But we never sat down really and said "let's go back to this". 

We recorded this record very differently than the last four or five. I think from around maybe Here's Where the Strings Come In to the last album in 2001, we kind of wrote them from the ground up and we would just come up with a part and we'd all jam  on that and come up with something else and Mac would write the melody and the lyrics later. 

 But this was different cuz I was gone for about two years on the road with other people and I wasn't living in Chapel Hill anymore. So he pretty much wrote all the songs on his own and would demo them and send them to us and the three of them would work out stuff on their own and I'd come in a couple days before the recording and we'd play them a few times and work everything out and then just  go do them. Which was a great way of doing it where you just kind of aren't thinking at that point, you're just kind of going on instinct.

Yeah.

And the first idea is usually really good.

It sounds like a pretty fast recording process.

Yeah. Although it went over the course of a year cuz we'd grab a weekend at this studio we like to work at and we'd record three or four songs and then not do it again for another two or three months or so and come back and do two or three more. The guy we worked with was a great help and producer...

Scott Solter...

...I worked with him on the last two Mountain Goats records that I played on, and he's just great. He was really good, he pushed us a little bit more than usual to get better takes to just get a more cohesive basic track.

Yeah.

So that definitely helped the songs hang together better, yeah.

So the writing process for the record, like you were mentioning, the Leaves in the Gutter EP you put out last year was supposedly to "clear the decks" of the old songs you  guys had written randomly over the last few years. So this record was written over  the course of about a year or so? At that point did you guys decide then "hey, y'know what, let's do a full record now"?

Yeah, I think we realized that, y'know, if we're gonna keep doing this at whatever level, or any level, let's try to be relevant and put a record out and create something new as opposed to going out and playing our back catalogue over and over.

Yeah.

I think that was something that appealed to all of us, and it made it more of a real relevant thing.

And the time I guess seemed right for you guys to get back together and do something like this, you guys all seemed to be in the same headspace I guess?

I think so, and I think, y'know, there's kinda less to worry about now, which is really nice. When you're younger and you're in the middle of it, everything seems to be more life or death in a way...

(laughter)

And you're depending on it more...

(laughter)

That's not what it takes anymore.

---------------"Learned to Surf"---------------

I gotta thank you so much for doing this, Jon, it's been a pleasure talking to you, and like I mentioned, you guys have been a huge influence on me in getting into campus and community radio and wasting way too many hours of my life listening to music.

(laughter)

I have a question for you, who do you like better: Superchunk or the Asexuals?

Oh, Superchunk by far.

Oh, okay.  Thank you!

Sorry...now if you put Superchunk and the Doughboys next to each other...

That's right! My second show ever with the band was at Maxwell's in Hoboken with the Doughboys.

No way!

Yes!

If you put Superchunk vs. the Doughboys I would still pick Superchunk, but that would be a harder choice.

What about the Nils?

Uh...I'd pick Superchunk over the Nils.

How about Stretch Marks?

I'd still pick Superchunk.  I'm giving you honest answers too, man!

How about SNFU?

I'd still pick Superchunk. 

Oh my God, DOA?

Oh, Superchunk definitely.  DOA – I only really like one record.

Uh... Sloan?

(pause)

Oh, I knew it!

Hmm... Still Superchunk!  The first two Sloan records, though, I stand by, but I'd still pick Superchunk, you're still more consistent!

Crash Test Dummies?

Oh God, are you kidding me!? Crash Test Dummies, baby!

(laughter)

Ok, how about Kim Mitchell?

Kim Mitchell? I mean, I wanna go for a soda...

I know!

...so I'd go with Kim Mitchell there.  "Patio Lanterns"?

(laughter)

That's a jam, man!

(laughter)

I did a tour with A.C. Newman, and he was telling me about "Patio Lanterns"...

(laughter)

...and it sounded like the most insane song idea I've ever heard – I've never heard the song, but I've heard him sing it several times...

Oh Lord.

...and it sounds like the most craziest, weirdest teen song. 

It was a hit too, man.  It was a big hit up here.

(laughter)

When you come to Montreal, one of us is picking you up at the airport. If it happens to be me, I'll make sure to bring that song so you can hear it.

Please do, please do.

There ya go. Cool, thank you so much, Jon

Thank you.

---------------"Everything at Once"---------------

[INTERVIEW PART 1] [INTERVIEW PART 2]

[SUPERCHUNK]
[HOOKED ON SONICS]

Superchunk's Jon Wurster phonercizes with Omar from "Hooked on Sonics" (part 1/2)

*Closing out CJLO’s Disorientation 2010 is influential Chapel Hill, NC indie rock band  Superchunk, back after a nine year hiatus.  Hooked on SonicsOmar Goodness finally got to cross the band off his interview wishlist when he had the chance to discuss the band’s changing fanbase, how nine years away may have reinvigourated the band, Master Cleanse diets, and the legend of canadian MOR rock songsmith Kim Mitchell with Superchunk drummer and all around funnyman Jon Wurster the morning of September 16, 2010.

*ALL SONGS taken from Superchunk's latest record, Majesty Shredding.
NOTE - Audio for the interview is available below - produced and edited by Omar Husain.

[SUPERCHUNK] [HOOKED ON SONICS]

[INTERVIEW PART 1] [INTERVIEW PART 2]

 

---------------"Digging for Something"---------------

 

We're here with Jon Wurster, the drummer of Superchunk. How're you doing, Jon?

Good, doing real good. Just frantically running around trying to get stuff in order for day one of our tour.

Now, I noticed also on your twitter that this is day one of your "Master Cleanse"...

It is. Yes.

...and I was wonder how that's going so far?

It's going well. As you may have read, I'm allowing myself only Master Brand frozen pizza.

Okay...?

So that's what I'm sticking to for the next six months – it's a six month cleanse.

Wow, that's pretty intense.

Yeah.

Just gotta get that colon nice and clean, right?

Exactly, yeah.

There ya go.

Yeah.

I know how it is.

There's something about the dough that they use that's really good. Very healthy stuff.

(laughter)

So this is the first tour that you've done with Superchunk in almost, what, nine or eight years now?

The last actual tour tour that we did was I think in summer of 2002 where we opened for the Get Up Kids, but our last real tour of our own was for our last record that came out in the fall of 2001.  So yeah, it's our first real tour in nine years, yeah.

Was there any trepidation going into this tour; were you guys nervous?

No, because we never really stopped playing, y'know, we didn't do big tours, but we'd play two or three shows a year at least ever since then. We just didn't make albums or release much.

So the performance itself is not worrisome to you, I was more concerned about the fact that you guys are gonna be together in a bus or a van for the next month or so and that's been something that you haven't done in a long time. Was there any worry about that?

No, that was always kinda the fun part.  We always pretty much got along, it was more everything else that went along with it that was just kinda burning us out.  We hit it really hard for pretty much eleven years; I joined in October of '91 and we were on that cycle for ten years.

Yeah, and there was a span of time too in the book that Merge Records put out about Superchunk and about Merge Records, Our Noise, where it's listed in there that there's a period of four or five years in the nineties when you guys were constantly on the road…

Yeah, when you're young you can do that. It's funny, I do that all the time with other bands – I guess I never really stopped doing that really – but when you're younger you're more excited and more jazzed about seeing what's out there and doing more and "oh, so-and-so wants us to tour with them, let's do that, and we can play here, we'll go to Brazil…", as you get older, maybe the charm kinda wears off in a way.

Plus you've kind of seen everything by that point.

It's kind of true. 

Is it different playing in a band that you're an essential part of as opposed to just being a touring drummer?

Yeah, this still feels like "home" in a way.  But, I love touring with the other people I've played with like Bob Mould and the Mountain Goats - I feel like a full member of the Mountain Goats. But, yeah, this is a relationship that has been going for almost twenty years.

And plus they're your songs too.

---------------"Crossed Wires"---------------

Does it work in your favour to have been away for about nine years or so from playing shows – I mean from doing extended tours or from putting out a record.  Does it kind of feel like you're starting over to an extent or is there a newfound energy in it to be doing it again now after so long – to have given yourself that break?

Yeah, definitely there's a new energy and it's kind of fun. Like, we've never really thought of ourselves of having any influence on anybody; while you're doing  it you never think that way, but now that there's a whole generation or two of kids in bands that are successful that say your early records were an influence on them – that's great and exciting in a way also. So that gives you a different perspective on what you do.

Especially to come back after having that sort of time away from it too, where people have been mentioning you here and there in interviews.

Yeah, you never assume that people are even gonna care about it at this point, or that they're gonna remember what you did or who you are, so it's nice that these articles are coming out with reviews of the records and people seem to like it and remember it.

Is it odd to see people always kind of use that term "legendary band" when they mention you, especially now when the new album is coming out?

Oh yeah, because 1991 seems like yesterday to me in a way.

(laughter)

I remember lugging my drums into Mac's little house for that first rehearsal and Laura coming to the door and saying something like "Hey, I'm Laura, I'm the weak link".  So, yeah, that just seems like yesterday.  To have someone say "legendary", it's flattering, but it doesn't feel like it really.

It's odd to hear I'm sure when years melt by after a certain time – twenty years goes by fast when you  think about it.

Yeah, but we covered a lot of ground.  I think about that too like "wow, we went to everywhere several times!"

And it's kinda cool to see where how when initially you guys came out some people  used to call you guys "Hüsker Junior" –

Mm-hmm.

–and now people really hold you in such a high regard and you have that cult fanbase.  And the funny thing that I was noticing too, we're putting on your show in Montreal next Thursday, it's organized by the station, and we're looking forward to having you coming and the one thing that we noticed too was, I mean a couple of us who are a little bit older than everyone else at the station were obviously excited about it, but the younger crowd seems to be excited as well, and it seems kind of interesting that during those nine years your cult  fanbase has stayed the same but there's a disparity within the age group – so you still have a lot of younger fans still.

Y'know, that's kind of what I'm excited about having not played a lot of these  places in a quite a while and I'm curious how young it skews.  Cuz around here if seems if we play in North Carolina or Chapel Hill or whatever, it seems a bit older to me, so it'll be interesting to play in New York, or D.C., Boston or up there just  to see if kids do come out.

And it can kind of seem I guess like the same people that you recognize are showing up at those shows.

Right, yeah.

It should be interesting to see whether you have a whole new fanbase now.

Yeah, I'm trying to think the last time we played Montreal...

I think it was 2000 or 2001.

I'm trying to think if we played there on our last record – I remember playing a  place called – is there a place called the Forum, does that sound familiar?

Yeah, but that's kind of a huge venue, I don't think you guys played there back then 'cuz I think the Forum stopped being the Forum back then too...

The Phoenix?

No that's Toronto, I think you guys played Cabaret here in 2002 or 2001.

That's it!  That's it.

Yeah so it's been nine years since you've been here, it'll be interesting to see how  the crowd has changed.

And we definitely played a Halloween there, I dressed up as Fred Durst

(laughter)

I think that would've been in '97.

 

[INTERVIEW PART 1] [INTERVIEW PART 2]

[SUPERCHUNK]
[HOOKED ON SONICS]

CJLO News September 20th 2010

Read and produced by Gareth Sloan.

Stories written by Chris Hanna, Emily Brass, and Marcin Wisniewski

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