Our friends over at Kitsilano’s Zulu Records once again present their weekly Scout feature, the Zulu Report. Within, staff from the West 4th music store provide The Track, the song that is on heavy rotation that week; The Playlist, which is pretty self-explanatory; The Gig, the must see show of the week; and The Glance, a view ahead to music on the horizon. From their ears to yours, enjoy…

The Track

THE FLAMING LIPS | I Can Be A Frog from EMBRYONIC out now on Warner Records

The Flaming Lips have never been a band that easily fit into one scene. They started out as brain-damaged acid rock and then slowly morphed into an unlikely pop band, replete with top 40 hit (remember “She Don’t Use Jelly”?) and a guest spot on an episode on Beverly Hills 90210. How they arrived at their current incarnation is anyone’s guess; Embryonic, their latest album, is a dark, sprawling album of tripped out, midnight jams – equal parts blissed out grooves and paranoid meanderings. Maybe it’s just part of Wayne Coyne and company growing older and not being afraid to tell us how their really feeling about their place in the world.  That seems to be the case with “I Can Be A Frog”, in which Coyne and Karen O duet about being a frog, a bat, a lion, any creature really.  In the end it’s really just the Lips being the Lips – a great band that’s willing confound and delight listeners, to go to dark corners and bright places just to bring something back for us to enjoy (MORE FLAMING LIPS)

The Playlist

WAR ON DRUGS Wagonwheel Blues (Secretly Canadian)
Kurt Vile’s band, from before he got big, dishes out solid rock hits, like the lovechild of Springsteen and CCR, with Lou Reed as the creepy, estranged Uncle.

REAL ESTATE (Woodsist Records)
Upstate NY kids recover the golden slacker vibe of the mid 90s but ditch the angst and flannel.  Nice.

OMAR RODRIGUEZ LOPEZ Xenophanes (OML Records)
Mars Volta six-string wizard confirms once and for all that a little prog rock is definitely not a bad thing.

THEM CROOKED VULTURES (Geffen)
Instead of resting on their laurels, the most super of all super groups bangs harder and louder than most of the young pups on the rock scene.

RICH HOPE Is Gonna Whip It On Ya (Fontana)
Regular at the Railway, Vancouverite Rich Hope has plenty of tunes to mix with bourbon, sour mash, or rye.

GOGOL BORDELLO Live From Axis Mundi (Side One Dummy)
The true sound of punk in the G-20 age, Gogol Bordello bring their incendiary live show into your living room.

KURT VILE Childish Prodigy (Matador Records)
Matador’s latest long haired it-boy delivers the goods: lo-fi, freak train, psychedelic pop.

WHITE RAINBOW New Cloud (Thrill Jockey)
Portland’s cosmic shaman delivers four jams that transport your mind into a kind of cosmic soup, in a good way!

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART Higher Than The Stars (Slumberland)
The new shoegazing single from one of the better bands to rock the Biltmore this year!

J TILLMAN Year In The Kingdom (Western Vinyl)
J is a member of the hugely popular Fleet Foxes and his solo album proves his is more than just the one trick pony.

The Gig

JAPANDROIDS | Wednesday December 2nd at the BILTMORE

There’s definitely a joy to be had in watching a local band rise out from the trenches of playing skid bars and progress to become a lethal headlining act in their own right.  Japandroids are one such band.  I can recall an initial local buzz about the band years ago, when they brought their first EP’s into the store, and now they’ve done gone grown up into an officially Pitchfork-approved rock band!  It’s not hard to imagine why, given that these two boys specialize in short, amped up songs that chronicle the travails of young adulthood: girls, drinking, living in East Van – you get the picture.  It’s the soundtrack to your life, whether you admit it or not, and so this show should be seen as a kind of group-therapy session, except instead of sitting in a circle talking about feelings you’ll be slamming beers and head banging as the Japandroids take to the tiny Biltmore stage and proceed to burn said stage down! Attendance is mandatory (MORE JAPANDROIDS).

The Glance

Tue DEC 01

SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO – VENUE

Wed DEC 02

JAPANDROIDS – BILTMORE

Thu DEC 03

BLIND PILOT – MEDIA CLUB
PRIESTESS – COMMODORE
SCATTER HEART – VENUE
LUV-A-FAIR 29TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY – CELEBRITIES

Fri DEC 04

CALIFONE – RICKSHAW
MINT’S RIDICULOUSLY EARLY XMAS PARTY – BILTMORE
TV ROCK – CELEBRITIES

Sat DEC 05

THE FUGITIVES – BILTMORE
BABY DEE – ROUNDHOUSE

Sun DEC 06

TRISTEZA – MEDIA CLUB

Mon DEC 07

BRETT DENNEN – COMMODORE
JANDEK – SCOTIABANK
KID CUDI – COMMODORE
Z-TRIP – OPERA
TOTAL CHINESE BUFFET – KENTIZEN CHINESE CUISINE

Tue DEC 10

PATRICK WATSON – VOGUE
J TILLMAN – BILTMORE
PEAK XMAS W/ BEND SINISTER – VENUE

Fri DEC 11

ALLISON CROWE – ST.JAMES
TERRA GRIMARD BAND – RAW CANVAS
STEVE ANGELLO – CELEBRITIES

Sat DEC 12

GLITZORAMA – RED ROOM
DEATH SENTENCE – RICKSHAW
COCO LOVE ALCORN – RIO

Sun DEC 13

ETIENNE DE CRECY – VENUE
DICK DALE – YALE

Tue DEC 15

SLOAN – COMMODORE

Thu DEC 17

PEAK XMAS W/ TV HEART ATTACK – VENUE
WOLFGANG GARTNER – MODERN

Fri DEC 18

JOACHIM GARRAUD – CELEBRITIES
SIC ALPS / MAGIK MARKERS