Zulu Report: Chain & the Gang Plays And Babe Window Freaks

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 tune currently on heavy rotation…

Joanna Newsom | Have One On Me taken from the album Have One On Me.

Joanna Newsom – who’da thunk? I never would’ve predicted that a harp-playing Middle Earth forest nymph would rise to become a bona fide, A-list musical darling. All joking aside, Newsom is obviously an artist of exceedingly rare talent and vision. Over the course of three albums she’s gone from being regarded as a highlight of the “freak folk” genre to more recently being recognized a totally singular artist, untethered to any bullshit scene. “Have One On Me” is three discs of folky, jazzy west coast pop music. Certainly there are some vaguely Joni Mitchell-esque signifiers (another singular artist), but really this is Newsom’s show all the way. Whether or not you “get” Newsom or not, she’s proved at a young age that she’s got goods. This clip doesn’t have bells and whistles, let alone any animatronic or CGI freakiness. It’s just a beautiful song, set up karaoke-style, so that you can sing along and pretend to be a middle earth queenie, like Newsom.

The Playlist

Click the links for some audible flavour…

Babe Rainbow – “Shaved EP” (Warp). Local boy Cam Reed does us proud by joining the ranks of Warp and delivering a wigged out surf-step ep full of spooky sounds and mutant beats.

Surfer Blood – “Astro Coast” (Universal). Surfer Blood party like the 90s never ended – hooks, harmonies, ragged guitar, and a slacked out vibe that never quits.

Johnny Cash – “American VI- It Ain’t No Grave” (American). The final offering from the legendary Cash/Rick Rubin collaboration is a bittersweet adieu from someone now regarded as more mythical legend than flesh-and-bone man.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre – “Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?” (a Recordings). Anton Newcombe’s band of merry pranksters psychadelicize some jangly pop tunes and teach the young pups a thing about being trippy.

Strange Boys – “Be Brave” (In The Red). Snot-nosed freaks from Austin TX learn how to string a bluesy folky garage rock tune together with the help of some booze and maybe a couple controlled substances.

Shout Out Louds – “Work” (Merge). One of the leading lights of pure pop power, delivered courtesy of the leading light of modern pop labels, Merge.

Scout Niblett – “The Calcination Of…” (Secretly Canadian). Grunged out, angsty skree from one of the astrological queen of rock.

Tindersticks – “Falling Down A Mountain” (Constellation). Tindersticks are a criminally underrated band that wallows in the same murky waters of Gainsbourgh, Nick Cave and Scott Walker, and “Falling Down…” is another fine, fine addition to their wonderful catalogue.

The Magnetic Fields – “Realism” (Nonesuch). Stpehen Merritt’s latest concept album is a folked-out offering that delves into the late night world of hipster NY singledom.

Loscil – “Endless Falls” (Kranky). Another well accomplished local boy, Scott Morgan, does us proud with an beautiful album of rain soaked, Eno-worthy hushed ambience.

The Gig

Chain and the Gang | The Media Club Friday March 5thth

Chain And The Gang is the latest musical agit-prop outfit of Washinton D.C.’s golden son, Mr. Ian F. Svenonious. Following the trajectory of Svenonius’ musical “career” is basically like taking a crash course history lesson in the last ten plus years of undergound rock music. From his days fronting Nation Of Ulysses. in various sweaty basements across North America, to his days in the garage-soul-punk Make Up, Svenonious has offered a unique, Marxist critique of all the various marketing terms that we’ve come to understand as defining youth culture – punk, indie, rock revival, and what have you. Chain and The Gang are a return to form for Svenonious (many of us lost track of him during around the turn of the aughties). Their self titled album of 2009 was a staff favourite at Zulu, and I can attest from having seen Svenonoius during of the last Make Up tours that the man puts his heart and soul into a performance. For a few hours on Friday the Media Club will be turned into a kind of terrorist cell, with Svenonious as our infallible leader. Amen.

The Glance

Fine local shows on the immediate horizon…

Thu MAR 04

THE GRAND MOTHERS – BILTMORE
THE CLIPSE & CRYSTAL METHOD – ROCKY MOUNTAINEER

Fri MAR 05

BASIA BULAT – ST. JAMES
CHAIN AND THE GANG & STRANGE BOYS – MEDIA CLUB
LITTLE BOOTS – VENUE
INNER CIRCLE – COMMODORE
CAVE SINGERS – PIT PUB
VANCANT CITY (CD RELEASES) – ANZA