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 song on heavy rotation in the store this week…

Flying Lotus performing Killing It, live. Their wonderful new album Cosmogramma just dropped courtesy of Warp Records. Flying Lotus is 26 year old west coast cosmonaut DJ/laptop producer wunderkind Steve Ellison. Though still of a tender age, Fly Lo is basically working in a genre of his own making, and on his stunner third album he looks into the past to find his way to the future. I say this in part because Cosmogramma plays like a tribute to Ellison’s heavy-weight musical heritage (his aunt was non-other than the high priestess of universal love herself, Alice Coltrane). Slapping funky, 80’s Herbie Hancock bass-tones on top of out-there beats, Cosmogramma is a heady, mutating mix of free jazz and futuristic space funk. Strings and horns coalesce into dance beats and wonky synthesizers. Hectic free form slabs of outerspace sounds decompose into meditative, cascading harp tones. Having Thom Yorke guest on a track is a nice selling point, but this is Fly Lo’s show all the way. Strap on your space suit and make sure your oxygen tank is full, ’cause it’s going to take a while to reach Fly Lo’s astral plane.

The Playlist

Funny how looking backwards can be so forward-looking

THE FLAMING LIPS Dark Side Of The Moon (WEA)
The Lips put their rep on the line, and it’s all worth it. Their bugged out take on the Floyd classic defines the fine art of looking backwards to see forwards.

D.O.A. Talk – Action = O (Sudden Death)
Bloody But Unbowed, DOA stretch deep into the waters of Vancouver’s musical wellspring. And the funny thing is that their mathematical equations of the truth still hold true.

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE Forgiveness Rock Record (Arts&Crafts)
Ask forgiveness and forget old grudges. BSS strap on fifty guitars and overtake your stereo’s future. This is the summer rock record.

THEE OH SEES Warm Slime (In The Red)
SF’s whooping, echo-plex ensemble stomp their way through the slime of time on an album that rocks beyond the borders of all known space time continuums.

NICK CAVE AND WARREN ELLIS The Road O.S.T. (EMI)
If The Road is any indication, we are all doomed. Stave off the hysteria with Cave and Ellis’ haunting textures, and stock up on lots of canned goods.

SIGHTINGS City Of Straw (Jagjaguwar).
NY free-jazz-post-punk guys chart a course into unknown territory, crafting a new genre.

PANTHA DU PRINCE Diamond Daze
The Bavarian trance-master’s second album haunts my mind long after the last track has finished, like a fantasy castle in the sky.

GOGOL BORDELLO Trans-Continental Hustle (American Recordings)
Gogol Bordello envision a future in which there are no borders, musical or otherwise.  Put on your Mao cap and do the hustle with me.

APOLLO GHOSTS Mount Benson (Self Released)
Local indie poppers get all sentimental about the days of yore spent in the Hub City, Nanaimo BC.  There are some pretty stunning pop-chops on display here – get in on the ground level

CARIBOU Swim (Merge)
Snaith’s Swim is a stone cold modern classic.  Don’t let the sun scorch you.  Dive into the kaleidoscope of swirling sounds orbs.

The Gig

FUCK BUTTONS play The Biltmore on Friday May 14th.

First, pardon their name. I know it’s a stupid one that resists an easy Google search (you’re not going to like what you find). Name aside, Fuck Buttons’ aural assault at the Biltmore this Friday is a guaranteed good time. The English duo have steadily moved closer towards the kind of trancy-analog throbbing dance music that made the lads of yesteryear call 1987 the Second Summer of Love. Not that you need to drop pills to enjoy this show. No, Fuck Buttons excel at making time stand still, as different pulsating textures worm their way deep into your cranium and awaken the animal mind in all of us. Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic. All I’m saying is this is going to be a killer show.

The Glance

Shows we’re really looking forward to…

Thu MAY 13
FUCKED UP – BILTMORE
EXCISION- FORTUNE
ED SOLO – SHINE

Fri MAY 14
FUCK BUTTONS – BILTMORE
CHUCKIE – CELEBRITIES
SHOUT OUT LOUDS – COMMODORE
BIG JOHN BATES – BOURBON

Sun MAY 16
STANTON MOORE TRIO – YALE
BART B MORE – VENUE
DIANE BIRCH – 560 SEYMOUR

Mon MAY 17
EVELYN EVELYN – COMMODORE

Tue MAY 18
HYPOCRISY – RICKSHAW
ROGER SANCHEZ – CAPRICE

Wed MAY 19
DYING FETUS – RICKSHAW
FROG EYES – BILTMORE

Thu MAY 20
DUSTIN BENTALL OUTFIT- VENUE
TEQUILA MOCKINGBIRD ORCHESTRA – BILTMORE

Fri MAY 21
41st & HOME CD Release w/ In Medias Res, We Are The City, Aidan Knight ST.JAMES

Sat MAY 22
SUMNER BROTHERS – ANZA CLUB
OLD BONES 3 – ANZA CLUB
INCHES OF BLOOD – RICKSHAW

Sun MAY 23
GLOBAL DEEJAYS – FORTUNE
CLASSIXX – VENUE
ABOVE & BEYOND – COMMODORE
LOTUS LONG WEEKEND – LOTUS

Mon May 24
ABSTRACT RUDE – BILTMORE