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

LAMBCHOP Gone Tomorrow

Lambchop frontman Kurt Wagner is one cool cucumber. For years now he has delighted us with his signature baritone voice over a unique mix of Curtis Mayfield soul meets bad ass Johnny Cash tunes. For this first sneak peek into ‘Mr. M’ which comes out later in the month, Wagner hooks up with an equally bad ass crew of performers for one hell of a sonic headlock. Documenting the underground wrestling scene in Wagner’s native home town of Nashville, Gone Tomorrow is the perfect soundtrack to accompany the strange ambience that surrounds two extremely large muscular men body slamming each other in the ring. The match takes place in a desolate hotel in east Nashville called the Stadium Inn that permanently transformed the conference room into a ring. Kurt’s accordion player occasionally wrestled there and for this night Lambchop performed on a small stage in the locker room. The result is seven heavenly minutes of orchestrated groove leading to a pretty exotic coda that drones of into free form bliss.

THE PLAYLIST

THE SHINS September

Reserve some time in the late night hour to check out the first new song from James Mercer a.k.a. The
Shins in a long time. Showcasing the simple beauty of listening to sweet music in the analog format. Late night listens are always surreal and strange things happen – you hear things, you see things, and the song becomes a monster in the room.

CULTS Know what I Mean

We’ve been promised a future with an infinite number of online TV channels… It’s not too hard to imagine bigger bands having HBO-esque programming and high production narratives to accompany their songs. California based Cults dial up this Carnival-meets-X Files episode to accompany their dark romantic pop odes.

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS Andrew In Drag

When Stephen Merritt announced that his days with major label Nonesuch/Warner were over and that he would return to indie mainstays Merge Records, we knew that the resulting tunes would be a return to form. Merritt is clever, his songs are catchy, and he’s never shied away from provocative writing. This song is all about transformation!

DAN MANGAN Leaves, Trees, Forest

Last week there was a real tremor on our coast. Canada’s most prestigious music award The Juno nearly became rebranded as ‘The Mangan Award’, as based on the strength of Oh Fortune Dan and co. managed to capture nominations in almost every category. Well deserved, we say and a great shot in the arm for our local scene! Hashtag #myboyisgoingtoplayinthebigleagues

WAR Brodermortet

NYC’s Sacred Bones label already has a pretty impressive roster with acts including Zola Jesus, Psychic Ills, and now my recent fave War. A gritty Danish duo that make glitchy drone-dance that sounds like the bleed from a club down the street mixed with streetscape wash. European architecture fans will dig this cheap video.

The GIG

CHALI 2NA Sat Feb 18th RIO THEATER

Let’s all cross our fingers and hope that the Rio Theater’s liquor license restrictions get totally ironed out so that we can all watch a movie or catch a band while enjoying a cold one soon! Looking ahead on their calendar this show featuring the legendary MC Chali2na is definitely an example of why the Rio Theater is required as a vital live music venue for the city. The Rio is an intimate mid-sized room perfect for promoters to book for artists that need a stage somewhere between the Biltmore and the Commodore. Founding member of LA’s infamous hip-hop collective Jurassic Park, Chali 2na is more than capable of holding down the stage at the Rio as his presence on the mic is super sharp and his signature deep baritone makes for some really sweet flow. Lyrically, all the positivity of his Jurassic days is still channelled towards some deeper subtexts which make for deeper inspired listening. Anyway, whoever is holding down the decks on the 18th better bring a furious phat bag of tricks as Chali has already collaborated with all the big name DJs including Cut Chemist, Dan the Automater and more. This should be good!

The Glance

Sat Feb 18 CHALI2NA – RIO
Sat Feb 18 THE FRESH AND ONLYS + DISAPPEARS – BILTMORE
Sat Feb 18 THE MATINEE – VENUE
Sat Feb 18 GRIMES – FORTUNE
Sat Feb 18 CURSIVE – MEDIA CLUB
Sun Feb 19 DIE ANTWOORD – COMMODORE
Sun Feb 19 THE ASTEROIDS GALAXY TOUR – VENUE
Sun Feb 19 ZEDS DEAD – GOSSIP
Mon Feb 20 VERONICA FALLS – MEDIA CLUB
Mon Feb 20 BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB – COMMODORE
Wed Feb 22 MAURICE – BILTMORE
Thu Feb 23 CUTLINE + DREAM – FORTUNE
Thu Feb 23 HOWLIN RAIN – BILTMORE
Thu Feb 23 EXTORTION TOUR – VENU
Fri Feb 24 BINGO PLAYERS – CELEBRITIES
Fri Feb 24 THIS IS THE SHOES – WISE HALL
Fri Feb 24 JOACHIM GARRAUD – GINGER 62
Sat Feb 25 SWANKY TUNES – GINGER62
Sat Feb 25 USS – BILTMORE
Sun Feb 26 THE GREEN – VENUE
Sun FEB 26 NDIDI ONUKWULU – ELECTRIC OWL
Sun Feb 26 DJ KRUSH – FORTUNE
Wed Feb 29 TREVOR HALL – MEDIA
Wed Feb 29 DAVID WARD – BILTMORE
Wed Feb 29 ATLAS SOUND – BILTMORE