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

TENNIS Origins

When we last caught up with Denver’s husband and wife pop combo Tennis, they were waking up in one of the apartments above our store! Actually, a ton of hip bands have been crashing upstairs lately and it is not uncommon to open up the store and have the members of Veronica Falls, Big Troubles, or Devon Williams saunter down and ask for directions for coffee and a greasy breakfast. Record stores should do this more often – act like cultural ambassadors offering a place for gigging musicians to rest as well as directions to all the best things the city can offer. Anyway, it’s nice to see our pals getting so much attention on the eve of releasing their sophomore record ‘Young and Old’. Since sleeping on the floor they have played Lollapalooza, Barcelona’s Primavera Pop, as well as had Grey’s Anatomy license their songs! It’s also nice to know that they haven’t let fame go to their heads. Tennis have agreed to perform an intimate show here at Zulu Records when they’re in town post-Sasquatch in April. Of course, the upstairs beds are all theirs’ again, but something tells me they might opt for a more posh touring lifestyle this time around!

The Playlist

A.C. NEWMAN Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye

Continuing the series we alerted you to a couple weeks back, heres another instalment of cool new artists riffing on the old master Cohen. Leo’s songs always sound good and don’t really need any introduction – although Carl’s is nice! Special kudos here for footage of local unsung hero Shane ‘don’t call me Clooney’ Nelken…best multitalented sideman in the biz!

PORCELAIN RAFT Something In Between

Chillwave is the new bedroom rock! Lo-fi glitch electronics all assembled on a Macbook Pro under the watchful eye (and ear) of Mauro Remiddi a.k.a. Porcelain Raft. There’s a hypnotic efficiency to this simple video featuring the urban wash of billboards along Tear the Viaduct Down.

SHEARWATER Breaking The Yearlings

This is the lead-off single from their amazing Sub Pop release Animal Joy! Some people get into taxidermy, while for others it remains a complete turn off. This song makes me long for the drizzly days of Talk Talk, while the video reminds me that the Beatty Museum at UBC is supreme.

MIRACLE FORTRESS Raw Spectacle

The footnotes on this nice new track from Montreal’s Graham Van Pelt indicates that this fiery vid was made for only $800. If true, the production team (which also gave us last week’s choice Grimes footage) will have no shortage of clients lined up. Shot late night in Montreal’s subway tunnels, the pyrotechnics are indeed all real – if this was made here at home we would have just called up Rainmaker.

LAURA MARLING All My Rage

I really love going to Rufus’ Guitar Shop. It’s a legendary spot for Vancouver’s folk scene and has that old world charm to it – you could even imagine some bearded druid heading there to pick up a rare Martin loaded with wizardly tone. UK folky Laura Marling would have a field day there too – jamming on autoharps, dulcimers, bouzoukis, mandolins and more! Nu-folk is hot at Zulu.

The Gig

THE GROWLERS Saturday March 3rd at THE BILTMORE CABARET

We’ve been selling a lot of tickets to this event lately and certainly the buzz radar is starting to go off! As far as we can surmise this group is indeed a ‘band to watch’. This being their Vancouver debut, one can tell that there will be more than a few curious scenesters on hand. The Growlers make swampy psychedelic folk-rock that weaves together the shared musical overlap of mystic guru Devendra Banhart and the ballsy riffage of The Black Keys. Add to this a definite Californian campfire quirkiness and a spooky, reverb-drenched vocal delivery and you have a pretty cool all-around sound. This gig is a warm up for their date at Coachella in April and it goes without saying that after the exposure of two weekends in the Desert – the next time Vancouver will be hearing Rhe Growlers it will not be in the cozy confines of the Biltmore!

The Glance

Wed Feb 29 TREVOR HALL – MEDIA
Wed Feb 29 DAVID WARD – BILTMORE
Wed Feb 29 ATLAS SOUND – BILTMORE

MARCH

Thu Mar 01 CHIXDIGGIT – VENUE
Thu Mar 01 THE NERVES – IRON ROAD STUDIOS
Thu Mar 01 G.LOVE & THE SPECIAL SAUCE – COMMODORE
Thu Mar 01 THE LONELY FOREST – BILTMORE
Fri Mar 02 RICH AUCOIN – MEDIA CLUB
Sat Mar 03 THE GROWLERS – BILTMORE
Sat Mar 03 ANDREW WK – VENUE
Sat Mar 03 DEEKLINE – RED ROOM
Tue Mar 06 SLOW CLUB – MEDIA CLUB
Tue Mar 06 NNEKA – BILTMORE
Wed Mar 07 A CLASSIC EDUCATION / GANGLIANS – WALDORF
Wed Mar 07 CLOUD NOTHINGS – MEDIA CLUB
Thu Mar 08 BEN GOLD – CAPRICE
Thu Mar 08 ISLANDS – RIO THEATRE
Fri Mar 09 GIRAFFE AFTERMATH, BRAVE NEW WAVES + HILLSIDE HOOLIGANS – SHARK CLUB
Fri Mar 09 HUGH CORNWELL – VENUE
Fri Mar 09 LAZERSWORD – WALDORF
Fri Mar 09 TOMMY TRASH – CELEBRITIES
Sat Mar 10 THE AGGROLITIES – FORTUNE