by Nic Bragg | From Kitsilano’s Zulu Records, we once again present our weekly Scout feature, the Zulu Report. Within, we provide The Track – the song that is on heavy rotation in the shop this week; The Playlist – which is pretty self-explanatory; The Gig – the ‘must see’ show of the week; and The Glance – which details the best live acts that are on the immediate horizon. From our ears to yours, enjoy…

The Playlist

THE WALKMEN Heaven

We are officially talking about NYC/Philadelphia’s The Walkmen as elder statesmen of the indie rock scene. That is how much time has passed. Yes, we loved them as fresh faced lads built with the good stuff from Jonathan Fireeater, and as guys who would do anything for kicks, including driving for a few hours to cross the border and show up at Zulu to perform pretty much unannounced one Saturday morning. If you were here then, you will remember how you were treated to the best parts of their now classic debut Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone. Yes, that was ten years ago and the band has definitely matured, grown and sonically come into their own comfortable zone that is a brash mix of atmosphere, swagger, and poetic romanticism. The Walkmen exude all these qualities effortlessly (while some bands push so hard to hit their marks) and having shared the stage with all the best names in the biz, they have quietly become a classic adult alternative band like their pals The National. “Heaven” is a strong record that reflects on this voyage and peddles in the nostalgia of their choices along the way. Check their website for some amazing historic documents and as this first video demonstrates – you have to know where you’ve come from to know where you are going.

SLEIGH BELLS Demons

Many of you are still bummed that Sleigh Bells had to cancel their Vancouver show due to illness. Yes, even touring rock and rollers are not immune from the demon cold bug that is currently giving us all the sniffles. Anyway, this noisy new video is all we have to go on as we can only imagine how intense their show at the Commodore would have been!

CHROMATICS These Streets Will Never Look the Same

Clearly the game plan for this dreamy, autotuned track off Kill For Love was to go to Vegas and rent an expensive car and just drive around looking for trouble. Adding Ryan Gosling to this mix would have made a lot of sense.

BOBBY WOMACK Dayglo Reflection

Yes, Bobby Womack is back in the studio thanks to Damon Albarn. The build up on this record has been massive and with the recent great news that Womack is free of cancer, we can only hope that he takes this modern soul sound out on the road and lets it exhale all over us. The piano work here is dope.

PERFUME GENIUS Dark Parts

If you are a film major can you tell me how hard is it to nail a video when it is one long, continuous shot? Also, what are the best examples of this? Russian Ark? Did anyone see that? Anyway, Matador Records knows a good thing when they see it and that is why they have signed Perfume Genius to a super long career!

NAS Daughters

One day she is your little princess, next day she is talking boy business…God gets us back by having daughters! Man, this song must be blowing up on the NYC dadblogs out there! Trust Nas to get deep into the parenting scene and give us this real bomb track.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Rocky Ground

Last week right after Zeus finished rocking out in the store, we threw on the latest Boss and that intangible glow that fills the room when you hear his voice took over the whole crowd. Bruce knows how to connect with his people!

THE GIG

HOW TO DRESS WELL – THE WALDORF Wednesday June 13th

Jacques Brel knows how to look good and so should you. Our close pals over at the Waldorf have booked a pretty magnificent summer card of bands to enjoy, and as you can probably imagine their shows really benefit from the grander creative energy that hangs in the air of the entire Waldorf entertainment facility. It is not uncommon to go there for one night and spent a year. Anyway, seeing How to Dress Well is a good idea as they have an incredibly serene sound that combines the best of dance, pop, atmospherics, electronics, and orchestrated high art vibing. If you can’t understand what that means, then that’s cool, too. Summer nights are about intoxication, heady ventures, and slipping out of the shadows to get a bit sunkissed. That’s what makes this night of music so crucial. Grab a ticket soon.

The Glance

Thu Jun 07 TOPLESS GAY LOVE TECHNO PARTY – CLUB
Thu Jun 07 ADALINE – BILTMORE
Thu Jun 07 VINCE VACCARO – VENUE
Thu Jun 07 MELANIE DEKKER – ST.JAMES
Thu Jun 07 BHANGRA LOVE – GINGER 62
Fri Jun 08 LAIDBACK LUKE – CELEBRITIES
Fri Jun 08 GOLD + YOUTH – ELECTRIC OWL
Fri Jun 08 BASEMENT BHANGRA – W2
Fri Jun 08 MISHKA + ANUHEA – MEDIA
Sat Jun 09 DOMINIQUE FRICOT – ST.JAMES
Sat Jun 09 AMBASSADORS OF BHANGRA – W2
Sat Jun 09 DEER TRACKS – MEDIA
Sat Jun 09 RYKKA & STAR CAPTAINS – ELECTRIC OWL
Mon Jun 11 TRIBAL SEEDS – MEDIA
Tue Jun 12 MAPS & ATLASES – MEDIA
Wed Jun 13 CALVERTRON – CELEBRITIES
Wed Jun 13 SHANTEL – RED ROOM
Wed Jun 13 LEMONADE – ELECTRIC OWL
Wed Jun 13 HOW TO DRESS WELL – WALDORF
Wed Jun 13 CORROSION OF CONFORMITY – RICKSHAW
Thu Jun 14 SHABAZZ PALACES – FORTUNE
Thu Jun 14 PATRICK WATSON – VOGUE
Fri Jun 15 THE BAR ELECTRIC – OWL
Fri Jun 15 MIKE Q + ZEBRA KATZ + NJENA REDDD FOXXX – WALDORF
Fri Jun 15 HUMANS – CLUB 560
Fri Jun 15 DRUMCELL – CHAPEL ARTS
Sat Jun 16 LUCITERRA DANCE: JILL PARKER – RIO
Sat Jun 16 VICCI MARTINEZ – ELECTRIC OWL
Sat Jun 16 HEY OCEAN! – VOGUE
Sat Jun 16 PARLOTONES – BILTMORE
Sat Jun 16 HOOK N SLING – CELEBRITIES
Sat Jun 16 HELICOPTER SHOWDOWN – RED ROOM
Sun Jun 17 ART vs SCIENCE – FORTUNE
Mon Jun 18 THE CRIBS – VENUE
Tue Jun 19 HAYES CARLL – RIO
Thu Jun 21 MOUNT EERIE – RICKSHAW
Thu Jun 21 GOB – VENUE
Thu Jun 21 SAK NOEL – GOSSIP
Thu Jun 21 KAI SKY WALKER – FORTUNE
Thu Jun 21 MOUNT EERIE – RICKSHAW
Fri Jun 22 FRIENDS – FORTUNE
Fri Jun 22 MOUNTAIN GOATS (SOLO) – RIO
Fri Jun 22 JON & ROY ALL AGES – ST.JAMES
Fri Jun 22 JON & ROY 19+ – FORTUNE
Fri Jun 22 RUSSIAN CIRCLES – BILTMORE
Sat Jun 23 JONATHAN COULTON – VENUE
Sun Jun 24 BABY DEE + TIM COHEN – WALDORF
Tue Jun 26 DEATH GRIPS FORTUNE – CANCELLED
Tue Jun 26 CEU – RIO
Thu Jun 28 YOUNG EMPIRES – BILTMORE
Thu Jun 28 OBIE TRICE – RED ROOM
Fri Jun 29 BASS DRUM OF DEATH – BILTMORE