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 TRACK

M83 Reunion

Having sold out two separate shows in Vancouver in increasingly bigger and bigger rooms, French synth rocker M83 has definitely graduated to the next level of success. Last year’s Hurry Up We’re Dreaming was a massive record at Zulu as we pretty much wore out our play copy by blasting it on the vinyl side with the garage door open. M83 has an elegance and orchestrated gracefulness to its music that gives each song a sort of regal bombast with plenty of pomp and circumstance. For this new track, Anthony Gonzales (AKA the producing wizard behind the band) dials up a more 80’s sci-fi techno sort of feel, along with some shimmering chorused guitars, to create a straight-up pop song that feels like the closing theme from a Wachowski brothers film. This video is pretty creepy and has that alienated Aphex Twin imagery to it. Enjoy!

THE CRIBS Glitters Like Gold

It was only a matter of time before someone revived the pop up video style…and the pop ups take us to other youtube sites! Choose your own adventure, thanks to everyone’s favourite dirt-pop band, The Cribs!

EXITMUSIC The Night

Imagine that David Lynch was 22 years old, just out of film school, and instead of listening to a steady diet of Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison, his favourite bands were My Bloody Valentine and Ride. Exitmusic is an awesome new face on the scene. If they keep their production value up this high, they will be a real trip into the dark side of the night.

SUUNS Pie IX

We all know that Montreal is under the microscope when it comes to their music scene. Here is a band that has flown under the radar nationally, but are blowing up in Europe. We expect great things from them in 2012!

DAN MANGAN Some People

We remind you that Vancouver’s hardest working folk-rocking singer-songwriter Dan Mangan is just a regular guy. He is playing a home town show at this year’s Folk Fest at Jericho beach and in the meantime still enjoys doing regular zany things – like secret shows in people’s apartments!

KAYNE WEST AND JAY-Z No Church In the Wild

Somewhere in the comments section is a long debate about whether this is an anti-capitalism statement or not and there is also a debate about how many pairs of shoes these guys collectively own. Pretty epic cinematography indeed, but the budget for this video could have saved Greece some real pain.

JULIA HOLTER Our Sorrows

We have some really really incredible customers and we’ve learned that they are our best resource, our best ears, and our best tastemakers. So when B. from Manchester tipped us off to the LP release of this newish artist we did everything that we could to grab a bunch of copies of the record. Well, they have been steadily flowing out the door for the last month, and now this unraveling new video should certainly get her much more attention.

THE GIG

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS | Solo at THE RIO THEATER Friday June 22nd

To say that John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats is a unique singer songwriter is an understatement. He is a singular voice, with a highly idiosyncratic vocal style, and the auteur of some of the most verbose tunes associated with the American lo-fi scene. Indeed he can turn a phrase with the best of them and thus we recommend this special night of music – John will be performing solo without his electric band – for all budding romantic poet type singers out there. Darnielle’s straight up plaintive delivery is refreshing and the way that he uses his voice to spit out his stream of conscious rambling proves that it is best to play to one’s strengths and not really affect things too much.

The Glance

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
Thu Jun 21 DUB PHIZIK – RED ROOM
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 TIGHT AND BRIGHT PARTY – FORTUNE
Thu Jun 28 OBIE TRICE – RED ROOM
Fri Jun 29 FUTURE BASS INVASION – CLUB 560
Fri Jun 29 BASS DRUM OF DEATH – BILTMORE

JULY

Mon Jul 02 EL-P – FORTUNE
Wed Jul 04 JUSTIN TOWNES EARL – RIO
Thu Jul 05 ILL SCARLETT – VENUE
Thu Jul 05 QUINTRON + MISS PUSSYCAT – WALDORF
Sat Jul 07 SHOCKWAVE FEST – VOGUE
Sat Jul 07 LOWER DENS – MEDIA
Sat Jul 07 JAPANDROIDS – BILTMORE
Mon Jul 09 LIARS – BILTMORE