Northern Zulu Sessions: Scenes From The “Tennis” Show At Kitsilano’s Zulu Records

Scout Magazine and Northern Transmissions are proud to present the fourth instalment of The Northern Zulu Sessions, a series of in-store concerts at West 4th’s Zulu Records that showcase local and international talent. The films are a collaboration by Warmland Films, Zulu Records, and Overgrowth Productions. This week, it’s Tennis!

Zulu Report: Everything That You Should Listen To This Week

Nic Bragg over at Kitsilano’s Zulu Records once again present his 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, which details the best gigs on the immediate horizon. From their ears to yours, enjoy…

THE TRACK

AESOP ROCK Zero Dark Thirty

Sonically this latest Aesop offering is really, really interesting. Ian Mattihas Bavitz (a.k.a. Aesop Rock) has always kept the lyrical side of his game super fresh but we at Zulu are absolutely blown away by the potent combo of beats, samples and overall production verve that accompanies his lyrical fury! Check this “Roving packs of elusive young, become choke-lore writers over boosted drums, in the terrifying face of a future tongue”… major throw down to those at his heels. Vancouver’s hip hop scene is super tight and has deep ties to the Rhymesayers crew, so we can only hope that when Rock takes to the road in support of July’s Skelethon from Fifth Element that he hooks it up at Fortune! Tight sounds. Read more

SCOUT LIST: The 10 Things That You Should Absolutely Do Between Now And Next Week

by Michelle Sproule | The main objective of this website is to scout out and promote the things that make Vancouver such a sweet place to be. We do this with an emphasis on the city’s independent spirit to foster a sense of connectedness within and between our communities, and to introduce our readers to the people who grow and cook our food, play the raddest tunes in our better venues, create our most interesting art, and design everything from what we wear to the spaces we inhabit. The Scout List is our carefully considered, first rate agenda of super awesome things that we’re either doing, wishing that we could do, or conspiring to do this week. From our calendar to yours… Read more

Northern Zulu Sessions: Scenes From The “Great Lake Swimmers” Gig At Zulu Records

Scout Magazine and Northern Transmissions are proud to present the third instalment of The Northern Zulu Sessions, a series of in-store concerts taking place at Kitsilano’s Zulu Records (the home of our weekly Zulu Report) to showcase local and international talent. The films are a collaboration by Warmland Films, Zulu Records, and Overgrowth Productions. This week, it’s Ontario’s phenomenal Great Lake Swimmers!

SWAG: Win Tickets To Laura Marling’s Show At The Commodore Ballroom This June 27th

British singer/songwriter Laura Marling is coming to Vancouver this summer. Haven’t heard of her? She’s been compared to Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, a combo that translates into awesome. She’s played with Andrew Bird and taken the stage at Coachella, so she’s been getting around and scoring high on the critics’ “Best of Year” lists in the process. Even though tickets don’t officially go on sale until this Friday, we’ve got a pair to give away today. Here’s what you need to do…

Follow @scoutmagazine and retweet the following: “I’m fixing to win two tickets to Laura Marling’s #Vancouver show via @scoutmagazine http://wp.me/plxHU-d7h“

We’ll pick the winner by random before the weekend.

Concert: Wednesday, June 27 | 9:30pm | Commodore Ballroom | Tickets: Friday, May 4 | get ‘em here

SCOUT LIST: The 11 Things That You Absolutely Should Do Between Now And Next Week

by Michelle Sproule | The main objective of this website is to scout out and promote the things that make Vancouver such a sweet place to be. We do this with an emphasis on the city’s independent spirit to foster a sense of connectedness within and between our communities, and to introduce our readers to the people who grow and cook our food, play the raddest tunes in our better venues, create our most interesting art, and design everything from what we wear to the spaces we inhabit. The Scout List is our carefully considered, first rate agenda of super awesome things that we’re either doing, wishing that we could do, or conspiring to do this week. From our calendar to yours… Read more

SOUNDTRACKING: On The Prevalence Of Phones In Pop Music From Berry To Blondie

by Daniel Colussi | The other day I was listening to The Spinners’ funky soul classic “It’s A Shame,” in which the singer laments having to sit around by his telephone and wait for his girl to call him. I love this song and listening to it for the umpteenth time I realized how many telephone pop songs have been written over the years.

“It’s A Shame” is paradigmatic of the lovesick telephone song: the narrator helplessly waits for a call from his girl, in this case all the worse because the girl in question is a two-timer who’s messing around with other guys. Our Spinner knows this but she’s got him by the balls so bad that the only thing that he can do is wait for the telephone to ring and hear her voice on the other end of the line. The telephone is his lifeline but also a noose around his neck, and it’s such a shame. The Seatbelts’ “Call Me Call Me” tells the same story, though its way less funky. The Beatles and The Stones both vent their frustrations with waiting by the phone (“You Won’t See Me” and “Off The Hook,” respectively). But it’s The Cure who take it to a characteristically gloomy extreme on “10:15 Saturday Night” with the implication that the existential anxiousness of waiting for the phone to ring could lead to suicide. In all these cases the narrator is forced into passivity with the telephone being an instrument of domination. But how about when you try to be a little more pro-active?

On “Answering Machine,” Paul Westerberg is ready to dial the number except he’s stymied by the telephone’s wedged-in position between himself and the girl. She’s not picking up, so what’s he supposed to do – pour his heart out to an answering machine? The pain runs even deeper in Glen Campbell’s gloriously schmaltzy “Wichita Lineman” in which the brutal irony is that even though the guy’s out on the highway installing telephone lines, he still can’t get through to the girl! So close but so far, and all that’s left is the singing in the wire. An absolute classic is, of course, Blondie’s ”Hanging On The Telephone,” in which Debbie Harry repeatedly phones her lover in an attempt to extricate him from his mother’s overly dominant grip on his love life (the prominence of the Oedipal complex in pop songs is a whole other matter). On these tunes the telephone can connect – but just as easily block – the transmission of love.

Other times, its not so bad. In “Memphis Tennesse“, Chuck Berry doesn’t really have it so rough. The song is basically about a guy who needs a phone number. Yes, it’s a drag to have to call the operator, and its annoying to be put on hold, but there’s nothing to suggest that he won’t get through to his lady. In The Band’s “Long Distance Operator“, Robbie Roberston is in pretty much the same boat as Chuck Berry, although Robertson’s way more dramatic about the situation (he’s on fire, he’s tangled in telephone lines, etc), and we’re less sure that he will indeed reach his lady. That Berry’s song conveys less of a sense of total hopelessness could be the fact that it arrived in sunny 1959, before the dark spectre of telephones fully inserting themselves into our love lives could be adequately grasped.

Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman” is maybe the best telephone song ever written in that it ties together so many disparate facets of telephonic presence in our lives: the desire to ignore calls, particularly ones from your mother; the irritating faux-pleasantries of pre-recorded answering machine greetings; and ultimately the inextricable link between household technology and the military-industrial complex. That the song is performed by Anderson in her classic spoken word style, i.e. in the voice of an actual telephone conversation, only increases its genius.

All the aforementioned tunes deal specifically with the landline experience. It’s only logical that cellphones would beget different songs because of the unparalleled access that they afford. If someone’s got your cellphone number then there’s nowhere to hide. Lady GaGa’s “Telephone” best represents the cell phone experience of always being within communicable reach. Here, GaGa’s miffed at some guy and just wants to revel in the Dionysian ecstasy of dance and drink, but she can’t get into the moment because this guy keeps calling and texting her. Its distracting. Unlike Anderson, GaGa doesn’t probe into the deeper implications of the telephone’s (and thus technology’s) increasing presence in our lives. I have no idea if her depiction as a human/machine motor-booty hybrid on the cover of Born This Way betrays any of her feelings on the subject. On “Telephone,” GaGa just seems kinda pissy, so I think the track carries much weight in the lineage of telephone pop songs. But I know that, for sure, whenever I hear those bittersweet Spinners harmonies, I’m instantly right there with them, waiting by the telephone.

—————————————————–
Zulu Records veteran and tunage aficionado Daniel Colussi is the Music Editor of Scout Magazine.

Northern Zulu Sessions: Philadelphia’s “The War On Drugs” At Kitsilano’s Zulu Records

Northern Transmissions is proud to present the second installment of The Northern Zulu Sessions, a series of in-store concerts taking place at Kitsilano’s Zulu Records (the home of Scout’s weekly Zulu Report). They’re each a collaboration of Warmland Films, Zulu Records, and Overgrowth Productions to showcase local and international talents. This week, they are happy to presen Secretly Canadian recording artists The War on Drugs from Philadelphia, PA. Enjoy.

SCOUT LIST: The 12 Things That You Should Absolutely Do Between Now And Next Week

by Michelle Sproule | The main objective of this website is to scout out and promote the things that make Vancouver such a sweet place to be. We do this with an emphasis on the city’s independent spirit to foster a sense of connectedness within and between our communities, and to introduce our readers to the people who grow and cook our food, play the raddest tunes in our better venues, create our most interesting art, and design everything from what we wear to the spaces we inhabit. The Scout List is our carefully considered, first rate agenda of super awesome things that we’re either doing, wishing that we could do, or conspiring to do this week. From our calendar to yours… Read more

SOUNDTRACKING: A Chat With Frankie Rose Before Her April 24th Show At The Biltmore

by Daniel Colussi | Having come up through the ranks as drummer for several of the more notable indie bands of the last five years (Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, Crystal Stilts), Frankie Rose has ditched the drum kit and asserted herself as a bona fide front lady. Any doubts as to her ability are quickly put to rest upon hearing her lushly epic second album, Interstellar. It’s a beautiful statement of intent: her voice floats through thick walls of synth, creating a sound that seem to stretch out deep into the cosmos but stays grounded by an 80s dance/pop spirit (drummers everywhere should feel ennobled). I had a quick chat with Frankie while she and her band drove through Texas hunting for Czech pastries. Enjoy!

Where are you guys driving right now? We are doing the drive from Dallas to Austin right now. We’re in search of Kolaches. I don’t know what that is, but its a Czech pastry that apparently you can only find in Texas and the Czech Republic! Then we’ll go get some Tex-Mex before we hit the venue.

You’re a drummer who’s stepped out from behind the kit and is now fronting the band. How does it feel to be in the same club as James Brown, Iggy Pop, J Mascis and Phil Collins? And Phil Collins! My mom loves Phil Collins! Well, I wrote songs for Vivian Girls but you’d never know because I never sang. It was just a natural progression for me to move to the front. It was great to work on songs in other bands, but eventually it just stopped feeling satisfying. I mean, I never wanted to be a front person.

Interstellar, the new album, has been getting really good press. Yeah, it’s been really awesome. I did not have any idea about how it would be received, honestly. When I turned it in to the label, I felt like, “this could go horribly wrong!” I had no idea if I had something good or bad on my hands. I just knew it was different.

It’s got a big, bold sound. Is that the result of working with Le Chev as producer? Well he’s one of my very close friends and I initially didn’t start working on the album with him. I started recording at the same place I recorded the first one. I knew I wanted a different sounding album, but I was sort of ending up with the same sounds, the same things. So I asked Le Chev to do it, knowing that he’s a dance producer and really would make decisions that I would not make, which is what I wanted. I had a big picture in mind but I wasn’t exactly sure how it would be manifested. So I ended up with a much bigger sounding album, which was great.

Was it like a collaboration between you and Le Chev? Did he take it directions that you wouldn’t have yourself? It was little production stuff; how the vocals were brought up in the mix, choosing sounds – things like this. It was collaborative in a way that I’m really comfortable with. Read more

Next Page »