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

The National performing the track Afraid of Everyone from their top-of-the-charts new album High Violet, live on Letterman.

No other band taps into our collective paranoia better than The National. I mean, when their lead-off single is entitled Afraid of Everyone, you know you’re in for some brooding, late night despair. Frontman Matt Berninger said he wrote the lyrics to this album alone late at night while laying on the couch. So this isn’t exactly light fare. In this performance he paces around the Ed Sullivan stage like a tense, caged animal looking for some kind of emotional/spiritual release. This might all sound like a lot to take, but The National’s saving grace is the grand, cinematic quality of their songs. That and of course hooks, hooks, hooks. Like Interpol with good lyrics (or an Americanized Nick Cave), The National know how to make a midnight mental breakdown sound like a good time.

The Playlist

It’s hot and summer feels just around the corner, but this week Zulu selects the tracks that evoke the mood of Permanent Midnight.

DEAD MEADOW Three Kings (Xemu)
Direct from the bubbly, underground world of Middle Earth, these three wise men psychedelicize your mind with live takes of career highlights. You’ll wake up, but you’re still in dreamland. Welcome to permanent midnight.

THE HOLD STEADY Heaven Is Whenever (Vagrant)
Midwest Springsteen-approved rock for lonely nights spent drinking moonshine down by the gravel pit.

KING MIDAS SOUND Waiting For You… (Hyperdub)
UK dubstepper impressed many with Waiting…, an album of twisted beats and mumbled word-sorcery.  This guys a sonic warlock, and I can’t shake his black magic spells.

INDIAN JEWELRY Totaled (We Are Free)
From sun-scorched Austin TX comes the newest slab of paranoid, electro-schizoid-rock of blackened midnight incantations for lost souls.

PHOSPHORESCENT Here’s To Taking It Easy (Dead Oceans).
Sounding something like black clouds spewing black rain deep in the black back country, this Brooklyn hobo dials back the clock to the age of dust-bowl balladry, when taking it easy was a lot harder to do.

RADIO DEPT. Clinging To A Scheme (Labrador)
Like the last ray of light fading on the horizon, Radio Dept.’s songs are bright and hopeful but with a trace of coming dread..

HOLY FUCK Latin (Young Turks)
T-dot’s electro-funk-rock masters have constructed the perfect Saturday night after-hours party album, guaranteed to keep the rave going until the early morning rays.

THEE OH SEES Warm Slime (In The Red)
Thee Oh Sees are garage rock, sure, but always slightly warped and reverberating out of focus. Is this a dream or is it really happening? Late night goo-goo-muck.

THE SIGHT BELOW It Falls Apart (Ghostly)
Listening to this Pac NW outfit’s latest is like having your entire body dunked in a bath of warm molasses. A sonic gauze for wounded minds.

NICK CAVE AND WARREN ELLIS The Road O.S.T. (EMI)
It gets none more black than the Cave and Ellis’ haunting soundtrack to a film about cannibalism in a post apocalyptic future.

The Gig

Three Inches Of Blood‘s Canadian tour kick off at The Rickshaw on Sat May 22nd.

It’s been too damn long since Three Inches of Blood have slaughtered a hometown crowd with their fierce style of power metal. Whether you’re a fan and you’ve seen these hairy boys do their thing before or you’re unfamiliar and want to check out a full blown local metal show, I can’t think of a better way to experience the pummeling sludge fest that is Three Inches than a packed Saturday night show at The Rickshaw. Expect thrashing thrash-guitar solos and long hair galore. As an added bonus for the especially keen headbanger, this show will be professionally filmed for an upcoming T.I.O.B. tour documentary, so any and all stage-diving acrobatics, air guitar heroics and full throat banshee wails will be forever immortalized. Bang on.

The Glance

The better shows to see in the next two weeks…

Thu MAY 20
DUSTIN BENTALL OUTFIT- VENUE
TEQUILA MOCKINGBIRD ORCHESTRA – BILTMORE

Fri MAY 21
41st & HOME CD Release w/ In Medias Res, We Are The City, Aidan Knight – ST.JAMES – WE ARE SOLD OUT

Sat MAY 22
NEXT MUSIC FROM TOKYO(5 indie bands from Japan) – BILTMORE
HANNAH GEORGAS – VENUE
SUMNER BROTHERS – ANZA CLUB
OLD BONES 3 – ANZA CLUB
3 INCHES OF BLOOD – RICKSHAW

Sun MAY 23
GLOBAL DEEJAYS – FORTUNE
CLASSIXX – VENUE
ABOVE & BEYOND – COMMODORE
LOTUS LONG WEEKEND – LOTUS

Mon May 24
ABSTRACT RUDE – BILTMORE

Wed MAY 26
BROKEN BELLS – COMMODORE – WE ARE SOLD OUT
THE FUGITIVES – BILTMORE
MIXMASTER MIKE – REPUBLIC
GIRLS – VENUE

Thu MAY 27
GIRLS – VENUE
WHY? – BILTMORE
PUBLIC ENEMY – COMMODORE – WE ARE SOLD OUT

Fri MAY 28
THE VERY BEST – BILTMORE
FUNKAGENDA – CELEBRITIES
BOYS NOIZE – COMMODORE
LOCAL NATIVES – MEDIA CLUB

Sat MAY 29
MASSIVE ATTACK – MALKIN BOWL
VETIVER – BILTMORE
SWEET THING – MEDIA CLUB
CARIBOU – RICKSHAW – WE ARE SOLD OUT

Sun MAY 30
FOOL’S GOLD – BILTMORE
TALIB KWELI – VOGUE

Mon MAY 31
SAGE FRANCIS – BILTMORE – WE ARE SOLD OUT
EDWARD SHARPE AND THE MAGNETIC ZEROS – COMMODORE
BUZZCOCKS – VENUE- WE ARE SOLD OUT
ISIS – RICKSHAW
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – MALKIN BOWL