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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.

The Playlist

BEASTIE BOYS Sabotage

I can’t really think of any corner of the music business that wasn’t deeply saddened this week by the passing of Adam Yauch (aka MCA) of Beastie Boys. Together with Mike D and Ad Rock, MCA and his crew started out as NYC punks influenced by Black Flag and skaterock, and as we all know the rest is sweet history! RIP Adam.

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE Oh Susannah

Lock your doors! Neil has reached into his rolodex and dialed up the numbers of his Crazy Horse band! This means that after the cerebral guitar meditations of his Daniel Lanois produced solo effort Le Noize, Neil and Blackie (his axe) are ready to shake the paint off the barn again! Loose jams, killer tone, and stone cold epic anthems – there is a crazy horse loose again!

COLD SPECKS Blank Maps

Yes, we have officially jumped on the bandwagon heaping huge praise on the debut recording from this mysterious new Canadian band. I Predict A Graceful Expulsion is set to be released in a couple weeks and Cold Specks are already on the road in support of fellow Ontario folkies Great Lake Swimmers, but the buzz in the UK where lead singer Al Spx now resides is seriously building! We are excited.

HERE WE GO MAGIC How Do I Know

This video from Secretly Canadian’s best pure pop band gives us new meaning to the phrase Tilting At Windmills. A robot dances out in the desert near Palm Springs as we groove to this amazing bouncy song.

BLITZEN TRAPPER Stranger in a Strange Land

Do not watch this video if you suffer from agoraphobia. The beautiful vistas of Nome Alaska will cause you a great deal of uneasiness, which is a shame as the rugged landscape barren of vegetation is a nice visual accompaniment to Blitzen Trapper’s plaintive acoustic ode.

THE WAR ON DRUGS Come to the City

I know, I know… you are probably sick of us rambling on about how good this band from Philadelphia is – but when you see the footage of them in the famous Ed Sullivan theatre and when Dave asks Steve if he can buy his drums, you have to think that you are witnessing a young band turn the corner and head towards the big time!

SANTIGOLD Disparate Youth

Three rhythms – drum ‘n bass, dub, and some audience claps – jarringly blend before Santigold holds it down tight as she debuts her first single from the album many of you are already loving Master of My Make Believe. In fact, that would be the hottest album in the store – if there wasn’t a beast of a record by Jack White taking up all the rack space!

ZEUS Marching Through Your Head

Hallucinating in the woods is pretty common if you’re stuck at a logging camp or on an epic mountaineering trip to meet a god. Got to love a band that makes heavenly pop from the timeless basics – Wurlitzer, Bass, Drums and sizzling Guitar!

THE GIG

BEACH FOSSILS The Electric Owl May 11th

Based in Brooklyn, the Beach Fossils are one of the brightest bands on the super hip Captured Tracks label! Other up and coming names include Wild Nothings, Thieves like Us, and Soft Moon, but they also kickstarted the early careers of Dum Dum Girls, Thee Oh Sees and more. Well, as you know, seeing these young bands in the early days is awesome as it gives one a sense of witnessing something cool at the ground level. With that in mind, do yourself the favour of listening to a few Beach Fossils tracks in advance of next Friday’s show at the Electric Owl. If you like hazy jingle jangle guitar and hallucinatory reverberated singing then you’re in for one hell of a good time. Grab a pizza at Farina before and a few cold ones at the club later. Beach Fossils promise a magical night!

The Glance

Wed May 09 YANN TIERSEN – COMMODORE
Wed May 09 NADASTROM & SABO
Thu May 10 AMEN DUNES + Ilyas Ahmed – WALDORF
Thu May 10 SLEEPY SUN – BILTMORE
Thu May 10 ZOMBOY – FORTUNE
Fri May 11 SURFIRE SOUND TOUR – WALDORF
Fri May 11 NICKY ROMERO – CELEBRITIES
Fri May 11 SUB ANTIX – FIVESIXTY
Fri May 11 GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS – COMMODORE
Fri May 11 SYNTHCAKE w/WINTERMITTS & THEE AHS – INTERURBAN
Fri May 11 BEACH FOSSILS – ELECTRIC OWL
Fri May 11 THE EVERYTHING 80’S PARTY EXTRAVAGANZA feat. SYNTHSATION – JOSEPH RICHARD
Fri May 11 CURREN$Y – FORTUNE
Fri May 11 KATE SIMKO – W2 MEDIA CAFE
Fri May 11 FIVE ALARM FUNK – RICKSHAW
Sat May 12 DISTAL + HXDB – WALDORF
Sat May 12 BOXER REBELLION – BILTMORE
Sat May 12 NICKODEMUS – RED ROOM
.Sat May 12 THE MARTINEZ BROTHERS GINGER62-
Sat May 12 THE DUDES – VOGUE THEATRE –
Mon May 14 SUCKERS – MEDIA
Tue May 15 REVEREND HORTON HEAT – RED ROOM
Wed May 16 REVEREND HORTON HEAT – RED ROOM
Wed May 16 ALVIN RISK – CELEBRITIES
Thu May 17 GIGGAMESH – REPUBLIC
Fri May 18 KEITH WILLIAM MILLER – BILTMORE
Fri May 18 BUCK 65 – VENUE
Fri May 18 MAX GRAHAM – CELEBRITIES
Fri May 18 TOXIC HOLOCAUST – FUNKY WINKER BEANS
Sat May 19 GORDIE JOHNSON of Big Sugar – THE CELLAR
Sat May 19 MARGOT AND THE NUCLEAR SO AND SO’S – MEDIA CLUB
Sat May 19 RUSTIE – ELECTRIC OWL
Sun May 20 WE ARE SERENADES – MEDIA CLUB
Sun May 20 FELIX CARTAL – CELEBRITIES
Sun May 20 REBECCA & FIONA – VENUE
Tues May 22 JULIA HOLTER – MEDIA CLUB
Wed May 23 BEST COAST – COMMODORE
Wed May 23 NEXT MUSIC FROM TOKYO – WALDORF
Thu May 24 COLIN BULLOCK – ST. JAMES
Thu May 24 MADEON – CAPRICE
Fri May 25 BON IVER – DEER LAKE PARK –
Fri May 25 ACTIVE CHILD + TYCHO – ELECTRIC OWL
Fri May 25 KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS w/ DUM DUM GIRLS – BILTMORE
Fri May 25 TRUE SPOKES – MEDIA CLUB
Fri May 25 WOLFGANG GARTNER – CELEBRITIES
Sat May 26 TRUE SPOKES – MEDIA CLUB
Sat May 26 TRAMPLED BY TURTLES – VOGUE
Sat May 26 CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH – VENUE – VENUE CHANGE!!
Sat May 26 SPIRITUALIZED – RICKSHAW
Sat May 26 ZEUS – BILTMORE
Sat May 26 OPIUO – REDROOM