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

Watch the video for LCD SOUNDSYSTEM’s killer new track Drunk Girls from the new album This Is Happening out now on DFA.

James Murphy has accomplished something pretty incredible with his LCD Soundsystem. He’s actually brought together two worlds that would otherwise want nothing to do with each other: the pasty-faced record nerd set and the Saturday night club-crew party set. Nowhere was this more evident than on his early single, I’m Losing My Edge, in which Murphy catalogues fictitious moments of the kind of era-defining musical encounters that would make a record geek cream his or her pants, like seeing Suicide play it’s first show, or having Daft Punk play your house party. Drunk Girls follows the same line of thinking, with Murphy again straddling the line between observer and observed. He’s equally at home wearing a monocle and playing the culture vulture as he is fronting a dance punk party band. If there’s a message in Murphy’s music and to This Is Happening, it’s that the time to let your inner dork hit the dance floor and grind a complete stranger is NOW.

The Playlist

CRYSTAL CASTLES II (Last Gang)
T-Dot’s Crystal Castles dazzle devil may care attitude and their 8-bit electro punk shock rock me like a hurricane. I’m involuntarily forced to slam beers and dance hard whenever I hear this.

THE DEAD WEATHER Sea Of Cowards (Third Man)
The cover image says it all: weird masks, robes, and a blackened horizon. Jack White et al are the undisputed kings of south of heaven blues incantations. Keep a light on when you spin this one, just in case.

DISAPPEARS Lux (Kranky)
These Chicago fuzz-out psychers are renewing my interest in the electric guitar as a weapon of subversion. Long may you fuzz.

RAFTER Animal Feelings (Asthmatic Kitty)
San Diego’s Rafter has impeccable indie rock credentials, having recorded albums for more bands than I care to mention right now. Solo, Rafter explores loops, bleeps, riffs, beats and chords in a variety of catchy combinations.

FROG EYES Paul’s Tomb: A Tribute (Dead Oceans).
Heroes of Victoria British Columbia, Frog Eyes transport my mind to an historical age of hawks, witch hats, and do-do-do’s. Listening to this album is like completing your PhD. in 45 minutes.

JAPANDROIDS No Singles (Polyvinyl)
These two local boys have won many friends over the last few years. No Singles reissues their early ep’s and celebrates the band’s days of playing local dives to a handful of local drunks. Good times.

BAND OF HORSES Infinite Arms (Sony)
The return of the beards, the hair, the sing along chorus’, the epic solos, the sweat, the bear, and the lighters held high in the air. I dig it infinitely.

FENNESZ Endless Summer (reissue) (Mego)
Austria has bestowed so many cultural exports upon the world, Fennesz’ debut album being just one. Endless Summer is considered a defining album of the previous decade’s music, and now here it is reissued, remastered and with an extra bonus track tacked on, a gift to behold.

TY SEGALL Melted (Goner)
Out of the many skronky, sludgy, no-fi band to emerge in recent years I rank Ty at the top of the heap based on his ability to mix the pop craft of the Kinks and Stones with the sludgefeastiness of the Stooges and Dino Jr. Truly a killer summer record.

WALLS s/t (Kompakt)
Kompakt continues to deliver! Walls’s debut, along with like-minded label mates the Field and Pantha Du Prince, specializes in trance-inducing shoegaze dream techno. This album slays me in a soft, enveloping-pillow kind of way.

The Gig

CARIBOU with Toro Y Moi at the RICKSHAW on Saturday May 29th

Dan Snaith, AKA “Caribou”, is guaranteed to slay at the Rickshaw. The venue has a massive beast of a sound system, which is exactly what Snaith and Co. need to build their kaleidoscopic, technicolored, psychedelic dance anthems.  The fact that current rising star of the glo-fi hypn0gogic pop scene Toro Y Moi is opening and boom! You’ve got the makings of a classic night, one for the books, a night to remember…

The Glance

The better shows to see in the next two weeks…

MAY

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 – WE ARE SOLD OUT
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

JUNE

Tue JUN 01
TEMPER TRAP – COMMODORE
JAPANTHER & JAGUAR LOVE – BILTMORE

Wed JUN 02
THE MOUNTAIN GOATS – RICKSHAW

Thu JUN 03
THE GLITCH MOB – VENUE
SHAD w/ Grand Analogue – BILTMORE

Fri JUN 04
THE SADIES – BILTMORE
NOIZE 2010 – ANNEX STUDIOS
STRIKE ANYWHERE/BANE – RICKSHAW

Sat JUN 05
CHUTNEY – SULLIVAN HALL

Mon JUN 06
POWERMAN 5000 – RICKSHAW
FIRST AID KIT – MEDIA CLUB

Sun JUN 07
TORTOISE – VENUE
THE MISFITS – RICKSHAW