Music, musings and miscellanea

Those who fell in love with the gnarled, messy production that typified Iran‘s first two records might find the Brooklyn-group’s latest instalment somewhat jarring. The trio, masterminded by Aaron Aites, with the help of Aaron Romanello and TV on the Radio‘s Kyp Malone, shook off their collective agoraphobia and got hi-fi, recording Dissolver in an actual studio. Of course, in the world of bedroom recording, hi-fi is a relative term and most likely the only genre where a few backing vocals and guitar over-dubs are seen as a repudiation of your roots. Dissolver comes across less a Chinese Democracy cluster fuck and more Sebadoh channelling Phil Spector. Regardless of personal recording aesthetic beliefs the songs are what will make or break this album and Iran have them is spades. That any of the record’s ten tracks could be played on an acoustic guitar smears Aites’s image as a purveyor of experimental noise and exposes his inner pop songwriter. But the group’s insistence on soaking would-be pop singles like the beautiful “Airport” in feedback and aural dissonance is what separates them from the pack and keeps listeners returning for more.

This review originally appeared in the February issue of Exclaim!

What do you do when you’re not invited to the big party? Throw your own and invite the coolest kid in school. At least that’s what the folks in the Nova Scotia-based Dependent Music collective have done with their latest creation. Though heroes in their home province, the collective’s flagship groups (Holy Fuck and Wintersleep) were largely ignored by the rest of the country until last year, their members failing to get the nod of approval an appearance on a Broken Social Scene record gives Canadian indie musicians. So, much like New Pornographers have done out west, the crew have created their own East-coast sphere of collaboration and influence. Contrived find a middle ground between Holy Fuck’s instrumental chaos and the pop sensibility Wintersleep displayed on Welcome to the Night Sky. Muscular, overdriven hooks sit next to chiming verses while high pitched vocals float overhead. The whole thing feels like it should collapse under its own weight but BSS producer David Newfeld holds it all together. At times, like the feedback-soaked “Angels Rioting Against Nothing,” the tunes veer a little too close to BSS territory. But the quality of songwriting is too high to quibble over borrowed reverb, ensuring that blank, blank, blank becomes more satisfying with each listen.

This review originally appeared in the February issue of Exclaim!

Jeff Healey’s legend — the blind blues guitarist discovered by Stevie Ray Vaughan and befriended by the Rolling Stones — looms larger than his recorded output. His albums took a middle-of-the-road approach that belied his live reputation for playing visceral roadhouse blues. This two-CD and DVD collection (the source of a dispute between Healey’s widow and rights-holder/former Jeff Healey Band drummer Tom Stephen) doesn’t offer a reappraisal of Healey’s music, opting instead to reinforce the late guitarist’s place in Canada’s mainstream music canon. The first disc’s collection of singles is a take-it-or-leave-it affair, depending on your opinion of Healey’s music and the set of unreleased live tracks on disc two are fodder for converted fans only. But the documentary DVD is an interesting, though fittingly predictable, chronicle of Healey’s rise to fame.

This review originally appeared in the November 26 edition of EYE WEEKLY.

Millbrook’s Serena Ryder made waves with her 2006 collection of covers If Your Memory Serves You Well. The record showcased the then-22-year-old’s formidable vocal talents and her abilities as an arranger, but was dragged down by three of her own creations. The 13 self-penned songs on Is It OK are vast improvements, but Ryder has yet to find the song to elevate her above the teeming hordes of female folk-rockers. “Little Bit of Red” showcases a distinctive voice that inexplicably mixes Alanis Morissette’s shrill highs and Amanda Marshall’s raspy lows. But too many songs here employ typical love-and-loss lyrical tropes. Ryder has the pipes. Now she just needs to find her voice.

This review originally appeared in the November 12 edition of EYE WEEKLY.

Cartography, the sixth record from Vancouver-based The Buttless Chaps,
balances the sounds developed by the band over its decade-long
existence. Producer Jesse Gander (Ghost House, ex-Operation Makeout)
weaves Ida Nilsen’s vocal and keyboard flourishes into the band’s
alt.country core, though the results are mixed. “Broken Transit, Broken
Soil” and “Coal Grey Sky” are superb songs, and lead singer Dave
Gowans’ deep tenor is reminiscent of Matt Berninger from The National.
But where that band fill out their sonic experiments with hooks that
are infectious without being obvious, several of Cartography‘s tracks
take too long to get anywhere, making what could have been a great
record just pretty good.

This review originally appeared in Eye Weekly.