Out here in the Lower Mainland we breed a ton of talented bands and musicians. There are way too many to give shouts to, but if we had a gun to our blog and were forced to pick a local fave, Gob would take the cake. Sounds like a joke, but it ain’t. Listen to “I Hear You Calling” and tell me I’m wrong.
Tied amongst a few others, for a very close second: The Zolas.
I first met Zach Gray (vocals/guitar/v good looks) at a house party back in 2009. When I say met, I mean I admired him from a distance (I usually leave that part out of the story). He had come straight from the studio with The Zolas’ first album, Tic Toc Tic, in hand. This was around the age where I saw these local bands as gods, so believe me when I tell you that the feeling I got when we all heard a sneak peak of their debut-album-to-come, was pure ecstasy. I’ve been addicted ever since and seek no help – the first step is admitting it.
The core of the band consists of Zach and Tom Dobrzanski (piano/v good looks also) but they have other musicians supporting them on the back line while performing live and recording.
I’ve seen The Zolas more times than I have fingers and yet I still find myself at all of their live sets. They performed at The Vogue Theatre, early April, to close their Canadian Spring tour and let me tell you…it was definitely in the top Zolas performances I’ve ever seen. This could be because I love each and every track off their newest album, Swooner. Or because they played some old faves that I haven’t heard live in years. Perhaps, more likely, because I had the perfect amount of alcohol as to not black out but still drunkenly sway to the beat of the ever-beating drum. We’ll call it a combo. We were fortunate enough to be able to photograph the set for the blog, so thanks Live Nation 🙂
Swooner, released just over a year ago, is well worth the listen from top to bottom. It may even inspire you to catch them open for Two Door Cinema Club on April 18th at The Orpheum. From the catchy upbeat synth pop tunes like Molotov Girls and the title track Swooner, all the way the stripped down Why Do I Wait (When I Know You’ve Got A Lover).
ICYMI. Here’s the official video for Said the Whale‘s single, Step Into The Darkness. Their 5th studio album ‘as long as your eyes are wide‘ is due March 31st, and if you’ve heard the two released singles, you’ll know this album is going to be the s**t.
CDs and Vinyls and Swag, oh my! – pre-order your physical copies hereto have their CD in all your cars and vinyl on all your turntables!
Said the Whale at The Vogue Theatre on April 29th is not a show to miss. See you there!
Australia has given the world some pretty rad acts over the years, including 987’s all time favourite band, Men at Work. We’ve only heard their 1981 hit ‘Down Under,’ but still it has earned them the top spot in our hearts, and on our music blog…but I digress.
Heaps Good Friends. Remember the name. This new Aussie group consists of Emma Fradd (vocals/guitar) and Nick O’Connor (bass/synths/production/drums), friends of 9 years. Thank you Torin, our ears in Melbourne, for the discovery.
They haven’t performed live yet and have only a few songs out, so now is the time to catch the wave before your friends do—that’s right, we’re calling it now, expect big things coming from Heaps Good Friends. They’re working on a live set as we speak, so be ready.
You might think it’ll be long before this peanut brittle pop duo comes to Canada all the way from Australia but there’s a link: Emma Fradd lived in Canada for 6 years. Indeed, they are globetrotters. The two live 1601km apart (Australia’s a wide place u know). Mikhail Din has been corresponding with the group. Fradd stated, ‘We have to find time and money for flights, but we’re having heaps good fun: our heads are way in the game.’ Sounds like the key ingredients to the prescient 987.
A couple months ago Yellow Days, a very impressive 17 year old out of England, dropped this amazing EP “Harmless Melodies”. It’s dreamy and synthy and jazzy and reminiscent of King Krule. He released a bonus track last week which is fire too. Favourites are “Gap In the Clouds”, “Your Hand Holding Mine” and “A Little While”.
Last week Cold War Kids announced their 6th studio album, L.A. Divine, set to release on April 7th, 2017. Here’s the first single release, Love is Mystical.
Milky Chance. German Folk rock. All their songs are sik [sic]. Notably, their new single, “Doing Good,” new being a relative term, as it was released 22 days ago on Soundcloud, HOWEVER, as recently as Jan 13th on Spotify. But I digress; what I’m really here to talk about is the remarkably well mixed kick drum on “Doing Good,” and about how, behind the Folkish veneer hides this, like, singular minimalism of synths and percussion. There, I’ve talked about it. Eyes peeled for their new album, Blossom, set to release March 17th.
Portugal. The Man released this song on December 1st following what they considered to be a rough month for everyone.
“Not to be dramatic and shit, but there’s a flood of noise right now that feels like it might drown us all. And it’s harder and harder to tell what’s fact, what’s opinion, and what’s just straight up bullshit. We’re not able to make sense of it, much less tell you how to make sense of it. Thank God there’s music for that. We’re in this together.”
They are working on a new album, “Gloomin and Doomin,” with Michael Diamond (aka Mike D of The Beastie Boys). No news of when it will be released, but we’re hoping real soon.
Mik and I caught Andra Day on the Granville Strip last night. Remarkable show; super glad I went, despite the fact that I hadn’t heard her name before, learned it off the sign above the Commodore Ballroom’s box office roughly 9.87 minutes before she took the stage. Was fully under the impression that Mik had said “Andrew” on the phone.
Andra Day bantered a lot. One of the things that caught our attention was “This is a conversation: we’re not just up here singing for you.” With that sort of thinking she encourages audience engagement, reminding us about our role in making meaning of the music.
This kind of attitude to art is democratic. She introduced her cover of Simone’s “Mississippi Goddamn” by calling for a reopening of nonpartisan dialogue in the wake of Trump’s election.
The Commodore was nice enough to offer Hannah Robertson (Torben’s sister) a free ticket to the show. Was it because of our good looks or wry charm? Probably both; but Hannah was “too tired” to attend.
Day certainly brought it for the last stop of her tour. See our pics as evidence. Maybe the vocals were mixed a tad too loud, and the keyboard too quietly, but nonetheless her performance was emotionally impactful.
c u all (minus Hannah Robertson) on the dancefloor of emotions.
It was such a pleasure to see some friends I’ve known for over half my life up on stage, in the form of TANGLERS. I hadn’t heard much from these guys before the show, as they are fairly new to the scene, but these psychedelic local rockers had me grooving.
Their first EP is set to release in mid December, called “Light Slips In.” If it’s anything like their live set, I recommend keeping an eye out for it. (More info here).
Their smooth sounding, so-cal rock vibes are not one to miss. Catch them at the Wise Hall on December 16th as a part of BeatRoute’s Holiday Hustle.
The Rural Alberta Advantage have been on my radar since I first heard their hit, Frank, AB, in grade 12. I’d dabble with their music from time to time and jam out to some of their songs.
In 2014 they released their third full length album, Mended with Gold, which had a couple of heavy hitters imo. If I had to choose one favourite off the album it would be On the Rocks, for sure.
They just recently announced their return to Vancouver 😀 and they will be playing The Fox Cabaret on February 25th, 2017. (Tickets here)
Their fourth studio album is on its way, and they’ve given us a little teaser 🙂
