Last Night in the Booth

Figured I should start doing this again. Below is the set list from Monday night's show with some added commentary. I kind of got stuck with title tracks. But I think it worked out well. Enjoy!

SET # 1
(opening song) Christine Fellows - "Femmes de Chez Nous" (Femmes de Chez Nous)
Actress - "Harrier Attk" (Harrier Attk/Genesis 12")
Moon Wiring Club - "Feline Ascension Time" (A Spare Tabby at the Cat's Wedding)
Brandt Brauer Frick - "You Make Me Real" (You Make Me Real)
Darkstar - "North" (North)
Royal Canoe - "Nightcrawlin'" (N/A)

Of all the local bands playing right now, few get me more excited than Royal Canoe. If the rest of their record is nearly as good as this live version of "Nightcrawlin'" it will make for an excellent listen, blending the recent movements in UK electronic music and Bucky Driedger's penchant for choosing the perfect time to press that distortion peddle. Also in this set is a wonderful new song courtesy of Actress. "Harrier Attk" picks up right where Splazsh left off, playing with simple forms, but adding texture after texture culminating in an extremely complex sound. Wonderful stuff!

SET #2
Kurt Vile - "Smoke Ring for My Halo" (Smoke Ring For My Halo)
Shotgun Jimmie - "Transistor Sister" (Transistor Sister)
Wye Oak - "Dog Eyes" (Civilian)
The Luyas - "Moodslayer" (Too Beautiful to Work)
Papercuts - "White as the Waves" (Fading Parade)
PJ Harvey - "Let England Shake" (Let England Shake)

While I'm not sure what to make of the new Kurt Vile record (I can't help but think of it as a lame attempt by Jay Mascis to latch onto something good) I know that I LOVE the new Wye Oak record. It's basically a perfect union of Steve Albini-esque drum sounds (think "Scentless Apprentice") and the more aggressive side of Julie Doiron. One of the finest guitar-based records of the year thus far for sure.

SET #3
Domo Genesis - "Buzzin" (Rolling Papers)
The Streets - "Going through Hell" (Computers and Blues)
Ghostpoet - "Us Against Whatever" (Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam)
Tune Yards - "Buzzin"
Shugo Tokumaru - "Lahaha" (Port Entropy)
Destroyer - "Savage Night at the Opera" (Kaputt)

I kind of have a love/hate relationship with Gilles Peterson. On the one hand, he's a master at introducing new music to me (particularly British stuff that tends to get downplayed by American music writers). But on the other hand, he's a brutal name-checker that could do better at actually talking about music rather than simply citing off all the bands he knows (his beautiful Soundway book on Revolutionary Jazz album covers notwithstanding). Lately, however, he's been quite good to me. His podcast is directly responsible for drawing my attention to two of my favorite records of the year thus far - Brandt Brauer Frick's You Make Me Real and Ghostpoet's Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam. Perhaps a terrible name, but the debut from Ghostpoet is a haunting hip-hop record that grants a substantial amount of time to the spaces between the notes thus setting itself apart from other contemporary more heavy-handed hip-hop records by the likes of Kanye, Big Boi and even Odd Future. Just a wonderful record which I will certainly spend more time with in the coming weeks on this site.

Anyways, that's all for now. Tune in next week for more great tunes!