Nice to see Broken Social Scene's classic "Anthems For a Seventeen Year Old Girl" go viral this week when the band were joined on stage by two celebrities at a concert in New York City. I am not surprised that Tracy Ullman is a fan of the band, but Meryl Streep I can't see as a fan of modern day indie rock. Maybe Streep was just a companion of Ms. Ullman for the night, or maybe I am completely wrong and she is a complete music nerd.
I have only seen BSS in concert once, but it may have been their greatest concert ever and featured all three BSS muses: Amy Millan (Stars), Emily Haines (Metric) and Feist. The 2009 free concert at Toronto's Harbourfront was a full reunion of the band and I believe this is the only time that these three ladies have performed all together at once with them; they have always made separate appearances. You can see footage of all three join BSS for "Anthems" here.
Asobi Seksu released one of the best shoegaze albums in Citrus, and deservedly so, but a lot of people don't know that their 2004 debut self-titled album is almost as good. The duo of singer/keyboardist Yuki Chikudate and guitarist James Hanna make a grand splurge into the world of shoegaze with dream pop anthems like "Walk Off the Earth", "It's Too Late" and "Stay". The usual tropes that make this kind of music great are all here, best exemplified by "Stay", a song that plods along for a few minutes guided by Chikudate's dreamy vocals that leave the listener hypnotic until a blast of deafening guitars brings the song to an eargasmic conclusion.
After last week's post on Asobi Seksu, I decided to join the multitudes of others on this site and created a custom shoegaze chart. The number one album on my chart is Loveless, of course, and My Bloody Valentine takes three of the first four spots including that band's long awaited 2013 record m b v. I think I may loaded it with too many 21st century records, but that's okay, as the original shoegaze era came and went in blink of an eye thanks to the British music press shitting on the genre. Thankfully, 15 to 20 years later many kids discovered shoegaze and hundreds of new bands were formed to give the genre new life. This rebirth also brought reunions of bands from the first wave like Slowdive and Ride plus the aforementioned release of the long delayed m b v album.
What I love about shoegaze is that can sound beautiful, it can sound beautiful and noisy at the same time, or it can sound like it's being sucked through a jet engine like the m b v song "wonder 2".
U2 seem to getting some redemption. After years of bashing the band, I am reading stories that people are starting to love their recent output or at least some of the songs from these records. Check out the comments section from a story about Bono stating that he wants to record a hard rock album. One of those records, No Line On The Horizon, is an album I listened to once and hated so much I never listened to it again. Maybe with all of the negativity around the band my objectivity around the album was skewed and it is actually really good. Maybe its time for a re-listen? Maybe....but not today.
Anyways, it has been unseasonably warm in my neck of the woods and made me think of The Unforgettable Fire track "Indian Summer Sky."
Ever been to a rave where they play noise rock instead of EDM? Not going to happen, but there is one noise rock song that does a pretty good job of emulating modern day EDM and that is "Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage" by Gilla Band (Formerly Girl Band). This isn't as ridiculous as it sounds when you learn that this actually a cover of a 2012 dance music single from UK producer Blawan. The song has all the hallmarks that make a House song good, including a couple of "drops", but the track is also backed by the band's scathing guitars which makes for a unique listening experience.
Only to stay, only to breathe
Only to see
That space and light is what I really need
One of my many regrets in life is that I didn't see the band Lush play live. Sadly, I don't think they will ever reunite (again) and I probably won't ever get the chance to see them play the beautiful "Sweetness and Light".
When I was listening to this song this morning I thought it was The Sundays. Must have been still half asleep....
"Silver Line" is a great deep cut from Lykke Li's third record I Never Learn. A break-up album, Li was inspired by 80's power ballads when recording it and the sound of the songs reflects that including this track.
Don't let the slow start fool you because "Candy Gun" gets more and more faster and more chaotic as the song breezes along, and by the end it will leave your head spinning. The Japanese band are described as Noise Rock but employ both grindcore and electronic music to make a very unique sound, especially when you add in singer Yasuko Onuki's high pitched Minnie Mouse voice.
"Candy Gun" is taken from Melt-Banana's 2013 album.
Here I am, just make it stop
I can tell the whole world
To get out of the way
If I could just make it stop
If I could just make it stop
Breaking my heart
Get out of the way
If I could just make it stop
I am crushed on hearing the news that Low drummer/vocalist Mimi Parker has passed away. I had heard she was sick but was hoping that it wasn't that serious and that she would make a recovery. Cancer has other plans, unfortunately, and it took away a beautiful voice who was way too young to die.
I have only seen Low in concert once and that was a short set when they opened for Slowdive in 2014. They were good, but I would have loved to see them play a proper show...
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