After a brief hiatus, Tracking the Trends returns at a new location, here at The Silent Ballet. For several months I've been receiving emails from readers who have expressed a desire for the series to travel to Canada, and today this is finally realized in the first edition of the Canadian edition. Famously known of late for its indie rock scene, and let's not understate the importance of Constellation Records, Canada has been a hot spot for new and innovative artists over the last decade. However, much of its underground music scene still goes undiscovered, and I aim to show that Canada has much more to offer than what may hit the popular press.
Below the Sea
Montreal
Website: Below the Sea
Music: Myspace
Label: Where Are My Records
In my book, "Polaroids" was one of the best songs to be released in 2005. Blame it on the Past is meticulously well-crafted and immensely beautiful. As Below the Sea ventures off further into its career it experiments more readily with electronic sampling and ambient guitar waves while still clutching firmly onto its jazz and improvisational roots. The results? Almost a perfect combination of Australia's Triosk and Japan's Miaou. This heavenly combination would much rather be under the ocean, and the layers and layers of electronics and ambience do a wonderful job of submerging it deeply below the icy cold waters. It's so deep that the point of numbness begins to fade from the listener's body and a new feeling of warmth takes over. "As In" builds up complex music arrangements and then lets loose wildly in the concluding seconds. Jazz piano and drumming meets a swarm of electronic fuzz and wall of feedback. Other songs are much more subtle in approach. "Sleigh Bells" is a slow heart-warming song that grabs the listener with a soulful piano presence and lets the electronics wash away all external concerns. But, the real treat is "Polaroids," which is really too good for words. Songs like this show an unmatched skill and creativity which put Below the Sea at the top of the Canadian instrumental world. The song's simplicity is by far it's strongest component, which later allows the band to pull a complete 360 and stun the listener with a heaping scoop of instrumental bliss. Put this one on repeat and enjoy the stars; little makes a better soundtrack.
After the highly successful Blame it on the Past, Below the Sea shows no signs that it'll be slowing its evolution down anytime soon. This brings the band to the forefront of Canada's instrumental scene, alongside such noteworthy acts as Destroy All Dreamers and Holy Fuck. The sky (or in this case the bottom of the sea) is the limit for this promising band, who will surely be moving off to better and brighter things with every release.
Dependent Music is one of those record labels that I'll blindly listen to anything they release just because most everything they've touched has turned to gold. With the likes of Kary, Wintersleep, and Contrived on this humble label, it is easily one of the best independent labels Canada has to offer. Early last year I saw an announcement that members of different bands on the label were coming together for a music project, later to be named Holy Fuck. So a few months later I pop the CD into my computer without much aforementioned knowledge and I'm struck with a barrage of digital sounds laid over a drum n' bass backbone. I'm really surprised by this because no Dependent Music artist has every delved into the electronic world to my knowledge, and Holy Fuck is over the top in this regard. I grab a hold of the press release, and like a ton of bricks I'm blindsided by the knowledge that Holy Fuck uses no digital manipulation. There are no computers employed in Holy Fuck, only handmade instruments, drum, and bass guitar. This immediately gets the response "HOLY FUCK!" Give this CD to a friend, have them listen to "Tone Bark Jungle" and ask them how they think the music was made. 99% of the time they'll say computers, the other 1% will shed a tear and ask you to give them back Hybrid Theory. Is Holy Fuck innovative? Undoubtedly. Is the music good? Yes, even addicting, but it's not "great." Holy Fuck seems to function mostly on the gimmick that it's not electronic music, but it sure does sound like it. Take that away, and it's pretty run of the mill and could use a few twists and turns to give it full flavor.
I've not had the luxury of seeing Holy Fuck perform live, but I've been told that is absolutely the main appeal of the band -- watching them in motion as they run around with home made instruments in hand pounding out slick beats and rhythmic grooves. That in itself must easily be well worth the price of admission, and maybe a few t-shirts on the way out of the show. You really can't put a price on an amazing live show these days. As far as the recorded music, Holy Fuck needs to find a way to use their unorthodox approach to give them an extra flair that sets them apart from the pack.
The Hylozoists, a 10-piece pop-instrumental collective, first won over listener's hearts with its 2002 album, La Nouvelle Gauche. Four years later the band returns after many lineup changes with a much more mature sound and a heavier string support. Those that knew the band for its lovely vibraphone and glockenspiel maneuvering will be delighted to know that The Hylozoists still employ several vibraphones and glockenspiels, as well as multiple drums, several brass instruments, piano, organ, and several members of the string family. This is really an instrumental fan's wet dreams and tracks like "The Fifty Minutes Hour," "Warning Against Judging a Christian Brother," and "If Only Your Heart Was a Major Sixth" bring everything together in a cornucopia of tantalizing sounds. The band keeps every song short and to the point; no song breaks the six minute mark. As a consequence, The Hylozoists don't really get into the buildup/climax routine and instead just focus on arrangements and song-writing. Climaxes surely come and go over the forty minutes on La Fin Du Monde, but they are mostly an afterthought to what the band is really focused on. The low point of the album are the three tracks ("Hearts and Harps," "Lover Becomes Lovers," "La Fin Du Monde") where The Hylozoists add strong vocals to its compositions, which do little more than agitate the listener and break the frailty of the music. The Hylozoists are already working with a sonic landscape rich in instrumentation, and the vocal presence only detracts from the full quality of the music and prevents this album from getting top scores.
Featuring members of Broken Social Scene, Final Fantasy, The Weakerthans, Cuff the Duke, and Hopeful Monster, it probably won't be difficult to convince most people to give The Hylozoists a try. La Nouvelle Gauche is a much more sophisticated album than it's predecessor, and even though the band does misfire on three tracks it's very easy to overlook these and focus on the stronger components of its work.
While I could have written about five bands without mention of "guitar-rock," I think it would appear a little empty without one band plucking away at a guitar and mashing down pedals. My Dad Vs Yours isn't the most ground-breaking artist in Canada, as most of the time its debut album, After Winter Must Come Spring, offers up a pretty straight forward guitar-rock rendition of post-rock. Where the band put forth some new ideas is in "The Harder we Work ... the Behinder We Get," which transitions from a slow, depressing track to a jittery, lively affair. This track is much in the vein of Ratatat or Rosolina Mar, but My Dad Vs Yours puts its own spin on this dancey creation and it goes far with it. The rest of the album falls squarely within the realm of traditional shoegaze and/or guitar-rock, but little instances of this energetic spark can be seen in "Belicose" and "Tanz Mit Uno." It would have been wonderful to see these guys do more with this one thread, but it quickly becomes apparent that this is not the main concern of After Winter Must Come Spring. We are then forced to take the album for what it offers, and in almost every area you could find a band excelling past the work of After Winter Must Come Spring. Two years ago My Dad Vs Yours would have found themselves with a very attractive work of art, but currently they are a little bit behind the times.
After Winter Must Come Spring certainly is not a bad listen, but for experienced ears of the instrumental world, there will be little here that draws an interest. While My Dad Vs Yours does contain some impressive guitar work, it needs some creativity to extract it and really showcase it instead of hiding behind pedals and allowing the music to sink into a familiar territory.
I've always shyed away from IDM (that's "Intelligent Dance Music") for two reasons. The first is that it's quite the oxymoron in my opinion, and secondly it's come to the point of excessive abuse (some critics will label anything composed on a computer as IDM). Let's boil this down to basics: Shaw-Han Liem composes music under the moniker I am Robot and Proud. His instruments include a keyboard, flute, saxophone, synths, as well as other instruments he may find along the way. Oh, and of course the standard drum beat. Layer all of that once, twice, maybe three times, and out pops The Electricity in Your Head Wants to Sing, right? Well, not exactly. Liem is quite killed at arranging his harmonies and the album flows together so well it kind of makes the listener wonder why people bother playing music with other people. Unlike other solo projects, I am Robot and Proud doesn't get overzealous with instrumentation, so it becomes imperative that Liem is able to separate himself from the countless number of individuals fiddling around on a computer and to his credit he seems pretty adept at composing music and truly understand how everything "works." "The Electricity in Your Head Wants to Sing" and "The Scholar and Travelers" are standout tracks, offering enough beeps and clicks to fry the circuitry of the most powerful robot.
I'm not claiming Shaw-Han Liem is the next Mozart, but I for one would really like to see him branch out Album Leaf-style and see what he can do while working with enough instruments to keep five or six people busy on stage. This computer gig is fine and all, but at some point he's got to stretch himself to the next level.
~
Jordan Volz