Julie Doiron - Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars

It is currently raining in Halifax, and what better way to accentuate the weather's beauty than some beautiful rainy music. I cannot think of a better record to bring light to the monochromatic skies that reign over the trees on Spring Garden Road. Julie's music has been around for a long time. She started out playing her Rickenbacker bass in Eric's Trip - one of Canada's most rockilicious, lo-fi gems - along with Rick White in the nineties. Her first solo record came out in 1996. She just released her ... ninth (?) solo lp a few months ago. This record is certainly a highlight in a brilliant catalogue, and unfortunately her only one with the Wooden Stars. You'll hear more rocking, full band arrangements of her songs on this one than on many others. If you enjoy this record, I highly recommend checking out the others, especially Desormais, which remains one of my all time favourites (and will probably be posted in the near future). As Feist reigns queen the indie music scene in Canada in terms of success, it could be argued that Julie reigns in terms influence she has had on musicians across the country, whether it's through Eric's Trip, or her solo work. 

And watch out for that last track...

Gulliver

(touch the nun with your curser and you shall receiveth the goods)

P J Harvey - To Bring You My Love

If only this music was known to my sixteen year old self, I would surly be a better person today. Some bad ass rock and roll to cool the soul. With rhymes! P J Harvey has a discography highly worth investigating. Although her fan base seems fairly massive, she still sits in relative obscurity in rural Canada, which is a terrible shame. Her songwriting is highly contagious. Her vocals are rocking. Jam on that shit!

Dig the title track's erie groove, with one of my favourite fade in's of the nineties [I tried to think of some other good one's, but all I could remember is Radiohead's Black Star (which was known to my sixteen year old self)]. And what? Even a synth string section? Hopefully, this will fulfill your grunge quota for the day.

Gulliver. 

Let the nuns guide you...                     

          

Oysterhead - The Grand Pecking Order

Oysterhead
The Grand Pecking Order
320kbps


Alright. This album might be stale news for some people (yes, it came out 8 years ago, yet, 2001 still seems like it was yesterday, what with el niño, same sex marriage becoming legal in the Netherlands, and the twin towers crumbling (coincidence?)) and it does get blogged a lot, but it has the rich sounds of 3 musicians at the top of their game. And who can turn their back to that? Les Claypool (Primus) Trey Anastasio (Phish) and Stewart Copeland (The Police) each contributed pinches of their spice here and there on this album and what resulted was a flavour explosion, the likes of which I've yet to hear again. The album is pretty Claypool heavy (fans of Primus will know what this means) but you really get the feeling that none of the musicians are holding anything back, and it's just this really great one-off musical mesh - sometimes times heavy and driving, sometimes full of magic and whimsy. And while the songs oscillate between Claypool-style and Anastasio-style, Stewart Copeland kicks ass throughout this album. His musical ability and discretion are absolutely flawless from beginning to end. People who suck Sting's dick for being "the only important member of The Police" can go to hell. Stewart Copeland has been doing kickass radical shit for almost three decades and Sting is doing washed-up jazz covers of his own songs. I mean, can you imagine Sting pairing up with two alt-rock/funkers to do a one off colab? Nah B. Not enough money in that.

Fuck Sting. Copeland is where it's at.

-D.ave


(clickin' the head will take you to the download link)

The Dears - Protest EP

Hey hey brothers and sisters. I've got far too much time on my hands (among other things) so I figured I'd pop some shit up. The Dears Protest EP! This doesn't really sound much like the material that came before or after it, but it's a kickass record just the same. It's another one of those: "Hey, have you heard of The Dears? Oh you have? I bet you don't own this obscure EP".

The Dears originally released the Protest EP in 2002 in limited numbers and with different album artwork, so the original release is much more coveted for collectors, but we're internet users not archivists, so we can skip that bullshit. Thankfully The Dears re-released Protest in 2004 with an additional track "Protest(parallel)" which is easily the most intricate song The Dears have produced to date. So dig this shit. It's brief, but ballsy.

Recommended as a soundtrack for waving an AK47 around in a busy office building

Much Love,

-D.ave


(clickin' the head will take you to the download link)