New Tape Release from Scotch Tapes:

Scotch Tapes/ Young Guv Limited Lathe Series Vol. 3 feat. BRUISED KNEES-  This double lathe comes in a gatefold sleeve.   Recorded by Ben Cook (Young Guv), these two tracks are dark as fuck.  This Toronto-based band create creepy punk magic with this release.  These always sell out immediately so DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS!!!  Limited to only 50 COPIES!  These will not be shipped until mid-January so please be patient..

WIN! WIN! WIN!

Enter to win an original Sadie Designs Quartz and Gold Necklace!  Electroplated quartz crystal pendant, 30″ gold tone chain.  Made in Vancouver, Canada.  Summer Rules.  Natural and Multifaceted.

Check our their great Etsy Boutique here!

All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post to be entered into the draw to win this gorgeous pendant! Contest will close in one week and the winner will be announced and contacted shortly after!  Please include your email address in your comment so that we can contact you.

Wednesday –  Party at the Moontower, Spastic Panthers, Rumrunner  and Lets Dance

Thursday – The Valleys, RAH RAH, Jane Vain

Friday –  Fucked up, Why?, Ted Leo, The Thermals, Built to spill, GirlTalk

]]> http://newcanadianmodern.org/2010/07/08/you-should-have-gone-sled-island-2010-in-photos/feed/ 0 newcanadianmodern -4 -3 -2 http://newcanadianmodern.org/2010/07/08/flick-parking-lot-philosophers-to-splendid-butterflies/ http://newcanadianmodern.org/2010/07/08/flick-parking-lot-philosophers-to-splendid-butterflies/#comments Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:22:52 +0000 kait http://newcanadianmodern.org/?p=959 Continue reading →]]> FLICK: parking lot philosophers to splendid butterflies

-barbara bruederlin

I would have been wise to invest in a Tardis for Sled Island festival this year, because there was more on offer than one mortal could possibly handle without a little technological/magical  intervention.  Sadly I wasn’t able to make it to near as much of the stellar film festival segment as I had hoped, but I made up for it by cramming in as much Plaza Theatre popcorn as I could.  Buckets.

The Parking Lot Movie:
You would think that a documentary about the parking lot attendants at one iconic lot in Charlottesville, Virginia would not exactly be fraught with dramatic potential, but that’s where you would be mistaken. When the parking lot is located in a section of downtown filled with bars frequented by university students, there is bound to be significant drama.

The attendants at this lot are a seemingly ragged band of misfits, but in reality they are philosophers and intellectuals, artists and musicians. Working in this parking lot is a highly covetted gig; it’s a select club whose membership you can only gain by being brought into the fraternity (and the parking lot attendants are all male) by existing members.

Between customizing the vast selection of frequently-broken wooden entrance gates with cryptic or iconic slogans, cleaning up the vomit of drunken frat boys, and arguing with people who try to skip out on their $4.00 payment, the parking lot attendants essentially spend the remainder of their time on duty sitting and thinking. They make collages out of religious pamphlets, invent traffic cone games, and speculate on class struggle, entitlement, and the human condition.

Eventually, these parking lot philosophers burn out and move on. But from their positions as university professors, musicians, baristas, and writers, they reflect on their years at the parking lot with a mix of fondness and bemusement, tempered with some residual resentment at the idiots who pissed them off. Way more entertaining than it should be.

Band:
A perplexing 12 minute short, featuring black and white footage of Deerhoof during warmup, with a voiceover of Black Panther audio.  It made no sense whatsoever.

Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields:
If you are a Magnetic Fields fan, then you need to see this. If you have no idea who the Magnetic Fields are, then you need to see this.

One of the directors was in attendance at the screening and she explained why the documentary was 10 years in the making. And it wasn’t entirely because Stephin Merritt is such a taciturn and difficult interview. Although he is that.
Merritt has been called the Cole Porter of his generation, for his theatrical sensibilities and his ability to pen the most perfect songs, songs that are an irresistible blend of art pop musical and bubble gum folk, songs that are always too short. The film is almost as much about bandmate Claudia Gonson, a close friend of Merritt’s since high school, and an equally fascinating personality in her own right. In addition to contributing piano, vocals, and percussion, Gonson manages the band, gets into daily passionate arguments with Merritt and functions as his self-described “fag-hag”.

Merritt writes most of his songs, sitting for hours at a time in a darkened gay bar. He is a perfectionist who prefers to micro-manage the music at the studio level. Part of this can be attributed to hyperacusis, a condition with which he is afflicted that causes painful feedback in the ears when sound rises above a certain volume. Live shows are understandably a rare occurrence with the Magnetic Fields, because of Merritt’s condition, but also because he prefers the control that a studio affords him.

Stephin Merritt is incredibly ambitious in his musical vision. He originally envisioned The Magnetic Fields’ most noted album, 69 Love Songs, as 100 love songs. The more subversive smaller number is infinitely more suitable. Subversion, gender-bending, and perfect pop melodies are what defines the music of Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields. I can’t wait to see what happens when he tackles his next ambitious project – 100 musicals.  Gawd, I hope they film that.

Rifflandia 2010 has announced their FIRST WAVE Line-up!  Check it out and go buy your wristbands at Rifflandia’s dreamy website.

Aesop Rock, Chad VanGaalen,
Chali 2na, Gord Downie and The
Country of Miracles, Great Lake
Swimmers, Hot Hot Heat, JFK,
Lee Ranaldo, Melissa Auf Der Maur
Sarah Harmer, Tanlines,
The Dodos, Tommy Guerrero

Chikita Violenta, Dayglo Abortions, DOA, Delhi 2 Dublin,
Egyptrixx, Felix Cartel, Frog Eyes, The Gaslamp Killer, Ghostkeeper,
Goodbye Beatdown, Hollerado, Jets Overhead, Jon and Roy,
Kate Miller-Heidke, KO, Kuba Oms, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald,
Mt. Kimbie, Neighbour, Rich Aucoin,
Shout Out Out Out Out, The Racoons, The Tabla Guy,
Topless Gay Love Tekno Party, Wooden Sky, Yukon Blonde,
plus many many more to be announced!

+Vanda Favaro

I have attended the Sasquatch! Music Festival for the past 5 years.  This year had the best weather and some great artists.

Saturday, May 29th
The opening act on the Main Stage was Shabazz Palaces and one of our near-by neighbours had come early just to see them.  He described them as “the next Outkast.”  I describe them as forgettable.

Brother Ali is a big, white rapper who kept the crowd’s attention and told us to love ourselves so now I do.  He was engaging and had an adorable DJ Snuggles spinning for him.  Truly entertaining set.

We made our way up the hill to the Bigfoot Stage to see Mumford & Sons.  They play such comfortable, American-style folk music that it is a surprise to find out that they are from the UK.  It felt like the true start to the festival with warm guitar and beautiful harmonies.

Broken Social Scene took the Main stage to a guarded crowd but soon won everyone over with their atmospheric tunes and self-deprecating Canadian humour.  Kevin Drew closed the set by telling everyone to have a good time and drink lots of water.  Oh, Canada, even your rock-n-rollers are polite and considerate.

Broken Social Scene

The tight, near-perfect set was followed by The National.  They grabbed the crowd with “Mistaken for Strangers” and didn’t let go until the end.  The Husband tells me that Matt Berninger jumped off the stage and went over the barriers into the crowd at the end of the set.  I did not see this since I had skipped out a little early to catch some of The Hold Steady at the Bigfoot Stage.

The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady could arguably be called the most exciting live band today.  Their driving guitar and fully animated front man make it hard not to pump your fist in the air and dance along.  So, I did.

I returned to the Main Stage for Vampire Weekend and My Morning Jacket.  One was predictable but played catchy songs that got the crowd dancing.  And the other was completely surprising and required a commitment to go along with them to the world that they had created.  It is evident that  Jim James of My Morning Jacket enjoys performing as much as we enjoy going along for the ride.

My Morning Jacket

Sunday, May 30th
Day 2 began with 2008 Canadian Polaris Music Prize Winner, Caribou.  Dan Snaith is still one of the most underrated Canadian artists despite his Polaris win.  His psychedelic brand of electronica is embracing and interesting.  Despite the fact that he went on at noon, he was still able to maintain an intimate, club feeling with the crowd gathered in front.

Caribou

Our day actually began at the hotel around 8:30 when Husband and I went down to the complimentary breakfast and I got to the waffle iron JUST ahead of an exhausted-looking, scruffy guy with a MAIN STAGE wristband.  After receiving glares for getting my waffle off first, I looked up the acts for the day and discovered that he was a member of Midlake who took to the Main stage at 1:10 pm.  Their acoustic guitars and chanting harmonies were a decided change from the vibe created by Caribou but were pleasant and fit well with the setting of the Gorge.  It didn’t sound like my waffle iron accosting had made them late for sound check.

Seattle’s The Long Winters are a Sasquatch! Festival favourite and played a great set of rock and roll.  A guy raced through the crowd with a huge Canadian flag during the set causing frontman John Roderick to say that it wasn’t very Canadian of him to have burst into the crowd in the middle of the set waving a flag.  He concluded by saying that Canada had finally arrived at the festival.

The Long Winters

Kid Cudi is hardly worth mentioning since he ‘sang’ along with back tracks and had very little presence; however, he had the line of the day with:  “I’ve got 99 problems and they all bitches.”  He also initiated crowd response with “When I say Kid, you say Cudi.” which in turn, gave Tegan of Tegan & Sara the idea to open their following set with “When I say Tegan, you say Sara.”  We all played along and had a bit of a snicker at Kid Cudi’s expense.
Tegan & Sara played a “best of” set with all the old favourites along with a few from the new album Sainthood thrown in.  Their onstage banter is funny and odd since they look and sound so similar it’s like watching split personalities interact.  They have a really tight sound and seem like they could play in their sleep but still give 100% because they are having such a good time.

Tegan & Sara

The next act to take the Main Stage was LCD Soundsystem who was the highlight of the weekend.  James Murphy was able to reach to the farthest edge of the amphitheatre audience and get them grooving.  I like the LCD Soundsystem albums, Sound of Silver and the recently released, This Is Happening but I had no idea how much I would enjoy listening to their funky, repetitive tunes live.  The largest crowd that I saw of the entire weekend was for this act and they were richly rewarded.

The Bigfoot stage had Dirty Projectors immediately following the LCD Soundsystem set.  I had seen Dirty Projectors last year in Calgary opening for TV on the Radio where they seemed slightly hesitant and nervous; however, after many months of touring under their belts, since the release of Bitte Orca, they seemed to know just what they were doing as the sun came down on day 2.  The vocals of the 3 female singers seem otherworldly and the jarring guitar shouldn’t work but most certainly does.

Public Enemy was plagued with sound issues.  The sound only seemed to function when Flavor Flav was telling us about his reality TV appearances but cut out when Chuck D brought us back in time with “911 Is a Joke” and “Welcome to the Terrordome”.  For some reason the experience reminded me of hitting the record and play buttons together on my tape recorder to record songs off the radio in the ‘80’s.

We made our way back to the Main Stage for Massive Attack and listening to the two opening songs before leaving for the day.  Honestly it was difficult to enjoy anything in that genre after the stellar LCD Soundsystem show.  Massive Attack had a great lightshow and theatrical thing going on but I chose sleep.

Monday, May 31st
The last day of Sasquatch 2010 opened with The Heavy on the Main Stage.  When they visited the Late Show in January David Letterman showed them the love, making an unprecedented encore request.  Many Sasquatch goers were questioning the early performance time because of the recent buzz about this group.  It was a great way to start the day grooving to their bluesy rock.  They don’t seem to know exactly what musical direction they are headed in but we can enjoy them while they try to figure it out.

The Temper Trap followed on the Main Stage but I made my way to the Bigfoot Stage for Seattle Rock Orchestra.  They are a volunteer group of musicians who perform The Arcade Fire songs with a full orchestra.  I have been eagerly anticipating The Arcade Fire’s album due this year and the subsequent tour so I was interested to hear their interpretation of Funeral.  I loved hearing “Tunnels” and “Crown of Love” performed live again and the music was beautifully done.  The vocals from the female leads were not strong enough though.  The male lead was phenomenal, however, and I would have preferred to hear him sing everything.

Dr. Dog played the Bigfoot stage to a large crowd.  This band recorded one of my favourite albums from 2008, Fate and the recently released Shame, Shame, among others.  Dr. Dog is a straight up rock-and-roll band that brings something new to the table with their gritty vocals and stick-in-your-head melodies.

Dr. Dog

The Husband and I were disappointed to miss Vancouver’s Japandroids but She & Him (Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward) were playing the Main stage.  I like the She & Him albums but I liked her voice even more live.  M. Ward is an indie favourite and this initially surprising collaboration really works well especially on a sunny day at the Gorge.

She & Him

I cut out of the pleasant She & Him set a little early to catch The Mountain Goats at the Bigfoot Stage.   This band is probably the reason that I made the trek to the Gorge again this year.  I have only been a fan since the 2005 album Sunset Tree, which should be required listening for any victims of childhood abuse as it is a truly healing, beautiful album.  John Darnielle fans are fierce and adherent.  And he gives it right back.  His set was upbeat and offered all the favourites including “The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton” and “This Year”.  I was more than happy to see them perform again in Calgary a scant week later.

Mountain Goats

We maintained our position at the Bigfoot for Scotland’s Camera Obscura who is one of the Husband’s favourites but I have always found to be a little dull.  I was pleasantly surprised by how captivating their sound was live.  The lead vocalist has a voice that I found uninteresting on the album but in the setting of the Gorge with the tight sounds of the band I found to be perfect.  She conveys true bittersweet emotions and I couldn’t take my eyes off her.  When a rainbow appeared over her right shoulder in the middle of the set it seemed like a perfect backdrop for a near-perfect set.

Camera Obscura

Most of the crowd at the Bigfoot stage cleared for MGMT who were playing the Main stage so I was able to move to the front, centre stage for The New Pornographers.  I have seen this Vancouver band live at least 3 times and I was going to see them again the following week with The Mountain Goats in Calgary but I couldn’t miss their set as they always create a big dance party sing along.  We were treated with a few oldies and a lot off of 2005’s Twin Cinema with a few songs off the recently released Together album.  Neko Case and Dan Bejar are both touring with the group and the onstage banter added to the friendly, dare I say Canadian, atmosphere.   It was the perfect festival setlist and the perfect closing to a great year at Sasquatch! Music Festival 2010.

sThe New Pornographers

Any questions or comments, you can reach me here.

Twas the third day of Sled Island and all through the city

The bands were all stirring, maybe writing a ditty

The pizza was eaten, the beer was to share

In hopes that Zak Pashak soon would be there

The music fans were nestled all snug in their beds

While visions of rockstars danced in their heads

And hangovers and dancing and Pilsner on tap

They had all just settled down for a Sled Island nap

When out on Olympic Plaza there arose such a clatter,

They all sprang from their beds to see what was the matter

Away to the streets, they flew like a flash

Unlocked their fixed speed bikes to head to the bash

The centre of our city, for those in the know

Was Olympic Plaza this day, there was a big show

When, what to their wandering eyes should appear,

But a loudspeaker’d stage and six bands to revere

With a dashing young man, so lively and quick,

They all knew in a moment it must be Zak

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

“Now, Fucked Up! Now, Why? Now Ted Leo & The Pharmacists!

On The Thermals!  On Built to Spill!  On Girl Talk!

To the stage, to the fans, to the top of the wall!

Now blow us away, blow us away all!”

———————————-

Haha, excuse the attemped appropriated poetry.  Sled Island is pretty much Christmas to a lot of people.  Besides, the awesome Olympic Plaza show this afternoon/evening you should aslo try to get over to see The Bronx at Broken City, Mini Mansions at the Legion Upstairs, and Les Savy Fav at the Distillery.  Have a great evening!!!

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