Top 20 of 2011

Because we couldn’t just narrow it down to ten, here’s our Top 20 releases of 2011! Some of them we’ve already reviewed, some are getting full reviews in the upcoming MZ#11, some might have even been properly released in 2010… but listened to them all a lot this year so here we go, in descending order:

20. MAGNETIX – Drogue Electrique LP/CD (Slovenly) Clinically insane fun!

19. RICCARDO LUCCHESI – When They Are Dying, People Sing… CASS (Los Discos Enfantasmes) Superb experimental music from the RED MASS electronics wizard.

18. YUNG MUMS – s/t CASS (Scumbuzz) It’s no coincidence that this Vancouver trio has a poster of The Dishrags up in their jamspace!

17. RED MASS – Suicide / Crawl Space 7″ (Certified PR) BDSM Rock: Music to flog your gimp to!

16. V/A – Bloodstains Across BC 7″ (Mammoth Cave) 13 of my favourite local Vancouver bands each with a 1 minute-long song together on one slab of vinyl.

15. V/A – Daddy Rockin’ Strong: A Tribute to Nolan Strong (Norton) Nolan Strong and The Diablos songs are lovingly reinterpreted by contemporary artists.

14. BARE WIRES – Seeking Love LP/CD/CASS (Castle Face/Burger) My favourite band from Sled Island (saw them twice!) haven’t stopped touring all year. This CD on John Dwyer’s (Thee Oh-Sees) Castle Face label is the perfect soundtrack for breaking into your neighbours’ drained backyard pools with your skateboard.

13. JC SATAN – Hell Death Samba LP/CD (Slovenly) Heavy psychedelia from France. Every song is unexpected!

12. JACK OF HEART – In Yer Mouth LP/CD (Born Bad) Sexually depraved rock’n’roll from the South of France.

11. V/A – Turkish Freakout 2: Psych-Folk 1970-1978 (Bouzouki Joe) Another beautiful compilation of  rarities.

10. RED MASS – Drink My Blood/Freak Show 7″ (HoZac) They put out enough to get two releases on our list. This single is more of a palate cleanser in between the sonically intense offerings Red Mass usually puts out. Perfect tunes to get you bopping before going out and going crazy.

9. B-LINES – s/t LP (Deranged/Nominal) The fastest, shortest, tightest punk band in Vancouver have produced a perfect representation of their sound. There isn’t a song on this album that doesn’t get stuck in my head.

8. MARK SULTAN – Whenever I Want LP (In the Red) One of two simultaneously released albums (with Whatever I Want). MARK SULTAN still manages to up his game, keeping his work both fun and inventive.

7. THE BEECHWOODS – Party Time CD (Double Crown) Surprising twist, shimmy, and shake tunes from the teenstomp surf scene of California. The Beechwoods are super wholesome fun but I dig them!

6. HUNX AND HIS PUNX – Too Young To Be In Love LP/CASS (Hardly Art/Burger) Everyone fell in love with Hunx this year and for good reason. Seth Bogart isn’t just leopard print thongs and Glenn Hughes biker hats, he also writes insanely catchy and fun ’50s style rock’n'roll tunes with his Punkettes Erin, Michelle, Amy, and Shannon from Shannon & The Clams.

5. QUINTRON – Sucre du Sauvage LP (Goner) Double LP recorded in a nature preserve at New Orleans Museum of Art during QUINTRON’S Parallel Universe exhibit.

4. Bloodied but Unbowed – Special 3 Disc Limited Edition DVD (Tabata Productions) The main Bloodied But Unbowed feature on Vancouver’s ‘70/’80s punk scene is incredible enough on its own due to the sheer amount of documentation available on bands like DOA, SUBHUMANS (Canada), THE DISHRAGS, THE POINTED STICKS, MODERNETTES and others, but then director Susanne Tabata throws in two more discs with a shitload of bonus material including the TUNNEL CANARY documentary by Eric Lohrenz, a photo diary by local photographer Bev Davies, plus tonnes of music performance extras and a Vancouver punk family tree insert. Full review coming up in Mongrel Zine #11!

3.THE SPITS – V (In the Red) The Spits rule the galaxy.

2. BURNING ITCH – Satisfied 7″ (Goodbye Boozy) Perhaps the best to date of Italian label Goodbye Boozy’s One Side Fucking Records. Their singer delivers payload like a hardcore porno on FFWD.

And our number one album of the year is…

1. INDIAN WARS – Walk Around the Park LP (Bachelor) A perfectly pristine debut LP by country/garage band INDIAN WARS. Best LP to come outta Vancouver recorded in local studio Little Red Sounds. It makes my heart soar like a hawk.

Get Bent! Guest Mix

We put together a guest mix for Get Bent, head over to letsgetbent.tumblr.com to listen!

MARK SULTAN Whatever I Want LP / Whenever I Want LP / Whatever I Want, Whenever I Want CD

MARK SULTAN
Whatever I Want LP / Whenever I Want LP / Whatever I Want, Whenever I Want CD
In the Red 2011

Listen to “Party Crasher” from Whenever I Want:

Two exciting vinyl releases by MARK SULTAN which are the result of  productive recording sessions titled Whatever I Want and Whenever I Want plus an abridged version of both albums issued on CD, all on In The Red Records. Please regard this review as “abridged” because if I had really picked these records over my head may have exploded and you would be in a coma from reading it.

Many of the tunes on both records are of the wonderful doo wop/r&b variety we’ve always loved to get from Mark like “Pancakes” on Whenever I Want, which is about the simple pleasure of making tasty pancakes in the morning. There’s also ‘60s garage and psychedelic music tricked out with strange time signatures, experimental passages, and jazz. “Apophis to the Slaughter” is a return to his garage rock combo days with LES SEXAREENOS, who played their first show in ten years at the 2011 Pop Montreal Festival in Montreal. Mark revisits MIND CONTROLS material with “Let Me Freeze” (MIND CONTROLS 2006′s s/t LP on Dirtnap is genius!) plus a couple of more punk songs used sparingly.On Whatever I Want, “Quit The Human Race” is so short and angry that before I could even wonder if LEE VING was a homosexual the record veers into new wave territory with a cover of ULTRAVOX’s “Just for A Moment” (from 1978′s System Of Romance LP). This song seems to be about a very rare and special moment that is fleeting. The music fades into in a silence as blanketing as a Montreal snowstorm. Thanks for unblocking my fear of ULTRAVOX Mark, I was only aware of Midge Ure and how lame “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes” was. “Repulse Me, Baby” begins with a calm and isolating krautrock synth interlude that reminded me of DAVID BOWIE’s “Sense Of Doubt”, an instrumental track from his Christiane F. film score, while “Calloused Hands” ends with a very SWEET sounding synthesizer solo! “Party Crasher,” a collaboration with Cole Alexander, compartmentalizes all what he’s trying to do with these albums into one totally amazing song.

Other guest musicians include Jared Swilley  fusing THE BLACK LIPS flavour into “Graveyard Eyes”. The video for that song makes great use of Christopher Lee’s bugged out red Dracula eyes! While the video for “In Future Worlds” on Whenever I Want has bubbling Gremlins! Plus Choyce (RED MASS, NIGHTSEEKER), Erin SPITS, and Danny from THE GORIES and others.

At the peak of their powers on SST, HüSKER Dü could blast out their albums as fast as Mark juggles his tours and various musical projects. For the amount of wild and inventive songs you get in the experience, both the Whatever I Want and Whenever I Want LPs combined equal the Mark Sultan equivalent of Zen Arcade.

A third release, the Whatever I Want Whenever I Want CD, is a selection of tracks from both of the vinyl releases with a great cover portrait of Mark painted by artist WILFORD BARRINGTON. Hearing the CD first, knowing there were two full albums of new material, made me want to know how this album fragment fit into the whole sessions. Whatever/Whenever acts as its own release, but I preferred the Double Penetration of both LPs knowing I was hearing all of it. That aside, the Whatever/Whenever CD completes a triptych of sensational music.

One of the best things about listening to Mark’s studio recordings is getting to hear more musicians and instruments playing simultaneously that aren’t humanly possible at his live shows to date. That’s not a slight on his live one-man-band performances, pared down but no less awesome because the shows are unpredictable and downright raucous! Compare for example the studio version of “Keep ‘Em Satisfied Pt. 1″ to the more stripped down “War of Rock and Roll” (free download atwww.marksultan.com), a 50+ minute live album’s worth of stuff recorded September 2011 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

With 20 years of experience under his belt Mark Sultan still manages to up his game, keeping his work both fun and inventive! For further listening check out the first 3 new releases on his own freshly resurrected Sultan Records label, including his 7″ for “Livin’ My Life.” (Bob Scott)

THIS REVIEW WILL RUN IN MONGREL ZINE #11. OUT JANUARY 2012

TROUBLE IN THE CAMERA CLUB: A PHOTOGRAPHIC NARRATIVE OF TORONTO’S PUNK HISTORY 1976-1980

TROUBLE IN THE CAMERA CLUB: A PHOTOGRAPHIC NARRATIVE OF TORONTO’S PUNK HISTORY 1976-1980
Don Pyle
ECW Press 2011

For those not familiar, author/photog Don Pyle was the drummer for SHADOWY MEN ON A SHADOWY PLANET, CRASH KILLS 5, KING COBB STEELIE, PHONOCOMB, GREEK BUCK, and probably many others. He was a teenager with a taste for cool rock’n’roll when the Toronto punk scene emerged and managed to capture many of the Toronto combos in their infancy with his trusty camera. This book is by no means a documentation of all the Toronto and visiting bands from that era, but it gives a behind the scenes look at many of those bands that are still revered to this day. Toronto legends such as THE DIODES, THE VILETONES, THE UGLY, and THE MODS are all caught in their glory days by Don and his camera! Visiting combos such as DOA, TEENAGE HEAD, THE RAMONES, THE DEAD BOYS, and many others all get more than their share of amazing photos that just make you want to stop and listen to their music while browsing this book. Plus there are many candid pictures of the people/fans involved in the scene, which really brings everything to life. Highly recommended for fans of the late ‘70s punk era and a great companion piece to Liz Worth’s Treat Me Like Dirt: An Oral History of Punk In Toronto and Beyond (reviewed in MZ#8) as both cover similar ground. (Dave O’Halloran)

THIS REVIEW WILL RUN IN MONGREL ZINE #11. OUT JANUARY 2012

KING KHAN INTERVIEW

KING KHAN IN THE BEST OF MONGREL ZINE #1-3

KING KHAN INTERVIEW BY BOB SCOTT

This interview ran in the Best of Mongrel Zine #1-3 issue. Buy it here!

Old Gunga Din, a song King Khan sent me for the Best of Mongrel Zine compilation is by his new country group Khanwood Clarke. That’s Jeff Clarke (Demon’s Claws, Hellshovel) and Sean Spits! They need to raise $3000 in order to fly Sean Spits to Berlin by September 6th, 2011 to finish recording their LP at Khan’s Moon Studios. A Kickstarter page has been set up with a campaign video. I want to see this happen and hear more of these King Khan Kountry stylings! I hope he makes it there or they’ll have to record songs using the internet like Frank Black did and that won’t be as fun. It was a pleasure and relief to hear that King Khan is better after a much needed break and is back in top form ready to raise a shitstorm this year!

BEST OF MONGREL ZINE #1-3 + CD COMP

BEST OF MONGREL ZINE #1-3 + CD COMP

(July 2011, 58 pages, 7″ x 8.5″)

CLICK HERE TO BUY

It wasn’t until MZ #4 that we really nailed how we want the zine to look, by decreasing the zine’s size from 8.5″ x 11″ to 7″ x 8.5″, dropping the expensive colour cover, and including a CD Comp with each issue. So we are excited to finally have our Best of MZ #1-3 out which has all the look and content our zine is now known for!

This Best Of issue is a digest sized zine with reprinted interviews from Mark Sultan (MZ#3), the last CPC Gangbangs interview (MZ#2), Bloodshot Bill (MZ#3), Rick Trembles (MZ#3), Cinema Sewer’s Robin Bougie (MZ#1), The Tranzmitors (MZ#3), and the Pack A.D. (MZ#1). There’s new stuff on here too, including a brand new King Khan interview, a new Storytime with Jeff Clarke, and an all new CD Comp featuring odds and ends we’ve had for a while that may not have fit on other comps. Click here for tracklist

(July 2011, 58 pages, 7″ x 8.5″)

CLICK HERE TO BUY

SLED ISLAND 2011 SHOWS

We’re going  back to Sled Island and this year we’re putting on two rad shows with the guys from Roses Music Press:

We are very excited to present… THE DEMON’S CLAWS LATE SHOW!

Unofficial afterparty with
DEMON’S CLAWS (Montreal)
TEENANGER (Toronto)
INDIAN WARS (Vancouver)
and TIMECOPZ (Vancouver)

All playing late! We’ll have free pulled pork sandwiches and/or spalumbos sausage sandwiches, cheap drinks, and tonnes of merch (zines, Red Mass prints, Demon’s Claws t-shirts and Primitive Hands/Indian Wars t-shirts, and 7″s). Only 10 bucks, you do not need a Sled Island pass for this show!

We’re also giving away prizes from Dick and Janes!

Friday June 24th 10-late at Concept Lounge (Lower Level 908 17 Ave SW, Calgary AB)

Friday June 24th 10-Late

And we are stoked to have an official Sled Island showcase this year too!

Saturday afternoon swing by Broken City for:
HUNX & HIS PUNX (San Francisco)
SHANNON & THE CLAMS (San Francisco)
THE JOLTS (Vancouver)
and THE MANDATES (Calgary)

There will be free BBQ on the patio for your hangover, drink giveaways, and $800 dollars in Dick and Janes prizes!

Saturday June 25th 1-6pm at Broken City Social Club (613 11 Ave SW, Calgary AB)

Saturday June 25th 1-6pm

Both posters by Bob Scott

MEET THE REEKERS

This interview ran in MONGREL ZINE #10 + VOL. 10 CD COMP (Buy here). Click image or go here to read it in its entirety!

CLICK TO VIEW PDF AS PRINTED IN THE ZINE

SXSW JOURNAL

//// This interview ran in Mongrel Zine #10. Buy it here! \\\\

SXSW JOURNAL IN MZ#10

WORDS AND VIDEOS BY MORGAN DONOR

My venture to the South by Southwest Music Festival began on a high note March 15th at 2:00 pm at the Vancouver bus station where a security guard made the international sign for toking up and asked me if I “had any weed”. He informed me that my trip to Seattle would be crossing a border and that “they aren’t like us over there”. No shit. When I think of the U.S. I think cheap beer, guns, and no healthcare, which my delusional paranoid-stoner mind translates to “somebody’s gonna get drunk and shoot me… where’s my travel insurance?” I think he was just trying to score. As I wasn’t actually smuggling any drugs the rest of my border crossing was extremely uneventful and my four hour bus trip was taken up with a last minute Spanish cram session to try and insure I would know when RATAS DEL VATICANO and INSERVIBLES were having fun at my expense. Bob and Janelle had scored me a press pass for SXSW and the only strong directive I had been given was “HANG OUT WITH RATAS AND INSERVIBLES ‘cause that’s what I was gonna do”, from Bob.

PURLING HISS Public Service Announcement LP

PURLING HISS
Public Service Announcement LP
Woodsist 2010

Psychadelphia, PA’s Mike Polizze, the dude from BIRDS OF MAYA and the one and only dude behind PURLING HISS, really lowered the bar for DIY lo-fi on Woodsist’s ‘Public Service Announcement’ released around Halloween time of last year. This LP is great. Tons of shredding, experimental / instrumental bullshit in all the right places. The only problem is that it sounds like it was recorded on a Yak-Bak or a Talkboy. I don’t understand cassette recorder intimacy in an age of HD cellular telephones. Don’t get me wrong I’m all for analog technology but if I’m driving down the road and my tapedeck starts to eat a tape I’m gonna throw it out the fucking window, you know? It sounds ok now that I’m wearing headphones and I’m drunk, but after hearing “Run From The City” on the Daytrotter Session recorded last month (Mar. 2) I wonder why they didn’t record the whole fucking record this well. (Reverend Jay Poondog)

THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY RAN IN MONGREL ZINE #10. BUY IT HERE