Trading in the detached synths that most recently framed his words, Old Ideas set Cohen’s words  against some beautiful backdrops.  Speaking of words, he may be in his late 70s, but Cohen is still writing lines and rhymes worthy of his prime work.  The combination works best on the simple guitar-strummed “Crazy To Love You”: “Crazy has places to hide in/that are deeper than any goodbye,” he croons, and a million heads nod in understanding and agreement.  There’s a lot of personal reflection and contemplation on Old Ideas, too, as Cohen looks inward at his own fears of growing older.

It’s not something he needs to fret over; with age and wisdom, and a more than a bit of experience in this cut-throat music business, Cohen has only grown more powerful and vital with age.   He’s also gotten more sarcastic and witty, as the closing couplet from the album’s last song says, “I’d love to speak with Leonard/he’s a sportsman and a shepherd/he’s a lazy bastard living in a suit,” poking fun at Leonard the pop-star as only Leonard the icon could.  Lazy bastard he may be, but cherished national treasure he’s become, and the country’s most interesting songwriter he’s remained.

Old Ideas is going to generate a lot of new interest in Cohen, and deservedly so.  It is out today on Columbia Records.

Leonard Cohen “Darkness”

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If you said a):
Picture it: Toronto, early 2010.  The Darcys are a week away from playing an anticipated Canadian Music Week when their singer Kirby Best ups and leaves the band.  Boom!  Not only that, but they just finished recording their self-titled sophomore album with The Dears’ Murray Lightburn as producer and Best’s voice all over it, a voice they’d no longer be needing.  Double boom!  They elect keyboardist/guitarist Jason Couse to step into vocal duties, fulfill the CMW commitments, and start reworking and rerecording the disc to excise the voice of singers past and try to move into the future.  Except the future isn’t coming so fast.  Work on the album stalls, and the band can’t move onto new music with The Darcys in limbo, so instead they half-jokingly, half-seriously decide to reinterpret a collective favourite, the aforementioned Aja.  That in itself became a chore, as Aja is a complicated and intricate record to unravel and re-imagine in The Darcys’ dark, brooding tones, but they kept at it, part out of sheer stubbornness, and part out of sheer desperation to keep the creative fires burning.

If you said b):
It’s fucking incredible.

I’d never listened to the original Aja front to back before hearing The Darcys’ interpretation, so I came at the songs with fresh ears and no bias.  Since then, I’ve gotten to know both versions well, and I can appreciate the reinvention and rebuilding they put into this art project turned obsession.  Right from the opening, the flawless sheen of the original has been peeled away to reveal a throbbing, pulsating, dark and menacing set of songs that will bowl you over with bombast.  The Darcys’ “Black Cow” will slam into your subconscious like a charging bull, their “Peg” is next to unrecognizable from the original and all the better for it, and closer “Josie” shoots daggers through your heart with it glowering, smoky, soulful sound.  Yeah, bands cover songs all the time, and websites are commissioning compilations of artists doing a track from some classic modern rock albums, but I can’t think of anyone else having the audacity to tackle an album held in such high esteem as this, and have the talent and creative genius to make it sound like it was their record all along.

Aja is being released in the same way that tortured (and terrific) sophomore album made it out into the world: as a free digital download from the band’s website, starting today.  It’s the second album of three releases planned by The Darcys and their new label Arts & Crafts; a third full album of original material is slated for release later this year.

The Darcys “Josie”

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But breaking up and breaking free from relationships isn’t funny, and Edwards will be the first to admit that I’m sure.  That she manages to shed her musical and personal past so succinctly with Voyageur is nothing short of magical.  I’m not a fan boy blowing smoke up her arse when I say that, either.  While there’s been nothing in her previous work that’s run against my sensibilities, there’s also been little for me to get excited about.  She is a competent songwriter and performer and a worthy ambassador for Canadian music abroad, but never been someone whose music inspired me to repeated listens.  Voyageur changes all that: it’s intoxicating in its pace and rhythm, emotional and passionate, and the first great Canadian record of 2012.

Many will highlight the fact that it was produced by Edwards’ new beau, Justin “Bon Iver” Vernon, putting down the album’s charm and success to his handiwork, but they will be doing Edwards and her songwriting a disservice.  Before any knobs could be twiddled, or mic set just so, Edwards has written a cohesive collection of songs that hint at catharsis (“Change The Sheets”), contemplation (“House Full of Empty Rooms”)   and closure in equal measure.   What Vernon has provided is a new musical language for Edwards to showcase her songs in.  The Bon Iver-esque touches right from that opening moment on serve the songs rather than draw attention away from them.  By the time you get to the bluesy swagger of “Mint” you’re not even aware of the production; a compliment to artist and producer alike.

This album has been an unexpected pleasure from an artist whose new material I wasn’t anticipating.  These are the kind of records I love discovering, and the kind that end up on my year-end lists in December.  We’ve a long way to go until then, but I’m certain that Kathleen Edwards will be on that journey with me for 2012.

Voyageur is released today, January 17, by MapleMusic.

 
Kathleen Edwards “Change The Sheets”

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Whether its the furry and fuzzy 10-plus minutes of “Wolfman”, or the smouldering seven minutes of “How Will I?”, Perri is not rushing to fill these spaces with sound just for sound’s sake.  The instrumentation isn’t studied or structured; instead you get the sense that Perri let the pieces fall where they may, making themselves fit together and form the songs of their own accord.  Soft focus, 70s-influenced pop snuggles up with futuristic techno beats (see the two parts of “The Futureactive Kid”) like old friends, getting reacquainted at a high school reunion.

Impossible Spaces fell under my radar when it was initially released by Constellation Records this past October.  Thankfully its made its way into my orbit and has been spinning around here regularly for a few months now. Had I more time with it initially, I’m sure that it would have found some space on my year-end favourite albums list for 2011, but that’s neither here nor there. Once you enter into these songs, you’ll realize that it’s not their existence that’s impossible, it’s forgetting them.

Impossible Spaces is available now from Constellation Records.

Sandro Perri “Changes”

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At least for the opening half.  By the time you get to the midway mark, “We Will Lift, We Will Drop” starts messing around with rhythms, and subsequently your head.  It’s experimentation doesn’t quite hit the mark, and there are similar moments scattered throughout the last half when you just want the music to stick to a path more traveled.  And really, Expxy do the road more traveled better than most.  “Shimmering a Single Pitch” sounds like both the Monkees’ and The Wedding Present’s versions of “Pleasant Valley Sunday” played simultaneously, and the shimmering country flourishes of closer “Strewn In Rows” make for a wistful finale to a record steeped in the past but with eyes firmly focused on the future.

All that being said, Total Gold is a captivating snapshot at LeGroulx’s creative process, and further proof of Expwy’s fluid development and growth.  I’ll be honest, I had some feedback after first posting about Expwy, saying the music was “too difficult” to listen to. LeGroulx’s songs can be challenging, for sure, but isn’t that what music and art should do?  Sometimes I think we as cultural consumers don’t know what we want.  We moan that populist pap is indistinguishable from one artist to another, and we complain when an artist tries to do something out-of-the-box for being too much work for our mushy brains to process.  the charm of Expwy for me, is that LeGroulx is not intentionally trying to be difficult, nor is he trying to hit the pole position on the Hype Machine top 100.  He’s exploring intellectual and artistic themes, being influenced by Italian Renaissance madrigal composers and The Flaming Lips alike, and he’s not precious or pretentious about it.  He’s a unique artist, with a unique take on pop music, and any music buff worth the weight of their vinyl collection would be foolish not to give Expwy a thorough listen.

Total Gold is available as a free download from Expwy’s Bandcamp page now.

Waters’ Grey Vapors by Expwy

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Do I sound like I’m full of crap, right now?  Or like a rambling fool who has about as much focus as an Occupy group?

I apologize if I seem to be going on about this, and I know, I know, you could make the same case for burgeoning music scenes the country (and world) over.  I encourage everyone in those scenes to stand up and demand to be heard, too.  I hope that every down-on-its-luck town gets their own version of Blacktop Records, the band’s hometown label, to be a vehicle for these young voices, and an advocate for art and creativity in the way they have been working at building the nurturing Welland’s growing music scene.

Thousand Young will be opening for Cancer Bats, who will be playing a Black Sabbath cover set at L3 Nightclub in St. Catharines on Sunday, December 18.  Thousand Young, the self-titled debut album is available for download from Blacktop Records now.  Much thanks and love to the good folk of Blacktop Records, who have furnished today’s goodies in the 25 Days of QBiM Contests running now at Quick Before It Melts’ Facebook Page.  Head over there now to win yourself an impressive Blacktop Records prize pack consisting of a copy of Thousand Young, the latest CD from Blacktop artist Open Hand, and a pair of tickets to the Cancer Bats/Thousand Young show in St. Catharines on the 18th.

MP3: Thousand Young “There Is No Shore”
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What you have to know about Swan Sky Sea Squirrel is that it was recorded while Tielli imposed a 3 month solitary stay for himself on Toronto Island, where he wrote and recorded the disc.  With nothing but the natural environment around him and the inner workings of his own mind for inspiration, Tielli ends up creating a remarkable document–almost a travelogue–of his journey to and from a world most of us are oblivious to.

It’s not all pretty and it’s never all pleasant, but what emerges from Tielli’s tales is the true experience of solitude: you discover more about your internal world while surveying the physical world around you.  Album opener “Yes I Am Lonely” starts off sounding like one man’s attempt at filling the deafening vacuum of silence encountered when you first realize that you’re truly and utterly alone, but by it’s end the panic subsides, the pace begins to slow, and the other senses heighten.  There’s wide-eyed wonder on “When The Sky Opens”, as Tielli sees a familiar firmament from a new perspective.  His arrangements branch out into some unconventional textures, perhaps inspired by running his fingertips over bumpy bark or smoothed-over stone. By the time the album slips into it’s final movement, Tielli becomes more introspective, more reflective (see the haunting “Dear Gone One” and “Let Go Of The Vast Dark”), and begins to bring the journey full circle.

As I listened to Swan Sky Sea Squirrel, I kept coming back to the title of Stereophonics fourth LP, You Gotta Go There to Come Back, thinking how fitting a phrase it is to describe this impressive album.  It’s clear Tielli’s experiences in solitude have left an indelible mark on his psyche and his soul.  Listening to his record will be just as unforgettable an experience for you.

Swan Sky Sea Squirrel is available from Blocks Recording Club now.

Riversea by Doug Tielli by blocksrecordingclub

I wouldn’t wish his pain and suffering on anyone (okay, maybe this one person…), but Ogden has translated his experiences in loving and losing into an intimate collection of songs that don’t weigh heavily on listeners’ ears.  Even the spit and vitriol of “Bitter Bruiser’s Society” will leave you humming along to its melody.  “Heaven Help Your Heart” follows the you-done-me-wrong formula more formally, and is one of my favourite moments on this record.  The band arrangement frames Ogden’s wounded soul lyrics perfectly, neither dripping pathos or pulling punches.

Harbour is the kind of record that offers respite from the storm, be it an actual one whirling about outside, or the internal turmoil of your own mind.  It is available via Penny Black’s Bandcamp page right now.

MP3: Penny Blacks “Only Good Enough”
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When an album is as personal as Provider is, I sometimes feel uncomfortable listening in, as if I was eavesdropping on someone’s own thoughts and emotions.  To Webb’s credit, the songs take on a life of their own; he could be singing about anyone, anywhere.  The result is that more often than not, these songs stir something in the listener, trigger some memory or sense that was buried or forgotten.  A song like “Undertaker” for instance,  with its funeral dirge arrangement, can be taken literally or seen as the omnipresent spectre of death around us all: “Whether dilettante or lawmaker/whether scavenger or caretaker/I’m known by everyone/I will be standing by”.  I put myself in the narrator’s place, not specifically as a funeral director, but as a person who has stood by and watched friends and family pass away this year, waiting in the corridors and the shadows for death to come and claim those who are still hanging on to life by threads.  Maybe we’re all kind of like undertakers, just waiting until it’s our turn to be taken.

Deep shit, I know, but this album is far from the downer I’m making it out to be.  “Ex-Punks” tribal rhythm is sultry and sophisticated, and makes me want to hit repeat over and over again.  In fact, the whole record elicits that response.  You’re not going to put Provider on to get the party started, but when the hangers-on are gone, and it’s just you and your close friends, it’ll be the perfect soundtrack to those moments of silent, shared experience and understanding.  A record that doesn’t need explaining, just experiencing.

Provider is released today, November 15 by Ideé Fixe Records.

Rivers of Gold by Idée Fixe Records

Undertaker by Idée Fixe Records

Last week in The Globe & Mail, Rich Aucoin was quoted as saying “Thinking about death is also thinking about how great it is to be alive,” adding that “it doesn’t have to be a sad feeling.”  I don’t know whether he’s trying to justify the sheer exuberance and vitality of his new LP, We’re All Dying To Live with the statement, or whether it’s a rallying cry to shake the shackles of moribundity.  One day we’re all going to die, and if that’s not a reason to throw a party right now, I don’t know what is.

For his CD release show at this year’s Halifax Pop Explosion Festival, Aucoin was joined by more than 80 people on stage, which is just a fraction of the 500 people who contributed to We’re All Dying To Live.  As Aucoin made his way across the country by bike touring his first release, Personal Publication,  he recruited musicians from each stop to help him record these audacious, sometimes outlandish anthems.  Centering any one track out is like picking your favourite internal organ; can you love your heart more than your head?

We’re All Dying To Live has been Aucoin’s musical obsession for just about four years now.  Prompted and sidetracked by his own brush with mortality, it is a record that will blow you away with it’s irrepressible joie de vivre, and celebration.  It will get you thinking about your own life, and the life you’ve yet to live, and it will get you dancing, carousing, and grabbing tight to the ones you love and never let go.

We’re All Dying To Live is available now on Sonic Recordings.

Rich Aucoin “It”

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