Revolution Rock: The 2021 Interviews & Show # 917

This year on Revolution Rock, the program featured eleven different interviews. Eight were audio based interviews that aired on the show and three were done through email specifically for this website. On this episode we featured highlights (or clips) from each of the audio interviews and music from each of the artists that were interviewed, whether it was for the radio program or for this website. Below you will find some info about these interviews plus the playlist and download/streaming links to the episode.

An Interview with Richard Hell (February 2021): 

In February 2021, as part of Revolution Rock’s annual theme month programming we spoke with New York punk icon Richard Hell. Known as one of the originators and pioneers during the early days of New York punk, Hell quit the music world in 1984 to focus on writing, only reappearing a few times on some music projects. Having co-founded Television, being one of the original members of The Heartbreakers (featuring Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan of The New York Dolls), Hell formed Richard Hell & The Voidoids in 1976 and released their debut album, Blank Generation in 1977. Hell’s look and aesthetic would go on as a template for punk music that would influence others, most notably The Sex Pistols, who in turn would influence their own music scene. The Voidoids first album is seen as a classic, with its title track still sounding as vital and thought provoking today. In 1982, he released the often misunderstood Destiny Street. The album has a long history, which Richard goes into detail about in the interview. It was reissued in 2021 as Destiny Street Complete via Omnivore Recordings. The set contains four versions of the album, along with a few outtakes. The original 1982 version remastered, the 2009 Destiny Street Repaired version, a newly remixed version of Destiny Street and a collection of demos that show early and different versions of the songs that would make up this album. Destiny Street Complete re-establishes the great moments of Destiny Street for everyone to hear. Richard Hell is an author, poet, musician and actor. In this interview Richard Hell covers the time period making Destiny Street, parts of his writing career and influences, along with his songwriting process in the Voidoids and more.

Listen to the full interview here:

Find the original post here.

An Interview with Patrick Flegel (of Cindy Lee/Women) & Michael Wallace (of Preoccupations/Women) (February 2021):

As part of a special program focusing on the 10th anniversary of Calgary band Women’s second and final album Public Strain we spoke with vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Patrick Flegel and drummer Michael Wallace. Recorded in the span of ten months in the dead of winter in Calgary by Chad VanGaalen, Public Strain explored more post punk sounds, often darker and more jarring, but at the same time there is something strangely beautiful that permeates this record. The album received widespread critical acclaim, eventually being long listed on the nominees for the Polaris Prize in 2011. Women toured heavily from 2008-2009. They also toured in support of Public Strain, but that tour was cut short in October 2010. Following a show that occurred in October 2010 in Victoria BC, Women stopped playing as a band. The band members went their separate ways. Bassist Matthew Flegel and drummer Michael Wallace went on to form the band Viet Cong (before changing their name to Preoccupations), guitarist/vocalist Patrick Flegel would continue creating music eventually creating music as Cindy Lee and Christopher Reimer joined the band The Dodos as their touring guitarist while collaborating and creating music until he passed away in his sleep unexpectedly in 2012. In these exclusive interviews Patrick talks about creating the music with Women for Public Strain, his influences as well as recording and performing as Cindy Lee. Michael Wallace, gives his own account of the sessions, recording with Chad VanGaalen and the moments leading up to the album, joining the band Women, Preoccupatons beginnings as well as plans for their next album. 

Listen to the full interviews here:

Find the original post here.

An Interview with Chad VanGaalen (March 2021):

Chad VanGaalen released World’s Most Stressed Out Gardner in 2021 on Sub Pop and Flemish Eye Records. The music that he creates while it is sometimes folk, sometimes psychedelic, sometimes indie rock, sometimes strange, is really its own thing. The universe in which the songs of Chad VanGaalen belong is a strange, wonderful, kind of messed up, cosmic place at times. As we enter these worlds we find ourselves absorbed by the sounds and stories that he produces. World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener is eclectic and offers more variety musically than ever before on one of his albums, but still has the same feel of the best of Chad VanGaalen’s work. In the interview Chad discusses how the album was created and altered when he came up with the song “Samurai Sword” just before the album was set to be printed, working on songs and recording. He also discusses his time recording Women’s Public Strain and working with members of the band on their first two albums, buying stuff of Kijiji, gardening and more.

Listen to the full interview here:

Find the original post here.

An Interview with Chris Murdoch (April 2021):

Halifax musician, DJ and writer Chris Murdoch released the full-length debut album Collapse with his band Souvenir in April of 2021. This followed 2020, Beating into Dust EP. In 2020, we also spoke with Chris for this website through email to discuss his music history playing in bands and Black Dots: An Afropunk Primer. Black Dots is an eight-page essay is somewhere in between a zine and pamphlet that also includes exclusive illustrations done by graphic designer/musician Raymond Biesinger. Inside over the course of 2800 words, Chris Murdoch covers his own experiences being a musician and attending shows in Halifax along with information about when Black first met punk in the UK and US. It was released through the Pentagon Black label in Montreal and over $3000 was donated to Black Lives Matter Solidarity Fund Nova Scotia from its sales. Souvenir is a band out of Halifax, Nova Scotia featuring bassist/vocalist Lachie MacDonald (Tom Fun Orchestra, Great Plains, Dyscontrol), guitarist/vocalist Dave Banoub (Jon Hynes) and Chris Murdoch on drums/vocals (Word On The Street, Weekend Dads, Outtacontroller). Produced by Charles Austin (Outtacontroller, Future Girls) out of Ocean Floor Studios in Halifax, Collapse is the debut full-length album from Souvenir. With all three members contributing vocals and songs, Collapse features nine songs and album cover artwork by illustrator Raymond Biesinger. In the interview Chris talks about the recording and writing process that the band went through to create Collapse, politics in punk and more. 

 Listen to the full interview here:

Find the original post here.

An Interview with Paul Jacobs (May 2021):

Montreal musician Paul Jacobs latest release Pink Dogs On The Green Grass was released via Blow The Fuse Records in 2021. With just thirteen tracks, this album follows 2020’s outtakes/demo collection Portrait of George (Demo & Songs I Forgot About) and 2018’s EASY. Already having several albums in his discography (and two releases as part of post punk group Pottery), Pink Dogs On The Green Grass shows Paul Jacobs branching out by finding a new way of approaching his music. Musically, references have been made to Cass McCombs, Kurt Vile, early Beck, but you can also hear the influence of 60s psychedelia and bands such as The Byrds and Lou Reed. Lyrically, Jacobs words are at times surreal. They are sometimes about different characters or observations and often take on cryptic meanings. While some have said that the lyrics reveal unwanted moments that stick with you, Pink Dogs On The Green Grass is much more than that. In the interview Paul talks about recording his new album, illustrating the videos for this album, who Bobby is from Pottery’s Bobby’s Motel album, David Lynch and more. 

Listen to the full interview here:

Find the original post here.

An Interview with Mark Arm & Steve Turner of Mudhoney (August 2021):

Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge is the second full-length album from Seattle’s Mudhoney. An expanded 30th anniversary edition was released by Sub Pop in 2021 featuring demos, outtakes and non-album tracks. Originally released on July 26th, 1991, the album shipped 50,000 copies when it was originally released. Just a few months later, Nirvana’s Nevermind would be released and the whole musical landscape would change. Prior to being recorded, Mudhoney recorded five tracks with producer Jack Endino (who also produced their Superfuzz Bigmuff EP and the Mudhoney album) in a 24-track studio. Unhappy with the results, guitarist Steve Turner pushed for a change of direction. Liking the results of Conrad Uno’s 8-track recording studio called Egg Studios on the Thrillsphere album by Tacoma, Washington’s Girl Trouble, the band decided to record a selection of punk covers with Uno to see what it would sound like recording there. Several of these songs came out on singles or on compilation albums, but not all of them. In spring of 1991, Mudhoney began recording Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. On this album Mudhoney switches their focus embracing 60s garage influences such as The Sonics, Lollipop Shoppe, Neil Young, Spacemen 3, post hardcore, 80s hardcore and the sounds of bands such as Zounds and Hawkwind. In the interview Mark Arm & Steve Turner of Mudhoney talk about making the 1991 album, being in an unaired TV pilot for Fox, the influence of The Wipers, fuzz pedals and more. 

Listen to the full interview here:

Find the original post here.

An Interview with Matt Ellis (May 2021):

Hamilton musician Matt Ellis has played in many different bands such as The Vapids, Flesh Rag and PlasticHeads. Usually on guitar, Matt recorded a series of Ramones inspired EPs in 2020 at his home where he played all of the instrumentation. All of the proceeds from these releases went towards different non-profit organizations in Toronto and Hamilton. Following a remix, the addition of real drums provided by Jimmy Vapid of The Vapids, Curtis Tone from PlasticHeads and two new tracks, Full Moon Fever was released on vinyl at the end of February 2021 on Surfin Ki Records. With an obvious Ramones influence, the songs that make up Full Moon Fever pull from the Dee Dee Ramone penned catalogue of Ramones tracks with a dash of The Spits, DBOY and Seattle band HEAD. At 18 tracks, none of the songs on Full Moon Fever go past the two-minute mark. Running through themes of isolation, frustration, boredom and escapism, Full Moon Fever delves into a manic dynamic of punk rock and suburban paranoia. Ellis released an album with another band called Anxious Pleasers on cassette that featured members of Hamilton band TV Freaks. In January 2021, he released a new digital single titled Everything Sucks. Matt Ellis did an exclusive Q&A for this website covering his music influences/history, the making of Full Moon Fever, guitars and his favourite Ramones albums. 

Read the full interview/post here.

An Interview with Shawn McDonald (June 2021):

London, Ontario musician Shawn McDonald has been involved in numerous rock bands over the years. In 2021, he made several albums from his discography with different bands he’s been in available digitally for the first time. One of his earlier bands, Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit released the album Hollandays digitally. It was a lost, previously unreleased album. In addition to this album he made other albums from this band available through Bandcamp and other streaming services. In 2018, 2 was released by the band Baby Giant. Baby Giant is made up of musicians Shawn McDonald and Tim McDonald. The band started out around 2017 to record a collection of reworked/reimagined songs in commemoration of an earlier band that the McDonald’s had been in called Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit (that album is called Grassy Magic). Being in numerous bands such as The Fine Print, Dragsville, Hurricane & Able and many others Shawn McDonald really showcases his songwriting abilities on 2, both on his own and in collaboration with Tim McDonald. The album was recorded by Tim McDonald (credited as King Woobs). Shawn McDonald did a Q&A for this website covering the writing of several songs in Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit, some of the bands he has played/recorded with and what he is currently working on. 

Read the full interview/post here.

An Interview with Neil Jarvis (July 2021):

Perhaps best known as being in the Manchester band Sprinters, Get The Band Back Together is the third solo album released by Neil Jarvis. Prior to this Sprinters released two excellent albums, 2017’s Sprinters and 2019’s Struck Gold. Neil’s earlier solo albums were recorded the same way as this one was, on a 4-track cassette recorder. Weekends (2012) and Halloween Summer (2014) featured lo-fi, psych/surf influenced sounds that were sometimes experimental. Get The Band Back Together is more acoustic based, but it still features the sometimes haunting nostalgic feeling that is present throughout all of Neil’s songs. Recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder during lockdown in April 2020-June 2021, Get The Back Band Together takes Jarvis’ earlier tried and true method of recording/writing songs, but adds a sense of maturity and poignancy that sets this collection of songs apart from both Sprinters and his earlier work. Neil Did a Q&A for this website where he covers recording and releasing an album during the pandemic, the influence of musician David Berman and some of his earlier solo releases. 

Read the full interview/post here.

An Interview with The Garrys (October 2021): 

Get Thee To A Nunnery is the fourth full-length album by Saskatoon’s The Garrys. This three-piece sister trio features Erica Maier (guitar/vocals), Julie Maier (bass/vocals) and Lenore Maier (drums/vocals). They first started appearing on underground music radar with 2017’s Surf Manitou, which brought their prairie inspired surf dynamics and combined them with folk-like tales of Manitou Beach, SK, a family vacation spot that the Maier’s visited when younger. In 2020, The Garrys released their score to the 1922 silent film Haxan:Witchcraft Through The Ages, which was performed and recorded live as the film played in a theatre. They describe their music as “dreamy blood harmony surf rock doom-wop on morphine.” Get Thee To A Nunnery has been getting critical acclaim appearing on Bandcamp Daily, other sites and charting on the Earshot Top 50 Album Charts across campus radio in Canada. Revolution Rock spoke with Erica, Julie and Lenore Maier of The Garrys. In the interview they discuss their formation, recording/writing songs for Get Thee To A Nunnery, working with Dallas Good as producer, doing the live soundtrack to Haxan:Witchcraft Through The Ages and more.

Listen to the full interview here:

Find the original post here.

Show 917: The 2021 Interviews Playlist:

1. Richard Hell - Kid With The Replaceable Head  (Remastered) (Destiny Street Complete - Omnivore Recordings - 2021)

RICHARD HELL INTERVIEW CLIP

2. Richard Hell - Ignore That Door (Remixed)  (Destiny Street Complete - Omnivore Recordings - 2021)
3. Women - Narrow With The Hall (Public Strain - Flemish Eye - 2010/2020)

PATRICK FLEGEL (OF CINDY LEE/WOMEN) INTERVIEW CLIP

4. Cindy Lee - Love Remains (Cat O’Nine Tails - CCQSK Records - 2020)
5. Women - Everyone Is So In Love With You (Rarities 2007-2010 - Flemish Eye - 2020)

MICHAEL WALLACE (OF PREOCCUPATIONS/WOMEN) INTERVIEW CLIP

6. Preoccupations - Monotony (Preoccupations - Jagjaguwar/Flemish Eye - 2006)
7. Chad VanGaalen - Starlight (World's Most Stressed Out Gardener - Sub Pop/Flemish Eye - 2021)

CHAD VANGAALEN INTERVIEW CLIP

8. Souvenir - Ransom (Collapse - 2021)

CHRIS MURDOCH (OF SOUVENIR) INTERVIEW CLIP

9. Souvenir - Holding Pattern (Collapse - 2021)
10. Paul Jacobs - Half Rich Longer (Pink Dogs On The Green Grass - Blow The Fuse Records - 2021)

PAUL JACOBS INTERVIEW CLIP

11. Paul Jacobs - The Telephone (Revisited) (Story About Anything EP - 2018)
12. Mudhoney - Into The Drink (Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (30th Anniversary Edition) - Sub Pop - 2021)

MARK ARM & STEVE TURNER (OF MUDHONEY) INTERVIEW CLIP

13. Matt Ellis - Flowers In The Moonlight (Full Moon Fever - Surfing Ki Records - 2021)
14. Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit - A-Jam (Hollandays - 2021)
15. Baby Giant - Japan (2 - 2018)
16. Neil Jarvis - Get The Band Back Together (Get The Band Back Together - On The Grind Records - 2021)
17. The Garrys - Devil’s Dip (Get Thee To A Nunnery - Grey Records - 2021)

ERICA, JULIE & LENORE MAIER (OF THE GARRYS) INTERVIEW CLIP

18. The Garrys - In The Dawn (Get Thee To A Nunnery - Grey Records - 2021)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the January 15 file to download/stream the episode.

2021 Album Highlights & Shows # 917, 916

For our annual albums of the year episodes, Revolution Rock once again did not rank any of the albums with any specific number. The following selections for the two episodes posted here feature a mix of albums from 2021 in no specific order, but all of them were albums that we enjoyed. Below you will also find six write-ups from albums that were released in 2021, three written by Dave and three written by Adam. Following these words are playlists and download/listening links to two episodes featuring music released in 2021.

2021 Album Highlights:
Written by Dave Konstantino

Paul Jacobs - Pink Dogs On The Green Grass

Paul Jacobs latest release is Pink Dogs On The Green Grass is out via Blow The Fuse Records. With just thirteen tracks, this album follows 2020’s outtakes/demo collection Portrait of George (Demo & Songs I Forgot About) and 2018’s EASY. Already having several albums in his discography (and two releases as part of post punk group Pottery), Pink Dogs On The Green Grass shows Paul Jacobs branching out by finding a new way of approaching his music. Musically, references have been made to Cass McCombs, Kurt Vile, early Beck, but you can also hear the influence of 60s psychedelia and bands such as The Byrds and Lou Reed. Lyrically, Jacobs words are at times surreal. They are sometimes about different characters or observations and often take on cryptic meanings. While some have said that the lyrics reveal unwanted moments that stick with you, Pink Dogs On The Green Grass is much more than that. With Pink Dogs On The Green Grass, Paul Jacobs reveals that the grass sometimes turns yellow on the other side and that sometimes the green grass can be found in the every day moments we find ourselves in. 

The Garrys – Get Thee To A Nunnery

Get Thee To A Nunnery is the fourth full-length album by Saskatoon’s The Garrys. This three-piece sister trio features Erica Maier (guitar/vocals), Julie Maier (bass/vocals) and Lenore Maier (drums/vocals). They first started appearing on underground music radar with 2017’s Surf Manitou, which brought their prairie inspired surf dynamics and combined them with folk-like tales of Manitou Beach, SK, a family vacation spot that the Maier’s visited when younger. They also sung of sea monsters that lurked those parts. In 2020, The Garrys released their score to the 1922 silent film Haxan: Witchcraft Through The Ages, which was performed and recorded live as the film played in a theatre. They describe their music as “dreamy blood harmony surf rock doom-wop on morphine.” Surf, psychedelia, doo-wop, garage and cinematic sounds of composers such as Ennino Morricone influence the music, but it is so much more than that description. Produced by Dallas Good of the Sadies, Get Thee To A Nunnery presents The Garrys capturing that nostalgic feeling that they do so well, that exists both in the past and the present, as it questions topics relating to family roots in Saskatchewan, isolation and decay of rural life, worldviews and faith in different generations and oppression. It doesn’t just address the past saying everything is great because that isn’t how it was. While also taking influence from Shakepeare’s Hamlet, Get Thee To A Nunnery goes further in The Garrys’ songwriting abilities. It explores new and old themes placing them in larger contexts that drift out beyond the borders that we once knew.

Chad VanGaalen – World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener

World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener is the follow up to Chad VanGaalen’s 2017 album Light Information. If we are counting the two outtake albums that were released in 2020 (Odds & Sods 2, Lost Harmonies), it is his ninth studio album. Released in March 2021, World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener is an eclectic collection of songs from VanGaalen. The music that he creates while it is sometimes folk, sometimes psychedelic, sometimes indie rock, sometimes strange, is really its own thing. The universe in which the songs of Chad VanGaalen belong is a strange, wonderful, kind of messed up, cosmic place at times. As we enter these worlds we find ourselves absorbed by the sounds and stories that he produces. World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener offers more variety musically than ever before on one of his albums, but still has the same feel of the best of Chad VanGaalen’s work. Like his illustrations and animations, the songs that Chad VanGaalen creates capture a sense of something of the unknown, the otherworldly, visually and sonically. With World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener, Chad VanGaalen digs deep to show us a world that is dark, multifaceted and sonically captivating.

More 2021 Album Highlights:
Written by Adam Peltier

The Weather Station – Ignorance

Tamara Lindeman's past albums have displayed keen observations into human relationships, but her latest offering shifts the songwriter's insights to the relationship between people and the world around them. It would belittle Ignorance to think of it only as a “climate change” album; its exploration of complex themes and the intricacies existing between personal and ecology trauma refuse such a simple interpretation. Take the opener “Robber” - it may be about man-made environmental devastation, but it also evokes ideas of colonialism, capitalism, and meritocracy. However, there is no denying Lindeman's identification with nature on this album, from the pleading “Wear” to the cathartic closer “Subdivisions.” There is an artfulness to how Lindeman handles such themes, which in the wrong hands could be ham-fisted or pedantic. Instead, she offers an emotional vulnerability to her performance and lyrics, while never falling into fragility. In fact, the Weather Station has never sounded more confident or emboldened than on this record. Part of the album's charm is easily the band Lindeman assembled, whose performance incorporates elements of folk, baroque pop, and jazz, a combination which has led to many mid-70's Joni Mitchell comparisons. Certainly, Ignorance shares a lot of the warmth of albums like Court & Spark and Hissing of Summer Lawns, but distinguishes itself through its propulsive grooves and the immediacy of its lyrics. Rather than wallow in the environmental collapse of our world, Ignorance offers a passionate response to the societal apathy (and “ignorance”) that has led us down this path.

Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg

“Do everything feeling nothing.” Is there a greater distillation of how 2021 felt than this line? Florence Shaw's deadpan intonation is the perfect vessel to deliver this and the dozens of other quotable lyrics on New Long Leg, the debut album from the much hyped UK band Dry Cleaning. Unlike majority of other great white hopes touted by the British music press, Dry Cleaning delivered not only a solid album of grunge-tinged post-punk, but introduced the world to one of rock's most understated intense performers in Shaw. Her laconic delivery and dry observations imbue her lyrics with a mixture of dread and humour, reflecting the burned-out ennui felt by so many during the thick of these late-era capitalist pandemic years. Whether riffing on casual misogyny, Brexit, or eating Twix, Shaw should go down as one of the most unique and timely voices of the year.

Black Country, New Road - For the First Time

Long-associated tour mates of black MIDI (another band who released a fantastic album this year), the debut album by Black Country, New Road offered a breath of fresh air to the often hegemonic world of post-rock. While comparisons can be made to recent releases from Swans or Slint (who are name-checked on the track “Science Fair”), For the First Time is also indebted to klezmer music, free jazz, and noise. There probably isn't a greater crescendo this year than on the track “Sunglasses,” while the reserve of “Track X” shows the band also knows how to wring intensity from quieter compositions. Black Country, New Road have given listeners one of the most eclectic guitar rock releases of the year, and with a forthcoming sophomore album promised for 2022, continue to entice fans with wonders of where their sound will go next.

Show 916 (Originally Aired On January 8th, 2022)(Albums of 2022 Part Two):

1. King Khan Unlimited - Narcissist (Opiate Them Asses - Bargain Bin Records - 2021)
2. Visibly Choked - Third Time’s The Charm (Visibly Choked EP - Mothland - 2021)
3. La Luz - Watching Cartoons (La Luz - Hardly Art - 2021)
4. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Matt Sweeney – My Popsicle (Superwolves - Drag City Records- 2021)
5. Snail Mail – Automate (Valentine - Matador Records - 2021)
6. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson – OK Idicts (Theory of Ice - You've Changed Records - 2021)
7. The Weather Station – Robber (Ignorance - Fat Possum - 2021)
8. black midi – John L (Cavalcade - Rough Trade - 2021)
9. Black Country, New Road – Sunglasses aka The Guest (For the First Time - Ninja Tune - 2021)
10. Motorists - Surrounded (Surrounded - We Are Time - 2021)
11. TUNS - Double Down (Duly Noted - Murder Records - 2021)
12. Anxious Pleasers - Suck (Anxious Pleasers - Neon Taste Records - 2021)
13. Mononegatives - Living In The Age (Apparatus Division - Big Neck Records - 2021)
14. Jesse Fellows - Mail Bomb (The Four Oranges EP - 2021)
15. Ty Segall - Waxman (Harmonizer - Drag City Records - 2021)
16. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Fire at Static Valley (G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END! - Constellation Records - 2021)
17. Low – Days Like These (HEY WHAT - Sub Pop - 2021)
18. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Hand of God (Carnage - Goliath Records - 2021)
19. Chad VanGaalen - Nightwaves (The World's Most Stressed Out Gardener - Sub Pop/Flemish Eye Records - 2021)
20. Parquet Courts - Homo Sapien (Sympathy For Life - Rough Trade - 2021)
21. The Garrys - Sintatula (Get Thee To A Nunnery - Grey Records - 2021)
22. Viagra Boys -Ain’t Nice (Welfare Jazz - Year0001- 2021)
23. Paul Jacobs - Day to Day (Pink Dogs On The Green Grass - Blow The Fuse Records - 2021)
24. Paul Jacobs - Your Last Words (Pink Dogs On The Green Grass - Blow The Fuse Records - 2021) 

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE.

Show 915 (Originally Aired On January 1st, 2022)(Albums of 2022 Part One):

1. Dry Cleaning – Scratchcard Lanyard (New Long Leg - 4AD - 2021)
2. illuminati hotties – Knead (Let Me Do One More - Hopeless Records - 2021)
3. Julie Doiron – The Letters We Sent (I Thought of You - You've Changed Records - 2021)
4. Andy Shauf - Spanish On The Beach (Wilds - Anti- - 2021)
5. Courtney Barnett - Sunfair Sundown (Things Take Time, Take Time - Mom + Pop - 2021)
6. Bill Jr. Jr. - Renaissance Man (Homebody - 2021)
7. Snake River - High Rides (The Lost Album - 2021)
8. Sunshiny Daze - The Night Knows (What The Day Don’t) (Clouds Melt Away - 2021)
9. Neil Jarvis - Time (Get The Band Back Together - On the Grind Records - 2021)
10. Danny Kroha - Come Out The Wilderness (Detroit Blues - Third Man Records - 2021)
11. Daniel Romano’s Outfit - Nocturne Child (Cobra Poems - You've Changed Records - 2021)
12. Hot Garbage - Sometimes I Go Down (RIDE - Mothland - 2021)
13. PONY - Couch (TV Baby - Take This To Heart Records - 2021)
14. Souvenir - Circles (Collapse - 2021)
15. Squid – G.S.K. (Bright Green Field - Warp - 2021)
16. Idles – When the Lights Come On (Crawler - Partisan Records - 2021)
17. Iceage – Dear Saint Cecilia (Seek Shelter - Mexican Summer - 2021)
18. Ryley Walker – Axis Bent (Course in Fable - Husky Pants Records - 2021)
19. PRIORS - VideoDrome (My Punishment On Earth - Brain Gum Records - 2021)
20. Wine Lips - Get Your Money (Mushroom Death Sex Bummer Party - Stomp Records - 2021)
21. Matt Ellis - My Neighbourhood Is A Dump (Full Moon Fever - Surfing Ki Records - 2021)
22. Amyl & The Sniffers - Security (Comfort To Me - Rough Trade/ATO Records - 2021)
23. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - (Are You) Ready Freddy (Swing From The Sean DeLear EP - In The Red Records - 2021)
24. Packs - Cling Film (Take the Cake - Fire Talk/Royal Mountain Records - 2021)
25. TEKE::TEKE – Barbara (Shirushi - Kill Rock Stars - 2021)
26. Kiwi Jr. - Maid Marian's Toast (Cooler Returns - Sub Pop - 2021)
27. Ducks Ltd. - 'Twas Ever Thus (Modern Fiction - Carpark Records/Royal Mountain Records - 2021) 

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE.

World's Most Stressed Out Gardener: An Interview with Chad VanGaalen & Show # 875

World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener is the follow up to Chad VanGaalen’s 2017 album Light Information. If we are counting the two outtake albums that were released in 2020 (Odds & Sods 2, Lost Harmonies), it is his ninth studio album. Released in March 2021, World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener is an eclectic collection of songs from VanGaalen. The music that he creates while it is sometimes folk, sometimes psychedelic, sometimes indie rock, sometimes strange, is really its own thing. The universe in which the songs of Chad VanGaalen belong is a strange, wonderful, kind of messed up, cosmic place at times. As we enter these worlds we find ourselves absorbed by the sounds and stories that he produces. World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener offers more variety musically than ever before on one of his albums, but still has the same feel of the best of Chad VanGaalen’s work.

“Spider’s Milk” starts off World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener. With a collection of guitar, drums, mesmerizing vocals and other sounds such as fuzz pedal and warm bass melodies, the song transports into a place of contemplation. With lyrics such as “And I don’t know how It goes/On and on,” VanGaalen seems to be questioning the existence of life itself as he juxtaposes the music with characters that “Lived on the spider’s milk all summer.” A little after the halfway point the music picks up the pace and propels itself at a faster pace as reverb drenched vocals fill the void before slowing back down again. A short instrumental track called “Flute Peace” comes in next featuring a collection of Eastern sounding instrumentation from flutes, drums and acts as a brief interlude before “Starlight”. This track starts off with whirling sounding synthesizers, what sounds like wind chimes and birds before heavy bass and drum patterns arrive. This kaleidoscopic track features a psychedelic kraut rock influence, as VanGaalen’s trademark multi-layered reverb loaded vocals get hazy and infiltrate this track. He questions with words throughout the song such as “We’ll keep moving around it/Until we find our way/It doesn’t make sense but it makes way,” “And the light that becomes us is just feeding on fate.” This track is an example of Chad VanGaalen’s songwriting abilities and how they differ greatly from others. “Where’s It All Going?” is a laid back, calming song. With its airy acoustic folk dynamics and eerie vocal inflections, it delves into existentialism as it also features a darker character driven narrative combined with self reflective inner thoughts. “Earth From A Distance” is a longer floating instrumental piece that features sweeping synthesizers and is very cinematic sounding. This song would not sound out of place in an episode of Twin Peaks or in 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick.

“Nightwaves” is a more upbeat garage track, featuring synthesizers and other Eastern sounds. The song lyrically scrolls into themes about the endless newsfeeds of social media and the emptiness that they induce. “Plant Music” is a lighter, yet still somehow disturbing instrumental track featuring stringed instruments, again dipping into the sonic spaces of Eastern music. “Nothing Is Strange” is an off kilter folk track in which VanGaalen’s voice is all warbly. Lyrically, with words such as “Turn up the radio I think we’re dead/And floating around like some ominous sound,” and “Don’t head to the hills when you hear the bells break/Cause there’s nothing you can do and there ain’t no escape,” VanGaalen portrays a dark, apocalyptic, end of the world setting in song. “Golden Pear” is another off kilter folk inspired track. With fuzzy guitar, field recording sounds, VanGaalen elicits an emotional response from the listener with surreal lyrics about a magical pear.

“Nightmare Scenario” is a feverish paranoid garage rock track that channels driving off beat rhythms about a character that is “Stressed out all the time when you should be feeling well,” that picks up at one point sounding influenced by Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul” before it trails off into another musical direction and world. “Samurai Sword” was the lead off single for World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener. This folk track is catchy and is about a missing sword and shows VanGaalen’s story telling abilities through song with words such as “It has a blade that has been tampered by the blood of the gods and a tiny little sticker of a dog,” and “Folded over a million times/By the lonely blacksmith that lives in the skies,” that in-between acoustic guitars and layered vocals, features VanGaalen playing copper plumbing pipes like a xylophone. The final track “Water Brother” transmits a neoclassical, cello heavy cinematic influence. Lyrically, the song ends the album in a haunting introspection with lyrics such as “Dear people/Are you satisfied with what became of all this chatter?” and “She was a healer of the spirit that lives in the water,” Chad VanGaalen ends World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener on a rich musical soundscape peppered with rhetorical questions reflecting what we could call a cosmic folk tale. Like his illustrations and animations, the songs that Chad VanGaalen creates capture a sense of something of the unknown, the otherworldly, visually and sonically. With World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener, Chad VanGaalen digs deep to show us a world that is dark, multifaceted and sonically captivating. 

Listen to Revolution Rock's interview with Chad VanGaalen:

Show 875 Playlist (Originally Aired On March 27th, 2021)(Chad VanGaalen Interview):

1.  TUNS - We Stand United
2.  Les Shirley - 23
3.  Painted Shrines - Not So Bad
4.  Clara O'Page - Wild Woman
5.  Willie Dunn - Son of the Sun
6.  Chad VanGaalen - Nightwaves
7.  Chad VanGaalen - Nightmare Scenario

CHAD VANGAALEN INTERVIEW PART ONE

8.  Chad VanGaalen - Samurai Sword
9.  Chad VanGaalen - Wind Driving Dogs

CHAD VANGAALEN INTERVIEW PART TWO

10. Chad VanGaalen - Mind Hijacker's Curse
11. Chad VanGaalen - Leaning On Bells
12. Chad VanGaalen - Nothing Is Strange
13. Serge Gainsbourg - Melody
14. Serge Gainsbourg - Ballade de Melody Nelson
15. Mike Krol - California
16. King Khan Unlimited - Bedwetter
17. The Cheetahs - The City Is Dead
18. Chang-A-Lang - Throwaway Litres
19. Trout - Easy Breezy
20. Kim Gray - Restless Legs
21. Knickers - Bored In The Supermarket
22. Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds -  Sean Delear
23. Chad VanGaalen - Where Are You?

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE.

2017 Highlights & Shows # 702 & 703

For my best of 2017, me and my co-host selected 10 albums that we each liked and played these and other selections from 2017 across two episodes. You can download these episodes under the playlists below. I’ve included each of our top 10 lists in this post, followed by a little write-up of each of our top five albums that we liked from 2017.

Dave’s Top 10 Albums of 2017:

1. The Sadies - Northern Passages
2. Chad VanGaalen - Light Information
3. Ty Segall - Ty Segall
4. Dion Lunadon - Dion Lunadon
5. King Khan Murderburgers
6. Oh Sees - Orc/OCS - Memory of a Cut Off Head
7. Protomartyr - Relatives In Descent
8. The Courtneys - II
9. Black Lips - Satan’s Graffiti or God’s Art?
10. Teenanger - Teenager

Adam’s Top 10 Albums of 2017:

1. Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me
2. LCD Soundsystem - American Dream
3. Ty Segall - Ty Segall
4. King Krule - The Ooz
5. Slowdive - Slowdive
6. Priests - Nothing Feels Natural
7. Perfume Genius - No Shape
8. The Courtneys - II
9. Protomartyr - Relatives In Descent
10. Father John Misty - Pure Comedy

A Few Write-ups From A Selection of Our Top 10 Lists:

Dave's Top Five:

1. The Sadies – Northern Passages

Northern Passages is the 10th full-length album released by Toronto’s The Sadies, who formed in 1994. This album makes connections with the band’s past, musically and spiritually as well as connecting with the present and future. Several of the songs on Northern Passages are like walking into a wide-open field. With each track The Sadies make new paths and breathe new life into previous paths that they’ve travelled through in the past. “Riverview Fog” opens Northern Passages in a psychedelic folk fashion. It is slow and conjures up the feeling of walking on an overcast day prior to a rainfall. Lyrically the song acts as a letter and combination of thoughts to an old reclusive friend that you haven’t spoken to in a while. “Riverview Fog” is said to be about Rick White of Eric’s Trip/Elevator, who alongside Greg Keelor (of Blue Rodeo), Dallas Good, Travis Good, Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky of The Sadies played in The Unintended. With lyrics such as “I know that’s not where you’re at today/Stay calm in your quiet getaway”, “Long gone are the days/They’ve all passed away” and “But I know you’re where you need to be/Out in the country”, “Riverview Fog” mixes up a complex pairing of thoughts and reflectiveness, while at the same time displaying a hopefulness. With an overall sound that can be described as an “acid-folk-country-punk trip”, Northern Passages finds The Sadies navigating through familiar and new territories. The Sadies are not travelling through a path less travelled here, but they are creating their own.

2. Chad VanGaalen – Light Information

Chad VanGaalen has always been known for his own unique style, one many call off-kilter indie rock. Recorded and produced by himself (with the exceptions of a few parts on a few tracks), the music on Light Information predates 2014’s Shrink Dust. As usual, VanGaalen’s music provides the listener with a different, often darker perspective on many things. Musically, the album produces its own unique rhythms, but at the same time seeming to have more catchy melodies, combined with many of the creepy, paranoid induced lyrics. “Mind Hijackers Curse”, is a warbly post-punk inspired track, “Locked In The Phase” gets more psychedelic, as “Host Body” tells the haunting tale of parasitic demons that “Eat me from the inside/I can already hear them chewing”, but one that seems to bring forth a tale of someone taken over by one of these parasites, to represent and save (or doom) the others. This can be seen as a look into our modern, Internet, quick spread information driven world. A subject that is touched upon in many different ways on Light Information.

“Mystery Elementals” is a fuzz driven track, “Old Heads” is an off-kilter pop song that only VanGaalen could write. It is a song about how technologies need to constantly replace, or regenerate themselves. “Golden Oceans” dips into garage punk waters, as “Pine And Clover” is a haunting ballad, as the album closer “Static Shape”, combines folk with synthesizer sounds. Light Information as VanGaalen stated in a press release is about “not being comfortable with anything really”. As a result, Light Information revels in unease, producing tales of paranoia, isolation, and alienation, among other themes reflecting our modern technological landscape.

3. Ty Segall – Ty Segall

Following Ty Segall’s 2016 noisy concept album Emotional Mugger, Ty Segall released a self-titled full-length album in 2017. This album, is not as noisy as its predecessor, however, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t noisy moments found on this album, there are plenty. This album is also the second full-length album released by Ty Segall that is also a self-titled release. His first was in 2008, at the beginning of his recording and musical garage adventures as a solo artist, with Segall playing the majority of the instrumentation. 2017’s Ty Segall release seems like a new beginning of sorts for Segall. This is the first full-length album where it was recorded with a live band in a room since 2012’s Slaughterhouse, which was recorded with the Ty Segall Band. Despite being produced (or recorded by) Steve Albini, this does not get in the way of the album. It has its own feel. This album isn’t a concept album as was the noisy horror punk of Emotional Mugger and it’s not as glossy sounding as 2014’s Manipulator, but despite what his previous albums have to say, this one has its own thing to say. There is no overarching concept here and the last twelve seconds of this album provide us with a glimpse of an answer to the points I’m bringing up here. The eleventh track on Ty Segall is a twelve second song titled “Untitled”. It is clearly a false start of one of the other songs found on this album, followed by laughter. This ending may seem odd to some, but it also provides a simple sonic example, that Ty Segall may be trying new things and has released multiple albums throughout his career, but, he’s still Ty Segall. He hasn’t forgotten his beginnings and we don’t know where he’ll go next musically.

4. Dion Lunadon – Dion Lunadon

For the past seven years, Dion Lunadon has been playing bass in New York’s A Place To Bury Strangers. Prior to exploring the noisy world of A Place To Bury Strangers, Dion played in numerous bands. The D4 are now known as garage legends from New Zealand and were part of the garage revival of the late 90s/early 2000’s. Dion played guitar in this band and would take lead vocals on several tracks at times, trading off with Jimmy Christmas, The D4’s other singer/guitarist. Following the end of this band, Dion relocated to New York, where he started a new group, The True Lovers. This band adopted a more soulful approach, but after about a year and one album they ended too. Beneath the noisy waves and bass grooves in A Place To Bury Strangers, something was rising to the surface. For Dion and was a raw, unbridled blast of songwriting. During a recording/touring break with A Place To Bury Strangers, Dion wrote fifty new songs and from this list he culled eleven tracks (twelve if you count the B-side to 2016’s Com/Broke single) to create what would become his first self-titled and debut album. The songs that make up Dion Lunadon are filled with a certain raw, visceral aesthetic. Dion Lunadon explores a noisy world encompassing a variety of influences drawing on punk, garage, psychedelic, post-punk and others while lyrically it taps into urban life and the frustrations and determinations that come along with it. Dion Lunadon is an album that was created within a certain moment in time and it is something that not only grabs, but demands your attention.

5. King Khan - Murderburgers

Murderburgers is the first solo album released by King Khan. Khan, who has been releasing music usually of the garage, punk and soul/R&B variety since the early 2000’s, has been part of many bands including King Khan & The Shrines as well as The King Khan & BBQ and countless others. For this album, Khan was backed by Oakland, California band The Gris Gris. Recorded in about a week, the album was produced by Greg Ashley at his Creamery Studio, which is no more. At just ten tracks, the album shows a new depth to the music created by Khan. “Discrete Disguise” is a soulful island ballad, “It’s Just Begun” gives the listener a taste of folk rock, “Run Doggy Run” adds some psychedelic soul sounds to this album’s palate, while “It’s A Lie” brings garage rock flavours. “Born In 77” is a proto-punk Stooges rave-up, “Teeth Are Shite” is a sleazy garage punk track, “Desert Mile” delves into the blues, and “Winter Weather”, the album’s closer, is a slow garage soul ballad. When all ten tracks are put together, the combination of musical ingredients may surprise some, but Murderburgers provides the listener with an eclectic platter of King Khan’s musical abilities.

Adam's Top Five:

1. Mount Eerie – A Crow Looked at Me

There is a clear distinction between A Crow Looked at Me and other recent releases that address leaving behind this mortal coil, such as Blackstar or You Want it Darker. The later albums are exercises in accepting mortality. Elverum’s record details the experience of losing a loved one. In 2016, Elverum’s wife Geneviève Castrée the Washington based singer, performer, and visual artist passed away from pancreatic cancer. A Crow Looked at Me is the aftermath of this loss, recounting in excruciating detail the process of mourning Phil Elverum went through. There is something so pure and raw in his depiction of the day-to-day aspects of life after his wife’s death that truly underscore the loss. It is these minor details, the eruption of grief that comes from the most seeming mundane of events, that tangibly relay this experience: trying to remember whether she liked Canadian Geese, sorting items in her vacant room, and crying after receiving a backpack in the mail she had ordered for their daughter.

For anyone who has dealt with the death of a loved one, A Crow Looked at Me will resonate all too strongly. Elverum never obfuscates or embellishes, but gives direct and impactful descriptions in his songs. On the album’s final song, Elverum recounts a trek with his daughter where they spot a crow circling overhead. Rather than a sign of resolution, the crow acts as a reminder of the presence death constantly has over them. It is a sobering admittance that there is neither consolation nor closure. To the album’s credit it offers no instructions on how to deal with grief, for there are none. A Crow Looked at Me is a painful record. However, it may be the most crucial record of 2017. During a polemic year in which the divisions of politics, race, class, gender, and privilege have been reminded to us again and again, Elverum has produced a work that talks about one of the few truly universal subjects that crosses all divisions and boundaries. By articulating his personal pain, Elverum reminds us of the one aspect in which we are the same.

2. LCD Soundsystem – American Dream

If you would have asked me at the beginning of the year whether the world needed another LCD Soundsystem album, my answer would have been a resounding “no.” I thought I had my full of the nostalgia-drenched, new wave tinged dance-rock that the band helped to popularize in the late 2000’s. Yes, Murphy is still pilfering riffs from late 70’s art-rock (the grinding guitars of “Change Yr Mind” take liberally from Brian Eno’s “No One Receiving”). Yes, the album still permeates with fat, warm sounding synths. And yes, Murphy still waxes philosophically over his growing alienation from the youth culture he once inhabited. However, for all the familiarity there is also a lot of change. The album is less dance-oriented than its predecessors, marked by slower paced songs and darker textures. There has never been so much atmosphere on an LCD Soundsystem record before. As a result the album projects a very serious mood that is all too appropriate for the matured lyrical focus of James Murphy.

As one would suspect from a title like American Dream, the album sees Murphy casting a critical eye towards the society around him. Online, commercial, and youth culture are thoroughly scrutinized, all the while Murphy tackles these subjects with humour, nuance, and refreshing self-awareness. Some topics broached include government surveillance (“Other Voices”), the escalating political and ideological rifts within America (“Call the Police”), and the false promises of individual identity offered by consumer culture (“Tonite”). While darker in scope than any of the band’s previous releases, the album’s bleakest moment is left for its closer: “Blank Screen,” a slow pulsing eulogy for Murphy’s deceased friend and musical idol David Bowie. More than just an acceptable return to the studio, American Dream acts as a revitalization for the group. It is a warts-and-all snapshot of what it means to live in America in 2017, and perhaps the band’s best and most mature record.

3. Ty Segall – Ty Segall

Ty Segall is the logical culmination of the artist’s past ten years of output. For 36 glorious minutes the garage-rocker rummages through the sounds of The Beatles, Stooges, and Syd Barrett to create a kaleidoscopic sonic experience.“Break a Guitar” is not so much a song but an anthem, celebrating the destructive and creative powers of rock. “Orange Colour Queen” is Segall’s most beautiful and emotive ballad to date. Then there is the 10 minute freak out “Warm Hands (Freedom Returned)”, the definitive moment of the rocker’s career - Ty sounds like he is exorcising the ghosts of Hendrix, Bolan, and Ashton throughout with his incendiary playing. In a year when rock music seems to be losing its presence in the van guard of modern popular music, Ty Segall is an electrifying reminder of the energy, passion, and rawness that makes this music so powerful.

4. King Krule – The Ooz

On The Ooz, Archy Marshall does the inexplicable: the artist doesn’t so much create an album, but a country of sound. In this new land the searing psychobilly of the Birthday Party sits comfortably beside icy Wu-Tang hip-hop, ambient soundscapes merge into indie-guitar freak outs, and the line between dissonance and melody is irrevocably blurred. This 70 minute downer-rock suite takes the best of what Marshall did in the past and magnifies it; Marshall has never sounded as melancholic as on “Slush Puppy,” as contemplative as on “Half Man Half Shark,” or as vicious as on “Dum Surfer.” An epic and immersive listen.



5. Slowdive – Slowdive

Slowdive could have been a simple cash-in, banking on 90’s indie nostalgia for the band’s signature guitar based dream-pop. Instead, it turned out to be one of the most powerful statements of the group’s career. Familiar shoegaze guitars and hazy vocals are paired with more innovative arrangements, vaster atmospheres, and an increased focus on volume. While most bands tend to soften with age, Slowdive have never sounded as explorative or self-assured as on “Roving Star” and “Slomo.” These intense numbers are aided by the album’s production, which relies on live-recording rather than the processed textures of their earlier work. The result is Slowdive’s rawest record to date, an album that pays homage to the band’s legacy while simultaneously striving for innovation.


Show 703 (Best of 2017 Part Two):

1. James O-L & The Villains - Back Then (Wild Goose Jack EP - Famous Last Records - 2017)
2. Diane Motel - Get Through To You (Lonesome For The Colour - 2017)
3. Ariel Pink - Bubblegum Dreams (Dedicated Bobby Jameson - Mexican Summer - 2017)
4. Tough Age - Everyday Life (Shame - Mint Records - 2017)
5. Cellos - Demagogue (The Great Leap Backward - Harbour House - 2017)
6. Tobin Sprout - Future Boy/Man of Tomorrow (The Universe and Me - Burger Records - 2017)
7. Sprinters - Young As Me (Sprinters - Icecapades - 2017)
8. Thee Rum Coves - Behind Your Smile (Out Tonight EP - Aeroplane - 2017)
9. Chain & The Gang - Rome Wasn't Burned In A Day (Experimental Music - Radical Elite Records - 2017)
10. Alvvays - Hey (Antisocialities - Polyvinyl Record Co. - 2017)
11. Kevin Morby - 1234 (City Music - Dead Oceans - 2017)
12. Slowdive - Star Roving (Slowdive - Dead Oceans - 2017)
13. King Khan - Winter Weather (Murderburgers - Khannibalism - 2017)
14. King Krule - Half Man Half Shark (The Ooz - True Panther Sounds - 2017)
15. Dion Lunadon - Com/Broke (Dion Lunadon - Agitated Records - 2017)
16. Ty Segall - Paper (Ty Segall - Drag City Records - 2017)
17. Ty Segall - Warm Hands (Freedom Returned) (Ty Segall - Drag City Records - 2017)
18. LCD Soundsystem - Emotional Haircut (American Dream - DFA Records/Columbia - 2017)
19. Chad VanGaalen - Old Heads (Light Information - Sub Pop - 2017
20. Mount Eerie - Ravens (A Crow Looked At Me - P.W. Elverum & Sun - 2017)
21. The Sadies - There Are No Words (Northern Passages - Yep Roc Records/Dine Alone Records - 2017)
22. The Sadies - It's Easy (Like Walking)(Northern Passages - Yep Roc Records/Dine Alone Records - 2017)

Download this episode here!

Show 702 (Best of 2017 Part One):

1. The National - Turtleneck (Sleep Well Beast - 4AD - 2017)
2. Tim Darcy - Tall Glass of Water (Saturday Night - Jagjaguwar - 2017)
3. Aron D'Alesio - Where You Going To (Aron D'Alesio - Paper Bag Records - 2017)
4. Paul The Tailor - Two Brains (Paul The Tailor - 2017)
5. Lucille Furs - Please, Give Her The Letter (Lucille Furs - 2017)
6. (Sandy) Alex G. - Judge (Rocket - Domino Recording Co. - 2017)
7. Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile - Fear Is Like A Forest (Lotta Sea Lice - Matador Records - 2017)
8. Daniel Romano - Roya (Modern Pressure - New West Records - 2017)
9. Deer Tick - Jumpstarting (Vol. 1/Vol. 2 - Partisan Records - 2017)
10. Sam Coffey & The Iron Lungs - Judy (Sam Coffey & The Iron Lungs - Burger Records/Dine Alone Records - 2017)
11. Guided By Voices - Keep Me Down (August By Cake - Guided By Voices Inc. - 2017)
12. Dusty Mush - I Ate your Dog (Cheap Entertainment - Stolen Body Records - 2017)
13. Wolf Parade - Valley Boy (Cry Cry Cry - Sub Pop - 2017)
14. Father John Misty - Total Entertainment Forever (Pure Comedy - Sub Pop - 2017)
15. Teenanger - Fun Forgot (Teenager - Telephone Explosion - 2017)
16. Protomartyr - Here Is The Thing (Relatives In Descent - Domino Records - 2017)
17. Black Lips - Crystal Night (Satan's Graffiti Or God's Art? - Vice Records - 2017)
18. Black Lips - Wayne (Satan's Graffiti Or God's Art? - Vice Records - 2017)
19. The Courtneys - Silver Velvet (II - Flying Nun Records - 2017)
20. The Courtneys - Country Song (II - Flying Nun Records - 2017)
21. The Courtneys - Minnesota (II - Flying Nun Records - 2017)
22. Perfume Genius - Slip Away (No Shape - Matador Records - 2017)
23. Protomartyr - A Private Understanding (Relatives In Descent - Domino Records - 2017)
24. Priests - Appropriate (Nothing Feels Natural - Sister Polygon Records - 2017)
25. OCS - The Chopping Block (Memory Of A Cut Off Head - Castle Face Records - 2017)
26. Oh Sees - Jettisoned (Orc - Castle Face Records - 2017)

Download this episode here!

Chad Vangaalen Shrink Dust & Show # 507

Shrink Dust is the follow up to 2011’s Diaper Island by Chad Vangaalen, an artist from Calgary, Alberta. The songs that make up Shrink Dust are difficult to pin down, as are a majority of the songs by Chad Vangaalen. He calls this album his “country album” and although it isn’t a standard country album per se, you can hear the underlying influences of artists such as The Flying Burritos Brothers, as Vangaalen has stated in interviews for this album. There is also pedal steel work throughout this album that pops up, Vangaalen recently acquired and taught himself how to play this instrument recently. Recorded entirely in his home studio in Alberta, Shrink Dust seems to come off with a mood or feeling resembling that feeling just before you fall asleep, crossed with a nightmare.

Vangaalen has his own unique style of songwriting. When he sings, it comes off in a way with haunting vocals that have been compared to the likes of Thom Yorke and Daniel Johnston. Shrink Dust is also loosely based on a feature length sci-fi animation styled film that Chad has been working on to be titled Translated Log Of Inhabitants. Apparently it will be released later this year and it is a cross between 2001: A Space Odyssey and Strange Brew, in terms of subject matter.

The album begins with the song “Cut Off My Hands”, a song that sets the tone for this album, music and lyric wise it will be dark at times. “Doused in waves of static haze” is sung at one point during this acoustic folk track, but then a weird synthesizer effect, sounding like garbled ocean noises comes in. Throughout the song there are strange instruments adding to its esoteric textures, the pedal steel comes in near the end of the song with a haunting echo. “Where Are You?” was the first single released for this album. It features an eerie sounding synthesizer, fuzz bass sounds, an almost hip hop drum beat and other texturizing sound effects that add to its soundscape, while a song like “Frozen Palace” features many elements in addition to Vangaalen’s psychedelic folk sound. Including some electronic and hip hop elements, “Frozen Place” sounds like it could have been recorded in an arctic snowstorm. “Lila” once again displays Vangaalen’s own folk influenced sound, but features a highly catchy layered chorus. “Monster” has a shuffle-like beat and tells the story of transforming into another life form. I would imagine this could be the basis of the artwork found on the album cover for Shrink Dust, but once again is extremely catchy and creepy at the same time.

Songs such as “Weighted Sin” and “Hangman’s Son” both cater to Chad Vangaalen’s country sound as he would call it, but they come off here with their dark imagery and sonic dynamics as psychedelic country. “Hangman’s Son” in particular seems to draw from the well that Neil Young once drank from on Harvest Moon. The imaginary sounds kick in on the drone-like “Evil”, while “Leaning On Bells” picks up the pace in a groove that was once explored on the more psych garage sounds found on 2011’s Diaper Island. “Cosmic Destroyer” ends the album, bringing in a relaxed vibe, with pedal steel, with Chad Vangaalen’s layered expansive sound. The lyrics to this track “When the world in your head/is the world where you live/the people seem stranger there/paranoid dreams it goes on and on” seem to stick out as a relevant point of interest when discussing Shrink Dust. This album, while loosely based as a score for his forthcoming animation feature that is to feature 150 characters, takes us on a weird journey with lush psychedelic sounds with dominant acoustic guitars, pedal steel and layered vocals. Shrink Dust is a strange and beautiful look into the world of music and characters in which Chad Vangaalen creates that goes on and on like a paranoid dream.

The Play List:

1. Ramones - Do You Remember Rock n' Roll Radio?
2. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - White Palms
3. The Black Angels - The Flop
4. The Sunsets - I Want Love
5. Hot Snakes - Kreative Kontrol
6. Lame Brain - Sleeping King
7. Ty Segall - Son Of Same (Chain Gang)
8. The Modernettes - Red Nails
9. Hot Nasties - I Am A Confused Teenager
10. Pointed Sticks - No Use For U
11. Twin Library - Kick It Apart
12. Sun Parlour Players - By Your Side
13. Denney & The Jets - Water To Wine
14. Chad Vangaalen -Evil
15. Chad Vangaalen - Leaning On Bells
16. Death - North Street
17. Japandroids - For The Love Of Ivy
18. Young Rival - Too Hip
19. Shotgun Jimmie - Onomatopeia
20. Dee Dee Ramone & The Chinese Dragons - Chatterbox
21. The Weirdos - Life Of Crime
22. The Replacements - Hootenanny

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for May 6. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.