BDK Update

Noiseography crew

I did another guest review for Noiseography, this time I reviewed the Caribou and Rich Aucoin sets from The Paragon on friday night. You can read them here.

BDK News

I usually don't post news items on here, but I am so impressed by this I had to post it. Legendary Jazz drummer Jerry Granelli (Vince Guaraldi Trio, Light Sound Dimension, etc) has not only recorded his first ever solo drum record, he recorded it in Halifax with our own engineer mastermind Charles Austin and it's being released in a limited run by Halifax label Divorce Records (with artwork by Yo Rodeo, completing the trifecta of local involvement).

Granelli began his career as a pupil of Joe Morello, whom I previously wrote about here. He went on to have a long successful career as a free jazz, improvisational and psychedelic musician. He has played with some of the greats, such as Bruce Frisell and Ornette Coleman, and he was also the drummer on the soundtrack to a Charlie Brown Christmas.

This is a huge accomplishment for our local boys and a step forward for Granelli, who always seems to be pushing his limits. The album is available for pre order on the Divorce Records website, and here is the official press release.

"Jerry Granelli has lived a mythic life. He drummed in some of the biggest jazz outfits of the 50s-60s, including Vince Guaraldi Trio and the Denny Zetlin Trio. Like many of his peers, Granelli could have played it safe and made a comfortable career doing traditional jazz into his old age, but instead he dove into the new worlds of free and psychedelic music that were opening up around him during the hippie era in San Francisco. In the early 60’s he led one of the first free jazz bands in America. They did a three month opening spot for Lenny Bruce and toured extensively through Europe with the Grateful Dead, playing completely wild and spontaneous sets night after night, often to the scorn of unsuspecting audiences. A few years later he joined Light Sound Dimension (LSD), an outfit that paired marathons of free, amplified jazz with projection painting, effectively launching the first ever psychedelic light and sound event at the San Francisco Art Museum in 1967. LSD was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Since those early years Jerry has played with an impressive list of innovators including Bruce Frisell, Ornette Coleman, Jamie Saft, and Anthony Braxton to name just a few. And at 70 he still travels the world playing and teaching new music.

Despite all his accomplishments, until we asked, Granelli had yet to make a solo drum record. For us it seemed fitting that after a life behind the kit, Jerry finally go it alone. No one, including Jerry, knew what to expect, but the results are remarkable. All the tracks on 1313 except one were played with no overdubs, and most were done in a single take. For those of us involved with documenting the session, it was a magical night. 1313 is dark, masterful, and bravely unique --- an outstanding new exploration of percussion and sound by a man who has been challenging himself musically for 60+ years. Here at DIVORCE we have never been more excited about a release. Engineered by Charles Austin. Produced by Charles Austin, Jerry Granelli, and Darcy Spidle. Mastered by Weasal Walter. Art by Yo Rodeo. Edition of 600 copies. Mail order version includes a CD. SHIPS IN EARLY JULY."

Indie Spotlight: The Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns

The schizophrenic drumming of Paul Banwatt (also of Woodhands) is like a puzzle piece that is slightly misshapen so you shove it down with your thumb to make it fit. It should feel out of place in the mid tempo party-folk songs of The Rural Alberta Advantage, but it doesn't. Instead it shifts the feel of the songs into something erratic and epic, a foundation that is always moving.

This is no more evident than in Don't Haunt This Place where the drums take center stage, swirling around the vocal and getting in quick cymbal shots and jabs. His time is perfect as he plays quick rolls and off kilter patterns seldom heard on folk records. In Drain The Blood, Banwatt's hands are all over the place but his kick drum foot is locked in tight with the bass. When the chorus comes in he unleashes a succession of tom and snare rolls. His drumming takes on a more aggressive feel in Luciana, the cymbal swells and rolls have a high tempo psychedelic feel to them, and he keeps his kick drum pumping through the track.

The drumming on this record wouldn't be so notable if the songs weren't so damn awesome. once in a while Paul will take a lesser stance and let the songs really come through. In The Air he stays on track with a cool kick snare pattern while the keyboard and vocals take charge. All in all, Paul's patterns are a step out of the ordinary for this kind of record, the songs benefit from having someone play outside of the original frame of the piece. It doesn't necessarily work for everyone, but for the RAA it's a recipe for success.

Black Mountain - In The Future

I think if I had millions of dollars and the ability to make movies, I would have Black Mountain on my payroll to score everything I do. It's really hard to blend darker elements of rock, prog and psych, keep it at a mid tempo and still manage to play powerful epic songs. When it fails you get just another shitty rock band. When it works, you get an album like In The Future, perfect in its idea and execution. Critics subsequently lose their minds over it.

If you've never heard this album then I can't really describe it for you, it sounds like everything that has happened in music already, yet there has never been anything like it before. Personally, I like it because it sounds like an album The Melvins (whom I love) would make if they could just focus. Every part feels thought out to the last detail, everything from tone to themes to lyrics to melody to mic placement and production. The drums sound like they were recorded in the hull of a warship on its way to lay waste to the shoreline of its enemies. It also helps that Joshua Wells has the patience of a saint. He knows when to sail along quietly and when to launch the cannons.

Wells can keep time with the best of them, but where he really shines is with his toms. Evil Ways is driven by a twisted version of the Bo-Diddly tom beat, and towards the end we get few glimpses of Wells' skill on his instrument, enough to let us know that he knows what he's doing, but not so much as to come off as pretentious. Tyrants is the second longest and most epic track on the record, and most of the time Wells is stomping along with muddy, thunderous tom beats and rolls. It's never extravagant, always the right amount of flash and focus, and his drumming keeps things interesting for the entire 8 minute song.

Wells is patient with his approach. In Queens Will Pay he spends half of the song in silence, the tension building as you can sense him lurking in the shadows. Finally he attacks, and with a wash of cymbals he conquers the last minute of the track. The whole album is littered with examples of mature, focused musicianship and it deserves all the praise it acquired.

This is an album I will listen to until I'm old and deaf, I just know it.

BDK Update

So I just got back from a two-week tour (hence the no posting) and I'm still getting settled so give me a few more days to get some stuff up. In the meantime, we filmed a bunch of stuff on the road and you can check it out while I sort myself out.

First off we filmed a spoof episode of MTV Cribs in Waterloo.

And here are a series of short blogs from our trip.

There that should keep you occupied for a while.

Malajube - Trompe l'oeil

When I was in Notre Dame-du Lac, Quebec with a broken down van and a group of frustrated people, I purchased a number of Quebec exclusive "big beers" and along with my band mates proceeded to drink until I didn't care about our predicament anymore. What followed was a night of billiards, poutine, and at some point, my first actual exposure to the television channel Musique Plus (I may have watched it once, briefly, while on a high school trip to Quebec City, but I was probably too busy looking at french girls' bums to pay attention). At one point, when the seven of us were crammed in our hotel room, this video came on :

It was nice and unexpected to see a video that not only in itself was visually interesting, but the song was extremely well written, catchy and poppy with enough noise and odd parts to catch the ear of anyone who was looking for more. I guess I was just used to the onslaught of garbage transmitted by Musique Plus' english counterpart. We have long stopped being able to get anything decent broadcast into our living rooms during the regular hours of the night. We promptly bough their album while in Montreal and listened to it approximately thirteen times before we arrived back to Halifax.

What Malajube proved with the success of this album is that great songs will always transcend language barriers as long as everything else is done properly. To be honest, I never used to put much stock into French music (and I'm French), but this album instantly struck a chord with me, the intention of the songs comes across even if you don't understand what he is saying. Growing up I had heard a lot of french music, but it was all mostly about girls and fishing. I had never really been exposed to much coming out of Quebec and France other than Celine Dion and Daft Punk, and really, for a French record to have much chance of success internationally is fairly slim, both Celine and Daft Punk sing in english. Thankfully, people are starting to acually listen to music now, and bands like Sigur Ros and Laakso are doing fairly well all over the world.

The drums on this album can only be described as fat. They sound thick and precise with a very room-y and huge presence, like a Flaming Lips record. Francis Mineau does a great job of playing off melodies and vocal lines but keeping everything rooted with the bass. He plays with a real sense of urgency and power, it feels like he's hitting really hard even in the quiet parts. Songs like Pate Filo and Montreal -40 keep a nice steady rock beat with lots of huge cymbals and some rave ups, while songs like La Crabe and Fille a Plume have loud and deep tom rolls and lots of strict timekeeping.

If I had any money at all to bring a band to the East Coast, it would definitely be these guys. It would give me a chance to just sit on the side of the stage and watch Francis play*. I could also get them to bring me some big beers and some poutine on their way.

*I once had the chance to see Malajube in Hyacinthe, Quebec, while on my way home from a tour. I had even contacted them, told them I was on the road and really wanted to see them but I had no money and they put all of us on the guest list, along with their cell phone number in case anything went wrong, which was super cool. Alas the day came and we were so exhausted from the previous two weeks that we drove straight home to our beds. It was definitely the right thing to do, but I haven't had the chance to see them live since, and every time I think about it, I piss myself off.

BDK Interview - Brad Weber

Brad Weber is fast becoming one of Canada's most inventive and talented drummers. Most often he is on the road playing with Dan Snaith's Polaris-prize winning project Caribou (whom I previously wrote about here). Any down time is put towards his current multi percussion juggernaut Pick a Piper (whom I also wrote about, here). PaP recently completed an eastern Canadian tour before Weber shipped off to the UK to begin rehearsals for the next Caribou outing. With Pick a Piper, Weber breaks songs down to their rhythmic core and builds them back up with layers upon layers of tribal beats, tambourines, shakers and multiple drum kits. With Caribou, he blazes a trail through the schizophrenic patterns and melodies planted by Snaith, something that requires a deeper understanding of rock drumming than most care to explore. He is a master of dynamics and an engaging performer, someone that really displays the capacities of the instrument while still having a good time.

I met Brad after I shared the stage with Pick a Piper for two shows in Halifax. I knew he was going to be a decent drummer, but I didn't expect him to be as theatrical as he was. He struck me as someone who can remain extremely focused amidst musical chaos, someone who never loses his place or his cool. I've always been interested in people who can still have fun whilst taking their art seriously. I asked Brad if he would be interested in doing an interview. He's a pretty nice guy, so he said yes.

photo: F. Yang

1. Your approach to percussion in Pick a Piper seems influenced by tribal/polyrhythmic drumming. When did you begin exploring the potential of multiple drummers?

I started exploring multi-drum rhythms a lot in solo recordings of mine, perhaps starting 6 or 7 years ago. It was just so interesting how rhythmic layers could play off each other in an intriguing way. I've always been into various hand percussion, shaky items, pots and pans, etc... anything I can toss into a track I will.

I didn't start to play with another drummer live until I joined Caribou in 2007. After a year of touring with such a setup I was fascinated to try out a similar incarnation of my own. I had started collaborating a lot with Angus and Dan Roberts (second drummer and bass player in Pick a Piper respectively) and everything we completed just begged for at least one more kit on stage. Then we added hand percussion and points in the set when the four of us would play drums together.

2. Walk me through your songwriting process, do drums come first?

So far that has mostly been the case. We'll start with a rhythmic idea and base the song around that. We've been setting out to make dance music by organic means. Incorporating lots of percussion and building songs around those rhythmic origins has been a good way so far.

3. How did you become involved with Caribou?

My old band Winter Equinox saw Caribou back in 2004 and gave them our demo CD at the time and kept up communication with Dan Snaith over email. Near the end of The Milk Of Human Kindness tour, we emailed Dan and asked if we could open a show in Hamilton. To our excitement, he said yes! A year and a bit after that show Dan was still living in London UK and sent me an email about possibly joining Caribou in the future. He said he had remembered my drumming from that show and asked if I could record an audition. Coincidentally enough I happened to be in London on holidays at the time and met up with him and Ryan for lunch. We seemed to hit it off well and I went back to Canada and bunkered up for a week learning short loops of some of the more challenging Caribou drum parts. In the end he was happy with the audition and asked me to join. Definitely a highlight of my life so far.

4. Has drumming for Caribou influenced your playing in Pick a Piper, or vice-versa?

Playing with Snaith and the guys has taught me a lot. I've really learned to be a lot more dynamic drummer and very aware of space in my playing -- knowing when to keep it simple and when to release the gorilla! Snaith has turned me on to tons of amazing records that have totally broadened m style and given Pick a Piper a much larger palette of influences to draw from. Other than a few frantic moments in the PaP set, I generally try to lock onto the rhythmic foundation of the song and play out that particular groove in an almost hypnotic fashion. I think it's really important as a drummer to know when to just hold down the fort, especially making dancier music with Pick a Piper.

5. You have a very huge presence on the drums (mouth open, arms up in the air), is this something that just happens naturally?

I think it's just a matter of really really enjoying playing music live. I can't help but physically ebb and flow along to what I am playing.

6. What are some of your favorite independent Canadian drummers who should get more attention?

Mark Gaudet -- Elevator/Eric's Trip

Liam Epps -- What's He Building in There/ Ace Kincaid

Mike Bond -- Bocce

I don't really think of drummers in terms of their nationalities, so I'm having a tough time figuring out who is Canadian or not! Those guys are all really good though and there are tons more that I'm definitely missing.

Elevator - maritime psych rock wunderkinds

7. Do you have any specific gear you can't go on the road without?

I'm not much of a gear head really. I feel like it's easy to spend more time obsessing over gear than actually making music. I really enjoy making the most of whatever equipment I have at the time. Right now I'm playing on a really small Gretsch jazz kit that I really like, but with Caribou I play with Dan's kit, which is totally different. I've been incorporating midi triggers and foot pedals connected through a laptop lately and really enjoy the freedom and spontaneity those allow us. I've always used Vic Firth 5A sticks. I guess that's the one thing I can't go without, I'm pretty picky about it. Although I've never used anything else for most of my drumming career, so maybe I should force a change at some point!

8. What are your intentions with drumming for the future?

I'd like to continue playing with Caribou as long as I can and then work on my own music whenever we have breaks. I'll be touring with Caribou for the rest of the year, so we're hoping to finish writing and recording a Pick a Piper full length sometime in 2011. I just always want to be playing with other people and so far it's working out pretty well!

photo: Carl w. Heindl

You can catch Brad on tour with Caribou for the next while. The Halifax show on June 11th will be supported by two great acts, Rich Aucoin, who is a one man dance party, and Tomcat Combat, whom I've previously written about here. It's the must see show of the summer.