Battle of bands finale is April 16
NIMBUS: The Carlines, Goodwood Atoms, Lovecoast and Night Argent make the cut
The Nimbus School Of Recording Arts has narrowed down its recording competition to four bands chosen from 144 submissions.
The Final Four playing off for a single and other career boosts are The Carlines, Goodwood Atoms, Lovecoast and Night Argent. The showdown is April 16 at the Roxy.
At a different end of the spectrum, Business Class Records, the field project of the Nimbus School Of Recording Arts, presents its first Hump Bump Day at the Railway North Bar. This hopes to be a regular series of hip hop packages. The first one presents Tom MacDonald, Shai Mate, Frak and Aye Town.
Cityreal has its Prologue EP out Tuesday, which is — ahem — a prologue to the forthcoming album, Lost In Vancouver. Guests on the EP include Swollen Members’ Rikka and Tonye Aganabe.
Sylvi Mac Cormac and Chin Injeti are among the musicians appearing at the Strong Sessions Live. This is a chance to witness the accomplishments of members of VAMS (the Vancouver Adapted Music Society) and alludes to the compilation album, The Strong Sessions. April 9 at SFU Woodward’s.
Weed’s North American tour starts Wednesday at the Antisocial Skate Shop. Current single is Yr Songs from the forthcoming album, Running Back. The latter is due April. 7.
Toronto’s Coleman Hell is part of the roster of Vancouver indie, 604, which in turn has inked Hell to an international deal with Columbia.
Rampant Lion’s EP is Mirror Distortion. The trio, which describes its music as grungepop (which can be taken to mean Soundgarden leavened with T Rex), plays the Railway April 17 and Joe’s Apartment May 30.
April In Paris, a celebration of the Gypsy-jazz as popularized by Django Reinhardt, is back April 24-26 with, among others, The Hot Club Of Mars, Van Django and The Bills.
New Pornographers’ singer Kathryn Calder is on the loose again with a new self-titled album out April 14, a new single Song In Cm, (as pensive as the key might suggest), and a gig April 18 at the Media Club.
NEEDS releases its first LP May 12. The punkish band is at the Fortune Sound Club May 14.
On the rebound from a release on Nettwerk, The River And The Road has signed with MapleMusic. LP: Headlights, due May 12.
The finalists for the Wacken heavy metal festival in Germany will be banging heads at the Rickshaw Theatre April 10.
While still at the Rickshaw, the April 11 date by the Real McKenzies will be a little different. It coincides with the book launch of Under The Kilt: The Real McKenzies Exposed.
We The City re-releases its album, Violent, soundtrack to the trio’s acclaimed movie of the same name. This caps a recording deal with the U.S. Tooth And Nail label.
Yukon Blonde is touring as the opening act for Nate Mendel of Foo Fighters. First single from the band’s forthcoming album is Saturday Night, whose pushy bass and layering of keyboards is a departure.
Cd Of The Week
On its own terms, Rock And Roll Circus is blues-lined rock and roll but, on first listen, the influence of The Faces is especially apparent and can get in the way. The band comes clean with its sole cover, Ronny Wood’s I Can Feel The Fire from his I’ve Got My Own Album To Do. The choice of song speaks volumes about Rock And Roll Circus; the presence of slide guitar, the lighthearted feel of some of the songs and the variety point to The Faces and Woods’ significant role in that band. Rock And Roll Circus doesn’t have a songwriter as good as Ronnie Lane or singer as distinctive as Rod Stewart, but few bands do. Damn, it has spirit and soul that manifest themselves on repeated listens and suggest that, given time to develop, Rock And Roll Circus will find its own individuality. Until then, enjoy Scott Smith’s searing guitar and the band’s refreshing reminder of how good basic bluesrock
can be.
Gigs
The Wild! and One Bad Son (greasy, dirty rock, Wednesday, Roxy).
Ska’s The Eklixxxers with The Ponderosas, Everybody Left and Cawama (CD launch of The Elixxers’ East Side, Thursday, Biltmore).
World Music Festival (Locarno, Haram, Tambura Rasa, Kutapira, Friday, Imperial Room).
Heavy metal band Meridius (Saturday, 37 West Hastings).
Mike Edel (April 9, Biltmore. New LP: India, Seattle).
Just A Season (April 10, Fox Theatre).
Pharis And Jason Romero (the Horsefly B.C. duo sing songs from the new A Wanderer I’ll Stay, April 10, St. James Hall).
Tower Of Song (Leonard Cohen interpreted, April 10, Centennial Theatre, North Van).
Roy Forbes (April 11, Blue Frog).
Corben Murdoch And Nautical Miles (celebrating 10 years, April 24, Russian Hall).