More than the usual clatter
DESTROYER: First track on Poison Season is well worth a listen
Dan Bejar’s Destroyer will release its latest, Poison Season, Aug. 28.
New song Dream Lover (not the Bobby Darin song) leaps out of the starting gate with pushy drums and more than usual clatter.
Destroyer’s extensive North American tour brings Bejar to the Commodore Oct. 17.
The Wild! single Slow Burn is now top-10 on rock radio.
More on the Red Truck Beer Company’s Summer Parking Lot series: The one time micro-brewery has concerts scheduled for June 13, July 11, Aug. 15 and Sept. 12, with the first show headlined by Five Alarm Funk and supported by Tonye Aganaba, Kutapira and Vinyl Ritchie. The Red Truck parking lot is at 295 East 1st.
The Wheat in the Barley hookup with Medderick will return to the Elks Lounge in White Rock June 6. The Wheat In The Barley, if the Garage remembers correctly, is a trad folk group while Medderick is more an unseen and, therefore, unheralded, minstrelly Bob Dylan-type.
The No Fun conversion from cassette to compact disc continues. Snivel, from 1984, reveals David M as not only prolific but always pithy, heavily leaning toward satiric.
Also out is The Ghost Paper Boy At Robin’s Gay Trailer Park. Coming is No Fun Of Surrey.
The current song from Tiffany Desrosiers’ Fearless EP is The World Is Ours. Desrosiers’ voice is bold atop a dance-pop track. It’s possible to imagine Whitney Houston doing it.
Victoria’s Aidan Knight is at work on his third LP. In the meantime, he has released a new song, The Arp.
We Hunt Buffalo has signed to New Damage. Now on tour.
Sons Command has a video to go with its single, Gimme A Beer. The band is on a flatbed truck performing while a barn dance rages. Drop your eyebrows and enjoy.
A reminder that Steam Whistle’s Unsigned battle is Thursday at the Cobalt. Competing are High Ends, Actors and Blank Cinema.
Country’s Dallas Smith has established a new label, Steelhead Music. Smith and his partners make all the right noises about being a friendly platform for the aspiring act, but has acted quickly, so maybe they’re making their point. Steelhead already has its first signing, Manitoba’s Petric. Smith, who used to sing for hard rock band, Default, won the 2015 Juno for country album, Lifted.
Mathew V’s interpretation of his soul track, top-20 on the iTunes R&B chart, I’m A Bitch, is that it can be interpreted as empowerment, akin to standing up for your rights and declaring you won’t be pushed around. Funny, all this time the Garage thought he was just trying to be provocative. His defence is lame.
CD of the week
Although the 40th anniversary of Seasons In The Sun will get all the attention, the 40-track retrospective, Starfish On The Beach, reveals Terry Jacks as a producer who was sure of what he wanted from the beginning, The Chessmen, to his 1980s era albums on Attic. He’s like Phil Spector or Jeff Lynne in that regard, without sounding like either of them. He puts his boyish voice upfront in the mix with everything else acting like a gentle envelope. There are specific sounds — harmonica, keyboards, clarinet — used to illustrate the song with short solos or hooks. Just listen to how whale sounds give way to a sudden short music hall dance in The Whale Of Juan Perez Sound. The rock ’n’ roll of Buddy Holly or The Beau Marks is kind of a touchstone as well. Tough Guys Don’t Dance is as aggressive as Jacks gets and sounds out of character. Inevitably, with Seasons, there is a maudlin sentiment and nostalgia prevalent that dictate the character of many of these songs, but reveals a lot about Jacks as well.
Fests
The East Van Summer Jam is July 4 at Strathcona Park with AB-Soul, Mayer Hawthorne, Kelela, The Boom Booms, Esta, Slow Jam Sundays, B.J., The Chicago Kid, Kinnie Starr, Star Captains and Chin Injeti.
Gigs
Big Road Blues (The Main, Friday).
Lone bassist Dino DiNicolo has a bunch of solo dates (June 2, Marine Lounge; June 4, Earls Yaletown: June 5, North Shore Green Markets; June 6, Deep Cove Brewery).
The Garage occasionally gets a note from Raj Singh to let it know he’s active (June 5, 6, Bistro 72, Newton).
Titans Eve (playing songs from third LP, Chasing The Devil, June 6, Astoria).
The Sands (June 12, Media Club).
Babe Gurr (supported by a five piece band, June 13, Blue Frog).
Theory Of A Deadman (Hard Rock Casino, July 3).